The Bureau of Time (24 page)

“Yes,” Tallon said, coming up short. He turned back around. “Yes, I suppose he will.”

The hills of Brightwood Ranch came into view. Cassie saw the anti-Temporal fence ringing the entire facility, protecting it from Adjusters. She also saw small figures standing outside the front gate, perhaps soldiers or guards, though she’d never known there to be so many outside the perimeter.

“Things are changing in the Bureau,” Tallon said, his voice unexpectedly loud and powerful. “I hope you know, for whatever it’s worth, that I wanted to be long gone before this day came. But unfortunately, schedules were moved up, and my role has changed with it.”

Cassie wiped her eyes. She didn’t know what Tallon was blathering on about, and she didn’t care either.

The people grew larger, and she could see their faces.

They didn’t have faces.

“This agency has grown too large, too quickly,” Tallon continued, as the SUV continued toward the front entrance. “It is the apex predator in a food chain evolving to defeat it. It cannot be allowed to operate unchecked. The scales must be balanced, and this war must be ended before it can begin for the second time.”

Cassie’s blood turned to ice. Tallon’s hoarse voice radiated power in the close confines of the car; no, it wasn’t his voice. His
body
was radiating Temporal Energy.

Carl Tallon was a Timewalker.

When it happened, Cassie couldn’t rewind time. Her Affinity was suddenly blocked, stopping her from accessing T.E. – she could feel it, but it remained beyond her reach.

Tallon drew his handgun from his belt and shot the driver in the side of the head. Blood splattered against the glass window, and the driver’s body sagged forward, depressing the accelerator.

A startled scream caught in Cassie’s throat, drowned out by Ryan’s roar of surprise.

The figures at the entrance parted, and the SUV slammed into the gate, accelerating even faster. The gate tore apart, taking a section of the fence with it; there was a rumbling explosion somewhere ahead of them, but her eyes were fixed on a tree ahead.

She fumbled with her seatbelt, trying to undo the clasp; Ryan dived over her and tried to grapple with Tallon. The Captain pushed the door open and threw himself from the moving vehicle, rolling away just as the car slammed into the tree.

Cassie’s body jarred, and the seatbelt cut across her body, knocking the wind out of her. The impact resonated through her bones, whipping her head back with a
snap
; blood rushed through her skull and made her dizzy.

“Get out!” Ryan roared, kicking the side door open. He undid Cassie’s seatbelt and dragged her out of the SUV and onto the ground, crouching over her protectively.

She looked around, dazed, struggling to comprehend what was happening. The world swam before her, then came together with sharp clarity. Tallon appeared out of nowhere and kicked Ryan in the face; the operator went sprawling, his carbine slipping beneath the mangled wreck of the SUV.

“Please,” Cassie gasped, fumbling for a weapon, for
anything
to defend herself with. “Please, please…”

Tallon towered over her, a wicked sneer on his face. “Have some dignity, you little brat.”

He lashed out with a clenched fist, and she hit the ground, her cheek stinging. From her vantage point, the world was turned on its side. The front gate was completely ruined, and the fence too—

The fence.
Its anti-Temporal field was gone.

The base had lost its most import defense.

“Figured it out, little girl?” Tallon spat. He laughed cruelly, his true personality breaking through the tattered façade. “We rigged the generators with explosives. The Bureau is completely dark.”

And then Cassie saw
her.

The woman strutted through the ruined gate, long black hair sweeping down her back, her pale face hawkish – too severe to be truly beautiful. Behind her came three Adjusters, all wearing black with red sashes around their arms; and behind
them
came even more, teleporting into existence right inside Brightwood Ranch itself.

“Hello darling,” the black-haired woman said, the one with the Russian accent, the one who was called Marissa. She kissed Tallon on the cheek, as though they were close friends. She didn’t look much older than Cassie, perhaps only in her late teens or early twenties, but she carried herself with the confidence of a much older woman.

She glared at Cassie, sprawled on the dirt. “Get her up.”

Cassie tried to fight. She squirmed and crawled away, thrashing and kicking, desperately trying to use her Temporal powers, but nothing came to her. Tallon was too strong. He hauled her upright and clamped handcuffs around her wrists – ordinary ones, but it didn’t matter, because she couldn’t access her Affinity anyway.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, trying to twist out of his grasp. “Please! Don’t—”

Another vicious backhand left her seeing stars. She coughed blood onto the dirt, and watched silently as an unconscious Ryan was lifted up by two faceless Adjusters, dragged unceremoniously along the road.

They forced Cassie up the hill toward the base. With the power down, there were no alarms or protective systems, and the satellites atop the hill would have stopped receiving or transmitting; but the explosion had alerted the soldiers. Two groups swarmed out of the base, one heading straight up the hill toward the satellite dishes and the generators beyond; the other group saw the Adjusters and immediately opened fire.

Cassie screamed for them to run, but they couldn’t hear her. She struggled and fought, kicking Tallon’s shins, but then he put a knife to her throat, the blade biting into her skin and drawing blood.

“You’re next,” he growled, his face an inch from hers.

“You don’t scare me,” she gasped, but even she didn’t believe that.

More Adjusters teleported into existence, bright flashes of light exploding across the open area where Cassie had once trained with Drill Sergeant Mathers and the recruits. She watched, horrified, as Blackforest Unit stumbled back toward the base.

Captain Clay bellowed “FALL BACK!”, but as the ex-marines retreated, they didn’t see the Adjusters appear from behind them.

Blood gushed from their throats and all five men fell dead. Clay’s body was the last to drop, his rust-colored beard staining crimson with his fading life.

Cassie gave a horrified scream, bile rising in the back of her throat. She tried to turn away, fighting the urge to throw up, but Marissa grabbed her arm and hauled her forward. Cassie looked away from the dead bodies as the army entered the underground base.

It was dark inside, with only pale-green emergency lighting in the ceiling. More soldiers swarmed down the corridors to defend their home, their base, their country. Tallon was now armed with a rifle, but it was Marissa who advanced first, flicking her hair behind her back.

“I’ll take care of it,” she purred. She flicked her hand casually, and a wave of pure Temporal Energy scorched from her hands, opening a gaping void in the universe. The soldiers could not escape her powers – they died where they stood, bloody holes punched straight through their chests.

“Nicely done,” Tallon nodded. “One sector down, eight more to go.”

Cassie dropped her weight, suddenly breaking free of her captors’ grasp; she only made it ten feet before two Adjusters took hold of her again, their long fingers digging through her clothes and into her skin.

“Stop that!” Tallon snarled, cuffing her on the back of the neck. He leaned closer to her, his breath reeking of something foul. “Zero wants you alive, but he said
nothing
about a few bruises.”

He touched a clenched fist to her bruised jaw and smirked. She was helpless to do anything except stumble along, forced to watch as the Adjusters decimated the Bureau of Time.

The Temporal Operations division was already empty.

Blood coated the walls, and bodies lay in crumpled heaps on the ground. Experienced men and women, all soldiers, some of the toughest people that Cassie had ever known, cut down by the surprise attack.
Just like the White Tower facilities we found. They never stood a chance.

Ryan woke just as the attackers took the third sector, the hospital. The roar of Tallon’s gun ended the life of a young nurse in green scrubs, shot dead from behind as she ran screaming for help.

Cassie glanced sideways at Ryan. His eyes darted everywhere, clearly thinking of a way to escape. They passed a tray of medical equipment, and she seized her chance. She thrust her elbow straight into Tallon’s groin; he let go with a startled curse, and Cassie seized a scalpel, flicking it around like a miniature sword.

She cut something or someone – she heard a scream and saw blood – then Ryan was there, fighting hand-to-hand with the Adjusters. He hadn’t been handcuffed, leaving him free to seize a rifle from a fallen soldier. He opened fire, the gunshots deafening Cassie in the close confines of the hallway.

Her ears rang and lights flickered overhead. The world was broken down into still-frames of monsters and traitors, arcs of inky black blood frozen in the air, golden bullet casings raining down onto the ground—

She wasn’t sure how, but they had broken free, and they were running, their feet pounding on the ground. There were less bodies here, but there had been a struggle nonetheless – they were in the dorms. Bloodstained mattresses sagged with the weight of their owners – Cassie looked away, afraid of whom she might see.

They were close to Sector 9 now, and she felt a surge of Temporal Energy from Zero, burning brighter than any signature she had ever felt before – her Affinity, and her powers, were active once more.

“We have to get out of here,” Cassie gasped. She pointed at the overhead
EXIT
signs.
Staying down here is a death sentence.

A dark shape emerged from the inky blackness, and Ryan brought his rifle around, ready to shoot.

“Stop!” Cassie cried, grabbing his arm. “It’s Natalie.”

Agent Hunt stumbled forward, her face pale beneath the ghostly light.

“Oh god, Cassie you’re okay!” she said, wrapping her arms around Cassie. She hugged the older woman back, her body shaking with an uneasy mixture of shock and relief. “I thought you were—it’s horrible, there’s so much blood—”

“We have to keep moving,” Ryan interrupted.

Natalie pulled back, wiping her nose, makeup smeared across her face. “I know. The back exit to the training grounds is still clear I think, but we—”

She never finished the sentence.

There was a powerful burst of T.E., accompanied by an explosion of light like the sun itself had descended from the heavens into the base. Cassie stumbled back, raising her arms to shield herself. She heard a sputtering gasp and Natalie’s body went rigid, a knife protruding through her chest. Her white blouse turned red, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

Cassie screamed, reaching for her Affinity, determined to reverse time; then Marissa slammed into her and pinned her against the wall, holding the bloodied knife against her throat.

“Five seconds, that’s what they say, isn’t it?” the woman snarled, shifting position to crush Cassie’s windpipe. Over her shoulder, Ryan was fighting two Adjusters, silver knives whipping through the darkness.

“Five. Four. Three,” Marissa breathed, leering at Cassie. She struggled, tried to free herself, but she couldn’t breathe. She reached for her Affinity, but Marissa pressed even harder, and her body started shutting down, prioritizing where to send the last remaining breath of oxygen. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Natalie’s body, the agent who had been so kind and helpful to her, the woman who had always been there to help her…

“Two. One. Gone – for – ever,” the Russian purred, releasing her grip.

Cassie collapsed to her knees, her lungs burning as she gasped for air.

There was another burst of energy, and Tallon teleported beside Marissa.

“They’re tricky little brats, I’ll give them that,” Tallon growled, holding his left hand limply – Cassie had cut him with her scalpel, but she must have dropped the weapon a few corridors back. She took several deep breaths, her windpipe burning.
We have to get out of here. They’re going to kill us.

“Open it up,” Marissa commanded.

Cassie lifted her head, peering through the semi-darkness. Ryan was against the opposite wall, two Adjusters holding him in place; his face was bloodied and bruised, and one of the monsters had taken his rifle.

Two more Adjusters approached the door to Zero’s cell. The guards had long since been killed or abandoned their posts, but Cassie knew there would still be five more soldiers on the inside, ready to defend the base and the captive until the dying end.

“Don’t do this,” Cassie croaked, “don’t release him, you don’t know what he’s capable of!”

“Of course we do, sweetheart,” Marissa drawled. “That’s why we’re freeing him.”

The cell door cranked open, pylons retracting into the wall. Tallon pulled a metal canister from his belt and hurled it through the opening gap, smoke billowing out of the container. Cassie heard the soldiers shout in surprise, and then came the distinctly wet sounds of a knife slicing through flesh, followed by silence.

Glass broke with a shattering peal.

The Adjuster called Zero stepped through the open door, his abnormally wide mouth stretched into a wicked grin. He left behind five guards sprawled face-first on the ground, their clothes stained red. Tallon unlocked Zero’s anti-Temporal handcuffs, letting the shackles fall to the ground.

“I must say,” Zero said, sauntering toward them, “it’s rather nice to
stretch out
after my little stay in there.”

The monster threw his hands wide, and Cassie felt invisible wires around her shoulders, throwing her back into the wall. Ryan yelled, struggling against the Adjusters, but his efforts only earned him a swift punch to the stomach.

Marissa took her place beside Zero, purring with pride and malice.

“Why are you doing this?” Cassie cried, trying to wiggle free of the invisible grip.
Buy time,
she thought,
they’re going to kill us all, so just buy a little time, that’s all we need. Time to figure out how to escape. Oh god we’re not going to escape. We’re going to die down here.