Time Eternal (15 page)

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Rei knew he needed a surgeon fast. His body should have healed itself partially by now, but for some reason it had not. It happened a few times in the past, when he was severely wounded. This single bullet wound was more severe than he thought. Rei saw Sloan looking back at him from the rear mirror with concern and disapproval. After the Last Battle, he and Sloan were the only surviving members of the once-great Serbian House of Dusan. He knew his brother wanted vengeance even after all these centuries, and he knew Sloan partially blamed Elizabeth for Rei’s failure to protect their father’s empire. And now, once again, he put Elizabeth before his own well-being, before the welfare of his men, men who had been loyal to him all these centuries. No doubt Sloan was going to have plenty to say about this when they were alone later. But that would be later. Now, he could feel his blood pressure getting dangerously low. His immortality would prevent him from dying, but the low blood pressure was quickly rendering him unconscious. He had no choice but to lie back down, praying that when he opened his eyes again, Elizabeth would still be there.

Skyla held the car door handle with a death grip as Sloan sped through the silent streets of the city. There were virtually no cars on the street, and even if there had been, she doubted Sloan would have slowed down. They were driving in a 1932 Ford, a sleek, shiny black automobile that she had seen only once at the Smithsonian Museum back in the twenty-first century. The ride was surprisingly comfortable and smooth, and she was acutely aware of Sloan’s silence. He did not ask her a single question about what had happened at the dock or how they were ambushed. When she first met him earlier this evening, she vaguely sensed some animosity from him. Now she was certain he did not like her. She was about to broach the subject when she noticed the speedometer showing 100mph. “Sloan, slow down. You’ll get us killed before Rei has a chance with the surgeon.” She turned to look at the backseat, making sure Rei was okay Good thing he was completely passed out. She was sure he wouldn’t like to see his former girlfriend arguing with his second-in-command so openly.

Sloan did not bother to answer her. He continued speeding down Sixth Avenue toward the townhouse. Thankfully, the dark silhouette of Central Park appeared a few blocks in front of them. Seconds later, the car screeched to a halt in front of Rei’s townhouse, and she would have been thrown across the dashboard if her grip were any less tight.

“Jesus Christ! Are you crazy?” She turned to yell at Sloan, but he had already left the driver’s seat and was pulling Rei out from the back. Rei looked even paler now. A lump formed in her throat. So instead of yelling at Sloan more, she followed them into the townhouse.

Once they stepped inside, Herbert, Rei’s butler, took one look at Sloan and Rei and immediately snapped his fingers for other house staff while he swiftly followed them up the stairs. If the butler was shocked at seeing his master unconscious, he hid it well. In fact, his swift, efficient actions showed that he was accustomed to seeing his master coming home hurt. Her mind was too preoccupied by Rei’s injury to notice Knox was standing just at the entrance of the war room farther back in the house. He was talking with a few of Rei’s men when they apparently saw the commotion. They ceased whatever discussion they were having and ran quickly upstairs. She strode up to Knox and led him into Rei’s study on the second floor. She gave him a quick update. While she was doing that, Sloan came into the study, impatiently waiting for their conversation to finish.

Knox’s usually calm voice gave Skyla some degree of comfort. “This sounds like an inside job.” He turned to Sloan. “Did you guys have any new recruits on the team or new staff in the house?”

Sloan looked at Knox blandly. “Doc, that’s not your concern. Rei is bleeding to death as we speak. Either you operate on him, or I’ll have to get a surgeon here. Don’t waste my time.”

A muscle twitched on Knox’s clean-shaven jaw, but as always, his impeccable control over his emotions allowed him to otherwise hide his anger. Instead of telling Sloan where to shove it, Knox just glared back at Sloan for a few seconds and then nodded. “Have the house staff prepare some hot water and basic medical supplies. I’ll get my bag and meet them upstairs.” With the same bland expression, Sloan nodded and left the library.

“Who else knew you and Rei were visiting the dock tonight?” Knox turned back to her, and she could see strain on his usually calm face.

“It was only Sloan and you. And I didn’t see anyone else on our way out. Could this place be bugged?”

“Highly unlikely. Modern technology doesn’t work outside of its era. Modern medicine is an exception because as long as the same chemical ingredients can be found in the era, the meds could be replicated. We tested that many times in our past missions. That’s why all of us are rigorously trained in historical weapons, and we’re always packed for medical supplies which have chemical components common in the past.”

“Then it has to be a leak from within. But maybe not intentional?” Pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace, she frowned. “From the little we know, all of Rei’s men have sworn allegiance to him. And it seems he trusted each of them implicitly. So it leaves the household staff.”

Before they could discuss further, the butler appeared at the doorway. “Master Knox, Master Rei’s bedroom is ready.”

Knox gave her a reassuring look before following Herbert out.

She looked up at the portrait above the liquor cabinet again. This time her mind kicked in with sufficient detachment to notice that the similarity between her and the girl in the portrait began and ended with their physical appearance. The girl—Elizabeth Magini, as the director had told her—in the portrait had sparkling, innocent eyes along with a warm, contented smile. Skyla, on the other hand, had never felt innocent. She always seemed to know evil intimately. Given the new information about her past in the sixteenth century, she had definitely known evil intimately.

Even deep in thought, she was alerted by the quiet footsteps approaching the library. She reached for the daggers tucked in her waistline utility belt. As she turned toward the door, Sloan emerged from the hallway. His eyes flicked down to the pair of daggers in her hands and gave her a curt nod. He looked amused and dismissing at the same time. “Not bad. Who’d have thought Rei’s delicate Elizabeth was no shrinking violet.” Then he walked up to the liquor cabinet and poured two glasses of scotch.

More than annoyed but deciding she needed more information, she reached for one of the two glasses. Before she raised the cool crystal glass to her lips, she reminded him frostily. “I’ll not repeat myself again. My name is Skyla. Whoever this Elizabeth you and Rei keep referring to was, doesn’t exist anymore.” It was a declaration, not a request. She watched Sloan over the brim of the glass, and without blinking, she chugged down the fiery amber liquor. Sloan did not dispute her declaration; he simply raised his glass to her as a salute and then went behind the massive mahogany desk, flipping through blueprints and documents, ignoring her brave words, her truth.

Skyla always hated sounding needy, but she needed answers. And she could not stop remembering how Rei had used his body to shield her from the rain of gunfire, barely an hour ago. “How is he?”

Sloan took his time to acknowledge her question. He went on examining the stack of paper on the desk. Finally after a long pause of silence, except for the rustling of  papers, he looked up at her, his eyes regarding her with disdain. “Your boyfriend is still working on Rei. Last I saw, he had just started with the anesthesia.”

He was baiting her, trying to assess her relationship with Knox. It was not a surprise. As Rei’s second-in-command, it was his duty to guard his commander’s claim. Domineering men were all the same, territorial and with a one-track mind, no matter which era they came from. Calmly, she replied, “Knox is a top surgeon trained by the Air Force. He’ll get the bullet out and repair any damage.”

Sloan watched her for a moment and went back to the papers in front of him, ignoring her again. Determined not to let his chilling attitude keep her from what she wanted to know, what she needed to know, she stepped up to the desk and pressed her hands down on the stack of papers he was so interested in reading. “Did you know Elizabeth?”

She could not read his expression except the intense scrutiny from his aquamarine eyes, which had just changed from the light of calm to a deep, tempestuous, stormy-green. “No, I did not.” Disappointed, but not willing to be shut out so easily, she pressed on. “Are you Rei’s brother?”

A hint of emotion finally crept across his impenetrable expression, but he remained silent. She knew she had him right there. “You are, aren’t you? Knox and Butch saw the Last Battle. They didn’t see any survivors from the Serbian royal army, but rumors had it that some of the emperor’s sons survived. You and Rei were the surviving sons.”

Sloan stepped from behind the desk and moved directly in front of her. He was trying to intimidate her with his size and mean-ass attitude, but he had picked the wrong girl to bully. Without any prelude, she pulled the daggers out of her utility belt in one fluid movement and pressed them directly against his groin as a warning. His face was momentarily stunned, but in a flash, he took hold of her daggers and threw them like darts against the wall next to the fireplace. She was impressed. He was definitely good, very good indeed. Not to be outdone so easily, she ducked and swept her foot out at him, causing him to lose his balance momentarily, but he managed to break his fall with a back roll. Instead of landing on his back, he was now in a crouching position by the fireplace, like an angry lion ready to leap at its attacker. She tensed up too, fully prepared to defend herself.

But to her surprise, Sloan stood up slowly instead. “Impressive. If you were Elizabeth, you’re certainly not her anymore.” Pulling the daggers out of the wall, he said, “Yes, we’re the surviving sons of our father.” He handed the daggers back to her. “We are the last of the House of Dusan.”

“What do you mean if I were Elizabeth?” Her eyes wearily tracked his movement. If she did not trust Rei, she trusted his brother even less. The animosity from Sloan was much more palpable now than when they were introduced earlier.

“No one had met Elizabeth. Rei didn’t talk much about her, either.” He stepped back to behind the desk and bent down sideways, as if he were pulling something out from the back of one of the drawers. There must be a secret compartment in there.

“Here. If Rei ever finds out I know where he keeps the secrets of his precious Elizabeth, brother or no brother, he’ll skin me alive.” He held out a soft leather-bound journal to her. His words were grave, but he did not sound too concerned.

She opened the journal and saw a drawing of a young woman, a younger likeness of her, with the same sparkling eyes and warm smile as the girl in the painting on the wall. Tracing her fingers lightly on the drawing, she could tell by the soft lines and strokes that the drawing had been crafted with love and tenderness.

“You do look like her, but you are surely nothing like Rei remembers her, how he describes her in his journal.”

Skyla flipped through the first few dozen pages and found Rei’s chronological records of his journey across the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea and his first month after arriving at Florence in the guise of a merchant’s son. Every detail of his disguise that he had prepared for were perfect, flawless. Rei would have been a great covert agent in her time.

The journal was written in Italian. It was common for merchants in the Mediterranean Sea area to know multiple languages. The language was no problem for Skyla, given she woke up speaking an old form of Italian, and she took it as second language courses in college. Rei recorded how much he had missed his homeland until he met Elizabeth, the daughter and niece of two prominent scientists in Florence during the Renaissance period. It was October 1586 when Rei first met Elizabeth at a science lecture held by her uncle, Giovanni Magini.

When Skyla read the subject of the lecture, the corner of her mouth tilted up a little. How fitting that the lecture was about time travel. Rei described in his journal the chance meeting as love at first sight for both Elizabeth and himself. He was twenty-nine and Elizabeth was only sixteen years old. Wincing inwardly, she noted that the ages matched up. She had been told that she was seventeen years old when she first woke up from the coma.

Journal entry: October 14, 1586

I looked around the lecture hall for any familiar faces but found none. Father’s spies had mentioned that the Fiorentini were on the verge of a scientific breakthrough, and that whoever holds the key to this time traveling discovery will be the conqueror of all known worlds. Signore Magini’s lecture was indeed fascinating; he claimed his machine was close to being ready for testing on livestock.

I stayed after the lecture, hoping to speak more with Magini about his machine. When the crowd finally thinned out, that’s when I saw her. She wore her long, chestnut-brown hair in a braid that reached below her waist. When she moved, the sway of the braid matched the seductive movements of her curvy hips. She was medium height with a slight build. Judging from the open, innocent expression on her face, I know she was very young, probably no older than sixteen, a mere girl. Yet I could not help but feel drawn to her, even though I’m much older than she, and I had seen more blood and cruelty than she could ever imagine.

Like a moth drawn to the flame, I boldly walked up to her and introduced myself. Her name was Elizabeth Magini, the niece of Giovanni Magini. I should’ve been pleased to know she was related to my target. It would’ve made my task easier. But, I was too mesmerized by her warmth, emanating not from her body but from her genuinely caring face, to care much about my mission, my objective. Her bright smile reminded me of the warm summer months my brothers and I used to spend at our grandparents’ estate in the south by the coastline back home.