“LIKE FUCKING HELL I stay here!” Brody exploded off the bed, his hands clenched, the tendons in his neck standing out. Fury radiated along every line of his body. “It’s my life she’s screwing up. It’s me the fucking cops tried to stuff into an oubliette.”
Veris didn’t move despite Brody’s anger. “And it’s your black Irish temper I’d be taking back with me,” he said softly. He shook his head. “Look at you.”
Brody’s chest was heaving. “How are you going to find your way back without my memory?”
“It’s only two days. I’ll manage,” Veris told him. “I was here two days ago, too.”
Brody shook his head. “I want to go.” He looked at Taylor. “Don’t leave me sitting here and worrying.”
Taylor stood. “You did say we shouldn’t split up, Veris.”
Veris looked at Brody. “You’re going to make her feel guilty for you? That’s cheap.”
Brody shook his head. “It’s true, this time. Last time we jumped it was a fucking disaster that was averted by a gnat’s whisker. I won’t be left sitting here on my hands while you two jump back into god knows what.”
Veris closed his eyes. “Fuck.” He sighed. “There’s other reasons you shouldn’t come. Reasons I can’t speak of.”
Brody snorted. “Like what?”
Veris rolled his eyes. “Obviously, when I say I can’t speak of them, I can’t speak of them.” His tone was impatient.
Taylor knew, suddenly, what Veris wouldn’t say. The time travelling they did was a function of their combined talents. She provided the push, the power. But Brody and Veris, or just Brody or Veris, provided the direction and that direction came from whatever they were thinking of—whatever was strongest in their minds at the time they jumped.
Veris was afraid that Brody’s experience with the police had dredged up his fears and memories of his time as a slave and it would color his thoughts when they jumped.
Worse, if Veris even raised the subject in discussion, it would keep the matter in the forefront of Brody’s mind. That was why he wouldn’t discuss it, why he was dodging behind the “couldn’t” excuse.
Taylor cleared her throat. “Veris is right, Brody. This is something he can’t discuss.”
Brody spun to face her. “You know of this conspiracy, too?”
Taylor saw surprise skitter over Veris’ face before he got his expression under control.
“Yes, I know what Veris is talking about,” she told Brody. “You’ll just have to trust him. Us. You really don’t want to know about this.”
Brody’s face hardened. “For my own good, huh?”
Taylor hesitated. “I would never be so condescending,” she replied.
“Then tell me this mysterious something isn’t you two trying desperately to avoid any mention of my enslavement,” Brody shot back. “Just in case my fragile mind can’t handle the strain.”
Veris sighed and threw himself into the big armchair that Brody had been sitting in last evening. “Well, fuck,” he muttered, sounding disgusted.
Taylor tried to ignore the guilt digging at her. “I’m sorry, Brody. Although it’s not the vulnerability of your mind that is the issue. You steer the jumps. If you’re subconsciously worrying over that it could affect the jump.”
“Which is why you should stay right here with Marit,” Veris finished.
Brody pushed his hand through his hair, staring at the wall. For long minutes he was silent. Then he got up and came and sat next to Veris, so that he was looking at Taylor. He picked up Taylor’s hand.
“Here’s what I think,” he said. “I’m not so good with the philosophy and fifty dollar words, like you two, so just shut up and listen while I get it all out.” Again, he looked far away, marshaling his thoughts. “We all need to go together. Alexander and Mia can watch Marit. Alex adores her and Mia is devoted to her so we know she is in good hands no matter what happens. But it’s important we all jump. We’ve always all jumped on the big jumps and it would be wrong to change that now.” He grimaced. “I got us into this mess by telling Tira to come after me, so it makes sense I should jump back and clean up my own mess, now. I don’t like the idea of sitting around here waiting for you two to do all the heavy lifting for me.”
He rested his hand on Veris’ knee. “Here’s the other thing. I don’t want to screw up the jump. Of course I don’t. I just want to go back two days, nail Tira’s ass to the legal wall and get back to our lives. But you often talk about fate and blind corners and not counting on life going the way you plan on it happening. Okay…so maybe we just hit a big corner. But if the jump goes screwy, so what? We’re together, the three of us. We’ll figure it out. We did the last time. We’ll do it again.”
“’Screwy’ can cover a lot of territory,” Veris said. His voice was hoarse.
Brody shrugged. “I just know I don’t want any of us flipping back in time without all of us doing it together. It was the lack of one of us that nearly killed us, last time.”
Veris dropped his head.
Brody curled his hand around the back of Veris’ neck. “I don’t say it just to stir your guilt.”
“You say it because it’s the truth,” Veris whispered. He lifted his head and looked at Taylor. “You have as much right to say yes or no here as either of us. More, really. Do we jump all together and risk fate?”
Taylor shrugged. “Hobson’s choice,” she said simply. “Of course we all go. I prefer this to be the simple in and out it should be, but the idea of being stuck in history somewhere without both of you is frankly terrifying.”
Veris nodded and looked at Brody. “The orator of the people.” He grimaced. “You even sold me.” He kissed him and stood up. “Taylor, if you get Alex and Mia back, I’ll put some preparations in place. Brody, do you still have what it takes to put together a power of attorney for Alex?”
Brody looked affronted. “Listen to the professor. You’d think he was the only one who ever earned a bloody degree.”
* * * * *
Alexander’s normally placid expression became even more serious when Brody explained what they planned and the legal preparations and arrangements they had put in place.
“Of course I will care for her – as if she were my own! But this is a simple hop back. Two days in time and you will be gone long enough to tape the stash being planted, then store the tape correctly, yes? A few hours at most! This extraneous preparation is ridiculous. Panic inducing.”
“We’ve learned to expect the unexpected,” Veris said quietly. “We won’t do this without making sure Marit is cared for, no matter what happens.”
Alexander ran his fingers through the black curls of his hair, frustrated. He picked up the form Brody had just made him sign. “I will take great joy in tearing this up in eight hours’ time.”
“I will enjoy watching you do it,” Taylor added.
* * * * *
They settled on the big king-sized bed together. Alexander hovered over them.
“From a medical viewpoint, it looks alarming,” Veris warned him.
“Yes, yes,” Alex said. “You’ve briefed me on the symptoms. The lack of them. I have saline, blood, glucose. I know what to do if this extends beyond the simple jump you plan.”
Veris grinned as he settled on the bed. “It probably won’t and all this fuss is for nothing. Marit, come here and give me the biggest kiss ever.”
Marit laughed and crawled into his arms and kissed his cheek wetly and noisily.
“Do what Uncle Alex says, hmm?” Veris told her, pressing her nose.
Marit nodded, her eyes wide. “You’re going back in time again, Far?”
Brody clear his throat. “Never try to fool smart kids,” he muttered.
Veris glared at him and scowled. Then he gave Marit a hug. “Just a quick trip,” he promised. “There and back.”
“To help Athair with the queen,” she added wisely, looking at Brody.
Brody sighed and pushed his hand through his hair with a helpless gesture.
“You were saying?” Veris asked. He hugged Marit again. “You be very careful of the queen, okay, munchkin? She isn’t a friend of ours right now.”
Marit nodded. “But Uncle Alex and Mia are.”
“That’s right.”
Marit climbed over to Brody and hugged him. “Ádh mór, Daddy.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Brody told her. “I’m sure your luck will be luckier than everyone else’s.”
Marit squeezed Taylor hard. “You have to bring them back, Mummy,” she murmured in her ear.
Taylor brushed Marit’s hair out of her eyes. “I will,” she promised. “Just for you.”
Marit nodded, her expression serious. Then she smiled and kissed her and climbed off the bed and took Alexander’s hand. She looked very small next to Alexander. Very small and very determined.
Taylor turned to Brody and Veris. “You know we could probably do this without the kissing.”
“Let’s not screw with the formula,” Brody said.
“Not kiss you?” Veris protested. “Wash your mouth out.” He slid his arm around Brody’s waist. “The security tapes at the coach shed show evidence of tampering two days ago, at three in the morning. Taylor, you were asleep. Brody, you were in your music studio, writing. I was keeping Taylor company that night and reading. For obvious reasons, we’re going to use my memory as the beacon. We need to jump to about two hours before that, so we can cross town to the warehouse district and be in place when they arrive and tape them doing the deed. Brody, you need to meditate, go neutral and let me guide the jump.” He took a breath, slid his other hand under Taylor’s hair and brought her face toward his. “Ready?” he asked everyone.
Taylor’s heart was thundering. “No,” she confessed. “But let’s do this anyway.”
Brody took a breath and let it out. “Facing down Saracens was easier,” he said, with a crooked smile. “Let’s go.” He wrapped his arms around them both and glanced at Alex, Marit and Mia. “See you in a while.”
Marit waved.
Veris kiss Taylor, his lips hard and demanding.
Taylor pressed into the kiss, her mind leaning backward through time. She felt them move.
* * * * *
“Taylor, wake up.”
A hand shook her gently.
Taylor woke groggily, feeling the ache of not-enough-sleep behind her eyes. “What is it?” she whispered. “Marit?”
Then memory aligned with consciousness. She sat up in her bed at home and looked around. Veris was putting books on the bedside table as he lowered his legs to the floor. He was in the suit trousers and shirt he would have worn for his professional affairs that day, but the trousers were wrinkled from sitting on the bed next to her.
“Oh god, we made it,” Taylor murmured, deep relief flooding her in a hot-cold wave. “We actually made it.” Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how much she had assumed the jump would go wrong.
The bedroom door opened and Brody hurried in. “We’re here,” he said. “Two days ago. I just checked on my computer.”
Veris looked at his watch. “Twenty-past midnight. Let’s go,” he said, standing up.
“Wait,” Brody said, digging out his cellphone. “I’m going to send Alex a delayed text message. Tell him we made it.”
Veris grinned. “I’m going to change and then I’ll get the old video recorder. They can’t claim that is digitally created.”
“Meet us out the back in five,” Brody said. “We can use my Mustang to get to the warehouse.”
* * * * *
“Isn’t that Gregor?” Taylor asked, pointing at a tall black shadow moving against the side of the big shed across the road from where they huddled in the shadows between a warehouse and a row of commercial shop fronts.
“That’s him,” Brody agreed, bringing the video camera viewfinder up to his eye. The camera started to hum with the soft sound of actual film moving through the guts of it as he filmed.
The side door of the big shed opened and closed quickly.
“He’s inside,” Veris confirmed. “Brody, keep filming. Taylor, you stay out here for the reasons we discussed earlier.”
They couldn’t speak of the reasons aloud, for it would be caught by the video’s soundtrack, but Brody and Veris could move much more silently and faster than she could, which meant they were naturally sneakier than she could ever be. Combined with their ability to see in the dark and with the video camera set to record at low light levels, the camera would pick up everything that happened and so would Veris and Brody. Taylor would just stumble around, blind and slow.
She nodded. “Be careful.” She crouched down against the side of the building, making herself small and insignificant.
Brody was already hurrying across the deserted road, the camera to his eye. Veris followed him, a hand on his back, guiding him. At the door, Veris eased it open and they slid inside.
Taylor wrapped her arms around her denim-encased knees. This didn’t feel like a time travelling jaunt, yet for this first time ever she was actually borrowing her own earlier body, just like Brody and Veris took over earlier versions of themselves. When she got back to her real “now” would she remember being extraordinarily tired two days ago, because her sleep had not been restful?
She rested her chin on her knees. They had stopped travelling not just because of Marit, but because they had become afraid of the consequences. The last time, when Veris had almost been lost to them, had scared all of them so much they had by mutual and unspoken consent found petty excuses and ways to avoid jumping, now they knew what caused the jumps.
Just little, safe leap frogs here and there. Nothing too taxing. Nothing dangerous. Nothing adventurous.
Taylor sighed and shifted her chin, returning to Brody’s almost angry insistence that he come with them.
“So maybe we just hit a big corner…” Had he been chaffing at their avoidance, too?
If Brody and she itched at the absence, then what of Veris, the Viking who had roamed Western Europe for nearly a thousand years before civilization and Brody had semi-domesticated him? Surely he must be feeling some sense of wanderlust? Or was four years, in Veris’ terms of time, a mere inhalation? A heartbeat?
A hand touched her shoulder, then another quickly covered her mouth as she sucked in a startled breath. She looked up, into Brody’s eyes.
“It’s done,” he said simply. He looked fiercely happy. “We got it all. Let’s go duplicate the tape, seal it up and jump home.”
* * * * *
The television production studio was owned by a friend of Brody’s, who sleepily told Brody to knock himself out when he said he wanted to duplicate a tape of one of his song clips and hung up mid-way through Brody’s thank-you.
Veris shrugged. “Send him a bottle of Courvoisier and real French truffles. He’s a gourmand. He’ll forgive you.”
The duplication of the tape took barely ten minutes, for both Veris and Brody were at ease with the professional equipment. Sealing the second tape and dropping it into the overnight vault at the bank took another thirty.
Forty-five minutes after that, they eased around the back of the big house in the Hollywood Hills and crept into Taylor’s bedroom just as the sun was coming up.
Brody threw himself onto the bed, jubilant, as Taylor stretched out, her whole body throbbing with weariness. He rolled on his back and looked at them both as Veris settled next to her and tucked her into his side.
Brody took a breath and let it out. “Thank you,” he told them.
Veris nodded. “Let’s get back home, first. We don’t want the other occupants of the house in this day to wake and find us here before we jump. It’ll cause confusion when we leave and our earlier selves take over.” He looked down at Taylor. “Are you up to it, Taylor? We could stay for a while and let you sleep. We can find a private moment later to jump.”
She shook her head. “I would rather go now,” she confessed. “Get it over and done with. It’s been a tough twelve hours and the next twelve probably won’t be any easier. We should let Alex and the others know we’re fine, too.”
Veris kissed her gently. He didn’t say anything, but she saw it all in his eyes. His pride and love.
She felt Brody’s hand on her hip and looked up. He cupped her jaw, his gaze gentle. “I’m sorry…I’ve been so focused on getting us out of this, I never stopped to think how this was impacting you. How it must have looked to you. More secrets from our dark pasts come to slap you around, hmm?” He grimaced.
Taylor let him draw her into his arms and wrapped her arms around him. “Just take me home, Brody,” she whispered against his neck, as Veris pressed up behind her. Veris’ big arms wrapped around the both of them.
Taylor lifted her mouth up to Brody’s. “Take me home.”
Brody kissed her and she leaned into the jump, taking them all with her.