Future Imperfect

by Simon Rose

  “Yes, I think I remember where Robert’s office was.”

  The video screen became consumed with static, although Alex could still hear the audio reasonably clearly.

  “Good, you should be fine then. If you don’t believe me about Veronica being away, just check on one of the local news websites. There’ll be something about it since she’s in the news in your time right now. Check it out and . . .”

  Then he was gone, yet again.

  IT WAS SO frustrating that Alexander only revealed a portion of the story. Whether this was a genuine issue caused by him connecting from the future or just a ruse, Alex just couldn’t tell anymore.

  He did, however, decide to take Alexander’s advice and use his phone to check the local news channels online. Sure enough, there was coverage of Veronica, including a few pictures and a video of her at the airport. She was with a man who was fielding questions from reporters. Veronica was apparently headed to New York and Washington on business and wasn’t expected to be back in town for several days.

  When Alex noticed the map showing the location of the airport on the website, he suddenly realized the possible significance of what he’d seen on his phone earlier. Stephanie, or at least her phone, had been in the part of the city where the Castlewood mansion was located. Was it possible that she’d been taken there? It would make sense if Veronica had instructed her people to take Stephanie somewhere secure, rather than to the company headquarters. The mansion was as large as four or five regular houses and had many rooms. There were also stables and other buildings within the extensive grounds. There were plenty of places where Stephanie could easily be held prisoner. If he followed Alexander’s instructions and went to the mansion to get the laptop, Alex might be able to rescue Stephanie too. This also gave Alex new hope that he could perhaps change things after all. Rescuing Stephanie was his own idea, not something that had originated with Alexander. Maybe his fate wasn’t carved in stone after all?

  ALEX DECIDED NOT to go home, at least not until his mom returned. If she was around and her car was on the driveway, it might deter someone from snatching him. Stephanie had apparently been at home alone when she’d disappeared. Alex brought up the map location of the mansion on his phone. It wasn’t that far away but he needed to get there quickly. He still had Andrew’s credit card in his wallet so he quickly called a cab.

  He didn’t have to wait too long before the car arrived.

  “Where can I drop you?” asked the driver, as Alex slid into the back seat.

  “This is the address,” he replied.

  He leaned forward and showed the map on his phone to the driver. He quickly scanned the map and nodded.

  “Sure, no problem.”

  Alex eased back into his seat and fastened his seat belt as the cab pulled away.

  The twenty-minute journey was undertaken mostly in silence. Alex was relieved that the cab driver wasn’t too chatty. Alex desperately needed to be able to think and attempt to process everything that was running through his mind, however complex it was. Alex also tried to formulate some kind of plan regarding how he’d proceed once he arrived at his destination. And yet as the cab approached the imposing iron gates at the front of the Castlewood mansion, Alex still had no idea what he was going to do.

  “Here we are,” said the driver, as he slowed down.

  “Can you stop just a little further along the street?” Alex asked.

  “Okay,” replied the driver.

  He drove just beyond the gates and stopped.

  “That’s great, thanks,” said Alex, handing the driver the credit card.

  Once the payment was processed, Alex climbed out of the cab. He watched it drive away before walking back to the iron gates. They stood at the end of a short curved driveway that led up to the front of the mansion. Alex was relieved that there wasn’t a camera mounted anywhere near the gate, or at least not one that he could see. He knew that a high-tech company like Castlewood Dynamics could have hidden cameras situated just about anywhere but he also knew that he had to take the risk. If he was right about Stephanie being held prisoner here, he knew that he had to find her before Veronica returned from New York.

  Although there were no obvious cameras, there was a security pad on the wall that presumably opened the gate. Alex figured that people probably scanned it from their cars as they approached. The gate was far too high for Alex climb over, as was the adjoining concrete wall. Yet Alex had hacked so many electronic devices over the years that he’d lost count. He prized open the cover of the security pad and carefully examined the circuit board. It was a fairly simple design. Alex accessed the code in less than a minute and the heavy gates swung open.

  Alex quickly slipped inside, suspecting that the gate would swing shut once he’d gone through. The gate closed just as a man emerged from the front door of the huge house to tend to the flowers and lawns. Alex darted behind one of the tall shrubs beside the gate. He watched as the gardener watered a few of the plants before activating the sprinkler system. The gardener then walked back to the corner of the house before turning toward the rear of the building. Alex couldn’t see the stables and other structures that were at the rear of the house, but didn’t notice any more of Veronica’s people in the vicinity. He realized that there could be security guards present but Alex knew he had to take the risk. He ran across the lawn and up the driveway toward the front door, which the gardener had left ajar.

  Alex cautiously opened the door and was relieved to see that there was no one around. The entrance hall had a marble floor and a high ceiling, from which a huge crystal chandelier was suspended. A winding staircase, also in marble, swept up to the second floor of the house where Robert’s office was located. There were portraits of members of the Castlewood family on the walls of the entrance hall, along with several other paintings. Two decorative reproduction suits of armour stood at the foot of the staircase.

  Alex crept across the hallway and was about to race up the staircase when he heard footsteps. He darted behind one of the suits of armour and held his breath. A woman emerged from the kitchen and walked across the entrance hall toward the front door. She was carrying a light jacket and had a set of keys in her hand. Alex figured the woman must have been leaving for the day after her shift in the kitchen. As soon as she stepped outside and closed the door behind her, Alex emerged from his hiding place. That had been close, he thought, his heart racing. He wondered how many more staff members he might encounter before he got anywhere near Robert’s office.

  Alex hurried up the stairs, two steps at a time. At the top of the staircase two virtually identical hallways led to the left and right. As hard as he tried, Alex couldn’t recall where Robert’s office was located but then he noticed something that jogged his memory. Halfway along the hallway to his right there was a small table on which stood a bronze bust of one of Robert’s illustrious ancestors. Alex was sure that the office was nearby. He crept cautiously along the hallway until he saw the door that he was certain led into Robert’s office. The door was partially open, and Alex could clearly see the oak panelling that covered the office’s walls. He hurried along the hallway and stopped at the doorway to peer inside. Satisfied that the room was empty, Alex carefully eased the door open and stepped into the office. As soon as Alex was inside the room, the heavy wooden door slammed shut behind him.

  “Hello, Alex.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The Terrible Truth

  ALEX SPUN AROUND to see Veronica standing by the door. She was wearing another business outfit, this time in dark grey. A huge bald man in a dark suit was standing beside her. Alex panicked but a quick scan of his surroundings told him that there was no way out.

  “Get his phone, Lewis,” Veronica said to the man in the suit.

  He said nothing as he approached Alex.

  “Why do you need my phone?”

  “Your friend still had her phone when we grabbed her,” Veronica replied. “She was trying to send messages but we too
k it away from her. Lewis turned it off so it couldn’t emit a signal. I’ll not make the same mistake again. Hand it over.”

  Alex hesitated but Lewis towered above him. Alex knew that the man would just take the phone by force. He reached into his pocket and handed Lewis the phone. Lewis grinned, accentuating the many lines in his craggy face, before giving the phone to Veronica. She walked over to the desk and sat down in the luxurious black leather chair, placing Alex’s phone next to the desktop computer.

  “Sit down, Alex.”

  Veronica gestured at the wooden chair on the opposite side of the desk. Alex walked over and sat down. Lewis stood menacingly in front of the door, barring any possible exit.

  “So would you like to tell me what you’re doing here?” Veronica asked with a thin smile. “Is this a social call? No, I don’t suppose it is. Otherwise you wouldn’t have broken the security pad at the main gate. You didn’t expect anyone to be here, did you?”

  “I saw it on one of the news websites. You were at the airport going to New York.”

  “Oh, I was at the airport,” said Veronica, “but my trip was delayed. The visit to New York was only for a photo op but the deal was all set to be signed and announced the next day anyway. I had tickets for the flight but cancelled them.”

  Alex’s mind was racing. If what Veronica was saying was true, it confirmed that Alexander’s future knowledge really was completely unreliable. Alex accepted that it could be caused by how he and Stephanie had been altering the timeline in the present day. However, he also knew that Alexander could be lying or even somehow working with Veronica.

  “Do you know why I cancelled my flight, Alex?”

  “No idea.”

  “I was informed by my people that someone was using your dad’s credit card.”

  “How would you know that?”

  “I like to stay on top things, Alex, especially if I think that someone could be a threat. We’ve been keeping a close eye on your dad’s movements for quite a while, including phone messages and financial transactions. We’ve been watching your mom too.”

  “I think my dad’s credit card was stolen,” said Alex.

  Veronica simply smiled.

  “I know that you and your friend were at Castlewood Dynamics when I was visiting my uncle at the hospital, Alex. What were you doing there?”

  The desk phone rang before Alex could reply.

  “Yes, what is it?” said Veronica, as she answered the phone. “The van’s here? Okay, drive around the back and we’ll see you there.”

  She put the phone down.

  “Get the girl, Lewis.”

  He nodded and left the office, closing the door behind him. Veronica briefly picked up Alex’s phone. She looked curiously at the unusual icon on the screen before turning off the phone’s power.

  “I knew that your dad was trying to leave Castlewood and go to work for Hartfield Tech,” said Veronica, placing Alex’s phone back on the desk. “However, the vital piece of the puzzle that I need for my plans is missing from his laptop.”

  “What plans?” Alex asked, although he suspected that he already knew the answer.

  “It’s all very technical,” replied Veronica, dismissively, with that same thin smile. “Even for an electronics genius like you. Still, there’s one sure way to get the missing data and that’s going to be a whole lot easier, now that we’ve got you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll see,” said Veronica, ominously.

  The door opened and Lewis stepped inside, holding Stephanie tightly by the arm.

  “Stephanie!” Alex exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” replied Stephanie, wincing slightly at Lewis’s grip.

  “Let’s get going,” said Veronica, standing up from her chair.

  She scooped up Alex’s phone and handed it to Lewis.

  “Hang onto this. It’s turned off so nobody should be able to track it.”

  SHE GRABBED ALEX by the arm and they followed Lewis and Stephanie out into the hallway. They all hurried down the staircase and crossed the marble floor into the kitchen. When they reached the loading door at the rear of the mansion, a windowless white van was waiting. Lewis took Stephanie over to the van’s back door and opened it. He effortlessly lifted her inside.

  “Where are you taking us?” said Stephanie.

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” Lewis replied.

  Veronica shoved Alex over to him. Lewis roughly bundled Alex inside the van. A thick blue cloth covered the floor but the inside walls of the van were bare.

  “I’ll follow in my car,” said Veronica. “I’ll see you there.”

  “Sounds good,” said Lewis, as he began to close the van doors.

  “Wait, where are you taking us?” Alex demanded.

  Lewis didn’t answer and simply closed the doors.

  “We’d better move,” said Stephanie, pointing to where a couple of straps were attached to the wall behind the cab. “You don’t want to be sliding around in here once we get onto the road.”

  They shuffled over to the front as Lewis started the engine and the van moved forward.

  “Well, at least you’re okay,” said Alex.

  “Yeah,” Stephanie replied. “How did you know I was here?”

  “Your phone. I had the idea to track your signal and see if I could tell where you were. I’m sure that the police would have thought of that eventually but I saw that you were at least on the way to this area. I figured it was worth a try.”

  “I slept in and my mom and dad had gone to the gym. I’d just got dressed and had my phone with me when Lewis and another guy came into the house. I was in this van then too and they took my phone so I couldn’t call for help. It was still on for a while, I think, before someone decided to turn it off. Or maybe the battery ran out.”

  Alex smiled. Stephanie forgot to charge her phone on a regular basis.

  “Yeah, that wouldn’t surprise me.”

  “They made sure the tablet was turned off too.”

  “They have the tablet?” said Alex. “But she’ll find out that we’ve been looking into her past and all the companies she works with. There’s even evidence of Alexander’s messages on there.”

  “It’s fine, Alex. I deleted the history.”

  “Really? That’s not like you.”

  “Yeah, I know,” she smirked. “I figured it might be for the best.”

  “So what happened when you got to the mansion?”

  “They put me in one of the rooms in the basement and tied me up then put some tape over my mouth.”

  She grimaced at the memory.

  “Lewis said that Veronica wanted to talk to me about why we’d been at Castlewood Dynamics. He said that she was on her way back from the airport. They left me alone until you got here. Did they catch you right away?”

  “More or less. She was expecting me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, maybe not expecting me, but they’d found out someone had been using my dad’s credit card. That’s why she left the airport. She was supposed to be going to sign some important contracts in New York. I didn’t think she’d be at the mansion.”

  “Did you connect with Alexander earlier today?”

  “Yes, a couple of times.”

  “And?”

  “I still don’t know what to make of all this. He claims that your being kidnapped wasn’t supposed to happen. He says that his instructions to us could be altering what he knows as history. I guess it’s possible. I mean, I only thought to use the credit card once we’d decided to go the company offices and then I used it again to get to the mansion. That wasn’t part of the original timeline and it’s what got us caught.”

  “Yes, but if we were supposed to get captured,” said Stephanie, “surely he’d have known that and warned us about it.”

  “Unless that’s all part of his plan.”

  “What?”

  “He could be working with Vero
nica in the future, influencing things in this time period.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Maybe,” said Alex, with a shrug. “But didn’t you say something like that last night? And it’s no more crazy than the rest of all this really.”

  “I guess,” Stephanie replied. “And capturing us seems to have given Veronica some ideas that might be part of her big plans. Where do you think they’re taking us?”

  “No idea,” said Alex. “I’ve given up trying to predict the future.”

  “So whatever we do, we can’t change things?”

  “Well, I did wonder if my trying to rescue you proved that I could change the course of events. But now I’m convinced that it’s a lost cause. I’m sorry I didn’t agree with you earlier.”

  Stephanie smiled.

  THEY CONTINUED THEIR discussion, trying to make sense of what was happening to them, as the van continued its journey. Neither of them had any idea where they were being taken. Eventually the van began slowing down.

  “Looks like we might have arrived,” said Alex.

  The van came to a stop with the engine idling, and they heard what sounded like a heavy overhead door slowly opening.

  “Where do you think we are?” asked Stephanie.

  “Could be some kind of warehouse maybe?” Alex replied. “I guess we’ll find out.”

  The van began moving again before coming to a halt. The engine was turned off and Lewis opened the van’s rear doors.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Laboratory

  AS HE CLIMBED out of the van, Alex immediately knew where he was. This was the underground parking garage at Castlewood Dynamics. Lewis helped Stephanie out of the van as Veronica’s Mercedes drove inside and the main garage door closed behind her. She parked next to the van and got out of the car.

  “I hope you had a pleasant journey?” she said icily to Alex and Stephanie, as she closed her car door.

  “Where are we?” asked Stephanie.

  “Castlewood Dynamics,” Alex replied.