And Then ... Farewell (Beginnings Series Book 22)

by Jacqueline Druga

  Jimmy lifted his hand to speak. “He’s given us several events. Each one can make a difference in the final outcome. That’s what I’m getting.”

  “So,” Hal added. “If one happens we move on to the next.”

  “Sounds right.” Joe said. “The next part deals with Henry.”

  Frank spoke up. “Definitely beneath Beginnings lies a treasure. I gave this one some thought. The next line has the name George. The next the word tool. We all know the reason George never destroyed Beginnings, despite that he had the capabilities is because there is something here he wants. Now we know that for sure. There is some sort of tool here. Instrument, it’s in the Cryo tunnels somewhere.”

  Hal held out a pencil as a pointer. “Perhaps connected somehow to everything else down there. Communications, Cryo.”

  Frank nodded. “It’s obviously something that could help us with whatever fuckin’ war is supposed to be happening.”

  Robbie interjected, “It gives us a defense to this. A foreknowledge. I’m guessing we didn’t know or find out about it until it was too late. So we’re getting the heads up now."

  Jimmy said, “So it’s not a weapon. It’s got to be some sort of communications system, some sort of link up, hook up to George or something.”

  “Which would mean …” Henry said brighter. “It’s in the communications room.”

  “Let’s not assume that,” Joe said. “Let’s cover the tunnels all together.”

  Henry nodded. “I will, Joe, don’t worry.”

  “Whatever this is,” Joe said “makes a difference in us getting our asses kicked or winning this inevitable war.”

  Frank blurted out. “What if it’s aliens?”

  Everyone groaned.

  “No, I’m serious. What if it is?”

  Hal rolled his eyes. “Why don’t we just wonder if it’s the apocalypse? Frank, it’s good versus evil.”

  “Hey, Hal.” Frank gave an up to his head. “Me? I suck as a leader. You …”

  “What?”

  “Oh, yeah, you know it. The future says it. You suck. Hal. And in every war it’s good versus evil.”

  “Stop. Stop.” Joe held up his hand. “Before we get off track. My murder.”

  Everyone but Frank squirmed.

  Joe continued. “Really important wording here. Very soon, he says and the word ‘day’. Meaning it is an event day that ends in the word day.”

  Robbie suggested. “Christmas Day.”

  “New Year’s.” Jason said.

  “Independence Day.” Jimmy suggested.

  Joe pointed at him. “Good one. What else is coming up very soon?”

  Robbie suggested, “April Fool’s day.”

  “Memorial Day,” Said Hal.

  “Your birthday.” Frank said.

  Stop.

  Everyone turned and looked at him.

  “Think about it. Fill in the blanks,” Frank said. “Test it. In a very short time, on Joe’s birthday, he will be murdered.”

  “When’s your birthday Joe?” Danny asked.

  “April 12th.”

  Danny marked the date down.

  Frank continued, “We know its Dad because it says that Hal assumes leadership position, or at least that’s what we think it says. The part that puzzles me is the part that is most disturbing.”

  “Dad’s murder?” Hal asked.

  “No.” Frank replied.

  “What?” Hal chuckled in disbelief. “Dad’s murder is not the most disturbing to you?”

  “It’s disturbing but not …”

  “Don’t say it.” Hal said.

  “Ask Dad.” Frank stated. “Ask Dad what the most disturbing part of this message is right now.”

  Joe replied. “The use of the words alliance and Society in the same sentence.”

  “Bingo.” Frank said. “We form a fuckin alliance with the Society? Why? Why would we work with George? It’s pretty fuckin obvious, this war is an invasion. A United States invasion. Why? We have the resources and we all know it.”

  Jimmy interjected. “Frank’s right. George has been fearful of this since day one. As far as my knowledge with the Society goes.”

  “Where’s he think the hit will come from?” Frank asked.

  “He thinks Europe. Overseas.” Jimmy answered. “But we never got the trip over there. We never got our resources to par.”

  Joe saw the look on Frank’s face. “What? What is it Frank?”

  “Okay, you gotta think about this. Despite the fact that we hate fuckin George he has a valid point with worrying about an invasion. But if we didn’t get our resources running, we can’t take a chance that they didn’t. Treasure. Let’s take a look. Start from the beginning. We get invaded. Obviously. As much as we hate each other, we love this country and it only goes to figure we’ll pull together if we have to defend it. The invasion happens, we get our asses kicked. Why? We didn’t see it coming. George tells about the treasure, a communications thing, bet me. That could have alerted us to its presence. Had we known about is sooner. Hence Jason letting us know. Dad’s death makes Hal leader by default. Hal agrees to the unholy alliance as we probably all would. Is that the decision he makes? No. I think Hal’s error comes because he is doing what he loves to do. Fight the war. That is what he planned on. He probably becomes so consumed with the war that George makes decision based on the masses.”

  Frank didn’t see it. But Hal’s face showed reflection.

  “Are George’s decisions wrong?” Frank shrugged. “According to Jason, no they were more than likely the right decision at the wrong time. Perhaps something where he had to make a fast decision. That is my biggest blank in all of this. To me, there were two major reasons for this message. One, get that treasure uncovered and two, stop George’s decision.”

  Robbie questioned. “Not stop Dad’s death?”

  “That’s just one link, little brother. One link.”

  “If we can’t stop Dad’s death we go to the next link.”

  Jimmy asked. “Stop Hal from being leader.”

  Frank puckered his lips in thought, and then shook his head. “No. As much as I will ride Hal about sucking as a leader, he’s a leader. I don’t give a fuck what that message said, it isn’t about stopping Hal, it’s about keeping Hal focused. Hal now has the inside scoop that he fucks up, that he gives decisions to George, is there anyone in this room that doubts he will not do that now?”

  No one answered.

  “Exactly,” Frank said. “Hal won’t make that mistake.”

  Hal sat back with a wistful, ‘Wow.”

  “Man, Frank,” Robbie whistled.

  Jimmy gave a thumbs up.

  Joe cleared his throat. “Well.”

  “What?” Frank asked confused. “What’s wrong?”

  “You.” Joe said.

  “What? I’m wrong. Fuck. I worked really fuckin hard thinking about this.” Frank pulled out folded paper form his pocket. “Look, I took notes and everything.”

  “No, that’s not it.” Joe said. “You. You really kicked ass on this thing. Thought it out and thought it out fast.”

  “Dad, please,” Frank pointed to his temple. “I’m smart.”

  Hal snickered.

  “Fuck you, Hal.” Frank said. “I may not be book smart, even though I’m an author. But I know what the fuck I’m talking about when it comes to war, and this shit I know.”

  Hal tilted his head to the right. “You have a point.”

  Henry spoke up. “Did you give any thought to where the invasion would come from?”

  “You mean what country?” Frank asked. “Not really, it’s a big fuckin’ world. How do we get invaded? It’s not gonna be air. It’s not gonna come from the west, because the West Coast will be gone … unless … they use that as an advantage. We can’t rule out coming in from Canada. But my best guess is it will come from the East Coast or up through Mexico.”

  “Work on that,” Joe said as he backed to his desk. “Work on a defensive, of
fensive measure so we have it ready to go.”

  “Already on it.” Frank said.

  “That’ll be your job Frank. Got it?” Joe asked. “In this whole ordeal, that is where I want your focus. On this impending war. Work with Henry on this hidden treasure shit and focus there. Robbie, Hal, Jimmy, you three are on my murder with me. Although I’m gonna oversee this whole thing. Focus there.”

  He received agreement from his sons.

  “We’ll get this thing. We’ll stop this and we’ll prepare, that’s for sure. The future we saw will not be the future that will be,” Joe said. “And remember, it is so important that no one but us few in this room know what’s going on or the whole forewarning is out the window.”

  At that second, the door burst open. Ellen and Dean flew in.

  “Joe!” Ellen shouted panicked.

  “Ellen.” Joe snapped. “We’re in a meeting.”

  “I know. Joe. I know.” She said.

  Out of breath, Dean nodded. “Joe we wouldn’t interrupt if it wasn’t important.”

  “Fine, what is it?” Joe asked.

  Dean looked at Ellen.

  Ellen responded. “We just found out. This year. Soon. Joe we have to do something about it.”

  “What?”

  Dean Answered., “We go to war and Beginnings gets destroyed.”

  “And you die, Joe.” Ellen said panicked. “You die!”

  A wave of shocked silence hit the room.

  Joe’s eyes widened.

  Hal made eye contact with his father. “What was that you were saying about our forewarning out the window?”

  With a fake, whining, cry of defeat, Joe’s head plopped down to the desk.

  ***

  “Calm down!” Joe blasted, then walked to the door and slammed it shut. “You, sit.” He pointed to Ellen. “Dean. Sit. How ….where …” Joe grunted. “Fuck!”

  Hal murmured. “That’s calm.”

  “Shut up, Hal.” Joe said in frustration and walked over to where Dean and Ellen had taken a seat. “Please, tell me you two didn’t get a hold of the disk.”

  “What disk?” Dean asked.

  “I guess that’s a yes.” Joe leaned on his desk, ran his hand harshly down across his face then stared at Dean and Ellen. “Where did you get this information?”

  “Bob.” Dean answered.

  “Bob who?”

  “Smith. Bob Smith.”

  Up went Joe’s hand. “Who the hell is Bob Smith?”

  Dean replied, “The invisible predator.”

  Ellen added, “He’s from the future, you know.”

  “So I heard.” Joe said. “He is one of the destructive ones.”

  “No, he’s not.” Ellen said. “He was sent in by the enforcement agency like Fort. But he hadn’t a clue about Fort. He knows he was sent to find a band of men who got a hold of the invisa-suits, and were purportedly going to try to sabotage the progress of LEP control.” She nodded assuredly. “We got all the info from him. We’re up.”

  “And,” Dean added. “He was not one of the ones who beat up Frank. But he wants to beat up Frank now for shooting him, because now he’s separated from the other three who came with him.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Joe exclaimed. “How many goddamn people came through this time machine?”

  “It’s not a time machine, Joe.” Ellen replied. “It’s a HG Wells regressionator.”

  “No,” Dean corrected. “Generator.”

  “That’s right, generator.” Ellen nodded. “It generates portholes or the time doors in any location.”

  Joe looked at Jason. “How is this possible? I was thinking one machine. Any location?”

  Ellen answered that. “They can send to different locations and can just open doors in different locations as well.”

  “Was I asking you?” Joe said.

  “Oh, so rude.” Ellen gasped.

  “Hmm. Jason?” Joe directed his questioning to him.

  Jason shrugged. “I don’t know Joe where they took technology. Fort is chasing the clone who stole the HG Wells. Obviously the clone wasn’t sending Bob Smith, so that tells me that the enforcers knew what the clone sent though, sent Bob Smith and crew, then sent Fort on another mission.”

  “This is getting confusing.”

  “Who cares?” Ellen said. “Are you not listening to us? Did you not hear what Bob told us? You die Joe. He said you were murdered. He said your murderer was never found. No witnesses. Your death happens right before some war with the Society or something. He called it the Great War. You aren’t around to lead us. Beginnings gets destroyed. But... he says we do it. Which doesn’t make sense to us.”

  Joe sat up, eyes lit up. “We do it. That’s the decision.”

  “What?” Ellen asked confused. “What are you talking about?”

  Joe waved his hand. “Don’t worry.”

  “I am worried.”

  Dean interjected. “Obviously one if there are no witnesses. If we never find out who killed you, it’s one of the invisible predators.”

  “Did he have any idea how or when I died?” Joe asked.

  “Murdered. Somehow, he said shot.” Ellen explained.

  Robbie suggested. “Dad, if that’s the case, what about wearing a bullet proof vest?”

  “I could do that,” Joe said.

  Frank added, “Not gonna work if you get shot in the head.”

  Joe looked right at Frank. “Thank you for that insight.”

  “You’re welcome. Just thinking ahead.”

  “Okay, this isn’t bad.” Joe clapped his hands together. “We have how, sort of. When?”

  Ellen shook her head.

  Dean shook his.

  Joe gave a curious look. “You guys didn’t ask?”

  “Oh, we asked. “Dean answered. “He didn’t know."

  “How did he not know?”

  “He failed history.” Dean said. “He claims he never paid attention to it.”

  “Man,” Frank wisped out. “All those time we’re told to pay attention in school it could be important one day, and none of us ever believe it.”

  Hal suggested. “Perhaps one of his three buddies did?”

  “If I may,” Jason said. “All this may just be moot. He came through when? Before? After Fort? His releasing of this information just changed everything. We can’t put much stock in this. We can only use it as guidance. Not gospel.”

  “I understand.” Joe stood straight. “Okay, let’s get moving on this thing. Danny get working on clarifying that message.”

  “Got it, Joe.”

  “Henry, the tunnels.”

  “Got it.” Henry nodded.

  “Frank, you know what you’re to do. Hal, Robbie, Jimmy, you know your parts. Right now.” Joe grabbed his notebook. “I want Jason to come with me. We’re gonna go alone and pick Bob’s brain.”

  “We can’t come?” Frank asked.

  “No, we don’t want to scare him, Frank. You’re scary. Plus, you shot him. Let me and Jason do this alone, we’ll fill you in.”

  “Joe?” Ellen spoke up. “We picked his brain. We really did. We wanted all the info we could get before we came here.”

  “I know that, Ellen, and I thank you for that.” Joe said. “But you two can make Jesus Christ himself frazzled, let us have a crack.” He opened the door. “Jason.”

  Jason stood and followed Joe.

  The second the door closed, Dean said, “For some reason Joe does not see himself as intimidating.”

  Ellen fluttered her lips. “He’s a lot more intimidating than we are, that’s for sure.”

  “Guys.” Robbie stood up. “I have to say something. Seriously.” It was obvious, how out of sorts Robbie was. “We got a forewarning with little fact. But I don’t want that to stop us. We got a forewarning. I know Dad stood here and said he won’t live in fear, he won’t look over his shoulder and he won’t be watched. But, that’s what he says he won’t do. He doesn’t speak for me. There’s enough of us right now,
in this room, that we can be scared for him. We can watch over his shoulder and we … can make sure he is watched twenty-four seven until we know it’s safe. And that safety factor comes in once this Great War is underway. Once that happens, we know we diverted it. So I say, I love my father with everything I am, I’d die to protect my father. Let’s work together, all of us, to make sure his safety is always in focus, and he is always watched. Who cares what he says or wants in this matter? He’s Joe. We can’t lose him. Who wants to go against his wishes with me? Be a team.”

  Frank stood up. He ruffled Robbie’s hair, and then grabbed Robbie’s hand, extending outward. “I’d die right along with you little brother to protect him.” Frank slapped his hand down.

  Hal rose. “My life on this one, as well.”

  Down went Jimmy’s hand. “Mine, too.”

  And like before, just earlier in the mobile lab, only with Henry. Danny, Dean, Ellen and Jimmy, a pact was made. The most important of all pacts … was made.

  ***

  It took some time. Bob was fast asleep when Joe and Jason arrived. He was still medicated, but after physically examining him, and looking the stranger over, they began to make enough noise in the room and that stirred him.

  Bob seemed friendly enough to Joe. A quiet guy, nervous, lost. He had no idea he was going to the past. At least not as far back as he did. Bob explained that he was certain he was going back but that this death squad was on a mission to hinder the LEP reduction process. There were several points in time where it was possible.

  Bob was a tracker like Fort. He didn’t know Fort. Then again, most men were in the service to their country in one way or another.

  Dean was right; Bob wasn’t up on his history. All he could tell them was the Great War took a lot of lives. After hearing that, Jason dampened any psychic information by telling Joe it all could have changed.

  Ellen was also right about one thing. She and Dean picked his brain. They did get all the information they could from him. After he was healed, Joe talked the young man into going into the region with Frank to look for the other three who came through. Maybe one of them could give some insight, or at least passed history.

  It was a long day that had come to an end. He guessed Frank and Robbie were a little mad at him for leaving them out of the Bob interview. They didn’t speak to Joe and walked a distance behind him, as if following him, home.