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

“Morally gray like the rest of us.” Jack took her hand.

She squeezed it. “You’re not morally gray. You have that dumb moral compass guiding you. I think it tells you what rules you can break and what rules you can’t.”

“That sounds about right,” he said.

Bailey looked down, then raised her eyes. “I don’t mind not being as evil as I was created to be. But if hell realizes one of their rogue demons isn’t a worthless piece of shit, they’ll come at me. Hell never forgives. Kinda the reason why it’s hell.”

“I’ll protect you,” Jack said. “I won’t let anything, or anyone, hurt you. I promise.”

The sex demon gazed at him with hope in her eyes. Then she laughed, like she didn’t believe him, though it was obvious that she did. “Come on, hero. Let’s go after our angel. I think she’ll forgive us, which is kinda the whole point of heaven.”

Jack kissed her cheek, feeling her soft skin, smelling her perfume. They literally had all the time in world, since he not only had full Kairos, but he also had a full storage tank. He wasn’t going to start up the timestream again until they were out of the house. He stopped and thought. Once the Wycombe House’s management and guests saw the broken front gate and front door, they’d probably assume someone broke in and stole all the money off the poker table.

And why weren’t they using poker chips? Because they didn’t need to. They could play in cash like other people played with pennies, nickels, and dimes.

“So are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Bailey asked.

Jack took the bottle of Jack Daniels, grabbed some napkins, and then went back to the table. This time, he took all the money, and then put napkins on the table. He upended the bottle, splashing the booze across the table. He had the box of matches in his pocket. He lit a match and then let it drop. The minute it left his hand, the match froze in midair. That was another thing he had to learn—the mechanics of his time-stopping powers. His bullets worked once they were out of his orbit, but not the match. He figured it probably had something to do with his intentions.

Then Jack had to wonder about how the other timestreams worked. There seemed to be different flows for the realities outside of the Tempus Influunt, which incorporated Earth and this universe. Heaven had the Influunt Divinatio and hell had the Influunt Diaboli. Would Jack be able to manipulate time in those places? He didn’t know.

When Bailey saw Jack’s arson plans, she clapped with glee. “That’s not what I was thinking, but you’re brilliant. Once time starts, this table is going to catch fire, and there will be worlds of shit for them to deal with. The busted gate and front door will give us supernatural entities an alibi.”

“And I fix all my money problems for the time being.” Jack checked his moral compass. This had been his plan all along. Rob from the rich and give to the poor.

They walked out of the gambling den to the stairs. “What were you thinking back there?” Jack asked.

Bailey grinned. “I wanted to look in the fuck rooms. Don’t you?”

“I’m tempted,” Jack said. “And if there were no men and only women down the hall there, I’d do it, but I do not want to see some rich guy naked. Let’s get out of here. We can always come back. This does seem like a good place to hunt.”

“It is,” the demon agreed.

Walking down the steps, Bailey couldn’t hold back and felt up the woman in lingerie again.

Outside the Wycombe House, they found the angel gazing at the door. With no halo, sword, or horn, she looked like a pretty woman with sadness in her eyes. “I broke down the door using my glorious horn. I have done wrong. I am guilty of wrongdoing.” She sighed. “I had hoped to be a shining example for you two. But look, I’m helping you stray from the righteous path.”

“The righteous path is saving Annie,” Jack said. “And helping people. Let’s focus on that. And you know it yourself. Bailey isn’t completely evil, and you’re not completely good.”

That gave the angel something to think about. She smiled. “I would sacrifice every ounce of my goodness if it meant helping you two.”

Bailey laughed brazenly at that. “Come on, Feathers. Let’s not think about all of this too much.”

They got back into the car, and Jack drove off. They’d gotten lucky to park away from where the cameras could see them. He drove until he hit a snarl of time-stopped traffic. He saw it in time, so he didn’t have to decrease his speed. He touched the toy soldier and joined the flow of traffic seamlessly.

A few minutes later, a fire engine roared past them, sirens blazing.

Jack sighed. “Well, that was fun and educational.”

Bailey pointed. “Looks like that fire might be more dangerous than we first thought.”

“What fire? Or would I be happier not knowing?” Gabby asked from the back seat.

Jack exchanged glances with the sex demon. “You’d be happier not knowing,” Jack said. “Now, we need to make magic bullets and hell keys for our fight Friday night. Where to next?”

Gabby touched Jack’s hair. “I think I need to see some mother’s love in action. Let’s do the bullets.”

Jack wasn’t sure how a mother’s love would help with crafting magical bullets, and he also wasn’t sure how Moms and Aunt Sue would take the women. Was it wrong that a part of him was curious to see what would happen?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

WHILE JACK DROVE, BAILEY slipped on a pair of new sunglasses with the tags still on them. She had the passenger side’s sun visor down so she could admire herself in the mirror. The shades must’ve been from the shopping she’d