The Traveling Killer and Jason Smith

by S Jay Starring

  “You’ll make us all in trouble. Just he was with you yesterday, it enough for us to write a lot of reports. I think Prompt must kill me if I haven't stop your idea,”

  “I know Emma, it's breaking the rules but if we don't hurry to finish this case, there will be many women from many parallel universes get killed. I’ve followed this case to many parallel universes but no one or police give me this kind of information. I think he could help me a lot. And as you know, I’m not an expert in serial murder and I’m sure no one in this agency can,” Kate whispered to Emma while Jason was tried to overhear them curiously.

  Emma frowned with worried. She turned to look at Jason, who made a curious face stood in the middle of the room with a sick bag in his hand.

  “This’s not a coincidence, right? You made him stray here,” Emma muttered and sighed.

  “I swear, it’s an accident, Emma,” Kate insisted on a strong voice and serious face.

  @@@@@@

  Kate was putting a black necktie on Jason’s neck in front of the office that looked like the inside person has a big position because the door made from a good polished wooden. The floor was covered with thick expensive carpet, when walked on it there’s no sound from the heels of the shoes. The wall hung beautiful pictures of scenery and all framed well. Jason noticed that those pictures changed every two minutes, looked like it’s not just a cheap picture frame.

  There was a large luxury secretary desk located near the luxury wooden door with a thin monitor and a bit of paperwork. The secretary now were talking to the person behind that polish wooden door.

  “You may know him from your universe, but don't say anything about the job position of him.... he quite sensitive. Unless he in your universe is just a sausage seller or something very normal life,” Kate said.

  “Why I have to do this?” Jason moaned while stood still and let Kate putting a necktie on him. Just new clothes two meals and a set of toothbrushes in exchange for helping her solved a serial murder case in another parallel universe sounded a bit too much.

  He had been dragged out of Emma’s lab by Kate. She told him to talk with someone the most important of this place.

  “You must help me, Jess. If it’s not you, then who?” Kate said, pulled the necktie on Jason's neck tightly. He made a warped face. “Okay, you look handsome now,”

  “Kate, I still don't know who the killer is and where to find him. I just analyze according to the information I have. It doesn't mean I understand what he does,” Jason said, loosened the necktie from his neck a bit. He felt awkward that Kate tied him down like this, but he didn't know how to deny it. She never gave him a chance to say anything.

  “I know, but we can help each other. I believe you are good as our Jason Smith,” She smiled confidently.

  Didn't know why she believed in him so much like this. It was true that he could analyze some of the killer story but it didn't mean he could really do this job. And with these 16 parallel universes, before Jason could catch the killer he might retire.

  “Kate what about my job in my universe,” Jason complained.

  Kate looked at him, thinking “I remember that you have two followers. They seem to be a good cop. They can handle for remaining cases,”

  “Oh, Kate why you are so headstrong like this. The job in my universe is also important, Ted and Todd are too young to do difficult cases. If I disappeared for a long time, the police station would definitely find someone to replace me. If I become unemployed, what would I do? I just lost one day they may set a team to find. I don't know what a good reason I should tell them that suddenly I disappeared with you from the coffee room,” Jason said fiercely.

  “Oh, you said you want to meet Jason Smith, right? I'll take you to see him,” Kate said. She deliberately changed the subject because he was upset.

  Kate pulled Jason's hand to follow her. On one side of the wall, many small picture frames were hanging. Each has a photograph of the agent in a different position.

  “This wall we will hang the picture of the agent who died on duty for honor and mourn. We call it the wall of honor. This is Jason. He and I used to work together as a partner. Since he died, I don't want to work as a partner again. I know it's wrong but ... I don't want to regret because losing the partner again,” Kate said with sad, pointing at one picture on the wall. Her voice shook a little like trying to hold the sob.

  Jason could remember when he saw the last frame, on the bottom of the picture has a name attached.

  ‘Jason Smith, 2025-2057’ felt strange to see his photo stuck on the wall, together with the agents who had died like this. He used to see and know some people in these pictures. Their faces looked like people from his universe, but most were still alive.

  Jason Smith here looked solemnly. He shaved well and looked clean. The hair was neat, the eyes looked determined.

  “... He looks ... boring,” Jason said.

  “Jess ... that is you,” Kate said, glared at him unpleasantly.

  “I know, he looks handsome like me but looks serious and boring,” Jason said, pouting and shrugged. He was a bit disappointed that he himself in another universe looked like a boring man like this. “How did he die?”

  “He's killed by drug dealers they travel between parallel universes. We followed their routes for almost half a year. He and I were lead agents to arrest them, but there was a fight. We could catch some of them, but we lose Jason,” Kate said.

  “I worked with him for almost four years. He taught me everything. Since when I came to work for this job, he trained me took care of me and advised both work and personal. When he has gone, I feel helpless,”

  Losing a partner who worked with would make her very sad and when she met Jason in the parallel universe B13 might make her feel more comfortable. That’s why she always be good with him.

  “I ... would like to help you. But how can I stay here? If I lose my job in my universe I'm probably in trouble,” Jason said.

  Kate moved to near him more and put her face close to his ear and whispered something. That caused him to get excited and his eyes were wide. “... That's... more than my salary almost ten times,” Jason muttered.

  Kate smiled at him. “Yes. This’s the number I also receive from here. I’ll offer you this salary in return. And if calculated with the exchange rate and the currency of the parallel universe B13, you may get a little less and have to pay for a fee rather expensive because your universe is not in the WHOLE group. But overall it's quite satisfying,”

  “You get this much salary?” Jason said surprisingly for the numbers that he just heard. Kate nodded and smiled at him for confirmation.

  Jason thought for a while and looked at the photo of Jason Smith on the wall.

  How good he was? Kate so admired him and if he was in the same situation, what would he decide? Would he help people from another universe? If his answer might save a lot of life.

  “.... Alright, I'll help you,” Jason said, it’s not just because of the money but he also wanted the killer to be arrest as well. And it would be exciting to live in another parallel universe for a little longer. This wasn’t a normal thing he could see every day on his universe. Although after he back to his universe he couldn’t tell anyone.

  And Jason's answer made Kate smiled so brightly back to him.

  “Thank you, Jess,” Her eyes looked ... so charming.

  Chapter 6

  After the beautiful secretary walked from that big wooden door. She strode to Kate and Jason immediately. Her face looked very serious.

  “Kate, I hope you know what you're doing. I’ve already told Prompt about him, and he’s very angry about what happened yesterday,” Maggie, the secretary said.

  That sounded like the situation wasn't as easy as they thought.

  “I understood, thank you, Maggie,” Kate said before breathed deeply to be calm and arranged her clothes to be neat. “Let's go, Jess,”

  Kate led Jason into the room. Large wooden doors were slowly opened. An
d inside was a luxury office with a high ceiling with a large chandelier decorated in the middle of the room. The light made the room warm. The four walls were beautiful patterned wallpapers. The curtains in the room were golden in length from the ceiling to the floor. With a large sofa set in the corner. Behind the desk, there was a fireplace as well. Was this the Sultan's office?

  Jason looked at the big desk with a luxurious golden lamp. “I know him,” Jason whispered to Kate excited, then he walked to the around 50-year-old man sitting on a large dignified black leather chair.

  “You are the president,” Jason blurted out, smiled widely. “I'm Jason Smith,” He extended his hand to the man but the other seemed to be in a bad mood. He just looked at Jason's hand with an unpleasant sight and his face became more sullen.

  Kate hurriedly pulled Jason's hand back. “Jess, I told you not to say that to him,” Kate whispered through her teeth that were tight together and dragged him to sit on a chair in front of the desk. She has already warned him about this but…nothing.

  “Um…well, this is Steve Prompt, he is the director of The Agency of Civil for Peacefulness and Security between Parallel universes of B07. And this is...” Kate was trying to introduce both of them to know each other.

  “I know, Isaac. He’s Jason Smith from the parallel universe B13. He came with you by ‘accident’ while you were traveling back here,” Steve said with a flat face. And after Kate introduced him, Jason stood up enthusiastically and extended his hand for Steve to shake hands again.

  Did he think he was going to shake hands with the president? But Steve was only looked at the right hand of Jason that had been extended for a while until Jason had to shrink his hand back shamefully.

  “Tell me, Isaac. Why do I have to break the rules of the agency by hiring Mr. Smith from another universe to help us solve this case?” Steve asked. The tone was smooth and cool, but his eyes looked like flaming on.

  Kate looked at him calmly. She gave a beam to warn Jason who’s fidgeting and looking around Steve's office with interested.

  “As you know, boss we just lost Jason and I think this Jason is suitable for this case…and…,” Kate said in a serious manner and looked more calm than usual.

  “That's ridiculous, Isaac. Any parallel universes has Jason Smith, and I don't think our agency needs another Jason Smith, especially Jason Smith from non- wormhole technology universe,” Steve chimed in and shrugged didn’t care.

  Despite the interrupted, Kate tried to continue. “I agree that other parallel universes also have Jason Smith. They work in different careers, but in B13 just only Jason Smith, who was sitting next to me do the case of three women murdered. The case we have to deal with that judged by WHOLE. He can analyze the information of the killer and the way to follow the killer. Jess said that the killer should have a problem with the left ear, so he put his symbol on every victim. Finding him, we may have to use the dust around the area where the body was found to analyze. It might be possible to know where the killer has traveled through the wormhole,” Kate said with confidence.

  “Why you think he is more special than everyone from our own agency, Isaac? I try to offer many skilled agents to work as your new partner but you just choose this man from another universe who accidentally here by your own mistake,” Steve said fiercely.

  “I know boss, the arrival of Jason B13 is because of my mistake, but the information he gave me that never ever a police officer from any parallel universes has noticed. Despite they are in the WHOLE group, but Jason from B13 has shared this information. Jason Smith, who just knew about other parallel universes and just knew that those young women came from another world,” Kate said breathlessly.

  “I thought he would be able to work perfectly in the part of Jason. And one more thing important, I think we should hurry to solve this case as quickly as possible. Otherwise, there will be many young women get killed. Think about it, boss. How many of them, at least three women will be killed in each universe, and how many from 16 parallel universes. I think we have to answer the question from WHOLE until we retire, if we can’t catch the killer and I won’t take chance,”

  Steve looked at her face and thought. She was so smart to use the number of death as an urge to make him made a decision. If the killer wasn’t captured, there would be 48 women died. Because of the tendency of the killer, he would definitely kill them in every universe.

  “I know you may uncomfortable with this. I also feel the same but at least let him help me for 1 month. I guarantee that he will find more evidence about this case, and if we can stop the killer, it means many young women still alive in their universes. And you could tell WHOLE, this is our agency performance that you are a director,” added Kate. Jason sat quietly listened to her with surprise, she was really good at negotiating.

  But what she bargained with Steve Prompt seemed impossible.

  “Kate, it’s too exaggerated,” Jason whispered through his teeth and stared at her. But Kate just frowned at him for stopped disturbing her, then she continued.

  “I know Jason has never let you down and I believe Jess ... umm I mean Jason from B13 will not disappoint you as well. Both of them may not be the same person and they have nothing in common, like habit or personality. But as far as I talk to him I think they have many similar things especially thinking method. At least please let me prove this, boss,” Kate said with a strong determination.

  Jason could only raise his hand for a question but Kate grabbed and pressed it down.

  Steve Prompt, the director of ACPSP looked at the face of a 26-year-old girl full of determination and then looked at the young man from another parallel universe while sighing.

  “.... Alright, I'll give him a chance. If he is really good as you said, but if something goes wrong or damage to the balance between parallel universes, I hope you will be the one who responsible for this, Isaac,”

  Kate smiled happily. She smiled at Jason, too, but he made a face like being confused with Steve's answer. What damage could he do to the parallel universe? So what happened when the parallel universes has losing balance, could we fix it?

  “Thank you so much, boss,” Kate said in a bright voice. She was really happy.

  “Oh, um... there's another thing I have to ask you, boss. Jess, he...being unable to go to work in his universe, is it possible that we will pay him a salary with my rate. I considered him as a specialist,” Kate continued, and Steve sighed before nodded.

  “Thank you again, boss. Thank you on behalf of Jess, too,” She continued because Jason was still doing a dull face..... When was he be a specialist? And he didn’t think that the director of The Agency of Civil for Peacefulness and Security between Parallel universes would easily agree with her.

  Then Kate pulled Jason's hand to walk out of that luxury office.

  @@@@@@

  “Don’t you think, it’s too exaggerate Kate? It’s impossible. One month? How can I find more evidence? We should talk about this before talking to him. I thought you’d give me more time,” Jason blurted out after they left Steve Prompt's office.

  “I know, it may be a bit boast, but at least it's a challenging goal, don’t you think so, Jess,” Kate said, smiling in a good mood.

  Challenge his butt... “Did you forget? I still vomit when using wormhole,” Jason said, frowning. “If I have to travel to another parallel universe to find the evidence or the killer, I definitely die,”

  Looked like Kate just reminded of this thing. She stared at Jason thoughtfully. “Then you have to start the training right now,” She said and pulled his hand to follow her.

  “Thank you very much, Maggie,” Kate said before out of the room.

  Maggie nodded to receive her gratitude with a bit confuse and then returned to continue typing the document. Seemed she didn't want to believe that Kate could get what she wanted.

  Kate and Jason quickly walked back to the lab for training using wormhole. They passed many rooms many elevators. Some people turned the switch on to m
ake a solid white wall which was strong as steel became transparent glass. Allowed Jason to see the city outside the building. There were a lot of skyscrapers and the streets had many levels. He could see many streets with two hundred to three hundred meters high from the ground and there were a lot of cars.

  They entered the one room that looked like for storage and spare parts.

  “Hello, Ted. Could you please help me to train Jess using wormhole?” Kate said to a young man in a lab coat. He was being busy with a piece of tools that looked like two large donuts.

  “Jess?” Ted asked and frowned.

  “Jason Smith from B13. I call him Jess, don’t want to confuse with our Jason. And he will work as my new partner to solve the case of three women,” Kate said.

  Ted nodded with surprisingly. No one expected that Kate would work with a person from another parallel universe without wormhole technology. Jason remembered he heard his voice yesterday when he was on the floor and suffering from sore eyes.

  “I think you know him, Jess,” Kate winked at Jason.

  Of course, Jason knew Ted Frinx before, but the man who was standing in front of him wasn’t Ted Frinx he knew. But he was Ted Frinx from parallel universe B07, although he looked like Ted that he knew, but he wasn’t Jason's underling at the police station.

  “Um... I'm Jason Smith,” He introduced himself awkwardly, felt strange to get to know Ted again.

  Ted looked at his face thoughtfully “Yes ... I know who you are. You look like him but not him. And yesterday, you made me vomit, too,” This was a very very friendly greeting. His manner seemed very arrogant and unfriendly different from Ted Frinx B13.

  Jason would have to be careful when talking to people here, so he wouldn’t act informally with them too much. Because for them Jason was just a stranger who first met.

  “Are you serious about this, Kate? This is my personal opinion. I think we should send him back to his universe, and if necessary, we should erase his memory. He knows too much. I don’t understand the law, why we have to wait until it’s proven that those who have lost into the wormhole tell other people about traveling to other parallel universes. Then take them to court and wait for decree before deleting the memory,” Ted turned to speak with Kate, glanced at Jason and shook his head, tired.