The 22nd Secret Page 23

  “Son of a bitch,” Jim had not fully realized the position Pam was in but he could understand the magnitude of what she had done.

  “Howard and I refused to allow her to continue with her plans to initiate this program in China if she insisted on letting it spread unchecked to the United States. Our advantage in high tech weapons would be lost. The Chinese and possibly the Russians would have superiority in non-computer-based weapons. Pam agreed to set up the program to only effect our nuclear missile systems, but no one really knows what’s going to happen, or for that matter, if she told us the entire truth.”

  “You know, I’m beginning to understand why you wanted to make sure I knew what it meant to be part of Pam’s life. She’s one special lady. When they figure out what she’s done, every government in the world will be hot after her. Her control over this technology would allow any country’s military to conquer the world.”

  “Jim, there’s one thing you’re going to have to keep to yourself. If in a few years we find out Pam was lying and didn’t stop her program at just our missiles, you’re going to have to convince her of the importance of allowing us to maintain superiority. She hates the military and as brilliant as she is sometimes gets a little idealistic. I think you know what I’m saying.”

  “I understand. What if I can’t get a hold of you?”

  “Howard and I will stay in touch and there’s always the President. If that happens, I’m sure he’ll be anxious to talk with you. There’s just one more thing you need to know about Pam.”

  “Oh well, what the hell. Go ahead and top that. There’s a 23rd secret, right?”

  “No, but this will probably affect your personal relationship with Pam more than any of the other things I’ve told you. Your military file said you rated very high on ESP tests.”

  “That shit? That’s late night physic network crap. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now.”

  “Believe it, Jim. Besides her intellect, Pam inherited astonishing powers of suggestion. Her abilities have been scientifically documented. You need to look at Pam as kind of an evolutionary prediction of what human beings will be like thousands of years from now. I have personally experienced what she can do and I believe you have also.”

  “What do you mean? I have?” Suddenly Jim’s mind began to search for the empty memories of Paula.

  “I don’t know this to be a fact, but my guess is she gave you a psychic suggestion that made you help her, and ultimately me and Henry, deliver her to the Chinese. Remember when I questioned you? You couldn’t tell me why you helped Paula. It never made any sense for someone like you to do something like that, unless Pam planted the suggestion in your mind. It was one of the first clues I had that Pam was still alive and here with you. Your story might have seemed perfectly logical to you, but it never made any sense to me.”

  Tom stood and began putting his coat on.

  “Do you want to see Pam now?”

  Jim smiled and looked hopefully toward the door.

  “Are you ready to take on the responsibility? She’ll no longer need me. The responsibility to protect her will be entirely yours if you say yes. Otherwise, I think it would be best for me and Pam to leave without you seeing her.”

  Jim stood up to meet Tom. “I’m ready. I can handle it. I want Pam and I’m ready to do whatever it takes to be with her.”

  For the first time since Pam’s 22nd birthday, Tom smiled, and then reached out to shake Jim’s hand. “Welcome to the team. Take good care of Pam. We all love her.” Jim followed Tom out of the door and waited on the porch as Tom walked through the snow to the plane. Bill and Jim exchanged waves when Tom reached the plane.

  “You got your business with Jim finished?” Bill asked. “You ready for me to take you back to Bear Breath?”

  “Not quite yet.” Tom walked around to the side of the plane where Pam was still looking out of the window. He opened the door, stuck his head in, and smiled as widely as Pam had ever seen him. Pam knew before he spoke that her dream was coming true.

  “Jim is waiting for you on the porch.”

  She turned to look at the lodge for the first time since the plane had landed. She saw Jim waiting for her. Tom laughed and helped her out of the plane. Her eagerness to get to Jim’s waiting arms was obvious to Bill and Tom, as they watched her run toward the stairs slipping twice as she frantically made her way through the snow. She almost fell up the stairs as she threw off her sunglasses. Jim caught her in his arms as she jumped at him from the top stair. She buried her face in his chest and they held each other as tight as they could without saying a word.

  “I’ll bet you a beer that’s Patty Lawrence,” Bill said. “What do you think they’re talking about up there?” They watched Pam and Jim release their hug and begin to talk holding each other at arm’s length.

  “I’ll bet you a steak dinner at the best restaurant in town Jim will propose marriage before we leave Pam here with him today.”

  “Oh, Jim, I’ve missed you so much,” Pam said, with her head buried in Jim’s strong chest. “I’ve missed you too.”

  Pam recoiled and looked at his grim face. It reminded her of the first time she had tried to read Jim at the crash site. “What’s wrong?”

  “Is it true?” Jim’s memory did not do justice to the beauty that filled his eyes. He desperately wanted to share Pam’s excitement at their reunion, but he still felt the pain of her sudden departure and the lonely year since she left. Until just an hour ago, he was resigned to never seeing her again. Now he was struggling with how to reconcile the person he once knew so intimately with the one standing before him.

  “Is what true?”

  “Everything that Walker told me.”

  “I don’t know what he told you, but I’m assuming he told you the truth. He told you about me and what really happened in China didn’t he?”

  “Are you really, like the smartest person in the world. Did you really disable everyone’s military computers?”

  “Ah yes, that would be me.” Pam was beaming with delight as she stared at Jim’s chest rubbing it with her hands remembering his firm body. “I really don’t like people thinking of me as a freak, but I suppose I could very well be the smartest person in the world.” She buried her face against his chest again. “I know this is all got to be a shock for you. Just believe one thing. I’ll always, always, forever love you. All I’ve dreamed about, all that kept me going when I was in China, is the hope that I could someday come back to you.”

  “Do you have special powers over people? Is that true?”

  “Yes, that’s true.” Pam could feel the torment inside of Jim. He so desperately wanted to break through what his mind told him he had to do about the hurt within him and what his heart wanted.

  “Did you use them on me?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  Pam stepped back again and they both dropped their arms to their sides. “I needed you to help me. Everything was so messed up after the crash. I didn’t know what to do. I knew the last thing I needed was for you to tell Bill or the FAA that I was alive and at your lodge. I know you felt the same things I did from the first moment we met, but I had no way of knowing how all of this would end up. The odds were I’d never leave China, at least not alive. I didn’t know I’d be standing here today madly in love with you. I had to keep my true identity and the reason I was in Alaska hidden from you. I couldn’t have asked you to risk your life that way.”

  “Is that why I fell in love with you? Is that something you arranged also, like you did with Chen?”

  “No, Jim. I could have, but I wanted it to be different with you. I wanted you to fall in love with me naturally, like other men fall in love with women. I wanted you to love me because I’m me, not because I’m a super-scientist secret agent with bone-crushing psychic powers. You fell in love with Paula, and she was none of those things. If anything, you were the one who used your powers to seduce me.”

  “My powers, w
hat powers?”

  Pam began to pull Jim into her shining blue-green eyes. She had a hold of his mind, as he looked deeper into her bottomless eyes.

  “Kiss me, Jim. Then I’ll tell you about your power over me.” Their lips drew closer, their minds oblivious to everything but each other’s eyes. They closed their eyes at the same moment and their lips touched. Like a flash bulb going off inside his head, a blinding rush of the missing memories flashed into Jim’s thoughts. The missing snippets of the night they spent together suddenly filled his thoughts – his sexual dominance over Pam, his fantastic ability to make her fulfill all of his desires, her ability to be part of him, to share all of his thoughts. Pam wanted Jim to love her naturally, not because she used her powers of suggestion. But those powers were part of her. They were part of both of them. In that moment when their lips touched, she not only removed the block she had placed in his mind a year ago, but she released all of his anxieties and hesitation. She liberated him once and for all, letting his heart sing with joy like hers. She knew he loved her as much as she loved him. Someday his wounds would heal. Someday all would be forgotten and their mutual trust would be permanently restored. She made that someday happen now. She also made sure he would never call her anything but Pam for the rest of their lives.

  “Oh my God, you just did it. I felt it. I felt you in my mind.” Jim held her at arm’s length as they laughed joyously. They looked at each other, totally in love and totally free of hesitation. They laughed knowing what awaited them over the next few hours. Jim could always remember what had happened that night, but until now he couldn’t remember what made it so special. It was his special ability to provide Pam with limitless pleasure. He remembered controlling her with his thoughts in a way he never controlled anyone before. He remembered her posing nude for him in front of the fire.

  Suddenly Pam began to blush. She smiled and looked away. Then she looked back, biting her lip.

  “Jim, careful what you think I won’t be able to control myself. You don’t want me to take my clothes off out here right now? Do you?” She unzipped her coat with a sexy smile and a twinkle in her eyes. “God, I want you.”

  “Pam, there’s something I’ve wanted to say to you ever since I left you at Last Chance but couldn’t. Now I know why. No matter what happens always, always, forever remember I love you.”

  Pam remembered the words she hoped Jim would carry as his last memory of her. Tears began to form in her eyes.

  “Jim, I will never let anything ever come between us again.” He was looking deep into her eyes, probing them to try to open her up. For the second time in her life, she opened her mind completely to another human being. Jim was suddenly everywhere inside of her. He was clumsy and awkward, like a bull in a china shop. Despite the brute force of his thoughts, he was gentle with her. But above all he was strong and confident. For the second time in Pam’s memory she completely relaxed, completely allowed herself to be sheltered by Jim.

  It was a wonderful moment. She felt like a little girl again. Before she realized she was different from everyone else, when her daddy was the strongest man in the world and able to protect her, before she had to block the thoughts of everyone else in order to remain sane. She wanted to take Jim and make him hers forever, like she always knew she would when she finally met the right man. As that thought moved through her mind she heard Jim’s quiet voice in her head for the first time. I’m already yours always, always forever.

  Jim’s mind released her and she was suddenly standing on the porch looking at Jim’s smiling face again. She was still free, still totally uninhibited and liberated under Jim’s power. Her liberation wasn’t merely sexual this time. She was completely uninhibited, to the deepest depths of her being. She was completely surrounded by Jim’s strength and security, completely free to be just Pam. She would never need to pretend to be normal. For the first time in her life, she could completely share every thought with another person. She was totally at ease in body and mind. She was totally Jim’s.

  “You don’t have to worry about letting anything ever come between us again,” Jim said. “I won’t allow it.” Jim held Pam’s shoulders in his hands. She allowed him the freedom to express his true feelings. “You’re not going to get away from me this time. Pam, marry me. Marry me now, today.”

  Bill and Tom watched from the plane as they hugged and talked on the porch. They were too far away to tell what was being said, but it was obvious they had a lot to talk about.

  “I’ll take that steak bet, Tom,” Bill said. “And I’ll raise you a couple of rounds of beers. That’s Patty Lawrence up there. What other gorgeous blond would come up here with you and want to talk to Mitchell?”

  “You’re on and you’re going to lose both bets. The girl’s name is Pam and she’s going to marry your friend Jim. That’s why she’s here, to accept his proposal.”

  Bill began to worry about the bet when he saw Pam jump into Jim’s arms.

  Pam jumped up, throwing herself against Jim. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her legs around his waist. Jim held her against him with one arm and held the back of her head with the other as they frantically kissed each other. Pam could no longer hold back the tears of joy.

  “Yes, Jim. Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you so much.” They kissed every inch of each other’s face before Jim stood Pam up again in front of him. She pulled the tail of his shirt out and began to dab the tears out of her eyes.

  “I’m going to have to start using waterproof mascara if I keep hanging around you.” She sniffled and laughed. She collected herself and looked at him. “We have to wait a few months to get married. My mom will want to arrange a few things. Besides, I don’t want to get married during the holidays.”

  She tucked Jim’s shirt back in his pants as best as she could. “That reminds me. My parents are going to want to meet you. I’m inviting them for Thanksgiving.” She pretended to smooth Jim’s shirt but was actually enjoying feeling his muscular chest.

  “Your parents?”

  “Well, I have them, two of them. I’m still their little girl. I’m only 23 years old, Jim.”

  “Let me get this straight. Besides being the most gorgeous woman to have ever walked the face of the Earth, you’re the greatest combination scientist-spy of our times. You have a body that just won’t quit, that I control completely. You live to fulfill every sexual desire I have. You’ve accepted my proposal of marriage and are standing here on the porch of my lodge trying to get in my pants. Is that the way you see this situation?”

  “Get rid of them.” Pam said, waving toward Bill, Tom and the plane.

  “Right,” Jim said kissing Pam quickly on the cheek. Pam opened the door to the lodge as Jim started down the stairs.

  Tom opened the door of the plane and pulled out the small suitcase Pam had brought with her. He stood with Bill as Jim jogged toward them. There was no doubt in Bill or Tom’s mind that Pam was staying.

  When Jim arrived in front of the waiting men he paused for a second before taking the suitcase. He reached out to shake Tom’s hand.

  “Thank you, Tom. Thank you for everything you’ve done for Pam and for me. Thank you, and I won’t let you or anyone one else down. I’ll take good care of Pam and you’re coming to the wedding. We won’t take no for an answer.”

  Tom laughed as he shook Jim’s hand. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “And you,” he said, turning to Bill. “You’ll be my best man.” He suddenly turned and jogged back to the lodge, leaving Tom laughing and Bill speechless with his mouth open.

  “Well, I guess that means it’s time for us to leave, partner.” Tom patted Bill on the back and walked around the plane. He pulled himself into the cabin and sat down.

  Bill watched his friend disappear behind the door before he got in the plane. He knew he was right when he said this was a strange day. He wondered how much stranger the day could get.

  “How do you like your steak?” Bill asked, “and what do
you mean, partner?” He started the plane to let the engine warm up for takeoff.

  “I’ll make you another bet,” Tom said above the sound of the idling engine. “Next time you see your friend Jim, he’s going to sell me his lodge. I’m retiring from government service and I think I’d like to run a place like this. Only thing is I’d need a partner to help me run it, someone who knows the area. Teach me about the fishing, that sort of thing. I figure you’d like to be my partner. I put up the money, you guide the fishing parties. What do you think partner?”

  Tom opened his attaché case and set a blue file down on Bill’s lap. The label read: Security Clearance, William Keller, Level 21 Technologies He was right. This day was getting stranger and stranger. “You a bit confused, Bill?”

  Bill looked at Tom with a bewildered look. “Just a bit.”

  “I’ll explain what’s going on as we fly back to Bear Breath. Trust me, it’ll make sense eventually, sort of, anyway. You got a family? Kids and a wife, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “If we’re going to be partners I’d like to meet your wife. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around family. How about inviting me over to your house for that steak?”

  “I’ll have to ask my wife, just a second.” Bill picked up the radio microphone and set the receiver frequency to the receiver at his house. His wife answered quickly, as though she was standing by the radio for him to call.