Edward Graves: Temporal Detective
Chapter 22: High Speed Pursuit

Jessica stared in shock as the Jag skidded to a stop in front of them, they all did. Ahmed leaned across from the driver’s seat to open the passenger door, “Well, what are you waiting for? Get in!”

“There’s no way that we’re all going to fit in there,” shouted Melanie.

The boot slowly opened up.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” scowled Melanie.

“There’s no time to argue,” said Archie. “You’re the smallest and it won’t be for long.”

Bullets began to fire from automatic weapons and that was all the convincing that Melanie needed. She dove into the boot and Archie slammed the lid down.

They all crouched down as low as possible except for Solomon, who peered over the roof of the car, returning fire. He was good and managed to disarm two of the men, as well as take out two of the spotlights.

Edward opened the back door and Jessica, still trying to process what had just happened, went to slide in, but Edward stopped her.

“I think that, given the circumstances, you should sit in the middle,” he said over the sound of ricocheting bullets. Jessica nodded and let Edward slide in over to the far side, the side with all of the bullets coming at it. She assumed that the Jag had bullet proof windows because none had actually broken through yet, they’d only left small cracks and chips.

Jessica sat in the middle and Archie came in after her, pulling the door closed. With a final series of shots, which took out the last spotlight, Solomon slid into the front passenger seat, slammed the door shut and immediately began sliding bullets into the chambers of his six-shooters.

Ahmed slammed the Jag into gear, a little too harshly and Edward cringed and growled, “Be careful with her!”

Ahmed didn’t seem to take notice as he spun the wheels, sending loose bits of gravel and dirt flying behind them as they fishtailed towards the gate. The darkness had caused confusion for the Black Glove, but now that they were moving, the shots had started again and some of them sounded like they were getting close. One or two stray shots even made contact, ricocheting with a sharp, metallic twang.

“What about Justin and Annie?” asked Jessica, in a panic.

“Don’t worry,” said Ahmed as he turned the headlights on, “if all’s going to plan then Annie should be freeing Justin right now. They’re going to meet us outside, further on up the road.” The headlights cut through the dark in time to reveal a startled gunman with red hair, diving out of the way just in the nick of time.

Rather than following the gravel path all the way towards the gate, Ahmed cut across the lawn, digging furrows into the manicured grass and causing Edward to panic even more.

“She’s not an off-road vehicle, be careful! Here, let me drive.” Jessica and Archie had to actually stop Edward from reaching into the front of the car.

Ahead of them, the dented and crooked gates shimmered under the headlights. Two Black Glove agents had evidently just closed them again and were now standing in front of it, rapidly reloading their guns.

The next few seconds seemed to go by at one hundredth normal speed. Solomon leaned out the window and fired two well aimed shots at the gunmen’s hands and disarmed them. That’s no mean feat in a moving vehicle, especially one moving that erratically. Next Ahmed put his foot down on the accelerator, nearly touching the floor. “Everybody, hold on!” he said.

The colour left Edward’s face, “Why me?” he said softly.

The two men, still in shock after being shot, obviously realised that their post was not worth dying for and both dove in opposite directions, still trying to nurse their bleeding hands.

Jessica made sure that her seatbelt was secured and hunched down, ready for impact. There was a loud, metallic crunching sound as the Jag burst through the gates and the car jolted a little with the impact. She had to brace herself so as not to hit her head on the seat in front of her.

“You know,” said Solomon casually, “you’d think if this guy was so big on security, he’d a got a better gate.”

Jessica laughed but Edward’s face just twitched, like he was fighting back a nervous tick.

They drove on in relative silence for a few minutes and Jessica prayed that they could make it to the edge of the Temporal shield, where Annie and Justin should be waiting, without any problems.

Either God was too busy to take her prayer or he was in a bit of an ironic mood, because just seconds later, she saw lights reflected in the rear view mirror.

“Zounds,” said Edward. “It seems that we’re being followed.”

“We’re nearly out of the shield,” said Archie, “if we can just keep some distance between us then we’ll be fine. We’ve had a huge head start.”

Suddenly there was a flash of blue light and a tree trunk appeared on the road ahead. Ahmed began frantically working his way down through the gears, but Edward yelled, “No, speed up!”

“What?” They all yelled in unison.

“Just do it!”

Ahmed made a split second decision, up shifted again and piled on the speed. The car began to resonate with a blue glow and then with a flash they were in the familiar light of Timespace, passing harmlessly through the log.

“What just happened?” asked Jessica.

“They shut down their shields so that they could stop us with a road block,” said Edward. “But I turned their opportunity against them.”

“But I thought that we all needed to focus together, to Flux with the car.”

“Let’s just say that I’m strong enough to pick up the slack,” he said with a strained voice, “not that I’m bragging or anything.”

“Uh-oh,” said Ahmed, “we’re not free yet.”

Jessica looked out the rear windscreen and saw two cars materialising behind them in a swirl of blue energy.

“They must have latched onto our Flux,” said Edward, “followed our path into Timespace.”

“We can’t let them follow us back to the Chrono-Logic,” said Archie.

“Don’t worry,” said Edward, “Ahmed will just need to use some creative driving.”

“You got it!” Ahmed jerked the wheel suddenly and made a sharp left turn, going off road and through the woods.

Jessica flinched as tree after tree came at them, only to phase through harmlessly. “I don’t think that I’m ever going to get used to that,” she said. She looked back and at first, thought that they were clear, but then she saw the distorted blue haze of two other sets of headlights, passing through the shimmering, blue forest.

“How are we supposed to lose them?” asked Ahmed, agitation biting at his words. “If we try to finish the Flux, they’ll just follow us through. “And we can’t just keep driving around in here forever.”

“Get us back to the road,” said Edward, “I want to try something.”

“Alright,” said Ahmed, as if he were only doing it for lack of a better idea.

Again, he manipulated the gears and made a sharp, one hundred and eighty degree turn, so that they were facing the pursuing cars. He put his foot down and yelled, “This might get a bit uncomfortable!”

The other cars continued on with consistent, maybe even increasing speed and so did they.

“What’s he doing?” yelled Jessica.

“Just hold on,” said Archie.

“Reckon this is gonna twinge a bit,” said Solomon.

Jessica screamed as they came into contact with one of the cars. But they didn’t crash, nor did they pass through as they did with everything else. Well they did, but it wasn’t the same. It was like they were being meshed together, the two cars and all of the occupants. They moved incredibly slowly, like it was a great effort for them to pass through each other. She could actually see the other car coming through into theirs, the driver with a look of shock and fear on his face morphed through their windscreen, steering wheel and all.

It was so bizarre, but so cool. Jessica could feel the force of it all pushing through her body, it wasn’t pain exactly, just a dull force, moving through her from front to back.

For a minute, both cars and all of their occupants were completely mashed together, somehow all existing in one place, it was really difficult to describe. It took at least a few minutes for the rear of the car to come through and then, as soon as the rear bumper was out and the other car was fully behind them, they were off again.

“Jessica felt an empty, sick sensation in the pit of her stomach. She looked at Edward with disbelieving eyes, “That. Was the weirdest. Thing. That has ever...happened to me!”

“It’s one thing to pass through something that exists in regular space,” said Edward, “but another to coexist with something that exists in Timespace.”

They emerged from the trees and skidded to a stop on the open road. Edward unbuckled and got out of the car, Jessica followed him, despite the protests of the others.

“Stay in the car Jessica,” said Edward as took of his hat and coat and placed them on the car seat.

“I want to see what you’re doing,” she said.

“Oh fine then, but stay by the car and keep quiet, this is going to be tricky.” He rolled up his shirtsleeves, pocketing his cufflinks, and held up his arms, facing his open palms towards the forest. He leant forward on one leg and locked himself in position, like a mime pushing an invisible object. Jessica could hear the Black Glove cars coming their way.

Edward’s arms began to vibrate at a higher resonance than everything else and he closed his eyes in concentration, gritting his teeth. Blue tendrils of light, which danced throughout Timespace, began to coalesce around Edward’s body and swirl over his arms like a mass of writhing snakes.

Now his whole body was vibrating at such a speed that he was barely visible and the Temporal Energy was like a maelstrom that engulfed his body.

The cars emerged from the woods and with a scream, Edward unleashed the Temporal Energy which shot out and swarmed all over the two cars, stopping them in their tracks and leaving them barely visible. What glimpses Jessica could see, showed the cars changing somehow. It was difficult to tell for certain, but it looked like the metal was changing, getting older and rustier.

Edward opened his eyes and snapped to attention, drawing his arms to his chest, fists clenched. The blue light expanded outwards and dissipated, sending a light shockwave through Jessica’s body and revealing the two cars. Well, what was left of them. And what was left of them wasn’t much. They were just a couple of rusted out frames with nearly disintegrated tyres and no windows.

The occupants of the cars were perfectly fine but were in a state of shock, sitting in what remained of the car interiors.

Edward doubled over for a moment, breathing heavily but he quickly regained his composure and stalked over to the heaps of rusted metal. The Black Glove agents scrambled to get out of the framework. They pulled out their guns, but like the car, they were nothing but rusted and deteriorated bits of metal.

“Unless you want me to age you into piles of dust that even the worms can’t eat, I suggest you leave. Now.” He sounded so angry, not in a shouty kind of way, but in a quiet, restrained kind of way. It scared Jessica. A lot!

It must have had the same effect on the four Black Glove goons, because they disappeared into a sudden flash of blue light, looks of terror still etched onto their faces.

Jessica was speechless and she was pretty sure that her jaw was hanging open as Edward walked past her, to the car and picked up his hat and coat. He slid into them and smiled at her like nothing had happened.

“Ladies first,” he said, motioning towards the car.

“What was that?” she spat out.

“What was what?”

“That! You know,” she moved her arms around in the air, making sounds that she supposed were somehow meant to convey energy and movement.

“Oh that. Just a little trick that I picked up. I manipulated the Temporal Energy of Timespace to age their cars and guns.”

“How come you’ve never done that before?” she half yelled, still in shock.

There was a thumping from the boot of the car.

“I think that Melanie’s getting a bit impatient,” said Edward. “I’ll explain later, but right now I think that we need to get going.”

Jessica got into the car and realised that the others were staring at her with the same looks of surprise that she had. No, they weren’t staring at her, they were staring at Edward.

“It wasn’t that big a deal,” said Edward from outside the car, looking in. “Now Ahmed, not that I don’t appreciate your chauffeuring ability, but I think I’ll drive from here.”

Even as the blue light of Timespace dissipated when they returned to Archie’s garage, they were all still sitting in silent shock.

Edward turned off the ignition and whispered something soothing, presumably to his car. When he realised that there were still four sets of expectant eyes on him, he said, “What do you want me to say?”

“I’d heard the rumours,” said Solomon, “but I had no idea...”

“What, that I can manipulate Timespace? Yes, I can.”

“I haven’t seen you do that since the War,” said Archie, a little less shocked than the others.

“There’s a reason for that,” said Edward as he got out of the car, clearly finished with the subject.

Jessica got out and so did the others, Edward opened the boot and Melanie stumbled out, swatting away Edward’s offered hand. Her hair was messy and she looked a little shaken up. More than that, she looked like she could shoot daggers from her eyes if she so desired. And Jessica was pretty sure that she did so desire.

“Next time,” she yelled, “somebody else is going in the trunk!”

It turned out that Annie and Justin had already returned to the club, having figured that something had gone wrong when the others didn’t show up. Justin was in the medical bay - yes a nightclub with a medical bay – but they were assured that it was only superficial damage.

While everyone else was still in with Justin, Edward asked Jessica if they could talk in private, so they left the others and found an empty room, stacked with chairs and boxes; presumably a storage room. She realised, as he closed the door, that it was the first time they’d been alone since this whole mess began.

“I want to thank you,” said Edward. The words didn’t seem to come to him very easily. Jessica guessed that he wasn’t really used to being the one who had to be rescued.

“It’s no big deal,” said Jessica, sheepishly.

“Oh but it is Jessica, you saved my life.”

She laughed a little, “You can’t die.”

“True, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. You saved me from a certain hell, just as I knew you would.”

She looked at her shoes, “Well, it’s only right, seeing as...well, seeing as I let you get caught in the first place.”

“Now Jess, I don’t want you to think like that. I knew that we were walking into a trap, but I wanted to get caught.”

She shot her head up, “You what?”

“I wanted to replace out more about this new Black Glove leader and his plans. I needed to know for certain whether Archie’s sources were correct, whether they really do intend to attack The Watch and if so, how?”

Suddenly a wave of emotions surged through her body, “You put me through all of that just to prove a hunch?”

“Jessic, I-”

“Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through over the last few days? What I went through just now? I’ve been scared Edward, more scared than I’ve ever been in my whole goddamn life!”

“Mind your language.”

“Don’t tell me to mind my bloody language! Do you know what it was like for me? I felt responsible, I felt like I should have done something to save you and now it turns out that it was all a part of some plan, a little scheme! What if something went wrong, you could have been-”

“Killed?” he finished, calmly. “I was, three times.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes, “Well you may not care much about what happens to yourself Mr. Immortal, but you should put a little more thought into how your grand plans affect other people.”

“I didn’t plan to be tortured Jessica, nor to be away for so long. I just wanted to get into the mansion, replace any information that I could about this new leader – Harbinger - and his plans, get the Eternity Stone back and get out of there. Unfortunately, this Harbinger seems to know things. He has a knack for predicting what’s going to happen next and that’s not as common as you’d think in our world.”

Jessica felt herself calming slightly. “Well you should have had a backup plan.”

“I did. Her name is Jessica Lazarus.”

Jessica opened her mouth to speak but stopped. When she spoke, her voice was in a low register, but not particularly angry. “That’s a lot of pressure to put on me.”

“I had faith in you Jess. You wanted to be part of this world, remember? I warned you that it could be dangerous but you didn’t caer, because you could feel something deep inside you that meant you didn’t have to be afraid, something which I could sense too.”

He crouched down and out his hands on her shoulders, “We’re partners Jess, which means that I have faith that you’ll have my back. I hope that you feel the same.”

She tried to stay mad as she looked into his deep, blue eyes but she just couldn’t. He was right, she had chosen this life and she knew full well how dangerous it could be, but there was something deep inside her that didn’t care, no, something that actually wanted the danger.

“You’re still an idiot,” she said, half smiling.

“Ah. I don’t think that’ll ever change.”

“So, did it work, did you replace out anything?”

“Not as much as I had hoped,” admitted Edward, “like I said, I didn’t plan on getting caught. I did replace out a little bit about this new Black Glove leader. His name is Harbinger and Hayden Crawlfield doesn’t just trust him, I think he’s scared of him.”

“I’m guessing that’s a big deal.”

“When you’ve lived as long and violent a life as he has, you don’t scare easily. From what I hear, he seems to know a lot about the future.”

“I don’t want to sound underwhelmed, but that’s not exactly a big deal for us, is it?”

“It is actually. Knowledge of the future is incredibly tricky to deal with, not so much with the big stuff, like seeing technology from one thousand years in the future, but the closer and more personal the information, the harder it is to see. I couldn’t replace out what job you’ll have in three years, without seeing it in person and that would make me a part of it. By telling you about it, I could change your course and create a paradox. Time is fluid; it’s motion and it’s incredibly hard to predict the movements of something that is fluid.”

“OK, I think I’ve got that. So if what they say about this guy is true, then he’s something special. I guess that’s why they call him Harbinger, huh?”

“Hmm,” mused Edward.

“So did you manage to replace out anything else?”

“Well, they’re definitely planning to attack The Watch. They made that abundantly clear when they kept asking me about strategic weaknesses in between beatings and stabbings.”

The way Edward talked about his torture so casually made Jessica feel uncomfortable and she found herself biting her lip.

“What worries me though,” continued Edward, “is that they may already have a man on the inside.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because, they weren’t interested in how to get into The Watch from the outside, but how to let others in from the inside.”

“So they’ve got somebody in The Watch but they don’t know enough to let the rest of The Black Glove in. Does that narrow down the suspect pool?”

“Somewhat. It rules out the technicians and engineers, as well as the Temporal Council members themselves. We could probably eliminate the security detail, except for maybe some of the very low level new recruits. Most of the senior History Enforcers should know how to work the defences, so we can probably count them out too.”

“So who does that leave us with?”

“Well, trainees at the Academy, junior staff members, general maintenance staff.” He snapped his fingers and his face said that a thought had just struck him. “Prisoners!”

“What?”

“The Watch’s prison holds over five hundred criminals, plus an additional one or two dozen more hardened criminals in stasis. One of them could be a Black Glove plant for sure, arrested on purpose so as to gain access to The Watch! It’s the oldest trick in the book, well, one of the oldest. Definitely on the first page. OK maybe second page. Or third.”

“Edward,” said Jessica, “you just arrested a guy that was working for The Black Glove a little while ago, at the beginning of all this, remember?”

Realisation dawned over his face, “By Jove, you’re right Jess! Geoff Proton, A.K.A. your boyfriend, Sean.”

“He wasn’t my boyfriend,” she grumbled.

“Oh Jess, Jess, Jess, you’re good, you’re very good! Come on, we need to debrief the others and make plans.

“Aren’t you forgetting something for the girl who rescued you and just handed you a missing piece of the puzzle?” She held her arms out wide.

“Oh...alright,” he said, “but only because it’s a special occasion.”

She laughed and then she rolled her eyes and gave him a hug. And no matter how hard he protested, or how much he squirmed, she wasn’t going to let go. And eventually, his gangly limbs stopped fidgeting and he reluctantly folded his arms into a gentle embrace.