On Borrowed Time: Beginnings Series Book 26

by Jacqueline Druga

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  It was midafternoon, and Dean knew the chances of them finding Danny in the mechanics building was great. Especially with the release of the phones and it being payroll day. He and Ellen needed to speak to Danny. With Bart actually being civilized enough to use the bathroom, they needed a solution.

  Mark was walking out and told them Danny was inside. Then gave them warning that Henry was there too and was in one of those Henry moods.

  “Swell,” Dean said.

  “Just be evasive. Henry can’t know about Bart” Ellen said. “If Henry knows, Joe will know.”

  “True.” Dean walked in.

  As warned, Henry was seated at a table working on what looked like a radio, but it was in pieces.

  “We don’t take walk ins,” Henry glanced up and returned to work.

  “We’re not here to see you,” Dean said. “We need to talk to Danny.”

  “We have this thing called text messaging.” Henry said.

  Dean huffed. “I forgot. Where is he, so I can …”

  Danny emerged from the back office. “Hey, Dean. Hey El. Everything ok? You two never come up this way.”

  Ellen shifted her eyes from Henry to Danny. “Yeah. We have a couple issues at the cryo lab.”

  “You know …” Dean said. “The place you stopped by last night with Frank and Robbie.”

  “Oh.” Danny nodded. “Yes. How is that working out?”

  “Good. Good. But we have two issues that we need you to work on. Only you.”

  Henry slammed down his hand. “I’m in this room and what is it that Danny can do that I can’t.”

  “This,” Dean said. “These are things only Danny can handle.”

  “I take offense to that,” Henry argued.

  Dean ignored him. “Danny, we need an extra toilet.”

  “Excuse me?” Danny asked.

  “Something portable,” Dean explained. “Like a potty chair?”

  Henry gasped. “You have a bathroom down there.”

  Dean grumbled. “Yeah, but we want to put it in the …” He looked at Danny. “Back … room? The animal room.”

  “Holy shit. No pun intended to your request. But for the animal room?” Danny asked.

  “Yep.”

  Henry asked, “Why? Why do you need a potty chair in the animal room?”

  “None of your business,” Dean said.

  “It is my business because I’ll be the one taking it there.”

  Ellen replied. “Dean wants it there because he wants to start experimenting with defecation.”

  Henry gasped. “Dean you are so foul.”

  “I’m what?”

  “Foul. This is why you don’t have any friends.”

  “I have friends.”

  “Not on Hoibook.”

  “Speaking of which …”

  Ellen tossed up her hands. “Here we go.”

  “Danny, why did I get a warning on Hoibook about requesting people?” Dean asked.

  “Because you requested someone who felt it was a violation,” Danny explained.

  “Who was it?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Who.”

  “Dean, it’s a privacy issue.”

  “Come on, Danny who?”

  “Me.” Henry said. “I reported you.”

  “What!” Dean turned to him. “Do you take Dick pills daily to increase how much of a dick you can be or is this just a natural progression for you?”

  “And that …” Henry pointed. “Is the exact reason I did so. We’re not friends Dean I tried. Now all of the sudden there’s a social network and you think I’m going to accept your friend request? No. It was a violation. We aren’t friends.”

  “Grow up,” Dean said.

  “You’re the one complaining.”

  “Oh my God.” Ellen huffed. “Can we stop this?”

  “Yes,” Danny answered. “Dean, what was the other thing. The Potty chair and what else.”

  After a brief stare down with Henry, Dean turned to Danny. “We have a toilet issue. Our commode down there won’t flush.”

  “Is it clogged?” Danny asked.

  “In a sense.”

  Loudly, Henry huffed. “And this is something you said only Danny can handle.”

  “Yeah, only he can handle.” Dean argued.

  “A clogged toilet?” Henry asked. “You think I can’t handle that? You just don’t want me in your lab. That’s all.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Well, Dean, I’m Mechanics and if I get the req, deal with it.”

  “You know Henry.” Dean lifted his chin. “You go on. Go ahead.”

  “I will.”

  “Please.”

  “I will.” Henry stood. “Danny, I’ll finish that when I get back.” He walked to a closet and pulled out a plunger.

  “You’re gonna need more than that, Henry,” Dean said.

  “Please. This shows you how much you know about me and my plunging skills.” Henry flung open the door and walked out.

  After a moment, Ellen opened the door.

  “El?” Dean asked. “Where are you going?”

  “Henry is tackling that toilet. This is going to be good.” She lifted her phone. “And now I can take video.”

  “Oh!” Danny said. “It can be the first one on Dantube.”

  “Then I better hurry. I don’t want him to see me.” Ellen walked out.

  “Dantube?” Dean asked.

  “What can I say, Dean, I’m the man.”

  “Between you and Frank and your egos.”

  “Just out of curiosity. How good is this video going to be?”

  Dean smiled. “The future LEP used the toilet. He ate a human. It’s blocked and the lab needs fumigated. So I say, sending Henry … pretty good.”

  With saying anything, and with only a grin on his face, Danny ran out.

  Chapter Twenty

  Hal glanced down to his phone, shook his head, then using his best thumb action returned a text message, set the phone on the bar of Hoi-Hoi on the Range and returned his attention to Elliott.

  “Frank again.”

  Hal snickered. “Yes. Another entertaining picture of his leg.”

  “How is that possible?” Elliott asked.

  “What? Taking a picture of his leg.”

  “I saw the picture on Hoibook. What has Dean done to him.”

  “Frank and Dean will both say it was a one time dose of that healing agent. But if you ask me my brother is getting some sort of therapy.” Hal lifted his drink.

  “It’s almost as if Dean is doing everything in his power to make sure nothing kills Frank.”

  “Well if our killer or killers have any say, nothing Dean gives him will work.”

  “Maybe Dean is trying to kill him to test it.”

  Hal paused. “I’d agree but he has an airtight alibi. And … it isn’t Dean. It’s someone close to Frank, someone in Beginnings.”

  “And, after this meeting, you think it may be someone from the future who came to the past, got to know everyone, befriended Beginnings, all to kill Frank if it looks like he’ll make the Great War Decision. And do so at this one particular moment in time.”

  Hal’s mouth dropped open. “Why do you do that. You just made the whole thing sound farfetched. Jess … came to beginnings under the same guise.”

  “True, but I think it’s purely coincidental.”

  “No.” Hal argued. “The ships haven’t moved.”

  “Something else could have delayed it. I think this future person, fearing that they’d cease to exist if the Great War didn’t happen, came to the past simply to experience it. He doesn’t need to be in Beginnings, he could be in the east. We don’t know.”

  “I stand firm on believing if we solve one mystery, we’ll solve the other.”

  “And you’ll at least solve the ‘Who wants Frank dead?’ mystery quickly.”

  “Oh, you better believe it.” Hal downed the rest of his drink
. “Starting tomorrow morning, I am with my brother watching him a lot.”

  “Has your father told you what your disability is going to be?”

  “No. But I am sure, whatever it is, I can pull it off with ease,” said Hal. “After all, it is Frank we’re talking about.”

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  “I am.” Frank smiled proudly, his leg propped up on the dining room table.

  Billy examined the healed wound. “This is unbelievable. And the leg was off, healed backwards and fixed.”

  “Yep.”

  “How many treatments a week or how often is my dad hitting you with the serum?”

  “Um … what are you talking about?” Frank asked.

  “The healing agent.”

  “What about it.”

  “Don’t.” Billy lifted his finger. “I know you. How many times has my dad hit you with the healing agent and I don’t mean just this leg.”

  “Once.”

  Billy scoffed. “Yeah. Then if that’s the case you’re an anomaly.”

  “I am.”

  “I give up. But that leg is awesome.”

  Frank pulled down his pants and set his foot on the floor. “Speaking of little. Where are your father and mother?”

  At that second the front door burst open, and rushed, Dean and Ellen flew inside.

  “Hurry. Lock it.” Ellen said, laughing.

  Dean did. “Turn off the lights.”

  Billy looked at Frank. “What did they do?”

  “They’re laughing so it can’t be dangerous.” Frank stood. “What are you two up to?”

  “Nothing.” Ellen said.

  “Nothing.” Dean repeated. “Oh, hey Frank, how’s the leg.”

  “It’s good. What’s going on?”

  No sooner did Frank ask that, there was a hard steady banging on the door.

  “Is someone chasing you?” Frank asked.

  “No.” Ellen answered. “What do you mean?”

  “Open the door!” Henry blasted. “I fucking mean it! You can’t run and hide!”

  Ellen laughed.

  “What did you do to him?” Frank asked.

  Dean lifted his hand. “In our defense, Henry did it to himself.”

  Henry kept banging on the door and yelling. Frank reached for the door knob and despite that Dean and Ellen screamed for him not to open it, he did.

  Henry blasted inside. “Where is he?” He looked saw Dean and pointed. “You’re a fucking asshole. Right now, you and me, outside.”

  “Henry,” Dean calmly stated. “My son is right here. Why would you call me out?”

  “Dean,” Frank snickered. “He’s not gonna call Billy out whether he’s here or not, he’s a child.”

  “Frank!” Henry screamed. “I don’t have time for you stupid, dumb remarks. Can you refrain?”

  Dean smiled.

  Billy cringed.

  Ellen lifted her phone.

  Frank bit his bottom lip. “And I … don’t have time for your fuckin attitude. You come blasting in this man’s home and call him out. What the fuck is your problem.”

  “Them!” Henry pointed.

  “This has been established. What did they do.”

  “I went to the cryo lab to clean up and fix the most disgusting plumbing problem ..” Henry paused when Dean and Ellen laughed. “Yeah, laugh. I fixed it and I got sick.”

  “Ok,” Frank said.

  “They recorded it Frank and posted it on Dantube.”

  “Ok.”

  “OK? OK?” Henry’s voice rose. “It’s not ok. They posted it without my permission.”

  Ellen said. “It’s so funny.”

  “It’s embarrassing!” Henry blasted. “I lost all respect in this community. I worked hard to get it back now I’m the laughing stock.”

  “Henry.” Frank held up his hand. “Go home. I’ll take care of it.”

  “No, you won’t.” Henry tossed out his arm in disgust. “No one does anything to those two. Especially you, Frank. You act like you do. When you were leader it was pathetic.”

  Frank just looked at him.

  “Is there a problem Frank? Why are you staring?” Henry snapped.

  Frank calmly raised his hands in defeat. “No reason. Just waiting for you to finish. So we can figure out how to fix this.”

  “We can’t. I’ll talk to Joe tomorrow. Thank God he’s back. At least I know he may do something since he hates Dean.” Henry stormed out and slammed the door.

  Dean turned to Ellen. “Joe hates me?”

  “A little.” She shrugged. “It’s your arrogance.”

  “I can see that.”

  Billy whistled as he looked down at a phone. “Henry got really sick.”

  Dean and Ellen laughed.

  “So you guys really posted it?” Frank asked. He faced the door.

  “Yeah, it’s funny.” Ellen took the phone from Billy, “Wanna see?”

  “No. Take it down.” Frank said as he turned around. “Take it off that site.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dean tugged his ear. “Did I hear you say something responsible?”

  “Yeah, you did.”

  “Frank,” Ellen defended. “It was funny.”

  “I don’t care how funny you think it was. It wasn’t right to embarrass him like that. Take it down. Now.” Saying no more, Frank opened the door and walked out.

  “Wow,” Dean whistled. “Frank is mad at us.”

  “I wouldn’t think he would be.”

  “He’s not,” Billy interjected. “It’s something else. Did you see the look on his face. It’s definitely something else.”

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  Joe looked up when Robbie slipped behind the bar and poured two fingers worth of whiskey and downed it. “Aren’t you on duty tonight?” Joe asked

  “Not in a real sense. Just the investigation.” Robbie glance down to his watch. “Six hours.”

  “For six hours?” Joe asked.

  “No, six hours you and him.” Robbie pointed at George. “Have been sitting here. Everything okay?”

  “We have years to resolve.” Joe replied.

  “And lots of years to make up for.” George lifted his glass.

  “Cool.” A splash more of whiskey, Robbie drank it and set down his glass. “I’ll be at the crime scene with one half of our Asian community and Roy.”

  Joe grumbled. “Tell me it’s not Henry. He made an appointment bright and early.”

  Robbie cringed. “No, I saw him ranting and raving around here. I told Hector to calm him down.”

  “Good.” Joe lifted his glass. “Good luck with the investigation.”

  Robbie walked by his father, planted his lips to Joe’s forehead and then walked out.

  “I’m very envious,” George said. “Your boys adore you.”

  “Wish I could say the same.” Joe paused then laughed.

  Both men did.

  “In all seriousness, you have to get this solved. Three weeks isn’t a lot of time,” George said.

  “I know. I’m hoping with my Hal plan we can divert it even if we don’t catch the person trying to kill Frank.”

  “I’m not so sure that will work.”

  “Why do you say that?” Joe asked.

  “Obviously, this person wants Frank dead and obviously, since the office situation, he knows how to do it when Frank is alone. He or she may not attempt it while Hal is around.”

  “Then we diverted it.”

  “You want to catch this person. Too bad, you know, that Johnny tried to kill Frank.”

  “You don’t say.” Joe said with sarcasm.

  “I say that because he’s perfect.”

  “I’m lost. Perfect suspect?”

  “Perfect person to follow Frank. He knows Beginnings inside and out. He could lurk around, knows the ins and outs, and let’s face it, is sneaky enough to watch his father without anyone noticing.”

  “I have to agree. Lord knows he snuck around this place enough for you. But how would we pull that of
f. I mean, people would see him here.”

  George lifted his hands. “Time to come home.”

  “Why are you doing this? Making this suggestion?” Joe asked. “Seems like there’s an ulterior motive.”

  “Nope. Robbie kissed you. Your sons love you. You’re all about family, Joe and Johnny is family. That boy would take a bullet for you or his dad to prove his love. His mistake was medically proven. Time to give him a chance.”

  Joe just stared at George and took another drink.

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  “This is it.” Danny handed Robbie a tiny bulb no bigger than a pencil eraser. “I made three. But I need that casing.”

  Roy was there and asked. “And are you absolutely positive that beam will only go as far as the distance of the bullet.”

  “Uh, yeah.” Danny said. “Of course, you’ll help.”

  “I am excited to.”

  “Ok, here’s the math equations.” Robbie handed the sheet of paper to Roy.

  Roy sniffed. “You’ve been drinking.”

  “One drink.”

  “Your math is off. I told you to let me do it.”

  “My math isn’t off.” Robbie argued.

  “It is. I need an exact replica of the bullet. I also need the weapon or one like it. Jotting down basic numbers and using generics methods are not going to give us the results we need. This beam is essential to this investigation.”

  Danny held up his hand. “This will be days since this happened. The beam will let us know where the person stood and took a shot. Do you honestly think, with all the drinking that night, people are going to remember who was standing where?”

  “Maybe,” Robbie said. “It will give us a shooter location that will give us no question as to who it was. Like if it goes to the stage, then we know it was one of the Starters that shot.”

  The door to Frank’s office opened and surprising them was Frank.

  “Hey Frank,” Robbie said brightly. “Did you come to help with the investigation.”

  “No.” Frank simply stated.

  “You okay?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah. I’m here to see him.” Frank walked to Roy and handed him a folded sheet of paper. “That is for you. I know you don’t like to tell anything about the future. But think about those and answer them for yourself.”

  Roy looked confused. “What is it?”