Zach's Law by Kay Hooper

staring at that door. A chill was playing up and down her spine, and a sudden fear clenched her heart.
    “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
    Why, she wondered, had he said what he did just then? Had some Scottish forebear of his own gifted Zach with a presentiment of danger? There had always been danger, of course, but why did she feel now as though it were much closer and far more deadly?
    She gasped suddenly as a dizzying wave broke over her, only dimly surprised that she was somehow being granted a second gift of vision. The image flashed with lightning swiftness, and a moan broke from her lips in a sound of anguish.
    No. No, it wouldn’t happen.…
    The image was gone, and she was left staring at the closed door. Vaguely, she wondered at the arguments that it was possible, given knowledge, to change the future. Either she had been given two differing glimpses of the future, or else … or else both would take place. Unless she could somehow change at least one of them.
    There really was no choice for her.
    She found herself standing before the computer, and sat down quickly. She turned the machine on, her thoughts centered on the man who meant more to her than her own life.
    “Forgive me, Zach,” she whispered into the silence of the cabin. “I have to do
something
.…”
    Her fingers were steady and sure on the keys, and her brow furrowed as she concentrated intensely on remembering the sequence. Swiftly, she typed out the proper access codes.
       An hour passed, and Teddy paced the cabin. The computer had been off for half of that time, and her nerves had stretched to the screaming point. She was no longer thinking of what she had done, that was past and unregretted.
    She thought instead of what had driven her to it. She had wondered, in the beginning, how people survived the awful ache of love, and Zach’s physical possession, though bluntingthe pain, had left the yearning intact. She thought she would never lose that, even if Zach one day learned to love and trust her completely. The thought of it held no terrors for her.
    But what
did
terrify her was the possibility that Zach would go forever beyond her reach, leaving only the terrible anguish of knowing just a part of his love. If he sent her away, or walked away himself, at least there was the belief that she would somehow be able to hold him in her arms again. But if he were taken from her by an act of violence—
    She frowned a little, something nagging at her. After a brief hesitation she went over to kneel by her luggage and purse. A moment’s digging brought out the case of tranquilizer darts that Zach had returned to her purse. She held it thoughtfully, then scrabbled through the luggage he hadn’t bothered to check in the beginning. The dart pistol was just where she’d packed it.
    Acting on nothing but the need to be prepared,she readied two darts and loaded the pistol, then put it and the case in her purse. Then she carried the purse to the table and left it there before beginning to pace again.
    God only knew if she’d have reason—or a chance—to use the pistol, but having it ready made her feel just a bit less helpless. And she was an accurate shot, there was that.
    The pacing didn’t help and she stopped, swearing softly.
    Teddy shivered, hugging herself for a warmth that never came. She was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt of Zach’s that swallowed her but bore the faint musky scent of him. And she was afraid.
    She was desperately afraid.
    When the first shot came, she literally jerked under the emotional impact of it. Then she stood frozen, hearing the second shot and the third. Before the last echoes had died away, she was tugging open the door and running, completely forgetting the pistol in her purse. Half a dozen steps from the cabin door shepaused, looking around in an effort to get her bearings. Impenetrable forest surrounded her, but a fourth gunshot jerked her to the right and sent her racing, only one thought, one