part0049

Mandi dug her fingernails into his back and said, “You sneaky snake! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We wanted to surprise you. Well, Smoke did.”

“Of course he did,” Sid said. “My man just loves surprises. But they don’t always work out.” She stood up and said, “I guess it’s time to celebrate. I guess I’ll serve the pizza.”

Smoke slammed the recliner shut, jumped out of the chair, and said, “I’ll take care of it. Anything for my queen.”

The group dug into the pizza. Smoke and Abraham had their own separate boxes on their laps. The women ate from them.

Mandi held Abraham’s hand with one hand and ate with the other. “It’s okay,” he said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I want to hold on to you as long as I can. I never know when you’re coming back or going again. I just want this to stop.” Mandi wiped her free hand on a napkin. “Abraham, tell me you won’t leave again.”

“I wish I could.” He swallowed the last bite of the Hawaiian-style pizza. “Ruger isn’t that bad, is he?”

She wiped some pizza sauce off the corner of his mouth. “No, but he’s not you. He’s more—”

“Intense.” Sid patted her flat stomach. “I’m stuffed.”

“You only had two pieces,” Smoke said.

“Yes, and that’s twice as much as I normally eat. The celebration is over. We need to get back at it.” Sid moved over to the computer desk in the corner of the room by the TV. She sat down in a black office chair. The screens on the two large monitors came on. “I’ll see if Phat Sam and Guppy found anything.”

“Who?” Abraham asked.

“Family, co-workers, special people like us.” Sid typed on the computer and clicked the mouse. “Uh-huh. That’s what we thought.”

“What is it?” Smoke asked.

“Guppy confirmed what we believed. Drakeland Corporation is another branch of the old Drake Company. They use the shadow company’s name as the Corporation. It’s the same old government conspiracies. Powerful men and women hungry for more power. And to think that we thought we got them the last time.”

“You’ve dealt with this before?” Abraham asked.

“People like this, yeah,” Smoke said. He slapped two pieces of pizza together and bit into half of it. Speaking with his mouth full, he added, “These evil empires like to team up. More than likely, one of these old corps got wind of the Drake and propped them up. It’s old money and old business that we’ve dealt with—hundreds if not thousands of years old.”

“I don’t care about the details. I just want to destroy that Time Tunnel and stop all of this from happening.” Abraham tossed the pizza box on the table. “I don’t have time to sit around and do research either. We know where the tunnel is, and we have to destroy it.”

Sid swiveled around in her chair and said, “They know that you’ll be coming back. Not to mention that they are already looking all over for you. Trust me when I say we have been putting a plan together, and Ruger has been helping.”

Abraham crossed his arms. “Is that so? How? How can he help?”

“Well, for starters, he has a lot of novel ideas on how to kill people.” Smoke let out a sinister chuckle. “One at a time, two at a time. Blow them up. Bomb them. Use tanks, swords, and guns. He thought he could do it on his own but wasn’t so sure that your body could hold up.”

Abraham gave himself a once-over. He’d continued to slim down, but he was a long way from being Ruger. “Hey, he could have done it with me. I used to be a superstar athlete. But if he wasn’t going after it head-on, how is he, me, or we going to attack it?” He clutched his head. “Ah, this is maddening!” He kicked the table. “Don’t you two play games with me. Spit it out!”

Mandi wrapped his arm up. “Abraham, they are on our side. Believe me, you can trust them, the same as I trust you.” She pulled him toward the couch. “You need to hear them out. Be patient. We’ve covered a lot of ground on this.”

He sank into the sofa, pinching his temples with one hand. He broke out in a cold sweat.

“Abraham, you are trembling.” Mandi started rubbing his back. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

“Don’t you get it?” he asked in a throaty voice. “It’s not okay. It hasn’t been okay since my family died. It’s not going to be okay either.” He flung his hands in the air. “I don’t even know if any of this is real. I don’t know if you are real.” He jabbed his long fingers at Sid and Smoke. “Or if they are real! You aren’t the one bouncing back and forth between one reality and another. Are you!”

“Please don’t yell,” Mandi said in a soothing voice. “I love you. I’m here for you. This might all seem insane, and it does to me, and it scares me, but trust your heart. You know that some crazy stuff is going on. You’re in the middle of it for a reason. But you can’t do it on your own. Just like your Henchmen help you on the other side, we are here to help you on this side.”

“Hear, hear,” Smoke said.

Abraham gave the rangy man a hard-eyed look. “What did you say?” he asked with a cracking voice.

Smoke tilted his head to one side and said, “Hear, hear. Why? Is that a secret word or something in the other realm?”