He stuffed the money in his pocket and shut the trunk. The three of them walked across the lot and, after a short elevator ride, were on 33rd Street, the bustle of evening rush hour Manhattan surrounding them. For Jeff, it was as if a day hadn’t passed – walking around New York to get to meetings was commonplace for him. A lot more comforting to him than this new life they’d crafted for him in Virginia. Although he might have been able to get used to it if they hadn’t relegated him to a hotel room for his residence.
Towering above them was the most famous building in the world, the Empire State Building. It was the landmark that had kicked off the entire situation, identified by industrialist Benjamin Kane as the site he’d like to visit for his time travel mission. Jeff caught Dexter peering up the side of the building, and wondered if he was recollecting looking up at the steel frame construction as Kane smashed him upside the head with a bottle. He understood his friend’s insistence on making things right. He’d seen enough in his time travel exploits to be conscious of Dexter’s motives.
They crossed Fifth Avenue and found a short alley between a deli and the entryway to a decent-looking apartment building. The alley was deep enough that they wouldn’t attract attention when they gathered around the time device like they were in some kind of séance.
“Remember,” Jeff said as he removed the tablet from his satchel. “We are now on the same side of the street as where Mellen was shot. When we get there, it will be right around the time that Kane clocks you over the head, and he’ll be coming toward us. We have to intercept him and get Mellen away from the area. Then all three of us grab the device, someone grab Kane, and we’ll jump back to the present. Everyone clear?”
They nodded at him, so he extended the device to them. They both grabbed a section of it.
“Jeff,” Dexter said, “for the record, I’m in amazement at how you’ve gotten us this far.”
He had no idea, Jeff thought. “Thanks. Let’s just make this work.”
Jeff pushed the button and the walls on either side of them blurred.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
September 5, 1930
The vertigo faded away, and Dexter caught his balance. The three of them were standing in the same alley they’d just been in, only the climbing brick on either side of them was vibrantly brown, not the sooty gray that they’d just left. He looked down the alley toward the street and saw a group of men in grey suits hustle by – the early morning rush. He was back.
“Is that how it always is?” Victoria asked. “Everything just fades and then comes back?”
“That’s it,” Jeff said, letting go of the device.
“And we’re in 1930?” she asked.
“I hope so.”
“We are,” Dexter said, peering out toward the street. “We’re here.”
He took a few steps toward the street, then turned back to Jeff and Victoria. “How much time do we have?”
“We have about seven minutes until Kane pulls the trigger. Which means you’ll be arriving on the other side of Fifth in about three minutes.”
Dexter looked back and forth from Jeff to Victoria.
“What’s the matter?” Jeff asked.
He sighed. “Are we doing the right thing?” Suddenly, now that the actual opportunity was upon them, he was ambivalent.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Well, no,” he said. “Right now is really the point of no return. We can always go back.”
“We can, sure,” Jeff said. “But then, why did we do all of this? Dr. Graham, can you tell me what’s happening here?”
“This is an easy one,” she said from behind him. “Buyer’s remorse.”
“No, no, no,” Dexter said. “We’re doing this. I just want to make sure... I just really want to be right.” It was strange – as he’d been planning this in his head, he’d had no doubts about it. Now he was having a moment of hesitation.
Which Jeff must have thought was too long. “You’ve used up one of your minutes thinking about it,” he said. “This is why we make plans. Let’s go.”
“Dexter,” Victoria said, “all you have to do is hinder Kane. You’re not doing anything destructive. There’s not really anything to worry about.”
He watched Jeff turn around and look at her. Obviously, neither of them had expected such encouragement from her. “You’re right,” he said. “Let’s go.” He turned and walked down the alley, assuming they’d follow.
“Keep that device handy,” Jeff said.
Seconds later they were emerging from the alley and onto 33rd Street. The scenery was exactly as Dexter remembered it, the early skyscrapers starting to rise above the city, brown brick buildings and the hustle of people doing important things, passing back-and-forth in front of them. A kid in a newsboy cap ran past them and Dexter thought for a moment that it might’ve been the young man who he’d talked to in Mellen’s last dying moments. But that would’ve been a little too poetic, and wasn’t realistic.
“Funny,” Jeff said. Dexter turned to him. “It’s hard to picture this scene in color. Every photo is usually in black-and-white.”
“That’s exactly what I thought when I got here the first time,” Dexter said, smiling and remembering that there were actually rewarding aspects of time travel.
Jeff pointed toward the crowd on Fifth Avenue and they moved forward. High above them, the steel frame of what five minutes before had been the Empire State Building climbed into the sky, dwarfing the buildings around it. They made their way into the crowd and picked up the flow until Dexter saw the newsstand where George Mellen bought his daily newspaper every morning. He hadn’t arrived yet, so Dexter turned his attention across the street. “There’s the alley,” he said, pointing.
By now, the other Dexter and Kane should have arrived, and Kane would be clubbing Dexter over the head with the bottle. In a moment, Kane would come running across the street with Dexter’s gun in his hand, ready to fire. He was cognizant of the pounding of his heart, as it seemed to drown out the din of the crowd moving up and down the street.
“Do you see him?” Jeff asked, similarly looking out into the crowd, past a line of old Fords.
“Not yet,” Dexter said, “but there’s George Mellen.” He pointed at the newsstand.
“It’s go time, then.”
Dexter reminded himself that Kane would not be doing anything to make himself stand out until after he shot Mellen and started to run. Likely, he would be walking casually among the crowd... And there he was. The decrepit old murderer was crossing the street, headed directly for the newsstand. He slapped Jeff on the arm excitedly. “That’s him.”
“Well, let’s get in there.”
Dexter took a step toward him and froze.
Standing less than ten feet from George Mellen was Dr. Bremner.
“What are you doing?” Jeff asked, grabbing him by the arm and trying to shove him forward.
“Do you see who’s standing there?” he asked, though there was no way Jeff could hear his muttering. Bremner, dressed in a worn suit and tattered cap, hadn’t noticed them standing there. He was fixated on what was about to take place between Kane and Mellen.
Suddenly, Victoria darted past him and almost threw herself right into Kane’s path, but Jeff grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “Stop! Let me go!” she screamed, trying to pull away.
But it was too late. A gunshot fired and they all jumped.
Like the Red Sea, the crowd parted, offering them a birds-eye view of the scene of the crime – Mellen struggling to stand, his hand clutching his abdomen. People yelling and scampering across the street with no concern for the crossing traffic. Kane himself was darting across the crowd the other way, pushing and negotiating the oncoming rush to escape to the east along 34th.
Dexter searched for Bremner, who had disappeared. He felt someone tug on his shirt, and realized he was still frozen. “C’mon, let’s go, now,” he heard Jeff say as Mellen twisted awkwardly to the ground before Dexter turne
d and followed. They maneuvered through the crowd and turned on 33rd. A moment later, they were back in the alley where they’d arrived.
“What happened?” Victoria asked. “Why did you stop me?” She went at Jeff, hitting him in the chest several times as he covered up. Finally able to move, Dexter grabbed her and pulled her away.
“Did you see Bremner standing there?”
Jeff stopped for a quick second and looked at him strangely. “Bremner?” Then he reconsidered. “There’s no time right now,” he said. “Where’s the device?”
Dexter pulled it out of his pocket and held it out. Victoria sighed angrily at Jeff, then grabbed onto the other end of the device. If she wasn’t upset enough with Jeff about the downfall of their relationship, this would surely put her over the top. The only thing keeping him from planning his getaway from the dysfunctional couple when they got back to the present was the dismay he felt at the horrible reality that he’d failed. He’d taken on this mission and he’d failed. On top of that, without question, there would be hell to pay for them when they got back. In the end, it hadn’t been remotely worth the risk.
Jeff gave a quick check to the coordinates on the device. They were right on – five minutes after they’d left, as Dexter had programmed it. “Let’s figure this out at home,” he said.
They were distracted for a moment as a horde of folks ran past the alley. The action on Fifth was over, so he didn’t know what they were running after. Perhaps they’d seen them running from the scene, but no one turned their way. He thought about Bremner, and why he would have been there. Could that be the answer? That Kane knew had known exactly where Mellen would be… because Bremner had scouted it out for him? But why? It seemed implausible. There would be plenty to dig into when they returned. “C’mon, Jeff,” he said, ready to accept whatever awaited them on the other end.
Jeff took a step forward, his eye on Victoria, who’d really hit him harder than was probably appropriate. He put his hand on the device, and Dexter pushed the button.
Unexpectedly, Jeff removed his hand.
The alley blurred and was replaced with the newer version of the same scene.
Victoria was standing next to him, holding the other end of the device.
Jeff was not.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
He’d done it. Jeff was on his own.
He couldn’t have missed the look of confusion on Dexter’s face a split second before he’d disappeared. That was about all the time he’d had after Jeff had let go of the time device – enough to make a face. He hadn’t wanted to leave his best friend in the lurch the way he had, and he knew the expression on Dexter’s face was one he’d remember for a long time. But he forced himself to understand that it didn’t matter. What he was doing was best for everyone.
He paused for a split second to consider why Dexter would have thought he saw Bremner, but there wasn’t time for it. First thing, he had to get lost in the crowd. Quickly. He took a step to sprint the length of the alley when suddenly there was a loud cracking sound and he was hurled to the side, ramming his shoulder into the brick wall and toppling to the ground. Pain ran down his arm as he quickly rolled to a crouching position, looking up to see Dexter and a uniformed security guard from the USTP standing where he’d just been, holding either end of a time device.
It took a moment for them to recover from the jump, so Jeff took the opportunity to get a head start. He’d gotten about three steps down the alley when he heard Dexter yell, “Jeff, stop!” Well aware of why Dexter was there, he didn’t obey.
He glanced back to see them pursuing him, so he turned into high gear, his arm searing pain with every step. He reached the end of the alley and turned toward Fifth Avenue, which he thought would give him the best cover.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
As expected, Jeff had run – and faster than they’d been able to shake the after-effects of the time travel. Which had given him a good head start. If he made it to the throng of people on Fifth and they lost him, he was as good as gone forever.
Upon returning to their present time, Dexter and Victoria had driven back to Virginia and the USTP, humbled and angry. In retrospect, he should have seen that Jeff had been planning something all along – even just knowing that there was no way he’d settle for letting the USTP run his life. But the insistence on having the old battery from the Museum, the need for 1930 money... Some of his requests had never connected with Dexter’s mission, but he’d never stopped to question them. What he was up to, he didn’t hazard a guess for even now – and he’d spent the hours in the car trying to coax Victoria into psychoanalyzing his friend to get a clue. All she would say was that, if it was the old Jeff, she’d know. The new Jeff was too unpredictable.
The second challenge they faced was returning to the lions’ den with one of two stolen time devices. They figured that by the time they returned, Dr. Schmidt would’ve been able to report that he’d been attacked and the devices had been stolen. Dexter also figured that there would be two versions of himself, because he was still a few hours ahead of his counterpart. What they were doing to that version of him for his crimes he couldn’t imagine. He’d made a pact with Victoria in the car that at that point they had no allegiance to Jeff, so they’d turn the blame on him. First priority would be getting back to 1930 to stop him.
Bremner had gone for it almost immediately, without even a slap on the wrist for him. Jeff was too dangerous and untamable. While Dexter didn’t trust Bremner, he had no choice but to make finding Jeff a priority. He also knew what happened to people who raised concerns about the USTP.
When they’d arrived, he’d also found out that he’d been wrong about the multiple versions theory. The “other” version of himself had simply followed course and gone back with Jeff in stealing the time devices. His return ended the loop, and Dexterville had returned to a population of one.
Steering the time travel ship, Dr. Schmidt had deduced that, since they were still in existence in their reality, Jeff’s personal mission had not been to end time travel. But he had something else up his sleeve, and as long as they went back to the exact time as when Jeff had run, they could ensure that he didn’t cause more damage. The mission was approved without running it up the chain. They decided there were two viable options – one, go back to 1930 and immediately catch Jeff at the moment after Dexter and Victoria had left, and for Dexter to talk some sense into him, or two, go back to the same time and take him by force. To double up their chances on both strategies, they decided Dexter would be accompanied by Jeff’s old friend and ex-Marine, Emeka Henderson, who Jeff himself – the old version of Jeff – had tried to recruit into the USTP a few years back. He’d said no at the time, and must have been surprised when the FBI three years later showed up at his North Jersey home to “volunteer” him for the mission.
Bringing on Emeka, who had been part of Jeff’s original time travel team, had been Dexter’s idea. He was familiar to Jeff, but he was also unbelievably skilled in hand-to-hand combat in case they were not able to convince Jeff to come back with them peacefully. He’d hoped that just seeing Emeka would give him the slightest pause of surprise, giving them an advantage. The way he’d run, however, had told Dexter that he didn’t recognize him right away – he’d seen the Dexter, and he’d seen the uniform, and simply split.
Emeka was now several paces ahead of Dexter, and he turned at full speed onto Fifth Avenue. Dexter made the turn as well, but had lost Jeff. Though, it seemed Emeka still had a bead on him as he disappeared into the crowd ahead.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Jeff sprinted through the crowd as people walked up and down Fifth Avenue, unaware that their reality was simultaneously being challenged. He navigated the sidewalk quickly, drawing dirty looks from businessmen used to a sense of order as they traveled on what must’ve been the only street in the country that forgot the country was in the midst of a depression. An ambulance had arrived and George Mellen was being carted away, even though it appear
ed they were too late to save him. Uniformed police officers scoured the area, looking for anyone with information.
An image burned in his brain as he fled, though. The security guard that had traveled with Dexter looked strangely like Emeka Henderson, who he’d recruited to be the muscle on his time travel team that never got to time travel. Had the USTP recruited him for this mission? If Emeka was on the case, it gave Jeff reason to worry. He could outrun Dexter – in fact, it seemed he already had. But Emeka was the best of the best. He was surprised the other Jeff hadn’t recruited him full-time to the program.
He looked behind him and didn’t see anyone who didn’t look like a normal 1930 New Yorker, so he ducked into the entryway of a cobbler shop – the sign above the door read “Milstein & Sons.” He scanned the street left to right, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing in his field of vision concerned him.
Losing Dexter and the security guard, Emeka or not, was critical. As he’d told Dexter, standing in front of the USTP hours before, while it would be dangerous, they in theory had unlimited opportunities to come back and stop him. If they knew where he was at any given time, they could time travel to that spot and apprehend him. If they had no idea where he was or where he was going – and he specifically hadn’t divulged that information to anyone – their attempts would be futile. It looked like he’d been successful.
Still, they would be looking for him, so he inched backwards and reached for the door handle to go into the cobbler shop. He’d hide there for a little while. Maybe buy some shoes.
His hand hit clothing – someone’s pants. He turned around to apologize.
It was Emeka.
Within a second, his arms were pinned to his side and were useless as Emeka embraced him with the strongest arms he’d ever felt. He wasn’t particularly muscular, but sinewy instead, and Jeff felt as though he’d backed into a vice grip.
Fate (Wilton's Gold #3) Page 23