Chasing Waterfalls: Silver Lake Lesbian Intrigue, #2

By Cassandra Barnes

Jasmine Jones and Asia Reynolds go chasing down an international cyber crime gang in this whiz-bang, brain twister of a computer intrigue. Flying to London they help map the mysterious underground places there and in the surrounding countryside -- the clandestine places that their criminal hackers were broadcasting from. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cassandra Barnes
• Release date: Jun 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393838180

Cassandra Barnes

Cass Barnes lives in northern Maine overlooking the Canadian border deep in the forests of Aroostook County. She writes novels, poetry and is an amateur photographer and jazz musician. She contributes to several Third World animal rescues and lives with a gray striped cat named Oscar. Cass is a lesbian who marched in the very first Gay Pride parade in Chicago. She graduated from Boston University magna cum laude in Sociology and attended Harvard for graduate school. She has been writing since childhood.  Cass is also an avid computer hardware and software hobbyist. She loves to create epic scenery and plots with lesbian characters that build in her mind over time. Like a good sauce, she would like her writing to add flavor to a brighter future for all lesbians. And, of course, some understanding. Welcome to my world!

Book preview

Other Books by Cassandra Barnes

ALove to Remember Series

Secret Love: A Lesbian Romance (Book One)

Ordinary People: Carmen & Rose (Book Two)

THE SILVER LAKE LESBIAN Intrigue Series

An Island in the Sun (Book 1)

Chasing Waterfalls (Book 2—Cybercrime mini-series, Part 1)

Lesbian Summer (Book 3)

SEE http://lesbian-romance.wixsite.com/secret-love

for all book updates, paperbacks & sales links.

1|A Ferocious Winter

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to

I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all

But I think you're moving too fast.

[SONGWRITERS: LISA LOPES/Marqueze Ethridge/Patrick Brown/Raymon Ameer Murray/Rico Renard Wade

Waterfalls lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, The Royalty Network Inc.]

IT WAS ALMOST THE END of November. The weather had been vacillating between the warmth of sunny afternoons and the colder evenings after dark.  At night, the cold circulated around the darkened sky as the stars spread over the Mississippi River like a tangled archway of far-off candles. The winds blowing fiercely outward from every body of water in the small town of Silver Lake seemed to sweep the frigid air inland against the windows of homes near the local farms and forests.

The town was close to the East Cape Girardeau area of Illinois, which was next to the southeastern border of Missouri, which sat underneath the extensive, already snow-covered peaks of the Ozark mountains. The town sat right on the banks of the Mississippi river. Dark cumulus clouds began to gather over the river and drift towards Silver Lake – the home of Central Illinois University (CIU). Soon it would snow.

The lights and electricity had been flickering on and off in the home of Asia Reynolds and Jasmine Jones for a couple of days. Asia had changed all her fuses and called Elton Jamison who was a good friend and electrical engineer. He said that this situation seemed to be a Silver Lake Electric Company problem and the entire town had been having the same problems of inconsistent electricity delivery. There was nothing wrong with Asia and Jasmine’s home.

There seemed to be something wrong with the main. The suspicion was that the controlling computer at the electric company was having ghost problems in its programming. In other words, Elton Jamison felt the problem was an internal computer glitch or virus at the Silver Lake Electric Company that was defying a solution.

The problem was irritating but did not injure commerce since the blackouts did not last for more than approximately thirty seconds to fifteen minutes. Aggravating – definitely yes.

Local computer experts had been called in to try and solve the difficulties. The local guess was that it was a hacker problem – maybe just a local kid messing around. But others felt it was far more serious than that, including the police department.

Before the torrents of winter landed upon the waters of the Mississippi, there were a few warm days left to harvest the local farms and gardens and begin fall canning. Asia Reynolds, locally celebrated documentary filmmaker, took the last of her tomatoes into her kitchen and put them into a colander in her sink.

She and her lover, Jasmine Jones, turned the cold water on them and rolled their nice, firm flesh over in their hands. Wiping her wet hands on a dish towel, Asia walked over to the back door and grabbed her log-splitting ax. Jasmine asked if she could watch, since she had never seen anyone split logs – much less a woman.

Asia looked forward to savoring the end of her chores for the day, so she could enjoy one of her favorite seasonal treats – just a plain tomato from her garden, sliced and doused with a smattering of sea salt. Eaten plain, it was a piece of heaven to her. Her other heavenly pursuit was Jasmine, her lover of about a year, especially with that tomato on the side.

Asia had made the mistake that many people make and slept with a childhood friend, who immediately seemed more attracted to everyone else except her. Not only that, her ex (who had not lasted more than two days) was engaged to her electrician, Elton Jamison.

Jasmine showed up right on time. There was not that much hurt over the behavior of her old friend. Nothing that Jazz didn’t cure.

WHEN ASIA HAD QUIT smoking, she became a sugarless lacto-vegetarian, which was why her dog (then a little puppy) was named Zucchini. Not only her favorite dog, but one of her favorite vegetables, as well.

She was a big woman. Splitting logs was her version of eighteen holes of golf – splitting a cord of wood in the Illinois fall twilight. She put a light jacket on. It had the large brown letters of the SLPD (Silver Lake Police Department) stenciled on the back.

The jacket belonged to her friend Sergeant Sheila Rodriguez of the Silver Lake Police Department. Asia had no guilt over borrowing the jacket that Sgt. Rodriguez had left behind. It fit perfectly and was light enough for the extensive physical exercise that log-splitting required. Otherwise, she would be too hot. Jasmine put a jacket on, as well, and followed her outside, sitting down on a large tree stump from the wood pile.

Asia walked over to the wood pile, driving the log ax into a small piece of wood – say about six inches in diameter. She picked up the wood with the sharp end of the ax and banged it on a larger stump embedded in the hard-packed earth of her back yard. An apple fell off a tree a couple yards away. She smelled the fine, fruity fragrance of the over-ripe apples. It made her hungry for some Apple Betty with cinnamon and freshly grated ginger. Her stomach growled. She promised herself she would go down to her root cellar, bring up some fresh apples and do just that.

She thwacked another log and it split in half. She easily thwacked it into quarters. She split a small stack of logs, which soon grew into the usual square, eight-foot-long, four-foot-wide neatly stacked cord. The wood was very dry (which was good for splitting), so it took her only about four hours to complete her task.

Jazz helped by stacking the split wood.

As the sun slowly set into darkness and the air got colder and colder with the rising of a full silver harvest moon, Asia and Jasmine went into the kitchen. They rubbed the painful bunching muscles on each other’s shoulders and embraced, relaxing into each other’s arms. Jasmine kissed Asia quickly and walked over to the wall, pushing the buttons, turning on the outside lights.

Now sweating despite the ascending coolness, Asia took the SLPD jacket off and placed it over the back of a chair. She looked out the sliding glass doors in the back of her house at the cord of split wood she had just finished and blew the damp auburn curls on her forehead back, swiping them with her hand. She smiled, estimating the size of the cord with her eyes. She and Jazz would be warm and cozy until the serious snow started. She could prepare wood even after the snow began to fall but preferred to do this chore in the drier weather of the fall. The snow created an impediment and the ground became treacherous with ice.

The unsplit wood would be packed into her barn to keep it dry. She could split wood in there, and even chainsaw smaller pieces from a few large logs if she needed to while she was protected from the weather.

Her carefully insulated barn had a large oil-barrel wood stove in it.  A couple of teenaged neighborhood boys had come over while she was resting inside and packed her Silverado with the split and unsplit wood and drove it up to the barn. They loaded most of the wood into a wood storage area inside.

This was one chore she liked to have help with. She grabbed her jacket and went outside again. There were some advantages to being almost six feet tall, 200 pounds and still looking slender. She could easily use an over-the-shoulder log ax and could split any other cords she needed when she had the time.

Jasmine finished cleaning up in the kitchen, since this work was not necessary for her to help with, and she was too small for it anyway.

Asia had already hired these two local teenagers to move and stack most of the wood neatly in her barn, like she did every year. They usually left a cord close to the house within easy reach and just covered it with a tarp when it started snowing. She didn’t need all that much exercise. She did plenty of swimming at the heated local indoor pool.

She helped the boys load the back of her Silverado double-cab pickup and supervised backing up to her barn doors. That was work enough. Three sets of hands made moving 1,000 lbs. of wood (or more since she had almost six cords already split and ready to be stacked) way easier. They were done within a few hours. She went back inside her warm kitchen, rubbing her hands together, and walked back into the dining area looking for Jasmine.

AFTER SPOTTING HER sweet behind as Jazz bent over, feeding wood into the fireplace in the living room, Asia came up behind her and caught her by the waist, kissing her hair, burying her nose in the fragrance of her essential oils and herbal shampoo. Jazz turned around and smiled, pressing close. Jasmine led Asia into the living room. They sat on the couch in front of the roaring fire and fell into a deep soul state, the weather raging outside, the fire red and popping.

They both sighed simultaneously as they landed on the couch. The lights flickered off again, but the half-illumined room threw intimate shadows over the movements of the two lovers.

Jasmine laughed in the middle of a love move, and choked out, We need to light a candle.

Asia asked, amused, What for? and put her arm around Jasmine, tugging on her shoulder, her fingers playing with the cable knit on her sweater as her hands moved down, feeling the curve of a tender breast. Jazz laughed and moved her leg over Asia’s yielding thigh. She crawled on top of Asia with sudden passion. She thought, The fire, the soft light of the room, nothing much to do in the dark, except, maybe....

There was no doubt in Asia’s mind what the intimate warmth of this moment felt like in her heart. She searched under Jasmine’s waistband and pulled her pants down, running the back of her hand over Jazz’s downy skin. Jasmine moved, stimulating herself with the sensation. She clung onto Asia’s open lips with her own and moved her tongue around her mouth. Asia’s tongue darted quickly against her own in response. They matched each other’s rhythmic movements, hearts beating fast.

The lights flickered on again. They swore inside a kiss and orgasmed together, laughing and swearing some more as the lights stayed on. They lay together in a panting embrace with their eyes closed. The fire popped from a sudden upsurge of wind, sending more heat around the room. Zucchini, their huge husky mix, barked from where she lay in front of the open blaze.

Both women opened their eyes and looked at their dog curled into herself, their clothes disheveled, pulled down in haste, rolled to their ankles, their shirts pulled up, naked breast to breast. Jasmine felt a deep love and put her mouth on Asia’s breast, while her hand caressed the other one in a favorite move. Asia was helpless, stunned inside the sensation. She opened Jazz’s legs and pressed them between hers. They orgasmed together in the new light.

Then the lights flickered off again.

Zucchini stood, shook herself, looked around the darkened, shadowy room and barked again into the obscurity of the dim space. The caramel colored hair on her long sable ruff was standing on end. She let loose a pandemonium of noise, ending with a long, deep-throated growl.

Both women startled and sat up, pulling their wrinkled clothes back on. They felt a rush of cold air and heard their front door slam.

Elise Harrison, local African-American cable news anchor, Asia’s childhood friend and bisexual ex, walked unannounced into the room, after not knocking on the unlocked front door. Asia jumped and stood up, moving away from Jazz just instinctively, as if to protect her.

Asia and Elise had found an uneasy balance in their long-time relationship as friends and co-workers for the local news stations. All this, but Elise still had some lingering issues of jealousy, besides being a sort of natural snoop.

Asia and Jasmine Jones had found each other and fallen in love almost as soon as Elise had started accepting dates from men. Asia did not tolerate Elise using their love to find someone else, much less a guy. They broke up after only making love a couple of times. Elise categorized it as a fling. Jasmine was different. She was not a steppingstone to someone else. Her love was consistent and real.

Elise looked at Zookie who was still growling at her and exclaimed, Shit, Zookie, you know me! She walked over to the dog, noting the wrinkles on the couch and two pairs of socks thrown on the floor and over one of the armrests. She also noted Asia’s discomfiture. Jasmine would not meet her eyes. She patted the dog’s head and calmed her as soon as Zucchini realized who had walked in.

Asia went into hostess and co-worker mode, inviting Elise to come into the dining room and have a seat at the table. The two of them went into the dining room and Jazz gratefully disappeared somewhere, aided by the darkness.

Of course, the lights blinked on again.

You too? asked Elise, putting her head in her hand and leaning on the polished maple dining table with her elbow. No lights?

It’s sporadic. Elton said it was happening all over town.

Yeah. My station is investigating the causes.

Asia felt a flash of heat from splitting wood and making love with Jasmine. She switched on the large standing fan in her dining room which started up with a loud, audible zoom and started rotating a fine breeze, making the fronds of her Boston ferns wave back and forth. After all that hard labor and passion, she did not need that much warmth, it just made her sweat. She looked around and noticed that Jasmine was not there.

Elise mistook Asia’s querulous look to mean she had a question about why Elise would just walk in without knocking. Not that Elise hadn’t intuited her previous activity. Making herself at home at her friend’s houses had been Elise’s habit since elementary school. Asia still did a double-take when Elise just walked in and made herself at home, although she should have been used to it.

Asia still loved her, but was wary of Elise’s transitions in relationships, having been hurt so badly by her before. So, she usually had to search for an emotional balance when Elise challenged her privacy, among other things. Like now.

Last summer in their usually bucolic, farming town of Silver Lake, Elise had been instrumental in detecting when Asia fell into trouble and was kidnapped by Talbot Patterson and his accomplice Kinsey Nesbitt. The love still went both ways. It was not something either woman felt they would ever lose. Elise felt her relationship with Asia was uncomplicated and still loving.

Asia was lost in a spider’s web of conflicted emotions about Elise and felt their relationship was far from uncomplicated. She clung desperately to her love for Jasmine in these unsure moments with Elsie. There was no ardor left for Elise in her heart.

Asia felt sweat break out on her forehead – she wiped it away with her hand.

ELISE BROKE INTO HER thoughts with, "Jeez Looeez, Asia! It’s going down to the 20’s outside, you’re spouting sweat like a fountain and have the fan on! Choppin’ wood like a lady, again?"

Yes, darlin’, said Asia as she threw herself down in a dining room chair, enjoying the breeze from the fan until she cooled off. Still wondering where the hell Jasmine had gone to.

The meteorological department at KANU is predicting snow tonight, commented Elise, acting the weather-woman.

How much?

Just a dusting. Starting at about midnight.

That’s kind of nice. Makes me sleep more deeply.

It looks like an early honey harvest this year, continued Ellie with their usual summer’s-end conversation

How are your bees?

They’re okay. We moved them into the barn with gear on and we’ll light the wood stove and generate a little heat tonight. Can I take a trunkful of wood just to start up?

That’ll cost you two jars of honey.

Sure. Thanks. Elton has been busy with work and helping me. We have some very fresh honey. The last of the raspberry honey. We did a small honey harvest before we moved the wooden hive frames inside, so they would be lighter. We have to leave some honey in the frames so the bees will have enough food for the winter and make candy boards out of raw sugar. Elton is a jewel – so careful. Didn’t get stung even once.

The bees like him.

They’re nice bees.

"You get stung."

I get tense sometimes and the frames can be heavy for me.

You should go swimming more and do a sauna.

Yeah, I know. I still have my two year membership for the Spa. Call me – I’ll go with you some time.

Asia hesitated...going to the gym was something she would rather share with Jasmine. But she couldn’t think how to get out of this and said, reluctantly, Okay.

I go with Elton sometimes. Not often enough, though. He gets tired from work. Two black folks in the pool (or more if he brings his friends) is a favorite of mine. I don’t like being the only black person anywhere, you know.  I want to rent the whole place for Elton’s birthday in November. I figure I can run a cash bar and help pay for the party rentals and catering.

Sounds ambitious.

"Yeah. Make it a fine, black evening for our African-American intelligentsia. Brown people in a lighted blue and purple pool. As Harry Skylar says, ‘sweet!’. We can serve dessert from the café/bakery downstairs from the pool. They also fix party platters."

"Mmm... hummed Asia.  Get the Almontes to donate an organic, honey-sweetened chocolate ice cream cake."

Now you got it, girl, answered Elise with a grin. Everything’s gotta be chocolate for that evening.

We need something like a celebration since we are at the end of the summer. Even the Ferris Wheel is coming down, echoed Asia, thinking about her real celebration – her and Jazz. Sure as shootin’ Elise wouldn’t think of her relationship that way.

Asia was certain that Elise was still simmering a little over her rejection as well. But not enough. She still didn’t trust her and actually shied away from any touching, which was unusual, but Asia needed that space now that Elise was dating a man. Their relationship needed something like a cool breezy distance so that it could continue on less rocky ground.

Ferris Wheel?! The roller coaster is almost packed up into eighteen wheelers, too. Thank God and Jehovah! responded Elise with enthusiasm, being famous for her small-framed timidity. "Elton never got me to ride that thing with him. Probably never will. He doesn’t need all that to make me hang onto him. Not at all. I will do that for free. I don’t need to be scared to do that. No, sir! I have no need to scream from the threat of danger. I’ve had enough of that. I like my life real – peaceful – and danger-free."

Funny thing to say right now after that painful break-up, thought Asia, but small-talked her way around that cynical thought. Perhaps Elise planned on learning how to keep peace with someone other than herself.

I’m a bumper car person, as well, said Asia, with an inadvertent laugh. Life itself was tough enough without adding the danger of a possible carnival ride malfunction.

Me too, for the kiddie rides. I even like miniature golf. Miniature is my middle name, joked Elise.

You can use your smallness to your advantage. I’m too tall to play that. To me, it’s like playing golf with a toothpick.

"Boo hoo," commented the tiny Elise.

Jasmine couldn’t help laughing behind them as she listened, hidden, from the kitchen, not really wanting Elise to see her smile – or know she was there. It wasn’t jealousy, just a small amount of left-over distrust. Jazz was secure in Asia’s love, but still wary of Elise. She had to admit Elise was not only talented but also very funny, which didn’t make her less threatening. She felt a liking for her growing despite their past competition over Asia’s attention. Shoot, it was over Asia’s body – to be real. To be real, she knew the kind of love she gave Asia was sure and true and maybe a forever love. Elise definitely didn’t seem ready for that.

Asia went into the kitchen, not surprised to see Jazz washing dishes. She prepared a plate of fresh oatmeal-raisin cookies and some hot lemongrass tea. She fixed a plate of garden-fresh, sliced tomato for herself. Tomato and tea went down just fine for the vegetarian in Asia. Jasmine made an identical plate for herself, curious to taste this new snack.

Asia (sans Jasmine) usually liked her fresh tomato the old-fashioned way – leaning out the back door with a shaker of salt. With Jasmine here now, she was less inclined to do the same sloppy, comfort-zone things she used to do. Mostly, anyway.

Asia said to her, putting her arm around her, Sorry, honey. I didn’t know you liked tomatoes, too or I would have....

Jazz answered with her mouth full, her lips bright red from the vegetable juice, "Mmm, sweetness, I love yours." Elise seemed to wince as she looked away from the couple’s conversation. She, too, was working to overcome her failure to pull Asia closer. But there were other issues. So again, small talk saved it.

YUM, SAID ELISE. GOT here right on time. She let the fine lemony fragrance waft into her sinuses, pulling her chair up to Asia’s dining table. You make those? she asked, pointing at the large cookies as both Asia and Jasmine came back into the room. Jazz sat down at the table.

Yeah. Grew the raisins too, answered Asia.

My honey?

Yup. Buckwheat honey from this summer.

Elise finished a cookie and slurped some tea, loudly. "Yum!" she complimented her friend.

Asia caught a sparkle from Elise’s left hand and gasped. She saw a large sapphire set in gold and smiled. Elton gave you an engagement ring?! she asked, pointing at Elise’s ring finger.

Jasmine stared at the ring. She coughed. It was huge. The ring was huge, and the entire subterranean situation was huge. She ate a slice of tomato, her eyes still wide looking at the ring, knowing that Asia’s reaction to it could not be all good.

Yeah, sis, he did. He’s so considerate. Truly, the man of my heart.

Jazz coughed again and moved a little closer to Asia’s thigh, practically sitting on top of her leg. The move was not lost on Elise, who frowned and looked away. Her engagement to Elton seemed to fade as her excited smile waned. Lack of jealousy, no matter what, was not Elise’s strong suit. Thoughts of some impossible threesome flipped through Asia’s mind. Jazz had the same thought and shuddered.

Different strokes for different folks was Elise’s personal philosophy.

Asia choked out a conciliatory and diplomatic, Have you set a date for the wedding? Jasmine just plain choked.

Not exactly. It looks like a winter ceremony. Boots and a long dress.

Don’t you want to wait until spring?

Naw. I don’t think so. Easier to get the babies to show up in the summer this way. I don’t need to slide on any ice while my tummy is the size of a basketball, trying to get to the hospital.

Hmm...true, agreed Asia.

If two people could have identical thoughts simultaneously, Jazz and Asia looked into each other’s eyes when Elise mentioned the babies. What was communicated made their eyes sparkle with unintentional amusement. Both women were cool with babies, but "There goes Elise!" was mirrored in what they silently conveyed to each other. Jasmine couldn’t stop herself from coughing into a paper napkin...in poorly disguised laughter.

Zucchini, Asia’s huge Husky-German Shepard walked into the room and rudely snatched an oatmeal cookie from the table breaking the conversational deadlock.

Hey! exclaimed Asia. "No, Zookie! Bad girl! No, no..."

Well, responded Elise. At least it’s not a sugar sweet.

"True. But she usually doesn’t do that. She’s generally not allowed to eat from the table, let alone grab anything