Rachel Caine - Firestorm

I fought, startled and scared, but he was a big man, tall, and he managed to pin my arms to my side in a bear hug. "Jo!" he shouted in my ear. "Joanne, stop! It's me! It's Lewis!"

He smelled like woodsmoke and sweat, leaves and damp fabric, but he was warm, oh God, warm as heaven itself, and against my own will I felt myself go limp and stop fighting. For the moment.

"Jo?" He slowly let his arms loosen, and pulled back to look down at me. He was taller than I was by half a head, with shaggy-cut brown hair, and a long patrician face with big, dark eyes. A three-day growth of beard coming in heavy on his cheeks and chin. "We've been looking for you for days. What the hell happened to you? Are you—?" He stopped himself with an impatient shake of his head. "Never mind, stupid question, you're not okay or you'd have contacted us. Listen, we're in trouble. Bad trouble. We need you. Things have gone wrong."

I realized, with a terrible sinking feeling, that I had no idea who he was. And then the sinking turned to free fall.

He must have known something was wrong, because he frowned at me and passed his hand in front of my eyes. "Jo? Are you listening to me?"

I had no idea who I was.

Yep, once again, I had a soundtrack to help me stay focused, and boy, it was huge this time. (It was a big challenge. What can I say?) If you can't afford a gazillion CDs, hey, do what I do: Download them from iTunes or one of the other fine music services where the artists receive compensation per song. Please don't steal. Mother Nature doesn't like it when you steal, and I think we've established what happens when you make her mad…

Battleflag… Lo Fidelity Allstars

Extreme Ways… Moby

Come Undone… Duran Duran

Objection (Tango)… Shakira

Push It… Garbage

Let's Get It Started (Spike Mix)… Black Eyed Peas

Goodnight Moon… Shivaree

Virtual Insanity… Jamiroquai

Stop Don't Panic… Jamiroquai

Superstition… Stevie Wonder

You Haven't Done Nothing…Stevie Wonder

Angry Johnny… Poe

Molly's Chamber… Kings of Leon

Red Rain… Peter Gabriel

Twilight Zone… Golden Earring

(The System of)

Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether… Alan Parsons Project

Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)… The Offspring

Mustang Sally… The Commitments

Vertigo…U2

No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature… The Guess Who

Thunder… Prince

Tusk… Fleetwood Mac

S.A.L.T… The Orb

Shiver… Maroon

Gel… Collective Soul

Where the River Flows… Collective Soul

Angel… Sarah McLachlan

Oh, Berta, Berta… Tony Furtado

Passive… A Perfect Circle

The River… Joe Bonamassa

Bodies… Drowning Pool

Rachel Caineis the author of more than fifteen novels, including the Weather Warden series. She was born at White Sands Missile Range, which people who know her say explains a lot. She has been an accountant, a professional musician, and an insurance investigator, and still carries on a secret identity in the corporate world. She and her husband, fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Texas with their iguanas, Popeye and Darwin, a mali uromastyx named (appropriately) O'Malley, and a leopard tortoise named Shelley (for the poet, of course). Visit her Web site at www.rachelcaine.com.