The Dream Jumper's Pursuit Read online

  “My baby didn’t die.” She looked at him hard. “You are one nasty mother-fucker, but my baby didn’t die.”

  He smirked. “He will.” He set the knife down and grabbed a hammer. “Could you hammer your head so hard, you kill yourself?” He smiled. “Or what about these?” He picked up a vial of pills. “This would be a nice death.” He shook the vial. “I killed Hank, I killed myself, then your father, and now I’m going to kill you.” He spread the pills on the table and set a glass of water in front of her. “This is best, Ti. Just take the pills. Then we’ll be together.”

  “You didn’t kill my father. His heart gave out.”

  “Oh, and why did that happen? He was doing so well.”

  Noble’s gaze pierced her heart. She wouldn’t give him the reaction he wanted. Her father died of a heart attack. She had to believe that Noble had no connection to her father. “And I don’t believe you’ve always called the shots.”

  Noble looked over a little too quickly, his eyes revealing emotion.

  “I think this is exactly what Hank did to you. Drove you crazy with guilt until you killed yourself.”

  “You’re wrong. I wanted to join him.”

  Tina realized the lie and dove in for more information. “Oh, no you didn’t. Hank remained in your dreams, probably used this very table of weapons didn’t he? Then when you couldn’t handle it anymore, you blew your brains out.” She laughed. “You are the weak brother.”

  A twitch of his jaw muscle showed how disturbed he was by her comment. “I can kill your baby. I will kill your baby. See how you like that.”

  Tina tried to ignore his horrific words. He couldn’t kill Kai himself or he’d have tried before now. “Let me guess what’s going on. You are stuck here. And, by here, I mean my dreams or my subconscious. And you’re bored. You can’t move into the afterlife until your big brother lets you or something like that. Are you amusing yourself with this game, Noble? I have to admit, I was very shocked when Rose said your name. How were you able to get to Rose?” She hoped he’d take the bait.

  The look on his face told her that Noble couldn’t resist bragging. This was what she was waiting for. “You entered Rose’s dreams three times,” he said, “whether you knew it or not. I slipped in with you and stayed.” He made a motion with his hand like he was a magician. “You are a busy dreamer, Tina. It’s only a matter of time before you dream with someone else. Someone I can convince to kill the baby. It’ll take time, but I have nothing but time. Time means nothing to me now.”

  Noble didn’t realize that Jamey could enter these dreams too. He knew nothing about dream jumping. Only that he could communicate with her through dreams. She stared at him. “Why would you do that? The Noble I knew on Maui was a friend.” She hoped to buy time until Jamey arrived. “My Noble loved me. And I loved him because of his tender heart. That Noble would not try to kill me or my child, to take me from this new life. He’d be happy for me.”

  Noble grinned. “See what a great con artist I am? That Noble you knew never existed.”

  She knew better, even if that Noble was nowhere to be seen now.

  “Don’t think of it as trying to kill you, Sweetheart. Think of it as calling you home.” His vacant smile showed he was too far gone to hear what Tina was trying to say.

  “I don’t want to be with you, or Hank. I’ll fight you here, or in the afterlife.” She spoke loudly. Jamey had just appeared behind Noble. “And nothing will make me take my own life. I can’t imagine you’d think I would do such a thing.”

  “It’s not so hard.” He shrugged and stood, pushing the chair away from the table. “It’s a fine line between grieving and putting the gun to your head and pulling the trigger. Especially when there’s pressure every night to do the deed. Henry saw to that.”

  “Ah, so Hank did kill you.”

  “I killed myself, but Hank made life difficult enough to make that happen. And that’s what I intend to do to you now. Choose your method, Ti. Because you will kill yourself or I’m going to get someone else to kill your baby. I’ll eventually get in to someone else’s dream and convince them to murder your child. I know you don’t want that.” He swirled the silver knife in front of her face. “Do you want to get it over with quickly?” In one swift movement the knife was thrust into her chest, a look of amusement on his face.

  Tina doubled over in excruciating pain as Noble pulled the knife out from between her ribs.

  “Hello, Jamey. Glad you could join us to watch this. Or maybe even participate.” He thrust the bloody knife at Jamey, keeping him from going to Tina who was now on the floor feeling the effects of being stabbed.

  But then the pain disappeared and she straightened to see nothing of the knife wound in her chest. No blood. Nothing to suggest she’d just been stabbed. Noble hadn’t killed her. She felt fine. Standing, she watched Noble toy with Jamey. She lunged for the gun on the table as Jamey kicked Noble in the face with an impressive ninja move. Noble fell over backwards and Jamey dove on him, holding the hand with the knife against the floor. Lifting the shaking gun, she tried to aim at Noble, but didn’t want to risk hitting her husband.

  “Will him dead,” Jamey blurted between punches and blocks.

  She wished Noble dead, but it didn’t work. Noble continued to kick at Jamey, his arms held down. “Jamey, move so I can shoot him.” As she raised the gun, she felt a pull from behind and was gone. Her eyes opened and she was out of the dream and back in her hotel room.

  Shit. Her husband was still asleep in the bed. She had to get back in the dream quickly. One minute up top could be an hour down below. A lot could happen in an hour.

  Tina closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, concentrating on getting back to Jamey. But Kai called from the crib. That must’ve been what had pulled her out of the dream. Her son was awake. Going to him now might be deadly for Jamey. She had to ignore Kai and get back in the dream.

  Kai began to fret but Tina took a deep breath and blocked out the sounds of her needy baby. With everything she had, she concentrated on the dream and pushed herself through her consciousness and into her subconscious. A busy downtown street was in front of her, during what looked like a lunch hour crowd. “Jamey!” she yelled into the dream.

  Nothing.

  Closing her eyes, she imagined getting back to Jamey. It took root and fastened to her thoughts until she felt the pull. Landing for a second time, she was back in the dark room with the table of weapons. No people. Taking a quick inventory, she noticed the gun was missing. She could have been gone for long enough that the fight was over. The knife was gone too. The room was silent, like something terrible had happened and the room was recovering.

  Tina ran along the dark edges of the room, looking for a way out. “Jamey?” she called. “Where are you?” With the hammer in her hand, she ran, willing herself to find Jamey. The room was about the size of a basketball court. Finally she found a handle on what felt like a door. She turned the handle and opened the door, looking through the entrance. Inside was black, just like what she was leaving. She called into the darkness. “Jamey?”

  Nothing. Where the hell was he?

  She stood in the doorway until footsteps sounded behind her. Turning, Tina saw Jamey at the table of weapons with a knife in his hand. “Tina?”

  “Chocolate chip cookies are better with milk,” Her words wooshed out as she raced to him. “Kai was crying. I got sucked out. It took a full minute to get back.”

  Jamey was panting like he’d been in a fight. “I’ve been down here fighting him for a couple of hours. We’re playing some cat and mouse game and I’m not sure I’m the cat.”

  Just then, Tina heard their baby cry out and she had just enough time to grab Jamey’s hand before they were both pulled out. They woke in the Granada hotel room, Jamey still out of breath. She sat up and left the bed. Kai was ready to eat, and once she laid down with him, he latched on to her breast immediately. “What just happened in there? Is Noble still looking for you?” />
  “Probably,” Jamey said. “He followed me to different scenes. It was weird.”

  Tina listened intently.

  “I think you need to kill him, Darlin’. I cut off his head, stabbed him in the heart, and pushed him off a cliff, and he kept coming back.”

  Tina gulped. Was she ready for this?

  “We’ll go in again, once Kai is asleep, and I’ll help you. But you need to kill Noble.”

  If she could feel murderous anger for Rose, she supposed Noble had it coming twice over. “Okay.”

  They arrived in the dream together. The location resembled a movie sound stage--a long street amongst fake New York brownstones. Standing in the center of the street, Tina and Jamey looked around. No Noble. Not yet.

  They ventured out together to look around the area and a half hour later, still hadn’t found their prey. Or were they the prey?

  “Let’s pretend to split up, look for him. See if he shows up. I’ll be close,” Jamey whispered against her ear.

  She agreed. Noble was probably waiting for Jamey to leave the dream.

  Very convincingly, Jamey told her to take one side of the street, he’d take the other. “Yell if you see him, understand?”

  “I will,” she said, knowing this was the plan. Jamey never intended to check the opposite side of the street. He’d follow her.

  Tina ventured towards a park at the far end of the street. She opened the black wrought iron gate to enter the grounds, thinking about another dream where she and Noble had talked about how much he missed her in the afterlife. They’d walked in a park like this. That dream was months ago. Remembering his words that day, she continued along the familiar cobbled path, past gardens of blooming roses until she saw a small lake in the distance. A figure stood in the center of a white gazebo ahead. He faced the lake, not looking at her. Even from this distance, she still knew it was him. She walked closer.

  He turned and smiled to see her. “Hello, Ti.”

  “Here I am. You want me to come with you?”

  “It’s time.” He looked at her suspiciously. “Are you going to bring in that husband of yours to try to finish me off again?”

  Noble wore a suit and tie, like he’d been to a business meeting. She’d never seen him dressed like this before. “No. I’m here on my own.” She approached the gazebo and stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at a man she’d once loved as a friend. “Why are you doing this to me?” Tears welled in her eyes.

  He walked to the top of the small staircase. “It’s not to you, Ti. It’s for you. What you don’t know is what it’s like beyond. This life you have here is so small compared to what we’re going to. It’ll be like nothing you’ve ever imagined. Hank and I want you there with us. We miss you. I’ve been able to come and go but Hank can’t.” His expression was deceiving, and she had to remember that.

  “I want my life here,” she said. “I’m happy.”

  “You think you’re happy here. Just wait until you see what happiness is.”

  “You know how much I wanted a baby. Let me have that.” She took the stairs slowly, approaching Noble, knowing Jamey was somewhere close. “I love you guys, but I want this life first.” Would he believe her? “Why can’t you let me have that if time means nothing to you now?” She stood with Noble, only feet apart. “Why not, Noble?” If this man was determined to kill her child, she’d surrender. But first she wanted to try to reason with him. Then kill him.

  “We want you now. Jamey is a distraction. You need to come with us.” Noble’s expression was soft as he extended his hand for hers.

  She took his hand. It was surprisingly warm, but then, this was a dream. “Where are we going?” She tried to seem resigned to the next phase and hoped to God that she could do something to stop this.

  “You’ll see.” They descended the stairs and walked hand in hand towards the lake. “The water seems fitting, doesn’t it?” He nodded at her. “You have to drown. It took a while to figure that out, but when the table of weapons disappeared, I realized your suicide would have to be different.” He chuckled as they continued walking across the grass to a beach.

  “I’m scared.” That part was true.

  “I’m with you, Ti. Just trust me.”

  “I do.” She nodded.

  “Hank is waiting for you. Your brother is waiting too.” Noble looked pleased to reveal this tidbit.

  Kristoffer? How would Noble know about her twin unless Kristoffer actually did wait for her in the beyond? She shivered trying to hide how the words affected her.

  Noble continued talking as they walked to a small beach area. “Hank said your twin brother drowned and that’s how you need to go.” Noble’s expression was one of surrender.

  Tina’s heart raced as she thought of all the possibilities of how to get out of this. What if Noble was right? What if this was a way to shorten the inevitable, save Kai? She walked into the green lake with Noble’s hand locked in hers. “Will we go together?” Would he let go or hold her under? Where the hell was Jamey? He won’t let this happen.

  “Yes.” He smiled wistfully.

  The water hugged her chest, then her shoulders. If this plan of hers went south, she hoped Jamey would jump in to save her.

  “I’ll see you on the other side, Tina.”

  “See you there,” she answered, and they submerged, still holding hands.

  The lake was murky. Green. Tina was barely able to see Noble even though they were only two arm lengths apart. She kept her eyes open and held her breath as she knew she could. Having snuck four deep breaths before they submerged, she was ready to outlast Noble underwater. As they walked along the lake bottom in what felt like weighted bodies, she fought the panic that pulled at her heart. Noble had to go, that was true. And she couldn’t outfight him on land. This was the only way. Drowned him. Outlast him, then surface.

  They followed the steep drop off down to the next level and then she felt him stop. She could barely see his shadowy form in front of her, his long hair swirling in the water. She had to make it seem like it was over for her. The only way to do that was to go limp. When she did, he continued to grip her hand firmly. Relaxing all her muscles, she let herself float, eyes open, knowing he couldn’t see much in the murk.

  Tina knew she had time. She could hold her breath for a freaky amount of time, having a skin diver’s lungs. Did Noble know this? Then, thankfully, Noble’s hand released. She gave it another twenty seconds, then swam in circles looking for him her arms outstretched but he was gone. Her lungs felt like they would burst. She had to get to the air.

  His death seemed too easy but when she surfaced, gasping, Tina had a chilling thought. She looked around. No one. No bubbles on the surface. Nothing. He was dead. In his final moments, in this dream dimension, Noble had assumed she wanted to leave with him. She swam towards shore. Noble had trusted in his own ability to control her. That had been his downfall. His ego. And underestimating her.

  Tina swam to the beach where they’d entered the water, moments ago. Then something grabbed her foot and yanked her under. She didn’t have time for a breath before she was fully submerged again. Two hands moved up her leg to her clothes, pulling her down and suddenly she was face to face with Noble. Eyes open, a menacing grin on his face only two feet away. Was he already dead in this dimension?

  She needed air.

  He intended to keep her under but wouldn’t that be murder? If he murdered her, she wouldn’t be able to go with him, would she? Tina had no intention of testing that theory. Her knee made contact with Noble’s groin. Underwater, the action had less impact, but enough to cause him to loosen his grip on her. Tina brought her knee up and with her foot on Noble’s chest, gave one huge shove as she straightened her body and shot away from him. She’d given herself enough distance to be unreachable but had to hurry. Turning to the light, she headed up for a breath. He’d see her against the light and would follow her. He might need a breath too. A faster escape waited on the surface. Her swimming
abilities were way beyond Noble’s. They often joked that Noble and Hank couldn’t really swim well, even though they surfed and dove. She broke through, took a breath and started swimming towards land. Noble broke through behind her. He gasped. Good.

  She didn’t turn to look. Her college swim team training was put to use as she headed to a pile of rocks at the edge of the water. Should she keep going and hope he ran out of steam or get to the shore and start throwing rocks at him? What if she missed? She wasn’t a good aim. Neither sounded like a very good plan. She had to concentrate on what to do.

  Tina headed for a group of cattails just down the shore. Noble’s splashing behind her sounded close. Damn. Near the shore, she dove below to escape his line of vision and eventually came up behind a dense grouping of reeds where she surfaced for a breath. And a look.

  Noble swam towards her, head up crawl. Flailing. His excessive splashing indicated his fatigue. She submerged again to grab a rock she’d stepped on. Grabbing it with two hands, Tina moved away from shore a few feet and waited. Her feet made contact with the bottom and with the rock’s weight, she was able to stand amongst the cattail stalks. He’d disappeared. Where was he? Then she saw bubbles ten feet ahead, and Noble’s arms cut through the water to surface. She moved the rock behind her back, almost dropping it when she moved it to one hand.

  Noble dove underwater again and headed for her. When she felt him grab her shirt to pull her down, Tina had a moment of panic like this plan might not work after all. But she kicked him off and when his head broke though the surface for a gasping breath, she lifted the rock above the water line and swung it to hit his head just over his left ear. And again. His hands were on her throat, squeezing. Why didn’t he let go? She bashed his skull one more time before her vision took on a blackness around the edges.