Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(127)

Elise appeared just behind Levin’s left shoulder, and though James shook his head to ward her away, she ignored him, quite unsurprisingly. She raised her arm and unloaded her wrist beam on the unsuspecting auditor. His exo flickered as it took a millisecond to compensate for her attack. It managed to block the brunt of the point-blank shot, but Levin’s back took the rest of the blast. He stumbled forward and dropped to one knee.

James had one chance. He charged forward. An exo would automatically catch any of his coils but it wouldn’t block flesh unless actively directed. Elise had forced his hand. He had to try. A raised knee caught the downed Levin straight in the chin, and then a downward punch cracked him on the side of the head.

Levin tumbled backward onto the ground, and James pounced. If he could knock Levin unconscious, they might have a chance. He threw himself into the air and slammed his fist toward the auditor’s face. At the last second, Levin moved his head to the side and James hit nothing but cement. James followed up by collapsing his lead elbow and pressing it down on Levin’s neck, trapping him in place. He cocked his free arm back and threw it with everything he had at the auditor’s stationary head.

James roared as his fist hammered down and came to a stop a few centimeters from Levin’s eyes. He struggled and pressed down, but an invisible force stopped the killing blow’s momentum. James growled and squirmed, desperate to will it forward, knowing that small space between his fist and Levin could cost Elise her life. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn’t move.

“No,” he cried. He had been so close. Now, it wasn’t only his life that was forfeited, but Elise’s. His hands clawed at Levin’s face as a kinetic coil lifted him off of Levin and floated him in the air. Then he was flying backward, and the room became a blur as he spun out of control. James smacked into a concrete wall and blacked out.

When he came to moments later, he was lying facedown, his body a mass of throbbing pain. He was groggy and his eyes couldn’t focus, and black abyss, it hurt to breathe. He saw a blob across the room and blinked, trying to make out what was happening. A woman yelped and that snapped James back to reality.

Elise was floating in midair, her body stiff and her arms close to her sides. She looked terrified as Levin spoke to her in a soft voice.

The image of them so close together terrified James. What was he doing to her? Was she still alive? Was he as helpless to watch her die as he had been with his mother and all those victims from his jumps? Was James about to lose Elise like he had lost Sasha?

“No,” he moaned. “Leave her alone, you f*cking bastard.”

James tried to get up but felt his knees buckle. He pawed at the ground and inched his way closer, first getting back to his knees, and then unsteadily to his feet. His hands, still dragging along the floor, found a slab of rock; it would have to do. He picked it up, held it over his head, and charged in one last moment of defiance. Who knew? He got close last time. Maybe he might get lucky once more.

It didn’t happen. Levin stuck one hand out behind him and the rock dropped on James. It rose in the air another two meters and planted itself between the two men. When James lunged for Levin again, the rock smacked him one more time. Blinded with pain, James tried to stumble forward. The rock continued to pummel him on the head every time he tried to move closer to Levin. Finally, dizzy, James felt his knees gave way, and he fell on all fours.

Levin turned around, shaking his head. “Stay down, James, damn it. I don’t want to kill you, but I will.”

When James tried to get back onto his wobbly legs, Levin shook his head. “You really do never learn, do you?” He flicked his finger and the rock shattered over James’s crown. He collapsed for the last time, his face bloody.

“It’s over.” Levin said, wiping the blood from his own mouth. He sounded angry, one of the few times James could remember him this way. “You don’t know what you’ve cost me with this fool’s errand. It would be in my right to rip out your throat now, but it would be a mercy to spare you the trial and a lifetime on a penal colony. As for this anomaly”—he looked over at Elise—“I won’t give Valta the satisfaction of their victory either.” Levin raised his hand at her. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. This should have never happened.” His hands glowed orange.

“Nooo!” cried James, his fingers stretching toward her, his mouth no longer able to enunciate the words as the blood congealed in his mouth.

He couldn’t quite focus on anything he looked at. Raising his head hurt as he looked for the only thing that mattered. He found her on the other side of the room, still floating in the air, caught in Levin’s kinetic coils. Their eyes met, she nodded encouragingly, and for the third time since he was a child, tears ran down his face.

“Stop this immediately!” Grace’s strong voice thundered over the howling wind outside. All eyes turned toward where she stood in the doorway, hugging a stack of papers to her chest. She must have been hiding, because she was covered in dust. Her face was smudged, and her hair was mussed and unkempt. There was no mistaking who she was, though. Grace still carried herself as if attending her own coronation.

Levin shot his other hand out at the new voice, another orange killing blow ready to strike. Then he stopped. His mouth fell open and he backed away. “It can’t be.”

“Put your toy down, you jackass, before you hurt someone.” She slammed the stack on the floor and walked across the room to stand between Levin and Elise. When he didn’t comply, she put her hands on her waist. “By the fish-eyed look on your face, you know who I am then, right? I don’t have to introduce myself to you?”