“Don’t forget Emma and my mother,” he said dryly. “They’ve both got claws, trust me.”
“I believe you,” Gwen said.
“But Burns and Elland had convinced themselves that if my body was found strapped into a full set of diving gear, everyone would be forced to conclude that I had tried to retrieve the analyst’s body on my own and died in the attempt. It wasn’t long before I found out that Spalding was laboring under the same assumption. He was very sure of himself there at the end when he told me how the plan was going to work.”
“Back up,” Gwen said. “How did you happen to run into Spalding?”
“He was waiting for me in the cave. I went there with my own dive gear, planning to take a look around just under the surface of the cave pool. I knew I had to find the analyst’s body as quickly as possible. Evidence, including the paranormal kind, vanishes fast in the water. I had just gotten into my wetsuit when Spalding showed up.”
“He was on the island, too?”
“He had followed Burns and Elland to make sure everything went as planned. He said he knew I might turn out to be more of a problem than they could handle. He also said this was his last agency operation. He was closing down the store.”
“Did he know that Burns and Elland were in the hospital?” Gwen asked.
“Yes. He also knew that if they were still alive, I had probably gotten enough information out of them to find the analyst’s body.”
“He tried to kill you?” Gwen asked.
“Sure. But first I asked him what the hell was going on. He talked. Told me that he was going to take a new position as the director of security for an ultra-classified division of a pharmaceutical firm. He said the company was developing a line of designer drugs aimed at enhancing psychic talents in individuals. He said that the firm had a version of an effective formula but there were still a number of side effects.”
“The kind that caused Burns and Elland to go mad and take their own lives?”
“They were on the drug,” Judson said. “Evidently it is highly addictive. Withdrawal leads to insanity, followed by death. In any event, the CEO of the firm had determined that an experienced security expert who not only had some real talent of his own, but who also possessed a working knowledge of the U.S. intelligence community, would be invaluable to the organization.”
“That description obviously fit your old boss like a glove. Was Spalding on the drug, too?”
“Yes.”
“What else did he tell you?”
“Not much.” Judson gripped the edge of the window and looked out at the river. “He was in a hurry. He said he couldn’t afford to waste any more time. He intended to stage his own death after he got rid of me. He planned to start his new career in the private sector with a new identity.”
“But first he had to kill you without leaving any evidence. How in the world did he plan to do that?”
“He had a weapon. It was crystal-based technology. Looked like a flashlight. He said it was a gift from the CEO who had hired him. Next thing I know, he’s aiming the device at me. I felt a jolt of icy energy. I thought it would freeze my heart, literally.”
“Like the wind chime storm at Louise’s house?”
“No, that energy was chaotic and discordant—unfocused. The radiation from Spalding’s little crystal gun was very focused and very powerful.”
“What did you do?”
Judson touched his ring. “That was when I found out what I could do with this crystal. I used it instinctively, intuitively. I pushed energy through the ring. The wavelengths somehow neutralized the forces of Spalding’s weapon. But that wasn’t the end of it. The currents of the flashlight gun were reversed. Sam says the effect would have been similar to a wave of water hitting a swimming pool wall and rebounding back in the opposite direction.”
“The reversed currents overwhelmed Spalding’s aura,” Gwen said. “That’s what killed him.”
“Yes. I wasn’t thinking about the science at the time because that was when I realized I’d maxed out whatever luck I’d been running on up to that point.”
“For heaven’s sake, what else could go wrong?” Gwen asked.
“On that last job? Everything. Energy started building fast inside the cave. I got a few seconds’ warning because I could feel the rising psi levels. A weird aura formed. I grabbed my gear and went into the cave pool to ride out the blast. But when I surfaced a short time later, I saw that there had been a massive fall of rock. The cave entrance was sealed by several tons of stone. The explosion had released some toxic gasses. There was only one way out.”
“Oh, my,” Gwen whispered. Her eyes were stark. “You swam out through the underwater cave?”
Judson crossed the room and lowered himself into one of the wingback chairs. “I’d talked to some of the locals about that particular cave system because I knew I was going to have to dive it to look for the body. I was told that there were indications that there was an exit to the sea. But the system had never been fully explored or mapped. There were no cave lines from previous dives.”
Gwen shuddered. “Trapped in an underwater cave system would be my worst nightmare.”
“No,” he said. He met her eyes. “Your worst nightmare—my worst nightmare—would have been spending what was left of my life buried alive, inhaling toxic fumes and knowing that no one knew where I was.”
She took a deep breath and nodded once. “Okay, I stand corrected. Being buried alive might be a tad worse than getting trapped in an underwater cave. But still.”
“But still. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to repeat the experience on my next vacation. I survived thanks to the dead analyst. He’ll never know it, but I owe him my life.”
“What do you mean?”
“Burns and Elland didn’t bother to drain his tank after they killed him. They left the flashlight on the body, too. They wanted to make the accident look real just in case someone did come looking.”
“No wonder you have nightmares,” Gwen whispered.
“Sometimes I dream about that swim through the cave system, but the bad dream, the one you found me in last night, takes place just before I went into the water to try to swim out to the sea. I catch a glimpse of something small out of the corner of my eye. At the time I don’t think about it. I’ve got other priorities.” He tightened one hand into a fist. “But later, in my dreams, I relive that moment, and I know that whatever I saw or thought I saw is important.”