“I don’t know. Come on, let’s head inside.”
“What about Charles?” Billie asked.
“Let’s just get inside.” Marcus closed the car door and headed toward the building. Billie was just inches behind him, and Ryan was a few feet behind her with the two bags in tote.
They walked through the double glass-door. Once inside, Marcus pressed a button that made another door rise just outside the glass doors. It was made of reinforced metal, locking them inside. Another agent was inside the foyer. He smiled as Ryan put the bag of weapons on a round table just inside the door.
The man approached Marcus wearing a smile. He was an older man, balding. “Are you expecting a war, Marcus?”
“Hey, Tony.” Marcus explained the situation to Tony in detail as quickly as he could.
“You’re tangled up with that loony tune?” Tony asked.
“Yeah, he’s here for Billie, and we need to make sure she stays safe.”
“Yes, I understand. What can we do to help?”
“We’re shut off from the home office—I think Charles has something to do with it. We are stuck in this time. If we’re going to end this, we need to bring him to us on our terms instead of his. But I don’t want to endanger Billie. We need more agents.”
“What about the team that’s out there searching for him?”
“I don’t think it’s enough. This guy is targeting Ryan just as much as he’s targeting the girl. I don’t know why yet. That’s why we’re here. There’s someone here I know who can help,” Marcus said.
Tony's eyes lit up. “Ray Ray?”
“Yeah, you know him?”
“Sure do. He’s staying in the room next to mine. Ray Ray and I go way back. I’ll take you to him, but you can’t leave the door like that.”
“Right now, we don’t have a choice. Charles knows us and he knows this city. I’m not taking any chances.”
“Yes, but you know the first rule of the bureau.”
“Don’t change the past,” Marcus said at the same time as Tony. “Yes, yes, I know the rule. But we don’t have a choice right now—this man has caused the ripple that created the time quakes, so we’re just going to have to deal with broken rules. This is major, Tony.”
“Shit, you don’t know, I don’t know that? I was called to come out of vacation to help search for this guy. I didn’t know it was your assignment.”
“It wasn’t. My job was to detain Ryan, but I can’t knowingly bring in an innocent man. And I can’t turn my back on Billie either.”
“All right. Come on, leave the door then. We’ll have to fix things once this is over.”
“I don’t know if we can but yeah.” They followed Tony upstairs to room 209, knocked on the door, and waited for Ray Ray's response.
Ray Ray opened the door with a smile on his face. “It’s about time.”
Billie was surprised at his comment. “You’ve been expecting us?”
“I’m a historian, young lady. I know everything that has ever happened between the birth of dawn to the day I die. Anything after that is up to my maker.” He chuckled.
Tony snuck away sometime between Billie’s comment and Ray Ray's laugh.
“You know when you’re going to die?” Billie asked as her eyes widened.
“I do. It’s one of the benefits of my job.” He closed the door behind them and went to the living area, where a tray was waiting for them with coffee and tea. “Would you like something to drink?”
Billie smiled. “Yes, please. May I use your bathroom first?”
“Sure, it’s just around the corner.”
Billie left the room.
Ray Ray watched her leave. “Damn, she’s fine. How do you always get so lucky, Marcus?”
“What?”
“Never mind. I know why you’re here, so let’s get to work. We’re not going to have much time.”
They walked into the dining room area, which had been taken over by computers and other equipment. Paperwork covered a large round table in the center of the room.
Marcus strolled over to the table and picked up a piece of paper. He read the document. “This is the list of Charles’ arrests.”
“I told you I was expecting you, Marcus.”
“All right. What else do you have?”
“Well, I was thinking. The president pardoned Charles.”
“Yeah, we already knew that much.”
“So, tell me, why was his record still there?” Ray Ray asked.
Marcus studied the document. “He wants us to find this?”
“My thoughts exactly. Now if you were a convict, why would you want your records known?”
“I have no clue, Ray Ray.”
“Call me Ray. Everyone else does. Charles wants you to know something. Maybe his motive, maybe something from his past—I don’t know yet, but he does want you to know it. And that is going to help us catch him.”
“You think?” Marcus wasn’t sure. Ray wasn’t an agent, most historians weren’t. He had worked with him in the past, so he knew Ray could be trusted, which was why they were there. He sat down in a chair next to the table and studied the document. He wasn’t seeing it.
“This might help, Marcus. Ryan, pull up a chair,” Ray said.
“Yes, sir.”
Ray began showing them all the paperwork as Billie entered the room and sat down.
She looked at the paper in Ryan’s hand. “Why do you have all these papers about my parents?” Billie asked.
“Because your mother is also Charles’s mother.”
“That was what he said in the video. We couldn’t make it all out.”
“Do you have the video?” Ray asked.
Marcus pushed back his sleeve, pressed a button on his watch, and the DVD was spit out. He caught it in mid-air and handed it to Ray.
He found a DVD player and inserted the disc, pressed play, and sat down next to Billie. The video did the same thing as before. “I can fix that.” Ray pulled the disc out and left the room. He was gone for only a few minutes and returned. He pushed the disc back into the player and pressed play. When the scene played out and reached the point when Charles killed Billie, she turned around and refused to watch. Marcus understood how she felt and didn’t blame her.
“Why would he record this—wouldn’t he know we could use it against him?”
“Ryan, we found it in one of the music casings at Billie’s house. I think it was left to be found by someone else.”
“My mother.” Billie’s voice was quiet as she gazed across the room. Marcus couldn’t tell what she was looking at. “I should have realized it when I was younger, but I never put the two together. I had no idea we were related.”
Ray put his hand over hers, cupping his fingers. “I’m terribly sorry, Billie. You were caught up in Charles’s rage. I think if he spent the time to get to know you, he would have enjoyed having a sister.”
She turned to face him. A tear was seen in her eye. “Thank you, Ray Ray.”
“Please, call me Ray.”
“Thank you, Ray,” Billie said, using the correct name. “He killed my father; did he kill my mother as well?”
“From what I can tell, it appears your mother died of natural causes, but on paper it appears your father did as well, so it is possible. I’m afraid I can’t give you a definite answer.” He looked over at Marcus. “If we had access to a time chamber, we could go back and check the facts.”
Marcus began shaking his head. “I want all of this to stop, but I refuse to travel illegally. There are other ways to end this, but I won’t break the law to do it.”
“So, we have to stop Charles from going back in time then,” Ryan said.
“How do you do that?” Billie asked.
“Well, we’re going to have to find out how he does it. I know he’s got assistance from the time pirates, but we don’t know who a lot of them are.”
“So, we find out who they are,” Ray said.
“Before we jump up
and begin searching for the pirates, we really need to search your memories. Get all the facts. Billie, what do you remember about the day your father died?”
“I was 17 years old. I remember seeing Charles at the house, and they were arguing over something. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it was heated. I could tell by how my father kept pacing.”
“Okay, that’s a start,” Ray said. He stood up and walked over to the other side of the table and rummaged through the papers. “Read this and see if it jogs your memory.” He handed her the paper.
Billie read what was on the paper and looked over at Ryan. “Why does it say they were arguing over time travel?”
“Because your father knew all about it from your mother. She was from 2214. Charles was 10 years old when they divorced, and she left him. She moved to 1988, met your father sometime after, and gave birth to you in 1990. It was at that point when she told him the truth—didn’t want any secrets, I assume,” Ray said.
Billie slumped her shoulders forward, and the thought of time travel really sunk in. Her mother was from the future. Her father knew about it. Her own brother, half-brother, was also from the future, and he was responsible for her father’s death. He was now after her. What the Hell did she do to him?
Chapter Nineteen
Charles signed in to gain access to the time chamber. He signed his name and was instructed to sit down and wait. There were three chambers scheduled to arrive and his would be one of them. He sat down in the first row. He already had the date set when he wanted to visit. It had been a little while since he had seen his mother, and he couldn’t wait to see her. He wanted to share the fact that he graduated with high honors, and he held onto that diploma with pride. Living in the same house his father died in was hard, but his brother was there to help him move forward in his life. He loved his mother and wanted to hate her at the same time, but he also wanted a life with her. His mind took him to that place as he waited for the chamber to arrive.
Upon hearing his name, he was taken out of his dream state just as a time quake shook through the city. He hugged the floor until the shaking stopped. Charles felt nervous about the quakes and wondered what could have caused them. He pulled himself back up to his feet and followed the woman who had called his name. He took his traveling vaccination and returned to his seat.
When his chamber arrived, he loaded and headed to the year 1991. He wasn’t even sure why he chose that date.
Charles landed in the docking bay of the abandoned building outside of town. He turned his paperwork at the desk, which specified how long his stay would be, and headed to the house on Superior Street. His mother had told him that would be where she’d be living. The last time he saw her, she was still renting some place downtown and she’d met someone. He did not enjoy hearing that.
“Charlie, you’re here!” his mother yelled from the front porch. She was sitting on the swing. Charles could hear a little girl laughing but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
Charles stepped onto the porch and saw a little girl sitting next to his mother. “When did you start babysitting?” he asked her.
“I’m not.” She looked down at the little girl. “This is your sister, Charlie.”
“My sister? You mean to tell me, you left us to start your own little family? What was wrong with the one you had?”
“Charles, don’t speak to me in that tone of voice. Your father and I were having problems.”
“And you didn’t think to bring me with you? Did you even know father killed himself and I had to be raised by an uncle who didn’t want me?” The anger built, and he didn’t care how loud his voice was.
His mother’s face changed from happy to appearing sad. “I didn’t know your father had died, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? That’s all you can say?” Charles turned around and left. He returned to the chamber and returned home. He ripped his diploma to shreds and burned it.
He vowed on that day that his mother would pay for everything she had done. He couldn’t believe he was willing to give her a second chance.
Charles dove into his work, went to college, made friends with his father’s old friends in the lawyer firm where he worked part time, and learned all about time pirates. He couldn’t believe these people were willing to break the law for the pleasure of it, for no other reason, but to break the law. He gave it a shot and learned the freedom of it, so he began to understand why they did what they did. He studied what he could about time travel.
He became an expert about the whole process and how it was even possible. He even visited the time when it began, to meet the people responsible. He shook their hands and thanked them.
“You know, Charles, I don’t think I ever met a man who loved this process as much as you,” the old man said.
“Mr. Wells, it’s just the most amazing thing I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve seen a lot of things in my life. Just imagine the fact that you could undo a mistake if you wanted to,” Charles said as they spoke over coffee in the lab's cafeteria.
“Now, I didn’t think we’d use time travel for that purpose, but you do have a point.”
“So why did you?”
“Oh, I’ve been a teacher my whole life and when I made the discovery, I thought how wonderful it would be to learn about our history, firsthand.” Simon Wells took a sip of his coffee and set it down on the table in front of him.
The building that encased the lab was old and had been destroyed since those days. The air quality had begun to deteriorate over the years, so many buildings had taken to the skies, another fascination of Charles. In 2244 there was a museum in honor of the change, which also displayed the information about Simon Wells and the creation of time travel.
Charles didn’t like living in the sky, so he visited the ground as often as he could. In the year he was from, the air was safe again. So, he resided in the same neighborhood where he grew up, just off of Jefferson Street. In fact, it was the same house. It was only a few blocks away, so he knew exactly where the old building was, even though it was no longer there in his time.
“I still think there’s a lot to gain from time travel,” Charles finally said.
“That’s what I love about you. Your mind is filled with wonderful ideas. I still don’t understand why you didn’t attend the University. You could have become one of the greatest influencers of your time.”
“I’ve had enough schooling. I want to make my mark in a different way, sir.”
“I totally understand that. Have you decided where you’ll be working, now that you are finished?”
“Well, as you know, I can’t say anything about the time I live in, but yeah I think so.”
“Good, good.” Simon looked at his watch. “Would you look at that? I’ve got somewhere to be. If you don’t mind, Charles, I need to cut our conversation short. Would you like to visit some more tomorrow?”
“No, I won’t make it tomorrow. I’ve got other plans that are important. This will be our last visit, I’m afraid.”
“Sad to hear that. Good luck in all you do, and I really do hope you are able to put your mark on this world.”
“Me too.”
Charles returned to his time and began planning how he was going to turn the world as he knew it, on its axel. He knew what he wanted to do, and that was end the suffering his mother put on him. He just wanted to do one more thing—and that was getting to know his mother’s new husband. Then he would make his move.
Chapter Twenty
Billie sat at the table, listening to the men discuss their plans to end Charles’s plans for killing her. She wasn’t sure how it was going to work if they weren’t going to travel in time, too. She wasn’t sure when she stopped listening to their conversation. She became lost in thought, thinking all these years that she had a brother, and this was how he was going to treat her. It wasn’t her fault their mother did what she did. Her only crime was being born.
She tried to think back to all the
times she remembered seeing Charles in her past. He was so much older than she was, so she never thought twice about how he knew her family. And then the day her father’s death occurred became a vivid memory. She accidentally screamed out as the memory replayed in her mind.
Marcus, Ryan, and Ray stared at her as she realized she murmured the sound. She felt her face redden and apologized for letting herself lose control like that.
“Billie, you shouldn’t apologize for any of this. You are not to blame for Charles’s actions nor his anger,” Ray said as he placed the piece of paper down.
“I know this isn’t my fault, but damn it, I feel like I have no control over anything right now. My life is in your hands. If Marcus and Ryan fail, I die. If they make one mistake, I die. And that terrifies me.”
“And no one blames you for feeling that way,” Ryan told her. He put his hand on her shoulder. The warmth of his hand made her feel a little better, but she was still on the verge of falling apart.
It didn’t matter where they were. She didn’t feel safe anymore. Charles was able to find them at the library, at Ryan’s secret hiding place, and he probably knew they were there with Ray. He knew too much, and she felt like she was in more danger with being in one place for too long. “How much longer are we going to be here?”
“If I go with you, I can keep the three of you on a different path than the one you’ve taken. It’s the only way I can think of to keep Charles off your trail.” Ray looked at Billie with the saddest eyes she’d ever seen. She could feel how worried he was, even if he didn’t tell her.
“I would feel better knowing that you’re some history expert. If you already lived through this and know what happens next, I’ll feel safer. I just can’t sit here knowing he’s out there with the same knowledge as you.” She gazed into Ray’s eyes, seeking safety in them. His blue eyes did offer some comfort, and that was enough to keep her sane. She tried to fight her body from releasing the tremors, but she knew her body would eventually give in, and the shaking would begin. She wanted to be back in her garden, tending to the flowers, where she always felt happier. The flowers never talked back, never made threats, and never withered. And now the garden was gone—she’d have to start over in a new home and new garden. Her mind wondered so she missed what Ray said back to her.
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