A Year to Forget (The Accidental Time Travellers Book 2)

by Marc James

  He took another long pull on his cigarette and began to wonder whether Sharon really needed him. The others would be able to stop her death without him, they knew as much about it as he did. He considered this for a moment. He could end his suffering and Sharon could still survive. Bobby would make sure of that, he could count on Bobby to save her. But how would he end it all, what would be the most effective way. He didn’t want to end up being saved and having to explain himself to a Psychiatrist. He rose to his feet and wandered over to the kitchen sink, he smiled for what felt like the first time in five years, the carving knife was lying on the draining board. He picked it up and went back over to the table, retaking his seat.

  He looked down at the knife in his hands and pressed his finger against the point, it pierced his skin. It was perfect. David felt the happiest he had been in years, he would be away from the guilt at last. He used the knife with his left hand and pushed it hard into his right wrist, before pulling it up his forearm. He watched as the blood began to ooze from the wound, he had expected it to be painful, but it wasn’t, he just felt numb. As the blood continued to ooze from the wound, David closed his eyes for what he hoped would be the last time.

  Chapter 6

  Faraday was awoken by the piercing ring of the telephone, it was on Jane’s side of the bed so he left her to answer it.

  “Hello.” She managed sleepily as she picked up the phone.

  “I’ve found him.” Will Carter said eagerly.

  “Will? Do you know what time it is?”

  “Yes sorry to call so late but I’ve found him, we need to get moving.”

  “Who?”

  “Josef Mengele.” Will replied.

  Jane breathed in stunned. Josef Mengele was one of the Nazi war criminals that they had been trying to track down for months. He was one of the most evil human beings on the face of the earth. He had worked at Auschwitz and had been carrying out experiments on the prisoners there. Will had never had a direct encounter with him but he knew many people that had not been quite so fortunate.

  “Where is he?”

  “He has just flown in on a private plane, from Cuba to New York.”

  “He’s in New York!”

  “We need to move fast, should I come over?”

  “Yes, we’ll just get ready and we can go.”

  “I’m on my way.” Will said, before the line went dead.

  “Faraday we’ve got him.”

  “Who?”

  “Mengele.”

  Faraday smiled, he had been looking forward to catching that bastard. They both leapt out of bed and hurriedly dressed. They walked down the stairs and through to the dining room, where they both saw David with blood oozing from his wrist.

  “Oh my God, David!” Jane screamed.

  “What have you done?” Faraday asked.

  Jane ran from the dining room and returned a few moments later with a towel, while Faraday dialled 911. Jane rushed to David’s side, luckily he hadn’t cut both of his wrists. She tied the towel over the wound to stop the bleeding, there was a pool of blood around him. She felt for a pulse, it was weak.

  Faraday stared at David as Jane was knelt by his side. He should have seen this coming, David hadn’t been himself for a long time. There was a knock at the door, thank God Faraday thought. As he opened the door he was disappointed when he saw Will Carter standing on the other side.

  Will was a big man, perhaps even taller than Abaddon, he was wearing a black shirt that matched his jet black hair and black trousers. His eyes were dark brown and his face was long and drawn. His torso was essentially a masterpiece, Faraday guessed that Will worked out with some regularity. He didn’t say anything, he just gestured for Will to enter the house.

  As Will walked into the house and walked through to the dining room, he was stunned by what he saw. Jane was knelt in a pool of blood by David’s side.

  “What the hell happened?” He exclaimed as he rushed over to the other side of David. Faraday entered the room just behind him. Neither Jane nor Faraday answered Will’s question, it was fairly obvious what had happened. “Is he breathing?”

  “Barely.” Jane replied.

  “Have you called an ambulance?”

  “Of course we have.” Faraday snapped.

  “I brought my car, we could take him in ourselves.”

  “He’ll never make it, hopefully the paramedics can do something.” Jane replied.

  The three of them waited in stunned silence for the ambulance to arrive. The wait wasn’t long, Faraday saw the flashing lights and rushed to the door to let them in.

  “He’s through here.”

  The two paramedics followed Faraday into the dining room and hurried to David’s side, ushering both Jane and Will out of the way. Faraday pulled Jane towards him and she pressed her face into his chest. He noticed Will staring at her. He had noticed this on various other occasions and he wasn’t sure how to take it. Once Will had noticed that Faraday was paying him attention, he averted his eyes.

  In the meantime the paramedics had placed David on a stretcher and were moving him along the hallway. Faraday, Jane and Will followed suit. As they loaded David into the ambulance, Will walked over to his car.

  “I’ll follow you.” He said.

  Jane and Faraday climbed into the back of the ambulance beside David, once the doors had been closed they headed off towards Cape Cod Hospital.

  Chapter 7

  Once Oswald had agreed to do what his captor had asked, he had found him to be a changed man. The rope had been removed from his hands and he had even been given a beer, a shirt, and a pair of trousers. The two men were sat at the table as they waited for the journalist to arrive.

  “So tell me Lee, why did Hoover let you live?”

  Oswald wasn’t sure how to respond to this question, in all honesty he wasn’t sure why Hoover had planned his escape from Dallas. He didn’t know how much this man knew and he didn’t want to put his foot in it. “I don’t know.”

  The man laughed hysterically before his faced turned to one bordering on rage. “You wouldn’t lie to me would you?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Well tell me, what is it that you know about Bobby Stinson?”

  “Not much. He seems like a nice man.”

  His captor laughed again. “Is that right?”

  Oswald nodded, he had no idea what to make of this man. He seemed intelligent and insane at the same time. Before the man could ask another question the front door was opened. Moments later a young Arab man entered the room, followed by an incredibly attractive woman.

  His captor laughed with delight and rose to his feet. He walked over to the Arab and playfully slapped him in the face.

  “Excellent, Sirhan, excellent.”

  Sirhan smiled at the man, clearly revelling in the praise. Something about Sirhan seemed incredibly strange to Lee. He looked like a robot, he had the same dead eyes that his captor had.

  “Go back to Josef now.” His captor instructed, Sirhan turned on his heels and quickly left the apartment. His captor’s attention had turned to the breathtaking woman that had arrived with Sirhan.

  “How are you beautiful?”

  She seemed to ignore the man as she looked at Oswald and inhaled deeply. “I didn’t believe you Jacob. I really didn’t believe you.” Her jaw was agape.

  “You didn’t believe he was alive?” Jacob replied.

  “No, I really didn’t.”

  Jacob laughed maniacally once more, the woman looked as freaked out as Oswald was. “So where are the camera men?”

  “On their way.” She replied.

  “Good. Will you be airing the interview tomorrow?”

  “Well depending on what we get from it.” She replied.

  “Miss Salmond, I assure you that you won’t be disappointed.” Jacob followed this with a laugh. “Will you be showing it in its entirety?”

  “As I said Jacob, it depends on what we get.”

  “Don�
��t worry I have a script that Mr Oswald will read from. You’ll get your story, but if you try to fuck me... Well let’s just say I don’t forget and I certainly don’t forgive.”

  Miss Salmond seemed somewhat taken aback by this statement. Oswald was curious as to how these two came to be working together. “I’m just doing my job Jacob.” She said defensively.

  “It was just something to consider Miss Salmond.”

  They were interrupted by a knock on the door. “Is that your cameras?”

  “Should be.” She replied as she disappeared from sight, towards the front door. Jacob turned his attention towards Oswald. He walked over to the table and picked up a piece of lined A4 paper.

  “Stick to the script. She asks you any questions, everything you need is on here.” He smiled as he handed Oswald the script. Oswald unfolded the paper and began to skim read, there was no going back now. If this man doesn’t kill me, then Hoover probably will, he thought.

  As Miss Salmond came back into the room she was followed by two men. Beside her beauty the men seemed to look hideous. In fact most things did. She had dark brown hair that was down to her shoulders. She wore a white dress covered in black polka dots, her makeup brought out her eyes, which were brown with gold flex. Her skin was pale which accentuated her beauty. Oswald tried not to look at her enormous breasts. Although Marina wouldn’t let him touch her, so why should he care?

  Once the men had set up the equipment Miss Salmond took a chair to the right of Oswald, his beer was quickly removed from shot and they were each given a glass of water. Once the cameras were rolling the questions began.

  “This is Sarah Salmond reporting for CBS morning news. I am joined by a very special guest today. He is a man that shook the world twice, over the course of a weekend just five years ago, Mr Lee Harvey Oswald. This will come as a shock to many viewers and indeed it came as a shock to this reporter. Mr Oswald, I suppose the first question is, what happened to you?”

  “I’m sorry?” Oswald replied nervously. He received a dirty look from Jacob.

  “Well the last time the world heard from you Mr Oswald was the day that Jack Ruby shot you. We believed you to be dead?”

  He looked down at his notes, he was disgusted with what he was about to do. “I was used as a pawn by the powers that be in this country.”

  “Could you talk us through what happened?”

  Oswald shifted uncomfortably in his chair and cleared his throat. He looked down at the script and began to read from it. “In 1963 I was an FBI agent based in Dallas, Texas. I was told by my superior officer a Mr James Hosty, that I was required to travel to Washington to meet with the Director of the FBI, J.Edgar Hoover. When we met I was told that the FBI was aware of a threat to the life of Jack Kennedy and they wanted me to be in a position to stop it.”

  “I’m sorry, you were a member of the FBI and you were in Dallas because you were ordered to be there by J.Edgar Hoover?”

  “That’s right. Anyway I was to be given instructions on who the gunmen were and how to go about stopping them. If anything went wrong I was to head to the Dallas Theatre. The instructions never came, I later discovered that the reason for this was that the FBI were behind the hit, I was there purely as a patsy.”

  “So you are saying that J.Edgar Hoover ordered the assassination of the President?” Sarah asked, sounding shocked.

  “That is correct, yes. I was told whilst in police custody that Director Hoover had an escape planned for me and that I was to play along until then.”

  “So how did you survive being shot Mr Oswald?”

  “I was advised that Jack Ruby was planning to shoot me and I was given a bulletproof vest to wear.”

  “So what happened next?”

  Oswald looked down at his script, he despised Jacob at this moment. “Hoover was not working alone. A man that posed as my lawyer, Bobby Stinson who has gone on to become the head of the National Security and Major Crime Prevention department, was working with him. Both Hoover and Mr Stinson orchestrated the plot, they had information regarding....” Oswald paused as he read the words, he glanced towards Jacob hoping he didn’t need to finish the sentence, Jacob nodded with a smile. “Regarding affairs that both the then President, and the current President, had with Marilyn Munroe.”

  Sarah’s jaw was almost as wide as it had been when she had first seen Oswald. “We actually have a tape we would like to play.” Jacob interjected. Oswald’s mouth was wide now.

  “A tape?” Sarah asked.

  “As evidence.” Jacob pulled out a tape recorder and handed it to Sarah. “Just push play when you’re ready, we wouldn’t want anyone doubting the credibility of Mr Oswald’s statement.”

  Sarah took a moment to stare at Jacob, surely he wasn’t serious. His smile told her that he was, she glanced at the camera man who seemed as shocked as she was. She looked at Oswald, he didn’t seem to know anything about this either. When she pressed play the room was filled with the sound of the former President, Jack Kennedy.

  “Jesus Bobby, what happened?”

  It was the current President’s voice that now filled the room. “I don’t know Jack everything just escalated.”

  “Did you get the diary?”

  “No, we couldn’t find it.”

  “Well who has it?”

  “I don’t know Jack.”

  “Why are you acting so calm Bobby? She has enough in there to get us both out of the White House.”

  “I’m more concerned about Ethel.”

  “Well thanks to Marilyn’s endless phone calls Jackie already knows I slept with Marilyn. God if Ethel finds out you did too.”

  “I know!”

  “So what do we do?”

  “What can we do? The diary could be anywhere, we searched the house. I made sure the autopsy came back as a suicide, so we don’t need to worry about that.”

  The recording went silent and Sarah pressed stop. Oswald noticed that her hand was shaking, she may well be breaking news that would bring down the Presidency.

  “I have another gift for you Miss Salmond.” Jacob stated. He pulled out a little red book. “This is Marilyn Munroe’s diary. It makes for very interesting reading.” He passed the diary into her shaking hand. “Now please carry on with Mr Oswald.” Jacob laughed hysterically.

  Sarah paused for a moment, she knew this could be the making of her career, but it just felt so wrong. “Sorry Mr Oswald, I forget where we were?”

  “I had just mentioned Bobby Stinson.” Oswald said begrudgingly.

  Sarah nodded her understanding. “Yes now not much is really known publicly about Mr Stinson, we are aware he was arrested briefly and was then given a Presidential Pardon. Can you expand on that for the American people?”

  Oswald looked at the notes and was curious as to how much of it was true. “Bobby Stinson is a qualified lawyer with ties to the Mafia. Evidence was found linking him to multiple murders and attempted murders and yet the President let him go.”

  “Why?”

  “Well like I said before they had information that they were holding over the President. They wanted to get Bobby Kennedy into the White House, in order to do this, they fabricated evidence that placed the blame at Lyndon Johnson’s door.”

  “So are you saying therefore that Lyndon Johnson is an innocent man?”

  “That’s right.”

  “So why didn’t you come forward before now?”

  “Who would have believed me? I am supposed to be dead and I’m discussing the President and two men that are very high up in the National Security of our country.”

  “So why have you come forward now?”

  Oswald looked down at the script knowing that the words he said next could have major implications for the Cold War. “I have come forward because we are on the eve of a nuclear war and the current President is not the man to lead the country through these dark times.”

  “We are on the eve of a nuclear war?”

  “That is correct. The Apollo 8
explosion was the work of the Soviet Union, it would never have been allowed to happen if Kennedy had not disbanded the CIA. Blaming the CIA was part of the plan carried out by Hoover and Stinson, Kennedy was working under their orders. He was only too happy to do so may I add. As we all know the Kennedy’s have hated the CIA ever since the Bay of Pigs fiasco.” He glanced down at his closing statement. “I would like to put a challenge to the President on behalf of the American people. Firstly I would like you to explain why you have allowed the men that murdered your own flesh and blood to move into higher positions of power. I would then like him to explain why, as a God fearing man he thought it was acceptable to cheat on the mother of his children with the most famous actress in the world. I would ask him next to tell us all why he covered up the murder of Marilyn Munroe. Why Mr President did you think it was acceptable to condemn the former President, Lyndon Johnson to life imprisonment? Will he now receive a Presidential Pardon? Why did you think it was okay to get rid of the CIA because of a personal grudge? Mr President you serve the people of the United States, not just the Kennedy family. Lastly, following the Soviet attack on Apollo 8 will you do the right thing and stand down as the President of the United States? If you will not stand down, will you give the American people assurances that you are not afraid to take military action?”

  Sarah was stunned by the speech. “Well thank you very much for your time Mr Oswald. Once again this is Sarah Salmond reporting for CBS.”

  Once the cameras had stopped filming Sarah stood up and didn’t seem to know what to do with herself.

  “I think this may be the beginning of a wonderful career Miss Salmond.” Jacob pointed out.

  “Well I certainly wasn’t expecting that.”

  “I’m sure the American people will be thinking the same thing. Will you be writing a piece for the Washington Post?”

  “I will. It should be the biggest story since the JFK assassination.”

  “Excellent. I will call you to update you of any developments Miss Salmond.” He outstretched a hand which Sarah accepted. She turned towards Oswald and they too shook hands. Once she and her colleagues had left the apartment Oswald was again left alone with his captor.