Page 90 of The Shop on Hidden Lane

“You think that is what is happening, don’t you?”

“Yes. Mostly because there is no sign of Hatch or Grant or the Tuxedo Twins. They should be out here helping the guards organize the evacuation.”

Sophy watched vehicles driven by security personnel begin to line up in the hotel driveway.

“Think they’ll bring your car around to the front of the inn?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “You and I are not meant to leave the compound.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that. This is the part where they try to grab us, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Luke turned away from the railing and headed back through the glass doors. “But they won’t do it in front of an audience, and we’re not hanging around to see what they have in mind. We’re going to disappear.”

“As I recall, those were among the last words your uncle wrote on his hologram note.”

“And they are the reason I think Deke and Bea are still alive. My uncle has a talent for disappearing. It’s one of the things that made him good at his job when he worked for the Agency.”

“One of these days you’re going to have to tell me the full name of that agency.”

“One of these days I’ll do that. But we’ve got work to do. Take this.” Luke tossed a day pack to her. “Grab your phone and a bottle of water.”

“If we’re going on the run, water is excess weight.”

“This is the desert,” Luke said.

Forty-Seven

She dutifully stuffed a bottleof water into the day pack and made sure she had her phone. By the time she was ready, Luke and Bruce, wearing their own packs, were waiting at the door. Tension shivered in the atmosphere around them. Their eyes were molten gold. A couple of hellhounds, she thought, but they were her hellhounds—for now.

She was about to join them when she remembered the books. She grabbedAn Investigation into the Fool’s Gold Canyon Vortexand Tobias Harper’s journal and added them to the pack.Talk about excess weight, she thought. But she was a librarian. The books held dangerous secrets. She could not risk leaving them behind.

Out in the hall, chaos reigned as most of the guests rushed for the elevator or the lobby stairs with their suitcases. Several opted for the emergency exit at the end of the hall.

“We’re using the emergency stairs,” Luke said. “It empties out into a service lane, not the front entrance.”

He headed toward the fire escape. Bruce and Sophy dashed after him.

They reached the first floor along with a handful of other people and moved out into the service lane. The guests who had chosen the emergency exit rushed down the lane and disappeared around the corner. A few minutes later Sophy, Luke, and Bruce found themselves alone.

“All clear,” Luke said. “Let’s go.”

The desert night was filled with the rumble of cars coming and going in front of the inn, but the narrow strip of pavement in back was empty. It was also unlit except for a dim light over the exit door. In the shadows it was easier to detect the vortex energy that shuddered in the atmosphere.

“The levels are still rising,” she said quietly. “It’s as if we’re sitting on top of a volcano that is getting ready to blow.”

“That is a visual I could have done without.” Luke reached the end of the service lane and stopped. Bruce halted beside him. “I don’t see anyone in the sculpture garden. Looks like everyone, including security and the staff, is heading for the front gate.”

Man and dog went forward. Sophy followed.

“In hindsight, we should have called in the Foundation back at the start,” she said.

“In hindsight, that might have been a good idea. But back at the start we were just trying to find Deke and Bea and retrieve some old Bluestone artifacts.”

No one tried to stop them when they crossed the sculpture garden. As far as Sophy could tell, there was no security left.

By the time they reached the Maze Gallery they appeared to have the entire art colony to themselves. Sophy looked back at the main gate and watched the taillights of the last vehicle disappear.

“This is just so weird,” she whispered. “The place is deserted. We’re the only ones left.”