“You’re the boss.” Topher punched the coordinates into the console.
Shay checked the charge on her weapon. “So they tell me.” She stepped on to the transporter and shimmered out of existence.
The sun had just dipped behind the canyon ridge when Rand made camp. The sky was cloudless, with yellows and pinks streaking out from the sunset into the deep violet of the east yet he saw lightning in the north, at the head of the wash.
He made camp behind a large rock that formed a shelter close to the wall of the canyon. He gave Joe a small ration of feed, stripped him down and gave him a good rub before turning him loose to forage along the river bank. Then he shucked his pants and boots and waded into the river. He waded out until the water reached his thighs and shivered, despite the heat that still hung heavy in the air. The vision of whatever had happened to Tom and Hank still hung in his mind and twisted his gut. The bottle of whiskey he carried with him should help with that. He hoped.
“Here’s to you, Tom.” Rand pointed the bottle towards the sky and took a long draw. He watched as night closed in and stars popped out in a sky as dark as velvet. The full moon hung clear and close enough to touch right over the lip of the canyon. It was a beautiful night, the kind you could only see in West Texas. Looking at the beauty of the night made the horror he’d seen that much more disgusting, and that much more intense.
It was bright enough that he could keep on travelling if he wanted to but he was bone weary from his days on the trail, and knew Joe, who was old, would have to feel just as bad if not worse. Upstream, to the north, he saw the flashes of light that meant another thunderstorm would come in the night yet there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. He could only hope that it wouldn’t be enough to flood the canyon again and wash another mystery up at his feet.
“I hope I find the son of a bitch who did that to you, Tom.” Rand took another draw from the bottle, stuck the cork back in and sunk below the surface. He felt the water gently wash over him and marvelled at the peacefulness of the river, compared to the raging torrent that must have carried his friend downstream. Finally, out of breath, he stood in one powerful motion, slinging water from his head in a big arc. At the same instant, he felt something slam into him, with a white flash of light. Rand staggered back and fell once more beneath the surface of the water.
Shay felt her body falling and spun her arms wildly to catch herself but there was nothing to grab on to. Whatever happened had to have occurred while she was in transit and it had knocked her off course. How far and how much was yet to be determined. She landed face first in the sand and quickly pushed herself up,coughing and gagging as the sand got in her mouth and nose. She instantly realized she was not alone and drew her weapon. A horse stumbled up from the sand and shook itself clean.
Shay quickly checked her arm display. She’d been caught in a time current, the very thing she’d come here to stop. She was off course by nearly a month, too late to stop the beginning of the rift they’d discovered.
It was also bad news for anyone caught in the aftershock of the rip. “Your life just got a lot shorter,” she said to the horse that blinked at her as if it were trying to decide if she were real or not. “Sorry,” she added. “Wrong place and wrong time for both of us.” She checked her display again. She needed to get her bearings and report in. She had six hours before she could jump again, she might as well make good use of her time.
Shay took a moment to look around. Even thought it was dark, the full moon illuminated the area enough to discern landmarks. She was in the middle of a deep canyon that was littered with huge boulders. As long as it didn’t rain she should be safe from flash floods. A shallow yet wide river assured her that she would not die of thirst as long as her sanitization kit held out.
“At least I didn’t land in the water or on the edge of the cliff.” Topher must have seen the rip coming and made sure she had a safe landing, if that was what you could call it. Her med stats would show that she survived but she still needed to check in. T.T.E.A. protocol required that she call him first, just in case there was someone around. In this period of time, the locals didn’t take kindly to weird things like time travel. There were plenty of accounts of T.T.E.A. agents being accused of witchcraft, and even one case of an agent dying at the hands of hostiles during the six-hour gap between jumps.
“This is five-one calling base,” she said. She touched a finger to her jaw where her link was planted so there was no possibility of losing it. There was also a remote in her arm panel and she tweaked it while she waited for Topher to confirm.
Nothing but static. Since they were in a time before any signals bounced through the atmosphere there had to be some sort of damage, possibly caused by her rough landing. She’d have to wait for Topher to solve it on his end. Her target was still in range so she decided to make for it.
“Better make sure the wolves are at bay.” Shay programmed her display for scan. She was confident she could handle anything that came at her with one shot from her PR37 but it was nice to think she wouldn’t have to use it. The thought of disrupting the life of anything or anyone in the past was disturbing to her. The horse was already a victim of the rift. She’d hate to think of anyone else falling prey to it.
A blip showed up on her screen. An animal caught drinking at the river? She checked the display and then looked in that direction. The light on her screen showed a significant body mass lying in the river. “Oh no.” Shay realized the blip was human and had to be a man by the size of it. She wasn’t dressed for interaction. And she certainly didn’t want to have to explain who she was and what she was doing here. Still she couldn’t go off and leave him to drown.
He’ll die soon enough if you don’t fix it . . .
This area was supposed to be deserted, populated with nothing but rattlesnakes and scorpions. Sure there was a possibility of a random hunting party but still . . .
She heard him. There was a splash and she turned and looked at the river. Moonlight danced off the surface, giving it a surreal look, as if she were staring at an abstract painting. She caught a movement in her peripheral vision and watched as a man pulled himself up with the help of the rock. It was too late for her to move, too late to hide so she stayed where she was and hoped to hell that he was dazed and confused enough not to ask too many questions. Any other problems that arose could be easily solved with a stun blast from her PR37.
In the exact moment that his eyes found her, Shay realized he was naked. He stood in the moonlight as if he were carved from stone, the only movement the water sluicing down his body, trickling into the grooves and dips that gave sharp definition to his muscular frame. She could not help but watch the water’s trail in fascination, from his wide shoulders, over his smooth pectorals, into the ridges of his stomach, before trickling into the V that split his lean hips. After a long moment, in which she forgot to breathe, he moved, his long legs churning through the water.
“What in hell’s sweet behind just happened?” His voice was more like a growl and it wakened her from the trance his appearance had placed upon her.
Shay levelled her PR37 straight at him. “Don’t take another step.”
He barely spared her weapon a glance as he kept on moving. He raised a dark eyebrow. “Are you planning on shooting me with that?”
“Yes I am,” Shay said indignantly.
He stopped when he got to her and stood, with his arms crossed, imperious and impervious, dripping, and totally oblivious to the fact that he was naked. He towered over her, intentionally she was sure of it, and stared down at her with eyes that lost their colour in the moonlight. His dark hair was plastered against his forehead and curled over his ears. Once more she felt as if she were looking at a statue that was carved from stone.
“Well?” he asked.
Shay didn’t get where she was by being intimidated. She stuck the point of her weapon in the middle of his chest, right in the indentation between his pectoral muscles.
“I could blow a hole clean through you. It would cauterize instantly and give you time to think about what the hell just happened while you lie here and die.”
“It wouldn’t be any stranger than anything else that’s happened to me lately,” he snapped and walked away.
Shay stared after him. She’d seen more than her share of weird during her time at the T.T.E.A., but this was the first time anyone had ever been so cavalier about her presence. Especially when she’d had a weapon stuck in his chest.
