Page 44 of Sweetwater and the Witch

He moved out of the chamber and started back across the rotunda, using his amber to retrace his steps.

He was about to enter the passageway that led to the hole-in-the-wall in Ravenna’s basement when Harriet growled a warning.

He took the warning seriously and immediately changed course. He moved into the nearest hallway. A moment later he heard a man’s voice. It was distorted by the currents of psi but audible.

“Got a fix. The intersection up ahead. Looks like they’ve stopped moving. This won’t be a problem.”

Seconds later two men dressed in khaki and leather pounded out of the hallway and stopped at the entrance to the rotunda. Ethan did a quick calculation. They had pistols but the weapons were holstered. Each gripped a flamer instead. They had come prepared to pursue their targets into the Underworld, and they knew how to operate in that environment.

A couple of ex-Guild men gone rogue, he decided. There were a lot of freelancers working the gray market of private security these days, a by-product of the changes going on in management at the top of the Ghost Hunters Guilds. When you cleaned up, the garbage had to get dumped somewhere. In this case, a lot of it was landing on the streets.

“First hallway on the left,” the one who was monitoring the locator announced. “Shouldn’t be a problem. They just came from a restaurant. Sweetwater is a tech guy. He won’t be carrying.”

They headed toward the passageway that led to the small chamber where Ravenna was concealed. Ethan felt Harriet quiver in anticipation, preparing to spring.

“Not yet,” Ethan said.

He spoke quietly. Harriet seemed to get the message. She stayed put. But, ever unpredictable, the churning paranormal currents in the rotunda sent the words echoing across around the space.

“What the fuck?” the man with the locator yelped.

He whipped around to confront the threat. His companion did the same. They both fired. Narrow bolts of amber-generated energy resembling spears of lightning flashed from the barrels of the flamers. They struck the quartz wall at the entrance to the corridor that shielded Ethan, not leaving so much as a scorch mark.

He moved quickly, relying on his hunter talent reflexes to lean around the edge of the opening and fire his flamer. The energy bolt struck the man with the locator. He convulsed once, dropped his own flamer, and collapsed.

Startled, the second man fired twice in an attempt to cover himself while he grabbed the locator. But he was unnerved and off-balance. The shots went wild.

Ethan took advantage of the opening and fired once more. The second man went down hard, unconscious. Harriet, sensing the danger had passed, chortled gleefully, hopped down to the floor, and scurried across the rotunda to investigate the two unmoving men.

Ethan followed. He crouched to confiscate the flamers and then began a quick search of the assailants. Ravenna appeared just as he was recovering the locator.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“How did they track you to my place and then into the tunnels?”

“They weren’t tracking me.” He stood and examined the locators. “They were following you.”

“Me?” Startled, she crossed the rotunda to look at the screen. “You’re right. But why would they track me? I’m just a matchmaker.”

Ethan gave that a moment’s thought and then nodded once, satisfied he knew what had happened.

“They followed you because they couldn’t track me,” he said. “My frequency is blocked. Spooner must have spotted us at the reception last night. He assumed we were a couple. He locked onto your amber when he couldn’t get mine. He concluded that if these guys followed you, they would find me. He was right.”

“It’s hard to believe a high-flying CEO like Taggert Spooner would hire people to kill you. I mean, sure, I understand corporate espionage, but this is over the top. He has to know he’s taking a huge risk. He could get arrested for attempted murder—of a Sweetwater, no less. Talk about reckless.”

“Obviously he thinks the stakes are worth it,” Ethan said. “I don’t know what’s going on here. I need time to think. But right now we’ve got other priorities.”

“Like calling the cops?”

“Not the cops. Here, take this.” He handed her one of the flamers. “If either one of them so much as twitches, use it. Don’t worry, you won’t kill anyone. It’s set on stun.”

“All right, but where are you going?”

“Back to the surface to make a phone call and grab some duct tape.”

“Duct tape again?” Ravenna said. She held up a hand. “Never mind. I’ll watch these two while you’re gone.”

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