Shadows obscured the myriad, nebulous phantoms that Dani’s imagination conjured sliding underneath the water’s stygian surface while concealing her criminal activity. The choppy waves’ rhythmic slapping against the decking’s underbelly kept time with her quiet inhalations as the first frozen flakes of snow melted on her bare neck, sending an icy chill to spiral down and curl around each vertebra. Tendrils of naked fear snaked outward in a labyrinthine crawl to disrupt her previously steady hands as she once again prodded her conscience with the justification for borrowing this small skiff.

I have to warn Jake about the foreign bastards after his girl, Callie. Cursed with an extraordinary intelligence and a talent any government would kill to control, Callie deserved a chance at freedom, even if it entailed constant vigilance.

Trust in technology proved difficult considering the limitless electronic reach of the outsiders. Old-fashioned stealth was safer when many could demolish privacy with a few clicks at their keyboard. The group she intended to expose considered laws for the mass populace a bogus endeavor. She hadn’t spent years hiding in plain sight to act recklessly now when her own demons, guised in the form of a previous foster family, were equally desperate to reacquire her.

Tonight, stealth included significant risk.

Gloves, a shield against the cold and from leaving fingerprints behind, made it difficult to untangle the cleat hitch securing the small wooden boat bumping against the dock. Improperly secured, the rope wrapped each cleat horn twice in defiance of her need for a speedy departure. Using her flashlight now might hasten her departure but also might alert someone in the nearby home to her presence.

This legal infraction signified nothing in the grand scheme of things. If the foreign asshats tracking Callie came across Dani, her life would be forfeit in the time it took to pull the trigger. She’d bring the wooden craft back before midnight after delivering her message.

Taking the small dory from a private dock had seemed to make sense at the time, with no security personnel, no gates, and no discernable alarms. Now, as her heart raced wildly and the cold breeze swept away the perspiration dotting her brow, her sanity came into question.

With the release of the last knot came a frustrated sigh. If she was late to the rendezvous, Jake would leave and her warning would go undelivered. She’d risked much in the past month in her bid to free Callie, held prisoner in the bowels of a think tank due to her extraordinary mind. Though they’d never met, after learning of Callie’s unique psychic abilities, so similar to her own, the compulsion to see her free had overpowered rational thought.

If all had gone well three nights ago, Callie was now free of the Institution, yet the wardens who’d raised her would go to the ends of the earth to recapture the unique young woman. Still, she was unaware of the foreigners plotting her abduction.

Why isn’t Franklin answering his phone?

A hundred yards away, the house remained dark except for an outside security light, the inhabitants probably tucked in their warm beds, dreaming of snowball fights and sledding during their snow days. A life she’d enjoyed only in her imagination.

The sky’s cap was lower now than even an hour ago. Darker too. The cloud’s ever-increasing burden of frozen crystals would soon smother the world in a late-season, brief visit in spite of the temperature hovering above freezing.

Her muscles protested the stretch when she stood and rolled her neck and arms to relieve the spasm spanning her shoulder blades. The sooner she finished this dangerous task, the sooner she’d go back to her uneventful life, concealing her uniqueness behind a veterinary assistant’s quiet and humble facade.

After dropping the line, she stumbled over the rowlock when something nudged her thigh. Lips locked tight between her teeth muffled the scream threatening to broadcast her nefarious activities. Anyone near should feel the vibrations of her rampaging heart. To be caught before delivering her message would leave many lives at risk.

Precarious balance forced her to step down to the craft’s slippery seat, windmilling her arms in a bid to avoid the freezing water. Fate had never been her friend, and now conspired to thwart her best efforts. Losing the battle for equilibrium, she lurched forward, sliding on the slickened floor and striking her elbow on the quarter knee in an attempt to remain inside the boat. Her waist-length braid snagged on the oarlock, bringing tears to cool on her lashes. After several attempts and accumulating new bruises, she managed to slide onto the seat, her jeans instantly soaking up the moisture. Great. At least her small flashlight remained dry in her jacket’s zippered breast pocket. I’m not cut out for this crap.

The quiet chuffing of the golden retriever did nothing to settle her nerves in light of his subdued excitement. If he became more vocal and floodlights spotlighted her criminal undertaking, she’d make an excellent target with a watery grave already prepared. Oblivious to her desperate plight, the wide, doggy grin and weight shifting between his front feet broadcast his eagerness to join her for the late-night escapade. “Go home, boy. You shouldn’t be here. This is dangerous.”

Part of her unique talent insured that dogs, cats, and horses all loved her, which was great at work. Dr. Carari had hired her five minutes into her interview when one of the problem patients had scrambled onto Dani’s lap. The dog in question supposedly hated people, especially veterinarians.

The first leg of her journey entailed defying the river’s current surging in a roiling, angry tempest, threatening all but the strongest-willed to test their mettle. Her objective to hug the shoreline necessitated chancing undercut banks, overhanging sweepers, and sieve-like obstacles waiting beneath the smoother surface along the edge, and had made sense in her head. Reality declared her attempt at playing superhero foolish and a recipe for disaster. She’d purposefully chosen a meeting point upriver to use the current in her favor should unforeseen circumstances necessitate a quick escape.

“C’mon, boy, go home. This water is too cold for you to survive if anything goes wrong. I can’t risk it no matter how much I need someone to listen to my ramblings.”