A Temporal Trust (The Temporal Book 2)

by Martin, CJ

  “Shhh…” the man said, returning to his position behind her. He rested his gloved hands on her shoulder and leaned into her ear. She almost smiled. She had done what she was doing to many men, many humans that she wished to deceive—the fearful and hurt lady in distress desperately in need of a man to make things right for her. But his weakness was not lust or power over others; his was a seduction of pure fear. “I know you had no time.” He backed away from her. “Maro lives.”

  “How do you…” She stopped mid-sentence.

  “I know because I’ve seen him.”

  “Yes, my master. Forgive me, but I have one question.”

  The top of his hood lowered slightly indicating a nod. For the briefest of moments, she saw his face change to that of an older man. It had only been momentary, but unmistakable. She did not dare let a smile form on her face.

  “Master, were the remaining collections cancelled?”

  “Your old friend, Marcus, commanded the planes to only land during the daytime.”

  “A mild inconvenience.”

  “Yes. But it means no Nephloc and it will be harder to find Perazim willing to make the journeys. Marcus has wisely chosen to keep it a secret. He alone will give the authorization and it will not be in advance.”

  “Master, we are so close to our revenge. I want their heads; I want their blood!”

  “As do I, but patience, my love. Our armies are not yet ready.”

  “Training at the foundry is ahead of schedule.”

  “Good, good. With Marcus having warned the remaining Temporal, we have lost our advantage. It was an inevitable outcome, but one that I had hoped would have come after more Temporal become dust.”

  Kaileen bowed slightly. “Forgive me for allowing so many worms to escape.”

  “I am pleased with you Kaileen. You have excelled beyond many of the old masters. I have heard the echoes, echoes that will come to pass should you remain obedient. I have seen you defeat them all!”

  She bowed deeper, and upon rising, she began to walk toward the newly formed hole in the wall.

  “Hunt for him, Kaileen,” she heard the reverberated voice behind her say. She turned to see no one. The bodiless voice continued. “Send all the Perazim you can spare to search from every direction around the mountain. Find and destroy Maro. Search where you can until I am able to retrieve the names and locations for you. I will do so even if I have to personally rip it from Marcus’ brain!”

  Kaileen stepped outside, smiling. She had seen her master’s true appearance. It was only a moment, a fleeting glance, but she was sure of it. Not only that, but he was overly concerned with Maro. Like Sam, Maro could possibly be a threat to her master. She found a patch of earth appropriately dark and began the process. A moment later, she was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sam headed to the kitchen. He was exhausted. Trying to keep track of all the Temporal while worrying about Ian and the Nephloc spy was a terrible burden. Adding to the confusion, Dr. Bracker’s thoughts, feelings, and intentions were still blocked to Sam’s gifts. This continued to bother Sam even though there was no rational reason to doubt his trustworthiness. Dr. Bracker had earlier delivered Marcus’ phone and done everything in his power to aid the rescue. Sam’s gift, after all, could be ineffective to most people around the world. He didn’t know. But he did know that this was the first person with whom he had come into contact that he wasn’t able to at least feel out.

  All this almost made him forget he was hungry. Although the kitchen was fully stocked with ingredients for just about any dish imaginable, he craved a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  He had a smile on his face as he opened a drawer in search of a knife. The creature seemed to have a crush on Suteko. It was still masking its thoughts and Sam could only pick up faint garbled bits of meaning, but when Suteko visited, the creature’s defenses lowered. Sam could probe a bit deeper. There were still hard feelings under the surface and he couldn’t read anything specific, but Suteko’s influence was clearly therapeutic, opening it up. Perhaps just a few more visits and the creature would actually help them.

  Sam doubted the Nephloc had any information that would help them immediately, but knowing the location where Nephloc and Perazim trained and lived could be most useful once the time to take to the offense was at hand, once the Temporal could be gathered in strength.

  As he pulled a knife from the silverware drawer, the earth shook—or more precisely, Sam’s inner being shattered. It was like he was internally experiencing the devastating earthquake on Noto Peninsula in Japan that had been the moment that gave him his gift. Only nothing outside him was damaged—at least not until he crashed into something behind him. He felt intense pressure build in his chest and feared he was experiencing a heart attack. But just as the pressure became unbearable, it all stopped.

  Sam took account of his surroundings and his condition. He was breathing rapidly, but he was not in pain. He was, however, on the kitchen floor. Moving his arms slightly, he realized both of his arms were also halfway into a cabinet. He looked up and saw his last position eight feet away. On the floor near the sink was the knife.

  It was a strange feeling. As his mind cleared, he began to feel discomfort. Sam tore his arms free of splintered wood and broken granite and stood.

  The earthquake had ended, but something else was happening. Sam stopped and stood absolutely still. It wasn’t as dramatic as before, but still quite unnerving. He was experiencing knowledge fly into his head. Sparks of light appeared in front of him, grew larger as they approached, and then flashed away into nothing. It wasn’t just a fireworks display, however. He was learning. With each passing spark, he realized he knew things that he hadn’t known a moment before the flashes. It was unlearned knowledge, but it was knowledge.

  He closed his eyes and absorbed the teaching.

  Suteko. He was seeing—remembering—Suteko’s past. He was coming to experience what she had lived through over a hundred years before Sam was born. It was as if he were in her head experiencing her distinct memories. He even heard voices speaking in Japanese. Somehow, he had no problem understanding.

  He could see her surroundings. It wasn’t as if he was witnessing events played before his natural eyes. It was like recalling a memory from long ago—only it was a new memory, coming to him for the first time.

  And then he understood—he remembered—how she became a Temporal.

  For Suteko, it hadn’t been an earthquake. It hadn’t been a great battle. Her Extending—the moment she first experienced eternity and the echoes—was while in bed.

  She was dying. Consumption. Tuberculosis in a time before antibiotics and in a country that shunned Western medicine. There was little hope. As her body weakened, she suffered feverous night sweats. Sam could see her mother at her bedside, swabbing her forehead. He saw the mother lovingly lean in to kiss her forehead.

  Then it all changed.

  Sam could feel Suteko sitting up in bed. He couldn’t tell if it was seconds or months later, but she was up and screaming with all the energy in the world.

  Fragmented images of someone else’s memories continued to flow into Sam’s mind. He remembered how Suteko’s strength returned. She could walk, eat by herself, and speak to those around her. It was a miracle, but one not devoid of sacrifice, a sacrifice Sam was also well aware of.

  Sam realized what had happened. He had experienced it recently. Only, he’d had Suteko to guide him and provide comfort. Suteko experienced her Extending alone, without understanding what was occurring.

  Sam watched as his mind recalled new memories of Suteko and her mother leaving their hometown. They journeyed far through cities, towns, and villages until arriving in Satsuma in the western part of Japan.

  Sam inwardly cringed. He could feel the tension all around them. It was a time of great political upheaval. And Satsuma was the heart of the discontent.

  It was a dangerous move, but Suteko’s mother had family there and p
ermission to enter. Satsuma was to be their new home.

  Sam’s heart ached with the revelation of a new memory. Mere weeks after they arrived, Suteko’s mother passed away. It had been a sudden sickness. She had passed without pain, but Suteko was alone. The distant relatives her mother had sought after were not to be found. Suteko was totally alone and, after spending the little money she had on lodging and medicine, she was also broke.

  Sam recalled a memory of Suteko being alone, sobbing with helplessness. He wanted to reach out, but what he was experiencing was not occurring within Sam’s time, nor was it a vision that could be seen and interacted with. The hurt Suteko that he was remembering lived over a hundred and fifty years before. Still, somehow he knew the Suteko of today continued to cry inwardly for her mother. Even now, she carried the burden placed on that young woman so long ago.

  Then she received a visitor that dried most of those tears. Sam couldn’t tell how he had found her, but he was sure the echoes were leading him to her. Perhaps the old man had sent him there. Sam nodded in total acceptance and approval. She needed him.

  It was Ian.

  Still standing there in that kitchen, Sam could feel tears form in his puffy red eyes. She was lost, helpless, and without a friend. With all his being, Sam wanted to help her, but he could do nothing. And the nineteenth century Ian had come so far—journeyed through dangers unimaginable in that day and age to give comfort to her.

  Sam knew a little of the history, but more than that, he could experience it through this strange melding of memories. Thousands of samurai felt betrayed and dishonored. They had led the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa Bakufu under the banner of “Sonnō, Joi”—Revere the Emperor; Expel the Barbarians. The Shogun handed power over to the Emperor at Nijo Castle ending the Edo Period, but it wasn’t the victory that these Satsuma samurai had hoped for. Foreigners and, more shockingly, foreign ways were encouraged and eagerly sought after. It was the dawn of the Meiji Restoration.

  The foreigners came. With them came new knowledge and ideas. Some came for wealth, others for adventure, but one came for Suteko.

  Then it was as if the book closed. His insight into fresh memories was gone. He could recall everything he had seen and heard, but these experiences were now his memories and not merely witnessing the experiences of someone else.

  Sam placed his hands over his face and bowed low. He was surprised to feel how hot his face was even as tears fell from his eyes.

  Ian.

  Sam suddenly felt ashamed. Ian had sacrificed much to give Suteko comfort. He had risked all by going to Satsuma to find her at a time in history when doing so could have meant death. He had been there for her when Sam wasn’t—when Sam couldn’t have. And now he was doing the same for Maro.

  The memories cut off just before Suteko met Ian. He knew they did end up meeting—Ian, Marcus, and Suteko had said that much. But he did not know what happened after that. The echoes were silent. His received memories were no longer pouring in.

  He trusted Suteko and had a newfound respect for Ian. And yet, Ian of the present clearly wanted to take Suteko away from him. Could she have had less control as a new Temporal? Could she have sprinkled love-pixie dust over Ian out of ignorance? Sam knew Suteko had a calming gift. He wasn’t sure how far she could influence other people’s thoughts and actions, but she could soften their anger as well as their resolve.

  But if she had not been able to control her gifts early on, Ian could have simply been at the wrong time and place. Sam wanted to feel pity for him, but as much as he appreciated Ian coming to help stop the Nephloc and as much as he now appreciated what he had done for Suteko in the nineteenth century, he couldn’t bring himself to want him around today.

  He got up to leave the kitchen without a sandwich; Sam was no longer hungry. As he walked across the house to the meeting room, he saw Marcus sitting at a table. Seeing the old man’s face triggered a memory fragment—a memory he had just received but had not yet internalized.

  Marcus and Kaileen had a long and complicated history. He wasn’t sure what it all meant, but he knew it had something to do with Kaileen’s interest in him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Maro’s right leg had been badly damaged. Broken and fragmented, he tried to set it as best as he could. His left arm throbbed as well, but, in the darkness, the source of that pain was in a place unseen to Maro. Twenty minutes after the battle, he was able to put enough pressure on the leg to hobble forward. He had experienced pain and the adrenaline rush of being hunted before, but not in many years. That Kaileen hadn’t discovered his whereabouts during his recovery, he considered a grand stroke of luck.

  As with all Temporal, he had a thorough understanding of his body and a high tolerance to pain. His accelerated healing meant broken bones and bullet wounds had to be addressed within minutes.

  The fall from the cliff had been even more painful than being shot. There were multiple areas where his arms and legs had been battered and pierced by protruding rocks, and the pressure from the final impact had broken bones. He kept in a silent agony as he pressed and held his arm in place. He was still alive and thankful for every second even with the pain.

  During this physical trial, he also had to keep his thoughts quiet. He wasn’t sure if the woman’s gifts included recognizing Temporal signatures or if she could just listen to the echoes inherent to any living being, but he wasn’t going to give her any help.

  Minutes passed as he moved around the base of the mountain. He looked up. He could see no sign of her, but he heard the sirens of police and ambulances on the way. He had to keep moving. She would avoid the police, but searching the base of the mountain where he had fallen would be one way to do that. Keep moving. His leg strengthened as he went on. He kept tight within the shadow of the foot of the mountain. She could be watching from above.

  He had a villa only fourteen miles away, but that he owned the place was common knowledge. He had no idea how informed these assassins were on his history, but there was another safe house that he was sure no one knew about—forty miles away in the town of Merano. Despite the pain and the now permanent limp, he set his face in the direction of that safe house.

  Dawn broke and he realized he had only gone a few miles. With a good leg he could have been halfway there.

  Maro stopped and considered his options. Should he attempt to contact Amato or Marcus? The cell phone that was in his pocket was destroyed, crushed during the descent. There had been several opportunities to use a public phone but his first thought was to get as far as he could away from the point of attack.

  He also worried about what had happened. How did they find him? Both Marcus and Ian had been behind the coordinating. He trusted those men with his life, but necessarily, there had been others—perhaps many others—involved. With the United States military coordinating global pickups, there were many opportunities for a leak.

  But it didn’t matter; he didn’t have any way to contact Marcus or the United States military. All phone numbers and contacts had been destroyed with his phone. He had memorized a few but the problem still remained of whom to call.

  He decided to wait. The safe house had a secure connection. He could easily contact Marcus from there without worry of it being traced. He could stay there until things cooled. The grounds had monitors and plenty of weaponry. It was a fortress even Amato didn’t know about.

  With his decision made, Maro limped on.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “So, have you learned anything yet?” Sam was beginning to feel like Suteko didn’t have her priorities straight. With news of yet another attack and the potential for more to come, Sam was feeling helpless and hopeless. She had made several more visits and had spent a lot of time with their prisoner, but so far, she had learned nothing of importance. His amusement at the Nephloc’s infatuation with Suteko had turned into impatience. While the creature may not have any direct knowledge of how to help the scattered Temporal, it could tell them where to
take the fight to Kaileen. With each setback, Sam’s desire to fight increased.

  “It will take time.”

  “That is something we have little of. For Maro, every second counts. We need information.”

  “Yes. But in order to get real information, I need for Hikari to trust me.”

  “Hikari?” Sam was amused. “It calls itself ‘Hikari’? Funny name for a dark creature.”

  Sam’s Japanese was rudimentary, but hikari meaning “light” was one of the vocabulary words he learned from riding the shinkansen bullet train upon arriving in Japan. The train named Hikari had taken him from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka in just over two hours.

  “There is always hope,” Suteko said, pulling his attention back to the present, “that evil will turn to good. Besides, I named him and you should have compassion; he was once human just like you and me.”

  “Suteko, we are out of time. If it can’t or won’t help us, doting on the creature wastes our time and resources. Its apparent helplessness is probably nothing but a ploy to lower our defenses—to get to you. And the more it stays here, the more it knows. You know the old man won’t let Ian kill it, and at some point, it will go back to Kaileen with a complete spy report.”

  “He is coming around. I can feel it.”

  Sam’s frown deepened.

  “You feel it too, don’t you?” she said. “He has softened since he arrived, hasn’t he?” Interpreting Sam’s silence as proof positive, she smiled, grabbed Sam’s arm, and said, “Come on. Let me show you.”

  Sam jerked his arm back, causing her hands to drop. “It doesn’t like me. It stinks and it is just grotesque. I don’t have time for this. I need to get back to monitoring.”

  “Sam.” Suteko forced his arms around and waited until his eyes met hers. It took several awkward seconds, but Sam finally did so. “I need you behind me on this.”