by KD Mack
Time for a Mission
The Paradox Adventures Series
K D Mack
Copyright © 2020 by K D Mack
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without written permission from the author. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any means without permission.
This short story is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
Introduction
Xavian Roskon…the name evokes equal feelings of fear and anger. Is he back to wreak more havoc?
Chrono Corp decides to send Steff, Bendon and their new prisoner, Kreg, on a mission to find some evidence to validate their wild claims.
Why is it that only Kreg and Steff remember an alternate timeline where a calamity was averted with the help of time travelers from a distant past?
As more secrets get revealed, it only brings more confusion rather than clarity to their quest.
Will Kreg be able to sway Steff towards his cause or will Bendon see that Kreg gets put away for good?
Find out in Time for a Mission…
Also by K D Mack
The Paradox Journals Series
Book One - Ripples in Time
Book Two - A Time of Madness
Book Three - A Switch in Time
Book Four - A Time of Trouble
Book Five - Just in Time
Book Six - A Rift in Time
Prequel - The Story of Amy, Elliot & Blaine
Box Set - Books One - Six
The Story Continues With…The Paradox Adventures Series
Book One - Time for Hunting Rabbits
Book Two - Artifact Hunting in Paris
Book Three - Fight for the Scepter
Book Four - A Time of Discovery
Book Five - The Race to Apocalypse
Book Six - Time for Deception on Oak Island
Book Seven - Showdown with the Collector
Book Eight - A Time for Hacking
Book Nine - Trapped in Time
Chronomancer Chronicles Series
Prequel - Sacrifices Must Be Made
Book One - The Time Hopper’s Gambit
Book Two - Time for a Mission
Coming Soon…
You can also find all of my book titles with updated links on my author page here:
https://books.bookfunnel.com/paradoxseries
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Also By KD Mack
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Chapter One
Steff collapsed in her bunk, trying to relax on the stiff mattress. The HQ bunkrooms were not meant for a long stay – a few nights at most – and were designed with the idea you’d only be passing through after a debriefing or tough mission. But it had been weeks, and her back was making its complaints known. She rolled on her side, her mind drained. Weeks of interrogations, Matias and the other leaders of Chrono Corp. going through everything she and Bendon had encountered on their travels again and again and again. She hadn’t seen Kreg in days, though they had passed each other multiple times at the start being taken in for questioning. Her stomach turned at the thought. She was pretty sure that his interviews were rather rougher than hers, but he had never failed to give her a tired wink and a smile every time they had passed.
A quick knock sounded at the door and Bendon poked her head in before Steff could respond. She looked tired, though not as wiped as Steff. Steff’s attempts to keep her out had at least spared her in the questioning, though the weeks had revealed to Bendon how much Steff had been doing on her own. The air in the room was tense as she sat at the small desk provided in the room.
“So,” Bendon said, “Kreg’s finally talking.”
“What do you mean?” Steff asked, sitting up. “Wasn’t he talking before?”
“Not much.” Bendon shook her head. “Kept giving them lines about how he couldn’t feed information to the new enemy, which Matias and the others did not like, I can guarantee you that. But I don’t know what changed. He told them a bunch of stuff about what was going on. There’s one problem, though.”
“What?” Steff asked, clutching a wretched excuse of a pillow to her chest.
“He barely knows more than we do. I mean, most of what he remembers is from some other timeline that isn’t happening here. I don’t think the team is super sure how to use that information effectively. It’s not like we can prevent something that’s already been prevented.”
“He thinks it will happen again, though,” Steff pointed out. “And the things we saw in the timeline… I don’t think he’s wrong.”
“You don’t think he’s wrong.” Bendon rolled her eyes. “Both of you are operating off of the same thing – some gut instinct.” She raised her hand before Steff could object. “No need to defend yourself. You have to trust your gut in this job. But it doesn’t really give us a direction to go in, does it? We need something more than ‘things are weird, things could get worse’ if we’re going to come up with a plan.”
Steff studied Bendon for a moment. Her shoulders were tense. Steff had assumed it was because of the bad feelings between them, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere. On something, or someone else.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“The things he’s saying about some people who work here,” Bendon sighed. “It just doesn’t make sense to me. How could people be so different, just in another timeline? Aren’t they basically the same people?”
“Who has he been talking about?”
Bendon shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It didn’t happen – it’s not happening, right? It doesn’t matter what people were like in his version of the timeline. But Matias does have a plan. He wants you, me, and, well, Kreg on it.”
Steff stiffened. “He wants Kreg to come with us?”
“Under strict supervision, of course. He’s basically a prisoner that we’re bringing along for help. But they said his cooperation could help him get out of the trouble he’s in for his past crimes. Do us this favor, we’ll return it. And we’re supposed to monitor his abilities, too. He’s still the only one they’ve recorded with multiple abilities. They tried to run some analysis on it but he was resistant to testing.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.” Steff smiled. “He’s not one to love people poking and prodding him.”
“It’s not about him!” Bendon snapped, in a sudden burst of frustration. “It’s about more than him. It’s about all of us and the survival of this timeline.”
“He knows that! That’s why he’s been doing all this stuff this whole time!”
“Is it why?” Bendon challenged. “Or has he been doing it all for you?”
The flood of embarrassment stopped Steff from responding. She looked down at the ground.
“Anyway,” Bendon continued, her voice cool, “we have to get things together. It’ll be a long mission. And they want you to come in for a full physical before we go.”
“What? They already did one, two days of them when we got back.”
Bendon shrugged, still avoiding Steff’s gaze. “That’s what they said. Full physical. I�
�m supposed to take you there, now.”
Steff opened her mouth to argue again, but the set of Bendon’s shoulders, the tightness around her mouth, let Steff know it wouldn’t get her anywhere. At some point, Bendon would have let her in on everything going on; she probably felt now that she deserved to have her own secrets. Steff didn’t like that they were secrets that helped Chrono Corp., not the two of them, but there was nothing she could do about it. And if Matias had finally decided to let them try and figure out what was going on… the ends justified the means, right? At least in this situation.
“I’ll prep our gear and everything while you’re doing that,” Bendon said. “Meet you at Matias’ office afterwards?”
“Sure,” Steff said, heading for the door. She stopped before she went through. “Bendon - I just want you to know I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you. I did some pretty dumb stuff, and I knew it could get me into some serious trouble with Chrono Corp. I didn’t want that for you.”
Bendon nodded, “I know. I know your heart was in a good place. But I’m a big kid, and I want the option, okay? I know we haven’t been agreeing on what’s the right call, lately. Doesn’t mean I don’t get a place at the table.”
Steff took a moment before responding. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
The walk to the med bay was a miserable one, turning everything over from their last mission in her mind. Could she have really clued Bendon in? She hadn’t been able to trust her there for a while, and even after Bendon was making things up to her, wasn’t there the risk that Bendon would have just called in whatever foolish thing Steff was doing to Matias, thinking she was protecting Steff, the same way Steff had been trying to protect her?
The med techs were overly formal when she arrived. After the basic physical had been completed – the tech seemed to be almost rushing it – another tech came in.
“They’ve ordered some more extensive tests. We need to load you in the scanner,” he said, staring down at his clipboard. “The work is long and can be uncomfortable. We’ve elected to put you under for the duration.”
“Why? I’ve gone in the thing before; it wasn’t that bad. I’m fine without anesthesia.”
The tech gave her a thin smile. “Tests will be more extensive. For your safety and ours, we have to put you under. I’m afraid this isn’t really a matter of choice.”
Something was wrong. Steff was sure of it. But what would putting up a fight do for her now? Instinctively, her fingers traced the small scar where she had yanked out her anchor. Could that be it? Matias had to know that if she felt the need, she’d just pull it out again. She had expected them to insist she got a new one when Bendon told her that Matias was sending them out on a mission. But why the secrecy, if that’s all this was?
“Well?” the med tech said, pulling back the curtain, ushering her out to the back room.
Steff stood, holding back a sigh. What could she do? Despite how much she believed Kreg, despite what she had remembered, it wasn’t like she had really considered going AWOL. It was tempting, sure. But trying to figure out whatever this huge thing was without the support or supplies of Chrono Corp.? All Kreg had managed to do that way was get a hold of her. And even that hadn’t gone terribly well.
“Alright,” she said, and followed the tech backwards. She offered up a plea to whoever might be listening as they laid her out and put her under. Please let this be worth it, she thought at the tiled ceiling above her. Please let this help us get where we need to be.
Chapter Two
Steff, Kreg, and Bendon stood before Matias, their supplies stacked nearby. Kreg’s forearm was sporting a tight metal band with a small keypad on it: it was essentially a house-arrest bracelet. He couldn’t travel without a specific code being entered in by one of his handlers. Steff wasn’t horribly surprised when Matias informed them that only Bendon would have the jump code for it, but it did make her uncomfortable. Was Kreg the only prisoner here, really? She was just getting better privileges for good behavior.
Matias was still rattling off the briefing. “Using the information provided to us by the three of you, we’ve managed to get a lock on this timeline’s version of Xavian. We believe that he may still be instrumental in whatever Kreg here believes is coming. He could easily remember what has happened before and seek vengeance, if Kreg had that ability. The three of you will be traveling to these coordinates and staking out the place. The goal here, at least originally, is information gathering. Once you have relayed to us whatever you find, we will make a decision from there, which you will be required to carry out. This may be returning here, this may be taking some action, or it may be making direct contact with Xavian. Contact with the suspect is to be limited unless there is literally no other way to gain information about his actions. If this is the case, you will not admit to your involvement with Chrono Corp. Two of you are trained, I am sure you can come up with acceptable cover stories as needed.”
“Yes, sir,” Bendon replied, and Steff echoed her half a step later.
Matias looked between the three of them. His face was drawn, though he lacked the dark circles that Kreg and Steff sported. “This is serious business. Our hope, of course, is that whoever else is interfering with the timeline is just a time skipper with more power than he is aware of, a standard criminal who can be taken down with ease. But if that is not the case, then we are likely facing a problem that will not be solved in one fell swoop. Complete transparency from both sides will be required if we are going to successfully move forward.”
“Understood,” Steff said, replying immediately before Kreg could speak. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him smirk. Why was she trusting this guy? He had told them how differently people could behave in different timelines. Just because an old version of him had been on their side didn’t guarantee he really was, now.
“Suit up and head out,” Matias said. “You will jump directly to and from this office. No further jumps are authorized without contacting us first.”
They gathered their things, strapping on equipment, hefting bags, and Matias gave a brief wave. Bendon moved to Kreg, rapidly entering the code she had been given, shielding it from Kreg’s view with her hand and blocking Steff out fully with her back. Steff stared straight ahead, not daring to look curious in front of Matias. In under a minute, they were back in the time stream, their travel entirely silent as they stepped through and out on a cliffside overlooking a small valley.
A string of small buildings were nestled against the cliffside, some clearly built in and extending into the caves beneath them. The three crouched, looking out across the valley. A small group of trucks was making its way to the largest building towards the center of the curve. They watched in silence as it reached the building. Three heavily armed men stepped out and ushered a line of hunched, panicked looking people into the building, then pulled the trucks out of their line of sight. Kreg, Bendon, and Steff exchanged glances.
“Well, that’s suspicious,” Kreg said, shaking his head. “Do you think it will be this easy?”
“Did you see the firepower on those men?” Bendon replied. “I wouldn’t call this easy.”
“But I mean… Finding Xavian, finding out he’s doing shady stuff…” Kreg laughed. “I don’t know how Chrono Corp. manages to track people like this, but that’s something. I’ve only heard rumors about the man since I’ve been hunting him. I knew he was a time skipper like me, but then, I know a lot of time skippers.”
“I wouldn’t go mentioning that to Matias unless you want to be made to rat on all your friends,” Bendon said.
“Friends?” Kreg laughed again. “Is that the word for them, darling?”
“Don’t call me darling,” Bendon replied, hefting her bag and starting the long walk down the edge of the canyon. It curved slowly towards the ground, and they were nearly three miles away from the half-hidden base by the time they snaked their way to the bottom. After some discussion, they slowly moved forward, staying along the cliffside and
– they hoped – out of sight of any scouts there might be at the base. Once they were within a mile of the base, they clambered up the rock-face to an outcropping and set up camp.
“We’ve got a good enough view from here to stake them out for the night, perhaps all of tomorrow as well,” Bendon said as she handed out food to the others. They had no cookstove, as even the smallest light could easily draw attention. Steff wrapped herself in her sleeping bag, leaning back against the cliff wall. It was going to be a long night of staring. Stakeouts had that terrible combination of often being incredibly productive but incredibly boring. There was no better way to track movement, and there was no better way to absolutely lose your mind from staring at the same thing for twelve hours.
“There’s a city out there,” Kreg noted after the first hour, pointing out beyond the canyon. “You can see the lights now that it’s getting dark. Where are we?”
Bendon checked the logs. “Near a capital, it looks like. Lots of civilization past that point, but I don’t think this area is that settled.”
Kreg looked around. “Still it seems awfully ballsy, setting up a day, half a day from a major center like that.”
“They could be working with someone there,” Steff pointed out. “Xavian was powerful before. He could be powerful again, just more secretive about it this time.”
Kreg nodded, not saying anything more. His eyes stayed fixed on the city lights for some time before turning back towards the base. “We’re going to have to go in.”
Bendon nodded now, much to Steff’s surprise. “We will, but I want to have an idea of what we’re working with first. There’s no way we’re going to be able to gather enough information just from their comings and goings for Matias to make a call.”