Page 104 of The Shop on Hidden Lane

Hatch grunted. “No. Whitley is borderline insane. I knew that from the start. But he and the woman hooked me when they offered me access to that old lab. Turns out that back in the days of Bluestone they were researching the properties of paranormal light in the Fool’s Gold Canyon facility. They thought it was the secret to creating the batteries. I couldn’t resist the opportunity. I had always wanted to explore the possibilities of using light to enhance the human lifespan, and now I was being offered an entire lab that had once been devoted to paranormal photonics.”

“What did they want in return besides your money?” Luke asked.

“They told me that all I had to do was figure out how to activate an old Bluestone machine that generated various spectra of paranormal light. That didn’t take long. Hell, the logbooks were still there in the lab. But it required a certain kind of talent.”

“Your kind of talent?” Deke asked.

“Yeah.” Hatch gulped some more water. “I got the machine up and running. Whitley was able to make it work to get the old battery towers online. He and his fake assistant were afraid the Foundation might get wind of their work. They needed a cover to explain the activity at the old art colony. I was desperate to carry out my own research. So we came up with the idea of reviving the art colony.”

“Did you know Victoria Ellsworth was running experiments with her hypnotic suggestion tiles?” Sophy asked.

“Yes, but I didn’t care.”

“When did you realize they were trying to tap into the vortex energy?” Bea asked.

Hatch grimaced. “Not long after we started the colony I warned Whitley the forces in the area were dangerous, but he was sure he could handle them with the batteries and the crystals.”

“All three of you had different goals,” Luke said. “Whitley was obsessed with using vortex energy to charge the battery towers. Ellsworth wanted to get the six crystals unlocked and perfect her hypnotic suggestion tiles. You were focused on experimenting with paranormal photonics.”

“That about sums it up,” Hatch said.

“Did it ever occur to you that the lack of a single focus for the project might be a problem?” Luke asked.

Hatch sighed. “No.”

Sophy aimed a finger at the roof of the SUV. “A failure to have a leader with a clear-eyed vision at the top of an organization will inevitably bring down an entire project.”

That announcement was greeted with silence. Bruce leaned over and tried to lick her face.

“Which one of you stole the Kaleidoscope weapons from the Wells vault?” Luke asked.

“Whitley said his assistant grabbed the Kaleidoscope guns.”

Deke whistled softly. “She must have used some pretty fancy tech to break in to that vault.”

“The best,” Hatch said. “Whitley said she used a new high-tech lockpick that she picked up while she was working at Wells, Inc.”

Deke grunted. “The black box lab.”

Luke winced. “Ouch.”

“Obviously your family vault is not as secure as you think,” Sophy said. “Sounds like your company labs need a security upgrade, too. More work for you, Luke.”

Deke looked at Luke. “Is she like this all the time?”

“You get used to it,” Luke said.

Time to change the subject, Sophy decided. She twisted around in the seat to look at Hatch.

“I’m sorry about your brother,” she said.

Hatch nodded morosely. “Thanks. We weren’t that close, but before Mom died, she made me promise I’d take care of him. I didn’t do a very good job.”

“He was doomed when he started firing the Kaleidoscope weapons,” Deke said. “Those old guns are too dangerous for anyone but the strongest of talents. The psychic recoil is a killer. Literally.”

Hatch looked back down the road. The last wisps of smoke still swirled into the sky.

“Those damned weapons won’t be a problem for anyone now,” he said. “Nothing could have survived that explosion. Same with the crystals.”