"You're a winner, Jack," Mairie said, looking directly into his eyes with her smile.
In that moment, he sure felt like life in the future had something to offer.
They paid the old woman five hundred dollars to claim the jackpot, since identification was required at the cashier's window. With seventy-five hundred dollars all in one hundred dollar bills stuffed into the handbag Mairie had bought in the gift shop, they hired a car to take them the rest of the way into Las Vegas.
Jack, feeling sated by a steak dinner and the money in his pocket, sat back in the conveyance as it carried them north. As the vehicle rode over a hill, Jack was presented with the most amazing sight he had ever seen in his entire life. A city… a city of lights, brightly colored and shooting into the sky, this amazing city stood in the middle of the desert. An oasis beyond imagination.
"Oh… my… God…"
Mairie took a deep breath and whispered, "Welcome to my world, Jack."
Why didn't her voice sound excited?
Chapter 12
Mairie sat forward in the cab as it pulled into the valet area under the huge Sphinx of the Luxor Hotel.
"Yes, Jack…" she answered his excited question. "That is the pyramid I was telling you about when you found me."
"It exists!" His voice was awe filled. "And the lights! Look at the lights!"
She was taking out money for the driver and muttered, "I told you." Tension filled her body, and she wished she could share in his childlike wonder, but something that had happened in the gift shop was bothering her. When she'd paid for the purse and the clerk had handed her the receipt, Mairie suddenly wanted to know the date of this remarkable day.
It said seven months later than when she had jumped.
She'd started making a joke out of the mistake, but the clerk assured her there was no mistake. Mairie had wanted to argue, but something held her back. The young woman was looking at her as if she were nuts. She asked a middle-aged woman she met before joining Jack in the restaurant about the date, and the woman had answered the same as the clerk. She asked an old man waiting to be seated for dinner, a young man with a guitar slung over his back. Everyone had said the same thing.
It was supposed to be March. She had been gone four days. That would make it March nineteenth.
Not September…
She held his wrist, pulling him away from the base of the Sphinx, and led him through the main doors. Left was hotel check in. Jack started to head for the vast atrium of the pyramid and the escalator.
"What is this place?" he asked in a hushed tone.
She smiled. "I know it's extravagant, but it's a hotel. Come on, I'll take you up to the second floor before we find Bryan. You'll get the best view from there."
She forgot her own worries when she encouraged him onto the escalator and held his hand as they rose to the second floor. There they found themselves at the tall models of skyscrapers, towering ten to fifteen stories high. They were bathed in colored floodlighting, adding to the surreal ambiance, and Jack was nearly overwhelmed.
"Let's go find Bryan," Mairie said. "You can come back later and look at it for as long as you want." It was like an adult Disney World exhibit, and she more than understood his awe, yet she had to connect with her brother and solve this mystery.
"Mairie…" Jack's voice was a mere whisper as he viewed the interior of the hotel. "I have never seen anything like this. It… it's unbelievable."
She managed to smile. "Yes," she said, looking around at the overstated splendor as they rode the escalator down to the lobby. Walking to the registration desk, she added as they stood in line, "It is spectacular. Even for someone from this time, this is something to behold. Come now," she added, tapping his arm. "It's our turn."
They walked up to the front desk and Mairie said, "I'd like to speak with Bryan Malloy. He's my brother."
"Certainly, one moment, I'll be happy to check for you," the pleasant-faced clerk answered, and immediately began searching his computer. "You said Malloy… Bryan Malloy. Not Mallory?"
"Malloy," Mairie repeated, and spelled it.
After a minute the man looked up at her and said, "I'm terribly sorry. We don't have anyone registered by that name."
"You must," she answered, leaning onto the counter as if she could look into the computer. "Check again. Please…"
The clerk began pushing buttons on the keyboard, checking again. "No, I'm sorry. We have no one here under the name of Malloy."
"Check Mairie Callahan, please," she asked in a low voice. She spelled her first name and waited as the clerk ran through the records.
"Again, I'm sorry. I find no Mairie Callahan registered, either."
"Can you look up when they were here? Do you have that information?"
The clerk gave her a suspicious look and asked, "Would you care to speak with our office manager? I'm not privileged to give out that information, but you can put in a request." Picking up a phone the clerk continued, "Let me get the manager for you."
Mairie stepped away from the counter. "No, that's all right. Thank you anyway. Come on, Jack."
"Where are we going, Mairie? Why isn't your brother here?" he asked, as she led him back into the lobby.
"I'm not sure," she answered, looking around the area. Spying what she needed, she murmured, "Come on. I need to make a call."
He followed her while asking, "A call. You need to stop at… a rest facility again?"
She was so worried she couldn't even smile at his innocence. "No. I need to make a telephone call. Remember? I told you about them."
"You'll call your brother through the sky and he's going to hear you?"
She could tell he was frustrated by his lack of knowledge and realized that for a man like Jack Delaney, feeling insecure was not a familiar experience.
"Here, sit next to me and watch. I can't explain everything right now, but something's happened to the date. It's not the same as when I left four days ago. Seven months appear to have passed, and Bryan is no longer here in Las Vegas. My things are gone with him. I have nothing—"
"Mairie, we have money. A fortune."
She managed to smile as he sat down next to her at the telephone booth. "Jack, in this time seventy-five hundred dollars is not a fortune. A gallon of milk costs over two dollars. Everything is very expensive."
"It does not!" His shocked expression was comical. "Why don't people just buy cows? You could get a decent milking cow for—"
"Jack," Mairie interrupted. "We aren't in your time. Seventy-five hundred dollars won't last long, especially in this town. Besides, I have to find my brother. I'm going to call his friend back in Philadelphia. If anyone knows where Bryan is, Marc will."
She picked up the phone and began dialing. "You see, Bryan and Marc were partners for six years, until Bryan got cancer. Then he took off and Marc was brokenhearted." She turned toward the wall. "Yes, operator, I'd like to place this collect from Mairie." Turning back to Jack she continued, "I know Bryan would have been devastated when I disappeared and would have called Marc for solace—"
"Go ahead," the operator broke in.
"Hello? Marc…?"
"Mairie? Is that really you?" Marc sounded disbelieving.
"Yes, it's me. Where's Bryan? I'm in—"
"I don't want to know where you are," Marc interrupted. "Listen to me, Mairie…"
She was stunned by his words and stared at the wall in front of her as she tried to make sense out of what he was saying.
"Don't ask questions. Hang up quickly and call the place where we used to spend Friday nights. Give me fifteen minutes and then call. Do you understand?"
"Is Bryan all right?" She had to ask that.
"Yes. Now, give me fifteen minutes and then call. You understand where I'm asking you to call?"
"Yes," she whispered. "I understand, but—"
She heard a click and then a dial tone.
"Now, what's this about?" she mumbled, hanging up the receiver.
"Wh
at happened, Mairie? Did you locate your brother?" Jack leaned toward her with a concerned expression.
She shrugged. "I don't know what happened," she said, and looked back at the phone. "He was acting strange… very strange."
"Your brother?"
"Marc. His friend. He just told me to call an old bar we used to hang out at when we were all in college. It's the last place all three of us went to before Bryan and I took off. I'm supposed to call him back in fifteen minutes." She looked at Jack and added in, a worried voice, "Something's happened, and I don't think it's good. I mean, how could seven months have gone by in four days? Something's weird…"
Her words trailed off as another conversation played out in her head.
"What, Mairie?" Jack asked. "What are you thinking?"
"Right before I left the East Coast, I was at a department store buying makeup and the saleswoman was talking to another worker and laughing. She was saying something about a television show she'd been watching, something about how if we traveled at the speed of light, we wouldn't age, at least we'd age so slowly that Lancome would be out of business. That the people on earth age, but those traveling wouldn't."
She looked at Jack and exhaled. "At the time I thought how odd for a makeup clerk in the mall to be discussing Einstein's Theory of Relativity, but what if that happened to me, to us? Only in reverse, into the past? Suppose whatever that government test was about had to do with the speed of light, with traveling through time at the speed of light? I felt something when I jumped, some unexplainable energy, almost like a shock—"
"There was a light after I jumped, and that's when I lost consciousness." Jack was reaching out for her hand.
Mairie was on brain overload. "Listen, Jack… we have to leave here. I don't know exactly what's happening, but Marc sounded worried. More than worried. I think we should walk out of here right now and find someplace else to spend the night. Marc wanted me off the phone quickly, as if he thought the call might be traced."
"Mairie, what are you saying? I'm trying to follow you… tele-vision, tracing calls in the sky… I just don't understand."
She stood up. "I know you don't. Let's get out of here," she said, looking around. Every person who passed her now seemed suspicious. "I promise to explain later."
They walked out of the Luxor Hotel and down the street to another hotel casino. She checked in and paid cash, saying she didn't have a credit card for a house charge. Holding Jack's hand as they rode the elevator to the fourteenth floor, Mairie smiled at him reassuringly.
"It's okay, Jack. Elevators travel at this speed all the time. Nothing to be concerned about. As soon as I get into the room, I have to call information and get the number of Fat Tuesdays, the bar in Philly. You can rest while I speak with Marc."
He looked sideways at her. "And then you'll explain everything?"
She sighed as the doors opened and once more frightened Jack. He would have to get used to automatic doors, she thought. He had so much to integrate, and she was one confused teacher right now. "Yes, I'll explain everything, at least as much as I understand."
He walked next to her down the long hallway in silence. Mairie stopped before a room and inserted the keycard.
"That opens the door?" Jack asked. "You don't use keys?"
"We still use keys," she said, waiting for the tiny green light to appear. "Only certain doors take these. It goes through a computer." The door lock clicked and she opened it. Turning back to him with an affectionate look, she added, "And don't ask me to explain computers. I only sell them. Marc is the computer genius. He can explain them to you."
"I won't ask, Mairie," he said, following her into the room. "I know you're worried right now about your brother. Contact his friend."
She smiled and turned on the light. A bedroom with two queen-sized beds was illuminated. It was an above standard room, with a huge bathroom, Jacuzzi tub included. She was satisfied and threw her purse onto one bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed by the nightstand, she picked up the phone and dialed long distance assistance. She wrote down the number and called out to Jack, "Hey, where are you?"
Jack walked around the wall and watched her finish writing. "I have never seen a convenience of such magnificence. Marble and brass and a huge tub. The future is incredible, Mairie."
She smiled and silently wondered what future she had returned to.
"Are you sure these accommodations are suitable?" he asked with a concerned expression as he looked at the two beds. "Perhaps I should get a room of my own and not jeopardize your reputation?"
Mairie wanted to hug him. "Jack, it's fine. Really. My reputation won't suffer. Besides, I don't want to worry about you. Just let me call Marc and then I'll try and explain everything to you."
Picking up the receiver again, Mairie dialed the number of the bar and waited.
When she finally heard Marc's voice, she felt some of the tension ease from her body. "Now… tell me how Bryan is and what the hell this mystery is about."
"Oh, Mairie… thank God you are all right. You are all right, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm all right. At least I think I am, but what's happened, Marc? Why isn't Bryan here in Vegas? Tell me how he's doing and tell me the date, because I think I just lost seven months."
She exhaled a long sigh and her chest tightened with apprehension as she waited.
"Bryan is out of remission, Mairie. Started four months ago. He had another bone-marrow transplant, but only time will tell."
"Oh, no…" Mairie felt the weight of sorrow descend upon her body. "Where is he? With you?"
"Yes. The fool thought just because he walked out on me to become Indiana Jones that I wouldn't speak to him. Of course he's with me. It's not that bad yet, Mairie. I know the news of you will be exactly what he needs."
"Oh Marc, tell him gently. I will be there as soon as I can. I just have—"
"You can't come, Mairie," he interrupted with that same guarded voice. "At least, I don't think you should until we talk about it. Some… some strange things have happened since your disappearance. Too long to go into here, but I think the government is looking for you. You weren't involved in some drug deal, were you?"
"Of course not," she said in her defense. "I know what happened. It was all a mistake, and—"
"I told Bryan that," Marc quickly interjected. "I said our Mairie is far too intelligent to get messed up with that crap, unless there was a dark, mysterious Italian who promised to ravish every inch of her body and—"
"He's not Italian," Mairie interrupted him, shaking her head at Marc's motherly personality and looking at Jack who was staring out the window.
"I knew there was a man involved."
"Let's get back to why I can't come see my brother."
"There have been some very… suspicious types asking questions. I'm talking Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive kind of suspicious. Very butch. The kind that seem so driven only the government would want them. Bryan said it was the same in Vegas before he returned. He stayed there as long as he could, Mairie. He hasn't given up hope."
"I knew he wouldn't," she whispered with a sad smile. "Marc, what am I going to do? I have to get my life back. I need to get to Philadelphia as soon as possible. Maybe I should go to the authorities and just clear this whole—"
"I don't think you should announce to anyone you're here. Especially in Vegas. I think you should dye your hair, cut it, and get a whole new identity. They're watching our apartment. Our phones have been tapped. The investigation of your disappearance is extensive, Mairie. The brutes even audited my bank account. Then had the audacity to call my employers insinuating I was in trouble with the government. I still haven't lived that down."
"Oh, Marc, I'm sorry. I… I don't know why any of this has happened. It makes me so angry. I was caught up in a military test when I skydived. I think, no I know, it has something to do with time."
"Time? Like on a Rolex? That kind of time?"
Mairie grinned. "Well, I imagine for what
the government is spending on this project, every second would have to be Rolex expensive." Her eyes widened. "And it's secret, Marc, top secret. None of us are supposed to know about this testing. Go figure. We're paying billions for this kind of stuff, and it's just another thing they don't want us to know about!"
There was a pause after she finished speaking.
"Ahh, Mairie… how would you know any of this? Secret government projects? This is too James Bond. Completely out of vogue, since the Iron Curtain came down. Nobody's doing Bond anymore, dear."
"Oh, Marc," she said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. "Will you please forget movies for a minute and listen to me? I know what I'm talking about. Remember me saying I lost seven months? What's that? Time. Something is happening."
She waited for Marc to contemplate her thoughts.
"Well, Mairie, I have to admit, my time clock is speeding away. This ol' bod ain't what it used to be, that's for sure. But even the college interns at the company have mentioned time seems to be speeding up. It's not just the old folks anymore. Anyway, let the government keep it a secret. I really don't think I want to understand—"
"Me, either," Mairie said, though something was beginning to stir in the recesses of her brain. It was too bizarre to think about now. Later, when she had time, she'd think about it. She almost laughed out loud at her last thought.
"Marc, did Bryan bring back my things, my purse?"
"Yes. He had a bitch of a time gathering it all back from the authorities. They had confiscated it." He paused. "Do you think it's wise to use your identification now?"
"Talk about James Bond. This is crazy. Are we being paranoid, or what? I can't use my own license and credit cards because the government will hunt me down? What the hell am I supposed to do?"
Silence.
"Marc…? Are you still there?"
"I know how sensitive you are, so you better be sitting down, child."
She sighed with relief. Paranoia. Calm yourself, she thought. "I am sitting."
"You know how Bryan's insurance company is fighting him on his medical bills and cutting back payment on his prescription drugs?"
Anywhere You Are Page 20
