Lowering herself into the plush seat, she reached for her shoes and wobbled for a moment as the buzzing pain hit her again. After several hours of rest, the shock and pressure of the energy flowing through her made her gasp.
Tim rose from the bed and moved toward her, but she put up a hand to stop him as the light bulb in the decorative lamp sitting on the bedside table exploded. Then the alarm clock on the opposite table went off.
“No. I got this.” Sarah closed her eyes and shut the flow of energy down the way the Archiver had taught her. Focus through the pain. Control the flow. Send it where she wanted it to go.
Tim hovered like a mother hen, but she ignored him and pulled the energy back to bearable levels. The alarm clock stopped and she put Tim’s flip-flops back on. The plastic helped stem the flow of energy as well. That was good to know. When she wanted to get crazy, she could stand on metal barefoot.
But not today. Today that would just make her head explode. The loss of more than one vital organ in one afternoon would be more than she could take. She was a fighter, not a liar. And since her parents’ and her brother’s deaths, she’d never lied to herself. No doubt her heart had officially surrendered to that earth-shattering kiss. The traitorous organ was no longer hers. But unless Tim suddenly decided to claim it, the poor little muscle would have to deal with the fact that they were down thirteen to one in the final game and didn’t have the serve.
“Okay. I’m ready.” She looked up at Tim to find him waiting at the door. He nodded and held it open for her.
Time to get to work and figure out how to save millions of people in the real world. Time to get over delusions of romance. A kiss was just a kiss.
A hot kiss. An all-encompassing, body-burning, make-her-want-to-rip-his-clothes-off-right-now kiss.
But she didn’t get to do any of that. And she wasn’t sure he wanted her to. He was a certified, grade-A, American hero. He’d do anything to save the lives of nine million people. And he’d play along with her if he had to. So, how was she supposed to know if he liked her, or if he was just doing his job? Did he find her attractive, or did the “auto-on” switch on the side of his neck simply scramble his brain into a thoughtless, lust-filled mess?
There was no way to know until after. She couldn’t put her heart out there on a maybe and get it stomped on again. She had enough end-of-the-world doom and gloom on her plate without risking a broken heart. And didn’t that just stink?
<><><>
Tuesday, 7:45 p.m.
Sarah leaned back in the passenger seat of Alexa’s sleek sedan. Alexa waved and accelerated. Tim let the girls pass by and take the lead on the highway. Alexa had insisted on some alone time with her fellow time-traveler, and Sarah had jumped at the chance to put more distance between them.
Tim rubbed his hand over his bald head and cursed himself six ways to Sunday. He’d been a damn fool moving on her like that. But God help him, he’d woken the moment her breathing changed and held himself still while her touch hovered and tempted. The force of his need for that simple caress on his face had shocked him and he’d stopped breathing, waiting for it, until he felt her emotional withdrawal. Her sad resignation and rejection of her own desires.
How he knew what she was feeling, he couldn’t say. It had been odd but so instinctive, he hadn’t questioned it. The flash of fire in his veins when she’d finally touched him drove all thought from his mind. In that moment, he hadn’t questioned anything. She’d simply been his. Gorgeous. Smoking hot. Kissable. His.
Then she’d run like a scared rabbit.
Sarah’s face had twisted in pain when the energy hit her. His damn head still buzzed like a hundred fat flies were dive-bombing his ears from the inside. He couldn’t imagine what must be going on with her. But she’d distanced herself from him after scorching his insides with that kiss. Despite the fact that he’d probably regret it, if Luke hadn’t knocked on the door, he knew he could have seduced her, buried himself inside her so deeply she’d never get him out.
But that was bat-shit crazy thinking. He had nothing to offer her but hot sex and his tactical skills on this mission. The longing he felt in her, the sadness, could only be healed by fairy-tale bullshit, and he just didn’t believe in fairy tales anymore. People lied. People died. And he had nothing to offer a woman but a lifetime of looking over her shoulder and waiting for a sniper’s bullet.
They’d figure it out. Eventually, when someone finally deciphered his equations and realized he’d corrupted them all, they’d come for him. Until they did, he had to pretend to be normal, innocent, and rock solid. Lies. Lies. Lies. No woman deserved that.
To add insult to injury, the most annoyingly happy human he’d ever met whistled nonstop from the passenger seat of his truck since they’d left the house. Twenty-seven minutes parked outside the mall while the girls shopped and now the drive to Hancock Observatory. Alexa had insisted that Sarah have some clothes that actually fit her. He liked her just fine wearing his. It was stupid and absurd to want to keep her in them when they had to go out in public and present the façade of normal, everyday tourists. But damn it all, that was what his irrational brain wanted. Evidently, he was now officially thinking with his dick.
Judging by the happy glint in Sarah’s eyes and the stack of shopping bags she’d been toting when the girls had come out of the store, the wait had been worth it. She now looked sexy as hell in a pair of stretchy jeans, a rust-colored, lace-trimmed cami, and a cream-colored hoodie. He’d preferred watching her walk around barefoot in his home, wearing his clothes and no underwear, but that was a dangerous train of thought. He did his level best to dismiss the memory of her soft heat draped over his chest. The pulse of her hand against his neck had sent a lightning bolt straight to his core like she’d flipped a damn switch. He’d locked his grip at her waist and hung on to his sanity by a thread. That woman was bottled lightning, in more ways than one. His death grip on her hip bones had been the one thing keeping him from rolling her beneath him on the bed and claiming her in the most elemental way possible.
So, yeah, getting her out of his clothes was probably the smartest thing they could do right now. The primitive brain that protested the move could shut the hell up. He had bigger problems, like figuring out how to stop an attack on American soil.
He shifted in his seat to take the pressure, and his mind, off the growing problem there. Luke had the balls to laugh at him from the passenger seat.
“It’s just going to get worse, you know.” Luke crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at Tim like a disapproving father.
“What?”
“Everything.”
“If you say so.” If Luke was determined to give him a lecture, it was going to be a long drive. Tim tightened his grip on the steering wheel and checked the mirrors.
“Look, Tim. I’ve been through this with Alexa. Only with her it wasn’t just Chicago. If she’d failed, several billion people would’ve died, and it would’ve been my fault. I trusted the wrong people. Don’t make the same mistakes.”
Tim thought about his old team, and about how his first thought had been to call them in. But he hadn’t made the call. They would’ve laughed at him if he’d told them everything. So, he would’ve had to lie to get their help. He couldn’t ask them to risk their lives and not give them the truth. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
Tim drummed the fingers of his right hand against his thigh in time to the beat on the radio and hoped Luke was finished.
“Don’t underestimate her, and don’t leave her side for an instant.”
“Got it.” Who did this guy think he was talking to? He held his tongue out of respect for the women, but Luke was getting on his nerves worse now than when he’d been whistling. Sarah was his, and Luke insinuating that he wouldn’t take care of her was getting on his last nerve.
“No. I don’t think you do.” Luke sighed and ran his hand through his hair as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders.
“Look, Luke.
I appreciate the pep talk, but I think I can take care of Sarah.”
“No, you’re being a fucking idiot.”
Tim raised an eyebrow and didn’t dare speak. He’d rip the guy a new asshole and lose a possible link in the chain. And Sarah’d never forgive him.
Luke shifted in his seat and Tim felt the other man’s challenging glare focus on his face.
“She doesn’t trust you.”
The accusation stung, but it was true. She didn’t. “She will.”
“If she doesn’t trust you, she’s as good as dead. You better fix it.”
Tim shook his head in disgust. “I’m working on it.”
“No, you’re not. You’re too busy trying to figure out all the angles. You’re worried about using her to track the ship. You’re too damn busy trying to decide whether or not to believe all this, or if we’re playing you for some kind of fool.”
Tim had no response to the latter, so he focused on what he could respond to. “If this is for real, that ship will be responsible for millions of deaths.”
“It’s for real.”
Okay. He’d bite. “What convinced you?”
“Alexa knew things no one could know. She could also disappear into thin air. And I dreamt about her for sixteen years before she showed up in my kitchen rummaging for food. I knew she was mine the moment I saw her.”
“Sounds like a fairy tale.” Tim had no one to blame but himself. He’d asked. He wouldn’t make the mistake again. Give him weapons and war, a clear objective and a team who knew how to get things done. That was all fine. But I knew she was mine the moment I saw her? Destiny? Kismet? I’d die for you, love at first fucking sight? With a complete stranger? Luke obviously had…issues.
The fact that he was more prepared to believe in aliens attacking the planet than in true love probably didn’t bode well for his future happiness. Tim shook his head.
“You better start believing in fairy tales.”
“I appreciate the information, Luke. But I don’t have time for fairy tales. Not if we’ve got a ship to find and a weapon to destroy in the next two days. And Sarah…” He trailed off, not sure what to reveal of his thoughts. If she could do a fraction of what she claimed, and control it?
Luke clenched his jaw in anger, like he was reading Tim’s mind. “Sarah’s not a weapon. She’s not an asset you can deploy. She’s a woman who will leave your ass behind if she thinks you are manipulating her, using her, or if you make her feel like she can’t trust you.”
“If she really is who she says she is, then she's a volleyball player, for Christ’s sake. Not a soldier. She’s a beach bunny with no training who blows up light bulbs. How is she going to stop an alien ship with advanced weaponry? I haven’t called this in because no one would believe me. But that doesn’t mean I won’t do everything in my power to stop it from happening.”
Luke thumped his head against the headrest behind him in frustration. “Hell. Alexa was right. It’s even worse than I thought.”
Tim ignored the outburst. The poor guy was losing it.
Luke turned in his seat and leaned forward, right hand on the dash. “You are not listening, but I am going to tell you anyway. Listen to me or don’t, it’s up to you. But I’ve been through this. The Archiver doesn’t make mistakes. He sends women who can do the job. Powerful women. Alexa’s family has stories going back hundreds of years. The Timewalkers are not to be fucked with. This is serious. Nine million people in Chicago are going to die on Friday if the woman riding in that car doesn’t trust you with her life. If she doesn’t trust you, if she doesn’t believe that you’ve got her back, if she isn’t one hundred percent sure that you’d die to protect her, she’ll leave you behind and try to tackle this thing alone. She’ll die. And nine million innocent people will die with her while you watch.
“She’s yours. It doesn’t matter whether you wanted a woman in your life or not. This isn’t a military op you can macho man your way through. You can’t go kill something or blow it up. You have one job, keeping her alive. Beyond that, anything you might think you wanted became irrelevant the moment that Mark burned into your neck.”
Tim pulled into the parking garage and made sure his face was a cold, blank mask. “Look, I appreciate the help you've given us. But why don’t you take Alexa and get out of town. I’ve can take it from here.” Getting around the video cameras would be a pain without Alexa’s little invisibility trick, but not insurmountable. He’d handled worse, and electronics were a particular specialty of his. It would be worth it not to have to listen to any more bullshit about trust and love and people dying on his watch. Not going to happen.
“No, you can’t.” Luke and Tim both focused on the women as they climbed out of Alexa’s car, deep in discussion. Alexa looked worried, and Sarah’s eyes were as wide as a frightened rabbit about to bolt.
Luke pulled a flash drive from the front pocket of his brown slacks and handed it to Tim. “I made a call. One of my friends at the lab is working on geomagnetics. High-level, experimental stuff. Above top secret. I got some ideas from him on what the weapon could be and thoughts on how to reverse the magnetic charges. Stuff like that. I tried to get it into layman’s terms, but some of it’s physics theory, and there’s just no way to get around it.”
“Thanks.” Tim carefully tucked the drive into his own pocket and looked Luke straight in the eye. Tim knew he probably wrote the lab guide Luke’s buddy was working from. He wondered who Luke’s source was. Marshall? Kryznski? “Who’s your source?”
Luke ignored the question. “I’m giving this to you because you’re Marked. I’m going to trust you to do the right thing when the time comes and not get my ass thrown in prison, or worse, for the information I got out for you on that drive.”
Luke was right. If the flash drive held what Luke said it did, the man had just placed his future and freedom in Tim’s hands. Could be a setup, another lure, but that didn’t feel right. None of this felt right. “I’m doing my best, here, Luke. I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Luke put his hand on the door handle and paused. “Don’t say anything. Just do whatever you have to do to get Sarah to trust you. Lie to her. Seduce her. Tell her you love her, even if you don’t yet. I don’t care what it takes. If she isn’t convinced that you are madly in love with her, that you’d die for her, by Friday morning, game over. She’s dead. You’re dead. And Chicago is gone. I almost lost Alexa. I know what I’m talking about.”
They got out of the truck and Tim locked it up as Sarah approached him with her head down and her arms wrapped around her waist in a defensive gesture. Pain transformed her face into a web of crow’s feet wrapped around glassy eyes, but she didn’t reach for him or the relief he knew his touch provided. Luke watched as well and raised his eyebrows at Tim to make his point.
Go ahead, jackass, rub salt in the wound.
Luke was right about one thing, she didn’t trust him yet. And she certainly didn’t love him. He doubted she ever would. He was too scarred, too hard, and too used to being alone. But he could convince her to trust him, seduce her and lie to her if he had to. Because the truth was, he would die to protect her.
Death meant little to him. He’d seen it too much to fear it. He risked his life protecting others. It was what he did. It was what every soldier did, every day. It was part of his fucking DNA. For years that had been his whole life.
Sarah was not going to get hurt, no matter who was involved or what he had to do.
Seduce. Deploy. Protect.
Should be a piece of cake.
“You guys ready?” Alexa wrapped her arm around Luke’s waist and gazed up at her husband.
“Time to ride the lightning.” Sarah’s smile didn’t reach her eyes, but she led the way to the elevators.
Chapter Six
Wednesday, 12:04 a.m.
They huddled together in a corner with Alexa munching nonstop on energy bars. Did the woman never stop eating? It was dark, the Chicago lights lay below
them like a carpet of multicolored stars. The elevator ding alerted them to the final descent of the night. The lone security guard had wandered the observation deck and cleared it. Now he’d go home to his family and she’d get to work trying to track an alien spaceship.
Even thinking the thought was odd. How bizarre her life had become. Sarah dismissed the man and reached for the energy she knew hummed through the wires lining the walls, found the ones she wanted, and pushed a bit more into them until they all heard a series of odd popping noises.
“Was that you killing the security cameras?” Alexa whispered the question and Sarah answered.
“Yes. They’re toast.”
“Good. I was getting tired.” Alexa released her hold on the light, or whatever it was she did, and suddenly Sarah could see everyone clearly again. Feeling Tim’s long, lean form pressed against her spine in the dark had been a sensual distraction she didn’t need. Alexa wasn’t the only one desperate to get out of the corner.
Sarah dashed for one of the giant windows and looked out over the urban sprawl crawling with life and energy. In two days it would be gone forever unless she figured this out.
“Good luck. We’re here, in case you need us.” Alexa wrapped her arms around Sarah’s waist and gave her a fierce and painfully tight squeeze. “Remember what I told you.”
Tim’s alert gaze flicked between them but Sarah wouldn’t look at him, an obvious refusal to reveal the highly personal nature of their girl talk.
“I will. Thank you for all your help.”
Alexa let her go and walked to Tim and gave him a quick but brutal squeeze around his shoulders. “You ready?”
Tim nodded but Sarah saw the flash of doubt in his eyes. He still didn’t believe her, at least not about everything. It hurt. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Sarah wanted to argue, but thought better of it. He didn’t believe the ship was out there. It didn’t matter. She knew and had asked Alexa to take Bandit with her when she left town tomorrow. At least she could keep the little beast out of harm’s way. Bizarre as it was, knowing that even if she failed, that little ball of fluff would survive, brought her a small sense of peace.
Silver Storm: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 2 Page 8
