Cold Fire

She supposed that her dogged rationality-and cynicism-could bend far enough to encompass the idea that now and then a psychic actually possessed real power, but she wasn't sure that "psychic" was an adequate description of Jim Ironheart. This guy wasn't just going out on a limb in some cheap tabloid to predict that Steven Spielberg would make another bit picture next year (surprise!), or that Swartzenegger would still speak English with an accent, or that Tom Cruise would dump his current girlfriend, or that Eddie Murphy would still be black for the foreseeable future. This guy knew the precise facts of each of those impending deaths. who, when, where, how-far enough in advance to derail fate. He wasn't bending spoons with the power of his mind, wasn't speaking in the gravelly voice of an ancient spirit named Rama-Lama-Dingdong, wasn't reading futures in entrails or wax drippings or Tarot cards. He was saving lives for God's sake, altering destinies, having a profound impact not only on those he saved from death but on the lives of the friends and families who would have been left shattered and bereaved. And the reach of his power extended three thousand miles from Laguna Niguel to Boston! In fact, maybe his heroics were not confined to the borders of the continental United States. She had not researched the international media for the past six months. Perhaps he had saved lives in Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, or in Pago Pago for all she knew.

The word "psychic" definitely was inadequate. Holly couldn't even think of a suitable one-word description of his powers.

To her surprise, a sense of wonder had possessed her, like nothing she had felt since she was a kid. Now, an element of awe stole over her as well, and she shivered.

Who was this man? What was he? Little more than thirty hours ago, when she had seen the story about young Nicholas O'Conner in Boston, Holly had known she was on to a big story. By the time she examined the material that Newsweb found for her she felt it might be the biggest story of her career, regardless of how long she worked as a reporter.

Now she had begun to suspect that it might grow into the biggest story of this decade.

"Everything okay?" Holly said, "Everything's weird," before she realized that she had not asked the question of herself The waitress-Bernice, according to the name embroidered on her uniform blouse-was standing beside the table, looking concerned. Holly realized that she had been staring intently at her plate while she'd been thinking about Jim Ironheart, and she had not taken a bite in some time.

Bernice had noticed and thought something was wrong.

"Weird?" Bernice said, frowning.

"Uh, yeah-it's weird that I should come into what looks like an ordinary coffeeshop and get the best blueberry pancakes I've ever eaten.”

Bernice hesitated, perhaps trying to decide if Holly was putting her on.

"You. you really like 'em?" "Love them," Holly said, forking up a mouthful and chewing the cold sodden pancakes with enthusiasm.

"That's nice! You want anything else?" "Just the check," Holly said.

She continued to eat the pancakes after Bernice left, because she was hungry and they were there.

As she ate, Holly looked around the restaurant at the colorfully decked out vacationers who were absorbed in discussions of amusements experienced and amusements yet to come, and the thrill of being an insider coursed through her for the first time in years. She knew something they did not. She was a reporter with a carefully husbanded secret. When fully researched, when written up in crystalline prose as direct and yet evocative as Hemingway's best journalism (well, she was going to try for that, anyway), the story would earn front-page, top-of the-page exposure in every major newspaper in the country, in the world.

And what made it so good, what made her tingle, was that her secret had nothing to do with a political scandal, toxic dumping, or the other myriad forms of terror and tragedy that fueled the engine of modern news media. Her story would be one of amazement and wonder, courage and hope. a story of tragedy avoided, lives spared, death thwarted.

Life is so good, she thought, unable to stop grinning at her fellow diners.

First thing after breakfast, with the aid of a book of street maps called the Thomas Guide, Holly located Jim Ironheart's house in Laguna Niguel.

She had tracked down the address via computer from Portland, by checking the public records of real-estate transactions in Orange County since the first of the year. She had assumed that anyone winning six million dollars in a lottery might spend some of it on a new house, and she had assumed correctly. He hit the jackpot-presumably thanks to his clairvoyance-in early January. On May 3, he finalized the purchase of a house on Bougainvillea Way. Since the records did not show that he had sold any property, he apparently had been renting before his windfall.

She was somewhat surprised to find him living in such a modest house.