Threshold of Danger (A Guardian Time Travel Novel Book 1)

by Rachel Trautmiller

  Except, he would've been the search crew—the time his own. Haley had to know that. He wouldn't send just anyone to check up on her. He hadn't sent Jeff, which meant his lieutenant was doing that thing Simon had advised him not to do. He'd been doing it for a long time, if Sam's words were any indication.

  Losing his head in relation to his ex-wife.

  Simon would deal with it. Just as soon as he handled Haley.

  Haley who hadn't been held accountable to anyone in years. Not even to herself.

  I found something. Meet me at the warehouse.

  And he'd wondered—was still wondering if this was the best idea—as he approached the area where the warehouse had once been. Out of sight from the road, Haley stabbed a shovel into the dirt.

  Was whatever she'd found something he wanted to see?

  Or had he given her a chance for absolutely no reason that jeopardized lives, his job, and his sanity?

  Simon stopped near a duffel bag. Haley continued her progress on a hole big enough for the roots of a sapling to fit inside. There was no landscaping items in sight except the shovel she held. But there were other holes, all around the same size, peppered around the lot. And she was lucky whatever was in the bag hadn't walked off yet.

  "You actually came." She slammed the shovel into the packed clay. Brought out a pitifully small clump of the earth and put it beside the hole.

  "Why would be the question."

  Another hack into the earth. She still hadn't looked in his direction. A scant bit of wind blew a strand of her dark hair around. "Can't answer that for you. You're either insanely crazy or ridiculously smart."

  He probably fell somewhere in the middle of those two. "How about the digging. Can you explain that?"

  "Looking for something."

  "Something you obviously haven't found as you inferred on the phone."

  She stopped. Looked at him then. Sweat dotted her temples. There was a smudge of dirt across her forehead. Her brown eyes scanned his face before they shot to the bag between them. Her sneaker hit the middle of it and nudged it forward. "My gun. The one you say I attempted to shoot my sister with." Her gaze hit his again. "For the record, I didn't."

  He wasn't touching the bag. "I'd love for your word to be all I need to take care of this."

  The shovel left her palm and hit the ground in a hollow echo. Then she squatted near the bag, unzipped it, the motion slow and amplified in his mind. His hand instinctively went to his hip, the strap on his holster already released.

  She revealed a small gun safe. Then pushed in a code. Opened the drawer. A Glock was nestled inside. She didn't reach for it, but instead stood. "Haven't touched it. It's been in my trunk for a few months."

  Which meant there wouldn't be any residue on it.

  She'd likely had it in her trunk since being evicted for nonpayment even though there was money in her account. She'd had a job—foreign correspondent covering everything from the war on terrorism to the living conditions abroad. The majority of her stories had covered the military. A fascination that likely came from her military upbringing. She'd been overseas when she started tracking the then little-known story of Theo Trenton. "Why?"

  Haley picked up the shovel. "Let's not pretend you don't have all of that information."

  His muscles released a fraction. He toed the safe closed. "Fair enough. Do you have a concealed carry permit?"

  "In the bag."

  "Why not use the money in your account to lease another place? Or buy booze. Drugs. Sex."

  She hacked into the earth again. "Not my money."

  There was no defense. No denial. "That hasn't stopped a lot of people."

  "You obviously don't know the Colonel. If I touch one penny, I'll have to live by his rules. I'll answer to him."

  Everything inside of him went on alert. He knew the Colonel to be an upstanding guy. Dedicated. Quiet. History had proved that there were people hiding in all walks of life. "And the rules are?"

  She shook her head. "You have what you need. The rest speaks for itself."

  "Haley." He stepped closer. Resisted touching the shovel as much as he wanted to pull it from her hands. The edges held splotches of red, the handle bearing the same color. He peeled one palm back from the wooden surface.

  It was raw and bleeding, the number of holes hitting him all at once. "What are you looking for?"

  Her fingers curled into a fist, her pulse increasing beneath his hands. "Proof that Anne Morris was here the night this place went up in flames."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  North Carolina 2004

  HIS MOM WAS home. And Ricky was in big trouble. Maybe more than that. The truth of it sat like a lead anvil in his gut. This year had been full of hoping and praying. Building toward moments that might make a life better.

  Or make them all worse.

  He couldn't control the outcomes. Only give opportunity to the actions. And there were plenty of what-ifs to last his lifetime and then some, the biggest standing in front of him in his backyard.

  "Listen, kid. I didn't sign on for this." Theo Trenton had his arms crossed over a black T-shirt with an artistic American flag across the center. Theo was a ticked-off grizzly bear with a soft gummy bear interior he rarely showed—one that likely made the grizzly bear exterior produce his jowls more often than not. His grim gaze scanned the ramp Ricky had built with his dad five years ago and came to rest on him, shuttered.

  Of course it was. Ricky understood that. What he was asking—had already asked—wasn't a decision a man made lightly.

  Or at all. Ever.

  Theo's back was toward the sliding glass door that led to where they stood. He looked about as happy as a rattlesnake caught in a trap. "I'm all for helping those in need, but this is out of my scope of practice."

  The magnitude of what they were facing wasn't anything any of them had ever dealt with. It was foreign. They were fighting blind.

  But it was war. A silent war.

  "You're asking me to go against everything I stand for."

  Ricky's mom hadn't exited the house yet, but he knew she was home. Standing inside somewhere. Surveying this scene. And he'd have to explain.

  Get in. Get out. Stick to the truth. Those were the things Ricky was supposed to make sure happened no matter what. Those were the conditions his parents had laid out before he set out on any absorption or slingshot.

  He tried his best to stick to that. But this...

  If he admitted he'd interfered, they'd be mad. If he didn't say anything, they'd be mad. And his mom would know in a millisecond.

  She always did.

  Which meant he had to approach all of this with finesse. "I know this is irregular, but you have to trust me."

  Theo put his hands on his hips. "I gave you the benefit of the doubt at the beach."

  "And there were people in danger."

  Theo shifted, the hard lines of his face all aimed at Ricky. Anger emanated from him, the grizzly bear realizing something endangered its cubs. "Somebody put my sister in the ocean. Strapped a cinder block to her waist and tied her hands so she couldn't get free right off the shore of my property. With my wife and children sleeping nearby. That's personal. This isn't a game."

  "And you saved her."

  "From what, exactly? I won't ever know. It's not like I can check up on her. Ask her who put her down there."

  "That's not part of our job."

  "I never asked for this." He took a breath, then scratched his chin—the five o'clock shadow forming there. "You expect me to believe that in a few short years I'll be MIA and presumed dead."

  Not presumed. Actually dead. All of this had been a large gamble. Reaching out to Theo. It had taken time. So much time. The bridge of trust was already built—a culmination of effort he never wanted to repeat. Ricky needed the guy to take the first step on the architecture.

  Or a lot more people would die.

  "Desertion? Do you have any idea what this will do to my wife? My children?" He s
hook his head. "The men I command."

  "I imagine it will be very tough." His mom approached, her words causing Theo to turn in her direction.

  "Mom." Ricky moved toward her, reaching her side in seconds. "I can explain."

  She draped an arm around him. "You will, Son." Then she focused on Theo. "Major Theo Trenton." She shook his hand. "I see you've met my son. I'm Vi."

  Theo's jaw moved. "I'd comment on the very strange way I've encountered Ricky, but I'm gathering that this is normal. Seeing as you're not freaking out or calling the cops."

  She smiled. "You have a daughter about his age, right? Two other little girls with your coloring and hair. You never wanted children—never wanted to worry about passing on genes no doctor could see. That the world would never believe. Would exploit if given the chance. With the older two, you got lucky. They have no traveling ability whatsoever. The youngest is another story."

  His jaw clenched. "My daughters are not open for discussion. And that part of my life is over."

  His mom nodded. "I understand the need to forget the ability to travel in time. Leave it behind. But what happens when little—Madison is it?—what happens when she realizes she can absorb or slingshot and her father is gone? And her mother doesn't have any idea what she's capable of."

  "A risk I'll have to take." He turned and headed toward the sliding glass door.

  He couldn't leave. It couldn't end this way. There was so much riding on this moment.

  "There's a research center dedicated to the discovery of new and innovative medical advancements. They could easily stumble across a mutated gene that's so rare there's no name for it."

  He continued onward. "Sounds like a problem that's easy to avoid. Don't volunteer for medical studies."

  Ricky moved to block his exit.

  His mom held him back. Shook her head. "You're in the military, Theo. You know where half of our country's technology and innovations start. You won't even know it's happening. Not unless you can see an absorption or a slingshot."

  He stopped. Jerked back toward them. "That's conveniently vague, Vi. What do you mean by see it? What exactly will I not know is happening?"

  "There are travelers who can see an absorption. Start to finish. They can follow you into any travel situation. Garner information that is sensitive."

  "Again, sounds like something I'll just avoid. No travel. No problem." His gaze flicked to Ricky. "I'm all for saving people, kid, but I can't do this weird stuff."

  "A man killed himself over this weird stuff and your sister. Think about that."

  Theo worked his jaw. "You're gonna have to find someone else." Then he disappeared as if he'd never been present. Left them standing in the backyard.

  His mom straightened, her green gaze assessing. "What are you doing, Ricky?"

  "He doesn't realize how many lives he could save. You're always saying that our presence is a ripple that affects the entire lake. Why doesn't anyone believe it?"

  "He'll be back."

  "How do you know?" So many people were counting on him. Haley. Anne. Sam. Sam stood to lose the most in all of this. The way she could see time travel wouldn't go unnoticed for much longer.

  "I'm your mom, I'm supposed to know or I'm supposed to figure it out. I assume all of this has to do with the wet clothes I found that smelled like sea water. We live twenty miles from the closest body of water—farther from the ocean. Last time I checked, you weren't old enough to drive. And you don't have money for the bus."

  Yes. He was in so much trouble. "Don't get mad. I can explain."

  "Okay." She folded her arms across her chest, already gearing up for a lecture. Gearing up for top investigator. "Explain."

  "There was an accident."

  "Where?"

  "California. Avila Beach. It's less touristy than Pismo. Quieter. It was dark. A woman was drowning. She was hurt. I couldn't leave her."

  But he could only save one. There was only time for one. And Haley was on the shore. In danger, too.

  He didn't know where the danger came from. Who. He knew it was there. Right on Theo's portion of beach property.

  "And you found out about this nameless woman how?"

  Of course she knew. She had to. Haley had been showing up at random intervals for almost a year. Sometimes he brought her here. Sometimes she made it on her own. And every time was like the first. But last time... "I can't quit yet. You have to trust me."

  His mom didn't say anything for three of the longest seconds of his life. Then she started toward the house.

  He followed. Worried she'd forbid him to go back. That like Theo, she'd take one look at the situation and say it was easy to avoid, her own skin the only important one in this venture.

  "Then you have to be up-front. Got it?"

  Relief flooded through him.

  "Were there weapons being used?"

  "Not while I was on scene."

  "The woman was drowning—did she fall in?"

  He shook his head. "Someone beat her pretty badly."

  "Did Haley do it?"

  "I don't know." He shook his head. "I don't think so. She had a giant goose egg on her head. She wasn't very coherent." From too much alcohol or the hit to the head, he wasn't sure. "I... I sent her to Elliot."

  There wasn't an ounce of emotion on his mother's face. "You know what interfering can do."

  "Both of them would've died." Haley at the hands of whatever mess she'd created—one Ricky was still trying to decipher—and Claudia Morris by the water filling her lungs. "Haley told me about the woman beneath the water. Where she needed to go to be saved. So we sent her to Sam. And she's alive, but I don't know how long she'll stay that way."

  "We?"

  "Theo and I." Because Theo could say no all day long, but in the face of danger, he'd never back away. The soft interior wouldn't let him.

  Ricky was counting on it.

  "So you have to go back."

  "I do." To protect Haley. Protect Claudia. Bring Anne home. Save Sam. Stop an entity that would never really die. "I can't leave things the way they are."

  "You can't control the outcome, Ricky. Whatever will be, will be. People make choices. You have to make choices and the only ones you can control are your own."

  He knew that. How much he knew that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Present Day

  THERE WAS A list of names.

  Haley could see it in her mind. It was long. Blurry. There were details. Addresses. Closest relatives. Medical conditions.

  It had been in her fingers. Someone had given it to her. She'd watched it fall. Watched the flames crawl over it. A boot squash it. A masculine hand pull it from the heat.

  That won't do any good.

  "Haley." Sam's voice brought her back to the present. To the quiet office inside Hope Alive.

  Haley stood at the window looking at the fountain in the center of the shopping area. The way the water sprayed upward before coming back to the fountain in a never-ending loop.

  The names were gone. The paper wasn't in her hands. Instead they were both wrapped with gauze—Simon's doing. He'd been so careful, Haley had been mesmerized. Lulled into a false sense of security. The kind she hadn't had in years. He hadn't grilled her for answers she didn't have or said much beyond a quick comment on what he was doing.

  He hadn't asked why she couldn't expound upon what she was looking for. Why she'd voluntarily put herself in that neighborhood. Why she hadn't felt the pain of the blisters on her hands until he'd peeled her fingers from the shovel.

  How was she supposed to admit that she couldn't remember large chunks of time? That there were flashes of memory all mixed up in her brain.

  "Hal."

  "What?"

  Sam's footsteps moved against the marble flooring as she made her way to the window and came to stand next to her. "Claudia said you took her to Shaver Lake six months ago."

  "So you said." There was a distant blur of the moment. Of blood and fear. The sme
ll of nicotine and alcohol. The overwhelming sense of failure. It was all jumbled up with the noises in her skull.

  "Why?"

  "I don't have those answers."

  "Find them. This is important. The only thing that's keeping you from handcuffs right now is—"

  "You and Simon." She turned. "I'm well aware."

  "I have nothing to do with it." Sam shook her head. "I didn't even know about the evidence at Shaver until an hour ago."

  No. That didn't make sense. Simon didn't owe Haley anything. If anything, he had more than enough reason to put her behind bars, even without her gun. The only thing that made sense was that Sam had asked that he delay the process. Otherwise he would've detained her already.

  "What do you know about Claudia's accident?"

  She was bleeding from her head. In shock. It was cold. The taste of liquor. The smell of sweat. And then the scene was gone. Fizzling out before she could latch on. And then there were waves. The rope. The cinder block. And Theo. "What if I don't fully remember it because it hasn't happened yet?"

  Sam shook her head, not an ounce of anger on her face, only concern. "It happened, Haley. The proof is in a hospital bed."

  Sam's concern had always been there, but Haley hated it. Wanted to smother the emotions it evoked. The concern should've been hers. Not Sam's.

  Haley swallowed back the urge to do something she'd regret later. "Think in terms of absorptions, slingshots, and sleepwalking. I know you don't like to talk about it, but maybe we should. Just this once."

  "It's—"

  "I'm FBI Agent Vi Knight." The words—spoken from a raspy voice Haley would recognize anywhere—filtered through the partially open door. "I'm here to speak with Samantha Billings."

  Her heart started a frantic rhythm. Her gaze was glued to the half-open door. "Did she just say Vi Knight?"

  Shock was all over Sam's face. "That's what I heard."

  FBI.

  Haley moved toward the door, the flash of sirens and lights alive only in her mind. She spotted a short woman with blond hair in a ponytail. There were lines on Vi's face that hadn't been present yesterday when they'd met. And Haley hadn't thought to ask where—what time—they were in. There'd been too much noise in her brain, too much pain in her heart, too much everything for her to really think straight.