Free There Will Be Killing by John Hart Page B

the plate, took a load off Gregg. “And none of us wants to be responsible for contributing to any kind of mass hysteria. This is a natural breeding ground for fear. Fear breeds hysteria, and the problem with hysteria is that it’s infectious—especially where everyone’s afraid at some level, no matter how well they may hide it. Wouldn’t you agree, Dr. Kelly?”
    â€œCompletely. It’s like Colonel Kohn was just telling me, that once a ghost story like this gets started, it spreads like measles, and if it keeps spreading, you think this morning was busy? It will look like Disneyland lines out there. The Colonel said we needed to put the kibosh on any rumors and I couldn’t agree more.”
    â€œSo what are we supposed to say?” Hertz asked Gregg. “I mean, when other guys ask us about it, because they know we hear things.”
    â€œThe reason we are seeing more blow outs is that we have been here longer, and that means they have been out there longer and had more time and opportunity to lose it. And that’s what you tell anyone who asks, then go back to reading your Batman comics or change the subject. Okay? We don’t want to spread rumors or have people thinking the men in the field are seeing things that are not there.”
    Suddenly, Hertz and Bayer stood up so fast they nearly knocked over their chairs. They were both staring at the door maybe ten feet away, their mouths slack.
    â€œI don’t believe what I see,” whispered Bayer.
    â€œMe either,” echoed Hertz.
    Gregg turned. And just like that he was the one who must be hallucinating and delusional.
    Backlit from the open door stood a drop-dead gorgeous blonde that belonged in a wet dream wrapped in a centerfold and you’d still want to take her home to mom. A sky blue sundress showcased creamy bare shoulders, all the right curves, and a shapely pair of legs that were made for walking all over a man’s heart as she strapped them around his waist.
    â€œKate?” Gregg got up slowly because his own legs felt like rubber. And he felt a little dizzy, the way he always had, always would, with no more than a glimpse of, “ Kate!”

8

    Katherine Lynn Morningside knew she was beautiful and she knew what it meant. Her mother, who was also beautiful, had told her: It means honey that you can get what you want from them when you want it, at least while you have it; then, it’s gone. But being smart and being tough means you have a chance to get it for yourself and keep it. . . Be beautiful honey, and work it, but be my smart girl.
    And just how smart was she to be sitting on the patio of a scrumptious French restaurant on a beachside oasis half the globe away from where she once played a little “beach blanket bingo” with Gregg?
    How smart she was to have taken the bait that landed her here remained to be seen. As for working it, Gregg deserved better than all the little torture treatments she had so generously dished out on a deserted sand dune once in high school. She had felt safe enough to practice on him and poor Gregg, always the deep thinker, thought it meant more than it really did.
    Here, Gregg, put a little of this baby oil on my back? Oh yes, that’s nice. Uh huh, get under the strap, that’s good. Would you mind doing my legs, too? Hey, you must have had some practice at that. Now the other side. Mmm, that feels soo good. Want me to rub some on your chest? No? But why not? Come on, my turn. Just lay on your back and. . .Wow. That’s amazing. Can I look at it? Please? I mean, I’ve never seen one b e fore. . . .
    She still remembered the snap of his grip to her wrist, stopping her in mid-exploratory plunge beneath his swim trunks, the way he was almost gasping for air while he squeezed out a pitiful, “wait.” But like everything else, there was no stopping her once she knew what she wanted and she wanted to see what she could do to the boy