Dream Eyes (Dark Legacy #2)(74)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Judson nodded. “Sam will give you a good price for the equipment he takes.”

“I’m just glad that a few of Evelyn’s machines will be in the hands of people who will truly appreciate them. It means that her work won’t be lost.”

They drank the brandy in silence for a time. Max rumbled on, eyes closed.

“I wonder what Riley Duncan saw there at the end when he looked at Max,” Gwen said after a while.

Judson looked at the dozing cat. “His worst nightmare. Whatever it was, it must have been the final straw—so bad that he turned the gun on himself.”

“You know, I really can’t wait to leave Wilby.”

“I feel the same way about this town,” Judson said.

“It’s going to be a long night for me.” She stirred in the chair. “You might as well go to bed.”

“Not without you,” Judson said.

“I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to sleep much,” she warned.

“In that case, I won’t sleep, either.”

“It’s very kind of you to offer to keep me company, but there’s no need for both of us to sit here in the dark all night.”

He pulled her up out of the chair and down onto his lap. He cradled her close.

“Spending the night here in the dark together is exactly what we need to do,” he said. “And after tonight I want to spend tomorrow night with you and the night after that and the one after that and all the nights after that.”

Hope and longing whispered through her. “You’re talking about giving our partnership a chance to see where it goes?”

“I’m not talking about our partnership,” Judson said. “That’s a business arrangement. You and I are lovers, remember?”

“Yes,” she said. “Lovers. That works.”

Maybe not forever, but for a while.

Forty-four

Three days later, Gwen stood with Judson, Nick and Elias under a large beach umbrella. The shelter had been set up to block the intense sunlight that was grilling the small island. Max was not there. He was currently at Copper Beach where Willow Coppersmith was seeing to it that he got as much fresh salmon as he could eat.

Gwen watched several people use gleaming, high-tech mining equipment to haul the last of the rocks and rubble out of the collapsed cave entrance. All of the tools and machinery bore the Coppersmith logo. The same logo was inscribed on the safety helmets, goggles and uniforms worn by the crew.

Tendrils of energy whispered from the opening of the cave. They raised goose bumps on Gwen’s arms. She knew that all four of them felt the faint psi-breeze. At the entrance, the workers hastily moved back.

“Get enough hot energy trapped in a small space and anyone can feel it,” Elias said in low tones. “Even folks who aren’t sensitive.”

One of the men left the group of workers and approached Elias.

“I think there may have been some kind of gas trapped in there, boss,” he said. “Not sure what we’re dealing with here. Want me to send for some test equipment? I can get whatever we need from the Arizona office within a day.”

Elias looked at Judson. “Up to you. Are you okay with going ahead here or do you want to hold off until we see if we can figure out some way to lower the energy levels inside that cave?”

“We both know there’s no practical way to lower heavy psi,” Judson said. “But I think I can get past that. It’s the aurora fire that might be a problem. If that’s still burning, no one will be able to get inside. In that case, all we can do is close up the entrance again to make sure no one wanders into the cavern. I’ll go take a look.”

“I’ll go in with you,” Nick said. “I like hot spots. They give me a rush.”

“Wow, that comes as a shock,” Judson said. He started toward the entrance. “Let’s go.”

Alarm spiked through Gwen. “Hang on, here, maybe we should think about this a little more before you two go galloping off into that cave.”

But Judson and Nick were already heading toward the cave entrance. They pretended not to hear her.

“It’s okay,” Elias said quietly. “They won’t do anything real stupid. At least, I don’t think they’ll do anything stupid.”

“And if they do something stupid?” she asked.

Elias shrugged. “In that case, you and I will have to go in and drag their asses out of that damn cave.”

“Oh,” Gwen said. “Yes. That’s exactly what we’ll have to do.”

They watched Judson and Nick don some safety gear and disappear into the cavern.

“Well, they’re not rushing back out, so it looks like they didn’t run into anything they couldn’t handle,” Elias said.

Gwen surveyed the array of equipment and the crew of workers. She was no expert, but it seemed to her that there were a lot more people standing around than were required to do the job.

“You sure got this project set up in a hurry,” she said. “I’m impressed. This is one of those small islands with a huge government bureaucracy. Doesn’t it usually take days, weeks or even months to get the proper permits before you start doing major earth-moving work in a location like this?”

Elias snorted. “Not when you hire a lot of the locals, spend a lot of money in the local business establishments and pay off the right people all the way down the line. You’d be amazed how fast you can get a project like this going.”

“You’re good, Mr. Coppersmith. Very good.”

“I like to think so.” He paused. “But this project was downright easy.”

“And if it hadn’t gone smoothly, you’d have flown in with a small personal army of private security guards, heavy equipment and all the manpower required to open up that cave for Judson.”

“Well, sure,” Elias said.

“Whatever it took, because he’s your son and you knew he needed to get back inside.”

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.” Elias studied the cave entrance through his dark glasses. “I could tell from the way he talked on the phone that it was damn important for him to get back in there.”

“Yes,” she said. “It is.”

Elias rocked on his booted heels. “He’s looking a hell of a lot better now than he did when he first came back from this island.”

She remembered the hot energy that had burned in Judson’s aura the night she had met him for dinner in Seattle.