Time Skip

by Craig L. Seymour

  Now that he knew when the bombing was going to take place, he had to decide what type of action he would take. He briefly considered using the same bomb threat method which was his contingency plan for September 11. As he was leaning more and more heavily toward this method for 9/11, he thought a test run might be a useful endeavor. This consideration was short lived however. Partly because he wasn’t sure if he could truly glean any useful information from such an exercise. There was simply too little relationship between the two scenarios. He was also concerned about the efficacy of such an action. Even if he were successful in getting the building evacuated, McVeigh would still blow up the truck and take out the building. That was not to mention the individuals who were responding to his threat, any stragglers who hadn’t exited the building quickly enough, or maybe bystanders on the street. In so far as he thought he had a reasonably good shot at stopping McVeigh altogether, he couldn’t justify such a risky proposition, other than, again, as a last resort. He quickly decided that he should put law enforcement onto McVeigh’s plot and forestall the whole affair. Now he just had to work out the details.

  With two plots to foil now, Lovelle was very focused. He spent much of his free time planning and doing research into the situations. If he wasn’t looking into the activities of the Michigan Militia, he was tracking the careers of politicians he thought might be pressed into service. He was considering other ways that he might get airports to step up their own diligence. It was a busy time for him.

  *****

  Even with everything going on, Lovelle also occasionally talked to Katie. Just like Trina, there was a noticeable difference in her attitude when she found out about Lisa. It was only then that she felt secure enough to let her guard down with him. She had been concerned, and with good reason, that he had continued to carry a torch for her. Once she relaxed, she pushed him to open up to her. But, Lovelle resisted this sort of close confidentiality. Even though he was sure she would have been a marvelous substitute for Trina's friendship, he just couldn’t imagine subjecting himself to the details of Katie’s own relationship, which he could naturally expect in return.

  Soon enough it was the holiday season, and Lovelle decided to take the plunge. He bought an engagement ring and wrapped it up as a Christmas present. He convinced Lisa to spend Christmas Eve alone with him and brought the box out at the end of the night. As she opened the wrapping he knelt in front of her as if to pick up the paper. She opened the box, expecting earrings or some other jewelry. Her eyes opened wide as she realized what she had in her hand. She looked down at him and didn’t wait for him to ask for her hand.

  “Yes! Yes I’ll marry you.” she answered his unasked question and started to cry,

  “Don’t cry Sugar. You know I can’t take it when women cry.” And he started to tear up himself.

  Within days he and Lisa had set a date. Lisa was to graduate in April, and they were to wed in May. She was determined to have all of her ducks in a row before the end of her holiday break, and she was a very organized person. As for Lovelle, he maintained a strictly hands off policy. After all, this was his second wedding. He felt no particular need to control the affair in any way. He was the most agreeable person he had ever been. He simply made himself available for anything Lisa needed, and then sat back and watched the magic.

  Sure enough, by the time she started her final semester they had a church, a hall, and a band. The invitations were on order, as was the gown. Everything else would be easy from there. And that’s when he stepped back and looked at the situation for the first time. Lovelle suddenly realized how far astray he had gotten from any sort of plan he had started out with. In his rush to be with Katie he had failed with her well before they were actually even supposed to meet. Now, he was about to marry someone else around the time he should have been getting engaged to Katie. He wasn’t due to actually be married for another 2 years. The first time around he would have still been acting like a kid, hanging out with friends he had never even met this time, and still believing that he would never get married.

  He should have expected that. He couldn’t be that immature guy, even if he was occupying that young guy’s space. As mature as he might have thought he was back then, he had years of growing up to do. But now he was a middle aged man, even if he did have the vibrancy of a 24 year old.

  Not that any of that was of particular importance now. It was water under the bridge. His upcoming nuptials had given him the determination to live for the present. Sure, he would always have regrets. But he had had plenty of regrets the first time around and he would have given anything to be able to recreate every one of those missteps to get back to the place where he had left off. And now he was in love with Lisa, and whatever had been her story during his first life, this was her reality now. She didn’t have a phantom past hanging over her, and she didn’t deserve one. So Lovelle put those feelings in a metaphorical box and gave her his love unconditionally.

  While he was preoccupied, making plans, time slipped by. Suddenly he was only a couple of weeks away from his own wedding. Considering the short time frame and the almost complete lack of assistance from her fiancé, Lisa should have been a little frazzled. Instead, she was the picture of composure. She seemed to get funnier, smarter, and more beautiful as the day approached. He couldn’t be sure how being married would affect her, but, she wore the engagement extremely well. And her confidence put him more at ease than he had been in a long time. He wasn’t at all sure about what he would do about the terrorists, but, he was finally feeling very confident about his personal life.

  His world was very balanced now. It had taken a little time, but Lisa was really making him forget about his feelings for Trina and Katie. She had even convinced him to invite Katie to the wedding. This was a decision that Trina couldn’t resist commenting on.

  “Isn’t it a little awkward having Katie at your wedding?”

  “I don’t know, it’s not like we ever went out.” he said smiling to himself as he thought, Why would it be awkward, she’s only my wife and the mother of my child. What could be awkward about that?

  “Yeah, but you were pretty hung up on her. I mean, we’re not talking about a little crush.”

  “Hey, it was Lisa’s idea. She insisted on having my friends there, and I haven’t exactly surrounded myself with a lot of them.”

  “Yeah, well, Lisa’s a sweetheart. But that doesn’t mean she wants your old love interests around.”

  “What are you talking about? She knows all about Katie.” Lovelle was secretly happy to find out that Lisa wasn’t sharing everything with Trina. “I don’t like to keep secrets,” which was true, insofar as he would tell her anything that didn’t make him sound like a nut case. “She even knows about us.”

  “What about us? Did you tell her that I had a crush on you?” Trina snapped in a rare moment of true ire.

  “Do you really think I would say something like that about you?” he snapped back.

  “No.” She said almost apologetically.

  “Good.” he paused then explained himself. “I told her that we talked about dating, but the timing was never right. I told her that at first it was my choice, and then it was yours.”

  She looked at him, a little puzzled. “What do you mean it was my choice? You never told me you wanted to go out. When did that happen?”

  “You took that option off the table.” He explained,” Don’t tell me you don’t remember that speech you gave me?”

  “Of course I remember the speech. I rehearsed it for a week so I wouldn’t screw it up,” She admitted.

  He chuckled. “You rehearsed it?”

  “Yes!” she said sheepishly, “It really hurt me to give up on you.”

  “I’m sorry Trina.” Lovelle felt bad for dredging up the past. “You know I never wanted to make you feel bad.”

  “I know. You just… Hey, don’t change the subject.” She interrupted herself. “You said it was my choice. Does that mean you changed your mind sometime
and didn’t tell me?”

  “It was never about changing my mind. I always had feelings for you. There were just things in the way. I’m not sure if things would have ever cleared up for both of us at the same time. I just didn’t consider it after you told me not to.” He lied in the hope that she would let it drop. She didn’t.

  “So you just turned your feelings off like a faucet.” She was obviously pretty skeptical.

  “I’m not a robot. I’m always going to have feelings for you.” As soon as the phrase left his mouth he wanted to grab it out of the air and swallow it back down. This was not a discussion he wanted to have, particularly right before his wedding. “I just quit worrying about acting on them after your speech. But, you know me, I probably would have always had an excuse anyhow.” he tried again to extricate himself from the situation. “And now I’ve got Lisa and you’ve got Paul. I don’t think it’s turned out too badly for us.”

  Had this discussion occurred at any other time it would have stirred up all kinds of emotions Lovelle didn’t want to deal with. But he was in a state of pre-wedding bliss. By the time of the wedding his feelings for Lisa couldn't have been any stronger. As he stood at the altar, he hardly noticed how beautiful Trina looked in her silly bridesmaid dress. Or how stunning Katie looked in her anything but silly form fitting Oriental dress. It was only through the magic of photography that he was later able to see just what he had missed that evening.

  When Lisa appeared at the end of the aisle she was a vision. Her dress, her hair, everything was gorgeous. He was so happy. Everything went along perfectly. She had put together an incredible affair in such an unbelievably short time. Their friends and family would talk about how much they enjoyed themselves for a long time to come. It was a wonderful way to kick off a marriage.

  The honeymoon was every bit the equal of the reception. They spent a week in the Caribbean. They did everything you could want to do during the days, and enjoyed some of the most romantic evenings he could imagine. By the time they arrived home he simply saw his new bride as a goddess. They quickly moved her into his apartment, anxious to begin their lives together.

  That’s when the bloom came off the rose. Lisa, although no less romantic and sweet, was a control freak. She had to run everything. She just could not bring herself to give up any control of their finances, their social life, their love life, or anything else. She was never nasty about it, but then, he never backed her into a corner to see what she would do. Lovelle was simply a pushover and just relinquished the power.

  Lovelle should have seen it coming. He surely would have had he tried to interfere in the planning of the wedding. But he’d been happy to give her control of that, and the issue never arose.

  Of course, just like the wedding, Lisa was eminently more capable of handling their affairs than he would have been. It would have been difficult to argue with most of her decisions even if he had wanted to. But, the fact remained that he was not used to handing control over to someone else. He expected to have a say. He’d had a true partnership with Katie, and expected the same in this marriage. The result was a growing resentment that would have to boil over at some point. He needed to vent. But, he didn’t know who to talk with. He believed that Trina was now closer to his wife than she was to him. She could have helped him to deal with the situation, but, he couldn’t bring himself to trust that she would keep his confidence. He was wrong about that, but at the time, his perception was skewed.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Lovelle found a distraction from his growing marital problem by concentrating on foiling the bombing of the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. The second anniversary of the Branch Davidian fire was approaching, so he knew the date of the attack was coming up. He was able to forget about nearly everything else and focus on his plans.

  At first Lovelle thought that he might put Timothy McVeigh on the FBI’s radar pretty early on. He could do it pretty easily with an anonymous tip. If he gave them enough info on the plot, they would be able to unravel it well ahead of any danger. But, there were two problems with that plan. First, if McVeigh detected the government sniffing around he could alter his plans. After a while, the Feds would have to decide that Lovelle's tip was bogus. Eventually McVeigh would realize he was in the clear and strike somewhere else at some other time. Even more likely, the Feds would never take the tip seriously, Lovelle would have no idea, and he would find out only when the deed was done and it was too late to do anything about it.

  He finally decided to wait until just a couple of weeks before the bombing. Not only would he be sure by then that there was plenty of evidence, but, as long as they took him seriously, there would also be a greater sense of urgency. His main job would be to figure out how to make sure they listened. But, since there would probably be no way to know, he would also implement his back up plan. Just for good measure, on the day of the bombing he would tip off security at the Murrah Building to be on the lookout for suspicious Ryder rental trucks.

  *****

  As with the September 11th attacks, Lovelle's memory of the details was pretty sketchy. Having lived in Michigan at the time he was well aware of the Michigan connection. McVeigh's coconspirator, Terry Nichols was a Michigan Native, and McVeigh had lived with him there for a time. That seemed like a good place to start.

  Lovelle knew that they had lived in the thumb area of Michigan. Inspecting a map, his memory was jostled when he saw the city of Deckerville. For the first time, Lovelle got intimately involved in trying to stop a terrorist. He took a day off from work and drove several hours to visit the town where he believed Nichols had a farm.

  As he drove into town he pulled into a convenience store on Deckerville Rd. He was wearing a set of well-worn fatigues that he'd purchased at a thrift store along with boots and a hat from an Army surplus shop. A day's worth of stubble and a pair of eyeglasses he did not need completed his disguise. He approached the counter where an older man sat reading a book. His stomach felt like he had just swallowed a big rock.

  “Can I ask you a question. I'm looking for an old army buddy. I'm pretty sure he's got a farm around here.” Lovelle got right to the point. He asked about Terry Nichols, but, the man had never heard of him.

  “Do you think maybe you could point me to someone else who might know?”

  “Well, you could try down at the Veterinary Hospital. I'm pretty sure I know every farmer in town, but, if your buddy has any animals, then he'll pretty much have to do business with Doc Johnson.”

  Lovelle got directions to the vet's office, thanked the man and went on his way. Doc Johnson turned out to be no more help. “I'm afraid Floyd's right. There's no Nichols farm in Deckerville.” The old veterinarian informed him.

  Lovelle started back home disappointed. He had been so sure that he had heard the cities name before, and he didn't know why else he would have heard of it. It was back to the drawing board, or rather, back to the map. Then, as he drove along Deckerville road toward M53 he crossed Decker Rd. “Ohh!” he sighed. Pulling out the map he spotted the much smaller city of Decker, and headed that way.

  He found a gas station in the small area that was designated on the map as the town. Again he went in to see the Clerk and spun his tale of being an old army buddy of Nichols.

  “Sure, I know Terry. His brother has a place just up the road. I haven't seen Terry around in some time though. I suppose James will be able to tell you how to get a hold of him if you want. The man gave him directions and off he went.

  Now came the tricky part. It was one thing to tell a stranger that he was a friend of Nichols. He wasn't particularly concerned that anyone would uncover his lie. Speaking to the man's brother was a different story. Initially he had only wanted to confirm Nichols' location so he could direct the feds to him when the time came. He had never intended to confront the man. But, if Nichols wasn't living there, he could only point them to the right location if he spoke to the man's brother. But, he didn't know how he could do that without resulti
ng in the brother calling Nichols and telling him that his “buddy” was looking for him. That would certainly put Nichols on his guard. It might well convince him that someone was on to the bombing plot, or was at least fishing around. And that could lead the bombers to change their plans and foil his plot to foil their plot.

  Lovelle decided he would have to regroup and come at this from another direction. He felt that he would have to approach the brother as stranger with some kind of believable interest in finding Nichols. He would have to be some kind of businessman or government representative, so even if he could come up with a plan on the fly, he would not be dressed for the part. So he headed for home.

  *****

  Two weeks later Lovelle showed up in his most lawyer like suit with some business cards printed just a day earlier. Terry Nichols' brother James answered his door. He was obviously a little surprised to see someone dressed that way at his farmhouse door.

  “Can I help you?”

  “I hope so, I'm looking for Terry Nichols. That wouldn't happen to be you?”

  “No sir,” James answered, starting to look suspicious.

  “Would he happen to be home?”

  “No...Terry doesn't live here anymore. What's this about?” His suspicion was obvious now.

  Lovelle handed the man his business card identifying him as a lawyer from a Detroit law firm. “Well, Mr. Nichols is listed as a possible witness to an accident. My firm is representing someone injured in that accident and we would like to talk to him about what he might have seen.”