by Zack Mason
Suddenly, a hand gripped Mark’s wrist firmly, covering his shifter and preventing access to it. Mark instantly reacted to remove the man’s hand, but the grip was like steel.
“You struggle and I’ll start yelling you’re part of this bloody conspiracy. You won’t get your hands free before you’re killed.”
The speaker was dressed in the uniform of a theater usher. A glint of gray metal peeked from under his sleeve. He had a shifter, but he wasn’t Smith. Someone else.
If glares could burn, the man’s eyes would have been scalded from his head under Mark’s stare. As it was, the usher didn’t even blink.
“There's another man behind you, pointing a gun at your back. If your right hand moves anywhere near your left, he will put a bullet in your head long before you can shift out. Got it?”
Mark nodded.
“Good. Walk with me. We have a carriage waiting.”
They pushed their way through the frantic and growing crowd to the exterior of the theater. A black carriage was parked curbside. The door opened from the inside as they approached. Mark stepped up to it and something slammed down hard on the back of his neck. Dark swirls swam before his eyes and then he blacked out.
He came to in a barn. At least, he figured it was a barn with the hay and other, more malodorous indicators laying around.
His head throbbed like a thumb that’s just been pounded by hammer swung at full force. Struggling, he finally managed to sit up. Both his hands were tied with thick rope to opposite sides of a horse’s stall. Smith sat on a stool in front of him about twenty feet away, a malicious glee illuminating his eyes. He was flanked by two strongmen. One of them was the usher from the theater — the one with the shifter. Mark couldn’t tell if the third man had one or not.
“You were out pretty good there, Carpen. I was getting tired of waiting.”
“Smith!” Mark hissed.
Smith threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s how you’d know me isn’t it? I was never important enough to catch your attention before, was I?”
That was a cryptic comment.
“What is your real name then?”
“Rialto. That’s all you really need to know. That and the fact that Ty Jennings is getting whacked right as we speak. Well, I guess he’s actually getting whacked a hundred years or so from now. Time travel certainly twists one’s concept of sequence of events, doesn’t it?”
“You’ll never get away with it. We’ll see to that.”
“I've already gotten away with it, don’t you see? In a few minutes, you’ll be dead. Ty’s being taken care of too. Who else would stop us, or undo what we do here today? Hardy Phillips? Not likely. We’ve taken great lengths to make sure no one can find either of you. Even if he could, we’ll get to him long before he figures out where to find you. It’s a done deal.”
Mark shook with rage.
“By the way, how’d you like our little trap? Did you honestly think that piece of paper fell from my pocket by accident? No, the whole bank thing was a lure. I knew you could simply shift around and undo it, or just go buy more shares, but I also knew you would want to try and find me.
“My shifter disappearing off my wrist was a glitch I hadn’t foreseen. I’d originally intended to just leave the paper on the floor for you to find, but I was stuck once I’d burned the shares.”
Mark had wondered about that before. “Why is that? — Smith, Rialto, or whatever your name is — Why did burning my shares cause your shifter to disappear?”
Something flashed behind Rialto’s eyes.
He continued as if Mark hadn't spoken. “Anyway, it’s a good thing for me you’re so stupid. If I hadn’t goaded you into shifting back and stopping me before I burned them, I would have been at your mercy. That was your one chance to get me, Carpen, and you missed it. I won’t miss. That, I promise.”
Mark glared, but Rialto ignored him, confident in his victory.
Rialto turned and instructed Mr. Usher. “Once I’ve gone, shoot him. Make sure it’s in the head.”
“What do you want me to do with the body?”
“Bury it in the woods. Do it far from here and deep in the ground. We don’t want any animals digging him up. As long as the body is never found, no one can ever come back and save him. Oh, and don’t forget to get his shifter once he’s dead. We don’t want to bury that.”
End of Book 1
Chronoshift Trilogy
Want a peek at a Secret Chapter?
The author has installed a secret
chapter on ChronoShift’s website that
can only be viewed there.
1. Go to www.Chrono-Shift.com
2. Use the same login give earlier in this
book and click on “Search Archives”.
3. Enter a search for “Chapter X”.
4. Follow the instructions.
Don’t forget to look for the next installment of the ChronoShift Trilogy
Chase
Coming Soon - 2012
Table of Contents
Title
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Sneak Peek
Table of Contents
Title
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Sneak Peek
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