by Janet Leigh
There was something about the last few words that made my gut tighten. If Brodie had stolen the Thunder key, and Toches had stolen the key from Berlin, it seemed like someone along the way would be affected. There were so many reasons we didn’t have history on those keys, only one being that the people who owned them knew nothing about the gift.
“How did they know we ’ave it?” Ace asked.
All heads turned to Caiyan.
“I didnae tell them,” he said.
“You were all hot and cozy with Mahlia. Maybe you let something slip in the heat of passion,” Marco said.
Caiyan jumped to his feet, knocking his chair back in the process. “I have never let anything slip in the heat of passion, ye jackass.”
Silence overtook the room. I heard Ace swallow hard. Caiyan was pressing both hands hard onto the table, and he leaned down, supporting himself with his arms.
“I was not sleeping with her,” he said, turning his face toward me. His green eyes were hard. “It was jest a business deal.”
Jake looked over at Caiyan. “Sit down and explain what happened during your trips to Berlin. Maybe you can shed some light on why Toches landed on the Mafusos’ beach.”
Caiyan sat slowly. “As I told ye before, I saw the key and researched the location. It should’ve been in the Flaktürme. In my previous travels, I was meeting with the accountant and arranging for the transportation of the stolen art for him. Mahlia was posing as my assistant.
“Several months ago, Mahlia and I were invited to a dinner at the Reichskanzler, what we call the Reich Chancellery. All of Germany’s upper class was present. I think Hitler switched with Toches during the party. Hitler’s girlfriend was an avid art collector and had me caught up in conversation most of the nigh’. Mahlia must have recognized Toches and made him a deal.”
Jake stood, slowly letting the tension in the room settle. “They want to arrange a meeting at Jen’s cousin’s wedding.”
“Melissa Jo’s wedding?” I asked. “Why would they want to meet there?”
“Because they have Eli.” Jake handed me the phone with his camera app showing a picture of Eli. He was wearing the same purple shirt from this morning, except his necktie was currently being used as a gag, and his hands were tied in front of him.
I gasped, and the other travelers gathered around me, looking over my shoulder at the picture. I heard Caiyan cuss in Gaelic.
“Why would they want Eli?” I asked as Eli’s panic-stricken face stared back at me from the small screen.
“Maybe because they can use him as a threat against us,” Brodie said.
“He’s not one of us. They can kill him,” Gerald piped in, and my hands started shaking.
Jake came around and squatted next to me. “They won’t hurt him, because they want the Thunder, and it’s a direct violation of the WTF agreement with the Mafusos.”
“But Toecheese wasn’t involved in the agreement, was he?” I asked. I shuddered at the thought of my brother being killed over a key.
“He’ll be fine,” Jake said, gently removing the phone from my hands. “I don’t know why they want to meet in Mount Vernon at your cousin’s wedding. Maybe they feel like we can’t interfere if there are family members we are trying to keep in the dark about your gift.”
The thought of my parents or Mamma Bea finding out I can time travel made me cringe. My father would order me to stop traveling, and my mother would tear up every time I left for a travel. I didn’t need my family questioning every move I made. It was a pretty good plan on the Mafusos’ part. My mental unraveling of my family dynamics came to a halt as Jake started giving assignments.
“I need the four of you at the wedding. We need to get Toches before he screws up something major,” Jake said, pointing at Brodie, Ace, Marco, and me.
“What about the Cracky clan?” Ace asked. “We’ve been searching for the vessel. Do you think the Mafusos ’ave it?”
“Maybe,” Jake said. “I’m sending Gerald and Tina to Ireland to monitor the Cracky clan. Gerald, go talk with Pickles and Al to see if any of the Mafusos have made an appearance recently in the little town where we got the Thunder. Jen, Marco, and I will meet with the Mafusos. Brodie and Ace can keep an eye on things. Since Jen’s family is already familiar with the three of you, you will attend the wedding. Jen, make sure they get invited.”
I nodded.
“What aboot me?” Caiyan asked.
“Tina can give you a lift home, and for god’s sake, no traveling, or I’ll throw you in the brig,” Jake said. “I’m going to confirm your story with the general. If it doesn’t play out the way you say, you can count on another year of NAT, even if we have a key for you.”
Caiyan’s mouth turned down in a deep grimace, and he pushed his chair back hard as he stood and left the room without even a glance in my direction. I thought he’d gotten off easy for the chaos he’d caused.
Jake jerked his head at Tina to follow him, and Tina scurried after the stormy Scot.
“The two of you,” Jake said, pointing at Brodie and Ace. “Go to the travel lab to get the coordinates on Toches. If he is wearing the Sleigh key, we should be able to locate him on the map while the moon cycle is open.” Jake informed us that our instructions would be sent to our secured e-mail accounts after he discussed our plans with the general and arranged the meeting. He ordered Marco and me to go home and get some sleep.
“We don’t have much time,” I said.
“Both of you need to get some rest. If I find Isla, I will send you back to fix this mess.”
Revealing the WTF to a NAT in the past was a big violation. If I was right and Isla had the gift, she wouldn’t be a NAT, but would she start traveling or use the gift and change the present?
If Isla had the gift, it would explain why Marco had amazing power: it came from both of his parents’ bloodlines. I was confident General Potts wouldn’t risk losing a traveler with that kind of power. My inner voice was down on her knees, reciting the rosary.
“Do you think General Potts will allow us to break a law of the WTF?” I asked.
“Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness,” Jake said and began clacking away on his laptop in search of the missing Isla.
* * *
***
* * *
Marco seemed a little unsettled as we left the blue room. Brodie and Ace were walking ahead of us. Brodie was obviously upset about having to trade the Thunder key. He and Ace had been working hard to find the vessel in hopes that the WTF would give Caiyan the Thunder key. I knew it hadn’t been easy for Brodie, who was accustomed to working with Caiyan. They had a Han Solo–Luke Skywalker kind of relationship. The four of us were a good team. I was Princess Leia, and I guess that made Ace Chewbacca. The replacement of Caiyan with Marco was going to stir up the force for sure.
Marco walked through the entrance to the hangar, and I laid a hand on his forearm. “I’m sure we will get the key back and find Isla.”
Marco shrugged. “This is the reason I didn’t want to travel. I’m not a huge fan of dying.”
I nodded. When a key was stolen, chaos followed. Even a key that was hidden away and not used by a traveler had caused a life-altering situation. My reason to protect the keys from the brigands became crystal clear. “I think I’ll pop in on Albert and Pickles to see if they found Toecheese.”
Marco stifled a yawn. “My grandfather told me his one regret was that he had fallen in love with a woman from the past and changed the way her life should have been.” He bent down and gave me a peck on the cheek. “Later.”
I turned and caught up with Brodie and Ace, who had stopped and were arguing about the Thunder key. “I say he screwed us,” Ace said. “He knew we were tryin’ to find that damn vessel to get him reinstated.”
“Caiyan would never slice us in the back like that, mate,” Brodie said.
“He’s always lookin’ out for number one. See how he did poor Jen, shagging that tart.” Ace had his hands on his hip
s standing firm and defending my honor.
“Do you think he was shagging her?” I asked as I joined them.
They both jumped, surprised to find me standing behind them.
“Crikey, Jen, I didn’t know you were there,” Brodie said.
“Of course not, luv.” Ace put a protective arm around my shoulders. “I just meant the bloke is a little dodgy at times, and I think you deserve better.”
Brodie didn’t look as certain.
I loved visiting the travel lab. The layout was similar to the command center of the starship Enterprise in the Star Trek series. My bet was whoever had designed the lab had been a Trekkie. Albert was the agent in charge of following the brigands. His partner, Pickles, was the navigator. Pickles had the gift of foresight. He could see where the brigands decided to travel moments before they engaged their vessels and entered the travel portal. This gave us an advantage over the brigands.
Albert was waiting for us at the entry to the lab. His white lab coat hit just below the knees, and his striped oxford shirt with pens lining the shirt pocket was haphazardly tucked into his navy slacks. I never asked him why he wore a lab coat. He didn’t spend his days treating patients like my brother did, mixing chemicals, or dissecting frogs, but his pockets were always full of this and that, so I assumed it was so he could keep all his necessities close at hand. His long gray beard was tied at the tip with a red bow. It reminded me of my Mamma Bea’s Yorkies. They were yappy little dogs that always had bows secured behind their fluffy little ears.
“Al, my man, what’s up wit’ the bow?” Brodie asked, giving Albert a high five.
Ace laughed. “Are you supporting one of those charitable groups?”
Albert flushed and winked at me. “Italina thinks a little decoration is nice.”
I liked the way Albert called Aunt Itty by her full name. The way it rolled off his tongue sounded very romantic, like he was referring to a Romanian princess instead of Caiyan’s great-aunt. She was a sweet, absentminded little old lady who had been a fierce traveler in her day. She had some history with Albert that was unknown by me but had caused a rift my last time travel when they’d made a connection. It was nice they had mended their prior disagreement and had been seeing each other.
“Is she here?” I asked, surprised, because Jake didn’t like her coming to Gitmo. Things tended to go awry when she was around.
“No, we Skype,” Albert said, removing the forgotten bow from his beard.
I laughed and stood on my toes to kiss his cheek. Pickles was busy hacking something out on his keyboard. The large screen located across the front wall was full of blinking black dots. Jake was right; the brigands were out of control.
Brodie, Ace, and I sat down in the three chairs facing the big screen. Albert was leaning over Pickles’s shoulder, asking him questions about something on his screen.
“I’ve got it!” Pickles shouted and stood at his desk. He used a cane now and came over to point things out on the screen. “Here,” he said, pointing at a black dot blinking inside the borders of New York, “is your brigand.” His strong island accent filled the room and made me think of a font that had curlicues on each of the letters. “Dis is de guy.”
“Great, let’s pop over there and grab him,” Ace said. “We can be back in time to ’ave a nice dinner and return the key to Isla.”
“Dar’s one problem.” Pickles pointed at several black dots very close to the one marked as Toches. “These are all Mafusos.”
My heart skipped a few beats. What were they all doing in present time? There was an open moon cycle, and the Mafusos usually took full advantage of the time to travel back and cause chaos.
“Why didn’t they go back?” I asked.
“Mahlia has been traveling back to 1945,” Albert said. “Terrible time to travel, as you already know.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “We’re not sure why she didn’t go back this travel cycle, but she is staying present time.”
I knew why. Because Caiyan wasn’t around to escort her, and she was holding my brother by his necktie.
“Mitchell has been going back to 1990, but he also stayed behind.”
“I don’t know why these buggers aren’t traveling. If they break the agreement and cause an infraction in the present, we could have serious problems,” Ace said.
“I hate losing the Thunder to that mob of lunatics,” Brodie said.
“Me too.” I sighed, feeling the drain from the travel to Berlin.
“Doll, you need to get some rest,” Ace said, giving me an arm to lean on.
I agreed. I needed rest, especially if we were about to fight brigands. I said my good-byes and set my course for home.
Chapter 11
Gertie was at work when I arrived at home. I couldn’t decide if I was tired or hungry, but inspecting the contents of the fridge made my decision for me. It was empty except for half a carton of milk. Gertie and I needed to go grocery shopping. Attack Cat gave me a swat as I passed by the couch on my way upstairs to crash. I skirted around him and gave him a finger wag for trying to snag my red dress.
I woke up a few hours later to the grumbling of my own stomach. I showered and rummaged through my closet for my Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. The smell of pepperoni pizza wafted up from downstairs. Good. Gertie was home, and she had pizza. I pulled my hair into a top bun and slipped on my Chuck Taylors. Clean and comfortable, I went downstairs to find Gertie and Aunt Itty drinking wine and watching Firefly on Netflix. Aunt Itty was perched in the comfy overstuffed chair with her feet up on the matching ottoman. Attack Cat stretched out in her lap as she stroked his gray fur.
They shouted a greeting at me as I poured myself a glass of wine and joined Gertie on the sofa. A large box of pepperoni pizza was open on the coffee table. I grabbed a paper plate and helped myself to a slice. Gertie had a bowl of popcorn in her lap and various boxes of movie-watching-approved candies in a basket on the floor at her feet.
“I see you ladies have all the necessities at hand,” I said as I shook a handful of Reese’s Pieces from one of the boxes onto my plate.
“Shh, this is the good part,” Aunt Itty said, leaning closer to the flat-screen TV. I had used my first paycheck from my time travel to get rid of my old console TV and purchase a fifty-five-inch flat-screen display for our den. I figured Gertie had helped me out in my first two time travels, so I should buy something both of us could enjoy.
I propped my sore ankle on the coffee table and sat back to enjoy my pizza and try to forget about Caiyan’s lies.
Gertie and Aunt Itty watched as the handsome captain of the Serenity ordered his first officer, who just happened to be a woman, to back him up in a fight against the inhabitants of an outlaw planet. They worked well together. He was the witty brains who kept the bad guys distracted while his wingman—or in this case, wingwoman—took them down.
I tried to imagine Caiyan and me working together like Captain Mal and First Officer Zoë. The picture became fuzzy as I finished off my first glass of wine and imagined Caiyan’s hand making its way inside my blouse instead of handcuffing the bad guy.
“Earth to Jen,” Gertie said, waving a hand in front of my face.
“Sorry, I got caught up in the show.” I refilled my wine glass from the bottle on the table.
“Sure, it’s a great show. Too bad it only ran one season.” Gertie sighed and popped a Milk Dud.
“I just love that Captain Malcolm Reynolds,” Itty said. “He’s sassy and smart all in one. But he should really make a move on the companion—you know he really likes her.”
“That would just complicate things,” Gertie said. “That’s why he and Zoë work so well together. Since she is married to the pilot, they don’t have that whole sex-gets-in-the-way thing.”
“Do you think that’s what’s wrong with me and Caiyan?” I asked, interrupting their movie-review session.
“Oh no,” Gertie said. “I think y’all are great together. I mean, you don’t have to do all
the complicated stuff like conning, killing, and ass kicking. You just let Caiyan take care of that, and you bring ’em home.”
“Horsefeathers!” Aunt Itty shouted, causing the cat to startle and leap off her lap. “I’ll have you know, in my day, I had to take down plenty of brigands!”
“You did?” I asked, not sure if this was one of Itty’s fantasy moments or an actual recollection of fact.
“Why, yes, dear.” She adjusted her glasses and sipped her wine. “My defender was more brains than brute, but we were a good team.”
“What happened to him?” I asked, wondering who her defender was.
“Oh, you know, he broke my heart, and I went home to Scotland. My parents had hoped I would marry the local boy, and when I returned home, they sealed the deal. I stopped traveling when my daughter was born. We moved to America, and that was that.”
We were interrupted by the doorbell. “That should be the pizza I ordered,” Gertie said.
“You ordered more pizza?” I asked.
“That’ll be the dessert pizza,” Gertie said, licking her lips. “A hot-chocolate brownie pizza covered with marshmallows and chocolate drizzle.”
“Yum!” Aunt Itty toasted Gertie with her glass of wine.
“I’ll get it.” I went to the door and was greeted by a pimply pizza-delivery boy, who gave me a large pizza box in exchange for a ten-dollar bill.
He looked down at the money. “This is the second time I’ve been here tonight,” he huffed.
My wallet was empty. I dumped my change purse out into his hands, which granted him another fifty cents and a cherry Life Saver. “Gee, thanks, lady,” He slumped off, and I stuck my tongue out at him. What is it with men? I give them all I have, and they still want more. Geesh.
I stopped by the kitchen, grabbed dessert plates, and passed out the brownie pizza as I listened to Itty tell Gertie about her family. I knew her grandson Liam had been killed in Operation Desert Storm. He had refused to wear his key for protection and had lost his life defending our country. The keys didn’t work like a Kevlar vest, but I felt like they enhanced our senses and could have helped save Liam’s life.