John didn’t get a lot of sleep, there in the bed, which was in between that of Sammy Jo, who he’d just met a few days ago, and Maggie, who reminded him too much of Sherri for comfort.
The night was exceptionally quiet, but his feeling of unease lately was second only to his feeling on that fateful day with Sherri. He just didn’t know why.
By morning, he’d spent most of the night lying in his bed, staring up into the darkness, his mind running like a motor.
When Maggie remarked on how great a sleep she’d had, he’d simply frowned in reply.
But now they were heading towards Senator Terrence Grady’s family home, with Sammy Jo once again behind the wheel.
“What should we be expecting from this guy?” he asked. “I don’t know anything about him except for the picture you showed me.”
“Well, he’s small, and has this thick southern accent,” said Sammy Jo. “He really lays on the gentlemanly act, but we all know he’s full of it now, so forget about that facade.”
John nodded. “Simple enough, I guess. What should I know to, uh, stay in character?”
“I assume you’ve read the reports from Ziggy about his movements and things he talked about at the Project. I don’t think there’s much else to know; we’ll be the ones asking the questions this time.”
“Got it.” He rubbed his temples, trying to step into the mental shoes of his double – which should have been easy, given they were the same person, but somehow it was not at all.
“Uh, guys…” Maggie said, looking into the side mirror, “that black SUV has been following us for a while now…”
John craned his head around before realising that his movement had just given away that they’d noticed the tail.
“Turn down that way,” Maggie said to Sammy Jo, and the car lurched as she spun the steering wheel. “Foot down, take as many random turns as you can. Find traffic lights, you might be able to lose ’em at an intersection if we’re lucky.”
“Who could it be?” John asked, frantic.
“Grady’s got resources,” Maggie said. “He could have hired some thugs to intimidate us, if he somehow caught wind of us.”
Sure enough, the SUV appeared behind them as Sammy Jo accelerated down the quiet street, and skidded as she took another turn. They rounded a bend in the road.
“Okay, they’re out of view so let’s find somewhere to turn, fast!”
Sammy Jo took the next right.
“Wait, no! This street’s a dead end, didn’t you see the sign?” Maggie clenched her teeth. “Quickly, pull into… uh, that driveway.”
She pointed to a driveway that was mostly concealed by hedges. Sammy Jo yanked the steering wheel and the car careened into the driveway, narrowly avoiding the hedge.
“Okay, keep an eye out, guys. If they’re clever they’ll check this street.”
“Uh… looks like they’re clever,” John lamented, as the SUV drove past them on the cul-de-sac, before stopping, and reversing to block their exit. “Maggie, you got guns for everyone?”
“Do either of you know how to use one?”
John grimaced. “No.”
Sammy Jo also shook her head.
“Alright, guess it’s up to me,” Maggie said in resignation, and unzipped the duffle bag she had with her in the front. She pulled out a large firearm that John assumed was either illegal or military issued, and pointed it as she opened the passenger door.
“Stay back!” she called out, as the driver side door of the SUV opened. “I know how to use this thing.”
“I doubt it. Where the hell did you get your hands on an M249?” came a voice that John found strangely familiar. He noted that Maggie’s steely gaze had faltered, and she was lowering her weapon.
“What the f–”
“Language, Maggie.”
John raised his head, peeking out the back window, then fell back as he recognised the face of Tom Beckett.
John didn’t know how to react. On the one hand, it was his brother. On the other hand, it wasn’t his brother. He figured Maggie must be going through a similar crisis.
As if to make the situation even more tense, the sound of the Imaging Chamber door sounded on the outside of the car.
“Hey, I… whoa! What’s goin’— is that Tom?!” Al phased into the car to meet John’s eye. “What in the heck is happening?”
“I don’t know,” John whispered, his eyes wide and terrified.
Outside, Tom approached Maggie and wrenched the gun out of her trembling hands.
“I don’t even want to know through which black market you obtained a US Armed Forces machine gun, Maggie. But I’m confiscating it.”
Maggie glared at him. “I was issued that weapon by the US Armed Forces. Dad.”
“We’ll see about that. And I’m sure you have plenty of flimsy reasons you went AWOL from your Sheriff’s post. Can’t wait to hear them all.”
Tom knocked on the window of the car, looking in at John.
“I know you’re in there, Sam. Come on out.”
Al blanched. “He knows Sam’s back; they talked on the phone a while, but that’s all I know. Try and play along while I go have an urgent chat with Sam, okay?”
“Okay,” John said, stomach churning as he opened the door. He stepped anxiously out into the cold air. “H-hey, Tom.”
Tom put down the great big firearm and wrapped his arms around John. John felt a surge of emotion as the strong arms squeezed his much weaker frame.
“Tom, I… I missed you,” he said, before choking up.
“Sorry I didn’t get to spend the holidays with you, little brother. My buddy and I have been… preoccupied with an investigation.”
Investigation?
“What investigation?” Maggie asked, reaching for her gun. Tom grabbed her by the wrist.
“That’s none of a civilian’s concern,” he said, grabbing the weapon and heading to his vehicle with it. He leaned over, looking into the tinted windshield. “Take this, would you?”
The passenger door opened, and a man stood – the same man he’d made eye contact with at the motel the previous night. He took the gun and took it to the trunk, before accompanying Tom back to John and Maggie. Behind John, Sammy Jo stood up out of the car.
“Is that really…”
“Thomas Beckett,” Maggie said flatly.
“And the other guy?”
“I don’t know,” John said in a low voice. “But I saw him last night. He looked like he may have recognised me.”
“Sam, I want you to meet my war buddy, Magic. Funny thing, he says he knows your face.”
The man called ‘Magic’ extended a hand to John.
“Herbert Williams,” he said, as John tentatively grasped the man’s hand. “Magic’s just what people call me.”
John shook his hand, and gave him a polite smile. “Uh, nice to meet you. So uh, that was you at the motel, then.”
Magic’s eyes moved over John from top to bottom. “Yeah, you gave me somethin’ of a surprise.”
Tom glanced around the immediate area for a moment. “Listen, let’s go somewhere we can talk. Magic’s got a weird story to tell.”
* * *
Puffing, Al hotfooted it into the Imaging Chamber, stepping through the door to find a much less tense situation than the way he’d left it: they were all sitting at a picnic table in a neighbourhood park. All the tension, now, was resident in John and Maggie as they fumbled their way through their respective interactions with Tom.
And who was this other guy?
“I was hoping to shed some light on something that happened back in ’Nam,” the man said, gazing at John. “But it might come across as crazy.”
Al tapped frantically on his handlink, requesting an ID from Ziggy, and then gasped as the answer appeared.
“John, this is the guy Sam leaped into when he saved his brother’s life!”
John’s wild eyes shot to Al. “Are you serious?”
Magic nodded. “Dead serious.”
“Look, neither of these guys know what Sam’s been doing all these years,” Al continued. “Don’t let on anything, okay?”
John looked back to Magic. “Go on, then. What is this all about?”
Magic sighed, cradling his head in his palms. “Something weird happened to me and ever since then, your face has been in my head. For something like thirty years.”
“My face?” John furrowed his brow. “Like, just some ghostly visage of my mug hanging around in your brain?”
“Well, mostly in my dreams,” Magic clarified. “But it’s definitely you. Only I never saw you before ’til yesterday.”
“You’re friends with my brother; maybe you saw me in a photo?”
“Good thinking,” Al commented. “Plus Sam’s been on the cover of Time magazine.”
“Oh yeah, and I was on a magazine cover once. Maybe you saw me there.”
This seemed to make Magic falter.
“Look, this is gonna sound equally crazy,” Tom interjected, “but do you remember that time back home when you tried to convince everyone that you were a time traveller from the future inhabiting your younger self?”
Al cringed. “Oh, he remembers that. Yeah, that was a leap too.”
“Uh, it was a weird, uh, phase, and I don’t remember it very well,” John said, nervously twiddling his thumbs.
“Yeah well, I know you’ve been a big time travel guy all your life, and then you disappear for seven years and…” Tom shook his head. “It seems ridiculous, but… you weren’t actually, uh, travelling in time, were you?”
John looked like a deer in headlights.
Al figured that he mustn’t be looking any better, as the two of them stared at one another.
Maggie stood up abruptly, tapping John on the shoulder. “Listen, we need to get to Grady and–”
“Senator Grady?” Tom asked, eyes wide.
“What’s it to you?” Maggie asked, folding her arms. Tom looked away from Maggie, and towards John.
“What’s your business with him?”
John winced. “Well, I can’t really talk about that. Suffice to say we need to speak with him about a, uh, matter of import.”
Tom squinted. “And you’re taking Maggie with you? Why?”
“Tom, Maggie is one of the most amazing people I know. I’m sorry you never saw that.” John sounded emotional.
Tom frowned at the glowing reference. “Well, if you’re going to see him, I guess you should know that he’s who we’re investigating right now.”
Magic chimed in: “We have reason to believe he may be skimming government and military data banks, with the intent of selling it to foreign interests on the black market.”
“Oh my god…” Sammy Jo murmured. “So it wasn’t just us he did that to?”
Tom scratched the back of his neck. “Oh, he’s toured a number of top secret facilities, leaving a trail of computer anomalies in his wake. And we’ve traced a network of shell companies receiving large windfalls regularly.”
“By our best estimates,” added Magic, “I’d put his personal fortune in the billions. If we bring our findings to the FBI, we just might be nailing this guy for massive espionage.”
“This is big,” Al said. “Huge, even. Buy me some time, pal.”
He opened the door, and darted out into the Project hall.
“Sam!”