The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

It was definitely something he’d talk to Danny Hoi about. Bringing back gambling. He wasn’t sure how Joe would handle it, but Henry was positive it would only be a good thing to toss a few poker machines and slots in the Social Hall and Hoi-Hoi on the Range.

  The meet up with William broke Henry’s momentum. It was so nice to see him and talk to him, but had Henry known what that momentary pause would do to his luck, he may have opted to wait until later to see William.

  The money started going fast and furious and it wasn’t as if Henry could go to an ATM.

  He had to pace himself.

  It could still be hours.

  That was when he saw the sign on the wall. It was perfect and could be a cheap way to buy time. The ten dollar entry fee was minimal enough, and Henry grabbed a drink before grabbing a chair.

  He looked up to the timer on the wall. There was ten minutes until start time. He nervously stared at the slot machine ahead of him, while tapping his foot.

  It looked weird and unlike anything he had ever played.

  Was there a trick?

  Did he have to do something different?

  “You’ll want to put that drink down before we start, trust me,” the woman’s voice said. “You’ll need both hands.”

  Henry turned his head to the woman who sat next to him. “Really?”

  “Really. One to tap the button and one hand to swipe the screen when the bonus amounts pop up. You have to be fast. Fast on the tap. Not too fast, a steady fast.”

  “Wow, you sound like a pro. Thank you,” Henry said.

  “I try. Is this your first?” she asked.

  “Yes. And I am nervous.”

  “Don’t be. You can be excited. Not nervous, it could mess things up. I’m here to help.”

  “That is so nice of you,” Henry said then extended his hand. “Henry. My name is Henry.”

  “Barbara. Nice to meet you. And who knows. Maybe we’ll be tourney buddies on more of these today. There’s a bunch, so you never know.” She reached over and tapped his leg.

  “You never know.”

  Henry felt more at ease and a twinge of excitement. She seemed like such a nice and pleasant woman, not to mention she was pretty attractive, as well and … she touched him. It had been a long time since Henry buddied up with a woman, and even if it was for a single slot tournament or more, he was going to make the most of her company and enjoy every second of it.

  TWENTY-THREE

  The Jason from Beginnings was a spitting image of his father. More so than his past younger self. The older Godrichson, who preferred to be called, ‘JJ’, was nearly as gray as Jason, slightly heavier but he had the same mannerisms.

  There was no hesitation or disbelief when they arrived at his hotel suite. He welcomed them with a happy and excited greeting.

  In fact he spent a good twenty minutes, speaking in awe about time travel.

  “My son,” JJ boasted. “I knew it. I knew he would breach the barrier.”

  Jason tilted his head bashfully. “Dad, please.”

  “You’re brilliant, son, simply brilliant.” There was a knock on the door, and with an ‘excuse me’, JJ stood to answer it.

  A delivery man stood with a box. “Delivery for Dr. Godrichson.”

  “I am he.”

  “I need to see ID,” the man said.

  “Sure thing.” He pulled out his wallet and presented his license. After signing for the delivery, JJ tipped the guy and closed the door.

  “Is that it?” William asked.

  JJ set the box on the table behind the couch, opening it. “Yep. Should do the trick.”

  “I guess your future son was right,” William said. “You do have connections.”

  “Well, you could have gotten this as well.” JJ lifted an IV bag full of solution, then a smaller package, a field IV pack, containing the items needed to run a line.

  “I’ll take care of this.” William took the items. “You talk to my son.”

  “And this. One half dose.” JJ handed him another package. “Just to take the edge off.”

  “Got it. And I’ll open the clamp pretty much all the way.” William carried the things, walked across the suite to a closed door. He knocked. “Frank, I’m coming in.” He walked inside and the door closed.

  Dean shifted his eyes to young Jason who snickered. “What?”

  “I would think you would have told him he was going to get sick.”

  “I did. He doesn’t listen.” Dean placed a folder on the table. “I brought images of the strain.”

  “Now how exactly did this come about?” JJ asked. “My son said you created the bacteria to kill the aliens?”

  Dean shook his head. “Frank got that wrong. I did defeat the original invader, however, the threat was always there, one way or another. See it started when one of our people touched something they created to wipe out humans. It remained on his hands and all over him. To complicate things, he was impaled by one of their weapons. The bacteria is odd. It made its way into his blood stream, but after a while, his system was so weakened that it turned viral and there was nothing we could do. The bacteria spreads easily.” He passed JJ sheets of paper. “Patient two, had a weakened immune system due to a recent bout with strep. The bacteria again, went from infection to viral.”

  Young Jason asked, “And you couldn’t beat the bacteria?”

  Dean shook his head. “We don’t have the ability. Nothing we created worked and as I had said we just weren’t able to tap the potency of the antibiotics of this time.”

  “Beat the bacteria,” JJ said. “Save the patient before they go viral.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  William returned. “Okay, Frank is hooked up. That bag should take an hour to go into his system. Another bag should have him flushed and that’s what he needs. Get the toxins he is no longer used to out of his system. He can’t possibly vomit anymore…” He exhaled exasperated as he sat down. “Trust me. Poor guy. And the anti-nausea medication won’t help until he is flushed.” He leaned forward for the papers. “Is this it?” he held up an image.

  “That’s the bad boy that’s threatening us,” Dean said.

  “Looks pseudomonas. What do you think?” He handed it to JJ.

  JJ studied the image. “Seeing this and hearing how it works, I’d agree. Dean?”

  “I thought the same thing. Especially since the object Robbie touched, our patient zero, was something they grew. And the pseudomonas strain is soil related.”

  “So basically,” William said. “We need to order antipseudomonal penicillin.”

  “And,” JJ added. “Aminoglycosides. That should cover it.”

  “A broad spectrum of the cillin and mycin families,” William said. “Dean?”

  “Concur.”

  “Good.” JJ put down the image and lifted a tiny notepad from his pocket. “Let’s figure out what all we need and want, along with the amounts and …” JJ paused when a loud sound of regurgitation carried to him. “Guess you were wrong about him not having anything left to throw up.”

  William shrugged, “Dry heaves. But we aren’t wrong about this.”

  “No we’re not. While Frank clears the twenty-two plates of buffet from his system, let’s estimate what we need.” He flipped the cover to the notepad and clicked his pen. “Then I’ll start making phone calls.”

  <><><><>

  “No, honestly.” Henry held one ear closed as he spoke on the phone, loudly. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m having fun. Take your time.”

  Dean said something Henry couldn’t understand.

  “What’s that?” Henry asked. “Oh, Where am I? I’m on Freemont Street. It’s so fun. You should see it, the lights, and the music. Okay. Text me. Bye.” He hung up.

  “Everything okay?” Barbara asked.

  “Couldn’t be better. Looks like we’re not leaving yet. My associate is still hung up. Could be hours before we take off.”

  “Perks of having a private jet,” she said. “You c
an leave when you want.”

  “Exactly. Which means we can catch that next tournament.”

  “You sure you don’t want to rest. It’s a long flight to Russia.”

  “I’ll sleep on the plane,” Henry said.

  “I can’t believe how lucky we’ve been.”

  “I’m lucky that I met you,” Henry said. “This is so great. Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “I can’t believe you haven’t been to Freemont Street.”

  “I haven’t been to Vegas. Everything is new. You are so much fun to be around.”

  “Thank you, Henry. I would think I’m pretty boring considering your line of work in the CIA.”

  “Oh my God, you are so not boring. The CIA is boring.” Henry cringed. “I don’t do that secret agent, action hero stuff. My job is more ho hum.”

  “Even going to Russia?” she asked. “The way you talked about your next assignment …”

  “Boring. This is the best change of pace. I’m so buried in work, I never get to hang out with a pretty woman.”

  “Henry, that’s so nice,” Barbara smiled. “Thank you.”

  “You know, you are spending so much time with me, are you sure your husband won’t get mad.”

  “Oh, please,” she scoffed. “He doesn’t care. He lets me do what I want. Besides, he doesn’t want to see this part of Vegas. He says this part of town is why they call it Sin City.” She pointed to a large neon sign with the nearly naked bottom of a woman. “We got those coupons, we should go in there.” She winked.

  “Oh my God, we should. I haven’t been in one of those in forever.”

  “Then let’s do it. We have an hour to kill before the tournament. Unless …” She nudged him playfully. “You don’t want to fraternize in one of those places with a married woman.”

  Henry tilted his head and looked at her. “You know what? Doesn’t matter. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Oh!” Henry pulled out his phone. “Let’s do a selfie with that sign behind us.”

  “What about what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

  “What happens on my phone, stays on my phone. I want to remember this day and this will help with those cold nights in Russia.”

  Barbara chuckled and moved closer to Henry.

  “Smile.” Henry leaned closer to her and lifted his phone.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  “Done,” JJ hung up the phone. “That was a task.”

  “Was he able to order them?” Dean asked.

  “Order placed. He just confirmed it with me.”

  “It’s really happening? You got them?” Dean asked.

  “We got them.”

  “Yes.” Excitedly, Dean shook his hand, then Jason’s. “This is amazing.”

  “I am.” Frank walked in the room.

  “Yes, you are,” said William. “You should have been hospitalized that’s how sick you were.”

  “Nah, I’m fine. I heal fast.”

  “I’d say so. You look like you never were sick.”

  “Trust me he was more tired than he was sick,” Dean said. “Frank hasn’t been sleeping.”

  Frank turned to JJ. “Thanks for letting me use your shower. Did I hear right? You got them.”

  JJ nodded. “I had to fib my way there. I told them we met a woman from the CDC who gave us a heads up on not only a shortage of antibiotics that will happen in a month, but a mysterious bacterial infection. Then Garret had to order them and he said they will be in the sixteenth, which is four days from now.”

  “So how does he get them?” William asked.

  Frank replied. “We have a truck. Jason … older Jason is going to set up the regressionator on his father’s property. We’ll drive through on the sixteenth.”

  “Make it early,” JJ said. “I mean, six am early. We want to be waiting for when the delivery arrives so I can sign for it and we can hijack that shipment.” He handed Dean the notepad. “You keep that. Everything is written down. Just in case there’s any trouble, I don’t want that found.”

  “I got it.” Dean placed it in his pocket. “Wow, I guess this is it, then.”

  William gave a swat to Dean’s back. “Don’t be so glum. Mission almost accomplished. You’ll see them in a few days and me in a couple hours.”

  “Yeah. You’re right,” Dean nodded.

  “And don’t forget to give that to me.” William embraced Dean, then kissed him on the forehead. “Be careful out there. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Dad.”

  Sniff.

  Dean back up from his father and slowly shifted his eyes to Frank. “Are you… are you crying.”

  “Misty eyed, Dean,” Frank squeezed the corner of his eyes. “Fucking touching. Let’s get a picture before we go.”

  He grabbed his phone and lifted it up. “Everyone get behind me for a selfie.” The men did, Frank took a great picture. “This is going on Hoi Book for sure. One more … you four.” He directed Dean to stand with his father and the Godrichson men for a picture.

  Then they all shook hands, Frank and Dean lifted their belongings and said their goodbyes.

  As Dean walked for the door, he stopped. “Can I get a picture of your three with my phone? I’m sure older Jason would love to see it without me.”

  When they happily agreed, Dean sadly lifted the eraser, he moved his fingers around setting the device...

  “That’s quite a different phone,” William said.

  “It’s from the future.” Dean then handed it to Frank. “Will you. I can’t.”

  “Sure.” Frank took it. He watched Dean stare at his father, and then when the three men were all looking and ready, he snapped it.

  They froze.

  Frank put the eraser in his back pocket and walked out with Dean.

  In a solemn mood, Dean closed the door.

  “You okay?”

  Dean nodded. “Yeah, it was nice to see my dad.”

  “What did he give you to take back?”

  “Get this.” Dean reached into his front pocket. “His wedding ring. He said his fingers swelled from flying and couldn’t wear it. He never saw it again.”

  “We know where it went. What time frame did you set the eraser for?” Frank asked.

  “Well we’ve been here for four hours, so I took it back to seven.”

  “Good call.” Frank stopped walking. “Speaking of which. We better call, Henry.”

  “Yeah, you’re not kidding.” Dean grabbed the flip phone. “Four hours. I bet he is going nuts.”

  <><><><>

  “What is love!”

  The techno music from the 1990’s blasted loudly. The bass thumping against his chest that Henry could feel even on the crowded dance floor. He was carefree. Bouncing high on his tip toes to the beat, turning left to right, while frantically waving his hands in the air. He laughed and smiled as he danced with Barbara.

  She was saying something to him, but Henry couldn’t make it out.

  “What?” he asked.

  Her lips moved and he tried to read them.

  “Yellowfin is ridiculous.”

  Henry chuckled. “Again.”

  ‘Your foot is rusted.”

  Henry pulled his ear.

  She smiled then pointed to his chest pocked. He saw the glow of the phone. “Oh. My phone is ringing. Okay.” He pulled it out, answered it with a. “Hold on.

  He slipped through the crowd with Barbara to the outdoor lounge which was on the roof of the fifty story hotel and casino. “Wow what a view,” Henry said and put the phone back to his ear. “Sorry. It was loud in there.” All expression dropped from Henry’s face. “That’s great news,” he said less than enthusiastically. “So I guess it’s time.” Henry nodded. “Can we just delay one more hour? Just one. Please. Please.” Henry smiled. “Thank you. I’ll meet you one hour.” He put his phone away.

  “So you have to go.”

  “He have me another hour. I have to tell
you, this is the best time I had … ever.”

  “Well, it’s not over,” Barbara said. “We still have an hour left. I mean we have done all sorts of crazy things today. I think we should do one more.”

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Henry asked, looking over to the view of the city.

  “I think I am.”

  “Zip line?” Henry asked.

  “Zip line.”

  <><><><><>

  Frank stared down oddly at the phone and handed it back to Dean. “He’s meeting us here at the fountain in one hour.”

  “An hour? Dean asked. “Why does he need another hour?”

  Frank shrugged. “He didn’t sound happy when I told him.”

  “He’s probably lost. So, what do you want to do?”

  “Let’s hit the souvenir shop, then wait the rest of the time in the bar.” Frank pointed to the hotel behind him.

  “Works for me. Just don’t get too much stuff.”

  Somewhere, Frank must have misunderstood Dean. He had so many bags, that along with his own smaller backpack, he was hard put to find a good space at the bar.

  He aimed for the end were it seemed less busy. One a woman sat there, two empty seats to her left and one to her right.

  Frank dropped his backpack then swung two of his gift bags on the counter. When he did, he accidentally knocked into the woman’s drink.

  She jumped up.

  “Whoa, you’re tall,” he told her. “I am so sorry.”

  “Frank,” Dean snapped. “I told you all those bags wouldn’t work. Did you knock over her drink?”

  “I’ll get her another,” Frank said. “Can I get you another?”

  “That would be nice. Thank you.”

  “And a towel,” Dean added.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure? We can …” Dean paused and looked at her. “Catherine?”

  “Who? Frank asked.

  Dean pointed to her. “Doctor Catherine Donovan, CDC.”

  “That’s her?” Frank sked.

  “Yes. Oh my God,” Dean said. “Catherine.”

  “Do … do I know you?” she asked. “I mean I just started the CDC job last month.”