Hoppy smacked his lips together and nodded. “Yep. Pretty much.”
“Dang, that’s going to be hard.” He squeezed his eyes against the headache and waved at Marie and Hoppy. “I’m going to have to take care of this headache or I’m no good to anyone. Marie, if you could find the dosage I need before you leave I’d appreciate it. Then, you and a Hoppy go work on how to get into the UC or The Hole or both. Come back in twenty.”
He turned to Nik as Marie was administering the dose, “Go find some way to calm down. I’m going to need you, but not like this.”
He looked at them all, “Back here in twenty. Go.” And then he turned over and began snoring.
A Penny Has Two Sides
Her side continued to ache throughout the night, but Penny pushed on. No time for tears now. She remembered her nights in law school when she barely slept and had to read case after case. The Supreme Court was one thing, learning cases from Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden and so forth. Penny had learned about those cases since grade school and the law was a familiar opponent.
Tonight’s opponent was familiar as well, but alien at the same time. The face was the same she saw in the mirror each morning, but different experiences the last decade and a half separated the two women. Different motivations and different histories informed a different heart behind Penelope’s chest. Penny already knew Penelope’s heart beat to a different rhythm, but it wasn’t until she popped in the DVD and began studying the other world and the other woman that she discovered just how different she actually was.
After the 9/11 attacks Penny knew from her own world, she learned how the White House was destroyed by Flight 93. In this world, the terrorists hadn’t been overcome by the passengers in rural Pennsylvania. In this world, the plane made it to Washington, D.C. In this world the plane smashed into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and obliterated the most famous home in America. The death toll only rose by a couple dozen—most were Secret Service agents—but it was devastating. The difference between Penny and Penelope’s life based on just that one event was massive. Instead of a positive story ending the tragedy of that day, the terrorists achieved total victory. The country was reeling and Al Qaeda took advantage, striking again and again at foreign embassies and ports.
Just one small difference and the world was a much different place.
But, Penny also saw the difference made by Project Blink. In a series of classified files, Penny saw the effect her father had on this world. Lleyton Bridges brought his portal technology to this world and it was used to take out Osama bin Laden and his associates. Eventually the terrorists learned to really hide in caves and stop using mirrors, but by then it was nearly the end of the road for most of them.
The world had become a much different place. Many states had refused to accept the terms that the U.S. set for the rest of the world. No longer was the U.S. acting as the policeman of the world, but as the judge, jury and executioner. If anyone was even thinking of committing an act of terrorism against the U.S., a portal was activated and someone was permanently taken out. Country after country lined up against America, and the country even turned on itself.
Of course, the portals were a secret the U.S. was keeping from the rest of the world. A somewhat poorly kept secret, it appeared, but a secret nonetheless. The conspiracy to end all conspiracies.
By the time George W. Bush was done in office in 2004, the entire West Coast was ready to secede. California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada were all anxious to strike out on their own, forming a new nation with five states. Montana and Colorado soon followed. It didn’t matter that the move was unconstitutional; the states argued that the Constitution was violated each and every time a portal was activated in D.C. to send an assassin overseas.
As she read and watched video clips, Penny realized this was also Penelope’s story. Little by little, Penny began to see Penelope edge into the public consciousness. She became the public advocate for the new foreign policy enacted by the portals. She never revealed the existence of the Blink project, but with her knowledge of everything behind the scenes, Penny could see the hidden portals boosting Penelope’s political ambitions. Slowly but surely, Penelope Bridges became known around the world. She parlayed her fame into being a representative in the U.S. House from Indiana, and soon afterwards, the Vice Presidency. It truly was a remarkable rise to greatness.
Too bad Penelope sold her soul in process, Penny thought.
She looked at the alarm clock next to the bed and also realized she needed to sleep. The red LED numbers showed the time of 2:03, and Penny needed a little rest before attempting to become Penelope the next day.
She leaned against the stack of pillows, and let her eyelids take their natural course. Within minutes, her mind drifted from the mountain of videos and data she’d been poring over. It was almost too much. She had to focus on the kids...Sisco...Kira…
Penny...wake up, Penny…
Her mind drifted, not willing to open her eyes. After everything she’d gone through in the past few days, her mind must be playing tricks on her.
Penny…
Not only was her mind playing tricks on her, but her body was as well. She felt a touch on her back, a hand on her shoulder.
“Penny, wake up…”
Against her own judgment, Penny opened her eyes. She was still in the hotel room, the drab wallpaper and the stiff drapes still touched both the floor and ceiling of the lonely room. She knew she must’ve been dreaming. There was no way her dream could’ve actually been true.
“Penny.”
She froze. Penny was wide awake and the voice was definitely there. Right behind her shoulder. Could it be?
She turned and looked around her. The voice wasn’t without a body. She wasn’t alone. Not anymore.
“Dad?”
Dr. Lleyton Bridges stood in front of her. The father she’d been without for nearly a decade and a half. Standing in the same room with her. Older, but somehow the same. His hair was a little further back on his head, a little greyer, but it was him. Her heart stopped for a moment. Penelope said Penny’s father was dead. Just a few hours ago Penny had given up hope for her father a second time in this very room.
He smiled. The grin was infectious and Penny found herself giggling as well. She leapt off the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Is it really you? She...Penelope said you were dead. Said you didn’t make it. Please tell me it’s really you.”
Bridges gripped her arms and pulled her away so he could look in her eyes. She gazed back into his. The same deep brown eyes she remembered from sitting on her father’s lap as a child. The same eyes she’d brought to tears when she’d crashed the family car after drinking as a seventeen year old. The same eyes she never thought she’d see again. But were they really the same eyes?
Finally he spoke again. “It is me, Penny. I’ve missed you so much.”
“But...how?”
“Back on September 11, there were...anomalies. Agent Street and I were caught up in the first portal between worlds. While doing so, we destroyed any means of getting back...at least right away. But I was teamed up with my double from this world and we immediately went to work to recreate the portals,” Bridges said. He reached up and smoothed Penny’s hair back, craning his head to look at her from every angle. “Obviously you know some of this...you’re here after all.”
“Yeah. Penelope gave me the classified overview. I know all about it. But she said you were dead,” Penny said.
He gestured to the bed and they both sat on the edge.
“Dr. Bridges did die, but it was the Dr. Bridges from this world. We’d worked together for so long, it was hard to think of him as myself...more like a brother I never knew. It was hard to see him go, but I think Penelope snapped as well. She hasn’t been herself since the funeral—which I wasn’t allowed to go to for obvious reasons—but has instead been withdrawn and sullen. I was afraid of what sh
e was doing, and then she visited me tonight.”
Penny didn’t say anything, but her eyes opened wider.
“She stopped by a few hours ago with your kids,” Bridges paused, then grinned. “I didn’t know I was a grandfather. I hoped, but I never knew. Anyway...she brought them to me, essentially throwing them at me. She told me it was my job to babysit Kira and Sisco until ‘the job was finished.’ I’ve spent most of the last couple hours trying to confirm her plans, but I’m still not totally sure what she’s got up her sleeve.”
Penny looked over Bridges shoulder. “Kira? Sisco?”
Bridges put his hand on her arm.
“They’re not here. I left them back at the lab with Agent Street. I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to sneak out, but once I found out where you were, I had to come. My daughter is in the same town as me and I’m not going to figure out a way to see her?” Bridges asked. “So I snuck away and used my backdoor code to get a portal here. The kids are safe.”
Penny’s mind swam. “But…”
“But I know Penelope. I’ve worked with her the entire time I’ve been here. She’s you...but she’s different as well. She’s harder, bitter...cruel. If I brought the kids here and we tried to get out now, it wouldn’t work. I don’t know all the ins and outs yet. Let me figure out what she’s got planned. Let me do what I do, Penny.”
“Let me just come with you...I need to see my children…” Penny said. She was desperate. A glimmer of hope was now a distant light.
Bridges pulled out a phone. He swiped across and a photo displayed. A man she’d never met before was standing behind her kids. Both looked tired, but unharmed.
“That’s Agent Street. I would trust him with my life. I have on a number of occasions, actually. He’s guarding the kids right now,” Bridges said. He looked in her eyes. “Hang in there, Penny. I just got you back. Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. Trust me. I’ll get all of you back home safe.”
Penny didn’t know what to say. She leaned into her father and rested her head on his chest. The familiar beat of his heart pulsed against her ear. Even with the nightmare surrounding her, Penny surrendered to her father. He was her hero when she was a kid, and she knew he could be her hero again.
Sinking Sedona
With a start, Agent Smith opened his eyes. He didn’t move his body for a moment, taking in his surroundings. He planned for just a twenty minute nap—enough to take the edge off—but something told him that twenty minutes turned into a few hours. His internal clock was a little on the fritz, whether it was sleeping on a different Earth, or being holed up in a cave with no access to the outside, Smith’s body was off.
“Smith?”
The agent turned his head to find Nik sitting next to him. Nik. The one who got him into this mess by jumping through his bathroom window to this cursed reality in the first place. A man just looking for his family. Smith had a hard time accepting Nik’s rationale, not having a wife and kids himself, but knew family was a powerful draw. After what happened to Agent Wesson and Agent Barney, Smith could almost understand. The two men had been a part of his team for so long, it was almost as if they were his family. Certainly a part of his life. It had taken some time, but Smith was finally able to accept Nik Davidson’s role in everything as benign.
“Hey Nik. Where is everyone else?” Smith asked, propping himself up on his elbows.
“Well, we all came back after twenty minutes, but you wouldn’t wake up. Dr. Anna...I mean, Marie, told everyone to rest. I laid down for a while, but I just couldn’t sleep any more. Not knowing they’re out there waiting for me. So here I am. Waiting for you.”
The look of frustration mixed with resignation was clear on Nik’s face. He was a man who wanted to enact change, but was without the means to do so. His fate was completely dependent on Smith’s decisions.
“Okay. So how long did I sleep?”
Nik looked at his wrist, at a watch Smith didn’t remember him having before. “Close to seven hours now. I slept for about three. Everyone else is in the Control Room, resting or working in Hoppy’s case.”
Seven hours? No wonder his body was off. Twenty minutes a couple days ago in his own reality would have been just that. Now, he closes his eyes and hours go by. He shook his head and pushed up off the rocky floor to stand.
“Um, I actually wanted to talk to you. Before...before we go on,” Nik said.
Smith glanced over at Davidson. He looked rough and his eyes betrayed that he was obviously sleep-deprived. After everything they’d been through, Smith figured Nik would’ve lost it before now. Maybe now was the moment.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Smith asked. He leaned against the cave wall, looking down at Davidson in the low light.
“I...I’m not sure what to think any more. I trusted me...I mean myself...him. I trusted Nicholas. He was me. Is me...shoot, I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore,” Nik said.
“I understand,” Smith said.
“I mean, I came over to this side to look for Penny and the kids and he told me things...he said you—at least your double—was behind it all. Even when we came back and we were on the plane, he convinced me that the two of us were in this against you and your team. He...he seemed to know about the attack on the plane before anyone else knew what was going on,” Nik said.
Smith had some of the same reservations at the time, but knew now that he had underestimated the man.
“I think I know what you mean,” Smith said. “He was a little shifty. I do want to apologize to you, though. When I showed up at your house, I lumped you in with others we’d been tracking across the nation where portals had cropped up. One man went crazy and murdered his whole family. So when you went AWOL from Earth and brought a second one of you back, you almost confirmed my suspicions of you. I can see now that you’re a decent guy. Your body double, though…”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Smith chuckled. “No need to apologize for something that isn’t your fault. I mean...it was you biologically speaking, but not you. You know what I mean?”
Nik smiled. Smith hadn’t remembered him smiling in quite a while “Yeah, I do. Hey, I didn’t say anything when it happened, but when Agent Barney was shot, Nicholas went right for the cockpit. Even before any of us even knew the bullets went that far, that’s the first place he went. Almost as if he was anticipating it. Then he had me stay with Barney to stabilize him while he took the controls. By the time I got back in the cockpit, I saw him messing with the computer there. He clicked off as soon as I saw him, but it was email. Like he was emailing someone in our world.”
Smith thought for a moment, connecting the dots he’d only been vaguely aware of before. “He must’ve been contacting his own agents on our Earth. Like Agents Jones and Quincy. He must’ve told them where he was so he could meet up with them in Sedona. That’s how we got ambushed so easily...damn.”
“That one I can apologize for. I should’ve told you, but I thought somehow that I was protecting my family by siding with myself...with Nicholas.”
Smith crouched down to get on Nik’s level.
“Look, Nik, I know mistakes have been made. I underestimated our opponent and didn’t trust you. You trusted someone who looked just like you, but maybe let that trust go too far. We’ve all made mistakes,” Smith said. “But here’s the thing: we aren’t going to save your family and save the world sitting in a cave feeling sorry for ourselves. I know this is new to you, but let me tell you, I’ve been in some strange situations before. This would rank right up there, but I know we can get out of this alive, and we can save your family, too.”
Nik’s face hardened a bit and he gazed back at Smith. “Really? You promise?”
Smith shook his head. “I don’t promise. There are too many unknowns, but I do know we aren’t going to get anything accomplished from here. Besides, we’ve got some talented people with us. Dr. Anna is the best at what she does and Hoppy...well the one I knew was a
genius and I’m sure this one is no exception. As long as you hang in there and are there for the right moment, I think we’ve got a pretty good shot.”
He reached over with an outstretched hand. A moment passed, but Davidson finally grasped it and Smith pulled the man to his feet.
“Now let’s get to that Control Room and figure out how to save our world.”
Hop To It
“Whatcha got?”
The door to the underground Control Room swung open and Agent Smith walked in, followed by Nik Davidson. Marie and Hoppy were standing in front of a computer console, discussing something between themselves, while the two teens, Jodi and Braden, stirred in the corner. Hoppy turned at Smith’s question.
“Glad you asked. While you were taking your twenty minute nap, we decided to tap into the network,” Hoppy replied.
Smith glared for a split second at the technician, but decided to let the comment about the nap pass. Bigger problems. “Tap? You mean hack?”
“Hacking would imply we were gaining access from the outside. No, Agent Smith, we were merely poking around the network I helped build. I already knew some about Penelope Bridges and her plans, but I think I may have stumbled upon what she’s ultimately after,” Hoppy said.
Smith and Davidson came around the end of the worktable and leaned over the tablet Hoppy had on display. Marie leaned over as well, putting her hand on Smith’s arm. He looked over at the woman he used to call Dr. Anna. She’d lost something in the past day—perhaps some of her vulnerability and confidence, but she looked better after a few hours of rest. She smiled at Smith and gave him a small wink.
“Okay,” Smith started, his own confidence boosted with the small gesture from Marie. “What’d we come up with?”
“Penelope Bridges is the Vice President of the United States,” Hoppy said.
“I still can’t believe it,” Nik said quietly, but loud enough to interrupt Hoppy. The other three looked at him. “Sorry.”
Utility Company (Book 1): Blink Page 24