Deep Beneath: A Psychic Vision Novel Read online

  “Come on, King. Come on, Queen,” she said. “Show me where it’s safe to walk.”

  With the dogs bounding ahead along a path she had yet to notice heading around behind the house, she followed.

  “You guys know more than I do, right? And you like me, right?” she said with a laugh.

  She walked past the house where the lab was and could see Samson busy writing. He looked up, startled to see her. She waved and kept on after the dogs.

  The island itself had to be at least twenty, maybe even forty, acres. It was really hard to tell because she hadn’t been to the farthest peak. Great big cliffs were on one side, but lots of green grassy slopes were on the other. She wondered about what kind of wildlife was here.

  Other islands were close by, as if they were linked together along this part of the sound, which made a lot of sense geologically. After all, these were just tips of land with the rest of the mountains deep underneath the water, yet connecting on the seabed to another peak and another peak.

  As she looked back at the house behind her, she realized how beautifully it nestled into the rocks and trees. She didn’t know the builder’s name, but his concept was that of organic architecture, emphasizing harmony between man and Mother Nature, so that the house and the other buildings on this island were meant to be in tune with their natural surroundings. She smiled at the thought. No wonder Samson and Jamie belonged on this island as they had so much respect for their surroundings.

  Turning her back on the house, she kept walking toward the point.

  She could see the dogs a good fifty feet ahead of her, waiting patiently for her to catch up. “I’m coming,” she called out.

  She headed straight for them and saw the waters all around her now. In the distance she saw another island, smaller than the one she was on, but, if it was anything like one of islands in the Ontario lakes, there could be thousands more islands, and so many of them were inhabited. Beautiful homes graced the larger ones, and small cabins popped up along all the little guys.

  She’d always wanted to be on the water.

  She studied the island ahead of her, wondering if it was big enough to do something like what Samson had done here. She’d like to have a private space like that, and yet, still be close enough so she wasn’t a hundred percent alone. Being alone sucked. She’d been so busy before that she hadn’t recognized how alone she was because Mark always called on her and her profs had always needed something.

  When she worked at and attended the university, all while working on her doctorate, there had just been no time to feel lonely. And, without much thought, she realized she hadn’t been fair to her ex-fiancé either. She wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d gotten himself a new girlfriend. That he would have done something to physically hurt her didn’t fit what she knew about him. But then, to steal from her didn’t fit the Mark she thought she knew either. Apparently money talked to Mark.

  Morose, she crept her way down the cliff edge to a couple well-worn spots, confirming that Samson and people before him had walked this path many times.

  One rock jutted out beautifully. She sat down, wrapped her arms around her knees, and, with the dogs on either side, she looked out at the sea, the breeze slamming into her, lifting her hair and pulling her back. It was wonderful and cleared the cobwebs from her head.

  The last couple days had been chaotic, stressful, filled with too much panic, too many instant decisions to make, not knowing if they were the right decisions, and yet, needing to make them anyway.

  As she sat, she felt cloud cover eek over the skies above her head. She tilted her head to look upward. “It was a gorgeous sunny morning,” she said. “Why do you have to ruin it now?”

  The cloud continued to shift toward her.

  She frowned. “I know you are natural, and I know nobody else is pushing you or making you do something you don’t want to do,” she said, “but it would be seriously nice if you would just take a hike in the opposite direction.”

  Of course it didn’t. It just moved closer.

  As she twisted to look behind her, she could see it wasn’t just one storm cloud. It was a bigger storm coming. She sighed. “I don’t remember all these storms in this area, King. You sure it’s normal, Queen?”

  But, of course, the dogs just listened to her. She glanced around at the sea, witnessing the choppy water, the waves with whitecaps picking up and getting bigger, and yet, the change happened so damn fast, it worried her.

  “Any chance somebody is doing something with the weather patterns?” she asked the universe.

  Behind her a hard voice came. “I’ve wondered that myself.”

  She twisted around to see Samson standing about ten feet behind her. “That storm came out of nowhere,” she said worriedly. “And the huge waves … Everything just happened so very fast.”

  He nodded. “I’ve been keeping track of the weather patterns over the last six months. The storms are coming faster. They’re not lasting any longer, but there are so many more of them.”

  “The weather patterns above can have just as much effect on the marine pattern below.” Her voice was hard. “I don’t know which would be easier to mess with.”

  “Either would be an ecosystem, not a playground,” Samson said. “But people don’t care. Especially people like Strauss. They have it in their heads that they’ll prove something, and they go out and cause all kinds of damage.”

  “There’s supposed to be a ton of checks and balances to stop people from doing things like this.” She hopped to her feet as she felt the first drops of rain. “Considering the speed of this storm, I’d like to get onto the flat land above before this becomes a slippery slope, and I can’t climb it.”

  Samson motioned toward a trail that led to the trees which she hadn’t seen before. “Take that one. I’ll come behind you.”

  With one last look at the quickly darkening sky, Whimsy raced into the trees, grateful Samson had come when he had. It was always hard to know what to do when a storm hit, but, since her kayaking expedition, she was much more aware and very leery of the weather.

  Under the trees she could feel the thunder and see lightning crack around her. Also unusual. “It’s so strange,” she muttered to Samson when he arrived next to her.

  “I know,” he said. “There have been all kinds of people trying to change weather patterns the world over, to bring rain into the areas of drought and to lessen the heavy sun for the areas that have been parched dry.”

  “What are we in,” she asked, “a weird lab?”

  “We could be in a testing phase,” he said.

  Just then as she watched, a huge flash of electricity came from the other side of the island. She gasped. “Wow, that lightning is close.”

  “Too close,” Samson said. “Follow me.”

  He led her through the trees to the other side of the island. It took them a good forty minutes to get there, and, by the time they arrived, she was out of breath. “No wonder you’re so fit,” she murmured.

  He looked at her in concern as if he’d just remembered she was still recovering from her drowning and two gunshot wounds. “I’m sorry. I forgot,” he said.

  “No, don’t be. I don’t understand what’s going on here, but we do need to find out.” She shook her head and slowly rotated her neck and shoulder only to have her shoulder protest. She cried out softly, her hand going to the wound. “Dammit, I just tried to stretch a little.”

  “Sorry, it’s going to take more than a few days to fully heal,” he said, studying her shoulder. It’s not like he could see anything deeper though, as her sweater covered everything.

  “I know,” she said, taking deep breaths to ease the pain. Finally the pain started to dissipate. She smiled. “Okay, it’s starting to go away. It was probably just stress.”

  He nodded and stepped out smartly again. At the edge of the cliff, he stopped, holding out an arm to stop her from coming forward. “Oh shit. That is a problem. A huge fucking problem.”

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nbsp; She stared in surprise as a large rig, what looked like an oil rig platform, sat in the small cove, barely discernible from the trees around it. If they hadn’t come to this spot, she wasn’t sure it was possible to see it. “How deep is it there?”

  “It’s very deep,” Samson said, shoving his hands in his pockets. But his tone of voice was ugly, dark. “And I have no clue what that is or what company is responsible for it being there.”

  As she watched, the storm around them blew harder. And then once again lightning crackled. Only this time it didn’t go down, it went up. She gasped as electricity shot up to the sky, met with a black cloud above, and another huge bolt of lightning surged from the cloud back down again into the platform and likely into the sea bed below. That would surely set up underwater waves—or vibrations … “What the hell are they doing?” she cried out.

  “I don’t know,” Samson said, “and I’m not sure anybody is down there. It looks like just a platform and a high voltage setup.”

  “Somebody’s got to be there.”

  “But look at the lightning that came down and hit it,” he said. “It’d be too dangerous for anybody to be stationed there.”

  “I wonder how far away they’d have to be?” She tried to scan the horizon. By now the rain had picked up, along with the wind, and it was impossible to see anything. “They’re deliberately bringing in the storm.”

  “And something is happening deep beneath.”

  He was crouched now, trying to see around the edges of the huge platform, but it was almost impossible. The platform rose above the waves, but obviously the stability, the actual base of it, was somehow secured down below because the platform itself wasn’t rocking with the waves.

  “But that lightning would then be hitting whatever section of the island is beneath us,” she said.

  He nodded. “Exactly. For all I know, deep caves are down there. Caves we can’t access without scuba diving gear. But this is my island, and they have no right to be here.”

  “What difference would caves make?” she asked in confusion.

  “This is old volcanic rock,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of years ago, all kinds of ecological fissures would be down there. And what difference does it make? I don’t know. Somebody could be attempting to cause an earthquake. Somebody could be attempting to shift plates. Somebody could be just trying to take weather readings. Or make weather to read. I don’t know. But I don’t like anything about it. That kind of damage will affect the fish and mammals and marine life for hundreds of miles.”

  “I wonder how long that platform’s been there,” she said.

  “I was in this section of the island about six weeks ago,” he said. “I didn’t see it then.”

  “Would you have seen the base of the platform, the structure that’s down below the surface, before that time?” she asked. “They could have floated in the top piece and secured it.”

  “It’d be good timing on their part,” he said. “I don’t like that as it means they’d have been watching me.”

  “Neither do I,” she said. “But it doesn’t change the fact that we’re looking at something not natural that is having some effect on this section of the sound.”

  “It’s also deliberately hidden,” he said. “Whether that’s for protection from the elements or conductivity, I don’t know.”

  “This isn’t one of those energy centers, is it?”

  “What do you mean, energy center?”

  “You know? Where other meridian lines wrap around the earth. Vortices.”

  He nodded grimly. “There is one of those around here, probably within a mile.”

  “That would explain why they’re doing this right here then,” she said slowly. “They’re trying to affect the energy of the place. I just don’t know why.”

  “And I don’t really give a shit why,” Samson said, “because they’re trespassing, and I don’t want anything to do with whatever that machine is.”

  *

  Samson led the way back to the house. He’d taken what few pictures he could with his phone, but the weather was not cooperating. He wasn’t even sure who to contact, but it needed to be a governmental agency, and it needed to be high up.

  When he got back to the house, he ushered Whimsy and the dogs inside where they could all dry off. He lit a fire in the fireplace to help take the moisture level down. Then he put on the teakettle. He stared out the window as he waited for the water to heat.

  He could feel the rage vibrating through him. He’d spent his life protecting the sound, looking after the animals, researching the migration patterns, keeping track of anomalies. And now somebody was out there pulling this shit.

  In his lab, he downloaded the video and the images he’d taken and sat there for a long moment, wondering who he could contact. Suddenly he knew somebody who had a much bigger reach than he did.

  He sent a message to Stefan and several cops he knew by email, this time explaining what he’d seen, what he’d heard, and attached the photos and the video. As soon as it was sent, Samson felt better. Stefan might know who they could contact, who would be out there to give them a hand.

  It wasn’t long after that his phone rang. He picked it up to see it was Stefan. “I see you got my email,” he snapped.

  “I did.” Stefan’s voice was serious, businesslike. “I sent it on to several men. One FBI agent I know well. He’s Dr. Maddy’s partner, Drew.”

  “Good. I sent them to several local cops here I trust too,” Samson said. “I need to know just what is happening here. Surely someone can tell us something.”

  “And that’s the problem,” Stefan said. “I think it has to be behind whatever is going on in that place. Do you think it’s part of the weather pattern? Do you think it’s part of that energy vortex going on in the waterspouts? Or has it got something to do with what Jamie and Whimsy picked up?”

  “All of it, I would say,” Samson said. “Something else I didn’t mention to her, and I don’t know if she noticed it, but lot of boats are collecting on the horizon. I’ve been checking out the satellite feeds since I came back to the island. It’s like whatever is going on is drawing people to this area. Pretty soon it’ll be very noticeable on a global scale.”

  “We have to stop that from happening,” Stefan said. “Drew will get in contact with the governments that are known to have programs, involved in this type of work. Did you happen to see any designation of nationality attached to the platform?”

  “No names, no symbols, nothing to say who was behind it, and that is definitely a concern. I highly doubt it’s American, but I can’t say for sure.”

  “I have other contacts I’m reaching out to as well,” Stefan said. “But Drew is spearheading locally.”

  With that, Stefan hung up, leaving Samson with a sense of purpose and understanding that finally something would be done. At the same time he knew he had to set up some sort of watch outside, to see what kind of visitors that platform might get. And that meant he would head back out.

  He walked into the kitchen where Whimsy was making tea. She smiled at him. “So did you sound the alarm?”

  “Somewhat,” he said. “The trouble is, nobody understands who and what it is, to get it fixed right away.”

  “Coast Guard coming to take a look?”

  “Probably,” Samson said. “One of Stefan’s friends, who is Dr. Maddy’s partner, is an FBI agent, so I’m pretty sure things will start happening fast.”

  “That’ll likely mean helicopters,” she said in a conversational tone. “What about Ned? Is he on his way?”

  Samson frowned at her. “Are you looking for more food or more clothes?”

  Whimsy chuckled. “Both. And a solution to whatever the hell is going on around here.” She motioned at the door where Jamie had disappeared. “Do you ever check on him?”

  Samson shrugged. “That appears to be something you’re spearheading. I’m not even sure I want to open that door.”

  She nodded quietly.


  With the tea poured, she sat back down by the hearth. “I owe you an apology. I’ve stepped into your life, or maybe I was thrown into your life, and have tossed it upside down. I didn’t mean to. I’ve gotten between you and Jamie. Although I think what I’m doing is the right thing to do, it doesn’t mean I have the right to do it. And for that I’m sorry.”

  “No,” he said. “I can see what you’re attempting to do is likely what’s been needed for a long time. I didn’t have any experience raising children, and I didn’t expect to be left looking after him. But my other brother and father have zero tolerance or patience, so I seem to be the best person in the family to do so.”

  “It’s boundaries,” she said. “Anyway, I just wanted to say that before all hell breaks loose.”

  “In what way do you think all hell will break loose?”

  She looked at her watch. “You’ve been in your lab for at least an hour. I suspect within two hours we’ll have a helicopter landing here.”

  He stared at her in surprise but thought about it. “You could be right. In that case, let’s get lunch.”

  “Do you ever think about anything but food?” she asked with a laugh.

  He nodded. “I think about lots of things other than food.” And he waggled his eyebrows at her.

  She chuckled. “Ha. At least you’re a normal male.”

  “Very normal,” he said. “It’ll be sandwiches again because I have those ingredients.” He grabbed the bread and cut thick slabs.

  Whimsy said, “Let me ask Jamie if he wants anything to eat.”

  “Or we could just let him sleep. I’ll make him a few sandwiches. When he wakes up, he can have them.”

  She hesitated.

  He watched her with interest. “Mothering is really a part of who you are, isn’t it?”

  “And yet, I never expected to have kids of my own,” she said with a smile. “In fact, after Marion died, I decided I would never have children. The pain of her loss was just too great.”

  “Losing anyone hurts,” he said. “It’s a fact of life. Grief eats away at us, and it’s hard to rebound.”