Read Online Time Hunters and the Spear of Fate, The by Carl Ashmore - Free Book Online

everyone could hear.
    Uncle Percy flung open the driver’s
door and leapt out. He raised his car keys to his mouth and spoke into the tiny
microphone embedded within. ‘Barbie, could you join me in the Time Room,
please?’ Before he had time to open the Cadillac’s rear doors, a flickering orb
of light appeared to his right, growing in size, and, with a pop , Barbie
materialized.
    ‘At your service, sir.’
    ‘Thank you, dear,’ Uncle Percy said.
‘I was hoping you might do me a favour. Mary Cassidy has been hurt. I don’t
think it’s serious, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Can you inform Doctor
Aziz she will be with him in a moment or two; his time-pad coordinates are
programmed into your data bank.’
    ‘Of course, sir.’ And in a blinding
flash, Barbie disappeared.
    Still disorientated, Becky exited
the car, quickly followed by Joe, who looked both relieved and shaken in equal
measure.
    ‘How the hell did Drake get a
Megalodon to attack us?’ Joe asked Uncle Percy, who had moved to a workstation
and was typing something quickly onto its keyboard.
    Becky felt she knew the answer. With
a shudder, she recalled the robot budgie that attacked her in the summer. ‘It
was a Cyrobot, wasn’t it?’
    ‘It seems that way,’ Uncle Percy
replied.
    ‘But it was as big as a plane,’ Joe
blustered. ‘How could he make a Cyrobot out of something that big?’
    ‘Because he tried,’ Uncle Percy
replied simply, returning to the car and offering his hand to the woman. ‘Let
me help you out, Mary.’
    ‘Thank you, Percy,’ Mary said with a
wince, her unsteady fingers finding the locket around her neck. ‘And thank you,
Becky, I owe you my life.’
    ‘That’s okay,’ Becky replied softly.
    ‘Could you pass me a chair, please,
Joe,’ Uncle Percy asked.
    Joe grabbed a chair and set it
behind the woman, who promptly sat down.
    Uncle Percy dropped to his knees and
examined Mary’s wound. ‘This looks bad, Mary, but Doctor Aziz will have you
patched up in no time. Besides –’
    The woman cast him a guilty look,
the heavy bags beneath her eyes distended and swollen. ‘It was me, Percy.’
    ‘What was you, my dear?’
    ‘I’m the traitor...’ Mary’s lips
quivered wildly as she struggled to shape each word. ‘You must have realised
Drake had help tonight.’
    ‘I did wonder who placed the
Hologram receiver in such a prime location; who gave him the coordinates to the
party so he could place the Megalodon in that time-line. But don’t worry about
– ’
    ‘I’m not worried,’ Mary interrupted.
‘He gave me no choice.’ Her body quivered. ‘He came to my house in the middle
of the night … He dragged my beautiful Rufus from his bed. He put a bread knife
to his throat and insisted I help him or he would skin Rufus alive. I know
Rufus is only a dog, Percy, but he’s all I’ve got. He’s my baby. I’m sorry for
what I’ve done, but I had no choice...’ She deflated like a punctured balloon
as if the admission had drained her of every last bit of strength.
    Uncle Percy cast her a sympathetic
look. ‘Of course you didn’t.’
    ‘If anyone died tonight it’s because
of me,’ Mary said. She looked at Becky. ‘You see, you should have left me
there. I deserved it.’
    Uncle Percy cupped her hand in his
and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. ‘My dear, dear woman. You did what
any parent would have done. You protected your loved one. And, as far as I can
see, every traveller and guest escaped without injury tonight, so you can’t
afford to beat yourself up over what’s happened. Now, did he ask you to do
anything else?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Then all we have lost is a jolly
good party.’
    ‘B-but I’m so scared, Percy,’ Mary
stammered. ‘Emerson Drake is a maniac. And you heard him tonight, he’s waged
war on the entire community.’
    ‘Then we’ll wage it back,’ Uncle
Percy said firmly. ‘I understand you’re scared, and I’m sure you’re not the
only one tonight. But I’m