Guild Boss (Ghost Hunters #14)(16)

One of the ways they were sending the message that the Guilds were changing was by getting rid of the hunters who were deemed problems. The result was a growing pool of disgruntled mercenaries who had decided to move into what they liked to call security work. Freelance muscle.

The mercs were proving useful to a number of people like him who preferred to do business in the gray areas. Mercs asked no questions. All they cared about was getting paid.

He had taken the concept to the next level. He now had his own team of security specialists. That term was so much more respectable than mercenaries or freelance muscle. He paid well, and he got the best—at least he thought he was recruiting the best. But they had botched the job two months ago.

His phone pinged again. He took it out and saw the familiar Number Blocked. He opened the message.

One more thing. It’s obvious that Jones is the problem now.

No shit, he thought. He sent his response.

Yes.

The return text was predictable.

Remove Jones.

Dillon groaned. Sure, take out a high-profile Guild boss. He wondered if the client had any idea of the risk involved.

Consider it done, he texted back.

You had to sound cool, confident, and professional when dealing with a client. It was all about image.





CHAPTER SIX





The driver’s name was Joe. He could have been sent from central casting to play the part of a Guild boss’s chauffer/bodyguard—big, tough, and wearing an ill-fitting suit that did not disguise his shoulder holster. Joe didn’t believe in wasting money on expensive tailoring. Gabriel was surprised that Lucy appeared to like him. Maybe it was because Otis took to him at first sight.

Whatever else you could say about Joe, there was something rock-solid and authentic about him. What you saw was what you got. Take it or leave it, but don’t mess with him.

Joe brought the big limo to a halt outside the grand, glittering entrance of the Amber Palace and met Gabriel’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Is this okay, Boss? If you want, I can drive around to the back. You and Ms. Bell can slip in through the service entrance.”

Gabriel glanced at the gaggle of photographers and journalists clustered at the front doors of the flashy casino. He shook his head.

“It won’t do any good,” he said. “It’s obvious the media knows I’m expected to show up tonight. I’m still something of a novelty here in Illusion Town. The fascinating thing is that the local media seems to know my every move before I make it.”

“I told you, in a lot of ways this is one very small town,” Lucy said. “You’re officially a local power broker now. The media pays attention to people like you.”

Gabriel looked at her, uncertain of her mood. She was cool and reserved; unreadable. In the shadows of the back seat of the limo she was a mysterious, witchy figure in black, just as she had been the night he had followed the dust bunny into the eerie green chamber and saw her lounging on a glowing green quartz throne. Queen of the night.

She had been barefoot that evening, her sexy high-heeled shoes neatly placed next to the big chair. Her long, dark hair had been tossed and roiled by the powerful currents of paranormal energy that saturated the chamber.

She had cut her hair at some point in the past two months. Now she wore it in a glossy, edgy style that somehow managed to enhance her already arresting hazel-green eyes.

Tonight she was wearing a gown that resembled the one she’d had on when he had found her in the Underworld, a long column of midnight-black satin that swirled around her ankles with every move she made. Her high-heeled shoes were studded with obsidian crystals. She wore amber in her ears and around her throat—tuned amber. He had caught a glimpse of an amber ankle chain when she had stepped into the limo. He suspected there was more hidden under her gown. She had not been working in the Underworld for the past couple of months, but she still took precautions. Once you had worked down below, you took navigation amber seriously.

He could not believe the medics, the media, and her ex had all concluded she was psychically unstable. Evidently they did not recognize real strength and power when they encountered it. He still did not know how or why she had ended up lost in the maze of tunnels, but he knew one thing for certain—no weak person could have survived what Lucy Bell had survived. Strong men deprived of their nav amber were known to go mad within forty-eight hours inside the endless green corridors.

Until he had arrived in Illusion Town to take up his new position, he had been unaware of how her disappearance and rescue had wreaked havoc on her life. For the past couple of months he had actually dared to hope she would be happy to see him again. For weeks he had been anticipating their reunion.

He had been working toward his new post as director of one of the big Guild territories ever since he had joined the organization. He had been focused on becoming a hunter since childhood. He had researched the Era of Discord obsessively. Read all the memoirs of the determined men who had founded the Guilds. Studied the heroic traditions of the organizations. He could draw every battle plan that had been used to defeat Vincent Lee Vance. The day he had taken the Guild oath was the proudest day of his life.

When the Illusion Town territory had been offered to him, he had jumped on the opportunity. The fact that Lucy lived in the city had been the icing on the cake. Everything was falling into place in his well-ordered, well-planned life.