by D. N. Leo
“Cry and I will cut your tongue out and feed it to the dogs.”
“What do you want from me?”
Madeline wanted to pull Arik off of the officer, but she didn’t know what the man would do or what weapon he might have. If Arik was harmed in this time period, what would happen? She knew they shouldn’t do anything to change the future. But could they die here? And what would be the consequences if they did? She moved in front of Arik so he could see her and shook her head. “You promised me! There will be consequences for this. Please let him go!”
Arik released the man. “Take the gold coins out,” Arik said.
“Oh, so you want the gold, sir. Of course. Here they are. I have plenty.”
He pulled his pouch out and poured the contents on the table. Gold coins dropped onto the wooden table, shining as if haunted by the spirits of the millions of lives lost because of them.
Arik’s eyes were bloodshot. She could see his rage intensifying. She knew he would soon butcher this man. For some very unfortunate reason, she was able to read his mind now—she couldn’t do it before. In his mind were terrifying images of cities falling because of the destruction of the plague. Dead bodies were piled up in front of houses on the street.
The Black Death spared no one—the rich, the poor, men, women, the old, the young. All perished. All because of the greed of this one man.
Before the man withdrew his hand from the coins, Arik swung the knife he had grabbed from the bench outside. The man’s hand dropped to the table.
28
Dinah liked her instantly. Jenny Bonneville was tall, fit, and agile judging by the way she walked. She had dark blonde hair and a quietly attractive face with eyes that told people she tolerated no bullshit. Her eyes zeroed in on Ciaran as they approached the line of cars and security. Ciaran stepped forward and embraced her. They were apparently closer acquaintances than Dinah had thought.
When they finished the hug of greeting, Jenny gestured at the security. “This is overkill, Ciaran,” she said.
Ciaran smiled. “I know you’re a capable woman, but I had already hired them. Might as well use them.”
Jenny grinned. They went through the usual round of meet and greet, the sort of formal etiquette Dinah disliked anywhere in the multiverse. Her instincts usually told her whether she should like a person or not. Cooper was the same way. He had good instincts and— When she turned around, she was astonished to see her partner mesmerized by the sight of Jenny.
He had a girlfriend for pity’s sake, and even though she was only into him for his abs—just a part of him, fake anyway, and definitely not his best asset—he wasn’t exactly available.
“Cooper!”
“Huh?”
“Drooling in front of a girl doesn’t give a good first impression.”
“I wasn’t staring!” He paused. “Was I?”
“Yes.”
Ciaran approached with Jenny. “Jenny wants to go to Arik’s place. I need to wait here for Madeline.”
“I’ll go with her,” Cooper said quickly.
Ciaran raised an eyebrow.
“Cooper might be able to pick up some trails there that we can use. I’ll go with them, too,” Dinah added.
Ciaran nodded. “All right. Be careful.”
Ciaran gave instructions to his security team. In no time, they were on their way to Arik’s place.
Diana walked out to the street and was greeted by the glorious sunshine of a beautiful day. She scoped out her surroundings. She wasn’t sure where she was exactly. But she knew she was no longer in New York. Charming houses along small cobblestone streets welcomed her but made her feel like a tourist.
She couldn’t ask people where she was because doing so would make her appear to be an old woman with dementia, so locating the local post office seemed to be a good way to determine her location. She went into a shop to ask for directions. Once she found the building, a sign there confirmed her suspicion that she was in England. Not only was she in England, she was in Oxford City.
She didn’t need to be highly intelligent to predict she was close to where Arik lived. His address was in her pocket as she had been on her way to the post office in New York to send the package to him. They had snatched her when she’d turned the corner at the parking garage. She studied the tourist map she had picked up at the post office. Comparing it to the notes a very helpful officer had given her, she knew she was heading in the right direction to Arik’s house.
The cold winter air couldn’t chill the warm and cozy feel of the cottages along the pretty cobblestone street. She just knew there were stone fireplaces inside those cottages and families gathering together for a hot breakfast or scones and tea. She understood now why her son had fallen in love with the place. She’d rather he’d fall in love with his girlfriend more and make her a proud grandma, she thought.
Speaking of girlfriends, there was Grace standing directly in front of a cottage, which she guessed was Arik’s house. She had met Grace a few times and had talked to her several times on the phone. She knew Arik’s every movement thanks to Grace’s reports, and she was very fond of this girl.
Grace was surprised to see Diana approaching. She rushed over to Diana. “Arik…he disappeared. He’s gone. I’ve been waiting here for two days,” Grace cried. Her face was a mess, her hair was tangled, and her eyes were hollow. She really did look as if she had been here for two days.
“It’s okay, Grace. I want you to calm down and tell me what’s going on. When did Arik disappear, and exactly what do you mean by that?”
“He told me to wait here for him. He went with that Irish girl to the market. He said he’d come back and have lunch with me, but he never did. I called him, but he didn’t answer his phone.” She was crying and talking at the same time, and Diana found it hard to understand her.
“Have you called the police?”
“No. Why would I do that? Arik told me to wait here.”
Diana frowned. Something was wrong with this girl, she thought. Their encounters had always been brief. But now it dawned on her that had any of their interactions lasted longer, she would have seen that Grace was the perfect girlfriend—perfect looks, perfect speech, perfect behavior—but she functioned like a robot.
“All right, listen to me, Grace…” Her voice trailed off as she saw shadows creeping out from the darkness at the end of the dead-end street. After the encounter with her kidnapper, it was too quick to jump to the conclusion that the what she saw approaching were actually men. But they moved like men, so she would try to deal with them as such. It looked as if there were four of five of them. She should have no problem handling them.
She shoved the package at Grace. “Can you hold this and stay behind the fence?”
As she predicted, Grace took her order instantly without question. She grabbed the package and stepped behind the fence. Diana picked up a stick that had been used to support a climbing plant from the nearby garden and waited for the group of men to approach.
When they emerged from the dark corner, she saw it wasn’t a group of five. There were a dozen menacing men approaching her.
29
Ciaran went back inside when he saw the group heading toward Arik’s place. As soon as he entered the yard, he heard some noise at the back of the house. He rushed around the corner to find Madeline and Arik lying in the soil of the garden bed. He had known they would come back and Madeline would be fine but was still deliriously happy to see his prediction confirmed. He hurried over and saw Madeline’s big brown eyes looking up at him from the ground.
He crouched, cupped her face, and rubbed his thumb on the dimple in her left cheek. “Which part of ‘do not touch him’ didn’t you understand, First Councillor?”
“How can I resist a man that hot?”
He smiled, pulling her up, and kissed her. “I meant Arik,” he said when their lips finally parted.
“I know.” He kissed her again, stopping only when Arik opened his eyes groggily and
sat up. Ciaran could see now what Arik meant when he said he was disoriented and totally confused whenever he returned from a time travel trip. Arik looked at Madeline, then at Ciaran. Then he looked down at his hands, trying to remember and trying to understand the lingering sensations in his body.
Ciaran helped Madeline stand up and brushed the soil, leaves, and rose petals out of her hair. He wasn’t sure of Arik’s mental state, so he said nothing to him.
Arik looked at his hands again. Finding a couple of bruises and a faint trace of blood, he frowned. He looked at Madeline and asked, “You were with me? You traveled with me?”
“Huh?” Madeline blinked and acted confused, but Ciaran knew she was pretending. Putting on a poker face wasn’t her strong suit, but she was lying for a reason.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Ciaran asked.
“We were at the market, and you shot at Dinah’s friend.”
Ciaran nodded. “Okay. That’s not too bad. You only lost a few days.”
“What?” Arik stood up and started pacing. “I’ve lost time. Okay…the market. What happened before that?” He continued to pace, asking himself questions.
Ciaran mouthed a question to Madeline. “Do you remember?”
She nodded. Then she projected her words into his mind as she had done many times before. I can read his mind. Not now, but before and during the travel.
Ciaran nodded. “Did he kill?” he mouthed.
Madeline shook her head.
“Mother!” Arik said the word as he remembered what happened at the market. “I have to get to the airport.” He darted toward the gate.
Ciaran grabbed him. “You’ve tried a couple of times. There’s no need to go now. Jenny has arrived. I sent others to go with her to your place.”
“My place?”
“Yes, and—” Ciaran was interrupted when his wrist unit beeped. He glanced at the report. “Diana is here, too. Spotted in the city. We need to confirm it’s her. The signal suggests she’s heading toward your place as well, Arik,” he said quickly and then strode to the car. Madeline and Arik followed.
At Arik’s place, Diana tightened her grip on the garden stake, struck a ready position, and waited for the attackers coming toward her. She wondered if they would use guns. If they did, it would be the end of her. She decided she couldn’t just stand there and wait. She needed to be more offensive and try to lure them away from Grace. She wasn’t sure it was possible with a group of twelve men, but she had to try.
She heard a car brake and then footsteps coming up from behind her.
“Mom!” Jenny called.
She turned around and saw her daughter, a tall man, a tiny angelic girl, and a dozen security officers, armed to the teeth. The menacing men stopped in their tracks when they saw the new arrivals.
“Are you okay, Mom?”
“Yes. Why are you here?”
“Ciaran sent for me. He said some people might be after Arik.”
Diana smiled and pointed her chin at the group that had stalled in the middle of the road. “They must be the ones after your brother.”
“They’re receiving instructions,” Dinah said.
“Yes. They’re mercenaries, and they’re not from here. I mean, not from this dimension,” Cooper added.
“What?” Jenny asked.
Before Cooper could answer, the men pulled their guns.
“Get down!” the head of security shouted from behind them.
Everyone dropped flat to the ground, leaving the two groups of fighters pointing guns at each other. Grace stepped out from behind the fence before anyone could shoot. She walked right between the two armed groups of men, shaking like a paper doll in a strong wind and clutching the package to her chest.
“Did you see Arik?” she asked as tears rolled down her face.
“Get down for God’s sake!” Dinah shouted.
Grace kept walking as if in a deep trance. “Has anyone seen Arik?”
“Grace, get down on the ground,” Diana commanded. But her command didn’t work this time.
“He hasn’t been home for days…”
The attackers lowered their guns and charged.
“They’re going for the package! Do not shoot at the package. Use knives.” Cooper shouted. They all jumped to their feet. The security officers had no choice but to lower their guns as well. They ran at the attackers. As Diana had predicted, the attackers were not human. As soon as they were killed by the security officers, they melted down into worm puddles.
In the haze and chaos of the fight, amid the screams and grunting and confusion, Diana looked back to find Grace.
“They’ve got her!” Diana shouted.
At the far end of the street, they saw a fighter running away. Grace hung over his shoulder, and the package was in his opposite hand. Before he reached the corner that turned onto a larger road, he vanished, along with Grace and the package.
As soon as that happened, the remaining mercenaries turned, ran in the same direction, and disappeared.
“How can they just disappear like that?” Jenny asked incredulously.
“They didn’t. They jumped into a dimensional gate,” Cooper said.
Behind them, a car fishtailed and stopped right in the middle of the road. Arik stormed out. He said nothing but rushed toward his mother, embracing her.
Diana could feel every ounce of muscle in her son’s body quivering. At that moment, she understood that, regardless of the reason he’d put the barrier between them for years, she had never lost him. He was still her beloved and caring son.
Then out of the car stepped her second son, Ciaran, and a beautiful woman. She didn’t need an introduction to know that this was Ciaran’s woman.
30
He put the package on the table and lay an unconscious Grace on the floor. Her dead weight was heavier than he thought. He readied the heavy-duty, multiversal, military-grade gun in his pocket. He was pleased he had gotten what he needed today without having to discharge his precious weapon. He was even more pleased thinking about the credits he was going to get for this job. He could choose to receive Earth money, the easiest form of currency to launder in the multiverse, but he preferred multiversal credits. That way, he could use them in any universe he chose to live in. The only downside was that he had to legitimize the credits before he could use them. This was a task many wouldn’t voluntarily choose. But he liked challenges.
On the floor, Grace’s eyes fluttered. “Shit,” he muttered to himself. He didn’t want her to wake this early and see him. He hadn’t tied her up, thinking the drug would have a more lasting effect on her. He didn’t like lingering relationship with a client, let alone, a merchandise. When he handed her over to his client, she would no longer be his problem, awake or not.
She closed her eyes again. “Great!” He exhaled, feeling relief. But then he didn’t like the idea of a woman unconscious and tied up in the hands of a faceless man. He shook his head, telling himself this was only another job.
He shouldn’t call his client faceless, but he really was faceless on all counts. He’d never met him, never seen a picture, and never had a direct conversation. If that wasn’t faceless, what was?
The screen on the wall flashed and turned on. On it was the image of an odd flower—his client’s symbol. He referred to himself as Arete. He couldn’t care less what the symbol or the name meant because whatever it was, it was fake. Who cares? he thought.
The voice had been filtered via the robotic signal system. Even so, he could still tell it was the voice of a male creature from Xiilok. He adopted his poker face and listened with respect. Any creature who wanted to pay him was his friend.
The voice asked, “Do you have the merchandise, DT5?”
The client referred to him by the job ID. “Yes.” He pushed the package forward on the table.
“What is that rag on the floor?”
“You wanted the package and the recipient. That’s the recipient. And she’s a person, not
a rag.”
“No, it is not.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s beside the point. Regarding the job, you have not fulfilled your contract. I can’t pay you. The agreement was that you get me the package and its intended recipient.”
“That wasn’t specified in the contract.”
“Are you stupid? There’s no need to specify that trivial matter. Any package is intended for someone. Why would I want a random creature who was carrying my precious package?”
“That’s not my problem. The job is delivered. I want my money.”
“I won’t pay for a half-finished job.”
He nodded. “All right.” He grabbed the package.
“Fine,” Arete said. “I’ll pay for the package only. Leave it. You won’t get my business in the future.”
He shrugged. He wouldn’t want to do business with this client again anyway.
A small window on the wall slid open, and a keyboard came out from inside the wall. “Type in where you want the money sent.”
He nodded and approached the keyboard. As soon as he pressed the first key, a stream of fumes exploded from underneath the keyboard. It was intended to blast straight into his face, but years of training in one of the best combat hubs in the cosmos had served him well. This little stunt wouldn’t kill him.
He jumped aside, tripped on Grace’s legs, and fell to the floor. The toxic fumes spread quickly. He was dazed, but he had gotten past the first blast and knew he could survive this. On the floor, he could see that the woman he’d captured was unconscious. If he fled right now, she would definitely be dead.
He didn’t know when he had grown sentimental, but he scrambled up to his feet, threw Grace over his shoulders, and darted out of the room.
31
Standing on the road in front of his house, Arik was totally confused. His mother and sister were there, but now they had Grace and the package. What did they want from him? Arik saw the yellow-eyed man again, standing at the far end of the bridge. He wasn’t sure if the others could see him, but he no longer cared. He needed answers. From the look on Ciaran’s face, he had seen the man, too. Without a word, the two darted toward the bridge.
