by Kim Hornsby
The Dream Jumper’s Secret
The Dream Jumper Series
This book is a Stand Alone Novel but if you want to read the First Book in the Series, the cheapest way to buy The Dream Jumper’s Promise is in this 10 Book Box Set:
http://amzn.com/B00VZ8XL48
Passion & Danger
Dedication
To my late mother, Joan Elizabeth Morgan Hornsby Reid, who loved to read and taught me that stories are important, worthy, and necessary for getting to sleep every night.
This one is for you, Mom.
The Dream Jumper’s Secret, Copyright 2014, Top Ten Press
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Jeannine Henning
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
ISBN – 10:1500347418
Seattle ~ Maui
THE DREAM JUMPER’S SECRET
“I never understood why Clark Kent was so hell bent on keeping Lois Lane in the dark.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
Chapter 1
Tina Greene felt herself being sucked backwards in the darkness, at high speed. Airborne and blind. Jamey’s hand was still in hers. That’s all she had time to notice.
The jump out of the dream was too fast to exchange a look before the darkness set in. Suddenly her hand was empty and her eyes flew open. She was still in the hotel bed of the AMTEX Hotel, the only place in town that catered to foreign visitors. The only refuge in a dangerous country besides the American Military’s Kandahar Airbase just across the street. She looked around the room quickly and noted that she was alone and exactly where she’d been when she tried to jump into Jamey’s dream.
It fricking worked!
She smiled. Finally, she’d entered Jamey’s dream. And he’d jumped out with her. Thank God.
The bedside clock said it was 6:23 a.m. She took a deep breath. Jamey was finally out of the nightmare he’d been stuck in for a week. Would someone from Sixth Force still come for her at seven even though they didn’t need her now? She desperately wanted to see Jamey, make sure he was alive, to tell him she was sorry for everything.
In anticipation of the best case scenario, she slipped in to the small bathroom’s shower stall. The hot water pelted against her stiff shoulders, easing some of the tension. The flight yesterday had been rough. Flights. Twenty-six hours of traveling had made her feel like she was stuck inside an old woman’s body. With a crazy woman’s mind. Flying to Afghanistan had been the bravest thing she’d ever done. But it worked. That’s all that mattered at this point. Jamey was out.
She’d phone her mother later, reassure her that all went according to the plan she’d lied about to keep her from the crazy truth. Tina would be on her way home today.
After pulling on the only outfit she brought on this rescue mission-- jeans and a T-shirt, she lay back on the twin-sized bed to wait. At 6:45, a knock sounded. Sargent Milton or one of his cronies was early to pick her up. The military wasn’t as punctual as they boasted. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she wondered if it was Jamey outside her hotel room door, and raced across the small room to the door. She flung it open wide.
But it wasn’t Jamey, Milton, or even an American soldier. One of the men in front of her kicked in the door, causing her to stumble backwards and fall onto the floor. Her worst nightmare about coming to Afghanistan was coming true. The men rushing at her were dark-haired, with black beards, dressed in foreign fatigues with gauzy scarves around their necks like they’d cover their faces if anonymity was needed. They both held large guns. She tried to stumble to her feet and then remembered to scream. Too late. The bigger one clutched her throat and dragged her to her feet. She tried to scream but couldn’t make any noise with his iron grip on her windpipe. This wasn’t Sixth Force or anyone associated with the American military in Afghanistan. Her heart went into full panic mode pounding wildly against her ribs, and Tina thought she might lose control of her bowels in fear. As she was dragged along the floor to the door, the bedside alarm went off, beeping loudly. The two men looked over at the clock. With the brief distraction, Tina twisted around and kicked her captor in the balls as hard as she could in bare feet. He went over and the other man grabbed her by the arm from behind and with his other hand got a firm grip on her throat, calling commands to his partner on the floor. His moves were quick and rough. She thrashed out, kicking with her right leg and swinging her arms. They knew exactly where to squeeze to keep her from using her vocal chords. One of them pulled her hands behind her back and the other held her still enough to stuff a dirty rag in her mouth. Kicking, she aimed for his crotch again but too late. The bigger man with the blue scarf pushed her on the bed and grabbed her legs to duct tape them together. Her muffled screams didn’t go farther than the room’s closed door. Maybe someone would hear the alarm clock that was still beeping. She managed to kick Blue Scarf in the gut with the combined efforts of her legs but he barely stumbled.
They covered her head with one of the pillowcases, taped it at the neck and then she was picked up by the shoulders and feet. She couldn’t kick them. Once out the door, she heard them close it quietly, then they moved through the hall. This wasn’t anyone associated with the American military.
This was very bad. It felt like a nightmare and Tina hoped she was right. She’d had dreams where she thought she woke up but didn’t and the dream continued into chaos. Her trick was to try to stick her hand through her abdomen to check reality but she couldn’t. Tina struggled and squirmed and tried to scream, but it was useless. One had her feet and the other around the chest. Were they Taliban or at least insurgents disguised as Afghani soldiers? If so, these maniacs were the worst kind of terrorists there was. Crazy. Ruthless. Desperate. Very little to lose. Willing to die. They’d rape her and torture her, maybe cut off her head if their ransom demands weren’t met. She had to keep her cool, concentrate on the fact that Jamey just woke up on the base only miles away. Once he realized she’d been abducted from AMTEX, he’d come for her. Or send someone. That was if the jump out had been successful, which still wasn’t a certainty. And if Sixth Force told him his fiance was in Afghanistan.
Outside the hotel, words were exchanged in a language Tina didn’t understand and suddenly she was thrown in the air. Landing hard, her shoulder took the worst of it while her head bounced off a metal surface. The shooting pain confirmed it was reality. Fuck! She imagined they’d thrown her onto the floor of an idling truck. Smelling rust and exhaust fumes, she guessed it was an old truck. Maybe during the transport, she could wiggle to the side of the bed and throw herself out of the truck if it wasn’t going too fast. Only if she heard other cars on the far side of the truck. Not somewhere out in the desert. She needed someone to see her. Preferably an American soldier.
But then, something very heavy was put on top of her. It felt like a roll of carpet. Then another and now the heaviness made it hard to breathe. Darkness through the blindfold, a moldy smell, and muffled voices told her she was now well hidden under something. Out of view.
Then the vehicle took off and she was screwed.
Chapter 2
Two Months Earlier
The day of Hank’s second funeral it rained on Maui.
Tina tipped the open urn and wat
ched the heavier pieces of ash fall directly below the cliff into the thorny kiawe bushes. Then the wind swirled, carrying the lightest ashes back towards her, covering her hair and face. She made a strangling noise, swiping at her mouth and batting at her hair like she was fighting a swarm of spiders. She spit into the dirt at her feet and frantically backed up.
Jamey rushed in, pulled off his damp T-shirt and brushed her face and hair, holding her still with his other arm. “All gone, Baby.”
She hurried to the truck to drench his shirt on the rain-splattered hood, and wiped her face, careful to get the ash away from her mouth. The three friends who’d joined them that evening to memorialize her dead husband spoke with Jamey at the cliff, nodding and glancing back at her.
Obi, the pit mix, hopped into the truck, moving to the middle of the seat. When Jamey jumped in the driver’s seat and stuck the key in the ignition, the truck wouldn’t start.
“I’ll wait a bit.”
Between the two of them, he had all the patience. Tina looked out the window, hugging Obi, her eyes dry. Her fingers made circles in his chest fur. On Jamey’s second try, the engine roared to life and they silently drove back to her house, the windshield wipers beating out a slow rhythm. It’s all over, it’s all over, it’s all over.
Tina walked straight to the bathroom, stepped in to the shower--clothes on--and let the water wash away the last physical remnants of Hank. Piece by soggy piece, she removed her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the shower floor. The water’s temperature was hot enough to sting and redden her skin. After washing her hair twice, she turned off the water. The room was thick with steam. Balancing on the tub’s edge she opened the window wider and saw Jamey in the side yard. He stood in the rain, his cell phone to his ear. His firmly set mouth and tense stature might have told her something was wrong but another thing told her first. A feeling of secrecy and deception had slipped in through the window like a burglar’s invasion.
“Hang on,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper, and then disappeared around to the front of the house.
The fine hair on the back of Tina’s neck stood on end. Having been lied to and kept in the dark by both her dead husband and her scheming mother, Tina had good reason to be suspicious. Even with Jamey. And good reason to know these hunches weren’t to be ignored.
She wrapped a bath towel around her chest and snuck down the back stairs.
The laundry room was empty, the garage too, and with the door open to the driveway and front yard she confirmed that Jamey was not there. Obi sniffed around the base of a papaya tree in the lush yard, his tail wagging like he’d found a mongoose’s scent. She crept through the garage.
Then, she heard a noise from the storage room to her right--a room where she kept an airtight case for her valuable paintings—her most expensive possessions, including this house on prime Maui real estate. She moved closer to hear the words coming from beyond the hollow core door.
“Well here’s the coincidence,” Jamey said. “I keep seeing the same dude everywhere I go. So, if you haven’t got someone following me, then I’m in deep shit.”
There was a pause long enough for Tina to think Jamey was talking on the phone.
“Give me a fucking yes or no.” The words were clipped, Jamey’s anger, unfamiliar. He was probably talking to Milton, his superior officer in Afghanistan. “Cut the crap,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “I’m going to beat the daylights out of this guy, if you don’t tell me. I saw him again just now. He drove by me at a remote pull out.”
She hadn’t noticed anyone suspicious.
“Is this guy ours, or not?” Jamey asked. Was Milton back-peddling? Something he did well according to Jamey. A fat centipede the size of her longest finger scuttled across the garage floor near her bare feet and disappeared under a pile of boogie boards. She’d get the bug spray later. You couldn’t just let those things run around, even if it was the garage. Obi might find it.
“I can save you the trouble. I’m not.” Jamey’s voice was filled with surrender. “Pretty sure you lost the cash cow on that last jump in Kandahar.”
Milton was probably trying to get Jamey back to the war to continue his work with Taliban prisoners, or at least get tested to make sure their psychic phenom had lost the ability to jump into their dreams.
“I’m headed back to Seattle in a week for my kids’ birthday. Tell your man to pack his bag.”
The call was wrapping up, and Tina thought about sneaking upstairs to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping. But she didn’t. In the last year, she’d earned the right to ask questions, and Jamey knew that better than anyone else in the world.
Finally the door opened, and Jamey stepped out, a look of surrender on his face. He knew she was on the other side of the door, waiting.
“Are you going back to Afghanistan?” She sounded pitiful, even to her own ears.
Jamey stepped forward and took her in his arms, folding her into the warmth of his chest. “The less you know, the better, Tina.”
She thought about succumbing to the comfort of his embrace. Instead she took a step back. “You owe me this, Jamey. Are you going?”
He bit his bottom lip, looked beyond the driveway to the ocean, and then back at her. “I’m hoping it doesn’t get to that.”
“If it does?’
“I’m useless to them, remember? I’m as useless as Mikey is to your business.”
He was trying to make her smile, knowing her latest part-time employee, Mikey, spent most of his time on his phone, and avoiding his duties at the dive shop. “Yes, or no.”
“Yes. If Milton insists, I’ll have to go back for tests. No, if Milton is convinced I can’t jump, or comes to Seattle to oversee my testing.” He took her hands in his, closing the distance between them. “I don’t know yet. He wants me to go back to Afghanistan, or Germany, but I don’t see the point. I’ll try to convince him to come to me.” He kissed her forehead.
This conversation made Tina want to curl in a ball and sleep for a month. “No secrets from me, Jamey. No lying or secret phone calls, okay?”
He stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand, something that made her feel like a lovesick teenager. “Only the ones that keep you safe, Darlin’.”
Chapter 3
Tina and Jamey woke to the sounds of doves cooing in the yard’s Plumeria trees. The caged cockatiel next door squawked. Today was a needed break from the dive shop for Tina. She’d promised Jamey she wouldn’t call work or even think about the boat charter headed for a dive off Lanai.
“The day is ours,” she said sleepily. A dog barked, a car rattled down the street, and off in the distance, a prop plane took off from the West Maui Airport. The memorial service was behind her and today was a fresh start. For both of them. She knew how she wanted to start the day, and reached over to ignite Jamey’s interest. She’d never spent so much time messing up the sheets as she had since Jamey had moved from Pops’ condo and into her house. Not even in the early days with Hank.
Later, when Jamey got out of bed to make coffee, she stayed to snuggle with Obi until the coffee arrived, bedside. But, when Jamey peeked in and told her to come get her own coffee, she pouted playfully. “Is the magic wearing off?” she teased.
“You know it’s just beginning, Tina.” He grinned from the doorway.
She heaved a happy sigh, knowing he was right.
“But now that we’re awake, let’s do something.” Jamey folded his arms across his chest and stared at her, smiling. “Let’s do something important. There’s a fear you really need to conquer.”
Knowing what was coming, her heart did a little somersault.
“Today we’re going to dive. Get you under again. Come on, Lardass.”
Not her favorite nickname. No one worked harder than Tina, and according to Jamey, no one had a cuter butt. She jumped off the bed and chased him through the house, only stopping to grab a dog toy for a weapon. In the kitchen, she backed him into the corner. “Take that name back, Sold
ier Boy, or I’m going to pummel you with this plastic alligator.” She held the weapon threateningly.
Jamey’s hands flew up in surrender. “I can’t help it if you need to get out of bed.” In one quick swoop, he had the toy in his hand, and her in his clutches.
“Darn those soldier moves.” She chuckled, unable to do anything in his arms but squirm.
He squeaked the toy several times. “I’ll feel you up underwater, if you like.” His mouth grazed her ear.
Tina laughed, and stopped struggling. “I have to admit, that sounds like fun.”
He kissed her neck, something that always left her weak-kneed and helpless. “Let’s try diving.”
“I’ll try, okay? But if I can’t stay under, or if I shoot to the surface, you’re responsible.” She turned and kissed him tentatively. “And, don’t call me Lardass.”
With the tanks and gear loaded in the truck, Jamey and Tina took off for Honolua Bay, one of Maui’s most beautiful dive sites on the north side of the island. In the winter, when the swell was big, and the break was just right, surfers flocked to the mouth of the bay to ride the giant wave. Today it was calm and clear, with no surfers in sight.
The dive location was Tina’s choice. Honolua Bay was the one place that still terrified her but this excursion wasn’t for pleasure. She hadn’t dived since they discovered the cave off Molokai weeks before and all hell had broken loose. Even the thought of being underwater, breathing compressed air, terrified her. But, clients would arrive soon, people who counted on diving with her, and Jamey knew she didn’t want to let them down.
The sun shone brightly off the Pacific Ocean as they drove north along the winding two-lane highway to a turnoff road that even challenged a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Jamey had recently purchased a five-year-old, midnight black 1998 Dodge truck and was itching to put its capabilities to the test.