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“Whose idea was it to charge through that doorway straight into a room full of hot AUPs without making sure the entrance wasn’t trapped?” Leona asked.

Matt’s jaw was rigid. “There was no indication of a gate or a trap. The doorway looked clear.”

She opened her mouth to launch into a lecture on basic protocols for dealing with artifacts of unknown power but stopped herself at the last instant. This wasn’t the time or the place. It dawned on her that she was actually feeling sorry for Matt. He had been lucky enough to snag the position of team leader for this project. His future at Hollister depended on how well he handled it. She knew that he must have been truly desperate to come to her for help—desperate and genuinely concerned about the fate of the people trapped on the other side. He wasn’t a monster, just a very ambitious academic. There were a lot of those around. She ought to know.

The two of them were standing in front of a quicksilver gate that now blocked the entrance to the Antiquarian Society’s Underworld storage chamber. Roxy was on her shoulder, fluffed out with all four eyes open. Two more members of the Hollister Department of Para-Archaeology hovered nearby. They looked worried. They had reason to be. Three of their colleagues were locked on the other side of the strange gate.

Matt had ignored the speed limit driving across town and into the exclusive neighborhood on the hillside overlooking the city. The mansion that housed the Society’s headquarters was no longer a crime scene, but it was a busy site. A security company had been hired to protect the artifacts until they could be cataloged, photographed, and removed by the Hollister team. Vehicles bearing the logo of a professional transport company that specialized in valuable and potentially dangerous objects were lined up in the long, sweeping driveway.

An entrepreneur had set up a catering truck. A small scrum of reporters had gathered around it, cameras at the ready, on the off chance that something exciting happened. They had not yet been informed of the disaster under the mansion. Matt had made it clear that Hollister did not want that sort of publicity.

He had done his best to shield her from view as he rushed her out of the car and into the mansion. She knew the last thing he wanted was to have the press get wind of her presence on the scene. Officially, Hollister had severed all connections to her. That hurt, but she refused to let the pain show. She had a job to do. She was a professional consultant now. Time to act like one.

Matt raked his fingers through his hair and stared at the quicksilver gate. “What do you think?”

She answered the question silently in her head. I think there is no telling what we’re going to find on the other side of that gate. We don’t even know if the people who got trapped in there are still alive. I think you took a risk you should not have taken. I think you should have followed procedure.

The temptation to say it all aloud was nearly overwhelming. She exerted some serious willpower and managed to resist. This was not the time for revenge. It was time to think positive and apply the principles of chapter six in Achieving Inner Resonance , “Opportunity Is a Flower That Blossoms in the Shadows.” If she was successful, the university might become a future client.

She rezzed up what she hoped was a cool, confident consultant’s smile.

“I think it’s time to open the gate and free your colleagues,” she said.

She centered herself, went into her talent, and cautiously flattened one hand on the gate…

…and nearly choked on a hastily swallowed shriek. It was like touching a live wire.

Shit. That hurt. She managed to grit her teeth and keep her mouth shut. I’m a professional. Don’t try this at home.

On her shoulder, Roxy growled and tightened her grip.

The quicksilver energy dazzled and flared with wild currents and sparks of lightning that appeared chaotic. It was always this way, she reminded herself. Okay, this was an extreme version of an Alien lock, but nevertheless, the laws of para-physics applied—she hoped. There was an anchor current—there was always an anchor current.

She slipped into the storm, searching for the pattern and the vibe that would guide her to the center.

There it is.

Gently she sent out the flatlining currents.

And then she held her breath, because while the laws of para-physics were believed to be immutable and universal, there was a lot that humans did not know about those laws. They knew even less about how the Aliens had engineered them into their technology.

The quicksilver gate flashed, brilliant and fierce, in a recoil that threatened to dazzle her senses. Her hair lifted in a wild, spiky halo around her head. Roxy’s fur stood on end. Matt and the others took several steps back.

For a beat there was no reaction from the gate. Then in the blink of an eye it dissolved. There was a moment of fraught silence during which she frantically tried to blink away the visual aftereffects of the sharp, hot recoil. She was vaguely aware of Roxy chortling, and then she heard a lot of cheering from inside the chamber.

When her vision cleared, she recognized her former colleagues who had been trapped. They were making an effort to project a just-another-day-at-the-office vibe, but they could not disguise their relief. They hustled out of the cavern and into the glowing green corridor.

“Leona,” Margery Bean exclaimed. “Don’t tell me Matt had to get you to rescue us. That must have pissed him off.”

“He’s right here,” Leona said. “Ask him.”

Matt looked at her. “Thanks,” he said quietly.

She gave him a very shiny smile. “Anytime. I’ll send you my bill first thing tomorrow.”

He winced.

Margery chuckled. “Thanks for the rescue. You’re the best when it comes to handling hot artifacts. I’m so glad you’re back on the team.”

“Oh, I’m not on the team,” Leona said. “I’ve gone private. I’m a consultant now. Which reminds me.” She turned to give Matt another bright smile. “In addition to my standard rate there will be an extra charge for emergency callout services.”

“Fair enough,” he said.

She took that as her cue to make her exit. “I’d better be on my way. I had to squeeze this job into my schedule, which means I’m now running late for my next client.”

There was no next client, but image was everything in business.

“Wait,” Matt said. “How long will this gate stay open?”

“There’s no way to know,” Leona said. “It’s an Alien gate. By definition, that means it’s unpredictable. There’s a lot of volatile energy in the artifacts stored inside that room. If I were you, I’d hire a professional gatekeeper to stand by while you’re cataloging those objects.”

Matt grunted. “Bullinger won’t like that. You know how he is when it comes to budgets.”

“I know,” she said. “But Bullinger is not my problem anymore.”

“You’re right. Thanks, again, Leona. I’ll walk you back upstairs to the entrance. I would drive you home but I can’t leave until things get organized here. You’ll have to call a car. There aren’t a lot of taxis cruising this neighborhood.”

“I’ll put it on the bill.”

He escorted her up the quartz steps and through the hole-in-the-wall below the mansion. It was not the same opening that she and Oliver had used to escape on the night of the raid. This one was larger. She assumed it was the exit point the caterers and staff had used to escape the FBPI raid.

Inside the big house they went past the pantry. The door was open. The dead waiter’s blood had dried to a terrible brown stain on the floor. Leona was aware of the disturbing whisper of dark energy, the unmistakable evidence of violent death. Roxy muttered.

“I know, I don’t like it, either,” Leona said.

Matt glanced at her. “What don’t you like?”

“Nothing,” she said.

“Leona, there’s something I need to say.”

“I figured that’s why you insisted on escorting me out of the mansion. What is it?”

“You haven’t filed a complaint about my failure to give you credit in that paper that the journal is going to publish.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Are you going to do it?”

“No. It wouldn’t do me any good now that I’ve been fired by Hollister. It would look like petty revenge. We both know I can’t prove that I should have had credit.”

“Maybe not, but a formal complaint would create a real headache for me.”

She did not respond.

“You weren’t fired,” he continued. “Technically speaking, your contract was not renewed.”

“Semantics.”

Matt nodded. “I know. Thanks for not filing the complaint.”

“You didn’t tell anyone that I had rezzed that artifact in the lab. I know it was the scorch marks that started the rumors.”

“Can we call off the cold war?”

“Yep. Revenge is all about looking back. I don’t have the time. I’ve got a future that needs planning.”

“I appreciate it.”

They reached the front door of the entrance. Leona stopped.

“You’ve said what you wanted to say.” She took out her phone. “You can go back to your team. I am quite capable of calling a ride. Good luck with the rest of the project.”

“Thanks,” Matt said. “It’s a big one.”

“Don’t forget to hire a gatekeeper.”

He smiled. “It’s at the top of my to-do list.”

He turned away and disappeared back into the mansion. Leona walked outside and took out her phone to book a car.

She thought about what had just happened down in the tunnels and smiled. She had saved the team. This time she had not been too late.