Page 11 of It takes a Psychic

She tried to ignore the cold,I’m in charge hereattitude, but now she was the one who was offended. She was no newbie in the Underworld.

“Distracted by what?” She waved a hand at their surroundings. “The energy down here? The scenery? Don’t worry. This is not my first trip into the tunnels. I’m a professional para-archaeologist, remember?”

“A professional para-archaeologist whose last expedition did not end well.”

That stung. It also sent a jolt of anger across her senses. She did not need the guilt trip. She had been hard enough on herself as it was in thewake of the abduction and rescue. Lately her anxiety-ridden nightmares were threatening to turn her into a full-blown insomniac.

“The Hollister Expedition disaster had nothing to do with being distracted,” she said in her iciest voice. “My colleagues and I were kidnapped. You can’t blame that on me.”

But maybe if I had been paying more attention to the actions of the security team…just as I should have been paying more attention that long-ago day at the orphanage…

“Listen up,” Oliver said. “I’m not blaming you for anything. I’m making the point that we’re not in the clear yet, so pay attention. Obviously you don’t take orders well.”

She refused to dignify that with a response.

“Think of my suggestions as well-intentioned advice,” he added.

She reminded herself that she had been told she had a tendency to give others the benefit of her advice even when it was not always appreciated.

“Can I assume you have a plan?” she asked.

“Always. And a backup.”

She vowed not to get drawn into an argument. There was no good reason to complicate their already messy relationship, at least not until she had a plan of her own.

No, notrelationship. What she and Oliver had was a temporaryassociation. Big difference.

“In that case, thank you for the advice,” she made herself say, keeping her tone exquisitely polite. “No distractions. I will keep that front of mind.”

She could have sworn the edge of his mouth twitched ever so slightly. A tell of some sort, she decided, but she wasn’t sure what it meant. It had better not indicate amusement. This was not an amusing situation. Also, she really, really did not want to be a source ofamusementfor Oliver Rancourt.

They started down a tunnel lined on either side with vaulted entrances to chambers of various sizes. The energy spilling out of one of the doorways hit her with the force of a thunderstorm. She knew objects of power when she got near them. She glanced inside the room and saw dozens of museum storage crates piled high around the space.

“Some of whatever is in those crates came from the Glass House sector,” she said. “I can sense the vibe. They shouldn’t be here. That entire region is controlled by the federal government. It has not been approved for open exploration because it has not been mapped and cleared. The removal of any artifacts is against the law.”

“I warned you not to get distracted.”

“When we get back to the surface, I’m going to report this.”

“Suit yourself, but if you’re as smart as I think you are, you’ll keep quiet.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s no good reason to get involved. In fact, it would be spectacularly dumb to do so.”

“Why?” she said again.

“Do you always ask questions at inconvenient times?”

“Always. And I usually have a backup question, too.”

He winced. “Moving right along. I told you, there’s an FBPI raid going on back there. The Feds have been planning the operation for months. They scheduled the takedown for the one night of the year when the Society and its members are most vulnerable.”

“The annual reception,” she said quietly.

“There will be a lot of arrests tonight. There will also be a thorough search. The authorities will find the body of the waiter and the artifacts stashed down here. There’s no good reason for them to link you to either of those two problems. It would not look good on your résumé.”

She got a ping. Her intuition kicked in. With it came a rush of certainty. “You’re working with the FBPI, aren’t you? You were the insidecontact, the one who gave them the signal to move in. Are you a confidential informant? Did they pressure you to be their spy tonight? Threaten to put you in prison if you didn’t cooperate? There’s an old saying,It takes a thief to catch a thief. What have the Feds got on you?”

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