by Bella Street
“Do I get a gun?” Lani asked.
“You have me,” Malone said. “And I'm packin'.”
“What about Gareth and Addison?” Seffy said.
“They'll both get firearms as they've proven their proficiency.”
“Oh, yay.”
“And I'll be here for you, too,” Trent said quietly.
Seffy shook her head. “I don't need a personal bodyguard.”
Lani leaned toward him. “Don't mind her. She's grumpy because I sang to her.”
A smile twitched Trent's lips. “She doesn't like all that music and song stuff, huh?”
“Not so much. Not since The Day The Music Died.” Lani made air quotes to punctuate her ridiculous assertion.
“So what precipitated that sad day?” Trent asked, looking at Lani with mock solemnity.
Lani made a face. “Pretty much when we got to the compound. I mean things weren't looking so hot before that, but if I were to give a concrete time—”
“Um, standing right here,” Seffy said. “Standing exactly right here.”
Trent regarded her with a heavy-lidded gaze. “I wish I could've heard the song Lani sang for you.”
She glared at him. “Yeah, I'm leaving now. Me and Mr. Glock—Gleffy—and we'll be just fine.”
“Where are you going?”
“To see Gareth.” She turned to leave, but not before she saw the smile fade from his face.
Releasing a slow breath as she headed down the hall toward the medical section, Seffy wished she hadn't revealed so much to Lani. Then again, apparently she and Trent had done the majority of the revealing.
Treffy. Good grief. This place was the psychiatric wing after all. Maybe there was something in the air.
“Sef, wait up.”
She turned to see Trent heading her way. Seffy tried to ignore the flutter of her stupid heart at his nearness.
“You okay?”
“Fine. Why?”
“You seem tense.”
“More so than usual?”
“You got me there.” He cleared his throat. “I thought you'd want to know that Gareth's been released. He's in his regular room.”
She looked up at him in surprise. “Oh, thanks. And...thanks for the gear. I feel slightly less paranoid.”
“No problem. I know it's a lot to lug around, but it's the only way I can feel safe leaving you.”
Seffy stopped in the hallway. “You're not responsible for me, you know.”
His expression darkened. “Then who is? Gareth?”
“How about just myself? Take a break, Trent. Go find out how Brenda is doing. Goodness knows, we wouldn't want anything happening to Miss Pure and Perky.”
“Don't try and deflect my point. Anyway, I haven't seen her lately.”
“That's convenient. She disappears when all the trouble starts.”
Trent froze. “Oh, God.” Grabbing her hand, he dragged her down the hall.
“Where are we going?”
“Why was I so quick to dismiss her as being the culprit?”
“Because she dazzled you with her boobs?”
Trent ignored her as they hurried along the corridor.
Around a corner, they stopped at a door. He knocked loudly. When there was no response, he tried the knob. Locked. He looked around the area, saw a storage closet several yards away, and tugged her in that direction, ignoring her protests.
Seffy was hauled through yet another passageway, groping blindly behind Trent as he tried to figure out a way to Brenda's room. She heard him breathing hard, tapping panels, and swearing under his breath. Finally a sliver of light pierced the blackness. He pulled her stumbling into a room.
Seffy looked around at yet another bland guest room and recognized the cut offs and blouse on the side of the bed right away. “Looks like we're in the right place.”
“Brenda? Are you here?”
She watched as Trent searched the room, his movements frantic. Seffy walked over to the bed and idly picked up the cutoffs. What size did the little tramp wear anyway? Two? Geez, who wears a two? Seffy blinked as she read the rest of the tag. Her breath hitched in her throat. “Trent.”
He turned. “What?”
“I think Brenda's from the future.” She held out the shorts.
He put up his hands as if he didn't want to touch them. “I don't get it.”
“These are True Religions. Let's just say that company wasn't around in the twentieth century.”
Trent's face paled. “She followed us. She's with those goons who tried to kill us.”
Seffy dropped the shorts and bolted for the main door. After scrabbling with the lock, she yanked it open and burst into the hall. “Have you given Gareth the gun yet?”
“No.”
Oh no. She ran toward his room, but Trent got there first. He put his hand out to her, then touched his finger to his lips.
Close to hyperventilation, she nodded while inwardly screaming for him to hurry. He slowly turned the knob and eased open the door. Seffy heard a friendly female voice and tensed. Addison did not have an accent.
Trent slid into the room, his gun drawn. “Drop it, Brenda.”
Seffy was right behind him. Brenda wore a nurse's uniform and had a needle poised above Gareth's shunt. “Gareth, stop her! Pull out your I.V!”
He looked at them in confusion as Brenda plunged the needle into the plastic shunt. Seffy dove across the room and grabbed at Gareth's hand, yanking the shunt from the back of his hand just as a shot sounded.
Before Gareth could speak, his face purpled and he began to shake. Seffy grabbed the phone next to the bed and called for help. When she looked up, she saw Trent standing with the gun still pointed across the room into empty space. Seffy looked down and saw Brenda's leg sticking out past the bed.
Chapter Eight
“It was cyanide,” Olga said, her face grimmer than usual.
Seffy looked up at her from swollen eyes. “Will he be okay?”
“He got medical attention quickly, thanks to you. He should recover, but it might take longer since he was already weak from his surgery.”
“Why did he have an I.V. in his room? I thought he'd been released from the hospital bed.”
Olga shook her head. “I don't know. It wasn't ordered by the doctor. Maybe this Brenda person set it up.”
Seffy glanced at where Trent leaned against the wall, his face downcast. “Why would she go to the trouble? Assuming she's the one behind all the attacks, why the elaborate murder attempts?”
Trent looked up as if he sensed their stares. His gray eyes were dull. “Maybe she thought she could cover her tracks better. If no two deaths were the same, we might not connect them.”
“I think she was more than just an assassin like the others,” Seffy said, her voice ragged. “Addy told me she'd been around asking questions before we knew she was here.” Addison had been at the medical clinic having her dressing changed and had missed the latest drama.
“I thought Fiona was behind it,” Trent said. “Looks like I was wrong.”
Seffy swallowed. “Where is Brenda—?”
“She's dead. I killed her, okay? I meant to wound her but I missed.” He looked away, a muscle jumping in his jaw.
Seffy relaxed slightly. Good riddance. Then again, they could've questioned her had she survived. Sighing, she wiped her eyes and left them, unable to deal with their doleful expressions. Seffy headed to Gareth's room—back in the hospital section. She glanced at the floor almost expecting a worn path from her many trips to this room. A uniformed guard allowed her to pass, which was a new and bizarre experience. Lani and Malone sat next to the bed and looked up at her entrance.
Gareth smiled at her. Seffy's tenuous hold on her emotions snapped and she burst into tears.
Lani and Malone got up and left as she approached the bed. She sank into Gareth's outstretched arms and held him tight. When his embrace weakened, Seffy remembered he was still sick. She pulled away, sniffing hard. His face was
red and mottled. He looked as exhausted as he felt.
She sat in the nearby chair, wiping her streaming eyes. “I can't take this any more, Gareth. What's going to happen next?”
He gave her hand a feeble squeeze. “Malone said the woman pretending to be a nurse was one of the assassins from your trip to WeHo.”
Seffy nodded, wondering if he secretly still thought that trip was just a mental construct.
“Well, maybe she was the last one. Maybe it's over.”
“It can't be that easy.” She gave a harsh laugh. “Relatively speaking. There could be more and we have no way to stop them.”
He rested his head against the pillow. “Theoretically, it's possible. But don't think about that now. Let's just savor the few moments we have together.”
Seffy gazed at him, not sure how to deal with the subtext in his words. Had he really changed so much? Then she chastised herself for being negative. Gareth was alive after two murder attempts. That was all that mattered. And maybe his brushes with death had mellowed his more recent opinion of her.
Maybe they could go back to the way things used to be.
She scooted closer and touched his face. “You can't ever leave me. I won't survive without you.”
Gareth covered her hand with his own. “I'm not going anywhere.”
Seffy thought about Lani's words. He wasn't toxic—this wasn't toxic. They belonged together. On some level, they belonged. She studied his features—the golden brown eyes gazing into hers, the familiar contours of his face.
Gareth reached up and cupped the back of her neck, pulling her forward. This time she didn't resist his intention. His lips were warm and searching, his sweet touch mingled with the bitter angst swirling within her heart. She raised her head to look into his eyes, but his lids were heavy as he sank back against his pillow.
Stupid. She'd expected too much too soon. The man had just been yanked back from death's door and she was wanting everything to be made all better. Seffy pressed a kiss against his forehead, noting he'd fallen asleep. She stood. After a lingering look, she turned and headed for the door, ignoring the wretched expression of Addison who stood watching in the entrance.
Chapter Nine
Trent rubbed his face and sat up in his bed, disoriented from his dream. He checked his watch. Two a.m. Had something awoken him? He slithered out of bed and silently headed down the passageway to Seffy's closet, his heart beating hard.
Trent scanned the dark room before entering it. He saw Seffy in bed and went over to check on her. She lay twisted in the blankets, her arms thrown over her head. Light from the bathroom highlighted dried tear stains on her cheek. He regarded her for several moments, wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed with her. If she just gave him the chance, he could make her forget about Gareth for once and for all.
Disgusted with the direction of his thoughts, he went back to his room and put on a shirt and pair of jeans. There was no point in going back to sleep when he was infected with a hectic, strung up feeling. Trent went out to the hall, wondering why he felt so alert.
A muffled shout down the hall got his attention. Adrenaline pumping, he ran past several doors and rounded the corner. Sounds of a struggle, then footsteps heading in the opposite direction. Trent was torn. Stay with Seffy to make sure this had nothing to do with her, or investigate? He hurried back into his room, armed himself, and headed down the passageway.
He gently shook Seffy's arm and called her name. She came awake, saw him, then lurched into a sitting position.
“What's wrong?”
“There's a disturbance down the hall and I want to check it out. But I want you to be awake and holding the gun while I'm gone.”
She tugged a hand through her messy hair and looked almost disappointed. “I told you, I'm fine.”
Trent pressed his hands into the bed. “I can still see the marks on your throat. Do me a favor and get the gun.”
She sighed and pulled it out from under her pillow.
“Where's the walkie?”
“On the desk.”
Trent grabbed it and turned it on, setting it to the same channel as his. “You call me if anything happens, okay?”
She shrugged.
Trent resisted the urge to kiss her. “Just hang tight until I figure out what's going on. Can you do that for me?”
“I'm not twelve years old. You don't need to talk down to me.”
“Then stop being so stubborn.”
She flopped back onto her pillow, casting out her arm. “Go, save the compound, even though it's already thick with useless security forces.”
Trent stalked from the room, all thoughts of a kiss erased from his mind. Only when he was running down the hall did he realize he was barefoot. Dammit. Suddenly a door swung open and Lani burst from her room into the hall, crying. She saw him and lurched in his direction.
“I tried to stop her. I did!”
Trent ran up to her. “Stop who? What's going on?”
“Addison! She's freaking about the attempt on Gareth's life.”
“Now?”
Lani gulped back a sob. “She's upset that she wasn't there when it happened, upset when she saw Seffy kissing him tonight—”
Trent felt his expression flatten.
“—and when she heard that Brenda might've been another one of those people from the tangent universe, she started screaming and headed for the door. I tried to stop her, but she was inconsolable.” Lani grabbed his arm. “I've never seen her like this. It's like something snapped inside her.”
“Did anyone go after her?”
“Malone heard her from his room and came to investigate. He followed her, but neither of us know where she's going.”
“Did he leave you with a weapon?”
She shook her head, her blue eyes wide.
“Then you better follow me.”
“Where's Seffy?”
“In her room, with a gun.”
“Will she be okay all alone?”
His face hardened. “I hope so. Let's go.”
“Go where? I don't know what she had in mind.”
“I'm sure she's heading to Gareth's hospital room.”
Lani's brow furrowed. “Oh, that makes sense. She just went a weird way then.”
“C'mon, we'll check there first.”
They found Gareth asleep in a dark room. His guard said no one had been by. Trent frowned. Where the hell would she go? His radio crackled to life. Trent pulled it from his pocket.
“Malone here. You better get down to the computer lab.”
Trent glanced at Lani, whose clueless expression mirrored his own. They hurried through the dim halls, silent except for their footfalls and worried breathing. Trent turned the corner first and saw a guy in a white lab coat and huge round glasses standing by the lab door, rubbing his head. He turned to them, blinking in sleepy confusion.
Trent heard a crash and a scream. “What's going on in there?”
He shrugged and yawned. “Some chick ran in shrieking about something, so I got out.”
“A redhead?”
“Hey, I'm just the night guy. I was too busy ducking to check for details.”
Trent approached the door and saw Malone struggling to subdue Addison. He had his arms wrapped around her from behind, pinning her hands to her sides while she thrashed and cursed. All around them the floor winked with shattered glass, sparks showered from broken electronics, and the green screens of outdated computers flickered on and off.
Lani peeked around his shoulder and gasped. “Oh, my gosh, did Addison do this?”
“Malone, do you need help?” Trent asked.
“Naw, she's starting to wind down now.”
“Shut up and let me go!” she screamed.
It didn't sound like it, unless this was mellow Addison.
“What in the world is going on?”
They all turned to see Eugene enter the room in a pair of pajamas printed with cartoon Batmans.
He pr
essed his hands to the side of his head, his mouth slack-jawed. “No,” he whispered. “No, no, no. This isn't possible. My lab...” He spun around. “Ferguson!”
“Right here, man.” The night lab assistant poked his head in the door.
“How did this happen?”
“Hey, I was just doing my job when the demon-lady crashes in and starts smashing stuff up. I got out.” He peered around the room, his eyes widening behind his large plastic lenses. “Whoa. Looks like she got all the time travel equipment.”
Trent turned to stare at Addison, who stood breathing hard, still restrained. “Somebody had to do it!” she said, seething.
A movement caught his eye. He looked over to see Seffy enter the room wearing a tank top and shorts. Her mouth dropped open as she surveyed the disaster. He knew her desolate expression matched his own.
“I don't understand,” Lani cried. “Don't you want us to get back to our own time?”
“I want to stop murderers from coming here!” Addison rasped. “No one had the guts to deal, so I dealt!”
“No,” Seffy whispered. “This only means we can't leave, not that others can't come.”
“Well, I must say Miss Carter is correct. Frankly, I'm surprised at her coherence considering her lack of interest in the subject when I've tried to explain earlier...”
Ignoring Eugene, Seffy stepped over the broken glass with bare feet and stood in front of Addison. Trent tensed, having no idea what to expect. She raised her hand and slapped Addison hard across the face, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. Lani gasped and covered her mouth. A lurid red hand print burned on Addison's face as she glared at Seffy, her gaze savage.
Shock kept Trent from speaking. He could only watch as Seffy turned and walked out of the room. Aside from the noise of Addison panting through gritted teeth, the room was silent as they stood in stunned amazement.
Footsteps approached and Fiona, followed by two guards, burst into the room. “What the hell is going—” She stared in wonder at the devastation, then turned her furious expression toward Addison. “What have you done?”
“Uh, I hate to interrupt,” Ferguson said, seeming almost glad for the diversion, “but that babe who's supposedly all poisonous is leaving a bloody trail of footprints on the floor. Isn't that, like, a bio-hazard or something?”