No Future Christmas (20 page)

He saw the open door at the last second when a light from
one of the Guardians’ beams had swung past it and ducked into the room with
Shauna.
Mike scanned the room and saw they were in a supply closet.
The door
slid shut creating darkness.
Shauna slid to the floor taking Mike with her.
He
rubbed her lower lip softly and nipped it.

The voices stopped outside their door.
Male laughter was
heard but the wall muffled the words.
Mike prayed they wouldn’t look in the
closet.

It seemed forever but his prayer was answered when they
heard another voice say something.
The voices moved away from the closet and
Shauna’s head fell to his shoulder.
He heard her panting from exertion and
pain.
“It’s okay, we’re okay,” he murmured.

Suddenly the door slid open shedding light into the closet.
The kid Guardian gestured to them.
“This way.” Mike helped Shauna up and they
followed the young boy out of the prison to a waiting skycar.
Once Shauna was
secured in the passenger seat, the kid shoved a medical kit at him and said,
“There’s Pain Away in there and the ‘Roll Away Injuries’ medical device.
God be
with you.” He shut the door and left.

Mike raced around to the driver’s side and slid in.
He fired
up the mini jet engine and lifted off before the computer said they were
cleared for takeoff.

“Invisi-shield on,” Mike said.

“Invisi-shield on,” replied a mechanical male voice.

“I hope you’re right,” Mike said to the computer.
He flew an
erratic course away from Global Guardian headquarters.
They’d been taken back
to New York and the main prison and he wanted to get as far away as possible.
As fast as possible.
“Max speed.” The computer setting changed and the little
craft surged forward.
The force shoved him back in his seat and he heard Shauna
moan.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.
Hang in there.
Autopilot, fly course as
directed.” When the skycar continued its erratic course he fumbled on the floor
in front of Shauna’s seat and pulled up the medical kit.
He rummaged around
inside, found the Pain Away and shot a burst of it into Shauna’s thigh.
She
immediately sighed in relief.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.
I wish I could have given it to you sooner.
I’m sorry.” Mike searched the sky for any green and whites.
Nothing.
“Tell me
what happened.”

Shauna turned her head toward Mike and gave him a small
smile.
“They hauled me out of my cell, shoved me into a room with a metal
chair.” She turned her head back to the windscreen.
“I’d turned to sit down
when they punched me in the ribs.” Shauna’s voice hitched and tears pooled in
her eyes.
“I refused to give them Mom and Dad’s whereabouts.
They pulled my
shoulder until it came out of the socket.
God, that’s pain.
I still don’t know
why they didn’t use truth drugs.
But I’m glad.
For now, Mom and Dad are safe.”
Shauna hugged her arm close to her body.

Mike scanned the sky again, saw only normal sky traffic and
reached into the medical kit.
He pulled out a modern-day triangular bandage.
“I
don’t know how to work this.
The material’s too flimsy.” He fumbled with the
thin, yet strong bandage.
It was clear, with no colors in it.
If it’d been on a
table or floor it would have blended in perfectly.

“Take the edge…there,” Shauna pointed with her good hand.
“Pull it out away from you and the bandage unrolls.
Good.
Now just place the
tip on my shoulder, wrap the wide part around my arm and touch the leftover tip
to the material at my shoulder.”

Mike did as he was told and the bandage automatically fused
together creating a sling with no seam or knot at the top.
“Wow.
Some things in
this century are really great.”

Shauna chuckled but sucked in a breath from her sore ribs.
“Yes and other modern-day conveniences are intrusive.
Like the Global
Guardians.”

They left New York airspace heading east over the Atlantic.
Douglas had told Mike to meet them in Switzerland.
He didn’t have a skycar
owned by The Subversives so he couldn’t punch in the emergency code and get the
coordinates.
He figured that he’d find a way to find Shauna’s parents once he
got closer to Switzerland.
“Know where your parents’ hiding place is?”

“No.
Just the code.”

“Won’t do us much good.
The code only works with
Subversive-owned skycars.
How long until we reach Europe?” Mike checked his
instruments paying close attention to the invisi-shield.
The computer said it
was still working.
He hoped so.
He’d stolen a skycar that was shocking pink and
orange.
Colors that would stick out against the blue sky like a red warning
flag.

“About a half hour at max speed.”

“Good.
Now all I have to do is get you there safely, land
without being noticed, use that rolling thing on you to fix you up, find your
parents, overthrow the CEOs and maybe I can get a cup of Starbucks in between
there sometime.”

Shauna laughed.

“The Pain Away’s working, I see.
You didn’t even feel your
ribs when you laughed.
And you have color back in your face.” Mike leaned over
to kiss her.
“I love you.” The kiss was passionate yet tender.
He felt Shauna’s
heartbeat, strong and steady.
Mike ran a hand over her cheek, his thumb
stroking her lush bottom lip.
“God.
I love your lips.”

Shauna murmured something.
She gave him one more kiss then
leaned back into her seat.
He saw exhaustion stamped on her face.
“I think I’ll
rest for a few minutes.
Seat flat.” The seat lay flat and turned into a bed.
Shauna was asleep before it had finished its conversion.

Mike fiddled with the radio and turned on some soft,
classical music.
He watched the sky but all was calm.

It amazed him that he was flying a skycar.
If only his
brother could see this.
Scott wouldn’t believe it.
He wished he could get a
picture of himself at the controls.
The thought tantalized him and he searched
the inside of the skycar.
He knew every craft had interior and exterior cameras
but he’d not read anything in the manuals that said they could be used for a
picture.
Probably because pictures didn’t exist anymore, holograms did.

That’s it!
He’d get a hologram of himself flying and somehow
transfer it to an old computer.
He punched a few buttons on the console and
heard a whirring sound.
The camera over his controls pointed directly at him.
He snapped some shots from every angle inside, then ordered the exterior
cameras to snap shots of him from outside.
Now all he had to do was transfer
these snapshots from this skycar to a computer.

Mike rummaged through the medical kit searching for anything
he could use as a computer to transfer the holograms to.
He figured everything
was one nowadays.
He lifted a small black pouch and out fell a two-inch square
device.
It looked like Shauna’s time travel device.
But it couldn’t be.
He
turned it over and over.
It must be.
How’d it get here?
The only explanation
was the young Global Guardian who worked for The Subversives.
The kid must have
confiscated it from somewhere and shoved it in the medical kit.
What a
lifesaver!
Now all Mike needed was for Shauna to wake up.
Then she could
download the holographic snaps to her device and figure out how to get it to a
twenty-first century computer.

Satisfied that he’d worked out the pictures as much as he
could, Mike studied Shauna.
Her color was back but dark circles under her eyes
attested to her fatigue.
Little puffs of air blew out of her mouth with each
breath.
A raw need raced through him and he clenched his teeth.
Mike wanted to
protect her from harm and hadn’t done it.
This brilliant scientist, warm and
giving woman was his and he couldn’t keep her safe.

Somehow, he vowed…somehow he’d keep her safe.
If it was the
last thing he did in his life, he’d protect Shauna from harm.

“Skycar 42068, squawk frequency 121.7.”

Mike jumped at the sound of the mechanical female voice.
Shauna lurched up, her eyes wide.
“Who’s that?”

“I don’t know.
How do they know our skycar designation?”

“Don’t answer.”

Mike narrowed in on the invisi-shield.
The green light had
turned yellow.
“Shit.”

“What?”

“The invisi-shield is weakening.”

“Punch up another battery and see if that helps.” Shauna
shifted in her seat.
“Seat up.” The seat rose to the normal position.

The battery light glowed orange.
“We’re almost out of
battery for the shield,” Mike stated.

“Skycar 42068, turn to frequency 121.7 to hear Morning
Star.”

“Oh my God!” Shauna exclaimed.
“It’s Mom.
How’d she find
us?”

Mike pushed the button until the frequency showed on the
glass monitor.
“You talk to her, sweetheart.”

“Morning Star, this is skycar 42068, over.”

“Hello, darling.
How are you?”

“Is this line secure, Mom?” Bright tears ran down Shauna’s
cheek.
Mike reached over and wiped some away.

“As tight as a hangman’s rope around his prisoner’s neck,”
her mother laughed.

“Bad analogy, Mom.
We’ve just escaped the Global Guardians’
main prison in New York.”

“Oh, darling…are you all right?”

“Don’t tell her.
Don’t worry her,” Mike said.

“We’re fine.
How’d you find us?”

“We have our ways, darling daughter.
Our network is vast.
Follow coordinates sent to your computer.
We’ll meet in twenty minutes.
Over
and out.”

Mike pulled up the new coordinates and plugged them into the
computer.
The skycar arced left and descended two thousand feet.
“Your mother’s
amazing.
She must have nerves of steel.”

“Yes, she is amazing.
I don’t know how they found us and don’t
really care.
Just hearing her voice healed me.
At least emotionally.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Mike said.
He rubbed her arm with
light strokes.

“What for?”

“I couldn’t protect you.
I should have.
I’ll never forgive
myself for you getting hurt.”

Shauna leaned toward Mike and shook a finger in his face.
“First of all, you’re not my protector.
I’m my protector.
Second, you stumbled
into my life and didn’t choose these events to happen.
You gamely took over my
cause.
Third, the world is different now.
You can’t protect what you can’t
foresee.” The intensity drained from Shauna.
“So, Mr.
Forrester, I thank you
from the bottom of my heart for your gallant thoughts and I love you.”

Mike grinned at the harsh, determined sound of Shauna’s
voice.
This woman wouldn’t back down, didn’t, even when the odds were stacked
against her.
If he’d had any doubts about his love for her before, she just
cemented his decision to spend the rest of his life with her.

Somehow.

“I took some holograms of me flying while you were sleeping.
Want to show my brother someday.
Got any ideas how to make it into a
twenty-first century picture?”

“If I had my travel device I could just upload it.”

“It’s right here.” Mike handed it to Shauna.
“The Guardian
who’s a Subversive stuck it in the medical kit.
I found it while you were
resting.”

“Oh, great!” She took the device and said, “Upload
holographic pictures.”

“Invisi-shield failed.” A blaring horn sounded inside the
skycar.
“No battery backup.”

“Shit.” Mike fiddled with the buttons trying to get it to
work.
“Got any suggestions?”