Free Beyond Fearless by REBECCA YORK

have made it all up because she wanted to be close to him.
    She lay in bed, holding on to a handful of the sheet as one more question circled round and round in her head.
    Why did some of it—the early years of his life—seem strangely familiar?

CHAPTER
NINE
    ZACH’S EYES BLINKED open, and he turned his head toward the window. It was very early, just after dawn. But a dream had awakened him.
    First he’d been in the Sugar Cane Club watching Anna do her act. Then he’d been up on stage with her. He’d started reaching into his pockets and putting things on the tray. Things from his life. He hadn’t even known what they were going to be. And as each one hit the tray, a memory zinged into his brain.
    Then Anna had begun picking them up. As she did, he felt her right along with him, watching his life unfold.
    So what was the dream trying to tell him? That Anna could pull his memories out of his head?
    Unable to deal with the direction his thoughts were taking, he showered and pulled on his clothes, then checked his e-mail for an answer to the message he’d sent to Terrance Sanford, explaining that he had found the wreck, but he couldn’t get back to it immediately.
    There was no reply. Maybe Sanford was going to cut him loose and hire someone else. Damn.
    He wanted to find out what exactly had happened on that yacht. It didn’t look like he’d get a chance until his crew arrived.
    But that wasn’t the main frustration eating at him. He needed to contact Anna.
    Needed? The urgency of the desire was startling. And alarming. Since his childhood, he hadn’t relied on anyone besides himself.
    So what was different about Anna? The question sent him back to the theory that she had powers beyond the ones she had demonstrated the night before in her act. She was a witch—and she had gotten her hooks into him. She had made him think he’d known her for years, that they hadn’t just met last night.
    Of course, there was a serious problem with that scenario. In the alley, the look on her face had said she was as confused as he.
    Did that mean some outside force was working on both of them?
    He laughed. Sure. Like maybe the Vadiana Blessed Ones? They were supposed to be powerful here, weren’t they? Maybe they wanted him and Anna together for some reason.
    He snorted. What was he thinking now—that in the Caribbean the old religions held sway? And the gods were playing with him and Anna?
    Angry with himself for letting his mind drift toward the supernatural, and too restless to stay around his hotel room, he walked to a nearby coffee shop for a latte and a cheese croissant. It was hard to sit still and sip the coffee; he wanted to start prowling through old town, looking for Anna’s hotel.
    He should have followed her last night. And he would have if Bertrand hadn’t been there.
    Jesus! What did that make him? A stalker?
    No!
    He just needed to think. And the best place for that was the water. Not on the Odysseus , which would be hard to handle on his own. Something smaller.
    After taking a final sip of coffee, he strode down to the docks, rented a motor launch, and cast off.
    As he steered the small boat into the wind, he felt the rush of pleasure he always got when he reached the open water. At the same time, his thoughts returned to the dream. To the details of his life that had come flooding back as Anna had picked up each possession.
    He’d acquired a lot of nautical know-how in college. And after graduation he’d gotten a chance to sign on to a treasure hunting expedition off Hispaniola. That was when he discovered his knack for diving in the right place.
    He was the one who had led the more experienced men to the wreck of the Santa Inez . They came up with a chest of Spanish doubloons and a boatload of museum-quality artifacts.
    Zach had gotten to be friends with James Foster, the man who financed the expedition. They struck up a business deal