by Keith Hughes
CHAPTER SEVEN: Plan B
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 6:56 p.m.
Despite how much time Ness spent around the deceased at work, the specter of death had never appeared as imminent and threatening as it did in that moment. If Glenn had any idea of the proximity of his prey, Ness would’ve been as dead as those two police officers. An irrational fear rose in his throat, nearly gagging him. His mind’s eye kept fabricating an image of Glenn bursting through the door to relieve him of his life and the PDA—most likely in that order.
He was hidden in the apartment across the hall from his own. The owner, Lori, had left for a week-long cruise and given him a key so he could tend to the fish in the massive tank dominating her living room.
Through the door’s peephole, he had witnessed the arrival of Glenn and his goons. The two burly men were of a similar ilk, and in a fit of whimsy, Ness had named them Thing One and Thing Two. Perhaps to keep his mind off his shudders when he looked at Glenn. Ness kept replaying the memory of those cold, steely eyes staring at him as Glenn’s gun went off. It would have ended his life if Ness hadn’t escaped into time.
Still reeling from the horror of watching the brutal execution of the two police officers, Ness realized he was in way over his head. Before, his belief in the danger the Intellisys operatives posed had been intellectual, but watching the officers in their last seconds of life, the threat became visceral.
As Glenn pulled the bodies of the policemen into his apartment, Ness forced himself away from the door. He looked around in a daze, trying to bring his roiling mind under some form of control. He stared numbly at his camera bag. Other than the PDA and the envelope of cash, it was the only possession he had taken before fleeing the apartment.
“Okay, Ness, reason this out.” Maybe talking out his options would get him out of his shock or even generate something like an idea. “If I try to escape through the door, I’m as good as dead. Even if I sneak past as he’s tearing my apartment to pieces and get to street level, the Things will be waiting for me.”
He found himself before the aquarium. The fish engaged in a to-and-fro patrol, like a mimicry of his own pacing. They were as trapped as he was. Turning his back on the fish, Ness tried to ignore the helplessness the comparison engendered. He looked again at the door and frowned.
“Okay, so Plan A is out. So, what’s Plan B?”
His eyes gravitated toward the only other egress from the room: the large sliding door leading to the balcony. His apartment faced Main Street, but Lori had not been so lucky, as her balcony gave her a view of the unadorned brick wall of a neighboring building.
Traffic and muted voices of pedestrians became audible when he slid the glass door aside. Stepping out on the small balcony, he studied the building opposite him, devoid of any features other than rows upon rows of brick. Any attempt to jump across the gap would obviously be futile. Ness leaned over the railing. There were two levels of balconies below him, followed by the longer drop to the alley’s pavement. Gaps in the cement walls of the parking structure gave him a view of the cars parked below the living spaces.
“I am not seriously considering this, am I?”
He grimaced with reluctant determination. Glancing back at his camera bag, Ness considered for only a second before deciding to leave it behind. Scaling the balconies could be his only way to the street without ending up with a Thing’s beefy hand on his shoulder, but there was no need to encumber himself with a heavy bag full of delicate equipment. Ness slid the door shut again before moving to the shorter side railings. He took a second to ensure the PDA and Bertrand’s cash were safe in his pants pockets. Then before he could find another reason to delay, he climbed over the rail to stand on the outside, his heels hanging off the edge.
Carefully working his way to his knees, he tried to ignore the drop-off. He let his feet dangle, then, grabbing the vertical rails, he shifted off his knees and hung. His white-knuckled grip was all that kept him from falling.
Man, this is a bad idea. The pavement waited far, far below him, and he forced himself to look away. He had only one option—to swing into the balcony below. He slowly began swinging his legs back and forth like a pendulum. When he estimated he had enough momentum, he released his grip on the rails.
Ness had never enjoyed the sensation of falling. Even when riding roller coasters, he loved the speed, curves, and g-forces, but he hated the first hill and the sensation of being dragged downward. As he dropped from the balcony, the fall became his sole focus.
When his foot hit something other than the cement surface of the balcony itself, Ness knew he’d forgotten something important. Most of the balconies were filled with a twin set of tasteful metal chairs, along with a small table. The balcony below Lori’s was no exception, and Ness landed on an unyielding seat. It skittered across the cement to slam against the railing with a metallic clang.
He lacked time to consider the noise before he hit the rough surface. He rolled, trying to come to a stop gracefully. When his tumble finally ended, Ness was on his knees, experiencing a mixed sense of achievement and apprehension, though his body protested the treatment.
I made it! Did anyone hear that?
Looking below, he noticed the van parked directly below him. He could see only part of it due to the last level of balconies, but he found its presence there suspicious. Ness pulled back from the railing when he heard the driver’s door open with a shriek of rust. He sat on the concrete and slowly regained his equilibrium. The scent of burning tobacco prompted another careful look over the rail. Another beefy man, impossibly larger than the other two of Glenn’s companions, stood leaning against the hood of the van, enjoying a cigarette.
Thing Three, those cigarettes are very bad for you.
The heavily muscled driver did not have any interest in anything above him, so Ness assumed his noisy landing had gone unnoticed by the man below. Ness peeked through the glass door, expecting to see whoever resided here staring back at him. However, nothing looked back at him but a darkened living space. His luck had held again. No one was home. He turned his attention back to street level and the smoking goon.
How long will it take him to finish the cigarette?
Thing Three strolled lazily toward the far end of the alley, giving Ness an opening. He peeked at his landing area on the balcony below. Crowded with a grill against the wall and the ubiquitous table-and-chairs combo, it offered few options for a safe landing, but it was directly down. Not allowing himself to hesitate, he stepped over the railing and dropped to the next balcony below.
The free-fall descent went much better, and he stopped in a crouch right before the grill as if he were an experienced cat burglar. A quick check on Thing Three confirmed he still had a short way to go until the end of the alley.
Ness only had time for a quick examination of the opening into the closest parking level, which exposed several parked cars. The oversized gap by itself should present no problems, as it was relatively close and was easily large enough for him to pass through. What concerned him were the steel cables stretched across the bottom third of the opening. He judged the clearance above the cables was wide enough for him to jump through and land between the cars, if only just.
He had to hold onto the bars with only one hand so he could angle his body toward the building. The pain of his entire weight hanging by one arm turned out to be more intense than he had anticipated. His joints shrieked with agony on every swing. He had almost steeled himself for the jump when he heard a shout. Thing Three ran toward him, his cigarette hanging forgotten from his lip.
When his legs neared the top of his arc, he released the rail. Almost immediately, Ness knew the height of his arc would not be enough. Even though he lifted his legs, Ness’s toes caught the top cable, pitching him face-first through the opening. His right arm slammed into a car’s mirror as he fell to his knees between two vehicles. The sharp bite of his scrapes and bruises paled next to the intense pain in his arm. H
is shirt had been ripped and stained with spattered blood from a cut in his biceps.
Not unlike what my future self had. Am I only repeating the mistakes of my doppelganger from the future?
The painful impact of a meaty hand on his shoulder cut short this dark line of reasoning. Pulling him from between the cars, the goon shoved Ness toward an unoccupied corner of the structure. Thing One followed, dialing a cell phone with his free hand.
When Ness stood in the confining corner, hemmed in by cars on either side, his captor released his shoulder. Turning his body to hide his movements, Ness carefully pulled out the PDA and set up a three-hour jump into the past. The goon reported his capture, and Ness pressed the launch button. When he arrived, he had to use his hand to block the mid-afternoon brightness until his eyes adjusted. As expected, Thing One no longer blocked his path.
He jogged out the parking ramp and across the street to a sporting goods store. It took mere minutes for Ness to select his weapon, the heaviest wooden baseball bat they had. He returned to the same spot in the parking structure with his purchase, adopted a batter’s stance, and pressed the return button on the PDA.
Ness hardly noticed the time-shifting effects as he arrived back in the corner with Thing One still on the phone. Ness slipped the PDA into a pocket and gripped the bat with both hands. The thug had turned away to use his phone, but he twisted his head slightly to check on his captive.
And a-swing, batter!
Ness swung as if he wanted to clear the bases. The bat connected with the back of Thing One’s head, producing a solid thunk of wood against bone. Thing One’s look of surprise faded as he dropped into unconsciousness.
Ness stepped over the bruiser and jogged to street level. At the entrance, he took his batter’s stance again. The bully boy from the alley came around the corner, running full tilt. Ness swung, holding the bat lower, and it impacted Thing Three’s midriff with a sharp crack. The goon’s diaphragm emptied his lungs in a great rush of air.
The noticeably warped bat had split near the narrow handle, bending it at a strange angle. Dropping his makeshift club with a clatter, Ness took off running. When he reached Main Street, his timing was perfect, as an available cab was already approaching. A frantic wave brought the car to the curb. He tugged at the door handle before the car came to a complete stop.
“Head south.” Speaking took effort as he struggled to pull in air. After a couple blocks, he peered out the back window. The white van turned the corner, clearly in pursuit. Ness sat back in the seat and closed his eyes. He had to lose these men, but he had no idea how. Even with access to amazing time-travel technology and after his audacious feat of ill-advised gymnastics to descend to street level, Ness could not assume himself beyond the reach of Intellisys’s muscle.
If I am going to survive this, I need to use some ingenuity instead of taking the obvious options.
They held most of the advantages: strength, weapons, and tracking ability. Ness needed to stop running blindly and find a way to use the PDA to give him an edge. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to best leverage this technology. Ness had only a limited time to figure it out in the midst of this unrelenting pursuit.
CHAPTER EIGHT: Window-shopping
Tuesday, September 09, 2008 7:25 p.m.
Ness’s best hope for survival existed in anonymity, someplace where he could blend in with a larger mass of humanity. The more people he had around him, the better his chances of giving Glenn the slip. Ness also hoped they were less likely to put a bullet in him in a public place. He tried not to rely too much on his last assumption, as he had a sinking sensation that Glenn would take a shot no matter who was watching.
A few minutes of mental searching recalled a location meeting those requirements: Madison Mall. The large shopping complex should be busy this time of day, and the building’s widely spaced exits made controlling entry and exit difficult with only a few people. Ness told the cabbie to take him there.
Of course, if Glenn can call on reinforcements, I might simply be trapping myself again. Ness frowned but dismissed the idea. If his pursuers could call upon a high level of manpower on such short notice, his cause was lost anyway.
As he had hoped, the full parking lot had many people in transit to and from their cars. Another glance behind confirmed the van was still following him, although traffic continued to separate them. Their line of sight had to be broken long enough for Ness to exit the cab without being seen.
“Can you do a loop around the mall?”
“Sure, buddy.” The driver laughed. “You keep the meter running, and we can go around all night.”
The mall was laid out like a Y, and they were currently halfway along the central stem and moving toward the bottom. At the end, they would navigate the sharp turn, which Ness hoped would give him the window he needed to jump out and get inside without being seen by his pursuers. The wait took forever, as they had to slow for traffic and pedestrians. Fortunately, the white van had to deal with the same obstacles. As they neared the corner, Ness handed the cabbie three twenty-dollar bills, which more than covered the fare.
“Don’t stop the cab, but go slow enough so I can jump out near the doors. Do me a favor and drive to the other end of the mall before you leave. You can keep the change.”
The driver’s eyes widened at the amount of cash, but he agreed. When the cab turned the corner, the driver kept the speed low, and Ness jumped out, pushing the door closed behind him. He sprinted for the doors and entered the mall. Once inside, he moved as fast as he could without running outright. A person in a hurry was not particularly memorable, but someone running tended to draw attention.
He stopped at an ATM to replenish his cash supply. He didn’t know if Glenn had access to banking records, but he assumed it would take time for Glenn to find out about the transaction. The machine dispensed his money, and Ness glanced toward the glass doors of the entrance. He saw the van stop, and Thing One climbed out the side door. With a grimace, Ness grabbed the money before moving deeper into the mall. When he came across a clothing store, he ducked inside.
He picked a pair of jeans in his size and a red T-shirt from a rack. He trusted the size marked on them, as he could not spare time to bother with the changing room. He paid for his purchases, then as he went to leave the store, he noticed Thing One standing at the opening. Regretting his decision to change somewhere else, Ness made eye contact with Glenn’s henchman, and his stomach clenched. The goon gave him a malevolent grin and stepped into the store. Instead of responding, Ness ran the other way, clutching the bag filled with his purchases.
He hurried into the employee-only section of the store, where he pushed his way past a female employee, who shouted a protest. Passing shelves filled with clothing and boxes, Ness ignored them and focused on a gray door at the other side of the room. He slammed into the exit bar, releasing the latch right before his full weight came to bear.
The door swung away as Ness pushed through, only stopping when he hit the wall on the other side of the hallway. A hydraulic mechanism pulled the door shut again with a bang. He found himself in a hallway that stretched away in both directions. A series of doors on the right provided access to the shops. He ran along the corridor toward the middle of the mall.
The bang of the door opening behind him came all too soon, followed by the pounding footsteps of Thing One. The hallway held little he could use to his advantage. Fire extinguishers were mounted to the wall every hundred feet or so, but otherwise, he was running in a cinder-block tube. He was confident the doors would be locked from this side and, based on the nearby sound of the thug’s footfalls, stopping would be disastrous.
If only I had some help, Ness wished, then a wonderful idea came to him. Still running full tilt, he dropped his bag of clothes and pulled out the PDA. He set a time jump a minute into the future and pressed the launch button. When he arrived, he was still moving forward at top speed. It took all his concentration to stay on his fee
t as he reacted to the effects of his trip, but he managed it. As he had surmised, the jump in time had allowed Thing One to pass, and Ness approached him from behind. The goon slowed as he cautiously approached the copy of Ness waiting ahead, standing next to one of the fire extinguishers.
Despite his gasping and the protest of his leg muscles, Ness increased his speed a little bit more. The thug became aware of him at the last instant, but before he could look behind, Ness lowered a shoulder and drove into his back. Both pitched forward to the concrete floor, with Ness landing on Thing One’s back. The bruiser’s head hit the surface with a thud, making Ness wince. As they fell, Ness was grateful he’d managed to keep a hold on the PDA.
Rolling off, Ness groaned as his own body protested the impact. His shoulder screamed in pain as if he had run into a brick wall, and he had a rubbery ache in his legs brought about by not having run for far too long. The goon’s groan attracted Ness’s attention. Thing One lifted his head when Ness’s other self approached with the fire extinguisher. The hollow thunk of the metal cylinder impacting the thug’s head echoed off the cinderblock walls, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
Ness rose to his knees and put his fingers against the prone man’s throat. The goon’s pulse still throbbed slow and steady. He looked at his double and gave a thumbs-up, eliciting a grin of relief.
“That worked well.”
“Yeah, but we’ll regret it in the morning.” Ness rose.
The other Ness snorted a laugh. “I already am.”
“Yeah, me too.” Ness admitted. After all, it made no sense to lie to himself. “I should be getting back.”
His double watched as Ness activated the PDA.
“Be seeing you.” He gave himself a jaunty wave before pressing the return button. Upon his return, the sound of Thing One’s footfalls was loud and getting closer. He jogged forward to the closest fire extinguisher before stopping.