"Let's go," Wyatt said, leading Hannah in the opposite direction. "I don't want to risk that being Linda."
Hannah went with him as he moved along the aisle. To their right, in the aisle with all the pallets in the way, he saw the workers reloading the shelves. It seemed strange not to see a forklift. They had been in the warehouse during his other visits.
They only spent a couple minutes in the actual entrance area. Wyatt didn't feel comfortable standing there long.
"Wait," Hannah said, drawing his attention back toward the aisle in the direction they moved.
"What is it?" Wyatt asked.
"Someone was up there also," Hannah said. She stopped walking. "I don't like this."
"Me neither," Wyatt said as he slowed beside her. "How far away was that person?" The aisle where they stood seemed to extend for miles. They were within fifty feet of the next break in the shelving and Wyatt worried that was where she had seen the figure.
"Quite a distance up there," Hannah said. "I think it was a man. He appeared to watch us for a moment before moving into that gap." She indicated with her right hand that it was the gap after the one they were near.
It was all falling apart, it seemed. Wyatt began to feel the headache and dizziness of the resonance again. They seemed to be coming from behind him, but he couldn't be sure.
He glanced behind and thought he saw a figure moving toward them in an adjacent aisle. The figure wore white, but he saw no other detail. She could have been the older version of Hannah or the version of Linda.
Why did they both have to wear white coats?
"How are you going to fix this?" Hannah asked. "Are those two trying to stop you?"
"Have you noticed strange things around your house?" Wyatt asked and held his hand up to stop her protest. "That was one of the things you tell me in an hour or two. You said you have seen a lot of extra people watching you."
"What are you saying?" Hannah asked. "But yeah. I've noticed more people around, watching me. It makes me uncomfortable."
Wyatt nodded as the odor of smoke filled his nose. "Is that Gene?" he asked. "Can you smell that smoky older man?"
"Yeah," Hannah said. "He isn't supposed to smoke in here."
"Do you see him anywhere?" Wyatt asked. "Is he one of the figures you saw?"
He scanned over his left shoulder toward the aisle where he had seen the white coat. His heart raced, and his last question had been louder than he intended. His nerves and anxiety were getting the best of him.
"It could be," Hannah said. "I feel like we are sitting ducks here."
"We are," Wyatt agreed, looking at his wrist terminal. "I don't know where I should go. I think I'm going to lose this notebook." As soon as he said that his mind made another connection. He turned around and scanned the workers in the aisle with the extra pallets. "Are you in there somewhere?"
Hannah turned to match him and stared through the shelving. She stepped closer to the shelving and stared through the gaps for a moment. "I don't see myself."
"That's good," Wyatt said, stepping beside her. "I think I finally figured something out."
"What?" Hannah asked as a dark figure stepped out of the break in the shelving that was nearly fifty feet ahead of them in their aisle.
Wyatt watched the figure for a moment, seeing the orange stocking cap and the trail of smoke that followed that man.
Gene took another pull on his cigarette before recognition dawned on him and he dropped it. As he stomped it out, he smiled at Hannah. "I never smoke in here," he said.
"Sure," Hannah said. "I bet you never do." She turned to face him, stepping away from Wyatt. "Have you seen anything strange this morning?"
"Like the way those pallets were in the aisle?" Gene said, his gravelly voice carrying farther than he seemed to intend. He rubbed his face and his eyes moved from her to Wyatt. When he looked at Wyatt, his eyebrows lowered. "What kind of mess are you making here?"
"We're fixing things," Wyatt said. "Don't worry."
"Don't worry?" Gene asked, his hands going into the front pockets of his orange overalls. He seemed to be grabbing something in the right front pocket, and Wyatt hoped it was just a large lighter. "Usually, when people say that they are making things worse."
"Not this time," Hannah said. "Trust me. We're working to set things right." Her words made Gene stop grabbing whatever he had in his pocket.
Gene's eyes flickered past Wyatt and he let out a sigh as his mouth tightened.
Wyatt followed where he looked, and his heart froze.
"Hand over that notebook," Linda said, dressed in her white coat.
"How are you expecting to force him to do that?" Hannah asked.
"By reminding him of what I have already done," Linda said. "I've already taken the ability to travel"—she held up her left hand with two wrist terminals hanging from it—"from two members of your group."
"Why are you doing this?" Wyatt asked. "How does destroying us help Jarod?" He turned to face her, forgetting for the moment that Gene was behind him.
Linda chewed her lower lip for a moment. "You don't understand all that is at stake," she said.
"No," Wyatt said. "Tell me what you see as being at stake. All I've seen is the way things have changed all around me."
"And you remember the changes, right?" Gene asked from behind him.
Wyatt nodded.
"That's the problem," Linda said. "Things had to change, but you keep going back and trying to fix it."
"Where did you get your information to make the changes?" Wyatt asked, his fear had grown. A few minutes ago, he had begun to think he was supposed to hand over the notebook and his wrist terminal to the Hannah he had brought with him. Now, that didn't seem to be the case.
He stuck his hands behind his back as Hannah stepped closer to him. She positioned herself slightly in front of his left side and glanced at him. Her face was drawn tight with worry, and Gene was somewhere behind her.
"What is the meaning of all this?" Gene asked. "Who are you?"
"She's the one causing all the changes," Wyatt said. "She has made a mess of my past and is ruining the Machina."
"I'm only doing that which needs to be done," Linda said, lowering her left hand but still holding the wrist terminals. Her eyes focused on Gene.
In that moment, Wyatt tried to feel the settings on his wrist terminal. He had no intention of giving it to Linda. With Hannah just in front of him, he had the chance to work the settings, but the wrist terminal was a touchscreen device. He would just be guessing if he tried to set it.
"The Machina has already started the process of ruining the world," Linda said. "As soon as time travel is found by someone else it becomes a problem."
"Are you saying that others know about time travel?" Hannah said, turning to look at Wyatt as she finished. Her eyes studied him for a moment, and he felt certain there was something in her look he was supposed to understand.
He didn't catch any of her meaning before she turned back toward Linda.
"When the Machina started," Linda began her answer, "it was the only control over time travel."
"We didn't change that," Wyatt said. "Our job is to protect it."
"Give me your wrist terminal," Linda said as her right hand went to her right hip. Her hand slipped up inside her large coat and Wyatt instantly thought she would have a gun or some other weapon.
"Don't," Wyatt said, holding his right hand in front of himself and Hannah.
Linda's hand came back from under the white coat with a black revolver. It looked small in her hand, and Wyatt wondered, morbidly, how much it would hurt.
"No reason for a gun here," Gene said. "That's not needed." He stepped around Wyatt's right side and placed himself outside of Linda's aim. At the same time, he pulled something long out of his right front pants pocket.
"The Machina needs to be stopped," Linda said. "That notebook you have ruins everything. It preserves the location information even when time changes. You should have neve
r documented all of your location codes."
"Put the gun down," Gene said, but Wyatt couldn't determine what he had pulled out of his pocket.
"How do you know what is on the notebook?" Wyatt asked, as he realized she probably wasn't after the notebook to have it, but to keep him from giving it away. He touched his wrist terminal, considering activating it once again. Getting a portal out of this mess could help, but he needed to know what else she was doing.
"You don't want the notebook," Wyatt said. "I think you already have it. Or you have seen it."
Linda smiled at him, but the barrel of her gun didn't waver. This was the second time Wyatt could remember anyone pointing a gun at him. Jarod had been the first. That instance he had fought off the other man, but this was different. This time he didn't feel as invincible.
He wanted to try and convince her to stop.
"Give me the notebook and your wrist terminal," Linda said.
Wyatt looked toward Gene on his right, then back toward the aisle where Hannah's workers had been organizing the pallets. Those workers had moved on, leaving them alone in that portion of the warehouse.
"Time is running short," Linda said.
"Will you kill me to get the notebook?" Wyatt asked and saw Hannah tense in front of him.
"Put the gun down," Gene said. "I could hand this over to you." He held up his right hand and Wyatt realized what he saw there.
The black notebook in Gene's hand looked a little more worn than the one in Wyatt's back pocket. Could it be the same one?
"Where did you get that?" Linda asked.
"Is that the same notebook?" Hannah asked.
"It doesn't matter where I got it," Gene said, focusing his attention on Linda. "Don't you see? The more you worry about time travel getting out, the more control you think you can gain." He coughed a couple of times and lowered his right hand.
"Give me that," Linda said, turning the gun toward him.
"It won't help you," Gene said. "You say the Machina ruins time travel, but you're wrong. It is only the first to generate the ability." He coughed again, unphased by the gun Linda pointed at him.
Wyatt watched in shock as Linda took a step closer to the old man, raising her gun. "Don't shoot him," he said. "It's not worth it."
Hannah shifted around in front of Wyatt, in the process, she faced Wyatt for just long enough to whisper to him. "Get out of here now," she said, touching his left arm.
He wanted to shake his head but didn't. She was right. He had to keep the notebook safe. He tried to turn his head and see the setting on his wrist terminal, but Linda looked right at him.
"What are you doing?" Linda said, swinging her gun hand toward him. He thought he saw her squeezing the trigger. His breath caught in his throat.
He touched the surface of his wrist terminal and felt the resonance bursting from behind him as his portal opened. Hannah shot him a quick glance and he backed into the portal.
CHAPTER thirty-Seven
WAREHOUSE ENTRANCE, R549PS
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2039, TIME UNKNOWN
The warehouse entrance area filled his view as something brushed the right side of his head. A deafening gunshot echoed from behind him as a portion of the pallet directly in front of him exploded with the impact of the bullet.
The portal closed as he dropped to his hands and knees and heard Hannah scream on the other side.
The dizziness and sickening feeling were intense. He coughed as he scanned the area. That deafening gunshot would awaken anyone that had been sleeping. It had to be much earlier than the last time he had arrived.
"Wyatt?" Lenny's voice asked from behind him. "Why are you here?"
"Are you okay?" Avery's voice asked right after Lenny spoke.
After coughing two more times, Wyatt turned to face them without rising from his knees. His mind spun with the motion, and he wanted to lie on the floor.
"What time is it?" Wyatt asked after seeing it was the older Avery that spoke to him. "How did you get your wrist terminal back?"
A crease formed above the older Avery's eyebrows as her eyes shot to Lenny.
"Don't tell me I imagined all of it, or that I just came back from another dimension," Wyatt said, pushing himself up on his knees. He reached out to the pallet near him for balance as his body sensed he was falling.
"I doubt either of those are the answer," Lenny said with a smile. "But I have to admit things have gotten out of my control. The Machina has shared some information, but it isn't useful."
"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked. He remembered the conversation the rest of his group had about a reason the Machina didn't supply all the information. "Do you think the Machina needs us to act for ourselves, and not according to some plan?"
Lenny watched him, without reacting to his question.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Avery asked, stepping closer and reaching out a hand to help him stand.
After staring at it for a moment, Wyatt took her hand and worked his way to his feet. "I'm as good as I can be, I guess."
Avery grabbed his arm to steady him and looked back toward Lenny. "This has gotten out of hand," she said.
"I remember telling each of you not to read your contracts," Lenny said, looking directly at her. "But that didn't stop you." He sighed. "I'm doing everything the Machina asks me to do, but this is getting beyond what I thought it would be. This isn't so much a resonance, but more of a dissonance, where nothing matches."
"Has Linda come here yet?" Wyatt asked, glancing at his wrist terminal. He felt a little relief as he saw it was still October 15, 2039. The current time showed it was 3:58 am.
"Why would she come here?" Lenny asked, looking at Avery.
Avery inhaled slowly and let out a sigh. "She hasn't."
"Good," Wyatt said. "I don't know how much time I have, but"—he looked directly at Lenny—"whatever you do with Linda, don't trust her." He also realized that this version of Avery had a wrist terminal. That made him question the terminals Linda had shown him, but Lenny's next words stopped his thoughts.
"What?" Lenny said. "Why would you say I can't trust Linda? The Machina told me to use her. I've only seen her a couple times."
The words sank into Wyatt's mind like a knife. "She's not related to you, is she?" he asked.
"No," Lenny said, giving him a disgusted look.
"Mr. Janson," Avery said. "There are some items you have missed in the process of all of this. That's why I am here. One of them is the dangers Linda brings to this."
"What are you talking about?" Lenny said, his eyes locked on Avery. "What did I miss?"
"Did you ever find Jeremy?" Wyatt asked, trying to get Avery's attention. She wore the same clothing the same as the young Avery that had left him on the road.
She let go of his arm and held up her hand as she turned more fully on Lenny. "Strange changes have occurred," she said. "For some things, I remember several occurrences at the same time. I remember them all vividly. But I also remember that it wasn't always like that."
"What do you mean?" Lenny asked, folding his arms. His eyes shot toward Wyatt. "What did you do to Linda?"
Wyatt held up his hands and shook his head. "I didn't do anything to her," he said, remembering some of the difficulty with Linda. "She shot at me. Did you know she can't feel the resonance?"
"Impossible," Lenny said. "The Machina would never use someone who can't feel it."
"Would there be another reason for her being here?" Wyatt asked. He still needed a frame of reference to fit her in. It seemed, to him, that Linda's arrival had started something that turned things on their heads. Her actions had to be partially to blame for the changes.
"No," Lenny said. "You've seen it also. I don't think these changes we have seen are caused by Linda alone. Jarod Whiting has to be behind those."
"Please listen," Avery said as she turned her head and scanned the darkened warehouse.
"Jarod Whiting is also involved," Wyatt said. "But they are related. He is stuck in
some kind of paradox, and Linda is working to free him. At least, that is what she says."
Lenny unfolded his arms and shook his head. His eyes shot down toward the floor for a moment. "I should have never shown you your contracts. I should have left them with the Machina."
"We had to sign them to begin our work," Avery said. "You said as much yourself." She turned back toward Wyatt. "But don't worry. The contract text has changed a few times since I first read it. It seems whoever is behind this is really trying to make the mess deeper."
Wyatt smiled and stared at her for a moment. "I can't believe this," he said. "I don't know what to believe anymore. Everything is changing all the time. I just saw Linda"—he pointed toward the pallet behind him—"try to kill me."
"What?" Lenny said.
"She doesn't feel the resonance," Wyatt said. "She is after something I have, and when I wouldn't give it to her, she shot at me." He motioned toward the damaged pallet. "If I hadn't activated my portal, I would have died."
"I don't believe it," Lenny said.
"Did she shoot at you because you activated your portal?" Avery asked without even a quick look in Lenny's direction.
"She wants this," Wyatt said as he pulled his notebook out of his back pocket.
"Why would she want that?" Lenny asked.
"That's right," Avery said. "You might be mad at me for reading my contract, but Wyatt has been writing down all the location codes he could remember."
"What?" Lenny folded his arms and stared at her.
"Why do you think we are here, now," Avery said, motioning toward Wyatt. "His notebook is what your Linda is after. She needs those location codes."
"She thinks we're ruining time," Wyatt added. "She wants this to know where I've been. She wants to go to each of those places and make sure we don't do what we did." As he said that last part, he thought of the business park and having to drive the car himself. Things started to make sense. It was like a switch suddenly flipped in his mind. That could explain why he had been forced to drive the car and why he had multiple memories of that experience.
Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2) Page 33
