Mating Through Time [Defense Troopers 3]

CHAPTER 1 “Bowie do you have the timepiece I gave to you?” “Yes grandmother.” Bowie rasped, trying to stay strong. Bowie’s grandmother swallowed hard, “Good boy. Now you must take this.” His grandmother held out her hand. Bowie opened his own and couldn’t believe what she was giving him. “Grandmother, no. You’re going to be fine and…” “Bowie, take the watch.” His grandmother rasped, closed her eyes and took in a jagged breath. “Gods I was such a foolish woman. I should have explained things to you so long ago, but I was a foolish, selfish old woman.” “No, Grandmother. You could never be selfish.” Bowie whispered past the knot in his throat. Shaking her head slightly, his grandmother said, “My sweet baby boy. How I have loved our time together. I was meant to teach you… to… to explain, and instead I squandered what should have been you learning your place and what needs to be done. So important.” “I’m not, Grandmother. I’m just a man…” His grandmother gently squeezed Bowie’s hand, “No, my boy. You are one of the most important men ever born. Only one other surpasses you and you will play an important role in whether the human and outer worlds live or die.” “I don’t understand, Grandmother. I…” “You are the timekeeper. The one man that ensures that our future remains for all others. Do you have the charm I gave you on your fifth birthday?” His grandmother asked, sounding weaker by the minute. Nodding, Bowie sniffled, “Yes.” “Good. Good.” His grandmother whispered, and then fell silent. Bowie just about came unglued. His grandmother was making no sense to him, and right now he could not give a s**t. The most important person in his life… the only family he had in the world was dying and there wasn’t s**t he could do about it. He had no idea what had happened. Bowie had gone to the store and when he came back, he had seen the front door wide open. It was cold outside and he knew his grandmother would have never left the door open. Bowie had rushed in to see the only home he had ever known was in shreds and his grandmother was lying on the kitchen floor, barely alive. He had tried to go and get help, but his grandmother refused to let him go, and insisted on talking to him instead. “Bowie… you must hurry. They will be back… they will ki-kill you.” “Who? Grandmother, you’re making no sense.” Bowie quietly argued. “You must go, Bowie. Do you und… understand? “I don’t understand any of this. Who did this to you? Why? Who’s coming for me? What do they want? I… Grandmother, please. I don’t want to live without you. I don’t want to be alone. Please, let me get you help.” Bowie cried. His grandmother took her bloody hand and gently cupped Bowie’s cheek. “Such a good sweet boy. You have been everything a grandmother could ever ask for. Tha… thank you for being who you are. Now you must make haste. They can’t fi… find you, Bowie. The watch must be fixed.” Bowie was so confused he wanted to scream, rant and rave at his grandmother, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Not only did he feel her life force leaving her body, but she was the love of Bowie’s life. He could never raise his voice to her, and in her condition, as much as he wanted to… he couldn’t demand anything. Looking at the watch he held in his hand, Bowie could picture in his mind his grandmother always looking at the timepiece, winding the side and holding it as if it was everything to her. “Bowie you must promise me. When I die, you will do as I ask and go. Go as fast as you can… fix… fix the watch. Promise me.” His grandmother insisted as she began to cough. Blood trickled from the side of her mouth and all Bowie could do was rasp, “I promise.” “Use the charm. Think of the date today and the ye… year t-two thou… thousand twen… twenty then say the name Mar… Marty Kobald.” “Marty Kobald?” Bowie asked in confusion. His grandmother swallowed hard, struggling to speak, “O-only one th… that ca-can fix the watch. Prom… promise me, Bo… Bowie.” “I promise. I will find Marty Kobald. I don’t know how, but I will find him.” “Go t-to my room… be… behind our picture… you know… you know the one I speak of?” His grandmother asked weakly. Nodding, Bowie replied, “Yes, Grandmother.” “Good. Good. Go… you’re bir… birthday… i-it will ex… explain… I…” “Grandmother, please stop talking. I must get you help.” Bowie insisted as tears fell. “I… I’m so… sorry I didn’t… I lo… love you. Al… always so pr… proud of y-you.” His grandmother stammered quietly as her hand dropped from his face and the other in his hand opened as the life left her eyes. Bowie gripped his grandmother’s hand tightly, unwilling to let her go until he remembered his promise to her. Gently placing her hand on top of her chest, Bowie leaned down and kissed her cheek, whispering, “I love you, Grandmother, and I will make you proud.” Rushing into his grandmother’s room, Bowie’s breathing became ragged with tears. The picture his grandmother had spoken of was a framed eight by ten they had taken together at an amusement park when he had been seven years old. She had said the photo brought out the sparkle in Bowie’s eyes and the love they felt for each other. Swiping the tears that continued to fall, Bowie lifted the picture from the wall and was surprised to see a small electronic safe. At first he had no clue how he was supposed to get into it until he remembered his grandmother mentioning his birthday. Taking a chance, he pressed the numbers and heard a small click and then the door sprung open. The hole was as large as the picture, but went really far inside as well. He could see stacks and stacks of hundred-dollar bills. “Holy s**t, Grandmother. There has to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in here. What the f**k?” Reaching into the safe, Bowie felt something flat and round and something else that was bulky. Grabbing it, Bowie realized they were a floppy disk and a fancy gold watch. It shocked the hell out of him because Bowie had never seen his grandmother ever use a computer a day in her life. Leaving the safe open, Bowie quickly made his way into his room and placed the round disk into his desktop computer. Hearing the whirling sound it always did when reading a disk, Bowie tapped his fingers, waiting for what seemed like forever before his curser was finally blinking and a small file appeared. Clicking on it Bowie sat back, but couldn’t help the small painful gasp at seeing his grandmother. She looked nervous and asked someone, “Is it time yet?” Whoever was recording this for her nodded, and his grandmother said, “I’ll call you when I’m finished. You can go now.” Bowie heard a door close from somewhere in the background and his grandmother drew in a long breath and gave a nervous smile. “I don’t know if I’m doing this right, Bowie, but I’m going to give this a try.” Waving her hand around dismissively, she said, “You know I’m no good at all this computery shmooterie stuff, but what I have to say is too important not to try.” Again his grandmother took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She then began to speak. “First off, if you’re seeing this disk thingy, then that means I’m no longer alive. I’m so sorry I didn’t do what I know I should have. I know I made a mistake, you are going to be so ill prepared for what it is you’re going to have to do now, and all because I was such a selfish old woman. I can only say it’s because of how much I love you and just wanted you to have an actual childhood, something your mother and I were denied and damn, I regretted that for so long. When you came to me all those years ago, you were so sad and missed your mother so, so much, and I knew that you needed time to heal. Hell, we both did. No parent should have to bury their child before themselves. However, you…” His grandmother sniffled. “You being who you are, have helped me in ways I could never explain. Gods, Bowie, I loved you so much, and I know I will love you even now that I’m gone. Never doubt that for a moment. Know that even though I have made mistakes, I did everything I did so that you would remember your childhood with happiness and not dwell on the fact that it wasn’t your mother raising you, but me. I wanted you to have a good life before having to take on the responsibilities an adult must take on.” “So did I, Grandmother.” Bowie whispered. “Okay, I’m getting off track, but I needed you to know that although I should have talked with you about this so long ago and trained you for what you are expected to do in your life, I did it out of love and I am going to do everything I can in order to help you for your future. I will not leave you completely on your own. No matter what, my sweet boy, you are never alone… even now, I am with you.” Swiping his eyes and grabbing a tissue from the box, Bowie blew his nose and continued to listen. “You are so special, Bowie. I know you’ve heard me say that a time or a thousand, but I wasn’t just talking about how you made my heart so full of love. You did that ten thousand times over… but… well, you truly are special. We are what is known as time keepers. There are many of us out there and all of us destined to care for certain eras. I took care of the seventeen to eighteen hundreds and your mother took care of the eighteen hundreds to nineteen hundreds and you… well, you Bowie are the keeper of the nineteen to twenty hundreds.” “What the f**k?” Bowie gasped. “Now watch your language, sweet boy. I raised you to know that bad words are for the weak of mind and you are far from being weak. You are one of the strongest, smartest men I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and right now you are going to need both that strength as well as intelligence. As a time keeper, you are going to be highly sought after and, Bowie, you must stay safe. Your life will always be in danger. I’m so sorry, Bowie. Gods, I’m getting things so mixed up, but just bear with me for a bit longer, okay?” Bowie clicked the stop button and tried to absorb what his grandmother was saying. When he felt he could continue, Bowie clicked the play button and allowed his grandmother to continue. “People are always trying to get us to go back in time, Bowie. Think about it. You have the power to go back in time and change someone’s death, a major catastrophe, or know the winning lottery numbers that could make someone millions of dollars… the power of time is one of the most sought-after gifts that man has struggled to catch in their grip and you hold it.” “Well crap.” Bowie whispered. Bowie watched as his grandmother looked away and then turned to look directly in the camera. “Your mother and father died in a car accident and that’s true, but what you don’t know is that they were run off the road by a man trying to get your mother to bring back his dead wife. I’m dead because a man named Marston wanted me to take him back in time to ensure his brother was never born. I knew this would cause a major rift and refused. When he threatened you I just had to do something to make sure he couldn’t… I broke my watch… my time keeper if you will. You must fix that watch, Bowie. It is imperative you do this. If not, so many important events will be altered and that would cost a huge rift in time and could mean that some of the most important people in our history may not even be born. Imagine the world without George Washington to win the battle of Yorktown and forcing the British government to negotiate an end to that conflict? Or if the Wright Brothers were never born to create and fly that plane? Everyone is alive in this world for a reason. Everyone has a path to take and as with all humans of this world, those lives must end when their purpose has been fulfilled. It allows for their rebirth and to be placed where the higher power believes they are needed more, and no one has a right to question this, no matter how painful their loss may be. Think of people and actions as dominos. Each is put into a certain order the way they are so that when the last is placed it can be tapped and make a beautiful pattern, but if one is placed wrong, it ruins the entire masterpiece or loses balance and causes the other dominos to fall before you are ready.” Giving a soft smile, she said, “Maybe that wasn’t a good example, but you should get what I’m trying to say.” “I do grandmother.” Bowie rasped, wiping at his still-weeping eyes. Taking in a deep breath, his grandmother said, “You need to get that timepiece fixed, Bowie, and then take it to the next time keeper of my era. His name is Ridge Caden. He is a historian in the year two thousand fifty-nine. He knows who he is and what he needs to do and he will give you something I left for him a long time ago.” “How the heck am I supposed to do that grandmother? I don’t know how to travel through time.” Bowie gasped. “You will know what to do when the watch is fixed, Bowie. The charm I gave you will take you directly to a man named Marty Kobald. He will fix that watch. Once he does this and you take it into your hands, you will know what to do. I promise you. Now, go. Marston is returning and he will kill you. Get to Marty… he will fix the watch and he has the resources to help you as well as keep you safe,” his grandmother said anxiously, then sniffled, wiped at her eyes, and softly said, “I love you, my sweet boy. Don’t ever forget that. I love you. Now go before it’s too late, Marston is almost there. I left you enough money to help you and your new friends as well in this journey and several others. Go get it and don’t forget the watch. Go!” Bowie quickly pulled the disk from the computer and grabbed a duffle bag his grandmother had insisted he always keep with fresh changes of clothing. Rushing back into his grandmother’s room, Bowie quickly added the money into his duffle, made sure he had the watch and even placed the floppy disk into his bag as well, before zipping it up. Bowie’s heart was beating rapidly and the sound of footsteps getting closer to his front door had Bowie closing his eyes, kissing his medallion, and whispering, “Here goes nothing, grandmother. Marty Kobald. Please take me to Marty Kobald.” The pounding boots were getting closer to where Bowie stood and for a moment he thought for sure he was a dead man and this wasn’t going to work. Then he remembered what he had forgotten and just as the door to his grandmother’s room burst open and Bowie looked into the evilest eyes he had ever seen, holding a weapon of some sort in his hand, Bowie whispered, “Marty Kobald, two thousand nineteen.” The evil man shot something from his handheld weapon as Bowie gasped and disappeared.