A Secret Fate Read Free Page B

other one, only to find a stick of spearmint gum and a magnolia leaf. “Hmmm … wonder what this is from … and where’s my wallet?” He patted his coat pocket but didn’t feel anything, not even his own holstered gun. Instantly his internal radar blasted red warning lights in his head. “Shit. No phone, no wallet. I always have my phone. You got a phone?”
    Finn looked at him and nodded. “Oh, yeah,” then checked his pocket, pulled out a slim cell phone, and stared at it as if he’d never seen it before.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Strange. This doesn’t look like my phone.”
    “It looks like a new model, not one I recognize. Let me have it.”
    “Who you gonna call?” Finn laughed.
    Cael smirked as the old “Ghost Buster” song came to his mind. “Not going there. I’m gonna call … um ….” He really didn’t know whom he should call. He hadn’t bothered to memorize any phone numbers since they were all in his phone, and besides, there were way too many to even try to remember them all. “My mom. I’ll call my mom.” That was a number he’d known since he was a kid.
    Finn gawked at him. “We’re stranded on a beautiful deserted piece of paradise and you’re going to call your mother?”
    “Yeah. Why? Who else should we call?”
    “How about some lovely piece of ass? Gimme, I got people, I’ll call somebody.” Finn snatched the phone from Cael and pushed a few buttons. Frowning, he held the phone to his ear and waited. He shook his head and glanced at the device. “No signal.”
    “Huh.” Cael sank down to sit in the powdery white sand with his knees up, arms resting over them. The guy, Finn, sat next to him, mimicking the position and they stared at the waves lapping softly in front of them, the gentle foam spilling over the beach. Cael looked across the deep blue lagoon at two towering peaks of sheer black rock, dominating the center of the island’s lush green tropical slopes. Hillsides blossoming with hibiscus flowed over the valley below. “Well, we certainly are overdressed for this place.”
    “That’s no lie. Where are we?”
    “I’m not sure. This beach seems so familiar, like I’ve been here before. I’m sure of it. I just can’t figure out when.” He hit his hand to his forehead as it dawned on him and he remembered his friend, Stefan, showing him pictures of this place. He and Stefan had argued about the pronunciation of the names of the volcanoes. It turned out Stefan had been correct as Cael now recalled the conversation. “Oh yeah, now I know. I’ve seen pictures of this lagoon online. I think it’s Bora Bora. See those two black peaks? They look just like the picture of the two extinct volcanoes. One is Mount Pahia and the other is Mount Otemanu.”
    “Well now, not only one of New York’s finest, but the perfect little informative tour guide.”
    Ignoring Finn’s dig, Cael nodded. “Yep, I bet that’s where we are.”
    “But how did we get here?” Finn asked.
    Cael gave his mysterious comrade a sideways glance and shrugged. “Beats me.” There was no way in hell he was going reveal the fact he teleported the two of them to this spot of paradise. Particularly not knowing more about his strange companion—a companion with a gun in his hand, that was only minutes ago cocked and most likely loaded. Granted, it wasn’t pointed directly at Cael, but the guy’s finger had been on the trigger. What had he been so ready to shoot?
    “Maybe we were shipwrecked and hit our heads on something and that’s why we can’t remember,” Finn suggested.
    Cael looked at their suits, a little soiled with spots of dirt here and there, but not wet.“Maybe, but highly unlikely since our clothes are still dry.”
    “Good point.”
    A puzzle. Cael rubbed his hand through his hair, positive he could have come up with some fabricated explanation to hide how he figured they’d ended up on this beach, had he actually remembered the real scenario. Given the circumstances