Once Ryan’s stomach returned to normal, he began to think a little clearly. He remembered a few things he had picked up over the last couple of weeks. As he investigated Billie’s murders, he learned her routine, so Ryan knew she’d be out on her morning jog now. Once he knew the time, he figured out where he was in Fort Lane based on his memory of how the city changed over the years. He hurried to the route she’d take. If he was thinking properly, Marcus would want to secure her before anything else. Maybe he could approach Marcus there, before anything else happened. It was a long shot, but it was his best shot at uncovering the truth. It was the only thing he hadn’t tried yet.
He began his search at the end of Billie’s route and worked backwards, hoping to find her along the way. He would remain hidden from her just in case Marcus didn’t show up. She wouldn’t believe a time traveler coming to save her anyway, so there was no need to reveal his presence unless she was in danger. His head was pounding.
By the time Ryan reached the bridge on Harrison Street, the crowd was overwhelming. He saw Billie speaking to an officer from the year 2022 time zone. The officer was oblivious to what was going on. Ryan caught a glimpse of the body. The plastic was torn off it, somehow. Maybe the time quake had something to do with that as well. As he watched from a safe distance, keeping his face covered by his arms, he recognized a man wearing black glasses. He’d seen the man before—when he had been assigned to investigate Billie’s father’s death. Seeing that man triggered new memories—as he slipped back into his memory of the past.
He was speaking to another agent just after he arrested a man for the murder of Mr. Reynolds. “The wife is an old resident of 2214; did you know that?”
“I had no idea. Do you think she traveled back illegally?” the agent asked as they sipped on their coffees.
“Nope, it was all legal. I have the records here.” He opened the file and looked it over. “Says here, she divorced, left the kid with the ex, and moved to the year 1989. Whew, that’s a big jump. Why do you think she made that much of a time jump?” The whole situation made Ryan wonder. It was like she was trying to hide something. She wasn’t a suspect, so he closed her file and looked up as the captain strolled in their direction.
“Ryan, can we talk?”
“Sure, Captain Smitty. What’s up?”
“In my office.”
Ryan could feel his stomach tighten. He knew something was wrong. The captain never asked anyone into his office unless something was wrong. He swallowed hard as he stood up and followed the large man to his small office.
“The case is closed, Ryan. I need you to head out on a new assignment.” He picked up a file and handed it to Ryan.
Ryan thought he heard wrong. He looked at the file and asked him to repeat what he had just said. When he did, Ryan was confused even more. “Sir, the man’s guilty. All the evidence,” he started to say.
“Some idiot didn’t listen to protocol. Most of the evidence on that case was destroyed. I’m sorry, you have to let it go and move on.”
Ryan knew he was holding something back. This was his case. Why did the captain know this information before him? Why was the evidence taken to the records room already? He had questions and no answers.
Ryan’s mind returned to the present as he watched the man in glasses. Charles was much older now, but he was the same man he was back then—when Ryan had him dead to rights. The evidence had been destroyed, so the case was thrown out of court. It pissed Ryan off, but it was out of his hands. As far as the judge was concerned, he shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place. It was something that Ryan never got over. A guilty man was released from the holding cell because someone lost the evidence. He clenched his fist as he watched the man, remembering the anger that he had felt so many years before because he had gotten away with murder. And then he noticed the man was watching Billie.
Ryan turned his attention to Billie and saw Marcus speaking with her. He tried to squeeze through the crowd, but no such luck. He even forgot to hide his face, losing himself in the moment. Marcus and the girl had disappeared, heading in the other direction. He did know of a few places where Marcus always went while he was on the job. He just had to narrow them down. Ryan checked each place until he found the hotel where Marcus took Billie to keep her safe. It’s something he would have done.
Chapter Eight
Charles Ramsey strolled down the street holding a bottle of water, heading towards the docking bay for another trip to the past. Since he was born, in 2204, time travel has been part of his life. His mind wondered as he moseyed on his way.
His father stood at the counter by dock 3 as they waited for their time chamber to arrive. He had met Charles and his mother there, so he still had his work clothes on. His long white coat carried a stethoscope in the left pocket. Charles looked up at him in admiration. “When are we visiting this time, Daddy?”
“Charlie,” his mother said. “We’re going to 1989.”
Charles turned his little body around, gazed into his mother’s eyes, “again?” He asked. He was 8 years old and had already been to that year several times, but his mother loved it there. Charles couldn’t understand why. He wanted to visit another time. Even Mars was an option, if they had gone to dock 1.
Charles stopped for a moment, trying to hold onto the memory during the time his parents were together. As he held the memory, it shifted to a dark moment in his earlier years. He was ten at the time.
“Charlie, come sit down. I want to tell you something that’s important.”
Charles sat down on the floral sofa and waited to hear when they’d be visiting again. He looked forward to visiting other times and today was the day they’d be heading out. He folded his hands together and rested them on his lap. He couldn’t sit still in anticipation of his next time travel experience.
“We’re not going to be going today. I wanted to tell you something else.” There was a tear in her eye. Charles took a rag and was about to dry her eye when she just blurted it out. “Your father and I are getting a divorce, Charlie.”
He pulled the rag down. His body became frozen as the words pierced his ears. They were so happy together. He always loved how they looked at each other. Even on the days his father wore his medical coat with one foot out the door, he always stopped to look at her with a smile on his face. And now she’s saying they were breaking up? This couldn’t be right. “Why? Aren’t you happy?” He could feel the tears forming.
“It’s nothing you ever did, Charlie. We just don’t love each other anymore.” She removed the rag from his hand. “We tried everything we could, but no, we’re not happy.”
“But you can see someone, and they can help you work things out. Mom, don’t do this.”
“Charlie, we’ve talked to other people. It didn’t work. I know this is going to be hard for you to wrap your head around, but this is something we need to do. Your father and I have already discussed it, and agreed it was the best thing to do.”
“For who? Not me.” Charles slammed his hand on the coffee table so hard he broke his hand. He never felt so much anger before. The shock of his reaction scared him for a moment. She rushed him to the hospital where his father put a cast on his hand. The conversation continued there.
Charles rubbed his hand as he shook the memory away. He passed an empty building as he continued his way down the street. There were a few bricks missing, but the building was strong and could stand for another hundred years or so. It’s been 50 years since the ground was opened for occupants but some of the buildings remained empty.
Before that day when his mother told him about the divorce, he had a perfect life. He had two parents who loved him, spoiled him, and gave him anything he wanted. They appeared just as happy as he was. But just like that, all of it was over. He stopped playing with his friends, his dad spent less time at the hospital and eventually killed himself, and he spent the rest of his childhood living in the house without both parents, with a man he barely knew.
Charles had managed to get his mother off of his mind before, by studying. He became very invested in his studies and in turn, became incredibly smart. He visited her over the years, accompanied by his uncle. By the time he was old enough to travel through time by himself, he visited less often. He tried his best to bring his mother back home. Then when he learned she was married, and had a daughter named Billie, his anger grew stronger. That was the day when he vowed to make his mother suffer for what she had done to his family. His mother took his father away from him, so he would take his half-sister's father away from her. That would teach his mother. That would teach her good. He smiled as he sat on the bench, thinking of that vow.
Charles stood up after taking his break from the long walk. He had a few more blocks to go before reaching the docking bay. His mind continued visiting his past with each step. He began thinking of the day he took that man’s life.
Charles met Ryan on the day he was caught. Everything would have worked out just fine if the neighbor hadn’t been home to witness the murder. He knew a few people because of his father and had them take care of the situation. Then he discovered that the bureau made the man’s death look like natural causes. They covered the truth to hide the fact that someone had traveled through time to kill the man. Charles’s anger grew over this news. Ryan would pay for his actions. And he had the perfect method of doing it.
Charles became well acquainted with all the right people. Due to his knowledge, he landed himself the perfect job—a place where he had the opportunity to frame Ryan for his sister’s death. But it wouldn’t be just one death. He would get his revenge multiple times, thanks to time travel. And it would hurt his mother. Losing a husband was one thing, but losing a child, that is the biggest pain of all. Charles could remember every death that he had caused. He wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger each time, but the memories were his just the same. That was what was so wonderful about time travel. If a younger version of someone did something, all the older versions would eventually have those memories, even if they didn’t do it personally.
Life would be good to him once more. And everything was working as planned, but the time quakes began to shake through the city and altered a few things. He wasn’t sure what was changed, but he could feel it. He kept his mind on the job at hand, so he stopped thinking about the changes surrounding him.
Charles finally reached the docking bay. As he headed inside to register for his next trip into the past, Charles ran into an agent that looked familiar. He searched for his memories of the man and suddenly remembered who the man was. He’d seen Marcus before and remembered that he was Ryan’s partner once. They had a falling out for some odd reason and now they worked alone. As he waited for his papers to be approved for travel, he overheard why Marcus was traveling. He couldn’t believe it. He was heading to capture Ryan for Billie’s murder. A murder that he, himself had done. He grinned as the thought pierced his mind. Charles wanted to see this go down, so he changed his plans and made his next jump to the year 2028.
He arrived in 2028 and immediately headed to the neighbor’s house, so he could watch everything go down. He remembered during his last visit that the neighbor had gone on vacation. The man would be gone for a week, giving him time to move around in the house as he wished. He strolled to the backside of the house, pulled a rag over his fist, and broke the back window. He removed the shards of glass and climbed through the window. He moved to the front of the house, grabbing a set of binoculars off of the windowsill along the way. Billie’s house was across the street.
He watched Marcus arrive. He witnessed him open a window on the side of the house and crawl through. He moved slowly. “That’s right, stay quiet. Don’t want to alarm Ryan that you’re there.” He tried to envision Ryan’s reaction when Marcus made himself known. He was bad at guessing what other people were doing, and he didn’t want to miss out on anything so Charles decided he would do something drastic—he returned to the warehouse where the time chambers were waiting. Instead of getting back on his, he snuck onto Marcus’s machine. He removed a paneling from the wall, and crawled through, put the panel back on, and finished crawling through the wall until he found an entry point inside the chamber.
He found a good spot to hide without being seen, but could hear everything. He waited for Marcus and Ryan to arrive, remained as quiet as he could. When he heard the door being opened, he listened intently. No one spoke for a moment, then he heard Ryan saying he was innocent, and he began apologizing for something he had done in the past.
When a time quake shook the machine, Charles was knocked around as the wires whipped him. He could feel the machine falling apart as it shook fiercely. He began smelling smoke and could feel the warmth of a fire nearby. The violent shaking gave him a headache, but that was the worst thing that happened to him. When the machine stopped moving and all the sounds went silent, he moved out of his hiding and learned he was alone once more. He guessed Ryan had escaped and Marcus went looking for him. He spotted Ryan’s weapon and knew this must have been how he had obtained it. He picked it up and slid it in the back of his pants for later. He knew that he would have to alter the weapon so it could be used as a deadly weapon, and he knew the person who could do it. He smiled as he pushed his shirt down, covering the handle of the gun.
He stepped out of the remains, seeing how badly the machine was, he found himself in a new time. He saw agents running towards the wreckage and hid in the shadows. It was late at night, so the dark made it easier for him to be hidden away. He listened to the agents discuss what happened and learned what the year was—September 12, 2022. That meant Billie was still alive. This was going to be a beautiful time. And since no one knew the truth about him and what he had been doing, he would be free to roam the city and cause havoc. He smiled as he rubbed his hands together. He was going to have some fun.
The first thing he did, was meet a friend of his who was a time pirate. He gave the weapon to him. “Make sure it’s altered so I can use it. And this gun needs to be lethal.”
“Charles, you know who you’re talking to, right?”
“Don’t have that tone with me, Z-Bone. Get it done, then give it to Charles from the year 2040 and have him meet me here.”
“Will do.”
Charles left the man’s hideout, feeling rather proud of himself. As he strolled down the street, he stumbled across a body that was wrapped in plastic. He couldn’t believe his luck.
He knew Billie’s routine more than anyone else, including Billie. He secretly took the body and buried just enough of it in the rocks that Billie would see it and call 9-1-1. Because of the dark, he could sneak around town without being seen, especially since he knew where all the alleys were. He knew how to avoid heady traffic and bounce from one area to the next.
He hid inside a crevice made by the bridge until he saw her coming down the path. She always took a break on the bench there, so he knew it would be a matter of time before she’d see the body. He felt like it was the last day of school and everyone was watching the clock for that last bell to ring, sending everyone off for the summer. The anticipation was climbing. And then she found the body. She made the phone call. It wasn’t long before the police came, then the ambulance, and the crowd. He came out of his hiding place at that time, so he could get a better peek. And then he saw Marcus and Ryan. Things were coming together just like he hoped. Now the game would begin.
Charles made his way back to the building where the time chambers were stored in secrecy. The chamber they had used was destroyed. The time stream it had used was also destroyed, but it wasn’t the only stream there was, and Charles knew
that. He studied time travel and knew it like he knew anything else—expert level. He knew the backdoors of time travel, something that was illegal but used, which meant the bureau was always sending out men and women to catch the time pirates who used these streams. He knew who all of the pirates were and came up with a plan that would shake the world. What he had done would not be ignored after that. His mother would know the truth—that Charles Ramsey was in fact the destroyer of her world. Revenge would be his.
Chapter Nine
Marcus pulled into the parking lot and drove around the hotel. He knew the owner of the establishment, but he didn’t want to leave any room for error. He met the man ten years earlier on a different case, but it had been five years for him. Marcus wasn’t going to share that information anytime soon.
He parked on the west side of the building and headed into the office. Billie followed, staying inches away.
The owner, Mr. Fritz, was checking a young man and woman in as Marcus opened the door allowing Billie to step inside. A small golden bell rang as the door swiped under it. Mr. Fritz looked in Marcus’s direction, so he smiled at the man and sat down on the leather love seat, facing the window. Billie sat down across from him on another love seat, with her back against the wall. An oval-shaped coffee table sat between the two loveseats with two leather faced chairs on both sides, facing the inner circle. The brown leather matched the wooden floor beneath the chairs.
The L-shaped lobby area was small, but it was large enough to share the space with the breakfast area. The second area was filled with three small wooden tables to eat at, plus a long table that was covered with breakfast foods like a toaster with bread next to it, cereal inside canisters, a small fridge for milk and juice, a waffle maker, and a display area filled with butter and other items for toast. The area was clean and looked nice. There was a hint of bleach in the air, reminding Marcus how clean the lobby was.
Murder Through Time (World Bureau Legacy Book 1) Page 5