The Temporal (15 page)

A thorough search of McGregor
’s apartment turned up precious little. It became painfully obvious that the man had little regard for his health. In addition to soft drink containers and candy bar wrappers sprawled across the floor, there were dirty clothes, books, and the occasional syringe. His bookshelf held mostly adult DVDs and some old VHS tapes but no VHS player. There was no computer to sort through files, no personal journal to read, and nothing handwritten—not even a grocery list on his refrigerator.

Feeling like they had accomplished nothing, the three headed out to the apartment parking lot.

“It is almost as if a cleaning crew came in before us,” said Cobbs as he spotted their Honda.

“
A cleaning crew?” asked Sam. “The place is worse than a dump.”

“
Not that kind of cleaning crew. Someone doesn’t want us to learn much about who McGregor really is.”

As they approached the rental car, Cobb
’s cell warbled in his pocket. He took the call while pulling out his keys. Concentrating on the phone conversation, he just stood there with the key inches from the car door lock, ready to be inserted. After a few mumbled monosyllabic words and rapid fire questions, he said, “Let me know if you have anything else,” and closed the phone.

He turned to Suteko and Sam.
“That was an old friend of mine—Paul Simmons from the Bureau. The bomb in New Orleans was set off prematurely—thirty-six hours earlier than McGregor had planned, right? I just learned that there was to be a conference on Middle Eastern policies on the third floor of that building. It would have taken place thirty-six hours after the bomb was planted. The conference was only supposed to host a few dozen attendants, but the names are all A-List.” He leaned in to emphasize his words. “A-List.”

“
That, Agent Cobbs,” Suteko said, sounding as if waking from a dream, “isn’t too surprising, but this gives us a lead. We have a list of cities and we know what message they wanted to send in New Orleans. Get your men on finding similar events occurring at that time in the other cities.”

“
They are already on it,” Cobbs said as he began to thrust his keys forward. “I’ll...”

“
No!” Sam yelled, lurching forward and slapping Cobb’s hands away from the car. The keys flew from his hands and to the ground. “Something has been here.”

“
Yes,” Suteko said with a sudden concerned expression on her face. “I hear strange echoes too.”

“
What? What was here?”

Sam jerked to his left and then right, his eyes wide and frantically in search of someone or something. The apartment
building was small, but the half-filled parking lot was large enough to hold about fifty cars. One border was wooded, providing cover for anyone wanting to hide. Another border was a street and the other two sides were buildings, one being the apartment building itself. Sam kept looking, searching for something Cobbs and even Suteko didn’t know was there.

“
Talk to me boy—what do you mean something was here?” Cobbs didn’t like being the one with no information. He liked it even less now that the main source of intelligence was coming from Sam’s head.

“
Two Nephloc. Well, one Nephloc and one... something else. They were here very recently. Don’t touch the car. It isn’t safe.”

Cobbs p
ulled out his weapon, a Glock 23. Suteko had spoken a little about these Nephloc, a kind of evil version of her: physically strong, but helpless to do only the evil its master bids. He began to swing his weapon wildly looking for any movement around the few cars and foliage.

Sam motioned to Cobbs.
“Put that away. It could call attention to us. It is useless against them.”

Suteko looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow.

Sam didn’t seem to notice. He was beginning to accept certain unlearned knowledge that came from somewhere beyond his five senses. He was focused, completely absorbed in discovering the Nephloc that he alone knew lurked nearby.

“
I know you are there!” Sam’s eyes were narrow and busily scanning the shrubbery. “Show yourself!”

While Sam continued to search for the Nephloc, Cobbs carefully knelt to look under the car. A foreign object
—no doubt a hastily attached car bomb—was attached beneath the fuel tank.

In a voice calm and low, Cobbs stood and backed up. He said,
“We need to move away from the car now.”

Sam was too busy scanning the area and failed to register the urgency in Cobb
’s voice.

“
Bomb. Get...”

The sound of the explosion punctured Sam
’s ears. Before he could turn to try to understand what had just happened, his body absorbed a wave of energy; what couldn’t be absorbed sent Sam flying into a nearby Prius. His legs hit the hood of the car with bone-shattering force. The top half of Sam’s body folded, slamming his face into the glass of the windshield while the bottom half followed over and behind. He was instantly on the ground—on the other side of the car.

Seconds or minutes later, Sam heard Suteko
’s voice calling. It was her voice, but it echoed.

“
H...here.”

Suteko appeared and knelt beside Sam.

“Sam, can you move?”

He was face down on the pavement looking at the tire of some white mini-van. His eyes were functional but stung as if a gallon of salt water had been poured
over them. Looking down, he could see a bloodied arm with a large gash. He was surprised to see its fingers begin to curl up; then he realized the fingers were obeying his will to move and the bloodied arm was his.

He attempted to straighten his leg. His right leg moved, but it shot
powerful and pulsating waves of pain to his brain. Uncontrollable screams of agony flew from his mouth.

“
Hold still.”

Suteko ran her hands up and down his legs, feeling and gently massaging.

“This may hurt a little.”

Not giving him any time to respond or prepare, she gripped his left leg with both hands and pushed hard. He heard a cracking sound that was followed by a
new wave of pain. Sam was surprised to hear screams—his screams.

“
I’m so sorry,” she said as Sam’s rapid breathing returned to normal, “but your body had already started to heal and setting your broken bone now was critical.”

He looked down at the arm again
—his arm—and noticed the blood had already stopped. The wound also seemed smaller and scar tissue was beginning to form.

“
What’s happening?”

“
Being affected by eternity, one of our gifts is accelerated healing. Look at your arm. The surrounding cells are multiplying in seconds what would take days for others.”

The pain had lessened to a dull ache. He had nearly forgotten the intensity of the last few moments.

“Yeah, I wish I had this when Billy Barnes beat me up in fifth grade.”

She smiled and asked,
“How is your leg now? Can you move it?”

He moved his leg again. This time there was only slight pain.
“Yes, much better.” He started to smile before remembering Cobbs. “Cobbs! Where is he?”

Suteko
’s smile faded. “He... he was killed instantly.”

“
What?” Sam forced his arms to his side and pushed. He managed to sit up and then stand before falling to the ground in excruciating pain.

“
Shh. Shh. Don’t stand. Just rest a minute. Give yourself time enough to heal.”

“
Cobbs... No. It can’t be... A future Cobbs told you through the echoes about the multiple bombs.”

“
He did that already. He reported to us what his office knew. That is what I heard. Those words...”

Sam stood once more, this time taking it slow. He gradually shifted weight from his hands on the Prius to his feet. He looked over at the remains of their rental car. It was sitting on its tires but touching the car next to it. The force of the explosion had lifted and moved the front end a few feet. Cobbs, who had been closest, didn
’t have a chance.

Walking around the
car, he saw that Suteko had carefully positioned him on the pavement, his hands by his side and legs straight.

“
Cobbs...” Tears and deep emotions began to well up. “What are we going to do now, Suteko?”

Then, Sam
’s eyes focused and reddened but not from tears. “The creature.”

“
It’s not here. I don’t hear the echoes of anyone’s presence but our own.”

“
No. One left. The woman left. One remains. The one she commanded to stay, watch, and report back. It’s near, and it’s watching us.”

“
How do you know?”

Sam put his finger to his mouth demanding silence and crept behind a row of cars.
He headed determinedly toward the wooded area. Once free from the cover of cars, he stood tall and broke into a jog. His leg had fully healed or if it hadn’t, his focus prevented the pain from slowing him. As he approached a bank of shrubbery, he disturbed a few birds. The birds shot out and up making loud noises. Sam was not distracted. He kept his eyes straight ahead.

Suteko caught up with him, but she couldn
’t see what he saw. He held his hand up, motioning for her to stand still but be ready.

“
I see you.” Sam’s voice was serious and without hesitation or doubt. Suteko still saw nothing.

Suteko was about to pull him forcibly from the area. Sirens were soft in the distance, but growing louder and nearer. They needed to get out of there. But before she could move her hand to pull Sam
’s shoulder away, she heard a growling voice from the shrubbery.

“
Saaaamuel. Do not thrust usss into the light! It was not usss.”

“
I know. You are only a tool, but you are no less culpable. Tell me where the one who did this is and I’ll leave you be. Where is the one who attacked me in New York? Where is the one who killed my friend? Where is she?”

Shrieks of terror, high-pitched and bloodcurdling, came
unseen from the greenery. Suteko frantically scanned the brush. Sam kept his face and eyes steadily forward.

“
Sheeee—Don’t speeak of sheee...”

Suteko looked at Sam. His face was insistent, completely focused on something in the shrubbery, something Suteko could not see.

The sirens were growing louder.

“
Sam, we have to go. The police...”

It took a moment, but Sam heard the sirens too. He nodded and spoke to the bushes,
“Tell your boss, I am coming for her.”

“
Shee wishes it to be so.”

Sam turned and began running toward the street. Suteko followed him
wondering what had happened to him.

Sam was amazed how fast he could run. His eyes were having a hard time keeping up with the rapid change of environment around him. The gray blur of buildings changed to a green blur as they passed a small park and then back to gray again. It felt incredible. Not only was there no physical pain, but it was as if his body was a hundred times stronger. The sudden exertion made him feel even more powerful.

Then, he lost his footing. He felt a blow to his chest as if hit by a maul hammer.
Sam tumbled into the pavement and rolled over a flower bed before finally crashing into a newspaper box. The impact caused two of the metal box’s legs to pull up its bolts from the concrete.

“
What’s wrong with you? You need to get a hold of yourself. Someone could have seen you!”

Sam looked up
to see Suteko’s face. She was mad—her face was blood red. He had never seen her emotions flare up to such an extent.

“
I... I was just...”

A few people turned a corner and saw Sam on the ground leaning against the tumbled newspap
er box. He was dirty and panting. The pedestrians quickly turned the other way.

“
Look,” she said, relaxing her eyes slightly, her tense shoulders dropped. “I realize your body is adjusting and you are experiencing all it is to be one of the Temporal, but you must have self-control. It is essential that we don’t call attention to ourselves.”

“
I’m sorry. I... It is just all this is so new. And that Nephloc back there. The thoughts—the disgusting thoughts it had. I just had to get away.” Sam carefully stood up while trying to shake the Nephloc from his memory.

“
You could hear its thoughts?”

“
You couldn’t? It was so loud.”

“
Sam, I think your gift is special.” She smiled and, approaching him, held out her hand to help him maintain his footing. “None of the Temporal have this ability.”