Sizzle and Burn

when you get there. After you pick up your stuff from home, it will take you on to Seattle.”
    Company jet meant one of the Society’s private, unmarked corporate planes. Fallon commandeered one only on those rare occasions when he had a very hot situation on his hands.
    “I’m on my way,” Zack said.
    “That reminds me, when you pack?”
    “Yes?”
    “Be sure to add some hardware.”
    So Fallon thought he might need to be armed for the assignment. This was getting more interesting by the moment.
    “Understood.” Zack headed for the door.
    “Why the hell do you sound so cheerful?” Fallon asked, immediately suspicious. “You haven’t been in such a good mood in damn near a year. You smokin’ something, Jones?”
    “No. Let’s just say your timing is better than usual.” He lowered his voice. “You saved me from what was turning into a very long and extremely boring lecture on the future of the Society.”
    “Huh.” With his usual preternatural ability to connect the dots, Fallon put it together instantly. “Elaine Brownley on your case?”
    “Damn, Fallon, you must be psychic.”
    Fallon ignored that.
    “I just e-mailed you a file with some background on the Oriana case,” he said. “The data is sketchy. Sorry about that. You’ll understand why when you read it. By the way, the file is encryption grade three.”
    Zack felt another little rush of adrenaline. An encryption grade three explained the company jet and the urgency in Fallon’s voice. Lately he pulled out all the stops only when the matter involved the dangerous organization he had recently dubbed Nightshade.
    Until the Stone Canyon case, Fallon had referred to the shadowy group of powerful psychic criminals as a cabal. But Stone Canyon changed all that. In the wake of the affair it became obvious that the group was not composed of a small number of closely linked conspirators. It was, instead, a highly disciplined mob-like organization run by a ruthless inner circle and a director. Nightshade had proven that it was willing to kill to achieve its objectives.
    “I’ve got my computer with me,” Zack said. “I’ll read the file in flight.”
    “I wish you didn’t sound so damn cheerful,” Fallon muttered. “Makes me nervous.”

Three
    Z ack finished the file shortly before the small jet touched down at the Sonoma County Airport. He spent the drive home to the quiet house in the wine country thinking about what he had read, searching for weaknesses, concocting a strategy.
    He talked to Fallon while he threw some things into a duffel bag and retrieved his gun and holster from the small floor safe.
    “You didn’t tell me the subject of the file was Judson Tallentyre’s daughter,” he said.
    “Didn’t have time to go into detail. Figured you’d do better reading it in context.”
    “Some context.” He zipped the duffel bag shut.
    “Now you know why I’m in a hurry. This is big, Zack. I can feel it.”
    “I’m not arguing with you.” He picked up the duffel bag and started toward the door. “Tell me about the trips to Vegas.”
    Fallon snorted. “Obviously Raine Tallentyre has a serious gambling habit.”
    “According to the file, she rarely went to Vegas until about a year ago. Then it became a monthly routine.”
    “She sure as hell wouldn’t be the first sensitive to develop a taste for the casinos. Amazing how many folks forget that the laws of probability and plain old random chance are not automatically suspended just because someone with a little psychic talent decides to roll the dice.”
    “She plays cards, not roulette or craps. Blackjack. Never goes to the same casinos two months in a row. Never wins big enough at any one casino to draw the attention of security. But according to your info, she must have taken home close to a hundred thousand dollars during the past twelve months.”
    “Okay, so she’s good.” There was a shrug in Fallon’s voice. “Maybe you’ll be able to use that information.”
    “You’re sure you don’t have any more on the aunt?”
    “You’ve got everything I’ve got. Vella Tallentyre was Judson Tallentyre’s sister. She was a level-eight clairaudient. Heard voices. Started to suffer prolonged bouts of depression in her early thirties. She was eventually institutionalized last year. Died of a heart attack on the twentieth of last month.”
    “The same day that Lawrence Quinn disappeared from Oriana.”
    “You see now why I’m getting nervous here?” Fallon