of the neck of Cin’s T-shirt, startling the woman scanning his food. Pretty blue eyes twinkled with amusement while Cin tried to push the kitten back into the sling.
“What’s her name?” the woman asked.
Cin was surprised that he hadn’t thought of naming the animal. “It’s a boy, and I haven’t thought of it until now.”
“You can’t just call him boy or cat. He deserves a proper name,” the woman said with a chuckle.
Cin swiped his debit card and looked at the woman. “What is a good name for a boy cat?”
“I don’t know,” the woman said with a shrug. “Bob?”
Cin’s brows furrowed for a moment before he chuckled. “Bob, the cat. Bobcat. I get it. Bob, it is.”
The checkout woman smiled as she handed him the receipt. “Good luck to you and Bob.”
An hour later, Cin and Bob were eating dinner on the couch while Cin studied Earth’s distant past. Not the centuries of lies fed to the people, but the frightening truth. He knew that if he was going to proceed with his original plans to stop the elite, there were others he’d have to deal with first.
The only thing stopping him from going far into the past and wiping their existence from the world is because their infiltration of society went too deep, and he was discovering more every day.
Certain people were the face of the elites, those in the news all the time for their fake charities that only furthered their agenda and never helped anyone. Then there were others no one ever heard of and didn’t know existed. They were the dangerous ones pulling the strings of everyone else.
What should have been an easy mission had turned into a nightmare of complications that Cin was still trying to sift through. Every move he made needed to be calculated perfectly to prevent catastrophic changes to Earth’s history, and therefore the universe’s future as well.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Cin tucked the now sleeping Bob into the fluffy blanket at the corner of the couch and stood. He tiptoed away from the kitten, trying not to wake the tired animal before reaching the kitchen.
Knowing he needed to root out the other hidden elites, Cin made a portal in the air and quickly stepped through it. He stood in the partially darkened room before concentrating on having his nanites change his attire to something more appropriate to this period.
When he was ready, Cin turned the door handle and stepped out into the hallway. He returned the salute of several soldiers before making his way outside, preparing himself for what he knew he was going to find.
The smoke-filled air nearly took Cin’s breath away, and he quickly turned to head down the rubble-strewn road to the building he wanted to find. He passed several armed patrols who looked at him oddly before manifesting weapons appropriate to this time. It was a mistake he’d be careful not to make again.
Cin didn’t have to go far before he found the partially destroyed building and went inside through a shattered window. He carefully made his way through the debris-strewn hallways until he entered the library and moved to the old stone fireplace.
Hitting his knees, Cin reached into the chimney and felt around until he found the oilskin wrapped books. Pulling them out, Cin carefully unwrapped the protective skin and cracked open the first of the ancient texts.
Cin had barely skimmed the first page of elite names when he heard the sound of footsteps in the hall. Quickly wrapping up the books, Cin placed them inside his t-shirt underneath his coat and pulled his weapon.
Knowing he was outside of the city's protective perimeter, set up by the Allied Forces, Cin expected whoever was in the building with him to be Nazi’s.
The footsteps drew closer, and Cin was taken aback when he heard a giggle. Unable to draw on technology that didn’t exist in this period, Cin waited cautiously until the steps were right outside the door.
A soot-streaked face with haunted brown eyes peeked around the door, and Cin tried his best not to look menacing when the little girl’s eyes widened with fear. Seconds later, an older boy stood protectively in front of the girl and stared at Cin.
“We don’t want no trouble,” the boy said in a trembling voice.
“Neither do I,” Cin replied in perfect French and put the gun away.
The little girl took a step towards him. “The bad guys are on the next street and coming this way. You need