By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Dale Mayer

Celebrated search-and-rescue worker Kali Jordon hides her psychic abilities by crediting her canine partner, Shiloh, with the miraculous recoveries made over the course of her career. The Sight Kali inherited from her grandmother allows her to unerringly track dark waves of energy back to victims of violence. She’s managed to keep her secret safe…until a maniacal killer challenges her to a game of extreme Hide ’n Go Seek that threatens the lives of those closest to her.

Pragmatic FBI Special Agent Grant Summers has sworn to protect her, but Grant’s own honed skill of sensing what’s beneath the surface goes haywire each time he’s around Kali and Shiloh. He’s certain there’s more to both of them than meets the eye.

As the killer cinches a tighter and tighter web around Kali, there’s no longer any place for them to hide. As she has so many times before, can Kali’s visions allow her to trace the latest victim’s whereabouts before it’s too late, or will this diabolical game of Hide-and-Seek cost her everything?

Kali Jordan along with her dog Shiloh have gained a reputation in the Search and Rescue (SAR) world. Part of that is Shiloh’s skills but the other part is unknown to the rest of the world. Kali’s grandmother called it sight, for Kali it was a bit different. She could sense where to look, but it was Shiloh who could tell if the person was living or dead. At least that’s what Kali thought.

The book opens with a disaster site in Mexico, where Kali and several others are searching for survivors. They find one, but as they are trying to get the child out, another aftershock hits devastating the entire area and injuring Kali. We sort of meet the bad guy in the aftermath of this event. We as readers get to know his mindset but not who.

FBI agent Grant Summers is a fan of Kali’s. He and his brother had been very active with a SAR team in Maine until their paths took them elsewhere although they both keep up their certifications. He has admired Kali from afar ever since he attended a lecture given by her years ago. He’d been new to the energy signs at that time but there was a sense of rightness between them. It’s as he’s reading an article about her and Shiloh that Stefan calls him and tells him that he will see her soon, plus she has abilities and he should also ask to see her paintings.

For Kali things changed after Mexico with regard to her ‘gift’. Everything becomes more intense, and she’s seeing ribbons of energy and really can’t refer to it as intuition. She also does some painting, and sometimes it’s her ‘gift’ that controls the brush.

Once Kali has returned home, the killer decides to up his game and involve Kali in it by placing a letter on her doorstep. This escalates even more when another letter turns up at the center. With Grant involved as well they try to understand exactly what the letters mean, but Kali and Shiloh head out to Sacramento and a mudslide. There she sees the funky energy and with Shiloh’s help and a couple of witnesses she finds another victim, not of the slide but murder.

On her return home she finds Grant waiting for her along with someone she hasn’t met, Stefan Kronos.

This is a favorite scene.

Slamming a lid on her unruly libido, she met his gaze calmly. “We found several victims. I presume you’re talking about the last one that Shiloh found separate from the disaster site.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Can you tell me about that, please?”

Dan had probably told him. Then again, bad news always traveled fast, and anything linked to her name probably had been flagged. It took a few moments to explain. When she fell silent, he studied her for several long seconds. Kali stared back, refusing to let this man unnerve her. Still, he was an imposing figure, causing her belly to quiver uncertainly.

“They’ve identified him.”

“Oh, good.” Exasperation crept into her voice. “Does that mean I can go to bed now?”

“He was one of the survivors from the apartment complex. And he’d been buried alive.”

“Oh no!” Kali’s stomach heaved and she closed her eyes briefly. “That tank. Christ. I saw a tank tagged as evidence when they loaded it into the van I didn’t understand the implication.” Kali’s shoulders sagged, defeated by such a horror. “Why? Why would somebody do that?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

“You?” She frowned. “Why you?”

“Because I wanted in on this one.” He shifted casually.

“You work in California?” Kali was really confused now. Why would the FBI in Oregon be concerned about a local murder from California? “I don’t understand.”

Leaning forward, he pinned her with a gimlet eye. “Can’t you see a potential connection between the letters and this murder?”

Kali grabbed the closest chair, sitting before she collapsed. As the realization set in, she slumped lower. Thoughts frantically rushed through her mind, only to circle around in endless loops of confusion. The letters… “No,” she whispered. “I mean it’s hard not to think of them. Still, I didn’t make the connection – it’s a different state.”

“Understandable.” He pulled out a small notebook and sat down opposite her. “So now… let’s focus.”

For the next half hour, Grant questioned her. Kali felt more like she was being interrogated. By the time he was done, she felt like a wet dishcloth hung out to dry.

Stefan never said a word. Quiet he might be – stoic he wasn’t. His gaze locked onto her with unnerving intensity. She struggled to ignore him.

“Good. I think that’s it. Except I need a list from you of every person you recognized in Sacramento. Dan has given me a list of everyone who went from the center.”

Kali struggled as the world she thought she knew shifted again. “You think it’s one of us? A rescuer?” Defeat tinged her voice.

“I think it bears reviewing. The person has to be in the know somehow. I’m going to be at the center for a week or so, posing as a visiting SAR member from Maine.” He stood up and stretched.

The golf shirt pulled across his massive chest, showing every muscle. Then there were the tight-ass pants. Why was it Grant made her throat constrict and the nerves in her stomach dance? The consultant, Stefan, was better looking, with some indefinable charisma she’d never seen before.

But it was Grant that interested her.

It was Grant’s energy that surged toward her whenever they were close together.

It was Grant’s energy that made hers brighten.

Forcing her gaze back up to his face, she swallowed a couple of times before trusting her voice. “Are you experienced enough in this field to answer the type of questions that come up?”

Grant dropped his arms to his side. “I volunteered with my brother for years. He works out of a center in Maine. Both training and rescue work.”

“Then maybe we could use you regardless of the real reason. We’re always short staffed.”

“Good to know. I’ll be around, if you get called out again, let me know where you’re going to be.” Pulling a card from his wallet, he dropped it on the table beside her.

Kali’s face froze. Was that the same as don’t leave town? “I can do that,” she whispered.

Something in her face caught his attention.

“Tough couple of days, huh?”

“Yeah, just a bit.” Intense weariness made it hard to get up.

Stefan spoke, smooth velvet that momentarily hid the punch of his question. “How’s the painting?”

She froze for the second time. “How do you know I paint?” she murmured, her heartbeat knocking so loudly against her rib bones, she was sure the men could hear.

“You just confirmed it.” His gaze locked onto hers. So intense she couldn’t break away. It was as if he were trying to see inside her mind. She blinked… and he broke the connection. She’d been released only because he let her go. She exhaled slowly, a fine tremor wracking her spine. It should have scared her. He should have terrified her. Instead, she understood. She didn’t know if she’d passed or failed whatever test he’d administered, but she knew he’d been assessing her.

Beyond strange.

She gathered her strength and stood, stumbled slightly, catching herself on the side of the table.

Grant reached out to steady her.

Energy zinged her.

She jerked back reflexively. He frowned. She bit her bottom lip.

His hand stayed in the air before dropping to his side. He studied her quietly.

Heat flamed her cheeks. Bravely she met his gaze. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it looked; you startled me.”

With a curt nod, he accepted her excuse and turned to walk away, a slight clip to his step.

Stefan stayed behind. She glanced at him, expecting anything but what she saw – compassion. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He handed her a business card. “Here’s my card. You’re going to want to call me.”

Kali watched the two men drive away. She’d handled that badly. She hadn’t been able to stop herself bolting from Grant’s touch and the freakin’ scary need to touch him. She couldn’t explain it anymore than she could explain the need to feast her eyes on him. Attraction was one thing. This was something else yet again. She didn’t want to care about anyone. Not anymore. It hurt. And she’d had enough hurt lately.

The trouble was her hormones weren’t listening.

She glanced down at the card in her hand. Stefan Kronos. Consultant. Psychic Investigator.

What the hell?
Dale Mayer. Psychic Visions Books 1–3 (Kindle Locations 5416-5469). Dale Mayer.

As Kali realizes the connection to the her painting, she becomes even more concerned she’d be considered a suspect. Her visions are ramping up too and with Stefan’s help she is discovering ways to get more information from them.

Her connection to Grant also intensifies going from a simmer to sizzle over the course of the investigation.

A page-turning read, with intrigue, suspense and surprises.

5 Contented Purrs for Dale!

Dale Mayer

Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).

She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.