Hotter Than Hell(142)

Percy pulled a handheld computer out of a leather pouch on his belt. He checked a map screen and then frowned at her. “I’ve worked out the search grid very carefully. There’s no reason to deviate from—”



“Where is this Apple Island?” Bern asked.



“Isle of Apples,” Ginger corrected. She cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and made herself publicly say, “Avalon.”



“Oh, for crying out loud!” Percy yelled in disgust.



She didn’t blame him. “I admit it might seem a little farfetched.”



“A little?” He sneered “Living among these people has made you as superstitious as they are. You’ve come to accept their mythology as—”



“It’s not one of the local myths,” Gareth spoke. “Not yet, anyway. It is one of our myths. Following it might lead us home.”



“Gambling on what might happen is not a scientific or logical basis for finding the correct nexus,” Percy argued.



Bern rubbed his jaw and chuckled. “Might doesn’t always make right. I just remembered where that came from. But where is Avalon? Hasn’t that always been a mystery?”



“It doesn’t exist. You’re not going along with this, are you, Colonel?” Percy demanded. He pointed accusingly at Ginger. “Why? Because she’s good in bed?”



Ginger was rather pleased that several team members stepped forward, but Bern got to Percy first, and punched him in the jaw. Percy hit the wet ground, and was wise enough to stay down. He sat in the mud, rubbed his jaw, and kept his mouth shut.



“So, where do we go?” Bern asked her.



“Tradition points to Glastonbury,” she answered.



“There’s a nexus on top of that big hill that’s there?” he asked.



She shook her head, and glanced at Percy. “Not on top of the tor, right?” He grimaced, but nodded. “There’s a sacred spring called Chalice Well at the foot of Glastonbury Tor. I think that’s where we have to go.”



“Let’s do it. Mount up,” Bern ordered the team. “We need to get out of here before the locals come looking for us so they can throw a feast in our honor.”



As the men moved to mount their animals, he snatched Ginger around the waist and put her up on the horse in front of him. She snuggled back against him, and he wrapped his cape around both of them. In this warm, intimate position he leaned forward to whisper, “Being like this with you almost makes me like riding a horse.”



She tilted her head against his shoulder, determined to draw every bit of nearness to him she could in the time they had left. “Then let’s enjoy the ride.”





“I don’t believe it,” Percy said. He double-checked his equipment as the water of the Glastonbury spring bubbled up at his feet. Then he gave Ginger a sour look. “She’s right.”



“The energy reading is right?” Kaye asked.



“It’s off the scale,” Percy answered.



“Enough to take all of us home?” Owen asked.



“Jump in and find out,” Percy invited. He glanced around the green and lovely glade. “Before the priestesses we chased off come back.”



“With an angry mob,” Kaye added.



If at all possible, TTP operatives were supposed to appear and vanish without any witnesses around. Scaring the locals with the sound and light show that accompanied time travel was considered not only impolite, but possibly dangerous to the primary timeline TTP visits wove in and out of. And the problem with places like sacred springs as nexus points was that they tended to be occupied with priests and pilgrims and such like. So, Bern had had his people approach this one with swords drawn and chase everyone away. Percy was right about their not having much time for goodbyes.



“Form up into teams,” he said. He took Ginger’s hand before she could join the people she’d traveled with into the past. He drew her away from the spring and tilted her chin up with his fingers. “You are so beautiful,” he told her.



“In a pale, freckled sort of way,” she answered. She tried to sound light, but her voice came out tight and strained.



“I’ll miss you, Dr. Virginia White.” Words couldn’t begin to describe what having to separate was doing to him.



“Have I thanked you for rescuing me yet?” she asked. She gave him a brief, hard embrace. “It’s been a pleasure knowing you, Colonel Andrew Bern.”



He kissed her then. It was fierce and quick, and not enough. He ran the back of his hand across her cheek. “Hey, we made history.”