A sigh slipped out before he could stop it.
He felt as if he had been blind and could suddenly see.
“No touching!” the Three shrieked too late.
Merrick saw what he needed and felt his fingers slip from Jasper's.
He slammed into the can and came out half a heartbeat later at the feet of the male.
Merrick recovered instantly.
A second in the pathway of fire and ice was not long enough to faze him.
He sprang to his feet and punched the weapon out of the Three's hand.
Jasper ducked as the Three's thumb spasmed from the hit, and a shot rang out—deafening in the cloistered-shrub forest.
Merrick punched his dominant hand into the Three's jaw, his superior reach unnecessary when he was so close. As he struck, he envisioned holding the daggers that were popular from One and saw them go through the body.
“Merrick!” Jasper screamed.
Jeb came to himself, blood-soaked to the elbow. He stood from the straddle he had on the Three, not understanding how he'd come to be there.
Jasper watched him, small and unafraid, her denims clenched inside her hand. “Stop—you'll kill him.”
Jeb looked at the male, whose face he’d pulverized.
“He deserves to die.”
Jasper nodded.
“Yes, but the jump is more important,” she reiterated carefully.
“He's seen too much,” Jeb said. His thoughts were far from self-defense and much closer to retaliation.
Jasper threw on her pants, jerked up the zipper, and grabbed her hoodie and shirt. “Come on.”
The Three was unconscious.
“He saw me jump,” Jeb sounded argumentative, even to his own ears.
Jasper just looked at him. “You want to kill him.”
Jeb thought about lying but didn't. “I do.”
“We can't….”
“I know,” Jeb interrupted softy. “Seventh: No death is without consequence.”
Jasper nodded at his sage response. “The continuum.”
Jeb knew all about the circle of karma.
They had already killed Threes back at the eatery. Even more reason to avoid a partnering with Jasper: she seemed to incite violence in males as though she were a feminine challenge that they must accept. Maybe it was her Sector One blood, the very wildness of which sent out a low-grade subconscious summons.
Jeb strode away from her, and without turning, he said, “And this male has done this before. He was far too practiced.”
“We can't rescue every single human. We can only do for the greater good.”
“Fine,” Jeb said, decision made.
He strode back to the unconscious Three and kicked him in his small nut sack, putting his strength into it. Jeb was sure it was diminutive. No male who had something to brag about would take a woman in that way.
The male roused, his hands flailing about.
Jasper covered her mouth, eyes rounding.
“Principle,” she whispered. “Will he die?”
Jeb smirked. “Not from that. It's a love tap, considering what I wanted to do.”
“You injured him…” Jasper said.
She didn't seem too broken up about it.
Jeb threw his head back and laughed. “He won't die, but it's going to hurt like Hades when he wakes up.”
Jasper's chin dropped. When her face rose, she said, “Thank you.”
Jeb's smirk became a grin. “My pleasure.”
“I bet,” she said.
Jeb liked that her eyes had lost that haunted quality.
“How much farther?” Jeb asked, changing the awkward charge in the air.
“About four and a half kilometers.”
“Let's book.”
Her brows rose.
“Let us make haste to our destination.”
“I think I like ʽlet's bookʼ better.”
They smiled at each other and left the would-be rapist behind.
*
Jeb surveyed the crowded lake with thinly veiled anxiety. His hands were on his hips.
He raised one and shaded his eyes.
The body of water was the perfect size for a jump to their home world without a locator. The lake was perfectly reflective, though the edges were murky with lily pads and the beginnings of human contamination typical of the era.
Jeb's arm dropped.
“Threes,” he said with more than a hint of disgust.
“Yes,” Jasper agreed quietly. “There are too many.”
Jeb turned to her. “Isn't there a more remote body of water?”
She nodded. “But the reflective points are unknown, as is the time to get there. Then we would be stuck here another night.”
“Damn,” Jeb murmured, cupping his chin. “Calvin would come for sure.”
“And Rachett would be steaming pissed.”
Merrick's lips twitched at the language.
He said nothing, though. Instead, he scanned the obvious pockets of greenbelts they could use to jump from.
It would not completely hide their trail, but it would diffuse it. Greenery was a terrific absorbent for their back trail from a jump.
“You see anything?” he asked.
“No—nothing. They've built everything to the water's edge.”
The people of this sector had still not embraced minimum green quota. He sighed. They had so much to learn. Jeb knew some critical advances were a generation away for Sector Three.
“All right, we bed down.”
Jasper snorted.
“Go ahead, figure out a spot.”
Jeb frowned. There was not a suitable area at the lake's edge. They would have to spend the night in misery.
Currency. He did have enough currency to buy food, though. His stomach picked that moment to let out a growl.
“Hungry?” Jasper perked up.
“Starving.”
He turned a curious look her way.
“Aren't you?”
She nodded. “Me, too.”
They searched the area. coming up with a gruesome assortment of typical Three fare.
“Come on,” Jeb commanded, and Jasper followed, dead on her feet.
*
Jeb was on the third sandwich, which they called cheeseburgers in this sector, chewing thoughtfully while Jasper finished her first.
“Eat more,” Jeb said, tossing a second burger at her.
“I'm not that hungry.”
What now? Jeb narrowed his eyes at her. “What's the problem?”
He leaned his back against a huge conifer tree. It’s sweeping branches smelled like freshly cut wood.
Jasper fiddled with the recycled paper that wrapped the sandwich, finally setting it down.
Jeb sucked a bubbly sweet liquid confection through a straw then set the drink down and leaned forward. “Talk.”
“For Principle's sake, I'm not a dog.” She swore under her breath.
Jeb’s eyebrows popped. Jasper was not a huge user of foul language. He swore enough for them both.
“Are you still sore about the cop?”
A great splash made them tense.
Jeb turned and saw a youngling diving along with his canine. The sleek black animal charged through the water chasing a bright-white disc. His gaze hung longingly on the sparkling drops the animal shook off his fur coat.
Then he dragged his attention back to Jasper.
She wrung her hands.
“No,” she answered in a low voice.
“What is it then?”
They grew silent as some older younglings strolled by, the females chasing the males. When the Threes were distant specks of running color, Jasper answered, “I'm afraid.”
Jeb sat up straight, looking for the threat.
“No.” Jasper gave a short laugh. “Not this moment. I mean, I—this is my first mission. It's gone badly, I almost died a Three's death, without honor. I made you jump us to heal me, and only luck got us back to the right quad
rant. Then that… man,” she said, keeping her eyes cast to the ground.
“He was no man. Just because he has a dick doesn't make him a man. It just means he's male.”
Jasper smiled at his words, and he leaned back against the tree trunk, crossing his legs at the ankle, hands laced behind his head, elbows out.
The bark of the tree bit softly against his flesh.
“What else troubles you?”
Jasper's gaze found him. He gave her hooded eyes back.
He knew the answer.
Jeb maintained his posture with an effort. “It's because I don't want to partner you anymore.”
She nodded. “I know I've messed up. That I am female…”
“You did well for a first mission. There were a lot of unforeseen fucking little disasters in every corner.” He shrugged. “Sometimes, that's the way of it.”
Jeb felt air pressure, and his hand tore away from the back of his head to catch something midair.
It was a ball of some sort. Pigskin bound with white laces covered it, and it felt good in his palm.
A youngling of perhaps thirteen cycles ran up. Though the youth of this sector were hard to judge, he was very tall for his age.
Five feet seven, one hundred twenty-five pounds, cardiovascular system premium, IQ: one thirty…
Sensitive.
Fuck.
Jeb saw Jasper tense in his peripheral vision. They had simultaneously assessed the youngling.
“Mister, throw me the ball, will ya?”
Jeb threw it, and the youngling male sucked it into his chest as if he’d done so a hundred times before. He turned away then slowed… and stopped.
He turned around.
Their eyes met. Jeb noticed how green the irises were. The rarest shade in this sector. His mind automatically supplied the percentage: three percent.
It made him think of Jasper, whose eyes were the rarest color on Papilio.
“What are you?” the youngling whispered.
“We mean no harm,” Jeb answered, standing up and backing away.
“You were saying?” Beth asked.
Jeb supposed she was right.
All they needed to completely screw the mission was Kennet and Calvin to show up and escort them back to Papilio like infants.
No.
“Things aren't going smoothly.”
“Uh-huh,” Jasper replied quietly.
“Yeah,” the youngling said. “I know what you are…”
Jeb stepped forward, and the youngling retreated a step.
“Let's go,” Jasper said, plucking at his sleeve.
The youngling smirked.
“You're one of those Dimensionals.”
The Reflectives stilled.
“What did you call us?” Jasper asked, and Jeb held her back from moving closer to him.
In Jeb's experience, Sensitives weren’t to be trusted. But he wondered if they were being mislabeled for a kind of paranormal present in this sector. If they had a term that seemed to apply to people who could jump through the dimensions, that could mean there were Threes who possessed the ability of a Reflective. This is bad.
Jeb understood that the Zondoraes had found an abandoned pathway, juiced it with this sector's newfound pulse technology, and used it for illicit travel. Jeb knew of no reports of natural talent in this sector.
“Yʼknow, the dudes that go poof.” With his fingers, he mimicked wings that fluttered then exploded into nothing. It was a crude but accurate explanation.
Though Jeb struggled with syntax, Jasper understood it well. That would be one thing he missed when she was no longer his partner. Language was a minefield for him, yet she never stepped on one booby trap.
He would miss other things, as well, none of which he would allow himself to inspect too closely at present.
One fucking disaster at a time.
“Why?” Jeb asked.
The youngling grinned. “I won't tell anybody about you two. Chillax.”
“Relax,” Jasper translated.
There was nothing vaguely relaxing about a youngling he couldn’t manipulate.
Jeb's hands went to his hips. “What do you propose, youngling?”
Jasper smacked her forehead.
“Merrick… really?”
The youngling smirked. “’Kay, I got you two. You're some kind of aliens that look like us, but are from somewhere else.”
He pointed at Jeb. “You talk sick, dude!”
Jeb stared at him blankly.
“Your speech is unique.”
“Thank you, Jasper,” Jeb said in a droll voice.
She winked. “Welcome.”
The boy's voice dropped. “Did you guys get separated from Command Central?”
Command Central?
“Jacky!” another youngling shouted from behind him.
Great… just great.
The youngling, Jacky, turned at the torso and threw the ball to the other young one. The throw was executed perfectly, a spinning roll of air and stealth.
The ball met its target, and the other youngling ran off to join a larger group. Jeb wondered if the day could possibly degrade further.
Jacky of the Quadrant of Kent talked to the other Threes. “It's okay!” Jacky waved at his friends. “They're not pervs!”
Jeb blanched. He'd forgotten the pervasive caution of this sector. The population seemed to suffer from an abundance of males who craved younglings’ flesh.
His anger must have seeped through because Jacky said, “Whoa, dude, ya need to relax. My friends were gonna come wipe the ground up with your ass if you were one of those losers that gets off on kids.”
Jeb surveyed the loose knot of mid-cycle younglings.
“I doubt it very much.”
“Which part?” Jasper asked, amused.
“The ʻwiping the assʼ part.”
Jacky stared at the two of them and shrugged. “Whatever. I thought you two looked different.” His eyes slid to the left, and Jeb's body tingled.
He’s lying.
Jeb didn't need to use his innate abilities to determine that. They needed to retreat from their current position to a less-populated locale or find out more from this boy.
His green eyes met Jeb's. “Can I trust you?” For the first time during the strange exchange, Jeb sensed uncertainty from the youngling.
Jeb nodded. “I am—we do not hurt…”
“Children,” Jasper finished.
Jacky's face scrunched up. “I am not a child. I'm almost thirteen. Check it.” He stood to his full height and lifted his arm, bunching the small muscle at the biceps.
Jeb smiled. Yes—he certainly acts his cycle age.
“So? Do we have a deal?”
“I wasn't aware we'd made one.”
“What do ya want?” Jasper asked.
The kid shifted his weight, flinging a mop of stringy chestnut hair out of his eyes. He seemed to be measuring something, looking thoughtful.
“I have this girlfriend.”
Beth raised an eyebrow.
“Not that kind, geez—duh.”
“A friend that's a girl,” he clarified.
Jeb and Jasper stared blankly back at him.
“You two”—he let his finger swing between them—“need to trench some humor. You're a couple of joy suckers.”
Jasper blinked.
Jeb found it interesting to note that even Jasper could be stumped. He folded his thick arms across his chest, keeping one eye on the group, which was gravitating closer.
“What do you propose?” Jeb asked, curious, despite the ruined mission, their obliterated timeline, and witnesses galore. He needed to know why a Sensitive youngling would identify them then ask for something. Of course, Jeb had never made acquaintance with a Sensitive youngling.
If they didn't jump by the next morning, Rachett would send Kennet on a retrieval mission, and Jeb would never live it down.
It would be worse for Jasper.
Jeb couldn't al
low that outcome. It would lessen her chances of a partner of quality.
“I need you to help my friend escape.”
That got Jeb's full attention, and he could tell Jasper was just as entranced, her body as still as a statue.
“Who is your friend?” Jasper asked.
Jeb moved behind her because the group of boys were almost to them.
“Back off, bros… this is some private shit,” Jacky said and winked at Jeb, who hid a smile despite the circumstance.
The boy had moxie.
“We got your back, Jack,” one said while another snorted in the background.
Jacky raised a middle finger casually.
“Blow me.”
They dispersed, muttering their discontent.
“Here's the thing…” Jacky said, leaning forward.
Jeb and Jasper gave each other a look then moved into a loose huddle as Jacky began to speak. Jasper had to stop him a few times and translate some of the odd slang because that was basically all he spoke.
Jeb understood they would not be jumping the next day.
He also understood their mission of political and future manipulation had turned into something else entirely—a rescue.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“You guys, follow me.” Jacky turned and cocked his head.
“You know, conspicuous-much… don't look so pedophile-ish, ’kay?” He wandered off, tossing what he’d explained like it was a football.
Beth shook her head.
A few other children flanked him as he walked, and Merrick lengthened his stride, catching up to the teen.
“Back off. You're bouncing off my bubble, pal.”
Merrick's jaw clenched. “Listen here, I thought this was a matter of great importance.”
Jacky turned, and Beth stopped walking. “It is… but you gotta not have a rack attack, man.”
Beth couldn’t contain her laughter. The great Jeb Merrick was getting his ass absolutely handed to him by a teen. Beth was thrilled for a memory to cherish.
Merrick whirled, his light-gray eyes like a storm of darkening gray. She put up her hands defensively. “He has a point—you're so stiff.”
“Yeah, bro, what she said.”
“You said it would be you and you alone,” Merrick reiterated.
“Listen,” Jacky said, eyeing him, “you kinda stand out. And any adult with half a brain”—he leaned forward and continued quietly—“and there aren't many with that much”—Jacky straightened—“is gonna think you're a creeper. So a group of us? No problem. I walk off with you and hottie over there…”
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