Deadline

Deadline

Chapter One

After dinner with the first couple, the girls went to their rooms while Sophie met the first lady in her private suite. Slender, with a head of thick brown hair, and sparkling brown eyes, the former journalist was as bubbly in private as she was in public. Sophie liked her immediately.

“I’m not sure where to start,” she said. “I’ve never done anything like this before. When I heard about your success, I just knew it was something I had to try. The nightmares are so real, I must admit, I’ve been terribly ill at ease.”

Sophie could feel the woman’s uneasiness. “There are numerous ways to communicate with those who have passed. Why don’t you tell me about your dreams first, then we can decide what is best for you.”

“All right. I’m sure you know the story behind my uncle’s assassination; the entire world still speculates on exactly what happened in Dallas that day. I was just a child, only eight years old, yet my memory of that day is very clear.”

Sophie listened intently.

“I remember my mother, she’d just returned from a trip, but I don’t recall where she’d been. She was crying so hard; I’d never seen her cry before. She was always such a strong woman. It scared me to see her like that. The house was instantly occupied with Secret Service, we were told we couldn’t do anything without one of them present.” She paused and removed a tissue from the box on the table to her side. “Of course, I was aware our family was in the public eye, but I wasn’t used to having strangers swarming all over our home. But this doesn’t matter. You didn’t come here to listen to my childhood memories. The dreams, the nightmares started about a year ago. In my dream, I am walking in a tunnel, and there are hundreds of people around me, pushing and shoving one another in their attempt to get to the end of the tunnel. There are two men, who seem to hover above the crowd. They have guns, and on their faces are these horribly wicked smiles. Then there is a very loud noise, and in my dream I know it’s a gunshot. I try to get away from all the people, but I’m frozen, my legs won’t move. Those evil men above me have some sort of invisible hold on me. I struggle, and still can’t move. Then I hear the same loud noise, the one I know is a gun being fired. I have to get out of that tunnel because I know if I don’t, someone will die. I continue to struggle, but I’m not going anywhere. Then there is this maniacal laughter followed by a vision, or a flash, I’m not sure what it is, of my uncle’s face. He’s is trying to tell me something of great importance. And then I wake up.”

Understanding, Sophie nodded.

From DEADLINE by Fern Michaels. Copyright © 2012 by MRK Productions. Fern Michaels is a Registered Trademark of First Draft, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by arrangement with Kensington Publishing Corp.