Iris Johansen - Final Target

"My God, what a pair of crocks." Galen watched from the pilot's seat as CIA agents lifted Travis's stretcher into the helicopter. "It's hard to believe that you-"

"Take off, Galen," Travis said. "I'm not interested in your insults."

"You should be. I do it so well." He glanced at Melissa. "You should really watch who you hang out with. I'd have kept you from being hurt."

"Hush," Melissa said. "Go."

A moment later the helicopter was rising and turning south.

Melissa looked down to see Andreas and Cassie coming down the steps. Cassie lifted her hand and waved. Melissa waved back.

"Cassie?" Travis asked.

She nodded. "I'm glad he brought her to say good-bye." She wrinkled her nose. "At least he won't order a rocket launcher to take out the helicopter while she's around."

"He wouldn't do that. I'm the only one he's having a problem with."

"You might be able to solve it sometime. Who knows, you may be able to tap one of your sources and give him a tidbit of valuable information."

"Possibly."

"And Cassie is going to prove a shock to him when he finds out she's brought back the same kind of psychic baggage I did. He may need help with her."

"We're not sure she has. You haven't been able to bond with her since she woke, have you?"

"Once." She paused. "And I found she'd already picked up some very interesting info when she was in the tunnel. Now that she's out, her ability may grow like wildfire."

"What kind of info?"

"When you were unconscious, she said, 'If I stay out, he has to stay out too.' " She looked him in the eye. "Now, what do you think she meant by that?"

He stiffened. "I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"I thought a lot about it last night."

" I'm sorry to have kept you awake."

"Perhaps we should ask Dr. Dedrick."

"That's one solution."

"Except, dammit, there's no Dr. Dedrick, is there? You made him up. What would you have done if I'd called your bluff when you offered to lend me your book?"

"I didn't think it was likely. You were too involved in Jessica's problems." He shrugged. "And I wanted to help you."

"Ishould have guessed. You were so blasted understanding about what was happening to me. Your information sources weren't the same as Galen's. You knew about the attack on Vasaro but not about Deschamps. And you were able to help Cassie when she was rejecting everyone else. We just assumed it was because you'd saved her at Vasaro, but there was something else too, wasn't t here?"

"I don't know. I'm not an expert on how it works. It could have been for either reason."

"No wonder you were so interested in Cassie. You identified with her. You were struck on the head and unconscious in that hospital for months after your father died. Where were you during that time, Travis? A tunnel, a cave, a forest?"

"No, a boat, a very strong, well-built cruiser with the speed of light that could run away from anything or anyone."

"Monsters?"

"I had my share of them. But I had an impetus that sprung me free of the trauma. I'd seen my father murdered, and hatred is a very powerful goad." He looked away from her. "Then the dreams started. And a little later I'd occasionally see…things. I never joined with anyone like you did with Cassie. Evidently, it doesn't work the same with everyone. In the first year, I realized what a tiger I had by the tail. I couldn't see something when I wanted to see it. I felt like it owned me."

"Did you tell Jan?"

He shook his head. "I didn't tell Jan or anyone else. I just bottled it up inside. Sometimes I could stop what I saw. Sometimes I couldn't. Sometimes I didn't want to stop it. I thought I deserved a little profit from all the hell I was going through. When I was old enough, I went searching for answers and I found a few, but we belong to a very exclusive club. Which was why I was so fascinated when I found out about Cassie…and you. It's almost enough to make you believe in fate."

"It wasn't fate that made you step in and involve yourself with Cassie."

"No, it started out as curiosity and then I got pulled in."

"Why didn't you just tell me? Why couldn't you share it with me?"

"At first, we weren't exactly friends. No, that's not the reason. It's…difficult for me to talk about it. I've become accustomed to handling it by myself." He grimaced. "Okay, you said once that maybe I was in a tunnel just like Cassie. You didn't know how close you came. Maybe you were right. Maybe I haven't learned to deal with it in a sane, healthy way. I just did the best I could."

"Were you ever going to confide in me?"

"Sure. Maybe. I hope so. It wouldn't have been easy for me. I'm not like you. You're open and you reach out to everything and everybody." He met her gaze. "If you needed me to do it, I would have told you. I'll give you anything that you need from me."

"Travis, I could strangle you."

"Does that mean you're going to throw me out of your life?" His tone was light, but his expression wasn't. "I'd find that very difficult to accept. So difficult that going back into a trauma state would be easy by comparison."

She had never seen him this vulnerable. There was so much she didn't know about him. So much still to learn. He was constantly thinking, moving, planning. He'd lived a life of which she had no real conception. This might be only the first of the secrets she'd find out about him. Travis was definitely no angel.

What the hell. He'd never be boring.

"Why should I throw you out? You're probably the only man in the world who understands me. But you do have a few faults that are going to cause us some big headaches." She took his hand and smiled at him. "Oh, well, I guess we'll just have to work on it."

Dear Reader,

If you've read any of my recent suspense novels, such as The Search or Rnal Target , you'd probably be surprised to learn that I actually began my career writing historical romances. Several years ago I began thinking of writing a book centered on a magnificent ancient statue with mystical powers. But the more I thought about the book, the more complex the concept grew, and I realized it could not be contained in one book. It was soon clear this was to be a trilogy-the story of a family whose fate was intertwined with the Wind Dancer through the centuries-and although they were love stories, they were also filled with suspense and adventure. The books stand alone, but the Wind Dancer is central to the thread of suspense that runs through each of them.

The first book, entitled The Wind Dancer , is set in Renaissance Italy during the reign of the Borgias. It's a story of ambition and revenge and the statue that sent the mighty Borgias spiraling downward. Interestingly enough, Lorenzo, the Assassin, is probably my favorite of all the secondary characters I've ever created.

The second book, Storm Winds , takes place during the turbulence of the French Revolution and concerns the role played by the Wind Dancer in the rescue of a member of the royal family. It's also a love story and follows the lifelong friendship between two women.

Reap the Wind , the third and final novel in the trilogy, is a contemporary suspense. It's a thriller on a global scale and moves from the streets of Paris to the White House. I can't say that I didn't enjoy the tremendous amount of traveling I had to do to make sure each and every detail was correct. The characters came alive for me and the enthusiasm for writing these books became obsession. I've always believed that some books are written with the mind and others with the heart. The Wind Dancer books involved both my mind and my heart, and the characters and mystique stayed with me long after I finished writing the trilogy. Even though a decade has passed since I finished Reap the Wind , I couldn't resist bringing the statue back to ignite the swirl of violence and intrigue in.