“I’m so sorry, Charles.” Billie lowered her head.
“I don’t want your sympathy, Billie.”
“So, what do you want?” She looked at him. “Mother is dead, so how is this going to change anything?”
“I just wanted you to know before I killed you, is all.”
There it was. The look of fear washed over her face. Her skin went from a rosy tint to pure white in seconds. Her eyes widened, and he could see a tear trying to form.
“What? No begging for mercy? No pleading to change my mind?”
Nothing. Not a single word. Was she trying to think of the right words to say to him? Did she think he was playing around? Anger was filling up in his mind. Why wasn’t she saying anything to him? He couldn’t understand her. He just told her the truth and this is what she does with it? He didn’t wait another second—he pulled the trigger. The loud bang echoed as she dropped out of the chair. Charles walked over to her. He knelt over her body to check her pulse. Nothing. “I beat you, little sister. Now I’m an only child.” He felt nothing for this woman. He had no regrets, no remorse, and no sympathy.
Charles stood up and turned to the camera. As he began to speak at the camera, he removed his glasses, cleaned them with his shirt, and returned them to his face. “Now see, mother, Billie’s blood is on your hands.”
Charles shut off the camera and pushed it into his pocket. He glanced at the body lying on the floor as he wiped his fingerprints off of the glass and placed it in the sink.
He walked away.
Chapter Fourteen
Marcus held the DVD in his hand. He only guessed what was on it. The words echoed in his mind—Billie’s blood is on your hands. Was this meant to shock Billie? Was it intended for Billie’s mother? But why? What was the intention of making the video? The only way he would know the truth behind it, was watching it. And he wasn’t even sure how Billie would react to it.
Ryan grabbed the DVD player from the shelf by the TV. He made sure all the cords were with it. “Are we heading back to the hotel?” he asked.
“Yeah, just for now. I need to see what’s on this, and check the others. Then we can take it from there.” Marcus didn’t like taking the next step until he was finished with the first one, and it was a big step. He needed to know what he was up against before he knew, without a doubt, how to protect Billie.
Marcus checked the window before they left the house to make sure it was clear. He pulled out his weapon and opened the door. As they stepped out of the house, he checked the area. Ryan ran ahead and dumped his arm-load into the back seat, rushed over to the front, and started the engine by the time Marcus and Billie reached the car. Marcus was impressed by Ryan’s speed. He’d gotten much faster since the time they were partners. He missed those days.
When they arrived at the hotel, Marcus pulled into his same parking space. They rushed to the room, and Marcus put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door as he closed it. He double-locked the door. Ryan attached the cords to the TV and turned everything on.
“Play this first,” Marcus said as he handed him the DVD.
Billie sat down on the edge of the bed.
Ryan looked at it. “Is this what I think it is?”
“If it is, you’ve got yourself proof, my friend.”
“We’re friends?” Ryan said with more of a statement rather than a question.
“I’m still working on it, but I don’t see why I should keep holding a grudge if you really didn’t do anything, Ryan. If.”
“Good enough.” Ryan took the disk and slid it into the player and pressed the play button.
“Hey, that’s my kitchen,” Billie said as she straightened her back. The recording was holding steady for a moment, but there was no sound. When the sound began to work, the picture was gone. And then the sound pierced their ears. Marcus recognized it—the sound a weapon makes when it’s discharged. Then nothing—no sound, no visual—the recording has ended.
“Try it again. Maybe the cords aren’t working right,” Marcus said as he stood between the beds.
Ryan adjusted the cords again, and pressed the play button.
The screen lit up and the kitchen came into view. Billie was standing by the table, and she was fixing her hair, then the screen went black. They could hear Billie talking to a man.
“That sounds like Charles,” Billie said as she turned her head, trying to listen.
“Did he say his mother or brother?” Ryan asked. He stood by the DVD player as he faced the TV.
“I thought he said mother,” Billie said.
Ryan reversed the DVD and pressed play again. He turned up the volume. He leaned a little closer to the TV and listened. The same part of the conversation on the recording repeated. Ryan pressed the pause button. “Yeah, he said mother.” His eyes focused on Billie for a moment. The blank stare told Marcus that Ryan was thinking of something, maybe working out what he thought he heard in his mind. He waited for him to finish his thought. “Wait, do you two share the same mother?” The expression on his face revealed shock, the moment he said it. “How the Hell do you two have the same mother?”
“It’s not possible,” Billie said. She looked down at her hands. “Or is it? I mean you two came from the future, so is it possible that my mother did too?” She jumped up and began pacing the floor. “Is my mother really his mother too?”
“It’s beginning to make sense,” Marcus said. “I’m pretty sure I saw Charles at the dock when I was leaving from my time. Everyone has the legal right to travel through time, so it is possible that his mother did too. Maybe she had an affair and just stayed in the past. I can understand how that could have driven him into murder. Maybe he had a bad childhood and blames his mother for it. Having a second family while the first one falls into shambles can do that to a person.” He saw Billie’s expression and soon regretted what he said. He quickly changed his tune, trying not to offend Billie. He held both of his hands up as her evil stare bore a hole through him. “I’m not making excuses for this scum; I’m just saying I understand his point of view. It would be a major thing to do to a kid, but we’re only human. And humans make mistakes. We should still be punished for the mistakes that harm others.”
“The man that’s after me, is my brother?” It was like she was stuck on that information. Marcus could understand how she felt. He was shocked about it, too.
“I’ve handled worse cases than this,” Marcus said.
“Eww, I mean eww. All these years, I’ve been talking to my brother?” Billie said, as she began wiggling her arms. “I shared dark secrets with the man growing up. That’s just so gross.”
“What did you share with him, and why?” Ryan asked.
“Stupid teenager stuff. I had a crush on a boy, and I asked him for his advice once. Nothing serious, but still. Eww.”
Marcus grabbed his communicator and searched the database for more information about Charles. He used what information he knew—his mother’s name, which was Grace, his first name, and the year he assumed he came from—year 2244. Nothing came up. No last name, no picture, no background; it was as if the man didn’t exist. That told Marcus more than anything that would have appeared in his search—the man knew how to cover things up. He did another search, using the Bureau’s software on the communicator. Then something did pop up. “Guess where the son-of-a-bitch works,” Marcus said as he pointed the screen towards Ryan.
Ryan looked at the screen. “No way. Are you serious?”
“What? Where does he work?” Billie asked.
“He works for the bureau,” Marcus said.
“He’s an officer like you two are?” Billie asked, confused.
“No, different department. He works in the Weapons Bank.”
“Weapons Bank?” Billie asked.
“Yeah, it’s the place I was telling you about. Where people go to get our DNA assigned to weapons,” Marcus explained.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Billie said, shocked.
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p; “Not kidding.”
Ryan’s face turned white as his eyes widened. “I’ve been to the Weapons Bank several times on assignment. I’ve shared stories with those guys. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him. It’s got to be more than a coincidence, he had the know-how, Marcus.” He paused for a moment. “Now you know, without a doubt, I’ve been telling you the truth.”
“Yes, I do.” Marcus pulled the communicator back towards him. He began to dial a number—the same number he had spoken to before.
“Who are you calling?” Ryan asked.
“I’m calling John, he works in one of the bureau stations here. Now that we know more about the real suspect, we can have a team of agents searching for him.”
“Marcus, think about it. He’s been tricking us this long—don’t you think he’s going to know how to hide?”
“Yeah, but if he’s time jumping, we can search for the time chamber’s signature,” Marcus said. He looked at Billie, who appeared confused again. “Sorry. Each time machine, as you would call them, have their own signature—a special trace that each one leaves behind. When a fugitive is on the run, we can trace them by following the signatures the machines leave behind when they jump through time.”
“Oh,” Billie said.
“Yeah, you better call it in.” Marcus finished dialing the number and pulled the communicator up to his ear. He waited for a receptionist to answer, then gave his ID information and asked for John.
“Marcus, you shouldn’t be using the air-waves. The whole system has been sabotaged. We can’t even time jump. I don’t want your location or anything from you. Hang up and do not call the bureau until things are resolved. We’ll call you,” John said and hung up.
He looked at Ryan. “Things just went from major to majoriffic,” he said.
“What does that mean?” Billie asked.
“Majoriffic was never really a word according to the dictionary, but it is a word that Marcus uses quite often so the rest of us just went along with it.” He smiled at Marcus, and turned his gaze back on to Billie. “It just means it went from bad to worse,” Ryan said.
“So why didn’t you just say that?” Billie looked at Marcus for an answer.
“He doesn’t use the word bad. Hasn’t since we were kids,” Ryan replied instead.
“Why?”
“Long story.” He looked at Marcus.
“So, what’s the plan?” Billie asked.
“We roll out,” Marcus said, as he looked Ryan in the eye.
When John told him they had been sabotaged, he knew what he meant. Someone, probably Charles or someone he knew, had destroyed time travel somehow. That meant that if he didn’t know anything about time travel, he probably had connections that did, which meant time pirates and they were not a bunch anyone liked to mess with. They had the know-how to shut down time travel and still have access to jump through time. He remembered learning about back doors and such, but he never thought he’d have to remember the knowledge. It was forbidden to use because of the risks.
They gathered their things and were about to leave when Billie had a sudden urge to use the bathroom. “Hey, can’t forget this.” Ryan tossed the DVD towards Marcus. He caught it, pushed up his sleeve, pressed a button on his watch, and centered the disk over his watch. The watch face lit up as the DVD shrunk and was pulled into the watch for safe keeping.
Marcus and Ryan waited for Billie to take care of business as Marcus watched out the window. When Billie was finished, they stormed out the door and headed towards the car. Marcus had his weapon ready to be fired if there was any confrontation.
Before they reached the car, Marcus noticed the front tire was slashed and another one on the passenger side was missing. They were not going to be driving this car away in a hurry.
Billie let out a shriek when she saw it and Ryan mumbled something. Marcus didn’t hear what it was.
Billie looked at Marcus as her head tilted to the side. “So now what?”
“We take another car.” Marcus pushed his sleeve up, revealing his watch.
“How does your watch get us another car?” Billie asked.
Ryan smiled. “You’ll see.” He turned to face Marcus as he pointed. “How about that car over there?”
Marcus turned slightly and looked across the car at another one two spots down. They rushed over, checked the doors, and stood there, waiting for Marcus. “I got this.” Marcus pulled a long metal clip off of his watch and inserted it into the locking mechanism on the front passenger door. He pushed a button on the top of the watch and heard a click. He returned the wire with a piece of metal on the end, to the watch, then he opened the door. “Unlock the other side.” Marcus rushed to the driver’s side as Billie reached over and unlocked the door. Then she unlocked the backseat door. Both men opened their doors and climbed in. Marcus pulled the wire out of his watch again, inserted the metal clip on the end into the ignition, pressed another button on the top of his watch, and the engine purred to life.
He slipped it into gear and hurried out of the parking lot before the owner of the car knew they had taken his car.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before. How does it work?” Billie asked as Marcus turned onto the street.
“I’m not going to explain the process to you. Besides, it’s new technology, so I don’t understand half of it either,” Marcus said with a laugh.
Chapter Fifteen
“Where are we going?” Billie asked as she looked out the windows, watching the houses and buildings pass her in a hurry. She caught a glimpse of people walking down the sidewalk, but they were moving too quickly to see any of their faces.
“We can’t go to the bureau; he’d be able to find us. I have other secret hideouts, but anyone who knows me will know where they are,” Marcus said as he drove down the street.
She thought it was rather weird that these guys would share their secrets with others. That wasn’t how secrets worked. She wanted to laugh about the situation, but she couldn’t bring herself to make a giggle come out. Everything was happening so fast, and she was still numb to it all. Regardless, she still she knew someone was trying to kill her for whatever reason and now she was being told that this person was her brother. She always thought she knew who Charles was, but now, her brother? It was too much. “How is it a secret if people know where it is?” Billie asked.
“Good question. Marcus, I know where you can go.” She heard Ryan make some noise, so she turned around and watched him slide his watch off of his wrist. He handed it to her and she handed it to Marcus as he drove.
“How is it that you still have this?” Marcus asked.
“I was never fired, Marcus. As far I know, I still have my job. And once my name is cleared, I’m expecting that they’ll drop to their knees and beg me to stay.” Ryan laughed. “Then I’ll just throw my watch at them and quit.”
“That’s your plan?” Marcus asked.
“Hey, it’s all I got. Don’t take that away from me.”
“All right. I’ll make sure you get this back. Where are we going?”
“Open it,” Ryan said.
“But that will tell us where the bureaus are.”
“I know that. It’ll also tell you where my hideouts are. I’m the only one who knows where they are.”
“All right.” Marcus opened the watch and looked at it for a moment. He glanced up to watch for traffic and back down to the watch. “Looks like Washington Street is the closest.”
“Good, that one is stocked. Go there,” Ryan said.
“Is that where you’ve been hiding all this time?” Marcus asked as he glanced at the watch while driving. He appeared to be following a GPS.
“Well, scattered throughout different time jumps, yeah.” Ryan leaned back. “I didn’t know who I could trust, so I went back far enough to buy the house. It was the only thing I could think of. I have two more houses as well.”
“I guess that was smart.”
“Thank you,” Ryan said.
Twenty minutes passed, and they pulled into the driveway, which formed an “L”, stopping behind the house so it was perfect for concealing a vehicle along the street.
They grabbed everything and rushed into the house, using the back door. Marcus was the last one inside and locked the door. As Billie walked through the kitchen, she gazed at everything. For a single man living in this house, it appeared rather cozy.
Marcus and Ryan moved ahead of her to close curtain and pull down the blinds, concealing them.
Billie took in her surroundings. She noticed a lot of plants in the kitchen, and they had been well taken care of. The green leaves and moist soil were proof of that. She finally moved on to the next room, although it was more of a small hallway between the kitchen and living room. The small space was filled with pictures of a family. As a smile washed over her, she wondered if this was Ryan’s family. The man and woman looked like him, or did he look like them? She couldn’t decide which way it went. She shrugged her shoulders as she took the few steps to the living room. Marcus and Ryan were both busy closing the curtains and pulling down blinds to notice her.
Billie saw more plants and pictures of the family scattered throughout the room. She began to notice how old the floor appeared with the hard wood covering them. On top of the wood was an area rug, which was tucked under the sofa facing the television.
The walls were painted a creamy tan with white base boards, and an armchair railing that was centered on the wall. She turned her attention to the left, where there was a set of stairs. Ryan was already on the third step when she saw him. Marcus was right behind him as they ascended to the second floor.
Billie sat down on the sofa, instead of following them. She was tired and needed the rest. She turned on the television and brought the volume down so she could hear them. Billie tossed her bags on the wooden coffee table in front of her, and watched the news while she waited for things to be clear. There was nothing about the body being found, which had her confused. It had been a couple days but she thought they would still be talking about it. Maybe it was covered up? Maybe it didn’t happen at all, and she had gone crazy? She didn’t want to think about the latter. She wasn’t crazy. She was the sanest person she knew.
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