"Oh, I don't know where he is now," she said, as nonchalantly as possible, as if none of that mattered. "He thought I was crazy and couldn't wait to drop me off here at the ranch and be done with me. But let me tell you about my brother and what I found. He's dying from leukemia, and these people might have something that could help him. I am bringing it back. I didn't ask to be thrown into the past, but maybe it happened for this reason. I don't care what you say, I'm bringing it. I have to… it's my brother's life we're talking about."
She watched as Harmon appeared to metamorphose. He seemed less human and more mechanical as his face set into an even more rigid expression and he turned his head so slowly that she swore it was unnatural. She knew exactly what Virginia's instincts had warned her about. His heart was closed down.
"You will listen to me," he stated with authority. "I am in charge of this mission, and my orders were to bring you back, dead or alive… with nothing in history disturbed." He paused for a moment, a moment of emphasis. "Do you want to return alive?"
"Yes." It was merely a whisper, as fear entered her heart. This man's devotion to duty had robbed him of compassion.
"I'll strip-search you if I have to, to make sure you do not bring anything back with you. Even that dress you are wearing. I was briefed on your clothing when you took that dive, and if you don't have your own things, you'll go back naked. You can't hide anything if you're naked."
She sucked in her breath at the implication. In an instant she knew she would never reason with this man. He was like a government machine, drained of his free will. Somehow, she had to find a way to bring back the herb without him knowing it. But how, if he strip searched her? She couldn't think about it now. Right now she had to make him think that he was in charge of this mission.
Foolish man… he thought he had all the facts, everything he needed to be in control. How like a testosterone-based male to discount a woman. She too was on a mission.
A mission of love.
She felt the strength of all females who had refused to be subjugated throughout history… even that word Harmon had said she must not change… history… his story… bothered her. What about her story? What about all those women who risked everything for love, a love that went beyond what the poets could possibly define? Where was the story that told of the role women had played in shaping the world?
Was it only women who knew that pure love was the one thing that could never be discounted? In the end, it always prevailed. Always…
"Do you understand me, Miss Callahan?" He asked the question in a voice that was supposed to sound official.
Mairie knew what he was doing, and she suddenly realized that she wasn't as scared as she thought she would be when faced with this fork in the road. She was talking about life and death here. She knew, every cell in her body knew, if she did not surrender, this man was not about to let her live.
Virginia Gass had highly developed intuition, Mairie thought… right before looking him in the eye and saying, "I understand, Mr. Harmon."
He continued to hold her stare and Mairie had to use all her strength to shield what was running through her mind. She inhaled through her nose, held her breath, and slowly let the air pass out through her nostrils, allowing every ounce of tension to slip away with it.
"I understand," she repeated.
Harmon tested her for a few seconds longer with his expression and Mairie mentally sighed in relief as the man finally said, "Good. Don't make this hard."
"I only want to get home again."
He nodded. "Then sit on this boulder and I'll tell you my plan. Tomorrow we have to be two kilometers south of Mount Charleston at thirteen hundred hours, one p.m. There cannot be a second's delay. We'll arrive an hour early to make sure of that. When you rise in the morning at 0500 hours, five a.m., you will meet me out here. I'll spend the night on guard, observing the area. Try not to let anyone see you are leaving. You have the back bedroom, so slip out the window. Do not leave a thing. Sweep the furniture with that dress after you take it off. I'll be on the other side, waiting. I'll take care of anything you might leave on the windowsills. I'll have bought another horse from Gass to use as a pack animal. Won't be the greatest, but it's better than walking. We'll rendezvous at—"
"Wait," Mairie interrupted, much to Harmon's annoyance. "Why do I have to wipe my fingerprints off everything? These people don't know anything about identification through prints. Isn't that a little excessive?"
She knew she had hit a button that he didn't want her to push.
"Just do as you're told. Nothing about this mission is excessive. Everything is precision planned."
"Hmm… just as your little experiment was? The one that landed me back here?" She knew she had to challenge him a little, or he would become suspicious of her surrender. Pleased to see Harmon's earlier male tactic of disregarding a woman, Mairie tried not to smile.
He raised his chin only slightly in defense, but she caught the minute gesture of uncertainty. "That error was corrected. This mission will be completed successfully."
"Let's hope so," she murmured. "For both our sakes."
"This is my mission. I have it under control."
She merely nodded.
"Now, wipe anything you've touched in that room. I'll be waiting at the window and you can hand me your equipment. You do have it, don't you? I didn't find any trace of it."
Again, she simply nodded as she listened to his plans. Thirteen hundred hours. Not one second later. Two kilometers south of Mount Charleston… She was focused on his every word, the exhalation of his breath. The entire fiber of her being was alerted that her life depended on it.
She only knew for certain that she had to get to Jack.
Now he was her lifeline.
A half hour later, she returned to the house through the courtyard. She saw the ranch house in the southwest corner, opposite the stalls of horses. On the northeast wall was the Old Mormon Fort that Virginia had told her about at breakfast. How ironic that what had started with missionary zeal would one day be the site of a barn to store beans and raisins and house cows… and later to be replaced with bright neon lights and slot machines in post offices and bathrooms. She again focused her attention on the faint plan that was forming in her mind. Harmon couldn't see what took place in the courtyard, since a stone wall surrounded the entire perimeter. The only entrance was the heavy wooden gate. And that she knew was locked at night. She had seen Indian ranch hands do it from the porch last night while waiting for Jack.
Jack…
She had to find him.
Turning to the house, she walked a few feet and then, as if she had called him in her mind, he wandered out of the horse stalls leading his animal into the sunlight.
As the light hit his body, he seemed to lift his face to the sun and absorb it. She saw the streaks of blond though his darker brown hair. The way his body moved in a slow, graceful way, as though he were at one with his surroundings. Was it merely the sun that made him appear so… so manly? Or was it that she knew his heart was pure, that his intentions toward her were honorable? Both, she honestly admitted.
Jack Delaney was quite a man.
Exactly what she needed for this mission of love.
"Jack." She called out his name in a low voice. Knowing he was blinded by the sun, she added, "Over here."
He turned his head at the same time he sheltered his eyes to see better. "Mairie?"
Walking toward him, she smiled. "I must speak with you. It's urgent."
She closed the distance between them until he could see her. She saw him drop his arm and hurry his movements. "What's wrong?"
"Were you going somewhere?" she asked, glancing at his horse.
He shook his head while continuing to stare at her with intent. "Thought I'd take advantage of Gass's blacksmith shop. Now, tell me what's wrong."
"We need to speak privately. May I go along with you?"
He seemed to read her mind as he nodded, while leading the ho
rse across the courtyard. "Are you all right?" he whispered to her as she fell in step beside him.
"Yes. For right now, I am. This is really serious, Jack, or I wouldn't need to have this conversation. Please believe that."
"Come on," he muttered, quickening their stride. "Now I am concerned."
"That makes two of us," she said, more to herself than to him.
He led the horse up to the leather line strung before a pit of burning embers. He tied the horse and then reached around to grab several pieces of wood. Turning to her, he said, "Now, tell me. Everything."
She gulped, trying to bring moisture back into her mouth and began…
"Someone's come to take me back, Jack. He's here now."
Jack's body immediately tensed and he faintly noticed that there was disappointment along with concern in his reaction to her words. "Who? Where is he?"
He saw her inhale, as though gathering her strength. "His name is Robert Harmon. Specialist Fourth Class of the Navy Seals. And he's camping at the creek for the night. He expects to take me back to my own time tomorrow. I have all the details."
"Then you're leaving?" Why was he accepting everything she said? What was it about this woman, this incredible woman, that tore down the mortar of his defenses? Everything she had told him sounded crazy. Everything. Yet he had seen with his own eyes that she spoke truth, even if he didn't understand it yet.
"Yes. I must leave. But I want to do it tonight, or in the wee hours of the morning. I can't go with him, Jack. I have something I have to do first. I have to hide the herb the Paiutes gave me, somewhere I know will still exist a hundred and twenty-two years from now. I can't think of anything, except the mountain. I must find a place, a cave, somewhere it can be left until I can retrieve it in my own time."
He tried to follow her thoughts, yet they seemed beyond him. "You will hide it and then find it in 1999? How will it survive all those years?"
Mairie nodded. "I thought about that. I'm going to ask Virginia for one of her earthen jars, one with a stopper. She uses candles. I can seal it with the wax. You would be surprised what modern technology can do with just a speck of—"
"What?" he asked, seeing her expression change, like she was suddenly aware of something more important.
"I know," she breathed. "I mean, I don't know the real reason, but I know part of it, the reason I have to wipe away any trace I may have been here. It's about DNA. Wow… this is a precise plan."
"DNA?" She was speaking in riddles again. "Mairie, explain."
She shook her head. "I can't. Just something we carry with us. It's like an exact identification of who we are." Staring at her hand, she ran her thumb over her fingers. "It can also be found in the cells of dead skin. The tiniest speck. For some reason I'm supposed to remove as much of my DNA from this time as possible. I'll do it, since this science stuff is beyond me to grasp."
"Mairie, will you please tell me what you're rambling about?"
She looked up at him and her expression became serious again. "I'm sorry, I can't. We don't have time for me to explain, and I probably couldn't get you to understand anyway. Let me cut to the chase here, Jack. This is a matter of life and death. Mine. Possibly yours, and maybe even my brother's. I'm not allowed to bring anything back with me, even the herb. I won't leave it, if it might save my brother's life. I need your help to get to those mountains and then to the desert floor by 1300 hours. One o'clock in the afternoon. That's probably the exact time I jumped. I must be there. I know Harmon will be there for he told me the coordinates are set for two people."
Jack forgot about the fire, about reshoeing his horse. He ran his fingers through his hair and muttered, "For God's sake, Mairie… I can take the jar to the cave where we spent the night. You don't have to do this."
She looked at him. "I know you're in my life right now for a reason. Who better to have at my side in this moment? And I'm learning that living in the moment is the only way I know to get through this. Jack, thank you for offering, but I would have to know that jar was placed in that cave. Harmon is going to be watching the ranch tonight. And he wants you, too. He asked me who knew about me. I am so sorry to have endangered your life in this mess. I didn't tell him your name or describe you, but if he finds out that you know about me, about what happened to me, I think he'd kill you without any hesitation. I can't take the chance he would stop you, or possibly kill you. It has nothing to do with you, Jack, or your ability to hide the plant. My decision is made because of him. He's a Navy Seal."
That was it. His patience ran out. "Like that. Explain that. What the hell is a navy seal? This is a human being we are speaking about, isn't it?"
She actually laughed, and he was surprised that she was capable of it at such a time. "Navy Seals are a specialized branch of the military of the future. They are highly trained for survival… at any cost. I don't know about all of them, but for some reason the government chose to send a man after me who's almost blind to anything beside his orders." Sighing, she added, "Yes. He looks human, but his heart is closed down, Jack. This isn't an ordinary man. He's …very dangerous."
Jack could only stare at her. "You want my help to get to the mountain and hide the plant?"
She returned his steady gaze. Her expression was completely serious. Once more he was reminded of her the night of the celebration. She had the heart of a princess, one whose courage was not questioned.
"Yes. I know it's a lot to ask, but yes, Jack. I want your help. I need you."
Something passed between them. Some unspoken agreement. He had felt it before, years ago… right before battle. You always knew the ones you could stand back to back and trust. Imagine… to find that in a woman. He was stunned.
"I will help you. But you forget, Mairie Callahan … this Navy Seal has yet to meet a man that thinks with the mind and heart of an Indian. Have no doubt about our safe passage. We will not be depending only on human abilities. Mother Earth and Father Sky shall assist us."
He saw her eyes open wide, her expression soften. She was so lovely in her courage. "Now tell me the rest of your plan. Perhaps I could add something to aid us in our journey." Why did he feel like something was rekindled within him? It had started when he saw her falling from the sky, and it had just expanded.
Could this fantastic woman actually be his gift?
He felt humbled by the thought. What had he ever done right in his life to deserve knowing her, a traveler from another time… from the future?
Suddenly, he felt his life had a purpose.
And in that moment, Mairie knew she wasn't just falling in love with this man.
She was free falling. It was like terminal velocity.
Chapter 8
The gleam in the eyes of Virginia Simpson Gass was unmistakable.
Mairie helped further that sign of acceptance, by adding, "And I know this man would stop at nothing to force me to go with him. He's been ordered to bring me back dead or alive, and I know it might be his act of last resort, but he would even go so far as killing me to fulfill his obligation. It's madness."
Nodding, Virginia rose from the kitchen table and began straightening bowls that were already in alignment on the shelf. "I understand, Mairie. I do. You may not know much about me, but what Jack and I were alluding to in our conversation last night at the table was that I come from another life, too. I didn't always live in the desert. You aren't the only one running from something. Unlike you, I didn't have anyone hired to bring me back to my family. This… this hired gun outside won't stop true love."
Virginia turned to Mairie and Jack, then smiled. "I didn't run away with my man. I ran to him. Not knowing he was here. Just had trust."
Mairie had a moment of regret for including Jack in her story about runaway lovers. It was the only thing she could think of that would elicit Virginia's sympathy and convey the urgency.
The woman again straightened the bowls absent-mindedly as she said in a thoughtful voice, "Yes… I ran to my future. I left behind th
at unreasonable attitude society insists on placing upon us. Those rules and standards most of us willingly accept… as right. My family is wealthy back in Missouri. If I had stayed there, I would have what most of society thinks is a perfect life…"
Her words trailed off and she turned around, a slow, thoughtful smile appearing in her expression. "But you know something incredible…? I've never been happier in my life than I am most of the time right here! I guess it took me leaving my family, my clan, for me to see I could be happy anywhere. That it was about me, not where I was or how much money or luxuries I had about me." She appeared embarrassed and went back to her seat. "I'm sorry for rambling. Now, how do we create some type of diversion so the two of you can safely leave?"
Mairie heard her words and all she could think about was Bryan. What he had said right before he had jumped from the plane. In a flash that scene played back in her mind…
"We're both crazy, you realize that…"
Laughing, Bryan nodded. "Yup… Crazy. But we're alive, right? We've left the rest of the tribe to their own devices and struck out on our own adventure. This is it, kid. Right here. Right now. Nothing matters but this moment." Still grinning like a ten-year-old kid on Christmas morning, he then closed his shield and said, "I love it! I love you. And, Mar, you can do this."
She remembered staring into his eyes and thinking he was right. They had left what most would consider proper societal behavior. Didn't she even think they were like two middle-aged hippies, leaving everything behind to experience life? Why, she was the exact opposite of Specialist Fourth Class Robert Lee Harmon. She was thinking with her mind, not mindlessly following the thoughts of another. She still had free will. And her will was telling her to get the hell out of Dodge as quickly as possible.
Now she knew her opponent.
Harmon was insane. He was unable to create for himself. He must be told what to do; therefore, he had no faith of his own.
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