"Jack…" She breathed his name and touched his jaw. "Wake up. Did Harmon get us?" Fear and confusion overrode the pain and she commanded her brain to think clearly. Why were they like this? She looked down to his chest and saw the thick knot of rope and immediately began to free herself. She had to get Jack away from Harmon. Even as she was struggling with the intricate knot, a part of her wondered why Harmon would leave her arms free to untie herself and Jack. Maybe he thought they were dead.
It never occurred to her.
Terror raced through her system. He couldn't… Jack couldn't be dead.
"Jack!" Desperate, she again called out his name as she scrambled to untangle the last few slips of the knot. Finally free, she pulled the rope from her shoulders and back and with a quick look around her, Mairie started slapping Jack's cheeks.
"Wake up. You can't be dead." She threw her head against his chest and had to hold her breath in order to hear his heart.
It was pumping, and she felt his chest expand with his shallow breathing.
"Okay, then wake up," she cried, and shook his shoulders. "C'mon, Jack. Get up… get up, get up…"
He moaned lightly and Mairie froze in mid shake, her eyes clouded by a film of tears. "Please, Jack… please wake up. That's right, you can do it. I'm here, right here and I need you. We have to get up. Now, Jack… right now. Come on…"
His eyelids fluttered once and he moaned louder.
"Yes, that's it. Come on. Wake up." She tapped his cheek lighter this time. "Jack… it's Mairie. Wake up!"
"All right," he mumbled. "Stop… yelling."
Stunned for a moment, Mairie stared at him and then broke into a soft smile. "You're okay… Thank God, you're okay… I thought you might be—" She stopped herself short with the thought and continued in a whisper, "Jack, what happened? All I remember… we were talking in front of the cave… and… and I was about to jump… then I saw this really strange look on your face, Jack… and I don't remember anything else. What happened? Did Harmon get us?" She began frantically to look around them. "Damn. We've got to get up and get away from here. Open your eyes, Jack. We've gotta move now."
He opened his eyelids and blinked a few times as another painful moan escaped his lips. Mairie winced, sure he was injured somehow, but time was of the essence here. "What happened? Tell me, Jack. What the hell happened? Where's Harmon?"
"Harmon… he's not here anymore… at least, I'm pretty sure he's not with us. He was on the mountain just behind us when—ahh…" Pain wracked his body as he attempted to sit up. "I think I'm going to have to rest here a few minutes more." He fell back down with a groan.
"Jack, I need to know what happened. Please tell me." Her voice was frustrated.
She could only stare and force her mind to function as she listened to his two words.
"I jumped."
It took time to assimilate his muttering. "You did what? You… jumped?"
He nodded and sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth. "Yes, I jumped," he repeated, with emphasis on the last word.
"Jumped?" Her brain couldn't get past it, until something new started to register.
A distant noise grew in rapid intensity and Mairie clutched Jack to her as the ground started to vibrate with the thunderous roar. This was no freight train. An earthquake?
"Wha…? What…?" Jack brought his hand up and grabbed her sleeve.
Mairie didn't know who was holding whom for protection. They anchored themselves together to face whatever force was about to descend on them.
"Oooohhh, shit!"
She didn't hear Jack's loud objection. They instinctively released each other to cover their ears in protest of the engine's shattering squeal. The air felt still as they gaped up to see the huge white belly of a jetliner flying toward the earth.
An airplane.
She tried to make her brain function, but she was frozen in shock.
"What the hell was that?" Jack demanded. He sounded wide awake now.
"An airplane," she managed to whisper, since it was the only cognitive thought she could muster.
She turned her head and stared after the plane heading for a landing at McCarren airport.
It's… an… airplane, she repeated slowly in her mind. An airplane!
She was back.
Joy surged through her body, replacing shock.
She was back!
She forgot about the pain as she scrambled out of the rope and sat up. Looking around her for the first time, she saw that the desert extended further to the mountains. They didn't land in the same spot, but they had landed.
She looked down to the man before her who was still staring into the sky, as though he'd lost all ability to speak.
"Jack… I'm home," she whispered.
He didn't say anything and continued to stay frozen in shock. She waved her hand in front of his eyes to remind him he was conscious.
"Jack, didn't you hear me? I'm home!"
He blinked and barely turned his head to stare into her eyes.
"What… the… hell… was… that?"
She giggled and had to stop herself. "I told you. An airplane."
"You… you threw yourself out one of those?"
Why did he look and sound like he was about to throw up? Mairie wondered. She dropped beside him. "Not like that, exactly," she said and again put her hands on his shoulders.
"Who cares?" she exclaimed and giggled again. "Don't you get it? I'm back! We did it. We did it. We—" She stopped short and stared at him for a few prolonged seconds. "Ahh, how did we do it? We got to my original landing sight?"
What had happened up there by that cave? All she recalled was talking to Jack and then… it was all a blank from there.
"I jumped," he repeated while looking back to the sky, as if not believing it himself.
"Did I faint?" She remembered the feeling when the sunstroke hit her, but she didn't remember anything about this.
"Harmon shot your horse and you fell and hit your head. You were out."
She took in the information and started putting it together. "And… and you tied me to you and… and… you jumped? You jumped?"
He simply nodded, as though even that was taking more effort than he wanted to expend.
"You saved my life."
He closed his eyes and she fell forward to hug him. Hearing his rush of breath leave his chest, Mairie quickly sat upright. "My God, I can never repay you. You brought me back to my own time, to my brother. We can do this now. We can help him. How can I ever thank you?" Even the word thank seemed inadequate. There should be something, some expression, to describe the magnitude of her gratitude.
"You can hold your hands over my ears," he muttered, then groaned. "Here comes another of your air-planes."
It took them some time to get Jack upright, and Mairie knew they had to move out of the runway flight path as there would be another plane in a few minutes. Jack was bruised and rattled, as she led him north away from the mountains. She had already gathered the parachute and had hidden it behind some brush, since neither had the strength to carry it. For Mairie to support Jack, who had thrown his arm around her shoulders and leaned on her in order to walk, it was enough. She would do anything, whatever it took to help him. He had saved her life … and sacrificed his own.
That thought slammed into her when they had begun to walk. Jack had left behind his life. She couldn't get him back to his own time. He had left his Paiute brothers and the peace he was desperately hoping to find with them. Her love for the man increased a thousandfold. How courageous to leap off that mountain… just on her word that it would work. And he did it for her. She knew that without even asking. Jack Delaney would have stayed and fought it out with Harmon to the death.
"I saw… something," he said through strained breaths, as they slowly walked under the intense sun. "A city… something, when I was landing. It had… lights… strange lights."
"Las Vegas," she automatically answered. "That's what I had hoped to see,
instead of O.D.'s place when I fainted. I know the feeling, only in reverse, Jack."
"Wait… you are telling me that in one hundred and twenty-two years, O.D.'s small ranch has turned into that?"
She nodded, shifting her shoulder to accept more of his weight. "I know it's hard to imagine, but it's true."
"This is… is… it's unbelievable, Mairie."
"This is the present, Jack. My present and your future." She wanted to hug him in sympathy, but knew she couldn't. "Now you're the time traveler."
In silence they walked further through the desert. They stopped several times to catch their breath and finally Mairie spied a cottonwood tree that could provide some shade. They needed to get out of the merciless desert sun. Although he was acclimated to the desert, the time travel had taken more out of him, and Jack was fading fast.
She helped him sit down, with his back leaning against the trunk, and sat cross-legged in front of him. "I wish I had some water to give you." How her heart ached, to see him in such pain. She knew they couldn't walk any longer in the sun. Especially Jack, since he had taken the brunt of the fall.
"I should have tied the canteen to myself when I jumped, but I wasn't thinking of anything except getting to the floor of the desert."
She smiled tenderly. "Oh, Jack, you did an incredible thing, something I can never repay. You left your time to bring me to mine."
Leaning his head back against the tree, he sighed before closing his eyes. "I didn't know what time it was, or that this would happen, Mairie. I only wanted you to get to the spot where you had landed. Where you said you could get back to the future. This… this was not a noble gesture."
She sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Still… what courage it took, Jack. I'm in awe. I know what it took for me to jump out of that plane and I had training."
He laughed. In spite of his bruised body, his shock, his fatigue… he laughed. "I had training. Your frantic instructions before Harmon shot the horse. Thanks to you, we're here."
"That bastard," she muttered. "He shot my horse." Shaking her head, her heart filled with remorse for the animal.
"You fell and were knocked out. I dragged you into the cave and that's when I came up with this brilliant plan. Seems the Coyote had a hand in this, too. The future…"
She was glad to see a smile still on his face, for she knew he was exhausted. His eyes were closed and his breathing became steady. Within moments he fell asleep, and Mairie sat before him, studying his face. They might as well just stay in the shade until the sun started to set. Without water, neither of them had the strength to make much progress. It would be better to travel at night, she thought. Besides, she couldn't be sure if Harmon made it back or not, and he might be out there looking for them. Or maybe someone from the government would be watching for them. She had waited this long to contact Bryan. She could wait until tonight when she would find a way into the city and locate him.
She studied Jack's jaw and saw the shadow of his beard in contrast to his pale cheeks. He needed this rest. What was he going to think of the world a hundred years into his future? She knew how she had felt in his time, but at least she had some reference by reading books. There was nothing to prepare him for the shock he would endure. All she could do was hold his hand and walk him through it.
She was back.
The thought raced through her mind and she wanted to shout out with happiness. How could she sleep when every nerve in her body was active and alive with gratitude? She couldn't. She simply sat and looked at the man who had altered her life… her past, her present, and now her future.
She loved him.
And she couldn't let him know it… at least, not yet. She knew from personal experience that Jack would need time to adapt to her present and now, his future. He deserved that time, she thought, imagining his reaction to modern Las Vegas. To blurt out her love for him and overload his emotions would be unfair. Smiling with tenderness, she vowed to be patient.
The huge orange ball of the setting sun appeared to be resting on the crests of Spring Mountain, and the air became cooler as the shadows grew longer. Mairie and Jack continued their trek through the desert, arm in arm, leaving the mountains behind. Neither spoke much, conserving energy, and Mairie wondered how long it would take before they reached some sign of civilization.
It seemed hours had passed. Her mouth was so dry. Every muscle in her body rebelled at movement, yet she continued without protest. She felt she had to support Jack any way she could. If he, injured as he was, could endure this in silence… so could she.
But a part of her was wondering how he was doing it… from where did this man draw his incredible strength? She remembered his Indian brothers and his inner knowledge of Mother Earth. She knew Jack Delaney was a rare man.
She looked up to the sky and saw stars beginning to appear.
Immediately she remembered sweet Fenton. What had he said to her? Follow the North Star. It would lead her home. Spying it, she smiled while thinking of the boy. How precious those memories… she would keep them all, priceless jewels to treasure for a lifetime.
The sound of something registered in her brain and her mental rambling ceased as she concentrated. It was distant and then came closer, a whooshing sound…
Cars.
Energy surged through her body. "Jack!" Her voice was hoarse, a mere whisper. "We're gonna make it. There's a road up ahead."
He simply nodded. So great was her need to cross the last rise in front of them to verify the road, Mairie wanted to run, yet she continued to step slowly in unison with him. Patience, her mind commanded. It's there… it has to be there.
With great effort, they cleared the incline and together held their breath at the top. One of them, in relief; the other, in disbelief.
A steady stream of traffic raced on Interstate 15 and Mairie almost sobbed with appreciation. She had never been so grateful to see cars and trucks. She wanted to hug each driver, to shout out her joy.
"What are those?" Jack demanded in a raspy voice.
Turning to look at his shocked expression, Mairie grinned. "Cars. Trucks. Ahh… vehicles of transportation. Instead of horses and wagons."
"What powers such… such things?" His expression remained incredulous.
She wanted to laugh. "Gasoline. Oil, from under the earth. I can't explain it, Jack. Let's just get down there so I can flag one of them down."
"Look at how fast they are going! I… I'm going to get in one of them?"
She laughed. She couldn't help it. He sounded like a little kid about to ride a roller coaster for the first time. "Yes, Jack. With any luck we'll both hitch a ride into Las Vegas. Come on…" she urged. "This is my world. Trust me."
"Your world is foreign, Mairie."
She turned her head and saw fear in his expression. She knew how he felt. "Listen, Jack," she whispered, "once I realized I was back in time, in your time, I recognized that you were the expert, and I should follow you. When we left the ranch, you were in charge. I thought of myself as your copilot…" Realizing he couldn't relate to the term, she added, "… your relief wagon driver; I had to follow your lead. You're going to have to make that same adjustment now. This is my time, Jack, and I know what I'm doing. You're going to have to trust me. I would never put you in danger."
Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "Just explain everything as we go, and…" He paused, putting his arm around her shoulder. "I do trust you, Mar."
She slipped her arm around his waist and hugged him lightly. "Thank you, Jack," she replied, and they began their descent into modern civilization.
She could feel the tension in Jack's body increase as they neared the road. The noise from the traffic became louder, and several times he stopped and took a deep breath. She knew even if he were not injured he still would be shocked to see what the future held. The horse had been the main form of transportation for hundreds and hundreds of years, and trains were a recent invention. To see this had to be a major cultural shock.
>
"Here," she said, just below a billboard advertising a casino. "Sit here. I'm going to get us a ride."
"How will you do this?" he asked, easing himself to the sandy earth. No sooner had he sat when a loud tractor trailer passed, causing the wind to blow around them. "Not in that," he added in a shaky voice.
Mairie smiled. "I don't get to pick, Jack. Whatever stops for us, we'll use. Don't worry. You'll be safe."
She walked to the edge of the road and waited a couple of minutes until she saw the headlights of a car approaching. Then she flipped back her hair, plastered a smile on her face, and stuck out her thumb.
There was a first time for everything. And hitch-hiking was a first.
Two cars passed, not even slowing down, and Mairie felt disappointment. She was reminded of how many times she had passed by those seeking a ride. Fear. That's what had made her not stop to help another. Seeing no other cars heading north, she took a deep breath and walked back to where Jack was sitting.
Unzipping her jump suit, she said, "Drastic times warrant drastic measures."
"What are you doing?"
She didn't even glance in his direction, as she pulled the heavy dark suit away from her. Cool air immediately made goosebumps rise all over her exposed skin. "I'm doing whatever it takes to get us a ride," she explained.
"Mairie Callahan… you cannot stand on a road in your underwear!"
She could only stare at him for a couple of seconds before bursting out laughing. "This isn't my underwear. Is that what you thought all this time? That I was prancing about in 1877 in my underwear?"
He didn't answer, just continued to look affronted by her behavior.
She shook her head. "Jack, that's another thing you'll have to get used to in this time. There isn't… well, your sense of propriety is going to need adjustment. This," and she looked down to her black leggings and white cropped top, "… this is considered normal attire at times, even for going out in public. And I was skydiving, so I was dressed appropriately. No one is going to be shocked to see me in this."
Anywhere You Are Page 18
