by Amy Vansant
“Yeah. Pretty sure. I had a boy from that kid show they shoot on seventeen run in here when I spotted him with a joint, so I know the place. Spent over an hour looking for that little brat.”
“Which kid?”
“The one with the pug nose.”
Sean clucked his tongue. “I knew that little prick was up to something.”
“Yeah, he is. Dealing to some of the other kids and a few of the adults, too. You should probably know that.”
Sean was deep into his disapproval before Luther’s comment struck him as odd. “Why do I need to know about it if you’re on top of it?”
Luther heaved a sigh. “Because I’m not going to be here much longer.”
“What are you talking about? At the end of the world there’ll be nothing left but you and the cockroaches.”
Luther shook his head. “It’s time for me to go. It’s your turn.”
“My turn?”
“It’s why you’re here. You came here to take my place when I move on.”
“Here in this warehouse?”
“Here in this time.”
Sean shook his head, feeling uneasy and unsure how to deal with it. “Luther, what are you talking about? Where are you moving to?”
Luther grinned. “Not to. Up. I’m movin’ on up the food chain.”
“Could you make an ounce of sense, please?”
“I’m ready to join the Angeli.”
“A jelly?”
“An AN-jell-ee”
Sean frowned. “Did you join some sort of cult?”
Luther’s low chuckle, so familiar and reassuring, almost made Sean forget men were below them, hunting. His friend took a few steps toward the other door and pressed his ear against it. Seeming satisfied no one was coming, he turned back to Sean.
“In the beginning, we inspire.”
Sean raised his hand to his head to rub his temples. “You did join a cult.”
Luther shook his head. “No. Dumbass. Listen. In the beginning, we inspire.”
“Who? Inspire what?” Sean glanced at the door that led outside. “Can we just go? We could be far away by the time they realize there’s an outside door up here.”
Luther ignored him. “Us. We inspire people who come near us to be better people.”
Sean leaned against the old western-style bar and resigned himself to listen. “Fine. We inspire people? You and me?” He thought about what he and Luther had in common and found the connection. “You mean time travelers like us?”
“Yes. And once we’ve proven this is the job meant for us, we get kicked up the line should a spot open up.”
“And become jelly.”
“Angeli.”
“Right.” Sean said Angeli again under his breath, trying to get the pronunciation right. As he pictured the possible spellings, he realized the word reminded him of another. “Do you mean angels? Are you saying we become angels?”
“I guess. Maybe.” Luther ran his hand across his balding head as if thinking on the topic roiled his brain so much he had to soothe it. “I don’t really understand it all yet. He told me about it but he was in a hurry.”
“Who?”
“One of the Angeli. That’s why I was gonna be late to dinner.”
“Because you were talking to an angel.”
Luther nodded. “The Angeli make good happen, whereas we can only hope to inspire it.”
“Right. In the beginning we inspire. Got it. And I’m here to take your place after you move up?”
“Yes.”
“As what?”
“Senior Kairos.”
Sean shook his head. “You lost me again.”
Luther smiled. “All will become clear.”
“If you say so, Yoda. I think you must have hit your head.” Sean fell quiet a moment and then looked up at Luther. “Why me?”
“Because you’ve been doing this longer than almost anyone.”
Sean snorted a laugh. “As far as I know I haven’t been doing anything at all.”
“That’s a lie. You know you jumped through time. You know you have to help people. Have to. Not want to.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “Maybe. But it hasn’t been that long—”
“It’s been longer than you think. Every time you jump, you lose some of your memories. Some of your past lives. You have to, or the horrors of all the evil you’ve tried to stop, the memories of all the loves and children you’ve lost, would eat you from the inside.”
Sean felt his jaw fall slack. He could feel Luther was telling the truth and it terrified him. “You’re saying I’ve been alive doing—whatever I do—for longer than I know? That I’ve had past families I don’t even remember?”
“Yes. Me too. Though, mostly I remember now.” He smiled. “The memories are good. Even the bad ones are good now.”
“What about Catriona and Broch? Will I forget them?”
“Maybe not. They’re like you.”
“So they’ll lose family and the memories of those families?” Sean felt himself become agitated. What curse have I left for Broch? Have I even passed it to Catriona somehow?
Luther sighed. “Want to know a secret?”
“There’s more?” Sean heard his pitch rise and covered his mouth with his hand.
Luther leaned toward him and almost whispered the words. “Catriona and Broch are older than you are.”
“What?”
“She’s special. She’s a lodestone.”
Sean felt like his brain was spinning in his skull. “Luther, I swear—”
“Listen to me. Catriona’s a great source of good. Her presence can inspire amazing things. She’s going to be very important in the war ahead.”
“War?” Sean struggled to find the words. “Does she know this?”
Luther shook his head. “She did. But Rune cut her down too soon in her last life. Before her memories returned to her.”
Sean raised his hand to his head, covering his eyes, hoping the darkness would help him make sense of everything. “When is all this happening?”
“Soon. The Angeli have suffered losses. The same disease infecting Rune took them down, too. That’s why I’m moving up.”
Feeling weak in the knees, Sean squat, his arms between his legs, eyes locked on the ground. Luther smiled down on him and Sean marveled at his friend’s peaceful, amused expression. Every word tumbling from Luther’s lips made him want to run screaming from the building.
How can he be so calm?
Luther moved to the door to listen again. “Broch exists to love and protect Catriona.”
Sean chuckled. “Even I could figure that out.”
“It’s more than that.”
“You said she’s special...”
“Yes.”
“And he keeps her safe so she can—”
“Protect us all.” Luther’s lips pressed into a hard line. “I haven’t even told Michael all this.”
“Michael?”
“He’s that angel. Big shot. I shoulda told him. But it all just sorta came to me. All this knowledge…” Luther rapped his skull with his knuckle.
Sean looked away, his mind drifting to his children. “Seems kind of lopsided.”
“Huh?”
“That Broch lives to protect Cat. I mean, does she love him back?”
Luther nodded. “She does. Always. Sometimes it just takes longer than other times.”
“How long have they been doing this dance?”
“Long time.”
“When you say a long time, I imagine that means a long time.”
“Oh yes, brother. They’re like the original Romeo and Juliet.”
Sean bit at his lower lip, asking himself how he felt about all this new information.
Is that why I found Catriona? Was everything planned before I even knew—
“They’re coming.”
Luther’s words didn’t register at first. Then there were steps on the stairs outside the door that led to the first floor and
Luther was running toward him. Sean stood and they both dove behind the bar as the door crashed open.
Sean raised his gun and popped up from behind the bar long enough to aim. He shot at the short, stocky man leading the charge into the room. The one who, no doubt, had put his shoulder to the door. With a yelp, the man twisted and flipped backwards down the stairs. Sean saw Rune throw himself flat against the wall to avoid his partner as he tumbled and then bolt toward the window covering his head with his arm. Sean re-aimed and fired again. He caught a glimpse of Rune jerking as if he’d been hit.
“You get ’em?” asked Luther as Sean dropped back behind the bar.
“Hit them both. Little man fell down the stairs. Rune’s by the window.”
“He on the ground, too?”
Sean nodded. “I think.” They waited another moment and then peered over the edge of the bar, craning their necks to see.
Rune had collapsed at the foot of the floor-to-ceiling tinted window occupying most of the eastern wall.
Sean and Luther looked at each other.
“That was easy,” said Sean.
“Hm.”
They stood. Sean crept to the stairs to check that the bowling ball wasn’t returning. Luther moved toward Rune.
Finding the short man still crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, Sean turned to join Luther. He saw his friend poke Rune with his foot. “What are you doing? Don’t—”
Rune’s boney hand shot out to grab Luther’s ankle. The big man roared as if Rune’s touch burned him and, leaning forward, wrapped his massive hands around Rune’s shirt, jerking him to his feet.
“Not on my watch!”
Rune grinned and reached up as if to grab Luther’s neck. Sean leapt forward.
“Stop!”
Luther lifted Rune from his feet as if the man were as light as the clothes he wore. He ran forward until Rune’s back hit the glass. It shattered against the weight of the two of them. Rune’s eyes bulged wide as the hand once reaching for Luther’s neck now flailed, searching for something to stop his fall.
Sean saw a flash of red where Rune’s fingers dragged across jagged glass.
And then both men were gone.
“Luther!” Sean ran to the empty space where the tinted window had been, barely stopping in time so he didn’t tumble to the ground below as well. By the glow of the front door’s floodlight he saw Luther sprawled on the cement below, an ever growing disc of dark red pooling around his head like a demonic halo.
Rune lay not far away at an odd angle. It took Sean a moment to realize he’d fallen half on a loading ramp and half off. His spine hooked at an unnatural angle, his back seemingly broken.
A movement near Rune caught Sean’s eye. He squinted.
A rat.
A large rodent had scurried from beneath the loading ramp to sniff around Rune’s broken body.
Sean was about to spin away from the window when he spotted Rune’s hand whip from his side like a cobra to snatch the rat. He heard a squeak and saw a small flash of light, and then the rat was gone.
Rune sat up, vertebrae popping like corn as he straightened. His gaze settled on Luther before shooting upward to lock on Sean.
He smiled.
Sean felt the blood drain from his cheeks.
“Oh no you don’t, you son of a bitch.”
Sean raised his gun and felt the jagged glass poking from the window frame bite the back of his hand. He cursed, and the gun fumbled from his fingers to fall to the ground below.
Rune laughed.
Sean ran for the stairs, nearly slipping down them in his haste.
But Luther didn’t fall, did he?
No.
Luther had jumped, tackling Rune on his way out. He’d sacrificed himself to save Sean.
Why? Now here I am, running outside to confront that same—
Sean rounded the corner of the building and stopped.
Rune was gone.
Luther still lay in the same position, unmoving.
Sean turned and stared at the bottom of the stairs he’d just run down, realizing the short man had disappeared. He’d been sprawled at the bottom of the stairs.
Did he help Rune get away?
Did it matter?
Breaking into a low, crouching jog, Sean ran to his friend’s side and grabbed his hand.
“Luther?”
He felt no pulse. He tried in vain to start Luther’s heart, but it quickly became clear that no amount of CPR or chest pounding would ever wake him.
Luther was dead.
The big man’s eyes were closed, but the corner of his mouth had twisted into a coy smile.
As if he had a secret.
Another one.
Sean ran back inside to call for help.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Fiona stared out the window, her chin resting in her palm. She’d gone through her social media accounts and responded to all the fans she could bear. She’d posted some old photos she’d been meaning to add. She deleted some losers and followed some people she hoped could influence other people to follow her.
She’d gone through all of Catriona’s drawers and found what her sister apparently considered her nail tools, doing her best to smooth some rough edges on her right hand middle and index fingers. She couldn’t bring herself to repaint her nails with Catriona’s cheap polish. The little jars all looked to be about twenty years old and straight from the nearest convenience store.
She’d just finished snooping through the bedroom closet when Catriona called to let her know she wouldn’t be returning. Her sister told her to stay put under penalty of death and blah, blah, blah.
After that, Fiona tried to leave, only to have the guard stop her. He told her he was under orders to call the police and have her committed for observation if she tried to leave.
Nice touch, sis.
The guard was probably bluffing or just repeating whatever nonsense Catriona had told him to say, but she’d been to a public mental health facility before and had no intention of going back. If they pulled her records it could take weeks before they let her out again.
She returned to Catriona’s apartment and wrote bored on a piece of paper a dozen times in a dozen different styles.
While staring out the window and stretching her neck, Fiona caught a glimpse of someone walking past Catriona’s apartment on their way to the gate.
Bet they’ll let him through without threatening to commit.
She stared daggers at the free man, and then something struck her about his hair and gait.
I know him. What’s his name, what’s his name...
Ah.
Pete.
The studio’s resident doctor. She’d tried to talk him into doubling her Xanax prescription once, and he’d been surprisingly difficult to bend to her will.
A studio doctor with scruples.
What’s the point of that?
His last name was something that rhymed with No-See-Um, his nickname for the way he kept his mouth shut about the various indiscretions of the actors. That, she appreciated.
Hello, Pete.
She tugged on the window but it didn’t budge.
“Dammit, what the—”
Lock. Duh.
She twisted the lock and tried again. It slid open just as Pete began to disappear from her direct view. She craned out the window.
“Hey, Pete!”
The blond man stopped and turned to squint back at her.
“Hey.” He paused and cocked his head. “Are you wearing a wig?”
“It’s Fiona Duffy. I’m Catriona’s sister.”
“The reality show actress?”
Fiona felt her lip twitch. “Just the actor is good, but yes.”
“I remember you. Right, you all like to be called actors now, huh?” he added, clearly trying to be funny and failing miserably.
“You know what no group of people like to be called?”
“What?”
“You all.”
Pete laughed. “Point taken.”
Fiona broke into a broad grin.
Don’t piss him off, Fiona. He’s your ticket out.
“I’m kidding, Pete. You can call me whatever you like, just as long as the paychecks keep coming.”
Pete took a few step forward. “So you’re Catriona’s sister. Did I know that?”
Fiona lowered herself to her knees so she could stare out the window without having to hunch. “I don’t know. Probably not. We didn’t know it until recently.”
“Huh.” Pete looked down and rocked from heel to toe. “I haven’t talked to her lately. She’s been…busy.”
“You mean she’s been with that giant slab of beef.”
He shrugged, but Fiona could tell she’d touched a nerve.
Ooooh, somebody has a crush on Catriona.
She thought for a moment.
That means he’s straight. That hadn’t been her first guess.
Hope abounds.
“Why don’t you come up here and have a drink with me?” she asked giving him her best saucy wink.
He seemed uncomfortable. “Are they there?”
“Who?”
“Cat and Sean Connery-on-steroids.”
“No. They’re not coming back until tomorrow. It’s just me and I’m so bored.” Fiona tried to lean forward so Pete could get a better look at her cleavage. If she could have, she would have removed a breast and tossed it down to him—anything to gain her ticket out of Boredom Town. “Come on up and keep me company.”
“I don’t know...”
“Please?”
Peter’s head began to nod. “Yeah. Okay. Why not? I was just going to pick up some Chinese.”
“We’ll order out here. We’ll get some wine and pick up a pizza.”
She had no intention of eating carbs but pizza seemed like a thing a man would like.
“That works. Be up in a second.”
“The door has a code. I’ll come down.”
“I know it.”
Really. How intimate.
She was about to pull back in when she realized she didn’t have to spend so much time talking Pete into what she really wanted.
I’m doing this all wrong.
She thrust forward again. “Hold on. You know what? It’s weird to be in Cat’s place. Let’s take a road trip and get dinner. You said Chinese. My treat.”