1 Life 2 Die 4 by Dean Waite

speed, as we followed
the gently curving path round to the right past the lagoon area,
she threw me a quick glance.
    “That’s how they manage to get these bozos to
appear right where we’re headed all the time – the previous guys
send an update on our movements back to the future so the team
there knows where to send the next assassins.”
    “So we’re safe now?” I asked hopefully.
    A wry grin touched those sensational lips of
hers. “Not for long – they know where we were, so they’ll just send
assassins to various points around there until they locate us. I’m
afraid it won’t take them long. But it’ll certainly cost them.”
    I frowned.
    “Why do you keep talking about it ‘costing’
them?”
    “Energy-wise, it’s an expensive exercise
sending something back through Time. Sahissi might have access to
enormous quantities of energy from power stations right across the
globe, but eventually he’ll run out. The question is will our
meagre supply, courtesy of the tiny Australian energy grid, outlast
his.”
    “How could we possibly outlast him if he’s
got so much more than us?” I asked doubtfully.
    “It’s not just about who’s got more,” she
explained. “It’s also about how they use it. For instance, Sahissi
used up almost half of his entire supply just opening the Time
Channel through to here. Yet we were able to locate it and
piggy-back things through using only a tiny fraction of the energy
he burnt up.
    “And think about the types of things both
sides have sent back. Pound for pound it takes heaps more energy to
transport a living thing, so we’ve relied more on sending equipment
than personnel. Meanwhile, Sahissi has been sending anything and
everything he damn well pleases. Although he can certainly afford
that luxury for some time, his wastefulness and over-confidence
will be costing him big-time. He probably thought he’d wipe you out
with his very first assassin, ‘cause at that point, he hadn’t
realised I was in the game. But by now, I reckon he’ll be starting
to sweat about how little energy he has left.” A dry smile touched
her lips. “Of course, given the type of arrogant bastard he is,
instead of being more careful, he’ll just try hitting us even
harder before he completely runs out.”
    While she’d been speaking, Veronica had
slowed and veered the car smoothly to the right, off the River walk
and onto a path leading diagonally away from it. Now, up ahead I
could see the bright blooms of the Grand Arbour again. Before I
knew it, we were turning back into the living tunnel of bright
purple flowers and accelerating away to the east.
    Despite Veronica’s insistence that they would
find us again soon, I felt myself beginning to relax as I glanced
around at our decidedly non-hostile surroundings.
    “Perhaps he’s already run out,” I ventured.
“Maybe we’ve won!”
    “’Fraid not,” she replied
matter-of-factly.
    I felt myself bristle at her pessimism.
    “What makes you so sure?” I asked
shortly.
    She threw me a quick grin.
    “Have you forgotten already?
You told
me
.”
    While I struggled to digest her words, we
flew out of the end of the Arbour and she cut left, heading for the
Goodwill pedestrian bridge which arced back over the River.
I
told her!
    “What do you mean, I told you?” I
demanded.
    “Try to keep up, Darling - you told me pretty
much everything you know about today,” she reminded me
matter-of-factly.
    Turning red again at being called ‘Darling’,
I blinked. I had almost forgotten. Or perhaps it was just that my
mind had refused to accept it at the time. Either way, as we
accelerated up the gentle rise of the bridge, I struggled to get my
head around the ludicrous idea. She actually believed she knew
exactly what was going to happen because I had told her about it in
the future!
    “So if you know it all, why the hell don’t
you just avoid these mongrels?”
    I frowned as a dark shadow seemed to pass
across her face before a