The Traveler (37 page)

Ellenshaw looked up from the table and then slid the glasses back up on his nose. He looked directly at Niles. “I have to go.”

“If this is the only way I can get out from under the thumb of this Group, what choice do I have?” Farbeaux said as he shook his head at Ellenshaw and his weak answer to a life-or-death question.

“If it's a question of volunteers, I don't—” Sarah started to say but Niles cut her off as he examined the clock on the wall.

“It's not. Dr. Morales, is Europa ready?”

Sarah angrily looked from Niles to Jack, who just shook his head, angry that once more she tried to bully her way onto the team. He was going to have to put her in the same drifting lifeboat as Ryan.

“Okay, Jack, get your team ready, we go in thirty.”

The meeting broke up with the individual departments crowding around Jack, Henri, and Charlie as they sent a myriad of intelligence on ancient Antarctica their way. No one approached Jenks as he stood with Virginia. Instead of barraging him with warnings she simply placed a hand on his broad chest and patted him lightly.

“Keep an open mind out there, Harold.”

“I'll just be another old fossil where we're going, Slim. Besides, my carcass is too tough for anything to chew on for too long. I'll just wait them out.”

“Listen, animal life back then is probably a little more patient than any current species.”

Jenks winked and then looked over at Collins, who was shaking hands with Niles.

“Good luck, Colonel. Bring him back if you can, but lose no one else, or this whole thing is for nothing.”

Collins nodded. He had no intention of losing anyone else. He turned and he faced a smiling Henri. He half turned to Compton as he was about to say that he couldn't guarantee all of them were coming back, but just smiled back at Farbeaux instead.

“Jack, er, uh, Colonel?”

Collins and Farbeaux stopped and turned and saw Sarah standing with Anya.

“You two are on my shit list … again,” he said as he eyed McIntire exclusively. “Now, I have given orders to Ryan to beef up outside security. Since you two don't seem to perform a duty around here, and have time to saunter off on a Nancy Drew mystery tour, you will be assigned a post by the commander. We're a little shorthanded. I hope it's not too boring for you amateur sleuths.”

Sarah fumed but turned and left with a stuttering Will Mendenhall close behind.

Anya stood her ground. “Thank you for doing this, Colonel.”

Jack stared at her before edging past the former Israeli agent. “I'm not doing it for you, Anya.”

Henri smiled at the dark-haired woman and nodded. “Complicated, isn't he?” Farbeaux left the office.

The activity inside the newly and hastily renovated conference room slowly drizzled to nothing until only Alice Hamilton and Niles were left inside. Compton looked up into the large monitor and saw Xavier Morales looking at them. The activity around the computer genius was bustling as the comp center made ready for the dimensional shift of the doorway. Niles reached out and studied one of the disturbing pictures in charcoal. He let it slide through his fingers. Alice remained silent as she knew the director was debating something in his thoughts. It was these meanderings that etched a sad crevice of doubt on his lined face.

“A morality play is at work.”

Compton and Alice both looked up at Morales, who continued to see them from Nevada.

“The right to change one's destiny. I suspect that is what the director is concerned with.”

Niles shook his head. “You would have liked Pete Golding,” he said with a small but sad smile. “You're a lot like him.” He then looked over at Alice. “Only far less timid about voicing his opinions of my psyche.”

Morales smiled. He knew some thought him far-thinking beyond his years, but he knew it was nothing more than a young man's exuberance in experiencing everything he could inside of his limited and paralyzed world.

“Sorry, but you never asked my opinion. I thought I would voice one.”

“Voice it, everyone's opinion is valued here,” Alice said as she was curious as to what someone so young could think about the changing of destinies.

“Morally, I think we're wrong. Just because we have the power to change things, do we have that right? Don't we learn from the harsh realities thrust upon us through adversity? I believe deep down that we could very well lose our humanity if we allow this as a viable practice beyond this one experiment. When I saw what those children had survived through those horrible pictures, I, like most in the room there or inside the comp center here, wanted to save them all. We have the power as I said, we could go back and stop it from ever happening. Colonel Collins seems like he would be more than capable of going back and placing a bullet into that maniac Hitler's computer, simply avoid it all. But what will we have learned from that barbaric little man? After all, we have the power to do that, don't we—the very power to change the world forever.”

“Thank you, Doctor. What would you do in my place?” Niles asked as he slowly stood and with the help of Alice limped to the large observation window and the active scene below.

“I'm easy, Director Compton, my world consists of this chair and my work. I would go in a split second if I could, morality play or not. I would go and get our man. That is why I disqualify myself from the problem of morality plays and leave it in your capable hands.”

“Yes,” Niles said as he glanced up at the monitor before returning his good eye to the rush of personnel on the floor below, “you'll fit in nicely round here.” Niles turned and limped from the room.

“I will?” Morales said as Alice gathered her paperwork. She paused and looked at the monitor.

“Yes, you fit in because you, like everyone else in our Group, would do anything to get into the field.”

“He's right on that point.”

Alice smiled. “Thus the morality play in full bloom, Dr. Morales.”

“What do you mean?”

Alice placed her paperwork in her case and then looked up one last time. “Pete Golding was killed in the field, but Niles knows he cannot save him, even if he could. He's not lost, Carl Everett is. Morality plays are a little more hellish and real than you thought, aren't they, Doctor?”

Xavier Morales watched Alice Hamilton leave. He now understood better just why the director of Department 5656 had slumped shoulders—he had the weight of all world history upon them.

*   *   *

Jack checked out Henri's suit and helmet. Charlie was already wearing his and Jenks looked him over.

“Now don't worry here, Nerdly, if we walk into a pocket of methane or somethin' as delectable as that, your environment monitor in your sleeve there won't allow your helmet to unlock. The colonel issued you this.” He held up a nine-millimeter semiautomatic pistol and slammed it home into a holster that stretched across Ellenshaw's back and covered the front of his jumpsuit. “Guess he doesn't relish the thought of a nerd with an M-4. You have extra ammo in the packs. Just remember to point it at anyone but me.”

“Got it,” Ellenshaw said as he was tempted to pull the weapon and examine it, but saw the master chief looking at him to see if he would make that kind of stupid decision.

Jack turned and made sure the packs were secured properly to the trailer and then checked if the four-wheeled John Deere tracked vehicle was ready. The rugged all-terrain vehicle was pulling six of the five-by-five trailers. The secondary doorway was safely ensconced in shrink wrap and boxed inside of protective polyurethane containers. The power source was bolted to the second trailer. If they lost any one part of either the doorway of the portable power storage unit they wouldn't be coming back from this little jaunt. The rest of the team was issued tents, camping gear, signal devices, and defensive measures that were top of the line. Altogether they were taking over a ton and a half of supplies with them. Jack then adjusted his helmet as the sliding door started to rise and they heard the spinning doorway for the first time. The light changed inside the ready room as the door exposed the Wellsian Doorway. Each man looked at the miracle of quantum physics and were frozen to the spot for a moment.

The last thing Jack thought about before entering the large chamber was the fact that he had left Sarah behind and his angry last words to her rang in his memory. He wished he had said good-bye but he just couldn't face seeing those eyes and their accusing glint. Everyone would sit this one out. He looked at Charlie Ellenshaw, the only member of the team who was there for purely psychological reasons—he had to save Carl for the simple fact he hadn't been able to save his best friend Pete Golding. He hoped this would help the old cryptozoologist to return to the Charlie they knew and loved.

The loudspeaker came to life.

“Return signal is holding strong. Doorway is at fifty percent power and is also holding at nominal levels. The
Los Angeles
is reporting her reactor board is in the green.”

In front of Jack, Jenks, Henri, and Charlie, the Wellsian Doorway spun in its revolving arc and the colors were brilliant as they reflected off their visored helmets. The activity of personnel heated up as technicians started to clear the platform floor.

“Time till displacement, ten minutes and counting.”

 

15

BARCLAYS CENTER, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

The cleaning crews were just finishing the long night of clean-up after a raucous concert earlier that evening. Many of the concertgoers were still mingling around the exterior of the new arena. Most didn't pay any attention to the step van that eased into the loading dock at the back of the large venue. It backed in and several men emerged and started using a bolt cutter to snap the exterior lock on the roll-up door.

“Hey, there's no deliveries this late, it's nearly two thirty in the morning, you need to—”

That was as far as the security guard and his partner got in questioning the delivery drivers. The silenced weapon was quickly put away and then two bodies unceremoniously moved to the side as the large loading gate slid up. The brand-new soda machine was quickly wheeled inside. The five men vanished into the darkness and then returned a moment later. With one last look around they entered the step van and then they slowly pulled out.

The second set of guards had just come from the front where they had tried to get the early-morning concertgoers to move along when they spied their two downed brethren. The first started to raise his radio to his mouth but the words were never allowed to escape his lips. The bomb hidden inside the soda machine detonated. The two guards were blown free of the loading dock and tossed like rag dolls into the alley beyond.

The rear portion of the brand-new arena blew outward and flames erupted into the night.

Ten minutes later the parties responsible made their announcement to the news media. It seemed terrorists had made a statement in the heart of Brooklyn and soon every policeman and federal agent in the five boroughs was rushing there. The Russian ploy to isolate the doorway had successfully diverted police and federal attention from other areas of Russian concern.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard was now fully exposed and the Event Group was on their own.

*   *   *

Alexi Doshnikov pulled up the sleeve of his expensive coat and looked at his watch. The frightened family watched his lips move as if he were counting down the seconds. After a few tense seconds a deep rumble was felt through the thick frame of the limousine. The night sky was illuminated to the east and that was when they saw their Russian abductor smile. He lowered his arm and looked at the family. Benjamin and Natalie Koblenz, their son-in law and daughter next to them with a sleeping baby in the mother's arms, and he smiled. His bearded face held no humanity for the frightened family.

“It seems our little road show is officially open.” He looked at the family across from him and then looked at his man in the seat next to him, and nodded. The bodyguard picked up a phone and spoke into it. The large limousine started to move forward with no less than six Ford Explorers following.

“Why are we here? Where are you taking us?”

“A poker game. And you five are the chips that will allow us a seat at this very exclusive table.”

The four frightened members of the kidnapped family saw the gleam in the man's eyes. He looked at the oldest member and smirked.

“Your Madam Mendelsohn is about to make me a very, very wealthy man.”

ANTARCTICA, 227,000
B.C.E.

The earthquakes, other than a few stomach-rolling tremors, had subsided as the brief glimpses of the fantastic starfield showed itself for one of the few times since his arrival. Carl was resting his back against the small cave opening that he was currently calling home. It was elevated and looked down upon the game trail three hundred feet below him. He had traded in his homemade bow and arrows for the rigid Roman bow and iron-tipped arrows of the old Ninth Legion. He had to string new rabbit gut for a bow string, but other than that he had far more confidence in hitting something with the meticulously designed weapon. It and the large quiver of arrows sat beside him as he stared up at the brilliant star-strewn sky. Then his mood changed when the rolling ash cloud once again covered them and the large rising moon of the distant past. He felt his confidence shake everytime he lost sight of something familiar such as the night sky.

Sleep was hard to come by as the night sounds of prehistoric animals came alive as the ash cloud once more covered the central plain of Antarctica. He had watched for the past several days the run of animals big and small from the growing danger of the volcano. Erebus had put Carl on notice that there was not much time left. He once more looked at the sky and then closed his eyes.

“Anytime, Jack,” he said as he drifted off to sleep.