Timeless

by Teresa Reasor

  Quinn came to a halt. He gripped her arm. “We have to take the reason for him to want to eliminate Will, or anyone else, off the table, Regan.”

  Her stomach plunged, and she dropped her backpack at her feet. He had mentioned the possibility before, but she had pushed it to the back of her mind. Now, with it up close and in her face, she experienced a kind of relief. If they couldn’t save Will, what was the point in them saving Bryce? And the thing that happened to Marissa—dear God. It could have been Quinn had he taken one step through the field. And who would be next?

  She straightened her shoulders. “We’ll have to protect Will until he’s out of the country first.”

  Quinn nodded. “I think I can convince m’ brothers to help with that.”

  She studied Quinn’s features. A deep frown puckered his brow, and he flexed his jaw in an unconscious sign of tension. He had been involved with Marissa, and though it had been over for some time, he had to feel something about her death. Moved to comfort him, she caressed his arm. “Are you okay?”

  “Aye, but—” He shook his head. He turned and drew her against him, his arms tightening painfully against the bruises still marring her ribs. He drew back, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her.

  The intensity of the embrace weakened the hold fear had on her and brought tears to her eyes. She ran her hands and down his back in a gesture both soothing and passionate.

  The sound of hoots and whistles atop the hill brought a smile to her lips.

  Ending the embrace, Quinn rested his forehead against hers. “Foolish girls.”

  “I have to go. They’ve been waiting all this time. ” Regan pulled away and retrieved her backpack. The familiar weight of it seemed heavier than usual. “Be careful. He and his men will be watching us both.”

  “Aye, I know. That’s why I’ll be asking Rob and Logan to go to the hospital in my place.”

  “I’m not going to ask how you’ll convince them to do that.”

  “I’ll think of something. I’ll be by after supper. Be careful what you say if the lassies ask about Marissa. Stick as close to the truth as you can. She went crazy because of the storm, struck the boy and hurt you.”

  “I hate lying to them. Just holding so much back from them— I feel like I’ve short changed their friendships.”

  Quinn’s hands rubbed up and down her arms in a soothing gesture. “We don’t have much choice. They wouldn’t believe the truth even if you told them. And if you did, it might put them in danger.”

  “I know.” But it didn’t help the feelings of guilt.

  She climbed the hill, aware of his attention resting on her all the way to the top. When she glanced down, Quinn raised a hand and strode down the scaffold toward the dock.

  “What happened? And why was Nicodemus there before Doctor Fraser?” Sheary asked as she reached them.

  “The boy’s name was Will. He got onto the site just as the storm was hitting. Dr. Frost followed him to the chamber to read him the riot act for trespassing. During the storm, she became agitated. Maybe she was claustrophobic. I don’t know. The sound of the thunder was terrible. She lost it, hit the boy and head-butted me.”

  “Nicodemus has sent one of his men to locate and notify the boy’s parents. Dr. Fraser has gone to the hospital to meet with them.”

  Hannah eyed her forehead. “You should have gone to hospital.”

  Regan touched the knot on her forehead and flinched. “Is it turning color already?”

  “Yes. You’ll have an ugly beauty mark by tomorrow morning,” Helen commented.

  Regan’s smiled. “Don’t sugarcoat it on my behalf,” she said, her tone wry. “I’ll put some ice on the bump when I get home. Maybe the swelling will go down.”

  Hannah looped an arm through hers as they walked up the hill to the car. “They haven’t located Dr. Frost yet. They think she may have fallen overboard and drowned.”

  The memory of Marissa’s screams rose up, and Regan shuddered.

  Hannah’s arm tightened. “Are you okay?”

  Regan nodded. “Just chilled from being in the chamber so long.”

  “The storms come up so unexpectedly here. And this one was so violent—” Helen tucked a stray lock of chestnut hair behind her ear.

  “ The acoustics in the chamber magnifies the sound of the thunder. We could see the flash of the lightning from below,” Regan said. “We were afraid to go up and call.”

  ‘Even with the towers they’ve installed, reception is iffy,” Helen said. “Especially during a storm.”

  They reached the car, and Regan climbed into the back seat with Hannah and propped the backpack between her feet.

  “The closer to the stones you get, the more interference you experience,” Hannah said.

  Sheary looked over her shoulder at them from the front seat. “After the way Dr. Frost acted today on the dig, I’m not surprised. She seemed a bit too tightly wound, almost desperate.”

  “Running through the site during a thunderstorm, she’d have risked turning herself into a human lightning rod,” Hannah commented. “She had to be insane.”

  Helen started the car and put it in gear.

  Sheary shot Regan a quick glance. “Will you be telling them about the incident today?”

  It would underline the issue of Marissa’s instability certainly, but it would also bring into play the personal element between them. Mainly Quinn. “She’ll already be in enough trouble without my piling it on about how she acted. Do you think I should tell them?”

  “If they question Dr. Malone about her, he’ll probably mention it.”

  Hannah shoved her glasses up her nose. “Well, it’s still a shame if she drowned.”

  She was the peacemaker, the one in the group who saw the best in them all. Regan touched her arm in a gesture of affection.

  Exhaustion hit her in a wave. She listened to the girls’ continued speculations with half an ear.

  “Do you think the boy will be all right?” Hannah asked.

  Regan’s stomach tightened with anxiety. If they could convince Nicodemus he wasn’t a threat. And if they could protect Will until he left for the states. If— if —if— She wasn’t ready to even think it— She realizing that Hannah was waiting for her answer and looked up. “I hope so. I truly do.”

  ******

  Quinn tied off the skiff and climbed Grannos’s ladder. He scanned the deck for Logan. The rest of the men had gone to help with the search for Marissa, leaving him on watch.

  Logan poked his head from the galley as he entered. “Hey, would you want a sandwich?” He raised the two slices of bread with a thick slab of roast beef between.

  The smell of roast beef had his stomach growling. “Not just yet.” Could he send Logan alone? No. There was safety in numbers. “Do you know what boat Rob might be on?”

  Logan chewed the bite he’d just taken. “Aye.”

  “There’s something I need the two of you to do.”

  Logan’s brows rose. “More important than searching for Marissa?”

  “It’s important.”

  Logan stopped chewing then swallowed. “I’ll radio him.”

  The closest hospital would be an hour away in Dingwall. The lad would be safe surrounded by medical personnel for a time. It would be later when he’d be vulnerable. “Do it now.”

  ******

  “You want us to camp out at the hospital until the boy is released,” Rob repeated for the second time, his gaze riveted to Quinn’s. “Were you somehow responsible for the lad’s injuries?”

  “No.” How was he to explain this? His gaze shifted to Logan then back to Rob.

  “Was Regan?”

  “No.”

  “The only other person present was Marissa.”

  “Aye.”

  “And she’s missing.”

  “Aye.” He’d trust Rob with his life. But to share everything with him and Logan would put them as at risk as Will.

  “What the hell happened?”


  “She bashed the lad in the face with a shovel,” Quinn said.

  A frown flitted across Rob’s features. “You’re serious.”

  “Aye, very serious. Until she’s found, I don’t like the idea of him lying in a hospital bed unprotected. Should he remember her doing it, he’ll have to testify to the assault. She’ll go to jail. If she’s daft enough to try it once—”

  Rob’s eyes widened. “Jesus. You really are serious.”

  “I said I was.”

  “Why the hell did she do it?”

  Shit. “Nicodemus hired her as a supervisor. She and Regan have already had an argument or two. I think her preferred target would have been Regan. As it was, once I’d taken the shovel from her, she head-butted Regan and nearly gave her concussion. You remember how she was on the dig.”

  “She’s a ruthless bitch. You were lucky she only took a little skin off your back and not somewhere more important.”

  “Aye, I was.” His reasons for getting involved with Marissa were hard to decipher. Her reasons were clear. He was easier to control if she led him about by his willy. And she’d had to be in control.

  And now she was dead, he was still blaming her instead of facing his part in the whole mess.

  “Is Regan all right then?” Rob asked.

  “She has an ugly bruise and a bump, but she’s as hard-headed as the lot of us.”

  “You can certainly pick ‘em,” Rob commented.

  Quinn absorbed the comment like a blow. Disappointment and anger blended together to form a knot inside his chest. “Aye, I’ve been at least as circumspect as you have.”

  Rob’s mouth compressed into a sulky line, and his brows drew together.

  Logan’s features went still and his eyes widened. He stepped forward as though to mediate between them. Quinn laid a hand in the middle of his chest holding him aside. “Stay out of it.”

  Quinn’s attention swung back to Rob. “Marissa came about during a time I was seeing you and Logan knocking about having fun, and I was chafing under the yoke of a struggling business and what I believed was my responsibility to you, to us, as a family. It was a lapse in judgment and a mistake I’ve paid for.”

  Rob’s gaze dropped away.

  “But my relationship with Regan is very different. Once our contract is done here, and she’s free from hers, I want time with her to see if what we have is permanent.”

  “Has she told you about her mother?” Rob asked.

  “She died, and Regan was put up for adoption when she was ten.”

  “Her mother was mentally ill, Quinn. Locked up.”

  Why hadn’t she told him? He rubbed a hand over his face taking it in. After everything else she’d shared with him — why would she hold that back?

  Had she told him at first, he’d have thought she, too, was crazy. Hell, he already had. He shook his head. How terrified she must have been after that first dream walk with Coira.

  “And you learned about this from who?” he asked.

  “It’s been common knowledge about the dig for a couple of weeks now.”

  “And Sheary repeated it to you.”

  “Aye. She was troubled about what was being said.”

  Quinn raised a brow. “And you were so worried I’d hooked up with another crazy bitch, you decided not to tell me because—”

  “I was hoping you’d drop her when we left.”

  “As you plan to do with Sheary.”

  “She’s at university. We never know where we’ll be next.” Rob shrugged.

  Irritation niggled at him like an itch between his shoulder blades. “We always know where we’ll be.” How blasé Rob was about the whole thing. What if Sheary truly cared about him?

  Quinn’s attention swung to Logan.

  Logan shook his head. “I didn’t think it mattered. Hannah’s very fond of her and doesn’t believe a word of it. She thinks it might be someone trying to discredit her work.”

  Had someone in Nicodemus’s camp started the rumor to cover up what might happen later? That was certainly a possibility.

  “Are you going to ask her about it?” Rob asked.

  “If it’s true, she’ll tell me in her own time. And if it’s not, Logan and Hannah’s take on the whole thing will stand up. As it is, we have more important things to worry about now. Will you go to the hospital and look out for the boy?”

  “Aye. I’ll do it,” Logan said and held out his hand for the keys.

  Quinn slapped the keys in his palm.

  “When are you going to tell us what’s really going on?” Rob asked, his mouth a tight line of frustration.

  “Nicodemus is a ruthless bastard, sick or not. I don’t trust him not to try and cover up what’s happened here. Keep an eye out for his men—or anyone else who looks odd hanging about the boy.”

  What had he threatened Regan with? She’d called his men hired guns. And how would Marissa have known what they were?

  How could Regan have held back the information about her mother? The sting of it was surfacing.

  “And how are we to justify our staying close to his room?” Rob asked.

  Sarcasm lay heavy in Quinn’s tone when he said, “You can use your charm with the ladies, Rob.” He shrugged. “Tell them you’ve been sent by the dig supervisor to stay with the family until we know the boy’s all right.”

  “And what will you be doing while we’re gone?”

  “I’ll be helping with the search for Marissa and going back over what happened with the constable.”

  “Are you going to tell him what happened?”

  “Aye, every moment.” That he could.

  As soon as his brothers left, Quinn flipped open his cell phone and pushed the speed dial button. The call wouldn’t go through and he swore. It was better this way. If she didn’t know what he planned to do, there’d be no repercussions for her later.

  He went below decks to the equipment room. The explosives storage unit was bolted to the bulkhead, and the door secured with an electronic keypad to which only he knew the combination. He rested his hand on the pad. His pulse drummed at his throat and wrists. He’d always been the one to travel the straight and narrow. Always been the one to remain rational and responsible, no matter what the circumstance. What he was planning would take him out of that realm. It would change all their lives forever. His stomach muscles tightened. He sucked in a deep breath. And punched in the numbers.

  CHAPTER 42

  Why couldn’t this fucker die? Nicodemus looked more and more like the walking dead every day, and still he hung on. The smell of sickness, of impending death hovered in the air. Dim light shone through the cheap blinds casting a yellow glow over the small living room.

  “It‘s good you didn’t harm the girl. I believe she’s the key to working the monoliths. There’s some kind of connection between her and this place,” Nicodemus said.

  Nicodemus’s voice held a note of— possession. He wanted Regan and he’d get her at whatever cost he had to pay. And what if the price was to be one of the team leaders to study the stones? He rubbed a hand over his face to hide his expression as rage gripped his throat and made it difficult to breathe.

  After everything he’ d done for the man, after all the promises he’d made, Nicodemus would hand control over to her. And she’d take it. She could complete her education here. She was driven, obsessed, and she’d want to stay with Quinn.

  “I’ve had the tape analyzed and transcribed. You should read it. It’s very interesting.” Nicodemus offered him a manila folder.

  He took the file and sat down in one of the drab brown chairs. His gaze scanned the text then homed in on the name Coira. Who was this woman? What connection did she have to Regan?

  The transcription read like a scene from a horror movie. What had gone on in that room? The Reinhart woman had been terrified.

  “What do you think?” Nicodemus asked.

  “ Regan hasn’t had access to the other documents we have. There’s no way she can figure out—
”

  “I think you’re underestimating her. She seems to have an instinct when she’s studying the stones.” Nicodemus drew a deep, shaky breath. MacBean leaned forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. Nicodemus shrugged it off. “I am a businessman. I have always believed in what is right before me. But that does not mean I ignore human instinct. And there may be other possibilities.”

  “Such as?”

  “She is psychic. What other possible explanation could there be?”

  Amazing. He’d always thought Nicodemus a level headed, practical, businessman. Cutthroat certainly, but a realist. He controlled the urge to shake his head. But what if she was? Why wouldn’t she have known about him? Or was there a possibility her psychic abilities had been triggered by something on the dig. Possibly the near drowning experience when she had first arrived.

  “I see you are considering this.”

  What was he to say to that?

  “We will share the documents we have with her and see where she takes it.”

  Anger and fear raged through him. “No. I found them. They’re mine.”

  Nicodemus made an impatient gesture. “If you have not been able to make progress in all the time you have had possession of them, perhaps a fresh pair of eyes is what we need. ” His gaze narrowed. “If I die before the truth is discovered, the money stops, my friend. And so will the dig. Is that what you want?”

  Damn him. Damn him to hell. “No.” He drew a breath and beat back the urge to scream at the man. “I want to know the answer as badly as you do. But she isn’t to be trusted. She’s as eager to gain credit for something important as the rest of us.”

  Nicodemus folded his hands in his lap. His fingers, yellow, claw-like, had the waxy appearance of a cadaver. “I think she is being driven by other desires. There is something else she is keeping closely hidden. Sooner or later she will reveal it. And when she does, we will be waiting.”

  His dark eyes homed in on him intent, demanding. “We are in agreement about the documents then?” It was a statement, not a question.

  His gaze strayed to Mc Bean. The man’s smug look drove the anger he felt higher into his chest. Nicodemus watched and waited.