The poisoned smoke was dissipating but the masks still taunted her and the costumes still swayed to music only the ghostly dancers could hear. The room whirled around Raine. Her stomach roiled. She could not be sick. Not now. She had to get out of there before Cassidy and Niki decided it was safe to enter the room. The alley exit was her only chance.

She inched forward, trying not to make any sound on the carpeted surface. The gleaming knob that spelled escape was almost within reach. A draft of fresh air was coming in under the bottom of the door. All she had to do was jump to her feet, yank the door open and run for her life.

Another peculiar sound intruded on the silently screaming voices. Someone was pounding on the front door of the shop, demanding admittance.

“It’s the clerk,” Cassidy snapped from the far side of the red curtain.

“She sees us,” Niki said, her voice rising. “Probably thinks the door got locked by accident. If we don’t open it, she’ll know something’s wrong.”

“Let her in. We’ll have to get rid of her. The other two didn’t see us but she’ll be able to give a description to Jones and the cops.”

“You said no guns.”

“I said no guns. I didn’t say no weapons. I’ve got a company product with me. A double dose will be more than enough to stop her heart.”

They were going to murder Pandora simply because she was an innocent bystander who had seen them. Rage crashed through Raine.

She heard the outer door open.

“Hey, thanks,” Pandora said. “Who locked the door? Where’s my boss? And the big man who was sitting in that chair?”

“Back room,” Cassidy said coolly. “They’ll be right out.”

Raine took one last gulp of the relatively untainted air seeping in under the door, surged to her feet and, holding her breath, half-stumbled, half-ran through the wispy vapor toward the crimson curtain.

Adrenaline drowned most of the pain that shot through her injured ankle. Not all.

She thrust the velvet curtain aside. Pandora was in the act of crossing the threshold into the shop. She held the pizza boxes in both hands. Cassidy and Niki were on either side of the front door waiting to jump on her as soon as they could get the door closed.

“Run, Pandora!” Raine burst out of the opening, heading toward the front door as fast as she could on her bad ankle. “They’re going to kill you. Get the cops. Run, damn it!”

Pandora hesitated, mouth open in surprise and confusion. Cassidy reached for her.

“Run,” Raine shouted again, putting every ounce of authority she could muster into the single word.

Pandora dropped the pizza boxes, whirled and fled straight out into the middle of the street. Horns honked. Tires shrieked. Drivers shouted. Somewhere in the distance a siren wailed.

“Forget her,” Cassidy said to Niki. “We’ve got to get out of here. The back door. Help me with the bitch.”

“Guess that would be me,” Raine said. She gave Cassidy a really super version of her special, patented screw you smile.

She did not stop. Fueled by desperation and fury, she continued her unsteady headlong rush. Cassidy and Niki were directly in her path. The plan, such as it was, consisted of ramming through them with enough force and momentum to carry her outside onto the sidewalk.

But her injured ankle gave out just as she reached the pair. She lost her balance and staggered wildly to one side, colliding with Niki.

The impact sent them both down in a tangle of arms and legs. Raine lashed out, frantically trying to free herself.

“Hold her still, damn it,” Cassidy ordered.

Raine caught a glimpse of a silver, pen-like object aimed at her neck.

But nervous Niki was in a full-blown panic now.

“This is crazy,” she screamed. “The cops are on the way. Do whatever you want, I’m getting out of here.”

She freed herself from Raine, lurched to her feet and streaked out through the front door.

Raine rolled away from Cassidy and grabbed the feet of the nearest mannequin, the one used to display the ballerina costume. She yanked hard and managed to topple the figure. It fell between her and Cassidy, who was forced to jump back out of the way.

“Damn you.” Cassidy’s face was a snarling mask of rage and frustration.

Raine rolled again. This time she grabbed Marie Antoinette’s elegantly shod feet and pushed with all her might.

“Eat cake and die,” she yelled at Cassidy.

Cassidy barely avoided tripping over the elaborate skirts. She suddenly seemed to become aware of the commotion going on outside the shop. She hesitated a fraction of a second, then evidently arrived at the sensible conclusion that the situation was not going well.

Whirling, she ran toward the red velvet curtain, whipped it aside and vanished into the back room.

Raine lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath. She heard the back door of the shop open, followed by frantic, scuffling sounds.

“No,” Cassidy shrieked. “Let me go, you fucking bastard.”

“If you hurt her, you’re a dead woman,” Zack said. His tone was lethally cold.

“Watch out for her pen,” Raine shouted.

There was a dull thud.

Zack appeared in the opening, an elegant black and gold fountain pen in one hand.

“Got one of my own,” he said, slipping it back into the pocket of his leather jacket.

Bradley slammed through the front door of the shop, gun in hand. Two uniformed officers followed him. One of them had Niki in handcuffs.

Bradley looked at Raine. “You okay?”

“Yes,” she said, sitting up cautiously. “I’m okay.” She decided to ignore the pain in her ankle for the moment.

“Cutler’s in the back room.” Zack jerked a thumb in that direction.

Bradley ran toward the other doorway, one of the officers on his heels.

Zack’s hands closed around Raine’s shoulders, his face hard. “Did she inject you with anything?”

“No.” Raine shook her head. “She used the smoke again, a lot of it, but she didn’t get a chance to shoot me up with anything.”

He pulled her close and hugged her so tightly she had to struggle to breathe again.

“There’s something very dangerous in that silver pen of hers,” she mumbled into his shirt. “She said two doses would kill Pandora.”

“I’ve got her pen. Bradley will search her for other weapons.”

“What about the smoke in the other room?”

“You can still smell it but there wasn’t enough left to affect me when I came through.”

“Calvin and the mayor?”

“Unconscious but alive,” Bradley announced from the doorway. “So is Cassidy. What the hell did you do to her, Jones?”

“Nothing permanent,” Zack said. He eased Raine slightly away from his chest, no more than an inch. “It’ll wear off in a few hours.”

“Guess I won’t ask any more questions on that subject.” Bradley moved farther out into the front portion of the shop. “Which one of them tossed that damned smoke bomb?”

“Probably Cassidy,” Zack said.

Raine blinked, startled, and opened her mouth to correct him. His arm tightened a little around her. She closed her mouth.

“How did you know we were in trouble here at the shop?” she said instead.

“Don’t ask me.” Bradley smiled wryly. “It was Jones who realized something was going down. Must be psychic.” He paused and then added quietly, “Like you.”