Falling Awake(75)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“Hello, Ellis. You remember me. You knew me as Dr. Maureen Sage when I worked at Frey-Salter. You’ll never know what a shock it was to see you in the hallway at the center this morning. It was just dumb luck that I happened to spot you first and managed to avoid you. I realized at once, though, that I had no choice but to move very quickly.”

There was a short, tense pause. Isabel could not hear what Ellis was saying to Amelia but she could see that Amelia did not like it.

“That’s bullshit and you know it as well as I do,” Amelia said, suddenly violently furious. “When this is over Lawson will be finished. Do you hear me? Finished.”

There was a freakish stillness following the outburst. No one moved. Isabel was pretty sure that, on the other end of the connection, Ellis was not saying a word.

In the next moment Amelia regained control just as quickly as she had lost it, her face smoothing back into an attractive facade that belied the gun in her hand.

Oh, boy, talk about mood swings, Isabel thought.

“Now then, if you want to keep your little dreamer alive,” Amelia said, sounding calm and in control again, “you will do exactly what you’re told. I know precisely where you are because before I left the center today I put a GPS bug on your precious Maserati. I am tracking every move of that car. I’m sure you could find the locator given enough time, but time is one of the things you no longer have, Cutler. Start driving back to Roxanna Beach. If you’re not precisely where I tell you to be two hours from now, your irritating little dreamer will be dead five minutes later.”

38

ellis let the Maserati have its head when he reached the freeway. This is it, he thought. Always wondered what my worst nightmare would be like. Now I know.

He intended to use the same route back to Roxanna Beach that he had used earlier in the day to drive to the center. It was a mix of freeways and old roads designed to avoid the centers of towns and other congested areas.

He forced himself to concentrate on his driving and on making plans. Isabel would be safe at least until he got there. Amelia would not risk killing her until she was certain that he was in her control. He was just beginning to put together the pieces of the puzzle that would tell him why Amelia had risked snatching Isabel but the outline of the big picture was finally starting to take shape. Should have seen it three months ago.

He punched out Dave’s number.

“What’s happening?” Dave demanded.

“She’s got Isabel.”

“She kidnapped her right out of Kyler headquarters?” Dave was stunned.

“Amelia Netley, aka Maureen Sage, doesn’t have any problem with taking a few risks.”

“Why grab Isabel?”

“She says she’ll release Isabel unharmed in exchange for me.”

“You believe her?” Dave asked, incredulous.

“No. But that’s another issue. I’ll deal with it later. Right now I’m working on the fact that Amelia has given me a two-hour window to get to Roxanna Beach. That’s just barely enough time to do it within the legal speed limit, assuming the fog isn’t too bad.”

“You’re not going to worry a whole lot about the speed limit, are you?”

“There’s a complication. She’s got a GPS bug hidden somewhere on my car.”

“Bad news. With one of those gadgets she can track you every inch of the way in real time right on her personal phone.”

“I’m familiar with the technology,” Ellis said dryly.

“Sorry. Just meant that making like a Formula One driver to buy yourself some time won’t do you any good. She’ll know if you get to Roxanna Beach ahead of schedule. Hell, she’ll know where you are at any given moment. She’ll know if you even stop to take a leak.”

“Like I said, it’s a complication.”

“What about Scargill? Any sign of him?”

“Got a hunch he’s doped to the gills on an experimental dream-enhancing drug called CZ-149.”

“That rings a bell,” Dave said. “I think Katherine may have mentioned it.”

“It was developed at Frey-Salter under the direction of Dr. Maureen Sage, aka Amelia Netley. She’s an expert on psycho-pharmaceutical drugs. The stuff was probably based on whatever formula she used on the inmates at Brackleton. Lawson okayed some tests on it but halted the experiments because of the side effects. Later he transferred Sage out of the agency. She’s the woman he had the affair with. She was not a happy camper when she left. In hindsight, I think it’s probably safe to say she was seriously pissed.”

“What are the side effects of this CZ-149?” Dave asked in a subdued voice.

“I never tried it, personally. One of the first things I learned working for Lawson was never to volunteer for any of his damned experiments. But I heard that the CZ-149 makes it difficult for Level Five subjects to distinguish the boundaries between their dreams and waking reality.”

“That could get a little wild.”

“I’m told the confusion can last for hours. The stronger the dose, the longer it messes up your mind. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how Amelia is controlling Scargill. He may have been so desperate to regain his Level Five dreaming capability after he was injured that he’s allowing her to inject him with the crap.”

“What are you going to do? Call the cops?”

“I can’t take the risk. Amelia would kill Isabel in a heartbeat if she thinks she’s been double-crossed. But if I can get to Roxanna Beach ahead of schedule and without Amelia knowing that I’m in town, I might be able to do something before she realizes that I’m in the neighborhood. But I’m going to need your help.”

“You don’t need to ask twice. What do you want me to do?”

Ellis told him.

“Oh, man,” Dave whispered, awestruck. “I get to drive the Maserati?”

39

i know what your tsunami dream means,” Isabel said quietly. She sat on the floor in the corner of the old, tumble-down concession stand, her knees curled under her, hands tied behind her back.

Amelia had forced her into the back of the florist’s van at gunpoint. There had been no opportunity to shout for help or to attract attention because the van was parked in a little-used section of the parking lot behind the main building.

There had been an additional complication in the shape of a twitchy, mean, slightly crazy-looking little man in a black knit cap, black sweatshirt and black cargo pants. She assumed he was another graduate of the Brackleton Correctional Facility’s experiment in behavior modification. His name was Yolland and he seemed to think he was on a mission to thwart the actions of an agent who worked for a global corporation that was intent on polluting the environment.