Murder Through Time (World Bureau Legacy Book 1)

by A. R. Grosjean

  “I can’t tell you how much we’re thankful for you finding my baby,” the woman said as she placed some food on the table as he sat down. The long table was dressed in fine linen with porcelain plates. The silverware was placed to the left of the plates. In the center of the table was a beautiful arrangement of flowers with a height low enough for them to carry a conversation without obstruction.

  Charles straightened his back. “I’m just glad the child is okay. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if something would have happened. Are you sure I can’t help you bring something out?” He began to stand up.

  “You are our guest. Have a seat, Charles.” She yelled across the room. “Dinner.” Everyone rushed into the dining room and took their place at the table. Everything looked delicious. The aroma drifting off the table sent Charles to a happy place in his memories of when his parents were still with him. As his mind took him back and forth, between memories, he ate. He enjoyed roasted potatoes, carrots, veggie-roast, which was different since it wasn’t made of cow, and for desert—the pie. Charles had seconds and was offered a plate to take home. He accepted with a smile.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Marcus still wasn’t sure if going to the mall was a smart choice. He hadn’t thought of using it as a hiding place, so it got him thinking that maybe it was a safe place, after all. Charles wouldn’t have thought of it which made the mall the safest place to keep Billie. They wouldn’t be able to do this forever though and that was a problem. Eventually, they would have to move to another place. Eventually, they’d have to fight. It was the only way to stop the man; otherwise, this wasn’t going to end very well for any of them. He took his turn to watch the door. As he watched people come and go, he continued to think.

  He didn’t hear Billie approach him.

  So, he jumped when she spoke, “I’m sorry about that. I thought I’d let you know that I called my friend back. The janitor lent me his phone.”

  “That’s good. What did he say?” He didn’t take his eyes off of the small window in the door.

  “Jerry said it’s done. The whole house didn’t burn down but it’s bad enough that they will have to tear it down.”

  When she said the word ‘bad’, Marcus cringed. Billie continued talking like she hadn’t noticed. Maybe she didn’t notice, he didn’t know. “That’s good. Maybe that will stop the future killings. We can only hope at this point.”

  “That is true. I hope we don’t have to do this forever. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

  “I understand.” Marcus decided that some small talk would take the ease off, making the hiding part a little more tolerable. Plus, it gave him a chance to get to know Billie a little better. “What kind of work were you doing? Before all of this happened?”

  “Oh, I was working at the nursery on the north side of town.” Just as quick as she said it, her eyes lit up, and she slapped her mouth. “Oh, my God, I haven’t called them!”

  “You can replace a job, Billie. Your life is too precious.”

  “Oh, I know. I just can’t believe I forgot about it.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up,” Ryan told her. He snuck up from behind them, causing Marcus to jump again. Ryan turned to Marcus. “Are you feeling alright, Marcus?”

  “Yeah, I’m just a little tense. I think we should move to another area. We may need a better exit strategy.”

  “You’re the boss.”

  “Ryan, stop calling me that,” Marcus said. He was becoming annoyed by the title. He was no one’s boss.

  They gathered up the bags and walked down the tunnel. Their footfalls echoed against the concrete. There was a different tempo for each of them, and it seemed like they were in unison. It calmed Marcus, helped him think.

  When they reached a docking port, Marcus stopped. The double-doors leading outside were open, so he could see a dumpster. There were two people smoking cigarettes, dressed in janitorial uniforms standing next to it. Another skid of boxes was lined up against the wall next to the doors. He could smell bleach, so he began looking around the area. Around the corner was a storage room for the janitors. There was a break room inside the storage room with vending machines. “Anyone hungry?”

  Billie nodded.

  Marcus pulled out his wallet and found his card. He inserted the card into the credit card slot, punched the numbers, and waited for his selection to fall into the opening. He was glad this one had a card slot in it. Not all of them had one. Back in the year 2244, cash wasn’t accepted, even in these types of machines. They had become dinosaurs over the years, almost extinct. He always did like them, but he was used to using his card.

  He handed her a candy bar and returned to the machine for another selection. “It isn’t much, but you won’t starve.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m going to check the doors leading to the mall. Can you grab me some chips?” Ryan asked.

  “You and your chips. Do you eat anything else, Ryan?”

  “I like salt, what can I say?” Ryan said with a smile. He disappeared as he left the storage break room. Ray left the room as well. Marcus assumed he was going to stand guard at the exit because he hadn’t said anything.

  A moment later, someone was beginning to speak over the intercoms. Marcus recognized the voice. It was Charles.

  “Attention shoppers, the mall will be closing in five minutes. Please gather your belongings, children, and vacate to the nearest exit.”

  “What is he doing?” Billie asked.

  “He’s getting rid of the innocent shoppers. At least he’s being protective of them,” Marcus said.

  “We need to leave,” Billie said as her voice cracked. Her eyes had widened, and her skin was pale as she peered around the space. Her eyes would not stay in one location very long.

  “No time. He’s got the place surrounded,” Ray said as he rushed into the room.

  “All right, here’s the weapons. Let’s get ready for a war.” He dropped the bag on the table, opened it, and began pulling everything out. “Ray, I want you to stay on the exit, use the automatic. Fire at anyone who approaches the building.”

  “Gotcha.” Ray took the automatic weapon, checked to make sure it was loaded, and grabbed extra ammunition, then he left the room. The two janitorial employees walked in, he could hear them arguing with Ray. “I’m telling you; this isn’t a joke. You people need to leave the mall.” Ray was extra loud as he told them to leave.

  Two men walked into the storage room. “What the hell is going on? Why do you people have guns?” the first man asked.

  “We don’t have time to explain! You need to run to safety, and right now! That means scram! Get away from here! Go, before you get hurt,” Marcus said. He still had his wallet out, so he flashed his badge, and the two men ran out of the room.

  Ryan rushed into the room, just missing the two janitors. “The crowd is going ballistic out there. I don’t think Charles is waiting for everyone to leave.”

  “Attention shoppers, you have less than one minute to vacate the premises. If you remain in the building, I cannot promise your safety,” Charles said over the intercoms.

  “We can’t worry about all those people right now, we need to be prepared to fight Charles,” Marcus said.

  “We may not have a choice, Marcus. I don’t want their blood on my hands. Do you?” Billie asked. He looked at her. She had a point. He needed to protect her, but there wasn’t any sense in letting Charles claim the lives of other innocent casualties. He handed her a small weapon and a pair of glasses.

  “Double-up on the glasses, it may protect you.”

  She took the set of glasses and put them on over the other set she pulled out of her pocket. Normally, a person only wears one set at a time, but this was a desperate time, she needed the extra protection. Marcus stopped for a moment and looked at her, smiled, and grabbed another weapon from the bag. He left the room as he told her to find a place to hide until his return.

  She nodded
.

  Marcus and Ryan rushed to the doors that led to the mall. Marcus yelled to the crowd. “Come this way, there’s an exit. Once you reach the parking lot, find your cars and leave.” The crowd rushed them. Marcus and Ryan made their way through the crowd and kept telling everyone to leave through the doors.

  Before the large hall in the mall was cleared, Charles made another announcement. “The doors will now be closing. If you haven’t vacated the building, you are in danger. Run and hide, if you dare.” He began to laugh as the intercoms shut off. There was a click. “Oh, by the way, I see you, Marcus.”

  “Shit. He’s in the control station. The man’s got eyes on us. We need to stay in the tunnels where there aren’t any cameras,” Marcus said. Ryan and Marcus ran back to the employee tunnels. They began barricading the door with the boxes.

  “That will fix this area but there are too many areas to cover. He’ll still get in here,” Ryan said.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Ryan made his way back to the storage room. “Billie,” he whispered. He walked to the back room, calling out to Billie. He found a door and opened it. Billie jumped and fired her weapon, hitting Ryan in the shoulder. He went down as she cried out.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to fire. Are you okay?” She rushed up and ran to his side.

  Ryan held his arm as the blood oozed out of his shoulder. It looked worse than it felt, just a flesh wound, but it hurt like hell. “Shit, I just came in here to tell you Marcus is barricading us in. I didn’t think you’d shoot me for it.”

  “I’m so sorry, Ryan. I didn’t know it was you.” She grabbed a rag off the shelf and applied pressure to the wound. “Please, don’t die on me.” Her voice sounded stressed. He understood why. This whole situation was stressing everyone out. Ryan didn’t blame her. And he knew her reaction was authentic, even though they didn’t know each other all that much.

  “It’s all right, I just need to sit down. I had no idea you cared about me.”

  “Of course, I do. I care about both of you. What do I need to do?” She kept the rag tight against his wound as he lowered to a chair just outside the doorway.

  He removed his shirt, revealing the muscles on his torso. It hurt something fierce, but he managed to get the shirt off. Billie helped him slide it over his head.

  He examined the hole in his shoulder, and it appeared that the bullet went straight through. “Can you check to see if there is a hole on the other side?”

  Keeping her hand tight over the wound, Billie looked on the backside of his shoulder. “Oh, my God, yes there is. Is that bad?”

  “No, it just means the bullet went straight through. Once we get the bleeding under control, I’ll be fine. I promise.” It would just take a while for his shoulder to heal, but he left that part out. He didn’t have that much time. Being right-handed, he would have trouble pulling the trigger, but it wasn’t going to stop him. He had to help fight back against Charles and his copies. “Grab some more of those rags and tear them up. You can let go of me to do that.”

  Billie nodded, grabbed some rags, and began ripping them into strips. She tied the ends together to make one long strip. He held a folded piece of rag over the wound while Billie wrapped him up, keeping another folded rag over the wound on the backside. She took the last rag out of the bag and tossed the bag on the floor. She used that to clean her hands and handed it to Ryan. He glanced at it and tossed the blood-soaked rag on the floor. She helped him put the shirt back on. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she seemed to hold it together.

  “Obviously, destroying the house didn’t make any difference. He’s still pissed and after you. We’re going to need to do something else.”

  “Yes, but what? Marcus already said he didn’t want to use the other way to travel through time,” Billie said.

  “And I meant it. What happened to you, Ryan?” Marcus asked as he entered the room.

  Ryan looked at Marcus. “I scared Billie.”

  “Oh, damn. Remind me not to piss you off, Billie,” Marcus said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “If you do that out of fear, I’d hate to see what you do when you’re angry.”

  “Ha ha, very funny. What’s going on?” she asked.

  “I used what I could to make it difficult to get through to us, but it isn’t going to stop him or anyone else for that matter,” he told them.

  “So, we’re just going to sit here and wait for him to make his move?” Billie asked.

  “There’s nothing we can do. Just sit and wait.”

  As he sat down, Charles appeared from thin air. It was like he knew where they were at that very moment. Ryan gawked at him as his jaw dropped. Ryan jumped up as the pain in his shoulder shot through the muscle. He ignored the fire from the pain as he lunged toward Charles before anyone had time to react. It was a defense mechanism that he didn’t use very often. He didn’t think about it. As Ryan leaped onto the man, he pressed a button on his wrist. The moment Ryan’s hand touched him, they both vanished before a shot could be fired.

  It was strange traveling through time without a time chamber. Ryan gritted his teeth and willed his muscles to stop his arms from flailing as a powerful force tossed him about. The powerful feeling of being hurdled through space and time felt unlike anything he had ever experienced before. His head pounded and spun as he fought the sick feeling settling in his rolling stomach. Wincing, he gritted his teeth, his shoulder was screaming at him as him and Charles were pushed through the time stream.

  When they came out of the stream, Ryan had no idea when or where they were.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Marcus jumped up as Ryan and Charles disappeared. Billie’s high pitch scream echoed off the walls as she bent over with eyes wide in disbelief, crying. There wasn’t any time to react. He was there, then he wasn’t. Ryan was just gone.

  “Where’d they go?” Billie cried out. She rushed to where they last stood.

  “I’ve never seen time travel like that before, but it’s got to be what it was. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Charles has been to the future.”

  “But aren’t you from the future?” she asked as she stood there.

  “Yes, we are. I mean further into the future. We use large pods to travel through time. It’s safer that way. You didn’t see a pod there, did you?” he asked her. He knew what the answer was, but he asked her anyway. He approached Billie, examining the area where Charles appeared from. “Don’t answer that.”

  Billie put her hands on her hips. “So why did you ask?”

  “I was making a point. Do you see any burn marks?” He stared at the floor.

  Billie circled, watching the floor. She looked silly, but he didn’t laugh. “I don’t see anything.”

  “That’s right. Can you imagine being able to travel through time on a whim? Someone invented a better way to time jump, and it doesn’t look very safe.”

  “Does that mean—Ryan could have been killed?”

  “It’s possible both could’ve been killed. But I don’t see any burn marks.” He looked at her and noticed her face showing a puzzled look. “While in training, we have to know how time travel works. We studied the effects of a major time jump. When it doesn’t go right, there will be burn marks. I don’t see that here. It only means they made it to wherever Charles was going.”

  Billie sighed in relief. “So, Ryan is safe.”

  “I think so.” He wasn’t entirely sure. They could’ve made it and then the effects from the jump could have settled in after. He didn’t want to upset Billie any further than she already was. Until he knew for sure, he was going to worry about Ryan, but he didn’t want Billie knowing that. “Hang on, stay here. Hide in the closet if you need to. I need to check on Ray.”

  “Okay, but don’t keep me here alone for too long.” Billie returned to the small room as Marcus left the area to check on everything in the employee halls.

  And then her phone be
gan to ring. Of all the times for that to happen. Marcus heard the fancy tone and double-backed to the storage area. “You still have your cell phone?”

  Billie looked down and pulled it out of her pocket. She had an expression that looked something like, ‘oops I forgot’. She handed it to him, and he looked at it. The name on the screen said it was Joey calling, whoever that was. How many guys did she know? He wasn’t going to ask her. Obviously, it wasn’t any of his business.

  “This is how Charles knew where we were! Had to be. The phones in this time have a built-in GPS, so they can be traced if you know how to do it. I should have known better.” He dropped the phone and slammed his foot on it, smashing it to pieces.

  Billie watched in horror as her beloved phone was destroyed. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t even thinking about it. I don’t normally get calls, so...” She stopped mid-sentence and gazed at her feet. “My phone could have cost me my life. I can’t believe.”

  Marcus cut her off. “No, it’s all my fault. I’m the agent who was trained for this—it wasn’t you. I—stay here. Do not let anyone see you, Billie.” Marcus turned around and left before he could say anything else. He almost said too much already—that he allowed his feelings to intercept.

  Chapter Thirty

  Charles felt something as he traveled through the stream. His eyes were closed, since this was something new for him. When his older version appeared before him, he was astonished that a new method of time travel had been perfected. To think, being able to move through time from where he stood instead of going to the docks, was now possible. It was an amazing invention, and he was honored to be able to help his fellow version. The memory of the day he met his older version vanished as he appeared back in the year from where he was from.

  He returned to his time, the year 2234. He opened his eyes and saw the man who had jumped at him. He remembered who he was and leaped backwards. “How did you do that?”