Page 10 of Yankee in the Wind

A smile spread on Reed’s face. “The steak was burned. You left it on the fire too long.”

“At the last BBQ, right?” Jack said. There was a kernel of truth in the words Reed had spoken. At the Reed family BBQ Jack had been invited to just before he’d joined the CIA, there had been a little incident while Jack had manned the grill.

“I was supposed to watch that the flames weren’t going too high.” But he’d been distracted by a beautiful girl who’d arrived. He’d recognized her immediately, although he’d never met her before. Thomas had shared many pictures and stories while on deployment making Jack feel like he already knew her. “Your niece was there.”

“Niece?” It seemed as if he didn’t understand the word.

“Lilly,” Jack helped.

“Lilly. A beautiful flower. My garden… all the flowers are blooming.”

Jack swallowed down his disappointment. Reed wouldn’t be able to tell him anything useful. It was sad to see him like this. No wonder he was living in an assisted living facility now. He couldn’t live alone any longer. He needed full-time care.

Still, Jack had to give it one more try.

“Thomas is gone. Do you know where he went?”

Suddenly Reed turned his head toward Jack and locked eyes with him. “Thomas?” A tear rolled down one cheek. “They got him.”

“Who?”

“They always get them in the end. They’re everywhere.” Reed’s eyes shot to the door. “Even here. They’re here in my house… I should have known… He shouldn’t have come.”

“Thomas? Thomas shouldn’t have come?”

“She lied to me. It was her.”

“Who? Who lied to you?”

“I have to warn his friends. They’re coming for all of them.”

“Thomas’s friends? You have to warn Thomas’s friends?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Jack. I’m Thomas’s friend.”

Reed shook his head. “The government sent you. The government sent her. They tricked me. And Thomas paid for it. They found him because of me.”

He suddenly started rocking forward in his chair, visibly distraught. Jack reached for his hand and squeezed it.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Reed. I’m sorry that Thomas is gone.” Despite the incoherent things Reed was saying, his emotions were genuine, and they hinted at the truth: that Thomas was really dead.

“It’s my fault.” He reached for a photo that stood on the windowsill. “My fault.”

Jack looked at the photo. It had been taken on the day of the BBQ, almost seven years ago. The photo pictured Reed, his son Thomas, his niece Lilly, and another man whose name Jack couldn’t remember. The morning after that picture had been taken, Jack had received news to report to the CIA immediately. Henry Sheppard had made him an offer to join his top-secret Stargate program, but it had come with a condition: to leave his previous life behind and cut all ties with friends and family immediately.

Jack now focused his eyes on Lilly in the photo. She’d been the only thing he’d regretted leaving behind, because the night they’d spent in each other’s arms after the BBQ, had ignited a need in him that he’d never been able to satisfy. The need to make Lilly his. But all they’d had was one night.

He shook his head. He wasn’t one for daydreaming. He didn’t have that luxury.

“Mr. Reed, I—”

Jack didn’t finish the sentence. In fact, he didn’t even know what he’d wanted to say to Reed, because suddenly everything blurred around him. A scene played out in front of his eyes. He knew what it was: a premonition. He had the gift of foresight, just like his fellow Stargate agents. It was the very reason why he and the other precognitive agents were being hunted.

He recognized Lilly immediately. She hadn’t changed much in the seven years since their night together. If anything, she’d grown more beautiful. Her blond hair was the color of wheat. She wore it a little shorter now than seven years ago, but it still touched her shoulders, the soft curls framing her delicate face. Her lips were of a rich red, though he could tell that she wasn’t wearing a lipstick. Her eyes were still the same light grey accentuated by long lashes.

Lilly wore a white coat, the kind medical personnel wore. When he’d met her, she’d already been in her third year of residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Thomas had been so proud of her. Jack concentrated on the vision playing out in front of his inner eye. Lilly walked across a courtyard to a food truck. She ordered food and paid for it, then moved to the side and sat down on a bench, while waiting for her order to be prepared. Jack was able to read the name on the truck: Jose’s Enormes Tacos. At the truck, more medical personnel stood in line to place their orders. Meanwhile, Lilly’s cell phone rang, and she fished it out of her handbag and answered it.