Stars Across Time (4 page)

Against forty men, Theron? You’re not a god. You’re not even that young anymore.

He sighed at the voice in the back of his mind. It was not wrong. He would get himself shot, and then what protection would these women have? And who would contact headquarters to let them know where the rogue time machine was?

“Take their clothes off,” Optimus ordered. “All of them.” He gestured to the uniformed girls too. “We can’t assume that just because they’re young that they’re virgins. Given all the people that were in the world in this time period, some of the women had to be jumping anything with a cock.”

Theron wanted to clobber the man, for the foul language and everything that was so utterly wrong about this whole situation. Instead, he shifted a couple of steps to the side, toward the gas jugs. Starting a fight he couldn’t win was idiotic and might get him killed, but he couldn’t endure Optimus
inspecting
every woman in here.

Unfortunately, he had chosen his spot poorly when he first entered the cave, and twenty feet and many men stood between him and that cache. Still, several kidnappers had begun disrobing their captives, leering as they did so. The fact that not one of them objected made Theron want to burn every man in the room with his plan.

One thing at a time. He inched closer, trying to look like he wasn’t moving at all, should anyone glance in his direction. Even if most eyes were toward the women, some of the thieves stood back with their weapons in hand, maintaining a more professional guard stance. Theron had already noted that several of those men had rifles from the time period, ones that could fire entire magazines full of cartridges before needing to be reloaded. If he could get one of those for himself, he could definitely do some damage.

Fabric ripped as the men cut away the women’s clothing. Some of the girls in the back whimpered. The sound made Theron cringe. Nobody should have to endure this indignity—and what was sure to become more than indignity—but especially not such young women.

Min-ji had tears in her eyes, but she looked at her friend, a question there, as well. Andie nodded once. She looked toward the cache of stolen goods, even as her captors cut her clothing away. Calculation glittered in her brown eyes. Theron might have an ally in the battle he was planning, whether she thought of him as one or not. He vowed to cut her bonds as soon as he had a chance.

“Virgin,” Optimus announced. “Over there. Next.”

Theron paused, frowning in the man’s direction. Optimus wasn’t doing a physical check, at least not in the invasive way Theron had imagined, but instead, held a small device against each woman’s bare abdomen. Oh, his hands
did
roam unprofessionally as he did his checks, and guards held the young captives so they could not shy away, though they certainly tried, but as soon as a red or green indicator came on, he waved the subject to stand in one group or the other and moved onto the next woman. Not surprisingly, most of his previously uniformed captives went into the virgin group, though two who looked too young to be sexually active were guided toward the other group, one with her cheeks flushing red. Hell, to Theron, they
all
looked too young to be sexually active. He might not have any children, but he was old enough that any one of the uniformed girls could have been his daughter. The thought of them being sold to the highest bidder made his fingers tighten into fists again.

He took a couple more steps toward the gasoline canisters. Three men stood in front of the area. Whether they had been assigned to guard the goods or had merely chosen that spot when everyone had entered the cave, Theron did not know. All three of them were watching the naked girls, their eyes hungry. One of them dropped a hand down, openly rubbing his crotch. Theron hoped he managed to light that one on fire.

“You going somewhere, new blood?” one of the men asked, turning his eyes from the girls to Theron.

Apparently, this one hadn’t been as engaged as his buddies. He tapped the stock of his rifle as he met Theron’s eyes. The motion caused his sleeve to droop slightly, revealing a bracer on his wrist, one identical to the one Optimus wore. One that could call to the time machine back in their own century, letting it know its travelers were ready to come home. The bracers were simple, with all of the complicated parts being back on the machine itself. Press and hold down the button on the side, and one went home.

The guard followed his stare, curled a lip, and yanked his sleeve down. Realizing he had made himself more suspicious by taking such a long look, Theron shrugged easily and met the man’s eyes, as if he had nothing to hide.

“Yeah. Came to see you. I saw you earlier, talking to Optimus.” Theron had seen no such thing, but he assumed that the men in the other group had all “talked” to their leader at some point during this raid. “Do you have any idea how much we’ll end up making once the girls are sold? If they’re getting split off, and we get sent with the less valuable group, will we get a cut from the other group?”

“What makes you think you deserve a cut of anything? You didn’t come in with a woman or anything else in your arms.” The guard shifted so that he stood in front of the gasoline jugs, as if he knew exactly what Theron had in mind.

“I helped get those two.” He resisted the urge to wave toward Min-ji and Andie, reminding himself that he had suspected them of being up to something. If they were, he did not want to draw anyone’s attention to them.

“Did you.” The guard’s flat tone made it seem like it wasn’t a question. His eyes narrowed, and he searched Theron’s face.

Hell, maybe one of Optimus’s minions would be the one who recognized Theron. This one must be trusted, if he had been given one of the bracers to wear.

Theron turned toward the center of the cave, as if he cared what Optimus was doing next. In truth, he only wanted to keep the guard from having a long look at him. His face should be less recognizable in profile. He pulled out his knife, hoping to further distract the guard, though he made it clear right away that he was simply flipping it in his hand, not intending to use it as a weapon.

As he had hoped, the guard’s gaze was drawn to the blade. A testament to all the years he had spent in the field with nothing better to do, Theron could juggle knives and do all manner of tricks even with just one. He tossed this one in the air, bouncing the hilt off the back of his hand and catching it. Whatever entertained the guard. It was the sort of handling he could do in his sleep, so he watched Optimus while he did it and contemplated how he was going to light the gasoline on fire. He had matches in his pack, but not in a pocket or anywhere he could reach without digging around. The jug itself shouldn’t present much of a problem; the plastic had to be sturdy, but he was fairly certain he could throw the knife and pierce it.

Optimus had finished separating his group of captives, and he strode across the cave to Min-ji and Andie. Andie was still framed by men on either side of her and wasn’t likely to make it to the exit if she tried to run, but her shoulders seemed looser than they had before. Her hands were still behind her back, but she might have freed them and was pretending they were still bound. Or maybe her friend had freed them somehow. Min-ji stood in front of her, her own hands still bound, but they might have used their bodies to block the views of those around them.

Optimus checked Min-ji first. “Not a virgin. That group.” He waved her away.

She gave Andie a long look, then took a circuitous route toward the smaller collection of women, one that caused her to walk near the cache of supplies. With her no longer blocking his line of sight, Theron had an open view of Andie. She had an intriguing collection of tattoos that ran across her shoulders and met in the middle of her chest, above the valley between her breasts. Whether that had been the original intention of the tattoos or not, Theron caught himself admiring the curve of her flesh, the peaks of her nipples tight in the chilly cave. Neither small nor large, her breasts were just the right size for a man to cup and fondle before letting his hand roam lower, down the smooth muscles of her abdomen to her belly button, where a small gold bar pierced the flesh. He imagined playing with that with his tongue and then tracing her inviting, tan skin lower, brushing past the black curls of her pelvis to dip into—

He jerked his gaze up, his cheeks heating with shame. Of all the inappropriate times to think of sex. Was he truly as much of an animal as the thugs around him? His embarrassment deepened when he realized Andie was looking at him, her jaw tight, her eyes hard as Optimus pressed his device against her abdomen. The fresh bruise blossoming on her cheek only made him feel guiltier for ogling her. Had she seen him staring at her? She must have.

“Why don’t you put away the blade, new blood?” the guard beside Theron asked, nudging him with the muzzle of his rifle. Theron had forgotten he was still flipping the knife, it being such a habit that he could do it without paying attention. “You’re making me nervous, and my trigger finger gets twitchy when I’m nervous. Go stand over there, eh?”

“Not a virgin,” Optimus announced. “Imagine my shock.” He tweaked Andie’s nipple and waved her in the same direction that her friend had gone.

Min-ji had stopped to wait. No, she had stopped to fiddle with something in her hand. Flame burst out of a wrapper she held.

Theron was so startled that he almost didn’t react in time. The guard was lunging for Min-ji, while Andie was lunging for Optimus. With everyone focusing on them, Theron threw his knife. The guard had stepped forward to grab Min-ji, so the blade flew behind him, lodging in the closest gasoline container. The shouts that had erupted in the chamber echoed from the walls and covered the sound of the knife striking. Theron lunged in and yanked it free as he kicked over the container.

“What are you doing, girl?” the guard snarled, turning Min-ji around and pushing her toward the smaller group of women. But not before she spotted the gasoline dribbling onto the floor, forming a puddle behind the guard.

Theron did not know if she had noticed him knocking it over, not with the big guard blocking her view, but she reacted quickly to what was important. She managed to free her hand—she had to have burned herself, holding that fire—and flung the charred wrapper and a handful of flaming chemicals at the puddle.

Theron jumped away before the fire ignited. He grabbed the mace hanging on his belt and was about to clobber the guard when shouts and bangs came from the cave entrance. At first, he thought Andie might be escaping, knocking men aside to flee, but the kidnappers had swarmed her, pulling her arms behind her back. Optimus, a snarl on his lips, had raised his hand to strike her.

Theron raised his knife to throw it, intending to take the ass in the neck, but Optimus froze and stared at the cave entrance. A man was striding inside with more women and more fur-clad kidnappers behind him. Theron might have attacked, anyway, might have accepted that he had committed himself and his fate was sealed, but he recognized the man, and that recognition stunned him into inaction. It wasn’t another thug whose face adorned the wanted posters back at the base. It was Major General Duckworth, the man who oversaw Alliance border protection and who was so high ranking that Theron’s nose would have bled if he had tried to climb up to sit next to him.

After all the battles he had been in, Theron never would have thought himself capable of panicking, but the only thought that jumped into his mind was that Duckworth would recognize him in an instant and that he couldn’t allow that to happen. Instead of hurling his knife, he lunged at the guard with the bracer. The man had turned from restraining Min-ji to flapping at the flames and kicking away the other canisters so nothing else would burn. Theron locked his hand around the guard’s flailing wrist and pressed the button on the bracer.

The man realized what he was doing right away and tried to yank his arm away. Theron hung on with all of his strength, while keeping his back to the cave entrance and hoping the general had not already recognized him. The guard growled and used his free arm to throw a punch at Theron’s face. Theron caught it with his bare palm—it wasn’t the first time men had taken cuts at him.

“What are you—” the guard started to demand, but white light flashed all around them.

He, Theron, and who knew how many other people disappeared from the twenty-first century.

T
he blinding white light disoriented Andie, and she stumbled and fell. It must have disoriented the guards, too, because nobody was holding her anymore. Her naked butt struck hard rock, and she winced at yet another bruise she was going to have after tonight. She forced herself to roll to her feet. Her hands were free, thanks to Min-ji slipping behind her and smearing lip balm all over her wrists to lubricate them. For the moment, nobody was holding her. If she could only see, she might finally escape.

“What happened?” someone snarled from nearby. That guy with the dumbass cartoon villain name? Optimus?

Andie backed away, blinking furiously. The light had faded, but so many spots burned her retinas that she feared permanent damage had been done. She had hoped she might back into the wall and from there find the cave exit, but she bumped into a shaggy fur coat instead. Its owner grabbed for her, but she slipped away before he found a grip.

“This cesspit for brains hit the bracer,” someone said from across the cave.

“Mace,” came Mace’s calm voice. He was the first person Andie managed to focus on. He faced one of the other thugs, his mace in one hand and his old-fashioned rifle in the other. The thug faced him back, a modern M-16 in his arms. “I just saved all of your lives.”

“What are you talking about?” Optimus stalked toward the two men, a hand on a firearm that was holstered at his waist. “Russell, this your new man? Russell? Where—Damn it, we only got half of our people.”

Andie looked around the cave, searching for Min-ji—and the exit. The Girl Scout troop and everyone else who had been classified as a virgin by that idiot and his device hadn’t made it. Min-ji was there and so were the supplies, including a leaking gas can knocked on its side. Andie had glimpsed the contents burning earlier, thanks to whatever Min-ji had done with the hand warmers, but the flames were out now. Andie shifted toward the exit. All of the people who had been striding in were gone, but a couple of thugs had already moved quickly, blocking the tunnel, a tunnel that was different from what it had been two minutes ago. The entire cave was different—
larger
. Walls that had been rough before were chiseled now, as if the chamber had been hollowed out by drills and pickaxes. The cave might appear similar to the one they had left, but it couldn’t be the same place. They had been transported somehow. What the hell?