Time Hopper (2019 Reissue)

  Time Hopper

  Tamsin Baker

  Title © copyright 2019. Tamsin Baker

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Time Hopper

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  THE END. | Continue the Time Hopper Series in book two. | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XXXTQ7J | My newsletter subscription page: | https://www.subscribepage.com/h2e8n9

  About the Author

  Read More from Tamsin Baker | https://www.tamsinbakererotic.com/

  Time Hopper

  She’s a time cop who’s never broken a law... until the day her sister is murdered.

  Then all bets are off.

  I love my job. I love my life.

  I hop through time, catch the bad guys.

  What was more important than the system that keeps us all safe?

  My sister, for one thing.

  The morning I wake up to find my sister has been murdered overnight,

  I immediately try to hop back in time to stop her death.

  But it’s against the rules.

  Illegal.

  Well the rules can take a flying leap.

  I’m saving my sister.

  And if that means asking Geoff for help,

  A super rough English guy who’s done jail time for time-hopping backwards,

  Then I will.

  *** This is a slow burn, action packed, Urban Fantasy with a sci-fi twist.

  Author Note: This is part one of an Urban Fantasy trilogy that was originally published in 'Rogue Skies' and reached the USA best selling list.

  Chapter 1

  I pumped my arms faster by my sides, clinging to the gun in my hand. I increased my speed by pushing my legs to run faster.

  Damn this guy was quick.

  “Stop! ICPD!” I yelled the words into the wind and the fleeing man looked over his shoulder him and saw me. He faced forward again, and kept on running.

  I grinned, despite myself.

  They never listened.

  Even when they later professed to not having done anything wrong. They always ran.

  I didn’t mind. It made the arrest so much more satisfying.

  I jumped over a sidewalk bench and dodged a mother with a stroller. She screamed with terror as we zoomed by.

  I heard words on the wind. He was yelling something at me, but he wasn’t stopping to make sure I could hear. And I’m not going to stop until I catch him.

  They, the accused, always pled innocence once I had them in my grasp. They tried to convince me they’ve done nothing wrong.

  Which they hadn’t. Not yet.

  That’s why I was chasing this man today. To make sure his crime never happens.

  “Stop!” I yelled out again.

  My heart was racing in time with the pounding of my feet against the pavement, my footfalls echoing in my ears.

  I glanced around. There were too many people. Time hopping here was not possible. It was against the rules to hop within a hop.

  But I’d do it soon.

  Nothing was more important than preventing this man’s future crime.

  We dodged more people walking their dogs, or just heading out for breakfast on this sunny Saturday morning.

  Two weeks in the future.

  The weather was getting nice. Warm sunshine was always something to look forward to.

  I shook my head, forcing myself to focus on the job in front of me. I dashed forwards as a break in the crowd allowed me more room to sprint.

  The man, the perp I was chasing, looked back again, obviously hoping he’d lost me in the crowds.

  No luck there.

  I always got my man. Or woman.

  I met his gaze and his eyes widened with fear as he bolted across the street, the loud blare of a taxi horn screaming in my ears.

  “Argh.”

  I slid across the hood of the car that honked at me and couldn’t help the chuckle in my throat as the man made the wrong decision. He sprinted across the street and into a park.

  Open plain.

  Perfect.

  I could easily catch him now if I bent the rules a little. No-one would see me here.

  A thrill zinged through me like a bolt of lightning as I clapped my hands once and focused on where I needed to go.

  I shot straight through a time tunnel and popped out the other side, right in front of my target.

  He was bigger than I’d anticipated, a good fifty pounds heavier than me.

  He cried out as he tried to make a sharp turn to avoid me. Then a strange snap sounded as his legs gave out and he tumbled sideways onto the grass.

  I stuck my gun into its holster as I swooped down on him, knocking him further to his belly with my knees in his back, pulling his arms behind him.

  “Arnold Finch. You’re under arrest.”

  A thrill shot up my spine as I said those words.

  I loved this part.

  I pulled standard police issue metal cuffs from my belt and wrapped them around his wrists, clicking them shut with a heavy snap.

  One of my favorite sounds in this world.

  Well, other than the sound the air makes as I jump through time. It’s like a whirly click, with a hint of jasmine floating on the breeze.

  There was little else that gave me more pleasure than that.

  “I didn’t do anything!” the man beneath me protested, and I pulled at his shirt until he was on his knees, and then hefted him to his feet.

  I grunted with the effort, my fingers digging into his shirt.

  “Not yet, you haven’t.”

  This was the part where they begged.

  He groaned and rolled his eyes as though he knew exactly what I meant. “I wasn’t going to do it. I wasn’t! Just because I thought some bad things about my wife, doesn’t mean I’d ever actually hurt her.”

  I’d heard it too many times to count. The perpetrators always denied guilt, never being accountable for the actions they would most certainly have committed if I’d given them the time to do it.

  “Well, you’ll have all the time in the world now, to explain how you never intended to kill your wife.”

  He groaned again as I pushed him forwards so that he’d walk towards the street.

  I stopped him and considered my options again.

  I wasn’t supposed to time hop across town when I arrested someone. The rules said that the only hops that were to be used were to go forward in time, then back to your own time.

  Nothing more.

  But this guy was at least fifty pounds heavier than me, six inches taller, and someone who was destined to become
a murderer.

  Not a man I wanted to walk twenty blocks through the city. For my safety, but mostly for the safety of the community.

  How would I explain it if he knocked a woman into the path of car, or something equally as horrific?

  Nope. The rules were meant to be bent a little, surely, when it came to public safety.

  I released the hold I had on his shirt and clapped my hands once, the zing of energy and magic in my palms making a smile lift my lips.

  A hole appeared before us and the man yelped.

  “Let’s go, Mr. Finch.”

  “I’m not going through there.”

  As if he had a choice.

  I put a hand in the middle of his back and pushed. Hard.

  “Oh, yes, you are.”

  Arnold stumbled forwards, his hands still handcuffed behind his back. I followed behind him, slipping through the time hop, one minute forward in time.

  That familiar sizzle swept over my skin, making me shiver with delight.

  We landed exactly where I had planned. The side corner of the police station, out of view of all the uniformed officers who didn’t like my special gifts, nor me using them in front of the “normals.”

  Speaking of normal... Arnold Finch lurched forward, bending in half.

  “Oh, God, I’m going to be sick.”

  My suspect staggered sideways, towards the concrete wall.

  I gripped his arm tightly and stayed close.

  They’d attempted to run off on me before, these criminals. After all, they had nothing to lose once they’d been identified as a definite threat and I’d found them. They knew that our justice system had been honed to a fine art. There’d be no way of getting out of this charge now.

  I threw him a bone, though I didn’t care if he vomited or not.

  “It’ll pass in thirty seconds. Take a deep breath and let’s go.”

  He shivered a little, but got to his feet once again, for which I was grateful. If he decided to turn into a dead weight, a sack of potatoes I couldn’t move, then I’d have to call in some reinforcements.

  “Let’s go, Mr. Finch.”

  I heaved him around the corner and towards the entrance to the police station.

  The uniformed officers gave me sidelong looks as I pulled the perp into the building.

  I tugged on my leather jacket and stared straight ahead.

  Ignoring their condemning stares was difficult. It still rankled me. Made me feel about three inches tall.

  Five years into this job and many on the force thought I was some sort of freak.

  It wasn’t fair, or just. They should be grateful for my talents and those like me. Crime was down by ninety percent.

  Luckily the officers in my own station knew me, liked me. Although they did jump a little when I turned up in the future and then hopped back again. But at least they didn’t make me feel bad about my unique abilities.

  Speaking of which, maybe going to my police station would be a better decision.

  “Into the conference room, Mr. Finch.”

  I turned right, opened the door, then shut it again.

  I clapped once and the air around us whirled.

  “Oh, no. Not again.”

  “Yep. Let’s go.”

  I pushed him forward and this time he walked through practically on his own. There was a certain buzz of adrenaline from time hopping, and despite the nausea, Mr. Finch would get the buzz too.

  We time hopped forward one single minute again, this time landing just outside my own police station, the 4th precinct.

  Arnold staggered but didn’t fall over this time.

  “This way, Mr. Finch.”

  I held tight to his shirt as I weaved through the bevy of detectives standing on the steps and inside the precinct.

  I presented him to the arrest desk with a smile at the woman I saw almost every day.

  “Checking in Mr. Arnold Finch. On future arrest warrant 21031. Officer Sarah Pollax.”

  I pulled the crumpled paperwork from my back pocket and slid it across the desk.

  “Hello, Officer Pollax. You’ve been busy already today.”

  I smiled, relaxing into the comfort of my workplace.

  Yep, it was the right choice to bring him here, rather than go somewhere closer to the arrest point.

  I needed to do that from now on.

  It meant more paperwork for me, but an overall better experience for the whole day.

  “You know me, Suzie. The early bird catches the worm.”

  Arnold began to beg. “You need to listen to me. I didn’t do anything, and I wasn’t about to. I swear it.”

  I ignored his request. “My desk is this way, Mr. Finch.” I walked behind him as he trudged through the police station.

  “Stop.”

  He stopped and I turned him around.

  “Let’s get these off you.” I unlocked the metal cuffs from his wrists and directed him into the chair at my desk.

  He was logged into the system and I could relax now. Because no matter which direction he ran, if decided to be that stupid, there was an officer ready to take him down.

  I sat at my chair and logged into my computer.

  “All right, Arnold. Let me pull up your file and I’ll let you know the details of your crime.”

  He groaned and gripped the desk in front of him as I flipped through the files on my computer. Damn slow machine. It needed an upgrade.

  The perp banged his fist on the desk, obviously frustrated with the lag time.

  I felt that way about our technology sometimes, too.

  “I didn’t do anything! How many times do I need to tell you this? Look... what’s your name?”

  I’d said my name more than once in the last little while, but he obviously hadn’t been listening.

  I glanced over at the man opposite me, with intense brown eyes and shaggy hair that had passed the days of needing a good haircut a month ago.

  “Officer Sarah Pollax.”

  I repressed the need to explain what and who I was. I didn’t look like a police officer, I knew. With my purple hair, leather jacket and blue leggings, I looked more like an aspiring musician or barista at a local coffee shop.

  But my appearance gave me access to practically every place on Earth and my skin-tight clothing kept me warm in the drafts of time hopping. Something a “normal” would never understand.

  His clenched fists uncurled and his hands slid into his lap, cupped and relaxed. “Sarah... you need to listen to me. I know this isn’t your fault, but your superiors... They’ve made a major mistake. I am not who you think I am.”

  I glanced at the screen.

  “Name, Arnold Finch. Occupation, computer programmer. Date of birth, 22nd of April, 1984. Date of crime, 31st of November, 2020, three weeks from now.”

  His eyebrows shot up and he swallowed awkwardly.

  “I... Look, that’s me on your computer. But I wasn’t going to murder my wife, I wasn’t. I swear! No one can guarantee the future. I could have changed my mind at any time. There’s something wrong with this system, Sarah. I just know it.”

  I looked at him, bored now. I heard the same thing all the time.

  “That’s Officer Pollax. And how do you figure that, Mr. Finch?”

  He pinned me with a glare that struck me right to the depths of my chest. The anger and betrayal were ugly. I could see the murderer behind the shaggy haircut now.

  “Because they’ve got this wrong. I swear on my own life. I would never have done it.”

  Something inside me shook at his conviction.

  Was that anger a murdered? Or a man who believed the system had failed him?

  I shook myself. I couldn’t even let myself think that way. The system worked- it had to. Or what were we doing this for?

  I smiled grimly at the man who, back in the day, would have murdered his wife in a few weeks. I was sure of it.

  And, back then he may have even gotten away with it. With a good lawyer, bad police wo
rk and a lot of luck.

  A lethal combination.

  But not anymore. The early criminal detection system was foolproof.

  Or so they said.

  “Sit tight, Mr. Finch. I’m going to find my associate and get your paperwork processed. Don’t go anywhere.”

  I made my way over to Terry Thomas, my direct superior.

  “Hey, Terry. I picked up Arnold Finch just now. He’s at my desk. Would you like me to process him, or...?”

  Terry shook his head and said what he always said to me.

  “Great job, Sarah. But I think Max or Sam can take it from here.”

  Disappointing, but he seemed to think that I was only useful on one front.

  I nodded at him and did what he said.

  I let one of the “real cops” sort him out.

  Sometimes I felt like a bounty hunter instead of a police officer.

  I walked past Sam, who nodded at me, and headed to my desk to collect my perp. Sam was dressed in the ugly navy uniform they all wore.

  Me, on the other hand, I was comfortable, relaxed, colorful and still got to carry a gun.

  I really shouldn’t complain.

  I rubbed my temples and took a detour, walking towards the break room to pour myself a cup of coffee. The caffeine withdrawal headache was eating at the back of my skull, and some hot java was just what I needed to beat it away.

  It was a common side effect of time hopping, our caffeine addiction.

  Or were the headaches caused by jumping through the time-line continuum?

  The classic chicken and the egg problem, but either way, I needed the black stuff as much as I needed air or food.

  And food for me was optional some days.

  Coffee was not.

  I clicked the espresso machine on and grabbed my huge, purple mug from the top shelf.

  Something the perp had said to me just now was niggling at my gut, like an unknown secret long forgotten.

  He said the system was broken.

  He said they’d gotten it wrong.

  And although I’d heard it all before, and at the time of arrest had been convinced he was just like all the others, the conviction I’d heard in his voice was hard to shake.

  I checked my watch. Damn, it was later than I’d thought. Must have lost some hours through the jumps that I hadn’t accounted for.