Die Back Page 21

  "Hell."

  Jules peered over at the tablet screen. "What?"

  "I've really screwed things up this time."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "We're in a world war with the Inca Empire?"

  "Well, yeah. Addison, what's going on?"

  Crap. I can't believe this. Can things get any worse? "You're telling me we're in a war with the Inca Empire, as in the indigenous people of Peru?"

  Jules' brow furrowed, her face questioning. "Yeah. We have been for centuries." She stepped ahead to face him. "You just got back from a deployment."

  "The Inca are still around?"

  She took her tablet from him, searching his eyes. "Is your PTSD coming back?"

  "My what?"

  "Don't give me that crap. Your post-traumatic stress disorder. From when you were shot down?"

  Shot down? "I wish it was that simple. Humor me. Are the Inca still around?"

  Jules caressed his face with her hand. "Addison, you almost got killed down there. You really don't remember?"

  He grabbed Jules' wrist, maybe a bit too hard. "Sure I do. Just gets fuzzy. Hearing it again helps. Please, just tell me. How did this start?"

  “You really don't know about the Conquest of Spain by the Incan Terror from the Sky?"

  Nikki told him that if a shift occurred after an inking he'd have the memories of the previous continuum, as well as the current one. But eventually the new continuum would dominate. If he let this Addison's consciousness leak into his own, he'd know what had happened here, but he'd also lose himself, forgetting Nikki and Peru and the League. He couldn't risk it. "Yeah, what was it they did again?"

  "Addison, you learned this in the third grade. And do you think you could relax your grip a bit?"

  "Sorry. A little wired up. Please, tell me about the Incan Terror."

  She shook her head, her concerned eyes focused on Addison's. "Okay. The Spanish, hearing wild tales, came to South America with dreams of walking through streets of gold. They figured their superior weapons and Christian faith would overwhelm any indigenous savages. Instead, Inca warriors in hot air balloons rained death from the sky. When Spain declared war, the Inca crushed them, the Spanish only survived by giving the Inca all of their technology from metallurgy to ship-building to navigation. They gradually expanded the Tawantinsuyu empire throughout all of South and Central America and have been a threat to our border since the early 1900's. The Empire took advantage of the two world wars to consolidate power across the Southern Hemisphere—Africa, Indonesia and Australia. You really don't remember any of this?"

  "Tawantinsuyu." That's what the cop had said. "What is that again?"

  "I believe it roughly means the empire of the four parts, essentially the four corners of the world. The Inca believe destiny requires them to dominate the entire world. And so far, they've been doing a pretty good job of it."

  She put a hand on his arm, searching his eyes for some hint to his selective amnesia.

  'Addison, what's going on?"

  This woman with the open, caring face loved him, and the pull to love her back strained within him.

  "Nothing. Since, uh, getting shot down, sometimes the facts get jumbled. It helps to be reminded. No worries. I'm the same old Addison."

  Walking to the door, she reached for his hand. He didn't pull away. He turned to her, offering as much of a smile as he could muster. Jules lives in this continuum. I wonder, maybe my Dad…

  "Jules, have you seen my father lately?"

  A sadness came over her. "Addison, he's dead. Remember? We were supposed to meet your dad and my mom in Hawaii. They had something they wanted to talk with us about before the wedding, but instead we ended up burying them within weeks of each other."

  "Your mom? How…?"

  "How did she die? Addison, you're scaring me."

  The only person he trusted in this time continuum, his father, lay buried six feet down, along with Jules' mother. "Of course I remember, Jules. How do you forget something like that?"

  He turned to walk out the door, hoping he could escape before she realized he didn't know how his future mother in-law died. With his father, Alison, Nikki, and Jules out of the picture he had only one other person who might be able to help him. It was a long shot, but maybe Cameron knew about the League and if so, there was a slight possibility he wouldn't be facing this nightmare alone.

  "Jules, I've gotta go."

  "I'll come along."

  "No, I need to do this by myself. Okay? I'll see you later."

  "Tonight?"

  "Yeah. Sure." He hoped he wouldn't be in this continuum for the date, even though he knew she would no longer exist. Her eyes spoke of her love for him. Jules lived. A jumble of memories coursed through his mind of this living, breathing Jules and those ending with his inking partner lost to time. He could have told her the truth. He wanted to. But he had already left her dead on a bedroom floor and alone in Peru five hundred years ago. What would be the point of taking any hope she had of a future? He leaned into her, kissing her silken lips one last time, as if in a dream.

  Addison walked out of the shop into a clear, bright day, odd in contrast to the darkness he sensed enclosing him on all sides. Dirigibles flew a thousand feet overhead, accompanied by the breathy whine of hovercar turbines in the distance, as a handful of pods passed in silence through streets devoid of pedestrians. A deja vu of walking with a cane rolled past him on his way home. He felt his life in another time slipping away. With his father dead, Nikki gone, Jules lost or possibly dead in the temporal shift, and the world at war, he stood alone.

  The more he thought about Jules alone in Peru, the oracle's dagger tearing into his heart, his dead father and Nikki gone forever, the more he sensed some dark evil taunting him, stalking him. He broke into a run. Unencumbered by a cane and a crippled up knee, he jumped curbs, leapt over a black trash can lying across his path, accelerated into a sprint on the straights and bounded upstairs two at a time until he stood at his front door, his lungs burning like they hadn't since the accident. He should have felt alive, energized, by doing the one thing he missed the most. Instead, he found himself running, not toward life, but away from death.

  He had been in such a hurry to leave earlier, Addison hadn't notice the state of his house. But standing on his porch, the front door stood closed and locked, not like the shattered door he found before inking to Alexandria. Stepping inside, he walked through the main part of the house, finding everything undisturbed.

  He haltingly climbed the stairs, hesitating at the guest room. Addison pushed the door open. He had left Jules here, dead on the floor, moments before, centuries before. Her body was gone. Moved? Could she…? His heart raced.

  "Jules. Jules!"

  No answer.

  Addison checked the other bedroom, then stepped into the bathroom. His chest tightened. No Jules. Leaning against the wall he slid to the floor.

  "I'm sorry, Jules. God…I wish you were here." He let out a guttural noise, a sob mixed with bittersweet laughter. "You'd be happy. I managed to vanish Nikki. Won't have to put up with that asshole anymore." His voice caught in his throat, tears filling his eyes. He banged his head against the wall several times, as if he'd be able to rearrange reality in his mind the way a child shakes a snow globe to reveal a perfect winter scene. He stared at the ceiling. "Come on, Addison. Keep it together." He said the words, but a sickening ache in his heart tore at him.

  He'd give his life for a friend right now.

  Paradise Lost

  Cuthbert Grimbald, or Kairos as his enemies knew him, took in a deep breath with the young, athletic lungs of his host, Maya Sepulveda. Having inked many women through the centuries, the novelty and challenge had long ago worn off. He slipped into her femininity like a dagger slides into its sheath. Dressed the part in a pink tee, jeans and brown leather jacket, he knocked on Addison's door several times until Rebecca's boy finally answered. Kairos held two lattes in a paper carrier tray. The door open
ed, a momentary shock registering on Addison's face. The boy looked tired, his eyes red, as if he'd been crying.

  "Ms. Sepulveda?"

  "Good afternoon, Addison. And it's Maya. Hope you don't mind me dropping by." Kairos handed him one of the coffees, as he pushed past into the foyer, making sure the boy got a good whiff of Maya's scent. "Latte. Figured you could use a pick-me-up. I know I always do in the afternoon."

  He had visited Addison inked into Maya Sepulveda previously, but in a different continuum. The look of confusion on the boy's face said it all.

  "Thanks, but why…why are you here?"

  "Just checking in on our unfinished business. You know, Pike and Waltrop?"

  "Right, Emmett Pike and Benjamin Waltrop."

  The boy had been through a lot since their meeting in the other continuum: Cantigney and the embattled B-17 probably seemed far away, especially given their last encounter in Peru. I'll bet you're wondering about Jules, whether I slit her throat or not. Kairos put a hand on Addison's arm. "Are you okay? You seem a bit…distracted."

  The boy's arm twitched with his touch. Does he suspect something?

  "Who are you, Maya? Really."

  "Like I've told you before. I'm a colleague of your father's. You can trust me."

  "Even if I did, you'd never believe me."

  He held Addison's gaze. "You used the pen. You used Renascentia."

  With a suddenness Kairos didn't expect, Addison dropped his coffee, grabbing him by the shoulders, pinning him against a wall. "What do you know about Renascentia?"

  Kairos held his head high in defiance, a bit turned on with the boy's aggressiveness. His host didn't like it rough, but with Kairos, Maya gave as good as she got whether a man or a woman. "It's done, Addison. You can either live in the past or move forward. I'd suggest moving forward."

  Addison slammed his palm into the wall beside Maya's face, causing Kairos, who tried to hold Maya's fear-filled consciousness at bay, to flinch. "You're just guessing, Maya. You can't possibly know what I'm talking about."

  Kairos' voice remained calm, composed. "You altered the time continuum."

  Addison let go, stepping back as if he'd seen a ghost. "If you're with the League, why didn't I know?"

  "I'm what you might call a hidden asset. Your father looped me in, just in case something happened to him." Kairos paused for effect, biting his lip. "Unfortunately, Thomas had it right."

  "If you're an Inker with the League, why did you set me up to ink Waltrop. Kairos almost got to me in that B17."

  And I would have, if someone hadn't ripped you out of my grasp. He nodded apologetically. "Yes, I am sorry about that." Kairos took a sip of his coffee, which he had somehow managed not to drop. "He's so brilliant--a genius really. We do our best, but I'm afraid he often has the upper hand."

  "Well, he had the upper hand with me. He had my number as soon as I entered Waltrop. Almost killed me—permanently."

  "But he didn't. And your actions proved you were ready to be an Inker."

  "I may be an Inker, but I could use your help in fixing the continuum."

  Kairos ducked under Addison's arm, sashaying into the living room. "You think I can do something about your little problem?"

  Addison knelt down, picking his cup off the floor. The lid still on, a small puddle of coffee remained. He followed Kairos into the living room. "Little problem? Maya, I've shifted reality. Don't you get it?"

  "Sure I get it. You thought you could make everything okay. My dear Addison, things are never okay. But if you give me Renascentia, I might be able to fix the continuum for you." Kairos went over to a corner cabinet pulling out two glasses and a bottle of bourbon. Thomas Shaw had been a tenacious adversary, but he was a good lay and always had good whiskey. Rest in peace, Tommy. Want a drink?" Kairos poured the whiskey, handing Addison a glass of the gold-hued liquid.

  "Here. If you're old enough to alter the time continuum, you're old enough to drink. Besides, it looks like you’re done with your coffee."

  Addison sipped his whiskey in silence, standing by a bookcase, scanning the shelves. "We had a mission to stop someone from stealing technology from the Wright Brothers, but there was more to it than we thought. By the time I got to Peru, the Inca were carpet-bombing conquistadors from propeller-driven hot air balloons. I thought, I…" He pulled a copy of Paradise Lost from a shelf, glancing at the cover before placing it back.

  "You thought what?"

  "I thought I'd be making the world better by inking. And when everything turned to crap, I still thought that maybe this time I could fix my mistakes. This time we'd all walk away alive." He downed the remains of his whiskey. "I was wrong. Worse than wrong. I left Jules trapped in Peru." Silence passed between them, each studying the melting ice in their glasses. "But with you and Cameron, maybe we can find a way to make things right."

  Cameron. Son of a bitch. Kairos struggled to maintain control. "You said Cameron?"

  "Yeah, Cameron Grimes."

  "I know who he is. Why do you want to get him involved?"

  "He was my dad's friend and I think he was trying to tell me something awhile back. I think he may be an Inker too."

  Kairos let out a long sigh, his mind forming a new manipulation. Hmmm. Cameron might be useful. "I'm sorry, Addison."

  "Sorry for what?"

  Kairos sat on the sofa, folding one of Maya's long legs beneath the other. "For what I'm about to tell you."

  Addison sat down across from her on the arm of a leather chair. "What are you talking about?"

  "Your father never trusted Cameron Grimes because he is responsible for the death of your mother."

  "What? How?"

  "Obsessed with destroying Kairos, he became convinced your mother had been inked by him. He came to your father with his suspicions, but Thomas knew Rebecca better than anyone. If Kairos had indeed inked her, of all people, he would know."

  "You've got this wrong. My mom died in a car accident."

  "Yes, a cover story to protect a young boy from the reality that his mother had been murdered by a sociopathic killer."

  "You're telling me Cameron Grimes killed my mother? I'm having a hard time imagining a big shot corporate guy murdering people."

  "Yes. He's methodically killing off members of the League. She was his first victim."

  "His first? There's more?"

  Kairos looked to the floor, and back up to Addison, hesitating.

  "What are you saying? Who else has he killed?"

  "Your father."

  Addison stood up, pacing. "Okay, wait. You're saying Cameron Grimes kills my mother thirteen years ago, and later kills my father?"

  "I know what I'm saying sounds…unimaginable. But yes, he killed them both."

  Kairos watched Addison rise from the chair, roaming the room with stunned confusion and desperation etched across his young face. This couldn't be going better.

  "What does any of this have to do with World War III?"

  Kairos swirled his glass, the lamp-light playing on each ice cube's contours. "Cameron manipulated the continuum. We were attempting to stop him when he killed Thomas. I need your help, Addison. I need Renascentia."

  "Why did you wait until now? Why didn't you say something before Jules got killed, or I started a damn world war?"

  Kairos rose from the sofa, flicking his host's long, dark hair behind a shoulder. "If Cameron succeeds, Jules' death, and World War III for that matter, will be the least of our worries. He's a powerful man in his time and with those pens, he would be a powerful man throughout time. Don't you see? If he successfully kills the Inkers, destroys the League and takes possession of all the pens, he will control the past, and through the past, control the present and the future."

  The boy looks like his brains will ooze right out of his nose! Even his hands shake. Kairos hid his pleasure at the confusion sweeping over Addison.

  "You need to leave." Addison grabbed Kairos' arm, ushering him out of the room.

  "Addison. You'r
e making a mistake. Cameron is a very dangerous man."

  "I don't trust you. I don't trust anyone right now. Give me some time to think this through. I'll be in touch." He moved Kairos toward the door.

  Kairos grabbed Addison's shoulder. "Think about it. If we don't act, we lose everything. Not just our lives. Reality."

  He pushed Kairos' hand away. "I've already lost reality. Don't you get it? Everyone I know is gone. Cameron is the only person left."

  "But he killed your parents."

  "If he did, I'll kill him. But don't tell me not to see him. He's all that's left of my life."

  "Addison…"

  He turned on Kairos. "What do you want from me?"

  "It's not what I want. If you won't give me Renascentia to fix this mess you've made, then go talk to Thomas, to your father. Use the pen to talk with him before he was killed. Don't waste your time with Cameron.”

  He grasped the doorframe, holding himself and reality, up. "I can't have a conversation with my dad, Maya. The pen doesn't work that way."

  "Your father was a Master Inker, the leader of our League. That's why Cameron killed him. I guess he thought by cutting off the head he would kill the snake. Trust me, you can have a conversation with him. You've already learned how to influence an inking, Addison. Go to your father. He waits for you."

  Addison moved Kairos out the door. "I know you're just trying to help, but everything's happening too quickly. I need some time."

  "You don't have time."

  He closed his eyes. "Please…just go."

  "Addison—"

  As the door shut behind Kairos he allowed himself to smile. Cameron could still pose a problem, but once Addison met with his father, all would be back on track.

  Just as Kairos had planned.

  Meeting in the Sky

  After Maya left, Addison had paced the house, his mind a confused tangle of images, thoughts and feelings. Maya sounds like she's speaking the truth, but if Dad knew Cameron had killed Mom, why would he have left it alone for thirteen years? And Cameron. Yeah, he's a rich asshole, but murder? Addison didn't have a history with Maya, so how could he know her agenda. And as for the Cameron in this continuum, Addison didn't have a history with him either. I've heard Maya's side of the story. Let's see what Cameron has to say for himself.