“You son of a bitch!” Sarah said as she fought the hold of the Russian.
Ryan and Will ran to Jack but another shot rang out and ash and dirt flew from the bullet striking just inches from their feet.
“Another foolish attempt to stop us will result in us leaving one of these behind as we pass through the doorway.” He raised something he held in his left hand and easily tossed it up and down. It was an old grenade. “It seems you were right in your theory about others coming here before us, Colonel,” he said as he watched Jack hiss as he struggled to sit up. “We found two of these inside the pack attached to the skeletal remains of a soldier. We couldn’t tell if he was Japanese or Chinese, but I must say it was indeed fortuitous that we came across him in our flight from your treachery.”
“There he goes using those big words again,” Jason said as his anger was just about to boil over. He would rather die here and now than take a chance at his friend being left behind in this whacked-out menagerie.
Doshnikov turned and looked at Ryan. He pointed the .45 at his head and pulled the trigger. Click, the hammer fell on an empty chamber.
“Your luck is holding, my friend.” He eased the old and rusty pin from the grenade and smiled as he held the handle in place and turned to the master chief and Virginia. “Now, start the process and get me and my men out of here.”
Jenks looked at Virginia and winked. She didn’t understand why Harold was taking this so well. He stood on wobbly legs and made his way back to the trailer. He looked at Jack, who was watching while holding his wounded thigh. Of all people it was Henri who was applying pressure and a dressing to the bleeding hole. Collins fought his building anger with every ounce of willpower he had as the Russian reached out and took Sarah by the arm and steered her toward the still-spinning doorway.
“Remember, all I have to do is drop this inside of there and your dreams of a future are done—am I understood?”
Jenks smiled but it was brief and only Virginia saw it. She bit her lip, wondering why the gruff bastard was taking all of this so well.
“Behave and you just may see this lovely young lady again; misbehave and she will die a horrible death and you can stay here and contend with the animal life.”
“Master Chief, send this man to where he wants to go,” Jack said as Henri assisted him to his feet.
“Yes, sir,” Jenks said as he started the collider rolling at full RPMs. “Slim, stand by on the lasing system.”
Virginia saw Jenks switch to another tone setting on his control panel and made sure the volume was down when the return signal arrived. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was going to do. She looked at Sarah and then hurriedly back at Jenks, who winked.
“Start the lasing and get the collider lined up.”
Doshnikov heard the orders and, remembering this was where they were tricked back in Brooklyn, roughly brought Sarah to his side.
Henri made as if to move on the Russian but Jack forcibly stayed him. They exchanged looks and then Farbeaux knew the Americans had other plans for Doshnikov.
“Let’s just cut to the chase—no countdowns, no fact-checking. Either this damn thing works, or it don’t.” He smiled at Virginia and then nodded. “Bring the collider online at full power, Slim.”
Without even looking at the panel before her, Virginia did as she was told. Sarah looked over at Jack with fear in her eyes. Jack nodded at Jenks, telling her to concentrate on him. The master chief looked at the small woman whom he had come to like immensely.
“You trust me, Shorty?” Jenks asked as Doshnikov forced her to the doorway’s opening. Sarah could only nod that she did. “Then tell everyone we’ll be along shortly.” She nodded and Jenks smiled, relaxing her as much as he could.
As the other Russians came forward to join their boss, the doorway went into full-power mode. Suddenly the lasers reached the correct frequency and the burst of pure atomic sunlight exploded from the circling laser apertures, sending out a brilliantly illuminated perfect tunnel of spinning light. Doshnikov turned and smiled at the Americans. He halfheartedly saluted them as he started forward through the vortex of wind and multicolored light.
“Short Stuff, remember: that asshole doesn’t have a Group security clearance,” Jack yelled above the din of noise.
The dawning look of understanding filled her face. She smiled as she realized what was about to happen.
The five Russians along with Sarah stepped into the doorway.
BROOKLYN NAVY YARD
The doorway went to 115 percent power and the world inside the building started to shake and rattle as the dimensional doorway opened before them.
“Dr. Morales, we have six targets coming through, only one has a transponder.”
“All right, Europa, cull the herd down to size,” he said as he watched on from Nellis.
“Separation of signals commencing,” came the call as the explosion of light bathed the old building in a myriad of color. Before they saw the doorway start to power down they heard it.
They heard a woman’s yelp of pain as the vision of the technicians returned slowly after having their retinas fused by the brilliant lasers. When they cleared they saw a lone figure standing on the far side of the doorway as the lasers shut down one at a time.
“Los Angeles, cut power!” called out the lead tech as she stood and ran to the latest traveler.
“Damn, that hurts!”
Niles smiled when he recognized the small form of Sarah McIntire. And then that smile was replaced with a look of concern for his missing nine people. He started to open the intercom to get his people moving again, but Xavier Morales was ahead of him.
“Get the doorway back up!”
As Sarah was assisted from the pad, she looked around in confusion and was wondering through her pain just what in the hell happened to her traveling companions.
DORTMUND, GERMANY,
MAY 16, 1943
Heinrich Himmler smiled as the young Jewish lab rat, as he referred to her, stepped through the doorway and vanished. He smiled as her brother was led out of the lab and the doorway started to slow.
Many Nazi officers smiled and congratulated the Reichsführer on the success of the Wellsian Doorway.
“How soon can we transport the doorway to Berlin?” he asked, but was soon cut off.
“Doorway is coming back online!” called out one of the German techs.
Down below in the laboratory, Professor Thomsen’s mood went from one of triumph to one of confusion.
“I didn’t order the doorway to be reopened yet. We have to recharge in order to bring the Traveler back.”
In the observation room Himmler saw the confusion below as the doorway started spinning faster and faster. Suddenly the room filled with bright light as many of the German technicians dove for cover, thinking the Wellsian Doorway had exploded. They were even more confused as twenty uniformed guards broke in and pointed their weapons at them, thinking they had something to do with the malfunction.
“What is happening?” Himmler asked.
Then the doorway opened. Doshnikov shook off the pain of the transit as he stepped into far cooler air. He smiled as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. His relief quickly faded as he realized that he wasn’t back home at all. As his four men joined him, the German soldiers rushed the strangely dressed travelers. He started cursing in Russian and that really got the party rolling. Gunfire erupted and Himmler high above in the viewing room stomped his feet as he thought the doorway had been compromised by their enemy, the Red Army.
As bullets started flying, Doshnikov cursed the Americans for tricking him again. He decided upon the best course of action after seeing the uniforms the troopers were wearing. He smiled as he tossed the grenade just as the automatic gunfire cut him and his ragged group of time travelers down.
The German foray into time travel had become very confusing indeed.
BROOKLYN NAVY YARD
The Wellsian Doorway started spinning and comin
g up to full power.
Above, Niles Compton placed his hand on the shoulder of Moira Mendelsohn as they waited. It didn’t take long. He met the eyes of Sarah McIntire as she sat next to Alice Hamilton and drank a glass of water. Niles nodded.
“We have a signal coming through,” Morales said from the complex in Nevada. Then everyone heard the new computer genius laugh out loud as the other computer specialists started cheering and clapping him on the back. Xavier looked into the large monitor and made sure Dr. Compton was watching. “Nine transponders coming through. The team is accounted for, including one wayward admiral!”
The cheers continued as Niles sat hard next to Moira, who patted the director’s hand.
“Thank you, God,” was all the director could say.
The homecoming was a rather raucous scene as everyone hugged anyone who had anything to do with the most harrowing mission Department 5656 had ever been involved in. Carl was in tears as they all hugged and offered congratulations.
Above, Niles Compton sat heavily into a chair next to Moira as Sarah dashed from the room to see Jack and the others.
“Thank you for this,” he said as he patted the old scientist’s hand.
* * *
The next day as the Event Group made ready to depart Brooklyn, they were surprised to see six very large and very black Ford Explorers come screeching to a stop just outside of building 117.
Niles, who was standing on the front steps of the building, was leaning on his cane. He smiled over at Jack, who winked in return. Sarah, Will, Ryan, and Carl saw the two men standing there stoically as ten federal agents calmly walked up to the old concrete stoop. The lead agent produced a badge as if Jack and Niles didn’t know who these men were.
“Dr. Compton?” the lead agent asked.
“Yes,” came the answer.
“Agent Freeman, Secret Service.”
Jack and Niles exchanged looks as they had expected the FBI and a whole lot of questions. The agent saw Collins’s wrapped leg wound but decided not to ask.
“Sir, as you know the president is still recuperating from his surgery in Los Angeles and he wanted me to pass this along.” He handed Niles a small parcel. “He would have done it himself but said you would understand his rather busy schedule with the problems incurred in the past few days.” The agent gathered his men and they quickly exited the navy yard.
“What is it?” Jack asked.
Niles opened the package and smiled. He held the object out to Collins, who had to laugh at the gift.
In Niles Comptons’s hand was a small item he recognized. It was a large, mouth-watering corned beef sandwich. He looked at the note written in the president’s handwriting.
“We’re even, Baldy,” was all the note said.
* * *
On the large dock where the others waited for the laughing director of Department 5656, the remaining members of the strangest mission ever conceived by the Event Group gathered. They watched as the sleek black hull of the USS Los Angeles slid out of the birthing area for her trip back to Groton.
“Where is Henri?” Virginia asked no one in particular.
“The last we saw he was being checked out by medical,” Ryan said, and Mendenhall agreed.
Virginia nodded just as alarms sounded inside the building where the last of the doorway was currently being dismantled. Ryan and Will shook their heads at the irony just as one of the engineering techs opened the door and stepped out.
“Dr. Pollock, we have an entire case of industrial blue diamonds missing.”
Virginia closed her eyes just as the sound of a large outboard motor was heard coming from the river. They looked up in time to see a waving Colonel Henri Farbeaux as he gunned the speedboat forward, heading toward the open waters of the bay.
Virginia was the only one who didn’t look stunned. “What is the value of the case?” she asked.
“About eight and a half million dollars,” the tech said.
Jenks whistled.
“You want us to go after him?” Ryan asked as he was smiling so wide that it was almost scary.
“No, I don’t think we need to do that,” Virginia said as she turned and looked at her people. “After what we put him through I’m sure he could use some walking-around money. Besides, who here thinks Henri is out of our lives forever?”
No one spoke.
“Then let it go,” she said as she turned and watched the speedboat blazing past the U.S. Coast Guard. Henri was still waving.
Ryan and Will exchanged amused looks. Jason started down the steps.
“Good for you, Henri.”
EPILOGUE
DISCLOSURE
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
—Abraham Lincoln
EVENT GROUP COMPLEX, NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NEVADA
Virginia and the newly demoted Carl Everett, wearing his old silver eagles of a captain on his blue jumpsuit, waited by the cargo elevator descending from gate number one. The giant lift slowly slid down to level five and then stopped. The two exchanged looks as the doors slid open.
Niles Compton and Jack Collins stood and waited for the Secret Service team to step out. They were immediately joined by the President of the United States.
“Captain, I am truly happy to see you again,” he said as he released the captain’s hand and then turned to look at Compton and Collins. “Shall we proceed?”
Virginia gestured for the president to follow them. Carl was formal as he greeted Jack and Niles, but they all soon fell into step behind the assistant director and their boss. They made their way to one of the interior elevator banks and entered the air-cushioned ride. The doors closed and the car remained silent as it descended into the most secure facility in the world.
“Dr. Pollock, I assume you received my approval for the replacement personnel for the Group?”
“Yes, sir, we did.”
The president waited for the assistant director to expand on her answer but there was nothing forthcoming. They soon found themselves inside the large conference room.
After coffee had been served and the small party was alone he half turned to Compton next to him.
“This Wellsian Doorway, you refuse to turn it over to my people.”
“That isn’t true. The doorway was destroyed and we cannot recover it nor reengineer the science.”
The president slapped his hand on the tabletop in frustration, knowing his friend was lying to him.
“The technology can never get out in the open. We have seen firsthand how greed takes over common sense. The doorway’s destruction was a godsend, because we were tempted to use it for what we thought was right. We have friends that we lost in that damn alien war and we wanted to get them back and had the means to do so. But when we start changing what was meant to be, we start dismantling who we really are. Without the pain of loss there is no commitment to be better than what we ever could be.”
“Yet you saved Captain Everett from his fate.”
This time it was Niles who slapped the tabletop and leaned forward even farther.
“We went and retrieved a man we sent off knowing he was not going to come back. We, you and I. We could have changed his destiny by not allowing him to go, but we decided we didn’t have that right to change what we knew was meant to happen. We adjusted that way of thinking by using the doorway to correct that decision.”
Niles stood with the assistance of Jack, who was very proud to know the man who faced down the president. Both men limped as Niles spoke.
“I have known you all of my adult life and I love you like a brother, but I cannot allow you to shame yourself by bending to the very temptations that you yourself despised about the big office before becoming the president. Your handling of Overlord was the greatest achievement ever conducted through the office of the presidency, ranked only with Lincoln and Roosevelt. No, you are better tha
n that. We always play by the rules, we are the good guys. Remember saying that to me?”
The president sat stock-still. “The Constitution, Niles, we evaded the Constitution in not informing Congress what we were up to.”
“When I heard you on television that you were caving into the men that scare this nation on a daily basis because it helps keep us alert through fear, I knew that it wasn’t you talking. It was that injured man at Camp David. The man that lost friends and sent boys off to a fate that you knew they were not coming back from.”
“That’s what happens to soldiers, Niles.”
“My people are not soldiers for the most part, but they died anyway. It doesn’t matter to me if my people wear a lab coat or a uniform, they are mine. They are also yours, and now I think you need to meet a few of them as you never have before.”
Niles and Virginia walked to the door and Jack waited for the president to rise from his chair. He buttoned his coat and reluctantly followed Compton to the large cafeteria. They entered and the president saw that the entire Department 5656 was present. They were silent as the four strode into the room and seated themselves in the back.
“What is this?” the president asked Compton.
“This is the Group’s way of saying good-bye to our friends. We wanted to wait for the memorial until we recovered Captain Everett. Charlie Ellenshaw organized it.”
The president blinked when he saw the pictures on easels at the front of the cafeteria. The president closed his eyes at the soft refrain of Mama Cass Elliot as she sang the slow ballad, “Dream a Little Dream of Me.”
The president recognized far too many of the young faces in the blown-up photos. They lined the far wall on both sides and went all of the way to the front. Two hundred photos in all. He blinked when he saw the pictures of a scowling Garrison Lee, a smiling Matchstick, and Gus Tilly, Pete Golding, and Denise Gilliam and the many other military and civilian techs lost in Event Group field actions. He swallowed hard as Charles Hindershot Ellenshaw III stood and made his way sadly to the front. He placed a hand on the portrait of Pete and stood for the longest time until a wheelchair-bound man approached and tugged on Charlie’s lab coat. The professor looked down and saw that it was Xavier Morales, the man who replaced Golding. They both nodded and then slowly left the crowded cafeteria.
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