Consigning Fate: Beginnings Series Book 23

by Jacqueline Druga

  Robbie snickered and sang. “Move a rubber tree plant.”

  Roy spun around. “Oh, you scared me.”

  “Nice song.”

  “You know a lot can be learned from that song.”

  “Really?” Robbie asked.

  “Oh, yes. Everyone thinks that at first something is impossible. But the more you try, the more determined you get, the more you are able to see you can reach that goal. Like the ant.”

  Robbie went from joking around and being factious to serious. He stood up straight.

  “See,” Roy said. “There’s something that you need to do and don’t think it can be done. Right?”

  “Yeah, but maybe I just don’t know how to do it.”

  “Do you think the ant knew how to move the rubber tree plant? I bet he tried many ways before he succeeded.”

  “I bet he did.”

  “I must get back to the cryo lab. Exciting day.”

  Robbie stepped aside for Roy.

  He through about what he said. About that silly song.

  Robbie wasn’t really convinced what he had to do. Or rather, what he wanted to do. He knew he had a mystery on his hands. He knew he wanted answers. But should he get the answers? And if so, how?

  He put those thoughts aside and sought out Andrea, the reason for his visit.

  He walked down the hall, found out from Melissa she was in her office, and then Robbie went there.

  Raising his hand to knock on her door, he paused. Andrea was talking to someone. She was busy. He only was asking her about dinner, and that could wait. Just as he turned her heard her speak the name, ‘Joe’ and Robbie stopped.

  He thought back to when he first heard Andrea talking to his father and how crazy he thought she was. Now he didn’t see it that way.

  Instead of laughing, Robbie’s heart sunk. He lost his breath. Was his father in there? Or was Andrea really imagining things.

  In any event, if he wanted his answers he could get them from his father, but he had to draw his father out. Get him to emerge. The key to that was Andrea. He knocked on the door.

  “Yes.” Andrea responded.

  Robbie walked in. It was a small office. So clearly he could see if someone was there. “I … I heard you speaking to someone.”

  “Just feeling your father, that’s all,” Andrea smiled from behind her desk. “Did you need something?”

  “Are you making dinner tonight?” Robbie breathed in deeply. When he did, a jolt shot through him. Was it his imagination or did he smell his father?

  “Yes, did you want to stop by?”

  “If you don’t mind.”

  “I’d love it.”

  “Thanks. See you tonight.” Before closing the door, Robbie looked in her office again. He didn’t see anyone aside from Andrea, but he sure as hell felt his father.

  Not seeing him wasn’t a problem. If indeed Joe was walking around in an invisible suit then Robbie could wear infrared. But Robbie wasn’t sure he wanted his father to know he was on to him. He had to figure out another way.

  <><><><>

  Elliott Ryder rode like the wind on horseback down the streets of Bowman. It had been a long time since anyone had seen him fired up like that.

  He had to find the Captain, and Hal was training men on the field.

  Hal saw him approaching in the distance, and immediately stopped what he was doing.

  Knowing and seeing the determination in which Elliott Rode, told Hal something was up.

  Elliott pulled to the stables, and dismounted with a jump. “SALUTE report is in, Captain. I think you need to see it.”

  It wasn’t the place for Hal to read the report and they headed back to his office.

  Elliott explained. “It was north scouts, well experience scouts who happened upon them. Unfortunately one of our scouts has been taken.”

  “What!” Hal stood. “They took one of our guards.”

  “The four broke up to divert the men should they be spotted. Two and two. The men did spot our men and pursued. Right now that have Corporal Jenkins.”

  “Is a rescue plan an option? We must free our man.”

  “Our other scouts are pretty confident he isn’t hurt and they are taking him somewhere. We are following them.”

  Hal nodded.

  “Here’s the report.” Elliott handed it to him. “As you can see, it was ten men. Not eight as anticipated.”

  “A platoon,” Hal whispered and sat down reading. “This says ten men … set up in what appears to be a temporary camp. All equipment is standard military issue, including the motor cycles they were riding?” Hal questioned. “Fifteen miles due north Ft. Peck Lake, shit.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Various symbols on the uniform. A uniform. This report here states that all ten men were wearing equivalent to ACU’s.”

  “Exactly captain, Camouflage.”

  “Did you by chance question the original scout regarding this?”

  “I did,” Elliot replied. “Just before I sought you. Sir, these scouts that did the SALUTE report are very experienced …”

  “I don’t give a shit how experienced they are Elliott or how inexperienced these men are. A scout is a sorry case for a scout, whether he is a terrain scout or not, if he cannot include factual information in his report.”

  “Captain, the original scout was new, a bit frightened …”

  “Too inexperienced and too frightened to notice this? Uniforms. That is not the biggest part.”

  Elliott nodded. “Yes, I know, Captain.”

  “I immediately want all scouts to be placed in classes, and I want you to instruct them on what is important and to be included on SALUTE reports. They have to test for crying out loud on SALUTE reports before they go out.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “And this scout was so frightened that he couldn’t …” Hal took a moment to calm himself. “In Beginnings, Doyle’s camp, and Bowman. Just us. Two thousand men. We have two Asians, one middle eastern, six Black men, and seven Hispanics, not including you.”

  “I’m not Hispanic.”

  Hal only glared. “Do you know why I just spewed those statistics Elliott? If we have less than twenty minorities in our provinces, then how in the world, inexperienced or not, could this scout not see the importance in the fact that not one of the ten men were Caucasian!”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “In a world where minorities are even more of a minority, we have Eight Asian men and Two middle eastern men on military motorcycles, wearing uniforms, carrying M-4’s, and various other military weaponry.” Hal growled. “You know that there is a possibility of more.”

  “Yes, Captain, that is why our men are following, Captain.”

  “Good. Good. We need them to follow and find the rest of them. Then we need to get our man from them. We gave some thought to these men, but Elliott, after reading this. I praise and I preach to my brother about the quality of my men, now I have to go to him with this. We were so off mark on these men, it’s now frightening. An impending war? Good God, it could already be on our soil and we’re just finding out about it,” Hal set down the report. “I have to call Frank.”

  <><><><>

  “Where exactly are we going?” Jason asked as he rode with Robbie in the jeep.

  “We’re almost there.”

  “Quite a distance from Beginnings and Bowman, should you be out here in the middle of the day. Since you’re head of Security?”

  “This is important.”

  “Can’t you tell me?”

  “I promised him I’d let him be there when I told you.”

  “Who?” Jason asked.

  Robbie made the turn down an overgrown road.

  “If I didn’t know you better, I’d swear you were bringing me somewhere to kill me.”

  Robbie chuckled at that and pulled up to Dean’s house.

  Jason peered through the windshield. “Who lives here?”

  Robbie didn’t answer; he waved Jason
on, and stepped from the jeep. They walked to the front door, and Robbie knocked once, opening the door and calling out, “We’re here.”

  Jason stepped inside and slowed his pace. He sniffed. “Lab work.”

  Dean came from the other room.

  “Why is Dean all the way out here, doing lab work? Are you working on another virus or … wait a second.” Jason said. “I just saw you in Beginnings.”

  “Not me.”

  Robbie instructed, “Come in and sit down. We have a lot to tell you. And we’re hoping, you can help us figure out what the hell is going on.”

  It didn’t take long. All but a few seconds, and Robbie stating the name Fort, when Jason figured it out.

  “He said there was a clone. And we couldn’t figure out who it was. I said it. I said it a long time ago to your father that it was Dean. So the clone is living in Beginnings as you. Does he know you’re missing?” Jason asked.

  Dean nodded. “Yes. We figured as much.”

  “He organized everything, you know,” Jason said. “Just be prepared.”

  “I am.”

  “Nice fella.”

  Robbie explained. “See, we needed to get the clone out. Smoke him out so to speak to get information from him. The explosion was caught on video. Seconds before the explosion that killed my father, Dean or the clone was caught on video walking from the office. Now, using the SUT tracking, we knew Dean was nowhere around. So that’s how we figured out it was the clone. Smoke out the clone, get info. Here’s where it gets tricky. Listen to this.”

  Robbie pushed the player forward and played for Jason, Darrell’s testimony.

  Jason listened and listened again. “The Iffy situation, was Joe warning the clone about Darrell in the invisible suit?”

  Robbie nodded. “As near as we can tell. The explosive device was found. One set of prints we found on the device and timer. Meaning the person who set the explosion left their prints. One set.”

  Jason said, "It wasn’t the clone. Was it. You called me to ask me if a clone would have the same fingerprints.”

  “It wasn’t the clone.” Robbie said. “It was my father’s prints. My father built the bomb and set the timer on the bomb. No one knows this Jason; you have to keep this secret.”

  Jason raised his hand. “You have my word. Joe built the bomb. Warned the clone about Darrell. They obviously removed Darrell from the picture and set off the explosion. Why? Why would Joe deliberately take his own life, unless he wasn’t meant to die in the explosion? Unless … unless Joe didn’t die in the explosion.” Jason looked up brightly. “He faked his death to let the course of history happen. It’s obvious he was working with the clone. The clone told him something about the future. Something Joe’s death would stop. So knowing a bright and sunny future existed in Aragon Window, Joe faked his own death.”

  “That’s what we thought,” Dean said. “So we dug up the body in the tomb.”

  “And?” Jason asked.

  “Joe.”

  Jason blinked. “Joe. Are you sure.”

  “No. Yes. No. Same genetic makeup, DNA, no clone markings. It wasn’t a clone. Yet ….” Dean explained. He had scars Joe didn’t have, he had gray hair, and traces of radiation in his blood.”

  Robbie took it from there. “But here’s where it gets weirder Jason. The clone has a buddy in Beginnings. He had lunch with the buddy in the trailer, they left the sandwiches there.”

  Jason nodded. “You pulled the DNA?”

  Dean replied "And sandwich two was eaten a few days ago by … Joe.”

  “So how is that possible?” Robbie asked. “We have my father’s body in the tomb, and my father running around eating a jam sandwich in Beginnings.”

  “Let me get this straight,” Jason said. “You have Joe in a tomb, and you have Joe running around Beginnings.”

  Robbie said, “I think in an invisible suit. That’s why Andrea thinks she sees his ghost. But how do we have two Joe’s. One dead, one alive.”

  Jason ran his finger over his lip. “Play that tape of Darrell again.”

  Robbie did.

  Jason listened; he backed it up and listened again. “There.” He said. “The part where Darrell said Joe seemed different. Maybe perhaps Joe was different because it was a different Joe. It is conceivable that when the clone came in and said it is time, and Joe left, the other Joe came into the office.”

  “But how?” Robbie asked.

  “You answered your own question with the gray hair,” Jason explained. “And the radiation. The Joe in the tomb was through more than the Joe eating jam. The Joe in the tomb is from the future.”

  Both Robbie and Dean looked at him with a puzzled look.

  Dean asked. “Is that possible.”

  “If he is working with the clone, it is not only possible. It’s probable. A future Joe, say from December, goes back to March and dies. The present Joe hides. Therefore the path of history is changed. When December rolls around, that future, the bad future no longer existed, therefore, it could conceivably be done. Actually if that’s the case it is a mark of brilliancy on the clone and Joe’s part.”

  Robbie sighed out. “You know there is only one way to find out exactly what happened. Find my father. Expose him.”

  “No.” Jason said. “No, you can’t do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Robbie,” Jason explained with compassion. “Your father loves you more than life itself. Would he deliberately put his family through so much pain if the reason wasn’t valid? No, he has a reason to stay hidden, and bet me any money, there’s a time frame, too. He can’t stay hidden forever, so he’s waiting for a certain point in history, and then he’ll come out. Until then, if you expose him, if you bring him forth. If you bring him back to Beginnings you would have undone all that he set up.”

  “So what do I do?” Robbie asked. “I need answers.”

  “If you really feel the need to find him, and you find him.” Jason said. “No one can know. In fact, no one but us three can ever know. At least until, Joe’s point of return has surpassed.”

  Robbie nodded.

  “Wow.” Jason exhaled. “This is remarkable. “Thank you for sharing. I... can’t thank you enough. I will help in any way I can, and I’ll not tell a soul. Thank you.”

  Dean bobbed his head. “Thank you for giving us an idea on answers.”

  Jason stood.

  “One other thing.” Dean said. “Joe wasn’t the only reason we brought you up here.”

  Robbie added. “Guilt was.”

  “Guilt.” Jason asked.

  “We have something. And not only do we need your help on how to figure it. It’s only right that you help figure it out.”

  “What is it?” Jason asked.

  Dean walked to the table and lifted the cloth covered box. With dramatics, he held it before Jason. “We give you …” he lifted the cloth. “The HG Wells.”

  <><><><>

  Frank rushed, but made it out to the airfield in Bowman before George took off. Not that he expected George to leave before he got there.

  As expected, the plane was positioned and George was loading a bag inside.

  Tigger was behind him. Handing him more bags. Frank guessed that they were Tigger’s belongings. Not because the bags were small or anything like that, but because there were so many. Only someone planning to leave for a while, would have that many bags.

  “George,” Frank said. “Glad I caught you.”

  “Not leaving yet.” George looked at his watch. “Waiting.”

  “Did you get a chance to talk to Callahan? I’ve been busy.”

  “Yes, yes, I did,” George replied.

  “So you agree about what Hal told me.”

  “Definitely. My gut says there are more of them. We need to find out where, when, and how many.”

  “I want to pull all of Doyle’s men, less the one’s I’m making trainers. Pull them and get them ready to head north if need be.”

  “Well then we’
ll mobilize your replacement troops this way for training ASAP.”

  “Appreciate it.”

  “You said Hal’s scouts are confident that these men didn’t want to hurt the soldier they captured.”

  “That’s what they said. Almost if they grabbed him for information. They were pretty confident that if need be, they could get in there and get him. I have no doubt, Hal’s men are good. But my problem is, would that be what they’re waiting for?”

  “What do you mean?” George asked.

  “I mean. Let’s say this is one of the ways we get hit. Let’s suppose there is a huge base up north. And they’re waiting, waiting for the other invaders North, South, East … what if taking our man, and us hitting them in retaliation is what they want.”

  “Diversion.”

  “Possible.”

  “Probably.” George looked at his watch again. “I’ll be back in three days. I’ll need you to secure me permanent housing. Preferably here in Bowman. Close to the airstrip”

  “Hal’s on that.”

  “I’m going to hand pick a crew. Robbie and I will determine what kind of birds we need to get, and me and the crew will head out to the bases. I’m going to work as fast as I can to get them operational. I am figuring we can fly three back at a time.”

  “How many planes are you figuring we need?”

  George raised his eyebrows. “A lot. But right now, we don’t have the pilots.”

  “How are you going to instruct on flying and do all this?”

  George smiled. “I’ll be a busy man. We have Robbie, John, Jesse and … Johnny to teach.”

  Frank nodded. “I think Johnny will like that.”

  “And I think he’d like hearing that from you.”

  A single nod from Frank.

  “We’ll get a flight crew yet.”

  “I know.”

  George peered at his watch. “And where? … .Ah, yes, there.”

  Frank turned around to see the jeep pulling up.

  Lars Rayburn stepped from the jeep.

  “Sorry it took so long. I had to say my goodbyes and settle my wellness center,” Lars said.

  “What’s going on?” Frank asked.

  “Lars is going to Quantico,” George said. “With me retiring, I have to put people in charge of each division.”