Lost in time

Chapter 11

Max ponders checking his warehouse of artifacts for a power source, but he wouldn’t know where to start! Deciding to take a look, in any case, he grabs his jacket and storms out of the warehouse, only to be stopped by the director stepping in front of him.

“Where are you going this time?”

“Home, not that I think it has anything to do with you, what I do with my time.”

“It has everything to do with us. From the moment you signed that agreement, your time became ours and your project mine. This recent setback is making me look weak in front of my superiors, and I want it fixed.”

Max chuckles with a sneer on his face.

“You bought the project, not me! I lost my sister because of your arrogance when the project could have been safely kept in my lab with my security! I’m not going to help you fix anything if I don’t have the necessary agreement that my sister will be the priority at the moment, I'll get the machine working.”

“Of course, but you need to get the machine working before anyone can go and look for her.” The director’s gruff voice almost reaches a high pitch, giving away his lie.

Max has always been a good judge of character, and the director just played all his cards. They aren’t planning on searching for Sophia. They just want the machine working for their own purposes, and he is convinced the moment he gets it up and running, they will probably make him disappear.

“I need to check on something at home. I will see you in the morning.” Max stares down the director, who after a minute seems to give in and steps aside, so he can leave.

The only way he will get his sister back is if he builds a new machine, as Bernard wants. He grinds his teeth as he climbs into the car, slamming his door shut before the engine comes to life. Pulling onto the freeway, he notices the black SUV following him.

“Seriously? Can’t they be a little less conspicuous?” He sighs.

He knew the director had someone following him, but this is ridiculous. He will have to find another way to get to the warehouse without them knowing that he has the artifacts.

Driving home, he sighs. There is only one way. He has to ask his warehouse manager to start opening the crates… If only that girl came for the interview, he wouldn’t have had to rely on someone who knows nothing! He ponders calling her again, then decides against it. She’s probably forgotten about the job.

He pulls his car into the basement of the building. When he gets out, he notices the man watching him from the gate and rolls his eyes. He thought these people would have been trained better. Walking into the lift, he punches in the code for the top floor and watches the numbers on the screen.

When the lift dings, he steps out to find his entire place turned upside down! What the hell happened here?! Immediately calling Ben to find out who was in his apartment, Ben sounds confused, confirming that nobody went up to the penthouse. Max swears in frustration. How did they get in?!

He is the only one with the code to get in! Unless the government found a way to get in, but then Ben would have said something. Unless they used the basement elevator…

He calls the guard at the gate who lets him know that nobody came into the garage except for him. Not believing the guard, he interrogates him about taking possible breaks and then leaving his post, but the guard remains adamant that he didn’t leave his post.

He walks to his office to find it in the same state as the rest of his apartment and takes a deep breath. How else would someone have…

That’s not possible! He returns to the living room to find the distinct burn marks on the wooden floor. Did Bernard find a way to travel without using the machine? Why would he then kidnap Sophia and demand that Max build one?

Max swipes his index finger over the burnt area. It’s definitely burnt…

***

The girls walk into the apartment, excitedly talking about the day and what Magenta experienced while their mom starts dinner. She invited uncle Jack to join them, and he blushes every time their mom looks his way, eventually offering to help her.

They watch the two older people making dinner together and giggle at the thought that there could be sparks between them. Magenta angrily silences her sisters.

“My dad is coming home. I like uncle Jack just as much as you do, but I’m still going to find dad, and he is going to come home.” Stopping the excitement her sisters shared in their tracks.

“Besides, he is too old for her.” She pretends to shiver and her sisters burst out laughing.

“Yeah, he is a bit old.” Mystery pulls a face, and they all laugh.

“You know, Magenta,” Uncle Jack speaks up, making them jump.

“You could actually make a pretty penny out of your idea.”

“What? Looking for my dad?” She frowns.

“No, finding things people lost.” He tilts his head and even their mom turns to listen to him.

“You don’t mean for her to go through that thing again?” She looks at him wide-eyed.

“Yes, she’s been through it twice and come back unscathed and definitely wiser if I look at what she’s wearing.” He points at Magenta’s outfit she bought and forgot to change.

“If we can charge people to go back and find their lost things… You can make a decent living, and you won’t have to live in this little apartment.”

“I don’t know Jack. What if something happens to her?”

“Mom, something nearly happened to you, and you were just crossing the street.” Mayhem reminds them of their mother’s near-death experience, and they all nod.

“We will just have to be careful in how we advertise. We can’t let anyone know how you find the property.”

“Yes, if anyone knows that we are going back in time… It could lead to some disastrous results.” Magenta sighs.

“How would we do it?”

“We can change the shop.” He grins.

They put dinner on the table and all sit down. Discussing how they are going to do this; they work out a plan to hide the fact that they are going back in time but still advertising that they can find almost anything that someone has lost.

Happy with their plan, the girls clean up after dinner, and uncle Jack says goodnight to their mom, not wanting her to walk him out for fear that she will have to walk back upstairs alone.

“Oooohhhh,” Mischief grins at her mom the moment the door closes behind him, and she gets an angry look.

“What are you on about?” Her mother looks at her.

“Nothing.” She grins.

“Mischief, don’t you go getting ideas. Your sister is right. I’m a married woman, and I won’t stand for such things.” Pulling her shoulders straight, she kisses each of them on their cheeks and says good night.

“I told you! We are going to find dad, and then when he is back, they will get back together.” Magenta sighs, flopping down on the couch.

“Do you really think Uncle Jack’s idea can work?” Mayhem comes to sit down on the floor near her.

“I don’t know. I can go through the portal… That’s not the problem. The problem is finding what people are looking for. I was lucky in finding his medal. It could have gone seriously wrong.” She admits telling her sisters the parts of the story she didn’t want her mom to know.

When all of them finally go to bed, she stares at the ceiling.

“I’ll find you, dad. I know I will.” She sighs, closing her eyes as sleep drags her away.

***

He can’t tell the police or the government about the break-in. Max starts to clean up the mess in his office first. Checking to see if anything is missing. He is convinced that Bernard found a way to open a portal, but why would he need Sophia and why raid his house?

And why would Sophia help him?

When he puts the paperwork together, it hits him like a ton of bricks, and he checks the small jewelry box on his bookshelf that is half-hidden behind a small statue.

The damn key to the warehouse is missing! That confirms it. Only Bernard would want that key, but why turn the place upside down and then leave the box in its place? He must have done it to make Max chase after dead ends.

Max immediately calls Clay, but he doesn’t answer his phone, which puts him on edge. Did Bernard find an artifact that could run the machine?! Is that what he was after?

Max can’t rush out to check on Clay or the government guys outside will follow him and find his warehouse, probably seizing everything he has in there. He can’t afford for them to know about the warehouse. He has no other choice but to call the girl in the hopes that she would answer her phone.

***

Magenta pulls her phone from the coffee table, her eyes half-closed as she looks at who would be calling her at this time of the night. Only her sisters, mom, and uncle Jack have this number.

Seeing the name of the arrogant millionaire on her screen, she sighs, deciding to answer.

“What?!”

“That’s no way to answer your phone.” His anger in his voice makes her think about cutting the line.

***

He is so shocked that she answered, he almost loses his cool.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for bothering you at this time of the night, but I need your help.”

“I’ve already told you that I’m not interested.” He hears her sigh on the other side of the line and wishes that he had just tried harder to convince her the first time, then he might have already found the artifact, and Bernard wouldn’t have taken his sister.

“Please, listen. I have a warehouse full of artifacts, and I really need your skills to catalog them. I need to know what’s there and, if anything, what could be missing.”

“Who would like to steal old artifacts?” She suddenly sounds interested, and he smiles.

“I’m not sure, but I need a specialist to look at it.”

Her silence makes him bite his bottom lip as he waits for her to say yes.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. Please stop calling me.” Her hesitation gave him hope, but the moment the line goes dead, he throws his phone clear across the room, making it shatter into pieces against the wall.

***

“Wow.” She sighs, putting her phone back on the table and turning around to fall asleep.

The urge to get her hands on the artifacts is pulling at the back of her mind, and she would love to do it, but she has her mom and sisters to think about now. She started this project to find her father, and she has to see it through. They finally have the machine working and a plan to try and make some money. She can’t give that up now. Even if the voice on the other side of the line sounded like he really needed her help.

“Dammit!” She gets up and walks to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.

Thanks to that call, there is no way she’s going to be able to fall asleep again. Her mind running wild with possibilities of what she might have found in his so-called warehouse. Having dealt with the history of a lot of artifacts, some people have thought that they could catch her out before when she had just finished her degree, but she always proved them wrong.

“Dammit!” She cusses again.

No! Her mind is made up, and she isn’t going to think about this man again. She doesn’t even remember why she unblocked his number as she looks at her phone and the number…

Should she block him again?