Sierra moved slowly through the space and shook her head. “This whole place is infused with energy. Everything in this lab is an artifact.”

“Keep looking. Griffin concealed this chamber for a reason.”

Sierra stopped halfway along a workbench and studied what looked like a vintage radio.

“Hmm,” she said.

North watched her strip off one leather glove and gingerly reach out to touch the radio.

“Damn.” She gasped and jerked her fingers off the radio as if it were red-hot. “If this isn’t your tuning crystal I’d be happy to take it off your hands. Whatever it is, it’s worth a fortune on the underground market.”

“Everything in here is technically the property of the Foundation, remember?”

“Yeah, right. It was just a thought.” Sierra pulled on her glove. “I’m trying to run a business, you know.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be well paid for this job.”

“Remind Victor Arganbright of that when he complains that I padded my invoice by adding the cost of a brand-new SUV.”

“I will.”

North went down the aisle and stopped at the radio. He could feel the power trapped inside before he touched it. It spoke to him in a thousand shades of darkness.

He took the screwdriver out of his small tool kit and went to work on the back plate of the radio.

A moment later he lifted it off and set it aside. A gray crystal the size of a fist occupied most of the interior space. But unlike the crystal in Loring’s machine, this one was hot. Very, very hot.

“This is what my grandfather died trying to protect,” North said. “The second tuning crystal.”

Sierra shivered. “I can sense the energy in it. Is it tuned to your grandfather’s signature?”

“No,” North said. “This crystal was originally designed for someone else to use.”

“Crocker Rancourt.”

“Most likely.” Gently, North inserted the crystal back into the radio. “It’s obvious that when Griffin began to get suspicious of Rancourt he switched out the crystals. Rancourt ended up with the one that was engineered for Griffin to use.”

“That’s the one we found in Loring’s lab. The crystal that was shattered.”

“Because Loring tried to make it work on the Puppets,” North said. “But that attempt was doomed to fail eventually. This is the crystal he needs, the one tuned to Rancourt’s signature.”

“Now what?”

“Now we do a deal.”

Sierra eyed him warily. “What deal?”

North’s eyes heated. “I’ve finally got something that Loring wants. I’m going to offer him this live crystal in exchange for the weapon that was used on my dad.”

“And just how do you propose to do that?”

North smiled an ice-cold smile. “The usual way. I’ll hire a go-between.”

Sierra groaned. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Okay, I can try asking Mr. Jones to set up a deal, but there’s no guarantee that Loring will go for it.”

“He will. I told you, he’s obsessed with this thing. Let’s get out of here.”