by Bob Mayer
Victor blinked. “Yes? What of it?”
“You say you are Sayeret Matkal,” Ivar said. “So you know more about that day more than most, correct?”
“Perhaps.”
The First Rule seemed out the window, which was getting to be a pattern on Ivar’s missions. “I am with the Time Patrol,” Ivar said. “We travel back in time to protect this timeline. Our history.”
Victor didn’t say anything.
“A team mate of mine went back to that day. To Entebbe. He parachuted in with Shayetet Thirteen. Into Lake Victoria.”
Victor abruptly stood up and paced the few steps to the rear of the van, then back. “That can’t be. ”
“Thirteen men,” Ivar said. “They all died. Attacked by creatures from the Shadow.”
“You’re lying.” But there was no power behind Victor’s words. For the first time, he wasn’t in charge of the situation.
“That part of the mission was never made public,” Ivar said. “It’s one of the most closely held secrets in Israel, isn’t it?”
Victor stopped pacing. “Go on.”
Ivar pushed ahead. “The Shadow is behind the attacks. The attack on your facility in the Negev. Not the Shadow Brokers, but another timeline we call the Shadow. Legion, assassins, work for it. I was sent here because we received intelligence there was going to be an attack on our timeline. Except it’s always in the past. But this one was called Zero Day. Not a specific year. It’s a term computer hackers use. We didn’t know when it was, we just assumed it was in the past, because we always go back. It’s supposed to be the same day, different years. 31 October. But today isn’t 31 October. I don’t understand it. Unless whatever happens now is somehow tied to 31 October.”
“Do you go forward in time?” Victor asked.
“We can’t. Whatever Legion has planned, we have to stop it. Do you know where Legion is?”
Victor indicated the monitors. “No. That is why I am here.” He noted something on another screen. “Ah. We have company.”
Looking at the screen, Ivar recognized Frasier standing underneath a street light on the sidewalk outside Duane Park.
Victor noted his reaction. “You know him?”
“He’s from my unit,” Ivar said.
“This Time Patrol?”
“Yes.”
“Why is he here?”
“I don’t know.”
“If he is the person I am supposed to make contact with,” Victor said, “it’s about this girl, Lara Cole. And he is in the spot he’s supposed be in.” He shook his head. “Too much coming together at the same time. It cannot be coincidence. We have this Legion person in the area yesterday morning. This teammate of yours wanting to meet. And you arriving out of nothingness, thinking you’ve traveled in time, but you haven’t.”
“There is going to be an attack,” Ivar said. “On the 9th floor of the Western Union building. ”
“To destroy our timeline?”
“To affect it at least.”
Victor indicated the dead Fedex man. “I had him brief me on this place. It’s a strategic hub, true. But if it’s wiped out, the traffic will simply be re-routed to other hubs. There are others here in the city. 33 Thomas Street is more secure and the NSA uses it for Titanpointe surveillance.”
Edith had included Thomas Street in the download. A 29-story building built to unique specifications. “Too hard to attack,” Ivar said. “It’s designed to withstand a nuclear blast. It has redundant systems so it can keep running for weeks even if everything around it is nonfunctional.”
Victor glanced at the screen. “Perhaps your teammate has more information?”
“I don’t think he knows I’m here,” Ivar said. “He thinks I went into the past.”
“We shall soon find out.” Victor pulled out several zip ties and secured Ivar in the seat, cinching them tight around his wrists and ankles.
It is Now. Zero Day in Zero Year. How we got to be here via the computer timeline?
1990: A researcher at CERN develops HyperText Markup Language (HTML), leading to the rise of the World Wide Web.
1993: The Pentium Processor is introduced.
1996: Sergey Brin and Larry Page introduce the Google search engine.
1999: Wifi.
2001: Apple introduces OS X; Windows brings out Windows XP.
2003: The first 64 bit processor.
2004: Facebook.
2005: Youtube.
2006: NASA blocks all email with attachments for fear of being hacked before shuttle launches; plans for NASA latest space launch vehicles are hacked by some unknown entity.
Victor slipped out the back door of the van, leaving Ivar alone with the screens and dead body. He watched as Victor disappeared from view on one screen. Ivar shifted his attention to Frasier waiting outside Duane Park .
Victor appeared on screen, approaching Frasier. The two met. Ivar assumed they were exchanging the bona fides. Victor pointed back, toward the van. Frasier nodded.
Something flickered on another screen. Ivar looked, saw nothing for a moment, then saw movement. Fast movement through the park, coming up behind Frasier and Victor.
Ivar fought against his restraints. He screamed a warning, the sound trapped inside the insulated van. Victor and Frasier, despite their training and expertise, seemed oblivious to the danger.
At the last moment, Victor spun about, drawing his silenced pistol. Legion sliced his hand off before he could fire. With the dagger in his other hand, Legion blinded Frasier’s human eye with a delicate slice across the surface.
Ivar knew of the Legion desire to make a fight last as long as possible, to draw as much blood from an opponent before the coup-de-grace. Knowing and seeing were two different things.
Victor, deprived of gun and hand, drew a knife from a sheath under his coat. He managed to block Legion’s next blow.
Frasier had staggered backward several feet, hands over his eye. From what little he knew of Frasier’s artificial implant, which could register temperature and other parameters, it wasn’t quite the same as being able to clearly see. Thus as Legion shifted from his blocked strike at Victor, back to Frasier, his next strike neatly sliced off a layer of skin on the top of Frasier’s forehead, a partial scalping. Blood poured forth, down Frasier’s face.
Legion spun about, blocking Victor’s thrust with one blade. With the other, he spitted Victor’s knife hand by stabbing through the wrist.
Victor dropped the knife as Legion pulled his out.
Ivar could see Frasier’s mouth wide open and he assumed the psychologist was screaming, but the van blocked noise from the outside as effectively.
The noise must have bothered Legion because he ended Frasier, slicing his throat.
Frasier dropped to his knees, both hands to his throat, futilely trying to stop the gush of blood. He collapsed forward.
Victor took several steps back. Ivar could see Legion’s mouth moving, saying something. Victor shook his head, but stopped his retreat. Blood was pulsing from his severed wrist. His other hand was useless .
“Run,” Ivar yelled, forgetting for the moment that not long ago Victor had been torturing him. “Run!”
Legion move fast, slamming a dagger into Victor’s chest. The Israeli dropped to the pavement. Legion grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him to Frasier. Then he pulled both bodies into the park, semi-hiding them in the bushes.
Then, as Ivar had feared, he headed straight for the van.
Zululand, Africa, 31 October 1828 A.D.
“Your army awaits, King,” the Jager said.
Eagle recognized his kind from Roland’s debriefs.
“The last of your witch’s prophecy is here,” Jager said. “You can kill me as you have promised or we can kill the beasts sent for you. That is, of course, your decision as King. But we do not have much time.”
“That is true,” Eagle said. “Great King Shaka, we only have hours before it will be too late.”
He had no i
dea if that was true or not, but he knew the bubble existed for a reason.
Shaka seemed confused. “Are you demons?”
Jager gave a slight bow. “I am but a servant, great King. As I told you when I first arrived, I am a hunter sent to help you against these beasts. They must die.” He indicated the severed head. “It was a great feat of arms to have slain one. I hope the weapon I gifted you was useful in that regards?”
Shaka looked past Jager, into the darkness, above the bodies of the impaled. “You were right, umama . I am being tested.” He shifted his gaze to Jager and then Eagle. “Come.”
Without looking back, Shaka walked into the forest of impaled. Eagle and Jager hurried to follow.
“Where are you from?” Jager asked Eagle.
“Here.”
“You lie. But it doesn’t matter. We will both be dead soon. I have seen how he rules. I just hope he can fight as brutally. ”
A moan caused Eagle to glance up. A young boy was trying hard not to squirm on the stake. He was canted and the tip had come out of the right rib cage. His eyes were wide with pain.
“Sometimes I wonder who the real monsters are,” Eagle said. He lifted the iklwa to end the boy’s misery but Jager put an arm across his, blocking him.
“The King will take offense at your interference. The boy will be dead soon anyway. And I can tell you who the real monsters are. When the beasts over-run your world and feast on the bones of your children, you will know.”
Eagle drew back the iklwa , trying to ignore the misery around him.
“Your spear,” Eagle said.
“What about it?” Jager carried it in his right hand. The haft was wood, the tip of dull iron, a foot in length, going from a point to a four inch base.
“Does it have Naga steel at the core?”
Jager laughed. “You know of us.”
“I know of you,” Eagle confirmed.
“Have you fought with one of my brethren?”
Eagle considered the phrasing. Which held a couple of options. “One of my comrades fought at the side of your brethren. Twice. Both times they killed a Grendel and an Aglaeca.”
“And the Jager?”
“Sacrificed themselves.”
“And your comrade?”
“He survived,” Eagle said.
“I always wonder about those who survive,” Jager said. “Their side is the only tale we get to hear. I sometimes wish there was someone who could speak for the dead.”
“The living speak for the dead,” Eagle said.
“Only of what they know,” Jager said. “The dead experience something none of us know. The knowledge will soon be ours.”
At the base of the knoll, they were finally out of the impaled. Eagle and Jager came to an abrupt halt as he saw what awaited.
“Very good,” Jager said. “They have been assembling all day.”
Thousands of Zulu warriors were standing in formation. They were organized in impi , regiments of Zulus. There were individuals out front at regular intervals. As perfect as anything Eagle had seen during his time at West Point when the Corps lined up on the Plain for review.
Shaka continued walking as if there were no one there. Eagle and Jager hustled to keep up with him as he passed in the space between two impi . As soon as they were beyond the last rank, each group turned in perfect synchronicity. With a ripple of warriors, every impi shifted.
They began marching in the same direction, following their King.
The sound of their feet hitting the ground was a rumble Eagle could feel in his body and in his heart.
Salem Massachusetts, 31 October 1692 A.D.
The village of Salem lay ahead, a scattering of lights trying to hold back the darkness.
“No showers,” Lara muttered.
“What was that?” Pandora said.
“Nothing,” Lara said. She turned away from the village.
“We have to—“ Pandora began, but Lara held up a hand, quieting her.
“Oh,” Lara said. “He’s a big one.”
“Who—“ Pandora said, but then snapped into a defensive position, Naga staff at the ready, as a tall, dark, hulking figure approached. Seven feet high, covered in dirty, matted, white fur, mouth opened, revealing long fangs. Much like a Grizzly, except more humanoid.
Lara knew what it was from the download. Moms had encountered its like on her Black Tuesday mission high in the Andes Mountains.
“Yeti,” Lara whispered. She didn’t draw her dagger. She raised her voice so the beast could hear her. “Yeti. Or is it Sasquatch? Bigfoot? Do you like that one?”
The monster halted at the edge of the trees, just ten feet from Lara and Pandora.
“I like Ts’emekwes,” Lara said, surprised she could pronounce the Native American term correctly. She was staring directly into its eyes, which were deep set under a prominent brow and yellowish .
Lara held her hand up and took a step toward it.
“What are you doing, girl?” Pandora hissed. “It will tear you apart!”
“But you prefer Yeti,” Lara said, the edge in her voice. “You like the high mountains. Not this place. It’s too hot for you here. The air is too thick.” She took another step forward.
Yeti cocked its head and emitted a low growl, but remained in place.
Lara continued walking slowly toward it. “You’re kind of cute, in a big, teddy-bear-could-rip-you-to-shreds, kind of way. Easy. Easy, big fellow.” She had one hand held up high. She reached him. “Come here.”
Yeti bowed its head. Lara ran her hand through the fur with great difficulty. “You need a bath, but there’s no hot showers here.”
Yeti gave a guttural growl.
“You need a name,” Lara said.
“Seriously?” Pandora said.
Yeti’s head snapped up and the growl was louder and threatening.
“Hush,” Lara said, to both Yeti and Pandora. “Who else is out there, buddy? I know there’s more. And they’re all not nice like you. You were just made bad. But you’re not bad.” She turned her head to address Pandora. “There’s something else out there. Something cold. Something I won’t be able to talk to. And Legion is still around.”
“We have to go into the village,” Pandora said. “We have to save Scout’s ancestor.”
Lara turned back to Yeti. “I’m gonna call you Buddy. Is that okay?” Lara continued. “You cover our backs here for a bit, okay?” She removed her hand from its head and went back to Pandora. “Let’s go.”
‘Buddy’ remained in the treeline as the two headed down the path into the village.
“What was that?” Pandora asked.
“You mean you can’t do that with your level four Sight?” Lara said. “A little trick I learned in the loony bin. I call it edging. I learned it the hard way. You think Yeti is bad? Try a psychopath who cut someone up and stuffed them in a footlocker.”
“What else is out there?” Pandora asked as they passed the first cabin.
“Bad stuff,” Lara said .
“Vague much,” Pandora said.
That elicited a chuckle from Lara. “You’re learning. So what are we—“ she came to a halt as they reached the village square. A gallows dominated the space. It was rudimentary: a cross beam held up by a tripod of thick logs on either end. The download dumped info about an ongoing debate about where the Salem witch executions had taken place, with ‘Gallows Hill’ being cited most often, but no one quite knew where that was. Apparently it wasn’t a hill at all, but rather right here, in the center of the village.
For Lara one thing stood out. The beam was low.
“No drop,” Lara said. “They strangled to death.”
“They died,” Pandora said. “But look there.” She pointed.
To one side of the gallows was a pile of stones. Then Lara realized the stones were resting on a teenage girl’s chest.
“She is one of us,” Pandora said.
New Delhi, India, 31 October 1984
“I’l
l pull the trigger and end you now,” Neeley said, her finger on the trigger.
“Your threat has no teeth,” Gandhi said. “You kill me or whatever it is kills me. I am killed either way. But I do not think you will kill me or you would have already. I was told you are a guardian. That you have strict rules that control your behavior.”
“I am a killer,” Neeley said. “And I am not your guardian.”
“I believe you.” Gandhi smiled despite the muzzle of the gun on her forehead. “But you have not pulled the trigger.”
Neeley lowered the gun, which was snatched from her hand.
“Put her in the chair,” Gandhi ordered.
Neeley was grabbed by two men who slammed her down, tying her wrists to the arms of the chair. She noted that both wore the distinctive turbans of the Sikh. She checked their faces against the download, confirming they were the two bodyguards who were supposed to assassinate Gandhi later this morning. However, she could see nothing unusual in their demeanor at the moment other than focus on doing their jobs .
Gandhi was shaking her head. “I know that I will die in the service of my nation. It is my duty and my fate. Every drop of my blood will contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it strong and dynamic. But we have enemies.”
With Neeley secure, the two Sikhs stepped back and joined the other bodyguards.
Neeley checked the download—this woman was essentially a dictator in a pretense of a democracy.
Gandhi sat down across from her. “We are reaching a critical stage.” She put both hands on the table and leaned forward slightly. “We have enemies. Enemies within and enemies without. Those who reach great heights always have enemies.
“The Pakistanis think they can develop nuclear weapons? Never. They need to understand this. The snakes shall not rise out of the grass!” She thumped a fist on the table. “Are you really here to protect me? I don’t think so. Why would I need such as you for protection? I rule India! I rule from the ocean in the south to the tallest peaks in the north. I ripped east Pakistan away and made Bangladesh.” She stopped in her rant and stared at Neeley. “How could you just appear in my residence? That is what I want to know? I did not believe it could happen as I was told. But it is true. So the vision must be right about everything. Enemies everywhere!” Her voice rose once more. “You will tell how I am to die this morning!”
