Until Time Stands Still

by Scott, Lona

  Someone handed Mykel a cup of coffee, but he had forgotten he was even holding it, and it had grown cold long ago. He sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall for the hundredth time that hour.

  “Alright. Enough of this.” Graham said standing. “I’m ordering all of you to shower, get some chow and meet back here in an hour. I’ll stay here until you all get back, and then I’ll do the same.”

  “No.” Mykel said. It was the first word he spoke in the last four hours.

  “Not negotiable. You especially need a shower.” Graham said. “When the doctor comes out to tell us she’s going to be fine, you’ll want to go see her. They won’t let you, looking like that.” He pointed out.

  “Fine.” Mykel stood. The others followed after him silently down to the decontamination showers. By the time he peeled off his body armour, his clothes underneath stuck to him like tar. He peeled the sticky cloth from his body and Johnny had to help him scrub the sticky fluids from his back.

  Ten minutes later, he was back in the waiting room, with a fresh cup of coffee. He had forgone the food. He had no appetite anyway. The General was waiting for him with Graham.

  “She’s dead.” The General said. “The doctor said she’s just lost too much blood. They tried the best they could.” There wasn’t a hint of compassion in the man’s voice.

  “No.” Mykel breathed. “She can’t be.” He shook his head. “You’re lying.”

  “I’m sorry, Mykel.” Graham said, coming up behind him.

  “We are here for you man.” Bryant said.

  “Mykel…” Johnny had unshed tears in his eyes. “I tried so hard to save her. I’m so sorry I couldn’t.”

  He didn’t even hear them. No one stopped him when he shoved Graham away. Screaming, he turned and walked away, and finally let the tears fall unchecked down his face.

  *******************

  For the next six months, he was barely functioning. In the place where his heart had been, was something else. A darkness that made him not quite alive, that made him compassionless and dead inside. On missions, he was efficient, like an unfeeling, mechanical robot. He moved methodically, but with no real purpose. He kept his distance from the others, the ice in his heart, the darkness in his mind an effective barrier from connecting with anyone or anything ever again. Only one time in his life he had ever felt so utterly lost and dead inside. The day his parents and his baby brother had died. He had begged them, for hours, not to leave him alone in the world. But they did. He was only twelve at the time. He had thought he could never go on, but he had. Somehow. Being pulled through time kicked in his survival instincts enough to will him to live, but his world had been clouds and shadows, barely existing from one moment to the next, no matter what time he had been pulled to. Until he saw her. Isabelle had been his sunshine. The warmth of her in his life, turned his existence into a passable resemblance of a real life. For a few short weeks, he had known love again. The fickle bitch, Fate, tore that from him yet again, and this time, this time, he sworn never to go there again. His heart was shredded, grief tearing at his soul like a wild, terrible hurricane, sucking away anything good in him. He was an ice cold killing machine, primitive, emotionless and utterly merciless against the enemies he came across on their missions.

  The morning of her funeral, all the guys came by his house. He hadn’t showered or eaten in days, and just sat staring off into space, time slipping away unnoticed. He slept, or drank the pain away until he was blissfully numb and just passed out. That morning, Graham put him in a headlock and threw his ass in the shower, ordering him to wash up, while the other guys found his best clothes and made sure they were clean.

  They held the funeral in the small chapel on the base. Mykel walked in stiffly and went right up to the casket and tried to lift the lid. It was sealed. He looked up sharply at Graham and the rest of his team. “Why is this sealed? I want to see her.” He said gruffly.

  “I don’t know.” Graham said.

  He glanced at the Chaplin who shrugged. “The General ordered it closed.”

  Mykel frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense, unless…” A dark seed of a thought formed in his mind. “Can you excuse us please?” He dismissed the Chaplin.

  “She’s not dead.” He said, turning to the rest of them. “She’s alive.”

  “Come on man. We all know you wish that. We all do.” Bryant said. “But why would anyone let us all believe she was dead?”

  “She’s alive.” He said stubbornly.

  “The baby.” Johnny said suddenly.

  Mykel looked at him sharply. “What?”

  “The whole point of going into her time was to bring women back here. Some of us have. There are a bunch of women here now, but Isabelle was the first. She’s the first to get pregnant too. I believe you.” Johnny said. “I couldn’t understand how she could have died from that wound. She was pretty stable by the time we brought her home, with a strong heartbeat and steady pressure. We’ve all taken hits more serious and lived through it. Especially with the nanites helping us heal. Didn’t they tell you she had a better than average ability to heal?” He pointed out. “So what if the General has some other motive for keeping her from you? I think he wants the baby. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “How do we prove it?” Bryant asked.

  “We find her.” Mykel said. “And when we do, I’m taking her back to her time and neither of us are coming back here. You guys should come with us…because once I leave with her, the heat will be on you. The General will just do the same to your women.”

  Graham went over to the casket and laid his hand on it. “I don’t know who is in here, but we need to bury it as if it’s her. No one, especially the General, can know what we suspect.”

  ********************

  Isabelle woke to the sounds of a machine beeping. She cracked open her eyes and was immediately blinded by glaring lights. She was a in a small room with no windows. The walls were made of glass, and she could tell instantly that it was some sort of observation cell. There was a guard on duty behind a desk, monitoring a computer.

  “Hey!” She called, her voice hoarse. “Where am I?”

  “Good. You’re awake.” A disembodied voice came over the speakers in her room.

  “Where am I?” She demanded, sitting up.

  “You’ve been in a coma for several weeks, Isabelle, but you and your baby are safe now.” The woman’s voice said.

  “Baby?” She stilled, her hand going immediately to her stomach. It was fairly rounded out. “I’m pregnant?” She remembered wondering if she had been, and then she had run away, and got shot. She remembered the pain and then feeling so cold.

  “You’re nearly four months along now.” The voice said.

  “Where is Mykel? Does he know?” She demanded.

  “He knows.” The voice said soothingly. “But for the safety of your baby, we can’t allow him to see you right now. He was exposed to some toxins on his last mission. That’s why you are in isolation.”

  “He’s sick?” She gasped.

  “It’s best to keep you apart from him until after the baby is born and develops an immune system of his or her own.”

  “How sick is he? Is he going to be okay?” She demanded, standing up.

  “He’s going to be fine.” The voice said soothingly. “Don’t allow yourself to get upset dear. The baby needs you to be calm. The stress isn’t good for either of you.”

  “I can’t just stay here!” She said, her voice cracking. “He needs me.”

  “He wants you to be healthy, and keep the baby protected.” The woman said. “It was his idea to keep you in isolation.”

  Isabelle stayed silent. She knew in her heart, right at that moment that she was being lied to. No matter what, she knew he would never agree to be apart from her for any length of time. Not after the things he had last said to her. She thought back to that day at the warehouse, when he had asked her to marry him. She hadn’t been able to give him an
answer.

  “Please tell him, the answer is yes.” She said finally, tears pooling in her eyes. She sat back down on the bed and closed her eyes against the bright lights. She was in another cage, and this time they wanted her to believe Mykel of all people, put her there. They must have really thought she was that much of a fool. She wondered what lies Mykel had been told about her, and if he had really been told about the baby. She wondered if he believed them. No matter what, she was determined to break out of this glass box and find him, before her baby was born. She didn’t want him to miss that. She settled her hand on her stomach and smiled.

  Their baby.

  **********************

  The guys spent the last few months training a replacement for Jacob. The General had insisted, and while they were resistant to the idea, they knew they couldn’t object too much. The new kid was as green as could be, but he was a brilliant technical analyst. Will Rawlins fit into the group easily, but while they never let on, they never really accepted him as one of them. Mykel suspected he was a spy sent to watch them and the timing seemed suspicious to the others as well.

  While they weren’t training or going on missions, they were covertly sneaking back to Isabelle’s time. Mykel had already purchased a home in another state, deep in the mountains, in a valley between two large hills. He chose the place because it messed up their instruments there. The nanites could not be tracked in the mountains, which meant they would be safe. No one would be able to find them. Assuming they could find her and get her back. That was the plan, so far. If they were right about Isabelle being alive. In his time, they systematically searched around the base looking for any clue as to where Isabelle had been taken. After months they had come up with nothing. Some of the guys had begun to wonder if she really wasn’t alive and Mykel was just clinging to a desperate hope as a way to not deal with his grief. Bryant was convinced he was completely cracking up. No one really disagreed with him.

  Tonight, they would break into the Generals home, to find out if there was any information on his personal computer. If they didn’t find anything, they really had no clue where to look next. Graham had told Mykel that if they came up empty handed, the search was off.

  “Are we a go Boss man?” Johnny whispered into his com. He, Bryant and Will were stationed in the decontamination room, having just come back from a mission to get Johnny a woman. Surprisingly Chloe had gone with them willingly, enthusiastic to see the future. Unlike Grahams woman Nadia, who had tried to kill him the first night they spent together. He had a fresh new scar above his right eye to add to the one already on his face. Her feisty attitude only seemed to make her all the more enticing to him.

  “It’s a go.” Graham said quietly, silently motioning Mykel forward. The two of them crept out of the bushes of the Generals back yard, making their way like dark phantoms in the night, hiding in the shadows.

  Chapter 11

  “How is the woman doing?” Jemma asked quietly. She put her book down on the bedside table. Her blonde hair had grown a little grey over the last several months, and she hid the shallow paleness of her skin behind carefully applied rogue. She was still recovering, her eyes still lifeless. The deep ache in her heart stole her vitality.

  “She’s doing well.” The General said, taking off his uniform. He walked to the closet and hung it up, like he did every night.

  “And the baby?”

  “Very healthy. The vitamin drinks are working.” Alexander said. He came back to the bed and crawled in.

  “When can we find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” She asked.

  “In a few more weeks.” He said.

  “I want to name the baby after you.” She said, cuddling up to him.

  “What if it’s a girl?” He asked, smiling.

  “Alex or Alexandra. It makes no difference to me. I just want a baby.” She said.

  “I know sweetheart.” He kissed her forehead. “I promised you a baby, and you’ll get one.” He said. “Sleep now, dear.” They both drifted off to sleep his arms around his wife.

  Mykel placed the stolen print over the lock on the door and the two men slipped inside silently. The house was quiet. They could hear soft snoring from the back of the bedroom. Graham motioned toward the room. Mykel crept silently forward, not making a sound. The bedroom door was closed. They moved together toward the small office off the kitchen. Mykel stood as look out while Graham searched the Generals file cabinet. There was one drawer that was locked. He searched the wide oak desk and found the key taped under the pull out keyboard tray. He quickly went to the drawer and opened it.

  Inside were several large sealed envelopes, about three inches thick. He pulled out the papers and spread them on the desk. “Mykel, these are all dossiers on us, and the women.” He whispered. “Notes on our mental status, medical records, missions…everything.”

  “Any idea where Isabelle is?” He asked.

  “Not yet.” He turned on the laptop. It was password protected. “Shit.”

  “How long will it take to get into his system?” He asked.

  “Without Will…never. We need him to take a crack at it.”

  “We can’t.” Mykel said. “He could be a mole.”

  “We have to.” Graham said. “If he’s got secret files on us, there’s got to be more information on the man’s computer. Take the files. We can go through them tonight and return them tomorrow when we come back for the computer.”

  “What if the General discovers the files missing before then?” Mykel asked.

  “It’s a risk.” Graham shrugged. “But if it means finding your woman, it’s worth it, isn’t it? Let’s go before he wakes up.” Graham whispered.

  They snuck back out of the house and into the night, becoming the ghosts they were trained to be. Mykel took the files back to his house. When they knew they were in the clear, and no alarms were raised at the General’s residence, the boys and their women all gathered at his house to go over their folders.

  Bryant’s woman, who had finally told him her name was Danae, was especially insistent that they be allowed to help in the search, since she had met Isabelle while they had been locked in the cages. Danae was livid that any of the girls had been taken the way they were. Most of them had been released after the raid, but she had chosen to stay with Bryant. It took weeks for her to warm up to Graham, after his performance in front of her. He finally convinced her it had all been a pre-planned act.

  “Go through your own files, and let us know if anything pops.” Graham said, handing out the folders.

  “Pops?” Danae raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Anything at all that will tell us where she could be hiding.”

  “What if she’s not even here anymore?” She asked, frowning. “You all go through time, so what if she was taken off the base to somewhere else entirely?”

  “No. She’s here. I can feel it.” Mykel said.

  “They would want to keep her close.” Johnny agreed. “To monitor the baby.”

  Graham’s woman, Nadia sat quietly listening to all of them. Finally she rolled her eyes. “You all are so stupid.” She stood up, glaring at Graham. “I grew up on military bases around the world. Most of them have secret underground levels no one is supposed to know about. Government contracts, research and all that go on down there. If she’s here, she’s not on the base, she’s under it.”

  “If you all get me some blueprints, I can find it. There’s only so many ways that underground facilities can be built.” A voice said from the doorway. They all turned to find Will leaning against the door frame. He grinned and walked in. “I knew you were all hiding something.”

  Mykel stood and walked over to him. “Are you here to spy on us?” He growled.

  “No.” He snorted. “I don’t know what all is going on here, but I want in. I’m part of the team. I’ve never done anything to make you suspicious of me, have I?”

  No one said a word. “Let me show you that I’m loyal.” He said.

&nbs
p; “Fine.” Graham said. “We need you to sneak into the Generals home office and crack the code on his computer. Copy the hard drive and any other evidence you find. Bring it back to us. If you’re caught, we will tell the General you acted alone and know nothing.”