Bad Behavior (The Last Time Traveler Book 3)

by Aaron J. Ethridge

  “It will mean a lot more than that to her,” Vox replied.

  “I hope so,” the traveler smiled. “But, before I can take her back the correct way, we have to stop her from going back the wrong way. Fortunately, even though it will take her days to get where she's going, we'll be there in about twenty minutes. So, let's get on it.”

  Normally, Robert would have been quite correct. From when and where they were to when and where they wanted to be was roughly a twenty minute trip. However, five minutes into this trip, the engines went offline again. It only took four hours of constant work to get them back online but, they were four of the longest hours Morgan had ever lived through.

  Cleo and Azure had apparently grown weary of the game and began to engage in what Morgan would later come to think of as sensual bullying. They did everything they could to make he and Robert as uncomfortable as possible in their presence; including breathing on their necks as they watched them work, reaching across them whenever the flimsiest of excuses presented itself, and helping them concentrate by rubbing their backs and shoulders until they were asked to stop.

  Morgan wanted Robert to order them to go elsewhere, but Robert was certain they would just see that as a sign of weakness they could exploit in future. Morgan then informed Robert that he was very near the end of his rope and that, if a new plan wasn't come up with soon, he would surrender on his own. Robert assured him that said new plan would be forthcoming the moment they got Celeste back on the ship. He also pointed out that Cleo had tipped her hand when she talked about taking extreme measures to make him get the point.

  Robert informed Morgan – in no uncertain terms – that extreme measures were his particular specialty, and that she was going to find that out before very much longer. This would have made Morgan feel a lot better if he hadn't figured it was all just bluff. The truth is; he was only about half right.

  Chapter 12: Close, But No Cigar

  “Since we can't afford to mess this up,” Robert said, pushing several buttons on one of the ship's consoles as he spoke, “I've decided to head in with a few hours to spare. We don't know exactly what's going to happen or who's likely to be where to see what. So, we have to use the utmost caution. We need to case the joint and come up with something special to help us extract Celeste without anyone being any the wiser.”

  “What do you have in mind, boss?” Vox asked.

  “I'll let you know shortly. Back to the armory.”

  Once again, the entire crew got decked out. Each put on cloth armor, a stealth-belt, and a personal shield before grabbing up an energy pistol and a tranq-pistol – as Robert put it: just in case. This done, Robert told Morgan to grab one of the handles of a large generator-looking device that the young man had never seen before.

  The party made its way to the car and climbed on board. As soon as everyone was buckled up, Robert dropped the car out of the ship – which was currently invisibly orbiting Duck à l'orange – and headed straight for Celeste's mother's home in the earliest hours of dawn. The neighborhood into which they flew was a small retirement community filled with very small, very posh houses packed very closely together. This was one of the problems with extracting their target at the last possible moment.

  “What we don't want,” Robert said, switching on his stealth-belt and climbing from the cloaked car, “is for anyone to see us apparently kidnapping Celeste. In addition, we also don't want anyone spotting her suddenly popping out of existence. Lastly, what we do want is to grab her before she gets inside the house.

  “Now, if we had any idea where she's been for the last six days or so, we could just go pick her up from there... probably. We don't, however. We just know that she's going to be here a few hours from now and that we have to catch her before she gets inside – without anyone seeing us do it. Which, considering the fact that this neighborhood is filled with retirees that may – at any moment – come out to sit on their front porches to enjoy the fresh morning air, we may find a little tricky.”

  “What can we do about it?” Morgan asked.

  “To start with,” Robert replied, “we're going to scan the area.”

  Having said this, he opened the invisible trunk and pulled what appeared to be a remote out of a compartment of the generator-looking device. With this in hand, he walked to the curb and began scanning the yard and the front of the house.

  “We look weird with stealth-belts on,” Morgan mused, as he stood watching Robert work.

  “In what way?” the traveler asked.

  “We're just glowing auras.”

  “We can see each other and we can tell who is who, that's good enough.”

  “I didn't say it wasn't. I just said we looked weird.”

  “True.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Scanning,” Robert explained.

  “Why?”

  “You'll see.”

  As soon as his scanning was complete, Robert returned to the generator-looking device, pushed a number of buttons on it, and asked Morgan to help him lift it from the trunk. The pair placed the device on the middle of the lawn and Robert fired it up. It vanished instantly, leaving behind only a glowing aura that only those wearing the crew's modified stealth-belts could see.

  “So, we hid a generator on the lawn?” Morgan observed. “What part of your brilliant plan is that?”

  “The most brilliant part.”

  “Care to explain what you mean?” the young man asked.

  “Nope,” Robert replied, shaking his head. “But, I'll be happy to show you. Follow me.”

  The traveler led the young man to the curb, turned around, and waved his hand toward the house.

  “What do you make of that?” he asked.

  “Not much,” Morgan admitted. “What am I looking at?”

  “Don't you notice anything different?”

  “I can only see our auras now,” Morgan observed aloud.

  “That's right,” Robert replied. “That's because we're the only ones on this side of the hologram.”

  “What's the point of that? If Celeste steps into the yard and disappears it's going to be just as shocking as if she vanished while she was in the middle of the lawn.”

  “You're right about that.”

  “So, what good does this do us?”

  “Well, Morgan...” the traveler began before pausing. “Actually, I think I may be able to give you a demonstration. Follow me and don't make a sound.”

  Robert quickly approached a mailman that was making his early morning rounds through the neighborhood. He took the remote-like device and stepped invisibly – and silently – around the gentleman, scanning him from every angle. This done, he quickly pushed a series of buttons on the remote.

  The pair silently stalked the courier until he reached Celeste's mother's house. He stepped unwittingly through the hologrammatic curtain, walked up to the front door, stood there for several seconds without moving, and then continued his rounds.

  “Impressive, eh?” Robert asked.

  “I've seen better,” Morgan replied sarcastically. “I like mailmen that actually deliver the mail.”

  “He did.”

  “No, he didn't. We just saw him not do it.”

  “We just saw the hologram display an image of him,” the traveler explained. “I made it look like he walked up to the door and stood still so people wouldn't be able to see him deliver the mail.”

  “Okay. That is impressive.”

  “It's going to be a lot more impressive when I make it look like Celeste walked into the back yard and out of sight.”

  “I believe you.”

  “Assuming of course, that we can see her.”

  “Meaning?”

  “She has four stealth-belts.”

  “That's a fair point.”

  After just over three hours, their quarry arrived. She was slowly – and quite visibly – strolling down the sidewalk; very obviously soaking herself in nostalgia. Robert was ecstatic about the fact that she
wasn't wearing a stealth-belt. For one thing, it made her easier to catch. For another, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was sure she had gotten away. He sincerely wanted to leave her with the impression that you could never be sure you had escaped from The Robert Nathaniel Hood.

  The traveler stepped quickly – and carefully – around her as she made her way toward the house, collecting the data the holo-emitter needed to create a simulated Celeste. By the time she reached the lawn, everything was ready. To the general public, it would have appeared as if she had turned and made her way toward the back yard only to disappear behind the house.

  What happened in reality, was that she headed straight for the door, was grabbed by something she couldn't see, and vanished as she was lifted from the ground.

  “Stop struggling baby,” Vox said quietly. “This isn't the first time I've caught you, you know?”

  Having said this, he put his bride on the ground – who instantly reappeared – and switched off his stealth-belt. His companions instantly followed this example.

  “I knew it,” she almost whispered, tears forming in her eyes. “I knew that, when it was all said and done, everything I had to go through was going to have been for nothing. No matter how fast you run or where you hide, that demon will hunt you down.”

  “That's hardly fair, baby.”

  “Don't speak to me,” she snapped as loudly as she dared under the circumstances. “You helped him, didn't you?”

  “Yes, I did, but...”

  “I don't even want to hear it! You've always cared more about him than you do me.”

  “That's not true!”

  “Spare me!”

  “He's planning to let you come back!” Vox barked. “Did you know that?! The man who's been your friend most of your life, who practically brought us both back from the dead, who has gone to an unbelievable amount of trouble to keep you from possibly making a terrible mistake, and who is trying to keep you from going to prison – that man you just called a demon – is planning to bring you back here so you can see your mother one last time!”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  “He did!”

  “And, you believe him?”

  “I do.”

  “Then, you're an even bigger fool than I thought you were. Let's go.”

  Go they did. Celeste told Robert exactly where she had hidden the cloaked escape pod. In mere minutes, they were headed for the ship, pulling the pod behind them with a gravity beam. The entire group was in a state of stunned silence during most of the return trip. None of them seemed to have expected the reaction they had gotten from Celeste and none of them seemed to be sure exactly how to react to her reaction. The moment they got back, Celeste stormed off to her and Vox's room and locked herself inside to have a good cry.

  “I'm sorry she acted like that,” Vox said, shaking his head.

  “Are you kidding me?” Robert chuckled. “Just try to imagine how angry you would be if you had spent close to a month without your spouse, constantly working toward a single goal, being afraid that, at any moment, I might pop out of nowhere and stop you. Then, just as your goal is in sight, all you get for all your effort is to see my smug face smiling at you. I'm just glad she didn't try to scratch my eyes out.”

  “I'm glad you're taking it like that.”

  “Let her have her cry,” the traveler smiled. “Then, we can sit her down and explain that – if at all possible – she's going to get to see her mother. And, this time, she's gonna get to ride in style to get there.”

  “Sounds good, brother,” Vox replied with half a smile. “Now that she's back aboard safe and sound, I think I'm going to go take a nap in one of the spare rooms. I'm exhausted, man.”

  “I can understand that. One thing real quick, though.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you put a pass-code on the escape pods before you crash?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Good man,” Robert replied. “Also, Cleo, I want you to go double check the comm system before we head out. Azure, go make sure there's nothing wrong with the main drive, the time-drive, or the stealth generator.”

  “Yes, Sir,” both maidens replied before heading out toward their respective tasks.

  “Now that those two are temporarily taken care of,” Robert said, his gaze moving from Doc to Morgan, “let's us three head to the medi-bay.”

  The trio immediately did as the traveler suggested.

  “Alright,” he said the moment they entered the chamber, “you wanted a new plan, right, Morgan?”

  “A new, and better, plan.”

  “I have one,” Robert assured him. “I've decided to take a page out of Cleo's extreme measures book – which is why I'm dragging you into this, Doc. You have to commit every word, every look, every tone of voice perfectly to memory. Because, when I drop this bomb, I may need you to keep Cleo from literally trying to kill me.”

  “I don't like this plan, Rob,” Morgan said, shaking his head.

  “You haven't heard it yet,” the traveler pointed out.

  “I've heard enough.”

  “Look, Morgan, things have gone too far for us to back down now.”

  “Which is why we should have surrendered earlier.”

  “What kind of talk is that?!” Robert exclaimed.

  “Accurate?” Morgan suggested.

  This caused Doc to laugh.

  “Listen, bro, we love those ladies, right?”

  “More than anything.”

  “Then, we have to do this. It's as much for them as it is for us.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “They're turning into bullies,” Robert explained. “I mean; we're stronger than they are, and bigger than they are – respectively – but, we don't go pushing them around or intimidating them, do we?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “But, that's what they're doing to us, isn't it?”

  “Kind of...” Morgan admitted. “I mean; what they were doing right before we went to pick up Celeste could almost be described as sensual bullying, I guess.”

  “Yes, it could be,” Robert nodded. “Doc, you had to have noticed that.”

  “Oh, I noticed,” Doc chuckled. “I just didn't say anything because I thought do nothing was your current plan.”

  “It was, but I'm changing it.”

  “To what?” the young man asked.

  “The thing is, Morgan, at the moment, they're bullies. They're only brave because they don't think they have anything to be afraid of.”

  “They don't.”

  “They feel perfectly safe with us,” Robert continued.

  “They are,” Morgan pointed out.

  “And, they always will be. However, that doesn't mean we can always let them feel that way. We can't win this because we're the ones who are afraid.”

  “I certainly am,” the young man admitted. “I'm getting to the point of being terrified of finding myself alone with Cleo.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Are you serious?! I can't be sure what she may or may not do next.”

  “Exactly! And, why can't you be sure?”

  Morgan shot Doc a glance.

  “Azure kissed me,” Robert said, waving his hands around like a wild man, “and Cleo kissed Morgan.”

  “Really?!” Doc asked, clearly shocked.

  “That's just how I felt!” Morgan said, pointing at Doc.

  “That's what I'm saying!” Robert exclaimed. “They kissed us in order to frighten us, Morgan.”

  “Well, it worked.”

  “Of course it did! They know how we feel about them so, they knew we'd run like scared rabbits. And that's why none of my plans have worked so far.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “How do I win at poker?”

  “You bluff,” Morgan explained. “You bluff, and double bluff, and triple bluff, and sometimes...”

  “Right, Morgan,” Robert interrupted. “But, if you know that, why can't you be
at me?”

  “Well, because I never...” here, the young man paused as the answer dawned on him. “Because I never know when you're bluffing!”

  “Precisely! We've been losing because the girls have known that we were always bluffing.”

  “Your right!” Morgan said, snapping his fingers. “But, what can we do about it? Bluff is all we got.”

  “Oh, no it isn't,” Robert replied. “We can call a bluff, as well.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “They're bluffing us, Morgan. That's what you have to keep in mind, bro. Cleo doesn't really want you, and Azure doesn't really want me. They just wanted to rattle our cages. And, they did.”

  “By kissing us!”

  “Exactly!”

  “So, you're saying...”

  “I am!”

  “You seriously mean...”

  “I do!”

  “Just to be sure we're on the same...”

  “What I'm saying,” Robert said, making his right hand into a fist, “is that we kiss them! In fact, I'm saying we hit them with double – no triple – what they hit us with! It's the only way to get them to respect us again! It's do this, or submit to whatever they want to put us through for the rest of our lives. Do you want to have the threat of Cleo coming up and kissing you hanging over you from now until the end of time?!”

  “No!”

  “Can you stand up like a man?!”

  “Yes!”

  “Then, we have a job to do!”

  “You're right!” Morgan said, dropping his fist on top of Robert's before immediately hitting it from underneath. “Let's do this!”

  After a quick fist bump, they turned toward the door.

  “Oh, and, Morgan,” Robert said, cracking his neck as he spoke, “don't hold back, man. I plan to knock Azure out of her shoes if I can.”

  “You got it, brother! It's the least I can do for you!”

  Morgan knew this was a battle he would have to psych himself up for. Cleo – at least, in some ways – had a definite advantage in a fight like this. Her personality was just generally more dominant than his – which was hardly surprising considering who her fiancé was. The only way a woman could be with a man like Robert – and not cease to be her own person – was to have a sense-of-self that was made from pure adamantine. Cleo had that and then some.