Iris Johansen - Final Target

He glanced away from her. "You…knew what was coming?"

"I've been dreaming about it for weeks. That was why I came home to Juniper. It was always the same. The Wind Dancer staring down at a pool of blood and Jessica lying dead on the floor."

"You didn't tell her?"

"Jessica never really believed in anything she couldn't see and touch. She wouldn't have paid any attention to me. But she had to pay attention when I joined with Cassie. I thought if I made the Wind Dancer a threat to Cassie, Jessica might keep away from it." Her lips twisted. "And then you offered the statue to her on a silver platter. I wanted to kill you."

"Then you do blame me."

She wearily shook her head. "I guess I never really believed you could stop the train from moving toward its destination, but I had to try. I only hoped I could prevent the wreck at the last minute." Her hands clenched into fists. "If there's a God, it wouldn't make any sense for Him to give me the dreams and take away the power to stop them from happening, would it?"

"Have you had these dreams before? Not about Jessica but about other people?"

"Twice before. The first was right after I started college. A little boy who lived next door to our apartment in Cambridge. Jimmy Watson. Brown hair, a sweet smile…I kept dreaming of him crossing the street and being hit by a van. I'd wake up crying. I thought I was going crazy." She paused. "It happened. He jumped out into traffic to get a toy and was run over."

"Killed?"

"No, but he had internal injuries. He was in the hospital for weeks. I went to see his mother and she must have thought I was nuts. She was very soothing and assured me that I had nothing to do with Jimmy's accident."

"You didn't believe her?"

"In my dream it was always a yellow and black florist van. He was run over by a van from Bendix Florist. What are the odds?"

"And the second case?"

"An old man who worked at the college as a janitor. I had a recurring dream that he slipped on the side of the lap pool and hit his head. I could see the blood in the water."

"And what did you do?"

"I went to him and told him about it. He was a nice man, but he didn't believe me. He patted me on the shoulder and told me young people watched too much TV these days. I asked him to at least please take someone with him when he cleaned the locker rooms and the pool area. He said he would."

"But he didn't do it."

She gave a sigh of anguish. "How did you guess?"

"Human nature. If he didn't believe you, he'd go his own way. It happened as you dreamed it would?"

"He drowned. It didn't have to happen. Maybe if I'd kept after him…" She shook her head. "Or maybe not. Maybe this is some big cosmic joke. Show me the future and then not let me change it." She turned to Travis and asked unevenly, "Now, wouldn't that be funny?"

"No, and I don't think you've given it a fair shot. The first time you didn't believe in it yourself. The second time it wasn't your fault the old man was too set in his ways to take care of himself."

"And Jessica?"

"She slipped you a mickey. You might have been able to prevent what happened if you'd been yourself." He turned to look at her. "Of course, if you want to think that this is all fate and can't be changed, go for it. It's much simpler. Just turn your back and walk away."

"Simple? You don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing simple about-" Her gaze narrowed on his face. "You're accepting all this much too easily."

"I told you once that I had no problem with talents a little outside the norm."

"Joining with Cassie is a little outside the norm. Dreams of future events are way off the scale."

"I wasn't exactly unprepared for it. It's not totally unheard of in cases involving recovered trauma victims. Dedrick mentioned two cases where authentic foresight was documented. Once in a Greek boy from Athens and once in China. It seems when the barriers are down, anything is possible."

"Dedrick again. I wish I'd gotten my hands on that book when I was going through hell with Jimmy."

"I wish you had too. It might have helped you."

She was silent a moment. "You're trying to help me now. Why? We haven't been the best of buddies."

"Maybe I blame myself even if you don't. I was caught off guard by Deschamps. After the theft and Jan's death, I didn't expect this to happen. I didn't make the connection. Except for my head on a platter, I thought he had what he wanted."

"And he wanted the Wind Dancer?"

"He was up on the catwalk, so he had to know the layout of the museum. Maybe he was planning on stealing the statue himself. He had to have done some pretty thorough advance work."

"Did he follow us from Amsterdam?"

" I believe he knew ahead of time that we might be going after the Wind Dancer. He was waiting for us to set it up for him."

"And how would he know that?"

"Jan's phone was bugged for a time. It had to be Deschamps."

"And he wanted the Wind Dancer enough to run the risk. Why?"

"There could be many reasons. He's a mercenary. His entire career has been spent in pursuit of money."

"You said he took millions from you already."

"Millions aren't that important anymore. You can make that on one drug deal. Your next-door neighbor can make it e-trading. But the Wind Dancer is priceless. For a man like Deschamps, it could be the ultimate score." He shrugged. "Or it could be something else entirely. Who knows what's important to him?"

"The Wind Dancer is important to him or he wouldn't have been at the museum. But he's not going to get it. Where is it? Where did you put it?"

"In the closet in an old box we found in the shed. It's just going to be an albatross around our necks. We need to return it, Melissa."

"No." She stood up. "Why should we do that? As long as Deschamps wants it, we have the bait to trap him. I won't give it up." She looked him in the eye. "You should want Deschamps as much as I do. You told me you were going after him right after you kept your promise to Jessica."

"I intend to do that. The situation has changed, but as soon as I make sure this place is safe for you and Cassie to-"

"Bullshit. I'm not hiding from the bastard who killed Jessica."

" I guarantee I'll see that he's punished."

"No, I'll see that he's punished." Her lips thinned. "And no one is going to stand in my way, Travis. Now leave. I want to be alone for a little longer."

She's going to harden into pure steel.

Galen was right. She was changing, toughening. Not that she hadn't always been strong, but now you could almost see the steel.

"Go on." She turned to look at him. "Don't worry. I'm not going to walk into the sea and drown or anything. I just have to work my way through this so I can think."

"Come when you're ready and we'll talk." He turned and walked back toward the cottage. Not that talking would do any good.

"You shouldn't be here, sir." Danley opened the limousine door as it pulled up in front of the hangar. " I was going to come and report to you as soon as we got the casket onto the plane."

"You told me you'd kept the removal of her body from the media," Andreas said. " It better be true. Where are you taking it?"

"Arlington." He hesitated. "I wonder if you wouldn't reconsider? We've reports the sister was very close to the deceased. She might decide to say a last good-bye."

"The more evidence of what happened at the museum, the more likely the media will find out about the theft of the Wind Dancer. There may be a chance Travis wants to negotiate for the statue. Have you got the in-depth report on the sister yet?"

"Not yet, sir. Of course, we did preliminary work after they took Cassie, but she was considered of secondary importance."

"Well, now she's of primary importance."