Page 74 of Wild Oblivion

We walked back into the salon.

“Hey, buddy. We’ve got a little problem.”

“The problem is I need another beer. And we should call some honeys. There’s no action around here tonight.”

“I’m afraid it’s a little more complicated than that.” Jack cringed. “Do you remember where you hid the crystal?”

Henrik’s face wrinkled. “Why?”

“Well, there’s no easy way to put this.” He told him the bad news.

Henrik’s face went long. Then he clenched his jaw. “That vile son-of-a-bitch!”

“We’ll sort this out, but we need something to bargain with. We’ve got roughly 24 hours.”

“Or what?”

“You know what.”

A grim frown tugged his face. “Klaus must not be allowed to get that crystal. It is imperative. Do you know what he will do!?”

“It’s all theoretical at this point,” I said. “No one has really traveled through time. Klaus Brenner is von Markov’s grandson. There is a logical explanation for all this.”

Henrik glared at me. “I know what I experienced all those years ago. I know how powerful the Vrilkristall is. This technology must not fall into enemy hands. My family has made great sacrifices to ensure this technology would never be misused. I’m not compromising our future or our past now.”

I still didn’t buy into the whole thing, but Henrik sure did.

“He’s going to kill Giselle if he doesn’t get what he wants,” I said.

“If he gets what he wants, do you know how many other people will die? He will change the course of history. This…” he said, motioning around. “All of this could vanish.”

He snapped his fingers.

“What if he’s right?” Jack muttered.

I shared a look of doubt with JD, then said to Henrik, “Are you really going to let your granddaughter die?”

Sadness filled the old man’s eyes.

38

"So where is it?" I asked.

"Just hold your damn horses,” Henrik replied. “I'm thinking."

I shared an anxious look with Jack.

Henrik looked like he was working out a complex mathematical problem. "I got it," he said with a smile. "I buried it in the backyard."

"At the retirement home?"

His face twisted. "No. The backyard of my home."

"Great,” Jack said. “We'll go dig it up.”

"There may be one slight problem," Henrik cautioned. "I don't own the place anymore."

We both stared at him.