Magnum Force Man. Amanda Stevens

then Dr. Lasher had been murdered, and that brief glimpse of the killer’s face had told Claudia everything she needed to know. If she stayed in Chicago, she would be next. The police couldn’t protect her. No one could.

      Leaving the city by cover of darkness, she’d driven north by northwest for no particular reason that she could explain. The strange compulsion had eventually led her to Rapid City where she’d rented her little hideaway in the woods and begun a whole new life.

      With her research days behind her, Claudia now made a modest living as a website designer, a career that perfectly suited someone who needed to fly underneath the radar. She called her business North by Northwest Designs, and even her most trusted clients were not privy to her real name.

      She’d taken other precautions as well, and up until tonight, she’d almost begun to believe that she was safe there.

      Now she wasn’t so sure. The stranger’s presence made her uneasy in a way she hadn’t been for a long, long time.

      There was something about him that just didn’t seem right. The way he’d appeared so suddenly in front of her car … that unnatural glow in his eyes …

      Her thoughts scattered as the high-pitched whistle of the kettle caused her to jump. Then she let out a shaky laugh as she hurried into the kitchen. Obviously, she needed her chamomile tea fix in the worst way.

      Carrying the steaming brew into the living room, she grabbed her laptop and settled in before the fire. Luckily, her battery was fully charged and she also had a spare. Since she had no intention of closing her eyes while a strange man was in her bed, she might as well get a little work done. Come morning, when the road had been cleared, she’d take him into town, drop him at the hospital or the police station and wash her hands of the whole nerve-wracking affair.

      As she scrolled through her stored images, searching for the right color combination for a collage header, she heard a sound from the bedroom. The incoherent mumble set Claudia’s blood tingling.

      Who was he talking to?

      Setting the laptop aside, she rose and grabbed the flashlight and pistol, then eased up to the door. Her gaze tracked the light beam from his form on the bed to every corner of the room. He was alone.

      Just to be on the safe side, she crossed to the window and checked the lock.

      The delirious rambling started up again, and as Claudia walked slowly toward the bed, she experienced an inexplicable feeling of familiarity. Not déjà vu exactly, but something close to it. Something that deepened the chill in her bones and caused her pulse to race. What on earth was going on here?

      She was just a little jittery, she told herself. And rightfully so. Having a stranger in the house was enough to unsettle anyone, but given her particular circumstances, she had every right to be on edge.

      And if her unease manifested itself in some peculiar sensations, well … that was probably to be expected. She was only human. A human with a terrifying past and a vivid imagination.

      Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Claudia inched up to the bed. The stranger’s eyes were shut, but she could see the rapid movement beneath the lids as he continued to mutter. She couldn’t make out anything he said, and after a few moments, she adjusted the cover and moved away.

      But at the door, she paused to glance back. A little shiver touched her spine, like the sweep of a moth, and she found herself glancing around the chilled room yet again. No one was there. She and the stranger were alone. And yet it was almost as if she could feel another presence, a quietly persistent manifestation that moved and faded with the shadows.

       Help him.

      “What?” Her gaze shot to the stranger but he hadn’t moved, and she was pretty sure he hadn’t spoken. No one had. And yet for a fleeting moment, the voice inside Claudia’s head was all too real.

       Help him.

      A crawling sense of dread tightened her throat. “Who are you?” she whispered.

       Help him. Please.

      Almost against her will, her gaze went back to the bed. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “You’re safe here.”

      The mumbling stopped. The voice inside her head faded, and the cabin in the aftermath was so hushed, Claudia could hear the soft expulsion of the stranger’s breath.

      Then his voice rose and she started. “Where are you? Where are you?” he asked desperately.

      Apprehension prickled the back of her neck. “I’m right here.”

      “Why can’t I see you?”

      “I’m right here,” she soothed, even though her heart pounded like a racehorse’s hooves against her chest. She swallowed. “Everything’s fine.”

      “She’s not there anymore,” he said in despair.

      “Who’s not?”

      “She’s gone. I can’t find her.” “Find who?”

      “… danger …”

      “Who’s in danger?”

      “The girl inside my head,” he murmured, and for the first time that night, Claudia had a feeling he was speaking directly to her.

       The girl inside my head.

      God help me, she thought as she backed away from the door. She really had brought a lunatic into her home.

      A lunatic with an uncanny ability of making her care.

       Chapter Five

      It took a long time and a lot of patience, but he finally managed to rip off the tape around his wrists with his teeth, then freed his ankles and sat up in bed. Traces of the dream still swirled inside his head, and he pressed his fingers to his temples to sharpen the focus.

      If he could just see those images a little more clearly, he might be able to make sense of them. He might actually be able to save her.

      Because the one thing that was deadly apparent to him was the encroaching danger. They were coming. He didn’t know when or how, but they were coming. And they would kill her unless he could find a way to stop them.

      The throbbing at his temples grew stronger, and he fell back against the pillow, wanting for a moment to draw the covers up over his head and disappear once again into his dreams.

      But the sound of her voice had lulled him from sleep and now he had plans to make, traps to set.

      Destiny was speeding toward him faster than a freight train, and he had no way to stop it. The only thing he could do was change it.

      But first he had to convince the woman she was in grave danger. And that he wasn’t crazy.

      For the latter, he really wished he had his clothes.

       Chapter Six

      Claudia stood at the window for the longest time. The storm had moved off to the east. The rain had dwindled to a drizzle and the lighting was a mere flicker on the horizon. Now that the thunder had faded, the night was almost unbearably still.

      In spite of the roaring fire, she felt a terrible chill. The cold was pervasive. It seeped in under the doors and around the window panes and settled over the room like a shroud.

      And with the cold came a dark dread. Was someone out there?

      Shuddering, she searched the darkness. Was she being watched at that very moment?

      She tried to shake off her growing anxiety, told herself she was letting her imagination and her current predicament get the better of her, but the longer she peered into the darkness, the more convinced