“What?” Scott shouted as he paced the small living room. “You’re considering staying in the future? What about me?”
“I feel the same way you do, Scott. Slightly panicked. I have a good measure of it myself at the thought of giving up everything and staying in the future.” Mike stepped closer to Scott. “You’re a grown man. I know you’re still searching for your way in life. Don’t rush anything right now. First Shauna and I have to help her parents get the word out to the people how corrupt the Fearsome Foursome is, then we’ll make our decision.”
“You sound as if you’re already a couple. What’s between you two? Besides sex that is.”
Shauna gasped but didn’t say anything. She knew Mike’s brother felt threatened. Mike was the only person left that Scott could rely on.
“Not nice, Scott. You know me better than that,” Mike chastised. “I love Shauna. She loves me too, although I don’t know what she sees in me.” A crooked grin split Mike’s face and Shauna fell deeper in love with him at that moment. She loved his concern for his brother. It showed her what kind of a man Mike was.
Scott turned to Shauna, a light tinge of red on his face. “I’m sorry. I…I…just don’t want Mike to leave me like our father did,” he blurted out.
“I’ll never leave you, Scott. Never. Shauna and I will find a way to work this out. Say! Maybe you can come with us to the future?”
Scott shook his head. “I don’t think so. I like a nice quiet life. No drama. Sounds like there’s too much going on in 2110.”
“There is,” Mike said. “Anyway, it’s too early to make predictions about our futures. When the time is right, we’ll discuss this together and make our decision.”
Mollified, Scott sank to the sofa. He hung his head in his hands. “This is too much too fast. I need to process this story.”
“Take all the time you need,” Mike said. “Shauna and I are going back as soon as we gather some supplies. When we’re finished there, we’ll come home to tell you how it went. Oh. Don’t tell Dad about this.”
“Why would I do that? He’d think I was nuts. Plus, he turned me down again for Christmas dinner at Aunt Evelyn’s. The man’s a real hermit. I wonder how he sells any commercial real estate at all. He has the personality of a cold fish.”
“Look after the apartment, okay?”
Shauna saw Scott’s eyes narrow and knew he wasn’t happy. She read disbelief, loneliness and a good dose of abandonment reflected in them, as well as in his body language. “Scott, I’ll keep him safe. I promise. I love him.”
“Oh, sure. You did a great job of keeping him safe already. That’s why you guys had to escape out of a maximum security prison and from some cruel futuristic cops.”
“Not all of them are bad,” she said. “Some are members of my parents’ underground group, The Subversives.”
“Flying cars, hover scooters, corrupt CEOs, secret underground organizations and military police. Doesn’t sound like a world I want to live in.” He ran his hand through his thick hair leaving it disheveled and attractive looking. “I think I’d rather go back to a more peaceful time.”
“When you find that time period, let me know,” Shauna said. “I can help you get there. You okay with all this now?”
“Hell no. But I know I have to accept it.” He turned to his brother and poked him in the chest, hard. “You will come back. You will be safe. You will not get killed. You hear me?”
“I hear you,” Mike said in a deep, quiet voice. “I love you too.”
* * * * *
The preparations were set by late afternoon. Mike and Shauna gathered up clothes and weapons. Shauna had purchased a few items of clothing because she wouldn’t be able to go home. Even though the future had plenty of weapons, Mike wanted what he was most familiar with. He packed his duffle bag with his Glock 19 compact pistol, his Heckler & Koch Linerlock folding knife and plenty of ammunition. With one last look around his apartment he asked, “Well?”
“Are you ready?” Shauna asked him.
“I am. Let’s get this over with. I want to start a future with you,” Mike said.
Shauna’s head snapped up from the duffle she’d been zipping closed. “A future or a past?”
“I don’t know, love, but whatever it is I want it to be with you.”
“Is that a proposal Mike Forrester?” Shauna stood up to her full height almost eye to eye with the man of her dreams.
“It is. Not the most romantic but one nonetheless.”
“I accept.” Shauna leaped onto Mike and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. She kissed him all over his face while she held his head between her hands.
“Good. Now let’s get this show on the road.” He patted her behind.
Shauna jumped off him and cocked her head at a provocative angle. “It’s amazing I even heard that proposal in between all those sweet, romantic things you were saying to turn my head.”
Mike laughed. “Do your magic, love. Your parents need us.”
Shauna’s face sobered. “Okay, come here and touch my arm.” When Mike placed his hand over her wrist she asked, “Got the duffle slung over your shoulder?”
“I do.”
“Sounds like a wedding reply,” Shauna said.
“I hope you don’t plan on one of those big, fancy shindigs. I never wanted—” The room filled with a tangerine glow and began to shimmer. The walls faded in and out. A high-pitched whine pierced the air.
“I look great in white,” Shauna replied as they disappeared from the room.
Chapter Thirteen
March 31, 2110
Shauna and Mike materialized on a street in Andermatt, Switzerland. Shauna chose it because of its size and location. Forty two miles southeast of Lucerne, it lay near the junction of four alpine passes. Good hiding place for The Subversives. The plateau setting of the city wasn’t spectacular but the surrounding mountains were. With snow from November to May, the hard-core intermediate and expert skiers loved the city.
Few passersby noticed the light tangerine glow. It came and went so fast. Most were intent on hauling their skis over their shoulders to the nearby lifts to try the suicide runs down the Alps. Shauna and Mike strolled the streets looking for lime green uniforms. There were a few men lounging at a nearby hover scooter station but no one paid them any attention.
“Let’s find a room. Then we can plan our strategy,” Mike said as they ambled along the snowy street.
The gray, cloudy weather indicated an imminent snowfall and everywhere they looked preparations for skiing were underway. After an hour and a half they found they’d arrived in the middle of a skier’s convention and all the hotels were sold out.
“I have an idea,” Shauna said. She led them to the local real estate office. After a quick negotiation she had the keys to a small rental chalet.
Shauna immediately turned on the heat when they entered the one bedroom chalet. “Brrr.” She rubbed her hands together to warm them. “Wonder if there’s anything to eat in here?”
“I’ll check,” Mike said. “You start finding a way to locate your parents.” He opened the door to the refrigerator, slammed it, then opened every cupboard in the kitchenette. “Nothing. We’d better get some supplies or we’ll starve. Got any money on you? I left all mine back at Global Guardian headquarters.”
“Yeah, they took mine too. If I hadn’t found this pre-paid money card in the pocket of my jacket I wouldn’t have been able to pay for the chalet. But it used all the credits on the card.” Shauna had a thought. She turned on her travel device and pushed the left button bypassing the time travel feature and going straight to her computer.
Mike stood behind the sofa and peered over Shauna’s shoulders at the holographic screen. Her fingers flew over the keyboard. “It’s so strange seeing you type without touching any keys. What are you doing?” Mike asked.
“I’m accessing my accounts to see if they’re still active. If the guardians think we’re dead, they m
ight have deactivated them.” She typed over the holographic keyboard, then gave a happy yelp. “They’re still good. But I wonder if accessing the money will ring any alarms.”
Mike sat on the sofa next to Shauna. “Is there anyone you trust that you can contact. They might be able to lend us some money.”
Shauna’s head swiveled toward Mike. “Great idea. Why didn’t I think of it? I’ll call Nathaniel Ridge, my boss. He’s not a Subversive but he knows about the organization and has kept its secret for all these years. He hates the Fearsome Foursome. They took away his wife in the middle of the night some years ago. He’s never seen her since.” Shauna typed furiously then tapped one button on the keyboard and sat back.
“What?”
“We wait.” She glanced around the small studio chalet. “Cozy. I like the blond-wood tables. Very modern. And the pictures of the Alps are stunning. I can see why this town is known for its suicidal ski runs,” she said as she stared at a picture on the wall.
“Yeah, it’s nice but I don’t want to stay here too lo—”
“Contact!” Shauna interrupted. “Nate says he’s transferred money to a bank in Lucerne under his name.” She typed in the information and up popped a confirmation on her holographic monitor. “I’ve got it.”
“How does it work, sweetheart? Do we have physical money to hold? I haven’t seen you use any since I first got here.”
“No. We go to the nearest grocery, pick out what we want and when we pay we give them the account number. The amount’s automatically deducted. Most people don’t carry cash anymore. It’s all done with prepaid cards or account numbers.”
“Okay, so we can get some food. Want to eat in, or out?”
“In. I don’t want to show our faces too much. Even if the Global Guardians think we’re dead, if they see our faces, alive and well, we’ll be back in their New York prison in a New York minute.”
“They still have that saying?” Mike shook his head. “Why it must be a hundred and twenty years old.”
“The city of New York will never get rid of that saying.” Shauna turned off her travel device and stuck it in the pocket of her overcoat. She grabbed her mittens, hat and scarf and said, “Let’s go get groceries. I’m starved.”
They were cautious on their walk to the grocery store. Always on the lookout for Guardians, Shauna and Mike kept their hats low, their scarves over their mouths and noses and didn’t look anyone in the eye. Normally, that would be unusual in a resort city like this one but the cold weather caused everyone to duck their heads to avoid the wind. Snow now fell and that too helped them to blend in.
They purchased enough food for two days. Hopefully, they’d have found her parents by then. Once back at the chalet Shauna cooked the beans, rice and frozen vegetables they’d bought. Plain but simple fare, the food tasted delicious after a day of time traveling.
After cleaning the dishes Shauna pulled out her device. “Maybe Mom and Dad can home in on my signal.” She punched the left button in a series of fast and short bursts and sat back to wait.
“If you have a signal, can’t the Global Guardians find it?” Mike asked.
“Not this one. It’s encrypted to a secret frequency used only by a few people in my division at Travel Planet Com, Nate Ridge being one of them. Maybe if he gets the signal and Mom and Dad contact him, then he can pass it on to them.”
“So we sit here and wait.”
“For a while.” Shauna glanced at Mike. Lines marred his forehead and his mouth turned down in a frown. “What’s wrong? We knew this’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“I just don’t like inactivity.” He stepped to the window. Colored skycars flew above them in a rainbow blur. A few hover scooters shot down the street.
“We can relax…get to know each other better,” Shauna suggested in a husky voice.
Mike chuckled. “Believe me, I intend to get to know you quite well.” He sat down on the bed and pulled her into his arms. “Starting right now.”
* * * * *
“This is what you mean by getting to know each other better?” Shauna panted.
“Sure. What did you have in mind?”
“Oh, I don’t know, some questions like, ‘What’s your favorite color, food, position for sex?’” she whispered.
Mike’s heart thundered next to hers. He licked around a nipple then left a trail of wet kisses up her chest to her collarbone and along her neck. He stopped at her bottom lip and lingered until she couldn’t stand it anymore. Her body shuddered from the cold wetness and strained for more. Shauna groaned. “You make me want you all the time,” she muttered.
“Is that a complaint?” Mike sucked her bottom lip, licked it and nipped it.
“Not exactly.”
Mike’s deep, quiet laugh flowed through Shauna. The timbre of it snaked through her filling all the empty, lonely holes in her and she knew at that moment that she always wanted to hear it. She needed that sound. Craved it. Shauna rolled on top of Mike.
“Taking control, huh?” he said through gritted teeth. “I love a woman who knows what she wants.” His hands roamed her waist and hips. In a slow, seductive, sensual pattern he traced light circles on her skin moving closer and closer to her core. When he found the sensitive center he stroked it until she strained against his hand demanding more.
“Oh, God.” Shauna knew she couldn’t hold back, didn’t want to. She pushed her body forward, needing to get closer to Mike. His finger never left her and continued its onslaught. Shauna’s quick pants became gasps and her whimpers rose to cries. She felt light, tight and stretched to the breaking point. Her legs were rubber, yet held him with a strength borne of desperation. “Now, Mike. Now.” He stroked faster and kissed her more fervently and she cried out when the waves of pleasure exploded over her.
Before she could catch her breath Mike rolled her over and entered her. Shauna was more than ready and eagerly guided him in. He moved with slowness at first, then thrust faster, harder. She climbed back up the peak and they strained together momentarily lost in the sublime feeling of being one. With wildly thundering hearts they crashed over the precipice and tumbled together until they returned to earth.
It took some moments until Shauna could speak. Her breathing slowed. Her body felt soft, warm and languid. Something about this time with Mike felt different. Permanent. Right. It was as if he finally gave his whole heart to her. As if he’d come to a decision that settled him. Shauna glanced at him. His eyes were warm brown sugar. He looked like a man well and truly besotted. A flicker of fear flew through Shauna for a moment. She hoped she was worthy. “Something’s different. I feel it.”
Mike smiled but didn’t answer. He ran his big hand over her hip then pulled the covers over the two of them. “I’m just so glad I found you glowing on the street. You’ve turned my life upside down and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you.”
Shauna blinked back tears. No one had ever said anything so beautiful to her.
* * * * *
Her time travel device chirped and a hologram popped out. “Morning, daughter. Glad you’re safe and sound,” her mother said in a happy voice.
Shauna turned the hologram away from the bed. “Mom! You found us.” She felt flustered that her mother had caught them in bed. Especially since this had been the most incredible sex with Mike yet. It had been true lovemaking.
“That I did, my dear. I see you’re well rested.”
Shauna felt the blush start at her neck and work its way up to her face as she scrambled to find her clothes. “Uh…right.” She shrugged her shoulders at Mike as if to apologize for her mother’s behavior. His face showed his mirth at the situation. His eyes sparkled, a wide grin split his countenance and he held out his arms for Shauna. No, she mouthed. The man was incorrigible.
“I’ve sent our coordinates to you. Grab a skycar and you’ll be with us in fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, Mom.” Shauna hastily pulled on her clothes then turned the holo
gram screen toward her. “We’ll get some breakfast and be right there.”
“I’m glad your safe, Shauna. Your last cryptic message to us when the Guardians were chasing you helped to ease our minds when your skycar crashed into the Atlantic,” she said on a serious note. “By the way, I’ve sent articles about your demise to you. The Global Guardians have declared you both dead. They were pretty angry that they couldn’t apprehend you. Don’t let them see you’re alive. They’ll go after you with a vengeance.”
“Right, Mom. We’ll see you in a short while.”
Shauna and Mike stared at each other for a long minute. “Well, we’re dead. That answers some questions and raises more.”
“Such as?” He stepped to the shower in the small bathroom. “Shower on.” Warm water immediately poured out of the holes in three walls. He walked inside and Shauna followed discarding the clothes she had just put on. The fourth wall rose up until it was higher than the top line of water holes leaving two feet above it for steam to escape.
“Nate Ridge knows we’re alive. I’m confident he won’t tell anyone. But I wonder why the Guardians haven’t closed my accounts.”
They washed quickly. After brushing their teeth they continued the conversation.
“Damn,” Shauna smacked herself on the side of the bed. “I should have thought of this sooner. Too much on my mind.” She gave Mike a beatific smile. “My money will automatically go to George after thirty days.”
“That’s why your accounts haven’t been closed yet.” Mike tossed the towel over the warming rack and strolled out of the bathroom. “The Guardians can’t touch it since it’s been set for a beneficiary. Excellent.”
Shauna watched him walk away. His back view was spectacular. Wide shoulders, straight spine, tight, very tight rear end. Long, hard, muscular thighs, strong ankles and beautiful feet completed the picture. She sighed. And this man loved her. Shauna hugged herself for a brief moment of joy.
They ate a quick breakfast of cereal and toast and left the chalet. “One day I’d like to come back here. This place has special memories for me.”
No Future Christmas Page 17