Hidden Fire (5 page)

It was almost as if his face was blurred, the edges wavy and indistinct. Dark shadows seeped out from his skin, twisting tendrils that seemed to wrap his body in a cloak of darkness. She shook her head and blinked, her brain unable to deal with what she thought she'd seen.

When she looked again, the image was clear. No distortion at all. The dark overlay covering Jeremy had disappeared. That's if it had even been there in the first place.

God help her, she was losing it. Yeah, well, running into this man out here in Australia was enough to make anyone doubt their sanity.

“Jeremy? What are you doing here?” She shuffled back a pace.

“It's amazing how many people don't look behind them.” Jeremy shook his head. “I was on the same ferry as you.”

“You've been following me? I thought you were going to wait until I contacted you.” She twisted her hands in the strap of her shoulder bag, not about to let Jeremy see how much his appearance unnerved her.

“We've been trailing you since you left America. Just making certain you're doing what you're told.”

“We? Whitey is here, too?” Gili sucked in a shaky breath. Jeremy frightened her. Whitey terrified the daylights out of her.

“Whitey's waiting up on the main road.” Jeremy moved closer, and before Gili could shift, whipped out a hand and grabbed her by the arm. With a quick twist, he spun her around and pushed her against the ticket counter.

“So where is it?” he snarled in her ear.

His hot breath wafted across the side of her face. Gili shuddered in reaction to the stench of stale cigar smoke. Her heart raced so hard, she was afraid she would pass out. Sweat ran between her breasts, turning to a cold slick on her heated body.

God damn it, she hadn't signed on for this. Hell, she hadn't signed on at all.

“I asked you a question, Gillian. I know you've been to see that Hunt fellow. Has he got it?”

“Let me go.” She struggled against his hold, but it was useless. He was too damned strong.

“I don't work for you any more, Jeremy, so you can shove the orders.”

He increased the pressure on her arm. “Finding the
Dreamtime Fire
was your father's commission, despite the fact he tried to renege on the deal. But if you're doing the actual work, then you answer to me. Understand? I don't care what arrangement you have with your father, you're mine until I decide I don't need you any longer.”

Anger burned in Gili's gut. She was sick to death of playing the victim for the likes of Jeremy Grissom. “Yeah, well, this is called assault and I don't think the authorities in Australia would view it in any better light than the cops in America. Get your hands off me or I'll report you.”

“Girlie, you aren't telling anyone. Not if you want your family to stay safe.”

He pushed her arm higher up her back. “Now answer the question. Did you ask Hunt where the stone is?”

She swallowed the moan of pain lodged in her throat. Fear for her parents' safety dried her mouth and she gulped convulsively before she could answer. “He wasn't inclined to talk so I never got the chance,” she whispered.

“You were up there a long time. What did you do? Stand there and make cow eyes at him? Don't tell me you're still mooning after him. Hah, he wouldn't touch you with a barge pole now. He's not about to trust you after that business in Iran.” He gave a harsh laugh. “Hell, maybe that
is
the way to get to him. A little bit of sex and a whole lot of pillow talk.”

“I am not prostituting myself for you or anyone else,” she managed. Pain sliced through her arm and shoulder. “I'll find out where the opal is and let you know, but I won't steal it for you. And I'm sure as hell not sleeping with Morgan to get the answers.”

“Hmm, maybe I should let Whitey off his leash and have him visit your mother.”

Oh God, her mother. Shivers slid up and down her spine at the thought of Whitey going after her mother.

Gili tightened her jaw and clamped her mouth shut so she wouldn't beg Jeremy to leave her parents alone. He wasn't about to listen anyway.

He gave her arm an extra squeeze and let her go. She sagged against the ticket counter, biting her lip at the fire in her arm. Bile rose in her throat and she dragged in a deep breath to stop herself throwing up.

“You've got a week before I come after you again,” Jeremy said behind her, giving her a sharp prod in the center of her back. “We know where you're staying. We'll be in touch. And you keep your mouth shut. You understand?”

Gili stayed where she was until Jeremy's footsteps faded away. Then she turned around and slithered down the wall until she was on her knees on the floor. The breath rasped in her throat. When she tried to unhook the bag from her shoulder, her hands shook so badly she dropped it, the contents spraying everywhere.

Crawling on hands and knees and groaning as the pain in her shoulder intensified, she collected up tissues and lipstick, pens and keys, along with the rest of her belongings, and shoved them back in the bag. All the while tears leaked from her eyes, but she refused to acknowledge them, refused to hand even that small victory to Jeremy.

“To hell with you, Jeremy. I will not give you the satisfaction.”

Gili's eyes snapped open and she stared around. The dull grey light of an early dawn seeped in through the window of the unfamiliar room.

What—where am I?

Hand clutched at the front of her nightie, heart pounding in her chest, she jumped out of bed. One foot tangled in the bed covers and she ended up sprawling half in, half out of the bed, with her butt firmly on the floor.

It took a moment but then she remembered. When she'd arrived back at the hotel yesterday, security had informed her someone had broken into her room. They were most apologetic—this had never happened to them before—and had provided a new room for the night.

Gili had jumped at the idea. It didn't take much brain power to work out who had been in her room. Just Whitey's way of telling her he really did know where she was staying. Nothing had been taken, but everything had been emptied out of her case, things strewn around the room. Bastard!

With Whitey's threat to her folks clear in her mind, Gili kicked out with one foot until she was free of the bedclothes. On hands and knees, she crawled to the bedside table and grabbed the phone.

It was the work of a few seconds to put through a call to America. Her mother answered on the first ring. “Hey, Mom, how's it going? How's Dad?”

“It's so good to hear from you. I was worried. I really don't like you having anything to do with Jeremy Grissom. I wish you hadn't agreed.”

“It was the only way to get him off your backs. I'm more worried about his threats to you and dad.” Gili decided right then and there not to tell her parents that Jeremy and Whitey had followed her to Australia. It would only create more stress for her mom.

“I took your advice,” her mother said. “Now Joshua's leg has been pinned, they let me move him. We're at the—”

“No, don't tell me. At least, not right now. Just keep your phone on so I can ring you if necessary, okay?”

“Will do, love, and you be careful, too.”

“Give Dad my love and I'll be in touch.” Gili gave a sigh of relief as she cut the connection. One less thing to worry about…for now anyway.

A huge yawn caught her unawares. It was still early so she straightened the bed and climbed back in. Curling up on her side, she pulled the covers over her shoulder. Her eyes closed and she succumbed to the dragging need for more sleep. Relaxing, she lingered in the peaceful place between sleeping and waking, nothing more important filling her mind than Morgan and how much she wished their relationship could be so much more. Hell, a girl could dream, couldn't she?

Between one breath and the next, it all changed. Breathing became difficult. As if all the air had been sucked out of the room. She rolled onto her back and pushed the bedding down, trying to ease herself up on the pillows. It was useless. A weight settled on her chest and she couldn't move.

For a moment, she thought she was caught in a nightmare, but a glance at the light filtering into the room assured her she was wide awake. She struggled to fill her lungs, hands ripping at the front of her nightie. Each time she touched her chest, energy zapped through her, like a current of electricity.

Gili tried to scream, but she didn't have enough breath. Her heart raced. Everything around her started to dim. Her mind struggled to deal with what was happening. Opening her eyes wide, she glanced down her body, startled to see a black cloud hovering over her chest. A cloud of energy that scared her witless because she
could
see it. That meant it was real.

Dark…

Menacing…

Seeking to take her over. Seeping inside and filling her with its dark presence.

Back bowed, she arched her neck, eyes focused on the pall of darkness above her. Her chest wheezed, the sound emitted through clenched teeth. Pain clamped like a vice around her ribcage. Sweat coated her body. The horror of suffocating overwhelmed her, threatening to drive her to the brink of insanity.

The weight suddenly lifted off her chest. The dark energy disappeared. Opening her mouth, she dragged in fresh air. It surged through her blood, driving the tension from her body until she felt light-headed with relief.

The relief didn't last long. No dream this, but a repetition of the visions—for want of a better term—that she'd suffered from since she was sixteen years old. The room swirled around her. Kaleidoscopic colors spun through her mind. Within a heartbeat, she found herself in a large cavern.

Something was wrong with the picture. As if she floated high above the drama unfolding below her, looking down on herself. Or as if her spirit did.

The picture changed again and, feet braced apart, she stood on the floor of the cave. Shadows bombarded her. Driving at her and trying to find a way inside. Each brush of the black tendrils felt like the lash of a whip. She spun her arms, tried to bat them away.

With an audible electrical crackle, the dark ball of energy across from her morphed into the shape of a grown man. It lifted its arm and beckoned and the shadows broke off their attack and flew towards it. They disappeared, sucked inside, and then the dark mass grew in stature.

A guttural roar poured out of a gaping hole that could only be its mouth. It launched itself at Gili, arms extended to grab her.

All of a sudden, ghostly-white ethereal beings surrounded Gili, offering protection. They drove the energy away from her and turned to confront it.

The colors of the rainbow broke across the cavern. Arrows of red, blue, green and yellow targeted the column of black until they twisted and twirled about the dark entity.

The air filled with the soft chant of many voices. They started low before rising to a crescendo. The sound caught at Gili's imagination and she swayed to the beat. A wispy shape hovered in front of her, too insubstantial to touch. It twisted and spun, gaining definition, until it morphed into the shape of a woman. A woman naked but for the loincloth wrapped about her hips.

She backed up until her body fitted against Gili's chest. Gili gasped at the heat surrounding her. With that one breath, the woman slipped inside her. Became a part of her. Superimposed over Gili's image. Two beings sharing the one space.

Gili knew she should be afraid, but the only feeling was one of comfort, warmth. Of this being destiny and she was a part of it. Without thought, she lifted her hands and called the fire. The red that bled through the flashing colors in the cave heeded her call and surrounded her, encompassing her in flames that didn't burn. She felt the fire, excelled in the power of it, but suffered no harm.

Instead, she felt alive. More than ready to deal with the black evil that haunted her vision. She directed the fire, surrounded the being until it was engulfed in flame.

There was a sudden pause in the chanting voices and then an explosion of noise and color of such magnitude that the cavern rocked and the only ghostly figures remaining disintegrated into wisps of smoke. The darkness fled, burned away by the fire.

Gili felt herself sucked back to the top of the cave and tossed into a vortex. For a moment, as everything spun about her, she thought the darkness had claimed her again. Then she felt the bed beneath her back and knew the vision had ended.

With her heart thumping and breath rasping, she opened her eyes and sat up, the bedding twisted about her body. She no longer felt the brush of the ghost-like figure that had inhabited her body. No longer felt the approach of some powerful evil. If anything, she felt light-headed, as if she desperately needed more sleep to overcome the effects of the vision.

“Not a dream,” she muttered as she extricated herself from the tangled covers. She'd had similar experiences in the past, the same scenario, only this time it had gone much further. Never before had she felt this affinity with fire. Never before had she felt so threatened.

She tried to rationalize it. It was nothing more than the stress she was under right now. Working for Jeremy Grissom would freak anyone out.

A shiver tracked down her spine. She grabbed the cover from the bed and wrapped it about her shoulders. Then she positioned a chair in front of the window and sat, staring out at the new day.

Somehow, she had to complete this commission for her father. There would be no peace until then.

One thing was certain. There'd be no more sleeping today.

“What the hell are you doing here? I thought I'd gotten rid of you. Effing hell, you're like a bad smell, turning up when I least expect it,” Morgan growled.

Gili pushed away from the front of the white, four-wheel-drive vehicle parked outside Morgan's motel room. She'd watched him arrive at dusk the night before and had then spent the rest of the evening staying out of his way.