An icon in the file was labeled “start”, and he used the mouse to do that. The machine hummed and became luminescent. He sighed with relief. Everything still worked. The only thing he had to do now was tell Michael about his part in the disappearance of his best friend and the machine, here in the basement. He’d tell the rest of the story when Dredger was destroyed. He moved the mouse over the “stop” icon and went to bed.
Chapter 27
The morning sun was just rising over the mountains when Randal awoke. He showered and dressed quickly, made coffee and drove into the hills to meet with Michael. He’d been to the house several times and at eight in the morning, traffic was going in the opposite direction. He arrived at eight forty-five and rang the bell. A large man answered the door and allowed him to enter.
Three people were seated at the kitchen table: Michael, Heather, and another man who appeared to have just crawled out of the gutter. Long hair, unshaved, and slumped on the chair as if he were on drugs, but the large black gun he held pointed at Randal wasn’t something any drunk would own.
“Randal,” Michael almost shouted. “Come in and have coffee with us. This is Paul, and you met Otto at the door. They’re my security. How have things been going down in Florida?”
“I’ve had more fun playing solitaire until last night.” Michael’s face seemed surprised and fearful at the same time. He continued so there wouldn’t be too many questions. “Nothing to worry about. I fixed the problem. Somebody tried to sabotage the flight, but there shouldn’t be any more trouble.” He scratched at the back of his head.
“Dredger, probably,” Heather moaned. Randal gave her a side-glance, not understanding what had happened or how she might know about his brother’s company.
“I need a moment of your time, Michael. It’s imperative we have privacy.” His heart was pounding with excitement. He took the mug of coffee from Heather, but his shaking hands threatened to spill the contents.
Michael was concerned but motioned to follow him down the hall. Randal looked shocked as they entered the computer room. He knew Michael had a computer in the house, but he hadn’t expected anything this sophisticated.
“Take a seat,” Michael said, smiling to see the expression on the other man’s face. “What’s on your mind?”
Randal sat heavily on the spare chair. His eyes roamed over the telephone box and the table. He knew what they were used for and smiled inwardly. He’d succeeded, but now was the time for him to confess.
“This is my fault,” he blurted. “I’m responsible for your best friend disappearing.”
Michael stared at the face of the man he thought he knew. Randal looked as if he would cry, but he couldn’t feel any compassion.
“I think you’d better start at the beginning before I have you thrown out of my house. This better not be a joke, Randal, because I’m not in the mood. I don’t like my friends being used, especially the ones who aren’t here to defend themselves.” His face was red with anger as he sat back in the chair.
Randal took a deep breath to settle his heart and focus his thoughts. He’d planned this day for years, but now he was too nervous to speak. Both hands scratched the back of his head.
“This is complicated, but once I get started, you’ll understand. I, or at least Randal, is from an alternate universe.” He glanced at Michael to see if that tidbit of information would produce a reaction, but if there was any change, it was only a redder face. “His time is the same as ours. All the players in this universe are the same as his, but whatever happens here, their universe is worse.” He sensed he’d taken the wrong track and quickly changed the story.
“In Randal’s universe, Dredger is his half-brother. They’ve never met and more important, he’s your half-brother as well.” The silence in the room was deafening. Michael’s face turned pale, but he said nothing. “I’ll get back to that in a minute,” he rushed on sensing he didn’t have much longer before Michael exploded. “I’m Joe.”
Michael’s jaw sagged open and for a moment, he thought he would scream. That moment passed and then his mouth closed, jaw clenching several times. He stared at Randal.
“I’ll accept your story for the moment, but you better come up with some really convincing information to prove what you’re saying. Those men out there carry guns, and right now if I had one, I’d be weighing the risk of shooting you for being a dangerous nutcase.” His jaw muscles moved again under the skin. “I’ve known you for what...six years, and I never took you for crazy, so don’t make me regret meeting you now. Give me facts, Randal, or whoever you are, so that I can believe your story.” Michael leaned forward in his chair; his face was regaining a normal color, but his eyes remained angry.
“I’ll do my best, but I have a hard time believing this happened to me.” He sighed and looked at the floor. Start at the beginning, he said to himself. He’s a smart man and will believe you if he has the facts. “On the day I disappeared, I met a man in that tunnel.”
Michael remembered who he was talking about from the day he jumped back in time. The guy appeared homeless. He nodded his head for him to continue. The expression on Michael’s face revealed he’d been back in time and knew what had happened.
“He said he was from the future and that he wanted me to change places with him. I didn’t really understand, but I figured the future was a better place than what I had back then. You two had gone before I returned and that made me mad. I was going home to tell Mom and then nothing.” He shrugged. Michael leaned forward.
“I woke up on the street...well more like the gutter, six years ago wrapped up in newspaper. There was a headline about you, and that was when I figured we had to get together. Randal told me that he wanted you to create a time machine. He said yours had to be completed before Dredger’s because if the German created the technology, that would mean the end of the world. I knew everything he did, even had his education. As soon as I could, I applied to work for you. The rest of the story you know, but one thing you haven’t discovered is that we can reverse my timeline.” His brows arched expectantly. Michael’s face remained expressionless.
“That sounds plausible to me,” Dawn interjected quietly. Randal jumped in his chair.
“It talks,” he stammered pointing at the computer. Michael smiled.
“I call her Dawn, and she does more than talk. But that doesn’t matter right now. Let’s say I believe your story. Why would this other Randal pick my friend Joe?”
“He told me that you were going to create some powerful computers, but you wouldn’t be interested in time travel. The only way to stop Dredger was to make sure you’d solve time travel first. You needed a reason, something to focus your interest toward time. Making me disappear was the solution; at least that’s the way he explained it. I was seven. What difference did any of that make to me? I thought it would be fun.”
Michael nodded, the story starting to make sense, but there was so much missing detail. “I already know that Tristan Dredger is a villain and doesn’t deserve to keep breathing. I guess the problem is all these half-brother connections. Randal is my brother and Tristan’s brother too in this other universe.”
Randal nodded.
“Ok, we don’t have to worry about that now. If you are Joe, tell me what we did earlier on that day you disappeared.”
A smile crept over his face. “That was the school field day, and you scraped up your arms and knees racing. Miss Belfridge patched you up and gave you a hug. Billy and I didn’t think you’d ever stop smiling.” He chuckled and this time, Michael joined him.
“One more question to be sure. What was my biggest fear as a kid?” He couldn’t breathe. He knew there was only one person he’d ever told about being afraid of shadows. Of course, his older brother knew, but Joe was the only other person on the planet.
“Shadows. You thought there were evil spirits in the shadows trying to grab your soul.” He saw Michael gasp and jump off the chair. His vision narrowed and the world became silent.
Michael moved toward him in what seemed like slow motion. So excited and happy, joy written on his face. Mike wrapped his arms around Joe’s neck and pulled him tight into a manly hug. Randal looked over Michael’s shoulder and saw Paul, Heather, and Otto crowded in the doorway staring in horror at him.
“What?” Michael asked.
“We heard you shout and thought you were in trouble. What’s going on with you two?” Heather wanted to know.
“I’ll explain everything later, but right now Joe and I have some work to do.” He slapped his friend on the shoulder and gave Heather a kiss.
“Are you okay, Michael? You just called Randal, Joe.” Her face scrunched into a distasteful frown. Randal guessed she had started to worry about all the stress on Michael or maybe the jump in time had scrambled his mind.
“I’ve never been better or happier. This is no longer Randal, but my best friend, Joe.” He giggled at the expression on their faces and then kissed her again. “I’m not crazy, and I’ll tell you later. Trust me, but we need to get to work.” He slowly closed the door, shutting them out of the room.
“I don’t really understand what’s going on, but I’m glad it is,” he said turning back to take in this miracle he had been given. “What I do know is that Dredger has to be shut down and get you back to being my best friend. You don’t look a bit like I imagined you as a grown man, and you can’t know how much I’ve missed you.”
“It was harder for me all these years,” Joe murmured. “I wanted to tell you the first day I walked into your office, but you would’ve thrown me out or had me arrested as a lunatic.” He smiled. Michael chuckled. “Randal told me that I’d need to go through the machine to reverse the process, but he warned me not to until Tristan was safely behind bars.”
Michael nodded grimly. “That might take a while for the courts to catch up to him, but at least he’s going to be busy for the next few weeks answering questions about his dastardly deeds. We can go ahead with making these things work perfectly.” He waved at the table and booth.
“I built one of those in my basement.” Joe nodded at the locker contraption. It functions, obviously, but I’ve only used it once.”
The two men stared at each other. “Mine does too,” Michael said. “I went back to find out how you disappeared. Do you remember that public works truck in the field across from the tunnel? I was there watching and saw you come out with the old guy. Then you walked away and vanished. Now I understand what was happening.” Joe nodded as Michael explained.
“At first, I thought the old guy was my dad returned from Korea, but then he started talking about time travel. That seemed weird and kinda creepy, but I figured he was harmless. I have the memories of a man fifty-seven years old, Michael, but I’ve never felt they were mine. When I woke up, the memories of the years between vanishing and waking didn’t seem real. Maybe they never will,” Joe said sadly.
“Well, once we bring you back that might change, but even if it doesn’t, I’m here for you. Who knows? Perhaps, if none of this had happened, we’d both be in jail by now.” They both chuckled at the thought.
A knock sounded on the door, a light, tentative rap. Michael turned and opened it. Jon was standing in the hall with his good-natured smile lighting up the place. He stepped forward without waiting to be invited inside.
“The elusive Joe Solomon.” His hand shot forward to greet Joe, who seemed shocked and a little confused. “I’m Jon Richter, the head of security. It seems we have many things to celebrate today.” His grin widened further into a full smile at the confused expression on Michael’s face. “I received a message from one of my contacts in Germany...” he glanced down at his wristwatch. “About half an hour ago, Tristan Dredger was arrested in Bonn and charged with three counts of rape, six counts of theft, and fourteen counts of corporate espionage. The information we sent will make sure he never savors freedom again.”
“How long before he’s actually in prison?” Joe wanted to know.
Jon shrugged. “Everything depends on the court. But for a case this size and importance, they might take two or three years to even get to trial.”
Michael and Joe glanced at each other. They knew that Joe wouldn’t really be able to return until there was absolutely no way Tristan could continue with his time travel project. Something else would need to be done to ensure he was out of the picture. He glanced at Joe and led Jon into the hallway. Once the door was closed, Michael turned and whispered.
“I’m going to ask you to do something that is against everything we both hold dear.” He paused, trying to form the words into a sentence that wouldn’t sound too insane. “I need Tristan Dredger eliminated permanently. The documents were a delaying tactic, but now he has to be gone forever. If you aren’t willing, please get someone else as soon as possible.” His face was grim.
Jon had been stone-faced, but now he made an evil grin. His eyes were still cold.
“It will be my pleasure, sir. He’s been asking for this since he was a little boy. The world will be grateful, or at least they’ll thank the person responsible for killing him. I’ll leave today and call you when I’m done.” He turned and moved quickly down the hall and out of the house. Michael could see Paul’s face. A knowing smile crept across his features.
He and Joe went over the details of what they were going to do to return Joe to his body. They hoped that when the moment came, there wouldn’t be massive changes to the world around them, but there was no way to know for sure. Joe told Michael about their history, which changed when he switched places with Randal. Heather called them to come out and eat at around six and then there was just the waiting to hear from Jon.
They spent the rest of the evening filling in details for each other and for Heather. She’d known Randal only from his work at the company, but they’d never spoken. His perspective of her was the same. Secretly, he hoped the couple would still be together after he returned to his own body.
Chapter 28
Tristan Dredger had sensed something was wrong two days ago. Everything he’d planned was going too well and too easy. The meeting with Michael Eldridge was a joke. He attempted to trap him into some sort of admission that he’d been responsible for the kidnapping attempt, but that wasn’t going to happen. Then he’d just agreed to give access to all the data for time travel to Dredger Electronics. What a fool he’d thought at the time.
He’d gone to meet with an associate of the Russian mobster he’d hired to kidnap Michael. There was no need to use their services any longer and from there, he flew home. A radio message from the plane to his manager in Bonn gave orders to scatter some kind of Trojan horse into all the data that would be shared with the Americans. He realized the next evening that Eldridge Computers was smarter and more prepared than he’d thought they would be. None of the software spies sent back any information. He still wasn’t concerned because Michael was going to give him what he wanted.
Two days after returning from America, he sent manufactured information implicating Michael in the death of a police officer to Interpol. He hadn’t expected anyone to take the information seriously against Eldridge, just inflict some concern and confusion. Then one of his informants in the police department called to say that damning information had been received that implicated Tristan in multiple serious crimes.
He’d smiled at the news. There was no need to worry, he thought. This had happened before and he’d never been convicted. Witnesses just had a way of disappearing. Still, he felt as if a gathering storm was coming, and he should be prepared.
His company had computerized their operations years earlier, as soon as the technology was available. He’d made sure there was one in the house as well. Walking into the den in the basement, Tristan sat at the desk and turned on the computer. The monitor lit up, and he watched the machine go through the process of starting. At the blinking cursor, he typed in his password and waited.
All of his files scrolled across the screen. Dates, places, people who were pai
d for what, all the dirt he’d shoveled over the years was there. Smug in the thought that there was no way he’d be linked to any crimes, Tristan deleted all of the documents and then shut off the computer and went to bed.
Loud hammering and banging on the front door of his house woke him the next morning at six o’clock. A moment later, his butler knocked on the bedroom door. Tristan staggered down the stairs, angry and half-awake only to be greeted by a mob of police officers in black uniforms pointing assault weapons in his face. They handcuffed him and drove him in an armored van to the police station, still in his bathrobe and nothing else.
Hours of questions followed. Documents and pictures of murdered people were shoved in his face. Everything they showed him was something he’d saved on his home computer, but how did they get in? He could feel his confidence draining. Grimly, he decided that once his lawyer arrived, he would find out who was responsible for having him arrested.
Three miserable days later, Tristan, dressed in prison garb, handcuffs, and leg chains, was led fifty feet down a driveway to an armored van for a ride to the courthouse. He was smiling. A small hole appeared in his forehead as the back of his head exploded. His eyes went vacant, and he slumped to the ground. The guards moved to safe positions knowing their prisoner was already dead. They had all drawn their weapons while trying to locate the shooter, but he was already gone, and no further shots came toward them.
Jon, looking through the scope on the sniper rifle, saw the hole appear in Tristan’s forehead and then crawled back from the parapet on top of a building two blocks away. He knew the shot was lucky more than skillful. The guards had been doing their jobs correctly until seconds before they reached the van. This was his only chance, and he took the shot. If Tristan had reached the courthouse, he might have survived to the end of the trial.
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