by Keith Hughes
John scowled at Ness. “Go to hell. I'm not telling you anything.”
Angie's anger with the man had clearly achieved critical mass. Before Ness or John could react, she strode to John and gripped his right hand as if they were greeting one another. When she squeezed, John screamed and fell to his knees. He tried to pull his hand away, but Angie held tight, causing him even more pain.
“Answer my husband's question.” Her hard and dangerous tone implied she would tolerate no resistance.
John Fletcher shook his head, although it seemed to take an inordinate amount of effort. Angie tsked at him and squeezed his hand again, harder that time. His screams were loud, but she grinned as if they were her favorite music.
“All right, all right!”
She released his hand, and he fell to the floor, weeping.
“All there is of the antidote is here.” John’s voice tightened. “It takes six weeks to prepare a batch, and one started earlier this week.”
“And how long will you survive without it?”
“Twenty... twenty-four hours.” John spoke faintly, as if all hope had left him.
Ness tucked his gun into his waistband, grabbed the pens from the cabinet, and piled them on the desk. Angie added the one she was holding to the mound. Seconds later, Ness had the duffel open, and he poured powder on the pile of pens.
“What is this place?” Angie colored her words with a bit of sarcasm. “Your secret lair?”
“I didn't even know about this room until about a year ago.” A hint of bitterness cut through John’s agony. “Paul had it built without my knowledge. It used to be Glenn's office. He even had his own private exit.” The CEO gestured toward the door opposite the elevator.
Fletcher frowned as he watched Ness pour thermite over the antidote pens. “What are you doing?” The would-be dictator had been reduced to a dying man, and his voice carried a plaintive note.
“This is thermite.” Ness spoke as he worked, regarding John with grim determination. “I'm destroying your supply of antidote.”
“You're killing me,” John accused.
Those words struck Ness with almost physical force. He paused and faced the CEO. A long string of seconds passed before Ness responded. “You and I view the future differently. You had a vision of what your future should be and tried to twist the present, past, and hereafter to meet your ends.”
“So?” John demanded through clenched teeth. Sweat had broken out on his forehead as he battled the pain.
“I've always had a different view. I've always believed if I made the right choices today, the future would work itself out. I've tried not to cross the line into murder when dealing with Intellisys, but this time, I believe it's what I must do. It's the right choice for everyone.”
Ness moved next to his wife and regarded the stricken CEO.
“It's over, anyway,” he said. “Dix's machinery is melted to slag by now.”
John gave a derisive laugh. “I'll build another. I've got scientists aplenty.”
“You won’t get that chance.” Angie shook her head. “We've also introduced a virus to eliminate all information about this project from your computers.”
“In fact, the only thing left is this.” Ness held up the PDA.
John's eyes sparkled with avarice.
“You can't have it.” Angie glared at the CEO, her expression as frigid as dry ice.
“In fact, soon, no one will have it,” Ness said.
“You're not going to destroy it!” John was incredulous.
“Indeed, I am.”
John lunged for the device with his good hand. Expecting that kind of move, Ness easily kicked him back onto the floor. Fletcher cried out as he fell hard on his bloody hand. The CEO’s eyes were locked on the PDA with a rabid, desperate expression.
“You have no idea how much power you hold in your hand. Together, we could run everything! Wealth, power — it could all be ours.”
“I don't want wealth and power. I want to grow old with my wife. I want this time machine destroyed. And I want to never see your face again.” Ness held the lighter up, flicked it on, and moved the flame toward the fuse.
“You're going to turn your back on everything I'm offering you and kill me?”
The flame halted on its way to the combustible powder. Once again, Ness was at the cusp of the familiar dilemma, the precipice he had never dared to jump from. Once he made the decision, he would never be able to go back. He paused and regarded John before responding. “I'm considering it.” Ness traded a look with Angie, knowing he could not decide to kill the man on his own. She had as much at stake as he, and perhaps more.
“After what this jerk tried to do to us and would have done to others…” Angie spoke with bitter heat. “He deserves no less.”
Ness regarded John again. His wife would support him, no matter what his decision. Dix peered at them with wide eyes. He was still lying on the floor, his left hand bloody where it covered the wound on his other arm.
“You're going to kill me to protect your future?” John asked bitterly. “How are you any different from me?”
These words sank into Ness’s psyche, and his decision became clear to him. He smiled. “I agree with something my wife said. I also hope you burn a long, long time. And as the toxin makes your life a living hell, I'm going to see to it that your career is utterly destroyed. I will have charges filed against you and Intellisys for kidnapping and attempted murder, and who knows what else the authorities will find when they crawl over this place.”
John slumped further, breath hissing through his teeth as his physical pain merged with mental anguish at the future awaiting him. Ness lifted his thumb from the lighter, extinguishing the flame, and shook his head in disgust.
“I hope you get along with the prison guards so they'll keep giving you your blue injections.” Revulsion imbued each word. “I would hate for you to die before serving your sentence.”
Something seemed to break inside the CEO, and the last light of sanity guttered and died in his eyes. With a shout of rage, John grabbed his gun from the floor with his uninjured hand.
Angie immediately brought hers into firing position. “Drop it,” she warned.
“You don't get to determine what happens to me!” Anger and insanity warred for control of John’s features. He gripped the gun tightly but did not bring it to bear on them. “I know what my future will be!” he crowed, his eyes aglow with a manic light. His bloody hand thumped his chest, further smearing red on his white shirt. “I know, not you, and I will make it happen.”
In one quick, sure movement, the would-be dictator raised his gun. Angie fired at him, but her shot went wide, and the bullet buried itself harmlessly in the wall. Ness had tucked his gun in his pants. He would never get it out in time to prevent Fletcher from firing on Angie.
John Fletcher raised his gun and, instead of targeting either of them, slid the barrel between his lips. The two men locked eyes for an instant, then John pulled his trigger. A crimson eruption from the back of the CEO's head splattered on the wall behind him, and his body slumped to the ground.
Ness instinctively stepped back at the sound of the shot. Angie twitched and gasped. They paused, staring at the remains of John Fletcher. His glassy eyes glared into the beyond as a growing pool of blood leaked from the back of his head.
Dix approached to stand next to Angie, his face pale. Blood ran down his sleeve as he stared glumly at his dead boss. Both of his hands appeared as if they had been dipped in crimson.
“Take the elevator to the lobby,” Angie told him. “Get your wound looked at.”
The scientist acquiesced quietly, likely starting to feel shock. He shuffled to the elevator, and the doors closed to take him to help.
Ness thumbed the lighter again and lit the fuse then grabbed the duffel and backed away. The thermite ignited in a flash of fire and smoke, and the plastic pens quickly melted into goo, falling through a hole the flaming powder burned into the wood deskto
p.
Angie was investigating the door John had mentioned. “Sure enough, secret exit.” She grinned.
“Awesome.” Ness wanted to smile, but graphic images of the past hour flickering in his mind made it difficult.
He removed car keys from a hook on the wall before opening the door and peeking out. When he saw nothing threatening, they stepped though. The door swung closed behind them, and Ness could see only what appeared to be an electrical circuit box mounted on concrete. He pressed the unlock button on the key fob, and the brief toot of a horn answered. Flashing lights led him to the vehicle matching the key. He opened the driver's door, threw the duffel bag into the backseat, and got in.
Angie sat in the passenger seat. After clicking her seat belt into place, she rested her head against the seat and allowed her weariness to show. “Thank God it's over.”
“Not exactly.”
She opened her eyes to peer at him quizzically.
Ness put the key in the ignition, and the engine rumbled easily when he turned it. “We have one more task to perform.”
His expression turned grim. “Something I should have done last time Intellisys intruded in my life.”
Angie did not press for answers to the questions in her eyes, and he drove out of the parking lot, leaving Intellisys behind them. With all his heart, Ness hoped he would never have to return. He would do everything in his power to ensure that that threat had been neutralized once and for all.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: Preventative Measure
Thursday, June 10, 2010, 1:29 a.m.
The trees surrounded them in the darkness, mute witnesses barely seen beyond the glow of a flashlight. The forest heightened the darkness, blocking the light pollution normal for any other location in the area.
Long after the sun set, Ness and Angie arrived at the clearing in the wooded recreation area. Nothing had changed since they had last been there, save the German being bound to a tree. The metal box sat open near the freshly dug hole, and Karl's camp shovel lay nearby.
They had gone home to their apartment, where their presence garnered no small amount of surprise and investigative activity. The police had engaged in much speculation regarding their fate after the gun battle, and they'd had to spend a couple of hours disavowing any knowledge of the strange men who had shot up their home.
Rumors ran rampant of a body the police had discovered in the Relevonts' apartment, which later could not be found. Of course, officials denied any such thing, but no one ever revealed whether the disavowal indicated a lack of a body on the scene or confirmation of a disappearing corpse. Either way, they were eager to close the case, which also suited the Relevonts fine. Even so, police entanglements kept them occupied until after midnight. In spite of how tired they were from their fight and the almost-endless questioning, Ness wanted to finish their last task that night and put an end to the whole ordeal.
Even in the clearing, the pitch-black night held sway, as no moon provided even scant illumination. Angie was holding a flashlight she had brought for the special outing so Ness could see to complete his work. She was sitting a short distance away, directing the light at the items in the center. Kneeling at the metal box, Ness placed the PDA inside it along with Karl's ID card, then he unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out the remaining thermite and poured it into the box. He topped it off with what was left of the ignition powder, stuck in one end of the fuse, half closed the lid, and carefully placed the metal box in the bottom of the hole. The fuse they had left barely stretched to the surface. Ness gauged the length critically. About four minutes.
The lighter flared to life, briefly adding to the available illumination, and Ness applied the flame to the fuse. As it sizzled on the ground like a pyrotechnic snake, Ness returned to where Angie was sitting near the tree line. She looked slightly puzzled, but her expression cleared as he approached. Sitting next to her, he put his arm around her. She lay her head against his shoulder as they watched the thin trail of smoke from the fuse.
“Why didn't you do this after your first run-in with Intellisys?”
Ness sighed before replying. “Dr. Bertrand told me to, but it seemed like such a waste.” He paused, watching the smoke. “I believed I should keep it to preserve some part of his legacy. I had hoped maybe someday it could come out of hiding.” He shook his head ruefully and looked at the ground. “I was a fool.”
Angie turned so she could face him and lifted his head by the chin. “No, trying to save your friend's greatest accomplishment is hardly foolish. I might even call it noble.”
She rubbed her thumb against his jaw, but still he sighed.
“Now I'm finally doing what he wanted. What I have to do.”
Angie studied him briefly, as if she could divine his motives from his expression. “Why does it have to be destroyed?” She turned to look at the hole again. Snapping fire and roiling smoke traced the progress of the slowly consumed fuse.
“Last time, I had nothing important to lose, just a bunch of stuff in an apartment, but this time, I have so much more at stake. When I consider —”
His voice choked off, and Angie turned to face him again. Tears stained his cheeks, and he did nothing to hide them from her. Ness swallowed, willing his voice to work.
“When I consider what we almost lost, the time they nearly stole from us...” He looked away as he tried to regain control of his emotions.
“I made a bad choice last time. By choosing to keep the device, I allowed a future where you could be harmed to coerce me into doing unspeakable things. I do not intend to repeat my mistake. All the time machines in the world are not worth your life or happiness.”
Ness took her hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed her palm. “So I'm destroying the PDA, as Dr. Bertrand requested. It's the right choice.”
After another long pause, Angie spoke again. “I've spent a lot of time considering what my other life must have been like, the one without you.” She looked at him, but Ness turned away as the old, familiar guilt reasserted itself.
“I don't know what my existence without you might have been, but I know the life I've had for the last twenty years.”
Angie briefly fell silent, her eyes holding his. He did not see anger or blame in her gaze, which was barely visible in the dim light from the flashlight.
“I can't imagine any path my life could have taken that would make me happier than I am with you,” she said, smiling. “You made the right choice then too.”
She leaned in to kiss him, and as their lips met, the guilt he had clung to for manipulating her past drained away.
The last inch of the fuse burned away to ignite the thermite. A boiling mixture of bright light and smoke erupted with an energetic hiss. Ness watched the dazzling destruction, sad that the last link to his old friend had been severed. The residue of tears clung to Angie's eyelashes too.
“Our time is our own.” He kissed her briefly. “No one is ever going to take it from us.”
“I'm going to hold you to that.” Angie’s smile reflected her love.
Her hand slid against his cheek in a caress, and she lifted herself to kiss him again. Then she settled against his chest, and they watched the remains of the time machine rise high into the night sky to drift on the winds of chance.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: Epilogue
Monday, October 25, 2010, 4:29 p.m.
The chill of a blustery fall day invaded Dr. Francis Bertrand's bones when the PDA delivered him to the quiet, narrow alley. The largely ignored passage ran behind several shops lining Royal Oak’s main thoroughfare. His head swam, and he rested a hand against a wall lest dizziness overwhelm him. A fall and perhaps a broken bone would be the last thing he needed.
His equilibrium soon righted itself, and he could stand unaided. Even with the nip in the light breeze, he was sweating. He turned on his PDA and saw his borrowed time had been reduced to sixty-seven minutes. Time enough for the tasks left to me, Francis mused with firm resolve.
He had made the
most of his twenty-four hours of borrowed time. In addition to giving Ness what he had needed for his first struggle with Intellisys, he had fulfilled his heart's desire by going back seven years and spending most of a day with his now-deceased wife. He had chosen the destination carefully, a time before the sickness had staked its claim on her.
Evelyn had been a true scientist's wife. She had clearly noticed the differences between him and the version of her husband who had left their house that morning. But she did not comment on it, preventing an awkward conversation. He could tell her nothing of the future and certainly nothing of her truncated timeline. She had to have discerned that the long embrace he had shared with her along with the tears on his cheeks revealed a bleak forecast for her future. Instead of peppering him with questions, she had held and comforted him.
She had made some coffee, and they sat at the kitchen table and talked. He had forgotten how enjoyable simply spending time with her had been, a daily pleasure denied him for far too long. In the afternoon, they had made love in the quiet confines of their bedroom. What their participation lacked in the vigor of their younger years, it atoned for in the tenderness they shared. When he succumbed to tears afterward, she held him to her, and their embrace lasted for a blissful eternity that ended much too soon.
Eventually, it had been time to go. He did not want to be in the house when his younger self arrived, and his time was dwindling rapidly. She had followed him to the door, offering one last embrace. After a long kiss, he had smiled at her for the last time.
“You have always been the best part of my life.”
She responded with a smile and a squeeze of his shoulders. Then he strode out the door and voyaged through time again.
He knew what the last events of his life would be — he had to mail the device to Ness, instigating his conflict with Intellisys. He had deliberated changing the future by destroying the PDA before his borrowed time expired, but the idea scared him. Ness had successfully weathered his initial run-in with John Fletcher's forces, and exchanging that result for an unknown future frightened him.