THE BETRAYED
“There’s nothing left,” Cassie said, her voice hollow. She kicked a piece of concrete rubble, the sound echoing around the ruins of Brightwood Ranch. The air reeked of something harsh and acidic. Tendrils of gray smoke curled over the shallow crater that had once been a tarmac. The hangar towered over the destruction, somehow undamaged.
She wiped her mouth, her skin coming back smeared with grime and blood. She had dozens of scrapes along her arms and face, but the worst pain was in her chest. She didn’t feel like crying – she was used to crying, but where the usual grief was in her heart, there was only a hollow shell of disbelief and defeat.
They picked their way across the treacherous terrain to the front entrance of the Bureau. The entrance was now a tumbled mess of dirt and concrete rubble. There was no way of clearing the entrance without heavy machinery, no way of finding survivors. A horrendous metallic screech filled the air and Cassie turned to see the satellite dishes sink into the loose ground, swallowed by the earth with a jaw-rattling rumble.
“We have to contact Eaglepoint,” Ryan said at last, turning away from the ruins of the Brightwood facility. “If they haven’t detected this already, they have to be notified. Our people are still alive, I know it. We need to find Zero; we need soldiers, equipment—”
“To do what?” she asked, exasperated. We’ve lost. It’s all over.
“Fight!” he shouted, blood streaming from a gash above his forehead. “I have a responsibility to protect my country and my agency! We know who the enemy is now – all we need are the resources to fight!”
“It wasn’t just Zero,” she said, her voice pained. “Tallon betrayed us, Ryan. What if there are others?”
“We can’t think like that,” he murmured, taking a step toward her. “Tallon…I don’t know where he fits in. But we can’t punish the entire Bureau for the actions of one rogue element. We need to regroup and rescue the others.”
Cassie dropped to the ground and massaged the back of her head, which had swollen into a painful lump. “We should never have trusted Zero.”
“We didn’t know any different.” Ryan sat beside her and blew out a deep breath, surveying the skeletal remains of Brightwood Ranch. “We can’t turn back time and fix things.”
Cassie stared at the mangled remains of the fence, the sun glaring in her eyes. They couldn’t rewind time – she wasn’t strong enough to Shift more than five seconds, and even if she could return that far…she knew that even the full might of the Bureau couldn’t stop Zero and his allies.
Some things, it seemed, could never be changed.
Minutes passed in silence. There was only the groan of metal and the cawing of black crows that had come to investigate the ruins. The breeze carried away the smoke from the teleportation devices; the sun melted the unnatural snow into a dirty, ash-smeared puddle.
“The explosion won’t have gone unnoticed,” Ryan said. “Locals will have called the police. The FBI will be here soon, with Homeland on their heels. But they’ll tie us up in red tape for days, maybe weeks. Every minute we delay, those hostages are slipping further away.”
“I know,” she murmured. Of course he’s right. Always the level-headed one.
Her Affinity spiked sharply and she leaped to her feet. Her heart raced, raw power humming through her bones.
“What is it?” Ryan asked, scrambling upright. “Is it Zero?”
“No. Not Zero. I don’t know who it is.”
The universe vibrated, T.E. swirling around her in invisible currents, preparing to accept a teleportation. Who’s coming now? Nothing friendly ever comes out of one of those wormholes…
“We need to get to higher ground,” Ryan said, pointing at the hills, “or take an SUV and get the hell out of here before—”
There was a rush of energy and a blinding flash of light; she raised a hand to shield her eyes, her Affinity screaming as dozens of different Temporal Signatures burst into life. A gust of cool air that smelled vaguely of the ocean swept past her.
She lowered her arm, and her heart stopped dead.
No. No it can’t be. Please, not him too.
Shaun Briars stood side-by-side with a dozen faceless Adjusters, white military patches on their black jumpsuits. A thirty-something man with a ratty ponytail stood beside Shaun, radiating a powerful Temporal signature that felt eerily similar to Tallon’s.
Cassie slowly stepped backward, bumping into Ryan. No. It can’t be true. It’s not possible. Not Shaun. Anybody but Shaun.
“Christ…” Shaun muttered, looking around the ruins. “We’re too late. Shit.”
The man with the ponytail glanced at the Adjusters, a hexagonal device on his forehead pulsing brightly. The faceless creatures responded to his wordless command, instantly fanning out. Cassie gripped Ryan’s arm tightly, as though he could anchor her to reality.
This can’t be right. Not him. He can’t have betrayed the Bureau. He wouldn’t betray us.
Or would he? He hates the Bureau. He distrusts them. He thinks they’re plotting against him. What if they pushed him too far and he snapped? Do you really know what he’s capable of?
“Cassie!” Shaun exclaimed, moving over the rubble toward her. “You’re alive! I was so worried about you—”
He reached out a hand to touch her, and she slapped it away.
“Don’t touch me!” she shrieked, finding her voice again.
His forehead creased. “Cassie, what’s wrong? Is it the Adjusters? Listen, we were wrong, they’re not our enemies, not all of them—”
“DON’T LIE TO ME!” she screeched, backing away. Tears, angry and hot, spilled down her cheeks. Ryan gripped her shoulders, but he couldn’t stop her body from shaking. “How could you do this? How could you betray us? How could you betray me?”
“Cassie,” Shaun said, exasperated, his gray eyes desperate and pleading. “Cassie, please listen to me. I know how this must look, but I swear—”
“YOU’RE WORKING WITH THEM!” she yelled, not knowing whether it was a question or an accusation. “Were you working with him? Were you planning to destroy the Bureau this whole time?”
“No!” Shaun countered, raising his voice. “I can explain – these Adjusters are trying to help us. Zero is the real enemy. He came from the other universe—”
“You’re lying!” her voice broke, tears streaking down her cheeks. “You’re lying, you’re lying, you’re lying!”
“I’m telling you the truth,” Shaun promised, taking a step forward.
“Get away from me!” Cassie cried, swatting his hand away, but Shaun kept coming, an arm outstretched, as though he could pull her into an embrace and kiss her and make this all go away. But nothing will bring the Bureau back. Nothing will ever be the same again.
“Hey, she said back off!” Ryan bellowed, stepping around her and shoving Shaun away with one powerful thrust. The white-haired boy let out a vicious snarl, anger contorting his face – the face that she had once thought was handsome, caring, loving. Now she saw a monster, a traitor, someone she could never trust again.
“How dare you touch me?” Shaun snarled. He lashed out with a backhand, smacking Ryan across the face. The operator responded with a powerful right hook, and then Cassie was screaming for them to stop as the teenagers hit the ground, pummeling each other, blood spraying everywhere.
“ENOUGH!”
The man with the ponytail grabbed Shaun and hauled him upright, while two Adjusters seized each of Ryan’s arms. Blood spilled over Ryan’s lip, his face bruising purple. Shaun spat onto the ground, Timewalking his injuries with a tangible rush of T.E.
“This is no way to act!” the man with the ponytail thundered. “We should be helping each other, not fighting! With Zero on the loose, we can’t afford to have a Timewalker unaccounted for. We’ll take the girl – and the soldier – into protective custody.”
The Adjusters moved in unison, surrounding Cassie and Ryan.
She reached for her Temporal powers, but she was a moment too late. Inhumanly strong hands seized her, dragging her away. She twisted around, thrashing and fighting, trying to free herself, but the Adjusters held her too strongly. She dragged her feet but it didn’t make a difference.
She saw Shaun watching her, and something inside her snapped.
She screamed at him, screeched all kinds of horrible things, cursing him, hating him, wishing he was dead, wishing that he had never come into her life. She had trusted him, perhaps even loved him; her entire world was tumbling down around her, everything she had believed in now turned to smoke, insubstantial and formless.
Her vision blurred and her voice broke into a strangled gasp. An excruciating spike of T.E. overwhelmed her and she collapsed into the welcome embrace of oblivion.
* * *
Shaun watched her disappear into thin air, followed a second later by Ryan Boreman, still struggling and fighting against the Adjusters. His Affinity flared brightly for a moment before dying out with a sharp, whip-like crack.
Something painful swelled in his chest, something that his Regenerative powers could not mend. She doesn’t know what I know. The Adjusters aren’t our enemy. Not all of them. I just wish she could understand.
“That was a little unnecessary,” Miller commented, his tone clipped. “Ryan Boreman is not to be trifled with. We can’t afford to alienate him – he could be a useful ally.”
“He had it coming.” He knew he shouldn’t have punched Ryan, but seeing him standing there with a hand on Cassie’s shoulder – it had been a reflex action, angry and misguided. He doesn’t know anything about us, about Timewalkers, how we feel, what we know. Standing there like he’s one of us. He’ll never understand.
Miller said, “I don’t care what childish rivalry you have. We are talking about war. We can’t let infighting tear us apart.”
He rested his right hand on the stock of a strange-looking handgun. It vaguely resembled a Glock, but with two separate barrels and a cylindrical attachment on the side. “There’s nothing left here. Zero must have captured them all. He probably took them back to the Prime as hostages.”
Hostages. Shaun clenched his teeth. They’re not all the same, he reminded himself. The Directors were the only ones who knew about the Timewalker Program. The others…they don’t deserve this.
He exhaled the poisonous anger that had dominated his mind and inhaled saner thoughts.
The ruins of Brightwood Ranch groaned, releasing their ghosts. Somewhere beneath the tons of rubble and destruction was the agency’s seal, the eagle in midflight with its hourglass – the emblem of power and protection that he had once believed in.
Perhaps he still believed in the Bureau’s morals, if not their methods.
I am a Timewalker. I have a duty to protect my world, and fight those who would try to take our freedom. Nothing can change the promise I made.
“Let’s go and rescue them, then.”
Miller gave a short, bark-like laugh. “It’s not that easy, I’m afraid.”
“What do you mean?” He felt another headache coming on. There was a limit to how much information his tired mind could absorb – his brain felt like an old sponge, falling apart into sodden, saturated pieces.
“Teleporting within the same universe is trivial,” Miller explained. “But crossing between the Shift and the Prime –cross-universe travel – well, that’s a lot harder. Individually, Adjusters can transfer between universes using large amounts of T.E. – that’s why we can detect Temporal Shifts ahead of time. But the more people you try to transport inside one wormhole, the greater the energy cost. To transfer something like a hundred people, you need a special device called a Gateway.”
“So, let’s find a Gateway.”
Miller grimaced. “FOB Chester is still waiting for a resupply from the Prime, and I’m having a hard enough time getting resources as it is. Gateways are difficult to construct, and very expensive. There was only one Gateway constructed here in the Shift, and that was a long time ago – it was purely for research, never used. It was broken apart, the pieces hidden in secure locations.”
“Where are the pieces?” Shaun asked, but he already knew the answer.
Miller arched an eyebrow. “Why do you think Zero was so interested in the White Tower facilities?”
“So we can’t cross over until we get another Gateway?”
“We could cross over individually if we wanted, but we need to bring an army with us if we want to stand a chance.” He gestured at the faceless Adjusters behind him, the soldiers observing the ruins like stone sentinels. “White Tower in the future – in the Prime – will detect the hostages, but they haven’t the resources to mount a rescue mission. Our position is here, defending this world against Zero.”
“What could that thing possibly have left to destroy?” The monster had already caused so much pain and destruction here at Brightwood – he had ripped out the heart of the Bureau of Time.
Now he just has to rip out the eyes.
“Eaglepoint!” Shaun gasped. “Eaglepoint Station! Out on Block Island, it’s an intelligence outpost that monitors Temporal activity. It’s the last remaining Bureau facility.”
“That’s where Zero will go,” Miller nodded, his eyes widening. The Adjusters snapped their heads around, the hexagonal devices on their temples pulsing. “We’re moving out!” he told Shaun. “Back to base; we need to gear up.”
Shaun turned to look at Brightwood Ranch one last time.
For over a year, he had called the agency home. He had slept in the barracks, eaten in the mess hall, trained in the mud and rain, pushed himself up and around the trails through the hills. He had snuck out of base late at night to sit on the metal railing around the satellite dishes and look up at the stars, contemplating his place in the universe that he’d once thought was completely unique and solitary.
Unique. There’s nothing unique about me, truly. I’m the younger copy of a man I’ve never known. A man that people like Miller look up to.
He swallowed past a lump in his throat, burying the thought.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about the Bureau of Time anymore. There were too many conflicting sides to the story. No black and white, only gray. He couldn’t rely on logic or reason, only his gut instinct. And that instinct was urging him to follow the future version of Hayden Miller and help protect Eaglepoint Station, to stop a madman from wiping out the rest of the agency.
“Shaun, come on, we don’t have much time!” Miller called out.
He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
There was nothing left of Brightwood but rubble, a partly-destroyed tarmac and a hangar with three helicopters and a dozen black SUVs. He thought of the hundreds of people who had lived on the base alongside him, dedicating their existence to protecting their country.
They were gone now, but Shaun was still alive, still able to honor their memory. He wouldn’t take back his title as Operator – not because of the Bureau’s lies, but because he wasn’t truly an Operator.
He was more than that.
I am a Timewalker. In every sense of the word.
“Let’s go,” Shaun agreed, turning his back on the base. He moved into the ranks of the Adjusters and stood beside Captain Miller. There was a rush of Temporal Energy around him, then a lurch in his gut, and he blinked out of existence.