Dream - Dream Specter Part 2

A pair of hazel eyes watched Jared's departure. The look on the man's face was familiar.

Pus.h.i.+ng himself to his feet, Captain Shane Jacobs began to follow his operative. If Jared Campbell was going tracking tonight then Shane's unit would be backing him up.

As he walked, Shane pulled a small cellular phone from his vest pocket. The line of encoded numbers that he punched into the keypad was so committed to memory that it did not require him to oversee the job with his eyes. His eyes were focused on the rapidly departing figure of Jared Campbell. He knew without a doubt that the man was tracking somebody. Just who was the question. The fact that Jared had taken off without some sort of personal property was extremely odd. Shane hadn't seen him do that in the entire fourteen years that he had been learning to command the unit backing the man up.

The urgency that drove Jared was beginning to raise his temper. Just who was this creature that he seemed unable to block her from his mind?

Jared intended to put it to rest tonight! He didn't have time for interruptions. If she were purposely attempting to gain a hold on him then he would have to see her dealt with permanently.

The first hint of smoke in the air distracted him from his anger. It was becoming stronger with each step he took. With only a quarter moon, there was little light. The night sky failed to reveal just where the smoke was coming from.

The source of the smoke didn't remain a mystery for long. Even through the dense forest that surrounded the Everitt home, the light from the fire lit up the night.

Jared covered the last hundred feet at a dead run. Half of the house was already engulfed by the blaze. The orange tongues of light were eagerly licking their way along the roof of the house. The amount of smoke that rose from the s.h.i.+ngles announced that the wood slates were rapidly approaching the needed degree of heat to combust.

Where was she?

Shane slid to a halt a mere step behind Jared. There was no need to ask if the woman was in the house. Jared's body language gave him that information. The man's shoulders tightened before he leapt for the rear of the home.

d.a.m.n it, move!

Jared issued the command straight into her mind. He didn't wait for a response. Rounding the corner of the house he raised his gun and simply shot out the bedroom window. As the gla.s.s fell away, thick smoke began to pour through the opening. Taking a last breath, he jumped through the windowpane.

The smoke immediately robbed him of his sight, but he didn't need his eyes to find her. The link between them was far stronger than Jared had first believed. He knew exactly where she was, the fact that she was completely silent fueled his urgency.

Pulling her body from the bed, Jared took the three steps back to the window before the lack of oxygen deprived him of his strength.

The smoke was wrapped around him like a thick blanket. It took his complete control not to panic and lose his sense of direction. With his lungs demanding oxygen, he simply dumped his burden out of the open window.

Without her weight, it was easy to propel his body out of the impending inferno. Jared landed on his feet and neatly launched himself away from the frame of the house. The temperature difference of the night air was as shocking as ice water. His body shuttered with the traumatic change.

Shane knelt over their charge where the man had placed her away from the burning structure of her home. His men were mere shadows in the night as they moved over the area in practiced search patterns. Slipping to one knee, Jared a.s.sessed her himself. A steady throb beneath her throat met with his approval. His own breath was still raspy and labored from the exposure to the smoke. Rosh.e.l.le's lungs filled and emptied in a slow rhythm.

Casting his eyes back to her house, Jared watched as the last of the roof began to blaze. Flames shot upwards as the snap and pop of wood filled the night air.

The distant whine of an emergency vehicle touched his ears. Casting his attention down again, he noted the signs of life displayed by her body.

He would have liked an excuse to stay with her.

Jared pushed himself to his feet and forced himself to begin the trek back up the mountain. Self-loathing was eating its way along his brain. There was absolutely no reason why he should be so concerned with her welfare.

Frustration, he would have understood. He would now have to wait to interrogate her 'til she recovered.

That wasn't the emotion that was currently seeping through his brain. No... It was more relief, mixed with an almost gratefulness for the fact that he had heard that cry of hers.

Digging his feet into the forest floor, Jared increased his pace yet again. He didn't have time for something like this. Now, he would have to risk a trip to question her personally. This link that had been forged needed to be severed immediately.

Skidding to a halt, Jared turned to look at the orange glow in the night sky. He could hear the buzz of activity as the local firefighters tried to keep the blaze from spreading to the forest.

He released the breath he'd been holding. There was something about her. This link was very interesting. At the moment, it was worth her life.

And as much as he might wish otherwise, it pleased the h.e.l.l out of him to have a reason to see her again.

Chapter Three.

One hand slowly rubbed at the throbbing pain under her forehead. Her efforts were in vain, but Rosh.e.l.le continued the motion a bit longer anyway.

"Maybe you should go lay down."

Rosh.e.l.le's headache doubled. She handed the file over to the nurse as the woman gave her a sharp inspection with her eyes. Rosh.e.l.le forced her hand to drop to her side.

There wasn't such a thing as "discreet" in Benton County, much less a secret. The entire medical staff

had taken to dodging her steps, as well as giving her endless bits of advice to go home and take it easy.

Rosh.e.l.le would have liked nothing better than to go home, but the sheriff's department had closed off the scene. She wasn't even allowed to set foot on her own property.

"Thank you, Paula, but I'm just fine."

"Um-hum."

The middle-aged woman issued her comment while folding her plump arms across her ample chest.

Her headache was beginning to border on migraine level.

The chiming of her cell phone broke into her thoughts. Reaching for the slim unit, she was grateful for any

interruption.

"Dr. Everitt."

Exactly one minute later, Rosh.e.l.le snapped the phone shut. It was the Huntley law firm requesting that she stop by their offices. The man on the other end of the phone a.s.sured her that it would be worth her time.

Just how did these people get a hold of her private information? Abba had used the same phone number for almost thirty years and her pager had been on file at the medical center.

Her new cell phone number was another matter. She'd signed the contract on the little piece of technology only yesterday. Now that she had an actual paycheck, she could indulge in the luxury of her own cell phone, instead of relying on a pager provided by the medical center.

Rosh.e.l.le was positive that she had given the number to exactly two people. The oddest feeling was slowly creeping down her spine in response to that bit of knowledge.

Pulling the keys to her rental car from her purse, Rosh.e.l.le began a determined pace that would lead her to the parking lot. She would be delighted to pay the Huntley law firm a visit.

However she doubted that they would be so content with what she had to say.

"Just what have you been up to?" Christina issued her question before she even slid into the booth across from Rosh.e.l.le.

"Why don't you tell me? It's always much more interesting to hear it after it's gone through the gossip mill."

"So true." Christina regarded her friend a second before sending her a brilliant smile. It was so good to have Rosh.e.l.le back. She had never had a truer friend. At the moment, she was just a bit concerned. The sheriff's department had ruled the fire as an accident but Sh.e.l.ly was just about the most cautious person that she knew.

"Let me see... First, it is being widely spread about that you threatened Clark Huntley within an inch of his life."

"Just his professional one."

"Then you did the unforgivable and took your legal business over to Preston."

"Guilty as charged." Rosh.e.l.le currently felt not an ounce of grief over having crossed over town lines by taking her business to the next county.

Rosh.e.l.le was still a little unsettled about that encounter with Clark Huntley. The man had been nervous almost to the point of panic when she yet again refused to sell her land.

The look in the back of the man's eyes had been enough to set her on her way. Two days later, it was still bothering her. She didn't understand just what could be so valuable about her plot of land. There was plenty of land for sale in Benton County.

"Just what did you need a lawyer for anyway?"

"Nothing much. I just figured it was time to have a will put together."

"Rosh.e.l.le Marie, you can just forget about dying anytime soon."

"It just seemed the right thing to do." Rosh.e.l.le rolled her shoulders and tried to smile at her friend.

Christina gave her a sharp look from beneath her eyelashes.

"So, start explaining, doctor."

"It's nothing, really. I'm not the first person to think about their mortality after a brush with the grim reaper."

Christina narrowed her blue eyes before letting a smile cross her face. "All right, I'll buy that for now. Just don't do anything crazy."

"Without you, you mean?"

The blonde tossed her head, as her smile became brilliant. "That's right! So, if you are going to run off to Las Vegas and flash all the truck drivers on the way, I'd better be invited."

"I'll drive and you can do the flas.h.i.+ng."

"Spoilsport." Christina glared at her in reprimand. "It's your insanity trip."

"Fair enough, but I think we should wait 'til August or we'll freeze our nipples off."

"Toss in a convertible and you've got a deal."

"You are a pathetic excuse for an a.s.sociate. Just how much trouble could it possibly be to convince one girl to sell a piece of worthless forest land?"

Clark Huntley ran a hand over his head, searching for hair to pull, but he'd lost it all some time ago. At the moment he would gladly deal with the ravages of age instead of the man in front of him.

"This is Benton County; people are attached to their land. Rosh.e.l.le Everitt is planning on rebuilding.

That's the end of it. Nothing short of death is going to change her mind."

A very cold smile appeared on his companion's face. Clark felt his blood run cold as he watched it spread all the way into the man's eyes. "Now you just hold it right there! No land can be that important! The girl won't sell, so you and I are finished! Right here and now!"

Those cold eyes raked over him before the man pulled his gloves out of his pocket and pushed his fingers into them. He stood for a moment and regarded the small law office. It wasn't grand by any means. Simple and neat. Family portraits hung on one wall and a law degree was proudly displayed on the opposite one. His eyes traveled the length of each wall before returning to him. Clark felt a chill swept his frame as he met those icy depths.

"I agree. You have absolutely no use."

Just as the afternoon sun was giving way to evening, Rosh.e.l.le signed her name to the work order that would see the final end to her grandmother's house. A rather hefty workman nodded approval at her before he wandered down the hillside and got back into his truck.

She would rebuild. Something drove her to that action. Rosh.e.l.le wasn't sure just what it was. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something wanted to drive her off of this point on the globe.

Not something... Him.

Turning her attention away from the charred remains of the house, she focused her eyes in the direction of the top of the mountain. It was almost as if the tree-studded landscape held the answer to her mental dilemma.

It was strange that the only good memory she held of that day her house burned was of shutting him out of her mind. Nothing else seemed to be embedded inside her brain, but she clearly recalled the precise probing of her thoughts.

This was ridiculous! There was not a witch living up the hill! Yanking her jacket off the pa.s.senger seat of her car, she sent the door closed with a shove.

If she could walk up that mountain when she was a child, she could just do it again today. Because he better get used to the idea of having a neighbor. Rosh.e.l.le wasn't selling her land!

Twilight descended but Rosh.e.l.le kept moving. The dark didn't bother her. No, having her thoughts invaded did!

She stopped at the summit. The mountains rose up further in front of her but this was the highest point she could see from back on her grandmother's land. A wide smile split her face. There! So much for childhood fears! She wasn't a pillar of stone nor was she turning into a frog.

There was never any dream specter. She was in shock, pure and simple. It was the traumatic backslide resulting from injuring another human being. Instead of worrying so much about her dreams, she should apply her concern to hoping that the guy wasn't planning on suing her.

"You're trespa.s.sing."