Clive Cussler - Thriller 2 - Stories You Just Can’t Put Down

“I feel so bad,” Melanie said. “Where are we going?”

“Don’t ask questions. You’ll spoil the surprise.”

He headed out of the city and across the Bay Bridge. When he reached Berkeley, he pointed the car in the direction of the marina. The place was deserted. The restaurants had closed for the night. If it hadn’t been for the street lighting, the marina would have been in total darkness. He parked in the red zone fronting the pier.

“What are we doing here?” Melanie asked.

“You’ll see. Come on.”

He came around to her side of the car and opened the door for her. He took her hand and led her onto the pier, then guided her toward the streetlamp at the end of it.

“I know we haven’t been dating long,” Nick began, “but I feel I’ve known you all my life.”

She squeezed his hand. “You’re very sweet.”

With every step they took, he cataloged his affection for her. His outpourings left her speechless. She never interrupted. She just listened and that was good. Her silence gave him the courage for what he had to do. When they reached the end of the pier, he released her hand and turned to face her. He looked into her eyes and his throat closed up.

“C’mon. Don’t stop now,” she encouraged. “What is it?”

Out in the bay, a buoy chimed. The water slapped against the pier.

He needed encouragement to finish this, to go all the way, and he got it. A racing engine and squealing tires cut through the calm. Jamie had caught up with him. Nick thought he’d spotted Jamie’s Acura on the freeway. He’d hoped for a longer lead. It didn’t matter. Jamie was too late.

“Melanie, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“That’s why I wanted to give you this.”

Nick reached inside his pocket. A distant voice cried out but he and Melanie ignored it. The moment was all that counted. He produced his gift, a small box containing a ring. He fell to one knee.

“Will you marry me?”

“Stop,” Jamie cried out. His feet pounded on the wooden planking.

“Oh, Nick, you shouldn’t have.”

“Why?” Nick asked.

“I can’t.”

“You can. Forget Jamie. Forget everything he’s done. Just think about us.”

“I’m sorry, Nick.” Melanie turned away from him.

Jamie cried out again.

Damn him, Nick thought. That son of a bitch wouldn’t win. He jumped to his feet and grabbed Melanie’s arm to prevent her from leaving. She whirled on him. He didn’t see the switchblade she’d removed from her purse until she plunged it into his stomach. Confusion dulled his pain. She jerked the blade free and his legs went out from under him.

“Why?” Nick asked, his words weak in his throat.

Jamie caught up a moment later. He fell to his knees at Nick’s side to examine the wound. “Not again,” he murmured.

“Not again?”

Nick looked straight at Melanie. Her gaze was glassy, absent, and a stiffness had overcome her. She was a million miles away from this.

“Nick, why didn’t you listen to me?” Jamie said. “I tried to warn you. I did everything I could to protect you.”

“You made me think it was you.”

“It was easier that way. I didn’t want you thinking it was her. She’s not a bad person. She’s just damaged.”

“What are you talking about?” Nick tried to move, but the pain in his abdomen stopped him cold.

“Our father.” Jamie tried to apply pressure to the wound, but blood oozed between his fingers and Nick groaned. “He loved her. Loved her too much. Loved her so much he ruined her. You must have noticed she never talks about him and has no pictures of him in the condo.”

It started sinking in. “She killed Mikey Pryce.”

“And all the others. Father was the first.”

The pain in his heart matched the pain in his stomach. “I don’t understand. What did I do wrong?”

“I can’t explain it. It doesn’t make sense to anyone except her. You crossed the line for her.”

“I just wanted to love her.”

“That’s crossing the line. You can love her. You just can’t love her all the way.”

It made a twisted kind of sense. Nick pictured the day at the watering hole where Mikey Pryce had promised to love Melanie forever, even promising to marry her. Unwittingly, he’d triggered Melanie’s murderous reflex, which she repeated with Matthew Warner, Miles Talbot and now him. They’d all promised their undying love only to see it die.

“God, you’re bleeding bad.” Jamie took his hands away. Blood pulsed from the wound and Nick felt his strength drain from him with every pulse. “There’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry, Nick. Truly, I am.”

Jamie rose to his feet and hugged his sister. “It’s okay. You’ve done nothing wrong. I’ll make this all go away.”

“Call 911,” Nick pleaded.

“I wish I could, but I can’t let the police take her,” Jamie said and turned to Melanie. “It’s okay. You’re safe. Now, go back to the car and I’ll take care of this.”

Seemingly under a hypnotic trance, Melanie followed Jamie’s command and ambled back to the car. Nick screamed out to her, but she was lost to him.

“You can’t keep protecting her, Jamie,” Nick said as Jamie bent toward him.

“I know,” Jamie said with genuine regret, “but I can this time.”

It was the last thing Nick heard as Jamie lifted him over the pier railing and rolled him into the bay.

In the hands of Joan Johnston, the human heart becomes a catalyst for suspense. With more than forty novels and ten million copies of her books in print worldwide, she is a proven master of the craft who knows how to complicate the tensions behind everyday relationships. If there’s a character’s heart to be broken, Joan will snap it in two and decide later if it should be allowed to heal.

In “Watch Out for My Girl,” Nash Benedict finds himself turning Benedict Arnold after promising to look after his brother’s girl while he serves in Iraq. An accidental crush becomes an inappropriate affair of the heart. And that leads the characters headlong into a meeting with murder.

“I had a helluva time getting your number, Benedict. I called because Morgan Hunter is missing.”

Nash Benedict heard the irritation in the voice of Morgan’s boss, Captain Hart, Commander of Fire Station 7 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He made no apology. He was hard to reach for good reason. A picture of Morgan’s anguished face the last time he’d seen her flashed across his mind. His voice was unexpectedly thick with emotion as he confirmed, “Morgan’s missing?”

“She didn’t show up this morning at seven for her twenty-four-hour shift and didn’t call to say she wouldn’t be showing up. She’s never missed a day of work in five years. Never even been late. You can see why I’d be concerned.”

Nash glanced at his watch. 6:00 p.m. “She’s been missing since seven this morning and you’re just now calling me?”

“I’d have called you sooner, but nobody knew how to reach you,” the captain retorted.

Someday soon, Morgan Hunter would be his sister-in-law. She was dating his younger brother, Carter, who’d left six months ago for a one-year tour of duty in Iraq.

“Watch out for my girl, Nash. Don’t let anything happen to her while I’m serving my country overseas.”

Nash had known what Carter really meant was Don’t let some son of a bitch move in on Morgan while I’m serving my country overseas. Carter had never imagined that something sinister might threaten his girl. Or that the something sinister might be his elder brother.

Nash felt the blood pound in his temples. Carter had asked only one favor. And Nash had failed to deliver. Completely.