The Time Travelling Taxman Series Box Set

by Rachel Ford

  Alfred was frowning, but if Nancy found the explanation strange, she didn’t let on. “It’s alright,” she said conciliatorily. “But do you think it’s him again?”

  Stevenson frowned. “I don’t know who else it could be. But if David’s back from the future, that means he had to find a way out of the Cretaceous period at some point. Which means, we may have a way home too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Hold on,” Nancy said, drawing up suddenly. “David? You mean – the killer from the future is David Garrity?”

  Stevenson’s face cycled in short order between confusion to mortification to embarrassment, and then back across the spectrum again. “I thought,” he said, “you knew already? I thought you said David told you?”

  “That deceitful son-of-a-bitch,” she fumed.

  “You mean, you made that up?”

  She turned back to the marine and shook her head now. “No, Josh, he did tell us. Well, he told Alfred. He just neglected to mention the part where he was the fucking killer.”

  “Oh God,” Josh said. “I’m going to be in so much shit.”

  Nancy frowned at him. “We’re sharing a bunker with a guy who is trying to kill us,” she said. “And you’d cover that up for him?”

  “It’s not like that, Nance.”

  “Don’t ‘Nance’ me.” She was glaring daggers.

  “Nancy, then. David isn’t a killer, though. Not our timeline’s David.”

  She snorted. “But he’s going to be, right?”

  “It’s one possible outcome, yes.”

  “A pretty determined outcome,” she pointed out. “This is the second time he’s jumped back in time to kill Angie.”

  “Yes,” Stevenson conceded. “But there are a million possibilities, a million potential future versions of ourselves, Nancy. This is just one David Garrity.”

  “One’s enough.”

  The marine nodded. “We’ve got to find him, and kill him, once and for all. I need to go talk to Garrity.”

  “No,” Nancy said, taking the marine’s arm as he went to leave. “First, you need to tell me what really happened, Josh. The whole story, no more leaving things out.”

  He hesitated, then sighed. “What the hell. I’m already in the shit anyway.”

  They found a table in the mess hall, which was, now, deserted, and Sergeant Stevenson told the tale. “In the future – twenty years after we crossed – something bad happens to Angie.”

  “Angie Garrity?”

  “Yes.”

  “He didn’t say exactly, but she died. It sounds like cancer.”

  “Who didn’t?”

  “David. Future David, I mean. But he tried to save her and couldn’t. That’s why he came back.”

  “To kill her even earlier?” Alfred was astounded.

  “Kind of. It sounds crazy, I know. It’s because, I think, it drove him crazy. But he thinks Angie’s the reason he couldn’t save her – Angie wouldn’t let him delve deep enough into biogenetic research. Angie was always concerned about the ethics of what they were doing, and so on.

  “He’s broken-hearted, but…” Josh shook his head. “He’s nuts. He said he was going to save him – past him – from the heartache of watching her die, and let him continue his mission.”

  “What mission?” Nancy asked.

  “Some crazy shit about the greater good. Building a utopia, free of disease and war and all that. He wants Futureprise to use the generator, to get tech from the future, from the multiverse; to build our universe.”

  “He’s insane,” Alfred declared.

  “Yeah,” Josh agreed. “I think he is. But he’s still dangerous – more dangerous than he would be sane, maybe.”

  “So how did you stop him last time?” Nancy wondered.

  “That’s the crazy part, Nance. It wasn’t us. We didn’t do a damned thing. We were running away, back to base. And he followed us through. He barely took three steps in the Cretaceous period, and-” Josh snapped his fingers. “He just vanished. Right in front of us.”

  Alfred frowned. “How?”

  “I don’t know. He must have done something in our time, after we crossed. Or maybe it was just chasing us here, trapping us with no way to get back: because if past David – our timeline’s David – can’t get home, there’s no future David with time travel capabilities.”

  Nancy nodded slowly. “Because all possible future Davids are stuck in the Cretaceous period.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So even if he does go mad, he does it following linear time, in the Cretaceous period. No more jumping between timelines.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Now that future David is back, though…”

  “That means present David gets out of here at some point. Out of the Cretaceous period, I mean.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. It has to be related to your crossing though, Nance – you and Alfred. You had to do something that makes it possible for us to get out of here.”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea what, though.”

  “Me either. And until we figure that out, we’ve still got to figure out how to avoid being murdered by future David.”

  Alfred groaned, protesting, “That’s too many Davids.”

  “If we kill future David, that’ll be one less to deal with.”

  “Maybe,” Nancy said. “But there’s nothing to stop him from learning from his mistakes, is there?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if we and present David kill future David, future David is going to have all those memories. He’ll know what he did wrong, and what his past self did to kill him. What we did to kill him. So what’s to stop him from trying something else? He already knows what didn’t work, why not try something that might?”

  Josh frowned. “You mean, we’ll be in some damned time loop?”

  “We might already be,” she said. “How do we know this is the first time future David went through the portal? This could be his fifth try, his fiftieth try…we just don’t know.”

  If Alfred thought his brain hurt before, this concept practically gave him an aneurism. “So, basically, you’re saying we’re doomed? There’s nothing we can do to stop future David, because no matter how many times we kill him, he can always try something else?”

  “Not necessarily,” Nancy said. “The future is fluid. We don’t know what changed to allow him back, we don’t what we might do to stop him. But, on the other hand, I do think it’s a possibility.”

  “Fudge muffins.”

  Josh frowned at him. “What is it with you and muffins, anyway?”

  Alfred ignored him. “So what happens if we’re stuck in this…time loop thingy?”

  “I doubt we’d even know,” Nancy posited. “If he comes back at the same spot each time, it’ll be new all over again.”

  “Yeah,” Josh agreed. “But it’ll new for him too. He’ll remember his last failure, but he won’t know about all the others.”

  “That’s true,” Nancy agreed.

  “Oh God,” Alfred sighed. He was truly lost now. “All I want to know is, do we have a shot at killing this crazy son-of-a-biscuit?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It was Nancy who provided the answer to his question, though not right away. Her inspiration came, to the taxman’s chagrin, at three o’clock the next morning. She was there, knocking at his door, not five minutes later.

  “I’ve got it, Alfred. I’ve got it!”

  He blinked as she pushed past him, into the room. “You’ve got…what now?”

  “The answer, to how we stop future David. Well, not how we do it, exactly, but how we can do it.” She glanced at him. “Can I use your comm line?”

  “Uh, sure.” He was still trying to rub the exhaustion out of his eyes. “Who are you calling, though?”

  “Josh.”

  Alfred wasn’t too sleepy to scowl. “Why do we need the mercenary?” he asked. And then, “You have his comm
number?” Their comm line numbers were a series of four unique digits – like a telephone number, but on a smaller network. Like an old office phone, it connected their respective rooms, and made them reachable from pretty much anywhere in the facility.

  “Yeah, of course. He gave it to me.”

  “Of course he did.”

  The line, meanwhile, was dialing. He heard it engage with a click, and then the mercenary’s voice came over. “Jesus, dude. Do you know what time it is? And how the hell did you even get this number, anyway?”

  “It’s me, Josh,” Nancy said. “Sorry about waking you-”

  “Nance! I didn’t realize it was you. Sorry about that.” His tone was all congeniality and apologies now. Alfred’s glower only deepened. “What’s up? Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I just need to talk to you. In person. Can you come to Alfred’s room?”

  “Alfred’s?” There was a note of skepticism in his tone. Then, “Sure. Be right there.”

  He made good time, and was all smiles when she opened the door to him. Not so wrapped up smiling, though, Alfred noted, to cast a few curious glances between the pair of them.

  “Thanks for coming,” Nancy said.

  “Sure, Nance. But, uh…what’s up?”

  “I had an idea. About how we stop Garrity.”

  “Okay.”

  “You remember yesterday, when we were talking about how we stop Garrity – future Garrity – without him trying something different, essentially resetting everything we did, until he finds something that works?”

  Alfred groaned. “Nance, can’t this wait until morning. Or at least until I’ve had a cup of coffee?”

  The mercenary ignored him. “Yeah.”

  She grinned broadly. “I know how we can do it. The only way to stop future Garrity from knowing how we defeat him…is if present Garrity doesn’t know either.”

  “That’s not possible,” Josh said. “How could he not know? It’s his facility.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Nancy said. “He’s got to stay out of it, if we want to be able to defeat crazy Garrity. Present Garrity has to be completely in the dark – no idea of what’s going on – so future Garrity can’t draw on his memories for anything useful.”

  Josh considered for a moment. “That’s actually kind of brilliant, Nance. Still, how are we going to convince David to let us have the run of his facility.”

  “We won’t,” she declared triumphantly. “We convince Angie. And she’ll convince David.”

  “You think it’ll be that easy?” Josh was skeptical. “I can’t see David stepping back that easily. Especially when it’s him – some evil, future version of him – that’s the problem.”

  “It won’t be easy coming from us,” she said. “But he’ll listen to Angie.”

  “You think so?”

  “I do.”

  Alfred, meanwhile, had been contemplating the plan in silence. Now, having wrapped his brain around it, he nodded. “It’s a good plan. But how will you convince Angie?”

  “That’s the easy part,” Nancy said. “It’s the only way to save her husband and her son, and herself.”

  They spent the rest of the morning planning and drinking coffee – that was an absolute condition on Alfred’s part, and he found an ally in the mercenary. Finally, when seven o’clock rolled around, Nancy set out on her mission.

  Fifteen minutes passed, and then half an hour. Stevenson was waiting with him, and they would alternate between sitting and pacing. Forty-five minutes came and went with no sign of Nancy; and then an hour.

  “She must be less reasonable than we’d assumed,” Alfred decided.

  “Angie’s usually pretty level-headed. But these are unique circumstances.”

  It was just about an hour and a half after she’d left that Nancy returned, all smiles.

  “It worked?” Stevenson was the first to the door.

  “You did it?” Alfred offered a second later.

  “She’s onboard. She’s talking to David now. They’re trying to figure out how they can make it work, how they can keep him out of everything – so he’s not only out of planning, but he doesn’t see anything or overhear anything.”

  “Dammit Nancy,” Josh said, shaking his head. “You’re a genius.”

  Their celebrations were curtailed, though, when, some half hour later, a distant rumbling sounded. “What was that?” Alfred wondered.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Sounded like…some kind of explosion,” Stevenson frowned.

  “Explosion? In the Cretaceous period? What the hell can be exploding here?”

  The marine, though, was on his feet. “It’s Garrity. It’s got to be. Listen, I’m going to have to go. They’re going be calling us out soon.” Even as he spoke, his portable pager dinged, and he grimaced. “You need to stay with the civilians. There’s an evac plan, if things go south. Go with the rest of them; they’ll make sure you get to safety if you have to.” He held her gaze for a moment, and said, “I’ll see you around, Nance.”

  He turned to leave, and Nancy caught his arm. “Josh, wait.”

  “What is it?”

  “Just…be careful out there. Alright?”

  “You too.”

  Then he did go, and Alfred said, “We should go find the rest of the group. See where Angie is, what’s going on.”

  Nancy seemed dazed, as if her thoughts were far away. Then, she nodded and returned to the moment. “Yes. I hope we’re not too late, Alfred.”

  They ran into Angie Garrity in the hallway. “Nancy!” she called. “Nancy, there you are.”

  “Angie, what’s going on?”

  “We’re not a hundred percent sure. We lost contact with one of rovers. Kendall and Radcliff were in it, and we can’t raise them on the comm. We think David – not my David, the other one – destroyed it somehow; killed them.”

  “We heard an explosion,” Nancy said. “At least, we think it was an explosion.”

  “We heard it too,” Angie nodded. She shook her head. “He’s mad, Nancy. If you saw him last time…” She visibly forced a calm over her features. “But right now, we have to figure out how to stop him. I need your help with that.”

  “Mine?” Nancy’s eyebrows raised. “I don’t know anything about future Garrity.”

  “No. But you’re smart. You solved the biggest puzzle so far. David’s the smartest person I know. And…” She flashed a self-conscious smile. “I don’t just say that because I love him. He is. He’s a genius. My David uses his mind to help people. But this David?” She shook her head again. “He’s capable of anything. And if we’re going to stop him, I need all the smart I can get.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  David Garrity – their era’s David Garrity – was waiting for them in the war room. He stood from his seat and headed to his wife. “Angie,” he said, placing his hand on her arm. He tried to smile. “I’m sorry about this, my love.”

  “It’s not your fault, Dave.”

  “He’s me. I’m him.”

  She shook her head. “He’s a twisted version of you. You’re nothing like him. You know that. He’s one wrinkle in time, babe. And we’re going to erase him, so you – real you – can have a future. So we all can.”

  He squeezed her arm, and placed a kiss on her forehead. She stood on tiptoes, and kissed him on the lips. “I love you, David Garrity.”

  “I love you too, Angie Garrity.”

  Alfred sighed quietly. He wasn’t unsentimental, but the fate of the world was hanging in the balance; and the clock was ticking. Fortunately, the lovebirds were wrapping up.

  “Jackson’s already waiting for me in the safe room. I told him we’re going camping.”

  Angie smiled. “Good. Tell him his mom will be there soon.”

  “I will. And Angie?”

  “Yes?”

  He ran his fingers down her cheek. “You better be, you hear?”

  “I will.”

  He nodded and rescinded the room t
o her care. She, meanwhile, cleared her throat, and no one spoke until she did. “Alright,” she said, and her tone was brisk, “what’s the situation, people?”

  “Rover two has located the missing crew,” a man with a military bearing said. Alfred remembered him as one of the interested parties who had introduced himself to Nancy early on, a Mister Fred Boyd.

  “Status?”

  “KIA.”

  “KIA?” Alfred repeated.

  “They’re dead,” Fred explained. “Killed in action.”

  “How?” Angie prompted.

  “Some kind of explosive device. Ripped the rover into pieces.”

  “It’s not something from our timeline, then,” Angie sighed. “Those rovers are practically indestructible.”

  “Rover three is calling in,” Boyd offered.

  “Onscreen.”

  The display at the far end of the room flickered to life, and Alfred grimaced to see Josh Stevenson’s face pop up. “Ma’am,” he said.

  “Stevenson, what do you have for me?”

  “There’s no one out here, Mrs. Garrity. If there was, with the kind of weapon power he’s using, we’d be dead already. I’m requesting permission to return to base.”

  “To return?”

  “I think he took out Radcliff and Kendall to draw us out. To leave the base open for assault.”

  Angie Garrity’s face went white. “Authorized. Return to base. Boyd, send the command to all units.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Assault the base?” Alfred repeated. “How could one man possibly get through?” The base was concrete and steel. It was built to withstand natural disaster and giant lizard attacks. As far as he could tell, an army would have a hard time breaking through its defenses.

  “Last time we saw that David,” Angie said, “he wasn’t using weapons like anything in our world, Mr. Favero. I doubt he will be this time.”

  That still didn’t answer his question, not directly anyway. But he didn’t have long to wait for the answer, as it happened. About two minutes later, while those familiar with the base’s defenses were strategizing, and he and Nancy were whispering in low tones, the bunker seemed to rock to its very core.