“Isn’t that sculpture made of polished stainless steel?”
“Looks like it, but I’m not talking about the doughnut. It’s the mirrored tile embedded in it that is important. It’s not stainless steel. It’s a very different material but it is mirror-bright and it is hiding secrets.”
“What kind of secrets?”
“I think they are actually batteries. The hypnotic message is infused into the crystals but the battery is the power source. It stores human psychic energy, at least for a time. Someone has to recharge it periodically. That’s evidently Grant’s job. But once it’s on, it activates the crystal. Someone is using the crystals and the batteries to broadcast hypnotic suggestions, but that’s not nearly as significant as the technology of the tiles.”
Her eyes widened in understanding. “You said the lack of abattery that can store paranormal power is a major reason why that kind of energy hasn’t become mainstream.”
“Exactly. The mirror tile batteries aren’t very strong—the range is only a few feet and I’m sure they drain quickly. But that’s partly because human-generated energy isn’t very powerful. Pretty sure the Alchemist thinks he can store serious vortex energy in them.”
“In those little tiles?” Sophy shuddered. “That can’t end well.”
“He’s been running experiments somewhere here in the compound. That’s why the para-rad levels have been climbing.”
Sophy put down the pen and the notepad and picked up Tobias Harper’s journal. “According to my great-grandfather, the third engineer involved in the Kaleidoscope project, Maxwell Coburn, was obsessed with his theory that mirrors were the key to creating paranormal batteries.”
“Did Harper have a problem with that?”
“Yes. Tobias wrote that it would be extremely dangerous to store a large amount of paranormal energy inside mirrors, given our lack of understanding of the physics involved.”
“No shit.”
“But evidently Maxwell Coburn was convinced that the six crystals in Pandora’s box were capable of channeling large amounts of paranormal energy into the mirror batteries and releasing that energy on demand. Coburn never got an opportunity to test his theories, of course, because of the disaster that destroyed the Fogg Lake lab.”
Luke flattened a hand on the surface of the sculpture. “Now Hatch and the Alchemist and their buddies are not only trying to construct Coburn’s batteries, they intend to charge them with vortex energy.”
“So foolish,” Sophy whispered. “No one can control that kind of raw power.”
“When has the risk of trying to control the forces of natureever stopped people from attempting to do just that? Think nuclear energy, dams, solar power, hydrocarbons. In Iceland they tap into the energy of volcanoes. One way or another, all the power we use comes from nature.”
She took a long breath. “Yes, but this is different. We know almost nothing about vortex energy. We don’t even have a way to measure it. If it’s possible to tap into it, I doubt if it could be controlled. There’s a theory that all the various vortices around the planet are connected by ley lines. If that’s true, attempting to channel the energy of one vortex might lead to a chain reaction.”
“I think it’s safe to assume that the Alchemist, who seems to be pulling the strings on this project, is not entirely sane.”
“And Vincent Grant isn’t what anyone would call stable now, either,” Sophy said. “I wonder if his brother is.”
“Hatch? No way to know if he qualifies as sane, but judging by his personal security team, he has a skill set that is required for the project. Someone wants him protected, at least as long as he’s useful. We need to go into the maze. Now.”
“Wait. Let’s slow down and think this through in a logical manner.”
“That’s supposed to be my line,” Luke said.
“You weren’t using it, so I am. I came across something else in Tobias’s journal that might be important.”
“Go on.”
“There were three engineers on the team—Xavier, Tobias, and Maxwell Coburn. But there was also a fourth person.”
Forty-Five
He hated the gallery, especiallyat night. The maze that filled the interior of the old house made him think of the inside of an Egyptian pyramid—a structure designed to be both trap and tomb.
But Trent was right, Vincent thought. He had to retrieve the weapon. The Alchemist would be furious if he found out it was missing, and the guy was already semi-insane. The problem of Luke Wells could be handled later.
He stood unmoving for a moment, collecting his nerve and heightening his talent. Thanks to his psychic senses, his vision was keen enough to allow him to make out some of his surroundings, and he had one of the little locators Trent had designed to navigate the maze. But neither provided much comfort. The sensation that the walls were closing in on him was getting more intense by the second.
Earlier, when he had followed Wells into the maze, he had been powered by rage-induced adrenaline and the thrill that came with the anticipation of the kill. The weapon made him invincible. The takedowns gave him a rush like no other.
