Time Trap

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by Danele J Rotharmel


  Currently unborn. Future member of Poppa’s NewGen Crew. Cavan’s wife.

  Marc Kerry:

  Professional time counselor. Interested in Crystal.

  McCormich, Dr.:

  Medical doctor at the Charles Shipley Medical Center.

  Nathan Ableman:

  Sam’s brother. Policeman. Zara’s husband.

  Nicki Cunning:

  Suicidal fourteen-year-old artist. Phoebe and Drake’s counseling subject.

  Nicole Cunning:

  Nicki Cunning as an adult. Famous artist. Brandon’s girlfriend.

  Fay Hennly:

  Peter’s high school girlfriend.

  Peter Matthews:

  Director of TEMCO operations. Second-in-command. Dan’s boyhood friend.

  Phoebe Reynolds:

  Senior cadet. Drake’s field partner. Nicki’s counselor.

  Poppa (The Facilitator):

  Dan forty-five years in the future. Twinkles’s husband. Father of Jay and Deleena. Head of NewGen.

  Rick Olsen:

  Serial killer who tried to kill Sue. Deceased.

  Ryan Adams:

  Professional time counselor. Marc and Kyle’s friend.

  Sam Ableman:

  Pastor. Dan’s stepfather. Father of Angelina and Alex. Sue’s husband.

  Sue Ableman:

  Mother of Dan, Angelina, and Alex. Sam’s wife.

  Twinkles:

  Gil forty-five years into the future. Mother of Jay and Deleena. Poppa’s wife.

  Thomas Moosly:

  TEMCO professor. Member of the field assignment review board.

  Wade Kingston:

  TEMCO professor. Drake and Phoebe’s field-exam advisor. Jill’s husband. Kenny’s father.

  Zara Ableman:

  Sam’s sister-in-law. Nathan’s wife.

  Zeke Masters:

  TEMCO computer tech and chief analyst. Counseled Andrew Hamilton.

  GLOSSARY OF RELATIONSHIPS

  Old Relationships:

  Bill Winston—Sue Winston (Ableman):

  Status: No longer married. Bill was Sue’s first husband. Bill died of cancer.

  Children: Dan Winston (Ableman)

  Current Relationships:

  Pastor Sam Ableman—Sue Winston Ableman:

  Status: Married. Sam is Sue’s second husband. Sam adopted Sue’s son, Dan.

  Children: Dan Winston Ableman, Angelina Ableman, and Alex Ableman

  Dr. Dan Winston Ableman—Gillyflower Montgomery Ableman:

  Status: Married. In the future they will be known as Poppa and Twinkles.

  Children: Jay Ableman (newborn)

  Future Children: Deleena and William

  Alex Ableman—Phoebe Reynolds:

  Status: Dating. They have been told they will be married.

  Future Children: Alexis Ableman

  Director Peter Matthews—Dr. Laura Nelson:

  Status: Newly engaged.

  Future Children: David Matthews and Lorelei Matthews

  Zeke Masters—Nicole Cunning:

  Status: Dating.

  Wade Kingston—Jill Kingston:

  Status: Married but in danger of divorce.

  Children: Kenny

  GLOSSARY OF TEMCO EMPLOYEES

  Leaders of TEMCO:

  Dr. Dan Ableman—First-in-command. Founder of TEMCO. Inventor of time travel.

  Director Peter Matthews—Second-in-command. Director of Operations. Runs the lab.

  Dr. Laura Nelson—Third-in-command.

  Lab Technicians:

  Crystal Stuart

  Zeke Masters: (Former time counselor. Counseled Andrew Hamilton.)

  Professors:

  Dr. Dan Ableman

  Dr. Laura Nelson

  Dr. Thomas Moosly

  Dr. Wade Kingston

  Professional Time Counselors:

  Dr. Dan Ableman: (Gil’s field partner)

  Gillyflower Montgomery Ableman: (Dan’s field partner. Counseled Dan as a boy.)

  Kyle Carson

  Marc Kerry

  Ryan Adams

  Senior Student Cadets:

  Drake Procerus: (Phoebe’s field partner. Assigned to counsel Nicki Cunning.)

  Phoebe Reynolds: (Drake’s field partner. Assigned to counsel Nicki Cunning.)

  GLOSSARY OF LOCATIONS

  Archives:

  The third floor of Hawking Hall. It contains paper copies of TEMCO case files.

  Charlesberg, Colorado:

  The hometown of Sam and Sue Ableman.

  Charles Shipley Medical Center:

  A new hospital located in Washington D.C.

  Creekdale, Colorado:

  A small town located in the mountains above Charlesberg. It’s near Alex Ableman’s cabin.

  File Room:

  A small room in the TEMCO lab where files are stored before transferal to the archives.

  Genetic Research Division:

  A department housed on the first floor of Hawking Hall.

  Hawking Hall:

  A three-story building on the NSU campus that houses TEMCO’s headquarters.

  Mandal Lab:

  A genetic lab located on the first floor of Hawking Hall.

  Student Union:

  A building on the NSU campus that houses restaurants and a supercomputer.

  National Science University (NSU):

  A government established university staffed by the country’s finest minds.

  TEMCO Headquarters:

  The lab, staff offices, and classrooms utilized by the TEMCO staff. It is located on the second floor of Hawking Hall.

  TEMCO Lab:

  A facility in Hawking Hall that houses the GAP computer and Staging Platform.

  Washington D.C.:

  The host city of NSU and TEMCO.

  GLOSSARY OF TERMS

  Alpha-Blue:

  The clearance level needed to be privy to TEMCO’s secret operations.

  Cataclysmic Failure:

  A situation initiated when a manipulated timewave is destabilized. The ensuing phenomena is called a Time Tsunami.

  Class-One Alpha-Blue:

  The level of license a cadet must earn to be placed on TEMCO’s staff.

  Case Subject:

  A person chosen to receive time counseling through TEMCO. Professional time surfers counsel death-row inmates. Student cadets usually handle suicide interventions.

  Code of Conduct 5th Edition:

  A manual of procedural rules originally given to Dan Ableman by Poppa. The TEMCO staff and students all agree to follow it. As new challenges are faced, the manual is updated and revised.

  D-day (Disaster Day):

  In general, the day in which a case subject’s tipping point occurs. In particular, the day Dan Ableman almost stabbed Rick Olsen (see Time Tsunami).

  Facilitator:

  Poppa’s official job title as relating to current TEMCO operations.

  Field Exam:

  An exam in which a cadet is sent back through time to counsel a case subject.

  Field Partner:

  Under new regulations put in place after Gil Ableman’s field exam, all professional time surfers and TEMCO cadets are teamed with a field partner when traveling through GAP.

  Five Immutable Laws: (Excerpt from Code of Conduct 5th Edition)

  The fundamental, irrefutable laws given by Poppa that govern all TEMCO’s procedures.

  1. A case subject’s past must be thoroughly researched.

  2. A case subject must undergo extensive interviews before being selected.

  3. A case subject’s tipping point toward evil must be determined.

  4. A time counselor must never reveal his or her last name or personal history.

  5. A time counselor must never be blinded by conceit or supposition.

  GAP Search:

  An exhaustive inquiry into a case subject’s life that exposes hidden motives and secret events.

  Game Cartridge:

  A device mailed to a case sub
ject that is camouflaged as a PlayFest game. When utilized, it connects to the Staging Platform and establishes contact with the TEMCO lab.

  GAP (Grappling and Positioning Computer):

  Dan Ableman’s invention that allows timewaves to be harnessed and “surfed” by counselors.

  NewGen Crew:

  Time counselors from the future who are under Poppa’s command.

  Orals:

  A vigorous testing procedure that precedes a senior cadet’s field exam.

  Professional Time Counselor (Time Surfer):

  A time traveler who counsels troubled individuals before they embark on a life of crime.

  Scan Emitter:

  A new invention that makes time travelers visible to the local populace during an assignment.

  Senior Cadet:

  A fourth-year TEMCO student who is preparing to take the field exam.

  Staging Platform:

  The gateway located in the TEMCO lab that opens time portals.

  Temporal Black Hole:

  A mysterious, sporadic phenomena that makes it impossible to tabulate probability results or conduct GAP searches.

  Temporal Counseling Program (TEMCO):

  A program established by Dan Ableman in which cadets are trained to time travel for the purpose of dissuading criminals from a life of crime.

  Time Crime:

  A crime involving a member of the TEMCO staff that occurs during a time surf.

  Time Portal:

  A timewave fissure through which a surfer can travel. Portals may be established through the use of a game cartridge or a futuristic Wave Trapper borrowed from Poppa.

  Time Tsunami:

  A phenomenon set in motion when a timewave is destabilized by a Cataclysmic Failure. The timewave splits in half, two separate timelines are created, and the fabric of time unravels.

  Timewave (GAP wave):

  An invisible wave sailing through the air that is harnessed by GAP for time-travel purposes.

  Time Surf:

  The slang term for a professional counseling assignment or a senior cadet’s field exam.

  Tipping Point:

  The exact moment in which a felon’s future is first tipped toward evil.

  Trapper Treatise:

  An agreement drawn up between Poppa and Dan outlining how a borrowed Wave Trapper is allowed to be used.

  Wave Trapper:

  A small portable device that allows time surfers to harness timewaves without the help of the TEMCO lab. It will eventually be invented by Dan, but his current prototype is flawed. In the future, Wave Trappers will be used extensively by Poppa and his NewGen Crew.

  Coming soon from Danele J. Rotharmel…

  Time Search

  In the wake of a recent wave of violence, TEMCO employees are left reeling. While some of the staff are put into hiding, others are left behind to discover the true identity of the mysterious nemesis who is determined to destroy them all. While Crystal, Marc, and Zeke search for clues to unravel the mystery of his real name, their enemy is lurking in the shadows searching for TEMCO’s missing leaders. It’s a race against the clock! And as the hours and seconds tick away, it’s anyone’s guess whose search will be completed first. It’s a classic battle of good versus evil, and the stakes couldn’t be higher!

  Please enjoy an excerpt from Time Search…

  CHAPTER ONE

  Heavy metal music blared through paper-thin walls. Knowing the noise from the apartment next door was drowning out his actions, Drake yanked open the door to Phoebe’s curio cabinet. With an irritated flick of his finger, he sent her porcelain figurines crashing to the floor. He paused at a white rabbit. He remembered Phoebe’s excitement when she’d bought it. She’d babbled on about it being the good luck charm for their field exam. Eyes narrowing, he threw the rabbit to the floor and ground it beneath his heel.

  Bass boomed. A guitar solo shrieked. The music was so loud the pictures on the wall were vibrating. Kicking at stuffing from shredded couch cushions, Drake went to Phoebe’s kitchen and broke every dish he could find. He moved on to her refrigerator, dumping food into a revolting multicolored mess on the floor.

  After emptying the freezer, he ground his teeth and clenched his fists. He knew there had to be a clue to Phoebe’s location in her apartment. He just had to find it. Frustration mounted as he stomped to her bedroom, tearing posters from the walls as he went. In a matter of minutes, he’d torn her pristine bedroom to shreds, scattering feathers from pillows and tossing the contents of her dresser onto the slashed mattress. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to find a clue to her location, he turned to pure vandalism—crushing and ripping anything that wasn’t ruined in the first sweep.

  When he tired of destruction, he went back to the living room. His steel-toed boots crunched glassy shards as he stole to the window and peeked through the blinds. He rolled his eyes. The black SUV was still parked across the street.

  “Morons!” he muttered.

  He backed away from the window with a sneer. Andrew Hamilton’s agents obviously didn’t realize that the steam tunnels beneath NSU lead into the basement of Westbend Student Apartments.

  “You’re all so stupid!” he hissed. “You deserve to be flattened like squirrels in the road!”

  Next to the window, a plaque caught his attention. Its swooping gold letters proclaimed, God Protects. Rolling his eyes, Drake broke the plaque in half.

  Straddling a chair, he grabbed Phoebe’s television remote. Flipping to the news, he ground his cigarette out on an upturned coffee table.

  “In local D.C. news,” a brunette reporter said, “Dr. Lawrence Ember, an esteemed physician at Charles Shipley Medical Center, is still missing. Police believe Dr. Ember may have been abducted during last week’s hospital disturbance.”

  Grinning, Drake stroked the knife in his pocket.

  The reporter turned to a red-haired nurse whose eyes seemed too large for her face. Drake spat contemptuously. The nurse looked like an idiot. He doubted she even had a brain.

  “Can you tell us about Dr. Ember?” the reporter asked.

  The nurse nodded. “He was wonderful to work with. I really liked him.”

  “Do you have any idea why he may have been kidnapped?”

  “I think it has to do with one of his patients—a strange girl who showed up out of the blue. There wasn’t any paperwork on her.”

  “Is that unusual?”

  The nurse rolled her eyes. “It’s more than that—it’s just plain weird.”

  Drake sat up straight. He turned the television’s volume up, risking the noise.

  “Can you tell us more about this patient?” the reporter asked.

  “HIPPA prevents me from revealing her name, but I will say that her injuries were extreme. She was badly burned, and Dr. Ember wouldn’t let me into her room. He acted like she was a closely guarded secret. If something bad happened to him, I’m sure it has to do with his mysterious patient. I hope he’s okay. He really is—”

  Drake switched the television off. A slow grin curled his lips. He needed answers about Phoebe, and now he knew where to get them. He wondered if the good doctor was still alive…

  If you’ve enjoyed this novel, please consider leaving the author a review. Your thoughts and feedback are very much appreciated.

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  Table of Contents

  TIME TRAP

  THE TIME COUNSELOR CHRONICLES:

  INFORMATION ABOUT TEMCO

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  C
HAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

  CHAPTER SEVENTY

  EPILOGUE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CHARACTERS

  GLOSSARY OF RELATIONSHIPS

  GLOSSARY OF TEMCO EMPLOYEES

  GLOSSARY OF LOCATIONS

  GLOSSARY OF TERMS

  CHAPTER ONE

 

 

 


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