Annika, Alec and Kristoff will fill in for the interim. All suspicions about Bailey aside, for your own sake, you must figure out how you honestly feel about him. Too many questions will go unanswered forever if you don’t. Yes, this is the only way.
Do not tell Michael, me, about this letter, or its contents. Tell him you need to decide how you feel about Bailey on your own, without him in the way - he will give you room.
Know that my purpose for existence is to ensure your safety and happiness. The Me you are with now doesn’t know what I know; if he did, he would agree with me, so please do as I ask..
Your whole life is ahead of you, and then you have the future to look forward to after. Don’t ever lose sight of that.
Forever, your faithful servant,
Michael
I read it three times to make sure I understood, looking for the hidden meanings I found in everything he said, but it was pretty clear. He was telling me to tell him to leave me alone and to go be with Bailey. Why would he do that? When I saw our future selves together in Costa Rica, I assumed it meant that we would be together - as in a couple. Were we only working together then to complete a mission?
Michael knew what my future was supposed to be. He knew the words that I would write. He also knew if I would marry, or have children, a subject we had not touched. Would my choosing him cause some catastrophic shift in the timeline?
I folded the note, and tucked it in my back pocket just as the door opened. When Michael walked in, I burst into tears. I threw on a smile and was able to play them off as tears of joy when Mom and Jay followed him in. He never guessed that they were tears of sorrow over having to let go of the man I now knew I loved.
***
I hugged them both fiercely, then stepped back to look at them, wiping the tears from my eyes. “You’re both really okay?” I sniffed. “They didn’t torture you the whole time we were gone?”
Jay put her arms around me tight, “It was hell. Wanna see the ligature marks?”
“Jayden Meredith Gage!” Mom gasped.
Jay laughed, “We drank wine, hung out at the pool, went to the spa; it was like being at a resort in Vegas, without the casino.”
I looked at Michael, who looked slightly bemused, “Really?”
“That’s a lot closer to reality than the whole ligature scenario,” he replied. “Though I would compare it more to a resort in Palm Springs, without the sun.” His expression grew more somber. “Now we have to be ready for the Council again. I sent Kristoff and Neve to alert and assemble them. Zhou should be back soon, with Alec and Annika, to escort us.”
The constant movement of the pawns on his board was impossible for me to keep up with. “Why do we need escorts?” I asked.
Jayden looked in one of the sacks, “How many pieces of fruit did you bring?” I shrugged. “That’s how many reasons you have. Some people in here would kill us all for just one.”
Mom put a hand on her shoulder, “She’s being a little overdramatic.”
“Yes,” Michael said. “The sooner we get her some fresh air, the better.”
“That would be wonderful,” Jay agreed. “However, first Sam needs to make a phone call.”
“I do?” I was perplexed.
“Bailey’s been blowing up your phone, I finally answered it yesterday. I told him Marion died and you were too distraught to talk, and that you would call as soon as possible.”
The dread of calling him must have been written all over my face. Mom said, “Just keep it short and simple. Fake cry hysterically, tell him you’ll be home in a few days and hang up.”
“Thanks, Mom, you make it sound so easy.” I rolled my eyes. “Where’d you leave the phone, Jay? I should go in the other room.”
“On your pillow, waiting for you. I’ll come with, so you can start sniffling and pass the phone off to me.”
Sounded like a good idea to me, “K.”
“Don’t take too long,” Mom called after us. “We don’t want to keep Tollack waiting.”
***
Annika and Alec led the way, with Zhou and Michael following close behind. Each of them carried one of the four sacks of fruit.
Immediately upon entering the assembly chamber, I knew more members of the Society arrived in our absence. There were so many people in the room, the entire second and third balconies were full. I hadn’t noticed that the upper levels were even there the first time. There would have been enough of the Philosopher’s Stone to spare, if not for the newcomers, but most of them didn’t look like they needed it just yet.
The places we had taken previously were now occupied, but it seemed there was a place of honor being held for us on the floor. Another table had been brought in, with chairs for Mom, Michael, Jay and me. Neve and Kristoff were already there, facing the Council’s empty table. We joined them, and as Jayden was about to pull out her chair, Michael reached over to stay her hand. “I would prefer if we all stood, together.”
They all looked at me; I nodded, “Probably a good idea.”
A flurry of whispers swirled about the room as our escorts placed the sacks of the Essence on the table before us. Kristoff, Neve, Alec and Annika lined up behind us and faced the audience, assault rifles in hand, but kept pointed at a semi- reserved position toward the floor.
There was still no sign of the Council arriving, so Mom leaned into my ear, “Stay close to Michael.” Then she stepped past me, tapped Zhou on the shoulder, and he followed her up to the Council’s table.
She took the Elder’s position, at Pennington’s podium, and Zhou stayed positioned just behind her. His stance was relaxed, unassuming, but I saw the way his eyes were scanning the room. He was not the sweet little old bookshop keeper any more, he was a cobra, coiled and waiting to strike.
I thought she was pushing things a little too far already, but Mom picked up Tollack’s gavel, turning it over thoughtfully in her hand before she brought it crashing down on the table. “This meeting is now called to order.”
No one so much as breathed for at least a full thirty seconds before someone from one of the upper balconies called out, “On whose authority?”
“On the authority of the Sovereign of Time,” she proclaimed.
Another captain of the Shadow Watch, who was on the floor, spoke next, “What makes you presume to be the Sovereign?”
“I don’t presume, Rodrigo, I said the meeting is called on the Sovereign’s authority. You’d best remember who allowed you in this Society.” He ducked his head in shame. “And you would all do best to remember that without the Philosopher’s Stone, there is no Society.” She gestured to the table, “We have brought a very generous gift, in exchange for the Society’s humble acceptance. The Marquets will take back their rightful sovereignty of this Society, or this will be the last of the Philosopher’s Stone you ever see.”
The Council entered just then, and Tollack looked as though he might burst an artery before he could get a bite of the fruit he had been waiting for. “What is the meaning of this?” he roared.
“Tollack, how nice of you to join us,” Mom greeted him and nodded to the other members, who were taking their seats. “Michael, would you be a dear?”
He got her vacant chair and brought it over to the Council’s table, and placed it at the far end of the Council’s table, facing the podium. To my surprise, he patted Tollack on the back, “There you go, Buddy, all ready for you.”
That angered Pennington more, “Guard!” But they made no move.
Another voice echoed from above, “Just take a seat, old man.”
And another, “Yeah, we just want the Philosopher’s Stone.”
“She’s got it. You don’t.”
“Lucky he doesn’t have to come and sit up here with us.”
Mom let them go on with their jeers for a few minutes before she raised her hand and closed her fist. The room was silent again. “Now then, as I was saying....”
Then the room went dark.
CHAPTER 2
7
10/10/2006
Unanticipated
Red emergency beacons began flashing from the ceiling just as chaos ensued. A lower octave horn blared at intervals two seconds apart; a calm sounding recorded voice announced, “Code black alert, code black alert. Please take your positions.” People started running to every exit. “Security protocol E.U.K., repeat, security protocol E.U.K. That is the end of this transmission.”
The horns stopped, but the lights continued to flash, “What’s E.U.K.?” I asked Michael.
“Enemy Un-Known,” he growled.
I grabbed Jay’s hand, and could feel she was shaking in fear, too. “What’s hap-” I was cut off by a burst of gunfire from the hall just outside the room.
“Get her out of here Michael,” Mom shouted as she ran toward the table, “Go!”
Michael shoved me in the opposite direction, “This way.” The enemy was already in the room, and Shadow Watchers were flocking to fight them off, so everyone else could escape through other tunnels.
I looked over my shoulder, and saw Mom gathering the sacks of the Essence. Zhou intercepted two of the assassins coming toward her, while she turned the dial on a Hopper. Michael urged me on through the crowd, “Sam, come on!”
I heard another shot go off, and heard Mom’s scream just as I felt the air being sucked out of the room. I looked back again as we reached the hall, but Mom and Zhou were nowhere in sight. I let go of Jayden to go back. “Mom!”
“No, Sam!” Michael grabbed my arm and dragged me along. “She’s gone for now, with Zhou and the Essence.” They hopped.
“But I heard her scream.”
“They’ll be back in the suite in a couple of hours. We need to get you out of here, now!”
***
Kristoff and Neve led as we ran for our lives to I don’t know where down the hallway. I could hear random bursts of gunfire coming from several locations. Michael was right behind Jay and me; I assumed Alec and Annika were covering the rear. “Left here, Neve,” Michael shouted.
We turned and then went left again, without skipping a step, when a gorgeous young Asian woman turned in with us from the other direction, falling in just behind Kristoff and Neve. Michael switched positions with Jay and me, but stayed just far enough behind the woman to not get hit by the long black braid that started at the crown of her head and ended somewhere mid-thigh. “Michael, where’s Zhou?”
“With Marion. They hopped, Li-Ming,” he panted at her.
“Chicken. He’ll miss all the fun.”
“Sorry we forgot your invitation.”
“Oh, he called soon as you got here. Said it was time to recapture my youth, since he already had.” Then I knew she was Mrs. Zhou, who was around seventy-five, white haired and very frail the last time I saw her. “I felt there was something more going on, so I came.”
“You always do get those feelings.”
“I wasn’t expecting this kind of party, though.” She paused as we turned left at another corner, and then went on, “I’ve knocked out three of the intruders so far. What the fuck is going on?”
“I wish I knew, Li-Ming,” he answered.
We made a right that came to a dead end; Michael put his hand on the wall, which lit up with a blue light where he touched it. The granite door slid back to admit us, and then closed again.
The small room barely held all of us, but we weren’t staying there. The walls were lined with guns, vests, helmets and canisters of gas. The A.T.F. would have a field day raiding this place.
From the way Michael and his team moved, Jay and I could tell they had drilled for this, or something like it, anyway. We stood in the middle while they each took a section. Neve tossed us vests, Alec shoved helmets on our heads, Kristoff and Michael buckled on our holsters. Annika helped us pull on our masks, while the others stuffed our pockets with ammo. I assumed it would be for them, they just needed the extra pockets. In all, it took no more than ninety seconds to get suited up.
Our helmets had a built-in com system, I discovered this when I heard Michael ask, “Alec, you can get in the mainframe and lock everything down from here, right?”
Alec was already typing away at a holographic keyboard, and his voice came back right in my ear, “Yeah, no one’s getting in or out now. There are a hundred and seventy-eight of them by the way.”
“Shit,” Michael was thinking out loud. Jayden and I exchanged a wide-eyed look of fear, but kept our thoughts to ourselves.
“We’ve got to get to the Council,” Neve said.
“No,” Michael and Li-Ming argued in unison.
Li-Ming explained, “They should already be separated, in their bunkers.”
Michael added, “They should be safe as long as they stay locked down. If not, they’ll bring them to the vaults, so that’s where we’ll go.”
Neve looked like she was about to argue, but Kristoff activated a door on the wall to the right from where we entered, and we all followed him, so she was out-voted. It was clear Alec was staying behind to help, by way of digital warfare; once the door closed on him, the room he was in would be invisible to the intruders.
The new passage opened up to another part of the caverns that I had not been in yet, but then I hadn’t seen much of the place before Michael and I took off in search of the Flamella tree.
We zigzagged through a few corridors before I asked, “Why would they want to take the Council to the vaults?”
“That’s where the stores of the Essence and Philosopher’s Stone are kept, and it takes three of them to open it. Marion is also a key holder, and so are you,” Kristoff answered. While I didn’t expect the last part, I wasn’t surprised by it either.
We turned a corner and the ornate gargoyles carved into the walls of that tunnel became living breathing creatures beneath the flashing red lights.
Michael asked, “Alec, can you get us patched in to Breckenridge?”
“Been working on it ... I think Trace scrambled their signal ... got it.”
The screech of feedback came through the helmet, followed by the sound of gunfire, and then another voice, “Reyes, Smith, Jeffries, Larsson, take the south tunnel.”
Michael decided to let him know we were listening, “Breckenridge, we’re on the move to the vault.”
The Captain of the Shadow Guard replied, “Sumter, what the hell?” That’s when I found out Michael did have a last name after all. “How are you on my com?”
“Alec patched us in,” Michael answered.
We could hear him breathing hard as he ran, “How many are you?”
“Five, plus two rooks.”
More gunfire, and then, “Do not engage, Sumter. Get Sam to the vault before they get there.”
“That’s what I’d planned.”
We ran through corridor after corridor, some on an incline, some on a decline, until I knew I would never find my way out alive on my own.
Alec warned us before we came to the next corner, “You got five coming up the hole, be ready at the turn.”
“Sam, Jay, you fall behind us,” Michael ordered, so we did.
They took the left turn at a full run and opened fire immediately. We held our guns at the ready but there was no need for them by the time we rounded the corner.
Breckenridge’s voice crackled through again, “Rao, you’re with me. Sumter we’re on our way.”
We turned another corner and came to a stop behind Neve and Kristoff. There was a car blocking our path. A woman’s voice asked, “Did you find my present?”
Michael answered, “Thanks, Trace.” To us he said, “Get in, Sam, Jay, heads down.”
We crouched on the floor in the middle as the car took off, and almost immediately there was gunfire from the tunnel we left behind. Annika and Kristoff returned fire, while Michael and Neve kept their eyes, and guns, trained ahead. I didn’t see if they hit anyone, but the gunfire stopped after twenty seconds, so either they did or we got away.
Alec’s voice crackled
in again, “Down to one-fifty-one it looks like. We’ve lost two, another twenty injured but the Essence will cure them.”
“Where are the rest of the Society members, and the Council?” Jay asked.
“Split up in groups, secure in four bunkers if the protocol hasn’t changed,” Kristoff answered.
“It’s five now,” Breckenridge answered. “We’ve confirmed they are secure.”
“Any idea what this is yet, Logan?” Michael asked.
“They bear the mark; this was definitely a coordinated drop.”
“You think they’re all fresh from the future?”
“I don’t think there could be any other explanation, there are too many. They might have met up with a few that were already here, but it couldn’t be more than a handful. See anyone you know yet?” I decided they must be in a car also; he wasn’t puffing from running anymore.
“No, the few we’ve seen didn’t take time for introductions,” Michael answered. “Why?”
“Just don’t be surprised if you do, and don’t forget why they’re here.”
Michael’s grip tightened on his gun, “Roger that.”
***
The car came to a stop; it hurt to stand back up after crouching so long, but I managed to follow Jayden. Michael led the group again, “Our rendezvous is just ahead, through that door.” That door was twenty yards down a corridor that was too narrow for the car to traverse.
Neve and Kristoff were right behind me; we were running as hard as we could for the door when I heard the thud of one of them hitting the ground.
Jay and I spun around and opened fire, while Neve crouched and struggled to drag Kristoff, who had fallen face first, past us. Michael and Annika stepped into line with Jay; he nodded for me to help Neve. There were three gunmen hiding behind the car, and I saw three bodies in the hall.
Neve and I each took an arm, lifting Kristoff’s upper body up off the ground, his legs dragging behind. Michael, Annika and Jay took turns exchanging shots with whoever was left at the other end of the tunnel, providing us with cover. We struggled with his dead weight, but we made it through the door and a few feet to the left before we lay him down and turned him on his back. Neve pulled off his helmet and I checked his neck for a pulse even though I could see his chest rise and fall with each ragged breath.