WINDOW OF TIME

by DJ Erfert

  “You shouldn’t have asked, Sunny,” Lucy told her. “Although it doesn’t really matter since Helga told us what she was doing the night we found her. I just hope that the worm I planted in their computer screwed up their network enough that the retrovirus information can’t be used from any other terminal.”

  “Lucy!” Jim said sharply.

  “Oh, come on, Jim, all this was in our debriefing, just from different angles. We all know what happened at that place.”

  “Can you tell us anything about who manned that compound?” Junie asked.

  Lucy asked, “Those men, the ones who killed Gabe—”

  “The ones who almost killed us,” Sunny said quietly.

  Lucy nodded. “I killed one of them, but I didn’t see the other man. As far as I can tell, he’s still out there. Can you tell us anything about them—who they worked for?”

  “After all Lu went through to get to them, don’t you think she deserves to know at least that much?” Johnny asked.

  Jim looked at his watch and blew out a deep breath. “Yes, she does.” He lifted his glass and drained the liquid before he spoke to Lucy. “The passport you took from one of the men in the compound had his name on the terrorist watch list. He is connected with the Abbud El-Hashem terrorist nexus. Steele Reinforcements went in and rounded up the unconscious men, and cleaned up any signs of your mission, but they also took fingerprints from some of the bodies they found, and six of those men we also connected with El-Hashem, one was identified as Badru El-Hashem, the youngest son of Abbud El-Hashem. Steele found the C-4 you planted in the lab building and returned it to us.”

  Lucy leaned her head back. “I thought my phone’s timer set off the charge.”

  “No, your phone stopped shrapnel from piercing your lung,” Sunny said quietly.

  Lucy shuddered. “So … I didn’t get rid of the compound. Those other two are still out there.”

  “Other two?” Johnny asked, holding her closer.

  “Yeah,” Dusty said. “That other big guy who likes to wear that stupid looking gray suit.”

  “Oh, and the woman who attacked you in the hospital,” Johnny added. “I’d forgotten about her.”

  “Uh …” Jim set his glass down before taking out his phone. “While searching through the building that you referred to as the mess hall, Steele’s men found two bodies of women. They’d been crushed by falling debris.”

  “Fortunately that missile blew up when it did, and not after it was fired,” Dusty said.

  It took a moment, but when Jim passed his phone to her, she could see a gruesome photograph of a dead woman. The face was bloodied, but it was in clear enough that Lucy could identify her.

  Johnny leaned closer to look at the screen. “That’s her.”

  “I agree,” Lucy whispered.

  “So, Lucy, did you have a premonition about the woman trying to kill you?” Sunny asked.

  Lucy jumped at the unexpected question. “What?”

  Sunny scooted forward. “You do have premonitions?”

  Dusty gently pulled Sunny back into his arms. “I’m sorry, Lucy. I told my wife about what happened on our drive to the compound. She pretty much guessed it anyway, after what happened after the shootout.” He gave Sunny a disapproving look. “But she said she’d keep it a secret.”

  The assertion couldn’t be denied. In fact, Lucy wondered why it took Sunny so long to bring it up. But she didn’t see a window around herself. She couldn’t. Lucy looked at Jim. As generous and kind as he’d been over the past several weeks, he was still the assistant director of an agency known for ruthless subterfuge.

  “Look, Lucy,” Jim started, “we didn’t talk about this in our official debriefings for a good reason. I didn’t want it recorded.” He reached up and took Junie’s hand. “I’m sure you remember we watched your mission, and we saw those two cars speeding at you from around the bend of that narrow road.”

  Junie interrupted. “Even from our vantage point—maybe especially from our vantage point—we could tell there was no way you or Johnny could see them.”

  “I was on the phone, ready to call you when you took evasive action in time to stop a crash that would’ve killed someone,” Jim said. “We were stunned that you predicted that, of course, yet put together with what Kate told us about you, we knew you had a gift of premonitions.”

  “What did she tell you?” Lucy asked, hardening her voice.

  “Kate shadowed you for two weeks before she offered you a job with the Agency.”

  “Two weeks …” Lucy ran her hand up her arm when her skin prickled as she thought about the days before she graduated from the university. There had been times when she felt like if she turned quickly enough, she might find someone watching her, but she dismissed that feeling of paranoia to lack of experience. Clearly, she hadn’t been imagining those feelings. She thought Kate was her friend. “Kate followed me? Why?”

  “To see if you had any undesirable traits,” Jim told her.

  “Like?” Johnny asked sharply.

  “An illicit drug habit, or gambling, or a sex addict, anything that could be exploited by another government—” Jim stopped when Lucy laughed.

  “And?” Lucy asked.

  “As far as she could tell, you went around saving people in between your classes. Like that van full of children at the intersection. And a woman from being robbed at a bank ATM.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows up on his knees. “But that didn’t make sense, considering these past scenarios. Lucy, what did you really save that woman from when you beat that man within an inch of his life?”

  His direct question brought back the memory of the young woman being raped and knifed to death after he made her withdraw the limit at the ATM, and since Johnny was holding her, he groaned while her heart jumped, sharing the intense emotions. The panic washed in anger seared through her before she could adequately block it. Lucy saw him pale noticeably. It was one of the most violent windows she’d ever had, with the exception of her own mother’s murder.

  “Did Lucy tell you about it, Johnny?” Sunny asked.

  “About what?” he asked, his voice sounding slightly strangled.

  “If you’re worried about us broadcasting your gift to the world …” Junie waved off the thought with a flick of her hand. “Forget it. We made a pact while watching your mission. Your secret is safe with us.”

  “We were on a secure satellite feed. I checked to see if there were any other monitors linked in, and there were none,” Jim told her. “I also deleted that portion of the recording—the road to the compound—just in case someone wanted to pull it up.”

  Lucy nodded, surprised at what he did to keep her secret. “Why would you do that?”

  Junie said, “The way Jimmy explained it was that if you have the ability to stop a death before it happens, then it’s a great blessing—but it’s one that can easily be misused by the wrong person knowing about your gift.”

  “Who else knows about Lucy?” Johnny asked seriously.

  Rubbing his neck, Jim got up off the floor and began pacing in front of the fireplace. Lucy’s stomach lurched in anxiety, or maybe it was Johnny’s feeling of worry leaching over to her.

  “Jim?” Lucy leaned forward. “Who else knows?”

  “Did you tell anybody about what happened?” Junie asked, reaching out her hand.

  “No, I didn’t.” Jim let out another heavy breath and gazed at Lucy. “But I received a call last week from Cooper Steele, of Steele Reinforcements. He wanted to inform me that he intended to recruit you away from the Agency.”

  Lucy huffed. “Those gorillas? Why would they want me to work for them?”

  “Because of your job on Long Island.” Jim started pacing again. “Or someone leaked …”

  The tiny hairs on the nape of Lucy’s neck lifted in warning. “Leaked what?”

  “Lucy, Steele’s men had been clustered around you for the past five weeks. Stories have gone around at what happened on the island, a
nd then they get repeated and maybe exaggerated.”

  “Or maybe they were too close to the truth?” Lucy got up and paced the room too. “I like my job.”

  Jim stopped in front of her. “To be honest, you have a special ability that for the past two years you’ve been underutilizing. At least when you partnered with Agent Mackenzie your team excelled—”

  “I’ve done a good job on my own!”

  “I’m not saying you haven’t, but you know you have the skill and talent to achieve so much more than transporting inanimate objects.” Jim scrubbed his hand around his neck. “You’re too good for that job, and you know it. Why are you hiding?”

  “I’m not—” She was going to say she wasn’t hiding, but wasn’t she? Lucy walked to the fireplace and knelt in front of the hearth, watching the dwindling flames. Staying in the shadows had been a comfortable way of life for Lucy since Mac died. While they were married, he’d protected her, and she didn’t mind him taking all the credit for the success. “Jim, you know why.”

  He nodded subtly. “I know, but I don’t see why that part of your life can’t be an asset to you if you want it to be. And … I’m here for you, to protect your secret from going any further.”

  Johnny knelt down next to her and slid his arm around her shoulder. He took the poker and stoked the log, igniting the unused wood. Brighter flames lapped inside the inner hearth, heating Lucy’s skin. She closed her eyes, but she still could see the fire flickering through her lids—she couldn’t shut it out with a simple action. No matter her decision, she had a strong arm to lean on. Johnny told her he would be there, and he wouldn’t lie to her.

  Maybe it was time to come out of the shadows and use her gift instead of letting it rule her life.

  THE END

  Note from the author: Thanks for reading Window of Time. I hope you enjoyed it. Please consider posting a review for this book on Amazon US. If you’d like to be informed of future releases, I’d love it if you would join my email list at debraerfert.com so I may tell you about when I release Window of Death, and Window of Darkness. Thank you!

  Preview of WINDOW OF DEATH by DJ Erfert, available in April 2016

  Chapter One

  “I have to kill you now. It’s nothing personal.”

  Lucia aimed her .380 automatic at the knotted-up muscle and shot a single bullet into the snake’s head. The hot Sonoran desert north of the Arizona-Mexico border supplied her with a variety of vegetation to use as cover from the relentless sun. But hiding hadn’t been her intention after their human coyote unconscionably ditched her and the other members of her group when they illegally crossed the border into the US.

  “I’m sorry I had to evict you, Mr. Sidewinder,” Lucia said, sliding onto the cool, shady sand, “but this Mesquite bush isn’t big enough for both you and me. I couldn’t take a chance that you’d come back if I moved you to another residence. Besides,” she continued with a small smile on her lips, “snake tastes just like chicken.”

  ~*~

  “What was that?” Border Agent Mark Whittier asked.

  Agent Jason Morelli put down his binoculars and stared at his field-training officer. “It sounded like a gunshot.”

  “We better go check it out. Could you tell which way it came from?”

  “Yeah … from the south.”

  Mark shoved his equipment bag over to the passenger seat. “Very funny.”

  “Okay, okay, it was more southwest,” Jason said, opening his driver’s door. “I’ll take the point.” He grinned and added, “Try not to get lost.”

  Mark got behind the wheel of his four-wheel drive Tahoe and softly chuckled while he lifted the microphone off the dashboard, and held it to his lips. “Take it easy with the new truck, Jason.”

  “You worry too much.”

  “And you don’t worry enough.”

  “We’re finally getting some movement, and you aren’t excited?”

  Mark let out a deep breath of sudden frustration at his rookie. “Just don’t get careless. Don’t make me regret letting you check out your own truck today.”

  “I won’t.”

  Mark kept pace with his rookie for another mile before stopping on a short ridge along side Jason’s truck. After opening his door, he grabbed his binoculars and stepped out on the running board. Mark swept the unusually hot November landscape with his elbows propped up on the edge of the window frame. The high noon heat made the distance slowly dance—like looking through the clear flame of a fire. “Do you see anything?”

  “Yeah … a lot of sand, scrub brush, and blue—damn,” Jason said loudly, dropping his binoculars away from his face and rubbing his eyes. “What was that?”

  “It was a flash!”

  Jason blinked rapidly. “Are you sure it wasn’t an explosion?”

  Mark grinned. “Only to you. I didn’t have my binoculars up. It definitely was a flash. There it is again. And again.” He looked at Jason and asked, “Did you see that?”

  “I can barely see anything.”

  “It’s a signal.” Mark studied the flashes intently—and out loud. “One flash, two … three … one two three, one two three, one … two … three, one two three.” He sucked in a fast breath. “It’s an SOS. We must have a downed Marine out there. I wonder why the base didn’t notify us.”

  Jason rubbed his eyes. “Maybe it’s top secret. Or maybe they don’t know yet.”

  “Well, let’s not keep our pilot waiting,” Mark said, jumping back inside his truck and shoving it into drive. “He might be injured.”

  ~*~

  The quiet sounds of distant engines were as sweet as anything Lucia had heard in days. She kept her switchblade just far enough in the sun to catch the light. It was the only way to signal her rescuers. Lucia didn’t realize how difficult it would be to get caught sneaking into the U.S., but it took a solid twenty-four hours before she saw the white vehicles with bold green strips down the side.

  Lucia’s lips were chapped. She’d started sweating like she’d run a marathon, and her headache had intensified over the last couple of hours; sure signs of dehydration. It was more her fault than not. The needle-like spines sticking in her ankle-boots spoke of the supply of cactus around her feet. And with the cactus came moisture and nourishment. But she despised the taste of the plant and had rationed it too thinly. Now her body regretted it.

  When they were close enough Lucia discreetly closed her knife and clipped it back inside the collar of her boot while watching the two men climb out of their trucks. They’d spotted her. Relaxing, she waited for them to come over to her hiding spot. Lucia realized she would need help getting up. Her strength had dwindled too low. She hadn’t eaten any protein for two days. And she was very, very hot.

  The older man looked around as if he expected an ambush while talking with the younger man. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he didn’t look happy for some reason. She could see his brows scrunched beneath the brim of his hat and he had a frown on his lips. When they cautiously knelt down next to the bush and peered in at her, the younger man asked in Spanish her how she was doing.

  “¿Como esta, Seńora?”

  Lucia turned her head and stared into the concerned eyes of the agent dressed in green, and smiled. “Asĩ, asĩ,” she answered softly, and then in English she asked, “You don’t happen to have a cell phone I can borrow?”

  The older agent took an involuntary deep breath. “Jason, she’s Anglo.”

  “Since I was born,” Lucia told him.

  “Were you signaling us?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jason asked, “Are you alone?”

  Lucia closed her eyes and took a tired breath, and slowly let it back out. When she reached into her front pocket, a strong hand stopped her movement. She opened her eyes and saw the concern in the older man’s face intensify. His brows pinched together tighter. She held up her hands and let him retrieve her thin wallet from her pants. His eye-popping surprised look was fully expect
ed.

  “You got to be kidding,” he muttered loud enough for Lucy to hear. “Special Agent Lucille James. Central Intelligence Agency.”

  “Call me Lucy,” she said.

  Jason blurted out, “You’re a CIA agent?”

  Lucy nodded. “A very thirsty one.”

  “What are you doing out here?” Jason asked.

  “Let’s get Agent James into an air-conditioned environment with a nice bottle of Gatorade before we ask anymore questions.”

  “Thank you.” Lucy held up her arms. Two strong sets of hands gently dragged her out from under the life-saving Mesquite bush.

  “Can you walk?” he asked.

  Lucy nodded. “Yes, I think so.” With one man walking on either side, they moved toward the trucks. “Have you found anybody else within the past twenty-four hours?”

  “No, ma’am.” The older agent opened his passenger door. “Do you have a partner we should be searching for?”

  Lucy held onto the door’s frame for support and stared at the agent. “I was one of sixteen people smuggled across the border north of Los Vidrios heading for Tacna. At least that was the promised destination. But shortly after we were on the American side, our coyote deserted us without any provisions or communication. I doubt any of the women can make it out of this desert on their own, and one of the women has two young children.”

  “And you left them?” Jason asked sharply.

  Lucy gave him a hard stare. “I had a mission to complete. I gave them all the food I brought with me, as well as my water. That was the best I could do, agent.”

  “Did you notice which way they headed?” the older agent asked, looking off into the distance.

  Nodding, she said, “It was with the rest of the group. Northwest.”

  “On foot? I don’t get it. It’s desolate in that direction,” Jason said. “A solid fifty miles of nothing but desert.”

  Lucy nodded again. “I tried to talk them into going more toward the east, but one of the men was very persuasive. I have a theory—”