Illusion Town by Jayne Castle

would fit the old-fashioned fastenings on the access panel.
    When he opened the back door of the booth, a cascade of glittery toys tumbled out. Virgil chortled in triumph and leaped down to the floor. He dragged his chosen prize by one of the figure’s legs.
    Hannah reached down to pick him up and plop him on her shoulder.
    â€œLet me see which prize you picked,” she said.
    She put up her hand. Fully fluffed once more, hunting eyes closed, Virgil graciously let her take the action figure. Elias watched her examine the doll. It was a woman wearing sturdy trousers and a shirt covered in an odd green, black, and brown pattern. A miniature utility belt was strapped around her waist. The belt held a tiny flashlight and an object that might have been a camera or some sort of communications gear. Her head was covered in a helmet of gray curls.
    â€œLooks like someone’s grandmother,” he said.
    â€œAssuming the grandmother wears heavy boots and Old World military camouflage.” Hannah looked up, smiling. “It’s Arizona Snow.”
    â€œNever heard of her.”
    â€œI’ll fill you in on the way to the Ghost City. But first I need to go home, change my clothes, and pack some gear. Your poor team has been trapped long enough.”
    â€œSounds like a plan. Sort of.”
    She cleared her throat. “I do have one personal question I’d like to ask.”
    â€œJust one?”
    â€œLast night we went out to dinner together.”
    â€œSo?” he asked, wary now.
    â€œI just wondered if you always carry a miniature tool kit when you take a woman out to dinner.”
    â€œAlways. I’m an engineer.”

Chapter 8

    The text message was more bad news.
    Complications encountered. Target was not acquired. Another attempt will be made when opportunity arises. Terms of the arrangement still stand. Work is guaranteed.
    The fools had failed. How was that even possible? It was supposed to be a simple job. Grab the woman and drop Coppersmith into the Underworld without his amber. The Coppersmith family might spend a fortune hunting for one of their own but the police wouldn’t waste much time searching for Hannah West. She wasn’t important. She had no family to make a fuss when she went missing.
    So close. So damn close.
    The Collector raged back and forth across the room.After all the years of searching; after the success of his carefully baited trap; after all the careful planning, the thickheaded idiots he’d hired had screwed up.
    The Collector went past the table and glanced at the headline on the morning edition of the
Curtain
. He had gone out early to purchase a paper copy hoping that the online edition was a mistake. But there was no mistake. Coppersmith had married the woman.
    That presented a new problem. True, the marriage was only a cheap MC but it was a legal marriage until it was dissolved. Elias Coppersmith might as well have announced to the world that Hannah West was now under the protection of the Coppersmith Mining empire.
    There was only one reason why he would have done such a thing: He knew about the Lost Museum. He had seduced the silly woman with a cheap short-term Marriage of Convenience. And the little fool had fallen for it. She probably counted herself incredibly lucky. Given her lack of family and her shaky para-psych profile, an MC was all she could ever hope for when it came to marriage. An offer of an MC with a Coppersmith had probably dazzled her.
    It wouldn’t last long, of course—just long enough for Coppersmith to convince her to sign the papers transferring her claim to him. Once that happened the marriage would be terminated.
    Unless she was too smart to be conned out of her claim.
    The Collector went to the window and looked out over the bright lights of the Strip. He considered what he knew of Hannah West. She was a nobody from the DZ and herpara-psych profile made her a freak. But he had to admit that she had been