“River?” Lilly asked the moment Jack disconnected the call. “Is that Thomas’s code name?”
Jack nodded.
“And Yankee? That’s you?”
“That’s right.”
“What was so special about the program you two were in that it had to be kept so secret that you couldn’t even tell each other? And why would somebody hunt you because of it?” There were so many questions she had, but Jack seemed reluctant to answer, and she wasn’t beyond playing dirty to get them. “I deserve answers. Damn it, Jack, if that night seven years ago meant anything at all to you, then please tell me what’s going on. You can’t just show up out of nowhere, save my life, and then keep your secrets to yourself.”
She suddenly realized something. “How did you even know that there would be a shooting? At least tell me that.”
Slowly, he nodded. Then he pointed to her legs. “Let me patch you up while we talk.”
“Okay.” She sat down on the couch, and Jack crouched down at her feet and started cleaning the abrasions on her knees with antiseptic. “Start already.”
“I’m probably making a huge mistake by telling you all this, but frankly, I’m sick of hiding what I am.”
His words struck her as odd, but she didn’t interrupt him.
“I’m a precognitive, a person who has visions about future events, premonitions.”
She froze. “No, that’s not possible. Psychics don’t exist. That’s just a scam.”
Jack moved his head from side to side. “Sometimes I wish it were, but today I’m glad that I am a precognitive, otherwise you’d be dead now.”
All breath rushed from her lungs. “Are you saying you saw what would happen today?”
He nodded. “I had a vision of the sniper shooting you in the head. I saw you die. I tried to call you to warn you, but all I got on your phone was static.”
“That was you? The call while I was waiting for the tacos?”
“Yes. I tried to tell you to run into the building, but you couldn’t hear me. I think the same person who ordered the hit on you also scrambled your phone, maybe even bugged it. I’m not sure why, but perhaps he knew that I would try to warn you and—”
“How? How would he know that you’d try to save me?”
“I’m not the only precognitive. Everybody who was in the Stargate program at the CIA had the gift of foresight. Including Henry Sheppard. And there might be others. A few months ago, I met one of my fellow agents who’d gone bad, turned to the dark side, and I must assume there are others who also chose the wrong side. For all we know, whoever is trying to kill the former Stargate agents, might be a precognitive and therefore get glimpses of whatever we’re planning.”
“Oh my God, how can you fight against an enemy like that?”
“By banding together, by finding all former Stargate agents, men like Thomas, and fight as one. We’re stronger together.”
“That’s why you’re here. You were looking for Thomas.”
“Yes. I spoke to your uncle to see if he knew anything.”
“But he’s got dementia. He can’t help you. He’s not right in his head anymore.” It made her sad, but she couldn’t ignore the truth.
“I saw that. But there were things he said that make me think that he knows something. He kept saying that it was his fault, that she tricked him. She lied to him. They sent her.”
“She? Who is she?”
“I don’t know yet. At first, I thought that Thomas may have faked his death. At least that’s what I thought when I saw that he was cremated. But after speaking to your uncle and seeing his grief, I believe Thomas is truly dead. Still, I have to make sure, in case he’s still out there, waiting for me to find him. And even if he’s really dead, how and where he was killed, could help us find who’s behind it all.”
“If you can look into the future, don’t you already know what will happen?”
“It doesn’t work like that. We’ve never been able to figure out how to direct the visions. That was what the Stargate program was trying to do: train us to be able to direct our visions into the future at will. Have you ever heard of remote viewing?”
Lilly nodded. “Yeah, I read about it a few years ago. Wasn’t that some secret spy program that didn’t work?”
“That’s right. The CIA ran the program in the early 90s, but the agents they recruited had no precognitive skills. Hence it failed. Henry Sheppard was already working for the CIA at the time, and he knew it would work, if only he could recruit agents who already had the gift of foresight. Just like he did. So he started the program up again, but not even the top bosses at the agency knew about it. I was part of that program.”
“So you can see into the future, but you can’t force it in a specific direction? Is that it?” She couldn’t believe that she was even asking this. It sounded unreal, yet Jack looked serious, and judging by the fact that he’d clearly known about the shooting in advance and rescued her, he spoke the truth.
“I’m afraid so. I believe it’s triggered by emotional responses. I had the vision about you dying when I was with your uncle and saw a photo that was taken at the BBQ seven years ago.”
Jack put a Band-aid on Lilly’s left knee. “There, that should do.” Then he rose from his crouching position and took a seat next to her, though he left some space between them so their bodies didn’t touch.
Lilly looked at him. His face had changed. He’d always been handsome, but this new face was different, even more intense than he’d been seven years ago. His eyes were still the same, still of a piercing blue, and his voice was just as irresistibly sexy as back then. How had she not immediately realized who he was? She should have recognized his body the moment he’d pushed her out of the line of fire and buried her beneath him. She’d felt safe, despite the initial shock, as if her body had recognized his, even though her mind hadn’t.
“Why did you have plastic surgery? Did you have an accident?”
“No. When Sheppard was murdered and we all had to disappear, I figured it was my best option not to be recognized by my enemies. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t necessary, but what’s done is done. Nobody has recognized me in the past three years since I’ve been on the run. I was able to stay in Washington D.C. because of my new face.”
“You were here in D.C. the entire time?”
“Pretty much.”
“Did we ever cross paths here?” she asked though she really wanted to ask whether he’d watched her from afar. Whether he’d longed for her like she’d longed for him.
“No.” He smiled, but the expression was sad. “We never crossed paths. I might not have been able to stay hidden if I’d seen you.”
His revelation surprised her. Did this mean that he’d been thinking back to their night together, longing for more? She shook off the thought. Jack wasn’t a sentimental guy, at least Thomas had always said that about him.
“The temptation would have been too great.” He took her hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of it.
She met his gaze and felt the same magnetic attraction that had drawn them together years earlier and culminated in a passionate night of lovemaking.
Jack’s cell phone rang. He let go of her hand. “Yeah?”
Lilly sat close enough to hear the voice at the other end of the line.
“I got the death certificate. It says heart attack.”
“Bullshit!” Lilly cursed.
“Who’s that?”
Jack sighed and put the call on speaker. “That’s River’s cousin, Lilly. Lilly, meet Fox.”
“Take me off speaker now,” Fox demanded. “You can’t just let a civilian—”
“She’s as much a civilian as Phoebe and Michelle are,” Jack interrupted, though Lilly had no idea what he meant by that.
“Why didn’t you say so? Hey, Lilly. And you’re right, it’s bullshit. Thomas was thirty-seven years old. There’s no way he died of a heart attack,” Fox said.
“Can you text me the document?” Jack asked. “Maybe I can talk to the doctor or medical examiner who signed the death certificate.”
“Sending it over now. Do you need backup?”
“To talk to the official who signed the death certificate? No. I’ve got it handled. Be in touch.”
“Check in every few hours so we know you’re still alive.”
“Will do.” Jack disconnected the call.
A moment later, his cell phone chimed, announcing a text message. Jack opened the attachment.
“What does it say?” Lilly asked.
“He died here in D.C.” Jack looked at her. “I’m gonna go and have a talk with this Dr. Amy Price who signed the death certificate. Stay here. Feel free to raid the fridge and the freezer while I’m gone.”
“No way!” She jumped up. “You can’t just bench me. Thomas was my cousin and my best friend. I’m coming with you.”
“Not a chance. Whoever hired the sniper will be looking for you. You can’t show your face outside. It’s too risky.”
“Then lend me a hat and sunglasses, or something.”
He hesitated for several long seconds. Then he sighed. “Fine, but you’ll do exactly as I say. Do we understand each other?”
“I’m not an idiot.”
Less than half an hour later, Lilly’s blond hair was hidden under a dark wig that made her look like Cher and itched like hell. But that was only part of the disguise Jack had insisted on as a condition of her accompanying him. Glasses that were too old-fashioned for her own grandmother to wear sat on her nose. She wore a poofy blouse and an ugly skirt that made her look twenty pounds overweight.
“I look ridiculous,” she complained.
“No, you don’t. You look like a wallflower. Nobody is gonna give you a second look, which is the point.”
Jack had changed his clothing too, and now looked like an accountant. He sported a pair of glasses with metal frames and had donned a wig of thinning hair that showed an overly high widow’s peak and a bald spot on top.
“How do I look?” he suddenly asked with a Midwestern accent.
“As ridiculous as I feel.”
“Well, then, your chariot awaits.”
He winked at her, and they got in the van. This time, Lilly sat in the front cabin with him. While Lilly had gotten changed, Jack had found the address where Dr. Amy Price worked.
“It’s almost evening,” Lilly said as they drove through a busy neighborhood. “What if that doctor isn’t at the morgue anymore?”
“I also found her home address.” He gave her a reassuring look.
After fifteen minutes, Jack turned into a parking garage that looked familiar.
“Isn’t that where you changed cars earlier?” she asked.
“Yes. We’ll leave the van here and take a different car.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little paranoid?”
“Paranoid kept me alive for the last three years.”
When they exited the van, Jack ushered her down the stairs a level farther below. There, he walked along the parked cars, looking at each of them.
“You don’t remember where you parked your car?” she asked.
He gave her a sideways glance. “Oh, I don’t have a car here.” Then he pointed to a rather dusty looking silver Honda. “That one will do. It looks like it’s been here forever. Nobody’s gonna miss it.”
She stared at him, shocked. “You’re gonna steal that car?”
“Of course not.”
Before she could sigh with relief, he added, “I’m just gonna borrow it.”
She watched, in equal parts shocked and impressed, as he skillfully broke into the car and then hotwired the engine. Moments later, they were leaving the garage in the borrowed Honda and heading for the morgue.
They were hitting rush hour traffic as they got closer. There was nothing they could do to go any faster. Lilly looked at the clock on the dashboard.
“We’re almost there,” Jack said.
Suddenly police sirens blared, and the cars behind them were making space, driving as close to the sidewalks as possible, so the police car could pass. Lilly’s heart beat into her throat.
“They found us because you stole a car,” Lilly said, panicked.
“Stay calm,” Jack said and looked into the rear-view mirror. “They’re not after us. There’s an ambulance following the police car. There must have been an accident.”
When both the police car and the ambulance passed them without stopping, Lilly’s heartbeat returned to normal. Shit, she wasn’t made for a life of crime.
A block before the morgue, a police car was blocking the street. Jack saw it and turned into the closest side street.
“We’ll have to walk from here,” he said and parked in the nearest parking spot he could find.
“Are you not worried about having to walk past the police?” Lilly asked.
“The police are the least of my worry. Just act normal.”
They exited the car and walked back to where the police were blocking the street that led to the Medical Examiner’s building. Lots of curious pedestrians were already flocking to the scene.
“Can you see what’s going on?” Lilly asked Jack, who was much taller than her.
“Looks like a pedestrian got hit by a car.” He reached for her hand. “Let’s get through here.”
Jack made his way through the crowd, Lilly following him closely. Lilly glanced to the street where the ambulance was parked and police officers cordoned off the scene.
They were only about fifty feet away from the entrance to the Medical Examiner’s building now. From there, people exited and ran out toward the ambulance.
Lilly could hear a woman cry out. “Oh, no! Amy!”
Jack suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder at the person lying on the ground in the middle of the street. He pushed through the bystanders, still holding on to Lilly’s hand, until he reached the cordon. From there, Lilly could see that the person on the ground was a woman.
“What happened?” Jack asked somebody next to him.
“Hit ‘n run,” the man next to him said.
“Do you know who it is?”
“No idea. But I think she came out of the building behind us.”
Lilly froze. The building behind them was the Medical Examiner’s office.
“Let me through!” a woman called out from behind them, and pushed through the crowd, until she reached the cordon next to Lilly. “Oh my God! Amy!”
“Do you know her?” Lilly asked the tearful woman.
The woman sobbed. “It’s my colleague, Dr. Price. I saw it from my office window.” She let out a heart-rending sob. “The car didn’t even try to stop…”
Lilly looked back at the scene on the street, where a police officer put a sheet over the victim.
Dr. Amy Price was dead.