Minutemen (The Guardians of Time Book 1) by David Danforth

Author:David Danforth [Danforth, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-07-10T05:00:00+00:00

9

“I’m waiting, Agent Smith.”

After hours of small talk and clever banter, Kaylan was too tired to deflect Thorpe’s insistent inquiries. “One question. Then you send for Kildere,” she said.

The sun had long since set. The shadows on Thorpe’s office wall had taken over. Kaylan looked at her Chrono tracker. Six thirty. They had four and a half hours left. Kildere wasn’t one of the portraits in the hallway. He must have been telling the truth, or at least a half-truth, when Kaylan first met him. He must have been an HR recruiter, which meant his office wasn’t on this floor, and he may have kept regular work hours.

“Agent, you seem to labor under the misconception that you have leverage here.” Thorpe smiled.

“Damien, you’re too smart to think I don’t,” Kaylan said. “I know every move you’re going to make tonight. If you won’t call Kildere, I know the exact moment I can walk out of here with my team. We’ll visit Kildere ourselves, walk out the front gate, and leave without anyone stopping us, and you get nothing.”

Thorpe walked around the room. He touched his Cezanne, brushing it with the back of his fingers. He turned back to Kaylan.

“Agent Smith, if you could do that, you would have done it. You wouldn’t have sent my son to me.”

Kaylan smiled. “Mr. Thorpe, you’ve obviously never heard of the Fixed-Points Theory.”

Thorpe’s face cracked and broke. He studied her face, and they all suffered through awkward silence for almost a minute.

“No, I haven’t,” Thorpe finally said.

“It’s a theory that was proven in 2068. The Theory of Fixed Points states that there are some points in time that can’t be changed, no matter how hard you try. Even if you knew where you were supposed to be in, say, five hours and try to not be there, it’s impossible. Somehow, you would end up there.”

“I think you’re lying, Agent Smith.” Thorpe smiled. “My patience and your time are both fleeting.”

“Of course, there are few fixed points,” Kaylan continued. “They pepper universally critical events in the time stream. To change them would be...devastating, both to the person who altered time and to the universe itself.”

Thorpe was silent, staring intently at Kaylan, and she willed herself to remain expressionless. She visualized herself back at school with her poker friends. More often than not, she left those marathon sessions with more credits than what she brought to the table.

“One question, Mr. Thorpe. Make it a good one.”

Damien Thorpe’s smile slowly transformed into a scowl. “You say if I don’t follow through with my daily routine on this day, something catastrophic will happen?”

“Is that your question?”

Thorpe thrust his finger at Kaylan. “That’s why you’ve come here today, isn’t it? My decisions today may alter the universe.”

Out of her peripheral vision, Kaylan saw Travis smile with the satisfaction of a job well done. “Is that your question?” she repeated.

“No,” Thorpe snapped. Kaylan was seeing a new side of the CEO, the spoiled child who wasn’t getting what he wanted. “Here’s my question—”

Kaylan held up her hand.

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