Flash

Jeep.
    Metal screamed against metal. A shudder went through the Jeep. Jasper fought the instinct to swerve away from the Ford. There was no room left on the right-hand shoulder. Another foot and he would be airborne out over the rocky cove.
    The reality of what was happening slammed through him. The Ford really was trying to force the Jeep over the edge of the cliff. Jasper knew that he would the an unpleasant but probably very speedy death if he did not act quickly.
    The green Ford was alongside the Jeep now, preparing for another nudge.
    Jasper forced himself to think of the situation as a business problem. A matter of timing.
    His timing was really quite good when it came to some things.
    He slid into that distant, dispassionate state of mind that came over him whenever he concentrated on work. The world did not exactly go into slow motion, but it did appear in very sharp focus.
    The goal became crystal clear. He would not go over the side and down the cliff.
    The path to that goal was equally obvious. He had to go on the attack.
    He was intensely aware of the physical dimensions of the space around him. He gauged the distance to the upcoming curve and the speed of his own vehicle. He sensed the driver of the Ford had nerved himself for another strike.
    Jasper turned the wheel, aiming the Jeep's bumper at the Ford's side. There was a shudder and another grating shriek of metal-on-metal. Jasper edged closer.
    The Ford swerved to avoid the second impact. It went into the next curve in the wrong lane. The driver, apparently panicked by the thought of meeting an oncoming vehicle, overcorrected wildly.
    For an instant Jasper thought the Ford would go straight over the edge of the cliff. Somehow, it managed to cling to the road.
    Jasper slowed quickly and went cautiously into the turn. When he came out of it he caught a fleeting glimpse of the Ford. It was already several hundred feet ahead. As he watched, it disappeared around another curve.
    The driver of the Ford had obviously decided to abandon the assault on the Jeep. Jasper wondered if the other man, assuming it was a man, had lost his nerve or simply sobered up very quickly after the near-death experience on the curve.
    Drunken driving or maybe an incident of road rage, Jasper told himself. That was the only logical explanation.
    To entertain for even a moment the possibility that someone had deliberately tried to kill him would constitute a sure sign of incipient paranoia. Kirby would have a field day. Probably drag Jasper off to his psychology class for show-and-tell.
    Damn. He hadn't even gotten the license number.
    Jasper tried to summon up an image of the rear of the green car. He was very good with numbers.
    But when he replayed the discrete mental pictures he had of the Ford, he realized he did not remember seeing a license plate.
    A near accident. That was the only explanation.
    Don't go paranoid on me here, Sloan.

    He spent most of the warm, tropical night brooding on the veranda of his overpriced, amenity-free cottage. For a long time he sat in the wicker chair and watched the silver moonlight slide across the surface of the sea. He could not explain why the uneasiness within him increased with every passing hour.
    He had put the incident on the island road firmly in perspective. He knew that it was illogical to think for one moment that anyone here on Pelapili had any reason to try to murder him. No, it was not the brush with disaster that afternoon that was creating the disturbing sensation.
    But the restlessness would not be banished. He wondered if he was suffering from an overdose of papaya, sand, and margaritas. The problem with paradise was that it held no challenge.
    At two in the morning he realized that it was time to go back to Seattle.

2
    « ^ »
    T he following morning Jasper called his office from Pelapili's tiny, open-air flight lounge. The connection was scratchy, but he had no trouble hearing Al.
    "What the hell do you mean, you're on your way back to Seattle? You're supposed to stay there for a full month."
    "There's been a change of plans, Al." He was already feeling better, Jasper thought. Just the thought of getting back to the real world was doing wonders for him.
    "Look, we had a deal. You're supposed to stay out of the office for a full four weeks."
    "I don't have time to discuss this. The plane leaves in forty-five minutes. There's only one flight a day off this rock. If I miss it, I'll be trapped until tomorrow."
    "So much