Revolution in Time (Out of Time #10)
Page 22
Burgess fell back onto the ground, hitting his head hard on a branch. Instantly, his body went limp, and his head lolled to the side.
Jack grunted and got to his knees. This guy was like a cat. How many lives did he have?
Jack shook his head and looked with disgust at the frayed edges of the rope he’d used to tie Burgess up still wrapped around the man’s wrist.
“That was too close for comfort,” he said and then saw it—a bit of pink in the snow. He reached for it, then drew back in surprise. It was a knife, and its blade was slick with blood. Fresh blood.
He felt his own grow cold as he turned around and saw Teddy—hands clamped to his stomach, face caught in surprise—just before he fell to his knees.
“No.”
Jack scrambled over to him and helped ease Teddy onto his back.
“No, no, no,” Jack whispered.
Teddy shivered and lifted his hands. His palms were drenched in blood. Teddy had taken the knife meant for him.
“Jack,” Teddy said, but Jack shook his head.
“It’s okay,” he said, fearing it wasn’t. Knife wounds to the stomach could kill a man in minutes.
“I gotcha.” But inside his heart pounded and his temples throbbed.
Teddy lay shaking on the ground.
Jack pulled out his handkerchief, and Teddy winced in pain as he pushed it onto the wound. He placed Teddy’s hands back onto his stomach. “Hold this as firmly as you can.”
He didn’t have much time. Reluctantly, he left Teddy’s side and dragged Burgess back toward him, so he could be touching him when the key took them. Although, right now he’d much rather just kill the bastard and be done with it. He glanced at Teddy and knew he couldn’t. Not in front of him.
He took off Burgess’ coat, and then bound his hands and feet as tightly as he could.
He eased Teddy up a little so he could slip Burgess’ coat under him and laid his own over him. He had to keep him as warm as he could.
“I got ya,” Jack assured Teddy again, kneeling over him. He took over pressing down the ad hoc bandage.
Teddy gasped in pain.
“I’m sorry.”
Teddy shivered. “It does hurt. He was right.”
“Who was?”
Teddy half-smiled through his pain. “Me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
THE WORLD COALESCED AROUND them. Simon could feel Elizabeth’s hand in his, and little else mattered. They were back, safe and sound, in Teddy’s laboratory.
“You should get off of there,” Victor said, nodding his head toward the platform they were standing on. It was a relief to see him. Hopefully, their mission had gone as planned. “The others should arrive shortly.”
Simon and Elizabeth walked down the few steps to the concrete floor, and he noticed a woman, Quincy, in her nightclothes and robe bound and gagged in the corner of the room.
Travers peered behind them then pursed his lips. “Where’s Phillips?”
“Dead,” Simon said.
Travers looked ready to lecture him on killing and not capturing their enemies, and Simon was more than ready to respond when the tell-tale blue lightning began to arc above them.
Victor gestured as if to say, “You see?”
Simon glared at him then turned to glare at Travers. If he wanted—but his thought was cut off when Elizabeth gasped.
“Oh, my God.”
Simon jerked around, his blood cold, thinking something was wrong with the baby. But before he could ask, Elizabeth ran from his side and onto the platform.
“What happened?” Travers asked.
Jack knelt over Teddy, his bloody hand pressed to the little man’s stomach. Beside him lay another man, Burgess.
“Stabbed. We need to get him to a hospital,” Jack said. “Now.”
Elizabeth turned back to look at Simon, her fear and worry clear.
“Get the car,” she told him.
He hesitated. The man lying next to Teddy appeared to be alive. Both he and Quincy would try to kill Elizabeth given the chance.
“Go,” Victor said. “I will watch them.”
Simon gave him a quick nod and then, with one last look at Elizabeth, he headed for the stairs.
He took them two at a time and ran across the lawn to the house. The keys to Teddy’s large black convertible Oldsmobile were on the console table in the entryway where he always left them.
Luckily, Simon was familiar with the quirks of the old car. He’d taken Elizabeth out for drives in the country when they’d been stuck here after bringing Niels. He managed to get it started on the first crank.
By the time he drove it across the lawn to the barn, the others were just coming outside. They loaded Teddy in the back as carefully as they could and, once everyone was situated, Simon stepped on the gas. Jack explained what had happened, finally, on the interminable ride to the hospital. Twenty minutes later, they arrived.
Their clothing caused a stir, but Jack cut right through it. “Re-enactment.”
Thankfully, the staff didn’t waste time with questions and took Teddy away on a gurney. The double doors swung closed, and the frantic energy to get him there alive was abruptly brought up short.
Elizabeth stood there staring through the small glass window in the doorway. If anything happened to Teddy Fiske, she’d be devastated. Simon went to her side and slipped his hand around hers. He gave it a soft squeeze.
“I’m sure he’ll be all right,” he assured her, hoping he was right. With a knife wound, one could never be sure.
“I know he will,” she said, then even managed a tired smile. “I’ve seen the scar.”
~~~
Teddy sat down gingerly in the chair of his library. He’d been lucky—very, very lucky. The knife had missed his vital organs. He’d be sore and would have to be careful, but his wound would heal.
Despite that, Elizabeth worried. “Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable in bed?”
He shook his head and winced as he settled in. “I want to be close to my books.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t know, I think—”
“Mrs. Dunlop will take care of him,” Simon said.
She could hear the impatience in his voice, not that she blamed him. While the others had returned to the present, she’d insisted they stay a few days to make sure Teddy was going to be all right. After all he’d done for them, it was the least they could do for him.
Teddy nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
Elizabeth put a blanket on his lap and looked down at him, unable to find the words to thank him. He’d reinvented time travel and nearly died. What could she say to him that could possibly cover that?
Simon put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s time, Elizabeth.”
She knew it was, and she knew this wasn’t really goodbye. But it sure felt like it.
She leaned down and kissed Teddy’s cheek. “Thank you.”
He smiled and then looked down at her belly for a moment. “She’s wonderful, you know. Your Charlotte.”
The simple sentence took Elizabeth’s breath away. Their Charlotte.
She didn’t ask how he knew. Teddy was just Teddy. She smiled again and stepped back, taking Simon’s hand.
They turned and walked toward the door; a key waited for them in the lab.
When they reached the door, Teddy called out. “I’ll see you soon.”
Elizabeth paused at the door. Was that a regular old goodbye or a prescient promise? Teddy didn’t say, and she didn’t ask.
Simon tugged on her hand. “Let’s go home.”
~~~
The last thing Simon expected to see, or wanted to see, was Peter Travers standing in the middle of his living room.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Good to see you, too,” Jack quipped from the chair he was lounging in.
Simon glared at him, and he had the good sense to take his leg off the arm of the chair and stand up.
Simon would deal
with him in a minute. Travers first. “Working for the Council doesn’t give you the right to break into—”
“Hawkins escaped.”
Two simple words but they nearly sent Simon’s world spinning out of control. His chest seized for a moment, and he felt Elizabeth take hold of his arm.
He put his around her. “What do you mean?”
Travers shook his head. “We managed to capture everyone else involved—”
“But not the man who ordered my wife’s murder?”
Travers blanched slightly but nodded. “We are back in control of the Council, and we are doing everything we can to find him. He won’t get far.”
Simon felt himself being pulled under. Would this nightmare never end?
“I’m sure he’s far from here,” Travers assured him. “He’s a man on the run.”
“And they’re never dangerous,” Elizabeth said.
She gave Simon a sideways “Can you believe this?” look and then rolled her eyes heavenward. And sadly, yes. Yes, he could believe this was happening. Was there to be no rest?
Jack stepped forward. “He won’t get to you. I promise.”
“He probably won’t even try,” Travers added.
“Probably?” That was hardly the comfort Simon wanted.
“His entire operation has been dismantled. He has no power now.” Before Simon could interrupt again, Travers held up his hand. “I have every available man on it; I promise you. We’ll find him.”
Simon clenched his jaw and took in a deep breath as his fear for his family threatened to overtake him. He felt Elizabeth’s arm go around his waist.
“We’ll be all right,” she said and looked up at him with such certainty and strength that he believed her. In that moment, he chose hope over worry.
He smiled down at his beautiful wife and then looked across the room to Travers.
“Thank you.”
Travers’ eyebrows arched in surprise, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Simon interrupted him.
“Whatever else you have to say, it can wait. For now, I’m going to spend a quiet evening at home with my wife.”
He smiled down at her, and together they headed for the stairs.
“You can show yourselves out,” he said, without looking back.
They walked slowly upstairs.
“It’s good to be home,” she said as they neared the landing.
He grunted in thought.
This house felt like anything but home without her. It had been a prison. Now, with her, it was filled with hope and life. But there was still one thing missing.
As they reached the top of the stairs, she continued on toward the bedroom, but he stopped.
She turned back to him. “Aren’t you coming?”
“In a minute.”
He walked down the short hall to the nursery. The door handle was cool and solid in his hand as he turned it. He pushed the door open, leaving it ajar as it should be.
Now, he was home.
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Out of Time Series
Out of Time: A Time Travel Mystery (Book #1)
When the Wall Fell (Book #2)
Fragments (Book #3)
The Devil’s Due (Book #4)
Thursday’s Child (Book #5)
Sands of Time (Book #6)
A Rip in Time (Book #7)
A Time of Shadows (Book #8)
Voyage in Time (Book #9)
Revolution in Time (Book #10)
Saving Time Series
Jacks Are Wild (Book #1)
Book #2 - coming soon!
Hollywood Heroes Series
The Frame (Book #1)
Book #2 - coming soon!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Monique was born in Houston, Texas, but her family soon moved to Southern California. She grew up on both coasts, living in Connecticut and California. She currently resides in Southern California with her naughty Siamese cat, Monkey.
She's currently working on an adaptation of one of her screenplays, several short stories and novels and the next book in the Out of Time series.