Storm Front: NA Fantasy/Time Travel (Tesla Time Travelers Book 3)

by Jen Greyson

  “True. For now. If the government wanted, how long do you think it would take before they had an entire army of lightning riders like you. How long before every soldier carried a lightning bullwhip? You’ve been in battle. How did your weaponry impact your results? Did you win? Win every single time? Think about that. Think about the armies that have fallen. Think about those armies with your weapon.”

  CHAPTER 18

  I’M SPEECHLESS. WHAT he’s saying has never crossed my mind. I was the only one. According to Peña and LF I was the only girl. Until Tiana. How many lies? How many lies have they told me? I don’t know the gray man from anyone. “Actions speak louder. In the amount of time I’ve known you, you lied to my friends, you’ve lied to my mentor, you’ve followed me around, you’ve attacked me, and now, while you want me to believe what you’re telling me, which is, without question, the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard, you leave me balance with lightning I can’t diffuse and without my only weapon. You’re not very good at instilling trust.”

  “Let her up.”

  “You’ve seen her in action,” the gray man says to Brent. “You really think this girl is going to sit here and listen to me without flying off the handle, destroying your house, and probably punching me?”

  “You probably deserve to be punched.

  “Brandt,” Mrs. Steinman chides him. “That’s not very nice.”

  The gray man and I face off, glaring at one another with the vehemence I’ve held only for LF. I never thought I would find someone I despised more. In this moment, I know I can trust no one. At this point, even Constantine must be suspect. Even he could be corrupted. The betrayal sweeps over me and I fight back a rush of tears. I’m alone. In a heartbeat I’ve gone from the biggest team I’ve ever had to no one.

  CHAPTER 19

  THE GRAY MAN leans back and shift his attention to Brandt. “Remember you asked for this.” He touches the device to the lightning ropes at my legs and they vanish immediately. My faculties are instantly back and I’m on my feet, crouching hands fisted “Evie, darling,” Mrs. Stein amend sets a frail hand on one of my fists.

  I lower my hands but I don’t unclench them I rubbed my middle finger against the inside of my palm test for a flicker of lightning nothing happens and I jerk my jaw to the rate. I don’t say anything. Not yet. We’ll see how this plays out. Nothing I say is going to convince him to give me back my lightning before he wants to, that much is clear. I shift and face Mr. Steinman. “Talk to me.”

  “Sit down.”

  I moved to the opposite side of the table and slam into a chair. “I know this looks suspicious. I know we have no reason to trust him. You need to understand I’m not trusting him. I’m trusting my gut. I’m asking you to do the same. I clench my jaw and wait for someone to start telling me what the puck is going on. The gray man rotates his pad and slides it over beside my version of his name he’s written Frank White I look at him and raise my eyebrows really?” Frank White? That’s the best you could come up with?”

  “Tesla has always had men after him. It became the nature of his business once he started dealing with governments. You met a few in his hotel, correct?” New in I nod and tap their names on the pad. “These guys.” Before you crossed them out.”

  “I handled it.” “And this one?” I slide my finger down to the next one he scratched out.

  “Handled.”

  We play this game for the entire list. “Handled. Handled. Yep, that was me.”

  “How?”

  He shrugs. “Tesla sent me. I had to be good.”

  “You want me to believe that Tesla was perfectly fine with you killing people?”

  “Who says I killed them?”

  I scowl and think through the possibilities, ponder options beyond death. He has tools, he can travel, I’ve been able to send other people through time. “Besides knocking out old men, what else does your device do?”

  He smiles. “Everything you can.”

  I snort and make a face. Nothing can do what I can.

  “You think not? I stole your lightning I bound you in better lightning than you’ve ever used, how do you think Mr. Steinmsan’s limp went away?”

  I glance at my neighbors standing together in their kitchen leaning against each other and the kitchen counter. Their features haven’t changed, but Mrs. Steinman’s hands don’t curl in with her arthritis and Mr. Steinman isn’t using his cane. I turned back to Mr. Gray. “All right, why are you here? You’ve given me your body count; if that’s why you came you can go.”

  “Tesla’s worried about you.”

  “I’m fine. Once you leave anyway.” I flick the pad with my fingers and send it several inches away from me. “Now that you’ve handled most of the men after me I can get back to work.”

  “Which you can do because of me.”

  “I don’t need any help with that.”

  “You still don’t get it, do you?”

  “Enlighten me.” I don’t need one more masochistic asshole running interference for me. Not even one sent by Tesla.

  “I kept many of the men after you from succeeding. The men casing your house were FBI. I took them out before they got the bugs planted.”

  “No bodies were reported,” Brandt says. I’m not sure if he’s second-guessing his decision to trust Gray since I’m not taking anything this guy says at face-value or if this is typical cop mode for him.

  “Again, I didn’t kill them. I moved them.”

  “I don’t understand how all this time travel works.” Brandt walks to the table and pulls out a chair, but doesn’t sit. “Explain.”

  Gray nudged the device. “I can strip someone of the ability to travel. I can take someone to the past and imprison them in a time they’ll never be able to leave or inflict damage.

  I watch Brandt and he looks to me for confirmation. I shrug. “Take someone back far enough, they’d have little chance of survival. That would explain the cop cars that night, too. If they were looking and couldn’t find the guys you were worried about because he snatched them and took off before the cops got here.”

  “I called them lazy excuses to wear the uniform. I know what I saw that night.” Brandt points at Gray. “You and two men.”

  Gray nods. “I took them both.” He jerks his chin at my pad. “And crossed them off. You won’t have to worry about them.”

  He may have just explained dozens of missing persons cases. I shiver. That device is far more sinister than anything I can do.

  I stand. “Well, thanks, then. You’ll be going?”

  Gray leans back in his chair. “For now.”

  We examine each other. There will be no alliance between us. What he does, he does for the president—and maybe a little because of how he feels about Tesla, but not because he likes it. Or me. I’d love to know how Nikola convinced him to take this on, babysitting me, keeping men from killing me, ensuring I have every chance at success. But I have other priorities.

  “Stay out of my way, Gray.”

  CHAPTER 20

  “YOU’LL NEED THIS.” He points his device at my chest.

  I stepped toward him, and lean into his space. “I don’t need anything from you.” I want that to be true, and yet, if he’s stolen my lightning, if I’m without it for the first time ever, I cannot do my job. But I’m also unwilling to be at his mercy, unwilling to admit he has something I need.

  “Suit yourself.”

  “Evie,” Brent steps forward. “Don’t be hasty. I’ve seen your weapon. You need it.”

  “Do I?” I clench my teeth and stand. Cross my arms and shake my head in disbelief. Gray sits there, this cocky younger version of a man sent to keep me safe. “My weapon was no good against him. He’s eliminated all the men who were trying to kill me. My weapon failed me. Failed me when I needed it most.”

  Gray watches me, sorts through my words, measures my attitude. He may not be the older experienced man I’ve met before, but he’s smart. Our paths will continue to cross, but I
will not play his puppet. No more. Not for anyone.

  “I’ll be in touch,” I make the statement to Brandt and Mrs. Steinman so they don’t worry. Then I walk out of their house. On my own two feet.

  Without my lightning.

  CHAPTER 21

  I SHIFT AND rev the throttle, pushing the bike hard through the turn up the curving mountain highway. Storm clouds gather above the mountain, rumbling in dissent. For the first time in my life, there is no crackling answer in my belly. I’ve completed what I left the lift to do. I know who the gray man is, I know what he’s capable of. I just don’t know what I’m going to do about it.

  Brandt thinks I’m outrunning my problems.

  Maybe he’s right, but what does he want me to do? He’s barely getting his head wrapped around time travel, let alone the implications and repercussions that come with Penya and Ilif having access to Nikola’s papers. I’m less concerned about Ilif, at least for the moment. Not that I’m saying he’s innocent in all of this. But for my immediate future, I believe he is earnest in his efforts to find Tiana.

  Gray has taken out the most pressing pursuers, leaving me the ability to focus on what matters most.

  There are still two others. Two I haven’t considered since coming back from New York. Two that I didn’t want to write on my notepad because giving weight to the truth of their names freaks me out.

  Two who Gray might not have even known about. I can barely remember their names, something strange and foreign. The guys Nikola was meeting with. Problem is, in all the commotion, I’ve forgotten what I did with the paper, the paper that I took out of his pocket.

  Thunder rumbles again and the wind picks up, slapping my hair against my neck. I can’t know if these were the men Niccolo was worried about, if these were the men who’d met with him once before, who threatened the people Nicola loved.

  Had the man who’d murdered Nicola done them a favor? Or had he done the world a favor by preventing those men from meeting with Nicola? I need to research those two men. I need that paper.

  I think hard about those moments in Nikola’s room. Taking the paper from his pocket, smelling the snap of a man freshly shaved and dressed for a meeting, the stale air and musty rent of birdseed that’s been sitting on ledges for too long. I inhale and hold the breath, close my eyes and replay each tick of the second hand. I was so consumed by every other piece of paper in the room, of finding what held me in the alteration.

  My eyes fly open and I gasp. My pocket! I jammed it in the front of my jeans!

  My heart pounds as I crest the mountain and start down the backside into the valley.

  Those jeans were at the top of the stairs when I tripped the bomb.

  CHAPTER 22

  GEHLEN AND SKORZENI, secret service (from the paper in Tesla’s pocket — THIS was the paper JP was looking for. He sent an idiot.—not JP, though. PENYA sent him (how can Evy discover this? Steinaman.). She told the guy to tell anyone who asked that JP Morgan sent him. Morgan was never involved past that night at the museum. He just wanted to get rich.

  NOT the US secret service. Russian? German?

  Tesla had a meeting with them on January 6th, 2pm

  NO. I’m thinking about this the wrong way. Where the hell is that paper?

  No. Wait.

  I clear my mind. I inhale the snap of ozone, the pine scent of the forest on either side of the road, the oil and grease thrumming through the beast between my legs. The lightning may have heightened everything I was capable of, but it was a part of me. Without it, I am still me, still the woman who could figure things out on my own. I’ve used it as a crutch, believed that it was the best of me, but without it, I am still me.

  At the base of the canyon a wide parking lot beckons and I pull in and downshift, then roll to a stop and kill the engine. Lightning forks overhead and the sun is completely obscured behind the roiling clouds. Thunder rumbles, shaking the ground and air.

  I think back through that night after I got home. I was headed to Papi’s to stay the night after dinner—before we got sidetracked with the math and the warehouse. I had heels and nice pants on.

  Memories bombard me and I curl forward, clutching my head.

  Camaria as a little girl, learning to fly a hovercraft, sailing over glass pods that must be houses. Her excitement flutters in my stomach.

  One from Nikola. A simple set of tasks as he readies himself for the meeting. He makes a deliberate point of writing the information on a crisp, new sheet of paper, then stares at it, like he’s taking a snapshot.

  For me to see.

  I try to memorize the details on the page. I don’t have a damn thing to write with. I hold the memory, kick the engine alive and race to Papi’s since his place is closer.

  I try to think of nothing other than holding that image. It wobbles.

  This wasn’t a meeting reminder. It’s a clue. Like the coordinates hidden in the equations. I don’t know how I know that but I do.

  There’s something here. I just have to get to Papi’s so I can write it down.

  Lightning flashes and the scent of rain drenches the air. I’ll never make it. I pull into the gas station, the one where this all started. Devon’s working and I hop off the bike and race inside, waving for him to give me a pen and paper.

  “Wow. Haven’t seen you in—”

  “Paper. Now.

  “Still so personable, I see.” He grumbles and prints a long stream of receipt paper and hands it over. I grab the pen that’s chained to the corner and start scribbling. “Fuck.” The pen is out of ink. “Give me something to write with.” I’m losing the image and repeat the details under my breath so I don’t forget. January 6, 2:00 p.m., Misters Gehlen and Skorzeni, Secret Service, Patrina Diner.

  “What are you talking about?” he asks, squinting. I’m sure he thinks I’m losing my mind. Maybe I am. I repeat the phrase. The image vanishes.

  I shake my head and hold my palm toward him, urging him to hurry.

  Outside, raindrops splatter against the pavement and overhang of the building. Lightning crashes somewhere close by. My body doesn’t respond. Devon hands over a grease pen and I try again. I write what I can remember, but I know I’m spelling them wrong. “Dammit!” I close my eyes and strain for the memory. It’s gone for good.

  I drop my forehead to the counter and slap it with my palm.

  “Evy?” Devon takes a step back. “You okay?”

  I straighten and give him a smile, then hand over the pen. “No. Not really. It’s been a long day.” I shake my head. “Sorry. I’ll come back and explain later.”

  “You still owe me eighteen bucks, you know.”

  “Shit. Sorry. I dig in my pocket and pull out a crumpled wad of fives. Peeling off four, I hand them over, then another. “Interest.”

  He grins. “Thanks.” He pops the cash drawer and sticks four of the bills in, then pockets one. “Heard you and Nick broke up. Maybe we should—”

  “I have to run.” I jam the paper into my pocket and take off, eager to get this information to Steinaman. I refuse to think about the other man in my life. The one that I can’t get to without my lightning.

  CHAPTER 23

  “WHEN ARE YOU coming back here?” Mr. Steinaman is fired up, but I don’t have time to explain anything. I need his help. Fast.

  “Did Gray leave?” I twirl the cord on Papi’s phone grateful they still have a landline. And that I’ve memorized the Steinaman’s. It’s been so long since I’ve needed a cell that I’ve forgotten to carry it.

  “Right after you did. Said we’d see him again. Evy, I think—”

  “Not now. I have something else.”

  He sighs heavily. “I’m listening.”

  I give him a quick rundown of how I got the paper and do my best to spell Gehlen and Skorzeni like they were in the flash of Nikola’s memory.

  “I won’t have access to secret service. Those departments don’t work together.”

  “Maybe they weren’t. I mean, if Gray’
s working for the president, maybe these guys were too and Nikola just called them secret service.”

  “Doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to screw up something like that.”

  No, he doesn’t. “I don’t know what else to try. You’re the only one with access.”

  “Fine. Give me some time.”

  “Mr. Steinaman?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What other countries have a secret service?”

  “Most all of them.” The pause is long enough for me to grow incredibly uncomfortable and if I had any other secrets, I’d be divulging them in this moment. He should have stayed in the FBI. “Any country you think I should start with?”

  “Germany.”

  “I’ll need help with that search.”

  I grip the phone tighter and an image of his body crumpled by the door surfaces. I’d much rather have Nikola’s again. “You don’t have to help me.”

  “I know what I do and don’t have to do, Girl.” There’s no hesitation in his answer.

  “Thank you.”

  He answers with a grunt and I hold the phone long after he’s hung up. “Be careful.”

  I replace the receiver and wander through the house, unsure where everyone is or when they’re coming back. Papi might be with Ilif for all I know. Mami’s probably taken the little girls to her sister’s so they don’t ask questions about Tiana. I pace the hallway, crunching through the details. Waiting is impossible. Harder now that I’m tethered. At some point I’m going to have to give in to Gray’s offer to give me my lighting back.

  Bastard.

  I flop on the bed in the guest room and stare at the ceiling. I’ve come full circle, and yet everything is different. And completely screwed up. I say the information again and try to fit the puzzle together. Probably best that he didn’t do this one as another equation, now that I don’t have Tiana.