Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

armor, behind his survival instincts and his vast training.
    He wanted life—with her. With Rikki. He wanted to lie awake at night and feel her next to him. He wanted to hear her breathing while she slept. He wanted to know that she couldn’t tolerate anyone else in her bed—only him.
    He wanted to see her frown and the flash of her eyes, hear her breathing change right before he kissed her. They had a connection he didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter even though everything else in his life had to make sense. She didn’t. She just was. And that was enough and that was everything.
    He glanced up at the sky, watching until he spotted a hawk in the outer branches of a fir tree. He closed his eyes and summoned the predator, pushing it to take flight. Its talons dug into the branch for just a moment of resistance before the hawk spread its wings and glided into the air. The hawk began the search with a tight pattern, widening each circle as it took in a larger and larger radius.
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    Images poured into Lev’s brain, but none of them were of what he was searching for. He released the hawk with a small nod of thanks, knowing even before he came up on the spot where he knew the intruder had been that the man was already gone. He still moved carefully, wanting to preserve evidence. The watcher had been much lighter than Lev. The storm had left the soil damp and there were impressions everywhere. Crushed grass and sunken boot prints, but not too deep, indicating a lighter build. The man was tall, though, because the needles had been knocked off several branches of the tree he’d been standing under at about an inch or so below Lev’s height.
    He liked fire. As Lev examined the ground, he had no doubts in his mind that this was the man who had stalked Rikki since she was thirteen, starting the fires that had destroyed her loved ones. Tiny bits of grass were burned in small clumps, as if, while idle, the man had started tiny fires to amuse himself. How long had he been up there? There were four cigarette butts and seven places where the grass was burned. Fortunately the entire area was soaked so there was little chance that the fire would have gotten out of hand, but Lev could see the potential for disaster. Fire generally burned uphill, but that didn’t mean the stalker wasn’t contemplating a massive strike.
    Lev studied the house from this position. Rikki was in the habit of sitting on her kitchen porch each morning and having her coffee. There was a clear line of sight to the porch. The stalker could have been here observing her often, but Lev doubted it. There was no evidence that visits to this particular spot had occurred at any other time.
    He tracked the boot prints through the trees back to the road. The man had scouted along the ridge, but he hadn’t gone off the narrow deer trail. Lev didn’t have the feeling the stalker was experienced in the woods. He’d avoided deeper woods and didn’t try to go through heavier brush. He was no professional hit man. This wasn’t about a contract. But how could it be personal when the trouble had started when Rikki was only thirteen?
    Lev cast around for more signs, but as far as he could tell, whoever was watching her had only come this one time and had stood in the grove of trees above her house, watching long enough to smoke four cigarettes. Lev hadn’t caught the smell of smoke, but the wind had been blowing toward Blythe’s home.
    “Next time,” he whispered aloud. He knew with absolute certainty there would be a next time, but he’d be more prepared.
    Rikki had set up security around her immediate home. She’d installed an amazing widespread sprinkler and water system throughout her yard and the farm. But she had no surveillance on the property anywhere. He would 153

    have to change that. He found where the stalker had parked the truck—not a car—and took note that the back tire was worn. He should have sent the hawk toward the road first.
    “Next time,” he repeated, and searched for more signs, trying to get a good picture of the man responsible for several murders.
    He liked fire. There was no doubt in Lev’s mind the stalker had been playing with it while he waited—almost absently playing with it. Fire intrigued him. Maybe the man even needed the crackling bright flames like some addiction—or maybe in the same way Rikki needed water. Elements attracted one another. Could she have run across another element as a child and this was a