Time Tsunami

by Danele J Rotharmel

  TIME TSUNAMI

  Book One: The Time Counselor Chronicles

  Danele J. Rotharmel

  Copyright 2016 Danele J. Rotharmel

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Cover Art by Joan Alley

  Editing by Jacqueline Hopper

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are the product of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Scripture quotations are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  Published by Prism Book Group

  ISBN-10: 1-943104-34-4

  ISBN-13: 978-1-943104-34-5

  First Edition, 2016

  Published in the United States of America

  Contact info: contact@prismbookgroup.com

  http://www.prismbookgroup.com

  THE TIME COUNSELOR CHRONICLES:

  Time Tsunami

  Time Trap (coming soon)

  For my parents, Don and Joan Rotharmel, with all of my love.

  This book would not have been possible without you.

  Excerpt from Timewave Dynamics 805

  What is a Time Tsunami? It is a phenomenon that is set in motion when a time counselor destabilizes a captured timewave causing it to split in half. When the two halves begin rushing toward the temporal shore, the fabric of time unravels. It is our responsibility to insure that a Time Tsunami never occurs.

  Dr. William Ableman

  * * *

  The Five Immutable Laws

  1. A case subject’s past must be thoroughly researched.

  2. A case subject must undergo extensive interviews before being selected.

  3. A case subject’s tipping point toward evil must be determined.

  4. A time counselor must never reveal his or her last name or personal history.

  5. A time counselor must never be blinded by conceit or supposition.

  TEMCO Code of Conduct, 5th Edition

  CHAPTER ONE

  Tears flooded Gil Montgomery’s eyes as Daniel Winston was strapped down to a gleaming metal gurney. She blinked back the moisture. She knew Daniel wouldn’t appreciate her pity. She also knew her tears were inappropriate. His crimes had been violent.

  Gil shuddered as heavy buckles were tightened across Daniel’s chest. She’d known that observing executions would be part of her job when she joined the TEMCO program at National Science University, but she hadn’t considered the harsh realities of watching a life being extinguished.

  As another shudder ripped through her body, a deep voice whispered, “Are you okay?”

  Gil nodded and squared her shoulders. With a glance at her adviser, Dr. William Ableman, she said in an unconvincing voice, “I’m fine.”

  William’s soft, warm eyes peered into hers. She knew he was discerning enough to recognize her words as a lie. Looking down at her hands, she desperately tried to regain her composure.

  “It’ll be over soon,” he murmured.

  “Seven minutes at the least or two hours at the most,” she mumbled.

  “I’m sorry you have to see this.”

  “It’s part of a time counselor’s job. I can handle it.”

  “I know, but I’m still sorry.”

  Gil glanced up at William. He was in his mid-thirties and was handsome even though the lower half of his face was hidden by a wiry beard. As his gaze captured hers, the compassion she saw caught her by the throat. She looked away swiftly and bit down on the inside of her cheek. She was going to lose it if she wasn’t careful, and breaking down would really impress the TEMCO Review Board. If she wanted to earn her Time-Counselor License, she needed to get control of herself.

  She watched as William reached toward her shoulder. Before he touched her, he stopped short and said, “The first execution’s always hard to watch.”

  “Does it get any easier?”

  “Honestly? Not really. Not ever. But at least you know what to expect after your first.”

  Digging her fingernails into her palms, she nodded and reminded herself that she was there to bring hope to a hopeless situation. She looked back through the glass at the man strapped to the execution gurney. His burn-ravaged face was twisted into lines of defiance. His body was held rigid and unrepentant. As she watched, his arms were swabbed with alcohol in preparation for cannula insertion. He had only a few minutes left to live—alcohol sterilization seemed like some kind of macabre, ghastly joke.

  As if feeling her gaze, Daniel looked at her with his uninjured eye—his other eye was shriveled in its socket. She expected him to look away, but he didn’t. As her tears threatened to fall, a flickering change came over his face. Suddenly, she could see past his defiance to the regret and fear he was trying to hide. As they stared at each other, Daniel’s face softened and a tear slowly gathered in the corner of his eye.

  Across the viewing room, a voice hissed, “That’s right! Cry! I hope you feel yourself dying. I hope you feel more pain than my wife ever felt. I hope you go straight to—”

  Gil stopped listening to the ranting words and continued staring at the inmate’s face. Although he winced as two intravenous cannulas were introduced into his arms, he refused to look away from her. It was as if he were gathering strength from her and using it to help him through his final moments. Gil felt an overwhelming wave of sadness as slender plastic tubes were attached to his cannulas. She hated what she was seeing. She knew he was evil, but she also knew there was good in him. She’d seen that goodness during their interviews. She’d heard it in his voice when he sang softly in his prison cell. He wasn’t a complete monster—the good in him was hidden to most people, but she knew it was there. It went deep, and it was worth fighting for. He was worth fighting for.

  As attendants attached Daniel to a heart monitor, his layers of hate and anger seemed to be stripped away, leaving him with a vulnerable, emotionally naked appearance. As she watched, sorrow filled his face.

  I’m so sorry, she mouthed silently to him.

  One corner of his mouth twitched up as he shook his head and mouthed back just as silently, Don’t be.

  “Daniel Winston,” the warden said solemnly, “do you wish to make a final statement?”

  Daniel nodded, and at last, his single tear fell. For the first time since he’d captured it, he broke his gaze with Gil. She watched as he looked over at the angry man behind the glass. “I want you to know how sorry I am about your wife and unborn daughter,” he said in a choked voice. “I didn’t mean to shoot your wife, but it was my actions that put her in danger and it was my bullet that killed her. If I could change what happened to your family, I would. I hope my death will bring you the closure you deserve.”

  The man jumped forward and slammed his fist against the glass. “Save your fancy speeches! Just die! You hear me? Just die!”

  Gil watched as Daniel swallowed hard and stared at the knot of furious people in the viewing room. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured thickly. “I know I deserve this. I should’ve died in the fire. My life has brought nothing but pain. I know how evil I am, but I wasn’t always this way. I used to be good, and kind, and…”

>   His voice trailed away as a hiss rose from the relatives of his victims. Biting his lip, he said to Gil, “Perhaps the thread of my existence can be changed. But if it can’t...I’m glad it’s finally over.”

  The warden signaled for the execution to begin. Reaching over, Gil grabbed her advisor’s hand. William jerked and looked at her in a startled fashion. Gil’s breath turned into strangled gasps as three drugs were injected sequentially into Daniel’s cannulas. William awkwardly stepped closer and put an arm around her shoulders. Collapsing against him, Gil stared with blurry vision through the Plexiglas window.

  * * *

  Daniel watched as William tightened his arm around Gil. Seeing the golden girl held close to her adviser—and also seeing the rapid way the doctor was breathing—a smile came to Daniel’s lips. Suddenly, his eyelids began to flutter. He knew that the first drug inserted into his cannula, a short-action barbiturate, was about to render him unconscious. It was the State’s final act of mercy before the second drug would cause sustained paralysis of his diaphragm, and the third drug would stop his heart. He peered over at Gil’s pretty face—he wanted it to be the last thing he saw. His body shivered and spasmed. Her blonde hair seemed to swirl into a cloudy storm of gold. She was inexpressibly lovely. He tried to focus on her eyes, but they seemed to explode into thousands of bits of bluish light.

  As Daniel Winston’s eyes slowly rolled up toward the back of his head, he murmured softly, “Here’s to second chances.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Driving through the outskirts of Washington D.C., William looked over at Gil in concern. It had taken Daniel Winston forty-seven minutes to die, and each minute had taken its toll on her. By the time her first case subject had been pronounced dead, her face was chalk-white and she was barely speaking. During the car trip back from Virginia, she stared out her window with a single-minded absorption that he didn’t like at all.

  She was at a dangerous juncture in her training—witnessing an execution was the moment some senior cadets washed out of the program. He didn’t blame them. The less brutal aspects of scientific research could be seen as preferable to the harsh realities of the struggle between life and death during the reorganization of time itself.

  He couldn’t see Gil’s face—she had it averted—but he could see her clenched fists. He didn’t want to lose her. He didn’t want to get the call saying she’d dropped out of TEMCO.

  He cleared his throat. “What are your plans tonight?”

  Gil slowly turned toward him. “Why are you asking?”

  “Because I’m concerned. You shouldn’t be alone. You need someone to talk to.”

  “Are you offering?”

  This time, he was the one who averted his eyes. Fixing his gaze on the bumper of the semi-truck ahead of him, he said, “Only if you need me. After all, I still have that violet I promised to give you.”

  “It’s still alive?”

  “Barely. I keep alternating ritual drownings and droughts—I don’t know what my sister was thinking when she gave it to me. If you don’t have any plans, we could swing by my place, pick up the violet, and then find a taco stand.”

  “Are you asking me out on a date?”

  A slight blush crawled up William’s neck. “Dating students is frowned upon by NSU.”

  “Frowned upon, but not forbidden.”

  “Regardless, making sure you’re all right falls within my duties as your advisor.”

  “Vigilant about your job, are you?” she asked dryly.

  “I try to be.”

  “Well, bully for you.”

  He blinked rapidly. “Gil—”

  “NSU should be glad they have such a diligent professor on their staff.”

  “Gil—”

  “It must be a drag to be constantly hassled with keeping your students on an even keel. I appreciate your willingness to put in some overtime on my behalf.”

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  “Do I?”

  “Look, if you need to talk I’ll be happy to spend time with you, but if you have other plans I’ll drop you at your apartment. Just tell me what you want. Do you want to grab a taco?”

  “As a student being helped by her professor?”

  As he nodded, he heard her sigh. “Actually, I’m awfully tired,” she said. “Besides, I have a three-hour final in the morning.”

  William blinked. “I’d forgotten about the exam.”

  “You can afford to,” she sputtered. “All you have to do is sit in front of the class and watch your students struggling through your ponderous questions. I, on the other hand, have to take the silly thing.”

  “You’re not planning an all-night cram session are you?”

  “My brain feels numb. Studying wouldn’t do me a lick of good. I’ll pass or fail on what I know already.” She stretched. “Tonight I’m gonna take a bubble bath, order pizza, and be a couch potato. After the day I’ve had, I don’t want to concentrate on anything complicated.”

  “That sounds like a good plan.” He hesitated. “Are you sure you’re all right? Watching someone die, especially someone you’ve been interviewing, can be—”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I know today must’ve bothered you. Should I be concerned?”

  “Are you asking as my friend or as my advisor?”

  “Does it make a difference?”

  “Of course it does.” She hunched a shoulder. “If you’re asking as a representative of the review board, you’re not getting a single word out of me.”

  “As your friend then—how are you doing?”

  “If you want the absolute truth, I’m a little shaken but all right.”

  “You’re sure?”

  She nodded. “Seeing Daniel die was horrible, but that’s why I joined TEMCO. We look at harsh realities and do something about them. I’m going to fight to give Daniel his second chance.” She shifted in her seat and faced him. “I’m not going to wash out. I’ll see this thing through, and you’re gonna be astonished at what I accomplish.”

  Feeling a rush of relief at her words, he said softly, “I’m sure that I will be.”

  “Can we change the subject?” she asked, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I need to stop thinking about Daniel’s death for a while.”

  He looked at her pale face in concern. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “I’m not sure,” she replied. Her voice took on a slight teasing tone. “After all, you’re a stodgy old academic who has more in common with a dusty dictionary than with me.”

  Stopping at a red light, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You think I’m old?”

  Her eyes twinkled. “I think you could give Methuselah a run for his money.”

  “Come on, I’m only a few years older than you.”

  “A few? Nine years is practically a decade.”

  “For your information, I’m only seven years older.”

  “You’re thirty-four? I knew I’d get you to tell me your age eventually.”

  “Be careful,” he said as the light turned green, “or I’ll add another page of questions to your final tomorrow.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Stodgy old professors can do anything they like.”

  Gil’s lopsided dimples danced. “True, but students can get even in inventive ways. Rumor has it your office got a decorative touch recently. You should start coming to the gym again—you’re obviously getting too out of shape to pay attention to what’s going on around you.”

  He grunted, refusing to rise to her bait.

  “So will I see you at the pool in the morning?”

  He hesitated.

  “Honestly! It’s like you’ve become allergic to chlorine. I don’t understand why you’ve stopped coming.”

  He remained silent.

  “For pity sake, the least you can do is tell me why. Answering a simple question won’t trigger a Time Tsunami.”

  “We’re here.”
>
  “Pardon?”

  “We’ve arrived at your apartment,” he replied.

  “I can see that, but you haven’t explained why—”

  “I’m not going to.”

  “I can’t believe women are considered the secretive sex.”

  Remaining silent, William pulled up at her front door. As she gathered her belongings, he shut off the engine and watched her. She had no idea how graceful she was or just how beautiful. Seeing her reach for the door handle, he said softly, “No, allow me.”

  “I can manage,” she said. “Stay in the car, it’s blowing a gale outside.”

  She opened her car door, and a rush of wind stirred through her hair. William breathed in the scent of her perfume and forced himself to hold his tongue.

  As she started to rise, he reached for her arm. Stopping himself before his fingers touched her, he said quietly, “Call me if you can’t sleep. Remember you couldn’t do anything to save Death Row Daniel, but in a couple of days you’ll get your chance to save little Danny.”

  She nodded. “Goodnight. See you in class—or at the pool if you change your mind.”

  William watched as she walked to her building. The wind was playing with her golden hair and tugging at her blouse. Once she was safely inside, he laid his forehead against the steering wheel. After a few moments, he raised his head and slowly drove away.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Gil wandered around her apartment in aimless circles. The bubble bath hadn’t relaxed her, and the pizza was sitting in her stomach like an undigested stone. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep. She kept hearing the angry clamor of the relatives in the viewing room. She kept picturing the poison creeping its silent way into Daniel’s arm.

  Making a disgusted sound, she looked over at the clock. It was almost 10:30—what were the odds that William was still awake? She reached for the phone and then hesitated. Only a brain-dead idiot would wake up her professor the night before her final exam. Besides, she’d already blown the opportunity to spend time with him. She should’ve taken him up on his offer, but the way he made his dinner invitation sound like a duty had been too irritating to ignore.