Penumbra (Spook Squad 3)

He studied her, his face unreadable. “And Blaine?”

“As I said, I think he was here to confirm his suspicions. Mary worked in the nursery. She’s probably the only one left alive who has any true knowledge about me and Joshua.”

“Did you ask her about Sethanon?”

Sam nodded. “She didn’t know anyone by that name, but said that Joshua was punished once for reading a book with that title.”

“A book? He named himself after a book?”

“Well, if Sethanon is actually Joshua, then yes. But it’s a bit of a long shot, isn’t it?”

Gabriel shrugged. “We’ve never been able to find a birth record for someone with that name, so it has to be an alias. And there’s no rule stating an alias can’t come from a book title.”

“But if J

oshua is this Sethanon of yours, then how has he managed to remain unknown so long?”

“I think the only people who might be able to answer our questions are Blaine and Lloyd,” Gabriel said. “Both of them were involved in the Penumbra project.”

“And neither of them will be inclined to be forthcoming.”

“I agree.” Gabriel hesitated. “Look, let’s get Mary moved; then we can talk some more.”

Sam studied him for a moment, again noting the sudden edge in his voice. “About what, exactly?”

“About crows. The one seen here, and the people you know who are crows.”

“Why do I get the sudden feeling I’m not going to like the direction of this conversation?”

“Probably because you won’t.” His expression was suddenly grim. “Remember when I mentioned Kathryn Douglass being murdered, and a crow feather being found at the murder scene?” When she nodded, he said, “There was something else, too—a warning about not reviving Penumbra written in blood on the wall. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I think that either your brother or the man you’ve been in psychic contact with is a murderer.”

ELEVEN

“BUT WHY WOULD EITHER OF them want to murder Douglass when she had nothing to do with the Penumbra project?” There was no surprise in her voice, no anger. No emotion at all, really, except perhaps a tiny hint of weary resignation. As if this was just another shock in a day that had already provided several.

Gabriel shrugged. In truth, he had no answer to that question, and certainly no proof yet that the feather they’d found in Douglass’s apartment was linked to either the man from Sam’s past or the man in her telepathic journeys. All he had was suspicion and a feeling that his guess was the correct one.

“She was in contact with both Blaine and Lloyd on an operational level. I suspect they had actually begun work on a project similar to Penumbra, and your brother or psi buddy discovered it. Hence the warning on the wall.”

She studied him for a moment, then said, “Why would Pegasus be employed to revive a project like Penumbra? Wouldn’t the military want that sort of project under its own control?”

“Pegasus worked in conjunction with the military on a number of projects. Given the warning also said that Douglass was told not to proceed with the project, it suggests that maybe she was the reason behind its revival. We’ll never know for sure now, given that she’s dead.”

“And it’s not like the military will tell us,” Sam said. “But the thing is, Penumbra was totally destroyed. It wasn’t just the buildings, but most of the personnel and all the research materials, so neither Pegasus nor the military should have been able to revive it.”

“Unless Douglass somehow came across research material relating to shadow walkers. If Karl has documents on it, there’ll be other stuff out there as well. Maybe she started research, and then went to the military.”

“But even then—”

“It might not have amounted to anything,” he finished for her. “Except for the fact that they’d discovered the possibility that one of their test subjects had survived the destruction.”

And that, he realized suddenly, was what the explosion at the Pegasus Foundation had been about. Those in control of Penumbra had been under the impression that fire was Sam’s element to control. They’d intended to use her reaction to the firestorm at Pegasus to test whether or not she was who they thought—and then the med check afterward would have confirmed it. But then, why had they gone ahead with the test when he and Illie had shown up instead?

Had Douglass been confused as to the identity or sex of the test subject? Or was there, as Illie had suggested, a deeper reason for him and Illie being given the test anyway?

And what would they have done if the two of them had died that day?

It was probably something they would never know, since Douglass was now dead. And Blaine and Lloyd were not likely to be fonts of information.