Chapter 33
ELVIS WAS SITTING ON SIERRA'S DESK, ATTIRED IN HIS flower-patterned shirt, the small lei around his neck. Kay gave him an affectionate pat and then looked at Sierra.
'Time is running out for tomorrow's edition,' she said. 'We can't wait much longer for Fontana and Ray. We need to come up with a cover. Runtley says we should go back to basics.'
Sierra eyed her warily. 'Basics?'
'Sex. We need a new angle on the jungle honeymoon.'
'Forget it. You've run that angle into the ground.'
'Come on,' Kay urged, 'I'm just doing my job here while we wait for the big story. Fontana and Ray have been gone for nearly two days. Who knows when they'll get back? We need to fill space in tomorrow's edition.'
'Fontana promised that he and Ray would only be gone for forty-eight hours.'
'It was an estimate. You know that. Something might have come up.'
Sierra shuddered. 'Don't say that. I didn't sleep at all last night.'
Kay made a face. 'Neither did I. Kept thinking about Ray down there in the rain forest, wondering if he was okay and what he was doing.'
'You're falling for him, aren't you?'
'What's not to fall for? Not only is he hot, he doesn't make a running joke out of my career as a journalist here at the
Elvis suddenly chortled and started to bounce around on the desk.
The anxiety that had kept everything inside Sierra tight and tense for the past two days metamorphosed into shattering relief. She flattened both hands on her desk and pushed herself to her feet.
'I think we've got our big story,' she said.
She scooped up Elvis, plopped him on her shoulder, and headed for the door.
'What's going on?' Matt asked.
'They're back,' Sierra said.
The door opened before Sierra got to it. Fontana walked in, dark hair damp and long, black raincoat swirling around the tops of his boots. He smiled a quick, triumphant smile when he saw her rushing toward him.
'Got a story for you,' he said, opening his arms.
'It's about time you got back,' she said.
She flung herself against his chest with such force that Elvis lost his grip. Momentum launched him forward. He landed nimbly on Fontana's shoulder and began making happy, welcoming noises.
Fontana's arms closed fiercely around Sierra. She hugged him with all of her might.
'I've been so worried,' she whispered into his wet raincoat.
Ray moved through the doorway behind Fontana. He grinned at Kay.
'Hey, do I get a warm welcome, too?' he asked.
'If you want one,' Kay said.
'Oh, yeah,' Ray said. 'I definitely want one of those.'
Laughing, Kay crossed the room and went into his arms.
'Enough with the sappy greetings,' Runtley bellowed from out in the hallway. 'What's our exclusive?'
Fontana loosened his grip a little, but he kept Sierra tucked firmly against his side. He looked at Runtley.
'Here's your headline,' he said. ' 'Agents of the Crystal Guild Dismantle Underground Drug Operation.»
'Nah,' Runtley said. 'Needs more punch. We'll go with 'Guild Agents Destroy Alien Drug Lab.»
'Why didn't I think of that?' Fontana said.
'Because you're a Guild boss, not a newspaper editor,' Runtley explained kindly.
Chapter 34
'DO YOU REALIZE,' FONTANA SAID. TOSSING ASIDE THE wine cork he had just removed from the bottle, 'that this is the first time in our married life that we've sat down to dinner together?'
'Given that the length of our marriage can be measured in days and hours, not months or years,' Sierra said, 'that's not terribly amazing.'
She set the platter of roasted asparagus on the table next to the grilled Crystal River salmon. The highly prized salmon, available only a few weeks each year, had taken a serious bite out of her credit card, but she refused to even contemplate the expense. This was, as Fontana had just pointed out, their first dinner alone. The real question was how many more dinners they would enjoy together. But she had promised herself that, for tonight at least, she was not going to think about the future.
'Still, it's an occasion.' He dropped an intimate little kiss on the back of her neck as she went past him into the kitchen. 'Should I pour Elvis a glass of wine?'
'He prefers Curtain Cola. It's the caffeine.'
'I saw some in the refrigerator. I'll get it.'
'What's going to happen to Troy Patterson?' she asked.
Fontana's face hardened. 'The doctors say that if or when he wakes up, he'll probably spend the rest of his life in a parapsych ward. But if he does recover, he'll go down for the drug operation.'
'So the ghost juice was just flowing and bubbling out of some fountains inside that ruin?'
'Right. The alien drug of choice.'
She thought about that. 'The waters might have some therapeutic value as a painkiller or a parapsych drug.'
'Maybe.' Fontana set the glass of Curtain Cola on the windowsill and watched Elvis drift happily toward it. 'The feds are taking charge of all research connected to the ruin.'
She was amused by the cool satisfaction in his words. 'More business for the Crystal Guild, hmm?'
He sat down at the table and poured the wine. 'Government contracts are always lucrative. Your tax dollars at work.'
She sat across from him. 'I wonder how the aliens used the waters from the fountain.'
'Who knows? Like everything else about them, it's a mystery.'
'I'd really like to see that ruin,' she said a little wistfully.
He smiled. 'After all this, do you think I'd give this scoop to any paper but the
'Ray and I are making arrangements to take you and the rest of the staff down to the fountains soon. Runtley will have his exclusive.'
'He'll be thrilled. So will everyone else. Thanks, Fontana. This is wonderful.'
He raised his wineglass. 'To us.'
The intimate heat in his eyes sent a thrill of hope, anticipation, and longing through her. She picked up her glass.
'To us,' she said.
Elvis chortled from the windowsill. Fontana laughed and raised his glass a second time.
'To all three of us,' he said.
Sierra used a fork to convey a piece of the grilled salmon onto Fontana's plate. 'Speaking of family, I met your brother this morning.'
The warm intimacy that had pervaded the atmosphere evaporated in a heartbeat. Fontana's eyes went as hard and cold as gemstones.
'Which brother?' he asked.
Okay, this was going to be a little dicey.
