Page 1 of The Lost Soldier
PROLOGUE
One year ago…
Having the ability to view a remote location from the comfort of one’s own family room had been a normal everyday occurrence in Savanah Raven’s life. She understood people thought she was a freak of nature.
Or a fake.
Or mentally disturbed.
Or worse, a combination of all of the above.
But never had another psychic thought her abilities were nothing more than common parlor tricks. Of course, her current boyfriend, Chad Pendleton, had managed to block his own psychic talents from himself, but she was hoping that by showing him her skills, he’d open himself up to a whole new world.
She closed her eyes, concentrating on a small coffee shop near Johns Hopkins University in an area called Charles Village. Chad had picked the location because neither one of them had ever been there. When Chad was in town, they’d go to a greatcoffee shop in Reservoir Hill, but this exercise was to prove to him she could view him remotely, not savor his favorite blend.
Her body shivered. If she couldn’t get him to accept who and what he was, and he rejected her remote viewing, then she knew she’d have to walk out the door, ending their love affair.
Ignoring the scorching pain the thought caused her heart, she stepped into the tunnel her mind created, letting her mind travel from her bedroom to the coffee shop. Her projected self-stepped onto the pavement just in front of Jasper’s Coffee House, and right behind Chad. How, she wished she could reach out and pinch his tight ass, hidden behind his loose-fitting jeans hanging low on his waist. His black T-shirt fell just over the edges of his pants, a dark belt barely peeking out under the cotton shirt.
She followed him into the restaurant, inhaling a combination of cinnamon, almonds, and bitter, dark coffee. Her senses were always just as sharp in a remote view as if she were actually there, except touch. She’d read of other viewers who could actually feel an object and even in some cases, take one back to their reality plane, but she’d never even came close. Each time she’d tried, it had made her violently ill.
Chad ordered an almond mocha. She laughed. He hated almonds, and even though the drink didn’t taste like almonds, it wasn’t something he’d ever order. Then he put cream and sugar in the liquid. He drank his coffee hot, bitter, and black. She figured he’d eat coffee grounds if that was the only form of caffeine available, and he’d like them. He also ordered a chocolate croissant. Again, not his normal pastry.
Sitting down at a table near the door, he snapped open a golf magazine.
She stifled a laugh. He’d never played the game, and the only sport he watched on television was football. A die-hard Ravens fan.
Every time he sipped his coffee, his forehead crinkled, and he pursed his lips. If he drank half a cup, it would be nothing short of a miracle. He scarfed down the pastry in four bites. He took a quick glance around before pulling out a pen and writing:
I hope this idea that you can see what others are doing is the only crazy thing about you. I also hope this proves you can’t. I will try to move past this because I really, really, really like you.
She desperately tried to channel him, using techniques she’d read in Riley Jacob’s book on Crossing Psychic Abilities. Of course, the theory the author put forward implied that in order to do that, the participants had to be blood relatives or have an incredibly strong bond. She and Chad had neither.
Except for she bought into the idea of the Collective Order, and she and her sisters were the female half. Other than Chad being adopted, there was no reason to believe that he was one of the quadruplets that had been separated at birth, destined to fall in love with her and her sisters, reinstating the order, and bringing powerful psychics together all over the globe.
And she really, really, really liked him.
She’d told him that right before he’d left for the coffee shop, saying the word really three times. She couldn’t say she loved him even if her heart swelled with an emotion she’d never felt before. It was as if they both used the word really in place of love because they were both guarded souls birthed from pain and betrayal.
Focusing on his hidden abilities, which was a unique blend of all possible skills, she tried to pull out his strongest, which was precognition.
Or was it viewing?
Both were hidden in a dark corner of his mind, cast aside in shame or fear, but she could tell his abilities were pushing hard against the defenses he’d built up around them.
He stiffened his spine before bolting to an upright position, lunging forward just as a toddler tumbled down the stairs, scooping the child up in his arms before he could land on his head.
Thank you!The mother yelled, taking her child and cradling the screaming baby.
Chad nodded, stepping aside and climbing the short flight of stairs to the street, stuffing his hands deep in his pockets.
She wrote everything she’d seen him do on a piece of paper and waited.
He had to believe her now.
I saw the kid out of the corner of my eye.
Chad Pendleton, a captain in the United States Navy, and a SEAL, had battled the idea he could sense, or see, things happening before they happened. As a small boy, bouncing from one foster family to the other, he hadn’t had the chance to develop relationships with anyone to discuss this phenomenon until seventh grade when he’d made the modified football team. One of the coaches took a liking to Chad, and when it came time for Chad to be moved to another home, forcing him to change schools once again, Coach Timothy Pendleton became a foster parent and took Chad in.
