Page 82 of Sweetwater and the Witch

Now darkness was settling quickly. A storm shot through with the eerie radiance of paranormal energy was gathering over Mirage Lake. The wind was picking up. It seemed to be laced with the wails and shrieks of lost souls. She shuddered.

“You’re right,” she said. “As unpleasant as this cave is going to be tonight, it’s safer than the storm that’s brewing out there.”

“It’ll get a lot worse in here, too, but at least we’ll be out of the wind and the lightning,” Ethan said.

She turned around and watched him crouch beside the unconscious man. Joyner lay on his side, his wrists secured with his own belt. He hadcome out of the pool soaking wet, but his clothes had mostly dried in the warmth of the cave energy. He had moaned a few times as if in the throes of a nightmare, but he showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

“I wonder if he’ll ever wake up,” Ravenna said. “There’s a lot of energy in that water. He may be in a coma.”

Ethan’s jaw flexed and his eyes tightened dangerously. “I’d like to ask him a few questions.”

“He probably doesn’t know anything more than the pair who chased us into the Underworld the other night. You heard what the other man said. Grabbing you or killing you is just a job as far as they’re concerned.”

“True.” Ethan went methodically through Joyner’s clothing. “And that confirms that Spooner knows how to deal with the brokers who handle contract killings.”

“No surprise there.” Ravenna hesitated. “Assuming that Spooner is behind the attacks against you.”

“That’s the only assumption that makes sense. I wasn’t having these problems until after I tried to get a fix on his sig frequency.”

“I understand why he wanted to get rid of you back at the start,” Ravenna said. “He was trying to stake a claim on Glass House and he thought you were in his way. But he failed to grab the antiquity. Gabriel Jones and the Illusion Town Guild got there first. Now Glass House belongs to the government. In business you win some and lose some. Spooner lost. Why would he take the risk of trying to murder you now? What purpose would it serve?”

“Some people don’t take losing with what you could call grace. There are those who get really, really pissed.”

“And want revenge?”

“Yes.” Ethan removed a braided leather bolo tie from around Joyner’s neck. He sat back on his heels to take a close look at the stone. “This is interesting.”

“What is it?” Ravenna asked. She took a few steps closer. “Looks like quartz.”

“It’s a burner com. Tuned so that it can be used once and once only to send a signal on a unique frequency. One-way. It can’t receive a signal, so it won’t function as a tracking device.”

“Why would that guy need a burner communicator?”

“To send a signal indicating the job was finished.” Ethan rose to his feet. “I need to get back to the lab and run some tests.”

Ravenna looked out at the intensifying storm. “We have to get through tonight first.”

“We’ll use the buddy system,” Ethan said. “Two auras and all that.”

Ravenna smiled. “Plus we have Harriet.”

Harriet popped up from behind a tumble of rocks and chortled at the sound of her name.

“It’s going to be cozy,” Ethan said.

“Now aren’t you glad I rescued the picnic basket?” Ravenna said.

When the SUV and the crew of hit men had given up and driven off, Ethan had left the cave long enough to salvage the basket of road food she had dropped earlier.

“Very glad,” he said. “We’re going to need the energy and the hydration before the night is over, and we sure as green hell wouldn’t want to drink the water in that pool.”

Ravenna angled her chin to indicate the unconscious Joyner. “What about him?”

“He’s on his own,” Ethan said. “As long as he’s unconscious he can’t help us suppress the bad energy. For all we know, he’s going to have it a lot easier than us. He’ll probably just sleep through the night.”

Joyner moaned again and whimpered softly.

Ravenna shuddered. “I don’t think he’s having pleasant dreams.”

---