Shift (ChronoShift Trilogy) (29 page)

            “I’d say so.  How in the world did you do all that with just six shifts?”      

            “Spent a night camping in the desert.  That gave us twelve shifts each.”

            Mark shook his head.  “Amazing,” he muttered.  They'd left him just one minute before, but had lived a full day and a half outside of his presence in that minute.  It felt different when you observed the effect as a bystander.

            “Relax, man.  We know what we're doing.”

            Mark smiled.  “Yeah.  You sure do.”

Just because He doesn't answer doesn't mean He don't care

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

“Unanswered Prayers”

                        ~ Garth Brooks

4:07 AM, September 30
^th
, 2012, Boston, MA

The woman would be here soon.

In less than two minutes, a man would attack her somewhere along this block, but so far, Mark hadn’t been able to determine where he was hidden.

He would have to wait until the perp made his move.  In this current version of history Mark hoped to correct, the attacker would grab her from behind, clamp his hand over her mouth and force her into a vehicle.  He’d drive her to a nearby park, force himself upon her, and then dump her in the gravel, unconscious and half dead.  She would never see his face nor the exterior of his car, which would make it impossible for the police to catch the animal.

Hardy was handling most of the current crimes like this, but Mark couldn't get started on historical tragedies until Savannah completed some research he needed.  In the meantime, he’d been splitting the crimes with Hardy, and there were plenty to go around.

The woman’s name was Laura Kingsley, and Mark intended to make sure this tragedy never befell her.

He saw her.  Her stride was purposeful.  Even in the dim light emanating from the windows of businesses closed for the night, he could detect a slight sashay to her walk.  The faint glow illuminated her left side while her right half remained eclipsed in the darkness of the street.

Her beauty was exotic and striking.  Glossy, dark auburn hair flowed down in long, loose, wavy tresses, a perfect frame for her well-chiseled face.  Her skin was the color or silky caramel.  Her figure....was perfect.  She strode confidently, oblivious to the danger lurking nearby.

She passed in front of a small alleyway, and the attacker showed his hand.  He suddenly leapt from the black opening like a trapdoor spider on its prey, ripping her head back and strapping a hand over her mouth before she could scream.  She fought with the strength of a tigress to escape the man’s grasp, but he proved too strong.

She managed to stomp the insole of one of his feet, causing him obvious pain.  That move almost allowed her to get away, but he recovered too quickly and merely tightened his grip.

The very moment Mark had seen a flicker of movement in that alley, he’d launched into motion.  This vigilante business had refreshed his military training well, honing the skills he’d acquired years before.  He no longer had to think about what to do in moments like these.  His body just went into action, like a natural dance.

Mark crossed a distance of about fifty feet in under five seconds.  Before the attacker knew what was happening, Mark had struck two successive blows to his head and kidney.  The man lost his grip and dropped to the pavement.  As he released her, Laura fell as well, landing flat on her back.

WHAM!

Something heavy struck Mark in the back of the head.  He tried to step forward, but was too stunned from the blow.  His vision swam and his right knee gave out unexpectedly.

He was falling.  He landed on top of the woman.  There was no time to think.   If he passed out, the guy would kill him.  Dazed, he reached for his shifter, hit the red button, and shifted out.

***

He experienced all the sensations that normally accompany a shift, but curiously, Laura Kingsley didn't disappear out from under him.  Which was strange.  It was hard to think.  His mind felt muddled.

“Your eyes are purple,” he mumbled vacuously, transfixed.

They were indeed a bright, sparkling violet, and the unexpected brilliance of their hues stole his breath.  His mouth was very close to hers.  Light scents of lavender nestled in her hair drifted up to meet his senses, like a tantalizing invitation to something fresh and invigorating.

Somehow, she had shifted with him.  They still lay on the sidewalk, but the time was now dawn, two days later.

There must have been two assailants.

The attacker he’d seen must not have been working alone.  That was scary.  A team working together to assault women.  Another guy must have been waiting in the wings to make sure there were no problems with the grab.  When Mark took down the first attacker, the second had emerged and smashed him with something in the back of the head.

Wide-eyed, Laura was screaming bloody murder now, scratching and scrambling, trying to get out from under Mark.  Her initial state of shock had worn off.  Weakly, he rolled over onto the pavement beside her, doing his best to fend off her blows.  He was recovering, but still somewhat incapacitated.

“Calm down, lady.  I saved you,” he groaned.

She scooted herself away as fast as she could and jumped to her feet.  Furtively, she looked up and down the street, trying to get her bearings.  Not seeing any other attackers, she slowly calmed and then stared at him, chest heaving from fear and adrenaline.

It suddenly occurred to her that it was now daylight, which caused her mouth to fall open in astonishment.  Her lips worked silently as if to ask a million unvoiced questions all at once.  Finally, she shut her jaws and let out an odd gasp.

Mark had always made it a practice when shifting to use a base time when no one would be around.  For this mission, he’d chosen a few minutes after sunrise two days after the attack.  He knew seven minutes would pass before the next car came down the street.  For the time being, they were alone.

“Sit,” he croaked, motioning to a bench.

She obeyed, dumbfounded.  “What just happened?”

“A man attacked you.  I saw it and tried to help, but there must have been a second guy, ‘cause somebody walloped me from behind.  Hard, too.”  He sat up, massaging the back of his skull.

She rubbed her eyes and blinked repeatedly, probably trying to wipe away what she thought must have been a bad dream.

Goodness, she was gorgeous. 
Exotic.
  That was the word that kept coming to mind.  Intriguing, magnetic, it had been a long time since he’d seen such hypnotizing beauty.

“No, I mean, what happened after that?” she said, “I know I was attacked.  You....I mean....I don’t know....but what happened?  It was....
night
.  I was coming home from work.  Now, it’s
morning
.”

Mark knew she worked at a gentlemen’s club a few blocks over.  He acted groggier than he really was in an attempt to divert her questions.  “I don’t know.  We must have both been knocked unconscious.”

She swiveled her head back and forth, searching for signs of other people.  “No, I fell.  You fell.  Then, we were here.  I never closed my eyes.  I know it.  You didn’t either.  The light just changed and things got quiet.”  She massaged her brow and stared at her feet.  “Who are you, anyway?”

He hesitated.  There wasn’t going to be an easy way to get out of this.

“You’re Laura Kingsley,” he said at last.

In mid-massage, her hand froze.  Her eyes shot up and fixed on him apprehensively.

“No,” he reassured her, “I’m not one of the attackers.  Cross my heart.”  He held up three fingers like a Boy Scout as he staggered to his feet.

“So, who are
you
?”

“Look.  I can explain, and you probably won’t believe it, but I’m not going to tell you who I am until I’m certain you can keep your mouth shut.  Sorry.”

Her expression grew even more quizzical.  She shook her head a couple of times as if trying to rattle some sense into it.

“You tell me right now or I’ll start screaming,” she declared.

“Sorry, I need to know this conversation will stay private, completely private.”

He couldn’t believe he was actually going to tell her.  He should just shift out.  She’d lose two days of her life, but she’d be safe from the attacker.  It was a good trade.  Still, something about her intoxicated him.  If he stayed much longer, he’d probably spill everything whether he wanted to or not.

“Fine,” she gave in, “Explain away, I’ll keep my mouth shut.  Scout's honor.”  She mimicked the sign Mark had made.

So, he did.

Mark sat next to her on the bench for near an hour, recounting the whole truth of his involvement.  His reluctance to share his most guarded secrets with a stranger dissipated in the face of the thrill of sharing his heart with such a beautiful woman.

As expected, she was at first incredulous, but after she checked the date on the paper in the newsstand and Mark shifted in and out of her sight once, she began to believe.

“But....if this is all true, then how did I....“shift”....with you? 
I
don’t have a watch.”

“I don’t know.  This is the first time that’s happened to me.  We’ve never shifted with another person before.  Since we were touching, I guess the watch didn’t differentiate between you and me as separate objects.  I’ve transported objects before, but we didn’t think it was possible to bring a whole other person along.”

“Do it again.”

“Do what again?’

“Shift.  I’m having trouble believing all this.”

“All right.  But you’re coming with me.  We’ll shift to the same hour, but to some date in the future.  Double check the date on that paper.”

“October 2
^nd
.”

“Okay, we’re going to 6:40 AM, October 30
^th
.”  Mark took her wrist in his hand.  This was the first time he would intentionally try to bring someone along on a shift.  Would just holding her wrist be enough contact for it to work?

It was.

Now, it was night again and easily 20 degrees lower than just a second before.  Her eyes grew wide.  In the glow of the street lamp, she read the date on the paper in front of them now.

“Not much way for me to instantly manipulate the sun or the weather, now is there?”

She was dumbfounded, shaking her head, and beginning to shiver.  “No, nor the paper.”

“Check out that storefront.  Decorated for Halloween.”

She nodded absent-mindedly.  “Yeah....it’s still hard to believe though.”

“I know.”

She stared at the newspaper dispenser in front of her, reading headlines of events that wouldn’t occur for another month in her world.  The bewilderment in her eyes was obvious.  It was one thing to tell someone there were little green men on Mars, it was another to show them one.

“You have purple eyes.”

“You said that.”

“Sorry.”

“They’re contacts.  So, what now?”

“I’m going to shift back to the morning of your attack and take care of those two guys so they don’t hurt anyone else, but I have to wait 24 hours.”

“Why?”

“This shifter only has enough juice for 6 shifts within 24 hours.  I’ve already done 5.  I don’t like shifting into a fight with a shut-down watch.  Puts me at a distinct disadvantage.  If something were to go wrong, like say a third guy we didn’t know about, I'd be stuck, unable to shift back out.  Not good, and I’m no gambler.

“Plus, I’m already feeling nauseous.  After the sixth shift, you pretty much start puking you guts out.  It’s an unpleasantry I’d like to avoid.  So, we’ll just have to hang out for a day or so.”

“Okay.  When you go...”

“Yes?”

“....I’m going with you.”

“No way.  Too dangerous.”

Her brow creased firmly in determination.  An endearing look for her.

“No buts.  I’m going.  I want to see it.  I won’t feel safe again otherwise.”

“All right.”

Something told him arguing with this woman would be futile.