Chapter 41
"You have a very lovely home here, Tom" Evelyn said to me after I had taken them on the tour. I was proud of this place. Both of them had been wide eyed when we had arrived, having crossed about half the world in the blink of an eye.
They kept coming back to the southern view, with the lake in the distance. I told them Canada was south of us a short distance as the crow flies. I told them of my plans to have a small barn constructed here next year, so that I could go exploring and prospecting.
I also told them that my name here was Benjamin Porter, and asked them to call me by that name if someone should come by. Courtney seemed to understand right away. She worked for a large hotel that was used to celebrities using aliases for privacy.
Evelyn wanted to call John right away, and let him know that they had arrived safely, but I asked if their phone was bugged. She paused in thought.
"I really think the whole idea is to stay out of sight, and to keep as low a profile as we can," I told them.
"Yes. I can see that. I just wish I had some way of contacting John," Evelyn said pensively.
"I can always pop you back over, if you want," I said with a mental sigh.
"Does it tire you out, transporting to and from England as you just did?" Courtney asked me curiously.
"Actually, when I think about it, bringing you two with me did have an affect. I'm starved!" I exclaimed and made my way to the kitchen. They followed me, and I asked what they would like.
Since it had been a couple hours since they had eaten their evening meal, they didn't want a full meal. I put some corn on the cob on to boil, and fixed a sandwich to hold me until my pork steaks were ready.
I put on extras of everything, just in case. We continued talking, but almost as soon as I was done eating, the ladies started yawning. While it was just approaching early evening here in Alaska, it was well past the middle of the night in England, and their body clocks were still on English time.
They retired to the two guest bedrooms, and I was left to myself while they rested. While I had started a small library here, I did not yet have the satellite installed for TV. I was going to have to rectify that. The ladies were going to be bored if I didn't take action.
I teleported back to Boston, and bought items, for cash, that would keep them entertained. By the time I was done, I had a sore back, but the house now had a TV, a VCR, a DVD player, and a ton of movies to watch. I also bought various board and card games to choose from.
It took me another hour to get the entertainment center set up correctly. I had been planning to do this anyway, but now I had a reason to get my ass in gear.
I had refined the 'art of nap' nearly to a science. After two hours of sleep, I awoke feeling much rested, just before sunrise.
The day dawned bright and clear. I was contemplating whether I should let them sleep in, or get them up to get used to this time zone, when they both appeared.
"Well, good morning you two. Sleep well?" I asked.
"Quite well," Evelyn answered.
"Oh, yes. Once my head hit the pillow, I was out," Courtney responded.
I asked what they wanted for breakfast, and Evelyn insisted that she could cook. I responded nonsense, she was a guest, but she gave me 'the look' that had me wondering if all women had learned it. My mother had that same look, which told me to be quiet. I grinned and nodded.
After breakfast was over, the ladies wanted to go outside and see all the buildings, and the power plants. We bundled up, as it was three degrees Fahrenheit outside. I gave them the exterior tour.
They loved the view of the mountains. The snow made the mountains shimmer with light, making them look like they actually shrugged, occasionally. An interesting optical illusion.
After our tour outside, we were glad to get back into the warmth inside the house. I put water on for hot chocolate, or I was about to; but Evelyn said chocolate should be made with milk, not water. I got the milk out, promising myself to get some more later. I only had a gallon in the refrigerator.
The ladies discovered the entertainment center I had set up last night, and Courtney was going through my selection of tapes and DVD's to see what was there. I didn't have them in any particular order as yet.
It was later that morning that I received another call through 'call forwarding'. It was from my controller, Theodore Whisper. While he didn't know exactly where I was, since the call was handled by an answering service, he assumed I was still on the east coast somewhere.
"Tom, we have a job for you. Where are you, and can you be in New York City anytime soon?" he asked and stated at the same time.
"I am close to New York City, as a matter of fact," I replied. Well, I was. I was close to anywhere where I had established a connection!
He gave me an address in downtown New York City, and I told him I could be there in an hour. He said great, and hung up. I went in search of the ladies.
"Sorry to be such a poor host, but I have to go out for a while. I'll be away for a couple of hours at a minimum, maybe longer. Feel free to use anything you want. Explore to your heart's content. I will leave a note for the caretakers concerning you if I am gone longer than anticipated. The keys to the car are hanging on the plaque in my den," I said.
They asked what was wrong, and I said it was work related, and I should be back soon. I hoped I would be anyway. I was glad I had stocked up when I had first arrived. I bade them farewell, grabbed my coat and the proper ID, and teleported to one of the places I had NTZ'd, in New York City.
I caught a cab to the address I had been given, and looked it over. A strange thing happened, though. Almost as soon as I got out of the cab, a guy in a messenger's uniform came up to me, and asked if I was Tom Wilshire. I replied, cautiously, that I was. He handed me an envelope. I gave him a dollar tip, and he departed.
I looked at it. It was addressed to me, and it was in my own handwriting! I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and it didn't have anything to do with a chill in the air. It had to be a letter to me from my future self. Damn! It could only be trouble. I opened and read it.
Tom,
This is a trap. When you go in, you will be gassed and taken prisoner. It will take you some time to recover from the effects of the gas, and in that time, they will shoot you up with various drugs to find out what you can do. I only escaped by accident. YOU need to take action in your NOW, to prevent this. I remember what happened when our future self interfered with the break-in at the house in Boston, and why we try not to interfere with events that have already happened. If YOU take action in your NOW, there should be no serious side effects, except to me of course.
You have been thinking on the possible consequences of taking direct action in time. If this works, I think the me who is writing this to you will either cease to exist, or diverge onto a different or alternate time/universe. On the other hand; if you take effective action now, none of this will happen, which means you should not get this note. Does this drive you as crazy as it does me? Of course it does, YOU'RE ME after all!
That was where the letter ended. All except for a description of the two people whom my future-self recognized as having been present during my physical a few months back. I'll be damned. The bastards had decided to move against me, after all. I thought we had worked this all out.
I stepped out of site, and 'back timed' viewing the recent past. There! One of my erstwhile medical examiners from my previous government physical. He had arrived in a cab. I got the number of the cab, and then returned to my own time.
I teleported home to Boston, and fired up my computer. It didn't take me long to crack the cab companies computer. Moments later, I had the address from where the fare had originated. Why he took a cab was beyond me, but it certainly helped.
I copied the address, and it was a New York City address. I teleported back after looking it up on a New York City map, and made my way to that address. It was a nondescript building. I went into the 'between', and waited until a man opened the door. I entered with him.
The information I gleaned from that trip was mind boggling, to say the least! The building was a front, and what they did was probably extremely illegal. Even the Fed has to obey laws, and this place and what they did there, violated so many laws it was not even funny.
I wanted video of this place, and of people arriving in their cars if possible. I wanted to know who everyone was. While they wore badges, everything seemed to work off the magnetic strips that were on them. They had a picture, and some sort of finger or thumbprint beside it, followed by numbers. There was nothing saying FBI, or CIA, or NSA... but it was definitely a government facility. I saw several uniforms from our military there.
While it looked like a two story building, it had two elevators, card activated, which had buttons for three floors below ground level! I quickly placed an object into the NTZ to establish a connection, and teleported out to get my video camera.
Ultimately, I got a record of every room in the facility. I even 'time dived' further back, as more and more interesting and incriminating comments were made. What really sickened me was a room, which was reserved for "interrogation".
I saw outright torture being done. These people, men and woman weren't simply being questioned. They were stripped, injected with drugs, and all sorts of disgusting and horrifically painful things were done to them, all of which I captured with my camcorder. As a matter of fact, I had two two-hour tapes full of interesting and incriminating evidence. This is not to say they did this everyday. I had to 'time dive' frequently to find a lot of this. I also loaded my program into their computer while I was there. Might as well have access.
I followed one person. After having gotten some information, he left the room and went to have it correlated, apparently. He got on the phone, and asked for the "deputy director". I didn't get a particular agency name. He gave names, dates, times, phone numbers, and other information, then hung up.
I got a record of everyone's face for a week, including their ID cards, and the card numbers. After doing all this, I put my videos into the NTZ for safety, and went back to my place. I had eavesdropped on one of my erstwhile kidnappers, and had everything they were planning, on tape.
I went back to my time, and readied myself for the upcoming confrontation. Armed with the information I had from my future self, I quickly looked the building over that I was going to go into.
It was several stories high, and I was to meet someone in room 303. I quickly entered the 'between' and went into the building. I found the floor I wanted, and it seemed to be offices of the Billings Import Company. Uh huh, sure. I then 'back timed' until I heard the appropriate conversation, and saw them getting ready for my arrival.
I listened to the plan to render me unconscious, and transport me to the very building I had just spent so much time investigating! Damn, this was proof positive that the government was involved. Now I had to find out WHO in the government had ordered this to be done to me.
I teleported out, and went back to my home in Boston. I called Theodore, and informed him I was not going to be available for the mission. He reminded me I was under contract. I informed him that I had used my gift to get as much background on this mission as I could, whatever it was, and was amazed to learn that I was the target!
He was stunned, and tried to assure me that he and his department had nothing to do with whatever I had discovered. I told him that as far as I was concerned, I believed him. However, I no longer trusted the government. Until I knew who ordered it, and I KNEW I would be safe, I was not going anywhere near another government building. He promised to look into it, his voice sounded grim.
I teleported to a spot I knew in downtown Boston. I had started walking to my favorite restaurant when it happened. I felt something slam hard into my back, and I stumbled and fell. I had a hard time getting my breath! What the hell?
I moved my left arm under me, and when I tried to move my right, pain blazed through me! I gritted my teeth against the pain. Then I heard it. Shots! Had I been shot?
"Stay down," a voice told me firmly.
More shots were fired... people were screaming.
"Officer needs help. Shots fired, two people down. We need two ambulances to respond to..." things started fading, and went black.
I opened my eyes and looked around. I felt fuzzy headed, and disoriented. I heard a steady beeping. It was kind of annoying.
"Ah, Tom! You're back with us. Don't worry, you will be all right. You were shot in the back, high on the right side. You're going to be fine after some physical therapy. It's been fourteen hours since you were shot," the voice of Theodore Whisper told me.
I slowly turned my head towards where his voice came from, and it took a bit to focus my eyes on him.
"Who?" I croaked?
"Roger Miller seems to have decided to take you out. Unfortunately for him, a Boston police officer was there, and Mr. Miller has been taken care of. You are safe, and you're going to recover. That's all that matters, right now," he told me.
Great. All that work I had just done to avoid capture by my own government, and it was the 'council' that got me. And there was my government controller, sitting next to my bed.
Could it get any worse?
Edited by TeNderLoin