Chapter Fifty-Six
Fifty-Six
“The bastards left me behind.” Hatch slumped in the cargo bay, legs stretched out in front of him, and gulped some water.
“I always knew my so-called security team couldn’t be trusted.
Whitley insisted that I hire them. Never liked him, either, but I thought I could handle him.
I guess it was his assistant who made sure the security team got hired.
Shit. She was running the whole show all along from behind the scenes.
She seemed so sweet. So innocent. So nice. ”
Sophy almost felt sorry for him.
“She’s obviously a powerful reflection talent,” Bea said. “The ability is a lot like a talent for hypnosis.”
Hatch slugged down some water and then shook his head. “I never thought I could be conned like that.”
“No one does,” Luke said from the front seat.
He did not sound sympathetic, Sophy thought. He sounded annoyed—with himself.
“How did you get involved in this mess?” he asked.
Hatch groaned. “Whitley—in hindsight I realize it was the assistant manipulating him—made me believe I was fulfilling my lifelong dream.”
“I’m guessing that wasn’t a dream of supporting the arts,” Bea said.
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.”
Sophy saw Deke and Luke exchange silent messages again and knew the crystals had survived. They were probably in Luke’s or Deke’s pack. She looked at Bea, who winked.
—
An hour later Deke announced that they had cell service. “I’ll call Victor Arganbright at the Foundation. What’s left of the Fool’s Gold Canyon lab is his problem now. He can take Hatch off our hands, too.”
Hatch stirred in the back of the SUV. “What’s this about the Foundation?”
“We’ll let Arganbright figure out what to do with you,” Luke said.
“Huh.” For the first time, Hatch brightened. “I wonder if they are doing any work in the field of photonics.”
“Probably,” Deke said.
Sophy cleared her throat. She met Luke’s eyes in the mirror. “You’re calling in the Foundation?”
“There’s no other authority that can handle this,” he said. “If we go with the FBI, the CIA, or any of the other alphabet agencies, we’ll have an even bigger mess on our hands.”
“I see,” Sophy said. “Will it be absolutely necessary to mention Aunt Bea and me?”
“Don’t worry,” Deke said. He grinned at her over his shoulder. “It will be like you and Bea never existed.”
“Are you sure Arganbright will go along with that?” Bea asked.
“Wellses and the Foundation have worked together for a long time,” Luke said. “Arganbright knows when to stop asking questions.”
“I hate to say this,” Sophy said, “because I am not a fan of the Foundation. But if those crystals somehow survived the explosion and if they were to be recovered, it would probably be best if the Foundation took charge of them. I’ll bet Arganbright and his crew have a really secure vault.”
“Sophy is right,” Bea said. “The Foundation should take responsibility for those crystals.” She coughed discreetly. “If they happen to show up again.”
“Great idea,” Deke said. “I hear they’ve got first-rate security at the Foundation.”
Luke met Sophy’s eyes in the mirror. “Wells, Inc. designed the Foundation vault.”