The Lost Soldier_Phoenix Agency

by Jen Talty

  Screams ricocheted across the lake as chaos and confusion erupted.

  He fought the pounding headache and the burning muscles as he focused on the five girls gripping a broken kayak, floating in the burning debris.

  His heart skipped a beat.

  Before his view started, he’d seen six girls.

  “Brett!” Hazel's voice filled his ears. In seconds, she was at his side, along with the camp director, helping the girls back to shore.

  “There was another girl,” he whispered, scanning the debris. Large pieces of wood continued to burn, smoke billowing toward the sky. He swam closer to the shoreline where the house had exploded, looking everywhere until a faint whimper stole his attention. The girl gripped her life preserver. “Stay right where you are, I’m coming to get you.”

  The girl nodded.

  He swam as fast as his water-logged clothes would let him. The girl couldn’t be older than ten, if that. Her eyes wide with fear and her face blackened with ash and tinges of blood. “What’s your name?” he asked as he got closer.

  “Mindy,” she said.

  “What hurts?”

  “My arm.” She held it up. Burn marks streaked her forearm and her wrist was badly swollen.

  He gently looped his arm around her middle, turning her body so her back was against his chest. “Keep your arm resting here.” He laid it gently across her body as he side-stroked toward the camp shore.

  Morty and Hazel had the other girls wrapped in towels sitting at a picnic table. Other camp counselors and staff members shuffled children from the area. An announcement that all campers report to their units, surged over loud speakers.

  He carefully lifted Mindy into his arms and carried her toward Hazel. A wave of nausea spread across his body. The quick snap between realities caused an imbalance in his body, but he’d experienced worse. Needing to rest, he sat down at the table, wrapping the girl in a blanket, before Morty took the girl.

  “You’re not bleeding,” Hazel said, her fingers touching the side of his face.

  “And there was no gun fire,” he whispered, curling his fingers around her wrist and brought her palm to his lips. “Savanah wasn’t in the house, but a car drove off just before I got there.”

  Hazel nodded. “I saw it.” She sat down next him, her arm draped over his shoulder. “You look like death.”

  “Feel like it too.”

  Sirens echoed in the background.

  “When I get my energy back, I’ll try to view your sister.”

  “I need to tell you something.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “I saw you run around the back of the house. I saw the truck drive away and I saw the bomb the precise moment you did.”

  “You had a premonition of my view?” Carefully, he checked his pocket for the pendant. He let out a sigh of relief when he felt the circular object.

  “I think it occurred simultaneously and that has never happened before.”

  Chapter 5

  HAZEL TWISTED HER WET hair into a ponytail and made her way through the two-bedroom cabin to a porch that overlooked Dunham’s Bay. Brett sat in an Adirondack chair, beer in his hand, feet resting on the railing.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m better, thanks.” He reached to his side, pulling a beer from a bucket of ice and handing it to her.

  “Have you ever snapped together like that before?” She lowered herself into the other chair, before taking the beer and twisting off the cap. The bitter, malty flavor bubbled down her throat.

  “A few times. I try not to, but being so close to a view site, the pull can be so strong that I can’t control it.”

  “Savanah had one experience where her mind took too long to refocus and she worried it might never.”

  “People are working on a strategy for close viewing so we can bring people like me into the field versus using us at a distance, but it’s difficult. You really have to be prepared for it and then let it happen. Unfortunately, our natural instinct is to fight it and try to use the process we’ve developed for ourselves.”

  Hazel continued to study his profile, but got nothing from doing so. His body appeared to be relaxed and he stared out into the evening sky as if he didn’t have a care in the world. But she knew better.

  “I saw you seconds before you saw the bomb. I was in the water before you dropped the camera.”

  He rolled his head, catching her gaze. He took a slow draw from his beer. “When you had the premonition on the airplane, I saw it too.”

  “What?” She rubbed her ear as if something got stuck and she had to have misunderstood.

  “When I touched you, it was like you sucked me in. I didn’t see exactly what you saw, at least by the way you described it, but I was there, watching the house explode.”

  “That premonition was off, but did you get the feeling we were being watched?” she asked, ignoring the obvious question of how their abilities intertwined in a way that for most was impossible.

  “They knew we were there. I think they knew we were coming and I think your sister knew that, too.” He arched a brow.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I think it was your sister who was watching us, or should I say viewing us. When I snapped back to my body, we crossed.”

  “Have you ever read Riley Jacob’s book on crossing abilities?”

  “I have,” he said with a hint of a smile. “But her theory is that it only happens with blood relatives or people with extremely tight bonds and those take years to develop.”

  “My sisters and I have been working on sharing our skills. Willow and Savanah have had some success with Savanah being able to send messages telepathically to Willow, even though Savanah’s a viewer.”

  “Have they tried it with you?”

  Hazel let out a dry chuckle. “My skill is the least reliable and if you buy into what Riley states in her book, the one most likely not to be able to cross.”

  “But we crossed.” He set his feet down, turning his chair to face her. “I saw your premonition and you followed me into my view. That alone blows my mind, but when you add in your sister and I meeting in the plane between view and reality, well, that’s not supposed to happen, considering we’re not related nor do we have any tight bonds.”

  “Our bonds might be tighter than you think.” She blinked, trying to break eye contact, but it didn’t work out too well. He had a commanding gaze. Not forceful, but it held her stare.

  “Why? Because we had sex thirteen years ago and it was the first time for both of us?” He shook his head. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, because trust me, that night is forever engrained in my brain, but for it to create that kind of connection doesn’t make sense to me, especially since I didn’t even know who you were until this morning.”

  There was no way to explain this without it making Hazel look like a crazy female holding onto a single moment in time. “But I’ve always known who you were and I had no intention of letting you go.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I didn’t plan on sneaking out, even after I found out you’d joined the marines.”

  “How did you find that out? I know I never told you.” He set his beer on the deck, and then grabbed the legs of her chair, turning her to face him head on. “We spent close to thirty-six hours together under the premise we were to remain strangers, a deal I wish I had never made, and one I had every intention of breaking. But you didn’t give me a chance. So, excuse me if I seem a bit baffled.” His scrutiny caused her breath to hitch.

  “Before I left what’s his name’s house, I overheard a couple of girls talking about you. Actually, talking about the slut you’d taken to bed before you ran off and joined the Marines.”

  “I never thought that way about you,” he said.

  “I know. But their comment got me thinking and then I had my first premonition involving you.”

  “Your first one?”

  He leaned in wi
th his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together and his damn intent stare, which made her want to scream and run for the hills.

  She nodded, lying about having seen them in bed together, but by the slight smile on his face, she figured he knew she wasn’t being completely truthful.

  “I had just gone back to the room we’d locked ourselves into. You were blissfully asleep and then I saw you in a vision, writing me a note. It started with, I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it.”

  “Now you’re Dear John comment earlier makes sense, but that still doesn’t explain why you think we have the kind of bond that makes for crossing abilities, which includes your sister.”

  “I had her view you twice.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” He ran a hand across his buzzed hair, leaning back in his chair. “That’s stalker-ish and kind of un-cool.”

  “I know,” she admitted. “The first time I had her do it was about a year after our night together. I saw you getting shot in a vision and I just wanted to know if you were okay.”

  “I’ve been a shot a few times, but about a year into my service I got hit for the first time.” He rubbed the lower left side of his stomach. “What did your sister see?”

  “At first, she refused, but I wouldn’t give up. She found you in a hospital, doing just fine.”

  “And the second time?” His tone had a raspy edge to it and his stare turned to glowering.

  She swallowed her pride. This was about her sister, not saving face. “This is where it might get really weird. I want you to know that any other premonition I had over the years I let go, not using mine, or anyone else’s ability to check on you. I tried to suppress and even block my thoughts about you.”

  “So, you had regular visions about my life?”

  “I wouldn’t say regular, but about as many as I have of my sisters.”

  “Are all your visions negative?”

  “No, not at all, but it’s the negative ones I focus on and often channel. You have to remember my visions are possible outcomes. If nothing changes, they will happen, but obviously I do my best to change the ones I can that are bad, which then changes the future reality.” She wanted to continue rambling on about stuff he already knew. Anything to avoid telling him about her sisters last invasion into his privacy. “I’ve been focusing on Savanah, but I’ve got nothing and I still feel blocked.”

  “By your sister?”

  “Probably,” she admitted. “I think that makes me less worried. Savanah is dangerously smart and I have to trust she has a plan. My only concern is she can be reckless at times.”

  Brett ran his thumb and forefinger across his jawline down to his chin. “So, what was the other premonition about me that caused you to seek your sisters help?”

  She breathed in through her nose, letting it out slowly. “You were holding a baby, sitting next to a woman in the hospital, but I never saw the woman’s face.”

  He coughed. “The only babies I’ve ever held were my sister’s kids.”

  “My sister saw the baby wasn’t yours pretty quickly and believe me when I say, I’ve never felt more embarrassed by my actions. It was childish and rude.” Heat rose from her stomach to her cheeks in seconds.

  “How long ago was that?”

  “About three years after we met.”

  “That would have been my sister’s first kid.” He rubbed the side of his neck. His face lined with concern. “So, you think your obsession with me is our bond?”

  “I’m not obsessed,” she said behind a tight jaw. “Besides, if you buy into Riley’s research, to have a close bond like that you’d have to have a similar connection to me.”

  “That would be the mind-blowing sex, and I will admit to reliving that experience on occasion.” He turned and looked out over the bay. “I’ve always wondered about you. I worried I did something that hurt you.”

  His words tugged at her heart. “I was young and naïve, but I shouldn’t have snuck out like that, and I shouldn’t have spied on you.”

  “I am a bit disturbed by that.” He turned his gaze back to her. “Imagine how you would feel if I had been viewing you all these years?”

  “I’m not a stalker.”

  “I never said you were, but as a viewer, having the ability to violate anyone’s privacy at any given time has made me super sensitive to it. I will admit, I felt a presence on both days you describe when your sister viewed me.”

  She opened her mouth to apologize again, but he held his hand up.

  “I’ve been viewed before, and by some hostile groups who wanted to kill me. I know a predatory view when I feel one, and those days were nothing like that. They had a calming effect on me and I distinctly remember thinking of you the day I held my niece for the first time.” He scratched his scar. “My turn for a confession.” He stood, taking her hand, and pulling her from the chair.

  “What confession?” She followed him through the tiny living space of the cabin. She leaned against the doorjamb of his bedroom and watched his biceps flex as he rummaged through his bag.

  “Another connection. I’ve never told anyone this and I’ve felt a bit silly keeping this after all these years, but since I didn’t know the name of my first, this gave me something to hold onto from that moment in my life.” He turned to face her, holding up a small silver pendant.

  She took a couple of tentative steps, narrowing her eyes as the image of a Raven etched in the silver came into focus. Instinctively, she raised her hand to her neck, lifting her necklace, which had the exact same pendant, only the one around her neck was a replacement from the one she’d lost.

  Thirteen years ago.

  “Where’d you find it?” She fingered the one around her neck. “I had a new one made shortly after I lost that one.”

  “It was in the bed we shared. It was the first thing I saw when I woke up that morning.”

  “And you kept it?”

  He sat down on the edge of the bed, pendant still in his hand. “I take it everywhere I go. On my first deployment, my buddies would take out pictures of their girlfriends or wives and look at them every night. They’d carry those images with them into the field. I took this.”

  “Now who’s obsessed?” She sat on the corner of the bed. A warm tingle flowed over her skin.

  He let out a dry chuckle. “My last girlfriend found this when unpacking my gear. We’d been living together for about six months.” He shook his head. “The first year I carried it, it was always about you. As time went on, it was just a thing I did. A ritual. I explained that to her—”

  “You told her the truth?” her voice screeched like a school-girl.

  He nodded. “Lying isn’t in my wheelhouse. Not with the people I love.” He flipped and rolled the pendant between his fingers like a magician would. “Anytime I was deployed, I had a ritual I followed, and this pendant was part of it. I needed it to get me through some pretty fucked up situations. I knew deep down that I didn’t have to have it, but mucking with a marine’s superstitions about combat isn’t a good idea.”

  “So, you lost a woman you loved over that?” Her stomach rolled. An overwhelming need to touch him tickled her fingers. She clasped her hands together in her lap.

  “No. We were together another two years after she found it.” He smiled. “She understood why I needed it and that I loved her.”

  “Then why break up?”

  “I didn’t really understand who or what I was. I’m adopted. My parents and sister don’t have any psychic capabilities. The few times I viewed, I told myself it was my wild imagination. It wasn’t until I was twenty and I’d met someone with the same talent that I started to embrace it, but I didn’t tell her right away. She was a very pragmatic person, but I wanted to marry her, so I thought it best to tell her. It didn’t go over very well, especially when I proved it to her.”

  “People fear what they don’t understand.”

  “It freaked her out so badly she moved out a week later. We t
ried getting back together, but she said she always wondered if I was creeping around in her space.”

  Hazel swallowed, doing her best to keep her head held high. “Our gifts can become curses.”

  “That they can,” he said, tossing the pendant in the air and catching it. “I really hope, that since you had a new one made, that I can keep this one.”

  “You’re that attached to it?”

  “It’s gotten me through many a dark night.” He stood, bending over the bed and placed the silver charm in a pouch before tucking it away in his bag.

  Obviously, he had no intention of giving it back.

  For some reason that knowledge made her smile. “Does it just stay in your bag?”

  “No. When I’m in the field, it’s in my pocket.”

  “My sisters and I always wear ours and its’ probably why we’ve been able to have these connections.”

  “That makes total sense. Also makes sense that me keeping it would bond us together.” He circled his long fingers round her biceps, helping her to her feet. “I’m flattered you thought about me enough to want to know how I was.”

  Her body trembled as his hands glided up her arms, sending a warmth across her skin.

  “There were times I thought about using the pendent to find you.”

  “What stopped you?” She should have stopped herself from asking the question.

  “Different reasons, at different times, but mostly, I was afraid you’d walked out of the room and never once thought about me again.”

  Chapter 6

  HAZEL STARED INTO BRETT’S ocean blue eyes with her lips parted. Her lungs burned as she tried to suck in a breath. His hands ran up and down her arms, stopping at her shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze. He leaned closer and she found her hands gripping his wide hips for support. Her eyelids fluttered.

  She’d always been in control of any relationship she’d ever been in. Her last attempt at having a boyfriend resulted in him accusing her of stripping him of his masculinity. To be fair, he had a feminine side to begin with, but she understood where he was coming from. Her need to be in charge of any situation at any given time wore on her own patience, so she could only imagine what it could do to the men in her life.