The Bureau of Time (25 page)

“Zero gives our people hope,” Marissa said, cocking her head sideways. “He is trying to save your world, but you are too blind to see that.”

“
Save us?
He’s murdered people! The Adjusters have hunted Timewalkers, they’ve killed
children!
They are monsters!”

“Do not speak of things you know nothing about!” Zero roared, spittle flying from his thin lips. He took a step forward, T.E. rippling off his body. “You are ignorant, pathetic wretches! No matter what name they hide under, the Bureau of Time or White Tower, they are a cancerous organization that must be destroyed out before they condemn your world like they did mine!”

“We can talk about this!” Ryan shouted, his lip swollen and red. “The Director will—”

“NO!”
Zero bellowed, his face contorted in rage. “There will be no discussion, there will be no negotiation! I was created to atone for humanity’s mistakes, and I will do that
however I see fit!
”

With the final word, a powerful wave of energy tore free of Zero’s body, blasting through the walls with enough force to shatter the tiles. Jagged shards of ceramic slashed across Cassie’s face and arms, and the ceiling rumbled dangerously.

“I want to thank you,” Zero said, with a mock bow. Concrete dust and loose tiles rained down around him, but he kept his eyeless gaze on Cassie. “You helped me into the heart of the Bureau of Time. I am afraid, however—” a ponderous groan filled the air, “—that I can only repay your assistance with mercy. A swift death is far more than you deserve, and far less than I had intended.”

Cassie strained against the invisible shackles, drawing on her Temporal powers, trying to break free; Zero nodded once at Marissa, and the Russian girl moved, a wicked grin carved on her face. She raised her hands, preparing to use her dark Timewalking powers…and then the ceiling imploded.

Chunks of concrete and broken lengths of rebar rained into the room; a cloud of dust and insulation fibers billowed into the air. The invisible tethers released and Cassie hit the ground, coughing as dust filled her lungs.

Zero and his two subordinates had become separated by the rubble, with Ryan stranded somewhere to Cassie’s left – he shouted her name; then there was the frantic sounds of fighting. She tried to yell back, but her shout turned into a choked cough. She scrambled away from the ruins, tripping over debris.

Her Affinity spiked sharply, then fell flat – the others had teleported away. She ran for a hundred feet then drew up short, hands on her knees.

How could the Bureau have been so blind?
Zero – that bastard – he warned us, he said he’d attack the Bureau. And Tallon…how could he betray us, after all that’s he done, fighting Adjusters and saving Timewalkers? Why now?

There was another rumbling boom from somewhere deep inside the facility. Several seconds passed. There was nothing but the dark, the distant screams, the roar of gunfire, and the bursts of Temporal Energy that accompanied teleporting Adjusters.

Cassie started forward, blindly groping the left-hand wall.

She didn’t recognize what part of the base she was in. She was alone, and afraid. She wished Shaun was there to help her, but he was long gone, and even Ryan had been separated from her.
Is he alive?
she wondered. She didn’t know which of them she was thinking about – both were in equal amounts of danger.

She rounded a corner, and a halo of light exploded directly in front of her. A snarling Adjuster lunged from the collapsing wormhole, naked steel gleaming in its hand. She acted instantly, Shifting time by three seconds.

When the world reformed, she stepped sideways, slamming her entire body into the incoming Adjuster. The monster roared in surprise, dropping its knife – she seized the blade and whipped it around, black ichor spurting out of the creature’s shins. The Adjuster hit the ground, its limbs thrashing, trying to trip her.

She let out a furious yell that contained all of her anger, her fear, her grief, and plunged the knife into the monster’s chest.

The Adjuster twitched and lay still, inky blood pooling across the cold tiles. She pulled the blade free, four inches of bloodied steel, and watched with cold satisfaction as a swirling void consumed the assassin until there was nothing left but a black stain.

Cassie pushed herself upright and staggered forward, following overhead signs toward the rear entrance that linked the gym and showers with the training yard. Two more Adjusters tried to attack her, and she killed each of them by Shifting time, plunging her knife into the monsters’ backs, waiting just long enough to see them disappear before pushing through the base.

The whole facility was shaking now and she quickened her pace. Tiles cracked off the walls, and whole sections collapsed in a shower of concrete, forcing her to double-back through Sector 6 – Science and Research.

A thick layer of smoke had gathered in the labs. Fires burned unchecked, fueled by paperwork and beakers of strange chemicals and materials. The usual army of scientists and assistants were nowhere to be found, but Cassie saw more signs of Adjuster activity – bright patches of blood, abandoned knives, spent bullet casings lining the floor. Her Affinity spiked every few seconds, gradually becoming a high-pitched whine in the back of her skull. She stumbled through Sector 6, holding her breath against the smoke. She awkwardly climbed over an upturned desk blocking her way and squeezed through a half-closed door, back into the open corridors.

Cassie broke into a sprint. The ground buckled beneath her; the ceiling crumbled behind her – the whole facility was collapsing. She hurtled around a corner and glimpsed the exit three hundred yards away, already open.

The floor rippled and she tripped. In a blur of motion, the ceiling and the ground were reversed, and the earth opened up to swallow the base. Then she was on her feet again, heart racing, blood pounding in her ears. The distance was closing between her and freedom, but she didn’t have time, she wouldn’t make it—

Cassie pushed herself, feeding on Temporal Energy itself to propel her forward. She Shifted the world around her just enough to fend off the dangerous chunks of concrete and the steel beams.

She squeezed through the doorway and rolled onto the asphalt; she spun around to see the entrance collapse underneath the rubble, the entire hillside imploding, trees cracking and splintering.

A sinkhole opened in the hills, swallowing Brightwood Ranch.

Cassie took a ragged breath, then another.

She stood and wiped a hand across her face. Her hand came back covered in blood – both crimson and black.

Then came the shouting. Carefully, she made her way through the woods, leaves and twigs cracking beneath her feet, a thin layer of snow shaking free overhead. Her Affinity flared, detecting Zero and dozens of other Adjusters – she grimaced, praying that none of the creatures noticed her Temporal signature.

She crested a hill, crawling through a low bush. Snow and ash wormed in between her fingers, chilling her.

A handful of Adjusters were leading a group of hostages toward a much larger gathering; all of the captives were on their knees with their hands behind their heads. It was too distant to make out everyone’s faces, but Cassie clearly saw Ryan, Amita and several Directors on the ground, knives held across their throats. Her hands shook, and she had to stop herself from running down the hill.

Shaun’s voice in her mind:
There’s nothing we can do. Walk away. The Bureau brought this on themselves. It’s not our fight.

Shut up, Shaun.

Zero paced back and forth in front of the hostages, his voice booming across the Ranch. From Cassie’s elevated position, she could see the fence lying in complete ruin, no longer capable of defending the facility. More Adjusters teleported into existence, scarlet sashes around their arms. Marissa walked between the ranks, her fingers trailing across the cheeks of several male operators – she lingered longest by Ryan, and fresh anger rose up inside Cassie.

“You are all guilty of the same crime!” Zero bellowed. “Guilty of
existing
. You are abominations to the universe, unholy anomalies that should never have existed. You are a threat to billions of innocent people in this world!”

Cassie crouched lower in the scrub, her eyes fixed on Ryan. The soldier was struggling to remain still, requiring two Adjusters to hold him in place. Marissa moved on, watching Zero with pure reverence. Tallon stood behind the gathering, directing several of the Adjusters around.

Cassie’s eyes returned to Ryan, to the only person in the Bureau she still trusted.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” she whispered, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. More Adjusters arrived in incandescent explosions, these new arrivals carrying silver briefcases that radiated their own Temporal signatures.

“I am the Balancer!” Zero roared. “I am the first of my kind, the leader of the Resistance, and I will not allow you to destroy this world as you destroyed my own!”

He’s crazy.
He’s actually insane. And he’s going to kill everyone down there.

“Get it over with, you sick bastard!”

Cassie flinched. Ryan’s voice. She lurched forward, half-hidden in the brush. Her eyes were glued to Zero as he sauntered over to Ryan, crouching down in front of him. Their conversation was loud enough to carry up to Cassie’s hiding spot.

“What did you say?” Zero’s voice was icy.

Be quiet, don’t talk back,
she prayed.

“I said,
get it over with!
If you’re going to kill us, just do it already!” Ryan snarled, straining against the hands holding him back. On the outside of the gathering, the Adjusters ignored the commotion, opening the silver briefcases and withdrawing a smooth cylindrical device from each.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Zero said, rocking back on his heels, his voice sweet with mock indignation. “Not here, at least – no, that’s not my style.” He chuckled, a wet sound in the back of his throat. “This is a war, and so I must take prisoners. Don’t despair – I’m sure we’ll find a use for you on the other side.”

The Adjusters activated the cylindrical devices, placing them in six points around the tarmac. Cassie blinked as a bright light beamed between each of the points, forming a glowing hexagon, the hostages and Adjusters contained within the energy field.

Zero stood. He turned to face Cassie, staring directly at her, over a hundred feet away.

“Cassandra Wright!” Zero bellowed. “Today, the Bureau of Time is no more. We are the Resistance, the ones who turned our backs on the liars and frauds! Warn your friend, warn Shaun Briars; tell him that I come for my revenge!”

The cylindrical devices started emitting a high-pitched whine; Cassie grabbed her head, her Affinity screaming as waves of Temporal Energy exploded out of the strange devices. Then Ryan lashed out with his elbow, striking an Adjuster; he leaped to his feet, running straight toward the edge of the energy field.

Cassie screamed his name, abandoning cover without thinking. She slid down the hill, powerless to help as an Adjuster grabbed Ryan around the throat and hurled him into the ground.

Zero was shouting, Ryan was fighting, Cassie was running.

Several other operators and agents tried to fight off their attackers – ribbons of crimson blood arced through the air as the Adjusters cut down the hostages one-by-one. Ryan tripped his captor, his shout drowned out by the roar in Cassie’s ear as the devices powered up – now she was just twenty feet from the bright light, hand outstretched—

Ryan struggled upright, but Zero was directly behind him, face contorted in rage—

Cassie seized Ryan’s arms, the light flashing purple—

The pair tumbled backward onto the hard ground; Zero was almost to the edge of the field—

And then, with a colossal explosion of light and Temporal Energy, the tarmac and everything inside the hexagon vanished into pure nothingness. Cassie’s Affinity subsided instantly, leaving behind a conspicuous silence.

Thin tendrils of wispy smoke drifted through the air. Ryan gasped and stumbled upright, his legs almost giving out as he walked toward the hangar, his jaw hanging open. Cassie followed him.

In the place where, just moments ago, there had been a hundred people and dozens of Adjusters, there was nothing but scorched earth. Small fires burned where the cylindrical devices had been placed.

“What just happened?” Ryan asked, his voice cracking. He shook his head, distress and horror etched on his face. “What the
hell
just happened?”

“I don’t know,” Cassie said, her voice small. She leaned against Ryan, exhausted, her mind and body pushed to their absolute limit. “But I do know we’re alive.”

Ryan wrapped an arm around her shoulder, comforting and firm.

“Zero has started something here,” he murmured. “This is just the opening salvo in a war against the Bureau of Time. We have to respond in kind.”

How can we? There’s nobody left to fight with us
, she wanted to say. But she couldn’t bring herself to voice the words, only to stare at the smoke, and wonder where a hundred people had suddenly vanished to.

THE RETURNED

Shaun walked without purpose. He didn’t care where his feet led him, so long as it was away from the Bureau’s lies. He mentally berated himself for trusting the agency, for believing that they had his best interests at heart when all along they had been preparing him for war,
using
him as their own twisted creation.

Why did they lie about other Timewalkers? Why did they let me think I was alone? Why did they never tell us what White Tower was?

There were no answers for his questions, so he continued walking.

The sun beat down on the back of his neck, and his fatigues were too heavy and hot. He removed his camouflage jacket, revealing his sweat-soaked shirt, and trudged down the long road to nowhere. He kept his eyes on the shimmering mirage ahead of him; on either side were cornfields and rolling paddocks, farmhouses sagging beneath the sun.

A dull rumble came from behind him, and he whipped around, racking his handgun in a single motion. He considered leaving the road and hiding.