Definitely Unknown (The Unknown Series Book 1) Read online

  CHAPTER 1

  Simon heard a quiet click, followed by the humming of the air conditioning, as it switched on. At least that’s what he thought it was, but he couldn’t be certain because he was still half asleep. He felt hot and feverish, struggling to wake himself up. Still gripped in a dream that had felt so realistic. He had felt as if he was actually there, dancing with a strange girl in a nightclub. Red and blue flashing lights lit up the floor, as they smooched to some familiar love song. In the back of his mind he wondered what he was doing there, he hated nightclubs, loud and brash. And, who was the girl? She was beautiful, of that he was certain. It would not please Beth that he danced intimately with another woman. What the hell was he doing there?

  “Hey, hey you’re burning up!” a woman’s voice said sleepily, as someone started to unbutton his shirt.

  In his dream, it was the beautiful woman, and he did not want her doing that to him, that was Beth’s role. But, he could not stop her, his hands locked by his side. Then he felt a light slap to his face, not hard but urgent. Why was she hitting him?

  “Simon, wake up, baby,” that sounded like Beth’s voice. Why did this woman have Beth’s voice?

  By now he was cooling down, and he began to wake from his fitful sleep. The strange woman stroked his face gently, and as he looked up at her, she turned into Beth.

  Simon shot upright in bed, letting out a loud grumph.

  “It’s okay, honey, it’s only me,” Beth said, stroking the stubble on his night time cheeks. “You need a shave,” she smiled, showing that cute dimple in one side of her cheek. The one he loved so much.

  “It is you,” he said with relief.

  Confused, he looked around and took in the familiar surroundings of his own bedroom. The night club scene was gone, now a fading memory.

  “Of course, who else would be in your bed?” she asked, wary of his answer. “No, don’t answer that one,” Beth decided she did not want to know. “Nightmare again?”

  “Yeah, but they’re not so much nightmares, Beth, they’re so realistic, as if I’m there in the situation,” he explained.

  Placing his face in his hands, he leaned back against the bed headboard.

  “Where were you this time?” Beth knew these dreams were worrying him.

  “Would you believe, in a night club,” he said, knowing that in real life he would ever go to such a crowded and loud place.

  “Well, that’s not like you,” Beth laughed. Her long auburn curls fell over the bare soft skin of her feminine shoulders. “Was I with you?”

  “No, I was with some strange woman, and I don’t want to talk about it, Beth. It's exhausting me. It feels like I've been up clubbing all night, so let’s drop it. Besides, it’s the weekend, and you’re going away from me for two whole weeks. We need to get on, and enjoy our last weekend together, before you go. Let's get out there and do some chilling.”

  Beth pulled his share of the sheets over her body, and lay back down on her side of the bed, hugging her pillow.

  “You’re out dancing with some floozy all night, and you expect me to spend the day with you?” she said, feigning annoyance.

  “What? It was a dream, nothing more,” Simon spat back, missing the humor in her tone. He was beginning to wish he'd never told her. Though, if it was the other way around, he knew perfectly well that he would be jealous, even though it was a dream.

  “You could be having Freudian dreams," she surmised. "You may be projecting suppressed feelings, while you asleep,” she continued, struggling to stop a smile on her lips.

  “I love living with you, in our condo, in Murray Hill,” he assured her. “I want no other woman, Beth Williams. I do not desire to go to any night clubs,” he finished, curling up to the contour of her body, from behind. They fit together so well, the perfect couple.

  “I’m only messing with you, Simon Carter. I love you too, which is why you need to talk to me,” she insisted, as she turned over to face him and stay in his embrace. “Think how you would feel it was me with all this mangled mess in my head. You would want to be a part of it. You would want to help me.”

  “I know, baby, but I don’t know what’s real and what’s a dream anymore. They're so vivid and realistic,” he admitted, in a low voice. Hugging closer to his broad and muscular chest, the hairs tickled her skin. “The other day,” he continued, “Mike, a work colleague, who I hardly know, told me what a great time he had on our night out. He told me that you should never judge a book by its cover, and he would never have believed I could be so wild. According to him, he’d never had such a wild night, and he wanted to know when we were going out again? Apparently, he believes I’m some lucky mascot that attracts women. I stood there speechless. What he was describing was not me. It sounded like he was talking about someone else. Plus, of course I had absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the event, not even in one of my weird dreams.”

  “I assume you asked him if he’d got the right person.” Beth queried.

  “Yes of course. I even asked him where it happened. He laughed and said he wasn’t surprised I couldn't recall the evening. I'd knocked back a whole load of tequila shots. I hate tequila, Beth, you know that. It was some club downtown, by the river’s edge. Seems he was already there when he bumped into me. Once he was with me, he said his night became very interesting. I mean, I know it's not me he’s talking about. If it was, I’d have some foggy memory of it, even if I was completely wasted. It’s driving me crazy.”

  Taking his arm from under Beth’s soft body, he sat up and rubbed both hands over his unshaven face again. If he cleared his eyes, it might help clear the fog in his mind, and help him understand the puzzle better.

  “They’re working you far too hard, baby,” Beth pulled Simon back down, laying his head on her chest. She stroked his thick brown hair. “Poor baby,” she said, trying to ease his tension. “What project are you working on right now? It must be a real heavy stress load.”

  “No, not at all, in fact work has been a breeze for the last few months,” he assured her. “You know what it’s like in PR. One minute, it’s madness and mayhem while everyone runs around with ants in their pants. The next minute, it's as quiet as a morgue. I’m lucky I was a computer geek as a kid, as I get all the technical side of things. I’m working on something hush hush, at the moment. I can’t talk about it, it’s not public knowledge yet, but it’s nothing beyond my capabilities. It can’t be my workload. I enjoy my work.”

  “What is it you’re doing for them? Sounds like it's putting more pressure on you, than you realize,” Beth insisted. She would not drop the theory of work overload.

  “I’m arranging for some overseas VIP visitors to come to a conference in the US. It’s all to do with some new defence technology. My part is nothing out of the ordinary. Anyway, don’t you think we should be lying here discussing our wedding, and not what PR rubbish I’m doing at work? It’s weekend, Beth. I don’t want to think about work on a weekend. I want to think about you, and our future marriage and how we are going to spend the rest of our lives together.”

  “Our wedding is still ages away, baby, we’ve plenty of time to do the planning. Oh, no, maybe it’s that, Simon,” she suddenly sat upright in bed, a look of consternation on her face. “Maybe that’s it, you’re stressed because you don’t want to marry me. Oh, no, I never thought of that. It all makes sense. You’re secretly regretting our engagement. What if you're yearning for other women and nightclubs?”

  “Hey, slow down,” Simon also sat up in bed, seeing that Beth was getting emotional over her theory. “I promise you, baby, I’m having no regrets about marrying the most beautiful wo
man in the world. The universe even. Now stop all that nonsense,” he finished, and pulled her back down on the soft pillows.

  He enjoyed the feeling of her skin against his. It almost swept away the lingering feelings from his bad dream, almost.

  Beginning to feel a little better, he rolled over and climbed out of bed. “Right, that's it. Time to snap out of this, and get on with our weekend,” he pulled the covers from her long legs, and stared longingly at them. He’d love nothing more than to stay in bed and lay next to her all day. That was not going to happen, they needed to get on with their day, and put aside the bad dreams.

  She didn’t move out of the bed, laying there yawning and stretching. He went into action and grabbed a pillow. He gently beat her with it, laughing as he did so, “C’mon, out of bed lazy bones. Time to get on with our lives.”

  “You messed up my hair,” she cried back at him, trying to straighten her auburn locks. “Wait till I get my hands on you. I’m going to make you regret messing with me,” she said, giggling as she chased him out of the bedroom.

  She caught up with him in the sitting room of their apartment. He was standing in front of the huge veranda windows that overlooked the East River, in Manhattan. Staring through the glass, he was enjoying a view he loved to wake up to, every day. Beth moved closer to him, and pressed flat against his back, her arms wrapped around his neck. Standing on her tip toes, she looked through the window over his shoulder.

  “You still love that view, don’t you?” she asked, her hot breath in his ear.

  “How could I not love it? It is perfect. That’s why we both work all the hours of the day, to help pay for that view. On a weekend, I get to hang out in our home, with a beautiful woman, and a beautiful view.”

  He lifted her arms from around his neck, and turned around to face her. She looked so damn sexy, stood there in her sleeping shorts and loose fitting t-shirt. He pressed his lips hard against hers, and she responded in kind. Their love was real for each other. Since the first moment he had laid eyes on her, he knew she was the woman for him.

  “I wish I wasn’t going away, baby, not when you need me most,” she whispered, as they finished their passionate embrace.

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” he told her. “Now let’s get that coffee on, and I bought bagels for breakfast. It’s time to start our weekend.”

  CHAPTER 2

  “How many Chinese delegates are we talking about?” Simon asked Li Cheung, his Chinese contact over the phone.

  Simon was responsible for liaising with various agencies. They provided the information on who would be attending the world-wide event, coming up in a few months. The Chinese were not the only ones who would not release the names of the VIP guests. It was making his job, more difficult, because it was his role to ensure all the delegates would be in the right place. It was important to ensure that countries of conflict, were not too close to one another. Also, that each table had all the relevant language on their headphones. It would not do to have the Israeli prime minister sat next to the Iranian President. The last thing he wanted was to cause an international fallout during a conference in the US.

  Many countries were attending the event, hosted by the largest IT company in the world, WikonWare. They were to unveil some brand-new state of the art technology. Simon was in the dark about the new technology, it was beyond his pay grade. Rumors suggested that it was all about a defence system for the planet. One that could intercept any incoming object to the earth. Whether it be a hostile missile, or a projectile from outer space, such as an asteroid. It was technology deemed "beyond our time." Leading politicians and scientists from all over the world, were to be in attendance.

  “Simon, you know I can only give you the briefest of information," Li Cheung’s voice said over the phone. "I myself do not know the answer, not until the day they set off,” Li finished.

  “Li, it's my responsibility to liaise with the CIA and the FBI. I must make sure it all runs smooth, politically," Simon reminded him. "Your job is to liaise with me, so I can do that. Look, let's get this thing started with numbers, how many delegates you got coming?"

  After ten minutes of much the same conversation, Simon gave up the chase. He would have to guess at the numbers. It seemed trust was in limited supply.

  The world was a dangerous place these days. High-ranking government officials did not divulge their movements, for fear of terrorism. Yet, they would expect protection of the highest order. He would have to surmise, from what little information he had gleaned. Probably, the heads of state from over twenty countries, would be attending. Plus, their leading scientists. It was a scary concept that all those leaders and top scientists were in one place together. Making it an ideal target for a terrorist group, or even a hostile nation to strike a heavy blow. He was well aware of the reason for secrecy, it made his job harder. His company often worked close with government bodies, where security was high. But, this event was turning out to be completely shrouded in secrecy.

  The technology to be uncovered, was to have an enormous impact on world security. That was not his concern though. Gathering as much intel for his role, was all he needed to focus on. Simon loved his job, the sense of importance it gave him. The high-profile role was good for his ego, and the generous pay helped too. It guaranteed he and Beth had a secure future, and a perfect home. As he sat tapping his pen in frustration, his thoughts turned to Beth. He wondered how she would be doing, away at her medical conference. Her dedication to her job as a heart specialist, meant they often did not see each other for days at a time.

  “Hey, great night,” a deep voice broke into his thoughts.

  Simon looked over to see who was speaking to him. A colleague he hardly knew, stood holding the glass door open. He gave the guy a puzzled smile.

  “Simon Carter, who’d have thought it of you?” The tall blonde haired guy stepped into Simon’s office. “If you want information out of me, we can do that again, any time.”

  Simon remained seated, clueless to what this guy was referring to.

  “Yeah, well, you know me,” Simon said, sheepishly.

  “I do now,” he grinned. “I thought you were the marrying and settling down type, to be honest. Underneath that bland exterior, lays a real party animal. When you asked me to join you, I was surprised as hell. I didn’t even know your name. But, when someone asks Jonny Parker to party, he isn’t one to refuse.”

  “Thanks, erm… Jonny,” Simon responded, deciding to find out more. “We sure had a wild night, so much so that I’ve forgotten what information I was after.”

  The man laughed out loud at Simon’s confession. “I can’t say I’m surprised,” the man laughed. “I didn’t think you’d remember, after all those shots of tequila you put away. So, I thought I’d drop in and update you.” Jonny sat down opposite Simon, at his desk. He threw a file on the desk. “You asked for the governmental bodies attending. You know I shouldn’t be giving these to anyone, but I know you’re connected to security. I can’t provide you with names, only the estimated numbers of bodies. Will that help?”

  “Sure, thanks, Jonny, I owe you,” Simon said, still confused.

  Jonny, chatted on about having another night out together. Simon only half listened as he smiled and nodded, hopefully in the right places.

  “Yeah, sorry I couldn’t give you names,” Jonny said as he was opening the door to leave. “I know that’s what you need, but I don’t have them yet.

  “No problem, cheers, Jonny, this is the best intel I’ve gotten so far,” Simon said, glad the guy was leaving.

  After he left, Simon slumped back in his chair. Once again, here was an event he had no recollection of. Was he going mad? Beth might have been right all along. The stress of work was affecting him so bad, that he was unaware of what he was doing. Why would he try to soften up this guy for the names of the delegates? Sure, it would help, but knowing exactly who was attending, was not essential. Yet, he had pressured his Chinese contact, Li, for exactly
the same thing. It did not make sense why he asked for names. Everything the guy, Jonny, had said about him, was so out of character. Simon was not a socializer. Beth was always calling him a loner. It's a standing joke between them, at how he ever managed to meet her in the first place. This was all a big mystery. What was going on in his head?

  Then, a thought occurred to him. What if it’s all a huge prank? Kevin, his best buddy, could have set him up. It would be the kind of thing he would do for a laugh. Simon had known Kevin since kindergarten, which they attended together. As much as Simon was a loner, Kevin was the complete opposite. Then again, his job in the FBI was stressful, he needed to have an outlet. Was he playing some huge prank on him? He wouldn’t put it past Kevin, but then Beth would have to be in on it. Pushing that thought out of his mind, he knew that Beth wouldn’t let Kev mess with his head like this. Besides, how could anyone else affect him to the point of making him have weird dreams?

  Despite these thoughts, deep down inside, Simon knew it couldn’t be Kevin. Sure, Kevin was joker, and he liked a prank, but he’d have checked in with Beth first. No, this was something more sinister. Was he going crazy with some hereditary disease? Simon did not know his own roots, being adopted since he was six. Life before then was vague. He recalled living rough and longing for a bed. A cruel woman’s face often infiltrated his nightmare. He had no recollection of his birth parents. Though, he had been one of the lucky few, adopted by a loving couple. People who learned to love him, and all his faults. They cared for him, as if he were their own blood son. Now, they had both passed away, being of a mature age when they took him into their home. His life had been good with them, so he had little in the way of bad memories. But, life before them, was a blur. After his foster parents died, he had tried to find his biological parents. All he got were dead ends. There were no official records of his life before his adoptive parents. His early childhood was probably the reason why he turned out to be such a loner. He had friends, but none he would call close, other than Kevin, and they had grown up together. Few people remained in his life, but the ones who did, he was close to. They understood his need for privacy.