“Hello, Billy,” he said with a smile. Tajan’s greeting came in perfect English.
“Is this a dream?” Billy asked. Taking a peek over the edge, he saw nothing but a straight drop into darkness that seemed to go on forever. “How’d you do that?” He looked back at Tajan. Billy’s newfound cousin was at Tajan’s side, but she was dressed in Indian garb. “Rio?”
“Close.” The girl shook her head. “But no.” She giggled. “Well, actually that’s not altogether true. We are, after all, one and the same...but I’m here as Maggie.”
“You and Rio are the same person?” The ability to be shocked or surprised by this episode was just beyond Billy’s reach. And so was the knowledge that he had achieved his goal. He was in the midst of a vision quest.
“We share the same soul.” Maggie clarified her relationship to Rio.
Tajan cleared his throat. “There are two things I need to tell you,” he said to Billy. “First, you need to stop hating the color of your skin. Be proud of who and what you are. Secondly, you need to stop blaming Maggie for my death.” His tone softened as his eyes drifted to her. “She died too.”
“But if it wasn’t for her,” Billy said, “you wouldn’t have died.”
“My life was short.” Tajan’s eyes were still on Maggie and his whole face had broken into a smile. “But it was worth a million lifetimes.” His smile faded as he turned back to Billy. “It was my destiny to protect her. It was also my destiny to die with her.”
Billy stared at Maggie. Her resemblance to Rio was uncanny. Every curl of her fiery hair. Every curve defining her face. Every sparkle in her jade-green eyes. He’d never seen anything like it—a resemblance so striking—and he couldn’t get over it.
“I have to go,” Tajan said to Billy. “But before I do, there’s something I want to show you.”
Without any warning at all, Tajan stepped inside Billy’s body. Billy gasped at the jolt. Somehow, he thought he now knew what it felt like to be struck by lightning. Billy’s body jerked when Tajan stepped back out.
“I have to go now,” he said again. “But don’t worry, Maggie’s going to keep you company for a while. Who knows, maybe she can help you.”
Tajan faded away.
“Where’d he go?” Billy asked in an almost whisper.
Maggie stepped up and motioned for him to sit with her. They dropped down onto the ledge and dangled their feet over the edge of the cliff. There was a distinct silence between them for the longest time and then finally Billy mustered up the courage to look her.
The resemblance was uncanny. It was so weird. He reached up and traced his fingertips along the edge of her hair with a hesitant touch.
Maggie shivered.
Billy yanked his hand back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. But you look so much like her.”
“It’s okay.” She looked at him. “I haven’t been touched in such a long time.” Tears glistened the corners of her eyes.
“What?” His mind whirled at her declaration. “You and Tajan can’t touch each other?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Heaven isn’t so heavenly when you can’t feel the touch of the one you love.”
“I’m sorry.” The words fell from his mouth, but he meant them.
“He showed you, didn’t he?” Maggie asked, changing the subject. “How much he loves me,” she added, and it was no question.
“Yeah.” Billy shrugged. “In a way I envy you two.”
“Why?”
“Because you have each other. You may not be able to touch, but you’re always going to love each other…apparently.”
“Well...that’s true.” She nodded. “but…there is someone out there for you, too.”
“Yeah, sure.” His skeptical laughter filled the air.
“It’s true.” Maggie grinned and nudged him. “And between you and me...she’s coming very soon.”
Billy might have inquired about her statement, if the reason he was there hadn’t slammed into the forefront of his mind. It consumed his thoughts, pushing everything else aside. “Is the treasure real?”
“Oh, it’s real all right,” Maggie said. “All you have to do is find it.”
“But how?” he asked. “We don’t even know where to look.”
“Well, I can’t really help you with that,” she said. “I don’t exactly recall where we buried it.”
A sense of defeat dropped over Billy. “Well, I guess that settles it,” he said with a shrug. “We can’t figure out how to read your map.”
“Now that is something I can help you with.” She smiled. “You must be careful though.” Her tone grew serious. “There are people out there who are after the same thing you are. And above all else, you must protect Rio because Tajan is not able to do that right now.”
She hopped up off the ground and Billy did the same. He pulled the map out of his pocket and handed it to her. She folded the edges several times, creased it down the middle and then handed it back to Billy.
“Will this help?” he asked, slipping the map from her.
“Compare it, as is, to an early map of the area and you’ll know where to look,” she said with a comforting pat on the back of his hand. Her expression turned somber. “There will come a time when Rio’s identity will be questioned,” said. “Never doubt for a moment that she isn’t who she says.”
Billy didn’t give Maggie’s counsel about Rio much consideration. He was too wrapped up in the map and the way she’d folded it.
“I have to go now.” She backed away in slow, easy steps. “But leave Rio alone for the night. Tajan is with her.” She began to fade away, leaving him with one last consideration, “Remember…you must protect Rio.”
And then she was gone.
* * *
The sun had long since disappeared behind the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Rio was wandering aimlessly through the forest. Somewhere, in the deepest corners of her mind, she knew she was asleep, high upon a mountaintop and curled up by a warm fire.
It was a notion she couldn’t quite grasp, but yet she knew it. Maybe that why it hadn’t fazed her that it was dark and she was alone in the woods. She continued on, somehow knowing which way to go, yet having no clue where she was going—until she arrived at Vista Point. That was a place she recognized, having recently been there with Billy. She climbed up on a boulder and drew her knees up under her chin.
Not long after, she heard a noise in the nearby bushes. It didn’t bother her. She felt no fear. Just curiosity. “Is someone there?”
Tajan emerged from the shadows.
“It’s you!” Hope and anticipation pushed the sigh up her throat.
Tajan strolled toward her and scaled the rock easily. Sitting beside her, his arm swept against hers. The heat of his skin breezed through her, igniting a flame that had been smoldering for decades.
He looked at her and smiled. He brushed her hair back from her face and traced his fingertips along her cheek. “My dear sweet love.” His dark-eyed gaze stoked the desire burning deep inside her. “I have missed you so,” he said in perfect English. Their closeness was like a drug filling her with euphoria.
What the hell? Rio slid off the rock and started to run. This was so not right. She’d lost her mind.
He was there, all around her, and in an instant he’d swept her effortlessly into his arms. She wanted to run. Flee. But her heart jolted and her pulse pounded from the feel of his bare-chested skin. He drew her like a powerful magnet and she was helpless to escape the attraction.
The sweet smell from the other day—when Billy had left her here alone—invaded the space around her and overwhelmed her senses.
She felt like she was overdosing on some euphoria drug. She slid her arms around him, wanting another dose.
He brushed his lips over her cheek. Her body tingled from the contact and her heart danced with excitement. Rio wanted every inch of him.
But he was not hers.
Tajan’s lips were well on their way to me
eting up with hers when she pulled away. “We shouldn’t be doing this.” She should put some distance between them, but it was hard to push him away. “Maggie…” She closed her eyes, feeling utterly miserable. “You belong to her.”
He pulled her to him and locked his hands against her spine. “You haven’t quite figured it out yet, have you?” His gaze traveled over her face and searched her eyes. He leaned in to kiss her, and the the heat of his lips seared emotions and passions back into her heart that she’d long since forgotten. Feelings from another lifetime that lingered to this day.
Rio shook her head, as if that’d cast out the weird sensations. “What the hell is going on?” she asked, barely above a whisper.
Looking at her, he said, “You remember now.”
A burst of wild grief shot through her. Rio felt her head grow dizzy and her knees give. Sinking to the ground, Tajan scooped her into his arms and carried her through the darkness. She buried her face against the side of his neck.
An odd feeling, like she’d found something she didn’t know she lost, gained momentum as they came to a lodge in the middle of a thicket.
Inside, Rio made a feeble attempt at pulling herself together. “How could I have forgotten you?” she asked, aching with an inner pain.
Tajan stepped forward and clasped her body tightly to his. “You weren’t supposed to remember,” he said. “At least that was the plan when you were given a new life in the form of Rio. All traces of Maggie were supposed to have been stripped away.”
Realizing what that inevitably meant, she put all her effort into freeing herself from his embrace and took a couple of steps back. “So...” She hesitated, finding it hard to speak the truth. “You know the whole story then...don’t you?”
“Yes,” he said without judgment. “But you have to change your plans.”
“To what?”
“You have to help Billy. He’s family.”
“Look—” Fear chased her guilt up her throat. “I’m having a little trouble considering someone who turns out to be my twenty-millionth great-grandson from a former life…as being family.”
“Rio...” Tajan said softly, “Audrey Tajan is your mother.”
“No she’s not.” Rio shook her head. “That’s just a cover.”
“Cover or not...” He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “It’s true.”
She swallowed hard, lifted her head and met his gaze head on. “I remember my mother... and she definitely wasn’t Audrey Tajan.”
“Audrey was your father’s first wife, and your natural mother.” Tajan began to wonder if Rio really needed to hear that she’d been abandoned by not just one but two mothers. “Abby is only your adoptive mother.” He wanted nothing more than to be able to protect her, even from this. “Maybe that’s why she’s always hated you so.”
Rio closed her eyes. “Oh, God!” She let out a sound that was half sob-half moan. “My great-great-granddaughter from a previous life turns out to be my mother.” She opened her eyes, looking at him with fear and disbelief evident in her gaze. “Do you realize how much therapy I’m going to need over this?”
Tajan took her hand and gave her a sad, lonely smile. “You have to forget your original purpose and find a way to help Billy,” he said. “If you can do that, then in the end your original purpose will be served.”
“But we don’t know where the treasure’s buried.”
“Billy has the necessary information now.” Tajan paused, holding her gaze for a moment and then leaned over and kissed her—madly, decadently, passionately.
The next thing she knew, they were tucked away inside a cozy pallet made of bearskin. His lips were pressed against hers and he was caressing her mouth more than kissing it. The heat of his naked body against her bare skin burned hot and seared deep inside into the core of her soul.
Their reunion had been a long time coming, and neither of them wanted it to end quickly. They took things slow and very sensual, becoming reacquainted, they welcomed each other home. When their passions exploded in a downpour of fiery sensations, their bodies melded together as if they were two pieces of a whole.
Rio nestled against Tajan, savoring the feeling of satisfaction he’d left her with. In his arms, fully contented, she fell asleep.
At daybreak, the morning sun broke the horizon and filtered into the lodge through the cracks and crevices, waking Rio. Waking up in Tajan’s arms gave her about a moments worth of pleasure—until she realized what that meant.
“I don’t want to go back,” she said, savoring the warmth of his body against her bare skin. “I want to stay here with you.”
“You have to go back.” With an almost hypnotic touch, he caressed her hair. “This time, you will live a long, healthy and very happy life.”
“I can’t do that now.” Dissention rose in her voice. “Not after last night.”
“I know this is hard for you to accept or understand,” he said, “but your destiny is with your partner.” Tajan propped himself up on one arm and trailed his fingers along her cheek. He smiled at her and she wanted nothing more than to get lost in him again. “Close your eyes,” he whispered.
She did as he asked. His fingers blazed a delightfully sensuous trail over her face. She touched his arm, enjoying the feel of his chiseled bicep. His lips breezed across her cheek. “Don’t look at it like its forever,” he whispered.
Rio’s hand fell against her own body. That’s when she realized Tajan was gone. She was left with nothing but a memory.
She leapt to her feet at the same time her eyes sprang open. Surveying the area, and herself, she found she was fully clothed and back atop Hot Springs Mountain.
Billy and the others rushed to her side. “Rio…you okay?” Anxiety fueled his questioning voice.
Rio was beginning to understand how a deer caught in the headlights felt. She knew she should say something...but what? What could she say? “I had sex with a dead guy, and worse yet, I wanted to stay with him?”
Humph. She came to the conclusion that it was best to keep her mouth shut. There was nothing she could say that would make sense, so she walked away.
She heard Billy order, “Everybody stay back!”
She could easily guess he was following her as she headed out of the clearing. But it didn’t stop her from hurrying through the thicket of trees until she’d the mountain’s edge.
In silence, she gazed out across the canyon.
Billy stopped a few feet from her. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.” There was a measure of sympathy in his tone.
Rio closed her eyes, caught momentarily by the recollection of Tajan’s lips and tongue making her body sing, as it had never done before. Trying to shake the memory, a chill rushed through her. She took her time looking at Billy. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Now I know why you got so spooked when I took you to the place where Tajan and Maggie died,” Billy said, his tone was calm.
A touch of fear and a bit of disbelief passed across her face.
“Let me guess…in your vision Tajan came to you?” He posed it as a question but it wasn’t really. “How do I know this?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. “Because Tajan and Maggie came to see me before he came to you.”
Rio’s eyes glistened and she skewed her mouth tightly. “I should never have come here.” She sucked back her frustration. “I should never have done this.”
She took off again and Billy chased after her. When he caught up to her, he grabbed her arm. “Rio,” he said with newfound hope, “I know how to read the map. Maggie showed me.” His tone grew solemn. “She also told me that you and she are one and the same.”
Rio paled, and it was like all reasoning drained from her face right along with the color. She stared at him and he saw the never-ending need to understand what was happening to her glistening in her eyes.
That’s when he knew—she’d gotten the same news. “Tajan told you that, didn’t he?”
Rio’s scathing laughter rippled around him. “Oh, that ain’t the half of it.” Her head shook like a bobble-head doll. “The thing is, Billy—” She flashed him a judgmental glare. “—you and I...we took a controlled substance. One that induces hallucinations.” She threw her hands into the air. “Are we really supposed to buy into the fantasies that we created last night? Because they were, after all, just that...illusions.”
“Vision. Hallucination. Fantasy. Or illusion,” he said, remaining calm. “Call it whatever you like, but I have just one question for you...If it wasn’t real, how did you and I both come up with the idea that you and Maggie are the same person?”
~~~~
CHAPTER 29
Taylor and Biggs had worked for Turner Atkins a number of years. Their current assignment was out of the ordinary and not exactly their forte. They were used to using intimidation and scare tactics to accomplish their goals. Being ordered to sit, wait and watch was a first, and as it turned out, a mission that neither of them was good at.
Even so, from a hilltop across the canyon, they watched the boss’s ringer. Taylor peered through the binoculars as the party began to awaken.
Biggs was on the phone with Atkins. “It’s beyond me, boss.” He rolled his eyes to keep from complaining about this farce of an assignment. “All they did was sit around a fire all night.” He paused, listening to his boss. “They’re packing up to leave.” After another brief interlude, Biggs said, “All right, boss…we’ll stick to them like glue.”
~~~~
CHAPTER 30
Rio had to make an escape—at least for a little while—and she had to do it alone. She had to call her father. She needed answers, and she needed them now.
In the Raley’s parking lot, she stowed away between two large trucks, feeling confident that somebody would have to be looking for her to sneak up on her. She left the engine running and fished her cell phone out of her bag.
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