Page 87 of Sweetwater and the Witch

Panic crackled through Forrester. “I want a lawyer.”

“You’ll get one,” Jones said. “Right after we confiscate the locator.”

Forrester rezzed his talent one last time in a final, frantic attempt to send the destruct signal. Nothing happened. He stared at Ethan. “What are you doing to me? What kind of talent are you?”

“I’m a pretty good engineer,” Ethan said.

•••

Forty minutes later Ethan stood with Gabriel Jones. Together they looked at the old-fashioned metal filing cabinet standing in the middle of the green quartz chamber.

“You were right,” Gabriel said, “Forrester didn’t trust computers.”

“A good hacker can get into any computer eventually,” Ethan said. “Forrester figured he would be safe if he kept his client files on paper and stashed them in the Underworld. There’s just one problem with hiding stuff down here.”

“You have to know how to find what you’ve hidden,” Gabriel said. “And the only way to do that is by keeping a record of the coordinates.”

“Let’s see what we’ve got.”

They walked across the space and stopped in front of the cabinet. Ethan examined the lock.

“Nothing special,” he said. “Just hardware-store tech. We could break it with a hammer, but as it happens I’ve got a lock pick.”

“So do I,” Gabriel said. He slipped off his backpack. “Better let me do this. I’m the one who’s supposed to be in charge down here.”

“It’s all yours.”

Gabriel used a small pick to get rid of the lock. He opened the top drawer. “Well, damn, will you look at that? Forrester kept very neat files.”

It took only minutes to find the right folder.

“Looks like Forrester was right,” Gabriel said. “According to this file, you’re dead.”

“With luck, I’ll stay that way long enough to finish this job,” Ethan said.

•••

Gabriel got on his phone as soon as they emerged from the Underworld. “Aiden, I need two reservations on the next rez-lev train to Frequency.”

The high-speed rez-lev train was by far the fastest way to get to Frequency. With a top speed of over three hundred miles per hour, it beat the only other viable alternative: a car. Illusion Town did not have an airport. The powerful, unpredictable energy in the vicinity made air travel far too risky.

Ethan took out his own phone and called Ravenna. She was at home, which was where she had been since they had made a very low-profile return to Illusion Town late yesterday afternoon.

“Gabe and I are on our way to the train station,” he said.

“Spooner?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Sure. As far as he knows, we’re both dead. Assuming all goes well, I’ll be back on the midnight train.”

“Good.”

“Will you wait up for me?” he asked.

“Are you kidding? Of course I will. I’ll want every detail of the takedown.”

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