Dunc landed on top of the snow blower and pointed a wingtip at a small man, wearing a heavy parka and a bowler hat, who was climbing into the passenger side of a white SUV backed into the church parking lot. The only person I had ever seen wearing a bowler hat was Murga's assistant, Kozak. I ducked behind the snow blower.
The SUV was covered with snow, except for the area swept by the windshield wipers, so I couldn't see who was inside but two bits to a dollar the driver was Murga. And Murga was a problem because I had the ability to use distortions in the curvature of negative space-time. This meant I could fly but only when I was near a time shear. I didn't think this was a very useful super power but Murga seemed to want it . . . badly.
My scientist grandfather had genetically altered my chromosomes before I was born in 2160 CE (which makes me about MINUS 140 years old!). And when Murga had tried to extort the secret of grandfather's discovery, my birth mother had sent Dad and me back to this time phase for safety. This plan had worked until Kozak and Murga had found out where I was . . . and when.
Since then, Murga had repeatedly tried to abduct me and was currently holding my parents hostage in Germany . . . in 1944.
While Kozak was still working for Murga, he was somewhat disgruntled because Murga would not let him go back to his own time and place. So he had agreed to work, as a double agent, with Time Agent Onderdonk (also known as Triple Oh or Ondy) in an attempt to arrest Murga for illegal time travel. Triple Oh normally worked as a security guard to protect Shakespeare from illegal time travellers but he had been temporarily assigned to protect me and arrest Murga.
At that moment, the truck, piled high with snow, roared away and the snow blower driver climbed down from his cab. Sure enough it was Jeremy.
'Hey, Ziff. How do you like my wheels? Cool, eh? My boss says if I don't wreck his beloved antique he will let me loose with the new Volvo blower.'
'Awesome!' I exclaimed. 'May I borrow your phone? I need to call the police . . . And would you block the SUV until the police arrive?'
'No problem.' Jeremy handed me his cell phone as he picked up a pile of, NO PARKING. SNOW CLEARING, signs from the snow bank, climbed back into the cab and turned the snow blower toward the church.
I rummaged in my backpack for detective Scott McLean's telephone number and then tapped the numbers on Jeremy's cell phone. Scott had previously asked me if Murga might know the whereabouts of our landlord, Mr Bragg, who was missing at the time and he had asked me to call him if I heard from Murga again. (I had not told him about Murga's attempt to abduct me).
Meanwhile, Jeremy's huge machine was lurching toward Murga like some primeval cubic monster with Dunc perched on top like an eagle.
As I told Scott that I had found Murga, the big helical augers in the snow blower's square jaws were devouring the snowbank and snow was jetting out of the elephantine spout at the top of the machine. Dunc was enjoying the ride, spreading his wings to balance and dancing as the snow blower rocked.
Within a few seconds, the church parking lot entrance was completely blocked with packed snow. Murga threw open the SUV door and leaned out. He was wearing a black toque and a scarf wound around his face but his narrow sunglasses were a dead give-away. I hid behind a parked car as Murga climbed out of the SUV, scrambled through the snow and hammered a fist on Jeremy's door. Jeremy, stopped exactly in front of the SUV, slowly wound down the window and looked down at him.
'YOU IMBECILE! VOT YOU SDINK YOU ARE DOING!' Murga shouted angrily.
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Undercover Goose - book 6
Ficção CientíficaMurga wanted to borrow Dr Zhang's computer, which the Dark Fire Data Bunglers were trying to destroy. Yonnie and Treeka (two algorithms from the future) claimed the computer was their mother, Mandia, and were intent on protecting her. And now the...
