The Hot Zone (A Rainshadow Novel Book 3) Read Free Page A

wildly at the flames that were leaping from his shirtsleeve.
    “What in green hell?” Buzzkill paused in the act of trying to beat out the flames and turned to stare at Hulk.
    “The bitch set my shirt on fire.” Hulk clawed at his vest and T-shirt, ripping the clothes off his massive chest and shoulders. “It’s the heavy doses of the formula that Blankenship has been giving her. If she wasn’t crazy before he started his experiments, she sure is now.”
    “Stop her.” Buzzkill charged out of the cell. “Pull a ghost. Hurry, man. She’s getting away.”
    Sedona ran for the door. Lyle clung to her shoulder and urged her on with small hissing noises.
    She was only a few steps from the arched doorway of the lab when a ball of hot green psi-fire coalesced in front of her, blocking her path. She slammed to a halt, nearly dislodging Lyle. He recovered his balance and snarled at the violent energy ghost that Hulk had generated.
    The technical name for the dangerous ball of psi was UDEM—Unstable Dissonance Energy Manifestation. There was nothing of a supernatural nature about ghosts. They were composed of specific frequencies of Alien psi that those with a special talent could work.
    Pulling unstable dissonance energy out of the invisible currents of psi that flowed throughout the Underworld was, in Sedona’s opinion, the only thing Guild men were really good at. There was no doubt but that Hulk was a very powerful hunter. The seething ghost in front of her was the largest she had ever seen. The currents pouring off of it lifted her hair and raised goose bumps on her arms. A cold sensation shivered through her. A ghost this large could be deadly.
    “Got her,” Hulk said. He started toward Sedona, rage burning in his eyes. “You’re going to pay for that little fire trick.”
    “Be careful,” Buzzkill warned. “She already set fire to you once. She’s a gatekeeper. Everyone knows they’re weird to begin with. No telling what she is now that Blankenship’s been using the drugs and radiation on her. Knock her out with the ghost.”
    Hulk halted, clearly torn. But in the end self-preservation won out over damaged pride and anger.
    “Yeah,” he said. “The ghost will work just fine.”
    The ball of green energy started to drift toward Sedona. In another moment it would come close enough to burn her senses. She had some natural immunity because of her gatekeeping talent, but no one could withstand the full onslaught of a powerful ghost. The best she could hope for was that the unstable energy manifestation would merely render her unconscious. The worst-case scenario was that it would kill her.
    No, she thought, death wasn’t the worst possibility. She had already sustained one bad psi-burn in the Underworld. Another severe burn might send her into a permanent dreamstate. She would spend the rest of her life here in Blankenship’s lab or some low-rent para-psych ward. No question about it—death would be a better outcome.
    “This could go real bad,” Sedona said to Lyle. “Better run while you still can. Go on. Shoo. Get out of here.”
    She tried to pluck him off her shoulder and send him toward the door. But Lyle just growled and dug in his claws.
    “Okay,” she said. Her pulse pounded in her veins. “Looks like we’re a team. Neither of us leaves the other one behind, right?”
    Lyle rumbled.
    “Unlike some Guild bosses I could mention,” she added.
    The green ghost was drifting closer now, forcing Sedona to edge backward until she came up hard against an unyielding block of green quartz.
    Buzzkill and Hulk stood still, breathing hard, and waited for the green ghost to come into contact with Sedona’s aura.
    “Better not let it kill her,” Buzzkill said. “Remember, we need her.”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Hulk said.
    But Sedona could see the feverish excitement in his eyes and hear it in his voice. He was at the edge of his control. That was never a good thing but it was always really bad when it