by Alexia James
Jeremy shook his head, “Looks like I’ve got no coffee now either.”
Daniel sauntered over to Freya and she felt the weight of the jar in the pocket of her cardigan just before he pulled it out, “Look at that, she lifted your coffee jar.”
Freya gasped and then laughed.
Daniel lifted Freya’s empty plate and took it across to the sink. He smirked at Jeremy. “What was it you said the other week about Brett always buying dinner for his girlfriends? Something about his need to feed them?”
“Shut up, Dan.” Jeremy turned to Freya, “I’ll see you later. Daniel is going to stay with you while I’m gone.”
“Happy hunting,” said Daniel, already going through cupboards again. The door closed behind Jeremy. Freya watched his brother absently pulling tins out of the cupboard and slinging them on the table.
“What are you looking for?” she asked, wondering what she was supposed to talk about with Daniel.
“Jer’s brandy.”
“You’re gonna get drunk?”
“Never drink on the job. There’s more than one use for brandy.”
Not sure how she felt about being classed as a job, Freya watched Daniel pick through the ingredients on the table, chucking most of it back, and then begin to search out other items.
She surveyed those that stayed on the table. “Cake?”
“Nah. Pancakes.” He produced a jar of Nutella from the pocket of his huge overcoat and waved it in front of her, “Yes?”
“Cor, yes, brilliant. I want to flip first though.”
“You can flip them all if you like. The last time I tried this, I got one stuck to the ceiling.”
“Yeah? You’d better let me cook then. You’re gonna be in big trouble if you make a mess here, Jeremy’s pretty scary when he gets mad.”
“Nah, Brett’s the scary one. You don’t want to wind up my little brother, Brett. I’ll have to introduce you some time.”
“I’ve already met him and he wasn’t scary at all.”
“You’ve met him? Jer told me you hadn’t met any of us.”
Oops. She caught her top lip between her teeth for a second. “I forgot about that. Don’t tell Jeremy, Brett said he didn’t want him to know.”
Daniel grinned, “Why doesn’t he want him to know?”
“Well, um, see the thing is… he hasn’t met me yet.”
Daniel cocked an eyebrow. “How did he manage that, was someone else with him?”
Freya had to pause to catch up. Couldn’t. “What?”
“Brett doesn’t own a time device. Was someone else with him?”
She sucked in a breath. Apparently, lighting fast thinking ran in this family. “Not when I saw him, but he borrowed my van so maybe he went to meet someone.”
“Can’t get much from that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Never mind. Tell me the rest.”
“I met the him from some time in the future, but if you ask him now then he hasn’t met me yet.”
“When was this exactly, and where?”
Freya looked into dark eyes sharp with interest and suddenly felt uneasy. “I can’t remember. It was a while ago now.”
Daniel snickered and seemed to change tack. “Jeremy has really got his hands full hasn’t he?”
Freya scowled, “What do you mean? It wasn’t my fault Brett recognised me. I thought he was Jeremy at first.”
“Bet that went down well. Never mind then, let’s have a go at these pancakes.”
Freya soon discovered that Daniel was a terrible cook, and as she wasn’t much better they made a mess of the kitchen anyway.
Daniel insisted on pouring brandy over the pancakes and setting them alight, which was fun, but left scorch marks on the ceiling where he was a bit over zealous with the stuff.
Later on, Freya sat at the table, deep in thought, pretending to sip her coffee. Daniel made horrible coffee, weak and watery.
The back door suddenly opened, and Martin strode in and walked up to her. Before she could think, let alone react, he had reached her and pulled her out of the chair by her arm. It happened incredibly fast. She inhaled to shout and Martin clamped a hand over her mouth.
His voice was a soft growl in her ear, “You make one peep and I’ll gut you.”
Freya couldn’t make a sound. The tip of a knife pressing against her skin robbed her of all coherent thought.
It took a few seconds for her to realise he had let go, she turned in time to see Daniel, face like stone, twist the knife from his hand and coldly slit Martin’s throat.
Blood gushed down Martin’s shirtfront in torrents with a sudden bang that made her jump and jolt upright.
Freya’s relief to find herself sitting at the kitchen table was mixed with horror over the dream and confusion about what had woken her.
She looked around the quiet, messy kitchen. Her half-cup of coffee was beginning to congeal and the dream felt horribly close. She drew in a breath, “Daniel!” her voice was high, more panicked than she had anticipated.
The back door opened and Daniel walked in with Martin slung over his shoulder. Freya made a noise that was practically a squeal and jumped up from the table, backing up so fast she rebounded off the wall behind her. Martin was obviously unconscious and Freya cringed inwardly over her reaction.
“Hey, Freya, look who I found outs— are you okay? You look really white.” Daniel dumped Martin unceremoniously on the floor and walked up to Freya. “Hey, you okay? What happened?”
“I saw… I heard a bang. There was so much blood.”
“Who’s bleeding?”
She choked out a laugh and said, “I was dreaming. It was just a dumb dream. Why is he out? What happened?”
“I was upstairs drawing the curtains and I saw someone creeping around out there, so I went to see what he wanted.” Daniel smirked suddenly, “Landed directly behind him. Scared the bejeebers out of him. God only knows what he thought I was. You twenty-first century lot watch far too much telly.” He gestured with a thumb towards where Martin lay, “Never mind. I guess we’ll stuff him somewhere until Jer gets back. That is Martin isn’t it?” he added as an afterthought, with a slight frown.
Freya began to laugh at Daniel’s sheer sangfroid over the whole thing. She laughed until she realised she was crying and wiping away tears said, “Where are you going to stuff him?”
Daniel watched her rather guardedly and shrugged, “Stone room. You know the house better than I do. Is there anything we can tie him up with? It would be a good start. I don’t want to have to cuff him or knock him out again.” He looked pained at the thought.
Freya wiped her face on her sleeve, trying to calm down. Daniel was watching her closely and she desperately didn’t want to be the kind of girl who cried over people all the time.
“Poor Martin. He seems to have fallen foul of two of you Sanders boys now. Not to mention being kidnapped by me.” This time the laughter was more genuine as she flashed on Brett’s face after telling him how she had managed to get Martin out of the van.
Daniel grinned, “I heard about that one. The elusive time rip. Are you going to tell Jer where it is?”
“Yes, of course.” Freya lied without compunction. If Daniel was insane enough to drop down out of a first floor window onto his quarry, he was not someone she wanted to mess with. Better if he thought Jeremy had everything in hand.
“How did you get him through the field anyway? The man weighs a ton.”
“He walked, well, shuffled. I tied his shoe laces together.”
“And he got knocked out, how?”
“He passed out, that’s why I couldn’t get him any closer to the house. I was gonna leave him tied to a chair in the kitchen or something, but it didn’t work out that way in the end.” She glanced about the kitchen as nonchalantly as she could manage, “Let’s see if Jeremy’s got any rope or something, although I think I’m gonna pee my pants if he has.” She crossed to the kitchen cupboards as she spoke and began
opening doors at random.
“I’ll check things out here,” said Daniel, “You go and see if there’s a locked door on this level.”
“A locked door?” she said, head on one side.
“Get searching.”
Freya left the room, grateful to have some more time to pull herself together. The dream was still far too vivid in her mind. It was making her nervous of Daniel, which was just dumb.
She trawled through the rooms without really seeing them. Sitting room, dining room, cupboard under stairs, locked door. Bingo. She came to a halt, stroked her fingertips over the handle, then shrugged and went back to the kitchen.
“Found it.”
Daniel looked up from where he had Martin neatly trussed up on the kitchen floor. It looked like he had used parcel string.
“Will that be strong enough?”
Daniel shrugged. “Don’t know. Let’s have a look at the accommodation.”
Freya rolled her eyes and followed Daniel out of the room. She pointed out the door and he knelt in front of it, taking a slim velvet pouch from his coat pocket and producing a strange looking piece of metal.
Freya watched in fascinated silence as Daniel picked the lock in an incredibly short time. She shook her head in disbelief. “I could have done with you a week ago. I had to use under wiring to pick my handcuffs.”
“Under wiring from your bra?” He doubled over with laughter. “Does Jer know what you used?”
“No, and you’d better not tell him. If, God forbid, he ever does that again to me, I don’t want to find myself stripped of my underwear.”
“I’ll promise if you like, but he’ll never do that anyway. If it happened again he’d cuff both hands behind you, as he should have the first time around.” He got to his feet, pushed open the door and they both peered in.
He turned to her, “Of course, if it was me you’d run into, I wouldn’t have bothered with cuffs. I’d have put you in here.”
Freya didn’t know whether to be outraged or terrified. His tone held amusement, but his blank expression was truly scary.
Daniel managed to stay deadpan for a moment longer before he burst out laughing. “Your face! Classic.” He gestured, “One stone room.”
Freya surveyed the room doubtfully. It was bare of everything but a grubby mattress slung on the floor and a commode in one corner. There were no windows, carpeting, wallpaper or lights. It was essentially a concrete cell.
Freya shivered, “What’s it for, why has he got this here?”
“It’s for keeping people secure for transport. They’ll be electro-timetic stuff in the walls so you can’t use time devices in there.”
Freya stroked a finger over the metal door. It was a good six inches thick. “I can’t believe he’s got this room tucked away in his house. Your brother terrifies me at times, I think I’m gonna have nightmares over this.”
Daniel grinned at her, “So is Martin. C’mon, let’s dump him in here and then we can make coffee while we wait for Jer.”
Jeremy made a thorough search for Martin and unless the man had been continuously moving around, was of the opinion that he had used the time rip. He sighed as he reached the lane and walked past Freya’s van with Martin’s four by four tucked up behind.
He peered in the window but it was empty. He knew from first hand experience that the time rip wasn’t easy to locate. It looked like Martin might have managed to find it though.
Jeremy reappeared in his kitchen and surveyed the mess with a resigned sigh. There was flour everywhere and the whole room reeked of chocolate and brandy. His eldest brother had his uses, but he came with a price. He peered briefly at the remains of pancake batter in a bowl and followed Freya’s bright laughter to the sitting room.
Freya and Daniel sat cross-legged opposite each other on the floor, engaged in a game of cards. One of Daniel’s appalling games that relied on speed rather than cunning and usually ruined the deck.
“Hello,” Daniel looked up with a grin as Freya took advantage of his distraction to slam both hands on a pile of cards and haul them towards her.
“You really shouldn’t have done all that cleaning up, there wasn’t the least need,” said Jeremy.
Daniel’s grin widened. “We needed to replenish our strength after ushering your guest into the stone room.”
“My guest? I see. Martin did circle back. Well I can’t say I’m particularly sorry that he came across you. At least he still needed to be locked up.”
Daniel gathered up his cards and yawned, “Well, I guess I should be getting back. I’ve got a date tonight with the lovely Sarah and need to get my brain in gear.”
Freya looked at her watch. It was half past eleven at night. “You’ve got a date now?”
“Jer called me at one in the afternoon. I’m on a different time zone to you.” He got to his feet and held out a hand to help her up.
Jeremy looked tired, and Freya walked over to him, “Will you take me home? I don’t want to drive tonight and there’s no need for me to stay now Martin’s locked up.” She smothered a huge yawn on the words.
Jeremy reached out and she took his hand trustingly. She turned and smiled at Daniel, “It was good to meet you. Maybe we can see each other again some time.”
Daniel grinned and said, “Count on it.”
“Are you tired, ready for bed?” Jeremy asked quietly.
She nodded sleepily, “Yeah.”
“You do know that you’re staying here tonight, don’t you.”
“I thought you said you’d take me home?”
He shook his head, “No. You said I’d take you home. I have no intention of doing so. You’d spend the next week avoiding me and we still have much to discuss, but it can wait for the morning now.”
“What do you mean? What have we got to discuss?”
“The location of the time rip, for a start.”
“I told you already, there isn’t one. Martin must have taken the time machine from my van since he found his way back here.”
Daniel laughed outright. “He’s not going to buy that, Freya.”
“Be quiet, you!”
Jeremy shook his head. “I’ll tell you what. You tell me the location of that time rip and I’ll take you home now.”
“I don’t know where it is!”
“Fine then, you can stay here tonight and we’ll talk about it in the morning.”
Freya turned shocked eyes on Daniel as if to ask for help. He laughed and shook his head, “Don’t look at me.”
“You,” Freya turned back to Jeremy, lost for words, “You’re not really gonna keep me here against my will!” She tried to pull her hand back, but Jeremy kept tight hold of it.
“All right.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with finger and thumb. “Perhaps you have a point. Will you wait for me while I take Daniel home?”
Daniel cocked an eyebrow, but Freya missed it. She breathed a sigh of relief, “Sure, no problem.”
“Come upstairs then and I’ll find your other clothes for you. I’ve laundered them so you may as well take them with you.”
She walked with Jeremy from the room, while Daniel snickered quietly. She bit down on her temper, not wanting Jeremy to guess she wasn’t entirely happy with the arrangement.
He led her upstairs to the bedroom and she went meekly to the window to glance out. He pulled a packet of matches from a pocket and reached for an oil lamp.
Freya stood quietly as he lit the lamp. He turned the wick down low and placed it on a high shelf in the corner of the room. Then he quickly walked out shutting the door behind him. Freya stared at the door. She heard the lock turn, realised what had happened and ran to the door.
“Jeremy! Open up! Don’t lock me in here.”
He spoke through the door, “I’ll be back later on. Don’t bother trying the lock, it’s from 2112 and, unless your name is Daniel, is secure. Unlike Greg’s duff handcuffs. Try to get some sleep because you are staying here tonight. We will talk about
all this in the morning.”
“Jeremy, you rat! I can’t believe you did this!” She rattled the door handle but he did not reply.
She stomped over to the window again. It had small panes of leaded glass, but all looked particularly sturdy and had the kind of locking mechanism more usually found on modern double glazed units.
The window looked out onto total darkness. The only light coming from the small oil lamp in the corner of the room. It was too high up to reach and didn’t give much light, leaving the room very dim. Freya huffed and flopped onto the bed to try to think.
Daniel regarded Jeremy with raised eyebrows as he re-entered the room, “I’d imagined a more tidy solution.”
Jeremy grimaced. “It’s not ideal. I need to get that time rip she’s found closed, but first I need to find the damn thing. Freya doesn’t want to co-operate with that.”
“What about Martin?”
“He may well have stumbled through it, but I doubt he knows its location and the less he knows, the better. Let me contact Matt. If we can’t solve it between us, I’ll let you know.” He sighed and fished out his time device.
Matt knocked at the back door some hours later as Jeremy was looking over Martin’s flick knife. Matt raised eyebrows at Jeremy who shook his head, slung the knife on the table and said, “We have a problem here.”
“Is this something I’m not going to like?”
“I have Freya’s stalker in my stone room.”
“Let me guess. He’s followed her here, and now wants to know where here is.”
“More or less.”
“Where is Freya?” Matt asked, looking around.
Jeremy grimaced, “Upstairs.”
“Is she all right?”
“Yes.”
Matt waited a second or two then half smiled. He indicated the stone room with a nod, “Why did you put him in there? We are talking about time rips here are we not?”
“It was Daniel’s decision. Besides anything else, it was a convenient place to detain him. The less he knows of this situation the better and if I am wrong and he has a device, he won’t be able to use it in there.”
