Heart Of The Machine (Soulmates Book 2)

by Don DeBon

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Oh figures I would forget to wear my adjustables. But then again I didn't expect to be running from men today. Running to me maybe, but not the other way around."

  "Don't worry, I think he is only interested in me. You keep going and I will meet you back at the car after I lose him."

  "Are you nuts?"

  "No, and I don't want him knowing where our car is, or pulling my name from the ID tag. Okay?"

  Mindy nodded. "Okay that makes sense. But how do I get in? Didn't you lock it?"

  "The handle will open to you, don't worry."

  "But!"

  Aleshia gave her a squeeze. "Don't worry girlfriend I will see you in a few minutes." She shoved the bag into Mindy's hand and darted off down a side street. With his target out of sight the pursuer lost all interest in Mindy and ran after Aleshia who had already lowered her heels, making fast progress down the street.

  She took a quick look back and ducked into another restaurant. A Mechand by the door started into his usual greeting. "Welcome to—"

  "Never mind that. Do you have a back door?"

  The metal faced machine nodded. "Yes, it is that way," he said pointing.

  "Thank you." Aleshia darted for it breathing hard. A moment later she found herself in a back alley. Mentally she thought of which direction the car was and headed east. She didn't dare turn back and see if he was still there or not. She exited on another street, turned again into another dress shop and did the same as before by going out their back door. After doing this three more times, she had difficulty remembering which way to go. Eventually she remembered to check the suns position and went east. After going down a few streets, she got her bearings and found the car right where she left it. Mindy was already inside, waiting.

  Aleshia hopped into the drivers seat and keyed in the ignition before Mindy could say a word.

  "Is he still there?"

  "I don't know and I don't want to know." Aleshia said gasping for air as the car lifted into the air and she engaged the overdrive. The sudden acceleration shoved them back into their seats and she keyed in Mindy's house into the navigation system.

  "Do you have any idea who he was?" Mindy asked.

  "No, and I don't want to know."

  "Are you sure? You seemed to look like you wanted to back in the restaurant."

  "Yes I am sure. Believe me I am sure. We will be home soon, I took the express route. And I am sorry I ruined our trip."

  Mindy grabbed Aleshia's knee. "Girl you didn't ruin our trip. That guy did. And we will go to Paris again right?" She said smiling.

  "Yes we will."

  "Right, so don't worry about it. Just enjoy that great dress you are wearing."

  Aleshia looked down and smiled. "You know I almost forgot. Thank you again girlfriend. I love it."

  "You are welcome. But you have to make me a promise."

  "Which is?"

  "You show me the guy you get with that dress. Deal? And I want all the details. Got it?"

  Aleshia laughed. "You got it girlfriend."

  A short while later they landed at Mindy's house. "You going to be okay?" She asked, her face full of concern.

  "Sure. I am going home, have Miles draw me a hot bath, and forget all about him."

  "Okay. See you tomorrow?"

  "You bet." Aleshia said as she flew off to her house a few blocks down the street.

  Want to find out who this strange man is? Is Aleshia going crazy? Then pick up a copy of Soulmates! Available in both print and ebook editions.

  Red Warp

  She looked around the room and sighed flicking her long red hair over her shoulders as she stood up. She knew that it would drain her beyond normal limits, already being so very tired, but there was little choice. They would be back soon and then her time would be up. They wanted her power, or thought her insane. While most didn't really believe, they would soon! And to think she came to help them! She looked around the small room again. She picked up the four heavy wooden chairs and placed them on the table that took up almost the entire space.

  She sighed again and pulled the zipper of her skin tight black bodysuit all the way up, past her neck. She hoped there was enough room. She had never done it in such a small space before. Looking off into the distance and with great concentration she began to run. In a circle … faster and faster. Air began to swirl around picking up several papers that were on the table and flung them into the wind. Faster and faster she ran. "I must DO this!" She muttered and increased her speed again. One of the chairs flew off and were now following her swept up in the whirlwind. A storm had formed. A storm of her own making.

  And with the crack of thunder a bolt shot from the center and the room reeked of ozone. She increased her speed once more but began to feel the storm's draining effect and knew she was out of time.

  With a loud KABOOOM that shook the whole building, a warp had formed. A rip in the very fabric of space and time. She knew there were only seconds before they came running in here. The table cracked, splintered, fell in upon itself, and disappeared as the warp grew gaining strength. A microsecond later the door burst open with armed men ready to do battle, but with the storm all they could do was hang on to the door frame as the great forces pulled them horizontal.

  The warp was smaller than usual, but she could not go any more. It was enough. She ran for it and jumped into the angry swirl of color. With a loud CRASH it closed in upon itself and instantly the wind died. People and the chairs fell to the floor with a thud.

  Stars in a multitude of colors streamed past her vision. She knew they were not real stars but she was beyond what her mind could comprehend, making them look like stars.

  As quick as it started, it stopped. She fell to the ground on a soft patch of grass. Gazing around she saw trees, lush streams and heard birds chirping in the background. She knew it was not a matter of where she was but when. She closed her eyes and muttered "I must rest" and fell into a deep sleep.

  Red awoke with a start looking up to a dark sky filled with stars and half of a moon. How much time had passed? She gazed at her self illuminating watch and silently laughed. Without looking before she closed her eyes, there was no way to know how long she had been unconscious. Could be a few hours later or more than a day.

  She straightened and felt every muscle in her body complain all at once. Looking around the area where once a vast building stood, she was reminded how risky warping was, especially since she was on the third floor. Thankfully the warp had drifted down a little or she could have died from the fall when she arrived here … wherever here was. No, she corrected herself, whenever.

  Red slowly got to her feet, listening to the crickets and bullfrogs in the distance, although she thought they sounded different for some reason. She sighed thinking how she was always called Red as far back as she could remember, which wasn't very far. There was a large gap in her memory and she didn't know why. Then her head spun and the world wobbled and she realized getting up right now was not such a good idea and she fell back to the ground asleep before her head touched the grass.

  Red awoke to someone shaking her violently. She blinked trying to clear her vision. Then she saw the glint of a gun shoved into her face. "WHO are you! And where are we?" The man waved his gun around and shouted. "Answer me! I am not in the mood for games. The building is gone, everything is gone! Where are we!"

  Her vision finally cleared and she recognized him as one of the agents that came into the room right before she jumped. He must have traveled with her. This was a first. She looked around then back at him. "I … I … I don't know," she stammered.

  Suddenly they heard a sound. An alien sound of something very large nearby. Her blood turned to ice. She went back all right, but far far too much.

  The man looked around momentarily forgetting Red entirely. "What in the world was that?!"

  Red quickly shushed him. "Shut up you moron or we will be a meal. Now get off of me and put that gun away. If it goes off we are dead."


  "I want to—" he said with confused look.

  "Okay let me try this again. Do you want to live?"

  He looked blankly at her for a second in a state of shock. "Of course, what kind of question is that?"

  "Then stop asking me stupid questions and do as I say and you might live to see tomorrow! You got that?"

  He nodded slowly and got off of her and she leapt to her feet. She had been here before, and that was trying to see how far she could go. Dang them! If it wasn't for their interference in her concentration, the jump wouldn't have thrust them this far back!

  The earth shook slightly as they felt a tremor. A small one, almost imperceptible, then the next one … stronger … the then the next even stronger yet.

  "What is—"

  Red covered his mouth. "Shut up! Do you want to get us killed?" she whispered. "Now follow me and for goodness sake try to be quiet!" He holstered his gun, she grabbed his wrist, and they moved as quietly as they could to a thick patch of very large foliage she could just make out in the dim light. She jumped into the large ferns and pulled him in with her. Their noses wrinkled as the ferns strong scent covered them. Red just hoped it would be enough. The earth shook again more violently this time as a giant foot of a Tyrannosaurus rex landed very close to them. The beast looked around sniffing the air then leaned down to where they were hiding and sniffed again, looking confused. His head bobbed up again as he looked around. Then he put his snout down and began to push into the ferns when a loud sound froze him into place. He raised his head and gave an angry retort to the air and took off in the direction of the challenge.

  "That was—"

  Red slapped her hand over his mouth. "Do you ever shut up?" she whispered. "Give it another minute or two then we can move." After a few minutes, which seemed like hours in their cramped location under the ferns, she stood up. "Should be clear now. I am sure he took off after the challenger at full speed and won't be back now."

  The man stood up his face glistened in the dim moonlight wet from sweat or the ferns, Red couldn't tell which. "What was that?"

  "Tyrannosaurus rex. I am sure you have heard of them."

  "Of course I have heard of them! But they are long dead. So are we on some kind of movie set?"

  Red snorted. "Don't I wish!"

  "Well then where are we?"

  Red glared at him as she sat down on a large rock nearby. "Isn't it obvious?"

  The man looked blank. "No."

  "Okay let me try this again, really really slowly. That was a real dinosaur. A Tyrannosaurus rex, now think for a moment. What does that mean?"

  "We went back in time?"

  Red raised her arms looked to the sky. "Thank you God, yes he can be taught!" She lowered her arms and jabbed a finger in the man's face. "Now if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be in this situation."

  "Because of me?" He said placing a hand on his chest. "I didn't do this to you!"

  "You did! You broke my concentration! I came to try and help save your president, and what do I get? People calling me insane and think I am a terrorist. If I was a terrorist would I have been warning people? You government types have no sense at all."

  "We broke your concentration?"

  "Yes YOU! I should have normally spent an hour preparing for that jump, instead I had to do it blind. I only wanted to jump a little bit not this freaking far!"

  "And why do you keep saying we did this? I didn't do this to you."

  "You are with the FBI aren't you?"

  "Well yes—"

  "Well then, who are you?" Red felt the idiocy of the question the second after she said it.

  He stiffened. "Agent James Moknkin!"

  "Oh full agent eh? And where is your access badge?" She said pointing at his chest.

  James looked down to see a ripped spot on his sport jacket where his badge once hung. "Well looks like it was taken off by a whirlwind that someone else made!"

  "And how long have you been there?"

  "My first day, I—"

  Red snorted and shook her head. "Just great. All the agents in the world and I get stuck with a trainee in the distant past!"

  "Hey I will have you know I graduated first in my class!"

  "Well excuuuuse me. But I bet your training never covered this!"

  "Er … um … no. And how did you know the ferns would shield us?"

  "I have been here before. Long ago. It was a mistake. At the time I was wondering how far I could go, I shouldn't have tried it. I learned a lot about dinosaurs that the paleontologists got totally wrong. Like these ferns act like Jurassic pepper. They don't smell anything other than the ferns for a while, but it also can make them sneeze. And believe me you don't want to be sneezed on by a dinosaur, it is really disgusting."

  "I see. Now could you please tell me who you are?"

  Red snorted. "I think you already know."

  James rolled his eyes. "No I don't. I don't know what your case was. They called an emergency and all agents on the floor were to report to holding room 3. I happened to be a few doors down and came running."

  "Lucky you." Red said as she sat down on a large rock and rubbed her sore muscles.

  "Yeah lucky me," He sighed.

  "Well I am Red."

  "Red …?"

  "Yes Red."

  "That is all?"

  "Yes that is all I can remember. As far as I know I have always been called Red."

  "You have amnesia?"

  "Well I am not sure. I don't have any memories past 8 years ago. What happened before then I don't know." She shrugged and stretched cracking her back.

  "I see. Now can you please get us back?"

  "Well, I am not sure I can."

  "WHAT! What do you mean you are not sure? You got us here!" James said a little more loudly than he intended.

  "Well to be honest I don't know exactly how I do what I do. Only that I can and it takes a great deal of concentration and energy. And if I don't, then very odd things can happen, like this." She paused a moment to gesture to the surrounding land.

  "But you said you were here before?" James said sitting down next to her on the large rock.

  "Yes. I shouldn't have tried it though. I was seeing how far I could go. It was a mistake. But a bigger one than I thought. You must understand, then like now, I managed to get here in one jump. But getting back was difficult. It took over twenty jumps."

  "Twenty? Twenty of those … storms?"

  "Yes. And I traveled alone. In fact I don't know how you managed to follow me. What was the last thing you remember?"

  "Well …" James looked off into the starry night that was starting to give way to morning. "As I said I heard the emergency call and I came running into holding room 3. The door was gone, ripped right off its hinges, and I remember seeing a whirlwind. I tried to stop but couldn't. That is all until waking up here."

  "Sounds like the combination of your motion and the storm carried you into the warp allowing you to follow me here. Amazing really, no one has ever followed me before." Red said as she watched the sun peek over the horizon gently waking everything around them.

  "Have they ever tried?" James looked at her concerned.

  "One did I think. But he never made it. Normally people are not around me when I jump. Safer for everyone."

  "Well after experiencing this first hand, I have to agree."

  Red jumped up from the rock and stretched again. "We need to get going. With the sun up we are sitting ducks out here in the open. We need to find better cover."

  "Can't you get us back? You said it took you twenty jumps, but you did make it. Why don't we get started now?"

  Red sighed and started walking towards what looked like caves in the distance. "Look, for one thing every jump drains me. The longer the jump the more of the drain. It may take me a few days before I am up to trying again. Perhaps longer. And secondly I don't know you. The FBI was going to lock me up as a security risk and you are part of the organization. So excuse me if I don't feel like helpi
ng you."

  "Why did the bureau want to lock you up? What did you do?" James said as he followed along behind her and silently wished he had worn his black sneakers instead of his dress shoes, they were not the best in this environment.

  "It is what I tried to do, rather than what I did."

  "Tried to do?"

  "Okay here goes, I saw the president die. This allowed the vice president to take over. Unfortunately this turned out to be very bad and the decisions he made lead to a full scale nuclear war in one hundred years time. There wasn't much left of the earth after that point. I tracked the start of the whole situation to this one point in time. I thought perhaps if I traveled back and warned the FBI they could avoid it. Of course they didn't believe me. The problem is I gave them detailed information about the president over the next few days. Where he was, who was there, exact times and dates. Something that turned out to be classified information."