Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Redemption for Avery (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Ryker Townsend FBI Profiler Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

reflected through the many shadows of bodies that stood around us. I searched the faces and recognized each one from the files I’d memorized.
    “We’re not alone,” I said to Lucinda.
    Little Avery pushed through the circle of the dead. Lily stood at her side, holding her hand. It moved me to see them both and a lump of abject sorrow wedged in my throat. When a tear trickled down my cheek, Avery reached out to wipe it away. Her tiny finger on my face touched something inside me that I would never forget.
    When the bulrush grasses whispered in the breeze off the mountains, the bodies broke apart into dust that carried on the wind. Avery and Lily were the last to go. In stunned silence, I watched them disappear. I must’ve collapsed onto the ground, because I found myself on my knees.
    “I felt something, Ryker.” Lucinda lowered her weapon and she choked on a sob. “Whatever that was, it was…beautiful.”
    I’d have to process what I’d heard and felt and saw in my dream. Clues were never easy to decipher and I’d been wrong before, but I was more certain than ever that Avery Reed would be the key to everything. She touched me for a reason and planted a seed in me.
    But most of all I wondered how I could miss someone I’d never met.
     
    ***
     
    Outside San Bernardino National Forest
    2:20 am
     
    The FBI agents had come to the trailhead at an odd hour and he’d tracked their movements. He followed the agents into the clearing, as far as he dared, but what he saw made no sense. With his binoculars, he watched them from a safe distance as they climbed into their Chevy Tahoe.
    “What do you suppose they were up to?” he whispered.
    When the SUV made the turn back to the Travelodge motel, he headed for his vehicle to follow, but not before he called out.
    “Sade, come.”
    The dog came running.
     
    ***
     
    Travelodge
    Big Bear Lake, California
    3:00 a.m.
     
    Lucinda should’ve been tired at this hour, but after the rush she’d experienced in the San Bernardino National Forest with Ryker, sleep would not come easy.
    His ability constantly surprised her—and scared the hell out of her—but tonight his gift had touched her in a profound way. She opened her mind to his vision, not enough to see what he saw, but enough to feel something physically. His gift gave her hope that a life beyond this world existed—and that human souls were palpable and real.
    But to look at him, no one would’ve imagined his gift had conjured such an extraordinary vision. For him it would be back to business as usual. Another man—someone with more ego—might’ve flaunted his gift or used it for personal gain, but not Ryker.
    Lucinda shook her head and smiled to herself, watching him park the Chevy Tahoe in the motel parking lot. She got out of the rental vehicle and walked with him toward his room. Her door was only two down.
    “I could get used to this mountain air,” she said, with gravel crunching under her boots. “It’s beautiful here.”
    “If Reynolds asks, tell her you didn’t notice much about our little slice of heaven.”
    “Good point.” She smiled at him and resisted the urge to hold his hand. “How hard was it to convince her we should stay another day or two?”
    “She gave me the usual litany of questions, but I made my request legit,” he said. “She authorized anything I’d need. I guess we’ll see if I’m right.”
    “I hope you don’t mind if I pray you’re wrong, but the families of any victims we may find, at least they can get closure. That’s something.”
    When Lucinda gazed at Ryker, her eyes trailed down his clothes. Normally he dressed well and the subtle cologne he wore teased her senses in a good way. But after their ordeal tonight, he looked enticingly rumpled, like a lazy Sunday morning in bed. Lucinda wanted to run her fingers through his tousled hair and kiss his full lips, but she wouldn’t risk a public display, not outside his motel room.
    His gift had brought them