The Time Keeper (The Guardians of Time Book 1) (13 page)

Chapter 16

Seb let Emilia take the lead in their morning run.  Not because he was a pervert and wanted to enjoy the view of her from behind – although admittedly it was a pretty spectacular view.  Even the way she ran was elegant, her slender, muscled legs eating up the ground in long, even strides.

No, that wasn’t the reason.  It was because if he’d been leading the way he would have jogged to the nearest solid tree, slumped against it and had a snooze… probably even snored.  He’d already stumbled several times over tiny tree roots and miniscule rocks, his body so fatigued from lack of sleep he could barely force his legs to keep rotating.  Letting Emilia lead made him push his body to keep up; it was a matter of pride.

He’d tossed and turned all night.  Every time his mind started to drift towards sleep he’d gone into a dream, or more like nightmare, state where he was bombarded by images of Meg’s pale, wasted features in the last few hours before she died.

The two of them had gone on a couple of missions prior to her death, but they’d never been sent to a war zone, let alone the epicentre of a
world
war.  He’d done a tour in Afghanistan when he was in the army, so he knew what it was like to live on that knife-edge of fear and adrenalin fuelled excitement.  He wasn’t scared for himself, but he was terrified for Emilia.  Again, he wished he’d been partnered up with another guy, someone he didn’t have to constantly worry about.

‘Sebastian!’ Emilia’s shout jerked him back to his surroundings and he wondered how many times she’d called his name.  They’d run to the top, circled around the ridge and come back down without him even noticing.  ‘What’s with you this morning?’

‘Sorry,’ he muttered and slumped against the side of the car.  ‘I’m beat.  I didn’t sleep well last night.’

Emilia’s expression softened.  She pinched his keys from his windbreaker pocket, unlocked the car and leaned in to grab something from her bag.  Without a word, she popped a thermos and poured him a cup of coffee.

‘Thanks,’ he said when she handed him the cup.  She knew he was worried about her.  He would have tried to hide it, but she had an uncanny knack of reading him pretty damn accurately, so what was the point.

She leaned against the car next to him with her own cup and butted her shoulder into his.  He took it for the gesture of support it was. 

‘Do you know why I’m not worried?’

He shook his head.  Although he figured it was probably because she had no idea what the reality of a proper mission was.  She’d find out soon enough!

‘Because I have faith in you.’  She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and raised the cup to her lips for a quick sip.  ‘You don’t have faith in yourself yet, but that’s okay… you will.  Because I know you’re not going to let anything happen to me.’

He grunted to hide the warmth her words generated in his heart.  ‘Then you’re more naïve than I thought.’

‘Maybe I am.  But my Dad’s not and he has faith in you too.  Otherwise he would never have handed me over into your care.’

It was a piece of logic he couldn’t argue with.  He sighed.  ‘I’ll try and remember that when I go to bed tonight.  I really need to sleep.’

She leaned her head against his shoulder.  For a moment he was too taken aback to do anything and then he tentatively rested his cheek against the top of her head.  She didn’t pull away and he relaxed, letting himself enjoy this one small moment.  He breathed in and caught the scent of vanilla from her hair.  It was the most delicious thing he’d ever smelt.  And then he realised what he was thinking.  He jerked his head back and cleared his throat.

‘I’ll, uh, just get my gear from the back and then we can find somewhere secluded for your first lesson.’

He escaped to the back of the SUV before Emilia could say anything.  He gulped his coffee back in one swallow and hoped it would bring him to his senses.  What had he been thinking?  He couldn’t afford to get close to her.  He could cope with friends… just.  But only because she hadn’t given him any choice.  She was such a sweet, generous, warm person that it was impossible to treat her coolly when they had to spend so much time together.  But he wasn’t going to allow himself to feel anything more towards her than friendship.  Besides, she had a boyfriend, he reminded himself.  Even if the guy was a loser.

Having pulled himself together, he grabbed his black duffel out of the trunk and made his way back to Emilia.  He was relieved to see her expression was completely relaxed when she reached out to take his cup from him.  She packed away the thermos and turned back to him. 

Squaring her shoulders, she met his eyes nervously.  ‘Okay, let’s get this over with.’

They tramped through the forest until Seb found a spot he was satisfied was distant enough from the public trails that there was no risk of injuring anyone. Disguising the gunshot noises, which under normal circumstances could carry for miles, was something he could easily take care of.

He placed the duffel carefully on the forest floor and unzipped it, glancing up at Emilia’s sharp inhale.  Her eyes were wide.

‘Holy crap,’ she whispered.  ‘That’s a lot of guns.’

Yeah, he supposed it was for anyone who wasn’t ex-army.  And this bag carried only a carefully selected few from his collection, which was kept safely locked up in a special safe in his apartment.  ‘You okay?’

She dropped down to the ground and sat with crossed legs, leaning into the duffel to inspect his stash.  She looked back up at him and her eyes looked a little wild.  ‘I think I feel queasy.  Can we postpone this until… oh I don’t know, maybe never?’

His lips twitched but he bit back a smile.  ‘Not a chance, Angel.’  He selected a smallish handgun and reached down to pull her to her feet.  ‘You’ll start with this.’

He tried to hand her the gun but she shook her head and put her hands behind her back.  ‘I want to see you do it first.’

‘You do?’

She nodded and bent down to retrieve a pair of binoculars out of the duffle.  Taking a few moments, she examined the trees in the not too far, but not too close, distance.  ‘See the leaf on the end of the twig on that silvery looking tree?’

He snagged the binoculars off her, glanced through the lenses and nodded, slightly disappointed she hadn’t chosen something a little further away.

‘I want to see you hit that.’

He raised a brow.  ‘You do remember me telling you I’m basically incapable of missing?’

‘I remember.  I just want to watch you do it… with no magic, as much as you can possibly manage.’

‘That’s not even a challenging target,’ he muttered under his breath.  He spun so he was facing her and was side on to the target in the distance.  He kept his eyes locked to Emilia’s, raised his arm to the side and shot.

Emilia wrenched her gaze away from his, grabbing the binoculars to check the twig.  The leaf was gone; he knew that without looking.

‘Wow!’ she breathed in awe.  ‘Oh wow.  That was amazing.  I mean I knew you were good, but I had no idea you could do
that
.’

He shrugged.  ‘If the target had been moving it might have been more of a challenge.’

‘Whatever.’  She tugged the gun out of his grip.  ‘It was cool and I want to learn how to do it.  So teach me how to use this thing.’

He laughed for the first time all morning.  He simply couldn’t help himself.  ‘If only I’d known it would take a little theatrics to convince you.’

‘Don’t you know the first rule to teaching… make it fun.’  She flashed him a wicked grin.  ‘And what you just did looked like a whole lot of fun.’

‘We’ll see.’  He turned serious.  ‘Speaking of rules, there are a few important ones to cover off before we get to the shooting part.  First, always treat the gun as if it’s loaded and make sure it’s pointed somewhere safe at all times, as in not at a person unless you’re actually planning on shooting them… which is only going to be in an extreme situation and hopefully never.’

Emilia nodded.  ‘I understand.’

‘Second, keep your finger away from the trigger and outside the trigger guard until you’ve actually made the decision to shoot.’  He showed her the trigger guard.  ‘Finally, you need to make sure you’re completely aware of what is in your line of fire.  I don’t just mean between you and your target, but what is also beyond your target.  You don’t want to miss your target and accidentally shoot a dog that was a bit further back.  Got it?’

She shuddered.  Which was good, because she needed to understand the responsibility of handling a firearm.

‘Ready to have a go?’  When she nodded, he pulled a second handgun out of his duffel so he could demonstrate the correct grip.  Then he took hers back, put a magazine in it and returned it.  ‘Grip the gun with your right hand, high on the back strap.  It’ll help you control the recoil when you fire.  Don’t forget to keep your trigger finger outside the trigger guard at this point.  Then I want you to wrap your left hand around the gun, making sure all four of your fingers are under the trigger guard.’

He examined her grip.  ‘That’s pretty good.  Just shuffle your left up slightly so your index finger is pressed hard under the trigger guard.’  He repositioned her fingers slightly.  ‘Notice how your hands fit together like two pieces of a puzzle and both your thumbs are pointing forward?’

‘Yes.’

‘This is the perfect grip for a handgun and I’m going to make you practice this over and over until you do it instinctively.  Just warning you.’  She didn’t even quibble, her eyes trained attentively on him.  ‘Now.  Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent.’

Emilia adjusted her stance.

‘Good.  This is going to help you fire the gun with stability.  Now extend your arms straight in front of you.’

He raised his arms to demonstrate what he meant and watched as she mimicked him.  She looked kind of cute with her tongue caught between her teeth as she concentrated earnestly on what he was saying and doing.

Dragging his gaze away from her, he studied the trunk of a tree about five metres in front of them.  He pointed it out to Emilia.

‘See that tree there?  Using your dominant eye, you’re going to aim for the knot in the centre of the trunk.  The sight on the gun will help you.’

She turned her head to look at him, her eyebrows drawn together.  ‘How do I know which one is my dominant eye?’

‘Good question.  Hold your right hand like this.’  He formed a circle with his thumb and index finger.  ‘What I want you to do is hold your arm out and then look through the circle so the knot of the trunk is in the middle of the circle.’

She did what he asked.  ‘Okay, what now?’

‘Keep both eyes open and bring the circle slowly towards your face. That’s it.  See how your hand is naturally gravitating towards your right eye?  That’s your dominant eye.’

‘Is that because I’m right handed?’

‘Not necessarily.  Your left eye could have been dominant even though you’re right handed.  Okay, are you ready to give this a go?’

She nodded and wrapped her hands around the gun again, checking to make sure her grip was correct.  She looked at him enquiringly and he nodded his approval – her grip was good.  Adjusting her stance, she raised the gun to arm length and spent a few moments making slight adjustments until she was happy with her aim.

‘I think I’ve got it,’ she murmured, her gaze focussed intently on the tree.

Seb moved behind her so he could get a feel for her aim.  She was pretty much spot on.  ‘Alright.  When you’re ready, squeeze the trigger past the point of resistance and all the way to the back.’

She squeezed.  Her arms kicked upwards, she staggered backwards and would have fallen flat on her butt if he hadn’t been behind her.  He caught her by the shoulders.

‘You okay?’

‘That had more of a kick than I was anticipating.’  She squinted at the tree, no doubt looking for an embedded bullet.  ‘Did I hit it?’

He swallowed a laugh.  ‘Uh, no.’

She spun and studied his face, which he tried and failed to keep neutral.  ‘That bad, huh?’

‘You missed the tree entirely,’ he said with an almost straight face.  ‘But in fairness, that’s to be expected the first time or two.’

‘Oh.  Well I guess that’s alright then.’  She loosened her grip on the gun and turned it thoughtfully in her hands.  ‘My aim was okay, I think.  So where did I go wrong?’

He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear because he couldn’t help himself.  ‘Your stance was good, but you need to balance more on the balls of your feet so you’re leaning forward slightly.  That way when the gun releases you won’t be thrown backwards and your aim should stay true.  But it does take practice, Angel.  Don’t expect to master it immediately.’

‘Okay.  Let’s keep practising then.’

She practiced for another hour before Seb declared that was enough for one day.  Mainly because his stomach was making some fairly loud demands for breakfast and he could see Emilia was getting fatigued.  But she’d made good progress.  She could now at least hit the tree and was getting close to the knot she was aiming for. 

Chapter 17

For the next several days Emilia and Seb utilised every waking moment, working right through the weekend.  They got into a routine where they ran first thing in the morning, followed by shooting practice for Emilia.  Then it was straight into research.  Some days they went to the University to pore over the extensive collection of World War Two material, but most of their time was spent holed up in David’s study with their laptops.  Seb worked them both tirelessly, determined to have as much information as possible.  No doubt in the hope he would be able to anticipate any potential threats to her safety.

They hardly ate and when they did it was usually something delivered to their door.  The only home cooked meal they’d had all week was scrambled eggs prepared by David.  With the pace they were keeping, Emilia hadn’t had a chance to do any cooking or baking… a situation that was clearly starting to bother Seb.

But by the beginning of the week they finally had a reasonably clear picture of Henri Gaspard’s life.  He had definitely been an active member of the resistance in Paris until he was caught, imprisoned and finally shot by the Germans in August 1944.  They were going to have to venture into the underground maze that was the catacombs to find him.

‘I think we’ve just about got it all,’ Seb declared with a weary sigh on Tuesday afternoon.  He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his long body.  Emilia tried not to stare at the strip of rippled stomach muscle revealed by his t-shirt riding up.  ‘Why don’t you take a break while I finish up this last bit about the grocer.’

They had discovered messages were often smuggled between the resistance and the Allies through certain shop owners who were passive members of the cause.  One grocer used to sew messages into stinking cheeses, an ingenious plan that had provided much needed information on German positions, the outcome of Allied bombings and even advice on potential targets.

‘Are you sure?’ Emilia asked.  They were both exhausted and she didn’t want to skive off and leave him working.

He looked longingly in the direction of the kitchen, started to reach for a packet biscuit and then pulled his hand back with a sigh.  ‘Yeah.  I’ve still got a bit of juice left in me.’

Emilia threw back her head and laughed.  ‘I get it.  My break is to consist of cooking.’

He smiled crookedly.  ‘Well, now that you mention it, what a great idea.’

She rose to her feet, putting her laptop on the chair she’d just vacated.  ‘Any requests?’ she asked wryly.

‘Anything at all that’s fresh out of your kitchen will be like manna from heaven,’ he breathed reverently.

‘Idiot.’  She smiled at him fondly before heading for the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the kitchen provided little culinary inspiration.  Because they’d been so busy she hadn’t been to the supermarket in days and she didn’t have any fresh meat, it was all frozen and there wasn’t enough time to defrost it.  She opened the pantry to inspect its offerings – there were plenty of root vegetables and she had a few greens that were still good in the chiller of the fridge.  All the makings of a delicious roast meal, except for the meat.  Seb probably didn’t have a vegetarian meal in mind… and then she had a revelation.

She raced back into the study.  ‘Do you think you could conjure me up a nice, fresh piece of pork, big enough for a roast?’

Seb looked up with an appreciative grin.  ‘Aw yeah,’ he practically drooled.  ‘Your wish is my command.  Anything else you need?’

‘I’ve got the rest, thanks.’

‘It’s on the bench… any chance of apple sauce to go with it?’ he called after her as she turned back towards the kitchen.

Emilia grinned at him over her shoulder.  ‘Of course.  And crackling too.’

His groan of pleasure followed her through the hallway and into the kitchen, where there was a really good-sized piece of pork awaiting her attention.  ‘Perfect,’ she murmured.

She prepared the pork and put it in the oven, followed closely by a tray laden with potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnip and carrots.  Then she got started on the applesauce and green veggies.  And because it had been so long since they’d had a decent meal, she pulled some frozen blueberries out of the freezer and combined them with the rest of the apples to make an apple and blueberry pie.  She whipped up some short-crust pastry and had it all ready to go to transfer into the oven when the roast was finished.

With all her preparation done and the delicious aroma of roasting meat permeating the kitchen, she finally sat down with a cold drink and pulled her phone out of her pocket.  It had been pinging persistently for the last couple of hours.  Sure enough, there were a number of text messages and a couple of missed calls.

She scrolled through the messages first, most of which were from Justin and were getting progressively more petulant.  Emilia felt a twinge of guilt.  She hadn’t exactly been an attentive girlfriend of late, mainly because she couldn’t shake the feeling it was time to call it quits on her relationship with Justin.  She just had to find the right time and the right way to tell him.

The two missed calls were from Stacey and Justin.  She called Stace back first, who answered on the first ring.  ‘Em!  Where have you been?’

‘Sorry, Stace.  Dad is really working us to the bone on this new project.’  She leaned back in her chair with a sigh.  She really hated fudging the truth with her best friend.

‘Can you come out to a movie tonight or has he got you working nights too?’

‘Actually I don’t have to work tonight but I’m really beat, Stace.  Would you mind if I took a rain check?’

‘What about tomorrow night?’ Stacey pressed.

Emilia grimaced.  ‘Dad’s sending us out of town tomorrow for some more in-depth research.  I’m really sorry, but I’m probably going to be away for a few days.’

‘Oh.’  Stace sounded disappointed and Emilia realised she was going to have to find a way to get a better work/life balance.  She couldn’t put her closest friend off forever.  ‘That’s okay, I understand.  Just as long as you’re back for my birthday party on Saturday.’

‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Emilia promised.

‘You’re going to have an early night then?’

‘Yeah, I’m just cooking dinner now and then I think I’m going to crash into bed.  My brain is fried.  Hey, why don’t you come over and eat with us?  At least then we can have a bit of a catch up.  You’ll just have to excuse me if I start slurring incoherently.’

Stacey laughed.  ‘That would be great.  I miss you!’

‘I miss you too,’ Emilia said quietly and meant it from the bottom of her heart.

‘Is Seb staying for dinner?’ Stacey asked slyly.

Emilia groaned.  ‘Yes.  So you’d better be on your best behaviour.  No subtle or not so subtle innuendos, okay?’

‘Alright.  But only if you promise to give me all the details of your trip away with Mr Stud Muffin.’

Emilia couldn’t help but laugh.  Seb would be mortified if he knew Stacey talked about him like he was a particularly prime cut of meat.  ‘It’s work, Stace.  You know that.’

‘A girl can hope.  Anyway, enough of that for now.  How far off is dinner and what are you cooking me?’

‘Roast pork with all the trimmings, followed by apple and blueberry pie with ice cream.  The first course should be ready in about half an hour.’

‘Yum.  I’m getting changed as we speak and then I’ll be there.’  She hung up.

Emilia scrolled down to Justin’s name and pressed it.  She couldn’t avoid him forever.

‘About time!’ he growled down the phone.  ‘Why aren’t you texting me back?’

‘I’m sorry, Justin.  I’ve been crazy busy with this research for Dad and I just haven’t had time.’  She squeezed the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.  Lately, talking to Justin caused an instant headache.

‘You never seem to have time for me anymore.  What’s the point of having a girlfriend if I never get to see her?’

‘It’ll just be a few more days and then I’ll get a break from all of this,’ she said soothingly.  ‘I should probably warn you though, I’m going off on another research trip and I won’t have my phone with me.’

‘Where are you going that you won’t get phone reception?’

‘Paris.’  Which was true, just not present day Paris.

‘As in Paris, Texas?  Contrary to what you might believe, they’re not completely backwards in Texas.’  Sarcasm positively dripped down the phone.

‘Uh, no… Paris, France actually.’

‘You’re kidding?’ Justin demanded incredulously.  ‘Tell me you’re not going to one of the most romantic cities in the world with just Seb.’

Emilia groaned.  ‘We’re not back to that again, are we?’

‘Emilia, how do you expect me to feel?  You won’t even go to New York with me for one night, but you’re quite happy to go gallivanting off to
Paris
with another guy.’  His voice thrummed with anger and when he put it like that she couldn’t exactly blame him for being upset.

‘Look I know it’s not ideal, but I swear it’s just work.’

‘Fine, whatever.  But don’t blame me if we don’t last.’  He sounded hurt and peeved, and even though Emilia was already having some serious thoughts about the longevity of their relationship, she didn’t want to hurt him.

‘I’ll come and see you tomorrow before I leave.’

He sighed heavily.  ‘Okay.  See ya.’

Emilia slumped down on the table, her head resting on her crossed arms.  She heard the front door open and her father’s familiar footsteps down the hallway.  The footsteps stopped just inside the kitchen door and she raised her head to meet his eyes.

‘Hi Dad,’ she said with a weak smile.

‘Did Seb do something to upset you?’ David asked with concern.

‘Hey!  It wasn’t me!’ Seb came up behind David and propped his shoulder against the doorframe.

David wandered into the room and put his briefcase on one of the kitchen stools before taking a seat beside his daughter.  ‘What’s up, honey?’

Emilia stared glumly at him.  ‘How do you maintain relationships with this kind of job?’

‘Ahhh,’ David breathed.  ‘I take it Justin isn’t happy?’

‘Neither is Stacey, although she’s a bit more flexible than Justin.  She’s coming over for dinner, by the way, since that’s the only time I can squeeze her into my hectic schedule,’ she said in exasperation.

‘That’ll be nice.  I haven’t seen Stacey in a while.’  David squeezed her hand, before answering her original question.  ‘I’m afraid I don’t really have a solution for you, Emmy.  Your mother didn’t exactly stick around for long so
I
clearly didn’t manage to have a relationship successfully.  And I was barely there for you throughout your childhood.  It’s a miracle you’re as well adjusted as you are.’

David looked back at Seb, who threw up his hands and ventured further into the room.  ‘Don’t look at me!  I don’t have anyone significant in my life… which is just the way I like it,’ he finished hurriedly.

‘Great!  So I’m doomed to disappoint everyone in my life until they get so fed up they stop hanging around me.  Tell me again why I want this job,’ she muttered rhetorically.

Never one to stand on ceremony, Stacey chose that moment to come sailing through the kitchen door, her silver blonde hair streaming behind her with the speed of her entrance.  ‘Phew.  Was that fast or what?  I thought I’d better utilise every spare second you have to give me so I got ready at supersonic speed.’  She ground to a halt halfway across the kitchen floor when she registered the looks on her audience’s faces.  ‘Why so maudlin?  The entertainment has arrived!’ 

She threw her arms wide and looked at them expectantly.  Not one of them could keep a straight face.  The room erupted with laughter.

‘Much better,’ Stacey approved as she plonked down at the table.  ‘Now, here are the rules for tonight.’

Seb’s eyebrows went shooting up his forehead and Emilia had to suppress a giggle.  David, much more familiar than Seb with Stacey’s antics, didn’t bat an eyelid at being dictated to by an interloper in his own home.

‘Since I haven’t been able to spend any quality time with my best friend in over a week, largely due to you two, there will be no boring shop talk.’  Stacey eyeballed the two men.  ‘Tonight we are going to talk about
me
!  I have a lot of downloading to do.  Not to mention party plans to finalise and apparently I only have the space of dinner to do it in.  Are we clear?’

They all nodded, even Seb, although he looked a little perturbed. 

‘Excellent.  Now as you know, Em, the theme of the party is black and white, but I was wondering about…

*

Emilia woke in the morning with a sense of anticipation.  She and Seb were as ready as they could possibly be and tonight they would be embarking on her first real mission.  She skipped her usual workout in favour of preparing some meals for David for while she was away.

When there was no putting it off any longer, she got in her car and drove over to Justin’s place.  She didn’t come here often, mainly because she was a bit intimidated by his mother.  Apparently the daughter of a college professor was not quite illustrious enough for the baby of her family and Anastasia Beckett used every opportunity she could find to make Emilia feel uncomfortable.  A slave to fashion herself, usually it was just subtle digs about Emilia’s clothes or the style (or lack thereof) in which she was wearing her hair.  Emilia wondered if she’d feel differently if she knew Emilia had enough in her bank account to buy the whole of Ithaca several times over!