“This is not going according to
plan! And by that I mean Plan’s A through D!” Claire screamed above the
droning on/off buzzer that blasted above the whistling and tearing bullets that
filled the air like so many mosquitoes on a hot summer’s day!
“Then that would lead us to Plan E
if I’m any judge of the alphabet,” yelled back Major Sheridan as he returned
fire from behind what was left of an overturned golf cart that had once been
used to navigate through the large underground complex.
Claire smiled at that remark in
spite of herself. “I need, have to get inside that chamber before the
door closes or well, lets put it this way, we’ll be out of time!” she said, the
urgency stated flatly in her voice.
“Martinez, Washington, Alvarez and
Slack to my position now, bring two MGL’s and CG ammo!” he barked into his
microphone. “What’s in there that’s so important? I know it’s
classified!” he said before she could say it for him. A volley of roving
gunfire heralded the arrival of the four requested soldiers. “Martinez
and Slack concentrate suppression fire along with me on the two sides of the
door. Washington, Alvarez you fire the Mobile Grenade Launcher’s with the
Concussion Grenades to hit about 2 feet above our eye level fire, clear?” he
shouted.
The four answered as one in the
affirmative before Major Sheridan turned back to Claire. “After the
explosion it’s all yours! Fresh clips everyone! On my count of
three, ready!”
Shell casings pinged off the
floor as the three opened up fire spewing from the barrels! Then the room
reverberated with wall of sound as the grenades exploded in a cacophony of ear
splitting sound! Claire rushed from behind the cart weaving and darting,
spaying death as she went, her gun mixing with her comrades to perform a
symphony of destruction on anything and anyone who dared to listen to
closely! The large steel covered, concrete filled doors as wide as a two
lane road and about 15 feet high was nearly closed when she accelerated, drove
and slid on her butt the smooth floor carrying her along as she sprayed her
weapon from side to side clearing the path before her! She turned
sideways stretched out at the last second and flew safely through coming to a
stop just as the steel goliath slammed shut!
“Rickey Henderson eat your
heart out!” she said with a nervous laugh knowing she’d just left all her
support on the outside and was not safe at home yet!
The spy popped to her feet
and slowly turned in place surveying the situation with more fear than she
could ever remember having on any mission. The natural cave was enormous;
she guessed roughly the size of a baseball diamond. However all the
equipment and machinery was placed around the infield thus creating a spheroid
around her and within the centre of the spheroid, one imbedded in the cave
floor and one suspended some 10 feet above were two solid metal rings each with
five teeth cut in them. Such was the effect that if the two rings were to
be able to be pressed together the teeth would exactly meet and mesh together
forming one unified circle.
Claire scanned the array of
computer equipment, MUX’s, Interlink Transfer Hubs, Data Link Spectrum
Terminals until she found the prize hidden amongst them, the access terminal to
the main computer! She moved quickly to it, placed her gun across the
table and tapped the return key several times and brought the screen to life.
“Now if I were a twisted
psychotic, hell bent on controlling the planet mad scientist what would I
choose as a password?” she said in a sarcastic tone.
“How about Domination!” answered
the voice behind her as the barrel of a gun indented into the skin of her neck
and her weapon was knock off the table and out of reach!
“For the world or for me?” she
answered back in a smart-ass tone.
“Once I have one the other will be
easy and probably not as enjoyable!” he answered back his voice growing dark as
his mood as he slammed the spy’s head down hard across the keyboard and held it
there with extreme pressure!
“Spoken like a man whose never
been, well you know?” she quipped knowing it would cost her grief, but still
unable to resist saying it.
He pushed down harder and dragged
her cheek across the keyboard bringing it to rest on the edge of the
desk. Several keystrokes later and the screen came to life. Rapid
entry commands brought the entire room to life. A strange low guttural
humming filled the cave resonating back upon itself as it hit the walls until
he cave began to shake and rumble just a little.
“Lucky me Miss Baxter I get to
make history twice today! Once by putting a bullet in her head!”
“You mean pretty head, don’t you?”
she interrupted stalling for time.
“You do like pain, don’t you!” he
yelled about the now growing din as he slammed her head up and the down into
the table. “And two, by creating history itself, in exactly 30 seconds!”
he stated self-satisfied as he cocked the hammer and closed his finger tight on
the trigger and squeezed!
Claire slipped the knife from boot
and jammed it into his calf adding a twist to it with her wrist! The gun
fell from his hand to the floor just as she implanted her elbow into his
stomach then swung it up with the force of a jackhammer to connect under his
chin! He recovered quickly, a right cross catching her square, spinning
her around to a waiting punch to the stomach that doubled her over. He
smashed his forearm into her exposed back just a she kicked the hilt of the
knife deeper into his legs, his black pants already crimson from the initial
thrust. Both fell over in pain as the computer generated voice calmly
stated.
“Ten seconds to interphase
junction.”
Despite the pain and blood loss he
hobbled to one leg and stumbled forward towards the centre of the two metal
rings that had begun to turn in opposite directions to another. Claire
got to her feet, a little dazed as she lurched forward after him. The
rings began to spin faster with each second that ticked by on the computer
countdown until tiny shards of multihued light sparked out of them.
“Three, two, one” the computer voiced.
Claire launched herself through
the air and into the centre just as the count got to one tackling her quarry as
the blaze of lights from the rings met and joined, fusing together like
luminescent stalactites and stalagmites all around them! The spy wrestled
with her adversary as the light show grew around them, to Claire it seemed like
she was trapped inside a child’s turning kaleidoscope! The brilliance and
balance of the patterns always changing, never repeating as they played out
before her. Faster and faster the patterns changed until it was
impossible to keep up as the diversified array began to overwhelm her ability
to focus!
The COIL agent tried finding a
fixed point to focus one but everything was in constant motion, no such point
existed for her to reference. Then as fast as it had started the stopped,
literally! The colours of the kaleidoscope stood still, or was it her
standing still, or both, she couldn’t tell anymore? Was she a point in
time or just a meaningless moment of nothingness in a void that had no
time? Claire let go of her opponent and stood up took a few steps and
looked back to watch herself let go of her opponent stand up and take a few
steps, then she watched all over again! She tried to speak but words were
useless and failed to form! She moved with grace and speed and clumsiness
and sloth all in the same step. The spy moved toward the edge and the
lights, frozen and bent in place, seemingly unmoving before her eyes. The
colours were still there, just a vibrant but strangely different in that the
wave spectrum of the light had been broken down into the individual particles
that make up a light wave, something only a particle accelerator can
produce! Claire reached out her hand and pushed it into the stream, the light
bent away from her as she pushed on it and came toward her as she pulled back.
“This is impossible, nothing can
produce this physical reaction!” she told herself. “How long have I been
here, what is time, what has meaning in this place of light and dark and what
am I? Am a conscious of light or darkness or both or nothing. Have
I form or not? Am I alive? What is alive? What is? What was? What? What?
What? Stop it! Stop it! I can’t comprehend it all! Stop it!” she
screamed inside her head as her brain fired off question after question like so
many exploding firecrackers on a string! She fell to her knees over
and over again her multiple bodies rejoining each other in exponential numbers!
She opened her eyes to the lights
moving again in their familiar fractured pattern. She got to her feet for
the briefest of seconds before being bowled over by her recovered opponent!
“It’s time for you and I to part company forever Miss
Baxter!” he yelled before dragging her to her feet and throwing her toward the
edge of the circle and out!
Claire spun round on her heels just in time to
see him pass by her like a train moving away from the platform! The spy
watched the lights slowly fade away to a pinprick until she was in darkness, a
complete void, like nothing she’d ever experienced before. To Claire it
felt like only she occupied this space, nothing else, just her and then she
lost even that as the blackness became internal to her mind and she ceased to
be separate from the void and became part of it!
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Where’d she come from?”
“I swear she wasn’t there a second
ago?”
“Someone should help her up, don’t
you think?”
The questions swirled around
Claire from above, male and female voices asking then same questions, just in
different tones.
“This isn’t getting her to her
feet! Here Miss let me help you up, but before I do can you move your
feet and legs for me?”
“What’s that for?” asked a woman.
“Just seeing if she has a spinal
injury or not. I used to be a medic in the war and you don’t want to move
a person if they can’t feel or move their legs, it just compounds the injury,”
said the man. “There you see she can move her legs no serious back
injury, its safe to help her up.”
Claire groggily felt a pair of
male hands gently take her by the shoulders and push her to a sitting position
and hold her there. Her eyes opened slowly to a bright sun in a clear
blue sky and a tunnel of people peering down at her with various faces of
concern, relief and curiosity pasted on them.
“She may be hurt. Perhaps we
should get an ambulance?” a woman in the group asked.
“What’s
your name Miss?”
“Claire Baxter.”
“What city are you in?”
“I don’t know,” she answered
truthfully unsure as to how this would determine any injury she may have
sustained.
“What year is this?”
“2003,” she answered before
pushing to her feet in defiance. She rubbed her eyes briefly and
refocused
“What year is this?” she asked the
man who had helped her.
“1947,” of course he answered
flatly.
Claire looked around; all the men
wore hats, as did the woman. The cars were all wide white walled and
ranged from the late 20’s to the 40’s if she guessed correctly. Neon
signs blinked on and off above and inside stores up and down the street to
attract customers. She watched the traffic signal change as the stop arm
lowered and the go arm rose at the corner.
“Oh shit!” was all she could
muster to the shocked crowd assembled around her, the use of profanity enough
to drive off most of them, especially the ladies before she could ask another
question of them.
“What city is this?” she asked the
man who had been a medic during the war and clearly had heard worse.
“Los Angeles,” he answered calmly
trying to keep her calm but clearly seeing he was failing miserably at it.
“Are you alright Miss
Baxter? Do you need to see a doctor?” he asked. “And finally where
did you get those clothes?”
“Oh these, from New York, latest
fashion trend back east, a friend sent them to me,” she answered with the best
lie she could come up with at present. And no I don’t need a doctor,
thanks, I’m fine. I think I just need to sit down for a while and be
quite,” she answered hoping her voice didn’t sound too panicked or breathy as
her heart was racing madly.
He looked at her quizzically
before deciding to give in to her request. There’s a park about 3 blocks
from here I can drop you there it’s on my way,” he offered.
Claire took the offer and starred
out the car window for several minutes until her pulled to the curb and she
jumped out, said goodbye and disappeared into the park thankful to finally be
alone. She retreated rapidly into the heart of the park, off the path and
into the woods before plunking herself down under a large oak tree.
“Okay, get a grip! Don’t panic,
think it through! Think what through asshole, its 19 fucking 47 what the
hell just happened. I’ll tell you what just happened Claire! You’re
in 19 fucking 47 that's what just happened! Okay, so its 1947, now
what? I’ve got to eat, I’ve got to have clothes, I’ve got to have a place
to live and I’ve got to have money to get the aforementioned and I’ve got to
find out what happened to me time travelling buddy and for that I’ll need help,
high level help!”
Claire thought about that for a
second and then laughed. “Hello, State Department, sorry to bother you
but I’ve a time travelling spy looking for a mad scientist whose bent on taking
over the world and may be hiding in this time period plotting some kind of
nefarious scheme toward those ends, can you help me? Well after I told
them that at least I’d have a bed, clothes and food and of course no sharp
objects!”
“This is madness you don’t even
know if he’s alive. Your first Claire, you’re the priority once you’re
taken care of then we’ll worry about the other. Ok, you’ve already listed
your liabilities now what are your assets and more importantly how can we out
them to use against the liabilities?” Claire said to herself as she
forced her mind to concentrate on a problem she could handle and not worry
about the larger problem she couldn’t do anything about right now.
“Your biggest advantage is you
know the time line. You know all the major events, important dates,
people and such that are going to happen over the next 56 years. This
gives you one hell of an advantage over all the other people on this
planet! Second, your well educated so finding a job for the rest of your
life shouldn’t be too hard, just set your sites on nothing above secretary and
you’ll do fine!” she said sarcastically. “Third, you’ve got this face and
this body.”
Claire pondered the three points
turning them over and over in her already over stimulated mind, reforming them
into some kind of sequence that would make sense and of use. Each
equation always led to the same answer.
“Alright if it has to be that way
then so be it! My face and my body will earn me my keep for the interim.”
She got to her feet, took a very
deep breath and moved forward rejoining the park path and gathering stares from
curious passers-by because of her clothes. She had to admit the all black
army special ops suit didn’t quite blend in; she quickened her pace in response
until up ahead she spotted the lexicon she needed. Claire flipped the
pages quickly until she found the entry she needed, memorised the address,
dropped the book and headed toward the park exit and the street.
The looks followed her even more
as she walked quickly, very quickly and most unladylike she noticed from her
observances of the woman around her, no pants, only dresses or skirts and heels
made for slow and uncomfortable going on their part. The spy walked past
things she’d only seen in pictures, drug stores with a lunch counter and soda
fountain, across the street a gas station with four attendants servicing one
car! One on gas, one on window cleaning, one for an oil check and one for
air to the tires!
“If only they all knew what was
coming,” she thought to herself as she glanced at the gas station
employees. “First they take away the free maps, then three of you get let
go, they never ask to check your oil and then the oil companies convince us
that pumping your own gas is fun, but strangely the price doesn’t fall even
though we do all the work!” She laughed at the absurdity of it all
knowing she’d been part of the joke.
Delicious smells wafted out of
restaurants, steaks and chops and BBQ joints assaulted her pallet as did the
fruit stands she past displaying fresh produce from all over the state.
Her mouth began to water and her stomach reminded her it was getting impatience
to be fed. Claire walked quickly along the sidewalk, she could easily
have flicked a hand out and snagged a piece of fruit without arousing anyone
and to her surprise she found her hand doing just that until she mentality
smacked it back in place much to her stomach’s dismay.
“Damm Puritanical streak!” she
muttered under her breath as marched on her pace even more determined than
ever.
Up ahead a man gave her a double
take backward glance; the second at least accompanied by an embarrassed smile
before her tossed his newspaper into the trashcan at the corner and turned down
the block. Claire slowed her pace and waited before lifting the paper out
of its temporary home and under her arm her rapid pace resumed. Night was
rapidly approaching as the shadows and the cool air lengthened their hold on
the city. Claire gave her shoulders a quick shake forcing the chill from
them as she walked on into the night, the streets becoming deserted and more
than a little run down as she advanced.
A left down two blocks then a
right and she was there, the crowd was back thick on the streets that were
littered with cigarette butts, the smell of urine and sex permeated the air
mixing thickly with the scent of stale beer that flowed from the seedy bars and
clubs along the street.
She found the address she wanted
stopped turned to face a large man guarding the door and smiled at him.
“I hope you’re not closed for the night?” she asked.
“Miss we never close. Go
right on in.”
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