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Overview
Julie Cross's Vortex is the thrilling second installment of the Tempest series, in which the world hangs in the balance as a lovelorn Jackson must choose who to save
Jackson Meyer has thrown himself into his role as an agent for Tempest, the shadowy division of the CIA that handles all time-travel-related threats. Despite his heartbreak at losing the love of his life, Jackson has proved himself to be an excellent agent. However, after an accidental run in with Holly—the girl he altered history to save—Jackson is once again reminded of what he's lost. And when Eyewall, an opposing division of the CIA, emerges, Jackson and his fellow agents not only find themselves under attack, but Jackson begins to discover that the world around him has changed and someone knows about his erased relationship with Holly, putting both their lives at risk all over again.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781250020727 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | St. Martin's Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 01/15/2013 |
| Series: | The Tempest Trilogy , #2 |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 368 |
| File size: | 865 KB |
| Age Range: | 14 - 18 Years |
About the Author
JULIE CROSS lives in central Illinois with her husband and three children. She never considered writing professionally until May of 2009. Since then, she hasn't gone a day without writing. Tempest was her first novel.
JULIE CROSS lives in central Illinois with her husband and three children. She never wrote fiction before May of 2009, but since then, hasn't gone a day without writing. She is the author of The Tempest Trilogy.
Read an Excerpt
Vortex
A Tempest Novel
By Julie Cross
St. Martin's Press
Copyright © 2012 Julie CrossAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-250-02072-7
CHAPTER 1
JUNE 8, 2009, 6:30 A.M.
I could hear my heart pounding, even over the volume of the helicopter. Judging distance and memorizing images of our surroundings were skills I'd learned to use to my advantage during the past two and a half months of Tempest training. But today they had taken away my sight. And by "they," I mean Chief Marshall.
After an hour of their obvious diversions and turning the helicopter in circles to confuse us, I was seriously ready for a time jump ... somewhere calm and on the ground.
"In about sixty seconds," Freeman barked over the noise of the helicopter, "I'll give you the coordinates of our location, the door will open, and both of you will be dangling by those ropes we've attached you to. Your chance of survival will increase greatly if you have an idea of what your feet might land on."
Awesome.
I fought the urge to rip off my blindfold and look down. Without seeing the journey we'd taken, I'd never be able to figure out where they were about to dump us. Agent Kendrick was already shaking beside me. I couldn't see her, but I felt her shoulder trembling as it pressed against mine.
"Calm down," I whispered into her ear. "Or it'll only get worse."
My heart slowed instantly as I used my own advice for Kendrick on myself. Never let anyone see you sweat. Never let them in your head ... not Chief Marshall, not my partner or any of the Tempest trainees, and especially not the EOTs. This was one of the three most important lessons I'd learned in training. The other two:
Everything is a test.
Everyone is alone.
The sound of the helicopter door being wrenched open caused my stomach to drop. Calm ... stay calm. Noise from the rotors and wind burst in, cold air smacking me in the face.
I barely heard Freeman shout the coordinates, and then I heard Kendrick yell into my ear, "The east side of the French Alps ... rough surface ... loose rocks ... but people climb it."
I swallowed hard. "Great."
And they literally had turned us in circles since we'd left this morning, considering Tempest headquarters were at the base of the French Alps.
Ten seconds later, Kendrick and I were being pushed through the open door, each secured to our own rope as we swung back and forth in the wind.
"Jackson!" Kendrick shouted. "Take off your blindfold."
Oh ... right. But that would require peeling my fingers from the rope. Instead of releasing a hand, I used my forearm to nudge the cloth from my eyes. The sun blinded me at first and then I looked down as the mountain swung in and out of focus. "Holy shit!"
Kendrick's long dark hair whipped in the wind as her eyes scanned the mountainside. She didn't look nearly as petrified as I felt. I had a feeling her genius mind was spinning too fast to let fear distract her. "There's a ledge ... we're gonna have to jump a little ... doesn't quite reach the end of the rope ... but I don't know how long before they cut us off from above."
I glanced up at the helicopter, still hovering ten feet over us, Freeman ready to untie us and slam the door shut any second now. "Okay, ready when you are."
We quickly worked our way down the forty-foot ropes, but even Kendrick hesitated at the end, our feet dangling, trying to reach the small ledge, but coming up short by about five feet. We'd have to unhook the clips securing us to the ropes in order to land on the ledge.
Today's test, in terms of explaining the rules to the trainees, was the most simple we'd had so far — blindfolded journey where we'd be left alone with our partners, and all we had to do was find our way back to headquarters. It was a timed test, of course, but the rules were simple. The execution, however ... not so simple.
"On the count of three," Kendrick said, her eyes meeting mine.
And for a second I had to wonder if this was a different test. Like maybe I was supposed to con her into going first. Or I'd release myself from the rope and she wouldn't, and then they'd pull her back up to safety and take off without me.
Only one way to find out.
"One, two," I said, gripping the release button on the clip between my fingers. "Three!"
The blur of Kendrick falling beside me obscured my vision, and the surface of the mountain appeared before I was ready for it. The side of my face smacked into a jagged rock, immediately followed by the warm trickle of blood dripping down my cheek. My feet found the flat surface and both Kendrick and I pressed our hips into the mountain, toes turned out.
"We've got pitons ... in our bags, right?" I asked.
"Yeah," Kendrick said between breaths. "Jackson ... you're bleeding."
As she reached for my forehead, I shrank away from her hand and quickly wiped the blood with the sleeve of my T-shirt. "It's fine. Forget it."
She pulled her hand back and looked at the large rock in front of us. "Can you reach in your bag and hand me a piton?"
"Don't you have your own?"
She held up the end of a rope, which I hadn't even noticed had been thrown from the helicopter. "They only gave us one rope. We're gonna have to share it."
The challenge in her eyes was too obvious to miss. "Then hand it to me and I'll tie it for both of us."
"On what? You've got nothing but loose rocks in front of you."
I remained silent as I handed her a piton and watched her pound it into the mountain. She tugged hard on the rope and then reached for my harness, clipping me to the rope before I could object.
"This should hold both of us," she said.
My fingers held tightly to the edge of a rock. "You first."
Kendrick shrugged and then started her descent. My eyes dropped to the ground again without permission and Kendrick's face dissolved. A flash of Holly's blond hair flying toward the ground materialized in front of me. Blood pumped in my ears and the air in my lungs seemed to vanish. Not this. Not now. Focus!
"Jackson?" Kendrick said from a few feet below me. "You okay?"
No. "I'm fine."
I turned around quickly and stared straight at the slab of rock in front of me, then started to climb down. Kendrick moved in silence below me for the next hour. The effort of securing pitons and retying the rope every twenty feet was exhausting and made conversation difficult.
The valleys below us were still distant green blobs when Kendrick finally spoke again. "I love how you're still trying to hide the fact that you're an acrophobe."
"So it seems," I said, looking down at her. I almost laughed when I saw her eyes roll.
"Anyway, I was just thinking ... since I don't really have an issue with heights ... it's good that we've been paired together."
"All right, you got me," I said, keeping my focus straight ahead. "I'm scared of falling off this mountain ... and it's not like you weren't shaking up there in the helicopter."
"I wasn't worried about the height. I was afraid I wouldn't have the answer, wouldn't have a clue where we were. Being lost freaks me out."
Okay ... so what? We're gonna get personal now? Talk about our hopes and dreams ... great fears? Yeah, right.
* * *
Finally, after hours of climbing, we reached less vertical terrain. Agent Kendrick and I unhooked our rope and stuffed everything into our backpacks. When I looked around at our surroundings, I could hardly believe my eyes. "This is right near headquarters."
Kendrick nodded, smiling a little.
"Did you know where we'd end up when you picked our landing spot?" I couldn't help asking, and sounding slightly impressed, which I was.
"Yeah," she admitted. "But not right away. It was a good guess. And now maybe we can pass the test and record the fastest return time. I'd love to win a day off."
"Impressive," I said. "You're not just trying to live through this, but also attempting to win. Did you see anyone else?"
She swept the area with her eyes, then sighed. "We're either way ahead or way behind ... Damn, this place is beautiful. This is where I want to go for my honeymoon. In one of those little villas right at the base of the Alps."
I nodded in the direction of the underground pathway. "Let's win Marshall's contest first and plan honeymoons later."
Honeymoon? Seriously?
We raced toward the secret entrance and shifted the giant stacks of hay to the side. Both of us grinned, knowing we were most likely the first to come through. It would have been impossible to push the hay back after crawling into the hole.
"I already know what I'm going to do with my day off," Kendrick said. "Eat ... and eat ... pastries ... lots of pastries."
My foot was already feeling around for the ladder, excitement and adrenaline rushing through my veins.
I lifted my eyes to look at my partner and nearly shouted as several figures, blurred by the sun's glare, appeared around us. Kendrick's shout was muffled instantly. A strange, almost metallic-smelling gas filled my nostrils, and then a foot made contact with the side of my head and my vision completely dissolved.
The thud of my head smacking the ground echoed through my ears and all I could think was — he found me.
Thomas.
After my months of obsessing over every ounce of data on this man, we'd finally get to face off again.
CHAPTER 2JUNE 8, 2009, 11:30 A.M.
Luckily, the blackout was restricted to my vision only and I remained conscious.
"Don't let them touch you!" I shouted to Kendrick as strong arms wrapped around me.
I tossed the attacker to the ground, then squinted into the sun. My vision started to return, but fused with large blind spots. I counted the enemies in half a second: six blurred bodies, against two. I could make out Kendrick's slim body and long hair. She scrambled to get up from the ground. One of the thicker bodies dove at her. Instinctively, I jumped between them and slammed my foot into the attacker's chest, sending him backward. The groan of a male voice followed my counterattack.
And that smell ... like rusty metal and copper, so strong I could taste it.
The next thirty seconds consisted of flying elbows and fists. Fast silent hits to various body parts. Luckily, only one of those hits got me. I could already feel a bump forming on my cheekbone.
Kendrick spun around, taking in the surroundings, not sure exactly what to do next, now that we had gotten a few of them down. I grabbed the back of her shirt and pushed her toward the only opening in the fuzz of bodies around us.
"Run!" The word had barely left my mouth when I felt a gun press into the center of my back. The spots in my vision vanished and I took in the man lying on the ground and the other four getting to their feet with reluctant movements.
I recognized every single one of them. All EOTs, but not all men. And their faces had been etched into my mind, but only one mattered right now. Thomas. I could feel him behind me.
"Hands up, kid, you're outnumbered," one of the men beside me said. His red hair caught my attention, even with my current vision issues. Raymond ... shoe-print guy? It looked like him, but wasn't he supposed to be dead?
Slowly, I raised my arms in the air. Kendrick turned back around and lifted her eyebrows for a split second. I shook my head, but it didn't do any good. She whipped out her own gun from the back of her pants, pointing it at the man holding me hostage.
"Drop your weapon!" she said, her voice shaking a little.
"I could do that," the man behind me answered, his voice alone causing my heart to race. It was Thomas, and now all I could think about was getting to the top of that mountain and tossing him from it. "Or I could just ... vanish with your friend here. And I think you know what I mean."
Oh, God ... it really is them. I held my breath, trying to keep it steady. "Let her go."
"Sorry. Can't do that," the girl who looked like Rena said.
Isn't she dead, too?
And I took notice of the fact that none of the others had drawn weapons ... which meant they might not have any. I counted to three in my head, planning my movements carefully, then I used my heel to kick Thomas and cause his knee to buckle. At the same time, I twisted his wrist so the gun pointed upward. As expected, a shot fired into the sky. Two seconds later I had Thomas on his back, my foot at his throat, cutting off the air supply to his lungs.
"Go!" I said to Kendrick, not even looking up. Her feet shuffled a bit as she hesitated, but then she took off in a run. She only made it about thirty feet before collapsing onto the grass, screaming and clutching the sides of her head.
I couldn't help her without taking out everyone around me, including the enemy under my foot.
The man's features swam in front of me until I could finally focus on them. It was definitely him ... Thomas. He looked a little different, but nearly the same. Maybe he was older now? Either way, my blood boiled and my pulse pounded into my finger as it rested on the trigger of the gun. "I never should have let you go the first time."
Memories flicked at high speed ... Thomas's impassive face as he raised Holly over the ledge of the building. Her scream pierced through my ears all over again and it was all I could hear other than the pounding of blood in my veins. I can't let him go again.
He needs to die.
"Jackson!"
The deafening scream inside my head turned down a few decibels, along with the growing fury in my fingertips.
"Stop him!" someone shouted.
"Jackson ..." A familiar voice.
The tension flooding through my hand loosened a little. "Dad?"
I shook my head, trying to focus on the person who had just spoken to me. He sounded like Dad, but didn't look like him. He moved toward me, placing a hand over the gun I now held loosely. He whispered in my ear, "It's just a test ... memory gas. What you're seeing is altered."
"But ..." I stuttered. "I thought ..."
Strong hands gripped my shoulder, turning me around. "Let's go. The test isn't over yet. In fact, since Dad had to ruin the illusion, I think your final exam is going to be much, much more difficult."
Chief Marshall. I recognized his voice, but he looked different. Like someone else. A bag was placed over my head and my arms were tied with rope behind my back. This time I didn't resist, still stunned from the realization that I hadn't just been in the middle of an EOT attack. And I knew the final test was coming up, since we had all nearly reached the end of our training, but I didn't think it would be today, especially after being dropped from a helicopter with only a mountainside to land on. Wasn't that enough drama for one day?
The next phase of the test involved a long walk to an unknown underground location. Headquarters were underground, I was used to that. But this place had metal floors that clanked and an almost hospital-like smell.
Someone pressed me into a large chair and some kind of cuffs encircled my arms, covering them from my wrists all the way to my elbows. The cuffs squeezed against my skin.
The bag was finally yanked from my head and I saw Kendrick beside me, bound by her arms to an identical chair. Her knees were pulled to her chest, face pressed into them as she shook uncontrollably. Her shoulders wiggled back and forth as she tried to free her arms.
"Just ... please ... just let me see them," she said with a shaky voice.
See who? Is she hallucinating fake people, too?
Chief Marshall strode in front of us, pacing back and forth. "Agent Meyer," he called to Dad. "Question her while she's still like this ... since the other subject's data has been invalidated."
He turned to glare at me and then stormed out of the tiny room. On the wall just in front of us a digital clock hung, and when I glanced sideways I realized there were at least eight identical chairs and a clock or timer in front of each. The red numbers on mine flashed and eventually stayed, reading 85.
Kendrick's numbers were jumping all over the place ... 120 ... 152 ... 165.
Dad glanced at her clock and his forehead wrinkled. He crouched down beside her and whispered, "Relax, Lily ... you're okay."
"No ... no, I'm not!" She shook her head back and forth. "Just let me go and I'll come right back, I swear."
"Kendrick," he said more forcefully. "Can you smell the metal? Think about it ... you know what this is."
She stiffened and then raised her head slightly, wiping the tears on the shoulder of her sweatshirt. I wasn't sure what to think. I'd never seen any other agent break down like this.
The door opened again and Dad stood up and paced the front of the room, like Marshall had moments ago. "Tell me where you are, Agent Kendrick," he barked.
I barely listened to his questioning because I was distracted watching the other trainees being marched in and strapped down just like us. Stewart ended up right beside me.
"How's it going, Junior?" she whispered to me. "Didn't wet your pants, did you?"
Mason, Stewart's official partner, was on her other side. He didn't look as calm and malicious as Stewart right now, but he didn't seem as freaked out as Kendrick had been seconds ago. Or me, fifteen minutes ago.
"So, tell me what you saw," Stewart whispered loudly to me. "Your credit cards stolen?"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Vortex by Julie Cross. Copyright © 2012 Julie Cross. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
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