No Future Christmas (19 page)

Douglas pulled up a chair next to a table.
He grabbed a
couple of beers out of the always stocked refrigerator and sat down handing one
to Mike.
“I’m all ears.”

Mike told him the story of his mom dying and his dad’s
abandonment of him and his brother.
Then he launched into his real worry.
“I
can deal with all of that, I’m used to it.” He gulped some beer.
“It’s Shauna.
I love her, Doug, like I’ve never loved another woman.
Actually, I never have
loved anyone before her.
Oh, I’ve had girlfriends but I want Shauna with me for
life.
I want to marry her.” Holding his breath, he waited for Douglas to say
something.

A large grin split Shauna’s father’s face.
He leaned over
and punched Mike in the shoulder.
Mike sucked in a breath from the light touch to
a very sore muscle.
“She’s yours, boy.
I can see it in her eyes.
And when
Shauna gives her heart it’s forever.
You’ll work it out if I know my Shauna.”

“I can’t see how it’d work.
I know how much I miss my
brother, Scott.
After having lost you four years ago, I can’t imagine taking
Shauna away from you.
Not now, not after she’s just found you again.
Why, it’s
a miracle.”

“Believe me, Mike,” Douglas said.
“I know my girl.
She’s a
brilliant scientist.
She’ll find a way that’ll work.”

* * * * *

“Enough work,” Shauna muttered to herself.
“I’ve had it with
peering at you, you old monitor.” She stacked a pile of papers and put them in
a folder.
“Let’s see what Mom and Dad say about this information.”

Shauna walked to her parents’ home in the little valley.
She
loved it here.
The temperature was cold, somewhere around fourteen degrees.
She
pulled her hat lower, covered her face with her scarf and shoved her mittened
hands in her coat pockets.
Thank goodness for the clothes Winston had given
her.
Frost covered the windows of the buildings she passed.
If it weren’t late
February she’d see Christmas decorations in the windows like in Mike’s time.
She knew her mother and father would approve.

Drifting on the pleasant thought of decorating the town for
the holiday, Shauna didn’t see the red laser streak across the sky.
She crossed
the dirt street from Subversive headquarters and turned left.
A faint
high-pitched sound caught her attention but she thought it was only the wind.

A shiver raced up her spine.
Shauna was used to cold weather
and was dressed appropriately.
Was this a premonition?
She glanced around the
town not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
The sound came again and Shauna
looked up.
The sky was littered with red laser beams.

At the exact moment that Shauna realized the Global
Guardians were searching the area for them the town siren wailed.
How’d they
find them?
She sprinted back to headquarters searching for Mike or her parents
along the way.
Slamming through the door she saw the organized chaos of bustling
people rushing to cover up their illegal deeds.

Her mother calmly spoke over an internal speaker.
“We’ve
practiced for this for four years.
Stay calm.
Destroy any documents that aren’t
critical to the cause.
Hide the rest in the underground vaults.
Remember—everything’s
been carefully prepared in case we were discovered.
Know that I’m proud of each
and every one of you.
When you’re finished, use the underground escape route.
We’ll meet up at the prearranged meeting place in four days.”

“Mom!
Have you seen Mike and Dad?” Shauna asked on her way
to her work station.
She gathered up the other documents she’d left on the
table and put them in a wide round tube.
She sent the tube through a pipe that
sucked it to the underground vault.
Without a moment’s thought she grabbed a
modern plastic hammer kept nearby and smashed the old monitor and keyboard.

“No, I’m sure they’re in the armory gathering up weapons.
We’ll meet them at the prearranged point.”

“Where is it, Mom?
I don’t know.
Has anyone told Mike?”
Shauna’s heart flipped over at the thought that he’d be left behind and not
know where to go.
She helped a worker clear her desk, then moved to another
table.
The papers and materials there were important so Shauna gathered them up
and put them in her folder.
She placed the folder in another round tube and
sent it on its way.

“We’re to meet in Switzerland, a small valley in the Alps.
The coordinates are pre-programmed into all of our skycars.
The code to unlock
the coordinates is
ESCAPE NOW
but convert the letters to their
corresponding number and plug them into the computer.”

“Got it.” Shauna finished clearing the area around her.
“I’m
going to find Mike.”

“No, Shauna.
Don’t,” her mother barked.
Shauna jumped.
“Get
out now.
Grab a skycar.”

“Won’t the Guardians see us coming?”

“No.
We’ve updated the invisi-shields.
No skycar will show
up on the radar or GPS screens and the new improvement makes them completely
invisible.
Now go!”

Shauna raced outside.
The skycar lot was past the armory, so
she headed inside to look for Mike.
Men were gathering weapons and sending them
through huge suction tubes to their hidden vault.
Mike and Douglas were
directing the organized retreat.
“John, take that box of javelins and
distribute them to everyone here.
Craig, the red box of tasers is to be
distributed too.
Make haste, people.”

“Dad!
Mike!” Shauna ran up to her father.
Mike turned, gave
her a grim smile and went back to shoving heavy boxes of ammunition into the
chutes.
“Does Mike know the escape code?”

“No.
Mike, get over here!” Douglas shouted.

Mike waved and hollered, “I’ll be right there.” He shoved
more boxes down the chute.

“I’ll go tell him,” Douglas said and jogged off to the other
side of the armory.

Shauna glanced outside and saw red laser beams crisscrossing
the street.
Horizontal and vertical, the beams were systematically searching
for her and Mike.
She knew the minute they found her the Global Guardians would
swoop down and land.
Glancing frantically for Mike she saw him look up.
Their
eyes met for a long second.
He mouthed the words, “I love you,” then waved her
off.

She ran out the back door.
There were fewer lasers beaming
around.
She ducked between some, jumped over others and ran to the skycar lot.
Skycars were taking off at an alarming rate.
The minute they were airborne they
went invisible.
Shauna feared that there’d be a collision and tensed waiting to
hear the crashing of vehicles.
She had just reached the lot when a red beam
caught her.
It changed to bright white, then glowed the slimy green of the
Guardians’ uniforms.
The light bathed her in a mist of movement-numbing
solution.
Shauna stood rooted to the spot, not a foot from the entrance to the
skycar lot.

A green and white skycar lowered out of the sky.
Fully aware
that she was caught, Shauna knew she’d be tortured.
Her eyes searched for Mike.
She saw him running, jumping and dodging the lasers.
He saw her trapped in the
numbing mist and his eyes widened.

“Shauna!
Sweetheart!” He ran faster, not bothering to dodge
the laser beams.
She saw his mouth working frantically and wondered if he was
talking to her mother or father or to himself.
He looked like he was praying.

The mist thickened, causing Shauna to feel sleepy.
Her
eyelids fluttered.
The last thing she saw was a laser beam catching Mike and
turning its awful white to green color.
Mike tried to jump out of the light but
the Guardians sprayed the mist over him.
He froze with his arm reached out to
Shauna, his mouth open in a scream.

* * * * *

Shauna woke to pitch blackness.
Her head hurt, her body
hurt.
Her heart pounded from fear of the unknown.
She knew she’d been captured
by the Global Guardians, knew she’d be tortured.

She wanted Mike.
She wanted to hold him, smell him, kiss
him.
She wanted the security of his arms, the warmth of his body.
She wanted to
be safe with him.

What had she done?
By inventing her time travel device she’d
caused an innocent man, a good man, to endanger himself in a time not his own.
Mike would be tortured with modern-day lasers and medicines.
She would be too
but she didn’t worry about that.
She knew what she fought for.

But the truth serums would cause Mike to tell them of his
time travel experience.
She knew the Global Guardians understood that work was
being done in that field.
But would they want to use any device that might have
been found on her or Mike?
And would they go back in time or forward.
Shauna
couldn’t let that thought distract her.

She needed to find Mike.

The door to her cell crashed open and a blinding yellow
light was shone in her face.
Shauna raised her hand to cover her eyes but
otherwise lay on the cot without moving.
How long had she been here?
Was it
night or day?

A voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Your boyfriend has
spilled his guts.
Oh, it took us a while to convince him to talk but he sang
like a lark.” There was a harsh laugh followed by a cough.

Shauna’s stomach curdled.
She bunched her hands into fists.
Oh,
God, Mike.
I hope you’re alive.
I’m here, I love you.
She didn’t
acknowledge the Guardian at the door.
She heard another walk in, his heavy
boots crunching the dirt and gravel on the floor.
He hauled her up by the arm
that covered her face nearly wrenching it out of the socket.
Shauna refused to
cry out.
The Guardian led her down a hall and to the right.
The other one kept
the light shining in her eyes so she stumbled a few times.
The Guardian who led
the way roughly shoved her ahead of him.

They’d made a left turn when Shauna heard the command, “Door
open.” A whoosh sounded and she was shoved into the room.
The concrete door
slid silently shut.

No sound came from the inky blackness.
She put her hands out
in front of her to feel for walls or obstructions and moved forward taking
small steps.
After three steps she hit a cot and heard a groan.
Shauna dropped
to the floor next to the bed.
“Mike?”

The man shifted and moaned.
“Sweetheart?” Mike’s voice was
rough and faint.
“I’m sorry.
I tried to hold out.”

Tears fell down her cheeks and onto Mike’s chest.
Her hands
roamed over his naked shoulders up his neck to his face.
She trailed her
fingers lightly over his lips, his cheeks and his eyes.
Shauna felt bruising
and swelling and sticky clumps of blood.
Her heart folded up like a clam.
Because of her the only man she’d ever loved had been injured.

“Mike, I’m so sorry.
I wish I could take this all back.”

Mike struggled to a sitting position.
“No.
Don’t say that.
I’ll heal.” Shauna felt Mike’s big hands frame her face in the darkness.
He
gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs.
“Never say that to me again.”

“What?”

“That you’d take it all back,” Mike
croaked.
“I wouldn’t take back a second of our time together, Shauna.
Not a
second.
I love you.”

“Oh, Mike.
I love you too.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart.
We’ll get through this.
As long as
we’re together, we can get through anything.”

Chapter Eleven

Disgust roiled inside Mike.
He knew he couldn’t stop the
drug from making him spill his secrets but he hated himself for giving away
Shauna’s parents nonetheless.
He loved her parents, felt as if they were his
own.
With a groan he pushed himself up from the cot.
A light shone through the
slit of a window high up in the wall.
He knew it was late afternoon the day
after his beating.

His head hurt, his face felt swollen and his lips were
cracked but he felt better than yesterday.
His muscles protested when he
stepped to the door and he ignored it.
He knew he’d be healed in a couple of
days if the Guardians wanted him to be.

Obviously they didn’t.
They had their fancy gadget that they
could run over the wound with a blue light and, voilà!, healed two days later.
But not this time.
He did wish for some Pain Away but felt he deserved this
punishment for giving in to the torture.

When Mike signed up to be a policeman he knew he’d get
injured.
He had a high tolerance for pain.
But he’d never had a beating like
this one.
He could still hear the three Global Guardians laughing as they did
it.
Mike was proud that he never cried out or begged.

He sank onto the cot with another groan.
He rubbed his sore
thighs.
He’d been told to squat for over an hour.
He did.
But now his muscles
protested the abusive treatment.

Mike thought about Shauna telling him she would take back
what happened to him.
She was a prisoner too but the Guardians must think she
was more important.
She didn’t sound hurt and he didn’t hear any moans when she
moved.
He didn’t know why they let her see him but it did him a world of good.
Now he had his resolve back.

Somehow he’d get them out of here and they’d help The
Subversives—if the group still existed.
But first he had to find a way to
escape.

The door to the cell slid open and a Guardian entered
humming a song.
He looked so young Mike wondered if he shaved yet.
Mike
remembered Shauna telling him that they recruited them young, around fifteen
and started their training immediately.
So this kid was probably only seventeen
or eighteen.
He brought a bowl of food.
“Here.
Eat this.
It’s not great but
it’s food.” The kid turned to leave.

“Wait.”

The boy turned back to Mike with a distrustful look on his
face.
He didn’t meet Mike’s eyes and Mike thought that might be a good sign.
The kid hummed quietly under his breath.
“How long have you been here?”

“Long enough.”

“What day is it?”

“Tuesday.”

Obviously the kid wasn’t a chatterbox.
“Thank you.” Mike
gave up and turned to his food.

He saw the kid step to the door then step back.
“You know
‘Morning Star’?
It’s my favorite song.
Door open.”

Mike started.
He stared at the closing door.
He didn’t know
the modern-day group that sang that song but he did know that those two words
were the code words to tell him the kid was really a member of The Subversives.
That must’ve been the song he was humming.

God, he was so young.

Mike gobbled up the food, surprisingly good for stew.
He
figured it tasted so good because he hadn’t eaten since before his beating.
He
put the bowl on the floor near the door in case any insects wanted to lick it
and sat back on the cot.
Now what would he do with the information that the kid
was on his side?

The sun sank behind the building and a gray light filled the
cell.
It was heated, a surprisingly considerate concession from a brutal
organization.
He wondered what Shauna had found just before the Global
Guardians captured them.
He lay back on his cot and crossed his ankles.
Mike
knew what they were looking for because of the questions they asked him.
He
remembered everything clearly.
The drug made him talk without being sleepy.
It
was a pleasant feeling, like he just didn’t care about anything and it was no
problem to tell these friends of his about his life and times.

His mind turned to escape.
How could he get the boy to help?
Was there anyone else who would help?
He figured the walls had eyes and ears so
outright communication was impossible.
Letting his subconscious work out the
problem he fell into an exhausted sleep.

Something startled him awake.
He sat up sucking in a breath,
forgetting for a minute his sore ribs.
The blackness was so complete that even
when his eyes adjusted he couldn’t see anything.
But he heard the sound of
breathing.
Mike didn’t say a word, didn’t move again.
He wanted the intruder to
make his move first.
The silence stretched until Mike heard a slight scraping,
like a boot stepping on a small rock.

“Don’t move, I know you’re awake.” The voice sounded young
but mean.
It was the kid from earlier.

“I won’t.
You have my word.” Mike knew that if the Guardian
had wanted to harm him he would have already done it.
Hope flared that a rescue
attempt was imminent.

“I’m here to make sure you haven’t hung yourself.” The kid
laughed, a rough sound.
But the voice moved closer and a hand touched his arm.
“All’s clear,” he said to unseen eyes and ears.
The hand moved down his arm and
felt for his fingers.
He stuffed a small piece of paper into the palm of Mike’s
hand.
“Go back to sleep.”

Playing along with the kid Mike said, “Nice of you to wake
me in the middle of the night.
I guess it’s too much to ask for a decent
night’s sleep after the torture I received.”

“Shut up!” the kid roared.
“You have no rights here, no
reason to expect anything.
You’re an enemy of the world.
We execute our
enemies.
Door open.” The kid smacked his hand on the wall as he left the cell,
the door silently closing behind him.

Mike leaned back in his cot and fingered the paper in his
hand.
He wished he could read it but it was too dark.
He figured the only time
he could read it would be at dawn, when he took a leak.

Hours later the room began to lighten from black to pearl
gray.
He got up and went to the toilet knowing he was being watched.
When he
finished, he leaned forward to push the button on the top.
He didn’t push it
all the way down and the toilet didn’t flush properly.
“Goddamnit,” he
muttered.
He tried it again and again it didn’t completely flush.
“Stupid
toilet.” Mike leaned over the tank, a much smaller version from his day and
pretended to fiddle with the knobs in the wall.
The cell had lightened
considerably and he opened the note and read it, his body blocking out most of
the cell.

Hiding the smile that wanted to burst forth he folded the
note and placed it back in the palm of his hand.
He fiddled with the knobs,
pressed the button halfway, then fiddled with the knobs again.
After standing
up with a moan, he pressed his hand to his back, sliding the note into his
pants.
Mike turned with a disgusted look on his face and muttered, “You’d think
the twenty-second century could come up with a better idea for a toilet than
the eighteenth century.”

Mike lay on the cot and thought about the note.
The kid had
written that help was on the way.
That’s all he needed to know to make all the
pain disappear.

He didn’t know how long it would be but the day passed
quietly.
Other Guardians shoved food at Mike with a grunt.
He stared at the
four walls and wondered, hoped, prayed that Shauna hadn’t been hurt.
If she had
he knew he’d kill the bastards.
Mike pushed that thought from his mind and went
through a dozen scenarios for escape.
The only problem was he didn’t know where
his help would come from.

The cell plunged into darkness with the last of the twilight
and he closed his eyes.
He pictured his home in Bend, his brother Scott and the
beautifully decorated city he’d left at Christmas.
Mike hadn’t realized how
much he loved that town and his brother until he’d stepped through a time warp.
He wanted to go back.
He wanted to feel free again.
No matter how many modern
conveniences the twenty-second century had, he felt stifled and watched.
Maybe
it was because his face was posted all over the world as public enemy number
one.

Mike laughed a bitter sound.
He’d never done an illegal
thing in his life, never taken an illegal drug.
He’d been both brother and
father to Scott and he’d been proud of the responsibility.
He grew up early but
never looked back.

A whisper of sound reached him.
The door slid open.
Mike
tensed.

A blinding yellow light shone in his face.
“Hey!
What’s that
for?” He hoped he wasn’t in for more torture.

“Get up,” a harsh voice said.

Mike rose and turned his back to the light.
A rough hand
swung him around.
“Get moving.” He was pushed forward and stumbled through the
door on protesting legs.
Once the door closed behind him the Guardian shoved
him forward.

Mike didn’t ask questions knowing they wouldn’t be answered.
He tried to see the route he took in case he needed it later but the light was
directly in his eyes.
“Door open.”

He was pushed into the room and heard, “Door close.” The door
slid shut but it didn’t sound right.
With the light out of his eyes, Mike
waited for them to adjust to the darkness in this new cell.

He heard a moan.
Fear flooded him and he turned to the
sound.
“Oh, God.
Shauna?”

“Mike?” Her voice was weak, scratchy.

He found her cot and sank to her side.
“What’d they do to
you?” He wanted to kill.
He felt a white-hot rage flood him.
Mike knew if he
had a weapon he’d go on a rampage like a crazy man.

“I’m okay.
They didn’t use drugs.
They’re saving that for
later.
God, I’m thirsty.”

Mike searched the cell.
The only water he could use was in
the toilet.
He cupped his hands and brought a sip to Shauna.
“I’m sorry,
sweetheart, it’s toilet water.” He held his hands steady while she sipped and
licked his hand.
“Oh, baby.
I’ll kill them.”

Shauna started to laugh but gasped.
“No need.
I’ll heal.”

The bravery of her words struck Mike to his core.
This woman
was a warrior.
She had an iron will and a heart of gold.
His love for her
filled him with pride and strength.
She laid her head on Mike’s shoulder and
took shallow breaths.
“I wonder why they brought you here.”

“To torture me by letting me know they hurt you.” Mike felt
her face and it felt fine.
He ran his hands over her shoulders and felt her
stiffen and pull away.
“You might have a dislocated shoulder.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.”

Mike wiped short strands of hair off her forehead and kissed
her.
He gently moved her away and said, “Hold on.” He helped her lean against
the wall and went to the door of the cell.
It wasn’t closed all the way.
The
Global Guardian had been putting on a show for the others but made sure they
could escape the cell.

Knowing he couldn’t tell her anything, he pulled her to him
to kiss her.
He helped her up while at the same time putting his hand to her lips
to tell her to be quiet.
They staggered to the door.
Mike pushed on the plastic
material and it slid open.

Dim lights lit the hallway.
Mike didn’t know which way to
turn, so being right-handed he turned right.
He wondered if there were cameras
in the hallway and figured there were.
Staying close to the right wall, they
stumbled down to the end and turned left.
They had just approached the end of
that hallway when he heard voices.
Mike stopped, holding Shauna up against the
wall.
The voices were getting louder.
He glanced back down the hallway but
there was no place to hide.
Now he heard boots stomping and laughter.
Yellow
lights flashed back and forth in a casual pattern.
They must be doing a routine
check.
Mike’s adrenaline kicked in and he felt his heart race.