“Am I?” I couldn’t hide my enthusiasm for leaving. I practically jumped up from the couch.
Frost rang for the nurse. Then he helped me into my coat. “By the way your taxi driver is conscious and out of the woods.”
That was welcome news. I managed a smile and said, “Thanks.”
At that moment the nurse walked into the room pushing a wheelchair. I knew better than to object when she helped me into the chair. Besides, I was still unsteady on my feet. Frost picked up my backpack and purse. On the way out he dumped my damaged clothes into the trash.
As we rolled into the corridor, I asked the nurse, “Before I leave, can I visit the cab driver who was with me?”
“I don’t see why not. In fact, he’s been asking about you.”
When we reached the cabbie’s room, he was watching TV. He managed to smile at me, but he looked worse than I did. His left arm was in a cast, and besides all the bandaging, he was wearing a neck brace. We talked briefly. I asked him how he felt and answered the same question from him.
As we talked I could tell something other than his injuries was bothering him. When I asked, he hesitated. I prodded him again, and he finally answered, “My company … They say that I have to pay for the cab … That it was my fault. They fired me, and my insurance will be cut off. I don’t have much money to start with, and I can’t afford to be in the hospital.”
What? I had to stifle an explosion of my own. That was grossly unfair. He had just been doing what he had been hired to do, driving a customer where she wanted to go. I thought of my ex-fiancé, Gary, right away. He was a son-of-a-bitch, but he was a lawyer and a damn good one. “You need a good lawyer.” He opened his mouth. I held up my hand. “I know—you can’t afford one. I have the name of one who he owes me big time. He’ll take you pro bono or answer to me.”
I scribbled Gary’s name and phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to the cabbie. “Call him right away, and tell him Samantha Pederson said he will help you for free … or else.”
The cabbie thanked me profusely, but I was still fuming about how he was being treated. I wished him well and we said our goodbyes.
Frost was silent as we headed to the hospital exit. Something about it made me uncomfortable. I kept wondering what was bothering him. Of course, I didn’t normally have that much interaction with him to know how he thought, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
Chapter 6
“Good morning. This is Harold Logan. You’re on talk radio WSKY. Who’m I talking to?”
“Hi, this is Wilson Carrington.”
“And what is your question, Wilson?”
“I just heard that Homeland Security has taken over the investigation of the explosion last night. That means it was a terrorist attack, doesn’t it?”
“The information I have is that they haven’t determined a cause yet. I believe that in cases like this Homeland has to get involved just to make sure it isn’t terrorists.”
“They’re going to cover it up like they did with the attack on our embassy in Ankara, aren’t they?”
“Wilson, the explosion at the embassy was caused by a natural gas leak, not terrorists.”
“That’s what they want you to believe ….”
“Thanks for calling, Wilson. Good morning. This is Harold Logan. You’re on talk radio, WSKY. Who’m I talking to?”
– 9:45 AM – WSKY-FM
Day 3, 10:00AM
When the valet returned with Frost’s car, Frost helped me in and tipped her. It wasn’t until he had buckled his seatbelt and started the car that he finally spoke. “Wells jumped on the idea that the explosion could have been caused by antimatter. From our discussion yesterday I gather that’s not what you think.”
Out of habit I shook my head. Fortunately it didn’t hurt so much this time. I said, “Too early to be sure. As I told you last night, we expected either a small blast or doomsday. We didn’t get either. Obviously we were speculating. No one really has any experience with large scale matter/antimatter reactions. I don’t know enough about the Reid’s explosion yet to do more than speculate. I don’t imagine Melissa could give you a definitive answer either.”
He nodded and put the car in gear. “As you’re well aware, Wells still isn’t happy about this teleportal business, and I suspect he’s going to try to use the explosion to put a lid on it.”
Of course he would! That couldn’t be allowed to happen, especially if he could convince other governments to follow his lead. I knew it wouldn’t stop development, but it would certainly put a kink in it
I grimaced. “I’m not surprised, but I know bloody well it wasn’t antimatter. I thought it through again last night, there’s no way. I just can’t prove it yet. We need more data to figure out what really happened.”
“Unfortunately I didn’t think of that when I was telling him about your situation.” He gave me a quick sideways glance. “I apologize.”
We rode in silence for a while. I was steaming, not at Frost but at Wells. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. If the explosion wasn’t caused by matter contacting antimatter, what had caused it? Categorizing it as a matter/antimatter reaction meant not investigating to determine what the real cause was. I could think of only one possibility for an accidental explosion of that magnitude, gas. The other possibility, and it seemed more likely, was a bomb. If someone deliberately set that explosion, they had killed a bunch of people, and Wells was letting them get away with it, and they had almost killed me!
Of course Wells would capitalize on anything to keep teleportals from becoming available to the public. He’d been trying to scuttle the project since he first learned about it a few months ago. Only intervention by the president had stopped him from hauling Troy, Melissa, and Greg off to some undisclosed location where they would never be heard of again.
But the genie was out of the bottle. Hell, some college senior named Reid had studied Melissa’s paper and figured out how to make a set of teleportals himself. It was only a matter of time before someone marketed a commercial model. Surely Wells realized he couldn’t stop that from happening… unless he had some way to scare people away from working on it. Maybe he thought the idea of connecting to antimatter universe would do it. Of course, I knew that we could engineer the portals to restrict them to our universe, or ours and the Alternates’. I grunted my displeasure and started coughing.
Finally, Frost spoke again. “Are you up to putting together a report, or shall I drive you home? Jack’s briefing to the president helped, but we need details about what’s been going on since we moved Dr. Kim and her team to the safe house.”
I said, “Sure, I can write a report, but there’s not much to tell. By the time Jack and I joined the Trio at the safe house, they had both portals up and running. They were making a list of security issues when they got a call from another portal.”
“The other universe?” Frost already knew some of the details. This other universe was strikingly similar to our own, but we were in the infancy stages of learning about them. The inhabitants also call their planet Earth. They appeared to be human, and spoke and wrote in our languages, but something had happened in their universe during World War I that put an end to major wars and led to the formation of the North American Union. Otherwise, up until then they had had a very similar history to our own.
I answered, “Right. We suspect it’s the same one Reid contacted, but we were a couple of weeks ahead of him. The Alternates we were talking to are a research team at a teleportal manufacturing company. Reid’s contact appears to have been a private citizen who was experimenting with his home portal. The Alternates are still trying to locate him.”
“I understand that the people in this other universe, the Alternates as you call them, look to be human and the people in the North American Union have American names. Did you get to know them very well?”
I nodded. “Yes. This has been an incredible experience. I can’t wait to meet th
em face to face … if they aren’t made of antimatter.” I paused. “One thing puzzles me. We used the visual only mode to open communication with the Alternates. Reid had to be communicating with his contact some way. He was brash enough that he might not have taken any precautions. If he just opened the interface, all this concern is moot.”
Frost looked thoughtful. “I see what you mean.” He dipped his head in a faint nod and changed the subject. “I look forward to reading your report. After you’re done with it, you should go home though. I’m sure the doctor told you to rest up to recover.” He pulled into the Technology Reconnaissance Agency parking lot. “It’ll be good to have that info when I brief the top brass.”
I smiled my approval. “I can do that.” I honestly would rather have just gone home, but duty first I supposed.
Chapter 7
“In continuing news, the police are reporting that no additional bodies have been recovered from the explosion Monday night. One of the individuals injured in the blast was released from the hospital this morning. Her name was not released. Another, cabdriver Abdourahime Nabagesera, is listed in good condition. He was able to speak to our Raymond Delacruz.…”
– Robert Cannon, Channel 6 News
Day 3, 10:45AM
I looked around the office. I’d only been gone for a few weeks, and it had changed although I couldn’t figure out how. The familiar “Teleportal Team” members and the rest of the crew were back at their desks as though nothing had happened. The cubicles looked the same. The same fluorescent light was flickering. The water stain on the ceiling hadn’t changed. The smell of burnt coffee hung in the air. The air conditioning hummed the same way and felt a little too cool like it always did.
Then I realized it wasn’t the office that had changed. It was me. Over the past weeks I’d been involved in an incredible series of events. I’d been shot at, I’d led a team that—let’s face it—had been a major factor in a hostage rescue. I’d worked side by side with the “Wormhole Trio” when we’d made contact with another universe. Another universe! I still found it hard to believe. And, I’d met Troy Santori. Thinking about Troy, I felt that delightful chill again. I had fallen in love.
The thought of Troy also brought me back to reality.
I started toward my workspace, but when I passed Bill Schofield’s desk, he stood and started clapping. I nodded and smiled at him and felt a blush rising up my neck. Pretty soon the whole office was on their feet. And my face was a bright red.
As I passed Blythe Jankowski’s desk, she stepped out and hugged me. I winced from the pain but said, “Thanks, Blythe.” Then I whispered, “But watch the left arm. It’s still raw.”
She jumped back. “Sorry.”
By the time I reached my desk, the whole “Teleportal Team” had surrounded me. Handshakes, hugs, and pats on the back ensued. At last the pain was too much. I had to say, “As much as I appreciate your attention, my whole left side is raw meat so please stick to my right side.”
I found I had tears in my eyes, more from the unexpected adulation than the discomfort. Finally, Jack came to my rescue. “Okay, everybody back to work. You’ve embarrassed her enough already.”
While the others wandered back to their desks, Jack stayed behind. He perched on the corner of my desk and gave me a quizzical look. “Are you really ready to come back to work?”
I paused briefly to think about that. I knew I wasn’t comfortable with it, but I answered, “I have to get the report done. I can handle that.” I hoped that once it was complete I could return to Colorado. I wanted to continue looking into whether it was safe to fully open the teleportal connection with the Alternates … and to be with Troy.
I waved my hand around the room, indicating my extraordinary welcoming committee. “What was that all about?”
Jack chuckled. I think he was enjoying my embarrassment. “I told them what an important part you played in rescuing the Mastersons and Santori.” I started to interrupt, but he held up a hand. “I know. You don’t feel like a hero, but you were.”
He was right. I didn’t think I was a hero, but I didn’t feel like arguing with him.
He continued, “The team is going out for lunch, and you’re the guest of honor.” When he saw the hesitant look on my face, he smiled at me and said, “Unless you’re physically not able, this is not optional.”
I almost said, “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” but I held it back. Instead, I hooked a thumb at the computer monitor and said, “I need to get to work on this report.”
Jack nodded and stood up. “Okay. I’ll come by at noon. See you then.”
As soon as he had left, I logged into my computer. I had been away so long without classified access that my inbox had more messages than I felt like tackling. I took a quick look at the subjects and shook my head in refusal. Frustrated, I brought up the trip report form and began typing.
“28 September 2018, 1023 hours Mountain Daylight Time. Jack Kirton, Mr. Masterson who was in a wheelchair, and I arrived in Grand Junction, CO. We picked up our rental car and drove south, arriving at the safe house at 1258 hours. After we called in our IDs to the guards and entered the property, we drove up to the house where the guards verified our identities.”
Chapter 8
Abdourahime Nabagesera: “It was not my fault. I had stopped to let my passenger out when the explosion happened. There was nothing I could do. The company fired me and is charging me for the damage to the cab because they say I was ‘double-parked.’ I was not parked. I was discharging my passenger. I cannot pay that kind of money. I do not make that much in a year.”
Raymond Delacruz, Channel 6 News: “That does seem unfair, but getting back to the explosion. Could you tell us what happened?”
Abdourahime [after a pause]: I did not see much of it. I was accepting my fare from my passenger so I had turned to face the back seat when it hit. The airbag went off, and I felt a sharp pain in my left arm.” [He showed his cast to the camera.] “The cab flew in the air, and my head struck something—the door, I think. I do not remember anything after that until I woke up here.”
– Channel 6 News
Day 3, 11:45AM
I had almost finished the report when my office phone rang. I answered, “Pederson,” as I always did.
The voice on the other end sounded relieved. “Hello, beautiful.”
It was Troy. I couldn’t believe it. I sat stunned for longer than was probably polite. “Troy, where are you?”
“Sorry, Sam. I’m still at the safe house. I borrowed one of the agent’s sat phones, because I couldn’t get away.” He paused. “It’s good to hear your voice. I was really scared when I heard you had been caught in that explosion.”
“I’m fine, Troy. I’m so glad the FBI guys let you call me.” The exhaustion I had been feeling while writing the report had lifted instantly when I heard his voice. “I gather they wouldn’t let you leave.” I knew that rankled him.
I spent the next few minutes giving him the details of my mishap and reassuring him that I wasn’t seriously injured. To change the subject, I asked, “What’s new in Colorado?”
“We’ve taken a break from actually looking for a safe way to open the interface and are putting our effort into investigating ways to tell whether the explosion at Reid’s lab was caused by antimatter. The Alternates are doing the same, but they did tell us that other than planned explosions there haven’t been any others reported on their Earth in the last six months, much less any that corresponded time-wise to the one that hit you.”
“So if Reid’s contact was with someone in the Alternates’ universe, the explosion couldn’t have been matter/antimatter; otherwise, the Alternates would have detected an explosion comparable to ours.” Still, there was the other possibility. “Is it possible Reid had contacted yet another universe that was incompatible?” I had to admit that seemed less and less probable.
“That’s something we have to look into. The Alternates are searching for other teleportals with their e
quipment, but it would be faster if we could search from our end as well. I’ve been trying to code their search algorithm into our portals, but their rig has the capability to address another three dimensions. I thought six dimensions was bad enough.” He sighed.
I understood and was glad he couldn’t see me smirking. “You hard wired your portals for six, didn’t you?”
“Yep, and we’ve been fighting with someone you know to get the supplies I need to fix it.” I could hear his frustration.
“Gilliland, I bet. I found out today that he’s working for Wells directly now.”
“You got it.”
“Besides checking for unplanned explosions and searching for other teleportals, have the Alternates put out a public alert to get whoever contacted Reid to come forward?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask Eric the next time we talk.”
“I hope they can find whoever it is. It would make things simpler on this end. Wells is trying to use the explosion as a pretext to stop all use of teleportals. I’m not surprised he doesn’t want you hunting for teleportals in other universes. If you can find the one Reid contacted, the lack of a corresponding explosion weakens his position.”
“I don’t suppose there’s any way you could convince Wells to let us help with the search, is there?”
“You already know the answer to that one.” I suddenly felt tired. The elation had worn off. I looked at my watch. “Hey, I’d love to spend the next several hours talking to you, but I’m working on a report for Frost, and to be frank, I’m running out of steam. … I miss you. I hope we can get together again soon.”
“I miss you too. I’ll call you later. Bye.”
◆◆◆
Day 3, 11:55AM
Damage Control Page 4