In Times Like These Boxed Set Read online

  Axle was at the chair now, shoving her earlier self toward the door. “Have a nice trip!”

  Dom turned in time to see the other Emily go flying toward the multicolored doorway. “No, wait!” he shouted.

  Axle had already released her, however, and the other Emily went rolling through the doorway and disappeared.

  The colors in the doorway flared brighter for a moment, then Axle turned and leered at her. “And who have we got here?”

  Dom focused his attention on her as well.

  She was trapped. Racks of old electronics blocked her on one side and the two men were closing in on her. “Your meddling is going to cost you,” Dom said, raising a fist to strike her.

  “No! Dom, it’s me!” Emily reached up and yanked the mask from her head. Her hair fell around her face and she held her other hand up.

  “Emily?” Dom’s fist wavered, then fell to his side. “What on earth?” He glanced back at the time gate, then to Axle.

  Axle narrowed his eyes, then pulled the knife from his belt. “You didn’t say there were spares, mack. You want to slice and dice this one too?”

  “I know what happened, Dom,” Emily said. “I met your Emily. She doesn’t want you to do this.”

  Dom’s expression turned into a scowl. “You’re trying to stop me from saving her. You don’t know anything.”

  “I know that if you love her, if you love me, you won’t hurt anyone. It’s not too late to stop this.”

  “Wait a minute,” Axle muttered. “Just where did you come from?” He glanced back at the time gate. “What did you do?”

  “Your men on the other side clearly weren’t as efficient as advertised,” Dom growled. “And you still need to finish the job.” Dom backed up, leaving room for Axle to get to her.

  Axle brandished the knife. “Maybe we’ll try taking her through in pieces this time . . .”

  “No, Dom. Don’t do this,” Emily pleaded as he continued to back away. “You don’t want to hurt me. I know you don’t.”

  “I told you, Emily. I would do anything to keep you. Anything.”

  Axle reached for her and she screamed.

  Suddenly the room went completely dark. The brilliance of the time gate was gone.

  Axle cursed. Something crashed to the floor on the far side of the room and smashed.

  Emily couldn’t see anything but she ran, feeling her way past the nearest rack of shelves and making for the wall with the exit door.

  “What did you do?” Axle screamed, crashing into something on the other side of the room. “I thought I gutted your ass.”

  Emily scrambled along the wall, feeling for the door, till she found the handle. She swore when she felt the chain locking it. She felt for the padlock. She knew the combination but she couldn’t see it. She reached for the light switch next to the door.

  As the fluorescent overhead lights flickered to life, they revealed the chaos of the room. Equipment lay strewn across the floor from where she’d collided with it. The gravitizer curtain was in a heap, and the space formerly occupied by the time gate was now bare. Carson had ripped the frame down and dismembered the control box. He was standing among the fragments and bundles of wiring lay in piles around his feet. His left arm was bloody, but he shouted to her across the room. “Go! I got this!”

  Emily entered her birthday into the lock and pulled it free. That’s when she saw Dom heading for her. She pulled the chain loose from the door and hurled it at him. Dom ducked but the chain struck him anyway, causing him to stagger back. Emily flung the door open and raced into the hall.

  When she reached the intersection, she struggled to remember which way they came in. She went right. Sprinting down the hallway, she quickly realized she had made the wrong choice. There was no exit door here, just an elevator and a door to a stairwell.

  Dom rounded the corner just as she turned around. He wasn’t running, but he strode steadily forward, a cut bleeding above his right eye. He was carrying the chain.

  Emily jammed her finger against the elevator button, but as it illuminated she quickly realized she wouldn’t have enough time. She spun and pushed through the doors to the stairwell.

  There was no exit here either. Just the steps climbing up. She sprinted up them to the next landing.

  The door to the first floor was locked. She rattled the handle but it refused to open. Swearing, she took the steps two at a time to the next landing. The door was locked there as well. She leaned over the railing and looked down. Dom was climbing. Not running, but making steady progress up the stairs, the chain jingling as he walked. He looked up and glared at her, his features unsympathetic.

  Emily climbed to the next floor, and then the next. At the fifth floor the signage finally changed, indicating that the next level was the roof. Emily prayed that someone had heeded a fire marshal and at least left that door unlocked. When she reached the top of the stairs, she pressed on the door and was relieved to feel it swing open. She stepped onto the roof and slowly spun around.

  There was no elevator up here. It didn’t come up this high. No way back down.

  She worked to catch her breath as she scoured the roof for a place to hide. A number of industrial air conditioning units were scattered along the roof, but there was nowhere she wouldn’t be easily seen. She found one that was still relatively close to the stairs but a little to the side. If Dom went a different direction at first, perhaps she could race back down the stairs and escape.

  She crouched behind the air conditioner and waited.

  A few moments later the door swung open. Light from the stairwell spilled onto the roof. Dom’s shadow stretched across the gravel and tar paper. He waited for a few seconds, then stepped onto the roof.

  “There’s nowhere to run, Emily,” he called out. He walked a few steps but then turned and closed the door. To Emily’s dismay, he fished the chain through the door handle and secured it to a drainpipe next to the door. It wasn’t locked, but he managed to knot it.

  There would be no easy escape that way. He would be sure to catch her the moment she reached the door. Perhaps if he got far enough away?

  “You don’t understand, Emily,” Dom said, scanning the rooftop. “I’m doing this for us. So that we can be together.” He took a few steps forward. “I’ve come to understand that there’s nothing else that matters in this life. Not work. Not family. It’s who we choose to love that matters.”

  He walked around the first of the air conditioner units and paused, surveying the roof behind him.

  “When Gammatech suffered that explosion, it was my fault. I know that now. I should have listened to the inspectors. I should have shut down the plant as soon as I heard about the problem. But I was arrogant. I thought that I knew the system better than they did. I was sure that my new cooling rods could take the strain.”

  He took a few more steps and angled toward the next air conditioner. He was getting closer.

  “What happened to you was my fault, Emily. That’s why I have to fix it. You’re the only thing that I ever got right. After all that’s happened. With Gammatech, with my father, none of it was ever what mattered. But I had you. And that’s what I’m going to do with the rest of my life. Live to make you happy.”

  He checked behind the air conditioner nearest to him and then proceeded to the next one—the one Emily was hiding behind. “I know you’ve been gone, Emily. I know you don’t see it like I do and that’s why you left me. But you’re sick. Once you’re healthy again, then you’ll see. Then you’ll remember why you love me. That will be my gift to you.”

  Emily stood up and revealed herself. She stepped back to keep the air conditioning unit between her and Dom. “She doesn’t want this, Dom. This won’t make her happy. It won’t make her want you back.”

  Dom studied her, determination in his eyes. He edged his way closer. “You’re wrong. You just don’t see. You’re sick. Once you’re better—”

  “You’re confused, Dom. I’m not her.” Emily said. “She
’s had five years to make her decision and she’s made it. There’s nothing you can do to change her mind.” She sidestepped to keep him at a distance on the other side of the equipment. He continued to edge around it.

  “You’re mine,” Dom said. “Even when all else was going wrong, I still had you. You are my everything. All I have left.”

  “I don’t want to be your everything,” Emily replied. “If there is anything I’ve learned in the last 24 hours, it’s that. What you’re doing isn’t love. It’s obsession.”

  Dom’s expression turned into a scowl. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

  “And I don’t plan to find out,” Emily muttered. Dom had made it far enough around the air conditioner that she had a line to the stairs. She turned and sprinted for the door.

  Dom rushed to pursue her.

  Emily’s boots pounded across the roof as she ran, arms pumping, but Dom was too fast. She looked back to see him almost on top of her. She wouldn’t make it in time to free the chain. She veered left and ran for the cover of another air conditioning unit towards the edge of the roof. But this one had a lower profile. As soon as she got beyond it, Dom leapt and landed atop it, looming over her.

  Emily gasped and tried to run around, but Dom hurled himself down at her, tackling her to the rooftop. She flailed in his arms, elbowing him in the gut and trying to scramble away, but he grabbed her boot and tripped her up. She managed to get to her feet and spin around, but she was trapped, stuck at the corner of the roof with no way down. It was a six story drop to the asphalt parking lot.

  “You’ve got nowhere to run,” Dom said.

  Emily glared at him. “Neither do you, Dom. Your way back to your time is broken. We’ve seen to that.”

  Dom reached for her arms. She tried to avoid him but there was nowhere to go. He grabbed her wrists.

  “I’ll find a way. I can still save you. I’ll save us.” He pulled her closer to him, his face inches from hers. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you,” he said.

  Emily clenched her fists and went rigid in his grip. “There’s nothing left to do. Even if you found a way back, she’s dying, Dom. She’s leaving you. It’s what she wants.”

  Dom searched her face, looking for the truth of what she was saying. “You came back. You still love me. It’s why you are here.”

  “I don’t, Dom. I did before, but not the man you’ve become. I came back to stop you. To keep you from hurting anyone else.”

  “I didn’t do this to hurt you!” Dom screamed in her face. “I would never hurt you. Never!” He was shaking with rage.

  Emily cringed in his grip. “You’re doing it right now, Dom. You’re hurting me.”

  Dom looked at his hands and the way her wrists were turning purple in his grip, then he turned and threw her to the rooftop. She crunched into the tar paper in a heap. She rubbed her wrists. When Emily looked up, Dom was looking at his own shaking hands. He ran them over his head and backed away a few steps. When he finally looked at her, the rage seemed to be subsiding.

  “I spent the last of what I had to save you. Gammatech . . . my inheritance—it’s all gone now. But I’d do it again. I would have given anything,” he said. “just to share a lifetime with you.” He took another step backward, his heel now at the edge of the roof.

  “You had one lifetime of mine,” Emily replied, slowly climbing to her feet. “That’s all you get.”

  Dom stared at her in defeat, his features slowly relaxing. “You’re right. You’re not her. You won’t ever understand.” He lifted his eyes skyward. “There’s only one way left to be with my Emily now.” He spread his arms and took a step backward.

  “Dom, no! Wait!” Emily reached out a hand, but he was tipping over backward, arms wide, till he tumbled headfirst over the edge.

  Emily took a step forward but then stopped when she heard the sound of him hitting the asphalt below.

  She sank to her knees.

  8

  “There was nothing you could have done,” Carson said.

  Emily wasn’t sure how long she had sat on the roof before he found her, but he did. He knelt next to her and put a hand on her back. He waited like that till she was ready to move, then helped her up. She didn’t look over the edge, just turned and headed for the stairs.

  “What happened to Axle?” Emily asked. “Are we safe?”

  “He’s tied to a drain pipe downstairs. I’ve already alerted the time travel authorities to his location. They’ll pick him up.”

  Emily put a hand on Carson’s arm. His shirt was cut in multiple places and his shoulder had been hastily bandaged.

  “I thought you were dead when I saw you on the floor. I forgot to tell you about the knife . . .”

  Carson pulled his ripped shirt open to reveal the body armor covering his chest. “When in doubt, go with the stab-proof vest.”

  “I’m sorry if I put you in added danger.”

  Carson shook his head. “You’re the one who had to handle Dom on your own. I owe you an apology for that.”

  “So, there are some things even time travelers can’t plan for?” she asked.

  “We’re rewriting the story now. All new possibilities.”

  Emily wrapped her arms across her chest. “What do we have to do next? Is it over?”

  “The time gate is shut down. We’ve stopped the immediate threat to other versions of yourself out there in the multiverse. But it’s never over till you report back to the boss,” Carson replied. “I think we need to pay her a visit.”

  Emily nodded. “I’m glad we’re going back. I have a few questions for her.”

  The return jump to the condo in Highland Park was instantaneous, once Carson degravitized an anchor from there. One of the dresser drawers would now be missing a knob, after Carson’s earlier self showed up to borrow it, but Emily imagined her future self wouldn’t mind.

  The other Emily stirred in her bed when they entered the bedroom. She had a far-off look in her eyes but she focused on Emily when she sat down next to her.

  “You did it.”

  Emily nodded. “Dom won’t be hurting anyone else. At least not from this time.”

  “You must have had a difficult time,” her other self said. “I can’t imagine living through the kind of day you’ve had.”

  “It’s been eye-opening,” Emily replied. “I can say that much.” She fidgeted with the ring on her finger. “When did you first know? About Dom. When did you know you had to leave him?”

  “I think I always knew. That’s why we never went through with it. I moved into his place after the engagement, but never had the wedding. Once I got sick, everything was different. I don’t think I was surprised though. Dom had always had that intensity about him. I suppose he really did love me. But there are some things that even love can’t fix.”

  Emily nodded.

  “You’ll have some difficult decisions to make when you get home,” the other Emily said. “All of this is still a possible future for you there, unless you do something about it.”

  “I plan to make sure things go differently.”

  The other Emily gestured to Carson. “In my desk there, top drawer. There’s a communications card. My contact at the Federal Energy Commission. She’s a good woman. She’ll listen if you report the danger at the plant.”

  Carson found the card and handed it to Emily.

  “And who knows,” the other Emily continued. “Perhaps they are looking for more agents. They could use someone with our background.”

  “Thanks,” Emily replied. “I’ll give her a call.” She looked at the woman in the bed. She was even more frail than the last time she saw her, but she seemed relaxed now. Nothing weighing on her. “Is there anything else I can do for you? Do you need help with . . .” She trailed off.

  “With dying?” her other self replied. She smiled. “Just come hold my hand for a few minutes. Then, when you’re ready, go live the life we both want. You can finish it for the both of us.”
>
  Emily moved her chair forward and took her other self’s hand. “I don’t think I know what future I want anymore.”

  Her other self smiled. “And that will be the best part.”

  9

  The elevator dinged when the doors opened. Emily stepped into Dom’s penthouse and looked around. The bottle of champagne was still dripping beads of condensation onto the countertop.

  “Welcome back, Miss Davis,” Avery said.

  Emily ignored her and headed for the bathroom. She looked herself in the mirror, focused on her own reflection, and breathed out. “You can do this.”

  She was no longer wearing body armor, but her reflection still looked confident.

  She reached into the tub and manually pulled the drain for the lavender and tea tree scented bath. The water was still warm.

  When she straightened up, she addressed Avery. “Where’s Dom?”

  “Mr. Del Toro is en route from Gammatech via his personal vehicle. Would you like me to contact him?”

  “No. I’ll wait.”

  Emily strode back into the dining room, pulled the engagement ring from her finger, and set it on the countertop next to the champagne bottle. She took off her jacket.

  Then she waited.

  Dom slipped through the door about a quarter of an hour before midnight. He had loosened his tie and looked worried, but his smile brightened when he saw her sitting in the armchair in the living room.

  “You’re still up. I’m glad. I’m sorry that took so long. Inspectors were all in a tizzy and I had to calm them down. They worry like hens over the slightest thing.”

  “The defective cooling rods,” Emily said.

  “Yes. I mean no,” Dom said, eyeing her outfit and boots. “There’s nothing wrong with them. I ordered them myself, at a significant discount. The indications are a little off from our normal parameters, but the new rods are every bit as good as the ones we had before. The inspectors just needed a little convincing. They’ve agreed to let it go for the time being.”