Free Vortex by Julie Cross Page A

course I’m working,” she said with a sigh.
    The Heidelberg Castle sat up on the side of a hill, and the majority of it was open
     on top. Several sections had been destroyed and rebuilt after being set on fire during
     a war and then hit with lightning on a completely separate occasion. Today wasn’t
     the first time this landmark had been part of a war zone.
    We both moved so we were on either side of Dad. I could see Freeman leading his team
     to the opposite end of the castle.
    “The chancellor and her family arrive in exactly twenty minutes. They’ll head to the
     northeast corner and work their way west,” Dad said. “No guns unless it’s the last
     straw. Our goal is to tiptoe in and out completely unnoticed. Got it?”
    “Yep,” we both said.
    “Good, now get to your first positions and don’t move a muscle unless I give you direct
     orders, understood?” Dad’s eyes paused on mine. A warning.
    “He doesn’t want you here,” Kendrick said as we walked away. “I can tell.”
    “Yeah, I figured. Marshall’s probably punishing him for helping me sneak out earlier,”
     I said. “And he knows all the agents left behind will be pissed at me for getting
     picked.” Kendrick and I paid the entrance fee to get inside the castle and took our
     time, drifting casually to the assigned location.
    “What about you? Are you glad you’re here?” I asked her.
    “Honestly, I feel like I’m gonna barf,” she admitted.
    The hardest part about these assignments was that we couldn’t just call up the chancellor’s
     office and tell them it wasn’t safe to come here, because then the EOTs wouldn’t show
     up, either. Which would mean we wouldn’t know where to find them and they’d just plan
     another attack on the same person and we wouldn’t know about it. It was more effective
     to let them get as close to success as possible, then stop them. But also more risky.
    Both of us leaned against the castle wall, breathing heavy, waiting as the light drizzle
     of evening rain began to fall. We kept perfectly still as Freeman reported to everyone
     that the chancellor had arrived with her crew. A few minutes later they drifted past
     us. Eight subjects altogether. And there were only six of us to protect them.
    Kendrick stuck her hand out, feeling the raindrops hit more frequently. “I think they’re
     here.”
    “The EOTs?” I asked. “How do you know?”
    Her eyes were focused on the sky now. “The rain, you know—” Her head snapped forward
     and she stared right at me, eyes huge, then she looked away, mumbling, “Shit…”
    I remembered the storm that had hit so suddenly when Dad, Holly, Adam, and I were
     on the boat before I left that other timeline.
    “Wait a minute,” I said, grabbing her arm. “What about the rain? Is this something
     from your specialty classes?”
    She looked at me again with fear in her eyes. “Jackson … please don’t—”
    I shook my head, turning my focus back to the area we were supposed to be monitoring.
     “Forget it … don’t tell me.”
    And I’ll just figure it out later when I have time to think . There must be a reason they were trying to keep this from me.
    Stewart was next to shout through our earpieces, in muffled French. Water had run
     into my ear and I couldn’t tell what she was saying, but I could hear the slight panic
     in her voice.
    “What did she say?” I asked Kendrick.
    “There’s an explosive … on the north end … something she’s never seen before.”
    My eyes met Kendrick’s and I knew there was no avoiding it. Dad couldn’t leave us
     pressed against this wall any longer. Sure enough, he ran up behind us and didn’t
     even stop, just called over his shoulder, “Go … both of you.”
    He didn’t need to tell me twice. The rain fell in giant sheets as we tore through
     the outdoor corridors.
    “Okay, so I guess they should have picked Mason,” Kendrick shouted over her shoulder.
    “If you can figure out that