Stenger seemed at a loss for words so Stella merged left to catch the exit for Santa Monica Boulevard. As soon as she had made the offramp, she glanced down at her phone again. The screen read “Call Failed.”
Shit. How much of the conversation had Danny been able to hear before the call dropped? Would it be enough?”
She tried to get her foot back on the phone to call again.
“Watch the damn road!” Stenger jabbed her with the end of the gun. She looked up just in time to swerve out of the lane and avoid a car braking ahead.
“Sorry!” Stella shouted.
“You trying to attract attention to us?” Stenger snarled.
“No! Just got distracted.”
“Then keep your eyes out the damn window. I have to tell you again and I’ll start shooting and to hell with the consequences.”
Stella kept her eyes forward, but fished around again with her foot. The swerving from lane to lane seemed to have displaced the phone. Had it slid under the seat?
She cursed again and tried to come up with another plan. She tried to stare down other drivers, perhaps mouth a plea for help, but no other drivers met her eye. She considered swerving into a pole or causing an accident that could give her a chance to bolt, but the idea of setting an enraged killer loose on innocent civilians made her think twice. If he started shooting in the street, someone was bound to get hurt. She couldn’t risk that, but she needed to find a way to bring him down now before she lost the chance forever.
They reached the affluent Bel Air neighborhood and were soon surrounded by high walls and privacy hedges that blocked any view of the homes from the road. In any other circumstances, the drive would have been beautiful. Elegantly styled topiaries and neatly manicured hedges were on display, but in the darkness they bore ominous, uncaring witness to her abduction.
Stella had hoped to see squad cars lining the street when they reached Carson’s mansion, but the entrance was deserted. She pulled up to the code box that, like the walls, was overgrown with vines.
“I don’t know the code.” Stella said.
“Get out of the car.”
Stella pulled forward a few feet, then put the car in park. Stenger climbed out of the back at the same time she exited the front. She walked around the front of the car with her hands up and stood between it and the closed gate. If they lingered here long enough, perhaps local PD would show up and end this.
“What now?"
“Shut up. I’m trying to think.”
Stella finally had a good look at him. Stenger was shorter than she had imagined, He had a sort of stunted, wiry frame, but with a lean, muscled quality that reminded her of a wild animal that had survived too long on meager pickings.
“Turn around. Get up against that gate. Don’t move.”
Stenger backed away and set one of the guns down near the call box. Then he strode forward again and started tugging at his belt. He unbuttoned his pants and began kicking off his shoes as well.
What the hell?
Passing the pistol from one hand to the other, he pulled off his shirt and stripped out of the rest of his clothes as well.
“I don’t know what you think is going to happen here, but there’s no way that I’m going to let you—”
“Shut up!” Stenger shouted. “I said don’t move.”
The now naked man kicked his clothes into a pile near the front of the car, placing his glasses atop the pile last, then moved to the gate and crouched low, adjusting dials on his watch—his only remaining article of clothing. When he was finished messing with the device, he slowly lowered the gun. “You’re going to be tempted to run. Tempted to go for this gun. I promise you won’t have time.” He set the gun on the ground at his feet, touched his watch hand to the gate, then grabbed it with his other hand and pressed something on the side. A moment later, he disappeared.
Stella blinked at the empty space next to the pistol.
Elton Stenger was gone.
She lunged for the gun.
“No! What did I just tell you!”
Stella froze, then slowly turned. The still naked Stenger was now standing next to the call box, pointing the second gun at her head.
The gate slid open.
16 Jumper
“You lying to me?” Stenger snarled. “Because I walked through that house for the last ten minutes and didn’t see anything you’re talking about.”
Stella felt like her brain was broken. It took a moment to even process what he was saying.
“It’s . . . hidden,” she stammered. “A secret room. I can show you.”
Stenger picked up his discarded clothing and the second gun. He forced her to move the car through the now open gate onto Carson Bradley’s property. They exited the vehicle again when they reached the fountain.
Stella was doing her best not to look at the naked man accompanying her, but the reality of what had just happened made her keep looking behind her, partly to be certain he was still there. Thankfully he at least pulled on pants. He put on his shirt as well but left it unbuttoned, stuffing his gun into the waistband of his pants, while keeping the Glock aimed at her.
He muttered as he checked his watch. She caught a glimpse of the glowing red light he had talked about.
Whatever hour or minute her captor had vanished to, it had clearly given him enough time to scale the wall, gain access to the house, open the gate and garage door, then jump back to the time he had left, arriving at the call box in time to pick up the gun and keep her from going anywhere. The logistics of the procedure he must have followed made her brain hurt, but she couldn’t think of any other explanation.
What she was having the most trouble processing was the physical reality of seeing him vanish. She hadn’t witnessed the moment he reappeared but she was sure it would have been just as disorienting. There had been no theatrics, no noise, only the slightest movement of the air around her, possibly rushing to fill the vacuum he had left behind.
Time travel.
Stenger gestured for her to lead the way through the garage. “You get any stupid ideas in here and I’ll perforate you faster than you can blink.”
Stella wished she had an idea. Even a stupid one, because she was running out of time.
If the police weren’t here by now, that meant Danny likely hadn’t heard much or any of her attempted SOS call. He was no doubt on the hunt for her, but depending on how much he had heard, he might be hours from figuring out where she was. She certainly didn’t have that long. Once Stenger had what he wanted, she was dead.
She needed to stay useful, or at least keep him distracted.
“What you did back there at the gate . . . How did you learn that?”
“I’ve seen it done before,” Stenger replied. “It’s how they got away from me the first time.”
Who was he talking about? Other time travelers?
She slowly made her way through the house toward the library where she knew the secret room was located.
“Why did you come back?” Stella asked. “You were in the clear after St. Petersburg. The FBI couldn’t find you. Nobody could. Why risk coming after Carson?”
“You think I was going to let him change things and do nothing about it? You know this shit was all built on lies, don’t you?” He gestured to a rack of custom guitars mounted on the wall. “The songs and the movies. None of it was his. He took it from the other time! How much else was he going to change? He was screwing everything up. You have any idea how that was messing with me? What’s the point knowing the future if you aren’t even sure it’s going to happen? The world ought to thank me for getting rid of him.”
“You were worried he was changing the future?”
“He did change the future! I don’t know how he did it. But things are all different now. Movies, music. That changed so it’s changing everyone else, screwing with time. It’s that ‘squash a butterfly’ business. Only he was stomping butterflies right and left, making a hundred other things different with
every move.”
Stella had read of the Butterfly Effect in her research, but hadn’t stopped to consider that it was happening every day of Carson’s life.
“Then how do you explain what you’re doing? You must have changed things too.”
“And I plan to change a lot more, believe me. But this time things are going to go my way.”
Stella shook her head. All his posturing about Carson damaging the timeline was just sour grapes because he hadn’t been able to do it himself.
They reached the library and Stella paused near the broad wooden desk.
“What will you do? Once you have his equipment?”
“Whatever the hell I want. Starting with getting even with the scientist.”
The scientist again.
Stella had stalled as long as she could, but there was no more time. The door to Carson’s vault lay just beyond the bookshelf. Once she opened it, there would be little chance of her surviving, and it would mean Stenger getting everything he wanted. A killer would not only remain on-the-loose, but now free to roam anywhere in time as well.
She couldn’t let that happen.
Her heart was pounding, her instincts telling her she needed to run, to scream, to do anything to get out of here.
But after all of her work, she couldn’t let him jump away and never come back.
Or could she?
An idea struck her.
He’d been forced to put the gun down in order to jump. It wouldn’t go with him. And if the watch was as low on power as he seemed to think, maybe him jumping away would be the exact thing she needed him to do. It would buy her the time she desperately needed.
With Stenger blocking the exit from the library, she was defenseless. She didn’t even have any weapons at her disposal.
Well, maybe there was one.
She took a deep breath and adopted what she hoped was an awed tone. “Can I say one thing?”
Stenger narrowed his eyes, clearly suspicious.
It made her nauseated to even be trying this, but she was an FBI agent, damn it. There was no way she was letting him win.
If she could just get close to the watch . . .
“It’s just, you must be so smart to have figured this stuff out all by yourself. I have to admit, it’s kind of . . . sexy.”
She held his gaze. She thought there was no way he was going to fall for it, but she waited breathlessly, biting her lip.
“Well, it wasn’t easy. I can tell you that,” Stenger muttered.
Maybe she had a chance.
“I think it’s incredible,” she said brushing her hair back behind her ear. She then let her fingers trail down the neckline of her shirt, her fingertips brushing the exposed skin at the tops of her breasts. “I mean, we’ve been hunting for you forever and you always elude capture. But I have to admit, part of the reason I was so excited to be on this case was that I wanted to meet you. You’re our number one most wanted. Everyone in the Bureau knows your name.”
Elton Stenger’s mouth twitched. It was the briefest hint of a smile. “It’s about time I get some recognition. They don’t know the half of what I done.”
“Can I—can I look at it?” She pointed the watch. “It’s so beautiful.”
Stenger tilted the face of the chronometer toward her. Her fingers drifted toward it as she studied the various rings and fobs. Which one had he pressed to activate it? Jessica had said it was a pin on the side . . .
“Hey, no touching.” Stenger recoiled.
“Sorry, it’s just so cool.”
“Let’s see this secret room already.” Stenger waved the gun. “I don’t have time for distractions.”
The spell was broken.
Stella winced and turned toward the mantlepiece. She reached for the award trophy she had seen Jessica use and gave it a twist. The bookcase to the right of the fireplace slid open, revealing the secret doorway.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Stenger muttered. “You were telling the truth.”
He took a step forward, then hesitated, his eyes on Stella. “Don’t be thinking you can shut me in there.”
He snatched up a log from the basket of firewood and positioned it in the track of the sliding bookcase, then he grabbed her by the arm and hauled her into the doorway ahead of him, the gun pressed to her lower back.
“Any booby traps?”
“Not that I know of,” Stella said.
“Let’s see you find out for sure.” He shoved her forward.
Stella stumbled a few feet and regained her balance as she reached the microwave-sized gravitizer. She turned and gestured toward it. “This is what you are looking for, right? So your clothes can stay on?”
“Find me the charger.”
Stella had no idea what the charger for a time travel device even looked like, but imagined it had to have some manner of adapter plug on one end to work in any of the electrical sockets. She scoured the room for outlets, noting the sliding bookcase had closed again, bumping into the log Stenger had laid in the track. Only a narrow gap remained as an exit.
She kept an eye on Stenger as she searched. Once he had what he wanted, how much longer would she be alive? She tried to breathe and calm her nerves.
Stenger took the opportunity to shove his clothes into the gravitizer box, stripping back out of his pants and shirt. He fiddled with the controls to try to activate it. After punching a few buttons and flipping a lever, the gravitizer began to glow with an eerie blue light.
Stella scanned the cubby holes lining the walls and noted that one held a portable fire extinguisher bottle. She eased herself closer.
That’s when she spotted the basket with a charger cord resting near Carson’s open logbook.
While Stenger was preoccupied with getting on his newly gravitized pants, Stella bundled the charger cord into her left hand and backed up against the cubby with the fire extinguisher. With her right hand behind her back, she felt for the handle of the extinguisher.
“Is this what you’re looking for?” she asked, extending her open palm with the charger cord.
“About time,” Stenger said, reaching for it. Stella brought her palm back a few inches, causing Stenger to take a step toward her.
She brought the fire extinguisher around and swung it as hard as she could at his head. Stenger ducked forward and the extinguisher missed his skull, striking him at the juncture of his upper back and the base of his neck instead. He groaned and staggered forward into the countertop.
Stella dropped the extinguisher and bolted for the door, kicking the fireplace log loose and leaping through the narrow gap in one motion. She spun around to shove the bookcase door closed. She heard it click just before the gunshots erupted from inside the room. Two books were blasted from the shelf beside her, bits of paper scattering in the air as the bullets passed through. A third book struck her knee and a searing hot pain lanced though her lower thigh.
Stella dove behind the desk and rolled, getting back to her feet a moment later and scrambling toward the door. Her heart was racing, but not as fast as the rest of her. She crashed into the library door, flinging it the rest of the way open and sprinting for the front of the house. She could see the expansive living area at the end of the hallway but the moment she stepped into it, she was caught in the face by a swinging fist.
She went down hard, spinning and slamming into the floor face first.
Her ears rang and her vision swam with tiny stars. Her eye socket felt like she had been struck with a mallet.
When she rolled over and opened her eyes, Stenger was looming over, still half naked. His foot came down on her gut in a merciless kick, causing her to gasp and curl into a ball on the floor. She writhed in pain.
Stella gasped and coughed.
He was so fast. Too fast.
The floor was slick with blood and she realized it was coming from her leg. In the rush from the room, she had barely noticed the wound, but now it was on fire.
“You think you could pull one over
on me!” Stenger screamed.
Stella rolled to her knees and tried to scramble away, but he was on top of her in a flash, grabbing her by the hair and yanking her head back. She shrieked as he pulled her upright. He clawed at her hand, then yanked the charger cord from her fist. He proceeded to wrap it around her neck, choking her airway.
“No!” Stella realized too late what he was doing and clawed at the cord with her nails but he had already pulled it tight against her skin. She yanked on the arm he had around her neck but he was too strong. She tried to throw an elbow back into his ribs but he simply absorbed the blow.
“You can never escape me!” Stenger hissed.
Stella managed to get her feet under her and with a desperate push, stood and thrust Stenger backward. They crashed into the wall next to the living room fireplace, then reeled across the room, glancing off chairs before colliding with a low railing that divided the living room’s theater area from a separate sitting room. Stella attempted to force Stenger backward over the railing, but her leg gave out.
Stella fell to her knees and Stenger went down on top of her, his right hand still pulling on the cord around her neck, his left palm braced against the floor near her face.
She struggled for breath, her fingers scrabbling uselessly against the tension of the charging cord. Stenger’s hot breath was in her ear as he struggled to restrain her. She railed against his grip on her, but her energy was fading. The last burst of adrenaline had only gotten her so far and she no longer had the strength to fight. Her lungs burned.
Oh God.
This was how she was going to die. Murdered by a time traveling serial killer no one even believed existed.
Why had she ever tried to find him?
Her chest spasmed. Blackness was closing in. She tried desperately to pull on the cord around her neck with one hand while her other struggled to hold her weight up. But she lacked even the strength to do that anymore. Her vision narrowed until all that she could see was Stenger’s hand planted on the floor next to her.
But not just his hand.
The watch.
The blackness was beckoning. Her vision faded to a single point, but she used the last moments of her consciousness to focus on the watch. She took the hand from her neck and she could only claw at the watch feebly with it, but her fingertips found the bezel and the fobs on the side and one catch that toggled sideways to access a pin. The circular rings of the watch shimmered in her fading vision. It was a thing of beauty. Silver and black and a pretty little arrow pointing to a setting for one minute.
Agent of Time Page 11
