Vortex (24 page)

“Did you find him?” she asked.

It took me a second to realize what she was talking about … that only minutes had
passed for her. “Uh … no … what about Kendrick?”

“That little fucker, where the hell did he go?”

I shook my head, fighting the usual time-travel nausea and fatigue. Both of us had
about a second to contemplate this before Kendrick, Mason, and some dude I’d never
seen before came barreling down Kendrick’s path. I had to assume the guy they were
running from was an EOT.

Two more guys popped up right behind Stewart and both of us spun into action, pointing
our guns at the newcomers. Stewart’s face twisted with anger when a guy suddenly appeared
behind her. She tucked the gun away and tackled the man to the floor.

The dude chasing after Mason and Kendrick reached for the hood of Mason’s sweatshirt.
I dove forward, grabbing him around the ankles, causing him to fall flat on his back,
and just like the other guy earlier, his face filled with excitement when he realized
who had just attacked him.

“Perfect,” he said. “I’ve got something to show you.”

I could feel him trying to jump, like Cassidy, but this time I was ready. I pulled
every piece of my mind to this moment, right here. He hollered loudly, pressing his
hands to the sides of his face.

My mind was slipping, fighting his efforts with every ounce of energy I had left.

“Stop! Stop!” he screamed.

Mason spun around and took in the situation. I released the man and left him writhing
in agony on the floor. He curled into a ball, clutching his ears.

“Dude, what the hell did you just do?” Mason asked, staring at the man in disbelief.

I slowly sat up and could barely focus my eyes on anything. I didn’t miss this aspect
of time travel at all. “I … I don’t know. He just—”

The man suddenly went still and I felt my pulse speed up with fear.
Please don’t be dead
.

Mason reached down to check for a pulse and the color drained from his face. He lifted
a hand from the man’s head and blood gushed from his ear.

“Oh, God,” I mumbled before glancing around the room desperately. “Kendrick! Get over
here!”

My eyes returned to the bleeding man and I continued to stare until I heard footsteps
behind me.

“It’s from his last jump … must have been too far or too quick…” Kendrick said, and
then her eyes met mine.

Do something,
I tried to say without words. She sank down beside me and touched her fingers to
the man’s neck.

“Faint pulse,” she muttered to herself. Her hands shook as she turned his head side
to side and then she gasped when the other bloody ear was exposed. “His brain’s bleeding,
and … we have to relieve the pressure.”

I could hear her starting to panic. The idea of slicing him open or doing anything
other than basic first aid was more than she could handle. Blood covered her hands
and stained her dress.

Mason stood over us and Stewart ran up behind him, a hand covering one of her eyes.
“I injected my guy with the anti-time-travel drugs.” She skidded to a stop. “Oh, man,
what the fuck is going on here?”

“We don’t know!” Kendrick hissed at her.

Stewart groaned and walked toward the man’s legs, and before anyone could stop her
she stabbed him in the thigh with a syringe. “There. He’s not going anywhere. Now,
if you guys could finish this little memorial service, we can retrieve the pieces
of the explosive Junior took apart before something happens.”

“She’s right,” Mason said. “We gotta do that.”

Kendrick pressed her fingers harder against the man’s neck. “He’s gone … no pulse.”

I felt sicker than ever as I peeled myself from the floor with great effort. The four
of us headed toward the main opening where the elevators were and were finally joined
by Parker and Freeman.

“It’s about fucking time,” Mason mumbled beside me.

I nodded my agreement. Freeman’s eyes moved over us, one at a time. “You guys all
right?”

Stewart was on my other side, still covering one eye. I turned to face her and pulled
her hand away. Her eye was already swelling and she had a cut that had a steady stream
of blood flowing from it. I pressed my fingers over the cut, trying to stop the bleeding.

She flinched and slapped my hand away. “Cut it out. I’m fine.”

I wiped my bloody fingers on my pants. “So, what’s the plan?” I asked, looking right
at Freeman. He was the oldest, most experienced agent here. He should be telling the
rest of us what to do.

“Is anyone still here?” he asked immediately. “By anyone, I mean EOTs.”

Kendrick pointed down an empty hallway. “The one that just chased me disappeared over
there. I think that’s everyone.” She turned her eyes on me and then back to Freeman.
“Um … one is dead … just behind us. Nothing we did … From his last jump, most likely.”

The nausea returned in one hard hit and Freeman’s face blurred and then doubled.

“Jackson?” he said. “You okay?”

Mason rested a hand on my shoulder to steady me, but I hadn’t even realized I needed
it.

“Wait!” Stewart said, pointing a finger at me. “What happened to the chick with red
hair? Isn’t that the same one we caught in Heidelberg?”

She was right. I’d totally forgotten that Cassidy had been captured weeks ago. “Um …
yeah … I think that was her, but she just left. I couldn’t inject her fast enough.”

“Don’t forget, she might be a copy,” Freeman said, as if we were talking about a painting
in an art museum or something. “The rest of the group is evacuating the building above
us. I’m not sure what the cover story is, so go with your best judgment if anyone
approaches you. Dr. Melvin’s going to freak out if we don’t get him whatever’s left
of that explosive. He’s positive it’s the same one that we saw in Germany.”

Stewart nodded toward the hallway behind Freeman and Parker. “It’s this way.”

Everyone began to walk quickly in the direction of the utility room. Mason lagged
behind, still gripping my arm as I stumbled forward.

“Are you all right?” he asked, looking extremely worried.

“Yeah, I got hit on the head or something … probably a mild concussion.” I held him
back for a second and made sure the others couldn’t hear us. “Hey, I’m sorry … about
earlier.”

His face reddened and he looked at the floor and nodded, like maybe he was embarrassed
about his reaction. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not that I doubted your skill. It’s just that … it’s okay to not always have
the answers.”

“Yeah … maybe,” he said.

And when he looked at me again, all I could see was the scared freckle-faced kid,
hiding behind the brainy, extremely stubborn agent.

As soon as we started walking again, Mason snorted loudly. “You would have never shot
me, anyway.”

I glanced at him and smiled. “You never know, man.”

Even though my legs were about to collapse, I stumbled up toward Freeman and tapped
him on the shoulder. “I’m guessing you didn’t run into my dad or Marshall?”

He gave me a long hard look, then shook his head.

“Did Dr. Melvin tell you they put a timer on the bomb? It’s totally weird … this and
Heidelberg. Thomas had said in Germany they had some change or alteration in mind
and then they just gave up. Why the big production?”

“Exactly what we were just talking about,” Parker chimed in from Freeman’s other side.
“It’s almost like they want to tell us something or—”

“Test us,” Kendrick added. “We actually thought it might be Marshall testing us …
with the whole ticking-time-bomb thing.”

“Test you? Interesting theory,” a deep voice spoke from farther down the hall.

All six of us stopped and turned to face twenty EOTs, all in one hallway. Thomas was
front and center, the unwelcome answer to Kendrick’s question.

“Holy shit,” Stewart mumbled behind me.

Freeman stepped out in front of us, taking on his role of senior Tempest agent. “Wow,
Thomas, this is quite an army you’ve brought.”

Thomas stood with his arms crossed, wearing the ultimate poker face. “Well … things
have changed a little recently.”

Was he talking about me, opening up the alternate universe or whatever the hell Eileen
had meant when she told me it was my fault so many of them could time-travel now?
Or was it Dr. Ludwig’s clones? Or both?

“Do you really think it’s morally right to threaten the lives of all these innocent
people?” Freeman said. “Are you aware of the amazing men and women gathered here tonight?
Surely some of them will have a positive impact on the future.”

Freeman was following the negotiation protocol exactly by the book. Talk first … then
attack if needed. But twenty of them, against six of us—not great odds.

“Where is everyone else?” I muttered to Parker under my breath.

He pointed a finger toward the ceiling. “There’s more EOTs upstairs.”

More?

“Actually,” Thomas said, “we believe there is far too much talent in your organization
to go to waste. But we had to see for ourselves … test the waters a bit.”

I could feel the tension building, could feel that all of us were just seconds from
drawing our guns and waiting for the order to attack.

Thomas reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out a clear tube with blue liquid flowing
from one end to the other. “This is what you wanted to retrieve, the remains of the
explosive, correct?”

Freeman reached for his pistol, and the rest of us did the same.

Thomas and his cronies didn’t even flinch at the sight of the six of us with guns
pointed at them. “I imagine you’re all curious about this substance,” he continued
with an eerie calm. “The blue liquid turns into a gas when released. It paralyzes
everyone within ten feet for about an hour. It won’t be discovered until the year
2200 and not widely used until the year 2210. Police, in that year, never carry a
gun or harmful weapon. They release the gas on the suspect and he or she is detained
without any harm to themselves or others. This is the kind of world we’re trying to
create for all of you … a peaceful place in which no one lives in fear.”

I remembered the perfect future Thomas had shown me. It looked like the goal had already
been met. But him “sacrificing” Holly had left me unable to trust him—ever. Feet shuffled
around behind me. Everyone was getting restless, waiting for whatever would happen
next. The previous encounters had all been much less personal.

“We have to stand by what we’ve been taught,” Freeman said. “Surely you can understand
that, Thomas.”

“Of course … but I’m sure you have doubts.” Thomas’s gaze fell on me. “I know some
of you must feel trapped in this position. Obligated to sacrifice everything, and
for what, exactly?”

Now it was my turn to shift uncomfortably. Of course I had doubts. Lots of doubts.
And this was the ultimate intimidation, because none of us had expected it.

“I think it’s time we join forces,” Thomas said. “It’s inevitable, actually, and things
will be much better if we can make this truce sooner.”

“I’m sorry,” Freeman said. “Even
I’m
not authorized to make those kinds of decisions.”

No one was authorized for that because it was never an option … ever. You could hear
the fear and confusion leaking into Freeman’s voice.

“All right … I understand, and I’m sorry to hear that free will isn’t something any
of you practice,” Thomas said.

Free will. There was that term again invading my thoughts for the second time tonight.
And what did Thomas mean when he said we’d join forces eventually?

There was no time to think about it. Suddenly EOTs vanished from down the hall and
jumped between us. Everywhere.

I knew I couldn’t force them in or out of a jump. I was too beaten up already. Too
weak. Bodies flew all around me, like a video in high-speed motion. I tossed someone
over my back, then kicked another EOT in the face. My only goal at the moment was
to keep them from jumping with me.

A foot came at me, hitting me hard in the side, slamming me against the wall. My vision
blurred, but through the haze I saw a slight figure tearing away from the fight, diving
under people, hurdling over them.

Once I realized it was Mason, I felt relieved at first, thinking he was running away …
then I saw where he was headed and the EOT running after him, a tube of pink liquid
sloshing in the EOT’s right hand.

“Mason, no!” Stewart shouted. “Forget about the bomb!”

Both of us fought our way around the crowd and Thomas called out to the EOT trailing
Mason. “Don’t let him get to the weapon!”

“Mason! Get the hell out of there!” I yelled.

The EOT behind him glanced at Thomas and then tossed the pink tube into the utility
room Mason had just entered.

“No!” I shouted at the same time Stewart shouted, “Mason!”

Simultaneously, we both drew our guns and fired a shot right at the EOTs back. He
fell to the floor in a slump. The sound of shattering glass rang through the hallway
just after the gunshot. My eyes zoomed in on Thomas, who was running from the utility
room that held the remaining bomb fragments, and then on Stewart, who was running
toward the utility room, hurdling over the fallen EOT.

I grabbed her around the waist and tackled her to the floor. She only had about half
a second to fight me, and then the loudest explosion I’d ever heard in my life filled
the small space.

The sound echoed in my ears and I couldn’t hear anything else. Instinctively, I threw
an arm over my head and one over Stewart’s. Tiny pieces of wood and plaster flew at
us from every direction. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to jump, but my mind couldn’t
focus on anything but here … right now.

The ringing in my ears quieted and voices shouted all around me.

“Oh, God … Mason,” Kendrick said.

“Jackson!” Freeman called.

I rolled off Stewart, who sat up, looking stunned. We were both covered in dust and
debris from the explosion. She glanced at me wide-eyed and then sprang to her feet.
I watched as she ran in the direction of the explosion and then screeched to a stop,
staring at the hole in the wall that used to be the utility room.