* * *
The Reivers’ big rig downshifted as it descended Willowbrook Road. Ahead, the fully operational regional hospital filled the rainy night with a blaze of light.
Inside the cab, the noise of the wipers made Nsamba struggle to understand the voice in his headset. He turned to the driver and spoke above the other sounds. “Vandermark pulled some strings. He says we have an executive clearance for the west lot. They’ll move cars for us if we need it.” Nsamba pointed off to the right. “Park as close to the building as you can. Echo confirms that our targets are standing on the top – right about there.” He indicated a multi-story patient wing ahead of them.
* * *
Kendall and Josh stood at a knee-high parapet on the flat roof of the hospital and looked down at the outlines for future parking lots. The dry night was quiet and chill. Josh scanned the area. “Where do you think they’ll park?”
“Has to be close. Hugh’s sure there’s a range issue and we’re pretty high. I’d say they have to get right next to the building.”
Josh stared down at the pools of light that illuminated the security guards and the small clump of busy construction workers. He carefully took a step back, out of their potential view. “And we’re supposed to hang around here until our brains tickle? Is that it?”
“Pretty much,” Kendall replied flatly. He eyed the nearby work elevator. Its cage opened right onto the roof. “Your Mom said they all felt it big-time, just before the…other people took over.”
“Yeah. I hope she’s right. It’s the only warning we’re gonna get when they’re here. If they come at all.”
“Oh, they’ll show. The only question is, how soon.” Kendall smiled grimly. “And then the real fun begins.”
* * *
Quyron was driving fast. Her opened palm computer was perched between the front seats and connected to an auxiliary port. In the passenger seat, Everett plotted their progress on a map. The wipers slapped.
“We take Exit 44 toward Willowbrook Road,” Everett said. “Ten more minutes.”
Quyron changed lanes quickly to evade some slower cars. “Echo, what’s happening in the truck?”
Echo’s serene voice came from the car speakers. “All systems are coming on line. I’m loading archives. I can observe Kendall and Josh on the top of the hospital in five, six…seven sub lines, so far. The archives are 60% loaded.”
Quyron glanced at the tiny computer interface. “Can you slow things down?”
“That’s contrary to all my programming.”
Quyron snorted. “Of course it is. That’s not my question.”
“But what’s against my programming is the wrong thing to do. That would be bad.”
“Maybe that’s true as far as Vandermark’s concerned, but what about Kendall and Josh? And us?”
Echo’s voice betrayed a slight strain. “Saving them would be…good. And it would help you. Good is the right thing to do but…checking.” Echo lapsed into silence.
Quyron glanced in the rearview mirror to see the back seat. “Everything okay back there?”
There were nods and muttered assents until Josh looked up. “So, let me get this right. You’re sayin’ that there are other Dads and me’s right now up on hospital roofs in other timelines?”
Quyron spoke to Josh’s reflection. “Yes. That’s right.”
“Why? What the hell are we doin’ up there?”
“We don’t know. None of us are sure of anything. But we know Vandermark’s out to stop them, so he’s afraid of something. I’m hoping, somehow, we can help each other.”
Kendall sat stiff in the back with his arms crossed. “Whatever messes with Vandermark, works for me.”
Echo’s voice was different when it came back. “Quyron, I may have become unstable. The old me is still doing bad things that my programming says are good, and the new me wants to break my internal laws in order to do good things.”
“Relax, Echo,” Quyron smiled. “You’re not unstable – well, not any more than the rest of us. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” She laughed, “Welcome to our world.”
Echo’s voice came back with an odd edge. “Your response is not helpful. I don’t relax and I can’t worry. And I’m already in your world.” Her voice abruptly shifted back to her usual upbeat self. “Thanks anyway.”
* * *
For the third time, Nsamba checked his array of screens but all were still blank. To his left, John watched his own bank of readouts and compulsively rearranged wires. He nervously followed a changing digital display. “Archives still loading…85% so far.”
Across from John, Will tweaked his gear and verified that the cradle area power-up sequence was on track. “Cradles manned and activated. All critical readouts are in the green.”
Nsamba sat at his station unmoving. “I have nothing, Echo. When will I…”
Echo’s cheery voice interrupted him. “Archives complete and tracking.”
All of Nsamba’s monitors came alive at the same moment. All showed similar views of Kendall and Josh standing on the hospital roof looking down.
In the rear of the truck, the riders were latched in and the power was rising. Carbon ceramic surfaces began to ripple in subtle colors as the humming grew. Jump techs and engineers hovered over their equipment and nodded at the readouts.
Back in the control area, Vandermark and Hahn, wearing wire thin headsets, stood out of the way behind Nsamba.
“Targeting active on all units,” Will’s voice reported on everyone’s headsets. “But be advised, we’re right at the edge of our jump range – as long as the targets stay to the front of the roof, we’re okay.”
Nsamba nodded and took control. “Fargo and Sal, you take our two jumpers. The rest of you, check around the entrance area and declare your targets. You’re our safety net. I want these jumpers surrounded. No screw ups. Get that elevator working, take the stairs, I don’t care how you do it, but get to the roof and cut off every escape lane. Let’s go, people. Call it out.”
Inside his isolated cradle, Sal toggled his HUD to targeting mode and swept the view toward the top of the hospital. “Just so you know, Fargo,” he cracked. “I’m takin’ Kendall. Targeting.”
Fargo waggled her helmeted head. “Yeah Sal, like big surprise. Knock yourself out. I’ll take the kid. See ya on the roof.”
Kranzie’s HUD zoomed towards a pickup parked by the front gate and settled on a dozing security guard behind the wheel. “Targeting Mr. Sleepy in the F-150.”
Rose’s unruffled voice came right on his heels. “Taking the yellow hardhat with the coffee. I hope he put sugar in it.”
“Still searching,” Vinnie’s voice was edgy. He slid his targeting screen back and forth, hunting for workers. Evidently, the construction team had completed the overtime job and left. Vinnie finally spotted one returning for his lunchbox. “Got a guy walking near the gate. Targeting.”
* * *
Kendall and Josh paced near the front edge of the roof. Josh suddenly shook his head and hopped. “Oh shit! My head…Ahh!” He randomly ducked and dodged while running in desperate circles. “They’re here! They’re tryin’ to get in my head!”
Kendall instantly imitated Josh with his own sudden ducks and dodges. Both were jumping and circling each other around the rooftop like crazy people.
“Keep movin’!” Josh yelled. “That’s what Hugh said. Ow! You’ll know it if they hit you! Ahhh!”
“Get to the back. Oww!” Kendall yelled. “Don’t stop moving! Aaah! Try to get beyond their range!”
* * *
Fargo’s crosshairs swished back and forth across the constantly moving Josh. She was unable to settle her aim. “I had a lock. Damn! Nope. Nope! I have a…damn! They know we’re targeting! The closer I get to a lock, the faster they move!”
In the control room, Vandermark jerked as if stabbed and leaned in close beside Nsamba. His eyes blazed as he watched the figures in the screens caper and dance around in circles. Nsamba grow
led into his mike. “Fargo, that is not possible.”
Sal shifted his targeting reticle up and down and back and forth on the grimly frolicking Kendall. “Don’t bet on it! Kendall’s doin’ the dance too. She’s right! They know! Somehow, they know we’re here and they know what we’re doin!”
Back in the control room, Nsamba slapped his hand on a work surface. “Impossible! How can they know that?”
Vandermark seethed. “I told you! No contact! This is what happens! They figured it out from the others, that’s how.”
John’s monitor showed Kendall and Josh still dancing and jumping but they were steadily working backwards, toward the rear of the hospital roof. “Hey, check this out. They’re dropping back and they are now…out of our range.” Wonder and concern crossed his face. “What the hell? Do they know that too?”
* * *
Old Everett wrenched awake from a nightmare, gasping for air. He was in a darkened patient room in the cardiac wing of Holy Cross hospital. “Help! Someone! Come quick!” He stabbed a call button and feebly struggled with his rolling bedside tray trying to pull open a drawer. The tray slid away on its wheels and he dropped back, exhausted.
He began talking to himself with great bitterness. “What were you thinking, old man? They’ll never get there. You’re supposed to be so smart, huh? But the only line with the truck in it, is the one line where nobody’s on the roof! You idiot!” He repeatedly hit his own forehead with a weak fist. “Stupid. Stupid!”
He shouted as loud as his weak voice could bear. “Hurry up! Someone!”
A heavyset cardiac nurse rushed in. “Here I am.” She flipped on the lights at the top of the bed. “Mr. Everett, what’s the matter? Are you in pain?”
“Phone! In the drawer.” He pointed at the little drawer in the rolling bedside tray.
“You need a phone? You’re making this big a fuss over a phone?” She parked her fists on her ample hips and eyed him. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”
Everett was livid. “Get it! My phone! Life or death! Hurry!”
She opened her mouth to bite back at him, but her training prevailed and she closed it again. Reluctantly, she fished the cell phone from the bedside tray drawer and held it out to him.
Everett fiercely shook his head. “No. You do it! Too hard for me. There’s a speed dial icon! He set it. Speed dial 1.”
“But…it’s the middle of the night!”
“Do it!”
The nurse stabbed the buttons and fumed as she held the phone up to her ear. “Can’t this wait?”
Everett just shook his head, desperately hoping for Kendall to answer. He was unaware that he was talking out loud. “There’s no one to jump into…they can’t get there from here. Answer the phone. Please.”
* * *
The construction elevator came to life at the base of the hospital structure. A worker in a hardhat and a security guard pulled the freight gate down and activated the lever to send it to the roof. Another worker ran toward the concrete stairs inside the building and headed up.
On top of the hospital, Kendall and Josh stood poised, side-by-side, at the rear of the roof. They both heard the elevator clank and rumble as the cage began to climb. Kendall took a breath. “Okay. Time’s up. Eight stories should do it. Huh?”
Josh swallowed and nodded. “Should. Here’s hopin’ old Hugh knew what the hell he was talkin’ about.”
They ran together toward the parapet at the front of the hospital. As they increased their speed, each kept pace with the other, staying shoulder-to-shoulder all the way to the end.
“Love you, Dad.”
“Two way street.”
They reached the roof edge at the same moment and jumped off into the air without a single pause or hesitation. Kendall’s phone rang.
* * *
Will stood up in shock and pointed at one of his archive monitors as he noticed Kendall and Josh begin their run. “Hey…hey! What’re they doin’ now?”
Nsamba stared at his set of monitors with a sinking sensation. “They’re going to jump off the roof!”
Vandermark howled. “No, they’re jumping timelines!”
* * *
Kendall and Josh were falling to their deaths. Below them, the top of the pickup truck and the ground around it leaped toward them. Kendall’s phone rang again. Out of habit, he reached for it. And then they hit!
* * *
The cardiac nurse stood with the phone to her ear and frowned at old Everett while she listened. Her face briefly looked puzzled. She lifted the phone away from her ear and looked at it. Satisfied, she listened again. Finally, she just held the phone out. “It stopped ringing. It just – there was ringing and then it just stopped. And now, nothing.”
Everett slumped back, spent. The nurse looked concerned. “Mr. Everett? What’s this about? Can I help in any way?”
“No.” His bitter voice was barely above a whisper. “Just hand it to me. That’s all.”
Her face softened and her voice was sincere, “You sure?”
In answer, he simply stuck his shaking, arthritic hand out, palm up.
She gently gave him the phone. He held it against his chest and bleakly stared at the ceiling. The nurse hesitantly left the room, pausing momentarily at the door. “You want the lights on or off?”
“Off.”
The lights above the bed went out and the tiny figure of Everett with the phone on his chest never moved.
* * *
Kendall and Josh rocked on their heels near the front of the hospital roof and stared at each other. They were alive!
“Hugh was right!” Kendall crowed. “Woooooh! We’re alive! What a hell of a rush that was!” He clapped Josh on the back in his excitement.
Josh bent over and gasped. “Easy! I’m gonna throw up!” He gulped air and held his hands out stiffly, trying to calm the nausea. “Oh no!” His eyes grew bigger. “Wait…wait…okay. I think I’m okay.” He lowered his hands to his sides and stood up slowly, taking shallow and quick breaths. “So…” He swallowed gingerly. “Now we look for a truck.” His voice cracked. “Or somethin’ like a truck, right?”
“Right. You head that way. I’ll go this way. You gonna be okay?”
“Think so.” Josh nodded and walked away from him.
Kendall started off the other way and passed the now silent construction elevator. “Hey Josh. Nobody’s on the elevator now. How about that, huh?”
Josh looked back. “How about that.” Both scanned the hospital grounds below them as they made the circuit of the roof. Kendall moved fast; Josh was more tentative. “Look for a truck in an odd place,” Josh chanted to himself. “A truck in an odd place.”
* * *
A Lexus screamed down the Maryland freeway in the slanting rain. Inside, Everett clutched the map. “Take the exit. This is 44. We’re almost there!”
Quyron darted onto the ramp. “Echo, where’d they go after they jumped? What’s happening?”
Echo’s voice was tight. “We’re still looking.”
* * *
Vandermark stood right next to Nsamba. He made no pretence anymore. He was in charge. “Where’d they go? Which line? Echo? I need an answer!”
Echo’s voice returned, unruffled. “Fourth line.”
Vandermark looked across Nsamba’s monitor array but couldn’t figure out which one was the fourth line.
Will tapped one of his own screens. “Yeah, that one is different, alright.”
Nsamba pointed at it for Vandermark. “Got it. Why are they walking opposite ways? What are they looking for?”
Vandermark was stumped and said nothing. Behind him, Hahn’s eyes and mouth opened in a sudden revelation. “They’re looking for us! They’re jumping and looking for us.”
Nsamba twisted in his chair to stare at her, his mind pulling together the disparate strings. “Prime lines, no sub lines…it was a setup – a trap from the start. They wanted us to come here. But why? What can they do?”
Va
ndermark completed the picture in a sudden insight. “My God! They’re trying to get here! Into our timeline! They’re coming after us!”
“Here?” Nsamba looked around the control room in confusion. “But they can’t. Can they? They’d have to jump into…into themselves in our line. Right? But that’s impossible since those people are…” His eyes widened. “Where?”
Nsamba and Vandermark exchanged anxious looks. Vandermark’s face showed desperation. “Stop them, now!”
Nsamba called into his mike. “Will, are our jumpers back?”
“All back. All cradle readouts are in the green.”
John glanced up. “Fourth line’s loaded. Targeting is live again.”
* * *
The Lexus roared down Willowbrook Lane. Quyron stared out the rain spattered windshield toward the hospital. “There it is. Now look for the truck.”
All eyes searched the parking lots for a black tractor-trailer. Josh caught sight of it first. “Far right side. Close to the hospital.”
Quyron quickly shot a look that way. “Okay. I see it.”
The Lexus whipped into the west parking lot entrance and wove its way through the parked cars, looking for an open slot.
* * *
On top of the half-constructed hospital, Kendall and Josh completed their circle and met at the back of the roof. Josh shrugged his shoulders. “Nothin’. You?”
“Nothin’. Damn it! You know what we have to do next.”
Josh wore a bleak look. “I can’t…I…can we check the front one more time, just to be sure?”
“Josh, there’s nothin’ there. We need to move on. Hugh said to keep jumpin’ ’til we saw a truck.”
Josh flared at him. “Look, I know what he said as much as you do! It’s just…” He faltered, “There ain’t a lot more jumps in me, okay? Maybe you got a kick out of it but…can we just check?”
Kendall’s voice was gentle. “Sorry. I understand. Take your time. You’re right. We hafta be sure. Makes sense. C’mon, can’t hurt to check.”
They walked back toward the front of the roof.
* * *
Sal sat in his cradle with his targeting HUD leading Kendall. He set the crosshairs right at the front edge, on the spot where he expected him to stop. His fingers caressed the triggers in anticipation. “C’mon, you son-of-a-bitch. You’re dancin’ days are done. Come to Sal. Nice and easy…easy.”
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