Page 46 of Erase Me
“Hey, we’re in here.Open up!”
I don’t know why I wasted my breath.Someone was intentionally locking us in here.I directed my light back at Reed.He was in another world.
I attempted to voice-activate my phone.“Call Payam.”
There was no response.I resorted to texting.
- Payam!Need help!!!Where are you
A failed-to-send notification popped up on the screen.
“What the fuck!”
I scanned the container, looking frantically for another exit.Scraps of old clothing lay in piles everywhere, and god-knows-what spilled out of plastic bags.There was a makeshift bed in the back corner.No windows.High on the walls, there were a few tiny vents too small for me to fit even my hand through.
Several clicks came from the floor near the battered shopping cart.I shined my light back there, trying to locate the sound exactly.I realized it was coming from a bag behind the cart.
As I bent to check it, I was stopped by a loud popping sound, like a canister exploding.A rush of gas followed.
The first thought was...poison.I pulled the collar of my shirt up over my mouth and nose, and backed away.
Who could be responsible for this?Payam insisted that I track down the drifter from the parking lot.It seemed Reed had a reason to make contact with the same person.The connection between them was a puzzle I couldn’t afford to solve right now.
Regardless of the toxic substance being released, if it proved to be harmful, we were in deep trouble.Trapped in this container, finding an escape seemed impossible in our current predicament.
Still, no one was going to find me dead or passed out.I wouldn’t let that happen.I had to get out of here...and I knew how.
Granted, I was a rookie at this.Class of 2079.I’d been inducted into the quantum commuter program just six weeks ago.I still hadn’t completed the entire training regimen.It was only after I graduated that I’d be assigned to a section: Assassin, Bodyguard, Scribe Guardian, Techno, Industrial, or one of the others.
I wasn’t going to wait.Being a computer specialist and in excellent physical condition, I skipped all those formalities and hacked my way into the mission which was the reason for me joining in the first place.My life depended on what I did in San Clemente in 2023.
I issued myself the necessary protective and transport devices, I also migrated my own assistant into the system, a necessity for backup and informational support.
Gleaning everything I could through the logs and reports of those travelers who had preceded me, I gave myself a crash course to make up for what I lacked in experience.
Everyone who time traveled was thoroughly prepared for the missions they were given to complete.They knew exactly what to do and what not to do.They were well-versed in the regulations.And they were skilled in extricating themselves from dangerous situations if something went wrong.
I was cutting corners here.I knew that.At this very moment, I was getting right to the ‘extricating oneself from dangerous situations’ protocol.And I had to sort this myself.
And panic was not on my list of options.
So, with the gas escaping from some kind of canister in this enclosed space, I had to act now.
I knew what to do.My best choice was to shift just enough of a block of time so that when the fucker who’d locked us in here came to admire his or her handiwork, I wouldn’t be here.
The Division called this a short quantum leap—a few hours but returning to the same location.I would disappear and appear again.Hopefully, by then, someone will have opened the steel door.
I reached into my pocket for the device that would enable me to make the jump.Then my eyes fell on Reed.He was unconscious and unaware of the dilemma.If this gas was lethal, he’d be dead.If the plan was to incapacitate us, then he’d be left to face our assailant on his own.And who knows what that might mean.There was something sinister about all this.For Reed, it might mean torture or death.
Letting Reed die wasn’t the best move.I knew I might need to kill him myself, but that wasn’t my primary strategy.If Reed died or disappeared, the Division would just send in another operative, and I’d be stuck in a loop with no progress.
Yet, with Reed, with Reed...
The future hung in the balance.My future.And the only card left to play in this deadly game of survival was the somewhat desperate gamble of binding Reed to myself in this escape.The weight of the moment was pressing down on me, making it hard to breathe.
All this ran through my head in a split second, but I had to act now.
After the briefest of hesitations, I clipped the transporter device onto Reed.
