Chapters (53)
- COVER PAGE
- PRAISE FOR TEDDEKKER’S NOVELS
- TITLE PAGE
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
- DEDICATION
- TABLE OF CONTENT
- PROLOGUE
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINETEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
- CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
- CHAPTER THIRTY
- CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
- CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
- CHAPTER FORTY
- CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
- CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
- CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
- CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
Sherry stood shaking to her feet and sucked hard at the fresh sea breeze. A smile spread her mouth wide and she wanted to scream. Not with terror, but with relief and joy and the pleasure of life.
The waves lapped against the beach and then hissed in retreat. She lifted her eyes and felt the wind cool against her neck as the palm branches swayed above. She spread her arms wide, turned slowly on the soft sand, and laughed aloud.
On the third twirl she saw the black-cloaked man walking over the water, and she knew he was coming to plant his seed in the beach, but she didn’t stop. Let him do his deed. She would enjoy the sun and the wind while she could. When the acid rains came, she would stop. And die.
Are you ready to die, Sherry?
Yes.
The familiar vision rolled forward in stunning reality.
But one thing changed this time. Not in the vision, but in her understanding of it. This time when the mushroom grew, she saw that it wasn’t a mushroom at all. No, of course not! How could she have missed it? It was a cloud.
The kind of cloud that grew out of a bomb blast.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CASIUS AWOKE on a cot and slowly sat upright. The events of the night came to him haltingly as he lifted his hand to the bruise on his right shoulder. His captors had used a tranquilizer dart. And they’d also shot the woman and the priest. They held them elsewhere.
Sherry.
A small ache burned in his chest at the thought. He’d led the woman into the jungle; she was now his to deal with. It was a wrinkle to this whole operation he could do without. But a wrinkle that was beginning to haunt him.
Casius swept his eyes around the prison. The room was ten by ten—cinder block. Empty except for this one bed. No windows, one door, all white. A brazen bulb glared on the ceiling. The bare mattress he sat on looked like something they’d found in an alley, grayed with age and stained with brown rings. It smelled of urine.
He carefully checked his body for wounds or breaks but didn’t find any. They had taken him easily. They had either been exceptionally lucky or they possessed a security system far more advanced than he would have expected.
Casius leaned against the wall and rested his head back.
His wait ended within the minute. A scraping sounded at the door.
So now the game would begin in earnest. He settled his stiffened muscles and let them come.
The soldier who entered came in gripping a nine-millimeter Browning revolver in both hands. An eye patch rested like a hole over his right eye. He was Hispanic.