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Chapter 45

"HOW DID YOU HANDLE IT?" FONTANA ASKED QUIETLY.

She knew what he meant. "The claustrophobia?"

"Must have been bad."

They were on her apartment balcony overlooking the Green Gate Tavern, glasses of wine in hand. Elvis perched on the railing, munching on the remains of the pizza they had all shared earlier. He still wore his white cape and dark glasses.

Sierra drank some of her wine, thinking back to the sensations she had experienced that afternoon. "Running from Harlan's ultragenerator was certainly a distraction. But later, after he triggered the illusion trap, I couldn't seem to stop shaking. So I just kept walking up and down that hall past the chamber. I knew it wouldn't be long before you came for me. That's what I kept telling myself." She paused. "That's how I got through it."

"It was my fault. Should have figured out sooner that Ostendorf was involved."

She rounded on him, outraged. "That's ridiculous. You moved amazingly fast as it was, taking down the drug operation and cornering Patterson within days of getting into the executive suite. Harlan Ostendorf covered his tracks well. It's amazing that you figured out what he was up to at all, let alone realized that he had kidnapped me today. I think you must have a pretty strong streak of intuition, yourself."

"I should have understood immediately that he was the only one who could have known about the sector chart in the journal."

"Listen up, Mr. Guild Boss. If you intend to make it in the business, you're going to have to learn when to beat yourself up over a perceived failure and when not to beat yourself up over one. What happened today was not your fault. Get over it."

He went still for a moment. Then his mouth twitched.

"Maybe you've got a future as an executive career coach," he said.

She wrinkled her nose. "No, that wouldn't be any fun. I've met a few executives, and let me tell you, none of them take direction well. You're a perfect example."

"You're probably right. Stick to the do-gooder gig." He rested both forearms on the railing, wineglass cradled between his hands. "It's definitely your forte."

"What about the six ultragenerators that you recovered?"

"They are going straight into the vault at the research lab."

The old, familiar irritation spiked within her. "In other words, they have become official, classified Guild secrets."

"Damn straight. What's more, if I see so much as a word about those generators on the front page of the Curtain, I am going to be one very pissed-off Guild boss."

"I've got four words for you. Freedom. Of. The. Press."

"Trust me, you do not want news of those weapons getting out to the general public," he said quietly.

"Is that right? And just what, exactly, are the lab people going to do with them?"

"Deactivate them."

She blinked. "Really?"

"It's already been done. I oversaw the process this afternoon."

That stopped her cold. "Good heavens. How?"

"Turns out dissonance energy is still dissonance energy, no matter where it comes from on the spectrum or how it's generated. The old rule still applies."

"What old rule?"

"Takes a ghost to kill a ghost."

"I don't understand."

"Remember how I was able to punch a hole through that beam when we ran the Rider ambush?"

"Of course."

"It gave me the idea that maybe an ultragenerator could be burned out if it was confronted with too much ghost light. So I called in all of the Council members as witnesses. We put the generators into a quartz-walled chamber underground and arranged them so that the beams would collide with each other. Then we activated them and ran like hell."

"Oh, my gosh."

"There was an impressive explosion." Fontana smiled. "But afterward we were left with half-a-dozen burned-out generators. As far as the lab techs can determine, the mechanisms were thoroughly and permanently fried. Useless."

She thought about that. "You know, since the story has a happy ending, it really would make a terrific scoop for the Curtain."

"No."

"Fontana, if you intend to move the Crystal Guild into the mainstream, you're going to have to get past this obsession with secrecy."

"No," he repeated.

"You do realize," she said coolly, "that there will be more dangerous artifacts coming out of the rain forest as time goes on?"

"We'll worry about it when it happens."

"The Guilds won't be able to keep all of them secret."

"We'll see."

"Fontana—"

"You know, it's been a long day. Would you mind very much if we put off arguing about Guild secrets until some future date?"

"Oh, all right. But don't think I'm going to just up and forget about this."

"Never crossed my mind."

For a time they did not speak. The silence between them grew, but it was not tense or awkward, Sierra thought. It felt good to stand here with Fontana, sharing the night with him. They drank their wine. Elvis got down off the railing and helped himself to another slice of pizza.

After a while, Fontana stirred a little.

"This afternoon Kay told me that Ostendorf got you to go out to the limo by telling you that I had invited you to meet me at the Amber Club," he said.

"Mmm-hmm."

"She said she was sure that I was going to propose a Covenant Marriage over lunch."

"Kay's a bit of a romantic."

"She was wrong about me planning to propose over lunch."

Sierra looked at the Green Gate sign. "I know."

"Nobody proposes a Covenant Marriage on his lunch hour."

"That's what Matt said."

"You're supposed to propose CMs over dinner," Fontana explained very seriously. "Every guy knows that."

"Right. Dinner."

"So," Fontana said, "since we just finished dinner, will you consider entering into a Covenant Marriage with me?"

She felt as if she had just fallen off the balcony. Weightless. Dazed. Disoriented.

"What?" she yelped.

"Not exactly the response I was hoping for."

"Are you serious?" she demanded.

"Maybe I should tell you another little secret. Men never joke about Covenant Marriage."

"Neither do women. What is going on here? We've only known each other a few days, and it was a business arrangement from the start."

"Not quite."

She drew a breath, thinking of the passion they had shared. "Okay, not quite."

"I knew I wanted you forever the day you walked into my office. I've been waiting for you all of my life."

"Oh, Fontana," she said softly.

"If you need more time, I'll understand. Traditionally, there's a long engagement before a Covenant Marriage. We can have one of those if you like. But it won't change anything for me."

The strange, off-balance sensation evaporated. A wonderful sense of certainty took its place.

"I felt the same way about you the day I walked into your office," she said. "The moment I saw you, my intuition kicked in. I knew you were the one."

He set the glass aside and cradled her face in his powerful hands. "I love you, Sierra."

She smiled, gloriously sure. "I love you."

"Guess this means I'll be going to your grandparents' anniversary party."

"It looks that way, yes. Think you can handle it?"

"I'm a Guild boss."

"You can handle anything."

He laughed. "As long as I've got you."

He kissed her then, sealing the promise. After a while they went into the apartment and down the hall to the bedroom.

The energy of love flashed and flared and sparked in the night.

OUT ON THE BALCONY ELVIS TOOK UP A POSITION ON the table beside the empty pizza box. His white cape glittered in the angled beam of light that shone from the living room behind him. He waited.

It didn't take long for his audience to appear. The dust bunnies materialized out of the fog by the dozens, lining the balcony railing and crowding the prime front row seats, the chairs and the lounger.

Elvis picked up his guitar. Time to rock 'n rez.