Justification For Killing

by Larry Edward Hunt

  Arriving at the front door, the Captain jumped from his car and bolted through the unlocked, glass doors into the SCAR lobby. A group of engineers, scientist and technicians along with Lou, Bud, Spook and Tinker, were standing around buzzing like bees to each other. Seeing the Captain come through the front doors, the group became graveyard quite.

  “Okay, someone talk to me. What’s going on?” Were the first words out of Grandpa’s mouth, “and why aren’t you downstairs trying to figure this thing out?”

  Spook hurried to meet Captain Scarburg halfway across the lobby, “Captain, we did not want to disturb anything until you arrived. There might be evidence. Evidence we didn’t want compromised until you had a chance to review it.”

  “Good! Good thinking Spook. Give me a run-down.”

  “Captain, I’m afraid you know about as much as we do. I got the call from security about the same time as you. We all hurried in, but were waiting on you before going downstairs. All we know is the movement detection alarm sounded at exactly 4:35 a.m. You were notified a minute or so later. The whole staff had the disturbing word within five minutes. As you can see, we all hastened to get down here to find out what the heck is going on.”

  “So, your saying no one has gone down to the basement lab?”

  “Yes, that is correct Captain, no one has gone down to the basement. The guard locked the elevator at the first sound of the alarm per Security Protocol. No one has gone down, and certainly no one has come up on the elevator or the stairs. If a thief were in the laboratory, he is still there.”

  “Excellent work Spook. I want the security guard, you, Tinker, Lou, Bud and myself to go downstairs first. Once we have scoped out the situation the others may come down. You know there might be a slim chance this could be a false alarm. Where are Forrest, Ryan Watkins and Mike Rousseau?

  “I hope ‘false alarm’ is the case Captain, but as far as the location of Forrest - the security people said they could not reach him on his emergency phone number. They couldn’t contact Olive Marie either, but Mike and Ryan are over there next to the elevator waiting on you.”

  “Right!” The Captain said softly. “Darn, I just knew he would not be here.” He had all but guaranteed to himself Ryan Rousseau had been the Pegasus thief, now he was not so sure.

  “What was that Captain? I didn’t understand, is something the matter?”

  “No, sorry Spook, just thinking out loud. Come on let’s get downstairs.”

  As he finished keying in the elevator security code, Spook turned and questioned, “Captain, how could someone steal Pegasus? That would be impossible. The only two men capable of energizing the time machine are standing by the elevator, Ryan Rousseau and Mike Watkins, and I talked to them both. Unless they are better liars than I am an interrogator, and I was trained by the best the CIA had, I believe they are telling the truth. They know nothing about the disappearance of Pegasus.”

  The elevator descended to the basement laboratory in a matter of seconds. The bell sounded to indicate the door was opening. The group hesitated for a moment and allowed the guard with his drawn pistol to step out into the main hallway leading to the launch facility. The few steps he took to reach the two swinging doors were covered quickly. Pushing open the doors the large circular room was ablaze with lights. It appeared every source of illumination, from the bulbs in the machinery to the overhead spotlights, was aglow. The guard turned and motioned for the group still lingering in the elevator to follow. At first glimpse, it appeared no intruder was inside the laboratory.

  It became quite obvious, the alarm had been activated due to the tightness of the security system – the spot in the center of the room where the machine usually rested was empty – the scent of ozone was still apparent in the air. Another thing was quite apparent, their worse fears were realized - Pegasus was gone!

  “Come in here Captain Scarburg!” Spook yelled from Mike Watkins’s control room. Hurrying into Mike’s office, he saw Spook holding a garment of clothes in his outstretched hand.

  “What are you holding Spook?”

  “A coat Captain – Forrest’s coat. I know it is his because Tinker and I gave it to him for Christmas!”

  “What in the world would Forrest’s coat be doing down here? He hasn’t worked with Mike for a couple of weeks. Spook call back upstairs and have Mike and the rest of the staff come down. Maybe they can see something we are missing.”

  Mike entered the launch facility and immediately went to his office. “Mike when was the last time Forrest worked with you?”

  “It has been a few weeks, at least. Why do you ask Captain?”

  “His jacket was lying on your desk... do you know any reason why his coat would be here?”

  “All I can say for certain Captain, at five p.m. last night when we shut the lab down and went home, Forrest’s coat was not on my desk. I have no idea where it came from, but if you want you can follow me back to the Security room, and we can take a look at the security tapes. As you know, there are cameras covering every inch of this facility. A fly cannot travel across the launch room without being recorded on tape. Also, the banks of computers at the side of the room record every gauge, every instrument, every knob turned, and every switch activated. Nothing in this lab goes unnoticed or unrecorded.”

  “Mike, I am going back upstairs to my office to prepare a strong pot of black coffee. If it wern’t so early, I might have to include something a touch stronger than coffee. Mike, who in the world could have stolen my Pegasus?”

  A voice from the back of the room interjected, “I can assure you Captain Scarburg it was none of my personnel here in the lab. Only Mike and I had sufficient knowledge to launch Pegasus.”

  What? Thought the Captain. That’s Ryan Rousseau…! He couldn’t be the thief! Directing his question to Rousseau, “Obviously it was not you two, but then who?” Agitated, the Captain flung his arms into the air and announced, “I want the guilty party. Mike get on those tapes, let’s see who the culprits were.”

  “I want you and your team to scrutinize those computer tapes. Go over the video frame by frame. I will be in my office, bring the results to me as soon as possible. Before I go, may I have a word with you in private Mike?”

  “Mike, I did not want to speak to you in the presence of the others. What I have to say needs to remain between the two of us. I do not want Ryan Rousseau involved in this search.”

  “Captain? He is the Chief of Experimental Design and the Flight Director. He would know more about Pegasus than any of us. He would be the perfect person to solve this problem!”

  “Yes, you’re correct, but… I should have told you earlier, my last mission was sabotaged. I believe Rousseau manipulated my flight control computer. The wrong dates and times had been input into the onboard master controller. If it had not been for an industrious individual I found in Celina, Texas in 1963 I would still be marooned or somewhere in another Parallel Universe, in God knows what century.”

  “Wait a minute Captain, if you suspected Rousseau you must have also suspected me. I was the person responsible for inputting the computer data.”

  “No, you were not a suspect in the sabotage attempt Mike. I knew, after you told me about your genius inspired Pegasus communication system you were not involved. If you wanted me lost in the unknowns of the Universe, why go to the trouble to develop a way for us to communicate across time and space?”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence Captain. Go have your coffee, and I will get on these computer readouts, and have a look at the security footage from around 4 a.m. this morning. I’ll find out who our thief is, I guarantee it.”

  The time was 5:05 a.m., Thursday, December 6, 2012.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  DOWN AN ICY ROAD

  Leaving the Ponderosa on their way down Clem and Penelope’s long, snow covered road, which led to the main highway, Olive Marie remarked, “Forrest, I’m scared. This snow is getting pretty deep. I think we should turn around and go back to the
safety of the Ponderosa. I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “You’re doing fine Sis, just keep’er between the ditches. With this snow and the speed we’re making, it’s going to take quite a while to get to Clint Murdock’s place. That’s assuming we don’t get lost or stuck. I figure it will be in the middle of the afternoon before we get there, and it’s imperative we be at his place tonight. We have only one chance and tonight’s the night.”

  Slipping, sliding and churning on through the snow they finally reached the Celina to Dallas highway. “Turn right Sis, Dallas is that way,” he said pointing south with his finger. “We will follow this road until we reach Highway 279. That Texas state highway should take us directly into Dallas. The Murdock place is on the north side of Dallas, to the left of 279. You keep this thing on the road, when we get close to Dallas I will look for the Addison Airport turn-off. It should be on our right. If I remember the map correctly, the Cedar Springs Road should be right across the highway.

  “Okay, sounds good Forrest. Now what is the ‘Plan’ once we get to the Murdock place?”

  “Well Sis, The thirteen-acre estate comes complete with seven bedrooms, eight baths and a mere 19,600 square feet of floor space. The antebellum styled home is located at the end of a long, water oak lined driveway. The drive ends in a circle, in front of the main residence.”

  “Thanks Forrest for the tour, I don’t want to buy it... just explain ‘The Plan’.”

  “Oh, sorry Sis, I got carried away. Okay, ‘The Plan’, there is only one way in and only one way out of the mansion – it’s the long driveway. I figure we can park across the street from the driveway entrance and wait until around 6 or 6:30 tonight. While waiting we will change into Clem’s chauffeur and Penelope’s maid outfit, and when the time comes we drive down the driveway. That’s it Sis, I’m blank, I have nothing more.”

  “What do you mean, ‘That’s it’! That’s It! Are you crazy Forrest? Where is ‘The Plan’?

  “Okay, I have exhausted all I had on ‘The Plan’, I only figured on getting to the Murdock house. Now I need to come up with something else, let me think...”

  “Okay genius,” Olive Marie said. “What about this: the party will probably begin, I’d say, around sevenish or so. The guests should start arriving about 7:00 or 7:30. You stay outside, dressed in your cute, black, chauffeur’s uniform and take note of the guests coming into the house. Just mingle with the other chauffeurs; they will never get wise to your plans.

  “I will, at the same time, go around back to the kitchen entrance. I will tell the person in charge of the serving staff that I was sent over from the temp agency to help with the party. They probably have so many servants; they will never notice one more server. Once I get inside, I’ll carry drinks and hors d’oeuvres to the guests and listen to any conversation I might hear. If I see President Johnson come in, I will try to work near the room where he is supposed to have his ‘assassination’ meeting and see if I can hear what they are talking about.”

  “Dog-gone it Sis, that sounds like an interesting plan, it might actually work. In fact, that was almost the same plan I was about to come up with.”

  “Yeah, right, but we have another problem Forrest, the tank was full when we left Grandpa’s cow pasture, but by the time we get to Clint Murdock’s estate we will be running on fumes. Do you have any money?”

  “No problem Sis, I have about two hundred dollars in my wallet.”

  “What type money?”

  “What do you mean what type? Fives, tens and twenties... good ole American greenbacks, cash, dough, you know, spending money.”

  “Forrest, you cannot use our ‘new’ currency. Remember we are in 1963!! Our money is not real to these people. Your money is from the 21st century. It is fake money to them. Wait, what is that look you are giving me? What? What is it Forrest?”

  “I left some money for Clem and Penelope on their hallway table. Two ten-dollar bills - two new 2012 ten-dollar bills!”

  “What are we going to do Forrest? The money is probably not a problem anyway, I’m sure all the service stations are closed due to this blizzard.”

  “Give me a minute, let me think... We can’t worry about Clem and Penelope now, but, you’re right, gas is a big problem. I noticed a garden hose and an empty five-gallon gasoline can in the bed of this truck. We need to find a car and ‘borrow’ some of its gas.”

  “You mean steal it!!! Forrest I’m ashamed of you, stealing someone’s gas!!”

  “You got a better idea, or do you just want to sit in this truck and let your toes and fingers freeze when we run out of gas? In addition to being froze we will miss the Murdock party, besides you already said I couldn’t leave any more of my ‘new’ money for payment, so yes ‘steal’ it, it’s the only way. I’m sorry, but sometimes a wrong is not necessarily wrong. There are international laws in the case of emergencies that cover situations just like ours.”

  “Where did you hear such a ridiculous idea?”

  “I don’t know, but it sounds better than ‘stealing’.”

  Thinking hard about their predicament, she reluctantly said, “I’ll keep an eye out for an empty car where the owner has abandoned their vehicle. Hope we can find one with a full tank!”

  The likelihood of finding such an automobile seemed particularly good – no one else was crazy enough to be out on this wind and snow driven road on this cold, blustery, wintery day. The automobiles that had ventured out and gotten caught in the storm were being left unattended up and down the county road leading to the main Highway 279.

  A few miles down the snow covered Farm to Market Road Forrest noticed a Texas highway sign. Although, partially covered with windblown snow, he could barely read the numerals “279”. The rest of the sign was illegible, but he was sure it was indicating the main thoroughfare lay just ahead. Before entering the road south to Dallas, they had noticed a large grouping of cars had been left on the side of the road. Their owners abandoned them to seek shelter from the blizzard. Perfect opportunity thought Forrest.

  “Stop anywhere in the road Sis. You cannot pull over to the side, but it doesn’t matter there is no traffic on this road anyway. Stay here in the cab, keep the heater going and I will be right back.”

  Jumping out of the truck, Forrest grabbed the five-gallon can and a six-foot section of rubber garden hose. He had not lost his siphoning skills, in a couple of minutes he had a can full of fuel. Using a funnel from the back of the truck Forrest had the five gallons poured into their tank in no time; however, he could not pass up the opportunity – he quickly moved on to another vehicle and withdrew another can of gasoline. Getting back into the truck after pouring the last five gallons into their tank, he tried to thaw his frozen hands with the warm air coming from the heater vent. “Ooh Forrest, you smell of gasoline.”

  “Fine, complain of the smell as you stay nice and warm for the next few hours.”

  Once they started down the main highway, Highway 279 to Dallas, instead of making better time, stranded vehicles left in the road hampered their progress. Olive Marie had to maneuver around the abandoned cars and trucks, paying close attention not to slide into any of them or off the road into the roadside ditch.

  Little did Forrest and Olive Marie realize it, but their Pegasus ride back to 2012 was at that precise moment, beginning to dematerialize and was about to disappear. For the last five minutes, it had been sitting in full view in the cow pasture, northwest of Celina, Texas with its entrance hatch opened widely awaiting someone to enter; however, no one would enter since the two people it was waiting on were at this very minute traveling down the snowbound Texas Highway 279 from Celina to Dallas, Texas.

  They were about to miss their Pegasus return flight home!

  The time was 12:29, Thursday, November 21.

  Chapter Forty

  GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

  Captain Scarburg was finishing his second cup of coffee preparing to pour his third when the door to his office burst open. He had been a
t his office since early yesterday morning and had pulled an all-nighter waiting on answers. It was a few minutes past 4 a.m., almost twenty-four hours since Pegasus ‘vanished’. Startled, Grandpa turned to seek the source of the intrusion. It was Mike Watkins.

  “What the devil Mike... come on in... hope you have good news.”

  “Sorry, Captain, but I knew you wanted answers to the missing Pegasus, and you wanted them as soon as possible. I got’em. As you know, we worked all day yesterday and on through the night. The persons who took Pegasus were clever; they switched off all the cameras and disabled all our intrusion detection devices in effect, at the time Pegasus disappeared. We could not see anything. We had no apparent photographic images, but they did leave a few nice fingerprints on the buttons and knobs they turned to change the flight setting. We extracted the prints and have spent most of the last twenty-four hours having the FBI identify whom they were.”

  “Grab a seat Mike and fill me in. What did you find out?”

  “Captain, I’ve got some good news and some bad.”

  “Oh Mike, please...okay, give me the good news first.”

  “We know who ‘stole’ Pegasus.”

  “All right give me the bad.”

  “It was Forrest and Olive Marie!”

  “What? You must be mistaken! Not Forrest and Olive Marie, they are probably at home right this very minute.”

  “Already checked Captain, both are missing.”

  “I’m not totally surprised, especially after we found his coat, and neither of them came into work yesterday either. They both were upset because I would not let them have an actual part in going back to Dallas. What other information do you have Mike?”