Page 19 of Yankee in the Wind

“I’m probably making a huge mistake by telling you all this, but frankly, I’m sick of hiding what I am.”

His words struck her as odd, but she didn’t interrupt him.

“I’m a precognitive, a person who has visions about future events, premonitions.”

She froze. “No, that’s not possible. Psychics don’t exist. That’s just a scam.”

Jack moved his head from side to side. “Sometimes I wish it were, but today I’m glad that I am a precognitive, otherwise you’d be dead now.”

All breath rushed from her lungs. “Are you saying you saw what would happen today?”

He nodded. “I had a vision of the sniper shooting you in the head. I saw you die. I tried to call you to warn you, but all I got on your phone was static.”

“That was you? The call while I was waiting for the tacos?”

“Yes. I tried to tell you to run into the building, but you couldn’t hear me. I think the same person who ordered the hit on you also scrambled your phone, maybe even bugged it. I’m not sure why, but perhaps he knew that I would try to warn you and—”

“How? How would he know that you’d try to save me?”

“I’m not the only precognitive. Everybody who was in the Stargate program at the CIA had the gift of foresight. Including Henry Sheppard. And there might be others. A few months ago, I met one of my fellow agents who’d gone bad, turned to the dark side, and I must assume there are others who also chose the wrong side. For all we know, whoever is trying to kill the former Stargate agents, might be a precognitive and therefore get glimpses of whatever we’re planning.”

“Oh my God, how can you fight against an enemy like that?”

“By banding together, by finding all former Stargate agents, men like Thomas, and fight as one. We’re stronger together.”

“That’s why you’re here. You were looking for Thomas.”

“Yes. I spoke to your uncle to see if he knew anything.”

“But he’s got dementia. He can’t help you. He’s not right in his head anymore.” It made her sad, but she couldn’t ignore the truth.

“I saw that. But there were things he said that make me think that he knows something. He kept saying that it was his fault, that she tricked him. She lied to him. They sent her.”

“She? Who is she?”

“I don’t know yet. At first, I thought that Thomas may have faked his death. At least that’s what I thought when I saw that he was cremated. But after speaking to your uncle and seeing his grief, I believe Thomas is truly dead. Still, I have to make sure, in case he’s still out there, waiting for me to find him. And even if he’s really dead, how and where he was killed, could help us find who’s behind it all.”

“If you can look into the future, don’t you already know what will happen?”

“It doesn’t work like that. We’ve never been able to figure out how to direct the visions. That was what the Stargate program was trying to do: train us to be able to direct our visions into the future at will. Have you ever heard of remote viewing?”

Lilly nodded. “Yeah, I read about it a few years ago. Wasn’t that some secret spy program that didn’t work?”

“That’s right. The CIA ran the program in the early 90s, but the agents they recruited had no precognitive skills. Hence it failed. Henry Sheppard was already working for the CIA at the time, and he knew it would work, if only he could recruit agents who already had the gift of foresight. Just like he did. So he started the program up again, but not even the top bosses at the agency knew about it. I was part of that program.”

“So you can see into the future, but you can’t force it in a specific direction? Is that it?” She couldn’t believe that she was even asking this. It sounded unreal, yet Jack looked serious, and judging by the fact that he’d clearly known about the shooting in advance and rescued her, he spoke the truth.

“I’m afraid so. I believe it’s triggered by emotional responses. I had the vision about you dying when I was with your uncle and saw a photo that was taken at the BBQ seven years ago.”

Jack put a Band-aid on Lilly’s left knee. “There, that should do.” Then he rose from his crouching position and took a seat next to her, though he left some space between them so their bodies didn’t touch.

Lilly looked at him. His face had changed. He’d always been handsome, but this new face was different, even more intense than he’d been seven years ago. His eyes were still the same, still of a piercing blue, and his voice was just as irresistibly sexy as back then. How had she not immediately realized who he was? She should have recognized his body the moment he’d pushed her out of the line of fire and buried her beneath him. She’d felt safe, despite the initial shock, as if her body had recognized his, even though her mind hadn’t.

“Why did you have plastic surgery? Did you have an accident?”

“No. When Sheppard was murdered and we all had to disappear, I figured it was my best option not to be recognized by my enemies. In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t necessary, but what’s done is done. Nobody has recognized me in the past three years since I’ve been on the run. I was able to stay in Washington D.C. because of my new face.”

“You were here in D.C. the entire time?”