by Katie Reus
Something in his gaze made her sit up. When he didn’t say anything she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She wasn’t great with words or people. Normally she didn’t feel the need to fill silences but right now was bordering on awkward. “Why do you keep visiting me… Are you real?” She hadn’t planned to ask, but needed to know.
“What do you think?” he murmured.
“Can’t you just answer the question?” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “Fine, then who are you? I want a name.”
“Tell me what you think.” Tingles skittered over her body at his words.
He was a master at evading her questions. Something she’d noticed from the beginning. He only asked, but never answered. And it was beginning to drive her mad. If he really was a fantasy, he wouldn’t be so obnoxious. Would he? “Are you a night walker?” The question just popped out.
Something unexpected flashed in his eyes. For a split second, he appeared almost angry. “Night walkers are vile, vicious creatures. I’m not one of them.”
But it was odd that he knew what they were. “Then what are you?”
“Maybe I’m a figment of your imagination.” Back to the casual, seemingly unconcerned man. But she knew that reaction of his hadn’t been conjured up from her own thoughts.
“If you are then you’ll disappear when I close my eyes.”
“Why don’t you find out?” His words sounded almost taunting.
Even though a trickle of fear slid through her veins that he actually would disappear, she closed her eyes…
Nika sucked in a breath as her eyes snapped open. Her sheet was damp from her sweat but she still had on her T-shirt and underwear unlike in her dream. She pressed a shaky hand to the middle of her chest. Her heart beat an erratic rhythm. She should be relieved that her mystery man had left her in peace, but disappointment buzzed through her, sharp and unexpected.
Her sight and gifts were limited but she knew there were others out there like her. She should have known he wasn’t just a figment of her imagination. There was no way he was, not after that night walker comment. So what the hell was he doing, just visiting her dreams for sex? If a man looked like that he didn’t need to go trolling dreams. Sitting up, she scrubbed a hand over her face. She didn’t know what to think now.
At the sound of the door handle jangling, she nearly jumped out of her skin until she heard Alena’s voice.
“You awake?” her sister whispered.
“Yeah. That was quick.” Nika wasn’t sure what time it was, but she knew she hadn’t been asleep that long. Through the dim light streaming in from the cracked bathroom door, Nika could make out some of her sister’s movements.
Alena dropped her purse onto the chaise lounge in the corner before slipping her shoes off. “Quick enough to get a breakfast and lunch invitation tomorrow. If all goes well, we’ll be sipping mojitos in South Beach in no time.”
“Perfect,” Nika muttered before rolling onto her side and closing her eyes. According to their intel, Andre didn’t plan to head to Miami for another couple weeks which meant she’d be stuck in Biloxi that whole time. Maybe not though. Maybe she’d just head to their home in New Orleans and let her sister stay here with Andre if things went that far between them.
As she sank into the bed, a little voice told her she wouldn’t have another dream tonight.
The realization brought a strange sadness. It settled deep inside her, weighing as heavy as an anchor. And there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. While her sister knew she hadn’t been sleeping well, Nika had kept the details of her dreams to herself. She didn’t know why and couldn’t explain it, but something in her gut had told her to keep what she knew about her mystery dream man a secret.
She closed her eyes once again. As she drifted to sleep, a darkness tugged at her. She tried to force her eyes open, to stay awake, but it was impossible.
This wasn’t normal. Wake up, damn it, she tried to order herself. She suddenly sucked in a breath as something tugged her under. It was as if she was being sucked out to sea by a powerful undertow. Foolishly she tried to grab onto something, anything, but smothering darkness pulled her under.
Suddenly she found herself in a dark room. A little girl, maybe ten years old, clutched onto a teddy bear.
“Help me,” she whispered.
Nika blinked once, looking around her surroundings. She wasn’t in the hotel room but…near a tree. No, a cluster of them. She was in the woods. Her surroundings started to become clearer, like a photograph coming into focus. A half-moon hung high in the sky and crickets sounded in the distance. She focused on the little girl again. “Who are you?”
“Help me,” she whispered again.
Oh God, this couldn’t be happening again. “Where have you brought me?”
“I can’t stay long…you must start listening to us…we need your help…”
With a gasp, Nika surged back to reality. Breathing hard, she rolled over and saw Alena curled up in the fetal position, sound asleep.
She was in the hotel room and okay. Everything was okay. She pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes, trying to banish the truth of what had just happened. If those manic dead people thought they could start haunting her dreams again, she was going to lose her mind.
It was only a nightmare. That was all. It wasn’t a spirit talking to her again. It just couldn’t be. She’d put all that behind her years ago. Sighing, she rolled onto her back and sent up a silent prayer that she actually got some uninterrupted sleep. No sexy man to taunt her and no dead people who wanted to haunt her.
Chapter 5
Two weeks later
Nika stretched her legs out and shifted against the leather seat of the plane to face her sister. Alena’s eyes were closed but Nika knew she wasn’t sleeping. Reaching out, Nika plucked the earphones attached to the mp3 player in her sister’s ears.
Alena’s eyes flew open. “What’s up?”
“You dragged me on this flight, you get to entertain me.” Normally she’d just read on her ereader, but she was too anxious about the flight. It wasn’t freaking normal for people to rocket through the air at hundreds of miles per hour in a steel tube.
Alena lifted a dark eyebrow. “Entertain you? Like what, do magic tricks?”
“Come on, you want to play gin rummy?” For a couple hours Nika could pretend that this was just a fun trip to Miami with her sister’s new boyfriend and that they were just having a good time. But only for a little while. Once their plane landed, she knew reality would crash over her head. The past two weeks Alena had spent in Biloxi so Nika had headed to their New Orleans home and gotten a lot of work done. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, her mystery man hadn’t visited her anymore.
A tiny smile played on her sister’s lips. “Gin rummy, you’re such an old lady,” she said, snickering. “You know you’re going to win anyway. Cheater.”
Okay, yeah, she did win a lot because of, well, her gift she guessed. “Don’t make me start whining.”
“I think I’ve got a deck of cards in my bag. Be right back.”
As her sister got up and headed toward the back of the Cessna, Andre emerged from the pilot’s cabin. Nika instinctively tensed when he sat on the long leather bench that paralleled her and Alena’s bucket seats. He’d been perfectly polite and she couldn’t get over the guilt gnawing at her insides. Every time she looked at him, she feared he could see what she was thinking. Unlike her sister, the constant lying didn’t come as easy to her.
“Has your flight been comfortable? Do you need anything else?” he asked.
“Yes and no. The flight has been perfect.” She really hated how courteous he was. Ever since the night they’d met, he’d gone out of his way to be extra nice to her. The first couple days she’d stayed in Biloxi before heading home, he’d asked her to breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him and Alena. And it wasn’t just for show. The man treated her as if she actually existed. Something Nika couldn’t say for
her sister’s past flings.
He crossed one of his long legs and shifted against his seat. “I appreciate you agreeing to come to Miami. Your sister said she wouldn’t travel anywhere without you. It’s nice that you could come.”
“You might not say that if I hurl on the descent,” she said dryly, not exactly joking. The only good thing about infiltrating the man’s life was that Nika didn’t have to pretend to be someone else. She and Alena had been forced to lie over the past year, but this time, they could be themselves and it was refreshing.
To her surprise, he laughed. “Have you been to Miami before—” Andre frowned as his satellite phone rang. “Excuse me,” he said, already answering. “Yes…Are you sure the threat is credible…Are the vehicles armored…Just make sure we have extra security.”
Nika’s stomach twisted as she digested his words. She glanced out one of the small circular windows in an effort to appear as if she wasn’t eavesdropping. Clear blue sky was all around them, but she couldn’t block out Andre’s conversation. It was obvious the man had increased his security. The only question was, why. Could he know what they were doing? No. She shook the thought away.
“Hey.” Alena’s hand on her arm caused her to jump. “You okay?”
“Yeah, fine.”
“Good, I found those cards. Are you ready to—”
Nika cut her off as Andre set his phone down. “Did you say heightened security? Is everything okay?”
He nodded, but didn’t seem overly concerned. “There was an unconfirmed threat against my life so we’ve heightened security. It’s standard for when I travel to Miami. Don’t worry. The security firm I’ve hired is the best. The owner is ex-CIA and he’s personally heading up our security detail. He knows what he’s doing, trust me. If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak with the pilot.” Before he walked to the front, he leaned over toward Alena.
Nika stared out the window again. The last thing she wanted to watch was her sister make out with Makarov. She already felt bad enough that her sister was using her body to get close to this man. Despite what the tabloids said, Alena rarely took lovers and she hated that her sister was doing this. She hated everything about the entire situation in fact.
“What the hell was that?” her sister whispered as Andre disappeared behind the pilot’s door.
Out of habit, Nika glanced behind their seat, but the rest of the cabin was empty. She’d thought it strange that Andre had opted to fly without security but now she understood why. Men were already waiting for them in Miami. “He was talking about increased security. We have a right to know what’s going on.”
Alena’s lips pulled into a thin line.
“Did you hear what he said about the head of his security team?” It appeared as if they might have gained a new problem, but her sister seemed completely unaffected.
“Yes, he’s ex-CIA so that’s wonderful for us. More protection in case we need it.”
Nika gritted her teeth at her sister’s words. She knew what her sister was doing and she understood. That didn’t mean she liked it. They had to consciously operate as if someone was listening at all times. Which meant she couldn’t argue with her sister even if she wanted to.
The plane dipped suddenly so Nika grappled for her seatbelt. “I didn’t realize we were so close,” she muttered. For how often they traveled, Nika hated the landing more than anything. Every single time she feared they would crash.
The overhead intercom buzzed for a second, then the pilot’s voice came over the radio. “We should be touching down in about fifteen minutes for an early arrival. Looks like clear skies and a temperature of sixty-eight degrees. Please fasten your seatbelts as we prepare for landing.”
Gripping her armrest, Nika tried to focus on anything other than the vision of their plane plummeting toward the hard earth at a thousand miles an hour. Twisted metal, burning debris, the smell of burning flesh. She squeezed her eyes shut as if that could somehow block out her thoughts. Even though she knew the chances of crashing in a plane were slim compared to the chances of dying in a car crash, her heart pounded wildly against her chest.
When Alena squeezed her arm, Nika’s eyes flew open. “Thanks.”
As her heart rate returned to normal, Nika reminded herself that they had a hell of a lot more to worry about than a plane crash anyway. Like the fact that they could be killed if anyone discovered the real reason they were going to Miami.
* * *
Declan scanned the surrounding area of the private airport as he walked around the nose of the twin engine Cessna. Black tarmac surrounded them for at least three hundred yards on all sides. He’d picked the most deserted area of the airport for Andre’s landing. Unless a sniper was hiding on top of one of the airport storage facilities—and Declan had cleared them all—Andre was safe. Safe being relative considering Declan still didn’t know the real intentions of the two women in the plane with him.
Declan’s skin tingled and burned at the thought of meeting Nika Brennan face-to-face. After their last meeting weeks ago, he’d forced himself to stay out of her head. As a dream walker he’d always tried to use his gift to help others. When he’d been inside her head, he’d felt himself growing attached to her. Protective even. It had been a foreign, disturbing experience.
With the exception of their erotic games, her mind was locked up tight. Occasionally he’d get flashes of random scenes of violence but nothing made sense and she didn’t think about anything in her dream state long enough for him to latch onto. As if she was purposely blocking her mind.
And he still couldn’t figure out what she was. Maybe she was psychic, but then again, maybe not. The last psychic he’d encountered had been nothing like her so he had no way of gauging. When she’d asked him if he was a night walker, he’d known it was time to put some distance between them. Unfortunately all he wanted to do was touch her, hold her, kiss her. Wipe away those frown lines when he could tell she’d had an upsetting day.
He’d been in so many individual’s minds over the years he’d lost count. No one ever remembered his probing. Until Nika. When he’d worked with The Agency, one night he’d be invading a known terrorist’s dreams and the next morning he’d be interrogating the suspect who was none the wiser.
Each night he spent with Nika, he’d been fascinated that she remembered everything about their encounters. He couldn’t know for sure if she’d know him in real life until they met.
After Vernon had given him the files on the Brennan sisters he’d done some extra research. From what he’d uncovered, the women’s lives were an open book. Alena modeled occasionally and partied regularly. Nika had traveled with her sister since graduating college but she’d been a very serious student and did a lot of freelance web design. From her portfolio, she was damn good. They had money from a trust fund and traveled whenever they felt like it. Which was quite often. A few weeks’ vacation in Antigua, then off to The Hamptons. Next, Europe. They definitely didn’t stay in one place for long. Which made them very hard to track. Despite their travel, Nika seemed to work a lot, seemed to enjoy what she did. Her portfolio was impressive.
Nothing in their files suggested either of them should know anything about the paranormal, though. The words night walker weren’t something Nika could have pulled from thin air. Yet, she’d asked him with absolute certainty.
Her question and their strange dream encounters suggested there was a hell of lot he didn’t know about her or her sister. And that had put him on high alert.
“Boss, the place is locked down. The warehouses are secure and the rooftops clear,” Clay Lamos said, as he came to stand next to him.
“Good.” Declan checked his SIG one more time before he tapped his earpiece, turning on his communicator.
“Where’d you hear about this threat against Makarov anyway? You sure it wasn’t meant in connection with Andre’s father?” Clay had been with Declan since he’d started Gallagher Security.
Even though Clay had been in the Navy, he an
d Declan had worked missions all over the world together when Declan had been with the CIA. Although he trusted the man with his life, Declan was playing this one close to the chest. No specifics. “It’s credible. I got it from one of my old sources. There’s a threat against him and possibly one of the women he’s traveling with. I don’t have hard intel though.”
As far as he knew there was no threat against the women but he was covering all his bases.
Clay nodded and pointed at one of the other men before he started giving instructions. While he ordered the men into position, Declan spoke into his mic. “The area is secure. The passengers can now disembark.”
“Roger.” The pilot waved once at him from the window before disappearing from sight.
As the airport employees rolled the retractable stairs toward the plane door, Declan and Clay followed and stood at the bottom.
Raw anticipation hummed through him at the thought of seeing Nika in person, especially after their last encounter. He could still remember the way she felt beneath him, the way she tasted and the way she sounded when she came. He bit back the twinge of disappointment when Andre appeared in the doorway first. Damn, he felt like a randy teenager with his first crush.
Wearing one of his trademark Armani suits, Andre stepped down with Alena Brennan holding onto his arm. The pictures Declan had seen of her didn’t lie. The woman had an old Hollywood kind of beauty. She wore tight, dark jeans, three-inch knee-high boots over them, a belted coat and oversized sunglasses to match her overdone hair.
“Declan.” Andre smiled as he descended the stairs. “Thanks for taking this job on such short notice.”
“Anytime. We’ve made some last minute changes on the route. I’d like to go over them before—”
“About that,” Andre glanced at Alena, then back at Declan. “Give me a second, there’s something I want to go over with you, too.”
