by A J Kurtz
“I understand, Marcel. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.”
He nodded, accepting her apology. “That’s enough for today. We’ll start fresh tomorrow at six in the morning. If you’re late again, don’t expect me to be here waiting.” He continued packing up his belongings and she watched him for a moment.
“Can I talk to you before you leave, without you speaking down to me?” She tried to ask in the nicest way, but it still sounded like there was an attitude in how she said it.
His eyes grew wide. “You think I’m speaking down to you? I talk to everyone this way, Morgan; it’s nothing personal.”
Part of her was relieved, the other was still a little unsure about him. If he spoke to everyone that way, she bet he didn’t have many friends, something she was also in short supply of herself.
“I’ll try not to. I wanted to ask you if you’d be interested in grabbing a drink after this?”
A hint of a smile played across his lips as if he were actually contemplating saying yes. She hoped he’d agree to it, even though it was ballsy of her to ask after pissing him off.
“Let me take my things home and get a shower. I’ll pick you up in about an hour and a half.”
Her hands began to sweat and she felt warmer than before. She never expected him to agree to it. In fact, she’d thought he was going to give her another lecture. “Great.” She smiled back at him.
A couple of hours later, Morgan was waiting outside for Marcel to pick her up when she recieved a phone call.
“Make it short, he’s about to pick me up and I don’t want look suspicious.” Morgan told the caller. They conversed briefly. “Yes, everything is going according to plan…” When Morgan noticed Marcel’s SUV driving up, she ended her call.
When the door opened and she got in, she saw that Marcel was wearing a handsome blue suit and tie, and she wore her favorite black dress. They headed to a restaurant instead of a club. Morgan wasn’t expecting dinner, only a drink; she found herself pleasantly surprised. They ate dinner and each of them had a drink. He mostly talked about his work with the government but switched things up when he asked about why she was hellbent on ruining Agent Jaymes Ryker’s and Kensie Rockwell’s life. This was a topic she’d wanted to avoid at all costs.
She cocked her head. “How do you know—”
He smiled over her bewilderment. “Your dad mentioned it. I’m wondering why you’re wasting your time. Are you trying to get back together with her?”
The topic made her tense up and start to feel stressed. “It’s a complex situation. I’m doing what my father wants me to do even if I may not always agree with his choices. I’m not trying to get back together with her. If anything, this will push her further away, and maybe that’s a good thing.”
He nodded as if he understood. “You’re protecting her in your own way,” he stated, relaxing back in his seat. “You still care, but you don’t want to cross your dad or the higher-ups.”
She shrugged. “Yet, I’m the bad guy...I can’t ever win.” She took a sip of her drink.
“I don’t think you are. Morgan, if there were a way to get you out of this, would you get out?”
She gave it some thought before answering him. “If I betray my father, I betray the people above him, and I’m certain they would kill me.”
“I understand. Would you feel comfortable enough to tell me why you’re after your ex?” He raised an eyebrow, which made him look even more attractive to her.
Why is he asking so many questions? Is he interested in my life or is he going to somehow use this against my father? She made a quick decision: that she could trust him. There weren’t that many people she could trust anymore.
She leaned in, placing her elbows on the table, and lowered her voice so that no one else could hear. “At some point, Kensie unknowingly became a target…” She stopped herself. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you the truth. Frankly, I don’t think many people can.”
He leaned in towards her. “A target, by who? And whatever we talk about stays between us. I can handle anything you throw my way.”
She hesitated. “The people my father’s working for had shown an interest in her for some reason, and we thought it would be easy—until the agent showed up. My father is interested in fame and money, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”
“That was vague...What kind of agent and what about you? What are you expecting the outcome to be?”
That was the first time that anyone asked her what she wanted—well—since Kensie and she had broken up, anyway. She’d figured that helping the Elite was a one-way ticket to death...it never occurred to her that she may live.
If she continued to talk to him about what was going on, then she would have to tell him everything about the MMEA, and the Elite. She would be jeopardizing herself and the entire mission. She had already made up her mind that she was going to trust him, but telling him the whole picture wasn’t for the faint of heart. Would Marcel really keep the biggest secret in the world?
“If I tell you everything, I’m putting your life and my own in jeopardy.”
He chuckled. “I can handle myself, but you—you need to work on your training so that you can keep yourself safe.”
“You’re right and I swear I’m going to take it seriously.” She fidgeted uncomfortably.
He placed his hand over hers unexpectedly. “Good, now start from the beginning.”
She fought internally over opening her mouth to tell him the truth. Maybe if she told him, she would feel better about everything and actually have someone on her side who understood this part of her life. Or was she about to make the biggest mistake of her life?
4
Jaymes
He wasn’t surprised by Riah’s question, but the fact he’d forgotten to let go of Kensie’s hand. What was I thinking? The line between a professional agent and his private life was beginning to blur together, and the last thing he wanted was to look unprofessional...yet, Kensie made him feel as if it didn’t matter. I really need to be more careful about my intentions towards Kensie. I like her, and I don’t want it to appear as though I’m moving too fast for her.
Riah’s eyes shifted between the two of them. Kensie’s cheeks were flushed; there was no doubt that she was embarrassed to have been caught holding hands with him.
“...or is she your mission?” Riah added, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve been searching for the artifact. Agent Stone and the others believe that it’ll lead us to the orb. Kensie Rockwell, this is Agent Riah Lennox. She and I have worked together on several different missions until she decided to go off on her own. Basically, she’s a good rogue agent who knows how to stitch people back up. And Riah, my second mission was to locate Kensie, and make her aware that she’s capable of time traveling...and then it got complicated,” he explained.
“Hello. Kensie, nice to meet you,” Riah extended her hand and shook Kensie’s. Her attention then turned to Jaymes. “Cassidy complicated?” The topic seemed to have piqued her interest.
Speaking about his deceased girlfriend wasn’t something he wanted to do with anyone—other than Kensie. He felt like she should know those sorts of things about him. Not for pity, but as a friend, she deserved to hear about some of his past.
“Nice to meet you, too, Riah.” Kensie smiled at her.
Riah gestured towards the kitchen table for Kensie to have a seat. Once Kensie was seated, Riah gathered a scalpel, antiseptic, and bandages to take out her microchip.
“How bad is this going to hurt?” Kensie asked nervously. Jaymes could tell Kensie wasn’t a fan of being cut open, which was completely understandable.
Riah handed Kensie a bottle of whiskey. “Whiskey bad,” she answered.
Riah began cleaning near Kensie’s temple. Jaymes searched Riah’s cabinets for some pain reliever for Kensie. He remembered downing over half a bottle of Jack Daniels before Riah had even started with an incision, and yet it had still been painful.
He wanted it to be as pain-free for Kensie as possible.
Riah hesitated before she began. “Kensie, before I do this, you need to understand that once I take this out it’s going to notify the government in both timelines, here in 2082 and your timeline, that you’ve disappeared. They may say it’s voluntary in 2075, but they track everyone that has it in. I’m not to be held responsible in any way for this. If you ever get questioned, I don’t exist.”
Jaymes handed Kensie some over-the-counter pills for the pain; she chased it down with the whiskey. As Riah began, Jaymes did his best to distract Kensie by talking.
“Nice hiding spot you got here, Riah. What have you been up to?”
Kensie winced from the pain, and gripped the arm of the chair she was sitting in. If she moved, Riah could mess up, and accidentally kill her.
He wanted to hold her hand, yet he refrained from doing so. He knew the grief he was already going to receive from Riah, and he didn’t want to make it any worse.
“Thanks. Yeah, it’s home, for now. Before Jackson took his mission in Los Angeles, he’d stopped by to get his chip out, too. He asked me if I wanted to go with him, but I’ve been busy,” Riah informed him as she started pushing around in Kensie’s skin, trying to find the microchip. “There it is!” She’d found it and started slowly taking it out.
Jaymes wasn’t surprised that his brother, Jackson, would invite Riah to go along with him. The three of them had been friends for many years, and Riah was like a sister to them. Well, at least Jaymes anyway.
“You say he went to L.A.? I need to go find him. We’re going to need his help, and yours too, Riah.”
“How much is this job paying?” She hadn’t bothered looking over at him, as she focused on getting the rest of the microchip out. Once it was completely out, she handed it to Jaymes and began to stitch Kensie back up.
Jaymes dropped the microchip down to the floor and stomped on it until it shattered into pieces. “Agent Stone will take care of all that.”
Riah finished up stitching and cleaned the dried blood around Kensie’s stitches. “I don’t know, Jaymes.”
“Are you on a mission or are you avoiding Jackson?” Jaymes questioned.
Riah flashed him a dirty look. “I recently finished a mission. And why would I be avoiding him?”
“Thank you, Riah,” Kensie said standing up.
“No problem,” Riah said.
Jaymes noticed that Riah was avoiding answering him, and he shrugged. “I know how Jackson pushes people’s buttons, Riah.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not my type, and I think that bothers him.” Riah cleaned up from the procedure as she talked. Kensie and Jaymes exchanged bewildered glances.
Jaymes hoped he or Kensie could get information out of Riah about what was happening between her and Jackson, but she could be standoffish with most newcomers, and he understood being guarded.
“I haven’t met Jackson yet. What’s he like?” Kensie asked Riah innocently. Jaymes knew that Kensie wasn’t good at lying, but had somehow perfected the whole ‘innocent’ act.
“Let’s see, not only is he Jaymes’s identical twin brother, he’s a huge pain in everyone’s ass. If it wasn’t for Jaymes being his brother, I wouldn’t put up with him. The only half-decent thing I can say about him is: he’s good at finding out information on the computer and can hack into nearly anything.”
Jaymes chuckled. “He’s not that bad. He’s straight forward; you’ll find out once we meet up with him. Riah seems to know exactly where he is…”
Riah shook her head. “You really need my help that bad?”
“The more help we have to search for the artifact, the more likely we’ll find it,” Jaymes responded.
“What do you know about it so far?” Kensie chimed in.
“I found out while searching through old MMEA files. This particular artifact is supposed to be somewhere in Pennsylvania. I don’t believe Jackson had that information when he left. That’s why we need to find him and let him know,” Jaymes answered.
Riah looked like she was pondering over what to do. “Give me a little time to consider going with you.”
Jaymes nodded towards the door to Kensie. “We have something we need to do. You know where to find me, Riah.”
Kensie and Jaymes headed back out into the alley. “What are we doing now? It’s not safe for us to be around here after being chased after,” she voiced her concern.
“I figured while she’s making up her mind, I’d take you on our first official date since the last time didn’t turn out the way either of us wanted it to.” They walked back to the car. Once they got in, Jaymes gave an address, and the car started driving down the street.
Kensie was silent as they drove toward his house. He wondered if she had changed her mind about going on a date together. After all, she’d seemed pretty adamant about going on one.
“We can do something different if you’ve changed your mind?” he suggested.
Her eyes connected with his, a smile forming on her lips. I was thinking about my first attempt at time-traveling...That was most definitely not a date. I think it’s really thoughtful of you to have come up with something else.”
What a relief it was for him to hear. He smiled back at her. “I tried to tell you your first attempt wouldn’t make for a great date, but you didn’t want to hear it.”
The car drove them outside the city. About a half-hour later, they pulled up in front of a tan two-story home with a large front porch and a two-car garage next to it. The doors opened up and they slid out the car, heading up the porch steps to the door. Jaymes placed his hand over a fingerprint scanner, and there was a click as the door unlocked.
As they went inside, Jaymes showed Kensie around, explaining that he shared his home with his brother whenever they were back in their timeline. Each room was unique, adding each brother’s personal style to it. Jaymes preferred light colors and enjoyed feeling like he was at the beach, whereas Jackson liked dark colors, like green and blue.
After a tour of the home, they ended up back in the kitchen. Kensie had taken a seat at the center island while Jaymes began digging out food from the fridge to make them something to eat.
“You and your brother have a beautiful home.” Kensie complimented. “Are you cooking for me?”
“Thank you, and yes, I am. Your choices are alfredo chicken, burger and fries, or steak and potatoes.”
“What does the chef suggest?”
“I’m a steak kind of man.” He grinned at her.
“Steak it is. Can I help you?” Without waiting for an answer, she got up and began washing dishes.
He enjoyed being around her more and more each day. She never reminded him of the past or pushed for information. As much as he told others and himself that he didn’t want to get close to another time traveler, he found himself orbiting her as if she were the sun. She was light in the darkness he’d been in for a long time, a lifeline.
“Allow me to cook for you.” He shot her a smile as he started cooking the steak.
“I have a question and I’m hoping you can answer it for me...why do you need me to find the artifact? Couldn’t you or someone else find it? Not that I don’t want to help, I was merely curious.”
He froze in place. He knew this would eventually come up in conversation; he hadn’t prepared himself to answer. Who knew how she would react to what he had to say and what if she decided to walk away?
5
Serenity
When Kensie left with Jaymes, Serenity went to check on her parents, praying that they were safe. She hoped while Kensie and Jaymes were off saving the world, she could at least keep things under control at home.
She sat down and ate dinner with her parents, who asked why Kensie hadn’t made it for dinner. Kensie never left her any explanation for her to use, so she needed to be resourceful with her answers.
She looked across the table at them both. “She didn’t want me to tell anyone, but she went on a trip with J
aymes.
David’s eyes grew wide. “Oh really? She never mentioned seeing anyone to me. Good for her.”
Elizabeth poured her and her husband more wine. “Darling, I thought I told you about Jaymes? Kensie said if it were anything serious, she’d bring him here to meet us.” Her eyes shifted to Serenity. “Where did they set off to?”
Think Serenity think. “He surprised her with this trip, and he wouldn’t tell her where they were going. Her guess was that they were heading to New York, but who knows? If I hear anything, I’ll let you both know.”
Her father smiled. “That sounds very romantic. Have you met Jaymes? If so, what do you think?”
She was beginning to feel like she was on trial for her sister’s whereabouts. If they didn’t stop asking so many questions she was going to cave and tell them everything. She knew they wouldn’t believe a word of it.
She wiped her mouth with a napkin and pushed her plate aside. “He’s not only gorgeous, but he’s also kind, and I think he’s good for her. Anyway, I’m going out tonight. I’ve met a guy who might actually be worthy of bringing back here to meet you both,” she beamed. She had been seeing a close friend of hers the past few weeks and she felt good about where things were heading. He was nice, smart, funny, and caring: a rare combination. She’d met him at a photo shoot, and hit it off instantly. Now they were taking things one day at a time.
“I’m happy to hear that, Serenity. We just want you girls to be happy.” Her mother smiled at her. She wondered if her mom was telling the truth. Did she really want what was best for them both or was she trying to live vicariously through them?
She mused over the thought of her mother being a CIA agent. She could tell a lot of things simply by a look or mannerism.
