For the most part, Bluestone had faded into the dusty storage drawer of the archives reserved for failed and/or potentially embarrassing government projects. Paranormal weapons? Psychic spies? Assassins who could kill without a trace? Get real. These days no sensible, ambitious politician or bureaucrat wanted to be associated with paranormal research. It was a guaranteed path to career disaster.

But if even a few of the rumors about Vortex were true, the old lab was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Victor sat forward and folded his hands on top of the desk. He had the intent, focused vibe of a hunter who has caught the scent of prey. “The chatter has been getting louder. What’s your interest in Vortex?”

“The same as yours,” Harlan said. “If that lab still exists, it’s extremely dangerous. We have to find it before someone else does.”

“ ‘We’?” Lucas repeated carefully.

“We,” Harlan said.

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Your father and your grandfather chased the rumors of Vortex for years. And now you’re after it. Why come to us?”

“I’m ninety-five percent certain I have a way to locate the lab,” Harlan said. “But I’m going to need some help.”

A great stillness settled on the room. For a moment no one moved.

“If you know where the lab is located, why did you come here?” Lucas asked.

“Because he doesn’t know where it is,” Victor said slowly. He did not take his gaze off Harlan. “He needs us to find it.”

“Not you, specifically,” Harlan said. “I need an oracle.”

Victor’s brows shot upward. “You make it sound as if there is more than one.”

“The talent is not common, but yes, there is more than one. I need the right one.”

Decision time. He took his phone out of the pocket of his rumpled trench coat and started toward Victor’s desk. He stopped when one of the paintings caught his eye. A chill of knowing iced his blood. The hair on the back of his neck lifted. He stared at the picture, riveted.

“Where did you get this?” he asked.

For a heartbeat he thought Victor would not answer.

“I picked it up at an auction,” Victor said. “It was cheap. There were no other bidders.”

The painting was unique in that it was not a traditional version of the oracle theme. Instead of a cavern, the hooded figure stood in the foreground of a vintage mid-twentieth-century laboratory. The instruments and devices on the workbenches looked clunky by modern design standards. They were studded with dials and switches. There were no computer keyboards, no monitors, no bright screens.

Several of the machines appeared to have been modified. A large paper chart on the wall was labeled Paranormal Light Spectrum.