No Future Christmas (23 page)

“Such as?” He stepped to the shower in the small bathroom.
“Shower on.” Warm water immediately poured out of the holes in three walls.
He
walked inside and Shauna followed discarding the clothes she had just put on.
The fourth wall rose up until it was higher than the top line of water holes
leaving two feet above it for steam to escape.

“Nate Ridge knows we’re alive.
I’m confident he won’t tell
anyone.
But I wonder why the Guardians haven’t closed my accounts.”

They washed quickly.
After brushing their teeth they
continued the conversation.

“Damn,” Shauna smacked herself on the side of the bed.
“I
should have thought of this sooner.
Too much on my mind.” She gave Mike a
beatific smile.
“My money will automatically go to George after thirty days.”

“That’s why your accounts haven’t been closed yet.” Mike
tossed the towel over the warming rack and strolled out of the bathroom.
“The
Guardians can’t touch it since it’s been set for a beneficiary.
Excellent.”

Shauna watched him walk away.
His back view was spectacular.
Wide shoulders, straight spine, tight, very tight rear end.
Long, hard,
muscular thighs, strong ankles and beautiful feet completed the picture.
She
sighed.
And this man loved her.
Shauna hugged herself for a brief moment of joy.

They ate a quick breakfast of cereal and toast and left the
chalet.
“One day I’d like to come back here.
This place has special memories
for me.”

“No problem, love.”

They rented a skycar using money from Nate’s account.
The
sparkly purple vehicle had all the modern conveniences.
Plush seats, hi-tech
sound system, state-of-the-art computers.
Shauna flew while Mike scanned the
passenger-side monitor for green and whites.
Within ten minutes they were
descending through a mountain pass.
Four peaks, two on either side proudly
showed their coat of white.
Dots of skiers moved down the slopes.
They looked
like ants trailing through a film of salt.

“Skycar 101,230, turn right.
You’re in our sights.
Cleared
to land,” a male voice said.

“Roger.
Skycar 101,230 landing.” Shauna plugged in the
coordinates and the skycar arrowed downward.
Within five minutes they saw a
landing zone ahead.
Once the skylane was cleared of any other skycars they
landed the craft and shut down the engines.

A lone figure strolled toward them.
Mike helped Shauna out
of the vehicle.
“Welcome to our new headquarters,” Douglas Wentworth said.
He
hugged Shauna tightly and clasped hands with Mike.
“Glad you’re well.
Let’s get
going.”

They crossed the empty landing zone and headed toward the
base of a mountain.
Shauna didn’t see anything that would indicate buildings or
accommodations of any kind.
“Dad?
Where’s headquarters?”

His bushy eyebrows raised and his eyes lit with humor.
“You’ll see.”

Mike wrapped an arm around Shauna’s shoulders and they walked
side by side.
“Your father’s full of mystery today.
He loves it.”

Shauna laughed.
“Yes, he does.
He’s always been a sucker for
a good puzzle.”

They neared the base of the mountain and saw the faint
outlines of buildings.
As they approached Shauna gasped.
“My, God, Dad.
This is
amazing.” A whole city, much like the one in the Rockies, spread out before
them.
Each building was covered with white but it wasn’t snow.
They blended so
perfectly with the surrounding landscape that no one could see it from the air
or the ground until they were very close.

“Wow.
I’m impressed, Doug,” Mike murmured.

Puffed up, head tall, his arms swinging easily at his side,
Douglas said, “This is your brother’s brainstorm, Shauna.
George found a
material that could bend reflections and take on the surrounding countryside.
If we were in a pasture, the buildings would be green.
In the summer the
buildings here are brown to blend in with the mountains.
Come.” He waved them
through a door into the building.
“George also perfected invisi-shields for
buildings so we have double protection this time.
Lucky for us he took time off
from reporting to put his degree in science and engineering to good use.
Otherwise I would have felt I’d wasted my money on his education.
I think he’s
finally got his wanderlust under control,” Douglas laughed.

Before Shauna could say anything a large man threw himself
at her.
Mike took a step forward to protect her but stopped when he heard her
cry of delight.
“George!”

The young man was an Adonis.
Bright, intense blue eyes
sparkled with animation.
Blond, short straight hair covered his head.
He had a
perfect Roman-style nose, a cleft chin and the same larger lower lip that
Shauna had.
“Hey, sis.
Missed ya.”

“Oh, I missed you too, brother.” Tears freely flowed down
Shauna’s cheeks.
She hugged him for a very long time.
“Where have you been?”

“Traveling the world for Mom and Dad.
And working on my
invention.
Like it?”

“Love it, George.
The invisi-shield is great but the
composite material that reflects the surroundings is brilliant.” George took a
bow.
“Not modest I see,” Shauna laughed.
She saw his eyes stray to her left.
“George, this is Mike Forrester.
Mike, my brother George.”

Mike stuck out his hand.
George took it but held fast.
The
two men stared at each other for some time.
Shauna saw assessing looks pass
between them and worried that her brother and her fiancé wouldn’t like each
other.
Finally George said, “Welcome to the family.
I’ve heard a lot about you
from Mom and Dad.
Seems they like you quite a bit.
So, when’s the wedding?”

“George!” Shauna’s hands flew to her mouth.

“Look, sis.
This guy wouldn’t be here if Mom and Dad didn’t
approve.
He wouldn’t be a Subversive after so short a time, either.”

Shauna’s mouth opened and closed.
It unnerved her to know her
parents planned on her marrying Mike.

“Since everyone’s here I might as well do it properly,” Mike
said.
“Mr.
and Mrs.
Wentworth, George.
I love Shauna with all my heart and
soul.” Mike turned to Shauna and took her hand.
He held it to his heart for a minute
then dropped to one knee.

Shauna sucked in her breath as tears trailed down her
cheeks.

“Shauna Wentworth, will you do me the great honor of
becoming my wife?”

A second didn’t pass.
She almost didn’t let him finish the
sentence.
“Yes!” Shauna launched into Mike’s arms.
He’d barely had enough time
to stand as he secured her legs around his waist and kissed her deeply.

A not too discreet cough broke them apart.
“We haven’t given
you our approval,” Douglas said in a stern voice.

“Dad,” Shauna warned.
“You wouldn’t…”

Douglas and Louise glanced at each other and then at their
son.
George shrugged his shoulders.
Shauna slipped off of Mike, turned and put
her fists on her hips.
“Dad?”

“You’re right,” he laughed.
“I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t help
it.” Taking his wife’s hand in his, Douglas said, “You have our approval to
marry our daughter.”

* * * * *

Mike settled back in a chair.
“So what have you found out
since we disappeared?”

Louise made a pot of coffee.
“You were chased by the
guardians after Shauna hacked into their system.
Even records that were ancient
set off alarms in their four buildings.
I imagine they were a bit frantic.
I
would have loved to have seen that,” she said wistfully.
Louise poured five
cups of coffee and handed them out.
“Grab your cream and sugar.”

Douglas took up where Louise left off.
“It seems that in the
old days—say, your time Mike—the organizers of The Society were clever and
devious enough to set codes into their computers.
If certain words or phrases
were accessed the computers would send out red flag warnings to other Society
members.
Of course, there were a select few members.
The fathers of The Society
passed their secret down through sons—no daughters—”

“The chauvinistic jerks,” Shauna mumbled.

“Well, er, yes,” Douglas said.
“Be that as it may, they also
recruited only their best friends or someone very high-powered.” Douglas sipped
his coffee.
“The recruitment process was long.
Backgrounds were checked.
The
leaders of The Society were a ruthless group of men.
They searched—and found—the
deepest, darkest secrets the men were hiding.
Anything that would cause a
scandal qualified as long as it would ruin the man’s life.
A harsh group, the
few leaders of The Society were no friends of their so-called friends.
And to
be an enemy of them meant certain death.
No one learned about The Society who
wasn’t a member.
If you did, you died.”

“So,” Louise said, “when you were hacking you hit a phrase
or document that had been flagged.
The Guardians came after you and you
escaped.” She put her empty cup of coffee on the table.
“Where did you escape
to, by the way?”

Mike chimed in.
“To 2004.”

Silence filled the room.
Then almost in unison everyone
said, “What?”

Grinning from ear to ear, Shauna stepped up and took a bow.

“I see you’re as modest as I am, dear sister,” George
laughed.

“My God, Shauna,” her mother said.
“That was brilliant.
But
how did you do that?”

Shauna moved to her mother and gave her a hug.
“One of your
Global Guardian recruits helped us.
A young kid.
He stuck my time travel device
in a medical kit, got us a skycar and voilà!
2004.”

“Did he know what it was?” Louise asked.

“No, he couldn’t have.
He probably thought nothing of it
except that the Guardians had taken it from me and I’d want it back.
He saved
our lives.”

“Do you know who he is?” her father asked.

“No.
But if I ever see him, I’ll thank him for saving us.”

“One day, dear sister,” George said, “I’d like you to tell
me about 2004.” He turned to Mike.
“This must be so strange, sitting here in
your future.”

“I’m getting used to it.” Mike grinned at Shauna.
“But I was
thrilled to be home for a short while.
I had the opportunity to tell my brother
what I’ve been doing lately.”

“Did he believe you?” Douglas asked.

“Not at first,” Mike said.
“But Shauna persuaded him with
her travel device.
The strange thing was that I’d left on December 21, 2004 and
returned on December 23, two days later.
I’d been gone for almost three months
but to Scott, my brother, I’d only been gone two days.”

“I have to work out that problem,” Shauna said.
“I want to
figure out how to come back months later, if the traveler wants that.
He or she
should be able to come back an hour later or a year later.
But that’s for me to
figure out at another time.”

“So,” Douglas said standing.
“We have our research compiled.
We have proof the CEOs have manipulated the world to their advantage and the
Global Guardians are no more than an organization of hired thugs to hide their
century-long secret.”

“What do we do with it, Douglas?” Mike asked.

“Now we leak it to the unsuspecting public,” Douglas said.

Chapter Fourteen

Like a worm slithering its way slowly across the pavement
after a rain, news leaked out over the worldnet that the Fearsome Foursome was
corrupt.
A blog here, a website there.
The word spread like peanut butter.
Within twenty-four hours a slight rumbling was seen on the pages of the most
anti-Fearsome Foursome sites.
Sites that weren’t monitored much due to lack of
interest.

But the worm kept inching its way across the worldnet.
Three
days later a notice crossed the desk of a little-known secretary down in the
offices of Robert Cranston’s Circle Planet Com.
“Hey, Shirley, did you see
this?” Margie Simmons asked her friend.

“See what?” Shirley typed furiously over her holographic
keyboard.
“I’m swamped.”

“There’s a tiny notice here that the CEOs are hiding a
secret from the world.” Margie printed out the one-line report and handed it
across the desk to Shirley.

Shirley glanced at it, then back to her keyboard.
“So?”

“Did you read it, Shirl?”

“Don’t have time.
Shred it.”

“I think this can be important,” Margie said.
“Should I send
it up to Cranston’s assistant?”

Shirley glanced sharply at Margie.
“Are you nuts?
Send the
old codger bad news and you’re fired.
Fired from here is fired from everywhere,
remember?”

Margie jumped up from her chair.
“I know, Shirl but this
could be important.”

“It’s your suicide,” Shirley said.
She typed faster.

Margie stared at the sentence.
She paced the room.
She read
it again to herself.
“For over one hundred years the CEOs have hidden a secret
from the world that will change the course of history.”

“I wonder what that means.”

Margie sat down, gave the one-line sentence another long
glance then tossed it on her desk.

* * * * *

“Anything?” Shauna asked.

“No.
No uprisings, no rumbles, no squeaks.
Give it time,”
her mother answered.

Three days had passed since the sentence had been inserted
into a little-known website.
Shauna had searched for just the right group of
anti-CEO enthusiasts.
This group was so off-the-charts rebellious that they knew
no one would pay much attention to them.

“Why’d you choose this group?” Mike asked.
He sat at a table
punching keys on an ancient keyboard from his day.
The clicking filled the
quiet room.
“They’re a bunch of radical fanatics and nobody listens to what
they say.”

“For just that reason,” Shauna said.
“We’re starting low and
slow.
When the news blows and it certainly will, we don’t want the Fearsome
Foursome to be able to trace it back to us.
It’s our safety net, of sorts.”

“Poor suckers,” Mike murmured.
He clacked away on the
keyboard.
“You’re setting them up for prison sentences.”

“That would be the best for them.
They’re the type that blow
up buildings with no concern about the innocent people inside them.
I hate
people like that.” Shauna slammed her hand on the table next to her.
The loud
ringing startled the other Subversives in the room, including her parents.

“Something wrong, daughter?” Douglas asked in a mild tone of
voice.

“No, Pops, not really.
Mike and I were talking about the
radical underground group we chose to start getting the message out.”

“Ah.
You told him your feelings on the matter of innocent
lives, I see.” Douglas grinned at his daughter.
“You’ve always been a sucker
for the underdog or those unaware.”

“Yeah.” Shauna turned back to her keyboard.
“Well…I need to
research more.
I need two more sites like that one to start moving the word
faster.”

Mike came over to Shauna.
He leaned over and hugged her.
“I
love that you feel so strongly about protecting innocent people.
You’re a good,
kind woman, Shauna and I’m proud of you.”

Warmth flooded her.
Shauna knew that everyone in the room
heard Mike’s statement.
She glanced at her mother who sat across the table from
her and saw a soft, loving expression on her face.
“Don’t let it get out of
this room.
I have a reputation to uphold,” she said.

Mike laughed.
He kissed the top of her head.
“I’m feeling
cooped up.
May I take a skycar for a spin?
We could use some aerial
reconnaissance, don’t you think?” he asked Douglas.

“The shields are up and working, Mike,” Douglas said.
The
computers haven’t detected any hint of a Guardian for weeks.
We’re safe.
But if
you need to clear your head, be my guest.
Just remember to use the
invisi-shield, keep the electronics on our secret frequency and don’t fly too far
from here.
Whatever you do, don’t go into any traffic lanes.”

“Mike, don’t go, it’s too dangerous,” Shauna said.
A feeling
of panic rushed through her so fast it caught her unaware.

“Sweetheart, I’ve done what I can for now.
I’m tired of
staring at a computer.
I’ll be safe, I promise you.”

“But you’re still new to flying.
Anything can happen.”

“It’s as safe as walking, you told me that yourself.” Mike
kissed her bottom lip.
“I love that lip.” He gave a cocky wave to her parents
and the others in the room and strolled out into the crisp, cold morning air.

Shauna turned on her parents.
“Why’d you let him go?”

“He needed to breathe, Shauna,” her mother said.
“You can’t
keep him cooped up here.
He’s been going stir-crazy for a day or two.
You’ve
been too preoccupied to notice.”

The door opened letting a blast of frigid air into the room.
Mike came back and said, “Just in case…is there some kind of personal tracking
device I can wear or hide on me?”

“That’s it,” Shauna jumped up from her chair and stood in
front of Mike.
She poked him in the chest.
“You’re not going anywhere.
If you
think something’s going to happen, then you can just take a long walk around
the compound to clear your muddled head.”

Mike laughed and pulled Shauna to him.
“I’m not planning on
anything going wrong, love.
But we’re working against the most powerful and
corrupt men in the world.
They won’t want to be toppled from their perch.
When
the crap hits the fan they’ll fight with a vengeance.
That’s when hiding will
be critical.
And who knows how long we’ll have to hole up here?
I just want
some fresh air.”

Mollified, Shauna hugged Mike.
“Well…okay.
But if you get
yourself in trouble know that when you do get back here, all hell’s going to
break loose.”

“Yes, ma’am, Ms.
Sergeant.” Mike gave Shauna a snappy
salute.

“Come here boy,” Douglas said.
“I have just the thing for
you.” They walked to a storage unit at the other end of the room.
Douglas
pulled out a gun-shaped device, pointed it at Mike’s shoulder and pulled the
trigger.

“Ouch!” Mike rubbed the spot.
“What was that?”

“I just inserted a chip in you,” Douglas said.
“The secret
code for The Subversives is encrypted inside.
If anything happens and you’re
captured by the Guardians any undercover Subversive will know how to contact
us.
Plus, it emits a constant signal.
Now go clear your head.” Douglas slapped
Mike on the still sore shoulder.
He winced.

“Thanks.” He waved as he strode out of the room and rubbed
his shoulder at the same time.

“Serves him right,” Shauna muttered.
“He’d better not get
lost.” She turned back to her computer but couldn’t concentrate.
This was the
first time Mike had left on his own.
A nervous feeling skittered along her
spine.

Shauna stared into space.
The feeling grew, coalescing into
dread.
What if he didn’t come back?
What if he was having second thoughts about
helping her and her parents?
Maybe he had regrets about getting involved with
her.

Or was it a case of cold feet?
Did he love her enough to
marry her?
Maybe he had realized that marrying her meant staying in his future
without his brother.

What was she going to do?
Shauna leaned back in her chair.
She could vividly smell his scent, that musky, clean scent that attracted her
to him so completely.
She inhaled deeply then let out a long sigh.

“He’ll be back, darling,” her mother said.
“Trust his love
for you.
It’s eternal.”

Shauna forced back tears of weakness.
“How do you know,
Mom?”

“It’s engraved on his face, stamped in his every move with
you.
He’ll be back.”

* * * * *

As Mike lifted off into the sky he felt all the tension
drain away.
For the last two days he’d felt as if a noose were tightening
around his throat.
He didn’t know why.
He believed in the cause he was helping,
loved the people and organization who would bring justice to this world.

But he missed home again.
He missed Scott and for some
reason he missed his father.

That’s what had been bothering him lately.
His dad didn’t
know where he was and didn’t seem to care.
The old hurt raced through Mike as
he flew a leisurely pattern over the compound.
What would he think of him
flying a skycar?
Would he be proud?
Probably not.

Pictures of the day his mother died flashed through Mike’s
mind.
He saw her loving, laughing face, remembered the teasing she’d given his
father about how he always waited until the last moment to decorate the tree.
He remembered the laughter that always surrounded him in those days.
Multicolored lights sparkled on the floor and half of the fir tree in the
living room.
Boxes of ornaments were stacked on the couch, floor and tables.
Mike
remembered the anticipation he and Scott felt each time they decorated a tree
with his parents.

But that all ended when his mother went out to the store and
never came home.
His father buried himself in rum for a week, then work after
that.
Even Aunt Evelyn’s loving embrace couldn’t dispel the feeling of
abandonment.
Yet somehow the child inside Mike still wanted his father.

He turned the skycar east and flew a straight line at twenty
thousand feet.
Radar showed the sky empty of all vehicles.
As he soared through
the pristine blueness against a backdrop of blinding white that covered tall
peaks and craggy valleys Mike thought about his life.
Even without a loving
father it’d been a good one.
Love from Aunt Evelyn and his brother sustained
him then and Shauna’s love sustained him now.
He felt fortunate, blessed to
have found her.

But how would they have a life together?
When would they
live?
Mike feared that asking Shauna to live in his time would cause a rift
between them that they’d never overcome.
And how would he feel about living in
her time and leaving the only two people who loved him?
Could he leave his
brother and his Aunt Evelyn?
He soared over the mountains.
Put aside the
thoughts, he told himself.
If he and Shauna were meant to be together they would
be.

Easy to say but hard to do.
Mike let the craft take him
around the local countryside.
He didn’t see the splendor, still focused inside.
He decided to head back to Shauna.
A driving need rose in him to hold her
tightly, never let her go.

The green and white flew out of nowhere.
It passed by Mike
with only miles between them.
The Guardians didn’t see him, hidden by the
invisi-shield.
Mike turned and followed them.
He laughed at the silly thought
that raced through his head.
Follow that car.
How appropriate that saying was,
even now.