Free The Source: Book III of the Holding Kate Series by LaDonna Cole Page B

she vanished.
    He was able to monitor everything that happened in the jumps through his surveillance technology. He had consulted with the most brilliant minds in all of history, but it wasn’t until he studied the chair that Kate was bound to as The Mother that he was able to tap into the science that allowed him to record and view at will everything that happened in the quantum jumps.
    It was the effect that made Kate feel omniscient as The Mother. She could see everything that happened on the dragon world through the technology of the chair. Gregory had been able to adapt that to the spheres. The only problem was finding the coordinates and triangulating the place with the time. Once that was accomplished he could view anything that happened on significant junctions in the quantum flux. Points of decision that led to significant repercussions vibrated in the quantum flux and could be recorded. He’d gone back in time and seeded the information with his younger self.
    Right now, he wanted to know where The Kate had vanished to.
    It was as though she disappeared off the face of the—
    “Of course! She jumped! But where and when did she go?” He whirled around to his desk and began tapping on the desk top.
    He couldn’t believe that they already had their spheres working. His last attack left the village decimated. It should have taken months to recover. That is why he never considered that The Kate had left the village. He assumed she was there helping with the cleanup, but couldn’t locate her.
    Videos of The Kate blinked out. The holo monitor rose out of the pad he fingered, and he scrolled through the latest jump destinations.
    He had discovered that every jump leaves a trace fluctuation in the space time continuum and he could chart all of the jumps across the world. Though the theories had been around for a while, the actual reality of Quantum jumping was fairly new so there weren’t many with the capability. One site in Bulgaria, one in Kyoto, Japan, and the one at Heartwork Village were the only official jump sites on the planet. Gregory knew of several unofficial sites, most of them were his, but a couple of rogue jumpers out there had succeeded in building a stable sphere. None of them had his remote capabilities, as far as he knew.
    He ran the program and noted that Japan’s facility had no successful jumps for 3 months. Bulgaria’s seemed to be shut down temporarily. His jump sites had been quite busy over the last few weeks. He had scoured the planet for The Kate. As he watched, the sphere matrix at Heartwork Village lit up.
    A jump was happening right now, a big one based on the displacement ratio of the temporal field.
    “So, either they have reinstituted their jump therapy program or someone is running.” He smiled. “I would imagine the latter.” He heckled at the memory of them scrambling away from the monsters he’d sent.
    Somehow they had been able to reinstitute the jumps much more quickly than he imagined and there on his monitor was the blossoming sphere to prove it.
    “I’ve got to get back there and find the jump coordinates.”
     

     
     

 
     
     

     
     
    THE ROW OF houses on the side of the mountain already started to feel like home to Tara. Whether it was being back in the Crags mountain range on Ampeliagia, just a few hours from where they had settled Jewel City, the familiar scent of the crisp wind through the evergreens, or the staggering beauty of the spine of mountain peaks that could be seen from any view point, Tara didn’t know what made her so at home. The mountain village could easily be her dream location.
    At the end of the street where the five houses stood, a large cave nestled into the mountain. Transformed into a community center with an enormous hearth kitchen and rows of timber carved tables and benches, the cave gathered the team for meals each night. A torch lit seating area to one side with low cushions and wicker furniture embraced the companions in