by Turner, Ivan
“I need a map of the subway tunnels,” I told him.
He raised his eyebrows. At least I had surprised him. “Why would you want to go down into those filthy tunnels?”
“Because you’ll never find us there.”
He considered this. “I suppose I just assumed you would want to get out of the city.”
“I don’t need to tell you the whole plan.”
“Then why should I give you the map?”
I took a breath, but there was really no need for the hesitation. My mind had already been made up. “Because we’re friends.”
“Friends are we?”
I nodded. “In the end, I think so.”
He didn’t reply.
“Samud, I need to get out of here. You and I both know that I’m eventually going to skip through time again. This time I may lose ten years or fifty years. I need to see my family and I need to see Jennie before that happens. I’m begging you.”
He laughed at me. He actually laughed at me. “That’s your plan? That’s how you expected to convince me to give you the map?”
I became suddenly angry. “No,” I said very quietly. “The plan was to use coercion.”
All hints of laughter stopped instantly. “What sort of coercion?”
Curiosity is the first sign of guilt.
“It doesn’t matter,” I told him. “I told them I wouldn’t do it and I won’t. If you won’t help me, then you’d better just go.”
“I cannot get you the map,” he admitted after a moment. “I cannot go back to my office.”
Maybe I’m just dense, but I didn’t see what he meant at first. I just looked at him queerly, trying to figure it all out. He didn’t wait long for it all to come to me.
“Dr. Miktoffin was arrested earlier this evening. It seems he was conducting some sort of secret research using misappropriated resources.”
It became very clear to me, then, exactly what was going.
“They’ve traced it back to you?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. But Abdel, as dedicated a man as he is, will tell them anything they want to know as soon as they shine a bright light in his face.”
“And then?”
He shrugged. “As a doctor, he may very well buy his life, if not his freedom. There will be no further use for me.”
“So you didn’t come because I asked you. You came… Why did you come?”
“Because you are in as much danger as I am. Maybe more.” I started to speak, but he put up his hand to stop me. “If they determine that Abdel’s research was worthwhile, they may have him continue it. In that case, you would be taken to a lab and caged. You won’t like it.”
I thought about that for a minute, wondering how different it would be from the way things were. I looked up. “What if they don’t think his research is worthwhile?”
“Then they will look to eliminate all traces of its existence.”
Including the subject, I guessed.
“I had hoped,” he began, “that your plan would be more fully realized. I had hoped that I could join you.”
I thought of that. I thought of Carlos’ reaction to it. He would not like it. None of them would like it. But Carlos would likely melt down. In order to be accepted, Samud would need to bring something to the plan. Like a subway map. Or…
“Do you have a car that can take us all?”
He nodded. “How does that fit in with your subway plan?”
“It doesn’t,” I said. “But it makes work an older plan.”
If nothing else can be said about Samud, he was an excellent decision maker. It was probably how he had risen to his position so quickly. And also probably why he had fallen. The decision to pursue the time jumping research had taken him no time to make, but the risk involved had been too much. Apparently, his choice of co-conspirators had been too quick a decision as well. I was wondering how well this choice would work for him.
At the moment, he still had some power over the guards. While he anticipated a formal announcement of an arrest warrant within a short amount of time, it hadn’t come yet and he would use his name and his soon to be former position wisely. He marched us out of my room, the last time I would see that room, and past the guards into the stairwell.
“We must gather the others quickly and leave,” he said.
But I didn’t know where any of their rooms were, except Carlos’. He could have found out from the register, but that would have taken time and we didn’t have time. Instead, we gambled that Carlos would have more information. At the very least, he would know where Doreen’s room was. But the big fish was Igor. He would know where everyone lived.
Carlos’ reaction was not what I expected. It may be that we took him unawares. In the first place, it was hardly past 8:30 when we knocked on his door. Visitors were unlikely three and a half hours before a shift change. In the second place, we knocked on his door. No one ever knocked. Finally, and I think this was the rub, he was alone. Carlos was a natural leader, but the caliber of his followers was in question. Without them, though, his weaknesses were thrown into sharp relief.
Seeing me first, he was almost quick to anger, but Samud’s presence behind me stayed his hand instantly. We pushed our way past him and Samud closed the door.
“We’re going tonight,” I said.
“What? Now? With him?” His mind was working and I could see what he was thinking. He’d guessed that the blackmail was having a much more potent effect than anticipated.
“Samud has a car. We need to get the others.”
A confused Carlos was almost more difficult to manage than a confident Carlos. It seemed that his instinct in such situations was to present obstacles. I ascertained that this was a stalling tactic while he regained his composure. Deep inside the brash hero was a very frightened young man. Remove any element of his control and you remove his armor. Sensing this, and noting my own ability to do so, I explained to him that we could use Samud’s clout and car to get us to the tunnel. There we would hopefully have the time to break down and replace the barrier as we had originally intended. I could tell that he was skeptical but he held his tongue. He didn’t think me capable of deception which, in his mind at least, equated to trust. That this line of thought was in direct conflict with the possibility that I could have executed blackmail on my friend Samud completely escaped him.
I would like to say that we quickly rounded up the others, but it was not so quickly. Each of them had the same questions and each required answers. Only Igor flashed a wry smile when he opened the door. Since he was the first we went to, it gave up hope for speed, but those hopes were dashed.
At long last, though, we travelled as an uneasy troupe out to the street. Guards double-took at the sight of us and then quickly looked away upon identifying Samud. To his credit, he walked with an easy confidence despite his claim of danger. I suppose anything less would have given us away, but I don’t know that I would have been able to manage it in his position. Parked at the curb was a black minivan. I noted with amusement that it was a Toyota and it was not new, although it looked to be in spectacular shape. We climbed aboard, Lydia and Jonas squeezing themselves into the back with Doreen while I took the middle with Jesse. Carlos went first to the driver’s seat but Samud rebuffed him unkindly. I thought there was going to be an explosion of tempers, but Carlos backed down without more than a glare and took shotgun. With that, Samud started the van up flawlessly and we were on our way.
The interior of the van was spotless and had that new car smell, despite not being a new car. Mounted on the dash was an expensive GPS unit and a radio that blasted an alert not five minutes into our trip. The alert was in Arabic and there was no reason for any of us to suspect that it was anything out of the ordinary but for the fact that Samud’s face went pale and Carlos was naturally mistrusting.
“What was that?” he asked. “What did they say?”
“They have issued a warrant for my arrest,” Samud answered in an even voice. “T
hey are looking for me.”
“Are they looking for us?” Carlos accused. “Are they looking for this car?”
Samud nodded.
Jesse issued a curse.
I could see the anger boiling in our “leader” and braced myself for what was to come. But again Carlos surprised me. I suppose the fact that we were on our way, in action, past the turning point, had leveled him somewhat. His personality could not be concealed but it could be controlled.
Someone suggested we abandon the Toyota.
“We can’t,” Carlos said. “If we drop it, they’ll find it faster and look for us on foot. If we’re near the tunnel, it’ll kill the whole plan. If we’re not, then we’ll never make it there.”
“So what do we do?” Lydia squeaked from the back.
“Someone’s going to have to keep the van on the road. Someone will have to keep driving while the rest of us break open the tunnel.”
“So, what?” Jesse accused. “Someone gets left behind?” She glanced back behind her and I could tell she was thinking of Jonas. I didn’t understand what was between them and probably never will, but she seemed to care about him a great deal. When I looked back, he seemed unconcerned.
Samud had the solution. “The person driving the van can circle back around and join the party when the work is almost done. Once the barrier is completely replaced, they will not think to search the tunnel.”
“Oh, that’s much better,” Jesse admonished sarcastically. “Who gets that crappy job?”
Carlos looked back at us, his faithful companions, and I could see his simple mind working through the choices. He would not choose Doreen because, for whatever it was worth, they were lovers. Jesse would never accept the assignment and it wouldn’t be worth his effort to take her on. Besides which, she might turn us in in anger. Jonas, he probably felt, wouldn’t be able to handle the job and Lydia was already on the verge of tears. That left Igor, Samud, and me. Igor was a double-crosser and Samud was a wild card. I was the obvious choice. I was his choice. He didn’t say it, but I could see it in his face every time his eyes fell upon me. I was there because of my time leaping. I was there because I was desperate to see my family again before I was propelled beyond the spans of their lives.
I was there because of Jennie.
And yet for me it was all fleeting. Even if I reached them, how long would I have with them? Though I had been grounded for some time at this point, I was not fool enough to believe that my condition had suddenly erased itself. My time with them would come to a rapid end and I would find myself in another alien situation, fighting to stabilize yet again. Such was my curse. And yet Lydia could live out the rest of her life with her husband. Carlos could be with Doreen. Jesse. Jonas. For them, this escape had value. For me it was just another temporary chapter in my temporary existence.
“I’ll do it,” I said.
Carlos didn’t even acknowledge my acceptance of the job. My volunteering just confirmed his decision and he went straight to directing Samud toward the tunnel. We avoided police cars twice, but managed to stay hidden. When we arrived, everyone piled out of the van and I went round to the driver’s seat. The entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel looked dark and foreboding. The barriers were complete, but I wondered if it would really take anything to slip a person inside. If this thought occurred to anyone else, it was left unspoken. The die had been cast.
“Look,” Carlos said to me as I climbed in. “Try to come back around every twenty minutes or so. If they catch sight of you, don’t come back.”
“Goodbye, Lydia,” I said to her through the open window. There was an October chill in the air, but we were all too keyed up to notice. “Good luck.”
“Thank you, Mathew. Thank you.”
Before I could pull out, Igor was climbing in beside me.
“What are you doing?”
“If you get caught, you’ll need some help talking your way out of a death sentence.”
“And you’re willing to help me with that?”
There was that wry grin again and I knew Igor was following opportunity. It made me uneasy but Carlos seemed relieved to be rid of the little troll. Samud, though, was less comfortable with the situation. He also volunteered to join us and slid into the middle seats behind us. And now it was complete and Carlos could hope none of us came back because he hated each of us for one reason or another. For my part, I was glad to have Samud and suspicious of the detestable Igor. But the job was still the same and I had never expected to come back to the tunnel anyway.
Without looking back, I pulled away from the entrance and back onto the streets. I began to head uptown, thinking that they might confine their search to the areas of the office and our apartments. But that was a foolish hope at best. It was known that we had a vehicle and that meant that we would have access to the whole city and any of the bridges. Some reports came over the radio, but they were sporadic and, based on Samud’s translations, lacking in information. It was possible that they expected he was listening in. Aside from those interruptions the ride was silent as we crossed first to the west side and then back east, always moving in a generally northern direction.
Close to twenty minutes later, Igor began to grow restless. Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer. “You’re not going back, are you?”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t think so. Do you have a plan?”
I shook my head again. “I thought you did.”
Samud watched this exchange curiously. I can only guess at what was going through his mind. If I were in his position, I would assume that Igor and I had worked out some sort of truce. Nothing of the sort had happened, which made me wonder just what was going on in Igor’s mind.
He took advantage of my dependence on him and ordered me back to the east, this time to the FDR drive. During the war, I had learned that that particular stretch of road had been blasted off in chunks. Most of the damage had been irreparable but one lane access or better had been restored along most of the stretch for the sake of convenience. Igor suggested that it was a quick and relatively safe route for us. Samud agreed but wanted to know exactly where that route would take us.
Igor smiled his wry smile and said, “Why, the Triboro bridge, of course.”
Of course.
Another few minutes took us to the FDR drive and I was able to gain easy access. The roadway was bad, even the restored portions. We bumped along at twenty miles per hour, my irritation growing with each mile. As we passed eighty sixth street a shadowy movement in the rearview mirror caught my eye. I became distracted and slowed. Here is when Igor chose to make his move. He lashed out with both hands and grabbed hold of the wheel, spinning it to the right. The van lurched and we veered toward the precipice. Recovering much more quickly than I would have believed, I turned the wheel back. The confluence of motion jerked us out of control and we spun haphazardly into the rubble. Without even understanding what was happening, I fought Igor as he tried to plunge us into the river. From his position, there was little Samud could do. He reached forward, perhaps attempting to restrain Igor, but it didn’t work. There was no talking. There was no shouting. It was a completely non-verbal conflict.
Ultimately, there was nothing I could do. The job had been done on the first try and all I had accomplished was a delay. As we spun toward the edge I saw movement in every direction. Of course, I couldn’t really determine a direction so I just saw movement. Police vehicles, United Arab police vehicles, were approaching the scene rapidly, flooding us in the eerie shafts of light that seem to illuminate just the space they touch. In the disco atmosphere, where the faces of my friend and my enemy kept appearing and disappearing before my eyes, we fell. I was unaware of the fall. There was no lurch and no sense of vertigo beyond that which was caused by the spinning. /Only when we finally hit the water was I aware that we had fallen. Water flooded quickly into the cabin through the open windows.
Before I knew what was happening, Igor was upon me, punching and kicking
. His blows were ill timed and his weight unevenly distributed. Though I couldn’t well defend against him, he didn’t do much damage. But physical damage was not his ultimate goal. With the advantage of position and aggression, he was able to readily force me down into the gathering pool around the driver’s seat. I felt his stubby fingers close on my throat. He planned to strangle a drowning man.
Samud was on him quickly, attempting to pull him bodily through the seat division and into the back. But Igor was more of a fighter than we had given him credit for. And he was well motivated, though the source of that motivation was a mystery. A man of opportunity, he had well analyzed exactly what he needed to do in order to accomplish his goal. Holding me down with his good right hand, he fended off the battling Samud with his left. I knew that if I breathed in but one lungful of the fetid water I was done for. He knew it, too. As the chill enveloped me and the last of my strength drained away, I felt finally Samud’s success. Igor had been pulled away. But it was too late. I could no longer move, all of my strength spent in holding my breath. It would only be a matter of seconds.
Then I would drown.
I could see nothing through my blurred vision, but strong hands gripped my arms and legs. There was definitely more than one pair of hands. I was pulled quickly and roughly from the river and into the warm night air.
I choked and gasped like the drowning victim I was. The air felt moist and thick as it entered my lungs, but it was air. My head began to clear, but there was so much confusion that I still couldn’t get my bearings. Lights shined from everywhere, piercing the night like daggers. Men were talking. Blankets were wrapped around me.
“I’ll be damned!”
Those were the first words I can remember understanding. The voice was deep but innocent sounding, almost gleeful. I focused, looking for the speaker and seeing a man who matched his voice exactly. He was a large man with sandy hair and he wore a uniform and a badge, but none as I had ever seen. I tried to speak, but my throat was still constricted so I chose to look instead.