Here and Now and Then

by Mike Chen

This was it. This was his moment—the moment to knock out the TCB operatives, grab their equipment, reprogram it to Miranda’s time, and see what fate had in store for him. Each muscle tensed up, burning with anticipation as they locked together into a tightly wound machine, ready to pounce. Kin leaped up and took a step toward his only hope. He got one step farther before crashing back down to earth. The ground slammed against his back, causing shock waves up and down his vertebrae. He blinked and focused from the light of the moon, only to have the silhouette of a head block his vision. Cold steel pressed against his forehead, and as the accelerator’s hum ramped up to a palpable buzz, the figure leaned over and whispered. “Don’t move.” Before he could say anything, a bright light flashed through the field. It came and went fast enough that the uninitiated probably thought it to be lightning, nothing more. But Kin knew better than that. He inched up, only to have the distinct weight of a knee land on his throat and the metal barrel guide him back down to the ground. It didn’t matter, though. The flash meant only one thing: the agent and retriever had jumped through time.