Time Thief (The Anomaly Trilogy) (3 page)

“Let it go.”

“What?” She blinked up at him.

“Time. Let it go.”

“Just a bit long—”

He gave her a light shake. “I’m practically carrying you. It’s tearing you apart. Just let it go. We’ll get out of here.”

She wasn’t used to taking orders. She wavered for a second, keeping her tenuous grip on her power.

Then she released her hold.

Time clicked back in.

Cars motored past them, pedestrians poured along the sidewalk, traffic lights changed red to green.

She sagged against him, her energy gone.

He hauled her up against his side. “We can’t risk a cab or stealing a car. Leven’ll check.”

“Just leave me.” She didn’t know this man’s story but regardless of whatever had sent him into Leven’s dubious employ, he didn’t deserve to lose his life because of her.

Too many people had already.

He ignored her and dragged her onward. Bay just focused on one step, then the next.

They reached Colfax and headed west. The tidy wealth of the city slowly gave way to seamy decay. Shabby storefronts housed bail bonds agencies and pawn shops. Gas stations and used car dealers with gaudy signs.

A good place to disappear.

They must have been a sight. Stumbling. Bleeding. By the time they reached a motel Archer obviously decided looked seedy enough, he was all but carrying her.

“Just a bit farther,” he said.

She gave a fierce nod. She’d goddamn make it. No way she’d let Leven win.

Archer propped her against a parked car. “I’ll rent a room. Stay out of sight. I want the clerk to only remember seeing a man, not a couple.”

She gave him another nod. Stealing time twice in such quick succession had wiped her out. She usually needed a day or so between using her powers to recover.

As he stalked off, she probed her bleeding arm. Winced. It looked worse than it was, but now she was close to being safe, pain was creeping in like a hungry wolf for the kill.

Then Archer was there again, leading her to a room at the end of the row. He unlocked the door and flicked on the light.

Ouch.
Even exhausted and in pain, she had sympathy for the worn, rundown room. Threadbare carpet, thin floral spread over the sagging double bed and the musty scent of old cigarette smoke.

“Let me take a look at your arm.”

“I’m fine.” She turned away from him, heading on shaky legs to the tiny bathroom. “You look worse than me.” Blood crusted his temple and the left side of his face.

“I’m a trained field medic.”

Bay tucked her bedraggled hair behind her ears. “You’ve been trying to kill me for three months, why the hell should I trust you?”

“I helped you escape.”

“And I saved your life, so consider us even.” She grabbed a thin towel off the rack. Ignoring its disturbing gray tinge, she pressed it to her arm.

“God, you’re stubborn.” He released a long breath. “Let me help.”

She always dealt with her injuries alone. She glanced at herself in the cracked mirror above the sink. Her face was pale, her eyes underscored by dark circles.

Behind her Archer stood, a solid demanding presence.

He’d been her hunter for months, now he was helping her. She gave a mental shrug. He wouldn’t be in her life long. What was the harm in letting someone else take care of things? Just for a little while.

“Fine. Do your worst.” She sank onto the closed lid of the toilet and lowered the towel.

He washed his hands, then sank into a crouch and prodded her wound with gentle fingers. “Bullet just nicked you.”

When he hit a tender spot, she grimaced. “Not the first time.”

His jaw tightened. He stood and she watched as he wet a towel and cleaned the gash.

How often had she been holed up in some tired motel room washing off blood? She watched his strong fingers as he tended her. When was the last time someone had taken care of her?

His hand stilled. “What’s your name?”

She blinked. “You don’t know?”

“I didn’t want to know.” His tawny head bent back over her arm. “Probably a sign I knew hunting you wasn’t right.”

He hadn’t wanted to humanize her. “My name’s Bay. Bay North.”

“I’m Sean.”

Their gazes met for a moment. A recognition they were no longer enemies.

He rifled through one of the pockets on his cargo pants and withdrew a tiny first aid kit. He held up a small tube. “Antibiotic cream.” After he’d rubbed some on, he took out a bandage, covered her wound then sat back. “Best I can do for the moment.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat, fighting back aches that were refusing to be ignored. “Thanks.” She studied the gash on his forehead. “Let me take a look at your cut.”

He didn’t argue, just perched on the edge of the cracked tub.

After wetting another towel, she moved over to him. As she washed away the dried blood and cleaned the cut, she realized how close she was to him. Standing between his thighs, feeling the heat coming off his body. He smelled of dangerous man—sweat, metal and leather.

She dabbed a little too hard and he hissed out a breath. “Sorry. Nursing’s not my forte.” She gentled her movements. “So, Leven turned on you?”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t sound happy. “I suggest you leave Denver and get as far away from Leven’s organization as you can. Find a nice island, a white sand beach and a cozy beach house. Forget you ever heard of Gabriel Leven.”

“Is that what you’d do?”

She sensed Archer studying her but kept her gaze on his cut. He didn’t know it, but she’d confessed her deepest fantasy. Hearing the gentle wash of waves and feeling the lovely heat of the sun. Peace. “Yeah, if I knew the bastard wouldn’t follow me.”

“I didn’t know—” Archer sucked in a breath “—I had no idea he killed your family. That he’s trying to use you.”

He sounded sincere. Not that she cared. “Why’d you join Leven?”

“He offered me a chance for revenge.”

Revenge.
A word she understood all too well. “Against time thieves?” What the hell had happened to him?

“Yeah.”

Maybe he just thought time thieves were freaks. Aberrations of nature. Didn’t she think the same in the darkest part of her sleepless nights?

The bathroom suddenly seemed too small. She shoved the towel at him. “You should put some of that cream on it.”

He surged upward, pushing the towel away. For a second, they were pressed together, gazes locked.

Bay felt a traitorous curl of something she refused to name. Her life left no time for romance, and sex was a rare indulgence—a quick, anonymous release of tension when she felt safe enough.

She didn’t want to feel any sort of connection with this hard, damaged man.

“You’ve hunted me for months. Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”

“No.” He strode to the sink and gripped the edges. His muscles strained under his T-shirt. “I don’t owe you anything.”

She thought the ceramic might break under his hands. “You don’t want to talk, fine.”

“My employer tried to kill me. My life’s a mess.” He kicked the cabinet. There was an unforgiving crack. “I’ve just accepted how fucking stupid I was to ever get involved with Leven.”

She swallowed, watched Sean’s chin fall to his chest. His breaths sawed in and out of his lungs.

“I’m failing everyone. I don’t know what to do next.”

Strangely, she felt a need to reach out and smooth a hand over the taut muscles of his back. Instead, she curled her hand into a fist. “You keep putting one foot in front of the other. Keep surviving each minute, hour and day.”

Bay turned, leaving him to his pain. Who was she to think she could comfort anyone when she couldn’t even comfort herself?

She paced the room, trying to work out her next step. Fatigue dragged on her.

Moments later he emerged, leaning in the doorway. “You should get some sleep.”

She shook her head. “I can’t sleep. Leven’ll have his private army looking for us. For me.”

“We should be safe for a couple of hours. You take the bed and I’ll keep watch.”

She was tempted. Her tired body wanted to take advantage of the rare occasion of having someone to watch her back.

But the cracked heart of her, the survivor, told her to never trust. Staying alive depended on her and her alone. Revenge couldn’t wait for rest or sleep.

“Hey.” He gripped her shoulder.

She fought the urge to shrug off the unfamiliar touch.

“I know you aren’t used to trusting and I haven’t done anything to earn your trust.” He scraped a hand over his hair, mussing the brown and gold strands. “Just the opposite. But I want you to get some rest.”

It was like offering a thirsty man a pool of water. She wanted to close her heavy lids and let her aching body take a break for a few minutes.

No
. He was making her forget her purpose. The mission she’d mapped out over the last fifteen years.

“First, I want the necklace.”

***

Sean fingered the rubies in his pocket while he watched Bay North. She was stubborn, that was for sure.

Her chin was lifted, her green eyes flashing. All sign of the vulnerability he’d glimpsed was gone.

Jesus, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what her life had been like. Seeing her family killed, on the run since her teens, coping with her ability. She’d never had a chance at a normal life. Gabriel Leven had seen to that.

The necklace was a heavy load. Should he hand it over to her?

He withdrew the strand of rubies and tossed it onto the crappy bed cover.

It bounced once then lay there amongst the creases, glinting in the light from the window.

Bay sank onto the bed. Her hand hovered over the gold-encrusted gems before she trailed one finger over the brilliant surface of one of the rubies.

“Leven boasted for months when he bought this.” She hefted it, tested its weight.

“It once belonged to Aleister Crowley.”

Her head shot up. “The Satanist guy?”

“English occultist is the phrase Leven used. He’s obsessed by Crowley.” Sean studied the blood red of the gems. “Apparently Crowley gifted his mistress and muse, Laylah with the necklace. He called her his Scarlet Woman.”

“Leven said it was symbol of his power.”

“And you want it?”

Bay’s fingers curled around the jewels. “I want it to hurt him. Leven took everything that mattered to me.” Her eyes darkened. “I plan to take everything that matters to him.”

She reeked of vengeance. Seeing what had sustained Sean for so many months in another, especially in this small, pretty woman, left him uneasy. “What are you going to do with it?”

She let the necklace drop into her lap. “Destroy it.”

He wanted to tell her to forget Leven. To run fast and far. Find that home on the beach. But who the hell was he to give advice? He wanted revenge for his men more than he wanted to live. “How?”

“I know a jeweler. For the right price, he’ll cut it up and not ask any questions.”

Sean looked again at the sparkle of the rubies. It seemed wrong to destroy something so beautiful and rare. But he knew it’d be a blow to Leven.

Sean pressed a hand to the back of his neck. Leven had turned on him, but the man wasn’t Sean’s target. He eyed Bay as she stared at the necklace.

Neither was this woman.

“Do you know any other time thieves?” he asked.

She looked up. “We don’t have a club.”

That sarcastic tongue. “I figured you’d know about each other.”

“I’ve heard about some. I think there are only a few.”

“You don’t know?”

One shoulder lifted. “Not like there are books on the subject. What I know, I’ve pieced together from little bits of information.”

“Leven has a team of scientists dedicated to learning how time thieves tick.”

Her face paled. “I’m not surprised.”

“They developed this.” He pulled the horologion out of his pocket.

“A horologion.” She angled her head. “I’ve never seen one up close.”

“You can have it, if you answer a question for me.”

She considered. “Okay.”

“You know a time thief from Afghanistan? Works with the Taliban?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe. Why?”

“He murdered my SEAL team.” Memories threatened to break in a vicious, hungry rush and pull Sean under. His hands clenched on the device. “He stole time and killed everyone.” Sean’s lungs constricted. “They never had a chance to defend themselves, to fight back. They just stood there, letting this bastard spray them with bullets.”

She stood, swallowing hard. “And you survived?”

To his ever-living regret. “Was in hospital recovering from my wounds for a month.” Every night haunted by the grieving wives and kids of his men. Every day wondering why the hell he’d survived.

“God.” She went to the window, her stride jerky.

Sean’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know?”

“I don’t…I…” She shook head. “I told you why Leven wants me.”

Damn it, he wanted to know about the Afghan time thief, not Leven. “So he can use your skill.”

A nod. She wrapped her arms around her middle. “He gets a thief, keeps them contained and forces them to steal time for his benefit. So he can kill rivals, steal, murder, make drug deliveries, traffic people…you name it.”

Sean knew Leven was bad but had avoided the details.

“I heard he had a thief working for him. One he didn’t need to torture or keep locked up.” She turned, her face pinched. “One Leven paid a lot of money to keep his opium shipments in Afghanistan flowing.”

The ground dropped away from Sean. “No.”

“The thief was tasked with keeping the US forces away from Leven’s drugs.”

“No.” Sean surged forward and gripped her arms. He lifted her off her feet.

“I’m sorry, Sean.” Her moss eyes flooded with sympathy. “I’d guess you and your team got too close.”

He pushed her away. Edgy energy roared through him, an angry beast ripping at his insides. He wanted to pummel his fists into someone, to yell until his throat was raw. But all the vicious feelings were stuck inside him, boiling and churning.

“I can’t—” he flexed his hands, released. “I can’t have ended up working for the person responsible for their deaths.”