Ironic that she should be offering advice on love when her own relationship had self-destructed.
She heard noise on the other side of the glass window and sensed the producer, Drew Myers, gearing up for the show. Drew handled a hundred things at once, all deftly, as well as screening incoming calls. The station had worked out a system so he could signal her with a buzzer.
As a concession to Claire’s concern for the potential threats to herself and the show, and out of concern for the callers, she and the station manager had agreed to keep the topics on a fairly light note, hoping to avoid any issues which might need a more thorough professional assessment.
She checked her braille watch, then laid her hand over the buzzer. The familiar ding alerted her to begin the show.
The first caller complained of a cheating husband, which prompted several callers to admit their own spouse’s extramarital affair. The last caller hit a nerve—her husband had abandoned her and their infant son.
She thought of Mark.
Not that Mark had really abandoned her. He’d gone off to war, while she’d fought a war of her own at home.
Sometimes she wondered if she should have informed him of her accident. Other times, she assured herself she’d been right not to burden him with her problems. Besides, he hadn’t exactly contacted her after he’d left.
A signal alerted her to the next caller. “Hello, this is Claire, how can I help you?”
“I… I can’t s-see,” a woman cried. “It’s so dark. P-please help me.”
Claire froze, the desperation in the woman’s high-pitched voice sending a chill down her spine.
“Tell me your name,” she said softly. “Where are you?”
Instead of the woman’s voice, a muffled voice began to sing, “Blinded by the light…”
A chill skated up Claire’s spine. “Who is this? Is this some kind of sick joke?” She jerked her head up, wishing she could see Drew’s reaction, then motioned for him to trace the call, another stipulation she’d insisted upon before signing on with the program. She had no intention of offering free advice to spike ratings in lieu of true professional care.
“She was a bad girl, a very bad girl, Claire,” the muffled voice whispered. “Do you know what happens to bad girls?”
Claire struggled to detect the sounds in the background, anything that might offer her a clue as to the woman’s location. The wind howled. Some kind of bird cawed. She heard the ocean waves crashing against the shore. The man was outside, using a cell phone.
It would be harder to trace.
“Tell me who this is,” she whispered. “Let me speak to the woman again.”
“It’s too late for her,” the dark voice murmured. “But save yourself, Claire. Goodbye.”
Then the phone went dead, the woman’s cry for help fading into an eerie silence. Panic bolted through Claire.
Had she just been talking to a killer?
A week later
LIEUTENANT MARK STEELE had once lived for the military.
Unfortunately, his last army mission had gone awry, and five of his men had been killed. Although Mark had lived, he’d been injured and had spent time in an enemy prison camp. But not before he’d shot the traitor who’d revealed his men’s location.
He’d thought that bit of justice might assuage the guilt that had eaten away at him ever since, but it hadn’t even nibbled at the edges. Blinking against the blinding noonday sun, he entered the Atlanta Federal office building. Since he’d accepted a medical discharge, he’d been slogging through every day, searching for a reason to get up every morning. This new job, tracking down criminals, even if they were civilians, might give him a renewed purpose in life. God knew he needed it.
A fair-haired man in a dark suit and tie greeted him, although the normally arrogant attitude he’d always associated with the feds was absent, a dark soulless look haunting the man’s eyes. Mark instantly connected. He’d witnessed the same desolation in soldiers’ eyes just before they died.
“Luke Devlin,” the man said without preamble. He gestured toward two other agents seated at the table and introduced them.
“It’s nice to have you on board, Mr. Steele.”
Mark nodded, still adjusting to civilian life. “Thanks. I’m anxious for an assignment.” Anything to take his mind off the lost men. His lost career.
His lost love, Claire.
“We’re organizing a special task force to investigate certain aspects of government intelligence as well as the Coastal Island Research Park’s work on Nighthawk Island. Are you familiar with the research center?”
“I’ve read about the facility. It’s in Savannah?”
“Right.” Devlin moved to the wall, gestured toward a detailed map of the research islands, then quickly reviewed recent events at the center.
“There’s been trouble at CIRP, unethical research taking place. And Arnold Hughes, the first director and founder of the research center, actually had a scientist killed because he discovered Hughes wanted to sell his research to the highest bidder,” Devlin said. “Hughes escaped our first attempt to catch him, then reappeared with a new identity, but the local police have recently arrested him.”
Mark nodded.
“The new director, Ian Hall, appears to be trying to change CIRP’s reputation, but we have reason to believe there are some high-level secret projects taking place. Some have government clearance, others…we’d like to see stopped.”
“Interesting. Go on.”
“In conjunction with Ian Hall’s good faith publicity, a psychologist named Dr. Claire Kos recently began hosting a radio talk show in Savannah. You know Dr. Kos, don’t you?”
“Yes.” His heart pounded. An image of Claire Kos’s beautiful honey-blond hair floated through his mind like a summer breeze. God, he’d been so in love with her.
But she hadn’t even bothered to come to the airport to say goodbye. He’d waited like a fool until the last minute, hoping she’d show and accept his proposal.
Two weeks later, he’d received his engagement ring in the mail. Still, he’d hoped she would change her mind.
But six months had passed with no word, then six more. She had obviously moved on with her life. Not that he could blame her. After all, she must have decided she couldn’t handle the military life just as his own mother had.
He glanced down at the floor and in his mind, saw the bloody corpses of his fellow soldiers.
Better she had moved on.
She hadn’t understood his compulsion to do his job. To live up to the standards of his military father, a war hero in his own right. What would the colonel say if he could see his son today?
“You don’t suspect Claire of being involved in an unethical project?”
Devlin shrugged. “There is talk about research using hypnosis as well as mind-altering drugs that have been used before to brainwash people. By cozying up to Dr. Kos, we’re hoping you can explore that issue, among others.”
He stiffened. So that’s the reason they were assigning him to this mission. They wanted him to use Claire? “I can assure you Claire isn’t involved. She’s one of the most noble, dedicated doctors I’ve ever known.” Besides being the most beautiful and loving. But after all he’d seen in the past few years, he was too empty inside to have anything to offer a woman. And he couldn’t forgive Claire for not being there when he needed her most.
She