The Deviant Underground (Time Bandit) (35 page)

She watched the mile markers on the side of the highway whiz by. Her thoughts lingered on her apartment and the things she had lost. She didn't have much that was worth anything, but a few things were sentimental to her. Fortunately, she had taken to LA the diamond earrings her mother had given her. She thought briefly about her job. The department would be shocked when she didn't return in the fall. She mentally made a note to mail them a resignation letter as a courtesy.

The car tirelessly continued its journey west, crossing state after state. With it, the landscape changed. The lush green of Missouri slowly began to turn to the more arid yellow and brown of Oklahoma and the Panhandle of Texas. Morning turned into afternoon, which turned into evening. The miles passed by with only occasional stops out of necessity.

As the distance grew between her and St. Louis, Kathryn felt the distance grow between her and her life there. Being with Charge, Susan, and Jonathan felt like a home. What had Don said? “Welcome to the family.” Her memories of really having a family were so faint. Finding one again had awakened old emotions in her—peace, joy, and most importantly, love. She had spent so much time alone, it was almost as though those years had been stolen from her
. Now I've discovered that my gift is to steal moments in time from other people.
Kathryn chuckled softly.
How ironic.

She lay snuggled in the crook of Charge's arm in the backseat of the car. Susan was driving, and the sun was slowly beginning to sink down to the horizon setting the New Mexico desert ablaze in fiery oranges and reds. Kathryn thought about this new adventure she was starting. In a way, it felt freeing to leave everything behind. She now had nothing to tie her to her old life. She was starting fresh; beginning as a new person.

She threaded her fingers through Charge's and pulled his arm tighter around her. As Charge leaned down and kissed the top of her head, she caught a glimpse of the lightning bolt emblazoned on his arm. Charge. His symbol. Susan's mirror. Her reminder. Kathryn. Her gift—the ability to manipulate time. To rob people of their precious moments . . .

“I've got it,” Kathryn whispered.

“Hmm?” Charge looked down and her sleepily. “What did you say?”

“I've got it.” Kathryn sat up.

“What have you got, babe?”

“My nickname. Susan,” she leaned forward in her seat, “I've got my nickname.”

Susan smiled at her through the rear view mirror. “Oh yeah? What is it?”

“Time Bandit.”

“Yeah?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah.” Kathryn nodded. “Time Bandit.”

“Ha!” Susan grinned even more broadly. “I like it!”

“Yeah?”

Charge pulled Kathryn back into him and threw his strong arms around her. “Yeah, baby. I like it, too. It's perfect. Time Bandit it is.”

The car continued its westward journey through the desert, the setting sun illuminating the alien landscape.

***

The car finally made its ascent up the mountain outside of LA almost 12 hours later. They were all exhausted. Kathryn's only desire was for a hot shower and a bed. She was cramped and uncomfortable from being in the car for far too long. However, all hope of relaxing was lost when she saw Jonathan's face.

“What happened?” Susan jumped out of the backseat of the car as soon as Kathryn put the vehicle in park.

Jonathan looked around nervously. “Go upstairs and pack your things. We're leaving.” Kathryn had never seen him looking so worried. His gaze shifted from tree to tree as if looking for something menacing in the morning sun. The formerly faint wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were now grooved and deep.

“What happened?” Charge repeated. Kathryn felt his anxiety rising.

“Nothing concrete,” Jonathan said evasively. “Pack up. Meet me back down here in 5 minutes.”

Kathryn teleported up to her room and pulled her suitcase out of the closet. She had more clothes than she did when she first got there, thanks to her little shopping spree. She packed all of her new clothes along with a few of her old favorites, being sure not to forget her mother's earrings. As Charge wordlessly threw his clothes into a duffle bag, she made one last check to make sure that she didn't leave anything important. In the closet, up on the shelf in the corner, she found the copy of
Tom Jones
Jonathan had given her.

“Oh, I almost forgot this,” she said quietly. The rare book was still wrapped in a pillowcase, and she buried it in her bag, safely cushioned between her clothes.

“Ready?” Charge asked, already at the bedroom door.

“Yeah.” Kathryn teleported them downstairs. Jonathan and Susan were in the car. Kathryn jammed her suitcase into the trunk and got in the back seat. Charge sat next to her, placing his bag on his lap. Jonathan started the car and drove down the gravel path.

“Where are we going?” Charge asked.

Jonathan looked nervously into the rear view mirror. The expression on his face was very familiar to Kathryn. She glanced at Charge and could see the tension in his body.

“Someplace safe,” Jonathan responded. “My predecessor purchased a piece of property almost 50 years ago as a contingency plan, in case he or anyone he knew needed an off-the-radar abode should tensions arise.”

“A hideout?” Susan asked.

“Yes, something like that.”

“And tensions have arisen.” Kathryn meant to ask a question, but it came out as a statement.

“Indeed, they have.”

“What happened?” Susan asked, her voice creaking with the question.

“I can't say for sure.” He paused as though searching for the right words. “All that I can say is that not too long after I hung up the phone with you Charge, I got the distinct feeling that I was being watched.”

“Yeah?” Charge leaned forward.

“Yes. At first, I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me—a shadow here, a slight noise there. I was going to dismiss it, but later on that evening, the phone rang.” He paused again, clearly distressed. “I picked it up and said hello, but no one spoke. It was clear, however, that someone was there. Listening. Thinking. I immediately hung up. It rang again, so I unplugged it from the wall.” Kathryn’s heart pounded in her chest. “Then my cell phone rang. The ID said 'unknown caller' so I didn't pick up.” Jonathan's hands trembled on the steering wheel. “It continued to ring again and again and again. Always the same unknown caller. So I took the battery out of the phone.”

“Why didn't you leave?” Susan asked.

“I couldn't.” Jonathan glanced at her. “I couldn't call you because I couldn't use my phones, and I didn't want to leave because I didn't know when you would be there or how to contact you once you arrived. I couldn't leave a note. What if someone entered the house? They would know exactly where I was and where you were going. Believe me, I thought of all of the possibilities.”

“So what did you do?” The worry on Susan's face was evident.

“I left the house and spent the night in the woods. I know of quite a few secluded spots. I sneaked out of the back door when it got dark. I thought that if someone was around, I might have a better chance of sneaking past him or her then. I hiked several miles away and stayed up all night waiting for you to return.”

“Oh, Jonathan!” Susan put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it firmly, her eyes welled up with tears.

“I'm okay, darling,” he reassured her. “I really am. Although,” he joked, “I am getting a bit old for all nighters.”

Jonathan turned the car off of the gravel road and onto the highway. A few seconds later, behind them, they heard the roar of police sirens.

Chapter Thirty Seven

Everyone in the car jumped. Kathryn's heart leaped into her throat, and she turned to look out of the back window. There must have been no less than six police cars. They formed a cacophony of deafening sounds as all of their sirens blasted at once. The police cars came blazing down the highway towards them, and their tires sent squeals and puffs of smoke in the air as they all turned sharply up the gravel road they had just left.

Everyone in the car was silent. Kathryn held her breath as the wailing faded away as the cars barreled up the mountain. After a few seconds, the only sound she heard was the pounding of her own heart in her head.

Susan was the first one to break the silence. “Holy shit,” she whispered. “Was that for us?”

Jonathan looked pale and suddenly more grey. “I can only imagine so,” he said shakily. The tension in the car continued to be thick as Jonathan headed east. As ten minutes became fifteen and then twenty, Kathryn finally felt her body begin to loosen. The traffic thinned as they headed further and further away from the city. It was clear that they were not being followed, but she was still uneasy.

After a few minutes more, Jonathan took an exit off the main road. The small, two-lane highway was deserted but paved. It slowly climbed up a hill before entering a tunnel that was cut into the side of the mountain. In the middle of the tunnel, Jonathan stopped.

“Okay.” He exhaled. “We're here.”

Everyone got out of the car. Kathryn looked up and down the highway and saw nothing.

“Where is 'here?'“ she asked. Jonathan walked past the car, further into the tunnel. As he walked, he kept staring at the wall next to him. The tunnel itself was cut into solid rock. The rough, raw, jagged surface surrounded them.

“Here,” he finally said, turning to face the wall. Kathryn, Susan, and Charge all stood around him. Kathryn saw nothing unusual. Jonathan brushed away a few dead leaves and climbing vines, exposing a rectangular portion of the rock. He then grabbed hold of one of the jagged edges and twisted. A panel popped open. Kathryn was shocked. She stared at the small metal square full of unlit buttons and dials.

“The power is down,” Jonathan said. “Not surprisingly. Charge, I'm assuming getting things up and running again won't be a problem.”

Charge said nothing and just stood there looking puzzled. Jonathan smiled slightly. “Okay, stand back everyone.” All four of them took a few steps back, and Jonathan held up his hand. Suddenly, there was a loud pop, followed quickly by the hiss of escaping air. The entire wall of the tunnel separated in the middle as the hidden doors slowly parted. A blast of cool, stale air hit them. It smelled like metal and dust. The dim light of the tunnel barely pierced the darkness of the gaping hole now in front of them.

“Susan,” Jonathan handed her the car keys, “could you please drive the car inside. Charge, a little illumination, please.” Susan headed back to the car and started it up. A large ball of electricity erupted in Charge's hand, and the three of them walked into the darkness. Kathryn couldn't see much, but by the glow of Charge's electricity, she could tell that the room was huge. The door they had walked through could have accommodated a tank, and judging by her inability to see the surrounding walls, Kathryn figured that several tanks could have fit in there.

“Over here.” Jonathan's voice echoed in the darkness as he headed toward a panel near the entrance. Susan slowly pulled the car into the room and turned on the headlights. By those lights, Kathryn could see that the entire space was made out of metal. Susan stopped the car, got out, but left the lights on. She and Kathryn joined Jonathan and Charge, who was tinkering with the archaic switches and buttons.

“It's totally dead,” Charge said as he pressed things to no avail. “I might be able to get a little something going here. But I'll need to find the generator to get some real power.” He extinguished his electricity ball, and it was replaced by a thin cobweb of current that flowed from his fingers into the panel. Kathryn heard a low buzz, and several lights on the ceiling began to weakly glow. As he kept feeding the panel with current, the lights grew brighter until she was finally able to see around her. She had been correct in her assumption. The room was huge, as big as a football field, and completely made out of metal. The ceiling was easily three stories high.

Charge cut off the current. “That's as much as I can give it from here without burning everything out. I'll need to find the electrical room to get these babies going at full power.”

“That's just fine.” Jonathan seemed pleased. He turned toward the entrance, and with a wave of his hand, shut the giant doors. They closed with a clang that echoed throughout the room.

“It's a bunker.” Kathryn was surprised how small and thin her voice sounded in the huge space.

“It's a bunker, my dear.” Jonathan waved his hand around grandly. “Courtesy of the US government, although they are no longer aware of its existence.”

“How is that possible?” Charge asked doubtfully.

“When my predecessor purchased the property,” Jonathan explained, “the deal he made with the individual included the destruction of all files and records pertaining to this place. In other words, he also paid for this place to disappear.”

“So no one can find us here?” Susan asked, her voice tinged with wonder.

“No one,” Jonathan answered confidently. “So come.” Jonathan began walking to the far side of the room. “Let's get acquainted with our new home.”

Kathryn lingered behind the others. “Wait. We're going to be
living
here now?”