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  But as much as she tried to convince herself, her mind had other ideas. Heavy and confused, it refused to cooperate. She could smell the ozone and taste the salt on her lips. Any notion that she was anywhere else but a sea cliff was rejected by her senses.

  Ellie glanced down again and air hit the back of her neck. Her skin tingled.

  Someone was behind her.

  She tried to turn but couldn’t move. Whatever had changed her kitchen had left her the same. She was still frozen. Hands were fast upon her.

  Please God, thought Ellie. Let me get away!

  And suddenly, Ellie was falling. The air rushed through her hair, and she could see, approaching fast, the foamy waters thrashing against the jagged rocks that in seconds would rip her to pieces and obliterate her life.

  “Reverse the balance shift!”

  The voice exploded behind her and reality shattered around her.

  Instinctively, Ellie blinked. In that lid-dropping moment, her kitchen reverted back to normal. She stood rooted to the floor, shaking as another hideous noise whacked into her. Shrieking, painful, tortured shrieking. It was hardly human at all but that of some creature being eviscerated alive. Ellie’s ears hurt. She felt dizzy and nauseous.

  Trying to get a sense of from where the noise was coming, Ellie reached up to wipe the sweat away from her brow, and realized her mouth was open. That hideous noise was coming from her. She looked down and knew why.

  The hot coffee she had nestled in her palms now washed over her hand. The mug rested on its side on the breakfast bar. Her screams stopped as if the volume had been muted. The kitchen resumed its graveyard silence.

  What the hell just happened?

  She looked down at her hand and frowned. Thick, shiny red welts had risen across her knuckles.

  God! This hurts.

  She headed for the sink but her movements, in haste, were clumsy and chaotic. Disoriented by shock, Ellie collided with the kitchen stool. It teetered back and then gave way to gravity. Chrome hit marble, shattering the quiet.

  Chapter 19

  Sam’s eyes sprung open, alert and focused. Ellie’s scream and the stool crashing signaled danger. His training came to the fore. Shooting out of bed, Sam grabbed his Sig Sauer P226 from its concealed compartment in his bag, slipped back the action and ran toward the noise. His senses were acute and primed. With every step, he was analyzing, reflecting and deciding.

  Someone was in the apartment. He felt it. Her scream confirmed it.

  And that someone had Ellie.

  He approached the bedroom wall. On the other side was the kitchen. He listened. Running water. Shuffling against the marble floor. Heavy, fragmented breathing. Cold thoughts rushed through him. His hand tensed. Instinct tightened his finger on the trigger. He strained to hear but no voices came to him. Whoever they were, they were professional. And very, very quiet.

  Sam inhaled, slid around the corner with his gun ready to fire, and charged into the room.

  “What the fuck is happening?” Ellie screamed, thoroughly startled.

  Her eyes stared with rigid fascination at Sam’s gun.

  “What the hell are you doing with that?”

  Her incredulous eyes searched his for an explanation. But Sam held his voice and averted Ellie’s inspection. What had he been thinking? Charging in there like some maniac. But Sam knew why he had done it. Instinct. That deep, raw feeling that told him danger lurked nearby.

  Hearing Ellie scream that bone-chilling, gut-wrenching scream had reinforced his initial thought: someone had Ellie and they were hurting her. He’d felt her pain with tangible certainty and had turned on his training to save her.

  How could he have been so damn stupid? How could he have misread the signals? Sam realized that if he’d fired…That brutal realization made his blood freeze. His heart thumped as if it was breaking through his body, and he felt sick to the core.

  “Have you joined the Territorials or something?”

  Ellie failed to master a grip on the situation. Her voice was tinged with sarcasm, but her eyes stared in shock. Blank understanding radiated from her orbs.

  Sam shook his head. He de-cocked the gun and laid it down on the worktop. A mug on its side dripped coffee onto the floor. Sam noticed it and nodded to himself.

  He could feel Ellie’s eyes on him, watching his actions. She’d never seen him with a gun before. Her face paled and she started to shudder.

  With the Sig in his hand, he’d turned into a different guy. He wasn’t the Sam Noor she’d married.

  Her eyes registered a growing fear.

  “Sam, what’s going on?” Ellie’s voice had lost its usually ebullient tone.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

  “Didn’t tell me what?”

  Sam sighed, and then told her something she struggled to believe.

  Chapter 20

  Early morning light flooded through the gap in the drapes. It lightly tiptoed across the leather topped table in the Cabinet Office in Whitehall. A man walked in and his eyes fixed to the file sitting on the table. The man was six-foot two, very fit, and in his late fifties. He carried a deep golden tan, and his features were attractive, if slightly effeminate. He pushed his fingers nervously through his dark blond hair as he realized to whom the file belonged.

  Another man seated at the top of the table read papers that obviously came from the file. Nearing sixty, tall and slim, with dark hair greying in all the right places, his Romanesque features that made him handsome in his younger days now made him look noble. Age had not dulled his superior intellect. His sharp, piercing dark brown eyes were constantly alert. He looked up and greeted the blond man.

  “Good morning, Prime Minister.”

  “Morning, Sir Justin. I hope you have something good to tell me.”

  Richard Ashton, British PM, knew the moment he said the words that they had been but wishful thinking.

  “I am sorry, sir, but this isn’t good news.”

  Sir Justin Maide, Head of MI6 British Intelligence, looked grave.

  Ashton glanced back down at the file.

  “It’s Kinley, isn’t it?”

  Maide nodded. “Intel says they know. We’ve got to take him today.”

  The PM thought deeply. Matthew Kinley was a double agent, an MI6 man on the Al Nadir inside track. He had created smokescreens and misinformation and kept their people safe for four years. But now, the secret was out. Kinley was a hot mark.

  “Are we absolutely sure they know?”

  Ashton was reticent about taking action that was preemptive. He had to have substantial proof.

  “It’s conclusive, sir,” said Maide. “We have to remove him today.”

  Ashton understood Maide’s anxiety. Al Nadir getting even a sniff of Kinley’s double agent status meant Kinley was now a liability.

  “You want my authority on this, don’t you?” asked Ashton.

  He looked back down at the file. Scattered pictures showed Kinley with his wife and young daughter. They were photos of innocence and happiness. Could he risk one more day with Kinley out there?

  “What if your intel is wrong?” asked Ashton. “We would be pulling out a perfectly good agent for no reason. Think of what we’ve achieved, how close we are now to taking down Salim Al Douri. Not to mention the knowledge we’ve built up, the plans we’ve foiled. Think about it, Justin. The lives we’ve saved by having Kinley in there.”

  “Yes, Prime Minister. But think again about the lives that have been lost just to keep the lie alive. Remember Piccadilly. Remember Operation Snowdrop.”

  Ashton closed his eyes. Those last two words transported him back. June 28, 2013. Tourist season. People swarmed to London. Piccadilly Circus, the ever-popular meeting point, was at bursting point. Sweaty bodies crammed in like sardines. The trains arrived at the station and waited for the doors to open. But the doors never opened. Explosions ripped through multiple train carriages before the Tannoy announced, “Please mind the gap.”

/>   No one stood a chance. Glass and shrapnel blast out in all directions. The ceiling caved. Those who weren’t blown to bits or burnt to death were buried alive. Emergency services were quick to respond, but this was the nightmare they’d feared. An explosion in a confined space underground. But above ground, the scene had been even more catastrophic, with fireballs, flames and vehicles smashing into pedestrians and other cars. If people weren’t on fire, they were crushed to death. Body parts littered around the fountain that ended up a mass of rubble.

  That day, the death toll had been in thousands.

  Ashton straightened and suppressed the urge to remember.

  “No matter what, lives will always be lost. We are at war, Justin. Don’t ever forget that. As long as our body count is less than theirs, we’re winning.”

  The coldness of Ashton’s delivery chilled Maide. He knew the prime minister was unscrupulous in politics but the ruthless streak he now displayed caused Maide concern.

  “That’s one way to look at it.”

  “It’s the only way to look at it,” replied Ashton.

  “So, what you’re saying is you want Kinley to remain in the field?”

  “Yes.” Ashton’s adamant tone struck hard in the single word.

  Maide was well schooled. He knew when a conversation had ended.

  Chapter 21

  After Sam had run in like Bourne, Ellie realized that either she was dreaming, or Sam had taken a lot self-defense lessons in secret. She didn’t, however, expect to hear the true reason behind his somewhat-crazy actions.

  Ellie listened, and then laughed. There was no happiness in the tone. Hysteria creeped in. Her husband’s confession was absurd.

  “You can’t be working for MI6. You’re a diplomat.”

  Sam shook his head.

  “It’s only a cover, Ellie. That’s all it’s ever been.”

  Ellie’s laughing halted. Her voice turned shaky. “I…I don’t understand. You’ve been at the Foreign Office for ten years. Haven’t you?”

  “No, Ellie. I’ve been in Counter Terrorism Special Operations.”

  “What?”

  “I should’ve told you sooner. I’m sorry.”

  “Hang on. Let me get this. You’re telling me you’re a spy?”

  “That’s the wrong term nowadays. We’re field operatives.”

  “Never mind the terms. That’s what you are, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’ve never actually worked at the Foreign Office at all?”

  “I have worked there. But it’s not my real job.”

  “Fuck!”

  Ellie’s world spun. Questions circled in her mind, caught in the riptide of her thoughts. She remembered how his Foreign Office assignments had been constant and never-ending. Saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in the same breath had been her life for such a long time. But she’d never suspected anything.

  “I don’t believe this. I’m in a dream. I’m still asleep and dreaming.”

  Ellie started to laugh again. But in between the nervous bouts of hollow sound, her eyes clouded with tears. She turned her head away from the reality that faced her. She quivered, not wanting to acknowledge his words. In truth, what she didn’t want to believe was the betrayal he’d made of their life together. She didn’t want to listen anymore. This was just another nightmare and now she wanted to wake up. She wanted to feel Sam’s body next to hers and know that he was good and real and true.

  “You’re not dreaming. What I’ve told you is real.”

  Sam’s harsh cold voice brought her back to her senses.

  Ellie rubbed away the tears that had started to build up at the corners of her eyes and stared at her husband. Her face was stone and her words came out flint sharp.

  “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

  “I wanted to tell you at first. But as time went on, your work kept you so busy, you virtually ignored my work life. You accepted me naturally as a diplomat. It was easier for you not to know.”

  “But you’re my husband. How could you keep this from me? Did you think you couldn’t trust me? Is your world so screwed up you couldn’t even trust your own wife?”

  “Sweetness, of course I trusted you.”

  “Then why the hell did you wait ten years to tell me?”

  “They thought it better if you didn’t know.”

  “Who thought that?”

  “My superiors.”

  “And you went along with the lies?”

  “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Everyone has a choice, Sam.”

  Sam didn’t respond. He felt embarrassed and ashamed by his past actions. He hadn’t chosen. He’d done nothing, just accepted the route his superiors had laid out for him.

  For Ellie, the gun had an inherent magnetism and drew her back to look at it. Sam hadn’t seemed fazed or alarmed by the weapon. He’d handled it with such self-assurance, but how, she just couldn’t seem to understand, despite his confession.

  Ellie replayed how Sam had burst in minutes before. Barely anything about him had resembled her husband. Although he kept himself in good shape, violence was anathema to him and he was a self-proclaimed pacifist. And yet, he’d charged in virtually naked, muscles hardened, ready to fire at anyone unfortunate enough to be in the bullet’s line. His eyes flickered with the coldness of a killer’s. It was a look she had never seen before. It scared her.

  All at once, she felt alone, standing in front of a man she didn’t know.

  “Where does the truth end and the lie begin? Am I part of your cover too?”

  “Ellie, you’re just being stupid. You know how much I love you.”

  “I don’t know anything anymore,” snapped Ellie.

  “Yes, you do. Look at me. I love you, Ellie. You know I’m not lying.”

  Sam walked over to embrace his wife but the message in her blue-grey eyes told him to stay back.

  “I can’t take all of this in. I’m trying to, but up here…” She tapped on the side of her head. “It’s just not happening.”

  Ellie’s face, always pretty and bubbly, was now ghost-white and showed shock and confusion. Her eyes were crammed full of tears. The tall, statuesque figure he loved had turned small as if her body had caved in. The neckline of her sloppy t-shirt had slipped down her shoulder, exposing a sculptured collarbone and smooth neck.

  Sam looked at her. He wanted to kiss that smooth neck and love her and shield her, and make her forget what she’d just seen.

  “Why do you do it?” Ellie struggled, trying to understand Sam’s rationale for his double life.

  “It’s just a job,”

  His flippant dismissal of the importance of his position fired Ellie, and she bit back. “Don’t insult my intelligence. It’s much more than that.”

  “It’s not. Don’t believe the hype.”

  With great skill, Sam maneuvered Ellie away from her questioning without her realizing what he’d done.

  “There was a time when I was ready to give it all up,” he said. “I was going to return to the Ministry of Defense, or even become a diplomat. I’d learnt and done a lot during my cover time and I genuinely like the job.”

  “So, why didn’t you? What changed your mind?”

  “Al Nadir. I couldn’t leave knowing those fuckers would be calling the shots.”

  Chapter 22

  Kudamun was not a planet. It was a dimension outside of the known universal plane. Kudamun was hidden by the quantum field known as the Reality Gap.

  As such Kudamun was outside of time, and those within Kudamun could view a past point in time on any planet across the universe. The only caveat was that no Kudamaz could view a point in time ahead of the current time of that planet. The Kudamaz were explicitly forbidden to view through the Observation Screen into the future of a planet.

  Although Aswa-da could see forward into the future of Earth, this future could quickly change by new events on Earth. He could only see a refracted, quantum view of
potential possibilities. Until events had solidified, moving from the quantum into the reality plane, the future on Earth that he could view on the Observation Screen was just a quantum view of probabilities.

  Of course, it was also strictly against antediluvian law under the Order of Kudamun for any Kudamaz, even if it was the Lord Aby-od, Leader of Kudamun himself to be found viewing a planet’s future. This act would be in direct contravention to the Order of Kudamun and that individual would face summary execution by a Harmon wave gun. A device that could literally shatter a body to pieces, but the wave didn’t do it quickly. The Harmon wave hit at the quantum level of a body, and worked through the atoms, molecules and cells, eventually causing an earthquake level vibration sending a level of pain of unimaginable magnitude that recipient of the wave passes out. Their body then fades, and finally splinters into fragments of light.

  It was also the only way a Kudamaz being could die.

  Even Aswa-da, although a rule breaker of the Order of Kudamun in many ways, would never break this law of viewing the future of a planet. He wanted to ensure he avoided such a demise at all costs. Thus, he didn’t jump into any planetary future, and certainly not Earth’s.

  Aswa-da had already seen the impressive impact of the tablet on Jonathan D Treeborne as a child. Now he was interested to see further into Treeborne’s life, and how his use of the tablet had changed it.

  He flattened his hand, palm down, and moved it backwards and forwards in a fast, shallow elliptical motion. The display on the Observation Screen moved into static as the years of Treeborne’s life shot by. The sentient crystals buried within the Observation Screen picked upon on Aswa-da’s requirement and the display juddered to a halt. A teenage boy popped up on screen. He was walking through a park, smirking and looking smug.

  The teenager was Treeborne eight Earth years after Aswa-da’s last viewing of him as a young boy.

  Treeborne walked with a group of other boys the same age. But his eyes didn’t reflect the playful innocence of youth in the same way. His eyes were dark and menacing, and there was a sense of deadness about them. Like Treeborne had no soul. He swung a glance at his peers that dripped of derision and loathing. Seeing this, Aswa-da nodded and enjoyed his experiment in action.