by Alex Myers
“How did you know I would be here?”
“I had the manager from the Baltimore Sanger Store telegraph me,” Jack said.
“Seems like a frivolous use of a telegraph line.”
“I come from an age of frivolous.
They turned the bend in the river and Jack’s Complex came into full view.
“I can see your place from here. Wow, Jack, that is some serious construction you have going on.”
Although they’d only broken ground a little over four months ago, amazingly there were already several large buildings visible from the water, and more were being built. Construction on the site was going nearly around the clock and the crews were just leaving for the day. He pulled the boat alongside the newly completed piers.
“This is all yours?”
“Mine, Murphy’s and Kaz’s. Neither one of them care a thing about money. We formed a corporation.”
A group of men waved as a boat pulled away from the other dock on the property.
“We’ll have the bunkhouse finished by next week.”
“Are you making money?”
“Hand over fist, not that I’m sure what that means, but yes, I’ve made more money in the last three months, relatively speaking, than in my entire life. So far I’ve nearly pumped every penny back into the business,” Jack said.
“With the exception of this boat, right? Quite a fancy little toy.”
“It is by far the fastest way to get back and forth to Manhattan. I look at it as an investment in transportation and mental health.”
“I had no idea you were such a good seaman,” Frances said helping Jack tie off the lines.
“I grew up on the ocean in Virginia Beach, and we always had a boat of one kind or another. There are probably a few other things I’m good at that you don’t know about yet.” He was happy to see a devilish smile from her. “Come on, I want to give you a little tour.”
“Where is everyone?”
“Murphy and Kaz went to Richmond two days ago and everyone else is done for the night.”
The mouth of Broad Creek was ablaze with the rays of the setting sun. They sat on a bench silhouetted by the golden light dancing off the waves of the miniature bay. She sat like a rock, rigidly still—Jack wasn’t even sure she was breathing. Her hand went to her face, her body began shaking, and then he heard her crying.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.
“I really like you,” she said, not trying to hide her tears, “but sometimes you make it difficult.”
Jack draped a big arm around her shoulder. “How do I make it difficult?”
“By being so impatient! Don’t you understand? I said before I need time.”
“We’ve known each other since February and we haven’t even kissed. At this rate we won’t be getting into serious necking until the turn of the century,” Jack teased.
“I had a life before I met you, a good life. I was perfectly happy. I’m good at my job, my family is extremely supportive, and I feel like I have a few things figured out. Sure, I had a failed marriage to a man I wonder if I ever even loved. I never planned for that to happen, but I also learned a lot of things from the experience, too.”
“If you never loved him, then why did you marry him?”
“I was young, and I guess I liked the idea of being married more than I liked being married. I never really have had a good relationship and I’ve been willing to let that part of my life go. I was just concentrating on me and working to improve myself. I almost got to the point that I didn’t miss it anymore.”
“Then what happened?” Jack asked.
“Then you came into my life—Mr. Time Traveler. It was the last thing I expected and I would have thought the last thing I wanted. There is no room for romance in my busy schedule. You treat me like a woman, but more importantly, you treat me like a person. Very few men outside of my father and uncle have ever done that. You look at me with passion in your eyes, but there is also understanding, warmth, and sincerity. When I talk to you, you really listen. I have never had anyone listen as you do. I have also never had anyone be as kind as you are. Maybe down deep inside there is a part of me that feels guilty—you give so much, and I so little—maybe there is a part of me that doesn’t feel like I deserve it.”
Jack could see the last of the day’s light play out in her eyes and color them beautiful. He wanted to rip away her hardened exterior, toss it in the water, and watch it sink from the weight of the stone it must feel like to her. What he saw under this rock-like carapace was the even stronger person underneath.
“You scare the hell out of me, Jack,” she said, finally turning to face him. “You scare me and thrill me, sooth me, yet anger me.”
“Anger you? How?”
Swallowing a sob that rose in her throat, she looked up and said, “You anger me because you confuse me. You’ve ripped the control from my hands and have made me a prisoner of my own heart. I’d like to think I’m stronger than all this.” She thought for a moment. “It angers me that I’m sitting here crying in front of you. It feels like I’m showing my weakness, my vulnerability. It makes me feel weak that I can’t spend an hour without thinking of your face, your hands . . . your smile. I feel angry telling you all of this—I’m not angry at you, I’m angry with myself.”
She spoke the words and Jack heard them in his heart. He heard more in her words than the words themselves could convey. He wrapped his arms around her and gently rocked her back and forth. He was conscious of his skin touching her warm flesh—it felt good.
The full moon had been out since the late afternoon and while it was no brighter than it had been a few minutes earlier, its silken light now danced on the water’s surface and the first stars of the evening were punching holes in the darkening roof of the night. Swiftly flying terns nearly skated across the face of the gently rolling waves playing some bird-like game of catch-me-if-you-can.
She sniffled and said, “I’m starting to feel things I’ve never felt before, things I know would be difficult to turn my back on. I need time to sort these feelings out.” She paused, then said, “Maybe I am just being silly, and getting caught up in the strangeness, the novelty of who you are and where you came from—the man from the future coming to change the past. I’m just not sure, and I need to be sure.”
He pushed a stray tendril of hair away from her cheek and said, “You liked me before I ever told you I was from the future.”
She did a double take on his perceptiveness. “Yes, but it’s not the same. I find myself daydreaming of what it would be like to be with you in your world. Sometimes we’re married and have children; other times it’s just the two of us living in your twenty-first century world. I will admit, though, I am drawn to you for whatever reason.”
“And I am to you, too.” She fit into the cradle of his arm in a wonderfully warm, cozy way. “Then if we are ever going to have a chance, you have to give me time. Go out and continue to find yourself…and you might find me right there beside you.”
He tilted her chin and softly, gently, then firmly and passionately kissed her. It was as though they had kissed a thousand times before, and in the ten heartbeats they shared, it was as if all the world was new and he was exactly where he was meant to be in time.
They sat holding hands in silence, both feeling the potential move like electricity between them, watching the last of the sun slip past the horizon and the stars spark the night afire.
“Mr. Riggs!” Jack let go of Frances’s hand and stood quickly facing the call.
“Who is it?” Jack said, peering into the darkness. Frances was up quickly and stood by his side.
“We’re friends, Mr. Riggs.”
Two men emerged from the land-based entrance to the compound. Both men were well-dressed, wearing tall stovepipe hats. The large man was immense. He was six-five and a good two inches taller than Jack and, at three hundred pounds, outweighed him by at least ninety pounds. His handsomely tailored suit couldn’t hide his
nearly grotesque features. He had a face pitted with acne scars and a fat piggish nose and a chin that flowed into a fat bulging neck. He was a bulldog of a man. The second more well-proportioned man stepped into the dim lamplight.
“What are you doing here?” Frances asked.
Jack turned to look at Frances who was staring at the second man.
“Hello, Frances. We’ve come to talk a little business with your boyfriend.” The man spoke with a southern accent and his voice was velvety.
Frances spit on the ground “Like hell you did—8:00 Friday night—you came here to spy or steal or to do both. And what if he is my boyfriend?”
“Frances, who are these people?” Jack asked as he stepped in between the men and Frances.
Frances stepped out from behind Jack, her voice dripped with anger. “I asked you what you are doing here.”
“Representing the interests of my client,” Abner Adkins said.
The big man stepped closer to Frances. Jack thought the ape was ready to hit her and she looked ready to take on the both of them.
“Frances, please….” Frances walked around Jack and meant to walk around the giant to get to the one who knew her name, when the giant reached out a giant-sized paw and popped it into the middle of Frances’s chest, knocking the air from her lungs.
Jack saw red. You could say whatever you wanted, but touching was a whole ‘nother matter.
Jack ducked under the man’s outstretched arm and launched his right shoulder into the giant’s ribcage. He heard a crack.
Frances used the diversion to gather her wits and once again try to make her way quickly around the man to get to the smaller one. She was nearly past when the big man stuck out his other hand and grabbed a hold of her hair. Both of Frances’s hands flew to the sides of her head when the giant yanked back and her feet sidled out from under her. At the same time, he brought his elbow down in the middle of Jack’s back.
Jack felt like the lever in the ring-the-bell strongman game. The large man made contact with such momentum that it slammed Jack into the ground. Jack looked over at Frances right before the big man kicked him in the guts. The blunt force of the kick lifted Jack off the ground and flipped him over onto his back.
All Jack could think of doing was catching his breath. He lay gasping for air when he realized that the smaller of the two strangers was straddling him, lifting him up and down gently by the belt, helping him breathe. He was starting to gather himself when he saw Frances standing next to him looking concerned and the giant passively behind her.
“What the hell, Frances?” Jack managed to say. “I got it, OK?” he said to the man standing over him. The man let go of Jack’s belt and stepped back away from him.
Jack looked back again to Frances, “Do you know these people?”
“I know him,“ she said, pointing at the smaller man.
Jack slowly got to his feet and shook off his pants. He gave Frances a look that said, “Come on, I’m waiting.”
“He’s my husband.”
“What?”
“My ex-husband. Jack, this is Abner Adkins”
The man stepped closer to Jack and extended his hand. “You can call me Abbey.”
“And this is Quentin’s brother Miles, right?”
The man almost growled as he looked at Jack.
“Please excuse me if I don’t shake your hand right now,” Jack said, “but what the hell is going on here?”
“Excuse Miles. He’s paid to protect me and I’m afraid to say he’s got more brawn than brains.”
The big man didn’t seem happy with what Adkins had said and he stood with his arms crossed, staring at Jack. Jack looked at Frances as she was intensely studying her ex-husband.
“What are you doing on my property, Mr. Adkins?” Jack asked.
“Abbey.” He smirked.
Without waiting for him to answer, Jack said, “Frances, did you know about this?”
Frances’s face snapped to Jack’s. “Don’t be ridiculous. I haven’t laid eyes on the jerk since I threw him out over a year ago.”
Turning to the men, Jack said, “So then why are you and your friend Miles here?”
“Jack—I can call you Jack, can’t I? As I said before, Miles is not my friend, he’s my associate—strictly hired help. But I can tell that you and I are going to be good chums.”
“My guess is spying,” Frances said to Jack. “I don’t think he has the courage to actually steal something. Embezzlement yes, larceny no.”
“You verbally spar with me just like in the old days. You certainly are beautiful when you’re mad. I think you might actually have missed me.”
“Think again, Abner. And I would suggest you not get yourself aroused and divert blood away from your brain.”
Jack bore down. “Why are you here?” he repeated. There was an intense edge to Jack’s voice, so much so that even Miles the giant did a double take.
“Listen, Jack. I am here representing my clients, a wealthy group of investors, that would very much like to contract your services.”
“Contract my services for what?”
“For your ideas, and then the practical application and fabrication.”
Jack looked to Frances for clarification, but she shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. “He was a patent lawyer in Richmond last I heard.”
“Williamsburg,” he clarified.
“What kind of ideas are you talking about?” Jack asked.
“Inventions.”
“Are we talking can openers or bicycles?”
“Weapons,” Abner said.
“For what purpose?” Jack asked.
“For stopping the war.”
“Tell you what, Abbey. I agree with Frances that it’s mighty strange for someone to be showing up to tend to affairs on a Friday night this late. Something’s fishy, all right. If you’re really serious, you can make an appointment and we can sit down during normal business hours.”
Miles looked angry and Adkins cowed him with a scowl. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the urgency of our mission.”
“And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how hesitant that I am to do business with a couple of trespassers.”
“But your girlfriend can be my personal reference.”
“Are you just trying to make me angry?” Jack asked.
“Actually, I’m not. I need your help. The South needs it.”
“The South? Who do you represent again?”
“I represent the SAC. We manufacture things.”
“Things?”
“Yeah, things. A little bit of this, some of that. Actually, quite a bit of that.”
“And what do you want from me?”
“Where were you born?” Abner asked.
“Around here, but I don’t see what th—“
Abner cut Jack off. “The South needs to be strong, to keep our niggers, to keep our rights, our pride.”
“I still am not getting you. What is it you want?” Jack asked, getting frustrated.
“The South needs an edge and we think you could help us. The expert in battle seeks his victory from strategic advantage and does not demand it from his men.”
“That’s Sun Tzu, you quoted Sun Tzu.” Jack recognized the quote from The Art of War, a book popular in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. He knew the texts were fourteen hundred years old, but he didn’t think people knew about them in the 1800’s.
“I need to go home,” Frances announced.
Jack couldn’t take his eyes from Abner’s self-satisfied smirk; he knew the man was smart—smart and dangerous. He finally turned to Frances. “I can get the boat ready and we can head back.”
“You can go back with us,” Abner said. “We’re heading back to the city and we’ll pass right by your daddy’s place. We have a coach waiting outside the gate.”
Miles looked at Abner and gave a head shake ‘no.’
“I think we’re fine,” Jack said. “We don’t need your help.”
But Frances looked straight at Adkins and said, “OK, let’s go.”
Abbey’s smile nearly broke his face and Jack looked stunned.
“I thought we could spend more time together,” Jack said and despised the words immediately. “Why?”
“It’s late and I don’t feel comfortable sailing at night,” Frances admitted.
Jack wondered why she had pulled such a one-eighty. Abner “Abbey” Adkins was brimming over with the unexpected victory.
“Jack, I’ll be fine. Abner may be a lot of things, and most of them bad, but I can trust him to get me home safely. After all, he was my husband.”
“Fine and dandy” Jack tried to play it off, but he felt hurt and disappointed. “Have a safe trip.”
“And you, Mr. Riggs—I’m sorry—Jack—if I were you. I’d think about my offer.”
“And you, Mr. Adkins, make an appointment next time, because the next time the fence will be electrified and there’ll be guards on duty.”
Jack watched the men turn to leave and Frances came close enough for only Jack to hear, “I’m doing this for you. I don’t want any more violence and I want to find out what he’s up to.” She turned and left without saying goodbye.
CHAPTER 33
August 1856
I Followed Them
“Saw your light on, glad you’re still awake.” Murphy stepped from the shadows into the light of Jack’s front porch.
“Got some things on my mind.”
“Woman issues?”
“No. Yes . . . I’m not sure, seems to be bigger than that. I thought you were in Richmond,” Jack said.
“I’m not a dilly-dallier,” Murphy said. “I did what needed to be done and came back.”
“You hired a metal shop foreman?”
“I hired fourteen artisans. There was a whole shop of these craftsmen that lost their lease because of some kind of zoning issue. They needed a place to work, and we got ‘em.”
“Where is Kaz?”
“He’s still up in Richmond sniffing around after that woman he’s stupid about. Funny thing is, I saw her here in town tonight on my way back home.”
