by Fred Holmes
“Now Bunny, don’t irritate Bruno,” Lida said. “He doesn’t like to be irritated.”
Dee finally agreed. “We have no choice. So, I guess, yes, we’ll cooperate.”
“Untie her, Bruno!” Lida called.
Vinnie untied Dee, and then he, Bunny, and Lida sat around a table. Vinnie waited outside, but they knew he wasn’t far away.
“Here’s the way it works,” Lida started. “I’m not going into all the science. Just what you need to know.”
“Dee, you’ll be injected with the RTSL formula that’ll take you back to 1864 and put you in, or close to, the tent where we think Rummy could be. We know from written recollections by a Confederate prisoner that they started digging a tunnel on August 24, and they completed it October 7, when ten Confederate prisoners successfully made their escape.
“You need to get there before they escape. If I know Rummy, he’ll be right in the middle of it. He won’t stay and risk dying from any number of diseases. He’ll be in the tunnel with them.”
“That seems pretty simple, but there’s one thing that bothers me. I’m an Indian. I don’t think Indians were looked upon favorably by the ‘white man’ during the Civil War.”
“That’s true. Most people classified Indians in the same category as blacks. But even with poor treatment, over 28,000 Indians from various tribes fought in the War. Many joined the Union forces, but several thousand joined the Confederate army. The renegade Cherokee, Stand Watie, advanced to the rank of General and led several guerrilla battles before he was defeated. We’ll give you enough background to convince the Confederate prisoners that you were a scout for Stand Watie, captured on a scouting mission.
“That’s the reason you’ll arrive alone. They won’t treat you any better than a black, even though some Indians owned black slaves. It doesn’t matter, because you’re only going to be there long enough to give Rummy his capsule and then return to the present.”
“From our research,” Bunny said, “As poor as you think it is, we know that only live tissue that contains DNA can make the trip. Dee will go in naked.” She blushed. “How do you expect him to carry the capsules?”
“In the past,” Lida said, “When we had access to all of Dyna-Tyme’s medical and dental facilities, we could make removable teeth. We recently designed a way to make your skin into a pouch with the skin sewn together using thread made from some of your tendons. As long as it carries DNA, pouch and capsule will make the trip. By the way, the capsules are made from bone so they can make the trip. You’re not going to be there long, and the pouch will only have to make one trip.
“We’ll insert, subcutaneously, your return trip capsule underneath your right bicep. Easy for you to reach, yet hard to crush accidentally. You remove Rummy’s capsule from the pouch. He ingests it and is sent to the present time. You crush your capsule, and you’re back here in twenty seconds. Mission accomplished.”
“It’s one thing for us to agree,” Dee said, “but you’re not familiar with Erik. I assure you he won’t give up easily. Our client will pay half a million for this system, and Erik wants the money.”
“Erik needs the money,” Bunny said. “This payoff will be our biggest score.”
Lida thought for a minute. “You aren’t giving them the source code, but a functional copy of the system—”
Dee interrupted. “Our clients need enough source code so they can operate it completely, including overlays, RTSL, and everything to do with time travel. They’re not interested in the medical applications. They’re only interested in obtaining power.”
“Do you think Erik would be interested in splitting it five ways?” Lida asked. “Four for us and another share split between Vinnie, Mike, and Bruno? They’d be happy with thirty large each. That would leave us with a little for miscellaneous expenses.”
“I think Erik wants three hundred,” Bunny said. “He won’t be happy with less.”
“You need to talk to him,” Lida told Dee. “It’s a hundred or nothing. Besides, I don’t think you want to be convinced by Vinnie and Bruno.”
“What about me?” Bunny asked.
“You’ll stay here and keep Bruno occupied. Vinnie will go with Dee. And Dee, you need to be back here tomorrow, that’s Saturday, with Erik. That’ll gives us Sunday to finish up and get Dee ready to go.”
“What about Mike Beasley?” Dee asked.
“I’m meeting with him Monday. I don’t think he’ll be much of a problem. He has a wife and children. They always make great leverage.”
“So when do you plan on sending Dee back in time?” Bunny asked.
“No later than Tuesday, possibly Monday night.”
“I don’t quite understand,” Dee said. “It’s only September 25. We’re a few days away from October 7. We’ll be way early.”
“We’re not bound by our date here in the present,” Lida said. “We can set the RTSL for any date or place in the past that we want. We’re only bound by past time as long as we’re in the past. We’re not using elapsed times, but fixed times.”
“That confuses me,” said Bunny.
“There are two methods of programming RTSL,” said Lida. “Remember the bar on your DVD player? The bar goes backward, and when it hits the point where It’s set to stop, it starts going forward. The ancient DNA is only a set length and as the bar comes forward, it runs out of ancient DNA and is now in present time and place. The traveler back on his DNA is then in present time.
“That was the way we originally designed RTSL. We could send you back to the past and set your length of DNA for three days or three hours. Then, when that time ran out, back to the present time you came. It was all preprogrammed.”
“What’s the second way?” Bunny asked.
“The other required mutating loopbacks. They work by looping back onto the ancient DNA and then mutating the modern DNA to become the ancient DNA. Now, the traveler is permanently on the ancient DNA’s clock. To get him back, we have to send another traveler back with a capsule containing a DNA fix, which will bring him to the present. Or, he has to carry the return capsule and ingest it when he wants to return. It’s very complicated and hard to explain. It works and hasn’t failed yet. RTSL is the key. We just set the parameters in the RTSL software, and it changes the DNA.”
“The RTSL capsule that I receive will be the second kind,” said Dee. “I would be there permanently, unless …”
Lida finished for him, “You have a return capsule.”
“Right.” Then Dee asked, “How do I explain being naked?”
“That’ll take a little ingenuity. You’ll be going in the dark. They escape at 3:30 a.m. We’re going to put you near Rummy’s tent after dark. There are many maps of the prison, and hopefully, we can get you close. If we can’t, you’ll have to take a uniform from another soldier. There are thousands of prisoners, and some die every day. You may have to resort to removing clothes from a corpse. Prisoners are dressed in rags, so what you wear won’t raise any questions. Or, you could feign insanity and go into a war dance.”
“Let me think,” Dee said. “I’ll figure out something.”
“Just find Rummy,” Lida said. “And then get out of there.”
Chapter 8
MIKE HAD placed the photo’s face down. “Before you look at these, let me tell you what happened, okay?”
His wife, Lorna, shook out her long black hair and stretched. “I’m pooped. Those boys of yours were a handful tonight, so give me the abridged version.”
“I’ll try.”
Once he started, she paid rapt attention as the story unfolded.
“…so I grabbed the photos and got outta there.” Mike flipped the photos over.
Lorna leafed through them and finally said,
“Well, she was cute.”
“Come on, now.” said Mike. “They drugged me. I don’t remember a thing from the time I got to the motel until I woke up. After all those years of dealing with sophisticated undercover plots, they tricked
me with an old, simple con.”
“Mike, honey, I believe you. There is one question, though. What were Lida and her goons doing there? From what you can remember, she acted like she knew the scam was going to take place. She wasn’t at the bar, was she?”
“Nope.”
“Somebody had to signal her, and even if she was at the bar or had a plant, she wouldn’t know what they were going to do or when. She knew how, when, and where the con was going down. They must have left a record of some kind. Maybe a bugged phone or e-mail?”
“Nah. Everyone is pretty careful with their e-mails lately. SS&G’s leader, Erik Stenson, probably sweeps his office every morning. He’s paranoid. It had to be one of the three or one of the goons.”
“Well, we always look for a motive when there’s a cross or—or a double cross. Think about it Mike; somebody has to have the motive, the opportunity, and the means. Remember MOM. I’m going back to bed.”
Lorna went to bed, tired from a long day of chasing their two boys, the most important thing in their lives and the reason she retired from the FBI.
Mike did not go to bed. He sat down at the table, produced a yellow pad, and wrote across the top in large letters:
Motive Opportunity Means.
It would be a long weekend
* * * * *
Monday morning was one of those gorgeous Northern Virginia fall days. Dyna-Tyme had recently added a modern, two-story combo parking lot/health club building. The garage was a model of security. You could park and enter either the health club or the first floor of the main building.
The exit from the health club was through the parking garage or the main lobby. The only other exit was a fire door, which set off the alarm.
Mike didn’t have a space in the parking garage assigned to him yet, so he parked in the visitor’s lot just to the left of the employees’ outside parking lot. It was a little before eight in the morning, and the lot was nearly full. He joined a steady stream of employees as they left their cars and walked to the building.
The morning sun highlighted the courtyard. It was pleasantly landscaped with various trees and bordered with colorful plants. The orange and yellow leaves drifting to the courtyard added to the beauty. It even gave the pavement a sense of the change of seasons.
Over the front door of the three-story building was etched, “The Dixon Building,” and under it, “Dyna-Tyme Genetics.”
Mike entered and, deep in thought, headed toward the elevator, passing the guard.
The guard said in a low voice, “Your ID, please, Mr. Beasley.”
Pulled gently from his reverie, Mike produced his ID and said, “Sorry, Larry, sorry.” He scanned Mike’s card, and then Mike took the elevator to his office on the third floor, where most of the management team had their offices. Lida asked to stay on the second floor, as the majority of her work was programming and she needed to be near RTSL. The medical staff under Dr. Mark Jamison and the rest of the scientists, technicians, and programmers had offices or desks on the second floor. That’s where the real action was.
He sat at his desk, pulled out the yellow pad from his tattered briefcase, and laid the lined sheets with carefully printed notes neatly on his desk. He reviewed his notes from Friday night, but his hangover from the roofies had put him to bed early.
He studied the information, looked for clues most of Saturday, and then took Sunday off and spent it with Lorna and the boys, Taylor and Bart. He promised Lorna when they left the Bureau that Sundays were for family.
Mike pulled out his yellow pad with the questions he needed to answer:
Who tipped Lida off that I would be drugged by the hackers on Friday night?
Why did they want access to RTSL? Obviously, they either wanted to use it or sell it to someone or some organization. More likely it was for sale.
Why was Lida involved with the hackers? Why? She had access to all the systems. . . but she couldn’t get to the ancient DNA without someone with authorized DNA and a PIN. She needed someone in on whatever she was doing? Me? No, not even she could sway me.
What was her motive? What did she want? Can’t see her selling the system to a U.S. company. Too risky. My gut says some foreign power. Nigerians or Chinese or WOW, North Koreans. Lida had many connections in the Orient. Nah, she’s not a traitor. Now SS&G, they’d sell it to the highest bidder. Nasty folks, SS&G.
Who else? Ralph Bailey? He has a history with Lida. Hot one at that. Ginger has him under her thumb though. Carleton, straight arrow; Doc Jamison, too loyal.
Mike finally gave up thinking and decided to do some talking. By Monday noon, he had eliminated some of his suspects with MOM.
Someone who could pull this off, he thought, is Nina Rains. Her skills give her the means, and her investigations take her away from the office, giving her opportunity. No motive, though. Was she authorized? Why would she do this? No fame or fortune. Money? She doesn’t make a fortune, but she has a good job. What does she lack … besides … besides beauty? Well, there’s only so much you can change in the beauty department. But what does beauty get her … what … what? Pay attention, Mike! You’re getting that feeling; you’re close. Attention! That’s it, The one thing she can’t get on her own. Someone is giving her some special attention. Sex? Maybe, but not likely. Although some men or women would use sex and not bat an eye at the package.
He got up and headed to the second floor to talk to Nina. He would try to elicit some information without arousing suspicion.
She wasn’t at her desk. Mike nearly passed it before he realized. He was slipping. There were several messages in the waste basket, and he quickly picked up the tattered and torn pieces of pink stationary. She didn’t use a shredder; pretty sloppy. He took the pieces and shoved them into his pocket. Then he saw a note on her desk pad: “Beauty Plus,” and a phone number. He jotted that down.
Something else caught his eye. It was a small heart-shaped locket hanging from a jewelry tree.
An “ℒ” was a written on it. Hmm. He took a photo of the locket with his phone. It was nearing one o’clock, so he left to do a little more research. He stopped, turned back, and put one of his newest bugs on the back of the locket. It was smaller than your little fingernail and recorded conversations in and out. It only transmitted when he called for the recordings so he could wait until she was away from her desk. Very hard to detect. He decided not to talk to her, yet. Not just yet.
As he reached the elevator, the door opened and Lida stepped out.
“Mike, lucky to catch you. I’m only going to be here for a few minutes. Can you come to my office for just a minute?”
“Sure,” he said, following her back.
“Thanks to your efforts, we’ve rounded up SS&G and turned them over to the authorities. Case closed. I appreciate your help.”
“Which authority?”
“Why, the FBI, of course. They’ll probably turn them over to Homeland Security.”
She rose, took Mike’s arm, ushered him out the door, and pulled it closed behind them.
“I appreciate your help! Those hackers are behind bars, thanks to you.”
She took the elevator down. Mike just stood there for a minute, lost in thought.
The elevator opened with it’s signature tone, and Nina Rains stepped out.
“Hi Mike,” she said. “What are you up to?”
“Not much, Nina. Will you have some time available around, uh, two?”
“Sure. How about two thirty?”
“That’ll be fine.”
That’ll give me a little time to straighten out this fishy mess, Mike thought. It’s stinking more all the time.
Nina headed to her office, and Mike took the elevator to his office, picked up the phone, and punched in a number. “FBI,” said a voice on the other end. “How can I help you?”
* * * * *
Lida greeted Erik. “It was nice of you to join us. I think our little agreement will be satisfactory to you.”
He was sweating,
and nervous.
“No, I don’t think getting cut out of over a third of our fee is fair. I won’t release the client to you.”
“Erik, I already know who the client is and, believe me, they won’t care who supplies RTSL.”
“As long as it works,” said Erik, giving up immediately.
“Oh, Mike assures me that it’s working perfectly.”
“You think he’s that good?”
“Well, he put you in that chair, sweating your butt off. Besides, he’s only system security. I’m the programmer. I know how to operate the system.”
“If you know so much,” Dee said, “why don’t you make a couple of capsules and retrieve your precious Rummy yourself?”
“I can’t imagine the attention I would draw appearing naked in the midst of twelve thousand prisoners. No, Dee, you’re going back to get Rummy, and I’m going to stay here to make sure Erik and Bunny stay in line. So, I’m done talking. I’ll just let Bruno have his way with Bunny.”
Lida raised her voice. “Give her a little taste of the new toy I bought you!”
There was buzzing from the next room followed by screams and then the thrashing of convulsions as Bruno tasered Bunny, Dee, and Erik at the same time.
“That’s enough!” Erik fumed. “With your tactics, you leave us no choice. We may as well cooperate, take a pragmatic approach, and help do this right. There’s still a lot of money at stake.”
Dee glared at Lida with a venomous expression but kept his mouth shut.
Lida brought Bunny in with them, and Vinnie and Bruno stood guard outside.
“I have a question,” Bunny said, shakily. “How do you know where he is?”
“I had the same question,” Lida admitted. “How could I get someone, now Dee, in contact with Rummy, undiscovered? Fortunately, one of the prisoners made a detailed account of his incarceration from the day his captors transferred him to Elmira by train to planning his escape by way of a tunnel. He also recounted the events of his escape with nine other prisoners, and their journeys home or back to their units. He even gave dates and times. It’s not totally exact, since he wrote the account years after the war. Truth is, his memory could even have been failing somewhat, so we need to keep it somewhat simple and straightforward. Get in, give Rummy the capsule, and get out. If I know Rummy, he’ll be anxious to leave.”
