by Al K. Line
"Absolutely not. We've been through this and there is no way I am letting any of them out of my sight."
Peter pulled a face, but Amanda knew he understood the risks and she could tell that deep down he was relieved — it was too much responsibility.
"Okay, I'll make us some food then we better see what you've found out."
"Sure, but like I said, it isn't good news."
~~~
It was worse than just not being able to find Hector, much worse. Peter had tracked him down easily and it seemed he was already a successful businessman with a worldwide reach encompassing numerous companies, but, and this was what was worst of all, he genuinely seemed like a nice guy from everything Peter had found that had ever been written about him.
Sure, he was keen on earning a lot of money, but was also quite the philanthropist, giving money to charities, setting up foundations, generally being a damn nice guy, and although it could all have been a lie, it didn't seem like it.
There was only one way to find out — they jumped to his home so they could see with their own eyes.
"We shouldn't have come, not here, not now." Amanda watched as Hector, already in his early forties, ran around the edge of the pool, chasing a little boy that couldn't have been more than five or six, but was already showing signs of excessive hair growth — his head was a mass of thick curls, and the frame, while certainly juvenile, hinted at muscles that would soon grow as large as a full-grown man's. It was Hector's son: Laffer.
"I guess he kind of loves his son then, and is a good father. I told you, it's what everything online said about him. His son is a little slow to progress, and I guess even with all his money there's nothing he can do about that, but he takes care of him, and keeps him close." Peter watched as Hector took a rest and Laffer jumped into the pool, splashing about and swimming strongly from one end to the other.
"Yeah, and doesn't mind turning him into a murderer and a kidnapper and a guard that watches over defenseless women," whispered Dale.
"I'm not defenseless," protested Amanda.
"Sorry," said Dale. "Present company excepted. Love you."
"I'm just amazed he's his son. What a way to treat your child." Amanda watched as the young boy got out of the pool. There was definitely something a little different about him, but that wasn't his fault. Amanda wondered just how much of how he turned out was down to what his father instilled in him and how much was just his nature — did he even understand the things he did? Did it matter? Amanda knew the answer — it all mattered.
She knew there was no way that she could kill this man, not while he had a small child. But what was the alternative? Let him ruin endless lives? No, there had to be another way, they simply hadn't found it yet.
"Come on, let's go," said Dale. "I know I don't need to ask, but we won't do this, not now, will we?"
Amanda and Peter shook their heads. None of them were capable of hurting a man that hadn't turned bad yet, and certainly not in the company of a young child, even if they could find a way to do it so he didn't see.
With the Hexad set, Dale held onto Amanda, who held onto Peter. "Whooooooooooooooooooosh," whispered Dale, getting a disapproving glance from Amanda as he tapped the blue dome against his chest.
Stop, Thief!
Present Day
Peter left later that evening and Dale and Amanda settled down in the quiet, just enjoying each other's company as best they could with the heavy weight of responsibility hanging over them, getting between them, dividing them and stopping them from truly enjoying being back together. Each was lost in their own thoughts, but the silence was welcome, especially for Amanda.
The noise of The Ward had become a constant and to have peace finally was heaven-sent, but Amanda couldn't help thinking of all those women still trapped in that place, or would be trapped — she supposed it amounted to the same thing.
What a mess. What a stupid, horrible mess.
They talked as the light faded, neither of them wanting to turn on the lamps, welcoming the encroaching darkness that allowed them to explore their feelings and talk like they hadn't for a long time. Both of them admitted that the thought of killing Hector when he seemed like a nice guy felt wrong, like the sin was too much as it didn't fit the crime yet to be committed, but they both knew they had to do it at some point.
The only solution was to keep on jumping forward, watching Hector's life progress as best they could, and deal with him as soon as the moment seemed right: as soon as they were sure he'd turned bad.
Laffer was a different matter entirely. Would he be all right without his father? Would they be all right if Laffer was still alive and fatherless?
They thought they would, and that he would become a very different man without Hector's influence, but they had no real way of knowing — it was speculation, but the best they could come up with.
So, the next day they would begin. They would jump forward at intervals for as long as they could keep track of Hector, hoping he remained living in the same huge house, then the moment they believed he was heading down the road of evil they would deal with him.
"I'll do it," said Dale. "You've seen and done enough to last you a lifetime."
"No, Dale, we are both involved. If I get the chance then I can do it; I can kill him. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to at The Ward."
"That was different. But let's just wait and see. Okay?"
"Okay, Dale," agreed Amanda. "What about Peter?"
"Peter can look after Wozzy. I think both of them have had enough excitement. They can bond."
"You and me, the two heroes," joked Amanda.
"Maybe we are. After all, we're going to try to stop a man from ruining endless universes created because of his actions, and that's not even mentioning what he did to all those women."
"All those women that are me, you mean?" Amanda tried not to think about it — if she did she'd be capable of nothing.
Why me though? What has this got to do with me? Maybe we'll finally find out, maybe we won't.
Amanda did the same thing she'd done the night before, she fell fast asleep as soon as it got truly dark.
Dale carried her to bed, never wanting her to wake up alone again.
~~~
8 Years Future
"Who the hell are you?" shouted Hector.
"Shit, shit, shit. Run!" Dale grabbed Amanda roughly by the arm and dragged her away from the huge fireplace in the center of the room. A room that was incredibly modern and minimalist, totally the opposite to what either of them had expected to find inside. It must have been down to the new woman in Hector's life, as for the previous seventeen jumps they'd made so far, many of which were to inside the house, exploring, finding out what he was up to and checking on things, the style was focused on heavy, dark furniture.
Now it was clean, tiled floors, white walls with a few pieces of art, an ultra-modern, hanging chrome fireplace in the middle of the room and a large zebra skin that sat between sofas that looked stylish rather than comfortable.
That would all have been well and good if it wasn't for the fact they'd made a huge mistake, getting careless after so many jumps, finding themselves staring at Hector sat on one of the sofas, reading glasses in hand, newspaper in his lap. Laffer was on the floor beside him with a comic book — the boy looked like a fully grown man now but must have only been in his early teens.
Amanda picked up her pace and raced after Dale as he let her go so he could adjust the settings on the Hexad and get them the hell out of there. She could see he was struggling and knew how hard it was to perform the subtle manipulations when you were more focused on running — it was definitely a job for those that were stationary.
Amanda fumbled with her bag, pulled out her own backup Hexad, and headed for the open, glass sliding doors. She heard a click behind her and the doors began to close. "Dale, hurry up." She pointed at the doors, the gap narrowing as they darted across the open plan space.
Distracted, Dale
slid on an Afghani rug on which a tall, slender sculpture sat, and he and the abstract form crashed to the ground. "Aw, bloody hell," moaned Dale as he scrambled to his feet, sliding on the rug again but keeping his balance.
"Hurry up," shouted Amanda, aware that Hector was now on his feet, glancing back and seeing he was pressing down on what looked like a TV remote control but was probably some gizmo for closing the doors they needed to exit through.
"Okay, just go." Dale nodded toward the door and began running.
Amanda ran ahead, praying they had time to get through. They just needed a few seconds to be able to stand and set the Hexad and they would be gone. They'd messed up; been seen. All their other jumps had been done to somewhere less likely to be spotted, but it was also harder to discover what was going on. They thought it would be safe to jump eight years into the future as Hector seemed very settled in his home, even if the hired help, from nannies to cooks, to live-in girlfriends, seemed to change on a regular basis. That in itself didn't mean he was a bad man though, just maybe a little fussy.
Now it had all gone wrong; it didn't surprise her in the least.
They should have stopped for the day. So many jumps with so little rest had made them forget the dangers that lurked, the very real chance of getting caught or hurt, then everything would have been for nothing. Amanda stretched out, almost touching the handle of one of the glass doors, when she felt a tug on her ankle like a shark had snapped down tight. She turned and was confronted with the heavy features of a boy that looked like a man, all unruly hair and thick beard, square head and monobrow. His hand wrapped around her leg as though she were the child, not him, and pain flared up her inner thigh as he squeezed tightly, activating lines of nerves she didn't even know existed.
"Laffer catch intruders," came the dull monotone, like he was reciting a story he had no interest in.
Amanda panicked and before she knew what she was doing she smacked him over the head with her Hexad, causing a deep gash across his cheek. The blood poured freely.
Laffer howled and yanked hard on her ankle, toppling her, sending her crashing to the ground. The Hexad slid away toward Hector, who was pacing across the room at a much slower rate, concerned eyes focused on his son.
Amanda reached out to grab the Hexad before it got too far away, but Dale's hand appeared and clutched her tightly.
They disappeared before she had a chance to tell him anything.
"Well, that was rather strange," said Hector, helping Laffer to his feet and lifting his chin so he could get a better look at the damage to his son's face. "Are you hurt? You did very well, Laffer, very well." The glass doors slid shut. Hector wished they had closed faster so the intruders couldn't escape.
"Laffer all right, Laffer not feel pain now. Laffer sorry."
"No need to be sorry. Probably just drug addicts looking for some quick, easy money, but I'll be having words with security, you can bet on it. Now, what kind of weapon is that?" Hector stepped over to the object on the floor, a dull metal cylinder with brass inlay and a bright blue dome. He picked it up carefully. A blue flashing 4 greeted him.
Laffer moved over to his side and the two of them stared at the curiosity, mesmerized by the flashing number and the ornate dials running in sequence around it.
"How very odd. Looks rather intriguing, don't you think?"
"Laffer not like flashing lights."
"I know, and that must have been upsetting for you, my boy. Let's see about cleaning you up and then we can have a proper look at this."
"Ice-cream?"
"Yes, you can have some ice-cream. You're a growing boy after all." Hector placed the strange weapon on the coffee table and took his son to the bathroom to help clean up his face.
Then they had ice-cream.
Close Encounters
Present Day
"I dropped my Hexad," moaned Amanda, rubbing carefully at her ankle. It felt like he'd crushed the bone, but she knew it was as much the shock of such a strong grip for such a young boy as it was the ache. "What are we going to do?"
"Are you okay?" asked Dale, squatting down and massaging her calf, helping the blood flow to get rid of the cramp, evident from the strange way the muscle was knotted.
"I'll be fine, but I dropped the Hexad," insisted Amanda.
Dale stopped what he was doing, the words finally making sense. "You dropped it? There?"
"Yes, Dale, there." Amanda tried to keep the exasperation out of her voice but she knew she hadn't.
"It was us, all along. It's our fault. This is exactly what The Caretaker warned us about."
"Huh?"
"He said, don't go digging up the message, don't go messing with anything after we did what he asked, but we did and this is the result."
"We gave Hector his first Hexad, didn't we?"
Amanda nodded, then slumped onto the carpet, sending dust motes flying into the angled strips of sunshine.
When did he last clean the house? Bet it hasn't been done for ages. Amanda dismissed the thought, turning her attention back to more pressing issues. What is wrong with me?
"Bloody hell."
"So what happens in the future, what we saw, what happened to me and all those other versions of me, it was all my fault?" How could I have been this stupid?
"Not your fault. Our fault."
"I dropped it."
"And I was there too, and we both acted foolishly. The guy was probably going to stay a happy businessman and father until we dropped time travel right into his lap."
"He still chose to become a bad person," said Amanda, trying to justify her mistake.
"Because of us."
"We need to get it back, right now." Amanda jumped to her feet and snatched the Hexad from Dale's hands, adjusting the dials and trying not to freak out.
"Wait just a minute, Amanda, let's think this through. It's not like he will do anything with it instantly, is it? He only just got it, he won't know what to do, how it works."
Amanda stared at Dale like he was the most stupid man on earth, raising an eyebrow to see how long it would take for him to understand the situation they'd put themselves in.
The silence stretched out.
"Nothing? You don't get it?"
"Get what?"
"Dale, I'd set it." Dale stared at her blankly. "For here. It's set for here, now. It doesn't matter when Hector actually uses it, does it? It could be a minute after he first saw it, it could be ten, twenty, however many years into his future. That won't matter. It's set for now, so if he doesn't mess with the dials and just presses the dome, then he'll be here."
"Well, he isn't, is he. Haha, you had me worried there for a minute."
"You've lost me," said Amanda. Now she was the one confused.
"If he'd left the dials alone then he would have jumped before we had this conversation. He would have jumped the second we got here, as that's when it was set for."
"Oh, god," her relief was instant, "of course. You're right."
"Unless..."
Amanda got a sinking feeling.
"Unless he figured that out too and didn't want to risk jumping the same time we did and adjusted the Hexad a few minutes so he'd arrive hopefully after we moved out of the way."
"If he knows where to jump to. He has to know where to jump to, right? You can't just set it and tell it where to go, you set it and think where to go."
"So maybe he finds out. He's rich, it wouldn't be that hard. We found where he was, well, Peter did. The main thing is that he could come at any moment, or whenever, if he decides to mess with the dials."
"Well, if I were him," said Amanda, trying to think about it logically, "I would find out about who we were, but I wouldn't adjust the settings much, just in case. Not that I'd really believe it was a time travel device anyway. Maybe he just hasn't got a clue what it is?"
"Doesn't matter if he jumps, does it?"
"So let's get ready," said Amanda in a rush.
"Ready for what?"
> "To smack him over the head if he jumps here. Now's our chance to deal with him once and for all."
"I don't think—"
"Ugh. Laffer not like metal weapon. Where Laffer?"
"Just where I expected us to be, my son," said Hector, staring at Amanda and Dale with cool, dead eyes. He pulled a gun calmly out of his pocket before either of them had a chance to do anything but moan.
"Shit," said Dale.
"You can say that again. And you are well and truly in it, my friend." Hector motioned with the gun for them to move over to the sofa.
Dale and Amanda complied, knowing they had little choice in the matter.
Amanda didn't know which scared her more, the gun, or the sight of a now fully-grown Laffer, probably in his mid-twenties, dominating their living room with muscles even larger than she'd remembered.
"Look, maybe we can—"
Dale smashed into the coffee table with so much force Amanda heard the wood crack as he landed on his back. Laffer looked at his hand like he too was surprised at the power from his backhand to Dale's jaw.
"Now, I think you have some explaining to do," said Hector to Amanda.
"I won't tell you anything," Amanda answered defiantly.
"Laffer, if you would be so kind?" Hector pointed to Dale, out cold on the table.
"Break man?"
"Yes, Laffer, break each one of his fingers, then break his arms, then his legs, then his head."
I don't think he was ever a nice man. "Okay, what do you want to know?"
"Why, everything, my dear. Amanda, isn't it?"
Amanda nodded mutely, moving to get up when Dale stirred; Hector motioned for her to sit back down.
"Now, let's start at the beginning. Why were you in my house? And what exactly is this?"
He didn't mean the gun.
Betrayal
Present Day
"You know exactly what it is," said Amanda, her words coming out with so much hatred she surprised herself.
