“No deals with the Society.”
“You think I joined the Society and that’s why I’m here?”
“Yes.”
Tigger laughed. “Hardly. Dad, Bertha has told you. There is no more Society. You have to stop this shit. The United States needs you.”
“What do I have?” Mike stood.
“Skills. George and Bertha both want to place you in charge of a leadership training class.”
Bertha interjected. “We need to train men that can lead. We don’t have that. It needs to be done. Strong leadership. We have to prepare for this war.”
“We don’t know that there’s gonna be a war.” Mike said.
“And we don’t know that there isn’t.” Bertha snapped back. “Can we take that chance? President Hadley has been saying for years, we’re gonna get hit. We’re gonna get invaded. Now, we have to get ready for that and to be honest Manis, I don’t think we have much time. We need all the strong men we can get.”
“Basically,” Tigger added. “Your choice is this. You stay in this cell, or you join the fight.”
“You mean get drafted?” Mike asked.
Tigger nodded. “Still your country you have to defend.”
“So, what’s the deal?” Mike asked. “I’ll go where?”
Bertha answered. “We’ve opened up a military base in South Carolina. That’s where we’ll send you. First, you’ll train some of the top men, and then all of you will break down and train more. Those men will go out. It’s a trickledown effect. We’re already sending a thousand troops to Beginnings to replace the ones that used to be Society and are returning to train men here.”
“Because they were trained in Beginnings.”
Bertha nodded.
“I don’t have to report directly to Slagel do I?”
Bertha shook her head. “You report to me.”
Mike exhaled. “I guess I'm drafted then.”
Bertha side stepped, exposing the door. “Freedom awaits. We’ll get you some clothes and everything else you need.”
Mike, after laying his hand on Tigger’s head moved to the door.
“Yes,” Tigger clenched his fist. “Cool. Bet you can’t wait to get out of here.”
“No, Tig, I can’t.”
“Yeah,” Tigger said. “Small room.”
“You aren’t kidding.”
“How the heck did you use the commode without breaking it?”
Mike snarled a glance his way, shook his head when Tigger laughed, and left his cell for the first time in a long time.
<><><><>
Jenny cried.
She sniffled into a handkerchief, her free hand gripping Jimmy’s as he laid in the hospital bed.
“Really,” Jimmy said. “Those pain pills killed the headache.”
Jenny burst into tears. “Don’t say killed.”
Jimmy hunched.
Ellen sighed out. “Personally, I think you’re fine. It’s Dean.” She shrugged. “He says I under reacted and you’re family. We tend to not want to see things wrong with family. He thinks we shouldn’t dismiss this. He just wants to be safe than sorry.”
“How long?” Jimmy asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t understand,” Jimmy said. “I left here. You said I was fine. Fifteen minutes later I’m getting a phone call to come back.”
“Dean.” Ellen shrugged. “He said two words. Brain tumor.”
Jenny gasped. “Johnny had a brain tumor.”
“Could be a hereditary gene,” Ellen said. “Now honestly, wouldn’t you’d rather know and get it taken care of before you go crazy.”
“Yeah.” Jimmy said, solemn. “You’re right.”
“Just today and tomorrow,” Ellen explained. “You’ll get out tomorrow afternoon.”
“When the tests are done?” He asked. “What kind of test are they doing?”
“Cat scan, ultrasound, stress testing, blood, that sort of thing.” Ellen looked at her watch. “I’ll let you two get settled. Andrea will be in shortly to check on you, too.”
Jenny gripped Jimmy’s hand. “You are so fortunate to have family all around you.”
Ellen smiled and excused herself from the room. Once in the hall, she exhaled and grabbed her phone. She dialed as she walked down the hall. “Hey, Danny, all set. He’s out of the picture.”
<><><><>
Robbie visited Andrea, openly. At the clinic where she was held up working on some things. He walked her home, had dinner with her, and even walked her back to the clinic.
Nothing was said about his father.
Maybe she was just being quiet.
He contemplated many times if Andrea actually believed she was speaking to Joe or if she knew she wasn’t.
That wouldn’t help Robbie’s case. He was basing a lot of his father being in Beginnings on Andrea and that Jam sandwich.
It was possible that his father had lunch with the clone and the clone zapped him somewhere.
After experiencing the HG Wells, himself, Robbie knew that was possible.
After being in the open about following Andrea, Robbie resorted to being in the dark.
Sneaking behind her, staying hidden, watching what she did.
He listened many times when she was in a room by herself. But nothing.
It was so uneventful that he gave up and even opted to fix the keypad on the distribution center.
A little past nine, Robbie wondered if Andrea was still working.
It would only be right to walk her back home.
Just as he approached the steps of the clinic, the doors opened.
Andrea hummed, chuckled and said, ‘Yes’
To no one.
Step forward? Don’t step forward?
Robbie lurched back in the dark, retreating when he heard her conversing.
“You know you love when I sing that,” she said.
As fast as his feet would carry him and knowing, Andrea’s pace and route, Robbie ran back toward the Joe Park and around the back of the main square buildings, emerging between Containment and the Social Hall.
There he figured, he’d wait for her, watch her unseen, and pull out the infrared goggles.
Surely if his father were walking in an invisible suit, he’d be able to pick him up. Get confirmation.
Inched against the building, watching Andrea approach, Robbie waited. Once she passed him, he’d do it.
Reaching for his goggles he jumped a foot in the air, spun and slammed against the wall at Frank’s ‘Boo’
“Frank,” Robbie gasped out.
“Are you going to kill Andrea?”
“Huh?’
“Wait. I get it. You’re the serial mutilator.”
“Ha, ha, ha. Funny.” Robbie shook his head. “You scared me.”
“And you’re scaring me. I watched you dart around to follow her. What’s up?”
Robbie processed his thoughts quickly. “I wanted to walk her home. She refused. I just wanted to watch her.”
“Oh. That’s nice. She’s fine. It’s fucking Beginnings.”
“Yeah, but she’s still our mom.”
“And …” Frank peered out. “She’s gone.”
“Fuck.”
“Sorry. Wanna head home and make sure she got there OK?”
“Um, no. I’m being silly. What are you doing out?”
“Coming home. I was at the clinic.”
“Oh, yeah. Did you hear about Jimmy being in there?”
“Yeah, that’s why I was there,” Frank said.
“What do you make of it?” Robbie asked.
Frank fluttered his lips. “Fucking bullshit.”
“You don’t think he has a tumor.”
“No, I think he has a one upper.”
Robbie chuckled. “A what?”
“A one upper. Actually, two uppers, no, two one uppers.”
Robbie scratched his head. “I’m confused.”
“It’s a fake. Nothing’s wrong with Jimmy.�
��
“How can you say that? El put him in the hospital for headaches.”
“Exactly, El put him in. Where is Jimmy all the time?”
“In the communications room working on the project.”
Frank nodded. “Exactly. And you know how obsessed he gets. He won’t stop until he gets it. Fuck, I’m surprised he’s not sleeping there yet. He’s there all the time.”
“So you think El did it to make him stop and rest.”
“No.” Frank shook his head. “Danny Hoi wants to work on the AL3S and Jimmy won’t let him.”
“How do you know?”
“Jimmy doesn’t let anyone help.”
“No,” Robbie said with a chuckle. “I mean, how do you know Danny wants to work on it.?
“I saw him going in there.”
“How do you know he’s not just filling in?”
“Because I asked him if he wants me to get a replacement and he said no. He wanted to work it. El helped him. She set up the whole thing to get Jimmy out of the way.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because she called me and said she was going to be late. I saw her with him.”
“That's weird. Maybe they’re having an affair.”
Frank raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe not.”
“What are you doing now?”
“I don’t know, why?”
“Wanna go have some fun. I can use some fun.”
“Sure. What do you have in mind?” Robbie asked.
“What do you think?”
“Journey music and the Killer Baby region.”
“Toddler,” Frank said.
“I stand corrected.” Robbie nodded. “Let’s go. Hey maybe we can find some aliens up there.”
“That would be fucking sweet.” Frank grinned.
It was demented brother bonding, but brother bonding nonetheless. Both Slagels, upbeat, headed off to Frank’s office to get the Journey music, then it was onward to the Killer Toddler region.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
April 3rd
George didn’t waste any time, and there really wasn’t any time to waste.
In fact, he was late arriving. Frank expected him at seven AM and it was close to eight when he landed. The meeting with the future pilots was just about to start.
“I got held up in Missouri,” George said. “Problem with fueling.” He extended his hand in greeting to Frank.
“That’s fine. We know to expect problems,” Frank replied. “Everyone is waiting.”
“Good. Good. What’s the turn out.”
“Not as good as I hoped, better than I would have anticipated.”
“At least twenty?” George asked.
“Yeah, more than that.”
‘Good.” George smiled and exhaled “I’ll get my gear later. I just want to get moving on this all.”
“Everything OK?”
“I feel a sense of urgency,” George explained. “I dreamt of Pearl Harbor last night. That I was there. That I got the message, the warning, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
“You think it’s worrying or more.”
“I don’t know.” George got into the jeep. “But I’m feeling like we shouldn’t take any chances.”
Frank nodded an agreement. As he started to get into the jeep, his phone rang. “Yeah.” He answered. “El? What’s up?”
“Hey, Frank. When are you coming back to Beginnings?”
“I’m supposed to catch a ride with Hal in an hour or so. Why?”
“Can you and he meet me at the communications room?”
“Sure, but, what’s up?” Frank asked.
“Just …meet us there. Ten. OK?”
Click.
Frank stared at the phone with a whispering, ‘Fuck’
“Something wrong?” George asked.
Frank got in the jeep. He nodded to George but his mind was on the secretive message. Ellen wanted him and Hal to meet, not just her at communications, but she used the word ‘us’. He didn’t nor could he spend too much time to think about it. It couldn’t be urgent, so before he drove himself nuts, he placed it in the back of his mind. He’d find out soon enough.
<><><><>
“Eureka! We have it.”
A bit melodramatic, but that was how Jason represented it to Robbie over the phone.
He and Dean worked all night to complete the project.
They had created a mist gun for Robbie to carry. He’d see how clever it was using things from the past.
It took longer than they anticipated and in doing so they learned a few things about the time machine, but it was complete.
“Where is it?” Robbie asked.
Since Danny was in and out of Jason’s lab, Jason took the liberty of leaving it in Robbie’s special crime lab. Which was conveniently located next to his own.
He was informed it was on the counter.
When Robbie ended the call he realized how far away he was from that lab. Not only was it on the other side of the community, Robbie was checking perimeters. A task he couldn’t just skip.
He wasn’t really worried about a time frame until he receive a phone call from Ellen asking him to show up at ten in the communications room. She didn’t say anymore and that left Robbie curious. OF course he’d show up. But he really wanted to get the mist gun.
It was juvenile, and chances were he wouldn’t need the gun. He certainly couldn’t use it with Andrea around. Still, he wanted it. Especially after Jason reiterated how much trouble they went through.
After checking out the time, Robbie realized he could finish the current task at hand, go fetch Jason’s newest invention, and make it to the meeting.
Although he was quickly placing the meeting low on his priority list. After all, she didn’t say if it was urgent. He would do his best to get there. But Robbie had other things on his mind.
<><><><>
Jason only went back to Beginnings to take a nap, change his clothes, and pick up that cool tee shirt he had packed with him before he was originally cryogenically frozen.
That and leave the invention on Robbie’s counter.
The invention itself was simple.
An old fashion water gun—with pump action-and an adjusted nozzle to make a spray rather than a stream. The bulbous tube was filled with invisible ink. Fifty-seven tubes of invisible ink to be exact.
It was amazing how he and Dean pulled it off. They knew exactly what they had to get, but getting it was the trick.
The HG Wells came in handy and they were cautious.
The first trip took them back in time to Dean in Nebraska, pre plague. He knew where his past self was supposed to be and future Dean went into the lab.
“You OK?” Molly his assistant asked.
“Oh, yeah, great. Thanks.” Dean replied sniffing. Perfume. How long had it been?
“You look beat to hell.”
Dean snickered.
“I thought you had that class,” Molly said.
“I do. I forgot something.”
Good thing Molly didn’t look at him. A close look would have told her a lot. He went to his desk where he kept his credit cards, retrieved the Money Access Card, went to the money machine, took out over two hundred dollars, broke the card, and trashed it. He didn’t want to take a chance on going back to the lab.
He chuckled because he knew his past self probably wouldn’t even notice the deficit for a long time. He’d notice the missing debit card. Probably report it right away. Get a replacement. But the deficit? Nah.
His paychecks were deposited automatically, and in the past, Dean rarely used a money machine for cash. He wouldn’t notice.
After getting the money, Dean returned to the dining room in the present time.
It was then he and Jason went back to the same year, but to a mall, right in Montana, and hit a gift shop.
But they only had ten tubes of invisible ink.
It took four more trips to different malls in d
ifferent times to get all that they needed.
Including a water gun.
Dean didn’t expect Jason back so soon, but Jason was enthusiastic. Yes, they were using the machine. But they were learning a lot. The radius. The time frames they couldn’t repeat. The lost time. 30 seconds per trip.
“Did you drop off the gun?” Dean asked.
“Absolutely, sitting and waiting for Robbie.”
“I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
“I’ve cleared my schedule. This is like a drug.”
Dean snickered. “I cleared my schedule, too. You look like you have something in mind.”
“Well, since we don’t lose much time, and I don’t think much is going to happen today. I have an idea.”
“What’s that?”
Jason removed his over shirt, exposing his tee shirt.
Dean laughed. “Oh my God. Where did you get that?”
“My father. And this is where I want to go. I got the coordinates, almost to a tee. What do you say?”
Dean shrugged. “Sure why not. It sounds like a great time.”
“I agree.”
“And you’re dressed for it,” Dean said.
Jason smiled.
“Jason you seem so happy.”
“I am, life is better. I don’t feel gloom over the loss of my best friend. I found out I am the inspiration for another great time invention, I’m solving a great mystery, and …we are going back to July 17th, 1980, Detroit Michigan, Joe Louis Arena.” Jason smiled and pointed to this shirt. “Ah, to see Ronald Reagan in the Republican National Convention.”
Dean nodded proudly. “It’ll be like a dream come true. Ronald Reagan.”
“He was my idol,” Jason said.
“Mine too.”
“Shall we?”
“Fix the machine.” Dean held up a finger and backed up. “I want to put on a blue shirt.”
<><><><>
Where was Elliott Ryder? Hal wondered. Surely, he knew about the super-secret meeting Ellen had called in the communications room. Admittedly, Hal was going to blow off the meeting until Ellen called him three sequential times to make sure he was going to come, along with bringing Elliott.
Ellen was acting as if it were a life or death emergency. Surely, if it were, she wouldn’t give a time to meet. Hal just hoped it wasn’t another one of her, ‘I called you here today to tell you one day we’re all gonna die together in an explosion’ meetings.
Consigning Fate: Beginnings Series Book 23 Page 40