part0047

Abraham rubbed his eyes. He was sitting on a sofa facing a large flat-screen TV. The movie Conan the Barbarian was playing on the screen. A bowl of popcorn, which was sitting on his lap, fell onto the floor. He was in a strange apartment that looked as if it had been made out of an old gas station. The ceilings were high, and a huge garage door had a phantom-black Dodge Hellcat parked behind it.

He looked to his left. Smoke was leaning back in a fully extended leather recliner. He wore a black dragon T-shirt, blue jeans, and sunglasses with large lenses. His corded forearms rested on the chair’s armrests. He held the remote control in his fingers and was snoring softly.

Abraham twisted his head around to see a kitchenette and full-sized kitchen table. Closed doors led to other rooms. It was nighttime outside. Where am I? Where’s Mandi and Sidney? He reached down and picked up the bowl. His fingertips were coated with cheese dust. What have I been doing?

“You just Quantum Leap ed, didn’t you?” Smoke asked in his mysterious tone.

“Huh?” He blinked his eyes.

Smoke hadn’t moved.

“You just said that, didn’t you?”

“Yup.” Smoke collapsed the recliner and turned the TV volume down. He looked at the TV screen and said, “You have been glued to that movie nonstop since I caught it channel surfing. Well, Ruger has. He is really disappointed in the sword-fighting techniques, but he still likes it. Welcome back, Abraham.”

“How did you know it was me?” He set the popcorn bowl on the coffee table, which had a small stack of car magazines on the corner and automatic pistols too.

“I can tell. Your eyes. Mannerisms. You weren’t moving as sure of yourself.” Smoke swiped his thick black hair out of his eyes and took off his glasses. “So, what’s been going on?”

“You tell me. The last time I was here, I was a prisoner.” He rubbed his neck. “Now I’m… here? Where exactly?”

“It’s my old place outside of DC. We needed a good hiding spot.” The tall and rangy man stood up. He eased his way into the kitchenette and grabbed the handle of the refrigerator. “Thirsty?”

“No. How’d I escape?”

“You had some help. When you were in the lair of the Time Tunnel, getting the science-fair show, I was there too, posing as a guard.” Smoke cracked open the tab on a can of Coke and took his seat in the recliner. “I was one of the drivers taking you in and out. Once we got back out, I took care of those thug orderlies and brought you here. It’s been two weeks since all of that happened.” He drank. “It’s been busy.”

“Busy?” Abraham looked at the TV. “Doing what?”

“Learning.” Smoke pushed back into the recliner. “Turns out that your counterpart, Ruger, is a very quick study. Sid and I have been teaching him how to use modern weapons: pistols, assault rifles, M-60 machine guns, LAW rockets.”

“It’s a personal favorite of mine. Lots of fun. And seeing how they are sending tanks into Titanuus, I think they would be useful.”

“So Ruger can use those things now?”

“Oh yeah.” Smoke smiled. “He wanted to know it all. That man wants to war.” Smoke crossed his ankles. “We’ve got to know each other well, and he’s told me a lot about Titanuus. I’d like to see it for myself.”

“No, you don’t. I’m not saying it’s a bad place, but I’m not so sure it’s a good place. I’ll say this: we don’t belong there.”

“Sid hates it when I talk about it. Keep it between us.”

“A man belongs with his family.”

“Agreed, but I’d be lying if I didn’t fantasize about taking them with me. Dragons and monsters—I’ve seen my share in this world, but I’d like to take on more of them. Things have been quiet around here lately, until now.”

Abraham gave Smoke a perplexed look and asked, “What is it that you do? I thought you were a bounty hunter and Sid was in the FBI.”

“I was a Navy SEAL too, but Sid gave up on the FBI not long after we got together. She was my handler.”

He cocked an eyebrow and said, “Handler?”

“I was in prison for beating the crap out of a criminal that had a really good attorney and an inside connection with the judge. The FBI was low on manpower for some of their projects, and they didn’t want to risk their agents on some of the smaller projects. Sid was assigned to a file called the Black Slate. You know, X-Files kind of stuff. I was given a chance to shorten my sentence by helping her.” He pointed at the TV. “Man, I love this part.”

Abraham gestured with his arms and said, “Well?”

“Oh, yeah, I was pretty cozy, waiting out my term, and I didn’t really have any interest in helping the FBI. My past experience with big government entities strongly led me to believe that they all are shady, and I wanted no part of them. You see, I have a knack for sniffing the truth out. But, as fate would have it, the moment I saw Sid, my heart changed. That was a woman that I’d break out of jail for. In this case, I took the free ticket.”

“Huh, so did the Black Slate turn out to be anything?” Abraham asked.

“Did it ever. Those things that you don’t believe exist in this world… Well, let me tell you, they exist. Heck, some of them might have even come through one of your portals. There were werewolves, giants, harpies, shapeshifters, and clones. It was a deep operation invested in evil. I hate evil.”

“You’re serious?”

“If you don’t believe me, you could ask Sid. She’ll tell you. Besides, is my story any more bizarre than yours?”

“I didn’t mean any disrespect, but I never would have imagined such things go on in this world.” He rubbed his palms on his jeans, which he’d never seen before. He looked at his sweatshirt and read the upside-down lettering, Darkslayer Brew: The Beer for What Ales You. “Where’d you dig this shirt up?”

“Luther Vancross gave it to us.”

“You didn’t get him involved, did you?”

“Yeah, well, the old man is pretty persistent. He cares. Sounds like a good friend.”

“He’s not here, is he?”

“No.” Smoke finished off his can of Coke, crushed the can, and made a hook shot into the trash can by the kitchen. “I overheard your conversation with Dr. Jack Lassiter.”

“All of it, but the part I was referring to was the part where you could be sent back in time to be with your family.”

Abraham leaned back into the sofa and asked, “Yeah, what about it?”

With a fiery intensity lingering in his dark eyes, Smoke said, “Would you do it? Go back?”

Abraham didn’t say a word. He’d been so busy fighting to survive that he hadn’t had much time to give the matter deep thought. “You know, when I lost everyone, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to live without them. I was lost. I’d think of them every day, and the guilt whittled down my soul. My soul was nothing but numb inside.” He sighed mournfully. “It took ten years of falling flat on my face before I could lift my head up. I picked up the pieces and started walking again.” His eyes started to water, and he dried them on his shirt cuff. “I’d do almost anything to hold them one last time. But I’m not traveling back in time. Even if it’s possible. Life moves forward, not backward. Once you start going the wrong way, you die.”

Smoke nodded. “I wouldn’t do it either. And neither would Ruger, for that matter.”

“You talked about this?”

“Yeah, we’ve gotten to be pretty big buds. I mean, he’s a bit rigid, but so was Sid when we met. I’ve worn him down some. I’ve got him watching TV, didn’t I?”

“The last thing Titanuus needs is more crazy ideas pouring into that world. I fear it’s ruined already. I’m not so sure that what we are doing will make a difference.”

“Heh heh, it sounds like that portal opened Pandora’s Box.”

“Based off what I’ve seen, that world is better off without us, but our invasion is pushing it toward an accelerated ending.” He turned his gaze toward Smoke. “We recovered two more gems for King Hector. Now he has four out of the six. But I fear it’s making him mad with power.”

“He’s getting irrational. Oh, and now he knows that Ruger is the father of his daughter, Clarice.” He sat right up. “Oh man, I hope Ruger gets the heads-up about that. He’s about to be reunited with his family. Well, assuming that they get through the barbarian horde that is raiding the castle.” He glanced at the TV. It was showing the scene in the movie where Conan painted himself up in black-and-white war paint. “How do I know that I’m not dreaming?”

“Hey, I saw the Time Tunnel with my own eyes. Trust me when I say it’s real. I had my doubts until I saw that thing come on. I saw that horned halfling and those huge tattooed barbarians. Ruger told me about them. The Gond. They all looked real to me. Made my hair stand up on my arms.”