by Desiree Holt
He shook his head. “Not exactly. I was a Force Recon Marine. What you’re talking about, at least with premonition, is kind of like the gut feelings I’d get when we were on a mission and something bad was about to happen.”
She nodded. “Yes. A different type of internal sensing. Okay, then. If precognition is a glimpse of the true or real future, then the visions are events witnessed before the causes. It makes it difficult to get people to believe you don’t really have advance knowledge or an ulterior motive.”
“Which can lead to skeptics and questions from people like me,” he guessed. “I’m assuming this all started with a precognitive vision, so why don’t you tell me what it’s all about? Chase Carpenter is a good friend of mine. I was coming here today to help him with security for his big announcement and demonstration on Friday anyway. When he got your email he called me, I jumped on our plane and arrived on the weekend.”
“You have your own plane?” Close your mouth, Mia. So do many of your donors.
“It makes life easier.” His eyes studied her. “So here I am. Your story, Dr. Fleming?”
“I’d feel better if you called me Mia.”
And maybe put your arms around me and held me against that very attractive body of yours.
Jesus, Mia. What is it with you? This is business. And he doesn’t look like a man who has the word comfort in his vocabulary. Not to mention he’s a total stranger and came here to investigate you. Except, of course, for that very weird thing that happened the night before. And the voice that kept intruding into her head.
Watching him for any signs of doubt or disbelief, she gave him the short version of her personal history as it related to her gift. Then she launched into descriptions, in sequence, of the images relating to Carpenter and their new toy. Something, she couldn‘t say what, made her hold back the vision of the stabbing knife. Maybe he’d think it too absurd and discount everything else she had to say.
“I’m assuming someone’s going to try to steal it. Whatever it is. I wanted to warn Mr. Carpenter so he’d be prepared for whatever might happen.”
“Security is very tight around his little toy,” Romeo told her. “And it’s about to get even tighter. If anyone decides to try something they’ll be in for a big surprise.”
“I’m still shocked that you don’t think I’m crazy,” she told him. “Or making this up. Usually when people hear what I have to say, they run in the opposite direction.”
“I know you’re surprised but no. Nothing like that. I actually believe you’re onto something we can’t afford to discard.”
She twisted her fingers together. “I have to be very careful of what my powers get me involved in because of the museum. Most people in this city don’t know my history. If they thought a nut was part of the staff here, it could seriously affect our exhibits and contributions.”
“Don’t worry. No one will hear anything from me.” He stood up. “I’ve got to call Chase, figure out how to ease him into this explanation. He’s an engineer. If he can’t see it he doesn’t necessarily believe it.”
“That could be a problem,” she pointed out.
“I’ll handle it. I also need to contact my office and make some additional security plans, based on what you’ve told me. I thought we were all set but I can’t afford to take any chances. Not in this situation.” He paused. “But I’d like to take you to lunch, if you’re agreeable.”
Lunch. With him. The man in her vision.
Mia hesitated, sensing things shifting around her. Normally her social engagements were limited to a few friends like Chad or the people she worked with to promote exhibits. Sometimes with donors but usually in a large group setting. She couldn‘t even remember the last time she’d been out on a date. Too many men had either shied away from her psi ability or treated her like some weird specimen. But of course, she mentally kicked herself, this certainly was not anything remotely related to a date.
She wet her lips. “Lunch?”
God. Let’s hear it for my social graces. Could I be any more tongue-tied?
“I’d like to get more details about your visions and what prompts them,” he explained. “Maybe if we go over everything piece by piece, we might pick up a clue as to who and what we should be on the alert for. I just thought we’d be much more relaxed over a meal.”
Oh. So not a social event. Okay. Better. Considering what was brewing in her addled brain, the smartest thing would be to keep as much distance as possible between her and this man who sent shockwaves through her body. Make him interview her in her office, or someplace equally neutral.
“Is that a problem?” he asked when she didn’t say anything. “You do eat lunch, right?” One corner of his mouth quirked up in a lazy smile.
Her blood heated as if she’d put a match to it. Warning bells were clanging loudly in her head. But what the heck. What could happen at lunch?
“That would be very nice,” she heard herself saying and silently gave thanks that she kept a change of clothes at the office. Going to lunch wearing coffee stains wasn’t high on her list of ways to make a good impression. “Thank you. What time?”
“Twelve-thirty?”
”I’ll be waiting out front for you. And I’ll be bringing someone I’d like you to meet.”
She felt herself pale. “I don’t think…”
His smile involved his entire mouth this time and her pulses began to throb erratically. Now she knew what a killer smile was.
“This person is definitely non-threatening. He has a psychic gift too. He’s the partner I mentioned before. I just thought it might ease things a little and he could possibly be of some help.”
She relaxed a tiny bit. “All right. I think.”
“Oh and you might tell whoever you need to let know these things that you’ll probably be out most of the afternoon.”
She raised her eyebrows. “And where will I be instead of here?”
“Chase is going to want to question you himself and I’d like to make this as non-threatening as possible.”
“Non-threatening?”
“Mia.” His voice was even, casual but firm. “You’ve come up with the idea that someone’s going to do some kind of harm to Carpenter Techtronics. I can’t just ask you a few questions and walk away. I thought lunch would help to give you some time to prepare before we meet with him.”
“I see.” She shoved her hands into her skirt pockets so he wouldn’t notice their trembling.
“So is twelve-thirty good for you?”
“Yes. That will be fine. I can get things organized in my office by then and leave a message with the director’s secretary. He’s still out of town so he won’t miss me.”
“Good. See you then.”
Mia walked him to the elevator but when the doors closed shutting him in the car she stood staring at the wall for a long time. What was she getting herself into? No man had ever produced the incredible effect on her that Dan Romeo did. He was like an inexorable force sweeping her into deep waters. And then, of course, there was the damn dream, or vision, or whatever the hell it had been. How was she supposed to have a business relationship with him?
She hoped by lunchtime she’d gotten her senses and her hormones under control.
* * * * *
Dan sat in his rented SUV in front of the museum trying to gather his fractured thoughts together. The last thing he’d expected when he walked into Mia Fleming’s office was the woman who greeted him. With a thick fall of sun-streaked hair and eyes like rare emeralds, she was a Botticelli come to life, the innocence of the Madonna blended with the unconscious charms of a courtesan. An image of which she seemed totally unaware.
And then there was her mouth, full lips that he’d like to devour and a body he’d give everything in his wallet to see naked in his bed.
Well, that’s very professional. Way to go, Dan. Break a few rules.
He never, ever mixed business with pleasure. No matter how tempting the women involved in their cases were, his Marine trai
ning gave him the discipline to stick to his personal code. It appeared that he and the very appealing Dr. Fleming were about to be involved together in whatever this…thing…turned out to be. He just hoped he could manage to be around her without an erection that drew everyone’s attention.
His partners, of course, would laugh themselves silly. During his downtime, Romeo lived up to his name in spades. Between cases his dance card was always filled with any number of willing women. Sex, he’d learned a long time ago, was a great stress-reliever and he had a lusty enjoyment of it.
But while he might revel in it, intensely and often, for him it was purely a physical activity. Emotion never played a part in it. He’d seen too many evil things in life, been to hell and back too many times, to let himself ever open up to a relationship. He’d also learned not to make pillow talk and run the risk of giving away secrets. For Mark and Faith it was a lot different. If he could have something like that…
Can it, Romeo. Don’t live up to your name.
Yet with this woman he felt like a horny teenager with his first crush. He had no doubt she could probably pry the code to Fort Knox from him without even trying. He was glad he’d managed to get out of there without embarrassing himself and letting her see exactly how she affected him.
Jesus! What did he do now? He’d be seeing her every day until this situation was resolved. Maybe even in the evening, depending on how things went. Knowing how precognition worked, it would be to his advantage to keep her with him at all times, to be there whenever a vision hit her. Talk about a time bomb waiting to go off. He’d just have to take a lot of cold showers.
Meanwhile, he had to figure out how to explain to Chase where the information was coming from. Engineers and psychics might as well come from two different planets. Well, he had one ace in the hole he could play. Mark Halloran, his telepathic partner, lived in San Antonio and was currently between assignments. Mark, a former member of Delta Force, was about as no-nonsense as they came. He could help convince Chase that they weren’t discussing black magic.
He opened his phone and hit speed dial.
“Dragon’s Lair,” Andy answered.
“I hope the Dragon’s in a good mood, today,” Dan told him, “because I have more work for him.”
“Fire away. He’s always hungry.”
Dan gave him what little he had on Mia Fleming and asked him to do a full search on her, then call him with the details. He didn’t have time to go back to hook up his laptop and download it.
“On it right now,” Andy assured him.
The next person he called was Mark.
“What do you know about precognition?” he asked the moment Mark answered the phone.
“Well, hello to you too.” Mark chuckled. “I gather urgency dictates an absence of pleasantries.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hello. And hi to Faith. Okay. Precognition.”
“Probably not nearly as much as Faith. You know, when we had that thing last year and she was having trouble managing her telepathic abilities, focusing them, she went to her aunt for help. She’s learned a lot about parapsychology since then. Is that too much information or not enough?”
That thing had been Mark’s imprisonment in a terrorist camp in Peru and his rescue by Phoenix. Faith’s Aunt Vivi, who herself had psychic gifts, had introduced Faith to a small circle of friends who were part of The Lotus Circle, an ancient club revived recently by four women and now with people involved all over the world. They helped Faith harness her ability and learn how to direct it properly.
“She meets with Vivi and some of her friends on a regular basis. They discuss all types of parapsychology and ways to make it useful. I’ll be willing to bet precognition is one of the areas they’ve been studying. I think she’s even including some type of psychic gift in her next book. Why?”
Dan explained the situation in short, terse sentences. “So what I’m asking is, can you meet us for lunch? And somehow before that get Faith to give you a short course on the basics, if she’s around?”
Mark laughed. “You don’t want much, do you?”
“I also want to take you to this meeting at Carpenter Techtronics,” Dan told him, “so I have another reasonable head assuring them we aren’t consulting with witch doctors. I need all the help I can get explaining how someone not planning to rob them knows about a crime that may or may not be committed.”
“No problem. Faith’s at home working on her next book. I’ll bribe her with a cup of strawberry tea and get what I can from her before I leave to meet you. Anyway, I think she’ll be glad to get me out from underfoot. She’s trying to meet a looming deadline and I’m driving her nuts, if you’ll pardon the pun. Are you picking me up or meeting me at the restaurant?”
“Meeting you at Carpenter’s. I need to touch base with Chase and his people before lunch. Then we can ride together. See you in thirty.”
Dan’s next call was to Chase, who answered in the middle of the first ring.
“Well?” he demanded.
“Listen,” Dan began, “I have some answers to our questions but they’re not quite what you’re expecting.”
“I don’t understand.” Chase’s voice was edgy. “Did you find the person sending the email or not? Do they know who’s planning to steal Oscar? Are they the ones?”
“Not exactly. It’s a little more complicated than that.”
“Damn it, Dan,” Chase exploded. “I want some straight answers. Too much is riding on this to play games.”
“No games. I’m bringing someone to your office who can help me explain what’s happening. We’ll be there in half an hour. And Chase? I think now it’s time to let your partners in on what’s happening.”
By the time Mark and Dan hooked up in the Carpenter lobby, Andy had called back with Mia’s very interesting history, both professionally and psychically.
Chapter Six
Six pairs of eyes studied Dan Romeo as he walked into the conference room. He noticed that Joy Rivers, although not a member of the executive team, had been included and was sitting next to Chase, a proprietary look on her face. Maybe it was just as well Chase had invited her, Dan thought. She had a sharp mind and a flair for analyzing situations. And everyone was aware of the amount of influence she had over Chase.
Dan introduced Mark to everyone and the two men poured coffee for themselves from the setup on the sideboard. Carrying their drinks, they took their places at the table.
“Thank you all for meeting with me,” he started.
“I’m guessing you’ve discovered who sent the email,” Chase said, fingers drumming nervously on the table.
“Have you called the police?” Ladd Tolbert, Mr. Practical Follow-the-Rules, was flipping a pen back and forth in his usual edgy manner, lines tightening around his mouth.
“Not yet. We really have nothing specific to give them at this point.”
“Wait a minute,” Lucas interrupted. “Chase tells me we got a threatening email and two calls. Isn’t that enough to get the cops involved?”
Dan shook his head. “I think everyone needs to sit back a minute and let me tell you exactly what I found. Then we can make some decisions.”
“Who sent the emails?” Lucas Grant demanded. He looked at Mark and Dan. “One of these people?”
“Why don’t we hear what Dan has to say,” Paul interrupted in a reasonable tone of voice. “I’m sure he didn’t ask to meet with us for no good reason.”
Watching their faces carefully, fully prepared for the disbelief, Dan related the details of the trace on the email, how he located Mia Fleming and her story. For a long moment no one said a word. Then Chase, running on nervous energy, jumped up and began to pace.
“That’s a load of crap,” he spat out. “I think she—and whoever—are planning something and this is just to get you running in circles. Psychic messages? Please. Gimme a break, Dan. I’d have thought better of you.”
“And that’s exactly why I brought Mark with me. You all know he just jo
ined Phoenix as the fifth partner after a long stint in Delta Force. I think you need to hear what he has to say before you trash this idea.”
In measured tones, his voice carefully uninflected, Mark told them about meeting Faith Wilding in grade school. About how in high school they discovered they could communicate telepathically. About how their careers kept them apart physically but they were always connected mentally. Most of all, however, he told them about his capture by terrorists in Peru when his only link to the outside world was Faith.
“She was like a pit bull.” Dan grinned. “She wouldn‘t give up until she figured out how to rescue him. Through her telepathic messages with Mark she learned about Joey Latrobe, my partner Rick’s brother. And a member of Mark’s mission team. He was nearly dead but managed to conceal himself, get to the extraction point and was picked up by the extraction team. Finding him led her to Phoenix.”
“She convinced Phoenix to agree to rescue me,” Mark continued. “Joey marked the map to show them where we’d been ambushed and they were able to pinpoint my exact position through the messages Faith and I managed to exchange. It was a struggle, because the terrorists also had a telepath, a strong one who did his best to block our communication.”
“So you see,” Dan wrapped up, “psychic phenomena does exist. It’s not just some imaginary black magic. The military is continually experimenting with its uses to give them a better edge in covert operations. And there are several instances where the police have relied on psychics to help them solve cases where they were at a dead end.”
“I asked Faith what she knew about precognition,” Mark said, “and I’ll give you the very short course she gave me.”
For a long moment after he finished no one spoke. Finally Ladd said, “Aren’t we reaching a little here? Someone sees a vision that isn’t even exactly Oscar, thinks someone’s going to steal him and sends us an anonymous email?”
“When I met Mia today I was very impressed,” Dan told them. “This isn’t some outrageous person with bizarre ideas. She’s a college graduate with a doctorate in her field and is a well-respected, recognized art expert. I believe exactly what she said. Especially after talking with Mark. That she had a precognitive vision…actually more than one…involving Oscar. She sent the emails and made the calls to give you a heads-up that something might happen. And I don’t think we can afford to discount anything here.”