Timeshock - I Want My Life Back (9 page)

“Well, if we were married how can there be anything wrong with us being lovers?” asked Natalie with peculiar logic.

“Nothing I guess, though if you loved your Nigel so much why are you married to Raymond and not him?” asked Nigel.

Again Natalie stood back and thought.
 
“You really are a different Nigel, aren’t you? The other Nigel was too frightened of Raymond.”

“I can understand that - it was Raymond who killed the Natalie in my reality and our kids.”
 

“Kids?!? You had children with me?” Natalie started crying again.

Nigel consoled Natalie.
 
He had assumed she and Raymond had had children and he had never asked.

“Raymond always said it was my fault we couldn’t have any.
 
I believed him.”
 
Natalie was sobbing even more now.

Nigel just cuddled Natalie as she cried.
 
He wasn’t really expecting to end up having an affair with his wife, or more accurately someone else’s wife who was his wife in a different reality.
 
This was all getting very confusing.
 
If he slept with this Natalie was he committing adultery?
 
It probably wasn’t best to take advantage of her in this state though.

“I think you need time to think - I know I do,” said Nigel.
 
Natalie agreed and left.

A strange thought occurred to Nigel - maybe he could elope with this Natalie to a different time-line and live out a happy existence with her. The morality of that left him very confused but the idea really appealed.
 
But he would need a bigger machine - and he needed his old one back.
 
He desperately needed to find Altran!

Over the next few days Nigel pondered the situation.
 
He told Natalie about Altran and the storage diamond.
 
They talked about how she had met Raymond.
 
It turned out that on the very night he had met
his
Natalie she had met her Nigel and her Raymond.
 
It seemed like Raymond muscled her Nigel out of the way.
 

As in the original reality Raymond was dead, Nigel ended up with Natalie rather than Raymond.
 
The car crash killing Raymond had been caused by Raymond travelling back in time.
 
He had tried to save his sister but killed his younger self.
 
Raymond had been the reason Nigel and Natalie had been together in the original time-line.

It did occur to Nigel that it made the Raymond who killed his Natalie even more sick - he killed someone who was his wife.
 
Nigel guessed the fact that she had had his children probably made Raymond hate her.
 

Gradually a deeper relationship developed between Nigel and this Natalie.
 
Nigel was unexpectedly wracked with guilt as
this
Raymond had done nothing to him and he was sleeping with his wife.
 
He hated the fact he had to do everything surreptitiously - he couldn’t walk out holding her hand or kiss her in public.

He told Natalie of his plan to elope with her.
 
They both wondered who this Altran guy was.
 
Nigel was beginning to give up hope of ever tracking him down.
 
He wasn’t sure what to do.
 

One evening while alone Nigel sat in his flat watching TV when a news report came on.
 
“Today in other news, Mafia boss Altran Del Frisco has been captured in Sicily.
 
Italian sources say that this is the biggest Mafia arrest made in 30 years.
 
In other news…”

With that Nigel rushed onto his computer and searched for Altran Del Frisco - and discovered that he had been on the run from the Italian authorities for several years and was believed to have been on the run in both Holland and London previously.
 
Clearly he was the boss of the two men who mugged him.
 
He searched for information about any children he had but he found nothing.
 
They were still on the run or hidden.

He needed to visit Altran in prison and find out what he had done with the storage diamond.
 
Nigel had a more immediate problem before going to Italy though - he was running out of money.
 
There had been some in the flat but he had spent that and he had maxed out his credit card.
 
Nigel’s bank account was in overdraft as it had been paying his mortgage for 6 months with no income coming in.
 
Nigel was glad it wasn’t being repossessed though.

Suddenly it came to him - he was now a natural linguist.
 
He applied for and got a job talking to tourists on a tour bus.
 
He got lots of tips from people from strange countries who were surprised he spoke their language.
 
He really enjoyed it and made enough money to fund his trip to Italy and make a few mortgage payments.

He had no idea what he was going to do to get Altran to tell him where the diamond was - but he had to try.
 

Coming out of the airport outside Rome, Nigel wondered for a while about what his cover story would be.
 
He decided to tell the authorities that he was writing a book about Mafia leaders and wanted to interview Altran Del Frisco.
 
He had no idea if they would let him talk to the guy, but he could only try.

He got a taxi into the city - he loved Rome because of its fantastic history.
 
As the taxi trundled along the Appian Way, Nigel looked back on his recent past.
 
While he had gone through hell he felt he was now a much stronger person.
 
He had freed the galaxy from oppression, escaped death multiple times and had escaped the Russian Mafia.
 
Now he just had to deal with the Italian Mafia.

Nigel checked-in to a small hotel just next to the prison where Altran was being held.
 
He staggered with his heavy bags into the hotel room, really missing having the storage diamond - he had no idea how it worked, but it had a capacity of several tonnes and gave a whole new dimension to the phrase “travelling light”.
 
He was thankful it was locked by his finger-print. He had no idea what the Mafia would do with such a device if they could use it - the possibilities for drug smuggling were both awesome and dreadful.

After settling in Nigel steeled himself and wandered over to the prison and asked if he could arrange an appointment to see Altran Del Frisco.
 
The man behind the counter laughed at Nigel.
 
There was a strict policy that no one apart from his lawyer could see him.
 
Nigel despaired.
 
He even attempted to offer a bribe but was rebutted and found himself thrown outside.

As Nigel was standing outside the prison he noticed three men talking.
 
He recognised one of the men as one of the people who had mugged him.
 
Thankfully the man did not recognise Nigel.
 
One of the other men was smartly dressed.
 
Nigel guessed he was Del Frisco’s lawyer.
 

A much better idea occurred to Nigel - if he followed the men he might be able to find Del Frisco’s family and hopefully the storage diamond.
 
He really hoped they still had it.

Being careful not to be seen, Nigel tailed the men to the local Metro station.
 
Hastily he bought a day pass ticket and pursued the men onto a train.
 
The train went several stations before the men got off.
 
Nigel followed them up the stairs out of the station and then tracked them until they went into an apartment block.
 
Nigel felt frustrated that he didn’t know what flat they were in.
 

After waiting for a while, he noticed the men in the window on the 4th floor of the building.
 
He also saw several women move by the window in the same flat who he guessed were Del Frisco’s family.

Nigel considered adding burglary to his list of recent new experiences.
 
He saw the men he had been following leave the apartment block - he considered his options.
 
If the other people in the flat never left he was looking more at a robbery than burglary.

The chances of a Mafia family not having armed protection were zero.
 
He reconsidered.
 
He needed a much better plan.

Nigel saw one of the women he had seen leave the block.
 
She was a young fresh-faced girl with dyed red hair - Nigel guessed she was Del Frisco’s daughter. She was escorted by a burly Italian man who Nigel guessed was her bodyguard.
 
Her body language showed she did not like being escorted by him and she looked over longingly in Nigel’s direction.

Nigel then decided that ingratiating himself with the daughter was a better option. He smiled back at her and then proceeded to follow them.
 
They went to the local cinema and sat watching an obscure French Art film.
 
The cinema was mostly empty, but Nigel purposelessly went to sit next to the Del Frisco daughter.
 
He sat deliberately on the opposite side of her to the bodyguard, who did not look too happy about his choice of seat. The woman was ecstatic with Nigel’s interest.
   

Nigel slipped her a hand-written note saying “The guy - your boyfriend?” She read the note and shook her head.
 
The bodyguard was distracted for a moment by some full-frontal nudity in the film and Nigel took the opportunity to give the daughter another note - “See you outside in 10 minutes - alone”.
 
After that he walked out of the cinema and hung around the foyer.
 
He really hoped this plan would work.
 

After 15 minutes, Nigel was getting ready to leave when the woman came out with a triumphant look on her face.
 
Nigel went into full charm mode.

“You are so beautiful, young lady.
 
I am so happy to get you alone.”

“I am Christina - so nice to be with you.”

“We’d better get out of here.
 
Is there somewhere we could go?”, Nigel asked.

“Let’s go.” Christina then took Nigel’s hand and led him to a local cafe.
 
He was vainly hoping he might get taken back to the flat straight away.

Nigel and Christina talked for about half an hour.
 
Nigel actually began to feel bad about his subterfuge - she seemed like a really nice woman who just happened to be the daughter of a Mafia boss.
 

He told her that he was an English tourist looking to see the real Rome.
 
She complimented him of his fluent Italian.
 
Nigel smiled.
 
He continued to flatter her, despite feeling extremely sleazy and insincere. She became totally smitten by the romantic Englishman she was with.

Nigel lied and said he was sharing a hotel room with another male friend.
 
He wanted to get back to her flat and having a single hotel room meant she would probably want to go back there.
 
He didn’t really want to have to sleep with her, only get the storage diamond and get out.

Christina told him her mother and sister would be out at 3pm in the afternoon.
 
She would deal with her bodyguard - she got a bottle of chloroform out of her bag and then laughed.
 

Christina went back to the cinema and crept past an anxious bodyguard looking for her outside.
 
When the bodyguard returned to the cinema Christina claimed she was having severe stomach problems and wanted to go back to the flat.

Nigel turned up to the flat at 3pm to find an unconscious bodyguard and Christina in only her underwear.
 
He furtively looked around the flat.
 
Where was the storage diamond?
 
Christina beckoned him to the bedroom.
 
Nigel reluctantly followed her.
 
She undressed completely.
 
Nigel pretended to be shy and old-fashioned, saying that he wanted to talk.
 
He just wanted to get into the flat and he wasn’t expecting to have to spurn Christina.

She thrust her naked body at Nigel and kissed him.
 
Nigel drew himself back. Nigel then noticed the storage diamond on the bedside table.

He made a half-hearted effort to kiss Christina and then saw the bottle of chloroform and some tissues on another table.
 
Nigel manoeuvred himself and Christina closer to the table and frantically grabbed the bottle behind his back and poured far too much chloroform over the tissues.
 
Clasping the chloroform-drenched tissues he thrust them into Christina’s face.
 
She fell unconscious on the floor and Nigel grabbed the storage diamond and rushed for the exit of the block.

He was now on the run from the Italian Mafia.
 
But Nigel wanted to get back to England so he could build another time machine for Natalie.
 
But he worried about what he had told Christina.
 
She knew he was called Nigel and that he was staying in Hotel Napoli.
 
He had to get out of Italy fast before they could catch up with him.
 

After rushing to his hotel, Nigel stowed all his luggage and everything except his wallet and passport in the storage diamond.
 
He then checked-out and grabbed a taxi towards the airport.
 
When he got there he discovered that the next flight to London was time-tabled another four hours away and was delayed another hour.