Illusion Town Read Online Free

eccentrics and, occasionally, dangerous people. It was only common sense to protect her identity.
    Her online business was built on confidentiality and anonymity. She worked by referral only. By the time a would-be client got to her online, she was reasonably certain that he or she had been thoroughly vetted.
    But not long ago she had taken the rare step of identifying herself to an online client. Elias had asked her out to dinner. She had a long-standing policy of not dating clients but she remembered breaking her own rules for Elias. The email correspondence of the past two months had evolved from a business relationship into something much more intimate—at least on her end. She had accepted his invitation.
    And given the way she was dressed now, it looked as if they had gone out on a date. But the invitation had been for dinner. How had she ended up in a Marriage of Convenience? Not only that, but the two of them had evidently spent their wedding night passed out in a cheap motel in the Shadow Zone. That was definitely intimate, but not in a good way.
    What happened to us?
    She grabbed the thin rag of a washcloth and got busy scrubbing the smeared makeup off her face.
    She felt somewhat better when she emerged from the bathroom a short time later, but the thought of facing the unknown in a pair of stilettos and the very short, very battered dress was daunting.
    Virgil raced toward her across the floor. She scooped him up and tucked him under one arm.
    She looked at Elias, who was buttoning his white shirt.
    â€œI’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said. “Where, exactly, are we going?”
    He held up his copy of the Marriage of Convenience license. “We’ll start by retracing our steps. We need to find out why we got married last night. There must have been a logical reason.”
    She wasn’t sure how to take that, but he was right about one thing: There had to be a reason for their tacky Marriage of Convenience.
    â€œOf course,” she said coolly. “It’s not like either one of us is the type to get swept away by the kind of passion that makes two people run off to the nearest wedding mill.”
    She could be logical, too, damn it.
    Elias gave her an odd look. She could have sworn that he was irritated by her perfectly
logical
observation.
    â€œRight,” he said.
    He yanked open the door and moved out into the hall.
    â€œStairs are at the end,” he said.
    They went quickly along the dimly lit corridor, heading toward a burned-out sign that read EXIT .
    â€œThe Shadow Zone is quite a ways from the DarkZone,” she said. “I don’t own a car so did we drive here in your car or come in a taxi?”
    â€œThe guy at the front desk said we didn’t arrive in a car or a taxi. Apparently we walked here from the wedding chapel. He also said we looked like we were ready to collapse. Figured we had been flying high on some illicit substance and were about to crash.”
    â€œIf your car isn’t in the motel parking lot, it must still be sitting in the street out in front of my shop. Or maybe you drove us to dinner in it?”
    â€œWherever it is, I’m not worried about the car. It can take care of itself.”
    â€œGood locking mechanism, huh?”
    â€œStraight out of a Coppersmith lab.”
    â€œLike that gadget you had in your hand when I woke up?”
    He touched his jacket pocket, as if reassuring himself that the odd piece of tech was still inside. “It’s called a silencer. Temporarily neutralizes the frequencies used in most small firearms like handguns and flamers, but only at very close range.”
    â€œCool. Can it neutralize a mag-rez pistol?”
    â€œYes, if it’s within a radius of less than twenty feet. The technology is still in the testing phase. Got a few bugs to work out. Ultimately, we plan to market it to law enforcement agencies.”
    She smiled.
    He glanced at her. “What’s so