Hide'n Go Seek by Dale Mayer Read Free Book Online Page A

weird sense of connectedness with him. Her mind tripped over the questions about the letter writer, all without answers. Hours passed while she lay, covers up to her chest and a cup of chamomile tea sitting forgotten on the night table beside her.

    A stranger could know of her. She wasn't proud or boastful, but she knew her name had been bandied about by those in the industry. A private person in many ways, she attended conferences, spoke at charity events, and had written various reports submitted to SAR organizations all over the world. The trust fund set up after her parents' death, while not huge, provided sufficiently for her modest lifestyle and allowed the money from her appearances to go to Second Chance. She worked as hard as anyone to keep the center running.

    Though she wasn’t famous, she was known. She sighed. Her headache slowly returned. Grant could be right. This was personal.

    Her gut quivering, Kali threw off her covers, turned on a lamp and retrieved a notebook and pen from her dresser. Scrambling back under her duvet, she turned to a clean page and titled it Competitors . Enemy was too strong a word.

    Throwing her mind back ten years, she skipped from disaster to disaster to the odd conference, press release, and training sessions. She wrote a list of every person who'd been mean, cutting or jealous of her. Those who had been openly antagonistic received an asterisk beside their names.

    Then on a clean page she repeated the process, this time listing every person she thought was incompetent or dangerous on the scene and those she'd been forced to file complaints against.

    Both lists ended up surprisingly short. She frowned and highlighted the couple of names that might be worth checking further. Several she hadn't seen in years, and still others that had left the industry.

    Completing that task was like pulling a plug in her mind. She yawned, her eyes drifting closed as sleep overtook her.

    Caught in a dream state, Kali walked across the remains of a cement city where buildings lay crumpled like tissue, steel and glass littering the surface. Agonized screams for help from people buried alive, waiting for rescuers who would never come echoed in her head. Her arms wrapped tightly around her chest, she scanned the devastation. It was too much. She couldn't help them all. Even as she stood there, the earth grumbled, sending her into an abyss opening beneath her feet. Twisted metal caught on her legs, stones tumbled on her head. She panicked as she tried to get free of the collapsing rubble. Terror clamped her heart and squeezed. She flailed her arms and struggled harder. She cried out her terror.

    And woke up.

    Kali jerked upright, fighting against the endless darkness to find her blankets on the floor and the sheets tangled tightly around her legs. Her heart slammed against her ribs. A light film of sweat coated her skin. She shuddered. Her chest rose and fell as her breath gasped out into the empty room. The cool night air wafted over her already clammy skin, raising goose bumps.

    "Oh God."

    Shiloh's warm furry head brushed her arm, a wet nose nudging her shoulder.

    "Hello, Sweetheart." Kali kicked the sheets to the bottom of the bed and swung her legs out over the edge.. She needed a drink of water. Sleeping pills were not an option. She hated - hated - drugs of any kind.

    The warmth slowly filtered back into her body as she paced her room, trying to slow her racing pulse and catch her breath. Sleep was done for the night. It was three a.m. But it was morning somewhere in the world. She needed to take her mind off this mess. She needed her paints. She walked through to the second bedroom-turned-studio. A blank canvas awaited her on the easel.

    She donned her favorite smock over her pajamas and grabbed her mixing board. Shiloh took up her usual position at the doorway - beyond spatter range. Kali couldn't help reaching for black and dark purple. With the brush in hand, she felt her emotions