Jayne Castle - Dark Light

"Was it Jenner's idea to form a partnership with the Riders?"

Troy nodded. "Got to hand it to him. It was a brilliant move. He said we couldn't risk trying to recruit Guild men to sell and distribute the juice. He was right. You and some of the others on the Council would have heard the rumors. Also, it would have been a PR disaster if the cops had started arresting hunters and charging them with dealing the latest street drug."

"But everyone knew the Riders were already established in the drug dealing business. It's no big deal whenever one of them gets snagged by the cops."

"One of the problems we discovered straight off was that the juice only works well on people with strong para-resonating talents. That limited our market to hunters. We focused on retirees and guys living on the streets."

"At some point Cal Wilson proved to be a problem, didn't he?"

"The stupid son of a ghost tried to blackmail me," Troy said. "He wanted a bigger piece of the action."

"So you killed him."

"I had no choice. Tanner was much easier to handle. He was a solid Guild man. I told him that the ghost juice fountains were a deep, dark, Guild secret. That was fine by him. All he cared about was his next fix. I made sure he got it. He couldn't handle his Guild work anymore, though, so he was forced to resign."

"You kept him alive because you knew you might need him again someday."

"You know how it is with those damn ghost rivers. You de-rez one, and two weeks or six months later, the currents come back."

"That's just what happened this week, wasn't it? The river came back, blocking access to the ruin. So you picked up Jake Tanner and took him back down into the jungle to get rid of it."

"He had to come out of his drug haze to do the job. He looked around and saw the other washed-up hunters we were using for labor. I realized that if he went back to the surface, he would start talking."

"So you made him one of the prisoners."

"We're always short of labor underground," Troy agreed. "In fact, I intended to pick up a few more burnouts this week. I had plans to expand the business to the other city-states. But you've ruined all that."

"Why did you murder Jenner?"

Troy shrugged. "I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I was going to get rid of him after you fried him, but I never got the chance. He died from a stroke, just like the doctors said. I am, however, going to kill you."

"You want my job."

"Oh, yes," Troy said. "I want your job. And I'm going to get it, too. The Council will be only too happy to give it to me when I prove to them that you were running the drug lab."

"Shooting me here in your office is going to be a little messy. Bound to raise a few questions, don't you think?"

"Self-defense. You threatened me because you knew I was going to report your drug operation to the Council." Troy raised the mag-rez. "I had no choice."

Ultraviolet light flared, bathing Troy in waves of heavy psi. Shock etched his features. His hand clenched spasmodically on the grip of the mag-rez, but it was too late. The weapon's sophisticated technology died, under the impact of the energy beam. Simultaneously every light in the room crackled and winked out. The computer screen went dark.

Fontana removed the ultragenerator from the pocket of his raincoat. He looked down at the unconscious man. "You were wrong. You did have a choice."

HE COMPLETED HIS SEARCH OF THE OFFICE A SHORT TIME later. There was one ultragenerator in the hidden floor safe. That made a total of five recovered. One was still missing.

ELVIS WAS SITTING ON SIERRA'S DESK, ATTIRED IN HIS flower-patterned shirt, the small lei around his neck. Kay gave him an affectionate pat and then looked at Sierra.

"Time is running out for tomorrow's edition," she said. "We can't wait much longer for Fontana and Ray. We need to come up with a cover. Runtley says we should go back to basics."

Sierra eyed her warily. "Basics?"

"Sex. We need a new angle on the jungle honeymoon."

"Forget it. You've run that angle into the ground."

"Come on," Kay urged, "I'm just doing my job here while we wait for the big story. Fontana and Ray have been gone for nearly two days. Who knows when they'll get back? We need to fill space in tomorrow's edition."

"Fontana promised that he and Ray would only be gone for forty-eight hours."

"It was an estimate. You know that. Something might have come up."

Sierra shuddered. "Don't say that. I didn't sleep at all last night."

Kay made a face. "Neither did I. Kept thinking about Ray down there in the rain forest, wondering if he was okay and what he was doing."

"You're falling for him, aren't you?"

"What's not to fall for? Not only is he hot, he doesn't make a running joke out of my career as a journalist here at the Curtain . That makes him unique among men in my experience."

Elvis suddenly chortled and started to bounce around on the desk.

The anxiety that had kept everything inside Sierra tight and tense for the past two days metamorphosed into shattering relief. She flattened both hands on her desk and pushed herself to her feet.

"I think we've got our big story," she said.

She scooped up Elvis, plopped him on her shoulder, and headed for the door.

"What's going on?" Matt asked.

"They're back," Sierra said.

The door opened before Sierra got to it. Fontana walked in, dark hair damp and long, black raincoat swirling around the tops of his boots. He smiled a quick, triumphant smile when he saw her rushing toward him.

"Got a story for you," he said, opening his arms.

"It's about time you got back," she said.

She flung herself against his chest with such force that Elvis lost his grip. Momentum launched him forward. He landed nimbly on Fontana's shoulder and began making happy, welcoming noises.

Fontana's arms closed fiercely around Sierra. She hugged him with all of her might.

"I've been so worried," she whispered into his wet raincoat.

Ray moved through the doorway behind Fontana. He grinned at Kay.

"Hey, do I get a warm welcome, too?" he asked.

"If you want one," Kay said.

"Oh, yeah," Ray said. "I definitely want one of those."

Laughing, Kay crossed the room and went into his arms.

"Enough with the sappy greetings," Runtley bellowed from out in the hallway. "What's our exclusive?"

Fontana loosened his grip a little, but he kept Sierra tucked firmly against his side. He looked at Runtley.

"Here's your headline," he said. " 'Agents of the Crystal Guild Dismantle Underground Drug Operation.»

"Nah," Runtley said. "Needs more punch. We'll go with 'Guild Agents Destroy Alien Drug Lab.»

"Why didn't I think of that?" Fontana said.

"Because you're a Guild boss, not a newspaper editor," Runtley explained kindly.

"DO YOU REALIZE," FONTANA SAID. TOSSING ASIDE THE wine cork he had just removed from the bottle, "that this is the first time in our married life that we've sat down to dinner together?"

"Given that the length of our marriage can be measured in days and hours, not months or years," Sierra said, "that's not terribly amazing."

She set the platter of roasted asparagus on the table next to the grilled Crystal River salmon. The highly prized salmon, available only a few weeks each year, had taken a serious bite out of her credit card, but she refused to even contemplate the expense. This was, as Fontana had just pointed out, their first dinner alone. The real question was how many more dinners they would enjoy together. But she had promised herself that, for tonight at least, she was not going to think about the future.

"Still, it's an occasion." He dropped an intimate little kiss on the back of her neck as she went past him into the kitchen. "Should I pour Elvis a glass of wine?"