Severed Threads (28 page)

“
We still have a chance to be together. I
know
it,” he said.

She shook her head. “No, we don’t. You don’t know anything about me. What I’ve done. What I’m capable of doing. There’s no future for us, Devon. There never was.”

He wanted to grab her by the shoulders – shake some sense into her, but his bindings made it impossible. “Just tell me you never felt anything,” he pleaded. “Not when I was touching you, kissing you…holding you in my arms. Convince me that you never cared about me and I’ll shut up forever.”

Her gaze slid to the floor then back to his face, raising his hopes with each passing second. She suddenly stood and walked into the bathroom.

I knew it!
Devon was sure he’d gotten through. Reached inside her heart and turned it around.

Minutes dragged. Sickening sweet smoke seeped under the door, reminding Devon of the pot he’d enjoyed during his college days. He was thinking how odd it was to smell it here when Selena suddenly reappeared. The mystery was solved with one look. Her expression remained stoic – cold and detached. Uninvolved in whatever plan she had in mind.

Devon’s gaze dropped to the filled hypodermic needle clenched in her hand: death in a vial. She lifted her stony-eyed stare.

“
I have no choice,” she said. She set the needle down on the nightstand and began rolling up his shirtsleeve.

Panic heightened his plea. “Selena, I beg you. Don’t do this!”

No answer. Her focus remained locked on his inner arm, scanning for a willing vein – an easy target to still his troubled heart.

“
Honey, please. Listen to me!”

She picked up the implement. Tension was building on her twitching brow, at the corners of her downturned mouth.

Devon closed his eyes and waited, his fate resting in her hands. Time elongated. Seconds became a full minute. Still nothing happened. He ventured a peek only to discover her eyes were closed as well. He watched her solemn face, her meditative breaths, trying to determine what was going on in her head.

This was his Selena. The woman he loved. It wasn’t in her to be a murderer.

He just knew it.

Boom, boom, boom!
His gaze flew to the entry.

“
Who is it?” Selena called out.

“
It’s Bo Novak. Let me in. I need to talk to you right now.”

Devon’s gaze came back to her. “So, what’s the hold up?” he asked. “Here’s your chance to finally get rid of me.”

“
Listen. If I wait until Marcos and Vik get back – ” Her voice cracked. “I know what they’ll do to you.”

“
Selena!” Bo yelled louder. “Open the door.”

Devon knew her troubled expressions all too well. A war was raging inside of her, pulling her between right and wrong. Life and death.

She slipped the needle back into her purse and shook her head. “You’re right. I could never hurt you.” She leaned down to kiss his cheek but Devon turned away. When he looked back, her brown eyes were pleading for understanding. “I need you to get out of here. Just consider my car yours. It’s parked on the ground floor, space forty-two.” She untied the rope binding his bandaged hand. She moved to the foot of the bed and freed his ankles.

“
But what about you?” he asked.
She reached into her purse and extracted a set of keys. “I’ll be fine. As far as anyone’s concerned, I let you go to the bathroom and you bolted. With your history, they’ll believe me.”

Devon rolled onto his right side and loosened the knot still securing his hand to the iron headboard.

Wham!
The door’s wood frame exploded. Bo filled the open space, his gun drawn and his stance low – like a cop in a
Law and Order
episode. Behind him six state troopers were crowded in the hallway. “Police! Put your hands up!”

Devon stared in total disbelief.
Bo Novak…a cop?

Everything became slow motion and at the same time incredibly fast. Selena pulling out a revolver, yelling for him to stay down. Dropping to the floor at the side of the bed.

“
No!”
Devon screamed.
“Don’t do it!”

He curled into a ball to avoid being hit.

Bang! Bang, bang, bang!

Bullets flew in all directions – knocking over lamps, shattering glass, sending the room into total darkness. The ear-shattering blasts left him burying his face in the pillow, left him praying he wouldn’t die in this seedy hotel room.

Twenty-Two

Rachel stared up at the wobbly ceiling fan, watching its rotations for what seemed like an eternity. She got up to take another pill then climbed back into bed. She pulled the covers under her chin and longed to be lulled asleep by the ship’s rocking motion – to be transported to a peaceful place. However, whether they stemmed from being aboard
Stargazer
or in the proximity of her father’s untimely death, her debilitating nightmares had grown in their intensity. They had become so horrifying and real with each passing night that she was left with little or no sleep at all. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound in the room.

Click. Knock. Click. Knock. Click. Knock.
The ceiling fan became wipers on her car, keeping a steady rhythm. Sweeping back and forth like a metronome. She peered through the moist windshield at the glistening harbor lights in the distance. According to the notebook on her passenger seat, she’d been at work all day, protecting the ocean sanctuaries off the California Coast. She had no desire to question her good fortune or the latitude that had brought her there. The tranquilizers had worked their magic, smoothing out the wrinkles. Filling her soul with unattainable bliss. She sank back in her seat and smiled at the world outside, passing by in a Technicolor blur.

A chance look in the rearview mirror robbed her attention. Two of Pollero’s thugs had been following her – closing every gap, every turn in the winding road with their menacing black Corvette. Even though her foot was jammed to the floor, they matched her speed. They drove beside her in the on-coming lane, bumping her car repeatedly. Leaving her swerving in and out on the seaside highway and desperate to stay alive.

A bicyclist suddenly appeared in the roadway, causing her to slam on her brakes and the Corvette to plow into the rear of her car. She was sent careening off the hillside and into the black ocean below.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself encased in a watery grave. The windows wouldn’t open. Darkness was everywhere and the ocean was seeping inside. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. She pressed her back against the front seat and kicked at the windows with all her might. Yet it was useless. She was trapped and her life was passing before her eyes!

“
Ah!!!” She screamed as loud as she could, over and over again. No one could hear her. No one could see her. No one was going to rescue her.

“
Help me! Oh, Daddy,
please
,” she sobbed. “Don’t let me die like this”

That’s when she saw it. The light drifting outside in the ocean. Growing brighter as it drew nearer. Blanketing the left side of the car with its blinding glow. Was it a flashlight? A diver, risking his life to save hers? She pressed her palm against the cold glass and met someone else’s on the other side. The connection was electric, but lasted only an instant. Without warning, the door opened. She swam free, clawing every inch of the way. She cut through the surface, gasping, choking on her first breath of air. She laid her head back in the water, trying to calm her racing heart. Trying to collect her thoughts. Overhead, a multitude of stars filled the heavens. She was alone, floating with the current. Moving gently with the evening tide. No rescue boats were anywhere near. No divers who might have interceded on her behalf.

Who was he?
Like a sponge in a filled tub of water, reality sank in. Sam had been her angel of mercy. He was there when she needed him most, just as he had always been in the past. She needed to make peace with her father and help him find his.

Twenty-Three

“No! No! No!” Rachel’s blood-curdling screams woke Chase out of a soundless sleep.

He hopped out of his bed, still half asleep, and glanced at the clock. It was barely 2 A.M. and for all he knew, her nightmares had been going on for hours. He flew down the passageway, nearly colliding with Wade and Blaine.

“
It’s none of your business! Get back to bed!” he yelled at his men.

Just like obedient children, they solemnly turned and disappeared behind their doors.

Ian charged down the ladder, abandoning his post, yelling nearly as loud as Rachel. “What’s happenin’? It sounds like bloody hell in there.”

“
She’s getting worse,” Chase whispered. “Go back up. I’ll take care of this myself.”

He waited until the soles of Ian’s shoes exited the last rung then he continued his tirade, cursing under his breath. The nearer he got to her screams, the higher his temper soared. He felt mean and nasty by the time he reached her door. He shoved it open and rushed across the room to verbally attack her – to bring an end to her night terrors once and for all.

“Stop it!” he almost shouted. “Snap out of it! You’re driving everyone nuts!” An obliging sympathetic man would neither have thought nor said such things. But after subjecting his crew to two long nights of hysteria, the shock of hearing them just might snap her out of her paranoia. Might bring her back to reality…to the woman he once loved.

After all, kindness hadn’t helped. The night before, he came running with the intent of comforting her. Of throwing his arms around her and assuring her that he still cared. That her dreams weren’t real. Yet what good did it do? She’d all but driven him out of her room. Barking at him like a crazy woman. Treating him like a villain, intent on doing her harm. He’d never experienced anything so baffling. So totally beyond his control.

“
Don’t come near me! Someone stop him! Someone keep him away!” she’d cried out.

He now stood at the foot of her bed, prepared to yell back, to remind her who was truly in charge. But as he stared down at her, his heart softened. He became deeply involved and transfixed by what he saw.

Rachel was lying face down, tangled in her sheets. Sobbing and screaming, her words muffled in her pillow. “Help…
please
…Daddy…don’t die...”

After all these years, she was dreaming about her father’s death? He shook his head, hardly believing his ears. He sat down on the edge of her bed, trying to wrap his mind around the damage he’d caused – the torment buried in her dreams. He was the one who shouldered the blame…who never should have let Sam out of his sight.

“
Rachel…honey, wake up,” he murmured.

She almost jumped out of bed at the sound of his voice. Her face looked heartrending – flushed and swollen. She was gasping and choking. Struggling to catch her breath. She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him with all her might. But he felt undeserving. Completely felonious inside.

He pulled away quickly and stood up. He backed away, seeing the pain in her eyes. He needed to keep his distance, no matter how much it hurt. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You shouldn’t have come on this trip.”

She stared up at him, appearing dazed and confused.

“I’ll have one of the guys take you back,” he told her.

Her hand reached out and gripped his forearm. Her sorrowful eyes tore at his heart. “Please, Chase,” she begged. “Don’t send me away. I need to be here…with you.”

Twenty-Four

Selena had stopped breathing, but Devon wasn’t about to let her go. He frantically attempted CPR – arching her neck back, lifting her chin, covering her mouth with his own.

Two quick breaths
, he told himself. Just as he’d been taught in the first aid class he’d been hesitant to take years earlier.
One, two, three, four…