She looked startled. 'The other Guild bosses know that you've got a situation on your hands?'
'They do now. Trust me, they all want answers, not only about the drug operation but more critically about the possibility that something very important has been discovered in the rain forest and that the find has been concealed.'
She thought about that for a moment and then nodded. 'Okay, I can see where the other Guilds might want you to fix your own problems here in Crystal as fast and as quietly as possible. Does having the other bosses involved buy you some protection from whoever took out Jenner?'
'You're the one I'm worried about.'
She started so violently that she almost knocked over Elvis's coffee mug.
'Me?' she gasped.
'Ever been underground, Miss McIntyre?'
'Once on a school field trip.' She shuddered. 'I hated it. I'm claustrophobic. And the way the catacombs branch out in a thousand different directions like a maze, it's downright weird.'
'It's not for everyone,' he agreed. 'But aside from the alien nature of the design and the fact that it's easy to get lost underground, there are two basic kinds of hazards: the energy ghosts and illusion traps.'
'Everyone knows that.'
'When you started your series of investigations into the workings of the local Guild, you began playing with a very nasty illusion trap,' he said. He put a lot of quiet emphasis on the last two words. 'There's a good chance you might trigger it.'
Her eyes widened behind the lenses of her glasses. He knew she got the metaphor. When one of the ancient traps was accidentally triggered, the victim was instantly plunged into an alien nightmare. The feverish images were too bizarre for the human mind to cope with. The experience did not last long because unconsciousness and, in extreme cases, coma and death, soon followed.
She swallowed hard and clutched the arms of her chair. 'Do you really think that someone inside the Guild might try to kill me?'
'I'm not going to try to sweeten this, Miss McIntyre. The answer is maybe.'
'Nothing like a solid
'You could try packing your bags and leaving town—'
'No. I can't leave now. I've got to find out what happened to those missing men.'
'I thought you'd say that. I'm not sure leaving Crystal would keep you safe anyway. You've gone too far. I'm the only one who can offer you some protection.'
'Is that right?' she asked coolly.
'Believe it or not, people usually think twice about murdering a Guild boss's wife.'
'Because it would attract the attention of the other bosses?'
'The Chamber tends to frown on that sort of thing,' he said gently.
'Oh, jeez.' She gripped the arms of her chair again. 'You're serious, aren't you?'
'Very. In addition to the implied threat, there's another reason why marrying me will buy you some protection.'
'What's that?'
'Most people, including everyone in the Crystal Guild, will assume that I married you to shut you up.'
She bristled. 'You mean they'll assume you're doing what you have to do to keep Guild secrets, is that it?'
'Something like that.'
'If you think for one minute that you can keep me quiet once I'm your wife—'
'That's not the objective.'
'Really? Then what is the goal?'
'The idea is to join forces, Miss McIntyre. I've got my sources inside the Guild. You've obviously got a few of your own outside the organization. We need each other's help to conduct this investigation, and we need to work together covertly.'
She slumped back into her chair, bewildered now, rather than angry.
'I don't understand. Jenner mocked my reports. None of the other mainstream media picked up my stories, so I never got any traction with them. No one's afraid of me.'
'Jenner paid more attention than you knew. Now that he's gone, I think we should assume that the others involved in the cover-up may also consider you to be a problem.'
Excitement and determination lit her expressive face. 'So, there really is something big going on.'
'Yes.'
She leaned forward a little and lowered her voice, although there was no one around to overhear.
'Is it a conspiracy to conceal the discovery of an alien lab?' she asked.
'To tell you the truth, Miss McIntyre, I don't know what the hell is being covered up beyond the drug running. What I know for sure is that there have been at least a couple of suspicious deaths, including the PI hired by the Council, and Jenner himself. At this point, there are very, very few people I can trust within the higher ranks of the organization.'
'What makes you think you can trust me?'
He smiled slowly. 'Once you know what someone wants, you know whether you can trust that person. You also know how far you can trust him or her.'
She searched his face, intrigued. 'You think you know what I want?'
'You want answers. So do I. That means we can work together.'
She drew a long, steadying breath. 'Okay, in spite of some opinions to the contrary, I'm not an idiot. If you think I'm in danger, I want all the protection I can get. And you're right. I want to find out what happened to those missing men.'
He could feel the currents of energy that shimmered invisibly around her. She was definitely a woman of power. The question was, what kind?
She didn't wear amber, so she probably was not a standard para-rez talent. But there had always been stories of other kinds of talents, the sort that had nothing to do with alien psi and did not require amber, talents that occurred naturally in some people. Such psychic abilities were said to have existed since time immemorial, long before humans had gone through the Curtain.
'I made an appointment for us to pick up a Marriage of Convenience license at the registrar's office this afternoon at five o'clock,' he said.
She looked as if she might fall off her chair. 'You were that sure I'd cooperate?'
'Like I said, I know what you want. My job was to convince you that marrying me was the best way to get it.'
She shook her head, amazed. 'No wonder you became the new chief of the Guild. You're good.'
'Just think, you'll be going back to your office with the scoop of the week. 'New Guild Boss Weds Reporter.»
She wrinkled her nose. 'That's a little tame for the
'I don't care how the headline reads so long as you don't leave me standing alone at the registrar's office this afternoon.'
'My colleagues at the paper and my friends are going to have a lot of questions.'
'One thing I should make clear,' he said evenly, 'this arrangement will work best if we convince people it's for real.'
For the first time, she looked amused. 'You expect me to imply to everyone I know that you and I have been secretly involved for some time and just now decided to get married?'
'I think that would be the simplest approach, yes.'
'Get real.'
'No one will think it strange that we kept the relationship secret until now. It's a little awkward for a Council member to admit that he's dating a journalist who specializes in exposes of the Guild.'
She blinked and then frowned a little. 'Okay, I can see that.'
'Given your opinions of the organization, I'm sure your colleagues won't be the least bit amazed that you
