Stolen Time

by Keith Hughes

  “Well, that looks easy enough,” Angie said, looking at the fuse wound in a small loop.

  “Yep. So does that.” Ness pointed at the flash drive on the table.

  “If all this stuff works as planned, we'll be OK,” she said hopefully.

  Ness grunted, and she silently shared his doubts. Her stomach rumbled in a decidedly odd manner, and she hoped her breakfast would stay down.

  “We're going to need a diversion,” he said, putting the thermite materials back in the duffel bag. “I believe I know how we can give them one.”

  Ness retrieved the PDA from a dresser and disconnected it from the charging device then tapped the screen a few times and gave Angie a grin. He appeared to shift position with a jarring jerk, presumably because he had returned from whenever he had gone. She gaped at the effect as he stepped aside and answered her quizzical expression with a raised palm. Almost a minute later, another copy of Ness appeared where he had been a short time before. She stared, amazed, at the two copies of her husband. The original Ness frowned as he regarded the double.

  “I'm gonna need one more,” he muttered and tapped the device again before stepping aside again. After another extended pause, three copies of Ness were looking at Angie. Each man held a PDA in his hand.

  Angie cocked her head at the three copies of her husband, looking slightly confused. She pointed at the first copy, who was standing on the left of the trio.

  “So you are the result of the first jump,” she said.

  “Yes,” that Ness said, “and when I returned, I jumped again...”

  “Which caused me to appear,” the middle Ness finished. “And when I go back, it'll only be him.” He indicated the Ness on the right end, the “original,” according to her perspective. He waved with a grin.

  The temporal sleight-of-hand fascinated her, and she itched to give it a try. “And how much of this do you remember?” She focused on the original.

  “Everything, from three different viewpoints,” Ness said. “These other two are me. I've used the PDA to create some overlap in my personal timeline. I've lived through this conversation three times. The first time as the guy on the other end...”

  The Ness on the left waved.

  “Then again a second time...”

  The middle Ness waved.

  “And here I am the third time. I am the only one in my home time.”

  “This could come in handy.” Angie grinned.

  Ness raised an eyebrow at her, and she could not stifle a laugh. It took her a few seconds to regain her composure.

  “What if something happens to this Ness?” She pointed to the first copy on the left.

  “If he is captured or killed before he can return, the middle me will never happen, and I would disappear,” the original Ness said. “In order for this to work, he had to make it through this whole conversation and return before I could make the second copy appear. Then the second Ness had to return before I could be here.”

  Angie nodded slowly, and Ness gave her time to assimilate the information. She held her hand out with an excited grin.

  “Can I try it?”

  “Not yet,” Ness said.

  The middle copy gave him a grim look before moving toward the door, even as it opened from the outside. Ness’s insane copy from the future, bedraggled and grim, burst into the room.

  At the sight of three copies of his younger self, the madman hesitated. The three Nesses took advantage of his surprise to leap at the would-be murderer. Their assault brought the older man back to himself, and he responded with surprising ferocity. Regardless of his disheveled appearance, he had kept up his martial arts training. Fueled by mad desperation, he successfully kept the two duplicates at bay.

  When the original Ness approached to help subdue his future self, the older doppelganger saw him coming. A flurry of moves had one copy staggering backward from a blow to the chest and the other falling to the ground from a sweeping leg. Taking advantage of the split-second pause in the action, he took out his PDA.

  “Angie must die!” he shouted like a war cry as he tapped the screen and vanished.

  Ness helped one of his copies to his feet and gave a sympathetic glance to the one who was rubbing his chest. Both copies took out their PDAs and tapped the screens before disappearing.

  “How does he keep finding us?”

  “Simple. He's from the future. All he has to do is mine his memories. They're changing as we move, but all he has to do is remember, and he'll know where we are.”

  “We haven't changed anything yet, have we?” she asked quietly.

  “Not enough,” he agreed and took her hands in his. “But we will.”

  The determination in his eyes to keep her safe warmed her. She relaxed, only a little, and for the moment, it was enough.

  “You knew he would show up? The appearance of your mad self?” She remembered his need for a third copy.

  “Only because I had lived through that part already.”

  She absorbed his explanation. Time travel could be complicated but also looked like a lot of fun.

  “So you were going to let me take it for a spin,” she said.

  “OK, but there's a danger with this,” Ness said, lifting the device. “Once you're traveling, if you touch any copy of the device other than yours, you will suffer an immediate molecular collapse and implode.”

  Angie gave him a dubious look, but Ness’s serious mien derailed her skepticism.

  “I've seen it happen.”

  “Okay, guess I’ll trust you on that.”

  Ness gave her the device and briefly explained how to use it. Angie tapped the screen and stepped aside. A minute later another copy of her appeared in the original location. The new Angie coughed as her body acclimated to time travel. Her eyes watered as she gave him a distressed look.

  “Oh yeah,” Ness said apologetically. “The sensation is a little intense at first. You get used to it, though.”

  “Thanks for warning me,” Angie retorted sarcastically.

  She tapped the device and stepped aside again, and after a brief wait, three of her stood before him. I look like a cloning convention.

  “This could be fun.” Angie approached Ness, her copies following suit. In a jiffy, they surrounded him. One put her arms around his neck, kissing him. The other two stood on either side of him, nibbling on his ears and neck. Ness gasped as the caresses of the three women overwhelmed him. He finally gave in to the sensations and closed his eyes, obviously enjoying being entangled with three copies of his wife.

  “How about we get back to only one of you?” The effects of the amorous assault could be heard in his ragged voice.

  Angie and the copies all took a step back and stood in a group, each giving him an identical devilish grin.

  “What's the matter?” Angie asked. “Don't like it?”

  “Oh, on the contrary.” Ness smiled. “But it was an intensely peculiar experience.”

  Angie gave him a salacious gaze. “You've never wanted a harem?”

  “I've never considered it before,” Ness admitted, grinning, “but I have to admit it’s an attractive idea, as long as they're all you.”

  She waved a hand at her doppelgangers. They tapped their PDAs and vanished.

  “The plan is to create copies of ourselves… then what?”

  “We use this to storm the castle.” Ness showed her Karl's Intellisys ID card. “The copies will create a disturbance. That will divide their forces while we make our way to the PU lab.”

  Angie digested Ness's plan. “I like it, but there's an easier way to get inside Intellisys.”

  “How?” Ness asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

  “Those men are looking for us, right?”

  “Yeah, and they want to kill us, remember?”

  “I'm not too sure about that,” Angie said. “They were ready to kill us because they thought they no longer needed this.” She waved the device at him.

  “Yeah, so?”


  “If they had a working machine by now, they could have jumped back a week or a month and taken care of us already.”

  “But we're still here,” Ness said, clearly catching on to Angie's reasoning.

  “Exactly. I'm willing to bet they ran into some problems, so they might not be so quick to pull the trigger after all.”

  She handed the PDA back to Ness and grabbed the flash drive then put the lanyard around her neck and slipped it under her shirt.

  “Sounds logical,” Ness said.

  Angie lifted an eyebrow and adopted a haughty tone. “I'm a computer programmer. Logic is what I do.”

  She smirked at Ness, and he laughed. The explosion of pure amusement lifted Angie's mood. They were in the fight together, and simple moments like that reinforced her confidence in her husband. She knew he would do whatever he could so she could keep her promise.

  * * *

  The afternoon sun outside Karl’s office starkly lit the building and surrounding trees. The pale glow from the computer as images appeared and disappeared rapidly on the screen seemed washed out. Karl sat as he had since the dawn, waiting for news, either from the search program or from his men in the field. He watched as vehicles and faces appeared on the screen only to be overlaid with new images a half second later. The program was moving slower than when it started, with the hunt area widening as more time passed. He had no choice but to wait, and the idle time gnawed at him. Patience had never been one of Karl’s strengths.

  As if the computer had noticed his desire to have something to do, an image appeared on the screen with a beep. A bright-green border indicated a probable match. The picture showed a man and a woman standing at a street corner a mile away from Intellisys. It was Ness and Angie Relevont. Karl frowned. Why are they so close to the lab, and what are they doing? He changed the search parameters to concentrate on the area around their last position. The van had not appeared on any of the nearby cameras. Another beep heralded a fresh image of the twosome from the same camera, time stamped two minutes after the previous one. What are they doing? It is like they are waiting for something.

  He frowned at the image, trying to discern what their plan could be. Shaking his head, he failed to imagine any tangible ideas. He grabbed his phone and dialed.

  “Williams,” he answered after a couple of rings, sounding tired.

  “I have found them,” Karl said. “Corner of Coolidge and Sixteen Mile.”

  “What direction are they moving?”

  “None.” Karl’s tone was flat. “They are just standing there.”

  “Huh.” Williams sounded suspicious.

  “Ja, it is exceedingly strange. Be careful, and remember they are not to be injured.”

  “Yeah, I'll remind the boys.” Williams hung up.

  The computer beeped again as another picture of the couple appeared. They appeared to be waiting for something. What are they doing?

  As time passed, three more pictures from the traffic cam showed him the Relevonts pacing on the corner. In the fourth image, Harrison’s van was stopped at the curb. Williams and Reed took custody of the pair and directed them into the vehicle without a struggle. Karl grunted, and his lips curled in a semblance of a smile. Whatever the couple had up their sleeves, at least he would have them in hand.

  “Finally, the chase is over.” Karl allowed the ghost of a smile to become a grin, but a knot of anxiety remained, keeping him from fully enjoying his victory. Ness Relevont had something planned. Otherwise, he would not allow himself to be captured. Karl knew firsthand that if Ness had the PDA, there was ample opportunity for things to go awry. His phone rang, and Karl lifted the handset.

  “We've got them,” Williams reported.

  “Do they have the PDA?”

  “I don't know. I didn't want to attract attention by frisking them on the street, and there isn’t enough room in the van to do a thorough job. We'll do it when we get to the lab.”

  “I will meet you in the garage.” Karl disconnected the call and tapped John's number.

  “We have them,” Karl blurted when the CEO answered the phone.

  “About damn time,” John responded. “When will they get here?”

  “In a few minutes. They were standing on a street corner only a mile or so away.”

  “Excellent!” John’s excitement was plain. “Have them brought to the PU lab.”

  “Are you sure this is wise? I am concerned about what Relevont may be plotting. They stood on the corner for twenty minutes, as if they wanted to be caught.”

  “He's in your custody, right?” John asked acidly. “In the hands of your 'little soldiers'?”

  “Ja, but...”

  “No 'buts.' Spare me your namby-pamby, old-maid concerns,” John spat. “Are you saying you and your men can't handle this one couple?”

  “No, of course not,” Karl retorted.

  “Then bring them to the PU lab. It's almost time for Dix to take the first human trial on his machine, anyway, which will prove to Relevont that he is not in a position to prevent anything.”

  “It will be done as you say.”

  Karl ended the call and purged his anger with several deep inhalations. The CEO's attitude could be supremely frustrating. He demanded results, delivering ultimatums like the Easter Bunny distributing candy. John also refused to listen when caution or reason was called for. It had to be the worst possible combination for a leader, one Karl had seen many times. The stupidity of the approach still frustrated him, and his fists clenched and unclenched until the urge to punch something left him. Only when he had reclaimed his equilibrium did he leave to greet his troublesome prey.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Attack of the Doppelgangers

  Wednesday, June 9, 2010, 2:22 p.m.

  Smashed between Harrison and Williams on a bench in the back of the van, Ness could barely pull in air. The vehicle had a lot of space available, but the short stretch of molded aluminum had never been intended for people the size of the two Intellisys thugs. The two massive bullyboys dominated the end of the seat, leaving little room for him. Ness felt like meat trapped between two thick slices of goon.

  Angie was sitting in the opposite seat with Reed, and while he kept a controlling hand on her arm, he did not press the advantage provided by her proximity. No, the driver worried Ness the most. The angry looks Harrison kept shooting into the rearview mirror led Ness to believe Chris was holding a grudge against his wife.

  They pulled into the Intellisys parking lot, but instead of heading toward the front door, Harrison took the vehicle around the side, where the pavement sloped downward to the entrance of a parking structure below the building, and stopped before a closed gate. He rolled his window down and slid a card into a slot on a small control box. The gate rose, and they drove into the confines of the structure. Lights on cold concrete posts kept the shadows at bay, but it still held the ambience of a subterranean cavern. They came to a stop near a bank of elevators.

  Harrison left his seat and came around to open the sliding door. Williams pulled Ness to the opening and motioned him through. Once out, Harrison grabbed Ness's arm and pulled him away from the vehicle. Williams had a hold of Angie's arm, and she glared at him as he hauled her out of the vehicle. The black bully pushed her toward the older brute, who grabbed her arms.

  “Up against the wall,” Williams ordered. “Frisk them.”

  Harrison pushed Ness against a concrete wall, and he leaned against it with his arms out before him. The rough surface pressed on his palms, and he looked over to see Angie in the same position. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and Ness looked back over his shoulder. The older man was standing behind Angie and surprisingly looked almost uncomfortable at the idea of searching her. Williams raised an eyebrow.

  “You do her,” Reed finally rumbled to Williams, stepping back.

  “I’m gonna enjoy this.” The dark thug moved to take the elder’s place, but the driver had other ideas.

  “No, I’ll take her.”


  Harrison’s voice sounded as hard as steel, and Williams paused to look at him.

  “Let Reed take him,” Harrison said coldly.

  The two brutes switched prisoners so that Harrison stood behind Angie. Ness did not like the grin warping his face.

  Ness became distracted as his grizzled guardian patted him down from his ankles and worked his way up in a professional manner. A gasp from Angie sent his pulse racing, and he turned his head to her again.

  Harrison's hands were on her hips, and Ness frowned at what Harrison might have done to cause the gasp. As Ness watched, the man's hands descended her back before ascending her ribs. He ground his teeth as the driver groped around her torso, hands moving across her stomach and below her bra. Predictably, his hands slid upward and roughly cupped Angie's breasts.

  “You like that, baby?”

  She bucked under him, trying to dislodge his grip.

  Ness pushed away from the wall until an iron hand clamped onto his shoulders and thrust him back into position.

  “Oh, I'm gonna have some fun with you,” Harrison purred, still kneading Angie's flesh.

  “Enough!” the German commanded.

  Harrison released her and quickly took a step back. Angie was shaking, but from the look on her face, it stemmed from rage, not fear.

  “Do they have it?” Karl demanded. “The PDA?”

  “No, he's clean,” the older man reported.

  “She's clean too,” Harrison said, sounding chastened.

  Strong hands on Ness’s shoulders pulled him away from the wall before turning him to face the German. Karl sauntered toward him from a nearby elevator.

  “Where is the PDA?”

  Ness shook his head. “I'm not telling you. I'll only reveal its location to John Fletcher.”

  Karl turned his head to look at Angie, who glared back at him.

  “Perhaps your wife has the information. Maybe I should persuade her to share it with me.”