The helicopter rose above the late afternoon mist that clung tenaciously to the mountain. Derek snuck another peek at his watch. Would they be able to locate Jeroen in the overcast? They had been searching for nearly thirty minutes so far with no luck. If the young man had been to that hidden marae several times before, as the precept had suspected, then Jeroen likely knew a great many hiding places. But what had been that scream...

Alex seemed to believe Jeroen had died at the hands of... something. Was that truly a woman's face he had spotted in that fog when Alex was pulling him away? She insisted that they had to get away from there fast, when he had wanted to go after the other man. Yet he had to admit that he had had little energy to do so. Was his body slowing down? In other times he could have easily reached down into his internal reserves, but this time it had felt as if he had gone to the well one too many times.

"I think it's great that we can get back here so fast," Alex said to the police inspector. "And these helicopters must come in handy at times like this." Derek heard the tightness in her tone as she tried to sound better than she felt.

"You'd be amazed at the trouble tourists get themselves into," he replied before he gave her a grin. "If they're not getting lost, they're falling and needing medical attention. With the islands and the terrain, we had to have land and water rescue capability."

Derek stole a glance at the young woman beside him. Was it his imagination or did she appear paler? He had noticed her pull the doctor aside and she indicated something on her head. What it anything for him to worry about? His hand rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe he was worrying over nothing; the past two days had been long, tough days for both of them, but especially for her.

It would be very nice, he admitted to himself, if they could find the consulate worker sooner rather than later so that he would stop being bumped around in the copter. Alex looked as if she needed to rest as well, but he couldn't be certain of her safety until they found Jeroen or his body.

His gaze returned to the view of endless green trees and shrubbery before him. Once more he tried to recognize something... anything that he could point out to Insp. Williamson and get this damn roller coaster ride, and this headache, over with. Wait, could that be...?

"Waterfall," he heard over his headset as Alex pointed below. "Could that be the same one?"

He shrugged his shoulders, unsure. It seemed as if they had flown over this place before. The engine noise made it difficult to hold a conversation, and his weariness was growing. He tapped the police inspector on the shoulder and pointed down. "This might be it," he spoke loudly into the headset microphone.

The pilot flew lower, then hovered above the falls. "It does seem like there's disturbed ground to the north of it," the other man offered.

"Are those the marae temple stones we saw?" Alex leaned forward in her seat. "There were several of them in the dense underbrush where we were."

"Why don't we swing around and come in from the north?" Williamson ordered the pilot. "I'll work on getting the coordinates from the GPS so we can search the area later."

The helicopter banked left as the pilot started the turn. The beautiful blue waters of the bay glimmered beneath him, and Derek abruptly remembered the lunch he and Alex had shared on that deserted motu after they had gone snorkeling in such dazzling water. How many days ago had that been? It felt like a month...

"What's that?" The inspector's tone caught his attention and the Dutchman peered out the window. Below them, on the sand of a small beach, at the bottom of a cliff lay a figure. Arms and legs were twisted at impossible angles.

"I think we'd better go down and find out," Derek said as he briefly squeezed Alex's hand.

The helicopter landed a short time later, a hundred or so feet away from what was now clearly a body. The group struggled through the wet sand of the outgoing tide as the pilot stayed with the copter. Derek noted that Alex's hand quietly slipped into his as they drew closer to the body.

"Oh my God," she softly said, stopping a few feet away. She spun away from the sight, and Derek put his arm around her.

Was this form on the ground actually Jeroen? Derek couldn't be certain that it was the young Dutchman. His face... His blue eyes were wide in horror, at least what pieces of his eyes that remained. Large gashes and black and blue marks dominated his face, and his mouth was open in a final scream as he had tumbled off the mountain. Even his blond hair was a different color due to the mud and blood. His clothes were tattered, torn and bloody due to, Derek suspected, the jagged rocks as he fell to the beach below.

Inspector Williamson approached the body and squatted down beside it. Pulling out a handkerchief, he gingerly opened the young man's jacket and began to search through it.

"This is interesting..." the police officer said as he raised a small bottle. "I wonder what he was doing with this." He looked up at the two of them. "But I could make a good guess."

"What is it?" The precept nodded at the object.

"Ketamine. Funny that the bottle didn't break in the fall," Williamson muttered. He stared at the clear liquid inside. "It's one of the most popular drugs on the club scene when it's in a white-powder form. Special K is one of its street names." He pulled out a camera and took photos from different angles of the area, before he stopped and ran his hand through his hair.

"The dosage provides a variety of experiences. Too much of it, you can go down the K-hole. It's like a near-death experience in which your mind separates from your body. Too little, and it's like you're having a nice little LSD trip. You don't remember what happened, so naturally that makes it one of the top date-rape drugs." The inspector shook his head. "It's got the properties that if you do it too often, if you go down that K-hole once too often, your mind can totally separate. There's no way to fix it, no way to link up mind and body again."

Derek felt Alex stiffen in his arms as the inspector continued. "It's nasty stuff. I wonder why he had it on him. Unless he was planning to pour it into someone's drink."

The dark woman's brown eyes went wide, and Derek could see the growing horror in them. Did she suspect that Jeroen had used it on her? "Are you all right?" he asked as his arm tightened around her shoulder.

"I'm not sure," she whispered.

"Is she okay?" Williamson glanced at them for a moment before he went back to searching Jeroen's jacket.

"She spent an afternoon with this young man a few days ago," Derek told the officer. "If we're finished, I'd like to take her back to the hotel."

"You'll have to wait several minutes, I'm afraid. Regrettably, we're going to have to take the body back with us." Alex's head rose and the officer's voice softened as he waved the pilot to them. "I'm very sorry, but I can't take the chance of the tide taking him out. I just found this," he held up a syringe. "I think the young man had to have been up to other things. Did he inject the ketamine into his victims? Maybe you two interrupted him at something. Was he changing it from liquid into powder to sell? Or use himself. And look at his body. Did the gods have a hand in this?"

"The gods?" Alex raised her head and watched Insp. Williamson.

"These islands are filled with stories of the gods," he gave her a small grin. "My given name is Teimua, but they call me Tim. My great-grandfather used to tell me many stories of Oro, the god of war and peace, when I was a young boy. Because of him, I became very interested in the gods and my heritage." He looked down at Jeroen's body. "I'd be willing to bet that this could have been the handiwork of one of Oro's daughters -- Ai-Tupuai, the 'Head-Eater.' When I see something like this, I really wonder in the possibility that the gods were involved."

"There are more bodies up on the mountain," Alex said, barely audible.

Derek turned to her in surprise, and he noted her uneasiness. "Why do you say that?" Williamson stared hard at her. "Have you seen them?"

The young woman slowly nodded her head. "The young women wanted their revenge on Jeroen for their deaths, and I thought Derek..." Her eyes filled as she cleared her throat. "I have a... Gift. I can see or sense things in the past that..."

"...others cannot," the officer completed. The dark woman only nodded mutely.

"Why didn't I see them?" Derek asked quietly, spotting the pilot moving toward them. What was he carrying? A black body bag. Wanting to spare Alex, the precept led her away from the scene and back toward the helicopter. As he turned back for a brief moment, Derek saw them roll the dead man on top of the vinyl bag.

Her eyes gazed at him through half-opened lashes, her hands resting on his chest. "Because I hadn't found you yet, and I thought you were... dead." She lowered her voice further. "After I went searching for you, I came across several graves. I tripped over something and fell on..." She shivered slightly. "It was a body, and my hand fell on the piece of clothing that was exposed and..."

"And you had a vision."

Her fingers clenched into fists. "These women trusted him! He charmed them and then he brutally murdered them. And these women weren't the first he's killed! I could sense there were others, not just here in these islands."

"I think we should only tell the police that we're concerned that he might have done this in other countries where he was stationed. Let them look into it." Alex only nodded, then her eyes indicated something behind him.

"If you two are all set, I'd like to head back to have our ME take a look at the body," Tim said, as he zipped up the black bag.

"Of course," Derek replied. He put his arm around Alex's shoulder as they walked back to the helicopter behind the other two men.

"Mike is going to fly us back to police headquarters, and I'll have another officer take you back to the hotel," the police inspector said as they loaded the body onto the helicopter. "Besides, a calming boat ride might help you relax after all this." Derek and Alex exchanged looks as they boarded. Was she reminded as he was that it was during a boat ride to their Bora Bora hotel that they had met Mr. van Dissen?

Derek recalled having a vague feeling of unease when he had first meet Jeroen. The young man had acted so charming at that time that he had almost made his skin crawl. Unfortunately at the time, Jeroen had struck him as nothing more than the many toadies he had met in his capacity of chairman of the Luna Foundation. Jeroen had also flirted with Alex. Was he sizing up a potential victim?

Alex's hand again sought his, and Derek squeezed it in reassurance. What horrifying plans had the young man for her? Was she days away from being in one of those graves she had seen? She had told him that she had found other graves before she had found him. He had a dim recollection of having a vision as Jeroen was trying to strangle him. He was covered with dirt and mud�

He closed his eyes as another headache began. Damn, he was getting more than his fair share lately, it seemed. He would have to call Nick when they returned to the hotel, since the police wanted him and Alex to give their statements as to what happened. He had been pretty useless after...

After what? They had run into him, and Jeroen had been furious that they had discovered the marae. Derek remembered the young Dutchman threatening her, and she had fled from him. She had ended up falling into a deep hole. He was going to get her out, but...

Blood... There had been blood between his fingers and...

"Derek." He gazed into Alex's eyes. "We're at the police station."

They agreed to return the next morning to give their statements, and shortly after that they were on a speedboat returning to the Te Tiare Beach Resort. After being dropped off at the hotel's dock, they said little as they walked back to their room.

"Well, here we are," Alex's soft voice broke into his thoughts. Her fingers played with the buttons on her top.

"It will be all right," he said gently before he kissed her forehead.

They entered the room, and the precept glanced around in surprise. Housekeeping had cleaned the room, and had also placed fresh flowers and fresh fruit on several tables. He walked over to the bed and his fingers lightly touched the silken nightgown and pajamas that now lay on the covers.

"Wasn't that nice of them to refresh our room." His eyes fixed on Alex as she walked straight through the room out onto to patio. He followed her outside and noticed her tremble as she held up a beautiful flower to her nose. She turned abruptly and smiled at him for a moment before she turned away and twirled the lily in her fingers.

"Alex, tell me what's wrong. Talk to me."

"Would you mind if I talk about it?" She looked up at him. "I don't think there's a gap in my memory of that afternoon, but maybe if I tell you what happened..."

"All right," he said softly. "But why don't we sit down? Maybe have a nice, cold drink."

They settled on Diet Pepsi's and headed back outside. Derek took a deep breath and inhaled the exotic fragrances of the garden beyond their door. The sun was beginning to set, casting red and golden rays on the flowers before them. How could such ugliness intrude upon such a paradise?

"I can't help wondering if he did anything to me. I don't think he did; I don't think I have any lost time missing." She stole a look at him. "I never told you about my afternoon with him, did I."

"No," he said quietly. "But you were no different when we went to lunch the next day. At least..." He grinned slightly.

"Until I freaked." She stared at the dazzling lily before she turned her head and smiled tenderly at him. "Jeroen was not on my mind that day. Only you, both in the present and in the past."

"But wouldn't you have known or sensed that something happened? If it actually did?" Derek sat on one of the loungers.

"I... I don't know," she whispered. "I would think so, but..." She stood and walked over to another basket of flowers. Taking a steadying breath, she began.

"Jeroen took me to the Bora Bora Yacht Club for lunch. We had a drink there and some water along with our food, but I felt fine afterwards. He arranged for a Jeep, and we drove around the northern part of the island. I have no recollection of feeling dizzy or nauseous. We then hiked up to this beautiful church that's near the cliffs above Vairau Bay. Then we drove to Bloody Mary's for dinner, where I had two glasses of wine along with seafood." She gazed up at him with tears in her eyes. "I would have never believed that anything would have happened to me. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening, and he was very sweet and attentive. I even let him kiss me goodnight when he saw me back to my room."

"If you felt fine afterward, and you had no impression before this that anything happened," Derek gently said, taking her hand, "then I'd think there's a good chance that nothing did. Maybe he didn't do something until the second or third date with his victims."

"Hmm, maybe. But why..." Her question ended in a large yawn.

"When was the last time that you had a decent sleep?" She wanted to give him an answer, but all that came was another yawn.

"I thought so. Why don't you take a nap, and I'll wake you up in a couple of hours for dinner," he said as he led her back into the room. "I don't imagine that you got much sleep last night, so you take the bed and I'll make some phone calls."

"I don't think I could sleep," she said, clenching her hands.

"Why don't I take a nap too?" He looked into surprised eyes. "I could use one, and this way our faces won't fall into the soup."

"So you're only going to take a nap with me." Alex laughed as his eyebrow went up. "No, no, it's not that..." Her voice grew serious. "I think that's a great idea."

"Good, then in 2 or 3 hours we'll have a wonderful dinner," he said as he turned down the bed.

She tilted her head as if trying to decide if he was real. Derek chuckled softly as he looked at her. "You took care of me, now let me do something for you. Besides, it will do us both some good."

"Thank you, Derek." She kicked off her sandals and climbed into the bed.

"You're welcome. Now, slide on over," he said, settling in next to her. "Try not to worry too much about today, and just get some sleep," he said as his arm went protectively around her. "We can handle anything that comes along."

Alex nodded, her eyes bright, as she slowly lowered her head to his chest. A short time later, her breathing became soft and regular. Leaning his head against hers, he attempted to reflect on the day's events, but soon he too was overcome with sleep.

End part 34