Dark Light by Randy Wayne White Page A

been a thorn in the side of the Guild for the past six months.”
    â€œMaybe he thinks he can keep her quiet,” Phil offered, sounding more than a little concerned. “After all, once she’s a Guild wife, she’ll be expected to keep Guild secrets.”
    Matt nodded uneasily. “Yeah, I can see why he might want her locked into an MC while he gets control of things. Besides, Guild bosses are almost always married. Something to do with one of their traditions.”
    Sierra felt her temper flare. “Let’s get one thing clear. Fontana is not marrying me because he thinks he can silence me that way.”
    â€œOkay, okay.” Matt held up both hands, palms out. “Just a working theory.”
    â€œTry another hypothesis.”
    Phil gave her a quick, head-to-toe inspection. “Well, one thing’s for sure.”
    â€œWhat?” Sierra snapped.
    â€œEvidently you’re going to be on the cover of tomorrow’s edition of the Curtain . That means you need to go home and change.”
    She glanced down at her businesslike skirted suit and pumps. “What’s wrong with these clothes?”
    â€œThey’re too boring for a secret mistress who is about to become the wife of the new chief of the Guild,” Kay explained.
    â€œShe’s right,” Runtley decreed. “Go back to your apartment and put on something sexy. We can sell a lot of copies if we get a good shot.”
    â€œMake sure whatever you wear is real short and low-cut,” Phil said. “We need cleavage.”
    â€œI’ll go home and change,” Sierra said. “But forget the cleavage thing. I love the Curtain , but I refuse to humiliate myself on the front cover.”
    â€œSpoilsport,” Kay said.

Chapter 4
    â€œWHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SIERRA MCINTYRE?” COOPER Boone asked on the other end of the phone.
    Fontana walked to the window, phone to his ear, and looked out over the ruins while he thought about the question.
    Cooper, the head of the Aurora Springs Guild, was one of his few close friends. The bond between them had been established years earlier when, because of their unusual talents, they had found themselves doing some highly unorthodox jobs for the Bureau.
    They were both technically hunters, meaning they could manipulate dissonance energy, but neither of them worked traditional green ghost light. The teams that went underground tended to be traditionalists. Hunters who worked light from other places on the spectrum were not welcome on the exploration ventures. Exotic hunters tended to follow one of two career paths. They either became criminals or they got hired by the Bureau. Once in a while, however, like Cooper and himself, they wound up at the top of one of the organizations.
    â€œWhat do I know about Sierra?” Fontana repeated. “Well, I think it’s safe to say that I’m marrying up.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œShe’s the daughter of Jason McIntyre.”
    There was a short pause on the other end of the line.
    â€œAny connection to McIntyre Industries in Resonance?” Cooper finally asked.
    â€œShe’s Jason McIntyre’s youngest daughter.”
    â€œYou’re joking.”
    â€œI’m getting married in two hours. Trust me, I’m not in a joking mood.”
    â€œWhat the hell is a McIntyre doing working for a low-rent tabloid like the Curtain ? Women like her sit on the boards of charitable foundations and eat lunch at their clubs.”
    â€œI did a little checking. She comes from a long line of women who do things in addition to the usual charitable foundation and luncheon gigs.”
    â€œSuch as?” Cooper asked.
    â€œHer mother teaches philosophy at Resonance College. One of her grandmothers is a doctor. The other one ran a successful architectural design business for several years before she retired. There’s an aunt who paints and another aunt who writes. And then