by David Wood
“I don’t remember seeing that place on the way here,” Bones said. “It’s not often that a watering hole escapes my notice.”
“It was six in the morning. I hope you weren’t keeping an eye out for bars,” Maddock said.
Bones nodded thoughtfully. “That must be it. Let’s stop for a while.”
“We’ve got beer in the cooler.”
“Yeah, but this place has different beer. No reason we can’t drink both.”
Bones slowed and turned off the main road. He parked alongside the only other vehicle in the dirt lot— an aging sedan of unfamiliar make. As they mounted the single, rickety step up to the building, he glanced back at their rented SUV and frowned.
“I could have sworn we rented a CRV,” he said.
“I thought so too.” Maddock walked around the back of the vehicle to check the model name. “What the hell is a GAZelle?”
Bones shrugged. “Who knows? Must be a Hyundai or some crap like that. It got us here. That’s what matters.”
Inside, they found themselves the lone customers inside the dusty bar. Narrow beams of sunlight filtered in through dirty windows, shining on the ceramic tile floor, which was pitted and cracked in places, and setting the dust motes aglow. Maddock and Bones took seats at the bar where the local news was showing on an aging television set.
“Couldn’t spring for a flat screen?” Bones asked.
“Don’t worry about it.”
The bartender, a stout man of late middle years with lightly tanned skin, copious ear hair, and a bald head, greeted them enthusiastically.
“My first customers of the day. I am Alexei. What can I get you?”
Maddock noted a slight Russian accent to the man’s speech. Unusual for this part of the country.
“Dos cervezas, por favor.” Bones held up two fingers. “Dos Equis if you’ve got it.”
Alexei frowned. “I don’t know this beer.”
“That’s cool. Just give us two of the best beers you’ve got.”
The man smiled and handed them two bottles labeled Tinkoff Golden. Bones tipped him generously and clinked bottles with Maddock. “To discovery.”
“Discovery,” Maddock agreed. He took a long drink, taking the time to savor the light, tangy flavor. He nodded approvingly and took another drink. “Not bad.”
They finished their drinks quickly and Bones called out to the bartender. “Yo, Axel. Another round.”
“Alexei,” the man corrected though he smiled to show no offense was taken.
“Who’s your pick to win the Superbowl this year?” Bones asked, trying to make conversation.
Alexei tilted his head. “You mean the Soccerbowl?”
“What? No, dude. The Superbowl. Football.”
“Football and soccer are the same.” Alexei picked up a greasy rag and began wiping the counter. “Or do you mean gridiron?” Bones nodded and Alexei grimaced. “Nasty, violent sport. I didn’t think they played it anymore.”
Bones made a confused face but continued to make small talk with Alexei. Meanwhile, Maddock turned his attention to the television, where the reporter was saying, “Today the American Politburo sent a strongly-worded message to Moscow, warning the Premier that America will not be treated as a lesser member of the Soviet Union.”
Maddock almost spilled his beer. Bones had heard too.
“Are we on a hidden camera show?” Bones looked all around.
“I don’t understand your jokes,” Alexei said, “but I like you all the same.”
“You’re pretty cool too,” Bones said. “Say, who’s the president nowadays?”
Alexei cocked his head. “How do you not know that?”
“I can’t really talk about it. Let’s just say I’ve been out of circulation for a while.”
“No television in prison?” Alexei grinned. “The president is Vladimir Putin.”
“I meant the President of the United States.”
Alexei laughed. “Now I think I am the one on hidden camera. There has been no president since the war. The American Politburo governs but reports to Moscow, just like all countries in the Soviet Union.”
Maddock’s head swam and he felt as though his tether to reality was slipping. He took a closer look at their surroundings, truly taking in all the details. Everything was Russian—posters of soccer and hockey teams and framed photographs of Soviet premiers dominated the walls.
Alexei walked away, shaking his head, and Maddock looked at Bones.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Bones stared at him, and then he closed his eyes and let out a groan. “I did it.” He buried his face in his hands. “I took the duality stone. It’s in my pack. I don’t know why I did it. It was like the stone wanted to be taken.”
Maddock was surprised at what Bones had done, but that wasn’t his primary concern at the moment. “Why should that matter?” he asked.
Bones sighed. “According to legend, the duality stone holds the worlds together.” He shook his head. “No, that’s not quite right. More like, it tethers the different versions of the world.”
“Different versions?”
“You know, like alternate timelines. I know it sounds nuts, but I think it’s taken us to a timeline where the Russians won the Cold War.”
Maddock looked at the label on his beer and considered what Bones said. Unless they were both experiencing the same hallucination, nothing else made sense. “Maybe we’re dreaming,” he said lamely.
A sharp pain blossomed in his shoulder. Bones had punched him. “What the hell?”
“Does that feel like a dream?” Bones asked.
“I don’t know. Does this?” He returned the favor and Bones winced.
“Okay. We can rule out dreaming.”
Alexei, who was polishing the end of the counter, scowled at them. “You fight outside. Not here.”
Maddock was about to apologize when his phone vibrated. He looked at it and his jaw dropped.
“You all right, bro? You’re pale as a… well, as a you.”
“I just got a text. From Melissa.”
Bones looked poleaxed. “That can’t be right.”
Melissa was Maddock’s wife who had died years before.
“If we’re in an alternate timeline, maybe she’s…” Maddock couldn’t say it aloud. Holding his phone in a trembling hand, he read the message aloud.
Hope you can come home soon. We miss you.
“We,” he whispered. “Melissa was pregnant when she died. Maybe…”
“Don’t do this to yourself, Maddock.” Bones said.
Maddock scarcely heard him. He was scrolling through his contact list. He saw familiar names: Bones, Willis Sanders, Pete “Professor” Chapman, and Jimmy Letson.
But he also saw names that hadn’t been there before: Hartford Maxwell, their old commander who had been murdered by the Dominion. Franklin Meriwether, a beloved officer who’d died in the Holy Land, and then he gasped.
“Mom and Dad,” he breathed. “Bones, look at this! My parents are still alive, and Maxie and Meriwether.”
Bones snatched the phone away and scrolled through the list, his brow furrowing deeper as he read. “This is not good.”
“What do you mean? Melissa, my parents! Bones, I need to go home.”
“Just chill for a second. Listen, we don’t belong here. Right now, some alternate Maddock is probably driving home from his job selling insurance, and I’m sure there’s another version of Bones who’s getting busy with a Russian tennis player. But they’re not us and we aren’t them.”
“How do you know? Maybe the alternate version of us are on a climbing trip in Utah. Maybe we’ve taken their places.”
“It doesn’t matter. This isn’t our world. Look at this.” Bones turned Maddock’s phone around so he could see the display. “Yeah, there are some new names here, but you know what? There are some missing too. Matt and Corey aren’t here. That means we don’t have a crew. There’s no Kaylin Maxwell, no Jad
e, no Tam Broderick. All those mysteries we solved? All we did to fight the Dominion? Never happened. Not here. And there’s another important name missing.”
They exchanged a level look and Maddock felt his resistance crumbling. He knew precisely who Bones meant. Pain stabbed at his heart. How could he have wanted to stay here, but how could he want to leave?
“Besides, do you really want to live here, under Soviet rule?”
Maddock shook his head. “I suppose not.”
Just then, the phone vibrated again. Bones glanced at it and his eyes went wide.
“What is it?”
Bones shook his head. “You’re better off not knowing. Trust me.”
“Give it to me.” Maddock spoke slowly, pronouncing each syllable in a tone that said he would brook no nonsense. Reluctantly, Bones handed it over.
Melissa had texted him again. This time she’d sent a photograph. There she was, her smile and her big brown eyes were just as he remembered. But it was the little boy, a blue-eyed blond who sat on her knee that captivated him. It was his son.
“He looks just like you,” Bones said.
Maddock’s throat was tight and he only managed a single nod. He felt as if his heart were being torn into a million pieces. It was more than he could take. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. When he could finally speak, his voice was husky.
“Bones, let’s put that stone back where we found it.”
The moon hung low on the horizon when they once again emerged from the temple atop Motec Mountain. It shone dully through the mist that still hung over the mountaintop. Between the climbing and the strain of this afternoon’s experience, Maddock had nothing left. He crossed the lake and made his way back to the spot where they’d made their ascent only scarcely aware of his surroundings, his mind as foggy as the air that surrounded them.
“I think we should stay here until morning,” Bones said. “It’s too dark and we’re both too tired to climb down.”
Maddock nodded and sank to the ground.
“It sucks that we won’t know until tomorrow whether we made it home or if we’re still stuck in our own version of Red Dawn.”
Maddock took out his phone. He scrolled through the contact list and then checked the text messages. The photo and message from Melissa were gone. His list was back to normal, though, and the name at the top brought a smile to his face— Angel.
“It’s all right,” he said. “We’re back.”
~End~
If you enjoyed Volume 1 of the Dane Maddock Adventures, try Icefall, book four of the Dane Maddock Adventures.
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Works by David Wood
The Dane Maddock Adventures
Dourado
Cibola
Quest
Icefall
Buccaneer
Atlantis
Ark (forthcoming)
Dane and Bones Origins
Freedom
Hell Ship
Splashdown
Dead Ice
Liberty
Electra
Amber (forthcoming)
Justice (forthcoming)
Stand-Alone Novels
Into the Woods
Arena of Souls
The Zombie-Driven Life
You Suck
Callsign: Queen (with Jeremy Robinson)
Oracle (with Sean Ellis)
Destiny (with Sean Ellis)
Dark Rite (with Alan Baxter)
David Wood writing as David Debord
The Silver Serpent
Keeper of the Mists
The Gates of Iron (forthcoming)
The Impostor Prince (with Ryan A. Span-forthcoming)
About the Author
David Wood is the author of the bestselling Dane Maddock Adventures and Dane Maddock Origins series and many other titles. Writing as David Debord, he writes the Absent Gods fantasy series. When not writing he co-hosts the Authorcast podcast. David and his family live in Santa Fe,New Mexico. Visit him online at www.davidwoodweb.com.
Table of Contents
DOURADO- A Dane Maddock Adventure
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
CIBOLA-A Dane Maddock Adventure
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
QUEST- A Dane Maddock Adventure
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Aztlan