The Bureau of Time (17 page)

The monster let out another insane cackle, and moved over to Shaun, kicking his weapon aside.

Cassie stirred, wanting to help Shaun, but the other Adjusters stood over her, knives at the ready.
Three Adjusters, two Timewalkers. Good odds, usually,
she thought.
But something’s wrong. Where’s Clockwork? The other operators? Are they all – dead?
Her commset had fallen out of her ear during the fight. Were the others alive, trying to regroup?

“
You,
” the first Adjuster spat, using the word like a curse. It kicked Shaun, sprawling him on the ground. Cassie tensed – then felt a blade against the back of her neck. The strange Adjuster put its boot on Shaun’s throat, glaring down at him.

“I should kill you right here and now for what’ve you done!” the creature snarled, its voice rising to a shout. “You’re just the same as
him
, I can see it in your eyes. I’d be doing your world a favor.”

Desperation sparked inside Cassie and she blurted out: “You freaks can
see
?”

She cringed. The monster released Shaun, who gave a spluttered cough, gasping for air. She trembled as the Adjuster walked back toward her, T.E. rippling off its body.

“Such insolence,” it drawled. “You cannot begin to comprehend our powers,
girl.
You are a child, weak and feeble. We are creatures beyond your kin, products of science and man’s desire to become God. You will treat us with the respect we deserve.”

It lashed out, smacking her across the face. She hit the ground and tasted blood.

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!”
Shaun bellowed, scrambling upright. He drew his knife from his thigh and in a single, fluid motion, stabbed the Adjuster behind him. He barreled toward the first Adjuster – and then the creature teleported away.

Shaun tumbled through the space where the creature had been moments before; there was an explosion of light and the assassin appeared directly behind him, wrapping a knife around his throat.

“Pathetic,” the monster snarled. “To think – the man you’ll become? It’s almost laughable,
Shaun Briars.
”

“You know my name?” he gasped, struggling to pull the monster’s weapon away. Cassie slowly reached toward her gun, lying abandoned a few feet away. Nobody was watching. She just had to reach a little more…

“Of course,” the creature said, pulling tighter on Shaun’s throat, drawing blood in a thin bead of scarlet. “Why else would I be here? Your name is what makes your important.”

“What’s yours?” he countered. “Even something as vile as you has to have a name.”

The Adjuster laughed, spittle flying from its impossibly thin lips. Cassie’s fingers brushed through the dirt, ignored by the two Adjusters. She touched the gun, and accidentally pushed it further away. She cursed silently, reaching harder, her shoulder aching.

“Your people gave me no name,” the Adjuster announced, “only a number, like a product from a factory. You robbed me of my humanity, so I became a monster like you wanted me to be – something beyond human, something to
fear.
”

Cassie’s hand closed around the gun, her index finger finding the trigger.

“My name,” the Adjuster cried, “is Zero!”

Then the world exploded into chaotic motion.

Shaun threw his elbow back at the same moment Zero slashed across with his blade; Cassie pulled the trigger, her shot grazing Zero’s shoulder. The assassin twisted sideways, its mouth open in a startled roar; the second Adjuster leaped into the fray, bearing down on Shaun; he scrambled toward his gun, but Zero intervened, grabbing Shaun’s fatigues and pulling him back—

Cassie fired, taking down the second Adjuster, but she was too slow—

Zero plunged his knife straight into Shaun’s chest, blood gushing from around the blade. Shaun gave a horrified gasp, and his body crumpled.

A scream tore itself from Cassie’s throat, raw and powerful, the beginning of a word but ending in something too guttural to name. She started to move toward Shaun –
please god no please don’t take him away –
but Zero grabbed her arm, holding her back. She screamed again, desperately tugging against the monster, trying to reach Shaun where he lay dying –
oh god he’s dead he’s dead oh god no
. Desperation surged through her body, fueled by adrenaline, burning through her veins like wildfire –
please he can’t die don’t let him die I need him
 – and activated something hidden deep inside her own body.

Temporal Energy stormed toward her, and Zero released her arm with a surprised howl. She couldn’t control what was happening, didn’t even know how—

A shockwave rippled away from her body, blowing dust and dry grass away—

There was a blinding flash of light—

*     *     *

“Even something as vile as you has to have a name,” Shaun growled. The knife pressed into his throat, warm blood pooling across his skin.
Keep him talking,
he thought,
psychopaths love to talk. I just need to buy some time…

He glanced down at Cassie, and saw her fingers reaching toward the gun. An inexplicable feeling of déjà vu swept across him, so powerful that he staggered a little. The Adjuster tightened its grip again, cold metal biting into his throat.

“Your people gave me no name,” the Adjuster snarled, its breath hot and foul at his ear, “only a number, like a product from a factory. You robbed me of my humanity, so I became a monster like you wanted me to be – something beyond human, something to
fear.
”

This is it, I have to make my move,
Shaun thought. His gun was gone, as was his knife – but all those training sessions with Ryan hadn’t been for nothing. He had trained in hand-to-hand combat for precisely a situation like this.

The Bureau had always told him one simple truth:
you are a human weapon.

He didn’t need guns or knives; he only needed his body and his powers.

“My name,” the Adjuster cried, “is Zero!”

A roaring gunshot cut through the air. The monster called Zero twisted away, inky blood curling from its shoulder. Shaun stumbled back as the second Adjuster leaped toward him, and he darted toward his gun; he felt something collide with him, saw a tumble of red curls—

He snatched up his gun, racked the slide—

He and Cassie rolled on the ground, came to a stop, and both brought up their weapons at the same time. Cassie’s shot took out the second Adjuster, a direct hit to the chest. Shaun squeezed the trigger rapidly, but his bullets never reached Zero.

The slugs stopped in mid-air, defying gravity.

“Not even a challenge!” Zero gave a harsh, inhuman cackle. He tilted his head to one side like a perplexed dog. “I expected so much more.”

Shaun stood, his hands shaking, the weapon trained on Zero’s chest.

“Stand down!” he roared, the words falling from his mouth. “You are now in the custody of the Bureau of Temporal Integrity, Monitoring and Execution. Get on your knees!”

Zero laughed again, the noise devoid of any humor. His body shook with the intensity of his laugh, now growing louder, and the ground itself was trembling, rocks leaping into the air and remaining there, dirt and grass swirling around them in a hurricane.

“Shaun!” Cassie cried, reaching for him, but he refused to let Zero escape. He darted forward, but before he could reach Zero, the creature’s laugh ended and he flung his arms out, energy bursting from his hands. A horrendous shriek of metal filled the air and Shaun looked up to see the crane leaning forward – not leaning, but
falling.

“Shaun!” Cassie screeched, grabbing his arm and yanking him sideways. They tumbled away just as the crane hit the ground with a tremendous roar and a colossal report that jarred his bones. Shaun didn’t realize he had formed a protective shield around Cassie until the dust settled, revealing them curled into a tight ball, a slab of shattered concrete just inches away. Her body pressed into his, trembling.

“Are you okay?” Shaun asked, releasing Cassie and activating his Regenerative powers with mechanical ease.

“I’m fine,” she said, accepting his hand as he pulled her to her feet. She had a cut above her eyebrow, blood running across her forehead. He wanted to fix her, wanted to hold her and make sure nothing could ever attack them again – but for that, he had to stop Zero.

Shaun turned around, surveying the wreckage of the crane, a mess of twisted metal and broken concrete slabs that had once balanced the machine. The Adjuster was nowhere to be found, and he couldn’t locate the creature’s signature in the Temporal Field of the universe. In fact, he couldn’t sense Cassie either.

Something was blocking his Affinity.

“You feel it too?” she asked, worry etched on her face along with the blood and dust.

He motioned for her to follow him. “Stay close.”

They were both weaponless now, their guns lost somewhere in the wreckage. They were vulnerable and exposed. They skirted the crane carefully, expecting an Adjuster to leap out of the tangled metal any second. There was just them, the dead operators and the evidence of the Adjusters’ attack.

Shaun saw one of the fallen snipers, rifle still in-hand, and he started toward the corpse, hoping to take the weapon – but invisible hands grabbed his arms and legs, freezing him in place.

“That was a close one, wasn’t it?” Zero laughed, his cruel voice booming across the construction yard. Shaun’s body twisted to face the monster, and Cassie swung around beside him. He couldn’t move his body – he was frozen in mid-air.

This isn’t possible,
he thought, his blood running cold.
Adjusters don’t have any powers other than teleportation – that’s what we’ve always been told.

How is Zero doing this?

“In another world, I might have been a magician,” Zero chuckled again, as though it was far more meaningful than an insane off-hand remark.

Even this close to the Adjuster, Shaun
still
couldn’t sense the monster’s signature. Had something happened to his Affinity? Even the usual static was absent from his mind, as though his entire ability to detect changes in Temporal Energy had been switched off.

“What do you want?” Shaun forced the words out, his jaw stiff. “If you want to kill us, just go ahead and get it over with!”

Zero’s face tightened, and if he’d had eyebrows, those might have furrowed. The hexagonal piece of metal in his temple glowed brightly. He took a step forward, his gait confident and powerful.

“I
want
to kill you,” Zero snarled, his words low and fierce. “I should. You must atone for your sins, for what you will do in the future!”

“The
future?
” Shaun gasped. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

He never got his answer. The roar of helicopter engines filled the air and two gunships wheeled overhead, blades sending buffeting sheets of wind across the construction yard. Shaun and Cassie dropped to the ground as Zero released his invisible grip, the pair staggering away from the monster.

Black-clad operators slid down ropes and hit the ground, assault rifles raised at shoulder level, all screaming at Zero to kneel. A cry came to Shaun’s lips, afraid that Zero would unleash his terrible powers again, but his shout died out as a hoarse cough.

From the midst of the soldiers came Captain Tallon, bruised and bloodied, but still alive, with Ryan trailing behind him. Zero took several deliberate steps backward, his abnormally large mouth drawn in a thin line. The operators swarmed him, and still Shaun expected another attack – but Zero surprised everyone.

The Adjuster interlaced his hands behind his head and knelt on the ground.

Tallon clasped the anti-Temporal handcuffs around the monster’s wrists. The cuffs glowed bright blue, and Shaun felt the electromagnetic field disrupting the Temporal Field around Zero.

The soldiers hauled Zero upright, dragging him back toward the helicopter. And the whole time, as he was marched toward the waiting gunship, flanked by soldiers on either side, Zero kept his gaze steady on Shaun, a blank mannequin-like face staring hard at him.

Just before he vanished into the helicopter, Zero mouthed five words that stopped Shaun dead:

“You cannot escape your fate.”

THE REQUIEM

There was no hero’s welcome when they returned.

It was evening, and Brightwood Ranch was shrouded in darkness. Long shadows stretched across the horizon, broken by the bright lights ringing the main hangar. Cassie sat with her head bowed, her body jarring with the helicopter’s vibrations. There was only silence inside the cabin, the mood somber and heavy. They had lost too many to consider the mission a success.

Many of the operators had been found injured or unconscious, returning to the Bureau on stretchers, bandaged and hooked up to I.V. drips. But many more soldiers returned in black body bags, destined for an anonymous burial and a gold star on a marble wall in D.C. Their families would never know the sacrifice they had made.
That
was the ultimate price all servants of the Bureau paid – to be forgotten, to have their service reduced to nothing more than a folded flag on an empty coffin.

The helicopters touched down on the tarmac, but Cassie stayed seated, her muscles aching as though she had been run over by a truck. The effort of using her powers had drained her far more than she had expected.

When it mattered most, I was able to reverse time,
she thought. She looked down at her shaking hands.
Why do people have to die for me to use my powers?

Shaun was traveling in the other helicopter, but she could see him in front of her, bleeding out on the ground. She could still feel the gun jarring her shoulder. Splashes of red and black cut across her vision, the roar of gunfire and the last screams of dying men filling her ears. She leaned forward, pressing her palms to her eyelids, but in the darkness, she saw him dying again and again. Tears welled up behind her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. She wiped them away, her cheeks burning as the other operators departed the helicopter.

She put her hands down. They were smeared with grime and blood that wasn’t all hers.