Jayne Castle - Dark Light

"I did a very thorough inspection before I recommended to Fontana that he should go through with the deal," Harlan said. Pride reverberated in his voice. "Due diligence and all that. Yes, I found the hidden wall safe."

"How did you get it open?"

He chuckled. "That wasn't difficult. The former owner had grown quite senile. As an aid to his failing memory, he had written out the combination on a piece of paper and tucked it into a little space between the wall and the safe."

"You were already thinking about how to get rid of Fontana, weren't you? You never intended that he would be the boss for long. When you found the sector chart, you started to make your plans."

"Patterson and I knew that we couldn't afford to let Fontana remain in the executive suite. He was too smart and too set on cleaning up the organization. It was only a matter of time before he uncovered our juice operation. The plan was to wait a few months before we made our move, however. We thought we had time, you see. We assumed that it would take a while before he became suspicious of certain matters."

"Not to mention that the deaths of two Guild bosses in quick succession here in Crystal would have caught the attention of the other chiefs and the Chamber."

"Precisely."

"You must have been a trifle upset when you realized that not only did Fontana hit the ground running, he took my investigative reporting seriously."

"Upset?" Harlan's voice rose. "I was stunned. Horrified. No one ever pays any attention to the Curtain . When I realized he had invited you to do an interview, I notified Patterson at once. We met in the Guild parking garage. He tried to take care of you before you even got to the office that day."

"The car that almost ran me down."

"Yes. Sadly, he missed you."

"The next thing you knew, I was marrying Fontana."

"He thought he could throw the mantle of the Chamber around you and provide you with some protection. He was right. If there had been even an ounce of suspicion that you had been killed by someone in the Crystal Guild, the Chamber would have torn the organization apart."

"So when you decided to get rid of both Fontana and me, you had the Riders carry out the operation."

"The gang does have its uses."

"Because it has no obvious links to the Guild."

"This is your own fault, you know," Harlan hissed. "I didn't think it would be necessary to get rid of you at first. With Patterson removed and unable to talk, I hoped that Fontana would be satisfied. But his latest plan is simply too much. My patience is exhausted. I am forced to act."

"What are you talking about? What plan?"

"Fontana made it clear that he intends to put you in charge of the Foundation."

Sierra's intuition kicked in again. "You've been skimming money from the Foundation, haven't you?"

"I have always looked upon the Foundation's assets as my private retirement fund. So much more lucrative than the usual Guild benefits. I knew that as soon as you took over, it would be only a matter of time before you discovered that someone had been embezzling for years."

"Namely you."

"It was just too much. I felt something snap inside me. All I could think of was getting rid of you."

"Something snapped, all right. This is a really stupid plan. Fontana will figure out what you've done."

"You said it, yourself, Miss McIntyre. No one ever suspects an accountant. Or an executive assistant, for that matter."

She felt a little rush of psi. A few steps farther down she saw the faint green glow that marked one of the jagged tears in the tunnel walls. She knew very little about mag-rez guns, but the one thing she did know was that they did not function properly in the tunnels. Once she was through the hole in the quartz she would make a run for it.

When she reached the bottom of the stairwell, she stepped out on a floor of packed earth and moved toward the glowing opening.

"Stop," Harlan ordered.

She halted a couple of feet away from the entrance.

"What now?" she asked.

"The mag-rez is useless with all the psi inside the tunnels." He put the gun into his pocket.

Oh, yes, please . This was it, the chance she had been hoping for.

She took a step back, preparing to leap through the opening into the catacombs.

"From now on, I'll use this, instead," Harlan said.

There was a flash of ultraviolet ghost light. A three-foot-wide beam of energy shimmered into existence directly in front of her. It was so close that the storm of psi stirred her hair. She moved back hurriedly.

"The sixth generator," she said. "You had it all along."

"This one belonged to Jenner. Now, into the tunnels, Ms. McIntyre. I want to make sure you go so far in that you cannot possibly find your way out."

"Don't worry, I'll go into the tunnels without a fuss." She retreated toward the glowing entrance. "But I'm warning you, Fontana will find me."

"No one escapes the catacombs without tuned amber, Ms. McIntyre. You won't be able to find your way out without it, and Fontana won't be able to locate you, because you don't carry amber. You have no use for it."

She edged through the hole in the quartz. Relief, a sensation she had never expected to experience inside the catacombs, made her feel wired and jittery. Either Harlan had not seen the photo that Phil had taken on her wedding day, or else the little creep had failed to notice one very significant detail in the picture.

Feeling much more confident now, she watched him come through the opening. The ultraviolet energy beam came first. She retreated a few steps, keeping as much distance as possible between herself and the dangerous psi ray.

"Start walking, Ms. McIntyre," Harlan said.

She took a step back and then another, trying not to look too eager. After all, as far as Harlan was concerned, he was sending her to a certain death. She did not want to exhibit any actual enthusiasm.

"Go on, go on, move , you stupid woman." Harlan did something to the generator. The beam got stronger and larger. "Think of it as walking the plank."

She retreated more quickly. There was a vaulted tunnel entrance to her right. Spinning on her heel, she turned and dove for it.

"Wait, Where's your ring?" Harlan yelled. "Where's the damn ring you were wearing in that picture on the cover of the Curtain ?"

She heard his footsteps pounding down the adjoining corridor.

"Come back here," Harlan screamed.

"Oh, sure, like that's going to happen," she whispered.

She ran harder, clutching her purse with the ring inside like the life preserver it was. The seal ring thai Fontana had given her on their wedding day was set with a large chunk of amber that simply had to be tuned. No self-respecting Guild man would carry the untuned variety. More to the point, no Guild boss would give his wife untuned amber. True, she didn't know how to use it to find her way out of the tunnels, but as long as she held on to it, Fontana would be able to find her.

A dizzying maze of vaulted corridors stretched out before her. She chose one at random and ran flat-out.

She did not want to think about the dangers of illusion traps and stray ghosts. She just kept going. Fleeing into the maze was her only chance.

But when she risked a glance back over her shoulder, she saw the bobbing beam of ultraviolet energy rounding the corner. Harlan was somehow managing to keep track of her. Panic threatened her breathing. It wasn't supposed to work like that down here. Once you lost visual contact, you were lost, period. How was he keeping up with her?

Unwittingly, Harlan answered her question.

"You can't escape me," he shouted, coming toward her with the energy ray. "Jenner made sure that every Guild man was issued one of the new locaters, even those of us who work in the accounting department."