Chapter Twenty-Five.

The chauffeur taking Chate, Polly and Maria to their destination finally drove up to the enormous warehouse known as the Star Light Hangar. The building looked intimidating, silhouetted against the orange dusk sky, a giant monument to Star Light's dominance of the town.

On the way to the hangar Maria had explained a little about its history. While the studio's main complex was in Culver City, Star Light had bought this warehouse overlooking Burbank airport for the purposes of accommodating overflow productions, for providing extra office space and to store the numerous private planes owned by the company's executives.

The building faced directly on to one of the airport's runways, so was the perfect place to welcome visitors of importance who had recently flown in. Flying in over the HOLLYWOODLAND sign always made a good impression on sponsors.

A row of security guards stood in front of the warehouse while hundreds of people swarmed around it, trying to get a look inside, peering through windows and pleading with the guards to let them into the building. They could sense what was inside it, sense that the ones in charge of changing their lives were here, that the quickest way to bond with the new presence was in this building.

The chauffeur pulled the limo up to the side of the hangar and stopped the engine. A member of the crowd saw the car and pointed. Gradually, the rest of the mass of people began to look at it and soon they all began to make their way towards the vehicle.

Polly, Chate and Maria got out of the car and made their way towards the building.

Before they could get to the entrance door the crowd of people reached them and started grabbing their clothes. Polly felt a tug at her shirt.

'Oh, my God!' a woman said. 'It's Maria Coleman herself!

You must be her co-stars!'

The crowd began to babble excitedly. 'Maria! I love your pictures!' one man said.

'I can t believe you guys are here,' said another. 'Can I have your autograph?' A teenaged girl asked, thrusting a pen and autograph book into Polly's face. Polly scribbled her signature and pushed her way through the crowd.

As the people mobbed them, Polly felt a strange tingling sensation inside. She felt the creatures she had bonded with relaxing her, releasing chemicals into her skin that made her more appealing, more attractive and more confident. As she looked at the fans she felt loved, felt they all believed she was better than other people. There was no doubt about it, she had star quality and these people worshipped her for it.

'Excuse me,' Chate said loudly. 'Can you give us some space here, please?'

The crowd obligingly moved away, still chattering excitedly at the sight of the three newcomers.

'Go inside quickly,' one of the security guards at the door called to Maria. 'These your friends, yeah?'

Maria nodded then ducked under the barrier. Polly and Chate followed behind as the guards moved in to stop the crowd from doing the same. Maria directed her companions through a small door and closed it behind them.

Polly was impressed with the scale of the hangar. The roof seemed incredibly high from inside the building and bright spotlights attached to the ceiling swept beams of light across the interior, giving it a spooky feeling. Large windows at the top of the building let what remained of the daylight stream in, and film memorabilia were displayed along the walls. The whole front of the building was a giant open space containing several small aeroplanes that were being busily serviced by engineers and technicians. Behind the plane area was a row of smart-looking office huts and, when they got to them, Maria ushered her friends into a large double-storey one that stood at the front of the others. Roman-style pillars decorated its front and gold paint lined the frosted-glass windows.

Inside, the office had been painted a pleasant mint green and was brightly lit with filtered bulbs that gave it a relaxing ambience. Luxurious furniture was scattered through the room, and at one end Leonard De Sande sat behind a large, wooden desk, puffing slowly on a cigar and looking extremely smug and content.

His eyes lit up as he saw he had visitors. He snuffed his cigar out in an ashtray, pushed his chair back and stood up.

'Hi guys!' he said, striding over to the front of the office.

'Polly!' he said with a wide grin across his face. 'Dear Polly.'

He took her hand and gave it a gentlemanly kiss. 'It's so wonderful that we still have your support. You can't imagine what wonderful surprises I've got in store for us all tonight.'

'I'm looking forward to it.' Polly said. 'This really is a fabulous place you've got here.'

De Sande smiled. 'Well, we try.'

He looked at Chate and shook his hand. 'Hope you got some sleep, my friend.' Finally, he turned to Maria and opened his arms towards her. They hugged for a few seconds, then De Sande separated their embrace. Both of them looked slightly uncomfortable, slightly awkward. There was a strange tension in the air, and Polly felt the Selyoid essence inside her become agitated. Strong feelings of confusion were coming from somewhere in the room, and Polly couldn't help picking up on them.

Maria and De Sande looked awkwardly at each other, then suddenly De Sande pulled the actress towards him. Maria wrapped her arms around him and they began a warm, passionate kiss that seemed to last for ever.

Polly glanced across at Chate. His breathing looked heavy and his eyes were red, showing a tempest of confusion and jealousy.

She cleared her throat politely as De Sande and Maria disentangled themselves.

'Maria,' De Sande said softly, cocking an eyebrow. 'That was quite a kiss.'

Maria smiled. 'You've kissed me many times,' she said affectionately.

De Sande's face hardened. 'But you've never actually wanted wanted me to do it before,' he reminded her. me to do it before,' he reminded her.

The meaning of De Sande's words was just beginning to sink into Polly's mind when Chate exploded.

'You goddamned animal!' he shouted at De Sande. He ran over and grabbed the director by the neck. 'I'll kill you, you bastard!'

Polly ducked out of the way as De Sande struggled to escape from Chate's grip.

'Robert!' Maria screamed, desperately trying to pull him back. 'It's OK!' she screamed. 'It's OK! I realise the truth now! I realise that I love him!'

'Security!' De Sande gasped as the air drained from his lungs, 'Security!'

Chate's hands were clenched too tightly round De Sande's neck for the man's cries to be loud enough for the guards to hear them.

Chate looked at Maria, his eyes red with anger. 'What have you done?' he cried.

Maria clawed at him with her nails, doing her best to wrench him away from De Sande. 'Let him go!'

Polly felt helpless watching the struggle so she ran to the entrance to the office and called for the security guards.

She returned in time to see Chate tighten his grip on De Sande before throwing him to the floor. The director began gasping for air, desperate to get his breath back. Polly ran over to his desk and picked up a glass of water.

'Are you OK?' she asked as she sat De Sande up and handed him the drink. She looked up at Chate. 'Look what you've done!'

she scolded.

A couple of no-nonsense security guards came into the room.

'Get him,' De Sande wheezed, clutching his neck. The guards ran over to Chate and grabbed his arms, twisting them round and holding them tightly behind his back.

'I thought you loved me,' Chate growled angrily at Maria, tears flowing down his cheeks. 'I thought we had something special.'

She turned away from him, unable to look him in the eyes. 'I didn't want to hurt you,' she said, 'but we had to be sure of your loyalty. We had to make sure you'd stick with us. We wanted you to be part of us, so you could experience the joy of the Selyoids.

We sensed your potential, sensed how much you cared about me, and we knew you should join with us.'

Chate looked shattered. 'You've been playing with me.

Toying with my emotions.'

Polly was stunned by what she was hearing. Chate had seemed so confident, so secure... such a star. And all the time he was being tricked. She wondered whether he was the only one who had been manipulated.

'You made me think you had feelings for me,' Chate shouted at Maria. 'Yet all the time...'

'All the time it was just one big illusion,' De Sande said.

'One trick of the light.'

Chate glared at De Sande. 'Why?' he said angrily.

'Because you saw something you shouldn't have,' De Sande said, his voice still croaky but quickly recovering. 'You know who killed Harold Reitman.'

Chate looked confused, his face red with a rage of conflicting emotions. 'No,' he said. 'I don't...'

'Oh, you do,' De Sande said with machiavellian delight. 'You may not remember now, you may have blocked it out, but if you think hard enough.. I'm sure you'll recall seeing your father take an innocent man's life.'

'No,' Chate said. 'He thought I was the killer. It can't be him.'

'Wanna bet?' De Sande chuckled. 'He framed you, Robert.

He ribbed up his own son to save his skinny ass.'

'But why?' Chate cried. 'Why me?'

'Your father is known as a very public advocate of an organisation we both belong to called FOCAL. He was seen killing Reitman, and if that got out... Well, let's just say our organisation can't afford that kind of negative publicity at the moment. One of our most noted members a murderer?'

'If I did see it, then why didn't you kill me?'

De Sande cocked his head. 'What makes you think we didn't want to? Your father wanted a deal, tried to save your life. You should be grateful, you know.'

'But why? I wouldn't have done the same.'

De Sande shrugged. 'He's getting old. Maybe he's starting to repent his sins, maybe it's the Selyoids making him see things differently. Or maybe, despite everything, he's just still your damn father. He arranged to have you framed to save your life.

Knew there would be no questions asked. The LAPD really hate you, did you know that? Wallis knew he could have words with the DA to get you a gas-chamber bounce. Any testimony you gave against him could be ignored. So we let him go ahead.'

The guards were still holding Chate tightly, but he had collapsed in their grip, sobbing uncontrollably. 'If I'd known...

I'd have told them every damn thing.' He opened his eyes and looked across the room, the fire burning in his soul. 'He hurt me. He hurt me more than anyone, more than...' He looked over at Maria and shook his head, the will to live barely there.

'I knew you wouldn't care,' De Sande said, walking over to his desk, 'and I know that Wallis is starting to trip up. He's not as friendly with the DA as he thinks. If it went wrong, if you spilled the beans and FOCAL was linked... Well, we knew that you were still a liability, so I asked a friend of mine to fill you with daylight.'

Chate looked up and his mouth fell open. 'My God...

Revere? You're the one who sent Revere after me?'

De Sande put his hand into a drawer inside his desk and when he took it out was clutching a chunky-looking pistol. He aimed the gun at Chate.

'No!' Polly heard herself saying. De Sande threw her a look that told her to relax, to keep quiet. She felt the Selyoids inside her release soothing chemicals into her bloodstream, felt them pick up on De Sande's mood. The Selyoids told her that this was necessary, that she should watch, listen and learn.

'Don't shoot me!' Chate sobbed, staring down the barrel of the gun. 'Please don't shoot me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!'

De Sande shrugged. 'Neither did Martin.'

'It was an accident,' Chate mumbled.

'I know you, Robert, remember. The Selyoids inside you betray your feelings. You wanted him dead. It was all you prayed about every night. We can see it in your mind, we can feel it from your soul.'

'No,' Chate said, 'I used to think it, but I never meant it...

You're getting the signals confused, seeing the outside not the inside. I never meant to hurt him, he was trying to kill me!'

'We panicked when we felt Martin's death,' Maria said solemnly. 'When we knew you were on the loose. You don't know how pleased Leonard was when he realised who I'd met.

The poor dear had been looking everywhere for you. The moment we knew you were still alive we needed to find you, we needed to stop you from talking. And then you walked into that bar, and through the Selyoid essence in me Leonard recognised who you were, knew we had to get you to join us.'

'But why not kill me?'

'Because you killed my best friend,' De Sande said. 'I wanted to see you suffer, but the Selyoids wanted to use you as an example, to give you the opportunity for redemption. They wanted you to know the glory of being one with them.'

'When I first met you,' Maria explained, 'you had nothing to live for. No life, no friends, no home... Nothing. To kill you then... well what pain would you feel? How much would it hurt?'

'Whereas now,' De Sande said, 'thanks to the Selyoids, you have everything. You've got star quality, people love you. How much more painful will death be?'

Uncontrollably, and bizarrely, Chate burst out laughing.