by Hahn, Joni
Jocelyn didn’t look so tough to him. Right now, she looked completely vulnerable, like a little girl lying in a bed too big for her.
“So, are you transferring her to D.I.R.E?” Dar really didn’t want her near that spy.
“No, I’ll leave her here for now and send down a couple of agents to guard the room.”
Dar crossed his arms in front of him. “I’ll stay.”
Tristan’s gaze shot to him. “You just said you hated this place.”
He frowned at his brother. “I’m not leaving her alone.”
“She wouldn’t be alone, Naylor,” Mitchell said. “Did you miss the part about the two agents?”
“No. I’m not leaving her alone.”
Tristan smothered a grin.
Mitchell shook his head. “Don’t even go there, Naylor.”
He flipped out a hand, palm up. “Where?”
Mitchell pointed at Jocelyn. “There. Way too many complications.”
Jocelyn sat bolt upright, gasping for breath. Her dark, wild gaze searched the room before zeroing in on Dar. Twin tears trailed down her flush cheeks. “Help me.”
Dar rushed to the bed, his gut clenched in a tight knot. Dammit, the woman was petrified.
He helped her lay back. “I’m here. You’re safe. Go back to sleep.” He pulled up the covers again and sat beside her.
Teardrops hung on her long lashes. “You won’t leave?”
His heart constricted like a stress ball. “No. Now sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She fell fast asleep, snoring lightly.
Why had she fixated on him? Why, in her nightmarish state, had she turned to him, the only criminal in the room, for safety?
Did it matter? If he could help this beautiful, confused woman from the past, he’d do it. The idea that she needed him appealed to Dar on a level he’d never traversed before.
He looked back at Mitchell. “I’m already there, Mitchell, and have nowhere else to go. Unless you don’t trust me to stick around.”
“You tell me, Naylor. Can I trust you to stay here?”
Dar harrumphed. Where the hell would he go? He had no home, and his family lived at D.I.R.E.
He watched Jocelyn sleep. In truth, she was the only person that needed him. The only person that gave him purpose right now.
There isn’t much to believe in out there but when I found her, I found hope. I found a reason to do what I do.
Tristan’s words came back to him. Not that his situation was even close to Tristan and Rachel’s relationship. But, he understood where Jacobs was coming from.
If Mitchell told him he was free to leave, what would he do? He had no money, no home, no friends. How would he live? As a fugitive, running from the enemies he’d made, knowing he didn’t have the money or backing of Naylor Interests to keep him safe?
Hell no.
At least with his new family, he had a base, and Cass wanted him to join her on this new life of… doing the right thing. An opportunity to do that stared him in the face.
He hoped he could pull it off.
Rising from the bed, Dar made his way across the room. “Yes, you can trust me, but that trust has to go both ways. How did Angela end up in the past?”
Mitchell let out a frustrated growl. “Not now.”
“In case you lost your place,” Tristan said, “you stopped after she had the twins in the hospital.”
Mitchell glared at his son. “I know where I stopped, Tristan.”
Jacobs stood hands on hips. “You’re not getting out of it.”
Mitchell said, “As soon as we’re some place private.”
Dar pointed at Jocelyn. “I can’t leave her, so it looks like it’s happening here.”
Mitchell narrowed his eyes.
“Even if Jocelyn woke up, she’s not coherent right now,” Tristan added.
Mitchell’s voice lowered in resignation. “Hell...” Turning to stare out the window, his complexion paled. He looked like he’d shrunk five inches.
“About ten months after you were born, Dar, I returned from a sneak and peek to find a message from Angela on my office phone, saying she wanted to talk. She’d left it two days earlier so I went over to Bobby’s place right away.”
“What did my father do?” Dar said.
“He shipped out the day before so I knew I had the all clear. When I got there, I knocked, but no one answered. I could hear a baby crying inside.”
His eyes squeezed shut beneath a deep scowl.“I walked in and found a suicide note and a bottle of anti-depressants on the end table in the living room. She had gone into your room to console you. When she walked out, I had the note in my hand and I was crying like you had moments before.”
Mitchell pressed his thumb and forefinger to his eyes. “I just kept thinking that if she went, I’d go, too. I couldn’t live with myself if I let her die.”
He braced a hand on the window frame. “She apologized for what she’d done to our marriage, and for leaving Tristan.” His voice caught. “It was too late for us, and she hated Bobby. She loved the babies but staring at them every day reminded her of the grave mistakes she’d made. She couldn’t do it anymore.”
Dar gritted his teeth. Dammit, he didn’t want to feel for her. He wanted to hold onto the anger because it justified why he’d always felt alone.
“I begged her not to do it. I tried everything. I even offered to quit The Teams. But, she said there was too much baggage. We’d never get past it. She knew Bobby would make our lives miserable.”
Taking a deep breath, his voice grew stronger. “That’s when I talked to her about Nathan Chalmers and his time travel machine. The possibility brought new life to her eyes. I called him from her house and set up a meeting.”
“Chalmers agreed to do it on one condition – she could never come back. The trip had to be one way.” He gave a dejected sigh. “She took it.”
He rubbed his forehead. “I made arrangements to pick her up the next day and take her to Chalmers’ lab. That night, his lab caught fire. Neither the time machine, nor Chalmers and Angela, were found in the remains. I suspect he set it to cover up any evidence.”
Turning to stare at them, he took a deep breath. “She left the suicide note for Bobby. I agreed to the same story for Tristan. I had the base records forged to report her death as a suicide.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It killed me to let her go.”
Dar could do nothing but stare at him. Hell. How did he stay mad at Mitchell? If he’d had time travel at his disposal, he probably would’ve done the same thing.
But, it didn’t excuse Angela’s behavior.
“So, it was all about her,” Dar said. “Screw the kids, huh?”
If he hadn’t been raised by Robert Naylor, the violent look in Mitchell’s eyes would’ve terrified him.
“Sounds like it,” Tristan chimed in.
Mitchell’s words cut like shards of glass. “Either way, you would’ve been without a mother.”
“Stop defending her, Mitchell,” Tristan said. “She made mistakes like everyone else. But, rather than acting like a mature adult and dealing with them, she took the easy way out.”
Shaking his head, Mitchell looked out the window again. “No, if you’re going to blame anyone, blame me. I thought I was doing the right thing.” His voice dropped. “Now, my actions have come back to bite not only me, but all of us.”
Dar’s gut warned him trouble hovered. “What do you mean by that?”
Mitchell’s gaze shot to Tristan before it came back to Dar. “Angela is working with Chalmers and the traitors. She must be very valuable to them. Even her antiquated knowledge of computers would put her a cut above the rest. She and Chalmers would make a strong team.”
Dar felt like his head would shoot off his neck at any moment. His mother was a freaking traitor?
He looked at Tristan. “Did you know about this?”
“The video
I showed you earlier? She’s sitting in Chalmers’ warehouse that contains the time machine.”
Holding up his hands in front of him, Dar backed up a step. “Okay, before I have a complete conniption here, are you telling me Angela and Chalmers are the people trying to buy weapons for the war? They’re working for Hitler?”
Tristan crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes.”
Dar squeezed his eyes shut. Now he understood why Mitchell was kicking himself. He’d sent back an innocent woman and Chalmers had turned her into a weapon.
Dar said, “Hell, they know the future. They know where to go for answers, what happens before it occurs…”
Mitchell held up a finger. “But, if they change the past, the future they know - we know - could change. What if they got that weapons technology and took it back to Hitler? We could be living in a totally different world.”
Running a hand through his hair, Dar looked away. They could all reside in concentration camps if Chalmers and Angela were successful. They had to be stopped.
He whipped back around. “How do we stop them?”
Tristan’s brows sat high on his forehead. “We?”
“I was hoping you’d ask that.” Mitchell stepped up beside his son. “I want you to work for D.I.R.E.”
Hell no. Living up to his father’s expectations had been nothing compared to working for D.I.R.E. He could never pull it off.
“I don’t want the job.”
Mitchell lowered his arms. “Even if it meant your designation as D.I.R.E.’s exclusive time travel agent?”
“Me?” Dar glanced at his brother, whose eyebrows now sat just shy of his hairline.
“I’m dead serious.”
Had Mitchell concocted this idea because he was Angela’s son, or because he saw talent?
“Why?”
“Based on what I know and have seen, you’re intelligent and combat savvy. What you don’t know, you would pick up with ease. You’re a team player and loyal. What’s not to like?”
“My history. My heritage.”
“Your father was a damned good soldier, Dar. You know that. He’s just made some bad choices.”
Choices. Is that what they were? Dar had followed his father’s path. Had sold government secrets and weapons technology. He’d laundered money and ruined competing businesses.
He’d done all of those things with full knowledge. No doubt. He would never approach his past like his mother had approached hers. He’d own up to his mistakes.
However, in his own defense, he’d grown into the business, had been raised around it until he could participate in it. Naylor Interests was all he knew.
Before Rachel. Before his sister’s appearance changed everything.
Now, he actually had choices. He had family that wanted him around. Family that would band together in the fight against Robert that was sure to come.
Mitchell offered the world’s most powerful mercenary agency on top of that.
Next thing he knew, a genie would appear and grant him three wishes.
“And for the record, Dar, your mother was smart, witty, and soft-hearted. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. In my opinion, your heritage is spot on.”
Dar scratched his chin. He had a father who was a world-renowned criminal, and a mother who faked her own suicide and now worked for the Nazis in World War II.
Obviously, D.I.R.E.’s standards weren’t very high.
Despite his heritage, he had an opportunity to change it. To overcome it. He had an opportunity to work for the good guys. To become a super-powered agent and travel through time. Did it get any more exciting?
“Talk to me about time travel.”
Mitchell gave a one-shouldered shrug. “For details, we’d need to get with Robinson but, your enhancements would be used for delicate, rare situations. Hopefully, not much at all. However, with your skills as a standard agent, we’d find plenty to keep you busy.”
“The secrets...” Dar scowled at him. “I hate them. There’d have to be no secrets.”
Tristan scoffed. “Good luck with that...”
Mitchell cocked his head. “Naylor, you know secrets are necessary. I can’t promise you that.”
Damn, he’d tried.
“What about my father?”
“What about him?”
“You could never ask me to take him out. I couldn’t do it.” His father always had said he was soft.
“I would never ask you to do that, Dar. If I wanted Bobby dead, it would’ve happened a long time ago.” He let out a breath. “Despite what you think, I don’t hate him. I hate what he’s done and I hate what’s happened to him, but I don’t hate him.”
“Is that why you haven’t sent him to prison yet?” It still bothered Dar that his father remained on D.I.R.E. grounds with him and Cassandra.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Then why?” Tristan said.
Mitchell stared at him without a response. Cursing, his brother looked away.
Did he want this? All of the secrets and bullshit that came with the job? Granted, the idea of time travel fascinated him. He’d been envious of Aidan when he took his trip. The idea of seeing the world in another time boggled his mind. How could he not accept?
His father would go ballistic. Absolutely ape shit. Then again, he’d said they were no longer his children so, what did it matter?
Mitchell’s voice held a strong note of warning. “Make no mistake, Naylor. I trust you completely, or I wouldn’t make this offer. If your hesitation is based on your lack of loyalty, lay it out on the table now.”
Tristan gave Dar a confident grin. His brother knew Dar was committed. His decision to side with Cass and Aidan against Robert had automatically put him on the same side as D.I.R.E. “What do you think, brother?” He had to be crazy for even considering this.
“With you, me and Aidan together, we could kick some major ass.”
The idea of working with his brother and Aidan rocked. Tristan had it right – they’d make a virtually unstoppable team.
What if he refused? What would Mitchell do? Send him to prison?
Dar had been floundering since D.I.R.E. took over Naylor Interests. He didn’t know what the future held for him. Mitchell offered an exciting, new path, one he didn’t deserve.
He looked over at Jocelyn. She needed someone to watch over her. Until Chalmers and Angela were stopped, she’d remain in danger.
Damn, his mind was on overload. He needed time to think. “Give me some time, Mitchell.”
“Okay, but the longer you wait, the sooner they could show up here looking for Aidan, weapons - or Jocelyn.”
#####
That night, Dar dug through the brown leather satchel in Jocelyn’s cabinet.
The bag contained a June fifth, nineteen forty-four Life magazine with the U.S. infantry on the cover, a book on botanicals and a pair of silk pantyhose.
Rummaging around in the bottom, he found a black scarf. Wrapped inside was a pair of dog tags and an old Smith & Wesson Model 10 with no bullets. Holding up the tags, he noticed blood smeared on one corner. Horner, John.
Was he her husband? Boyfriend?
Mitchell had it right. To get attached to her would be a mistake. Just because the items were wrapped in a black scarf didn’t mean Horner was dead. He could be waiting for her. She could not only have a husband or boyfriend, she could have children back in time. If Mitchell’s objective was to alter the past as little as possible, Jocelyn had to go back.
Yet, how could they, he, send her back knowing traitors wanted to kill her? Why didn’t her father protect her? Or Horner?
His phone vibrated in his pocket. Tristan. Stepping out of the room, he answered.
“I thought you’d want to know how the interrogation went.”
Leaning back against the corridor wall, Dar stared down at the speckled tile. “I hope he didn’t want to cooperate.”
“He didn’t. The sonovabitch was a lot tougher than his comrade Bu
ckner, though. Aidan used his gloves quite a bit.”
Dar winced. He wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Monroe’s gloves. No way.
“What did you learn?”
“They brought Jocelyn with them to lure Aidan to the machine. Apparently, Nathan Chalmers is under a lot of pressure to deliver the weapons technology they tried to buy from Jim Monroe. When they saw Aidan’s powers, they knew their German boss, VonFussenhoffer, would want him. They thought Aidan might compensate for their lack of delivery on the technology and the gold they’d brought forward to pay for it.”
“Why are they trying to kill Jocelyn?”
“She knows too much. VonFussenhoffer wants her dead. The plan was to tell Chalmers she was killed by one of us.”
Dar cursed in his head. She would not go to D.I.R.E. No way in hell.
“He also said we’ll never stop them. Even if we kill all of them, VonFussenhoffer will just send more. He said spies are all over the country.”
Jocelyn actually lived amongst this? What kind of life did she lead, creating time machines with her father in the middle of a world war?
He peered around the corner to check on her. She slept soundly. “I need to take Mitchell’s offer, don’t I?”
Tristan didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
Dar gave a sarcastic chuckle. “Glad you put some thought into it.”
“I have, Naylor. I think you’re an ideal candidate.”
“You thought Monroe was an ideal candidate.”
“After all of the puking he did, we both know he’s a wuss.”
Dar laughed aloud. “Damn, I’ll need to stop eating a week before I go.”
“Speaking of Monroe,” Tristan said, “I told him about Angela. He’s going to tell Cass.”
Dar winced in his head. “She’ll freak, Jacobs.”
“Yeah, well, I kinda freaked, too.”
No shit. This entire scenario felt very surreal. Brothers and sisters, his mother living in the past, a Naylor joining D.I.R.E…
Could he go back in time and stop this threat from the past, and keep Jocelyn safe? Would she hate him if he had her father arrested or worse?
Why did it matter to him what she thought?
When it came down to it, he didn’t want to be his father. He didn’t want to harbor hatred and animosity. He wanted his new family, and the opportunity Mitchell offered.
