Bel Air, California
Derek rolled over and slowly opened his eyes. Sunlight slashed across the floor
from the slanted shutters. He reached for his watch... seven. God... he didn't want to
get up. He wasn't ready for this. He should walk away, but he knew that if he walked
away from a case one time... he'd never again find the strength or courage to come
back... and none of them, Nick, Alex, nor Rachel were ready. They might never be. He
ran his hand through his hair and tried to recall the jumble of dreams that had filled his
night. He reached for the dreams, but they were mist... as so much else seemed to have
been of late.
< < + > >
Following her nose to the scent of frying bacon, Alex, still in her robe and
slippers, padded into the kitchen. "My! Aren't we a busy little bee," she chuckled.
"Keeping in practice as a short order cook?" Yawning, she pushed back her mass of
curly hair and headed for the coffee.
"It's my fall-back job," joked Nick, flipping first a pancake, then an omelet, and
finally turning a pan full of sizzling bacon and sausages. Quickly, he reached over to
pop some bread in the toaster. "Name your poison," he said as Rachel entered.
"I'll take a couple of pancakes and a sausage or two," Alex replied, slipping into
the breakfast nook's large wooden booth.
"What a night," said the doctor, smothering a yawn. "Kat called at three... same
nightmare. I'm going to have to get to the bottom of this dog thing when we get home."
"Maple or blueberry?" Nick asked.
"What?" Alex asked absently.
"Earth to Alex... syrup?" said Rachel as she pulled a coffee cup from the
cabinet. "Make mine maple."
"Oh... maple," the younger woman said. She paused, then continued hesitantly,
"I don't like this.... I've got a really bad feeling about this place.... Nothing but really
weird dreams last night... can't remember any though."
"God... tell me about it," said Nick, slipping a pitcher of brown syrup into the
microwave. "That's why I'm cooking... couldn't sleep. I'd already done my ten and
it wasn't even six. Besides, I'm going to be ready for Derek when he gets up. He's
going to eat something if I have to hold him down to do it."
"We've got to put a stop to this nonsense," said Rachel as she poured her
coffee. "Whatever he's planning on doing, we can't let him. We've got to stall, at least
until Sloan gets here."
"What about Sloan?" Derek asked from the kitchen door.
"Oh," said Nick, pouring another dollop of batter into the skillet while he tried
to think of something plausible. "He's coming to town to check on Amanda." He
hoped that Bethany had made her call so that he wouldn't be a complete liar. "What
can I do you for?" he asked. "Pancakes? Omelet? Got your favorite right here."
"Verdomme!" the precept swore under his breath. "I suppose I'm in for a share
of William's kind attentions. I wish he'd find another pet project." His mood turned
even sourer. "Toast," he added as an afterthought. He knew he had to eat something...
lightheadedness was setting in, but he couldn't face anything else.
"Don't you want something more with that, boss?" Nick asked. "When was the
last time you ate?"
"Coffee?" asked Rachel, holding up the pot. With a sly glance, she quickly
inspected her friend.... He looked like he had lost weight over night.
"Not this morning," replied Derek as he poured himself a small glass of juice
and ignored Nick's question. "Alex... what luck did you have last night?"
"According to Mrs. Lewis, Susan's mother, the baby was a little boy," the
researcher replied. "They had planned on naming him David, but lately they'd been
calling him Shaq after Shaquille O'Neal, the basketball player, because he was
basketball size and quite active. Mrs. Lewis said that Susan would sing to him or put
on classical music to calm him down.... He seemed to like Mozart."
"I see... thank you, Alex," Derek said, then drifted off into his own thoughts.
* * *
Although the others had tried to continue their conversation, their precept's
mood quickly hushed them to a whisper, then dampened it to an intense interest in
their breakfasts.
Derek finished quickly and pushed himself from the booth, which had seemed
far too cramped for his tastes. "I'm going for a walk," he declared. He glanced at his
watch. "We'll begin at ten."
Alex slid from her seat and grabbed for the precept's arm. "Derek," she said,
"don't do this.... It's insane."
Stiffening, Derek stopped to look down at the cafe-au-lait hand resting on his
sleeve. Slowly, he shifted his cold gaze to his friend's dark eyes.
Alex felt the ice and removed her hand. "Please," she said. "Wait."
"You'd better get dressed," he said in a flat voice as he turned to open the back
door.
Nick shook his head. "Dammit, us and our big mouths," he said once the door
had closed. "Now, he wants to get this done before Sloan shows up."
"Well, he's going to listen to somebody," said Rachel, pulling the door open to
follow.
* * *
"Derek!" she called as she trotted to catch him. "Derek!... Wait!" Rachel
grabbed the sleeve of his sweater and pulled him around to face her. "What's going on
with you? Don't shut us out," she begged.
"Nothing is going on," Derek replied, then turned away.
"I know better, and so do you," said the doctor, stepping in front of him. "I may
be a psychiatrist, but the initials behind my name are still 'M.D'. People don't pass out
for no reason... and you look like hell."
"Rachel... leave it," he ordered harshly.
"I will not... 'leave it'." Rachel countered. "Dammit, Derek! How can you be
so pig-headed? Just wait a few days... there's no rush. I have a friend who teaches
medicine at UCLA... let him check you in... just have some tests run... rest a while. No
one lives here... that baby ghost, or whatever it is, won't bother anyone. "
"It already has bothered someone, doctor," said Derek, looking directly down
into Rachel's worried eyes.
"Is all that garbage you spout about teamwork just so much bull when it
concerns the god-almighty Derek Rayne?" The doctor's anger flared, but the remaining
words died in her throat.
He was doing it to her again. How could this man, who only two nights before
had sat at her piano teaching Kat a Strauss melody, who had seemed so vulnerable in
his weakness, now exude such an intimidating aura of danger? When those hazel eyes
turned cold emerald... she cringed. Why? Dammit!... at her age, with her experience?
Her credentials were every bit as good, if not better, than Dr. Derek Rayne's. The
psychiatrist in her knew the how and why, but it didn't help that insecure little girl
buried deep inside. She cursed her own fragile ego and the fact that Derek Rayne was
the most "alpha" of alpha males she'd ever met.
"Have you forgotten Amanda?" he asked sharply, "...and what about the 'child'?
Doesn't it deserve our help? Does your Hippocratic oath limit your ministrations only
to the living?" He stepped past her, but hesitated. He realized that his tone had been
too harsh, a common occurrence of late. He turned back to face the doctor and said
more gently. "As for teamwork... I have a duty. I'm a Legacy precept, Rachel, and
must bear all the responsibilities that go with that position. That entity may have done
terrible things, but it's not a creature of darkness. It's an innocent... the most innocent
of innocents... one of those whom we're sworn to protect. It needs to be shown the
way to move on. Now, I just need to figure out how to do it." With that he turned and
walked away, leaving Rachel to stare at his back.
"Damn you, Derek Rayne," she murmured. "That title 'Legacy precept' is going
to kill you yet," she shouted.
< < + > >
"Testing one, two, three," Nick said into his microphone. "Can you hear me?"
he asked as he bent to adjust the dials on the various instruments. Infrared and heat
were within normal ranges.
"Gotcha," he heard Alex reply from her post in the guest house dining room. "Clean like the
others."
"Everything ready?" asked Derek as he pushed open the front door.
"Yeah," replied Nick. He straightened and pulled off his headphones. "Listen,
boss, why don't you wait? So what if Sloan's here? What difference does it make?"
"Let's get on with it," said the precept as he opened the double doors to the
living room.
"Then let me come in with you," the younger man insisted. "Alex can handle
this equipment... she'd be OK. Nothing's happened out here. You yourself said that
the living room is the center of activity."
With a sigh, Derek turned to face his security chief. "No," he said firmly. "We
can't be sure the phenomenon is that isolated... and I don't need the company."
"Dammit, Derek!" said Nick, grabbing the door. "Why are you being so pig-headed?"
"I think you and Rachel should put your heads together and come up with a
different choice of words.... It's getting a little repetitive... as is my answer.... It's my
job."
"You've asked me why often enough," the SEAL countered. "It's your turn to
answer me. What's going on with you?"
"I don't know, my friend," Derek responded quietly. "I only know that child
needs help, and I can't deal with all of you and it at the same time." Suddenly he pulled the door from Nick's hand and closed it behind him.
Nick heard the lock click. "Christ!" he swore as he gave the door a kick. When
he had opposed his father, he'd known to expect a belt across his back, a slap across
his face, or a tirade fit to diminish the toughest Marine sergeant to the level of the
rawest recruit. Challenging Derek Rayne was nothing like that... it was worse... no
battle... no argument... only pure frustration.
With Major Boyle you knew where you stood... you were a castle wall to be
battered, but with Derek... you were that holographic wall in the library... with the
flash of a retinal scan he was through. Nick sadly shook his head... Derek Rayne... the
man who walked through walls as though they didn't exist, because, for him, if he
chose not to acknowledge them... they truly did not exist... until his obstinate pride
crashed him head on into one of the brick variety.
"Dammit, guys," he said as he pulled on his headphones and adjusted the mic.
"He's locked us out... son-of-a-bitch!"
