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few seconds later, her face was stark with dread.

'He's gone,' she said. 'I've got to find him.'

'What makes you think he wasn't abducted, too?' Fontana asked.

'Because his bedroll is gone. He packed up and moved, maybe because he saw what happened to Jake.'

Chapter 14

AT THREE O'CLOCK THAT AFTERNOON, IVOR RUNTLEY charged into the newsroom bellowing and waving his hands. Accustomed as everyone was to his frequent bursts of excitement, nobody looked up.

Elvis, hovering above the coffee machine in his balloon craft, was the exception. He responded with his customary enthusiasm. He chortled and bounced up and down, nearly toppling out of the cardboard basket.

'Listen up, everyone,' Runtley shouted, 'the day's print run is sold out. We're getting flooded with requests for more details on the alien temple of love. Kay, I need another story about the secret hunter wedding-night rituals for tomorrow's edition.'

'Ask Sierra.' Kay did not take her eyes off her computer screen. 'She's the one who actually experienced the secret rituals in the alien temple of love.'

'Forget it,' Sierra said. 'I'm working on the alien abductions story. I've got some hot new leads.'

Runtley stopped, briefly stymied. Both stories promised to be grabbers. He made an executive decision.

'Kay, you'll have to do the secret wedding-night rituals piece. That's final.'

Matt grinned at Kay. 'Surely you got some inspiration last night when you went home with Ray Takashima. I saw the way you two were eyeballing each other.'

'All I got last night was a hangover,' Kay said primly. 'There was no inspiration of the sort to which you so crudely refer.'

'Maybe you just don't remember it,' Phil suggested.

Kay narrowed her eyes. 'In case you haven't read it, Ten Steps to a Covenant Wedding: Secrets of a Professional Matchmaker strongly advises against sleeping with anyone on a first date or a second or third, for that matter.'

Phil rolled his eyes. 'Don't tell me you're reading some dumb dating manual.'

'As it happens, my mother gave me the same advice,' Kay said in an acid tone.

'So did mine,' Sierra volunteered. 'It's very sound advice, if you ask me.'

They all looked at her.

'What?' she said.

Matt gave her an evil grin. 'Is that how you got Fontana to marry you? By holding out until after the third date?'

'Maybe you should write your own dating manual,' Phil said. 'Ten Steps to Marrying a Guild Boss.'

Sierra glared at each of them in turn. 'One more word out of either of you, and there will be no more cookies, ever.'

'Just trying to be helpful,' Phil said.

'That's enough, people,' Runtley snapped. 'This is a newsroom. Kindly act like professionals. Phil, get me a photo of the alien love temple.'

'Gee, boss, I dunno,' Phil said. 'According to Kay, the alien love temple is hidden away in some secret underground tunnel.'

'You're a photographer, damn it, I expect you to get creative. How hard can it be to figure out what an alien love temple looks like?'

'Well, I might be able to do something with the coffeepot and a couple of doughnuts,' Phil conceded. 'I'll get my camera.'

Sierra's phone rang. She pounced on it.

'I think we found Hank for you,' Simon said on the other end. 'Rumor is he's holed up in a bar on East Wall Street. Place called the Firewall Tavern.'

'Thanks, Simon. I really appreciate this.' She ended the call, yanked her purse out of the bottom desk drawer, and got to her feet. 'Got a lead on my missing source. I'll see you all later.'

She paused long enough to collect Elvis from the balloon basket and then flew out the door.

The last thing she heard was Phil making his customary announcement in a deep, resonating voice. 'Elvis has left the building.'

FONTANA LOOKED AT THE FILE SPREAD OUT ON THE DESK.

'Tanner's service records for the last six months of his Guild career are missing,' he said.

'Yeah, I can see that.' Ray flattened his palms on the desk and surveyed the file, grimly thoughtful. 'Occasionally paperwork goes astray, but under the circumstances, I've got to admit this looks a little strange.'

Fontana engaged the intercom. 'I need you in here, Harlan.'

The door opened. Harlan Ostendorf appeared, looking seriously concerned. It was an expression he did well, because it came naturally to him. Fontana suspected that he had probably been born looking seriously concerned. Harlan was now in his midfifties, and the lines engraved by his serious view of life had become indelible.

Harlan's serious approach to his work was one of the two reasons Fontana had pulled him out of the accounting department and promoted him to chief executive assistant immediately after Jenner had been forcibly retired. The second reason was that he hadn't trusted the man Jenner had installed in the position.

'Any reason why the file of a retired hunter named Jake Tanner might be missing the records for his last six months of service?' Fontana asked.

Harlan frowned, looking more serious than ever. 'No, sir. That doesn't sound right. But there are duplicates of all service records in Benefits. I'll send Dray down to get them for you.'

'Thanks.'

Harlan disappeared, closing the door quietly behind him.

'There's something else that happened six months ago that's starting to bother me,' Ray said. He opened another file. 'A hunter named Cal Wilson was killed in an apparent jungle accident He evidently fell into a ghost river whirlpool. Could be a coincidence. There was an investigation, but—'

'But Jenner signed off on the report declaring it an accident,' Fontana concluded, 'so we should take the results with a grain of amber.'

'I think so, yes.'

'We need to find out if there's any connection at all between Jake Tanner and Cal Wilson.'

Twenty minutes later, Harlan stuck his head around the edge of the door. His expression had moved from serious to somber.

'The duplicates in Benefits are missing as well, sir,' he said. 'I had Dray check the computer archives. They've been deleted from there, too.'

'Had a hunch that might be the case. Thanks, Harlan.'

Harlan retreated into the outer office, closing the door behind him.

Fontana considered the file. 'Damn, she was right.'

Ray's brows rose. 'Who was right?'

'My wife.'

It felt good to say that. My wife. The beginning of a real family of his own. No, don't go there. Too soon. Too many things can go wrong. Starting with the fact that her real family probably considered him no better than a mobster.

The door opened again.

'Sorry to interrupt, sir,' Harlan said. 'But I thought I'd better remind you of the annual Crystal City Charity