No Future Christmas (7 page)

“Yep.” A smile lit Mike’s face.
“Finally!
A ride I enjoyed.
Okay, fearless leader, lead on.” The dog followed Mike and Shauna down the
hallway where they stopped in front of a door numbered 110-300.
She had just
raised her hand to knock when the door opened.

“Get in here,” growled Winston.
He hauled Shauna inside.

“Stay boy,” Mike murmured to the dog.
He pushed open the
nearly shut door and entered the apartment.

“Are you crazy coming here?” Winston shouted at Shauna.
He
stepped to the window and stared outside.
Skycars whizzed past in a
multicolored blur.
“No green and whites, thankfully.
Coverings close.” The
curtains whooshed closed, darkening the room.

“Winston, I need your help,” Shauna said.
“We couldn’t get
to Simon at the World Starbucks.”

Winston’s head snapped up at Simon’s name.
“What do you want
with him?
And who’s the cop-type in disguise.”

Mike shook his head.
Even a century later he was pegged for
a police officer.
“Mike Forrester, friend of Shauna’s.” He stuck out his hand
to shake Winston’s.

“Global Guardian?” Winston hadn’t taken the proffered hand.
Distrust and disgust filled his face.
He turned to Shauna before Mike could
answer.
“Why’d you bring that creep here?”

“He’s not a Guardian.
He’s safe.
Look, Winston, I got a
message from my parents.
They’re alive.”

Winston’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened.
“Oh, thank
God.
The movement needs them.
They’ve been sorely missed.”

Shauna’s eyes filled with tears.
“Thank you.
What movement?”

“They didn’t tell you?” Winston asked, astonished.
“They
head the underground group SubCorp.
Short for Subversive Corporation.
SubCorp
wants to bring down the Fearsome Foursome.”

“Oh my God.
Why didn’t they tell me?” Shauna paced the small
living room, head down, muttering to herself.
“They wanted to protect me,
that’s why.” She swiveled around.
“Now will you help us find them?”

“Yes.” Winston’s eyes flicked to Mike.
“If he’s not military
I’ll eat my shoes.”

“I’m a police officer from the twent—”

“He came from another country,” Shauna interrupted.
She
narrowed her eyes at Mike.
“He’s not used to our ways and I’m getting him
acclimated to our country.”

“Why isn’t he accustomed to our ways?
Every country in the
world is the same.
We all speak English, fly with the same rules of the sky,
live in the same buildings.
I don’t get it Shauna.”

Shauna started to speak but Mike held up his hand.
“Do us a
favor and trust us.
I’m on your side.
Let me help.”

Winston’s eyes narrowed.
No one spoke for a few minutes.
With a shake of his shaggy head Winston sighed and said, “Okay.
But if I find
you hurting Shauna, or getting any of us in trouble, you’re dead.”

“Understood, Winston and thanks.” Mike flopped on to the
sofa.
“God, I’m beat.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“Winston,” Shauna asked.
“Can Mike sleep here for a while?
He’s been up over twenty-four hours.”

Mike raised his head.
“I could use a few winks.”

“Through the door.
Bathroom’s beyond that.
Clean
toothbrushes in the cabinet below.”

Mike hauled himself off the couch and headed to the
bathroom.
He made a detour to Shauna and kissed her.
With a gentle stroke along
her chin he left and headed into the bedroom.

“What’s with you and the cop?” Winston asked.

“Nothing.” Shauna didn’t want to talk about it.
Her feelings
for Mike were new, raw, exciting.
She didn’t have time for them.

“Right.
The guy just kissed you.” At Shauna’s glare, Winston
held up his hand.
“Okay, okay.
I won’t bring it up again.
Did you leave any
trace of where you went?”

“No, I used an emergency skycar and left it on the roof of a
different building.”

“Good.” Winston dug through a drawer recessed into a wall
and pulled out a document storage device.
“Look at these and you’ll see what
you’re up against.
Your parents are warriors in a fight to regain our
independence and bring about a less restrictive way of life.
I’ll get you some
water, you look parched.”

Shauna realized Winston was right.
She hadn’t had anything
to drink since their coffee in Los Angeles.
“Thank you.” She opened the storage
device and a hologram popped up.
File folders were labeled alphabetically and
she clicked on one or two to get an idea of what she was looking at.

“Drink up.” Winston plopped on the couch and put his feet up
on a see-through table.

Shauna absently drank the fortified water and felt better.
Her tiredness faded away and a new resolve burned in her.
She leafed through
the files.
“Where’s a good place to start?”

“At the beginning.”

Chapter Four

“Ten years ago,” Winston began—

The bedroom door opened and Mike came out.
His hair was
rumpled, his clothes askew.

“What are you doing up?” Shauna asked.
“You need your
sleep.”

“I couldn’t fall asleep.
Too much going through my mind.” He
dropped into a chair.
“I’m exhausted.
This time travel stuff is mind-numbing.”

“Time travel?” Winston asked.
He stared at Shauna for a long
moment then a light came on in his face.
“Oh, no.
You’ve perfected it.”

“Don’t get any ideas.
It’s not perfected.
It’s in the
testing stage.
Mike is a mistake I have to correct.” The minute she said those
words she realized how it sounded.
Shauna ran to Mike.
“I’m sorry.
That’s not
what I meant.
Oh, God, I’m screwing this up.” She stroked his face, his arm.
Mike stared at her.
She could see the hurt beaming from his eyes.
“I meant that
I needed to work on a way to travel even when someone holding the device is
touching another person.
I want only the device holder to travel, not the
bystander…” she trailed off knowing she was digging a bigger hole than before.
“Crap.”

Mike threw back his head and laughed.
“It’s all right,
Shauna.
I know you’re tired too.
You’ve had as many shocks as I have.
Come
here.” He patted the arm to the chair he sat in.

Relief flowed through her at the kind, forgiving look on
Mike’s face and she sat down on the arm of the chair.
She stroked his cheek
wondering why she needed to touch him.
The answer came to her in a flash.
She
wouldn’t be whole if she couldn’t touch him, smell him, see the chiseled planes
of his face.
Oh, God.
How could she have fallen so deep, so fast?
“Forgive me?”

“Always,” Mike said.
His strong, melodic voice wound through
her, cooling her frayed nerves like salve on a hot wound.
“Now what did I
interrupt?”

“Winston was telling me about my parents.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Your parents decided to do a little checking around,”
Winston said picking up the conversation where he’d left off when Mike entered
the room.
“They weren’t happy with the Fearsome Foursome’s control over us.
Being very careful they dug through old files, disks and even very old
hand-held newspapers.
It took them a year but a pattern began to emerge.” He
ran a hand over his ruffled hair and down his face.
“They began to implement a
plan to expose the four CEOs.
It seemed that Planet Energy Corp’s Donald Carson
headed a very private club that included only the three other CEOs.
Your
parents slowly built an underground organization to infiltrate the
Corporations, steal their secrets and expose the CEOs’ dirty laundry.”

Shauna jumped up from the chair.
“Ten years ago!
Why didn’t
they tell me?”

“You were only thirteen.
They didn’t want you hurt if they
were ever captured and questioned.” A pained looked crossed Winston’s features.
He ran his hand down his face, took a deep breath then said, “Five years later,
just before they were arrested by the Global Guardians, they told George about
their research.”

“What?” Shauna spun toward Winston.
“They trusted my younger
brother with their secret and not me?”

“Shauna,” Winston said, “at sixteen George had started doing
research of his own.
He hated the inconsistencies of his world and wanted to
make a change.
When he told your parents, they let him in on their secret and
he began to do little jobs for them.
That’s how he got started as a reporter.”

A few tears slipped down Shauna’s face.
She paced behind the
sofa and muttered, “They didn’t trust me.”

Mike patted the arm of the chair.
“Come on, sit down and
listen.
I’m sure there’s more to the story.”

Shauna stepped around the sofa to sit next to Mike but
tripped on a throw rug and fell on the edge of the arm.
She ended up in Mike’s
lap.
“Oh, sorry.”

She started to get up but Mike clamped a hand over her
wrist.
“Stay.” When she settled next to him he wrapped his arm protectively
around her shoulders.

The low demand coursed through Shauna and washed away some
of her hurt feelings.
She sucked in a deep breath and decided to stop feeling
sorry for herself.
She couldn’t change the past and the present needed her
immediate attention.

Mike’s breath tickled her neck.
Her arms and legs tingled
with feelings she wouldn’t think about right now.
She shifted in his lap and
put her arms around his neck.

Shauna pushed the hurt away and focused on her parents’
accomplishments.
The beginnings of pride warmed her.
“All right, tell me more.”

“I was head of correspondents for
The Real Truth
.
Our
news reporters traveled the world on legitimate assignments searching for the
truth behind any kind of corruption.
Your parents decided to send the best of
the best, the most reliable and most loyal reporters to ferret out information
on the Corporations.

“Some of those reporters were killed.
Others captured and
tortured.
But over time the information grew and was filed away in secret
vaults until it could be used to topple the CEOs.” Winston stared at Shauna.
“What do you think so far?”

She had to do something with her hands so she rubbed Mike’s
shoulders.
He stretched like a cat, rolled his head and moaned.
The sound tore
through Shauna.
She stopped and wondered why she felt as if she’d heard him do
that before.
The déjà vu feeling unnerved her.

Forcing her thoughts back to her parents and Winston’s
question she said, “I don’t know what to think.
On the one hand I’m impressed
that my parents took on such a big task.
On the other I’m hurt that they didn’t
confide in me.” Her face twisted in pain.
“I grieved for them.
The Global
Guardians had sent me a harsh, no-nonsense, very brief letter telling me that
Mom and Dad died.
I was lost.
At eighteen I thought I was grown up but really
my world revolved around Mom, Dad and George.
George was sixteen.
I didn’t know
what to do, had no one to turn to.”

Mike pulled Shauna closer.
He rubbed her back and murmured
soft words.

“Well, you moved on.
Made a good career for yourself and
raised your little brother.
I’m proud of you and I know your parents are too.”

“Winston, do you know where they’re hiding?” Shauna couldn’t
stay seated.
She strode to the couch and sat down.
Eye to eye she waited for
his response.

Winston stared back but he didn’t hesitate.
“No.
They
wouldn’t tell me.
They knew the Global Guardians would come around asking
questions.
They didn’t want me to have to lie.”

“And?”

“I was hauled off to be questioned.” Anger radiated from
Winston’s face.
His eyes burned with hatred.
“They tried to get me to reveal
your parents’ whereabouts but gave up when they realized I really didn’t know.
I was released and they set Guardians to watch me.”

Mike sat upright.
“You’re being watched?
We should go.”

“We can’t go!” Shauna stated.
“I need more information.
I
have to find out where my parents are.”

“Winston,” Mike asked.
“Have you been visited by the Global
Guardians recently?” Mike stepped to the window.
This wasn’t a good
development.
He pulled the strange deep purple material aside and a beam of
light shot to the floor.
Skycars raced past, leaving behind contrails of
varying colors.
He shook his head as blue, yellow, green and orange streaks
lined the sky.

“Not lately.
But I can tell you that I’m on their watch
list.
I think they call it the
watch-out-for-radicals-who-were-associated-with-the-Wentworths list,” he said,
and laughed.

Mike grinned but knew it wasn’t funny.
“What happens when
you’re on a watch list?”

“I keep getting bugged by the Guardians.
They storm my
apartment every so often, raid my office and generally make a mess.
I can’t fly
out of town without special permission.
It’s a real pain.”

“Shauna, we need to go.
The Guardians can come at any
minute,” Mike said.
He wanted out of here.
He wanted a place to sleep, a place
he could feel safe.
He gathered up their coats and said, “Mind if we take some
provisions?”

“Go ahead,” Winston said.
He grabbed a duffle bag out of a
recessed closet and began to put flat packages of food inside.
He loaded water
stored in some kind of square, clear plastic containers, first aid and toiletry
items into the bag then pulled a second duffle out.
That one he filled with
underwear, jeans, heavy shirts and a couple of coats.
“These are for Mike.
Sorry I can’t help you with clothes, Shauna.
But I added some old coats that
you could wear to keep warm.”

“No problem.” She helped load the bags and put one by the
front door.
“Is there anything you can tell me about how I can find my parents?
Have you had any communication with them in the last four years?”

“Nothing.
I thought they were dead too.
You sure they’re
alive?” “I’m really glad they’ve contacted you.
It’s been so difficult not
telling you they weren’t killed.
It broke my heart to watch you grieve for
them.
How did you find out?”

Shauna showed Winston the computer note she’d received.
“Well, I’ll be.” He stood and stretched.
“Do you know where you’re going now?”

“No, but it’ll be someplace safe.
Someplace without the eyes
of the Guardians always watching.” They hefted the bags.
“Thanks for your help,
Winston.
You’re a good friend.”

“Come on Shauna, we need to go.” Mike reached for the
doorknob forgetting that there weren’t any in the twenty-second century.
“How
do we get out of here?” He felt impatient, like doom was about to rain down on
them.

Shauna laughed.
“Every door opens the same.
All you say is
‘door open’.
That’s if you’re on the inside.
If you’re on the outside you say
the same but have a code to go with it.
Each code is different and they can
change at a second’s notice.
Keeps out intruders and works fairly well.
Except
when the Guardians do their smash and enter routine.”

“Door open.” The door swung outward.
Shauna saw the look of
accomplishment that crossed Mike’s face and laughed.
“Wow.
Next thing you know
I’ll be qualified to wash dishes.” He grabbed Winston’s hand and shook it.
“Nice meeting you, buddy.
Stay safe.” The door silently closed behind them.

“The dog’s gone,” Mike said.

“Too bad,” Shauna said.
“I could use a nice guard dog about
now.”

They walked across the street to the skycar rental lot.
Shauna paid with a prepaid card.
They were loading up their belongings when
Mike jumped and said, “Shit.
Don’t scare me like that.”

“What?” Shauna glanced around.
“Oh, hiya fella.” She bent
down and patted the dog on his head.

“He seems to like us,” Mike said.
“Let’s take him along.
He
can warn us if anyone’s approaching.”

“We can’t take him, Mike.
He’ll just get in the way, we’ll
have to find food for him and he’s too big.”

“The guy looks lonely.” Mike had crouched down and was
vigorously rubbing his neck.

“I’m sorry, Mike.
We need to go.” Shauna climbed into the
skycar.
“Are you coming?”

Mike hugged the dog and said, “Sorry, fella.”

He stood up and stepped into the skycar.
In a flash the dog
jumped behind him into the backseat.
Mike laughed and turned to Shauna.
“I
guess we have ourselves a guard dog.”