LITMIR.BIZ

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of the signs that came with it.

      The first was always the dream of the massacre, after which he would wake up shaking and sick to his stomach, drenched in sweat. He’d learned, too, that the closer he got to the reincarnated soul, the more rapidly his heart would beat. He’d followed those feelings all over the world so many times he’d lost count, but he had never been able to find his nemesis. When the feelings disappeared, he could only assume that his enemy was dead and once again his soul was no longer earthbound.

      He finished his meal in silence, watched the sea until the sun had set behind him, then got up and went inside. He turned on the television in the kitchen as he cleaned up, only to find that the botched bank robbery was the topic of the national news. He watched the film clip without moving, wincing slightly when he heard his name come out of the newscaster’s mouth. Still, it was done, and he wouldn’t have changed anything in any way. When the newscast was over, he turned off the TV and went to bed.

      Another day had passed.

      One more night alone.

      

      Detective Robert Lee hit Rewind on the bank security tape, then Stop. Then Play. Once again he saw the botched bank robbery in progress, from the moment the teller fainted to the point where the perp headed for the door. He saw the guard grab his pistol as the perp took a hostage. It wasn’t pretty, but it was, in the realm of law and order, what constituted an ordinary screwup, not unlike a dozen other scenarios he’d seen in his eighteen-year career on the force. It was what came next that didn’t make sense. And if he hadn’t been watching it over and over for the last few hours, he wouldn’t have believed it had happened.

      When he got to the point where the perp, who they now knew was a man named Wallace Deeds, had taken a hostage, his attention shifted into high gear. First the hostage’s two little boys began to cry. When the smallest boy started toward his mother, Lee began to tense, waiting for that damned Indian to make his move. And even though he knew what was going to happen, it was still shocking to witness. All of a sudden, Nightwalker was in full camera range, running at the gunman and his hostage with a knife in his hand.

      Lee watched Deeds spin and fire. He saw the bullet hit the Indian. He saw blood spurt out the back of his shoulder and his shirt instantly turn red. Then Lisa Doggett went limp and Deeds shoved her away. He watched her come to and run to her boys, shielding them with her body. Deeds seemed to be about to fire a second shot, but it never happened. One moment the knife was in Nightwalker’s hand and the next it was in Wallace Deeds’ chest.

      Deeds went down, but the Indian didn’t. That was what kept freaking Lee out.

      When the Indian bent over and pulled the knife out of Deeds’ chest without staggering or showing any pain, Lee simply couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He wanted to have a reason to go after Nightwalker, but there wasn’t one, and considering the half-dozen new cases on his desk, he knew it was time to let this one go, however reluctantly.

      Two days later—Justice, Georgia

      Alicia Ponte’s life was one of wealth and privilege. She was the daughter of a rich man, the type of woman who headed committees and organized charity functions. She wore the right clothes, knew the right people and always made the society pages. She had friends, but none were close. She’d had one boyfriend in college and a brief relationship with another man over three years ago, and nothing that mattered since.

      At twenty-seven years old, she had always thought of herself as confident and self-assured, but the last twenty-two hours had proved her wrong. She was scared—as scared as she’d ever been—and of someone who was supposed to love her. The irony that she’d waited until now to run away from home was lost in the gut-wrenching fear that kept her moving. But her flight was about to be sidetracked by the need for fuel.

      She glanced down at the gas gauge. It was too close to empty to dare trying to make it to Savannah, but according to a road sign she’d seen a mile back, Marv’s Gas and Guzzle should be able to take care of that.

      A short while later, she came upon the city limit sign of Justice, Georgia, population: 488. Alicia didn’t care how many people lived here. She just wanted some of Marv’s gas—and maybe a cold drink and a snack—then she was back on the road. Only, running wasn’t going to solve her problem. She couldn’t run forever. She needed a place to hide. That she was hiding from her father was nothing short of horrifying, but there was no denying what she’d accidentally overheard.

      Her father—Richard Ponte, the largest arms manufacturer in the western hemisphere—was selling weapons to the enemy in Iraq, as well as to the American soldiers who were fighting them. Profiting from the war in the most hideous manner and arming both sides with the same most up-to-date munitions money could buy.

      Her father had been overseas for almost a year, opening a new recycling plant in Taiwan, overseeing the closing of a tire factory in India. She’d visited him a couple of times but had opted to go back to Miami. It made her uncomfortable to know that he was taking advantage of the poverty and strife in those countries by paying the workers only a fraction of what he would have had to pay American employees. Once he was back, she was excited to have company for dinner again.

      She’d been on her way into his office to see if he would be staying home for lunch when she realized he wasn’t alone. She heard her father and his old friend Jacob Carruthers talking, and she smiled to herself, thinking she would get to share a meal with Uncle Jake, as well. Just as she started to knock, she heard her father curse, which shocked her. He didn’t behave like that in her presence, and she knew if she went in now, he would know that she’d heard him. So she hesitated, and as she did, she heard something far worse.

      The phrase “shipment of arms” was common in her father’s world, and she normally thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until she heard the name Osama bin Laden that she knew something wasn’t right. Then, as she listened, for the first time in her life, she knew the true meaning of the phrase “her blood ran cold.”

      Osama bin Laden was happy with the goods.

      She put a hand to her lips to keep from gasping aloud. There had to be some mistake. Then she heard her father mention a delivery in Afghanistan to al Qaeda. Then the Kurds and Mohammed al-Kazir. The nail in her father’s coffin was when she heard Jacob say that bin Laden would double his offer if they could deliver before the end of the month, and something about the thirteenth being a problem, because it was some kind of holiday.

      She heard her father chuckle, then comment with something to the effect that he would make them pay out the ass if they wanted the good stuff.

      She felt sick. This couldn’t be happening. The last comment she heard was the one that sealed their fate.

      “You know,” Jacob said, “U.S. Customs might start getting wise. There are only so many plows and tractors that one company can import.”

      Her father snorted. “I pay enough money under the table to smuggle any damn thing I choose.”

      Alicia had no memory of how she’d gotten out of the hall and back up the stairs to her room. The next thing she remembered was being on her hands and knees in her bathroom, throwing up in the toilet. She threw up until her belly hurt and her jaws ached. By the time she managed to drag herself to bed, she was in a cold sweat. The maid had come in to clean, but Alicia had sent her away, claiming she was coming down with the flu.

      By the time the maid made it back downstairs, Jacob Carruthers was gone and Richard was on to the next big thing. The maid hesitated in the hallway, then knocked at Richard’s office door.

      “Yes,” he muttered, irked at being disturbed.

      The maid opened the door just enough to pass on her message.

      “Sir…Miss Ponte has taken ill…the flu, she thinks, and said to pass on her excuses because she’s going to skip lunch.”

      “Yes, thank you,” Richard said.

      Her father had too many irons in the fire to worry about a flu bug unless he was the one getting ill, Alicia knew, so for now she

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