Title: Green Eyed Killer
Author: Dancing Star
Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas FBEye
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay,
Rating: 16 (contains less beautiful scenes)
Category: AU, Mystery, Crime
Synopsis: A mysterious killer with green eyes that sparkle like diamonds, makes Cape Town holding breath...
Notes: Happy Halloween! Hope you don´t shudder too much...!
Green Eyed Killer
The Basketball of Jeremy and Albert had rolled into the garden of the neighboring house. "We have to get the ball," Jeremy said to his best friend. The two boys were ten years old and visited the same class at a private school in Cape Town. Jeremy's mother, a doctor, had been called spontaneously to the hospital and so the boys were home alone, because Jeremy's dad had left the family years ago. Because the boys didn´t want to sleep, they had decided to play basketball in the garden. But then Jeremy had thrown the ball too hard and it had ended up at lot of the neighbor. Today was a full moon and the night was clear. So they wouldn´t need flashlights to get the toy back.
"I have a bad feeling about this," the shy Albert said, as the two climbed over the fence together.
"Miss Winsloo lives alone in this house," Jeremy told, "She won´t mind. She´s always very nice." And besides Jeremy calmed down himself with the fact that Miss Winsloo was already asleep at this late hour.
The basketball had landed on the terrace of Miss Winsloos house. Jeremy and Albert finally got the ball, which was lying right in front of the glass door. "That wasn´t so hard," Jeremy said to his best friend and grinned, but Albert took a step back. He looked startled when he saw a tall, slender figure at the window. Jeremy recognized a blonde woman in a white nightie. "This is Miss Winsloo," he said, but then he noticed something seemed to be wrong. Miss Winsloo looked as if she was asleep standing up, because her head was sunk on her chest.
Worried, Jeremy put his hands on the glass. His basketball rolled over the patio. "Miss Winsloo?", he was very worried and Albert looked through the window. Next to Miss Winsloos' head two bright green dots appeared. When Albert and Jeremy looked closer, they realized that the points were eyes which belonged to a masked face.
The boys got very scared, because Miss Winsloo's body fell forward and hit against the window pane.
Jeremy and Albert ran as fast as they could. They climbed over the fence and when they arrived on the other side they noticed a loud engine noise. The masked man with bright green eyes sped toward them on a motorcycle. In his left hand he swung a machete.
"Run, Albert!", Jeremy called out to his best friend. The motorcycle broke through the fence and the driver obtained the boys.
Then he killed them.
"Have you been thinking about what you want to do in Cape Town?", Lindsay wanted to know when she and Connor got out of a car three days later with Sue and Jack. They had parked the car on the sidewalk and made their way to the house in which Jeremy's mother lived.
"I've heard there´s a penguin colony at the Cape of Good Hope," Jack reported, "However, even a herd of baboons lives there. Just be aware that the monkeys often rob the picnic baskets."
"You probably seem to forget we aren´t here for fun, hm?", Connor asked and looked at his friends.
Lindsay, Jack and Sue apologized. The case for which they had been called to South Africa, was extremely mysterious. None of them had ever heard of a similar case: Two ten- year-old boys had been found dead in bed by the mother of one of the children. The boys had been beheaded, as far as Connor knew. He had read in the report, which was send to the OSIR that the police had also examined the case: The mother of Jeremy Snow and the parents of Albert Finney had watertight alibis and the house in which the crime had happened showed no evidence of forced entry. The mother of Jeremy Snow also said that she had locked the front door and there was no spare key. Besides the front door, there was no way to leave the house: The terrace of the house was secured with a strong metal grid, which was undamaged. Apparently, the family owned a cat for which the terrace was prepared as outdoor enclosure.
The entire team wondered how the murderer of the two boys had come into the house and could leave it without leaving traces. And above all, they wondered what motive the killer could have to kill two ten year old boys. During the flight to Cape Town, Jack and Connor had checked the parents of the killed children: Jeremy's mother was a doctor in the hospital. She was a very busy woman and because she was hardly at home, she had no opportunity to get enemies in the neighborhood. She was popular with her colleagues at the hospital, but she spent most of the time alone. Albert Finney's parents belonged to the middle class: The boy's father owned a greengrocer shop near Victoria & Albert Waterfront, the mother was pregnant with twins and working part-time in an office.
The police had asked for help, because this murder case exceed their limitations and so Connor and his team decided to come. They also found the case very unusual. "Do we really have to look at this house?", Sue asked and looked at her team members.
"We have to," Connor agreed, "Don´t worry, the police secured the worst evidences days ago." He had seen the photos of the nursery room and the bloody beds were really not a pretty sight. He only wanted that they got a feel for this case.
Jeremy's mother was crying as she spoke to them. She had been released from her duties in the hospital for two weeks to process the death of her only child. The police had already investigated the nursery room, while Lindsay tested their theory that someone could have come in through the window: She shook and pulled on the frame, but then she gave up. "The window isstuck," she said to Sue.
"Yes," Sue nodded and then turned away from the nursery room. The walls were still covered with fine blood stains.
Connor and Jack entered the room. "What did you find out?", Sue wanted to know from them.
Connor had talked to the mother, Jack had asked around in the neighborhood. "I wouldn´t tell you if the mother hears us, but I was talking to a neighbor who reported he heard screams in the night, in which the boys died. Apparently the boys called Not in the ferris wheel."
"What does that mean?"
"I don´t know," Jack's voice was very quiet, "Another neighbor..." Jack looked at the notes he had created on his smartphone, "Another neighbor says he has a guess to what had happened to the boys... "
"So? This is very suspicious, " Lindsay said.
"But there is no evidence of forced entry, so you must say it´s a logical explanation," Jack said and again glanced at his phone, "The man is originally from a province called Gauteng. It´s located in the northeast of the country... In this province there live people called Zulu. These people believe in a being who robs the souls of the people in their dreams."
"What?," Connor asked, "You don´t believe this, right?"
"It would be at least an explanation..."
"That's right," Connor said and his friends weren´t used to that, "There's something unusual, which was never published in the police report. I have just learned it from Mrs. Snow: At the house of the dead neighbor, Miss Winsloo, palm prints by children were found. The investigation showed this were the handprints of Jeremy Snow and Albert Finney. "
"But how is that possible?," Lindsay asked, "The mother said the boys couldn´t have left the house." And the police report told the door was locked: The mother had unlocked the door when she came home the next morning from work.
"I leave that to your imagination..."
Lindsay was incredibly tired when she went to bed that night. The jet lag was tough, but she was relieved they had at least found a nice hotel in the center of Cape Town. When her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep and it didn´t take long when she found herself in a dream world: She dreamed that she stood before the house where Miss Winsloo, the neighbor of the Snows, lived. It was dark and beside her stood the two boys Albert and Jeremy. She had recognized them from the photos on the autopsy reports of the police.
The boys admired the Ferris wheel, the lights twinkled in the distance. They had come to search for the basketball, instead they both stared through the window inside the house and saw a young woman standing on the other side of the glass. But something was wrong, because her body looked strange. Her head was also turned to the side. The boys came closer and curiously they pressed their palms on the glass window, when suddenly a green, shining pair of eyes appeared next to the head of Miss Winsloo. The boys fell back and ran. A rumbling sound inside the house told Lindsay that the shape, which included the brilliant green eyes, had thrown the lifeless body of Miss Winsloo to the ground. The sounds of loud steps led to the front door, which was finally opened. The figure with the green eyes then jumped on a motorcycle, started the engine and followed the children. The masked figure was holding a machete.
She tried to follow the boys and when she called their name, the mysterious figure stopped and turned the bike around. With the eyes that sparkled like diamonds, the masked figure fixed her and raced toward her. Before he reached Lindsay, her dream was over.
Her clothes were drenched in sweat, when Lindsay awoke. She sat almost upright in bed and when she had calmed down, she glanced at the clock. Her dream had lasted two hours, or at least she had fallen asleep two hours ago. She felt exhausted. Almost as if the dream had been reality. Lindsay decided she would get up and go into the next room. If she was lucky, Connor was still busy with the sighting of the files there.
Connor and Jack sat at the large round table of their hotel suite. They read files while they plastered Chinese food. Apparently Jack wanted to go to bed soon, because he was wearing a shapeless, plaid pants and a T-shirt with Batman print. "Hey guys, what are you doing?", Lindsay asked, when she looked for a plate and cutlery in the kitchen of their suite and then took a little food from one of the lunch boxes.
"We´re reading some files. Here are the interviews of some neighbors...", Connor said.
"And we eat something," Jack added.
"Why didn´t you wake me up before you ordered food?"
"Because you looked pretty tired and there´s enough for everyone anyway."
"Why are you still awake?", Jack asked.
"Don´t know... I had a dream. So, I think at least. "
"It must have been a very real dream," Connor stated, "We have heard you screaming."
"Really?", Lindsay's face turned red.
"Will you tell us what you dreamed?"
She pulled a chair up to the table and sat down. "I think it´ because of this case...", Lindsay admitted. Then she told them she had dreamed of a masked figure with bright green eyes that hunted the boys with a motorcycle and finally caught up and killed them. She also allowed herself to tell them the dream seemed very real, and she was more exhausted than before after her two-hour sleep.
"Sounds like you're very stressed out," Jack said, "Our dreams are a reflection of how our brain processes."
"I know that...!"
Connor watched as the two discussed, but then he noticed a trail of dark, wet earth on the floor. The trail led from Lindsay's room to the kitchen of the hotel suite. "Lindsay, you were out?", he asked.
Now also Jack and Lindsay noticed the trail of wet earth. "No, I was in here all the time," the slippers which she wore were designed exclusively for home use. In addition, there would be a trail that ran from the front door.
"I was here all the time", she repeated, "Except during my dream."
Jack seemed to have an idea, because he walked to the window and looked out. It was raining outside. "So that's the track," he said, "You didn´t just feel your dream was very real. It actually was..."
They all still had a strange feeling in the next morning. They didn´t know what to think about this case and Lindsay almost had a frighteningly real dream.
Another feeling almost hit them when they steered to the police station of the city. There, the police was in an uproar. "What happened?", Connor wanted to know from the police chief.
"A brutal murder had happened in the previous night and we can´t explain it," he said, but then he looked at the team disapprovingly, "Where have you been last night? I thought you have been fetched in order to find the killer and prevent such crimes."
"What? He killed again? ", All of them were ice cold. Sue asked where the killer had struck again.
"This time he killed a girl in the townships: Her mother found her dead in bed this morning." He spared them the details.
The townships were the slums of Cape Town. Crimes were on the agenda there and many homes were built from wood, mud and corrugated iron.
"Are you sure no one has entered the house and killed the girl?", Connor asked.
"The girl's family owns several watchdogs. One of those would have barked if a stranger wanted to enter the house, don´t you think?!" The voice of the police chief sounded harsh. He wasn´t very happy about this incident, because again a child had died and they had no track that led them to the killer. Both murders were committed by a person who worked in the same rules, but the victims had no connection to each other. Jeremy Snow and his best friend Albert Finney lived with their families in a medium-sized area of Cape Town, while the dark-skinned girl had lived with her family in a hut made of mud and corrugated iron.
"Many murderers kill in their own ethnic group, that means...", the police chief began.
"Yes, we know what that means: A white man kills a white person and so on..."
"Anyway, we won´t rest until the killer is caught," the police chief said, "And I expect from you and your team to do the same."
They nodded.
Jack, Sue and Lindsay watched how Connor followed the police chief in an office. They wanted to talk to each other in private. Lindsay assumed it was because of the OSIR team hadn´t met the expectations of the local police. At least not yet...
"Did you know that Connor has a 100 reasons to quit- list?," Jack suddenly asked.
"No, I didn´t," Lindsay admitted, "How do you know?" She was curious.
"He told me," Jack said, but then he corrected himself, "All right, I have caught him when he added another reason to his list. He said he would quit as soon as he has compiled 100 reasons. "
"At how many reasons he is now?"
"I don´t know exactly," Jack admitted, watching Connor, who looked pretty stressed, "But I'm afraid today he will add another one..."
After this exhausting day it wasn´t hard for Lindsay to find sleep. The events of the day made her think for a while, but she was too exhausted to remain awake even longer. Today, the team had spoken to the mother of the murdered girl. The distraught woman told them she had heard how her daughter had called for help and the woman was about to enter the nursery room. But for some reason the door was locked, although that has never happened before. When the mother´s boyfriend then broke the lock and both entered the room, the two only found the lifeless body of the child. The noise in the old brick house had finally summoned the neighbors to the plan. Apparently one of them owned a cell phone, because the police arrived fifteen minutes later.
That night, Lindsay was dreaming again. She dreamed she was standing on an empty road. It was as bright as day and she recognized the road: It wasn´t a sand road in the township that passed at the house of the girl. Lindsay saw how the girl came across the street to catch a ball and then she noticed a motorcycle. All of a sudden it was dark, but the street was deserted just as before. They saw a Ferris wheel, but Lindsay didn´t notice the Ferris wheel when she was here for the first time. She wondered if it actually existed.
Lindsay turned back to the motorcycle and for a second her heart skipped a beat. She saw the same shape as she had seen in the dream that led her to the night, where the two boys were killed: The figure on the rattling bike was masked and wore a dark sweater. In the mask where two eyes that sparkled like green diamonds. The figure then grabbed the handlebars of the bike and roared in her direction. Before he reached the girl, he pulled out his machete. The child cried now because she realized the intentions of the attacker.
As the figure roared past on the child and sped directly towards her, Lindsay also escaped a startled shout.
"Is everything all right?", Connor asked and Sue handed her a glass of mineral water. They had gathered in the living area of their hotel suite. Lindsay was still trembling all over.
"The guys say you've screamed so loud, as if someone would kill you," Sue firmly said. She was deaf since childhood and for this reason she had to rely on what Connor and Jack told her.
"I had a nightmare," Lindsay said. Sue sat down beside her.
"It was almost as if I had been with the little girl that was murdered. I have seen her clearly before me..."
"Very unusual...", Connor sounded worried.
"... She was killed by the masked figure with the bright green eyes. Just as the two boys. "
"We should take this very seriously," Jack suggested, "How you know, Lindsay's dream was real yesterday, even though it was not the same." Jack, Connor and Sue discussed what they should do.
"I've seen him before. Just like the Ferris Wheel, which already appeared for the second time in my dream... ", Lindsay suddenly said," On the flight here, I had a dream in which I was standing in front of a large Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel was brightly lit, but suddenly all the lights went out. And then there was this masked figure with eyes that shone like green diamonds."
Jack sat down behind Connor's laptop and searched the internet for a website about dream interpretation. "It says here that joy, wealth and hope are associated with the color green. Green represents great love of nature, great wealth and spiritual growth."
Lindsay seemed to think for a moment. "No, I don´t think that a great wealth awaits me." And this case didn´t give her much joy, so...
"...You also said that a Ferris wheel appears in your dream...," Jack added, "That means you're escaping to the land of your dreams for a few hours, but this beautiful hope is torn into nothingness."
"Sad, but true," Lindsay said firmly.
"Can you remember what I told you recently?", Jack asked. "In Gauteng, there live some people called Zulu. These people believe in a being who robs the souls of people in their dreams. "
"I don´t like saying this", Sue admitted, "But what, if this legend indicates a grain of truth?"
Connor seemed to have thought about their idea, because the next morning he said to them: "We should talk to the neighbor of the Snows again," Connor suggested and turned to Jack, "You said he belonged to people which believe in a being that robs souls. "
"He belongs to the Zulu, yes," Jack confirmed, "I think we can talk to him again."
"Very good... Can we go there now, or should we call first?"
Jack knew exactly what Connor wanted to say and he replied they shouldn´t lose time and go immediately. On the way to the beautiful residential area on the outskirts of the city, Jack received a call from the police chief. He spoke briefly to the man and then informed his colleagues about the latest developments: "The mother of the little girl remembers she heard her daughter screaming before her death Not in the ferris wheel ."
"It starts with a Ferris wheel," Lindsay muttered and Connor was concerned: "You have seen it in your dreams."
"So we are faced with the question of what the killer was." Jack's conjecture left a queasy feeling, when they reached the suburbs.
The neighbor of the Snow family was a dark-skinned South African who belonged to the Zulu people. But he was young and so he didn´t used the traditional way of life of his people to wander in loincloth through the African bush. Instead, he lived in Cape Town with his girlfriend and worked as a DJ in clubs. He had taken away the name that his mother had given him 21 years ago and now called himself David.
"I'm excited to see how I can help you," he said to Connor, Lindsay, Jack and Sue, as he sat down on the couch in the living room with his girlfriend.
"You have heard that the son of your neighbor was killed...?"
"Yes," David´s girlfriend nodded, "It was terrible."
"The reason why we are here is...", Jack started, and looked at David, "We already had a chat. You told me you had heard one of the boys calling in the night Not in the Ferris wheel and you told me there is a being in the Zulu culture, which steals the souls of people."
"I remember," David said, "This evil spirit sometimes appears in our dreams. The Zulu believe it will help to tell other people about these dreams, so it doesn´t come true. If you keep these dreams for yourself, the spirit returnes and steals the soul." David paused for a moment. "My grandfather once again managed to escape him. But a second time, he couldn´t remember the dream in which he had met the spirit. He died in the night and cried out in his sleep the spirit shouldn´t take him."
Lindsay swallowed. She didn´t know whether to believe David's words, but if she imagined he told could be true, then she also was a potential victim.
Connor and Jack looked at each other. "What kind of people does the spirit visit?", Connor asked.
David didn´t understand: "What do you mean?"
"Is there a specific group of people who this ghost haunts?... Children, old people..."
"No," David answered, "He is interested in different souls. It´s food for him. "
"What is this spirit?", Lindsay wanted to know now.
"He shows up with a mask and has bright green eyes. Sometimes he rides on a gazelle, sometimes on a horse..."
"...And sometimes on a motorcycle."
"Possibly," David's brow wrinkles and also all the others looked at Lindsay, "How do you know that?"
"Because I have seen him," Lindsay didn´t know if she shouldn´t feel terribly sick at this moment. David leaned over the coffee table and spoke to her in a low voice, "You must take good care of yourself. There aren´t many people who escaped the ghost. You now must tell those around you every day, what you have dreamed of."
"But you don´t always remembers your dreams," Sue muttered.
"The other possibility is that you defeat the ghost. You must kill him."
"A killing spirit, what nonsense," Connor said, as they drove to the police station an hour later. The sun was shining and it was tropical warm. Sue longed secretly for the beach and the roaring sea. She rolled down the window of the car to get a little fresh air.
"If you had listening to David once, you'd know that you can defeat the spirit by staying three days and three nights awake." Jack thought, however, that this should be an easy task.
In the evening at their hotel Sue poured a cup of black coffee without milk for Lindsay.
"This is already the sixth cup of coffee I had to drink today," Lindsay complained.
"You have to drink it," Sue said worriedly.
"You shouldn´t fall asleep, you hear?", Jack advised her.
"Don´t worry," Connor said to them, "We´ll keep Lindsay awake all night."
"But how long is that going?", She asked, "I have heard that people get through a few days without sleep." She had read of people who were transformed into capricious monsters because they were forbidden to sleep.
"Only as long as the spirit is defeated... Or until we leave Cape Town," Jack answered, but they all didn´t know when that would be.
Sue was also skeptical: "In the event that we can´t keep Lindsay awake, we don´t know for sure if Lindsay gets rid of her nightmares as soon as we leave the city..."
"Well, it´s an option. It´s worth a try, right?", Jack discussed," We keep Lindsay awake tonight." So it was a done deal.
Jack took over the first shift and Connor released him on time at 1:00 clock in the morning. He was in the kitchen of the hotel suite and made a cup of coffee for Lindsay and then sat down in front of the TV. In the late show was a repeat of The X-Files when Connor took a sip of the strong brew.
"I'm tired," Lindsay yawned, who was sitting beside him, bored, "Can´t I just sleep?"
"No, unless you can control your dream and kill the spirit. Very few people can control the events in their dreams. "
"Let me guess: You can control your dreams..."
"No," Connor replied very honestly, "I recently dreamed they would fire me and I couldn´t help it: Instead, I sat on the floor and cried like a little kid..." He switched to another channel on which an infomercial ran. "I doubt you can wake up as soon as you see a Ferris wheel in your dream... That's why you have to stay awake." Connor seemed to have an idea. "How about a little sport? It´s good for your circulation... "
"We would have to go running outside," Lindsay said wearily, "The hotel doesn´t have a gym."
"A good idea...!"
"At night it is very dangerous in the streets of Cape Town," Lindsay reminded him, "It doesn´t make much difference if we are going to run outside or if I just fall asleep here."
They were interrupted by a rumbling, which came from Sue's room. Connor and Lindsay were terrified. "What was that?", she asked, "Oh God, I hope, the spirit hasn´t crept into Sue's dreams..."
"Let´s find out," Connor suggested and Lindsay nodded. They hurried to the room and walked in without knocking. They didn´t believe what they saw: Sue stood in front of the closet and grabbed her bathing suit in a bag. The window was open and because her room and Jack's room was connected by a balcony, he was already standing in the balcony door and waiting for her. Jack wore a knee-length pant and a polo shirt.
"What are you doing?", Connor asked.
Sue rolled her eyes. Now she had to tell him. "We wanted to go to the beach," she explained, "During the day, we have hardly time to do so."
"You shouldn´t be in town at night and certainly not at the beach," Connor said, "It´s a dangerous city. "
"And in this region the sea is full of sharks," Lindsay added.
"I promise you we only work tomorrow for half a day and will go to the beach after our meeting with the police," Connor swore to them.
"Do you promise?", Sue asked.
"Yes. And now come in. " Connor and Lindsay left the room and sat on the couch, but suddenly Lindsay was alone at a waterfront again. There was a funfair at the pier and immediately she noticed the large, glowing Ferris wheel. She knew exactly what that meant: She was asleep. Apparently she was too exhausted so not even more than six cups of coffee and the well-intentioned desire of her friends kept her awake.
"Oh No," a voice suddenly behind her said and Lindsay turned around.
"Connor? What are you doing here?", she asked," This is my dream. "
"What do you mean it´s your dream?", Connor asked blankly, but then he realized, "I am also fallen asleep !... Where are we?" Connor didn´t know the area. That wasn´t good, if they should have to flee from the green-eyed soul.
"I don´t know," Lindsay admitted. Green lights flickered across the sky. "What's that?"
"These are Morse code," Connor realized a scheme behind the green lights, which presented themselves in long and short strokes in the sky.
"And what does it say?"
Connor shook his head. "These are words doesn´t make a connection." He didn´t understand the message. Sometimes Connor noticed the phenomenon that he couldn´t read in his dreams: After a few words, the sentences, which he read in a dream didn´t make any sense or the letters swam before his eyes. This was because the area of the brain, by which someone was reading, wasn´t active in the moment of dreaming.
A motor noise at the other end of the promenade caught their attention. Lindsay grabbed Connor's hand when she saw the masked figure: The man perched on a motorbike and stared at her with his sparkling eyes. "There he is," Lindsay cried and the shape let the engine of the two-wheeler roar.
"Let's get out," Connor suggested and Lindsay nodded. They saw how the mind now raced towards her and before he reached up, they entered a narrow alley which led away from the waterfront.
"What shall we do?", Lindsay asked. She didn´t know the area. This here was the world of the spirit.
"Let's see where this alley leads," Connor suggested. In the narrow lane he squeezed past her and they walked until the walls led to another road. They could see there was a park across the street. In the background there was a glowing Ferris wheel. It was the same which they had seen at the pier. The green lights, the Morse code, still flickered in the sky. "You still can´t tell what this code means, right?", Lindsay asked.
"No, I can´t." Connor hated to have to confirm that. A howling engine noise caught their attention and they saw how Jack and Sue were now standing in the park. The masked figure had fixed them and was racing up to them on his motorcycle. "How did the two come here?", Lindsay asked. "They also fell asleep..."
"We have to help them." They hasted across the street and ran as fast as they could in the park. "Leave them alone!," Lindsay cried and the masked figure stopped the motorcycle, "Actually, it's me that you want! I know you are in my dreams for nights! "
"Lindsay, don´t!", Sue cried, but the masked figure had lost interest in her and Jack and raced instead in Lindsay´s direction. Before he crashed his motorcycle against her, Connor pushed her aside. They both fell to the floor and even though it was only a dream, the ground was hard and hurt their knees and hands. Nevertheless Connor crouched protectively over Lindsay, who tried to protect her head.
"What happens now?"
"He attacks us," Connor informed her. He only noticed from the corner of his eye, how the motorcyclist jumped up. In his right hand an object glittered and Connor assumed it was a machete. They heard Sue yelling. The engine noise became louder. The figure was now directly over their heads. He jumped right in front of Lindsay and grabbed her neck. His hands closed tightly around her throat. Lindsay tried to fight back, but she couldn´t.
"It's your dream. Only you can control it", Connor then said to Lindsay. She took a second to understand what that meant.
"Wake up," Lindsay said to herself, "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." She felt her arms and upper body became slowly difficult. The figure with the green eyes slipped away from her.
Then she opened her eyes and saw that her friends had bent over her and they looked worried. She had no idea if her friends had also experienced this terrible dream or if it was just her own imagination.
"What...? What happened?", Lindsay asked when she sat up, "Are you okay? Are you fine?"
"Yes," Sue nodded, "We just escaped, like you, from that terrible dream..."
Their Cape Town stay came to an end three days later. Since then, Lindsay hadn´t dreamed of the green-eyed killer again. Of course, the team had to do a lot of office stuff and Sue was sad they managed only once to go to the beach. They would need to come to Cape Town again if they wanted to see all the sights.
The team had packed their bags in the afternoon and them they collected their files and records from the hotel suite. "Here is my laptop," Connor said to Lindsay.
"I´ll get it," she said and Connor thanked her. When she wanted to put the computer into the provided bag, a piece of paper slid on the floor, which was sandwiched between the screen and keyboard. Lindsay picked it up because she thought the paper belonged to their files. When she read the title, she was surprised. "Guys!", she exclaimed in disbelief, "I have found Connors 100 reasons to quit- list." She showed them a list that was written in pencil.
"Leave it, that´s embarrassing," Connor said, trying to get the list from her, but Jack and Sue had immediately gathered around Lindsay and looked over her shoulder.
"Reason number one on Connor's List", Lindsay read, "Elsinger. "
"That doesn´t surprise me," Sue smiled.
"Reason number Eleven: The trip to Russia," Jack read aloud, "Why? What happened there?" He and Sue hadn´t been a part of the team back then and therefore they did ´t know.
"Look here," Jack said now to them, "Reason Two was wiped out..." Their nose tips approached the paper, because they hoped they could find out what reason number two was before Connor had erased it. Sue recognized a narrow line, which was pressed into the paper. The line formed the word "Lindsay". The rest of the line had disappeared.
"I am your quitting- reason number two?", She asked, horrified. Lindsay had always believed she and Connor were friends.
"No, that's...! You don´t understand", he said to her.
"The rest of the line is missing... ", Sue added, "And what is it?"
"I... Well," Connor wasn´t sure if he should tell them.
"Now tell us at last," Sue asked, "You can´t let the poor Lindsay believing she is the reason if you quit one day."
"All right," Connor gave in, "Reason number two was: I can´t go out with Lindsay."
Jack and Sue knew immediately what he meant, because in their contracts, there was a clause which said they couldn´t have relationships with colleagues. "May I also tell you that such clauses are invalid and you...", Jack began, but Sue grabbed his hand and led him away from Connor and Lindsay. When he asked why she did that, Sue replied that Connor and Lindsay certainly had to talk a lot now.
"You wanted to go out with me?", Lindsay asked, her forehead wrinkled.
"Well, that's... that..., Connor hated himself for being nervous now. Lindsay smiled. "All right, you don´t have to be embarrassed," she said, "If you sometime find the right words to ask me on a date, then go ahead."
"You mean, you wouldn´t mind?", he was surprised. Nevertheless, he returned her smile.
"Well ... Maybe..."
On the night flight back to Toronto, Jack had closed his eyes for a moment and then was still asleep. He dreamed he was on the beach and the sun was slowly setting. Then it was dark night. The sea roared. He felt the sand under his feet. But then suddenly he was no longer at the beach but at the airport of Cape Town. He was standing on a balustrade and saw Sue, who took a photo of Connor and Lindsay. They laughed and Sue said she wanted to see the big Ferris Wheel, which stood nearby but Jack couldn´t remember to have seen it upon their arrival at the airport.
The Ferris wheel appeared in front of them and it was brightly lit. But then there seemed to be a power failure. The airport building and the Ferris wheel sank into darkness and Jack noticed he was no longer alone. In the dark of the night sparkling green eyes slowly reappeared.
Fin