Jayne Castle - Bridal Jitters

She went rigid. Despair knifed through him.

"Virginia." He released her wrists and caught her head between his hands. "Damn it, Virginia. I want you so much."

She gave a muffled cry and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him feverishly. "I didn't mean to call you a stupid, macho jerk hunter."

"Don't worry about it." Relief surged through him. "Sometimes I am a macho jerk hunter."

"No." She clenched her fingers in his hair. "Never. I knew from the first day that you weren't a macho jerk hunter."

"Yeah?" He took her tender earlobe between his teeth and nibbled hungrily. "What was your first clue?"

"You were reading the Journal of Para-Archaeology instead of the latest issue of Sex-Starved Psychic Playmates."

"Lucky for me my subscription ran out three months ago," he said very fervently against her throat. "I never got around to renewing it."

She laughed softly. Her head tipped back against his arm. "Oh, Sam, do you really think this will work?"

"We'll make it work." Two years. He had two full years to make it work. He touched the edge of his tongue to the soft skin beneath the collar of her shirt.

She stiffened.

"Sam?"

"It's okay. Even without the skirts, I'm positive I'm dealing with the right lady here."

"No, wait." She planted her palms against his shoulders and pushed him away from her.

He stilled, aware that something was wrong. "What is it?

"Psi energy. I can feel it. Someone is trying to take down the big trap at the entrance to this zoo."

"Drummond's friends. So they did come looking, after all." The charge of sexual anticipation that had been arcing through him instantly transmuted itself into another kind of high-rez buzz.

"Wait here." He turned and went swiftly across the fountain room. He halted in the outer doorway and listened intently. Sound carried underground. So did the feel of psi energy.

He heard voices reverberating in the distance. They came from the vicinity of the entrance to the vast zoo chamber.

"… waste of time. Don't care what Drummond says. No way the S.O.B. could made it through that waterfall with the little lady tangler. No small-time security guy could be that good. Even if he was that good and even if he did make it through with her, he'd have one hell of an afterburn. He'll be wasted for at least another hour or two."

"We're working for Fairbanks, not Drummond. He said not to take any chances, and he's the one paying us. The orders were to check out every possibility in this damned corridor, so that's what we're gonna do. Now, shut up and untangle this trap."

"Okay, okay. Give me a minute. It's a big sucker."

Sam left the doorway and went to where Virginia stood waiting.

"Let's go." He took her arm.

"Where?"

"Up." He took her arm and started toward the emerald staircase. "It's easier to hunt when you've got the high ground."

"Whatever you say."

She followed him up the narrow, twisting steps to the next level. He saw the gloom-shrouded entrance to another chamber similar to the one below. An energy fountain cascaded silently in the center. Several more ornately carved chests were arranged in an artful manner around the room.

But the thing that interested him the most was the narrow window. He hesitated before he crossed the threshold and glanced at Virginia.

"Trapped?

She shook her head, frowning intently. "No. This room is clear. Maybe this was the zoo's souvenir shop."

"Or the visitors' room in the prison." He went to the window, braced one hand on the wide ledge, and looked down into the lane. "This will work. If they bother to search this far, I'll have a clear shot."

". . Got it. We're in."

"Shit. What the hell is this place? Look at all those little rooms. Some kinda cheap hotel, d'ya think?"

Virginia stirred hesitantly in the doorway. Then she walked slowly into the room, careful to keep a respectful distance from the energy fountain. "I don't like this."

"Don't worry. I've got a hunch that once they get a good look at all these little cubicles and realize how long it will take to search this place, they'll figure out something else to do. If they do get this far, I can handle them."

"I know that." She folded her arms very tightly beneath her breasts. "Sam, I'm afraid that tangler will try to de-rez some of the traps."

He sank deeper into the gloom and watched the lane. "So?"

"I told you, I don't think they should be touched. If he starts fooling around with some of them, looking for us—"

She broke off.

He gazed at her. "You're really worried about the nature of those illusion traps, aren't you?"

"Yes." Her mouth tightened. "I told you, there's something very, very strange about them. One way or another, they all seem to spell out Do Not Disturb in great big capital letters.

"Whatever didn't want to be disturbed is long gone, Virginia."

"I know, but it just doesn't feel right."

He shrugged. "Maybe that tangler down there will come to the same conclusion, and he and his hunter pal will leave us in peace."

"… Gonna take a couple of hours to go through this place room by room. Must be hundreds of little cubicles in here. And they're all trapped, I'm telling you."

"If they got this far, neither one of 'em would be in great shape. Gage will have crashed, and the tangler will be scared out of her wits. I'll bet they would have picked one of these little cubbyholes near the entrance. Start working, man. I'd rather find the bastard before he recovers from the crash. Easier to handle that way."

"Uh, Drake, I don't like the looks of these traps."

"I don't give a damn how they look to you. Start takin' 'em apart."

"There's something real weird—"

"Shut up and get to work, Chaz. Unless you wanna explain things to Fairbanks."

"Sure. Okay. I'm workin' on it."

"Oh, damn," Virginia whispered. "He's going to do it."

Sam took his eyes off the lane long enough to look at her. The stark alarm in her voice worried him. She was scared, he thought. Genuinely, thoroughly, deep-down scared.

"What is it with you and these traps?" he started to ask.

"Sam. ' Her eyes widened in sudden alarm. "Get down. Now."

"Take it easy, honey, I've got to keep watch—"

"He's got it. He's undone the first trap. I can feel it."

"It's okay—"

"No, it's not okay." She flew toward him across the room and seized his arm. "Get away from the window."

Automatically, he started to resist the tug of her fingers. But the urgency in her was not to be ignored. He reminded himself that traps fell into her area of expertise. They were partners. He had to respect her instincts.

He allowed himself to be drawn away from the window. She pulled him deeper into the room.

"Down," she whispered, dragging him down behind a large quartz chest. "Hurry."

He crouched beside her, the mag-rez gun in hand. "I hope you know what the hell you're doing."

Before she could respond, an inhuman shriek of mingled rage and despair rent the gloom of the alien zoo. It echoed endlessly off the walls. Sam froze, his hand tightening convulsively around the gun. Beside him, Virginia shuddered.

"What in the name of Old Earth…?" Sam whispered.

A very human shout went up, a high, keening cry of terror.

"There's something in there."

Chaz, the tangler, Sam thought.

"… Get outa here…"

Another alien scream rose, joining the crescendoing wail of the first. And then a torrent of screeches, shrieks, howls, and dreadful cries arose. There was a hellishly mournful quality to the unnatural sounds, as though whatever had once inhabited the small cells had been aroused from their centuries-deep sleep to protest the disturbance. The cacophony of otherworldly cries drowned out the screams of Chaz and Drake.