The Vision (23 page)

There were murmurs of agreement all around. Gen tried to convince them otherwise, but

by then everyone was too busy with dessert to listen.

Shortly afterward they all began to split up. Jay left first, hugging Genevieve warmly,

thanking her, warning her gruffly to be careful.

“I’m always careful,” she assured him. He looked over her shoulder at Thor.

“Well, I guess it’s good that…I think,” he murmured.

She smiled. “He’s one of the good guys, I believe,” she said.

Jay nodded. “Sometimes we have to go on logic and belief, huh?”

She agreed, and bade him good-night, promising him that they were still on for a dinner

sometime during the week.

Audrey and Uncle Adam were the next to leave.

As Jay had done, Audrey hugged her, but Audrey’s hug was fierce. “You take care. And

thank you. This was great. It’s been too long since we spent time together.”

Genevieve hugged her back, just as fiercely. “Thank you,” she said.

Audrey grinned. “My pleasure. Uncle Adam is cool, huh?”

“Absolutely.”

Uncle Adam was the next one to say goodbye. Just feeling his handshake and meeting his

eyes made Genevieve feel better. “Tomorrow night, then. We’ll talk.”

Suddenly she glanced uneasily over her shoulder, wondering where Thor was.

“It’s okay,” Adam said. “I’m having breakfast with him.”

Her eyes went wide with alarm.

But Adam Harrison shook his head. “Trust me. And don’t worry. I already have people

down here to help.”

“Oh?”

“My son is with me, and there’s a couple at the resort. Nikki and Brent Blackhawk.

You’ll like them. He’s worked with me a very long time. And Nikki…Nikki has what it

takes. You’ll get to meet them soon. And though I don’t have the gift, I have a hunch.

Everything will be fine.”

She stepped up and kissed his cheek. She was surprised and embarrassed. He just smiled,

squeezing her hand. “We need to learn how to listen,” he said softly. “That’s all.” Then,

arm in arm with Audrey, he was gone.

There was a sudden silence. Genevieve turned around. All her remaining guests were

silent, staring after the two who had just left.

Then Victor blurted out, “That guy is fucking weird.”

“I’ve gotta agree,” Alex said.

She could see Thor standing, grim and silent, just behind the two.

He agreed, as well. She could tell.

“Then again,” Jack said, “Audrey’s a little weird herself.”

“You’re all nuts,” Genevieve informed them. “To you guys, anyone who isn’t a diver,

who doesn’t live to spend half their days underwater, is weird.”

“Need any help?” Bethany asked Genevieve. When Gen shook her head, Bethany said, “I

guess we should all head back, then. Tomorrow is an early day.”

“Lecture day,” Alex groaned.

“Lecture day, and let’s pray Marshall shows,” Genevieve murmured.

“Marshall will be there,” Victor said, setting a hand on her shoulder. “He’ll show. You

know he will.”

He gave her a warm, brotherly hug. She smiled at him. “Right.”

“Hey, Victor, don’t you dare leave without me,” Bethany said.

“Of course not,” Victor said, rolling his eyes jokingly.

Genevieve realized that, amazingly, they had spent the entire day without mentioning that

there was an unknown killer loose right there in the Keys.

There was another moment’s silence. “Okay, well, Zach and I are out of here,” Lizzie

said firmly. “Genevieve, thanks. This was great.”

Genevieve grinned. She liked Lizzie and Zach.

“Out, out, everyone out,” she said with a laugh.

“Oh, this is so cute,” Alex said with a sigh as everyone headed toward the door. “Look at

the lineup—Lizzie and Zach, Bethany and Victor, and me and…Jack.”

“Hey, no way I’m sleeping with you, bud,” Jack announced.

“Out!” Genevieve said again, laughing even harder.

At last, she managed to close the door on them all. Even without turning back to face

him, she felt Thor’s silent presence, felt him watching her.

She turned to stare at him, crossing her arms over her chest, leaning against the closed

door. “What?” she asked defensively.

He cocked his head at an angle, staring back, speaking softly, “I hate to agree with

Victor, but…”

She pushed away from the door, heading for the kitchen. “I liked him,” she said flatly.

She went to the sink, ready to do the last of the dishes. He followed her, setting his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t you see?” he asked softly. “This guy is…some kind of a…well,

let’s get serious. He’s as loony as Audrey. He’ll feed into every fear and fantasy you’ve been breeding.”

She dropped the sponge and turned around. “That’s what you think, isn’t it? That I’ve got

an imagination that never ends, and that I’m just letting it run wild.” She hesitated, hating what she saw in his eyes. She thought he cared about her and that what was going on

between them was a lot more than sleeping with her. But there was a crystal over his

eyes. She could just hear him thinking she was crazy as hell, and he wouldn’t be sticking

around if she insisted on keeping it up.

She didn’t want him to go. It hurt like hell to say the words, but she managed to speak

them with tremendous dignity. “Don’t let me keep you where you don’t want to be.”

His answer came slowly. “I’m exactly where I want to be,” he said. He let out a long

breath. “Look, we’re tired and tomorrow is going to be a long day. And…”

“And what?”

“There’s a killer out there,” he said very softly.

She shook her head. “I don’t want you staying because of that,” she said.

The warmth she so loved and craved touched his eyes again. “I’m kind of big to throw

out,” he said.

Then he stepped away, as if any more conversation between them could cause him to

leave after all. “I’ve got a really early morning. I’m setting the clock for five-thirty. I’ll reset it for six-thirty. Will that work for you?”

“Sure,” she told him.

“I need to check my e-mail. Mind if I log on in your office?” he asked her.

“Of course not.”

“Unless you want some help down here?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got it under control. Thanks.”

He left her. She washed up the last few dishes, hesitated, then dried them and put them

away. She didn’t like leaving things out, since she might well wind up spending the rest

of the week at the resort. Her last few little chores wound up taking longer than she had

anticipated, but when she walked up to her bedroom, he still wasn’t there. She was

tempted to go into the office and read over his shoulder.

She hesitated, then chose not to. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, then slipped into

the shower for a minute; she felt she was wearing the scent of barbecued fish. Once out,

she dried and hesitated. Presumptuous to slip into bed naked? Or ridiculous to slip into

bed clad?

She closed her eyes, biting her lower lip for a minute. She was falling for him so hard. He

was everything she could want in a man, her dream counterpart, sharp, intelligent, fun…a

diver, a lover of the sea. And it didn’t hurt that he was built like Atlas, with such striking

features, and that he had a way of touching her, of making love, that was exciting beyond measure and still, somehow, achingly tender.

She slipped into bed, turning off the lights, then stared into the darkness. There was light coming in from the hall.

And he was there, just down that hall. So close to her, and yet so far.

She was just about to get up and turn the lights back on when Thor came in at last. He

moved silently in the darkness, not about to wake her if she slept.

When he, too, had slipped beneath the covers, she rolled against him, fingers light as they

moved down his chest. He took her into his arms.

He made love as he always did. Erotically, slowly, teasingly…He elicited and teased, and

she lost all fear of the darkness in the madness of desire. She was aware of the feel of his lips against her, so intimately, the tremendous power of his frame, the frantic beat and

soar of touching and rising, writhing, thrusting, rocketing into the volatile realms of sex

and sensuality. She longed for release, longed to stay forever….

As always, he held her.

And yet…

She sensed something different. He was silent, as if lost in his own thoughts. She was

afraid then. Afraid she had lost him, that this was his way of saying goodbye.

She started to inch away, alarmed to realize her heart was so tender, that she was already

on the defensive.

He pulled her back, kissed her forehead. She thought words hovered on his lips, but if

they did, they went unsaid.

The real thing.

That was how Captain Raul Terry, a good friend in Naval Intelligence, had described

Adam Harrison. The real thing.

There was no real damned thing, Thor thought.

But the Internet had yielded the name Adam Harrison in a number of articles concerning

unusual occurrences. There had been no Web site for Harrison Investigations. There were

no advertisements. In fact, it was impossible to find. Except the articles had referred to

the government, so he had hunted until he had found Raul online, and the man’s response

had shocked him.

The real thing.

Impossible. They were living in the real world.

At his side, Genevieve shifted slightly. He pulled her closer, damning himself in the night. He would not be taken in.

And yet…

He found he was afraid. He had never been under the delusion that his size made him

tough, but he believed in his reason and intelligence, and it was frightening to feel with a greater sense on a daily basis that she was slipping away.

That he couldn’t protect her.

He gritted his teeth in the darkness. There was a killer on the loose. Hard, solid fact. The guy was probably a coward, victimizing the weak. There was no reason to believe

Genevieve was in any danger. The man had killed a prostitute.

But there were the other disappearances.

Seawater…

The scent of salt water suddenly seemed to be upon them again.

“Genevieve,” he whispered urgently, pulling her close. Her eyes opened. She stared at

him in the shadows, smiling, still half asleep. “Stay with me,” he murmured urgently. A

slight frown crossed her brow. His words made no sense, he knew. She obviously had no

plans to.

But he repeated the words, anyway.

“Stay with me.”

He cradled her to him. Made love with a ferocity that bordered on the violent. Held her

against him, flesh to flesh.

He realized he didn’t want to sleep, even as she drowsed in his arms. But in time, despite

his desire to remain awake, he slept. Completely entwined with the woman he realized he

loved.

As if his very flesh could keep away the demons in which he did not believe.

It came again.

The smell of the sea.

Salt, waves, wind.

And she knew they were coming. Men, marching slowly, grimly. Tattered frock coats in

many colors. White unbleached cotton shirts that were in rags.

Decaying bodies.

Rotting flesh.

The white gleam of bone.

Eyeless sockets that still seemed to stare…

Marching. Coming closer, closer…

Here a blunderbuss, there a saber.

Shreds of hair from bony heads topped by angled hats. And there the remnant of an

earlobe, gold hoop dangling precariously.

She fought the fear. Fought the conviction that they meant to surround and entrap her.

But still they came closer…closer.

And then, as usual, the woman. The beautiful young woman. Hair floating around her.

White gown drifting in the invisible water.

Her eyes, so sad. Her lips, forming the word.

Beware…

Genevieve fought against her innate panic; the survival instinct that begged her to

awaken. She knew she needed to wait, to let them enter her unconscious mind.

To let them have their say.

Beware of what? she entreated in silence.

The woman’s full, rich, beautiful lips, so miraculously preserved against the absolute

decay of her companions, began to move.

But her words dissipated at the ear splitting blare of the alarm.

Genevieve bolted upright. She gasped, drawing a deep breath, more panicked by the

noise than she had been by the dream. She looked around. The room was in shadows.

Thor was gone.

She couldn’t remember hearing the alarm earlier. He must have awoken on his own, then,

as he had promised, reset it. She let out a long breath, closed her eyes tightly, steeled

herself for the day. She started to rise.

The bed was soaked. When she stepped onto the rug, it, too, was drenched. She stood

there, naked and shaking, fighting the urge to burst into tears.

She hunkered down, smelling the sea. “What?” she cried out. “What do you want? What

are you trying to tell me? What?”

There was no answer in the shadows of the early morning.

Swearing, she headed for the shower.

There were two men sitting together in the dining room when Thor arrived. Adam was wearing khaki shorts in concession to the heat and a tailored short-sleeved shirt, while the younger man was wearing jeans and a T-shirt that advertised a nineties rock group.

Before Thor could greet Adam, the younger man spoke. “Hey. I’m Josh. Adam’s son. It’s

a pleasure.”

Thor nodded somewhat curtly and indicated that the men should sit, then took a chair

himself.

“Mr. Harrison, I’ll start right off by saying I did some investigating myself last night.”