Armageddon - By James Patterson Page 0,38

you were wasting time, stumbling about in the future, the love of your life had already spent a dozen hours as my prisoner in the underworld.”

I quickly glanced over at Dana.

She had her game face on; Number 2’s little dig about Mel being the “love of my life” hadn’t fazed her in the least.

“Tell me, Daniel,” Abbadon asked, his voice soft and provocative, “had you ever done that before? Had you ever flown forward through time?”

I gave him another shrug. “Never really wanted to. Because, unlike the past, the future is extremely changeable. You never really know what tomorrow may bring, even if you’ve already been there.”

“Bravo, Daniel,” he said with a smile. “Finally you prove yourself a nimble thinker and, perhaps, a worthy adversary. Soon all will be as it was always meant to be! To the victor shall go all the spoils, including your young lady friend.”

“You’re not just going to kill her while no one is watching?”

“Of course not. Where’s the sport in that? I want you to be here when she dies.”

I didn’t answer him, because I didn’t want to say something stupid that might jeopardize Mel’s safety. As it stood, she’d stay alive until Abbadon and I finally did battle—wherever and whenever he needed that smackdown to take place.

“By the way,” Number 2 continued, “while you and Bob were wasting your tomorrow, I was busy amassing my troops to wipe out all those who dared resist my initial invitation to join me in the underworld.”

Now the multiple images of Abbadon were replaced by footage of massive armies on the march.

“Gaze upon another glimpse of the future, Daniel!”

The troops rolling forward under Abbadon’s black banner were a motley assortment of alien outlaws in full combat gear. They had battle drones, robo-tanks, and laser-guided missile launchers. They also had something that totally chilled me to the bone: human allies.

Number 2 smiled, a thin grin crackling across his painted lips. “As I said before, Daniel, these humans can be so very helpful when they find a cause they truly believe in!”

As I stared down in disbelief at the human mercenaries who had taken on Abbadon’s fight, I heard him hiss, “Come to me and save your lady fair!”

And then the two hundred projector beams went black.

The helicopters disappeared from the sky.

Even the mincing Ambassador Gogg was gone.

“How’d he do that?” said Joe, totally perplexed.

“Very well,” mumbled Emma, in a faint echo of what she usually said whenever I pulled off some impossibly spectacular transformation.

“We bought some time,” said Agent Judge. “Abbadon clearly wants the home-field advantage when you two go head-to-head. Any reason why?”

“No, sir. In fact, all I know for sure is that, right now, Mel is safe.”

And, for Agent Judge and me, that was really all that mattered.

Chapter 53

“THE HOUSE IS huge, ladies and gentlemen,” Agent Judge said to the five of us after a long postmortem on the night’s incredibly hair-raising events. “Pick a bedroom and hit the rack. All of you. Especially you, Daniel.” He had learned that my creative powers get totally zonked when I don’t get to recharge my battery.

I grabbed a bedroom on the second floor. The rest of the gang didn’t really need to find rooms or, for that matter, go to sleep. It was one of the bonus features of being a product of my imagination: when I powered down, they did, too.

I closed my eyes.

When I did, just for an instant, I saw Mel, tied up in that chair.

“Hold on,” I whispered. “I’m coming.”

Right before I drifted off to sleep, my dream girl smiled back and said, “Don’t worry, Daniel.” She playfully jostled her chains. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m sort of tied up at the moment.”

Believe it or not, after all that had happened, I actually fell asleep with a smile on my face.

A smile that disappeared maybe three hours later, when I woke with a start.

My super alien ears had heard a floorboard creak while I was asleep and sent a signal to my brain saying This is not good.

Someone was in the house.

Sneaking around. Trying to not make a sound.

Now the someone was in my bedroom.

Moving closer to the bed.

It had to be Number 2. All that talk about meeting him on his turf? Another trick from the great deceiver, an attempt to lull me into thinking I could lower my guard for an instant and catch some shut-eye.

Well, two could play that game.

I’d trick him into thinking I was still asleep.

I kept my eyes