by Teya Tapler
“How much did they pay you to betray me?” Mort yelled.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Emil yelled back.
“Where is my red notebook?” Mort yelled and then fired a weapon. A piece of red leather stapled to a wooden cube flew out the door. Another weapon was fired and a blue light shone. Before Zander and Evan reached the opened door, Emil ran out and pressed his back to the wall in the corridor.
“He has an anger-powered weapon. Be careful!” Emil told Zander.
“Weren’t those recalled?” Zander asked.
“Yes, for anger management reasons. This guy missed the memo.” Emil nodded toward the room.
Zander turned to Evan who was still squeezing his hand, “I’ve to go help Emil now.” He carefully freed his hand. “But I’ll be back. “Just wait for me out here.… You’ll be safe.”
She looked through him and nodded silently in reply.
Zander pulled his transcaster gun, changed the settings with two hands, and loaded the bullets he got from Peter. Then, on Emil’s signal, both of them ran into the room.
Evan sat down, her back against the wall, knees close to her chest. She hugged her knees. It made her feel safer, as if someone else was hugging and protecting her. She waited. She wasn’t crying anymore. Her knight in shining armor was going to watch over her. Her sobbing quieted down and she dried her tears with the end of her T-shirt. Evan took a deep breath and looked around, dazed with disbelief. The runner on the second floor balcony in front of the room and on the stairs was torn in several places. Some of the banisters were missing and the crystal chandelier was hanging sadly from the ceiling above the living room downstairs. That had been a really beautiful house. The Morts had had a pretty lavish lifestyle.
Evan caught herself thinking of how Mr. Mort would be very angry and mad at Kevin once he returned when her irritated wrists reminded her of the recent events. She looked down and massaged the red marks left by the rope. Touching the chafed skin, she remembered how Kevin kidnapped her; the fight between Zander and Kevin in the basement; how … Kevin shot Zander and … how she screamed, feeling cold and alone and desperate. The feeling of emptiness came back as she remembered her heart being ripped out. The memory about the terrible reality that she would never be able to see Zander again dawned on her.
Evan warily looked at the room Zander and Emil had gone in. Every now and then the entrance would flash in blue, then in red, then in blue again. Buzzing and rumbling followed every flash. Her heart jumped at the thought of what could be happening in there.
She was worried about Zander. Never before had she cared about the guys around her. She thought they were passing through her life bringing compliments, fun times and gifts. There was always the next guy, eager to take the place of the current suitor. Zander was always there when she needed to be protected. He was the one carrying her to safety, making her feel different. Was she in love with him?
Miss Evangeline Shtuttgart, what is going on with you? She asked herself.
“That was a great shot.” Zander’s voice dispersed her thoughts. The relief, the wild joy and happiness she felt when Zander returned into the basement safe and sound rushed into her again. The sound of his husky voice cleared her dark thoughts.
Evan moved her eyes toward the sound and saw Zander and the copper skinned man with curly blond hair coming out of the room, mechanically putting their guns at the back of their jeans and pulling their T-shirts and jackets over them. The movement was as natural to them as breathing.
Emil saw her first and pushed Zander in her direction. “Go and calm her down. We have to bring her with us to New York,” Emil said, then ran down the stairs and shouted from the living room, “I’ll start the car and wait for you there. We have to leave before the police arrive.”
“Are you okay?” Zander looked down at Evan.
She stood up, stepped on her toes and dared to kiss him on the cheek.
“Thank you,” she said softly. After everything he had done for her, those two simple words didn’t seem enough.
He didn’t say anything, just smiled and stroked her face gently with his left hand.
She liked his touch. It was gentle and soothing; his fingers warm against her skin. Then she remembered how Kevin’s hand had moved in an unwanted direction and shifted her head as Zander had bent his head to kiss her cheek…his brotherly kiss landed on her lips instead.
Evan was surprised but she didn’t protest. She felt the blush coming to her face and closed her eyes kissing him back.
None of that was not supposed to happen. He was supposed to watch over her and maybe become her friend. That was one of his many assignments. That wasn’t his real life. She is just another client! Emil’s words rang in Zander’s ears and he gently pushed Evan back. She reluctantly let him go and they ran downstairs.
Chapter 22
“He’s gone,” Emil reported in the communicator. “Over.”
They were driving away: Zander sitting next to Emil and Evan sleeping in the back seat of the Saturn.
“We’re on our way to New York,” Peter’s voice came back to him. “Could one of you go and check the location before our arrival?”
“What’s your ETA?” Emil asked back.
“One pm Eastern Standard Time at JFK airport. The rendezvous is at five pm in the city. Over,” Peter said.
Emil turned to Zander. “How many bullets do we have left?”
Zander searched all his pockets then looked at Emil. “None.”
“We’ll be there in less than eight hours. Let’s get ready for his return. Over.”
“Understood. I’m sending you the details and will wait for your observations. Over,” Peter said.
Emil tapped his communicator and looked at Zander. “We need to empty the house and tie up any loose ends before going to New York. I expect an unannounced visitor.”
Their house was at the end of the town, hidden from the main road by a wide strip of bushes, oaks and pine trees. Emil stopped at the driveway and looked back at Evan.
“Wake up, dear,” he said and touched her arm. The unfamiliar voice startled her and she jumped, still half asleep, eyes quickly studying her surroundings. When she recognized Zander, Evan smiled sheepishly and said, “Where are we? I thought I was still in the basement.”
“We are at number three Velvet Shadow Trail, Hamptonville, Massachusetts. We are only five blocks away from Pebble drive. Come on in. A quick meal can do wonders,” Zander said and got out of the car. He opened the passenger door and stretched his hand in front of Evan. She hesitated for a second, realizing she barely knew her companions. The thought of locking the doors and driving home or simply running away in the darkness crossed her mind; they were not so far from her house. She looked at Zander then searched for the other guy. Emil was already unloading something from the trunk. Zander stood in front of her smiling reassuringly, offering her his hand. His eyes were telling her that there was nothing for her to be afraid of, that everything was going to be all right.
Evan looked around. That was a not-so-familiar part of Hamptonville. It was close to midnight and the sky was covered with thick clouds. She couldn’t see further than the first row of trees. The house was a picturesque cape with a red front door and a two-car attached garage with breezeway. Nicely trimmed rhododendron and azalea bushes grew around the house from its surrounding garden and the scent of cedar mulch filled the air. She saw large pebbles arranged between the garden and the path to the front door. Someone had spent a lot of time preparing that manicured landscape. Everything around them looked safe and serene. Evan took Zander’s hand and he led her into the house all the way to the kitchen where he opened the refrigerator. She looked up and down the fridge and freezer areas. There were no fruits or vegetables inside and there were more frozen foods and soda cans than anything else. She pointed to where she thought Emil was and said, “I’d love to have a spicy chicken supreme pizza if he could give us half an hour.”
Zan
der didn’t reply. He pulled the pizza from the freezer and set the oven temperature to 400 F. He opened the box and put the pizza in the still cold oven closing the door with his elbow. He looked like a guy who had prepared dozens of frozen dinners before, each time ignoring the instructions spelled out on the box. Watching him take off his shoes and tossing them in the direction of the corridor made her think everything was normal again. They seemed like two friends preparing dinner together before going back to study for the math test the following day. Evan started to forget all about the kidnapping and the frightful events at the Thunder Gate Mill mansion. She turned back to the fridge and pulled out two soda cans. Tempted to follow the host she closed the door of the side by side fridge with her foot. Life felt normal again. The cold oozed from the cans onto her hands as she turned and placed them on the counter. Still lost in the thought of how normal everything around her looked at the moment, Evan opened both cans, picked them up and silently stretched one of her hands in front of Zander.
The oven-ready beep echoed in the kitchen and she dropped both cans on the floor. The containers rebounded off the tiled floor and bumped at each other before rolling in opposite directions. Colorful liquid gushed out and covered the tiles around their feet. Bubbles formed and moved from tile to tile, joining with other bubbles along the way. Evan froze, eyes glued to the ever growing puddles. The feeling that her life was normal again started to melt away and the insecurity crept in.
“Yeah, don’t worry. It could happen even in the most affluent families. That’s easy to clean.” She followed his voice to see him pulling some kitchen towels from the roll next to the sink. Seeing her baffled expression, he smiled reassuringly and without noticing where he was going stepped into the puddle with both feet. The color of his socks started to change as the liquid moved up, starting from his toes.
That also looked and felt normal. Nothing bad had happened. It was just some soda spilled on the floor. Evan smiled back.
While Zander and Evan were in the kitchen, Emil went to the basement where they had set up a portable communication center. The scanner at the door recognized his organic signature and the lights went up. Emil went to the desk and waived his hand above the two credit cards laying there. The holo-threens acknowledged him opening the tri-fold holographic screens. The mission details from Peter lit up. Emil printed them and started packing the equipment. It wasn’t much: two holo-threen computers, ammunition, the scanners from the entrance and a small printer. He put all of that in a duffle bag and armed the detonators. He wasn’t happy with that part of the policy, but they were required to destruct every building where they’d set up a portable communication center. Those higher up in the TTA hierarchy had explained that procedure with the not being allowed to change the past mandate and the advanced knowledge traces inevitably left behind in every such settlement.
Evan and Zander were sitting on the kitchen isle eating pizza. Emil left the duffle bag in the foyer behind the front door and headed upstairs. Evan noticed him and waved a slice of pizza and a soda can, inviting him to join them. He gestured back that he has some work to do upstairs and tapped his communicator.
“This is just another client,” he told Zander. “I hope you know what you are doing. Over.”
He heard Zander choke and cough in reply. After a while his response came back, “I’m okay. Thanks.”
Upstairs, Emil freshened up in the bathroom and changed his clothes. That made him feel human again.
“I’ll go and get you some clothes.” He heard Zander’s voice and footsteps coming up the stairs. A few seconds later Zander opened the door without knocking. “What are the details?” he asked, barging in.
“Policy change, effective immediately: you’re required to knock on the door before entering the room,” Emil enjoyed teasing Zander about his bad habits.
“Sorry, I-” Zander started then noticing Emil’s smile changed his tone, “Seriously? What is wrong with you?”
Emil patted his shoulder, “I couldn’t resist. Sorry. The details are that Mort had requested the pearls to be dropped in a trash bin at the corner of Broadway and 5th Avenue in New York, exactly at five pm tomorrow evening.”
“Someone has to be in visual distance to activate that portal. You cannot set this to trigger automatically,” Zander said.
“Someone or Zull Mort. That was a great shot indeed but I doubt that it was successful,” Emil said.
“You saw him being transcasted,” Zander said.
“Don’t forget that he’s always armed and cannot run out of bullets.” Emil pointed to the palm of his left hand.
Zander kicked the bed and the mattress slid few inches off the box spring. He had forgotten all about Mort’s experimental weapon. It meant they had to kill or incapacitate Zull Mort on the spot in that time dimension. Based on the location of their next task, there was quite a potential for things to get messy. Trying to think about the situation in light of these variables, Zander scanned the room as if the answer could be hanging on one of the walls. The four blue duffle bags in the corner of the room were glowing through their seams.
“What’s going on with the pearls? Did they do that yesterday?” Zander asked.
“No,” Emil said, then quickly compared the differences and added quietly almost to himself, “The girl! She must be doing something to them.”
“You sure?” Zander asked. “She’s only a 20th century girl and these come from the future. There is no way that she could be related to them.”
“Let’s keep an eye on that,” Emil said.
“You’re the boss.… By the way, do we have any clothes I could give her? She has been through a lot and we had a soda accident in the kitchen,” Zander wiggled toes inside his wet socks.
“Here, these are Mary’s and the way this is unfolding she won’t need all of them.” Emil threw a small package to Zander. “Let the girl rest for a while. We’re leaving at three am sharp to avoid any rush-hour traffic and have enough time to secure the perimeter.”
Zander took the package and left the room, leaving wet marks on the hardwood floor every so often. He ran down the squeaky stairs and entered the kitchen in one breath. He didn’t see Evan there and his eyes frantically scanned the room. A damp trail lead from the not very well wiped soda spill on the floor to the living room next door. The footsteps ended in front of the sofa, where Evan was sleeping, snuggled among the pillows like a kitten.
Chapter 23
Eyes closed, Amanda was lying on her back, hidden in the attic of the pool house. Her ears were trying to capture every little sound coming from the outside world. In her mind she counted the policemen steps as they returned to their cars. She closed her fingers one by one as the car doors were slammed shut and the engines started. Once the last vehicle left the driveway and she was sure the police was no longer in Thunder Gate Mill, she rolled over and made her way down. Her hands carefully slid three of the boards and she squeezed herself through, stepping on the backrest of the wicker settee below. From there it was a light jump to the floor.
That time of the year the mornings were often cold and crisp. The fog from the nearby Charles River covered the town of Hamptonville before sunrise. It was almost five o’clock in the morning and the sunrise was two hours away. The birds were waking up, chirping happily that the snow was still far away.
Amanda cleaned the few dusty stains she saw on her outfit, adjusted her dress and, barefoot, headed toward the main house. The area around the pool was wet and the grass in the backyard covered with dew. She tiptoed carefully, her feet slipping every few paces until she reached the stairs leading to the second-floor balcony. That entrance seemed safer than going around the house to the front door.
The stairs to the back balcony were covered with glass and bottle pieces. Remnants of wooden frames and furniture paved the way to the now broken French windows. Amanda’s right hand instinctively touched her heart as she gasped; tears filled her eyes blurring her vision, distorting the view of her surroun
dings. She loved that place; she was the one who decorated it when they moved in seven years ago using the same color scheme and materials the elder brother liked. Royal red, white marble and gold were the three pillars of her design. Those had been used for ages to emphasize the status of the inhabitants of palaces and castles.
She moved toward the stairs and up to the second floor to Mort’s office, maneuvering among the debris scattered all around her, extremely careful not to cut herself on their sharp edges. Once there, Amanda stopped at the threshold and peeked inside. The room didn’t resemble Mort’s office. His office had tall bookcases covering both walls up to the ceiling and a heavy oak desk with a banker’s lamp on top. Zull was usually seated in the soft, red leather high-back manager’s chair behind that desk. There used to be four heavy, red leather armchairs in front of the desk and a floor lamp in one of the corners. Today Amanda couldn’t recognize the place: one of the armchairs lay broken behind her in the middle of the second-floor balcony, with armrests clinging in awkward positions and a missing leg; the second armchair had its springs exposed through the broken backrest; the third one had a huge hole in its seat while the fourth armchair was nowhere to be seen. Several of the bookshelves were broken showing the brick-walls behind them. The carpet was gone, as if pulled up by a magician, exposing the expensive hardwood floor underneath. The desk was toppled on its side and she could see the back wall through the round openings in its otherwise marvelous white marble top. The broken banker’s lamp was hiding under the books, which were sprinkled all over the room.
