Storm Front: NA Fantasy/Time Travel (Tesla Time Travelers Book 3) (7 page)

“No need to keep track of about one.” He draws his finger halfway down the line and makes a hard/through another name. “Or that guy.”

“You don’t know anything about that list. Knock it off.” I realize yelling at him while I am bound and flopping around on the floor is pretty fruitless, but it’s something. “I’m going to need that list when I’m done with you.”

He ignores my feeble threats and crosses off to others. I’m fuming.

“You’re welcome.” He sets the pen beside the notepad, crosses his arms and shifts in the chair so he’s facing me. He leans forward and props his elbows on his knees. Our faces aren’t quite level, but I’m pretty sure if my body were obeying me I could headset him.

“I hope you’ll excuse me if I don’t say thanks.”

“You didn’t even ask me what I’d done for you.”

I laugh. “Well, so far you killed my friends, disabled my weapon, and, for the moment, have me at a disadvantage.”

“Tesla said you were something else—a sight to see is how he put it. I didn’t believe him. The few times I saw you, you weren’t anything special.”

A measure what he said, working incredibly hard to keep my paid face passive. Peña new about Tesla. Ilif knew about Tesla. Morgan knows about Tesla. Anyone and everyone who’s after me knows about Tesla. The way he’s framed the question to make it sound like he and Tesla are buddies is meant to trap me. I’m smarter now than I was. Smarter now in the last 10 minutes than I was this morning. “Why did you cross those men off my list.”

The door opens and I scream at Mrs. Steinman. “Get out!” Get out. Run. Go.” I strained to hear her, throw myself forward on the floor and inch toward the living room. Brandt’s body was by the door, there’s no way for her to miss it. I strain and listen.
 

I have no idea how long I was unconscious. Maybe he’s moved Brandt’s body, maybe he’s pulled inside and shut the door so she can even see it. Maybe he did whatever he needed to make everything look normal.

“Evy?” Mrs. Steinaman’s voice. I don’t answer. I press my lips closed. Burying the urge to scream again to send her away. Why didn’t she listens me the first time? Now I’ve taken out another person.

I squeeze my eyes shut and curl into a tight ball. I plead with gods that don’t exist to make this stop. I reach deep inside me for the lightning that’s always been there. Nothing answers back. I want to sob at the incompleteness and depth of emptiness that fills me for the first time in my life.

A hand grips my shoulder, shakes me hard. My name filters through my anguish. I know it’s a trick. One more mastery the gray man holds over me to get what he wants. If my hands were free, I’d cover my ears. One more time, my name.

I open my eyes for the small satisfaction of looking at the gray man and making sure he knows I’m not falling for it.

Mr. Steinaman stares back. I shut my eyes again. “Evy.”

I open my eyes. Mr. Steinaman. Less than a foot away, frowning. Behind him, Mrs. Steinaman cradles Daisy in her arms, looking worried. I scan the room, hoping I’ve somehow managed to fling backward in time to save them. “Get out Mr. Steinaman. Take Mrs. Steinaman. Get somewhere safe. This isn’t safe here.”
 

Mr. Steinaman straightens and I breathe a sigh of relief that he can get away this time, that he can get to safety, that there won’t be one more one more tally on my body count. “You didn’t tell her yet?”

“I’m getting to it,” the gray man says.
 

I wiggle around. He’s still sitting in the chair. I tried to piece together the last couple minutes, but nothing makes sense. Did the Steinamans just walk in their house? I frown. “What’s going on?”
 

“You’ve had your fun,” Steinaman says. “Tell her.” Dread snakes up my spine and lodges itself in the base of my skull. Please don’t let me have misjudged Mr. Steinaman. Please don’t let this be one more person who’s deceived me. Not the Steinamans. Not Brandt. I can’t look at him.
 

Instead, I glare at the gray man and clench my teeth. He leans forward again, elbows propped on his knees. “As I was saying, I work for our mutual friend, Nikola Tesla. When Tesla told me what he’d asked you to do, I offered to keep an eye on you. It seemed neither of you understood that people would kill for what he had.”

“So you work for Tesla?”

He shakes his head. “The president.”

“You work for the president?” If it’s true, that’s troubling.

“That’s right.”

“Which one?” Brandt asks.

Gray smiles and a look of accord passes from one officer of the law to another. “All of them.”

Brandt scratches the hair at his temple. “Guess you can.”

“Nikola’s dealings with governments and the military were coordinated with our own government. The president put a secret group in place at the request of Nikola. I’m part of that group.”

I’m not sure what to say.

“Tesla thought you needed some looking after. I agreed. I started watching you while you were in New York. That’s why I was in the hotel lobby, it’s why I followed you, it’s why I made sure you got out of his hotel room with those papers. Nicola is my friends, has always been my friends.”

I glance at Mr. Steinaman. “And you believe him?”

“What did I tell you about trusting my instincts? He may not have been the man you thought he was he was here before, but I knew he was someone I could trust. My gut’s gotten me out of more situations than I can explain right now, girly. I think he’s telling the truth.”

I shake my head, clenched my teeth, and look away. Mr. Steinaman’s a fool. I’ve seen the gray man in action. I’ve been double-crossed by Peña, lied to by Ellis. Deceived at every turn. This man knows things about my lightning

“How did you do that to my lightning? Why did you attack Mr. Steinman? What is that device?”

He takes the lightbulb thing from his pocket and holds it between us. “You think you’re the only one Tesla gives cool toys to.” He smiles and wiggles the lightbulb in front of me. “When he invented your lightning, your method of traveling, he realized the value and also having a way to turn it off. The military has always been after his creations. For everything Tesla created, he also had to have a way to destroy it. To render it useless. And then he had to have people willing to step in and deploy these devices when the governments got out of control and turned his science into weapons. It’s only a matter of time before you become a weapon.” New I already am a weapon. But I also get what he’s saying. Both Peña and Ellis have used me for their own agendas and gain. Had either of them possessed my weaponry or ability, who knows what date of done with it. My power in the hands of the wrong person could annihilate us all, could undo every history that’s ever been written. “I thought my family was the only one who could alter history. Everyone else is just a time traveler.”

“True. For now. If the government wanted, how long do you think it would take before they had an entire army of lightning riders like you. How long before every soldier carried a lightning bullwhip? You’ve been in battle. How did your weaponry impact your results? Did you win? Win every single time? Think about that. Think about the armies that have fallen. Think about those armies with your weapon.”

C
HAPTER
18

I’
M
SPEECHLESS
. W
HAT
he’s saying has never crossed my mind. I was the only one. According to Peña and LF I was the only girl. Until Tiana. How many lies? How many lies have they told me? I don’t know the gray man from anyone. “Actions speak louder. In the amount of time I’ve known you, you lied to my friends, you’ve lied to my mentor, you’ve followed me around, you’ve attacked me, and now, while you want me to believe what you’re telling me, which is, without question, the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard, you leave me balance with lightning I can’t diffuse and without my only weapon. You’re not very good at instilling trust.”

“Let her up.”

“You’ve seen her in action,” the gray man says to Brent. “You really think this girl is going to sit here and listen to me without flying off the handle, destroying your house, and probably punching me?”

“You probably deserve to be punched.

“Brandt,” Mrs. Steinman chides him. “That’s not very nice.”

The gray man and I face off, glaring at one another with the vehemence I’ve held only for LF. I never thought I would find someone I despised more. In this moment, I know I can trust no one. At this point, even Constantine must be suspect. Even he could be corrupted. The betrayal sweeps over me and I fight back a rush of tears. I’m alone. In a heartbeat I’ve gone from the biggest team I’ve ever had to no one.

C
HAPTER
19

 
T
HE
GRAY
MAN
leans back and shift his attention to Brandt. “Remember you asked for this.” He touches the device to the lightning ropes at my legs and they vanish immediately. My faculties are instantly back and I’m on my feet, crouching hands fisted “Evie, darling,” Mrs. Stein amend sets a frail hand on one of my fists.

I lower my hands but I don’t unclench them I rubbed my middle finger against the inside of my palm test for a flicker of lightning nothing happens and I jerk my jaw to the rate. I don’t say anything. Not yet. We’ll see how this plays out. Nothing I say is going to convince him to give me back my lightning before he wants to, that much is clear. I shift and face Mr. Steinman. “Talk to me.”

“Sit down.”

I moved to the opposite side of the table and slam into a chair. “I know this looks suspicious. I know we have no reason to trust him. You need to understand I’m not trusting him. I’m trusting my gut. I’m asking you to do the same. I clench my jaw and wait for someone to start telling me what the puck is going on. The gray man rotates his pad and slides it over beside my version of his name he’s written Frank White I look at him and raise my eyebrows really?” Frank White? That’s the best you could come up with?”

“Tesla has always had men after him. It became the nature of his business once he started dealing with governments. You met a few in his hotel, correct?” New in I nod and tap their names on the pad. “These guys.” Before you crossed them out.”

“I handled it.” “And this one?” I slide my finger down to the next one he scratched out.

“Handled.”

We play this game for the entire list. “Handled. Handled. Yep, that was me.”

“How?”

He shrugs. “Tesla sent me. I had to be good.”

“You want me to believe that Tesla was perfectly fine with you killing people?”

“Who says I killed them?”

I scowl and think through the possibilities, ponder options beyond death. He has tools, he can travel, I’ve been able to send other people through time. “Besides knocking out old men, what else does your device do?”

He smiles. “Everything you can.”

I snort and make a face. Nothing can do what I can.

“You think not? I stole your lightning I bound you in better lightning than you’ve ever used, how do you think Mr. Steinmsan’s limp went away?”
 

I glance at my neighbors standing together in their kitchen leaning against each other and the kitchen counter. Their features haven’t changed, but Mrs. Steinman’s hands don’t curl in with her arthritis and Mr. Steinman isn’t using his cane. I turned back to Mr. Gray. “All right, why are you here? You’ve given me your body count; if that’s why you came you can go.”

“Tesla’s worried about you.”

“I’m fine. Once you leave anyway.” I flick the pad with my fingers and send it several inches away from me. “Now that you’ve handled most of the men after me I can get back to work.”

“Which you can do because of me.”

“I don’t need any help with that.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?”

“Enlighten me.” I don’t need one more masochistic asshole running interference for me. Not even one sent by Tesla.

“I kept many of the men after you from succeeding. The men casing your house were FBI. I took them out before they got the bugs planted.”

“No bodies were reported,” Brandt says. I’m not sure if he’s second-guessing his decision to trust Gray since I’m not taking anything this guy says at face-value or if this is typical cop mode for him.

“Again, I didn’t kill them. I
moved
them.”

“I don’t understand how all this time travel works.” Brandt walks to the table and pulls out a chair, but doesn’t sit. “Explain.”

Gray nudged the device. “I can strip someone of the ability to travel. I can take someone to the past and imprison them in a time they’ll never be able to leave or inflict damage.
 

I watch Brandt and he looks to me for confirmation. I shrug. “Take someone back far enough, they’d have little chance of survival. That would explain the cop cars that night, too. If they were looking and couldn’t find the guys you were worried about because he snatched them and took off before the cops got here.”

“I called them lazy excuses to wear the uniform. I know what I saw that night.” Brandt points at Gray. “You and two men.”

Gray nods. “I took them both.” He jerks his chin at my pad. “And crossed them off. You won’t have to worry about them.”

He may have just explained dozens of missing persons cases. I shiver. That device is far more sinister than anything I can do.

I stand. “Well, thanks, then. You’ll be going?”

Gray leans back in his chair. “For now.”

We examine each other. There will be no alliance between us. What he does, he does for the president—and maybe a little because of how he feels about Tesla, but not because he likes it. Or me. I’d love to know how Nikola convinced him to take this on, babysitting me, keeping men from killing me, ensuring I have every chance at success. But I have other priorities.

“Stay out of my way, Gray.”

C
HAPTER
20

“Y
OU
’
LL
NEED
THIS
.” He points his device at my chest.

I stepped toward him, and lean into his space. “I don’t need anything from you.” I want that to be true, and yet, if he’s stolen my lightning, if I’m without it for the first time ever, I cannot do my job. But I’m also unwilling to be at his mercy, unwilling to admit he has something I need.