“The hope is there, and it’s our little secret. I made the decision that we will not be relaying any information back to the Council as originally planned. Only those who have roles in critical missions will be informed when it is their time to act. The less people who know what is happening, the better off we’ll be.”
Martin scrunched his face, stepping out of Alina’s embrace to face her straight on. “I don’t understand.”
“Look, we know Chris has always been able to hack into our network and systems. And after the debacle with Councilwoman Murray, I’ve concluded we can’t take any chances at this point. We can’t come this far to let a potential slip-up beyond our control derail this entire mission. If any mistakes are made, they’d better be from you or me.”
Alina spoke with such conviction that Martin had no choice but to trust her. It also eased his mind about her being planted in his life. If she wanted to keep the Council out of the loop—something that would shortly send them and the entire Road Runner membership into a frenzy—then she was, without a doubt, solely focused on killing Chris. In this moment, Martin witnessed the height of Alina’s character, and knew she would one day serve as a fine commander.
“How much time does that buy us before the Council comes looking?”
“The Council won’t find us—I’ve already given strict instruction to our team to not answer any calls from the Council, or to reach out to anyone besides me. You and I need to work on this eight-hour deadline and get the job done.”
Martin grinned for the first time since arriving to this apartment, but remained void of actual emotion. “I’m glad to have you here. I know Gerald would have done great in this role, but I feel such a different kind of calm with you around.”
“I appreciate that, Commander. Gerald was a hero and legend within our organization, especially in my line of work. I had the pleasure of doing a couple missions with him. Now, I want you to gather yourself. We don’t have to step out of this room until you feel more together, but that needs to happen soon. I’ll wait in the hallway and will have someone call a team to clean up this apartment. Do you have any preference what we should do with Sonya’s body?”
Martin hadn’t considered the question before, not realizing the decision would ultimately be left to him as the commander. Surely it had been planned to some degree by his team and they wanted to leave the thought out of his mind.
“Arrange to have her buried next to my daughter. Larkwood Cemetery. Take her back to 2020 and bury her there.”
“As you wish, Commander. Any other requests for her burial?”
“That will be all, thank you.”
Alina nodded and left the apartment, Martin looking to Sonya for the final time, his heart tearing apart at the seams.
“I love you,” he said. “You were a star in my night, my only beacon of hope. I don’t know if we would have ever gotten the timing right, but I’ll always remember our time together. It didn’t have to end this way, and I’ll spend the rest of my days trying to figure out why you felt it did. I’ll think about your hugs, your lips, your scent. The way you’d giggle sometimes in your sleep. All I wanted was the chance to love you and help you heal from the wounds of your past. I suppose all I can do now is honor your life by completing this mission. Thank you for trying to save my mom—that’s all I needed to know about your true character. I’ll never forget you.”
Martin blew a kiss across the room before he turned and left, wiping the tears away to move to the next phase of this ultimate mission.
Chapter 8
Chris didn’t know he was mortal, and he still wouldn’t for a few more hours. He was too occupied to notice the grumbling in his stomach, or even the yawns that escaped his mouth for the first time in decades.
Instead, he was focused on abolishing the Liberation, just as he had done to all the other pathetic organizations that had tried to rise up in the past—except for the Road Runners, of course. He had called Duane, seeking advice from his longtime confidant, but he didn’t answer on three different attempts, adding an extra layer of frustration for the Keeper of Time.
Sure, he could barge into Thad’s home and shoot him, but alone he wouldn’t be able to withstand the guaranteed retaliation of doing such a thing. Even with his assumed invincibility, he had no chance of outrunning a mob of pissed off time travelers.
He had a small team now, all made up of his brainwashed soldiers, and they would have to suffice through the remainder of this war. He also had a team at Wealth of Time, but they weren’t equipped to fight, focusing more on recruitment efforts around the continent. Chris had called for a temporary pause in recruiting, not wanting to further expand their operation until he had help running the organization.
After plenty of contemplation, Chris decided that he’d be the one to remove Thaddeus Hamilton from the world. “We’ve been pushed around enough these last few weeks,” Chris said to his houseful of soldiers, ready to do as he commanded. “Our task is a simple one. We’ll let ourselves into his house, maybe even position it as a
