Canyons of Night

use someone with your professional background.” She paused a beat. “And your talent.”

Charlotte sat down next to Slade and propped her slipper-clad feet on the table. He put his arm around her and allowed himself to relax into her warm, bright energy.

“I’ll be staying here on Rainshadow,” he said. “Nice little town. I like the job. It suits me. So if I can do you any favors from here, let me know.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that,” Marlowe said. “But are you sure you want to stay on that hunk of rock there in the Amber Sea?”

Slade thought about the deep certainty that had been coalescing inside him ever since he had arrived on the island.

“I’m sure,” he said. “Good night, Marlowe.”

“See you at the wedding,” she said.

“I’ll be bringing a date.”

“Good,” Marlowe said. She sounded like she meant it. “That’s wonderful.”

He closed the phone and reached for a sandwich.

Charlotte watched him closely. “You told her you would be staying on Rainshadow.”

“I did, yes.” He took a large bite out of the sandwich.

“I’m glad,” Charlotte said. “The island needs you.”

He swallowed the bite of sandwich and looked at her. “Think so?”

“We both know now that there is something stirring out there in the Preserve. Someone needs to keep an eye on the situation. Who better than a former special agent of the FBPI?”

“I didn’t make the decision to stay on the island because of the Preserve.” He put the uneaten portion of the sandwich back on the plate. “I made it because of you.”

Charlotte went very still. “Are you certain?”

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. The day I walked off the ferry and found you waiting for me I knew it in my bones. It was as if I’d spent the past fifteen years trying to get back to you. If you leave the island, I’ll leave with you. But as long as you’re staying here, I’m staying, too. You’re my future. I love you.”

Her smile and her eyes were suddenly luminous. “Oh, Slade.”

“For most of my life, home was always where I happened to be at any given time. But when I saw you at the ferry dock last week, I knew that home is where you are. The trouble was that I had nothing to offer you. I thought I was going psiblind. The last thing I wanted from you was pity. So I tried to tell myself that I could handle a brief affair and then walk away before you realized what was happening to me.” He took a deep breath. “But I don’t know if I could have done that.”

She touched the side of his jaw with gentle fingertips. “You would have because you would have told yourself that it was the best thing for me. And then I would have had to chase after you, which would have been very embarrassing.”

“But you would have come after me?”

“In a heartbeat,” she said. “I love you. I knew that we were meant for each other the day I watched you walk off the ferry. Actually, I knew it fifteen years ago but I told myself that it was just a teenage crush. Now I know better. It was the real thing.”

A strange, heady sensation unfurled inside him. It took him a heartbeat to recognize it because he had kept it locked away in the deepest part of his being for so long. But now that he could set it free he could give it a name. Joy.

“You were always there in the back of my mind,” he said. “That was why I kept the pocketknife that you gave me the morning I left town. It’s the only thing I’ve ever hung on to in my life. And now I’m going to hang on to you. I’ll never let go.”

“And I’ll never let go of you,” she vowed.

He drew her close and kissed her. The warm, bright, abiding energy of love shimmered in the atmosphere around them.

Chapter 31

RANDOLPH SEBASTIAN TOOK THE PHONE CALL HE HAD been dreading ever since he had taken the helm of Sebastian, Inc., and been entrusted with the family secrets.

“This is Sebastian,” he said.

“Slade Attridge. I’m the new chief of police here on the island.”

Randolph tightened his grip on the phone. A chill of intuition went through him. He could tell from Attridge’s cold, controlled voice that the new police chief was a man to be reckoned with and, quite possibly, a problem.

“My assistant advised me of your identity when she put through the call,” Randolph said. “What can I do for you, Chief Attridge?”

“According to the notes left by one of my predecessors, your family controls the Rainshadow Preserve Foundation.”

“That’s correct.”

“Something is going on inside the Preserve,” Slade said. “I need to know what is happening in there.”

Alarm flashed through Randolph. After all these years the secrets of the Preserve were stirring.

“Has a section of the fence failed?” he asked. But he knew even as he asked that he was grasping at straws. “I can send out a repair crew.”

“The fence is holding, at least as far as I know.”

“I don’t understand. Has someone gotten through it? That fence was made more secure by our security people five years ago after a couple of trespassers managed to get inside. Has there been another intrusion? Do you need a search-and-rescue team?”

“No, I need answers. What does that fence protect?”

Randolph tightened his grip on the phone. He got to his feet and walked to the window of his office. He stood looking out over the city of Cadence. The headquarters of Amber Sea Trading was a modern business tower located on the outskirts of the city’s old Colonial-Era Quarter. Randolph had an excellent view of the ancient alien ruins in the heart of the city. The green quartz walls and ethereal towers sparkled in the sunlight as if they had been made of emeralds. At night the Dead City glowed with green psi, giving off enough light to illuminate the streets of the Quarter.

The time had come to make a decision, Randolph thought. He had to go with his intuition.

“The short answer to your question, Chief, is that I don’t know what the fence is guarding,” he said.

“That’s not good enough. I’ve got a town to protect.”

“I assure you, the people of Shadow Bay are safe as long as they refrain from trespassing inside the Preserve,” Randolph said. “But it is imperative that no one goes through the fence.”

“You know as well as I do that a No Trespassing sign is an irresistible attraction for some people.”

“The fence is virtually impenetrable.”

“No,” Slade said. “It’s not. Earlier this week I had to go in and pull out a couple of teenagers.”

“What?” A terrible sensation swept through Randolph. It took him a second to recognize it as a flash of panic. “Two kids got in? You went in? You were able to find them? I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it,” Slade said. “I need to know what I’m up against here. If this requires the evacuation of the island I’m going to have to contact the authorities. And I’m going to need some real good reasons to give them.”

“I can’t give you any reasons,” Randolph said, “because I don’t know what is going on inside the Preserve. All I can tell you is that everyone is safe so long as they stay out.” I hope, he added silently.

“I want answers.”

“I will send the head of Sebastian Security to investigate and assess the situation immediately. He’ll be on the island tomorrow.”