Ghost Hunter gh-4 Page 4

  He shrugged. "Mercer Wyatt will probably be able to make the Cadence Guild resemble a mainstream business enterprise. But I can guarantee you that when it comes to the inner workings at the top, things aren't going to change much."

  "How do you know that?" she demanded. "Look at the Resonance City Guild. They say the former boss, Emmett London, managed to turn it into a respectable corporate entity before he resigned. It even has a representative on the Resonance Chamber of Commerce, for goodness' sake. Talk about mainstreaming."

  "I've got nothing against taking the Guilds mainstream. Up to a point. Got a few plans of my own for Aurora Springs."

  That stopped her. "You do?"

  "Yes." He raised his brows. "But that doesn't mean anything will actually change much in the executive offices."

  "Why not?"

  "Because," Cooper said with an air of great patience, "although you can change some aspects of how the Guilds function and how they are perceived by the public, at their core, they are fundamentally different from mainstream corporate entities."

  "Why?" she demanded.

  "The Guilds are a cross between business enterprises and emergency militias. That mix requires a management style that is different from that of mainstream businesses. It also requires more emphasis on discipline, tradition, and a degree of secrecy that true corporations can't maintain."

  "This is ridiculous." She sat back in the seat and flattened both hands on the table. "I don't know why I'm bothering to argue with you. Talk about a waste of time. If you want to keep the Aurora Springs Guild mired in outdated traditions, that's your problem, not mine."

  "True," he agreed. "You gave up any right to comment on the subject when you threw my ring back in my face, didn't you?"

  She stiffened. "I didn't throw it back. I just sort of set it down on your desk."

  He shrugged. "We each have our version of events. Want some fries?"

  She was suddenly and uncomfortably aware of the fact that she had not eaten dinner. That would put her last meal at shortly before noon, she reflected.

  She looked at the fries, mouth watering. "No, thank you."

  "Suit yourself." He ate another fry.

  She cleared her throat. "Those things aren't good for you, you know."

  "I've heard that." He smiled his unreadable smile again. "Worried that I might get fat?"

  She felt herself redden. It was impossible to imagine Cooper Boone putting on weight. He was as hard and lean and tough as a ghost-leopard.

  "I was thinking of your arteries, not your waistline," she muttered, wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

  "Seeing as how you decided not to marry me, you don't have any long-term interest in my cardiovascular system." He paused, a fry halfway to his mouth, and gave her a polite, questioning look. "Or maybe you're hoping that the grease will do me in?"

  She gripped the edge of the table with both hands. "Never mind. I'm here on business. Mind if we get to it?"

  "No. Got to tell you, I've been damn curious ever since I got your call. Should I be touched that you kept my personal phone number all these months?"

  "It was still in my address book," she mumbled, deliberately offhand.

  Actually, it was still locked into her memory, along with so many other small details about Cooper, such as his bird-of-prey profile and the way he wore his dark hair brushed straight back from his high forehead.

  "Okay, so much for the warm reunion," he said, biting off the end of the fry with strong, white teeth. "On to business. Why did you track me down here tonight?"

  She took a steadying breath. "I need a hunter."

  A dangerous light came and went in his eyes. "Is picking up hunters for an evening of fun and games a new hobby for you?"

  She could feel the heat rising in her face and prayed that the weak illumination provided by the small candle on the table concealed her blush. It was no secret that a lot of women found ghost hunters extremely attractive prospects for occasional flings and one-night stands. Bars such as the Trap Door were popular stops for bachelorette parties and groups of single females out on the town in search of a little excitement.

  Because of the nature of their work-they were, in essence, primarily expensive bodyguards in the tunnels- hunters tended to be in great shape physically. But it wasn't just their macho swagger and their rakish khaki-and-leather attire that drew the attention of women. Rumors abounded that ghost hunters were especially good in bed after they had de-rezzed a ghost. The hormone thing, Elly reflected.

  "Here in Cadence I prefer to date outside the Guild," she said smoothly. "In fact, none of my friends know that I'm from a Guild family, and that's the way I intend to keep it."

  "Ashamed?"

  "Of course not," she shot back, infuriated by the accusation. "It's just that when I left Aurora Springs I was determined to make it on my own without the help of my family or Guild connections. Oh, never mind, I don't have time to explain. The important thing right now is that I need a hunter I can trust. I would also prefer one who is not affiliated with the local Guild."

  "You trust me?" he asked.

  "Yes."

  "Got to say, that comes as something of a surprise, given our personal history."

  "You and I certainly had our issues, Cooper. But I never, for a moment, doubted that you could be trusted. My father told me once that your word was good amber. I have no reason to believe otherwise."

  The phrase good amber was an old one in the Guilds. Down in the catacombs everything depended on the quality of the tuned amber that was used to focus psi energy. Amber was necessary to navigate the endless, ancient tunnel complex. Badly tuned amber could lead a man or an entire excavation team astray, dooming those who relied on it to wander forever in the labyrinth belowground. Good amber was amber that could be relied upon when the going got rough.

  "Tell me why you need a hunter," he said.

  "I have to go into an off-the-charts area of the catacombs tonight, as soon as possible. It's a sector that I am reasonably certain has been cleared of illusion traps, but when it comes to ghosts, well, you know how they are. Unpredictable. I'd prefer to have a hunter along."

  He put down the fry he had been about to eat. "Are you joking?"

  "No."

  "What the hell is this all about, Elly?" His eyes went hard and cold. "I can't believe that you've been foolish enough to get involved in illegal excavation work. But if that's the case, tell me now. I'll take care of it."

  She had vowed that she would not allow him to push any of her buttons tonight, but this was too much.

  "And everyone wonders why we broke up." She spread her hands. "This is a perfect example of why marriage between us would have been a disaster."

  He blinked. "What did I say?"

  "You honestly don't know, do you? You haven't even got a clue. Never mind." She sat forward determinedly. "We don't have time for this. Don't worry, I'm not going to involve you in anything illegal. This is a straight search-and-rescue job."

  "Who needs rescuing?"

  "A friend of mine."

  "Why not hire a professional SAR team?"

  "The person who is lost would definitely not appreciate having a formal team sent in after her."

  "In other words it's your friend who is involved in some illegal excavation work," Cooper said.

  "Stop jumping to conclusions. Bertha Newell works under a legitimate private license. Years ago she applied for and received a permit to excavate a sector of the catacombs that neither the university nor any of the large exploration firms wanted to be bothered with."

  "So this Bertha Newell is a ruin rat? How did you get involved with her?"

  "I'll explain later."

  "If I turn you down, you'll try to find another hunter, right?"

  She straightened her shoulders. "No. If you don't come with me, I'll go down alone."

  "Like hell you will."

  "Well, not entirely alone," she amended quickly. "I've got a friend who will go with me."


  "A hunter friend?"

  "No."

  Cooper exhaled slowly. "Looks like I don't have much choice. If something happens to you down there in the catacombs, I don't want to have to face your parents with the news."

  "I am aware," she said through her teeth, "that I have placed you in a somewhat difficult position."

  "But you're going to do it anyway."

  "I don't have any choice, either. Bertha may be in very serious trouble."

  "All right," Cooper said.

  She felt her spirits lift. If anyone could help her find Bertha tonight, it was Cooper Boone. "It's settled, then. You might as well meet the third member of our team."

  He did not look pleased. "Someone else is involved in this thing?"

  "Yes." She opened the large tote, reached inside, and gently lifted out a ball of shapeless gray fluff. "This is Rose."

  Rose batted her baby-blue daylight eyes. The second set of eyes, the ones she used for hunting at night, remained discreetly hidden in her tatty fur.

  Cooper looked at the small beast. "You've got a pet dust bunny?"

  "She showed up on my back doorstep shortly after I opened my shop. She came back every day around closing time. I fed her. We've become roommates."

  "What's she got around her neck?" Cooper asked.

  "One of my bracelets. Turns out Rose has a thing for jewelry. Like any good roommate, she borrows my stuff."

  "Not sure the Public Health Department would approve of allowing a dust bunny into an eating establishment, even a hunter bar."

  "That's why I carried her in the tote," Elly explained.

  Rose rumbled in an inquisitive manner and made it clear that she wanted to be put down on the table. Elly looked around to be sure that no one was paying any attention to the booth at the rear of the tavern, and then she released Rose.

  The dust bunny scampered halfway across the table, her six legs invisible in her lintlike fur. She paused and sat up to examine Cooper with great interest.

  "Does she bite?" Cooper asked.

  "Of course not," Elly said quickly. "She's just a little thing. If you provoked her or scared her, she might nip your finger, but that's all."

  "I've always heard that by the time you see the teeth, it's too late."

  "That's just an old story. There is very little known about dust bunnies, so ridiculous tales like that have tended to be perpetuated."

  Cooper extended his fingers. Rose sniffed delicately and appeared satisfied. She switched her attention immediately to the sandwich and fries.

  Cooper picked up a fry and then paused to look at Elly with polite inquiry. "Okay to feed her one of these, or are you worried about her arteries?"

  "There isn't much information available about dust-bunny nutrition, so I let Rose eat whatever she wants," Elly admitted.

  "Lucky bunny."

  Rose accepted the fry with great delicacy and started munching.

  Somewhere behind Elly a barstool crashed to the floor. Glass shattered. A man roared in outrage.

  "Son of a bitch. I saw her first."

  "She doesn't want to dance with you. Can't you get that through your thick skull? She wants to dance with me."

  "The hell she does."

  There was a sickening thud, followed by a howl and several drunken shouts. Chairs scraped the floor. Small flickers of acid-green ghost energy lit up the gloom. Elly sighed. When ghost hunters got excited, they tended to unconsciously summon little bits and pieces of whatever stray dissonance energy happened to be in the vicinity. There was plenty of the stuff available here in the Old Quarter. Like other forms of psi power, it leaked from the invisible cracks and crannies in the massive walls that encircled the Dead City of Old Cadence and seeped upward from the underground tunnels.

  "Looks like it's time to leave," Cooper said, getting to his feet.

  "Very observant of you." Elly slung the strap of her tote over one shoulder. She scooped up Rose, plunked the dust bunny down on her other shoulder, and slid out of the booth. She grabbed her coat.

  Cooper wrapped his fingers around her wrist and hauled her toward the back door.

  "So, do you come here often?" he asked as they went past the rancid-smelling kitchen.

  There was another loud crash and a lot more yelling. Elly saw two cooks in heavily stained aprons grab heavy pots and charge toward the front of the tavern. They looked like they'd had some experience breaking up bar fights.

  "My first time," she said. "But, gosh, if I'd known how much fun I was going to have, I'd have stopped in sooner. You know, until I moved here to Cadence, I had no idea just how boring life was back in Aurora Springs."

  Chapter 3

  IN HINDSIGHT, ALL HE COULD SAY WAS THAT IT HAD seemed like a good idea at the time, Cooper thought, hauling Elly past the restrooms and out the rear door. But things were not going as planned.

  He should have known better. If recent history had taught him nothing else, it was that his best laid plans never worked the way they were supposed to when Elly was involved.

  This latest strategy gone bad was a perfect case in point. It had looked so simple, so foolproof, when he'd concocted it six months ago. All of them, her parents and her brothers included, had agreed that it was nothing short of brilliant. Give Elly six months in the big, bad city, and she would have a change of heart.

  Let her kick over the traces imposed by her small-town, academic life for a while. Give her a chance to find out just how hard the world outside the ivory tower really was. Let her discover how difficult and exhausting it was to run a business with its endless paperwork, long hours, difficult customers, and precarious financial issues.

  To say nothing of her career. She was devoted to the study of botany. She would soon come to miss the intellectual challenges of the classroom and the stimulation of her colleagues' conversation and the attractive, tranquil grounds of the college campus.

  And what about her precious personal greenhouse? he had reasoned. In Aurora Springs the private conservatory attached to her quaint post-Era of Discord cottage was larger than the house itself. You couldn't have a greenhouse that size in the Old Quarter of a big city. There wasn't room.

  In the opinion of everyone involved, Elly had been born for the academic realm, not the tough, ghost-fry-ghost world of small business. After six months on her own in Cadence, she would be more than happy to come home, resume her position in the Department of Botany at Aurora Springs College, and marry him.

  He had planned to surprise her by walking into her shop first thing in the morning when he was rested, showered, shaved, and dressed in the new shirt and jacket he had bought for the occasion. He had wanted to make a good impression.

  It had surprised the hell out of him when she had phoned while he was eating a late dinner to say that she wanted to see him immediately. He had told himself that was a good sign. Okay, the first meeting after all these months wasn't going to go quite as he had planned it, but he had nevertheless experienced a surge of satisfaction bordering on triumph. The let-Elly-rez-her-untuned-amber-in-the-big-city strategy had worked, just as he had intended. She couldn't wait to see him.

  When she walked into the Trap Door tonight, though, he had gotten a real bad feeling about his so-called brilliant strategy.

  For starters there were the sexy clothes. Elly had never worn her skirts that short back in Aurora Springs. The minuscule black number splashed with exotic green leaves cut so high he was sure he could have fit both of his hands in the space between knee and hem.

  She had never worn any tops as snug-fitting as the black knit thing that she had on, either. He would have remembered. The garment framed her elegant, apple-sized breasts in a way that had made every hunter in the room want to take a bite.

  Her dark brown hair still glowed with natural amber-colored highlights but, like the skirt, it was cut a lot shorter than it had been back in Aurora Springs. She no longer wore the conservative, academic-looking twist she had favored back home, either. Instead, the new
look was sleek and sassy. It skimmed her jawline and accented her delicate features and exotic green eyes.

  In fact, the only thing that looked familiar about her attire were the amber-and-gold earrings. He remembered them well. She had never been without them back in Aurora Springs. She had told him once that they had been a gift from her parents and had great sentimental value.

  The biggest shocker though, was the smile. Damn. If he hadn't been sitting down, he probably would have fallen flat on his face. It wasn't just the dazzling brightness of those pretty little white teeth she had flashed at him; it was the attitude, the sheer female challenge. Catch me if you can.

  And now he knew that the only reason she had tracked him down tonight was because she needed a bodyguard to accompany her on a somewhat less than legal trip into the catacombs.

  It was a depressing end to a long day that had been filled with anticipation.

  He paused to survey the alley. It appeared empty, but given the poor lighting and the fog, it was impossible to be certain. The shadows coiled heavily in several places between the back door of the tavern and the alley exit.

  Cooper tightened his grip on Elly's wrist. "Where are you parked?"

  "I took a cab. Didn't want to risk leaving my car on the street."

  "I can see why you'd hesitate," he said grimly. "This isn't exactly an upscale section of town, is it?"

  "Speaking of which, I was a little surprised to learn that you were eating at the Trap Door tonight," she retorted coolly. "Guild bosses usually dine in classier establishments."

  "I told you, I'm not here in my official capacity. I came to Cadence on a private matter. Thought that if I stuck to places like the Trap Door, no one would recognize me."

  "Oh, right. I keep forgetting your private business here. I have to tell you, though, it's awfully hard to imagine you involved in anything but Guild business."

  "Are you saying I'm a workaholic?"

  "I'm saying that you have no life outside the Guild."

  "No life? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"