by Imogen Rose
“Hmm. Do you think this has anything to do with Simla?” Constance wondered.
“Constance, wait. There’s more,” Morgana said, passing her a sheet of paper. “I got this from the station. This is a picture of the burglar they’re looking for.”
Constance, Grayson and Inez studied the black and white photocopy of a picture of Raj. Constance froze.
Inez shook her head. “How is this possible? Couldn’t it be someone who just looks like Raj? That’s got to be the most likely explanation.”
Constance nodded. “Yes, but the FBI must think it could be him. Why else would they have been looking for Simla? It’s the only thing that makes any sense. But, how did Raj get back here? Get Larry on the phone and ask him to come over right away. Ask him if the portal has been used,” she directed, looking over at Grayson who was already dialing.
After the call, Grayson relayed that Larry was at Ames and was sure that the portal had not been used since Olivia went through. “I’ve got a number of missed calls and voice mails. I’m afraid my phone was turned off. I need to check them. Please excuse me.”
As Grayson checked his messages, they all heard a thud from the kitchen and rushed through to find Simla and Justin sitting on the floor.
“Justin!” Grayson exclaimed and hurried over to his son as Morgana helped Simla up.
“Come in to the living room and have a seat,” Constance suggested, ushering them over to sit on the comfortable, oversized armchairs. They both looked exhausted but happy. She gave them a moment to breathe while they gathered their thoughts and sipped the tea she had handed them.
“I’m so glad to be back,” Simla said, looking around at everyone.
Constance nodded. “I received word from Amadea about your recent trials. I am glad you haven’t been hurt and are now back with us. Was the journey back okay?”
“Yeah, thank you,” Justin replied. “I’m really tired, though. I guess you are, too, Simla?”
“Yes! After some rest, I just want to get back to school and a regular life again. I’m done with the wandering stuff.”
“Simla, I’m a bit surprised to hear you say that. Did Potomal mistreat you in any way?” Constance queried.
“He made me train a lot. I wasn’t into it at all. I really only wanted to learn to wander so I could get back to Dad, but now…,” she paused.
“Now, what?” Constance prompted.
“Well, he’ll contact me when he can, I guess,” she said vaguely.
“Simla, take a look at this,” Constance said, handing the photocopied picture over to her, watching her carefully. She looked genuinely puzzled.
“It’s a photo of Dad… where did you find it?” Simla asked excitedly.
“We got it from the local police. It’s a picture of a man who burglarized a house belonging to two elderly ladies earlier today.”
“You’re kidding!”
Constance shook her head, as Justin groaned.
“Justin?” Grayson queried.
“Shit.”
“Justin,” his father warned, “language.”
“I’m sorry,” he said apologetically. “Raj was taken by Potomal. By the time we were rescued, Raj had disappeared. I assumed that Potomal took Raj with him. But, I guess I was wrong, if he’s out stealing from old ladies.”
There was a stony silence in the room as everyone tried to digest this new turn of events.
“Justin, do you have any idea why Potomal took Raj?” Constance asked, once she had absorbed his information.
“Well, Simla tried to escape from Potomal’s clutches, but Potomal wasn’t done with her yet. So, to keep her there, Potomal brought Raj in and basically told Simla that if she didn’t do what she was told he’d dump Raj at the FBI,” Justin summarized.
Constance held out her hands to Inez, Morgana and Grayson for a brief conference. Her thoughts flowed to them effortlessly. Raj must have been dumped here as Potomal had threatened. Simla had no doubt provoked it somehow, but it didn’t matter, the end result is what mattered. Raj was on the loose and the FBI was on his trail. What a mess.
“Simla, what are your thoughts about all this? Your father could be here in Mountain View.”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I just want him to be safe. Being here is dangerous for him, but I do want to see him.”
Was it time to tell Simla that her father killed her mother, Constance wondered. She really didn’t want to, but it might be the only way to keep Simla safe, away from her dad. She looked up at Inez who was shaking her head at her.
Grayson interrupted their exchange. “The FBI agent, Claire Adams, left me voice mail asking me to contact her. Shall I do that to find out what’s going on? It may help us with our decisions….”
Constance nodded as Grayson made contact with the agent. “Agent Adams? I’m returning your call.” Grayson chatted with the agent while Constance prepared some snacks for the kids. “So, what did she say, Grayson?” she asked, as she laid the tray of snacks on the coffee table and watched Simla and Justin help themselves enthusiastically.
“She said that there had been a possible Raj sighting today. She had received an anonymous tip that he would be at an address, so she investigated. Raj appeared at a cottage a bit outside Mountain View, owned by two elderly ladies. He spent some time having tea and chatting with the ladies before helping himself to their valuables and car and then he just took off. Agent Adams told me that she put agents on duty outside our home in case Raj tries to contact Simla. She wants to come over and talk to Simla, but I said that we’d been away for the day and were just about to go home, and asked her to come in the morning instead. So, we should be going home. I think the house will be safe. It looks like we’re surrounded by agents.”
“Safe?” Simla muttered. “What exactly do you think Dad’s going to do? All he wants is to see me. Is that so bad? He’s not a murderer or anything.”
Constance flinched. “Simla, just go home and rest. We’ll meet again in the morning and talk.”
“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “I’m going to school tomorrow. I’m done talking.”
~
The clock in Raj’s room showed 5:00 AM. That meant it was ten in the morning in Leeds right now and Dillard should be awake. Raj had been up fretting all night and was now growing more and more frustrated with the bedside telephone. He tried calling Dillard six times and left six messages. Why didn’t he call back? What if Dillard didn’t return his call at all?
Could he pull the same deception that Simla had so brilliantly executed? Could he make Olivia believe that he had access to Dillard and get her to mail him another set of the blueprints? Would she fall for that? His eyelids flickered as tiredness engulfed him and he finally submitted to the darkness of sleep.
Olivia’s bedside phone startled her back to consciousness. With sleep-heavy eyes still closed, she reached over for the receiver. Rupert was still fast asleep beside her, worn out from their recent events. They’d only fallen asleep a few hours ago.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Olivia.”
Blood rushed from Olivia’s core as she hastily stood up and tiptoed into the hallway with the receiver, making sure not to disturb Rupert. She felt sick.
“Dr. Darley?”
“Yes, who’s this?” she asked with trepidation, knowing the answer already. The voice was unmistakable.
“Raj Sen,” the voice confirmed.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Just another copy of the blueprints. I may also need to ask you to take me back through the portal if things don’t quiet down here in Mountain View.”
Olivia was astounded at the nerve of that man.
“Dr. Darley?”
“I cannot believe the audacity! What on earth makes you think that you’re in any position to make demands? I’m going to call the FBI right away,” Olivia said, and hung up. The phone rang right back. She sighed. “What?”
“Recognize this phone number?”
Olivia shuddered as Raj recited the numerals to Dillard’s cell phone. “Yes,” she whispered.
“I’m going to text your cell with an email address this afternoon. You’ll have one hour to send the blueprints to me. Don’t be late,” he said menacingly, and hung up.
Olivia bit into her lower lip as she slipped back into the bed, snuggling up close to Rupert. She put her head on his chest and listened to the rhythmic sounds of his breathing. She felt a hand go up and stroke the back of her hair.
“Where did you go, hon?”
“Sorry, did I wake you?”
“Mmm. What’s up, Ollie? Why are you awake so early? It’s only just after six.”
“The phone woke me up.”
Rupert opened his eyes and turned to look down at her. “Who was it? Is everything okay?”
“No,” she whispered, and paused.
“Ollie… you’ve got me worried,” he said, pulling her up with him and sitting back in the bed. “Tell me what’s up.”
“Raj Sen called me.”
Rupert’s eyes narrowed.
“He wants another copy of the blueprints. He’s going to text me with his email address this afternoon and I’ll have an hour to send them to him.”
“That’s ridiculous! Let’s call Agent Adams.”
“He said he’d contact Dillard and tell him everything if I don’t,” she whispered.
Rupert rubbed his forehead. “Which Dillard? What dimension is Raj in?”
“Well, he has to be in this one, since he called me,” she said frustrated. “So, if I don’t send the prints over in time, Raj is going to call Dillard in Leeds.”
“Is that all he wanted?”
“For now, I guess. He was rambling something about if the FBI doesn’t let up he may have to get me to take him through the portal again. I’d be happy to do that!”
“Okay, so email the prints over. I’m going to have to let Constance know what’s going on. She’s coordinating our security detail. I should have checked in with her when we got back, but I was too tired. I’ll call her now.”
Olivia watched Rupert as he talked to Constance on the phone, filtering out all the sounds and concentrating fully on him. He wasn’t human. It was a concept she couldn’t even begin to understand without further explanation from him. He looked human. Everything about him was human, down to the way he felt, smelled. He did everything humans do: eat, talk, laugh, cry… nothing that she considered paranormal. He didn’t have superhuman strength, the ability to make himself invisible, time travel, or immortality–as far as she knew. But the shocking fact was that she really didn’t know anything at all. Apart from that she loved him completely.
Rupert’s facial expression changed as he was speaking. He’d seemed stressed to start with, but now he was looking downright agitated. She tuned back into the vocal world, too late to listen in on the conversation as he placed the receiver back in its cradle.
“Rup?”
“She knew.”
“Knew?”
As she listened to Rupert update her on the events in Mountain View from the previous day, she felt unexpectedly calm. Raj Sen was back. So what? All he wanted was the blueprints, no problem there. Her only concern was the kids’ safety. Of course, there was still the worry of what would happen when it was discovered that the blueprints wouldn’t, in fact, manufacture anything functional. That was, however, years down the line, and whoever bought them would most certainly hunt Raj down. She would worry about that when the time came. For now, they were surrounded by a formidable security detail that not even Potomal was expected to be able to breech. She sighed as Rupert finished telling her about Raj’s escapade with the old ladies.
“So, I think that we should go ahead and send Raj the blueprints and hopefully we’ll be rid of him,” Rupert concluded.
“The blueprints to the nonfunctional prototype?” Olivia asked for confirmation. It was only missing a small detail, but a critical one.
He nodded, watching the door to the bedroom pry open. Ella bounded in and jumped onto the bed.
“Dad, where’s the dog?”
“She should be in the house, let’s go and find her,” Rupert said, and took her hand as she dragged him out.
Olivia got herself ready in the meantime and was all set for the day when Ella came back in, this time with Rupert and Arizona.
“Mommy, she’s gone!” sobbed Ella. “We’ve looked everywhere.”
“Honey, we’ll find her, she can’t have gone far. Someone probably noticed her all alone in the house when we were away and took her somewhere safe.” They’d forgotten all about Gertrude in their trials. Poor thing, where could she have gone? Olivia was mortified that they had overlooked Gertrude.
“Mom, can we get another dog if we can’t find her?”
“Charming!” muttered Arizona, and walked out.
“Hon, we’ll find her,” Rupert reassured her. “Now, get ready for school and then come down for breakfast.”
“I feel so bad. Gertrude was left in the house all by herself,” Olivia whispered.
“No, hon. Larry was here when we left. I’m sure he’d have made sure she was okay,” Rupert said, and dialed Larry. The conversation was brief. “Larry dropped Gertrude off with Inez.”
“Phew!”
“Come on, let’s head down to breakfast.”
~
Raj couldn’t help jumping for joy once he’d spoken with Olivia. He even waltzed around the armchair twice with the musty-smelling bed pillow as his dance partner, which then bounced against the wall as he threw it with as much force as he could muster. Goodbye grubby room. He walked out the door, slamming it hard, unaware of the phone ringing on the other side.
He got into the Corolla and drove to San Francisco. Much as he wanted to see Simla, for now he would accept that he had lost her. She was probably still with Potomal. She’d find him when she was ready. His main concern for now had to be to get himself established. A nice mansion by the beach and a boat would be his priorities. He might even buy some of those fancy Hermès scarves–that Olivia always wore–to present as gifts to the many ladies who would be guests on his yacht. Yes, life would be sweet, as Simla would say. And she would eventually come and share in it, he felt certain of that. And, like a good father, he would forgive her recent lapses.
Once he entered the city of San Francisco, he drove into Chinatown and parked by the Internet Café on Bush Street. It was busy. He got himself a large coffee and logged onto the first free terminal. He registered with Hotmail and then texted the address to Olivia using the pre-paid phone he had picked up earlier.
Then he relaxed, surfing the web for beachfront properties with boat docks. Miami looked good, but it was still within the FBI’s jurisdiction. Perhaps he should consider something abroad, maybe the Bahamas or Costa Rica? But how would he get there without a passport? His face broke into a smile. He nodded at the lady opposite him who thought that he was smiling at her. He wasn’t, of course. He was smiling because it had just occurred to him that money buys everything–including passports.
A check of Hotmail revealed that he had a message from Olivia. The subject line of the message was empty as was the body. Olivia had simply attached the zip file containing the blueprint images. Perfect. He pulled out his cell and called Dr. Masterson. He would be on his way to the Bahamas in no time.
~
Olivia sat back in her chair, wedging her feet out of the Manolos. It was done. She’d sent the prints. Was it possible that they were finally rid of that insane man? She momentarily wondered what his plans were for the blueprints. Who was the buyer, and what would they do when they found out that they couldn’t make it work? Would they hunt Raj down? Would he have the good sense to get as far away from here as possible, for Simla’s sake?
Her fingers brushed against the metal of her necklace as she went to rub the side of her neck. She took it off and laid it down on the desk in front of her, examining it closely. Quantum. It had become
a part of her; she’d had it for as long as she could remember. She couldn’t even recall when it had been given to her exactly. She’d have to ask her mom. This was the necklace that started the bizarre turn of events that had become her life. She may never have met Rupert had it not been for this pendant falling off her neck onto the ice. That was her tipping point–this necklace falling off. It was scary to think that such a seemingly insignificant event had steered her life.
The buzzer rang and Olivia let Rupert into her office.
“Hey, Ollie! All done?”
“Yes, I sent the prints. I don’t think I’ll hear back, but you never know.” She shrugged and threw herself down beside him on the couch. “Did you get Gertrude?”
“I did. Ollie, there’s something I need to discuss with you, something that’s going to be difficult for you to hear. So, I want you to remain calm, and don’t get worked up. It will all be okay in the end.”
“You’re really worrying me now.”
Rupert kissed her gently. “Honey, it’s about Gertrude. As you know, Inez and Gertrude spent some time with each other today. Inez said that Gertrude doesn’t look happy or healthy at the moment.”
Olivia wasn’t entirely surprised that Gertrude may be looking a bit depressed. Their busy lifestyles had diminished the time they spent with Gertrude, but no more so than other families with pets. “I have noticed that she’s been looking a bit down, but I assumed it was because we’ve all been busy and no one was paying any attention to her. I’ll get the girls on it. We’ll make it a point to spend more time with her. I’ll draw up a schedule.”
“Ollie, I think it’s more than that. This may come as a bit of a shock to you, but Inez feels that Gertrude should go back to the other dimension. It wasn’t right to bring her through the portal.”
“Oh, that’s ridiculous,” Olivia dismissed.
“I want you to talk to Inez about it,” Rupert insisted. “I’ve brought Gertrude home for now, though. Arizona took off with David earlier, so she hasn’t seen Gertrude yet. I left a message on her phone to tell her that she is home.”
