Jayne Castle - Ghost Hunter

Somewhere in the vast reaches of the jungle, creatures shrieked and screamed in warning and panic. Cooper heard a wild, chaotic fluttering of heavy wings.

Rain started to fall. He heard it first because it pounded against the canopy of tree leaves, creating a dull roar of noise. Then the water began to penetrate the leafy ceiling. It descended in a steady, unyielding torrent, drenching him. When he opened his eyes, he discovered that the mist created by the deluge was so heavy he could not see more than a few feet.

If he was half-blind now, so was Frazier. The only thing giving away their positions to each other was the luminous ghost energy they used as weapons.

He stopped pulsing power through amber and moved quickly into the nearest stand of trees.

Suddenly aware that he no longer had a target, Frazier ceased the barrage of energy arrows.

"You're a dead freak, Boone," Frazier screamed. "Do you hear me? You're dead . When this is over, the Aurora Springs Guild is going to be my private property. And so is your handpicked woman. I'm going to screw her as often as I like, and she's going to smile at me when I do it, because if she doesn't, I'll destroy her whole damn family. Just like I'm going to destroy your family, Boone. Got to save innocent people from blue freaks like you now, don't we? It's a prime responsibility of the Guild."

Cooper watched the little sparks of blue popping and snapping a short distance away. They were the only things he could see through the steady downpour. Frazier was so out of control he didn't even realize he was summoning the stray bits of blue ghost light, didn't realize that he was giving away his position.

Cooper pulled all of the energy he could out of the atmosphere and sent it smashing into the epicenter of the dancing blue lights.

He knew he had found his target when he heard Frazier scream. The shriek of pain and rage and fear seemed to go on for an eternity.

It ended with a shattering abruptness.

Cooper walked through the driving rain to the place where he had last seen the flickers of ghost light.

Frazier was sprawled on his back, his mouth open, dead eyes wide.

Cooper crouched to check for a pulse. There wasn't any. He rose.

"Elly?"

"We're up here," she shouted from somewhere off to his right. "Be down in a minute."

Rose reached him first. He heard the dust bunny's cheerful chortle before he saw her. She tumbled toward him through the rain, her wet fur plastered to her small, sleek frame. A bracelet fashioned of green and yellow stones swung from her neck.

He reached down to pick her up. "Lookin' good, gorgeous."

Elly emerged from the trees, Doreen right behind her. Both women were soaked to the skin.

The steely tension that had been driving him for the past half hour finally began to ease. Elly was safe.

Then he got a closer look at Doreen's face.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked.

"Long story." Doreen looked at Frazier's body. "Is he dead?"

"Yes," Cooper said.

"Excellent," Doreen said, supremely satisfied.

Elly hurled herself against him.

"I was scared to death when I saw all that blue ghost fire," she whispered. She tightened her arms around him as though she would never let him go. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. What about you?"

"I'm okay. Rose saved us by showing us the gate into this place."

"Let's save the explanations until later, okay?" Doreen urged them toward the opening in the wall. "We've got to get aboveground as fast as possible so that we can claim the most important underground discovery made since the First Generation settlers found the catacombs."

Elly pushed herself slightly away from Cooper. "You know something? You're right."

"Yep. And there's another thing here." Doreen winked one bruised eye. "At this point, as far as anyone knows, you, my friend, are the only person who can open and close that gate over there. If we play our cards right, this rain forest is going to make us all very, very rich. I suggest we hustle."

Elly laughed. "You do realize that we're going to have to share this find with Bertha Newell?"

"No problem," Doreen said, urging them toward the opening. "There will be plenty of money to go around. Elly, you'd better close up that opening in the wall after we leave. Don't want to take the chance that some other ruin rats will stumble into this jungle before we file our claim."

"All right," Elly agreed. She caught Cooper's hand.

Cooper looked at both of them. "Hate to rain on your parade, seeing that you're both already soaked and all, but we're going to have to deal with the cops before you can start in on the paperwork you'll need to file your claim on the jungle. We've got a dead body here."

Elly made a face. "And a famous detective who is sort of passed out on my kitchen floor. That will probably take a little explaining."

"No problem," Cooper said. "I'm a Guild boss, remember? I handle stuff like this."

Doreen frowned, suddenly looking distinctly wary. "That was quite a light show you put on in there. I'm guessing you probably melted amber."

"Mmm," Cooper said.

"Are you going to go out of control and turn weird on us before we get to the surface?" Doreen asked.

"Don't be silly," Elly said. Her hand tightened around Cooper's. "Guild bosses don't go out of control and turn weird."

"Not unless we're provoked," Cooper said.

AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER, DETECTIVE ALICE Martinez stood in Elly's kitchen watching two uniformed officers hoist a snoring Grayson DeWitt onto a stretcher.

Elly thought she detected amusement in Alice's dark eyes. There was no doubt but that the detective's mouth was twitching at the corners.

"He actually drank the tea you made for him?" Alice asked a little too neutrally.

"I didn't force him to drink it," Elly said quickly. "I made it, and I poured some for Doreen and me. He helped himself. Honest." She looked at Doreen, who was hovering nearby. "Isn't that right?"

"Absolutely," Doreen said earnestly. "Elly even warned him not to drink it."

Alice's brows climbed. "You warned him, Miss St. Clair?"

Elly cleared her throat. "I did say that if I were him, I wouldn't drink anything that had been brewed up by a person who was under suspicion for manufacturing drugs."

On the other side of the kitchen Cooper paused in his restless pacing. Elly noticed that the intense heat of his afterburn was starting to fade from his eyes, but now he was slipping into the inevitable exhaustion.

"Sounds like full disclosure to me, Detective," he said.

"It certainly does." Alice started to smile. "And yet our ace detective, Mr. Special Task Force, went right ahead and drank the tea." She was grinning widely now. "Oh, man, this is good. This is so rich. I can't wait until they hear about this down at headquarters."

Elly watched her closely. "Does this mean that you aren't going to arrest me?"

"For what? Making a pot of tea in your own kitchen and then telling Detective DeWitt that he shouldn't drink any?" Alice chuckled. "Don't worry, Miss St. Clair, no one's going to arrest you. In fact, on behalf of the rest of the detectives of the Cadence City Police Department, allow me to extend our thanks and appreciation. You don't know what a pain in the ass DeWitt has been in the past few months."

"In fairness, he had a little help along the way." Cooper gestured toward the journal he had found in Frazier's duffel bag. "I had a chance to glance at some of the notes he made. Looks like after resigning from the Aurora Springs Guild Council, Palmer Frazier went underground for a while and concocted a plan."

"Back home everyone believed he had moved to Frequency City," Elly explained.