Guild Boss (Ghost Hunters #14)(13)

“I understand.”

Well, at least he wasn’t telling her he thought she was crazy.

She took off the chain and handed it to him. Gabriel held the pendant up to the light. She felt energy shift a little in the atmosphere and knew he was trying to rez the amber.

She shook her head. “You can’t make it glow—at least, I couldn’t rez it, and I’m pretty strong. But there’s some heat in it.”

Gabriel closed his hand around the pendant. Energy shifted around him. After a moment he opened his fingers and took another look at the amber.

“It definitely has been tuned,” he said, “but I don’t know what it would take to activate it.” He handed the necklace back to her. “You’ve kept a low profile, but you’re not hiding out under a different name. You’re still living at the same address in the Dark Zone. Aren’t you afraid whoever owned that pendant might be looking for you?”

“I told you, I’ve got friends and I’ve got Otis.” She paused, trying to decide if she should confide one additional fact. What the heck, why not? “I’ve also got a gun.”

Gabriel did not look delighted to hear that. “What kind of gun?”

“Just a small mag-rez pistol.”

“Mag-rez pistols of every size are restricted to law enforcement. Civilians are not allowed to own one.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I have some news for you. This is Illusion Town. The rules are a little different here.”

“I am, of course, shocked to hear that.”

“It’s been two months now,” Lucy added quickly. “I think the kidnappers have concluded I’m no longer a threat.”

“But you haven’t been able to get your career back on track.”

“No.”

“If you take the job I’m offering and we’re successful, it would go a long way toward reestablishing your professional status,” Gabriel said.

“I told you, you won’t be able to put together a team.”

“There won’t be a team involved in this job,” Gabriel said. “Just me.”

It was her turn to be startled. “You’re going into the Ghost City alone?”

“No. The weather down there is highly unpredictable. I’m hoping to have the best channeler in the business with me. But yes, I will be the only one on the team. I don’t want to have to worry about protecting a lot of other people while hunting for the thief. We’ll be able to move faster and more efficiently if it’s just the two of us.”

“I see.”

“Do you like your tour guide job?” Gabriel asked.

“No. I don’t get a paycheck. I work for tips and commissions off the stuffed dust bunny toys. I can barely make the rent. The only people who bother to fill out the comment forms are the whiners and complainers. Parents let the kids run wild. I live in fear that one day someone will wander off to take photos and get lost just as a storm hits.”

Gabriel’s eyes heated a little. “Does that mean you’re interested in my offer?”

“Maybe. When did you want to leave to go after the thief?”

“The sooner the better,” Gabriel said. He seemed to relax a little. “This afternoon.”

“Sorry, that’s impossible. I’ve got an engagement party this evening. It’s the Covenant Marriage season, remember? Lots of weddings and formal engagements.”

Gabriel looked like a man who had just run straight into a quartz wall. Staggered.

“You’re getting engaged?” he said, his voice rasping a little.

“No, my ex is. To a friend of mine. It is a Covenant Marriage engagement. You know what that means: big, formal event.”

“Let me get this straight,” Gabriel said. “Your ex’s engagement party is more important than recovering a priceless artifact and the opportunity to recover your reputation?”

“That artifact is priceless only to the Arcane Society, which, I assume, is paying the Guild a lot of money to find it. The relic doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. And as for my reputation, one job in the Ghost City may not be enough to get me back into the game.” She stopped as a thought struck her. “You called the artifact priceless, but it sounds like just another Old World antique. There are a lot of those floating around. Are you a member of the Arcane Society? Is that why you’re so eager to find the thing?”

“The Jones family has always had a strong connection to Arcane. The organization was founded by a Jones back on Earth. You could say I was born into the Society. The relic isn’t of any special interest to me, but it is apparently quite dangerous, and this is Guild territory now—my territory. I’m responsible for managing security issues in the Underworld. We’ve only just begun to explore and chart the tunnels down below. The Ghost City is almost entirely unmapped, and no one knows what the hell happened in the aboveground ruins here.”

His eyes sparked with energy. The man was definitely mission-driven, Lucy thought. But then, she had already guessed that much about him. He was the type who put his dedication to his job ahead of everything else, including personal relationships. His private life was probably a hot mess, or maybe simply nonexistent. He was not good husband material, because his work would always come first.

Not that she cared about whether he would make a good husband. Not that she even knew what good husband material looked like. For a time she had believed that Tony was good husband material.