Guild Boss (Ghost Hunters #14)(29)

“We’ll discuss it later,” Gabriel said.

“Sure.”

“Boss?” Joe staggered out of the shadows. He had a mag-rez in one hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said. “A little irritated at the moment, but okay. What about you?”

“I’m all right. When the vehicle showed up in the parking lot I got out of the limo to see what was going on. One of those three fired some kind of gas at me. Took me out for a while. Sorry. I screwed up.”

“You were outnumbered and outgunned,” Gabriel said. “Everything is under control. Call the local cops and have these three picked up for assault with illegal magrezes. It’s a good bet they’ll all have records.”

“No problem.” Joe surveyed the motionless men. “I’ll take care of everything. Were they after you or Ms. Bell?”

“Good question,” Lucy said. “But then, I’ve been a little paranoid lately.”

“They indicated they were after me,” Gabriel said. “Which means this situation may be connected to the theft of the Arcane relic.”

“Makes sense,” Joe said. “It’s no secret that the museum has asked you to find it.” He whistled softly. “Nice work with the ghost, by the way.”

“Yes, it was,” Lucy said, putting a lot of sugar into her words. “Very nice work. I’ve seen ghosts that powerful in the tunnels, but never aboveground.”

Gabriel shot her another seriously annoyed look. “I didn’t get this cool Guild boss job because of my charm and good looks.”

“Apparently not,” Lucy said.

It hurt that he didn’t appreciate what she had tried to do, but she could not blame him. He was a Guild boss. He was used to giving orders, and he expected them to be obeyed. She decided to be gracious and let the issue slide. There were bound to be a few rough spots as they worked out their new relationship.

No, what they had was not a relationship, she decided. Business arrangement was a more accurate description of their current association.

She started to put the little mag-rez pistol back into her evening bag. Joe watched with professional interest.

“Say, is that the new model five-twelve?” he said.

“Yes, it is,” she said.

“Can I take a look?”

“Sure.” Lucy handed him the small pistol. “You’re using the class four hundred?”

“Yeah.” He gave her his weapon to examine. “A lot heavier, obviously, but I like the accuracy.”

“The five-twelve is more convenient for me,” Lucy said. “Fits into my handbags. Accuracy over distance was the trade-off, but I figure any magrez is enough to get a bad guy’s attention.”

Joe studied her pistol. “Looks like they kept the standard amber-activated trigger mechanism.”

“Yes. And the accuracy isn’t that bad, really—”

“I hate to interrupt this technical discussion,” Gabriel said, “but in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got more pressing issues.”

“Right, Boss,” Joe said.

He gave Lucy’s gun back to her. She checked the safety, dropped it into her handbag, and handed the four hundred to him without a word.

They both turned toward Gabriel. He gave Lucy an odd look and shook his head.

“I can’t believe you carried an illegal mag-rez to that reception this evening,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was afraid it would make you nervous,” Lucy said.

“No shit.” Gabriel turned back to Joe. “Wait here until the police arrive to pick up these guys. After that’s taken care of, wake up Aiden and Jared. Fill them in on what happened here. Jared can liaise with the local police. We want them on our side. Give Aiden the IDs and the photos. Tell him I need whatever he can find as soon as possible. These three look like ex-Guild men, so they should be in the files. I’ll drive Ms. Bell home.”

“Got it, Boss.” Joe took a phone out of his pocket. “Are you coming back here after you take Ms. Bell to her apartment?”

“No,” Gabriel said. “I’ll be staying with her tonight. Think you can find her apartment again?”

“Yep. Memorized the route.”

“Good. Be there at five tomorrow morning. Use my vehicle. We’ll swap cars. You can pick up the limo and take it back to the garage. Ms. Bell and I will head to the job site.”

“Right.” Joe turned away to talk to whoever was on the other end of his phone call.

Joe appeared to take the rapid-fire string of orders in stride, but Lucy’s head was spinning. She was starting to feel as if she were on a roller coaster. It had been one twist after another today. She tried to focus on what mattered most at that moment.

“What did you mean when you said you were going to spend the rest of the night with me?” she said.

“There are too many questions here. I’m not letting you out of my sight until we know what’s going on,” Gabriel said.

She searched for a logical reason to refuse. “I don’t have an extra bedroom.”

No need to mention that she happened to have a sofa equipped with a pull-out bed.

“I’ll take the couch or the floor. I’m assuming you’ve got one or the other?”