Just in Time: Portals of Time (17 page)

Her green eyes were liquid in the dim light.

So he asked, “What do you want?” He touched the skin over her heart. “Here?”

“I want to be with you. But it’s more than Alisha’s protest. I’m…afraid.” She frowned. “Something I rarely feel.”

Because she was being truthful, he decided to return the sentiment. “I’m afraid, too. But I want this to happen between us. We’ll figure it out together. I won’t hurt you.”

However, in the back of his mind, another truth formed. He probably would hurt her. And what’s more, she would probably hurt him, too. Right now, though, he didn’t care about any of that. He
had
to have her. But not in the backseat of a car. He’d find a time and place for privacy.

Meanwhile, he took her mouth again.

AFTER HOURS OF
discussion after last night’s escapade, Jess was so tired of the bickering about his safety and the best route to trap Krueger, he had to escape all these people in his house. So he stood and said, “I’m done here. My brain is fried. You guys make the decision.” He held his hand out to Helen. “Come on, let’s go watch some TV in our room. We haven’t done anything normal in weeks.”

“We seek your forgiveness, Jess.” This from Celeste. “We know this is hardest on you and Helen.”

“Don’t apologize, please. I’m grateful that you’re here. It’s just that it’s been about a month. A lot of time to know you’re…” He glanced at his wife and shut up.

“You’re going to die.” Helen stood and faced Jess. “Look, I know you’re worried about Celeste handling this Krueger guy. But I’m not sure how much more waiting we can take.” She grasped Jess’s hand and smiled. “Instead of watching TV, let’s go sit on our patio.”

“No can do,” Luke pointed out. “Only if Dorian or I go with you.”

“Luke,” Jess said, exasperated. “The entire backyard is fenced in. Nothing can happen to us.”

“No.”

Shaking his head, Jess left the room with Helen. When they reached the sanctuary of their bedroom, he said, “Come on,” and opened the sliding doors that led to their private patio.

“No, Jess, you’ll be exposed.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m getting cabin fever. I only go from here to work and then we spend evenings planning and arguing. I wish this was over.”

“Me, too, honey. Okay, outside for a few minutes only.”

The May sun was hot on their faces. A profusion of geraniums sat in the corner of the patio in a big fat pot. And they could hear the birds chirping in the trees. “It’s beautiful out here,” Helen said as they dropped onto deck chairs labeled
his
and
hers
and grasped hands again. Jess turned his face up to the heavens “The rays feel great.”

“Yeah, it’s hard to believe we lose all this.” Real sorrow laced Helen’s voice. “And sad.”

“Hopefully, for our sakes, too, that will all change.”

“I admire those women, Jess. They’re very brave. And they’re sacrificing so much.”

Placing a palm on her belly, he changed the subject. “How’s my girl?”

Helen giggled like a high schooler. “Great. I can’t wait to feel her move.”

“Me, too.” His eyes misted. “I hope—”

An explosion rent the air.

The tool shed in the backyard burst into flames. Red-and-yellow fire shot out from the roof, and the two little windows shattered. Helen and Jess bolted to their feet. The rest happened in a blur.

Gun blazing, Luke rushed into the bedroom, with Dorian behind him. When his brother saw him coming in from the patio, he said, “Fuck!” and raced to the glass door. He grabbed Helen and dragged her inside just as Dorian lunged for Jess and brought him to the floor.

They were fully inside the bedroom when they heard the shots.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND.”
Helen was shaking like one of the leaves on their precious trees. “What happened?”

Jess held her tight to his chest and gazed out the window. Fire trucks had arrived and Luke had gone out to meet them and brought them around back. Dorian watched as the squad lifted a hose; it shot out real water. She went to the glass doors and cracked one open.

Sickeningly noxious elements wafted inside from smoke, which she’d seen only in the history chips; she shut the door again and tried to keep from gagging.

When she turned around, Jess was behind her. “Dorian, what do you think happened?”

“We need to wait for the department of fire to report.”

“This has to be related to me.”

“One would think that,” she said calmly. “But the chips did not have any indication of literal fire or gunfire. Alisha is reviewing what we have again. This could be coincidental.”

“I don’t believe in this kind of coincidence. There were shots, for God’s sake.”

“They sounded like shots, yes.”

The Cromwells moved to a sofa off from the others and talked quietly with each other. Dorian continued to stare at the fire. In her time, there were no people to calm fires because fire was not a part of their lives. Everything ran on lecci crystals, which self-charged. Soon, the blaze was doused, but in some ways, it had been beautiful. Then a man in one of those suits Luke wore when he worked entered the backyard. He spoke directly to Luke and they headed into the house while the fighters of fire finished their task.

The man and Luke stepped though the sliding aperture after Dorian opened it, bringing in more of the odious smell of burnt wood.

“Hey guys, this is Captain Max Lyndon. He’s one of the arson investigators for the city.”

“Nice to meet you.” The man was older than Luke, with much gray shot through his hair. “Sorry it’s under these circumstances.” He glanced at Dorian, then Celeste, and stared at them a bit too long. Men here weren’t used to women of their stature and fitness.

“Hello, Captain.” Celeste greeted them.

He looked around the room. “Is there some kind of meeting going on here?”

“Oh, no,” Jess put in. “These women are Helen’s cousins. Along with another in the den.”

Lyndon nodded.

“This is my brother, Jess, and his wife, Helen,” Luke added. “They were on the patio when the shed exploded.”

The man whipped out a pad with precious paper on it, and also a pen. He would write this down? Why didn’t he just use a recorder? “I’ll need to hear exactly what you witnessed.”

Helen turned to Jess, who explained the sequence of events. “Then we heard the shots.”

“If they were shots. Sometimes, things in a shed like that explode and they sound like firearms.”

“I thought the same thing.” Luke spoke somberly.

After the women discussed what they’d seen and heard from the family room, the investigator went back out to confer with the others and examine the shed.

A pall came over the group. Finally, Jess spoke. “I’m sorry we went outside. It was foolish.”

“Water under the bridge.” Luke sounded tired. Dorian had the strong urge to comfort him. “We can talk more about it later. Just try to be cooperative, Jess.”

“I will.” He tugged Helen even closer.

Before the firemen left, the investigator confirmed that there'd been no gunshots fired. The noises, which resembled shots, were in reality small explosions from the fire, precipitated by the spontaneous combustion of oily rags in a dusty bucket. Jess had left them there some time ago and had forgotten about them. In turn, miscellaneous materials had caught fire, too.

Alisha came out of the den. The expression on her face indicated to Dorian that she did not have good news. “I’ve reviewed the data. The summer chips are sketchier than I remembered. There’s nothing at all on today. The only evidence is still that Jess is killed in a car accident. Of course, if we changed the future by just coming here, this computeller wouldn’t be updated to integrate that.”

Helen said “Maybe you already saved Jess somehow.”

Still frowning, Alisha drew in a breath. “No, we didn’t. I saw something I hadn’t picked up on the times I went through these particular chips.”

“What?” Luke asked.

“A small notice in a scientific journal. We missed it in the future because we weren’t looking at Jess’s writings. But a week or so ago, I started checking the chips on all the papers Jess wrote about his research in the summer of 2014. I was making my way through them, but hadn’t finished.” She swallowed hard. “The last was an update on his work, but it had a…postscript, I think you call it.”

“What did it say?” Jess asked hoarsely, but Dorian had guessed already.

“It notes that the writer of the article died before its publication and his research was under scrutiny for flaws.”

Luke asked, “When was the journal dated?”

“June one.”

Helen shrieked, “Oh, my God, Jess, you’re supposed to die in a few weeks.”

WEARING A DRESS
the color of emeralds, Celeste swung her foot back and forth as she sipped a drink called club soda. The clear liquid would appear to be alcohol to fool Krueger, without the side effects. She’d asked the bar worker to keep secret from her companion the fact that she wasn’t imbibing. As if her thoughts conjured him, Craig Krueger strode into the bar.

“Sorry I’m late. I got tied up at work.”

Another silly idiom, though the image was amusing. “On Saturday?”

“The city never sleeps. But I hate to keep a girl like you waiting.”

“I don’t mind. I like the sights and scents of this place.” The space was a nice change from the smell of smoke, which lingered in the air at Jess’s, and the tension among everyone. She turned her attention to Krueger. “I hope the work issue isn’t a problem.”

Dropping down into the seat next to her, he leaned in very close. He’d done more than work. The distinct odor of alcohol exuded from him. “The higher-ups always cause problems.”

She batted her eyes as Helen had taught her to do. “I thought you were a higher-up.” In this time’s culture, women liked men in power. Celeste felt just the opposite. Powerful men had big egos to nurture, and she’d clashed with some in her work at the Institute of Fertility.

“I am, babe. As a matter of fact, I’m taking point on this huge problem we’re trying to…erase, I guess you could say.” He smiled at his wording.

Celeste experienced a spark of anger. He and his co-conspirators looked at the situation as
erasing
Jess Cromwell, a man she’d come to care about and respect. Megadamn him.

“Now, that sounds interesting.” Reaching out, she rubbed her fingers on the lapel of his suit. “I like men in power. Men who do things outside the…let’s say…the boundaries of society.”

“Then I’m your guy.” He called the bar worker over. “I’ll have a manhattan. Get the little lady another.” He turned back to her. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“Why, thank you. I find you…attractive, too.” Not. There was no character in his face. Not like Luke’s, David’s, Jess’s. Even Alex Lansing’s innate personality came out in photos.

During the next hour, Krueger consumed three strong drinks.

After which, his eyes glazed over. “I know it’s only eight but how about finishing our evening at my place? It’s not far from here.” He moved in even closer. “Who knows how the evening will turn out?”

“Hmm. That sounds like fun. I’d love to.”

ALISHA AND LUKE
sat in his auto vehicle outside Craig Krueger’s apartment building, while Dorian stayed at home with Jess. Everybody was on edge—and scared, after today’s incident with the fire. Luke had wanted to call off Celeste’s date with Krueger, but she had insisted they forge ahead.

She’d just gone inside the apartment with Krueger. She was wearing a wired microphone—Luke had insisted—so he’d know what was going on. Still, this was dangerous.

“I’m worried about her.” Alisha had agreed with the plan because it was the most logical, but her concern matched his.

“She’s handling it like a pro.” Luke tried to comfort Alisha. He rarely saw her vulnerable. “She got him back here. Now she just has to finish up.”

Over the mic, they heard Celeste speak. “Do you have any wine?”

“I, um, guess.” His words were slurred.

“I’d like a glass.”

“No more for me,” Krueger mumbled, “if I’m gonna satisfy you, baby.”

“Yuck.” Alisha wrinkled her nose. “He offs me.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Luke burst out laughing. “I hope not.”

“Did I say it wrong?”

“I think you meant puts you off.
Offing
somebody has a variety of meanings—one is murder and one is bringing someone to climax in sex.”

The two began speaking again, precluding a reaction from Alisha.

“Thank you, Craig. Would you mind putting on some music?”

“Sure. Set the mood and all that.”

Alisha asked, “This is where she’ll dump the drug into his drink, right?”

“Yeah. A fast-acting sedative.”

“We don’t need those in our time.”

“Of course you don’t.”

Again, the conversation in the apartment began. “Don’t you like your wine, Craig?”

“I guess. I’d rather be in bed fucking you.”

“What a jerk.” Alisha used the contemporary term, which seemed to be appropriate.

“Oh. But
I
need a little more loosening up.”

A few minutes of small talk interspersed with silence.

“Okay, do…” Krueger finally said, “Um, Jesus, I don’t feel… What the hell…”

Luke and Alisha stilled when they heard a thud. Then Celeste’s voice, no longer flirty and fun. “Okay, come on up. Krueger’s out of consciousness. We’re in Apartment 4467. I’ll buzz open the door from here.” Then she added, “He’s an asshole.”

“She got that word right,” Luke said as he and Alisha exited the car.

After Celeste buzzed them in, they took the elevator up to the fourth floor and got inside the apartment—all modern glass and chrome—in minutes. Luke strode immediately to Krueger and checked him out. “He’s down for a while. I’ll get him into bed now so when he wakes up, he’ll think we went there last night.”

“Good.” Alisha scanned the room. “I’ll go work on his computer.”

When she crossed to the desk, which housed a state-of-the-art system, Celeste said to Luke, “Let’s hope Alisha finds evidence of the plot against Jess. Krueger got close to me tonight. He’s ambitious, greedy; his sexual longings are dangerous, I think.”