Chasing Morgan
BOOK FOUR: THE HUNTED SERIES
JENNIFER RYAN
Dedication
To my husband and children for your continued support
and taking this journey with me.
To my wonderful editor, Amanda Bergeron, for your
amazing talent. This book and my writing are better
because of you. Thank you for your continued support
and encouragement.
To all the fans of The Hunted Series.
All of you make this possible.
Contents
* * *
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
About the Author
The Hunted Series by Jennifer Ryan
An Excerpt from The Governess Club: Claire by Ellie Macdonald
An Excerpt from Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Dead by Lena Diaz
An Excerpt from The Governess Club: Bonnie by Ellie Macdonald
Copyright
About the Publisher
Chapter One
* * *
One year ago . . .
MORGAN’S FINGERS FLEW across the laptop keyboard propped on her knees. She took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and looked out past her pink-painted toes propped on the railing and across her yard to the densely wooded area at the edge of her property. Her mind’s eye found her guest winding his way through the trees. She still had time before Jack stepped out of the woods separating her land from his. She couldn’t wait to meet him.
Images, knowings, they just came to her. She’d accepted that part of herself a long time ago. As she got older, she’d learned to use her gift to seek out answers.
She finished her buy-and-sell orders and switched from her day-trading page to check her psychic website and read the questions submitted by customers. She answered several quickly, letting the others settle in her mind until the answers came to her.
One stood out. The innocuous question about getting a job held an eerie vibe.
The familiar, strange pulsation came over her. The world disappeared like a door slamming on reality. The images came to her like hammer blows, one right after the other, and she took the onslaught, knowing something important needed to be seen and understood.
An older woman lying in a bed, hooked up to a machine feeding her medication. Frail and ill, she had translucent skin and dark circles marring her pain-filled eyes. Her pain washed over Morgan like a tsunami.
The woman yelled at someone, her face contorted into something mean and hateful. An unhappy woman—one who’d spent her whole life blaming others and trying to make them as miserable as her.
A pristine white pillow floating down, inciting panic, amplified to terror when it covered the woman’s face, her frail body swallowed by the sheets.
Morgan had an overwhelming feeling of suffocating.
The woman tried desperately to suck in a breath, but couldn’t. Unable to move her lethargic limbs, she lay terrified and helpless under his unyielding hands. Lights flashed on her closed eyelids.
Death came calling.
A man stood next to the bed holding the pillow like a shield. His mouth opened on a contorted, evil, hysterical laugh that rang in her ears and made her skin crawl. She squeezed her eyes closed to blot out his malevolent image and thoughts.
Murderer!
The word rang in her head as the terrifying emotions overtook her.
Morgan threw up a wall in her mind, blocking the onslaught of disturbing pictures and feelings. She took several deep breaths and concentrated on the white roses growing in profusion just below the porch railing. Their sweet fragrance filled the air. With every breath, she centered herself and found her inner calm, pushing out the anger and rage left over from the vision. Her body felt like a lead weight, and lightened as her energy came back. The drowsiness faded with each new breath. She’d be fine in a few minutes.
The man on horseback emerged from the trees, coming toward her home. Her guest had arrived.
Focused on the computer screen, she slowly and meticulously typed her answer to the man who had asked about a job and inadvertently opened himself up to telling her who he really was at the core.
She replied simply:
You’ll get the job, but you can’t hide from what you did. You need help. Turn yourself in to the police.
None of her personal information appeared on the website, and she’d put a lot of time and effort into keeping her identity and location a secret for reasons of her own. He’d never find her.
A chill ran over her, despite the warm sun on her skin.
She put through the charge and tried to erase the vision from her mind. She’d told him to go to the police. Nothing more she could do. She didn’t have any proof a crime had been committed. You couldn’t make accusations against people based on a vision. Even if she went to the police with what she knew, they wouldn’t take her seriously. She’d learned that the hard way.
The help she provided Tyler and the FBI was different. Her unique link with Tyler allowed her to assist him with some of his cases. Tyler had nothing to do with this man. She could ask him to investigate, but why would he? He had a hard enough time believing what she told him about the cases he was working on. She didn’t want to have to convince him all over again that what she saw was real and true. It hurt to have to convince him every time, despite the ample proof she’d given him on multiple cases. After all this time, he should believe her—believe in her.
She didn’t want to think about Tyler right now. He’d be in Colorado today. Close. Their connection that much stronger, and the harder he’d ignore it and push her away. Maybe she should give in and go see him.
Why couldn’t he stay in San Francisco?
It wasn’t time for them to meet again. She sighed and tried to put him out of her mind. Not possible. They were connected on an elemental level, and had been for a long time.
Why did things between them have to be so complicated and difficult?
Dealing with her customers was simple. They went to her website and clicked on the link to ask a question. She charged fifteen dollars for requests she answered. If she couldn’t answer the question, or wouldn’t answer, she didn’t charge and sent a standard reply, telling the person she couldn’t help.
Either the person believed in her enough to pay the fifteen dollars, or they didn’t.
Sure, they had to accept her terms and conditions. After all, what she “saw” was open to interpretation and the result may not be what the customer expected. In short, if they did
n’t like the answer, they couldn’t shoot the messenger.
She specifically informed customers to beware what they asked, and how they asked it. You may get the answer to a question you hadn’t intended.
If you suspected your spouse of cheating on you, don’t be surprised if she confirmed it, and that the other person was your best friend. She wouldn’t lie, or tell you only what you wanted to hear.
In a few cases, she simply refused to answer. People often wanted to know when they were going to die and how. In her opinion, this kind of information did more harm than good. It usually altered the course of a person’s life, and she didn’t want to be responsible for changing one’s fate and destiny.
One thing she knew for certain, life had a pattern. Mistakes are repeated until the lesson is learned. Knowing something ahead of time didn’t necessarily mean you could change the outcome. Some things were meant to be and nothing could stop them from ending the same way she saw them, even if the path that led to that end took a detour first. That wasn’t to say the course of the future couldn’t be altered. It could. She’d done it several times. For Tyler’s family, she’d do it again.
Chapter Two
* * *
JACK’S GAZE LOCKED on her as he made his way out of the trees, across the wide expanse of pasture and to the house. He’d spotted her sitting on the porch with her laptop. The rain of golden hair drew his eye. Thick and slightly wavy, her hair dropped almost to her waist. The color so bright, the sunlight seemed to glow out from the mass of waves.
“Hello, Jack.”
How did she know his name?
Her voice threw him again. A sultry voice from such a fresh face. She looked to be in her early twenties. Probably five-foot-seven, she had a slim build and curves made to keep a man up at night. Her skin was lightly bronzed from days spent in the sun, and her striking blue eyes reminded him of the color of a clear, clean azure sea.
It struck him that he also saw a lifetime of wisdom in those eyes.
She has an old soul.
He hadn’t known what that really meant until now. As he looked at this young, vibrant woman, her eyes spoke volumes.
Nothing else to say to describe her. Some sort of essence emanated from her he couldn’t name. Words wouldn’t do her justice. He wondered what such a beautiful woman was doing living in the middle of nowhere—seemingly alone.
“Um, hi. I’m Jack Turner. I own the Stargazer Ranch that borders your property. Uh, we’re neighbors.” He shifted nervously in the saddle. Not like him at all, but something about her unsettled him.
“Howdy, neighbor.” A strong, sturdy man. It made her secretly laugh to see him a little out of sorts with her. She knew a lot about him, impressions from Tyler of his good friend, Jack. She hadn’t expected him to be discombobulated by the sight of her.
Her casual country joke brought out a smile. She laid the computer on the table and poured a glass of ice tea from the tray. He never took his eyes off her as she came off the porch and walked to him with the glass. His penetrating gaze unsettled her.
“For you. You look a little hot. Have some iced tea.”
She handed him the glass when he came down off the horse. Interested in the beautiful animal, she took his head in her hands and gave him a scratch behind the ears and under the leather bridle. The horse bent to her and laid his head to her chest. If he were a cat, he’d have purred.
“He usually doesn’t take to people. In fact, he only responds like that with my wife, Jenna.” He took a deep sip of the cold drink before adding, “He likes you, though.”
“He knows a good thing when he sees it. Blue loves your wife because he knows she needed him at one time, and now he trusts her. She’s kind to him.”
“How’d you know his name? Do you know my wife?”
“Sort of.” She stepped back from the horse and looked at the tall man standing beside her. A good man, dedicated to his family and his ranch. He was happy. That came to her clearly and washed away the last remnants of the murderous vision. She wished she had that same feeling in her own life. Jack had everything he wanted, his wife, his children, his family of friends, and love.
Again, she thought of Tyler and pushed his face out of her mind.
“It won’t be long now before you have a new baby. Your wife is well.”
Your wife is well. Not a question, a statement. Something about this woman wasn’t quite right. Jack felt like he knew her, but he’d never seen her before in his life. Unforgettable, he’d never forget her.
“Yeah, she’s fine. We’re excited about the baby. Our boys are looking forward to it.”
“I bet they are. They’re the spitting image of you and your twin brother. That little Sam was named appropriately. He’s just like his uncle. Matt. Now, he’s the serious one. He’ll take after you. He has a deep love for animals, especially the horses. He’ll carry on the tradition your wife set up for the ranch. He and your nephew, Jacob, will tend the ranch much like you and Caleb tend it now. You’ve made a good life for your family. It’s something to be proud of.”
How did she know about his family?
“Have we met before? Are you friends with my wife?”
“No and no,” she said with a smile. “I moved in almost a year ago. I pretty much keep to myself. I like it here. It’s quiet and beautiful. You can’t beat the trees and the blue sky. I like the land and the expanse of it. You know what I mean.”
Rambling, it had been a long time since she’d had someone to talk to. She needed to remember that while Jack and everyone else in Tyler’s family were like old friends to her now, they’d never met her.
Jack took another long sip of his tea and tried to figure out how she knew so much about him and his family. You know what I mean. Again, not a question.
She looked normal. She didn’t seem like some kind of psychotic stalker. Maybe she knew about Jenna’s wealth and that she ran Merrick International. Maybe she had some plot to get money from Jenna.
She chuckled. “I’m not after Jenna, or her money. You can rest easy, Jack. I mean you no harm.”
Surprised and confused, had he spoken his thoughts out loud and not realized it?
She turned the conversation and his thoughts. “You came to see me for a reason. It’s quite a ride over from your ranch. What can I do for you, Jack?”
He shook his head and stared down at her. Unexpected in every way. He felt like he stood on quicksand, sinking fast. Like she knew the joke and the punch line, and the joke was on him. He didn’t like the feeling.
“I came to ask if I could work out some sort of agreement with you to use your land.”
“Yes.”
He kept talking right over her. “I’ve expanded my breeding program, and I have a lot of horses I need to spread out. I have enough pastureland, but your land isn’t being used for any animals. I thought maybe I could rotate the horses from my acreage to yours, leaving mine to recuperate between switches.”
“Yes,” she repeated.
“I’d pay you for the use of your land. We can negotiate a price.”
“Okay.”
“My men or I will have to come and check on the horses and bring them feed. I’ll be sure to set up a water source. Basically, you won’t have to do anything. I’ll take care of everything the horses need. You aren’t using the land, and I don’t believe they’ll bother you.”
“You said that already. And, I said yes. Go ahead. Bring them over.”
“You’re sure?” he asked, surprised she’d agree so easily.
“I’d love the company. I hope you won’t mind if I spoil them by giving them apples and carrots once in a while.”
“No. That’s, yes. You can give them some treats. Are you sure?”
“Yes. It’s no problem. It gets lonely out here sometimes. The curse of living in the boondocks. It’s my own fault really. I don’t do well around people. Too many emotions flying around,” she said and waved her hands in the air like a whirlwind. “I like it here t
hough. When the property came up for sale, I couldn’t resist,” she said with a secretive smile. “I’m meant to be here.”
“It’s a great place,” he agreed.
The three-bedroom house was in great shape. The last owners had updated the kitchen and bathrooms and added on a wide wraparound porch that stretched from the front of the house around to the back into a deck that looked out over a wide expanse of lawn and lush gardens. From the front of the house, Jack saw the roses blooming in a profusion of colors. This woman took care of her home and land. He had no doubt the horses would be safe here with her.
“Why don’t you like other people?”
“I like them fine,” she answered with a shrug and scratched Blue’s nose. “I just have a hard time coping around strangers. You’re the first person I’ve had here, since I moved in. It’s nice to have company, especially a nice man like you. You have good energy.”
Sometimes she sounded like a crackpot, but she enjoyed watching Jack get confused and irritated.
“Relax, Jack. You can bring the horses. The fee you’re thinking of is okay with me.”
“Huh?”
“You’ll need to shore up a few of the fences. I’ve let them go, since I moved in. I’m fine with you taking the cost of the repairs out of the monthly fee, since the improvements will be to my land. I only have one request. If you aren’t the one to come and check on the horses, then I’d like it to be Caleb. I think it will be okay if it’s just the two of you. I’d like it if you or Caleb wanted to stop in and say hello once in a while. But no one else. I don’t like strangers.”
“You don’t think of Caleb and me as strangers?”
“I know a lot about the two of you. For instance, I know you have to get home because you’re expected at Sam’s place for a family dinner. You’ll decorate cupcakes with the children. Sam and Tyler will be home today.”
“Sam won’t be here for another week, and Tyler doesn’t usually come with him. How do you know about them? About dinner?” He took a step toward her. Those all-seeing blue eyes gazed up at him and a soft smile spread on her pretty face. Her hair softly swayed in the breeze like a living thing.
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