Jeff nodded. “Yes, you mentioned that. Now, how does this device correlate with the coordinates that Abby’s program used?” he asked. “I know the process is a little different, but if I went in Abby’s old program and created coordinates, would they translate to this new chip?”
Dexter looked at Schmidt again. These were really questions for him.
“They should, yes,” Schmidt said. “The algorithms are the same.”
“Is there a way I can see?”
“You’d probably have to connect to a different operating system,” he said. “You won’t get the LCD screen to give you the actual coordinates. It doesn’t think that way.”
“Might be something to think about,” he said. “Maybe something for me to look into...” Before either of them could ask why, Jeff shook his head, smiling. “Man, I’d really love to see how this tackles the future. Set aside the fact that all return trips have to be ‘to the future,’ but up until now we’ve been confined to traveling – either forward or backward – to a destination that already has an existing history. Going into the future where history is not yet written would change everything we know about… everything. Don’t you think? It blows your mind.”
“I realize you’re actually in the future yourself, Dr. Jacobs,” said Schmidt, smiling. “I know exactly what you’re getting at.”
Jeff turned to him. “Let me ask you something, Arlen? Have you time traveled yourself?”
“No, I haven’t.”
Jeff laughed. “No? You have to. How can you possibly understand the nature of multiple realities if you haven’t experienced it first-hand?”
Schmidt smiled, a bit deviously for the conversation, while walking slowly around the table toward them. “I could argue that when you’re back in the past traveling forward, you’re actually arriving in a destination where history hasn’t been written.”
“Yes, but in your mind it has – if you’re the traveler. That’s what I’m talking about. You have to see it for yourself. If I go back to 1900 and then come back here, unless I really screw things up, I can pretty much tell you what’s going on. But if I go ten years, a year, even a few hours,” he emphasized his point by typing the destination on his keypad. “...into the future, I have no idea what I’ll be stepping into. Imagine what kind of utopia we could create if we had advance notice of what was coming? Doesn’t that intrigue you?”
Schmidt nodded admittedly. “Well, yes, it would have to.”
Dexter was caught up in the philosophical debate between two brilliant scientific minds, until he saw out of the corner of his eye Jeff lower the device to his side, his fingers creeping across the keys. With his other hand, he was pointing at Schmidt, smiling. “You know it does. If it doesn’t, you’re not doing it right. If you’re anything like me, the possibilities of time travel keep you awake at night, now that it’s real. But we have to control it. If we can make sure it’s only used for research.”
“Impossible.”
“I agree.”
All of a sudden, Jeff raised his hand with the time device in it. Schmidt, obviously sensing something was up, yelled and lunged forward, trying to grab it from him. Instead, he hit Jeff in the chest with his shoulder and the two of them went toppling to the ground. Dexter started to react, but wasn’t sure what Jeff wanted him to do, so he reached down to pull Schmidt off of him as they wrestled.
With Dexter holding Schmidt by the back of his now untucked shirt, Jeff pushed him off with his feet. A second later, Dexter felt Schmidt’s elbow in his solar plexus and he stumbled backwards, unable to catch his breath. He watched as Schmidt took another run at Jeff, who’d scrambled to his feet and was now waiting for him. In one smooth stroke, Jeff lashed out with his hand and caught Schmidt in the neck under his jaw. He went down quickly while Jeff stood over him, waiting for another advance.
It didn’t come. Schmidt lay motionless on the floor. Jeff stood up, breathing heavily and motioning to the ceiling. “Come on,” he said. “They will have seen that.”
Dexter gasped, partly at his friend’s completely unforeseen audacity, partly because he couldn’t catch his breath from Schmidt’s elbow.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded, then whispered, “Where did you learn to-”
“I learned it about an hour ago.” Dexter waited for a laugh, but it didn’t come. Instead, Jeff was springing into action. He pulled his USTP cell phone from his pocket and laid it on the table, then picked up the limp Dr. Schmidt under his arms and dragged him toward the door. “Hang onto that device,” he said.
Dexter’s voice was coming back to him. “There will be alarms.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Put your hand on the thing.”
Dexter obeyed, then watched as Jeff scooped up Schmidt’s hand and laid it on the panel. The door slid open. “That’s all on record. How are we going to get out of here?”
“Dexter, it doesn’t matter,” he said forcibly. “Help me carry him.”
There was another set of biometrics at the end of the hallway to the elevator. They were installed as a failsafe so one person could not neutralize the other person who had helped them get into the room with the time devices and then leave. Dexter was trying to anticipate Jeff’s moves, but even if he didn’t know the ultimate goal, he deduced the next step was to get Schmidt to the next panel to let them out. He scooped up Schmidt’s feet and they started down the hallway.
An overwhelming sound took over the airspace as the alarms began to go off. The noise pierced his eardrums so badly that Dexter could hardly concentrate on holding Schmidt’s legs. He looked at Jeff, who mouthed, “Keep going,” and seconds later they were at the elevator doors. Again, Dexter moved to the right side of the hallway, which Jeff struggling to raise Schmidt’s hand to the panel. The system scanned their prints and the elevator doors opened.
Dexter darted into the elevator before Jeff surprised him by tossing Schmidt’s limp body to the ground in the hallway. He joined him in the elevator and the doors closed behind him.
“He’s not dead, is he?”
Jeff shook his head again. “It doesn’t matter,” he repeated. “Look, as soon as we step out of the elevator, no matter what you see, you grab this device and hang on. Got it?”
“But everything that’s happening is being watched. There’s no way to get out of this.”
“I don’t have time to explain. Just grab the device,” he said. He was firm in his instructions.
The elevator took a moment to get down to the third floor, but Dexter decided to just follow Jeff’s instincts. He could hear him breathing heavily, but didn’t know if it was from anxiousness or from carrying Schmidt down the hallway. His own heart was pounding, as well. He knew what that was about, though. It was from not knowing what would be waiting for them outside the elevator.
The elevator jerked to a stop and the doors slid open, unveiling a horde of armed guards awaiting their arrival. At the center of the sea of dark blue uniforms stood Bremner, who Dexter could see hastily analyzing the situation.
There was a split-second standoff as they locked eyes, then Jeff said, “Grab it.”
Before the words were out of his mouth, Bremner yelled, “He’s got the time device! Take him down!”
Dexter froze, unintentionally disobeying his directive, but felt Jeff’s fist land in the middle of his chest and grab his shirt. Then he was violently pulled out of the elevator toward onrushing guards. He felt Jeff’s hand slide under his arm as he was pulled into a tight embrace, then suddenly everything melted into a blurry mess. A familiar wave of vertigo hit him as the details of his surroundings became clear again.
Jeff had engaged the device.
Where he’d sent them, Dexter didn’t know. But there were no guards, the elevator door was closed, and the only threatening thing was his best friend holding him in a bear hug that was literally cutting off his ability to breathe. After a moment of realization that the danger was behind them, Dexter pulled back and J
eff let go. “What did you do?” he asked.
“I sent us back in time a few hours.”
“Why?” He kept his voice as quiet as possible.
“I figured it was the only way to get time devices away from the secure area.”
“Why the whole thing with beating up Arlen and dragging him down the hall?”
“C’mon, let’s go,” Jeff said, motioning with his head. “Our ride is waiting.” Dexter paused for a moment and then followed. “We had to get outside the security area. If we jumped back in time before leaving the room, we’d have had no way out – and the security footage would know we were in there. Now, nothing’s been disturbed.”
He ran to catch up to Jeff, who was speeding along. “I think they’ll notice there are two devices missing. Don’t you?”
“They’re not missing,” he said, not breaking stride. “We haven’t taken them yet.”
Dexter wished he wasn’t hurrying along as everything became clear to him. He would’ve liked to stop and enjoy the brilliance of the plan he was following. They had two time devices that no one knew they had.
“You got the battery?” Jeff asked.
“I did.”
They came to the elevators that would lead them to the atrium. Dexter, taking the lead for the first time, pushed the button.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The elevator doors opened and Jeff and Dexter walked casually out into the USTP atrium. Jeff was trying to maintain focus and stick to the plan, but he wanted to jump out of his skin because of the genius of his plan.
They hadn’t talked at all in the elevator, assuming it was bugged, though they’d taken the cover of privacy to each hide their time devices in their pockets. Once they were out, though, Dexter continued his line of questioning as they meandered across the floor, appearing as not guilty as possible. “I’m following you on faith that you know what you’re doing,” he said, “but I’m a little lost. What happens now?”
“Now we go to New York.”
“New York?”
“If I remember correctly, you wanted to fix the Kane situation. Yes? Your thoughts on all of this are right on. If we have the chance to fix something like that, we should take the opportunity.”
“But you said-”
“Don’t worry about what I said. I’ve said a lot of things the past few days.” Truthfully, he could’ve gone either way on Kane. If he’d been forced to pick a side, he’d have leaned more toward leaving everything the way it was. Consequently, in a debate he could easily have made the case for stopping Kane from committing murder. But this was a means to an end for him.
“You said our ride would be here?”
“Yes.” No explanation. It would have to come later.
“Alright,” Dexter said, with a tone suggesting he was finally realizing that now wasn’t the time. “I’m done for now. But I have to ask one thing so I can react quickly if needed. Why did you tell Schmidt you were programming the device for a couple hours into the future and then send us backwards?”
They passed through the glass entryway of the USTP and outside into the afternoon sun, which helped to mitigate the chill in the air. A black sedan was parked curbside about a hundred feet away, idling. Once they were about halfway to the car, he stopped and pulled Dexter to the side. “I’m telling you this now because you’re the only person that I trust – and I hope that I can trust you implicitly, because this doesn’t work if I can’t,” he said. Dexter nodded, which he expected. “We are dealing with two realities here, and I need to account for either in case something goes wrong, or I miscalculated.”
“Two realities?”
“The short version: In one reality, we just went past security and stole two time devices at about 5:00 p.m. When Schmidt wakes up – and no, he’s not dead – he will alert security on exactly what we did and said. Which includes telling him that we were going into the future several hours. Schmidt, thinking he’s onto us and knowing that we wouldn’t have been able to get out of the building, will tell them to simply wait around for us until we show up.” Dexter was nodding, but Jeff knew he was talking too quickly and it was going over his head. “In this reality, we are leaving the facility with two time devices that they don’t know we have – but we are also still inside the building doing our regular jobs. In a few hours, we’ll go into security with Dr. Schmidt, disable him, and steal the time devices.”
“It’s a loop?”
Maybe he was getting it, Jeff thought. “Yes, but right now they have no idea what we’re up to unless someone runs into two versions of us or they search us. Which there’s little chance anyone will do because they don’t suspect anything. There’s no reason to. But even if I’m wrong, hopefully I threw them off enough by leaving my cell phone in the room, and causing them to wait for us to show up several hours down the road. We need five hours to get to New York. And then this all goes away.”
“But if they stop us from traveling back-”
“Why would they? They have no reason to. And it doesn’t matter anyway because it doesn’t work that way. We’re already here. We’ve already become part of this reality.”
“Alright, that I don’t get.”
There really wasn’t time, but Jeff felt compelled to explain. He looked at the waiting car and held up a finger. Just a moment. “The FBI found my device in California even though we never made the trip. That means that in some reality that we were a part of, either we or someone else made the trip and brought the device there. But even though history changed somehow, it still remained as an event in that reality. We time traveled back to now. We’re here to stay.”
Dexter was thinking. “So by doing this, we ensured our place in this reality. Whereas, had we stayed, they probably would’ve done something bad to us.”
Jeff nodded. “That wasn’t necessarily the actual impetus, but you’re correct. This isn’t just a typical smash-and-grab job. These people have access to time travel, so theoretically they have an infinite number of opportunities to stop us. Provided they can figure out what we’ve done.”
“This is what you did a year-and-a-half ago. Isn’t it?”
“The other version of me?” He wanted to make sure Dexter wasn’t initiating some conspiracy theory where he’d been the same person all along, duping them. “I’m assuming that’s what he did.”
“Wow,” Dexter said, sighing. “Hard to blame him.”
Jeff nodded, then motioned to the car. “Like I said, our ride is here. Let’s get moving.”
“Oh, crap,” Dexter said, looking past him toward the building.
“What’s that?” He turned to see Victoria walking toward them. “Dammit,” he said. “We shouldn’t have stood out here chatting.”
She approached them briskly, but not as though she was in any hurry. Just her usual pace. “I saw you walk out. You’re done already?” she asked. “That was fast.”
“In between,” Jeff said, thinking quickly. “It was stuffy in there. We were going to step out for a little bit for some fresh air and maybe something to eat. You want to come?” He heard Dexter cough beside him. Jeff hadn’t wanted to invite her along, but was guessing she’d decline the faux lunch invitation.
“Actually, I was hoping to talk to you privately,” she said. “There’s something strange going on. I thought you should know.”
He looked at Dexter, who nodded and walked away toward the car, then back at Victoria. “What’s up?”
“It’s Dr. Murphy.”
“What about him?”
“I think he’s abusing time travel.”
“What would make you say that?”
“I swear I just saw him walking into the Museum, literally seconds ago,” she said, turning her body to shield the conversation. “And then I saw him walk out the front doors with you. Jeff, I think you’re being set up.”
“Are you sure?”
“I saw it with my own eyes, Jeff.” She was earnest. “I think you should go to Dr. Bremner. It’s not safe.
”
He sighed. “Look,” he said. “Let’s get away from here for a little bit. I think everyone’s caught up in intrigue and conspiracy theory right now. It’s been a strange few days. Why don’t you come with me?”
“With him?”
“Well, the best thing we can do is to not let on that we know anything, right? Might force him into action?”
“I don’t know, Jeff.” She took a step back, so Jeff put his arm around her and started to usher her to the car.
“Jeff, I don’t want to go.”
“You need to.” She was resisting, but trying not to look like she was resisting. Which made it easy for him to move her forward. Ultimately, they reached the car and he opened the rear door. She stared at him in astonishment for a moment, then reluctantly got in. She slid over and Jeff sat down himself, slamming the door behind him just as Dexter sat in the front seat. Agent Fisher was sitting in the driver’s seat, his hands at 10-and-2 on the wheel. “Let’s go,” Jeff said.
As the car pulled away from the curb, Dexter turned his body around to see Jeff behind him. “What the hell is she doing here?” he asked.
“She saw you,” Jeff said simply.
In less than sixty seconds, they were off the USTP property. Three minutes later, they were on I-95 headed north.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Dexter sat in the passenger seat of the rental car, facing front as Fisher weaved in and through traffic on I-95 approaching Washington. Whatever Jeff was up to, he hoped he knew what he was doing.
He’d been thrown two new twists in the past several minutes – in addition to the seemingly endless game of catch-up he’d been playing with Jeff inside the USTP. He had not expected to find Agent Fisher sitting behind the wheel of the getaway car, and he certainly hadn’t envisioned Victoria joining them for the trip.
Fisher he knew, but not very well. He’d been working with the USTP since immediately after Jeff had run a year-and-a-half before, beginning with heading up the investigation that followed. He imagined that Fisher believed they had a better relationship than they actually had, though, remembering that he’d called him after Jeff had shown up a few days before. He couldn’t remember any time they’d interacted in between those instances.
Fate (Wilton's Gold #3) Page 21