Heat (9 page)

When you wake up, the woman is gone. There's no note. The hotel room is taken care of. There are
no obligations or commitments. You get one night of fantastic sex with one unbelievable woman and the price tag is zero. That's the dream, right? The all-American male sex fantasy
.

So why does it feel so much like a nightmare?


Mary had absolutely no doubt that someone had come to kill her.

IT WAS AFTER NOON BEFORE SAM
made it back to his dorm room. As soon as he was inside, he stumbled across the room and collapsed on his bed.

The Real Dream

Either the bartender was wrong or Sam didn't have the typical reaction to vodka.
If there were hangovers worse than the one he was feeling, Sam didn't want to know about it.
Already he felt like someone had lifted the top of his skull, poured in a box of thumbtacks, and put the lid back on. Add in the family of gerbils that had taken up residence in his stomach, and Sam was ready to call the Mafia and see if he could hire a killer to come and shoot him.

Sam crawled up the bed until his face was smashed against the pillow and tried to keep his head from exploding. The drums down the hall were silent this time, but they weren't needed. Sam's heart was beating all on its own. On some scale, he knew that the hangover was getting better. The idea that he might actually live through it now seemed like a possibility--not that death wasn't still an attractive option.

The bone-crushing hangover might not have felt quite so bad if Sam hadn't also felt so guilty.

Heather cheated first.

That was true. In fact, once one partner had

cheated, could you even call what the other did cheating at all? Shouldn't it be like getting a free hit?

Of course, Sam had kissed Gaia when he was still supposed to be with Heather.
And there was the little detail of his constant Gaia obsession.


Sam worked at trying to get the right feeling of justification, but he couldn't manage to find it. Even memories of the great sex he had experienced the night before didn't help. Sam couldn't get past the idea that the sex was wrong. Great, but wrong.

It didn't matter that Heather had cheated. Heather didn't know that Sam knew that she had cheated. And Sam hadn't said anything to Heather about breaking up. So no matter what Heather had done, they were still an official couple. Which made sleeping with the woman from the bar absolutely wrong. And all of that was way too much thinking to do with a hangover.

The whole thing didn't make a lot of sense. Sam knew that. He was acting like some character from a book. Real people weren't supposed to think like this.
Real people slept around.
Everybody said so.

But it didn't feel right. Maybe no one in the world would blame Sam for sleeping with this woman after Heather had cheated on him. Hell, every guy in the dorm would probably congratulate him for scoring

with this babe even if Heather hadn't cheated on him. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that Sam felt guilty. What he had done was wrong, no matter how many talk show guests and frat dudes might disagree.

He was going to have to talk to Heather. He was going to have to tell her it was over.

There was a knock at the door.

Every rap of the mystery guest's knuckles went through Sam's skull
like a chain saw.
He winced and pulled the pillow tighter around his exploding head. "Go away!" he shouted as loudly as he dared.

"Sam?" said a faint voice. "Is that you?"

Sam groaned and rolled to the edge of the bed. The world did a little jumping, twisting lurch. "Who's there?"

"Gaia."

"Gaia?" Sam sat up quickly, bringing a railroad spike of fresh pain to his head. He couldn't imagine why Gaia Moore would be at his door. Especially not when she had been out with her boyfriend only the night before. He got up and stumbled across the room over a floor that pitched and heaved like a ship on the high seas. He fumbled open the door and saw that the impossible was true.
Gaia Moore had come to call.


"Why are you . . . ," he started, then he swallowed and tried again. "Uh. Hi, Gaia."

"Hi, Sam." Gaia was dressed in usual Gaia gear, cargo pants and a gray sweatshirt, but there was something different about her hair. It almost looked like it had been combed. If Sam weren't drunk, he would have sworn she was blushing.

"I wanted to ask you something," she said.

"What's that?"

Gaia pushed her hair back from her face, glanced at Sam for a moment, then looked away. "I was wondering if you had anything planned for tonight."

"Tonight?" Sam wondered if this was just part of the hangover.
Was it possible to have hallucinations from one night of drinking?
If he didn't know better, he would have sworn Gaia Moore was asking him out on a date.

"It's New Year's Eve," said Gaia. "So I thought you'd probably be doing something with Heather."

"No," said Sam. "I'm not doing anything with Heather." In his own ears he could hear both anger and guilt in that statement.

"That's great!" said Gaia. "I mean, it's not great that you don't . . . I mean . . . I thought maybe you would want to get together tonight."

Sam felt a moment of dizziness that had nothing to do with his hangover. Gaia Moore
was
asking him out on a date. The last few days had been an incredible roller coaster. First there was the woman at a bar, now

this. His life was getting so strange in all directions. "Sure," he said. "Sure, I could do something tonight." Surely by then the hangover would have faded.

"Cool." For a moment Sam caught a glance of that endangered species, a Gaia Moore smile. "I'm meeting Ed and Mary around eight. If you came over around seven, we could walk over together."

"Ed Fargo and Mary Moss?"

"Uh-huh. We're talking about checking out the fireworks in the park. If the weather's not too crappy, we thought we might even do the whole tourist Times Square thing. After all, this is my first New Year's in New York."

Ed and Mary. Sam knew Ed Fargo well enough and had meet Mary Moss a few times. If Ed and Mary were coming along, then this wasn't so much a date as a kind of group activity.
Nothing serious.
Gaia might even be asking Sam more as a let's-be-friends kind of thing, not an I-love-you kind of thing. In fact, that seemed like what had to be going on. Ed and Mary were Gaia's friends. Gaia was just inviting Sam to be part of the gang, not to be her boyfriend.

"Sure," said Sam. "Sure. I'll be there." Being friends with Gaia was better than getting no dose of Gaia at all.

"All right," said Gaia. She bounced on the balls of her feet for a moment. "Okay. I guess I'll see you then."

"Right," said Sam. He managed to make what he hoped was a decent smile in reply.

Gaia hesitated for a moment. Then she spun on the soles of her worn sneakers and padded off down the hall.

Sam watched until the top of her blond head had disappeared down the staircase. Maybe for some guys, meeting a beautiful woman in a bar and having a night of sex was their fantasy. But for Sam Moon, Gaia was the real dream.

MAYBE I SHOULD LIE.


Reptile Brain

Ed stared at the phone and tried to rub away the headache that was building behind his eyes. He had spent so much time on the phone the last couple of days,
his right ear felt hot and swollen.
If the phone company charged for local calls by the minute, Ed would have been way deep into his college fund.

There was only one more phone call to make now, but Ed wasn't sure he should do it. If he dialed the phone, it would mean putting Gaia at risk. If he didn't dial, it could mean risking Mary.

I could check it out myself,
he thought.
I could tell Gaia that I couldn't get the information. Then I could go up there myself and... and...

And what? Ed might hate it when people thought he couldn't do something because he was in a wheelchair. But there were a few things that he really couldn't do. This might be one of them.

One dark, deep little part of Ed's brain definitely did not want to make this call. Sure, Mary was pretty. A little wild sometimes, but Ed liked her. And she was a friend. Still, Mary wasn't Gaia. Gaia was beautiful. Gaia had kissed him. He didn't just like Gaia--he was pretty sure he loved her.

The little reptile part of his brain
was talking loud and clear.
Forget Mary. Don't do anything that would get Gaia in trouble.

That reptile brain was hard to resist. The only thing fighting against it was the idea that if he didn't call, he would be breaking Gaia's trust. If he didn't call and Mary got hurt, Ed would have to live with that forever.

Still, it took a good ten minutes before he lifted the phone and reluctantly dialed Gaia's number.

"Hi. This is Ed. I need to speak to Gaia."

A few seconds later her voice came over the phone. "Hey. You going to be there tonight?"

"I'll be there," said Ed. He took a deep breath and continued. "But I found out something that I thought you should know."

"What's that?"

"I found Skizz."

"ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T FEEL
up to it?" asked George.

A Great Agent Once

Ella summoned up her best suffering-but-devoted-young-wife smile. "I'm sorry, dear. It really does feel like I have a cold coming on." She laid her fingers lightly against her chest. "I shouldn't make a trip right now."

George frowned. "If you're certain."

"I am." Ella nodded sadly, the brave smile still on her brightly painted lips. "You go on. I'll stay here, nurse my cold, and watch the celebrations on television."

George thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Nope. If you're staying here, I'll just stay with you."

Ella sat up quickly. "Now, George, you can't do that. You know you have commitments down in Washington."

"Those commitments can wait." George knelt down beside the couch, and took Ella's hand. "I'm more worried about us."

"Us? What could be wrong with us?" Ella looked at him with mock concern. "Is there something bothering you, dear?"

"What's bothering me is how little time we spend together," said George. Worry creased his forehead. "Half the time my job takes me out of town. And even

when I am home, it seems like you have a photography assignment almost every night."

"I'm trying to get established," replied Ella. "It's important that I take any assignment I can get."

George squeezed her hand. "I understand that, but I miss you, Ella. I want to be with you."

Ella reached across with her free hand and patted George softly on the cheek. "Don't worry. We have all our lives to be together." She nodded toward the door. "Now, go on to your party. The last thing I want you to do is to stay here and catch my cold."

George nodded. "All right," he said. "I'll go. But when I get back, we're going to have some reserved time together."

"Wonderful," said Ella. "I can't think of anything better."

With one last look, George turned for the door. "Take care of yourself while I'm gone."

"Don't worry. I'll be waiting right here." Ella waved at him as he went out the front door of the brownstone.

As soon as the door closed, Ella's expression turned into a scowl. She climbed up off the couch and went into the kitchen to wash her hands. It was getting to the point where
just the touch of George's hands was enough to make her want to scream.
Just the sight of him made her stomach churn.

George Niven was a great agent once. Even Loki said

so. But he wasn't anymore. Now he was just weak and stupid. Ella wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up this charade. She had never expected to be with George this long. Loki had promised her that one day this long project would move into the next phase. When that happened, Ella wouldn't have to pretend anymore. Wouldn't have to be with a man she despised more every day.

At least she would get a chance to see Loki tonight. If she was lucky, she would even spend the night in his bed. Now that George was out of town, everything would be fine.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

***ENCODED TRANSMISSION--256-BIT KEY TO FOLLOW***

Request immediate meeting. Location delta. 1900 hours.

Situation degrading.

MARY LOOKED AT HERSELF IN THE
mirror and grinned. She didn't think she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Usually she didn't think much of her looks at all. But she had to admit that the camisole looked very fine.

Everyday Events

The flimsy top would definitely not meet with her mother's approval, but then, Mary's mother had already gone off to her own New Year's event. There was no one left in the house to pass judgment on what she was wearing.

Mary thought for a moment about changing into something else. After all, if they really did end up down at Times Square, this outfit was going to be
beyond chilly.
But she was also going to be standing next to Gaia Moore all night. Gaia might not realize she was beautiful, but to most guys, that only made Gaia more attractive. Unless she looked her very best, Mary could get overlooked.

She was still debating whether or not to change when the phone rang. Mary picked it up, expecting it to be Gaia or Ed. Instead there was only
a crackling, humming sound
on the line. The phone had sounded funny for the last couple of days. There was always this strange little hollow tone to everything. But this went way beyond the previous problems.

"Hello?"