by Lynn Ames
“The Kiwi name for it is Te Henga. We Yanks call it Bethell’s Beach.
I’m staying at the cottages on the top of the hill.”
“Sounds nice.”
“It is. Are we any closer to exposing the bastards?”
“Yes and no.”
“That sounds cryptic.” She tried but failed to hide her irritation at his lack of candor.
“Sorry. Seems they killed the president’s personal physician to get their own doctor in there. I’m trying to get a line on him now.”
“Okay.”
“The medical examiner seems to be part of the conspiracy, too. He told Mrs. Hyland that her husband must have had some previously undiagnosed heart condition. He didn’t say anything about pathology results, and he cremated the body before anyone else could get a look.”
“Lovely.” She closed her eyes and winced—without any solid evidence on the cause of the president’s death, they might never be able to prove what really happened. Her heart sank. She might never be safe again.
“Oh, and in case you didn’t hear, Hawthorne was confirmed as vice president today.”
“It just gets better and better, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah. Listen, stay put and stay safe, okay? I’ll call you again soon.”
“Okay, Technowiz. Be careful out there.” She was reluctant to sever the connection.
“Always.”
The Value of Valor
She held the phone in her hand long after Peter had hung up. She knew him so well; she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling her. It made her already bleak mood even darker.
Even though she hadn’t had more than three hours sleep, Jay was wired. She tried to sit still with little success as she and Kevin bounced along a treacherous stretch of road that wound along steep cliffs. For a moment, she flashed back to the cliffs near Chinle and shuddered—panic threatening to overtake her.
“You okay, love?”
“Fine, thanks,” Jay yelled to be heard over the whistling of the wind in the Jeep. “I’m not crazy about heights, that’s all.” His excessive speed and the fact that he was driving on the opposite side of the road from what she was used to wasn’t helping matters, but Jay decided not to mention those things. She tried closing her eyes, but that only made things worse. “Are we almost there?”
“Have you there in a jiff, sweetheart.”
A “jiff” turned out to be slightly longer than Jay anticipated, but she didn’t care. When Kevin dropped her off in the beach parking lot at her request, Jay felt like she could walk on air. The butterflies returned, and she wiped her slick palms on her shorts, a little surprised at herself for the attack of nerves.
She removed her sneakers, shoving them into the backpack Kevin had purchased and stocked for her, and ran the quarter mile to the sand. She was surprised to see that the beach seemed to be completely deserted, despite the fact that it was midday in the New Zealand summertime.
Jay began walking next to the water’s edge, heading toward the opposite end of the beach; she wasn’t quite sure where or how she would find Kate. She wondered if she had made a mistake in coming directly to the beach. What if she wasn’t here? Jay bit her lip, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She knew her lover—Kate would never pass up an opportunity to enjoy the sun, water, and sand, especially not in a place as close to paradise as this.
As she was mulling this over, Jay caught movement in her peripheral vision. A figure was emerging from the water some two hundred yards down the beach. Jay began to run.
From a distance, Kate saw someone running toward her. She froze for a moment. Hadn’t Peter said it would be a while before the Commission found her? She ran toward her backpack, which she had stowed behind some rocks just on the high side of a large cave.
Lynn Ames
When Kate reached the pack, the figure was less than a hundred yards away. She fumbled in the pack for the gun, diving behind the largest rock for cover, her heart hammering in her chest. As the figure continued to run toward her, Kate steadied the gun on top of the rock and sighted down the barrel.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot,” Kate yelled, willing her voice not to crack. Her palms were sweating, and adrenaline coursed through her body; she’d never had to fire at anyone before, although she’d been to a shooting range once or twice over the years with Peter.
Kate’s voice carried on the cool ocean breeze, the tension and fear in it clear to Jay, even from so far away. It broke her heart. She stopped in her tracks, slipped the backpack off, and threw it to the side. She put her hands up and waited, her mind willing Kate to recognize her and realize that she meant her no harm.
“Walk this way slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.”
Kate watched warily, her body humming, as the figure slowly resolved itself into a woman. She felt a momentary jolt of shock. Would the Commission have sent a woman after her? Why not? When the woman was still too far away to distinguish her features, Kate called, “Stop there.
On your face and keep your hands behind your head. If you try anything, I swear to God I’ll blow your brains out.” Her hands shook; she was grateful that the woman was too far away to see.
Tears streamed down Jay’s face as she felt Kate’s terror mingle with her own. “It’s me, Kate,” she entreated silently, willing her lover to hear her. “Please, put the gun down.” She dropped to her knees, then lay down the rest of the way, resting her chin on the sand. Oh, Kate. Look what they’ve done to you.
Kate was torn. She wanted to go out and secure the woman, but what if she was just a decoy? What if someone else was waiting out of sight to take her out? She looked around, taking care to keep the woman in her peripheral vision at all times. She saw nothing and no one out of place.
She took a deep breath and came out from behind her shelter, moving swiftly toward the prone figure, taking care not to approach her head on.
Jay’s body began to tremble as she watched Kate make a wide berth around her to come up from behind. Finally, when Kate was directly behind her and she could see no more, Jay closed her eyes tightly and began to cry harder. She had never been afraid of Kate until this moment, and she hated herself for it.
Kate saw the woman’s shoulders shake, noted the short, blonde hair, and wondered if the Commission had paid an unwitting Jay look-alike to flush her out. Kate was determined that she wouldn’t fall for the trick; she stopped several feet behind the woman. “Not a word. On your knees The Value of Valor
again; turn around slowly with your hands behind your head where I can see them. If you try anything, I’ll kill you before you have time to blink.”
Although it was difficult to get to her knees with her hands behind her head, Jay struggled to comply. Eventually, she managed, turning her trembling body and tear-streaked visage to face her lover.
When Kate saw that face—those eyes—she began to swoon. Her body listed slightly before she managed to regain her balance. “You can’t fool me,” she said hoarsely, as tears clouded her vision. “I know what you’re trying to do. I won’t fall for it. Jay is dead. She’s dead,” she finished in a broken whisper.
Although she knew she was risking her life, Jay swallowed hard and found her voice—her heart demanded no less. “Kate, sweetheart, it’s me.
I swear to you, it is. Peter sent me—you talked to him this morning. He had Kevin pick me up at the airport and bring me here.” She looked deeply into her lover’s bloodshot eyes.
Kate shook her head.
“Please, honey, put the gun down. You’re scaring me,” Jay pleaded.
“You’re lying. You can’t be Jay.” Kate summoned all her willpower not to succumb—not to let down her guard—when she so desperately wanted to believe that it could be true.
“I am, sweetheart. I’m sorry it took me so long to come home. The accident caused traumatic amnesia, and I—” Jay’s voice cracked. “I didn’t know who I was for a long time.”
“No tricks, Kate. Just me, and I love you so, so much. Please, honey.
Put the gun down.”
Kate wiped away the tears that blinded her with her left hand and looked hard at the woman in front of her on her knees, unable to believe that it really could be Jay. “Anybody could know the things you just told me.”
Jay thought desperately, her mind and heart searching for something, anything, to convince Kate of the truth. In a rush, Jay said, “The morning I left for Arizona, we made love. I got up afterward to take a shower, thinking you’d gone back to sleep. You surprised me by joining me in the shower, and you made love to me again with your mouth. I told you I wished you were coming with me…”
Jay didn’t get to finish the thought as Kate dropped the gun and flew the last few feet that separated them, landing on her knees facing Jay, unable to maintain the distance any longer.
Kate reached out tentatively, running a fingertip over Jay’s cheekbone and around her jaw. “I-I can’t, you can’t…” Her body felt numb.
Lynn Ames
“Shh.” Jay leaned forward, framing Kate’s face in her hands and kissing her softly on the mouth, the feel of Kate’s lips against hers making her heart skip a beat.
For a long time, the two women simply knelt there, hands clasped lightly, staring into each other’s eyes. The enormity of the moment was too overwhelming for words.
Finally, Jay broke the spell. “I love you so much, Kate. I never thought I’d get to see you again. When CNN said you were dead and that it was my fault…”
The words snapped Kate out of her stupor. “Your fault? What are you talking about?” Kate captured one of Jay’s tears reverently on the tip of her finger.
Jay saw the light return to Kate’s eyes, and her heart lifted. “They said you were distraught over my death, and that was part of the reason you committed suicide.”
“Oh, Jay. Never. Never, you hear me?” She shook Jay’s shoulders lightly.
Jay nodded, glad to have her instincts confirmed.
“You know I would never kill myself. Suicide is a selfish, cowardly act—to do that would have dishonored your memory.”
“I know, but—oh, Kate.” Jay’s body continued to tremble, and Kate wrapped her in a warm embrace. In a hollow voice, Jay said, “When I heard that you were dead, the pain was unbearable. I thought I could almost understand why you would’ve taken your life rather than live with the suffering.”
“Oh, baby.” Kate pulled Jay into her lap and rocked her.
Neither one of them had any idea how long they sat there like that, trying to comprehend what was happening.
Eventually, Jay shifted her weight subtly. The new position sent shockwaves through Kate. The feel of Jay’s body against hers rekindled a fire that Kate had thought permanently extinguished. She closed her eyes as a wave of pure desire swamped her senses. She pressed her lips to the hollow of Jay’s throat, then the side of her neck, and finally the sensitive edges of her ear.
Jay gasped, a desperate moan escaping her lips. “I’ve missed you so much.” She threw her head back to give Kate better access.
The sight of Jay’s head thrown back, the sounds of her need, drove Kate’s hunger to a fever pitch. Her body began to shake with the effort of reining herself in. For a fleeting moment, she didn’t want to control the passion—she wanted to ravish Jay with abandon—but the scars of loss and grief were still too raw. She wondered if they always would be.
Softly, Kate ran her tongue and lips along Jay’s pulse point, nipping and licking as she went. This time when Jay trembled, she knew it wasn’t The Value of Valor
from fear. Gently, she lay Jay down on the sand, her mouth seeking the warmth of tender skin, her mind urging restraint even as her body demanded her lover.
Deftly, she removed Jay’s shirt and bra, her lips craving the taste of sweet breasts and tender nipples. She sighed with joy as she felt the softness turn hard under the ministrations of her tongue and mouth.
When Jay’s hips rose in supplication, Kate’s fingers answered the call, dipping inside her lover’s shorts to explore exquisite folds and crevices that were uniquely Jay.
Within seconds, Jay levitated off the sand, her cries of relief and release rising and falling with the crashing waves.
As Jay recovered, Kate lay there, trying to reconcile what had just happened with her need to protect her grieving heart.
Before she could say a word, Jay reversed their positions, her mouth and hands desperate to touch, taste, and tantalize. Kate gasped, her body compelled to respond to this woman who meant more than anything in the world to her.
Jay licked the ocean salt from Kate’s cleavage, her shaking hands finding and releasing the clasp at the back of Kate’s bikini. She couldn’t ever remember feeling a greater sense of urgency.
Jay’s fingers played over her lover’s hardened nipples, thumbs and forefingers lightly pinching the sensitive skin. Her teeth grazed the flesh on Kate’s abdomen and pelvis, each point of contact eliciting a sensual moan that further fed her need to bring pleasure. Her senses were on overload, her emotions raw.
Jay ran her tongue up the inside of the long, muscular legs she loved so much, pausing to nip at particularly sensitive spots.
“Please, Jay. I need you so much,” Kate sobbed, in spite of herself.
The plea was all that was necessary to end the sweet torture. Jay’s mouth hovered over Kate’s center as she removed her bikini bottom. She slid her hands under Kate’s buttocks and lifted her legs over her shoulders, inhaling deeply her lover’s musky scent. Tears of gratitude coursed down her face, mingling with Kate’s wetness as she pressed the tip of her tongue against her clitoris.
Kate shuddered with pleasure at the delicate touch. “Jay,” she beseeched.
Jay filled Kate with her tongue, stroking, licking, and sucking until Kate’s scream pierced the air, her body growing rigid as the orgasm ripped through her.
When it was over, she pulled Jay on top of her, wrapping long arms around her and rocking them both as they cried.
Lynn Ames
Bright lights shone through Barbara’s swollen eyelids. Her head pounded and her whole body ached—she was fairly sure she had several broken ribs and a concussion. Briefly, she wondered if she might have ruptured her spleen. She could smell the scent of her own fear, but she hoped she was hiding it well. They had her sitting upright in a straight-backed chair with her hands secured behind her back and her legs shackled to the chair; the handcuffs were cutting into her wrists.
“I’m going to ask you one more time, Dr. Jones. Where is Katherine Kyle? Don’t tell me you don’t know—that’s a lie.” The Viper loomed over Barbara, his face a mask of menace.
Her nostrils flared with fear, but Barbara was determined to protect her friend and buy herself time. “What makes you think I would know anything? Katherine Kyle is a patient of mine, that’s all. Even if I did know, which I don’t, I wouldn’t tell you. Look, I don’t even know what it is you want with her.”
“Let’s review the facts, shall we, Doctor? You attended Ms. Kyle’s funeral; ran out of there like someone had set your shoes on fire; made a mad dash for the airport without any luggage; boarded a plane for Denver, which coincidentally just happens to be the last place Kyle’s ATM card was used; checked into a hotel; and checked out forty-five minutes later to catch a flight home. Rather odd behavior, wouldn’t you say? Why would you do that?”
“I told Gonzo over there—I had a patient in Denver who needed to be seen. It took less time than I anticipated, and I was able to get back home instead of staying overnight. I didn’t want to miss Ms. Kyle’s funeral, so I made it through the service before having to run, literally. What part of this doesn’t make sense to you?”
“It would all make sense to me, Doctor, if it were true.” He leaned over her so that his hot breath was on her face. “But it’
s not. You know it and I know it. We will get the truth, Doctor. It’s just a question of how painful the process will be for you.” He emphasized the point by slamming her jaw with his open hand.
Barbara’s ears rang painfully; she wondered if her hearing would be permanently damaged. Assuming I ever make it out of here alive. She shot him her best hateful glare and spit out some blood. “I’m going to say this very slowly—I…don’t…know…where…Katherine…Kyle…is.”
“Get me the sodium pentothal,” the Viper ordered, preparing her arm for the injection.
“Truth serum is great,” Barbara offered as her pulse quickened and her heart turned over, “assuming there’s something to divulge. In this instance, since I don’t know anything, you’re wasting your time.”
The Value of Valor
“We’ll just see about that, won’t we?” He took the syringe Steven handed him and jabbed it into her vein.
She clenched her jaw shut to keep from screaming, all the while running through in her mind things she might divulge if she were not careful. Truth serum was a misnomer—as a doctor, she knew that. While the drug would act in a manner similar to forcing her to consume four or five alcoholic drinks, it would not necessarily result in her telling the truth. It would merely significantly lower her inhibitions. Did she know anything that would help them? Yes. If they asked the right question, would the drug loosen her tongue enough for her to tell them about Peter? It was a distinct possibility. She prayed she wouldn’t endanger him—he was Kate’s only ally.
“We’ll be back in a minute,” the Viper called, as he and the others left the room.
Barbara let her head fall forward as she groaned, praying she had the strength to fight the drug, hoping more than anything that Peter would come charging through the door.
Max and Peter sat in the living room of the new, fully furnished condo rented under the alias Walter Iso.
“Now you know everything I know.”
“Damn, boss. You always seem to wind up in the middle of the fun.
My life seems downright boring compared to yours.”
“Any time you want to join me in the consulting business, just say the word,” Peter offered. He was glad beyond measure to have a trusted ally on his side.
