The Old Mine

Chapter 6: Sent Ahead

     Cal stretched, the argument had lasted longer than she felt it needed too. Recke had taken her dad's side and his team stood happily by watching her get yelled at.

      "Up?" Recke plopped down onto the foot of the bed, Cal ignored him "Still angry I see."

      Cal sat up and glared "I'm the biggest joke right now and the last memory of me my parents are going to have is that I defied their orders" she glared "so yeah, thanks..."

     "What do you mean the last memory?" Recke shrugged and chuckled.

      "I'm not dumb, you mentioned the gene like I have a gene that connects me to his family line, not the gene needed to jump... so I have the gene that without an armband and lots of training and..."

      Recke leaned towards her "stop," he tapped her forehead with one finger "Cal..." she glared at his finger "sorry, it's a jumper thing..."

     She relaxed then got back on topic "Look just don't lie to me, I know I'm going to be left behind." She fought the tears "because as I am right now, the jump could kill me."

     "Jumps could kill anyone, even those with the best genes. They are very dangerous."

      "I come with a higher kill rate." Cal folded her arms into a pout as Recke fell backwards laughing. "What is so funny."

     "You wiped the ground with my team mates and you just said you have a higher kill rate..."

     "Shut up." Cal rolled her eyes.

        Recke leaned over and kissed her forehead, "sorry about earlier, let me explain this one... this gesture means I promise, so I promise to do whatever I have to do... to not leave you behind."

     Cal fought the tears "Thank you."

    "Now come on," he got up and pulled her out of bed "let's go make happy memories."

    "About the mine..." she paused in the doorway to the bedroom "research says there is something in there, in the sealed tunnel... and I have a question, wouldn't that bike and the message that it triggers being found by me a descendant of a jumper trigger an alarm."

     "The message would if it was set to go off by jump dna not the band." He thought about it for a second "we will have to check... as to the sealed tunnel, it's about a hundred yards in..." he paused and thought for a minute "yeah the guys and I want to go check that out. Leave you here at the house to appease your Dad." He kissed her forehead again "remember, I won't leave you...alone..." he sighed at how her eyes were betraying her "Don't..." he wiped her tears "don't cry, I won't leave you alone."

     Cal took a deep breath, and put on her best happy face "okay" she followed him out to the kitchen. "What's for breakfast?" The room fell silent.

     "Bacon and eggs," her Dad gestured for her to sit down and she silently did. "So Recke what's on the list for the day."

     "I'm going to drag the guys up to the mine to explore that hidden tunnel Cal found reference to. I also want to examine that bike and radio rig. We need to know what triggered the message to start. Cal is staying here and doing more research, something she is phenomenal at apparently."

     "How is it we know more than you?" Cal took a bite then raised an eyebrow at him.

    Tahk answered not looking up "Easy, a lot of information has been lost due to the beginning years of time travel and continued chaotic interference in the timeline."

     "So, why don't you rebuild your information through research jumps." Bret asked.

    Midnight answered before Recke could "Because people get involved and mess up the past. The boss hasn't found a team that stays neutral yet."