Fate (Wilton's Gold #3) (22 page)

Jeff pushed on the gas pedal and reached his cruising speed again. Only another few hours to New York.

Jeff pulled the rental car off of the street on 33rd Avenue and into a parking ramp. His immediate reaction to the posted rates was to wretch, but then he laughed quietly to himself, knowing he’d never be submitting the payment for the ticket he took from the machine. Still, since the last time he’d been in New York, they must have really put a push on to keep personal vehicles out of Manhattan to relieve congestion. It started with a $30 fee to pass through the Lincoln Tunnel, and now over $100 to park the car for the day. Something he’d have to look forward to.

It had only been three years that he’d skipped, but he didn’t know what to expect when their trip started to creep into familiar territory. He’d spent enough time on the New Jersey Turnpike to be well-familiar with the sights and landmarks, and not much was terribly different. Some of the digital signs and billboards on the side of the highway had been replaced with high definition screens, which were impressive. When the Manhattan skyline came into sight, he’d noticed a handful of cranes in the air with new skyscrapers rising up beneath them. But other than that, there was still lots of traffic – cars driving on wheels on the ground (as opposed to flying) – and the shipping areas along the river were lively. Giants Stadium was still the home of the best football team on the planet.

About fifteen minutes after crossing underneath the Hudson they’d navigated their way close enough to the site where Kane had shot George Mellen almost 90 years before. They’d planned in the car that they would find a different alley to jump back in time instead of using the one that Dexter had used previously, as they wanted to avoid running into him. It would then be Dexter’s responsibility, with Jeff’s assistance, to find Kane corral him, or at least delay him long enough to keep him from reaching his target, and then they’d bring him back to the present for arrest. Victoria was there to observe, take notes, and add to her research on the psychology of time travel.

That was the plan that Jeff had put together for them. It was no harm done if it worked. Or, if it didn’t work. And if they were successful in detaining Kane before he shot Mellen, they’d eliminate their earlier concern of making a murderer out of a decent human.

He pulled the car into a spot a few levels beneath the street and they all got out. At one point, they’d worried about Victoria’s flight risk, but she’d become too engaged in the conversation to back out. She was part of this mission, and the promise of time travel had captivated her. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Jeff had one of the two devices they’d taken from security in his pocket; Dexter had the other. He opened the lift gate and took out the computer case that he’d carried around Russia with him, containing Abby’s tablet and the other time device, slinging it over his shoulder. When Dexter joined him at the trunk, he asked, “Do you have the battery?” Dexter pulled it from his pocket and handed it to him. He took a moment to inspect it. It amazed him that he was being handed his own invention, it having been stolen from a government museum hours earlier.

“Don’t know if it works. I hope so.”

“It’ll do,” Jeff said. He pulled the old device from the satchel and inserted the battery, looking up to see Dexter watching him. “Sorry, buddy. I trust me more than I trust the other Jeff. We’re using this one.”

Dexter nodded, seemingly okay with relinquishing control, then also pulled out of his pocket a stack of silver certificate $20 bills and thumbed through them. “I don’t know what you need this for, but here it is,” he said, handing the money to Jeff.

“It’s just a precaution,” he said. “I’ve been in too many of these situations with no supplies, and no one to help. In Russia, I was trapped, and the only thing I had with me was this tablet and a phone number. If I hadn’t had someone up above watching over me and a stroke of luck, I wouldn’t be standing here right now. I don’t want to make that mistake again.”

“But what would you buy?”

Jeff tried to look at him as though the question was ridiculous. “Whatever we need. Look, we have a hostile person there in 1930 that we’re trying to apprehend. If something goes wrong, and we end up there for any length of time, we’ll have a distinct advantage over him in that we can operate incognito and in a way that won’t arouse suspicion. He can’t. Which is probably why he got shot an hour after he murdered Mellen.”

“He’s got a gun,” Dexter said.

“Well, we’ve all got training on how to take it from him,” Jeff said. “He’s an old man. Overpowering him – even if it takes both of us – shouldn’t be difficult. We just need to have the device ready to go.”

“It will be.”

“Why don’t you program it now? Set it for five minutes from now.”

Dexter nodded again. Jeff was pleased that he was understanding and agreeing with his logic. He watched him set the coordinates.

“What do I do?” Victoria asked, listening in on the conversation.

“You just make sure that you’re as close to Dexter or me as possible. C’mon, let’s go.”

He stuffed the money in his pocket and shut the trunk. The three of them walked across the lot and, after a short elevator ride, were on 33rd Street, the bustle of evening rush hour Manhattan surrounding them. For Jeff, it was as if a day hadn’t passed – walking around New York to get to meetings was commonplace for him. A lot more comforting to him than this new life they’d crafted for him in Virginia. Although he might have been able to get used to it if they hadn’t relegated him to a hotel room for his residence.

Towering above them was the most famous building in the world, the Empire State Building. It was the landmark that had kicked off the entire situation, identified by industrialist Benjamin Kane as the site he’d like to visit for his time travel mission. Jeff caught Dexter peering up the side of the building, and wondered if he was recollecting looking up at the steel frame construction as Kane smashed him upside the head with a bottle. He understood his friend’s insistence on making things right. He’d seen enough in his time travel exploits to be conscious of Dexter’s motives.

They crossed Fifth Avenue and found a short alley between a deli and the entryway to a decent-looking apartment building. The alley was deep enough that they wouldn’t attract attention when they gathered around the time device like they were in some kind of séance.

“Remember,” Jeff said as he removed the tablet from his satchel. “We are now on the same side of the street as where Mellen was shot. When we get there, it will be right around the time that Kane clocks you over the head, and he’ll be coming toward us. We have to intercept him and get Mellen away from the area. Then all three of us grab the device, someone grab Kane, and we’ll jump back to the present. Everyone clear?”

They nodded at him, so he extended the device to them. They both grabbed a section of it.

“Jeff,” Dexter said, “for the record, I’m in amazement at how you’ve gotten us this far.”

He had no idea, Jeff thought. “Thanks. Let’s just make this work.”

Jeff pushed the button and the walls on either side of them blurred.

September 5, 1930

The vertigo faded away, and Dexter caught his balance. The three of them were standing in the same alley they’d just been in, only the climbing brick on either side of them was vibrantly brown, not the sooty gray that they’d just left. He looked down the alley toward the street and saw a group of men in grey suits hustle by – the early morning rush. He was back.

“Is that how it always is?” Victoria asked. “Everything just fades and then comes back?”

“That’s it,” Jeff said, letting go of the device.

“And we’re in 1930?” she asked.

“I hope so.”

“We are,” Dexter said, peering out toward the street. “We’re here.”

He took a few steps toward the street, then turned back to Jeff and Victoria. “How much time do we have?”

“We have about seven minutes until Kane pulls the trigger. Which means you’ll be arriving on the other side of Fifth in about three minutes.”

Dexter looked back and forth from Jeff to Victoria.

“What’s the matter?” Jeff asked.

He sighed. “Are we doing the right thing?” Suddenly, now that the actual opportunity was upon them, he was ambivalent.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Well, no,” he said. “Right now is really the point of no return. We can always go back.”

“We can, sure,” Jeff said. “But then, why did we do all of this? Dr. Graham, can you tell me what’s happening here?”

“This is an easy one,” she said from behind him. “Buyer’s remorse.”

“No, no, no,” Dexter said. “We’re doing this. I just want to make sure... I just really want to be right.” It was strange – as he’d been planning this in his head, he’d had no doubts about it. Now he was having a moment of hesitation.

Which Jeff must have thought was too long. “You’ve used up one of your minutes thinking about it,” he said. “This is why we make plans. Let’s go.”

“Dexter,” Victoria said, “all you have to do is hinder Kane. You’re not doing anything destructive. There’s not really anything to worry about.”

He watched Jeff turn around and look at her. Obviously, neither of them had expected such encouragement from her. “You’re right,” he said. “Let’s go.” He turned and walked down the alley, assuming they’d follow.

“Keep that device handy,” Jeff said.

Seconds later they were emerging from the alley and onto 33rd Street. The scenery was exactly as Dexter remembered it, the early skyscrapers starting to rise above the city, brown brick buildings and the hustle of people doing important things, passing back-and-forth in front of them. A kid in a newsboy cap ran past them and Dexter thought for a moment that it might’ve been the young man who he’d talked to in Mellen’s last dying moments. But that would’ve been a little too poetic, and wasn’t realistic.

“Funny,” Jeff said. Dexter turned to him. “It’s hard to picture this scene in color. Every photo is usually in black-and-white.”

“That’s exactly what I thought when I got here the first time,” Dexter said, smiling and remembering that there were actually rewarding aspects of time travel.

Jeff pointed toward the crowd on Fifth Avenue and they moved forward. High above them, the steel frame of what five minutes before had been the Empire State Building climbed into the sky, dwarfing the buildings around it. They made their way into the crowd and picked up the flow until Dexter saw the newsstand where George Mellen bought his daily newspaper every morning. He hadn’t arrived yet, so Dexter turned his attention across the street. “There’s the alley,” he said, pointing.

By now, the other Dexter and Kane should have arrived, and Kane would be clubbing Dexter over the head with the bottle. In a moment, Kane would come running across the street with Dexter’s gun in his hand, ready to fire. He was cognizant of the pounding of his heart, as it seemed to drown out the din of the crowd moving up and down the street.

“Do you see him?” Jeff asked, similarly looking out into the crowd, past a line of old Fords.

“Not yet,” Dexter said, “but there’s George Mellen.” He pointed at the newsstand.

“It’s go time, then.”

Dexter reminded himself that Kane would not be doing anything to make himself stand out until after he shot Mellen and started to run. Likely, he would be walking casually among the crowd... And there he was. The decrepit old murderer was crossing the street, headed directly for the newsstand. He slapped Jeff on the arm excitedly. “That’s him.”

“Well, let’s get in there.”

Dexter took a step toward him and froze.

Standing less than ten feet from George Mellen was Dr. Bremner.

“What are you doing?” Jeff asked, grabbing him by the arm and trying to shove him forward.

“Do you see who’s standing there?” he asked, though there was no way Jeff could hear his muttering. Bremner, dressed in a worn suit and tattered cap, hadn’t noticed them standing there. He was fixated on what was about to take place between Kane and Mellen.

Suddenly, Victoria darted past him and almost threw herself right into Kane’s path, but Jeff grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “Stop! Let me go!” she screamed, trying to pull away.

But it was too late. A gunshot fired and they all jumped.

Like the Red Sea, the crowd parted, offering them a birds-eye view of the scene of the crime – Mellen struggling to stand, his hand clutching his abdomen. People yelling and scampering across the street with no concern for the crossing traffic. Kane himself was darting across the crowd the other way, pushing and negotiating the oncoming rush to escape to the east along 34th.

Dexter searched for Bremner, who had disappeared. He felt someone tug on his shirt, and realized he was still frozen. “C’mon, let’s go, now,” he heard Jeff say as Mellen twisted awkwardly to the ground before Dexter turned and followed. They maneuvered through the crowd and turned on 33rd. A moment later, they were back in the alley where they’d arrived.

“What happened?” Victoria asked. “Why did you stop me?” She went at Jeff, hitting him in the chest several times as he covered up. Finally able to move, Dexter grabbed her and pulled her away.

“Did you see Bremner standing there?”

Jeff stopped for a quick second and looked at him strangely. “Bremner?” Then he reconsidered. “There’s no time right now,” he said. “Where’s the device?”

Dexter pulled it out of his pocket and held it out. Victoria sighed angrily at Jeff, then grabbed onto the other end of the device. If she wasn’t upset enough with Jeff about the downfall of their relationship, this would surely put her over the top. The only thing keeping him from planning his getaway from the dysfunctional couple when they got back to the present was the dismay he felt at the horrible reality that he’d failed. He’d taken on this mission and he’d failed. On top of that, without question, there would be hell to pay for them when they got back. In the end, it hadn’t been remotely worth the risk.

Jeff gave a quick check to the coordinates on the device. They were right on – five minutes after they’d left, as Dexter had programmed it. “Let’s figure this out at home,” he said.

They were distracted for a moment as a horde of folks ran past the alley. The action on Fifth was over, so he didn’t know what they were running after. Perhaps they’d seen them running from the scene, but no one turned their way. He thought about Bremner, and why he would have been there. Could that be the answer? That Kane knew had known exactly where Mellen would be… because Bremner had scouted it out for him? But why? It seemed implausible. There would be plenty to dig into when they returned. “C’mon, Jeff,” he said, ready to accept whatever awaited them on the other end.

Jeff took a step forward, his eye on Victoria, who’d really hit him harder than was probably appropriate. He put his hand on the device, and Dexter pushed the button.

Unexpectedly, Jeff removed his hand.

The alley blurred and was replaced with the newer version of the same scene.

Victoria was standing next to him, holding the other end of the device.

Jeff was not.