Time Jacker by Aaron Crash (nonfiction book recommendations .TXT) 📕

Nor will I forgive!” But the Clockwatcher wasn’t going to risk death by sending his creatures to attack Jack and the two women. Not at first anyway.

However, when Jack retreated through the gateway, the animals came chasing after him. A whole zoo of clockwork animals, and those vultures from above, descending on black feathers.

Gabby again saved the day with her horn. She let out a blast that struck the birds from the air and floored the clockwork creatures.

By that time, they had hurried back through the Salvador Dali clock puddles and to the shabby wooden door floating in midair. Jack pushed through, and they returned to the empty place in the stairwell of the office building.

Jack moved his thumb over the toy soldier tattoo on his left hand. The inked key moved to the right. Time flowed again, and the glowing door in the wall of the dead space vanished. It was just a boring old wall in a boring old stairwell in a half-abandoned office building once more.

After that last blast of Kairos, Jack was feeling great as he shoved the shotgun back into the case. Gabby fell to the ground, sitting there, a little trickle of blood coming out of her nose.

Bailey went to try to soothe the angel, but she too lost her strength and fell in a clatter of golden goblets and angel gold. The demon landed with her head resting on the angel’s thigh. Both were in their full human forms.

That last horn blast must’ve wiped out Gabby’s Nefesh levels. And Bailey’s shoulder had been fixed, but her core was starved for sex.

And that left Jack, Kairos tank full but wondering what he could do to help the two women. He had the Eternity Cannon, but he couldn’t just shoot people and convert their energies. Also, he only had two rounds left and had no idea how to reload the Cannon.

Then he had another idea. He flicked his thumb over the ink soldier. Time came to a halt.

Well, they’d gotten what they needed from the Clockwatcher, but Jack wasn’t sure what it all meant, not yet. Or how Evelyn Mundi, her son, and Annie Blackburn could be so important in the Tempus Bellum that they’d become pawns.

First things first, he had to get the women back on their feet. That shouldn’t be too hard. With people around, there was plenty of soul and sex energy. He just had to get that energy into Bailey and Gabby before it was too late.

Chapter Twenty-One

JACK LEFT HIS SHOTGUN and the bag of gold with the women in the office building stairwell.

He jogged back down the street, got his car, and drove it back to the bank. He had to weave in and out of the stuck traffic, and he drove on the sidewalk at one point. He was going to need a vehicle that could go off-road better. He parked near the doors of the office building.

The air was quiet, and he didn’t see any sign of Fugs, so it was just him and the women by the time he got Gabby in the front seat, Bailey in the back, and their treasure haul into the trunk.

He sped away with the unconscious women and was doing okay until he hit a snarl of traffic that he couldn’t get around—there were frozen people on the sidewalk. He found an alley, pulled in, and then restarted time. The noise hit him like a physical force. The cars zooming by, the wind through the buildings, a crow cawing, and someone shouting happily at a friend. Time was back, and the world was rushing by.

For a second, Jack enjoyed the renewed life. When the Tempus Influunt stopped, it was quiet and peaceful, but also a little eerie. And the fact that there were unseen supernatural creatures chewing on people, on their lust, the minutes of their life, or their souls, was kind of unnerving. It was like remembering all the microscopic animals that lived on his skin. As long as he didn’t think about bacteria, it was easy to pretend it didn’t exist.

Now, the idea of doors to other dimensions? That was also odd. How many eon palaces were there? Also, there was heaven and hell, he couldn’t forget about them. And it seemed that the Gone Away, Cast Astray was an entire reality of its own, a place where the lids to your Tupperware containers might end up. Or was it more like the Island of Misfit Toys? Whatever it was, Jack was glad that the Count Palantine hadn’t caught him. He had the idea that the Count was definitely upper management in that strange, supernatural world.

He also had a new title, Time Knight. He had to know more about that, which required him getting Gabby and Bailey conscious.

He waited for a break in traffic. Then he backed out, sped up, and drove to St. Jude’s parking lot. So much had happened since he’d found Bailey there, hanging out and looking for horny people. Now, he needed the church to give Gabby some sustenance.

Parking, he left Bailey sleeping in the back seat.

Gabby inhaled and her eyes flickered open. “People. Praying. I can feel the Nefesh.” Tears sparkled in her eyes. “Oh, Jack, you knew where to take me.”

He got the angel out of the car and locked it with the windows cracked. Bailey would be fine. And she might even get a little pick-me-up from the souls inside.

In no time, Jack sat with Gabby in the back pew of the church. There were some people up front praying. The place was warm and quiet, and soon Gabby was sighing. “Thank you, Jack. I’m feeling the souls here. There’s a woman up there who just lost her son, and she’s getting so much comfort here. And then there’s another man who comes every day on his lunchbreak for solace. Life can be so difficult for you humans.”

Jack kissed her blond head. He stuffed the big cap-and-ball revolver into