BACKTRACKER by Milo Fowler (e book reader txt) 📕

The Master cannot forgive me. I am not Hischild.

The wristwatch he wore chimed once. He did not know why. He turnedhis gaze to the timepiece in his hand that was exactly like it, the one he hadtaken from Harold Muldoon. Killed him for. The BackTracker, Cyrus Hortonhad called it. The reason Cade had been sent back through time. To keep Muldoonfrom ever using this device to alter the course of history.

Yet that is exactly what I have done.

Cade had changed the past by killing this man. All that he everwould have been...now obliterated. He would never meet the love of his life, IrenaHorton. They would never be wed. They would never make the commitment that setthem apart as a couple to be reckoned with: to make NewCity a better place, onehuman being at a time. For Muldoon, it meant working as a private investigator;for her, a community therapist. The future, Cade'spresent-day, would never be the same withoutthem.

His wristwatch chimed again—his BackTracker, given to himby his creator. He stared at the illuminated screen, the digital display, buthe found himself unable to focus.

He closed his eyes to shut out the hideous scene before him. Hebreathed in through his nostrils, out through his mouth. His stomach churned atthe coppery smell of blood. He grit his teeth to focus on his breathing andnothing else. He was all alone in a time he did not belong, in a place hedeserved to spend the rest of his life.Kneeling beside the man he had slaughtered in thedark.

Time passed. He did not know how many minutes or hours. Footstepscame from the hallway outside, rapidly at first, now slow with trepidation.They stopped at the open door.

A stifled whimper, a sob restrained. Then a voice, quiet as awhisper. Suffocated by tears.

"You did it."

Cade opened his eyes to face the woman's silhouettein the doorway.

"Yes," he said.

She sees her husband for the first time afterso many years of not knowing what became of him, whether he was alive or dead.She has longed to see him again, to touch his face, to watch his eyes sparkleat her. But not like this. Not like this.

"I am so sorry, Irena." He wept.

He wanted to tell her there was nothing he could have done, thathe had tried to stop himself and couldn't, that somehow Cyrus Horton hadcreated within him a strict obedience to a directive he could not think to ignore. Butthe words would have held no purpose. He was the only one to blame, and she hadevery right to hold him responsible. He had killed her husband in cold blood.

How has she come here, to this moment intime? Didshe have another BackTracker device? If so— Why did she not arrive soonerand stop me? If only she had... Would she kill him now? He prayed that shewould. Take up his blade and do the same to him. Please. I cannot live. Notafter what I have done. Now that I know what I am.

She stood at the door, a dark statue without a face, without eyes. Heremained on the floor, unable to speak, staring at the mutilated body beside him.

"It's strange," she said, breaking the silence.

He looked up at her.

"He said I wouldn't remember him." She paused. "My father."The word sounded foreign on her lips. "He said I wouldn't remember Harry,once you..."

Cade nodded. "You would never have met."

Muldoon had not lived long enough. Neither had he been able to goback in time as the Peddler, to leave the BackTracker device for his youngerself at the train station. So in effect...I have killed Harold Muldoontwice. Both of them. This one as well as the one to come. A fresh wave ofremorse sent Cade's insides plummeting.

"But I remember everything," she whispered. The shape ofher slender arm moved, raising a hand to her face. Her shoulders trembled."I remember him."

When Irena returned to her own time—the same when she and Cadeshared, twenty years from now—would her memories of Muldoon vanish? Would sheno longer remember her husband in all the ways she clearly did now? Would hecease to exist in her mind, without a trace?

She can never go back. She must not risk it.

"I tried to talk him out of it." She fell against thedoorframe, allowing it to support her. "I found him at the train station,I...talked to him. He wouldn't listen to me. So strong-willed. He's always beenlike that. But I never knew. I thought it might have been my father, but...allthis time, Harry was the BackTracker?" Her voice broke as a chime rang fromthe device on her wrist.

She didn't seem to notice the sound. But Cade focused on it andremembered what Cyrus Horton had said, that if for some reason the wristwatchwere to come off, he would risk remaining in the past for the rest of his life.Was this chiming noise an alarmof some sort? Warning each of them that their time here was short, that at anymoment they would be pulled into the future—their own present?

As if to punctuate his thoughts, his own device chimed again.Twice, this time.

"Irena—"

"You killed him, Cade. Just like my father said you would. Heprogrammed you or something, and you killed him. My dear Harry..."Her legs gave out, and she slid down the length of the doorframe, stretchingthe form-fitting dress she wore at the knees. Her shoulders quaked, and she covered her face with both hands.

There was nothing he could say. If only you had arrivedsooner. You would have stopped me.

Perhaps she still could.

"Take this." He handed her Muldoon's device, theprototype he had received from his older self. "Remove the one you arewearing and put this on in its place. Quickly, please."

"Stay away from me." Her voice was raw, cold.

"If you do not remove that device from your wrist, you willreturn to our time, twenty yearsin the future."

Her watch chimed twice."What's that sound mean?" she murmured.

"I believe it is an alarm, warning us that our time here isnearing its end." His own chimed again—three bells now. "I do notknow how much longer we