The Pact (A Sarah Roberts Thriller Book 17) Read online

  The Pact

  by

  Jonas Saul

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Imagine Press Inc.

  ISBN: 978-1-927404-46-1

  The Pact

  Copyright © 2016 by Jonas Saul

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher, Imagine Press Inc.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Imagine Press Inc. does not have control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third party websites referred to in or on this book.

  Jonas Saul Titles

  The Sarah Roberts Series

  1. Dark Visions

  2. The Warning

  3. The Crypt

  4. The Hostage

  5. The Victim

  6. The Enigma

  7. The Vigilante

  8. The Rogue

  9. Killing Sarah

  10. The Antagonist

  11. The Redeemed

  12. The Haunted

  13. The Unlucky

  14. The Abandoned

  15. The Cartel

  16. Losing Sarah

  17. The Pact

  18. The Terror (Coming Soon)

  19. The Chase (Coming Soon)

  20. The Betrayal (Coming Soon)

  The Jake Wood Series

  1. The Snake

  2. The Target (Coming Soon)

  The Mafia Trilogy (Starring Darwin and Rosina Kostas)

  1. The Kill

  2. The Blade

  3. The Scythe

  Standalone Novels

  1. The Threat (Starring Drake Bellamy)

  2. The Specter (Starring Aaron Stevens)

  3. A Murder in Time (Starring Marcus Johnson)

  Short Story Collection

  1. Twisted Fate (Tales of Horror)

  Compilations

  1. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 1-3

  2. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 4-6

  3. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 7-9

  4. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 10-12

  5. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 13-15

  6. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 16-18 (Coming Soon)

  7. The Mafia Trilogy

  8. The Jonas Saul Thriller Trilogy (The Threat, The Specter, A Murder in Time)

  Beginning

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Vivian Roberts, now dead for twenty-five years, left behind a prophetic note in a time capsule that was meant for her sister’s eyes only. While alive, Vivian had talked to the dead. Now dead herself, she talked with the living.

  The sun was setting over the ocean as the taxi pulled up out front of Sarah Roberts’ parents’ home in Santa Rosa. She paid the driver and exited the vehicle. Her shoulders hitched as she let out a sigh. What could Vivian have known twenty-five years ago? Did it have anything to do with Sarah’s boyfriend, Aaron? How could she have known about him so long ago?

  After the taxi pulled away from the curb, Sarah looked both ways, hoping Aaron hadn’t listened to her and come anyway. But the street was quiet, empty. Sarah’s father had contacted her in Las Vegas and urged her to return home as soon as possible to deal with the time capsule Vivian had left behind.

  According to Caleb, Sarah’s father, she was to trust no one. He instructed her to not speak of the time capsule and to exclude Aaron.

  “It’s the only way,” Caleb had said.

  He’d said it was too dangerous to repeat Vivian’s message over the phone. But why? Who would be listening? And if someone was, how would Vivian have known that twenty-five years ago?

  There were too many unanswered questions.

  Sarah missed Aaron. After her recent ordeal with the Enzo Cartel and then an insane woman attempting to bomb the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas, she needed Aaron with her. She wanted his comfort, his touch, but most of all, she needed his presence. But he was gone. Back to Toronto.

  Was Vivian’s letter that important?

  Sarah had spent years saving the lives of others to the detriment of herself, her life, and those around her. Wounds could be counted by the scars littering her body. What couldn’t be counted were the emotional wounds. Like when she told Aaron to fly home to Toronto so she could travel to Santa Rosa on her own without much of a reason. He was supposed to just trust her. He said he understood. As much as he tried to hide it, the underlying tone in his voice said otherwise.

  The two of them had recently made a pact based on trust. One that would take them to a new level in their relationship as they moved forward. To break that pact with Aaron not one hour after making it left an empty feeling in her gut. For the two days since, she felt a loss so profound it was as if Aaron had slipped away from her emotionally.

  So when Sarah’s father told her to tell no one and come to Santa Rosa alone—especially leave Aaron out of it—she had broken her pact with her boyfriend.

  They’d said goodbye at the Las Vegas airport as he boarded a flight to Toronto. Two hours after that, she’d boarded a flight that took her to Los Angeles and then on to Santa Rosa.

  Alone on the sidewalk in front of her parents’ house, Sarah summoned the courage to knock on their door, the will to read the letter left by her long-dead sister, and the determination to fulfill whatever the letter asked of her.

  As life passed her by, it was growing more and more apparent that it was Aaron who kept her grounded, kept her moving forward. His love for her, and her love for him, grew stronger day by day, year by year.

  A thought occurred to her as she hesitated on the sidewalk. The internal conflict, the nagging feeling that she hurt
Aaron unintentionally by coming to Santa Rosa, led to a realization. She wanted to be with him, not just now, but forever. She wanted marriage, kids, a family life. Sarah wanted a family. Aaron would be a wonderful husband and an even better father. Contrary to that thought, she wondered if she should bring children into this cruel world. As a mother, would she still live so recklessly? Or would her days with Vivian be over?

  None of those questions would be answered if she continued to treat Aaron the way she did. A man could only take so much.

  Steeling herself, Sarah started for the house, determined to read the note, deal with whatever Vivian had left for her, then get back to Aaron. Evidently there was a lot more to discuss about their future than a pact regarding their commitment to trust.

  The front door opened before Sarah knocked. Her father, eyes glossy and rimmed red, stepped outside the house and engulfed Sarah in his arms.

  “So glad you’re here,” he said, his voice muffled by their hug.

  “Me too, Dad.”

  He pulled away, grabbed her shoulders and drew back to look at her.

  “You’ve lost weight,” he said. “You eating enough?”

  “Yes, I’m eating enough. Can we go inside?”

  “Of course.” Caleb stepped aside and gestured for her to enter before him.

  Not much had changed since she’d been here last. Furniture was the same. The TV was on mute in the corner, actors engaging in a soundless spat. A large table along the left side of the living room was new. A puzzle lay half done, the remaining pieces scattered around the uncompleted area.

  A fleeting glimpse of her past sent a chill up her back. Homework, her bedroom a mess, depression. The TV always on mute as her father read the newspaper in his chair. The blackouts and strange notes appearing. She recalled pulling her hair out, piece by piece. Trichotillomania they’d called it. Once she met Mary Bennett, that all changed. Sarah had accurately interpreted the note from her dead sister after a blackout and saved Mary from a planned kidnapping.

  The beginnings of Sarah’s purpose-driven life.

  Coming home left her feeling slightly awkward. Out there, she was the adult, the one who had it all together. The snarky girl who could hear her dead sister in her head. Back home, she was just little Sarah again with her mom and dad.

  “Mom’s doing a puzzle?” Sarah asked.

  “We’re doing it together,” Caleb said. “It’s something new we decided to spend time on.” He shrugged as he moved past her. “I was thinking of building model airplanes again, like I used to when I was a teenager. It was your mother’s idea that we would try puzzles first.” He walked over to it. “Come here. Take a look. It’s a picture of the Vatican.”

  Sarah kicked off her shoes and walked over to stand beside her father. The puzzle’s box cover showed a gorgeous photo of the Vatican with all its many columns. The half-done image on the table in front of her didn’t bear a likeness quite yet.

  “A ways to go,” Sarah said, feeling the elephant in the room.

  They both knew why she was there, but her father hadn’t mentioned the time capsule yet.

  “It’s two thousand pieces.” He laughed. “Yeah, a ways to go. Come on, I’ll get you a glass of wine. You must be tired.”

  “No drink. Unless you’re making tea.” Sarah followed him toward the kitchen. “Where’s mom?”

  “She’s coming. When we saw the taxi pull up, I went for the door. Your mom headed into the spare room to get the time capsule stuff ready for you.” He looked back over his shoulder as they stepped into the kitchen. “You sure I can’t fix you a drink? You may need it when you see what Vivian left for you.”

  Sarah narrowed her eyes and frowned. “I’m fine. Earl Grey or a glass of water. Then show me what Vivian left for me and then I’ll sleep. I went through Hell in Vegas.”

  “We heard a little about it. Parkman called.”

  She looked up, surprised. “Is he here? In Santa Rosa?”

  Sarah sat at the kitchen table while her father flicked the switch on the kettle. On the corner of the table, a small red light blinked on the phone. Someone in the house was using the phone.

  “I’m sure he’ll be around soon. Your mom said she’d call him.” Caleb grabbed a mug from the cupboard.

  Seconds later, the red light on the phone blinked out. Then footsteps came up the hall. She turned as her mother entered the kitchen behind her.

  “Mom,” Sarah said as she bounded from the table and hugged her. When she pulled away, she looked for Vivian’s message. “Your hands are empty. Dad said you were getting something for me.”

  “It’s all ready.” She exchanged a glance with her husband. The kettle grew louder in the small kitchen. “I left it in the other room.” Amelia faced Sarah. “I think it best you examine everything on your own. Vivian’s message was for you and you alone. We went too far when we read the first page.” Her mother shrugged. “Vivian was my daughter, too.”

  “I don’t blame you.” She made a tsk sound. “How dangerous could information be anyway?”

  Amelia moved for the kitchen table. Sarah studied her mother’s face a moment longer. Worry lines creased her brow.

  “I’ll go look at it now,” Sarah said.

  Amelia bobbed her head once toward the hallway. “Go. We’ll have your tea ready when you come out. We’ll talk then.”

  Down the corridor to the guest bedroom, she hesitated at the open door. The bed was made. On the white blanket, laid out in a neat and orderly fashion, was the time capsule with its bounty spread out beside it. Vivian had chosen a small tube for the twenty-five year old message, similar to the kind that held posters when they were shipped in the mail.

  Before reading a single word on the handwritten pages, Sarah examined the tube. A note on the outside asked the reader to keep it sealed until spring 2016. It didn’t say for Sarah’s eyes only. There were no warnings to restrict anyone from reading the contents held inside.

  She set the tube down and picked up the first page.

  This message is for my sister Sarah …

  A shudder ran through Sarah’s shoulders as she read her sister’s handwriting from twenty-five years ago. In the cursive, Sarah saw familiar lines, arches that resembled her own writing. A tear leapt to her eyes when she thought of the sister she never got to have in life. A sister to play with, do makeup, talk about boys. That era in her life was over, but she would’ve loved to have had Vivian be a part of that.

  Sarah read on, noting important details, memorizing a few of the facts. Near the middle of the second page, she understood why Aaron couldn’t be made aware of what was on these pages.

  It foretold his death.

  A chill rippled through her as she got to the meat of the message.

  Vivian wrote of her intention to enter into a pact with Sarah. Without the pact, their communication was cut off. A pact could break that silence between them forever. Vivian added a side note questioning the kind of communication they had. In her prophecy, it wasn’t revealed how the sisters would be talking in the future.

  “Don’t we have a pact already?” Sarah asked the empty room. “Why do I have to do this?” Her voice cracked. “It doesn’t make sense, Vivian.”

  Could this note still be accurate? Could the living Vivian have predicted events about to happen that well from over two decades ago?

  Did any of it matter? Why couldn’t Vivian just talk to Sarah like she always did? Guide her through the next few weeks?

  “Vivian?” Sarah asked. “Just tell me where to go, what to do. You’re in my head now. We’re closer than we’ve ever been.” She waited for an answer, but none came. “Vivian? Are you there?”

  Sarah reread the part about their communication being severed. At least until they made a pact.

  “Vivian? You’re gone?”

  After no response, Sarah continued reading. Vivian wrote that she had been offered a glimpse of Sarah’s blueprint. In it, she saw Sarah die.

  She had also seen a
man in Sarah’s life—Aaron—and his blueprint ended at roughly the same time. Vivian’s theory of life was called the blueprint. A person’s life, their struggles, their family, their triumphs, were all written down by that person prior to their incarnation on Earth. Coming to Earth is a form of evolving our souls, making us better entities, as we live out our blueprint. The pain, the struggle we encounter along the way, is there to teach us humility, love, and understanding. At times, life was overwhelming, but we never write more than we could handle.

  Vivian had caught a glimpse of the man’s name in Sarah’s life, calling him Aarow instead of Aaron. The only way for the sisters’ relationship to remain the way it was for years to come was for Sarah to enter into a pact with Vivian. But her sister wasn’t given the information twenty-five years ago on how to do that. And she wasn’t able to tell Sarah now as communication had ceased.

  Sarah closed her eyes and focused. She waited for Vivian to enter her consciousness, but she didn’t. For the last two days, Sarah had spent time with Aaron in Vegas. Vivian had been strangely quiet, but Sarah hadn’t paid particular attention to it as she wanted to spend quality time with Aaron without distractions.