Watchtowers : Water Read online

  WATCHTOWERS

  Water

  By

  Lucynda Storey

  ADVANCED READER COPY: DISCLAIMER

  This Advance Reader Copy is the property of Lucynda Storey. The Advance Reader Copy may not be sold, rented, loaned, or copied.

  This is an uncorrected copy and may differ slightly from the final published novel, which will be available from Triskelion Publishing in September/October 2005

  This work is copyrighted as of 2005 by Lucynda Storey.

  Dedication

  To JR for encouraging me to follow my dream.

  To my family for putting up with the hours I spend at the keyboard.

  To Gail for helping refine my story and ideas.

  Prologue

  July 3033

  A movement caught her attention as she looked through her bedroom window at the increasingly rough waves. Picking up her research lens, she watched through the glass as a pale boat bobbled in the water. A couple worked together to anchor the small white yacht in the choppy inlet, lower a dinghy into the water, and begin the arduous process of rowing to the small dock. Keely’s lips turned downward in a frown. What did these people want?

  The Castle which her father built near the shore, several kilometers from Kilkee provided the rural quiet she needed for her research, but was close enough to town to keep her and her family from being isolated. These people were going out of their way to make physical contact.

  The man and woman pulled the craft onto the beach and dragged it out of the tide’s reach. Keely watched them until they disappeared from view, knowing they would reappear after they got through the abutment and up the steep stairs.

  If they got that far.

  As far as she knew her family had the only coded keys to the electronically operated door, just another device her father installed to protect their privacy nearly ten years ago. The entry had taken some finagling and a lot of cash crossed hands until he’d agreed to purchase the erosion control material for the entire length of beach the Castle property bordered. The “donation” won the family access to the trash-free sands via the abutment.

  A blessing and a curse. Keely didn’t deny she enjoyed the privilege of researching the dolphins from a deserted beach. It kept her close to home and the pod of Rossi’s she documented. She liked it that way,

  The purchase, though, gnawed at her conscience. The beach should have been open and available to all the people residing in the area. Her family’s money had earned the right to access the pollution free beach in relative privacy. Something only the wealthy of County Clare had the opportunity to do.

  Curiosity seized her. Her breath hitched in anticipation. No one in her memory had ever visited the Castle via the beach. She grabbed her yellow slicker and shoved her arms through the sleeves.

  Keely reached into her drawer and pulled the Sig Immobilizer from the nightstand. She’d been assured it was a good weapon based on the Internet research she did. The virtual salesman in Dublin readily answered all her questions and cut her a deal, too. The lightweight handle was cool in her palm. She flipped the safety off, set it to a mid-range stun, and placed the weapon in the pocket of her dark blue jumpsuit not bothering to seal the slicker.

  The couple headed toward the Castle didn’t look dangerous from this range, but distance deceived and she couldn’t make out their features, read their body language, or determine their intent. Better safe than sorry.

  She’d just meet them at the abutment door, get a feel for their motives, and send them back on their way to their small, expensive yacht.

  With quick steps she strolled out of the house. Once she was certain no one in the Castle could view her, she broke into an all-out run. The soft grass underfoot thinned and Keely crossed the scraggly tendrils to the weather beaten stairs. Her form fitting sand boots were quiet on the steps. At the bottom of the stairway, Keely’s boots helped her find a foothold in the pliable soil.

  She raced to the abutment door, made sure the lock was engaged, and waited. The dark haired man radiated physical strength with his bulging arms and broad chest. Strands of his companion’s long black hair whipped around her cheeks in the breeze. Both wore boots made for trekking through sand. Whoever they were, they were serious.

  “Stop right there.” Keely’s voice held a ring of challenge to it, the timbre surprising her. She took a deep breath and crossed her arms. “Why are you here?”

  The couple stopped their beach progress. The man scowled. The woman turned and whispered something to him. Keely watched his lips tighten into a hard line.

  His deep voice boomed. “We’re looking for Keely Shane.”

  She squinted through the clear abutment wall. Beyond the couple Keely saw the sea was a bit erratic, typical for the end of summer. The view paled in comparison to the dread churning in her stomach.

  “I’m Keely.” Her reply was cautious.

  “I’m Jade and this is Raiden. We were sent to look for you from the EPA.”

  “The EPA?” The words came out harsh as if she’d swallowed broken bits of glass. She hadn’t done anything worth sending representatives of the Earth Protection Agency to the Castle in such covert ways. She’d swear her throat and tongue bled from chewing the shards. “What does the EPA want?”

  Jade smiled at Keely. “We just want to talk.”

  Keely started to turn away. “I want you to leave.”

  The dark man sighed. “Look, we’re here because you’re one of the few who might be able to stop this guy.” He crossed his arms. “And we’re not leaving until you hear us out.”

  There was nothing the Earth Protection Agency could want with her. Her research was conducted privately, didn’t harm dolphins, and as she’d been told several times, was a waste of money.

  All of a sudden, the man’s word’s coalesced in her mind. A ball of fear formed in her stomach. Two forward strangers asking for aid were bad enough. What if this man they wanted stopped came looking for her and didn’t want her help? “What guy?”

  “An individual is working on controlling the water the way he manipulated the air.”

  “Even if I believed you, how do you think I could possibly help you?” She didn’t believe them, refused to believe them.

  “We know about you.”

  The man’s voice, low and menacing frightened her more.

  “Know about me… know what?” The razor edge of fear slid deep inside her lodging against her ribcage. Keely inhaled on a shuddering breath. With fear came the pain, the white-hot burning of a past she was afraid to remember.

  “We know about your mother, about what happened that day when you were three.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tears burned her eyelids and Keely blinked them back. She didn’t know who these people were or what they wanted but she couldn’t resurrect her past. Keely bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted the coppery flavor of blood.

  It was an accident, one she attempted repeatedly, with the aid of her psychiatrist, to wrest from her subconscious psyche. A horrible, terrible accident, nothing else, despite what this man implied.

  “We know what you did, what you’re capable of. We need you.”

  She couldn’t do this. It didn’t matter who they were or what they wanted. Her lack of control destroyed the dim memories she cherished of a happy home. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are coming here, digging around in my personal life, but I want you gone. Understand?”

  “Keely, please listen,” the woman pleaded.

  Bile rose in her throat and Keely swallowed the bitter liquid. She gulped air in through her mouth and staggered back. The pain was too sharp. Even after all these years, she couldn’t handle the fact she was the one responsible fo
r her mother’s accident.

  Chapter One

  Late August, 3033

  County Clare, Ireland

  Western Zone, United Europe

  Keely Shane stood atop the clear abutment protecting the fragile sandstone cliffs of Kilkee bay from the relentless pounding of the Atlantic, searching. The dolphin pod she sought wasn’t playing in their usual spot.

  For some time this Irish cliff, overlooking the pale sand, had been her place of refuge, when the loneliness of her life weighed heavy on her shoulders. Near the northern and southern ends, the abutment melded into the cliff, protecting it from erosion. Toward the center, the clear material bulged away from the rock face and allowed for access to the beach.

  She glanced back at the pseudo-castle her father built thirty years ago. The new brown and gray structure stood proud on a parcel of intense green land surrounded by oaks. The histories said the location once housed a restaurant, hotel, and movie theater. All those business and buildings were gone now; had been for centuries.

  The sea breeze lifted a strand of her dark red hair, drifting it across her cheek. The air had a cool tinge. Autumn would be upon them before long and the dolphins would retreat to warmer waters.

  Soon she would closet herself in her laboratory and transcribe her dolphin communication notes from the summer’s research. Her lab, in the section of the Castle her father called “dungeon” was far enough away from the rooms her mother was kept in.

  In the dungeon, Keely kept her work safe. Several years ago her mother, on a rampage through Keely’s office, destroyed three years of her primary research.

  Poor Mother. Despite all the wonderful progresses the world had made in eliminating disease, hunger, overpopulation, and pollution, science had not been able to prevent or erase her mother’s mental illness.

  An illness she was terrified she’d inherited.

  Perhaps, if her grandparents hadn’t rejected the voluntary DNA screening, now mandatory, they could have prevented the onslaught of her mother’s dementia. But they had.

  Frequent babblings about talking to dolphins had been her mother’s focus combined with a single-minded fascination with the Greek god Poseidon. When the illness struck her two decades ago, Keely’s father set aside rooms as a specialized apartment for his wife. He spent nearly all his time there. She rarely saw either of her parents and eventually learned to enjoy the solitude, finding companionship with the dolphins of the sea, the very creatures her mother claimed rescued her from her accident.

  Keely climbed down from the abutment and headed to the concealed door that led to the beach. Perhaps closer, she’d be able to spot the dolphins frolicking closer to the shore. She fingered her smooth magnetic key and opened the door to her own paradise.

  On the other side of the door, she took off her sandals, stuffed them into the pocket of her slicker, and dug her toes into the light sand. She relished the grains rolling beneath her feet and squeezing between her toes. Being barefoot, despite the occasional cooling waters that splashed onto the tops of her feet, on the beach gave her a sense of freedom from her ordinary life. Her happy sigh drifted on the air.

  The fierce wind on the beach whipped the sides of Keely’s bright yellow slicker toward her back with loud snaps. Cold air rushed against her exposed torso. Goosebumps raised on her arms. Quickly, she sealed the protective jacket shut.

  On the horizon, a storm brewed. She’d need to make her observations quickly and get back to the lab. Removing from her pocket the small, powerful telescope she carried in her jacket, Keely hung the strap around her neck, and peered through the lens across the blue ocean at the horizon, looking once more for the dolphins.

  Nothing.

  She swung her head to the south, still gazing through the lens and sighed. There would be no hands-on research today. She dropped the scope to dangle from her neck.

  Keely started off in the direction she’d just looked. Not far was a cove and inside the brown-gray cliffs a cave, the most treasured of her secret places. Often she’d escaped the castle to relax in a place totally her own. She’d shed a few tears there as well, most often over an intense loneliness. How many times had she wished the man who’d been her lover in countless daydreams would be her companion, understand her work, would be real? She shook her head. After years of counseling and the sentence of a lifetime of medication, she’d reluctantly let the image go.

  The surf roared into the cliffs and beaches with the power of the heavens and lashed white foam against the protective coating the World Government decreed placed on endangered sea coasts to prevent erosion. The cove though, not considered at risk, had an unprotected entrance to her grotto.

  Some days the water was placid, a gentle undulation of lulling waves. Today the waves struck with more force but not enough to worry her. She’d be back at her desk long before the coming tempest struck.

  Keely rounded a corner and gasped. Something lay on the pale beach in a lifeless lump. She picked up her scope and stared at the mass through the lens. “A person?”

  This stranger could need her assistance! She hurried her steps and then broke into a run, her feet pounding into the gritty sand. Once she arrived, she knelt and placed her forefinger against his neck feeling for life signs. He had a pulse.

  How do you know this is a “he”? She didn’t. With sure hands she turned the large body over and gazed into the most handsome face she’d ever seen. The man, she was positive of his sex now, was pallid beneath his heavily tanned skin. Wavy, collar length blond hair, shot through with gold, framed his sharp, angular face. He looked familiar.

  She placed her hand against his lips. The moist warm breath she expected didn’t touch her skin. She leaned closer trying to feel or hear anything to indicate he lived and breathed on his own.

  Years of living near the sea honed her water rescue skills. Pinching his nose, she covered his lips with hers. She breathed into his mouth. Her heartbeat quickened into a cadence she was unfamiliar with.

  Keely lifted her head from his lips and frowned. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was not supposed to engage her libido.

  Around her, the tide licked at her feet, touching the soles with each encroaching wave. The water advanced on the sand and reached cold, wet fingers further toward her and the unconscious man. The continual sound of the surf grew louder. The storm moved faster than she’d anticipated.

  She turned him onto his side and rapped him between the shoulder blades. “How’d you get here ol’ boy?”

  As if in response, the man coughed.

  “There you go,” she said, watching water spew out of his mouth.

  He coughed again and this time opened his eyes. No blue accurately described the color she saw there. When he finally focused and looked into her face, Keely was mesmerized.

  It wasn’t until a particularly strong, chilling wave struck that she was able to tear her gaze from his. “Here,” she managed to get out between gusts. “We need to get off you off this beach. Between your wet clothes and this wind you’ll catch pneumonia or something.” She glanced over her shoulder at the sky. “We’re in for a nasty one.”

  The man pushed up to his elbows and straightened out. Loose Egyptian cotton clung to his legs as though the trousers were a body suit meant to reveal the strong muscles beneath the material. A sprinkling of light hair curled on his defined chest marred by scar-like markings beneath his latissimus dorsi, just above his ribs. His feet were devoid of shoes.

  Adonis. It was the only name that came to mind. Adonis, the mythological god from the ancient Mediterranean history she’d studied so long ago. Here on this beach, though, antiquated annals didn’t apply.

  Another wave slapped her feet and splashed water, cold from the wind, up her calf. Keely shook her head. “Can you walk?”

  The man didn’t speak, just nodded his head.

  “Fine. There is a cave a few meters from here. We’ll shelter there until the storm subsides.” She slipped an arm behind his back and wrapped his other arm
around her neck and over her shoulder. A sense of familiarity stole over her, as if she’d held this man hundreds of times before.

  With deliberate steps, Keely brought the stranger to the dim cove and sat him on a worn rock ledge, his long legs dangling in the shallow tidal water. She slipped her sandals back on her feet. “Wait right here. I’m going further back to get you a thermal sheet.”

  “Thank you.”

  The dark timbre of his words flowed over her like the expensive, delicious hot fudge her father had given her five years ago for her twenty-sixth birthday. She grabbed a finger hold in the porous cavern wall and hoisted herself up to an outcropping. From within she seized the lightweight blanket she kept there for other outings, and then hurried back to the stranger.

  She handed him the covering and watched him wrap the blanket imperfectly around himself. “You’re welcome.”

  He stood in ankle deep water and peeled off his wet clothing.

  Keely swallowed back the lump in her throat that formed when she glimpsed the man’s strong calves, thighs, and...oh for Domnu’s sake!

  She needed to get hold of herself straight away. His erection was enough to set any woman’s thoughts to the most primitive of bedding activities. “Do I know you?” she managed to get out.

  He took two large steps toward her, dropping the thermal mantle.

  His physique was glorious. The strands of curled hair on his chest arrowed downward and enticed her to look lower. If anything, his erection was larger. Larger? How was that even possible standing naked in the chill?

  “Yes. I’m Zion. Don’t you remember me?”

  He stood so close she could see his pupils widen as he adjusted to the faint light of the cavern. He reached a hand toward her, an ancient gesture of peace.

  Intuitively, she extended her hand to accept his invitation. When they touched, Keely saw an arc of electricity leap from his hand to hers. She shook her head, strands of hair flicking across her cheeks, and tried to make sense of what she’d seen. “How did you do that?”