Portals in Time 2

by Michael Beals

  “I’m a bartender.”

  “That’s fantastic. The mid-1800s had no shortage of bars and saloons. You should do fine. When are you thinking of taking this holiday?”

  Kat glanced at the whiteboard they’d tacked to the wall. They could fly to Grand Junction in a few hours, but it might take them two days to drive from Thompson Springs to Quiggly’s.

  “Well, I can probably fit in with your timetable. What do you suggest?”

  The woman suddenly became more abrupt. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that until I call you back. Can you give me your number?”

  Giving the woman her phone number, she put the receiver down and waited. The phone rang immediately.

  “Miss. Armstrong?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Perfect. I’m going to give you a bank account number to transfer the money into. Once we’ve received the money, we’ll call you with a date of departure. We’ll organize a flight from Idlewild airport to your launch location. They’re regular flights, and you’ll be met at the other end. It’s all straightforward. There’ll be an overnight stay in a hotel, you’ll be instructed on how to travel, and you’ll be given money and met at the other end. Do you have any questions?”

  “Er, yes,” Kat said, a little stunned by how simple it all seemed. “How much luggage can I bring?”

  “Ah, luggage,” the woman said. “That’s always a sticking point. I’m afraid there’s no room for luggage. We recommend you wear your most comfortable clothes. You can bring a toothbrush, of course, and anything that fits into your pockets, but no luggage. It isn’t that kind of holiday. There’s a clothes shop in the town you’re going to. We always advise that women buy a dress suitable for the period they’re traveling to.”

  Kat remembered the clothes shop well. She’d looked through the window just before the gunfight with Rostock and his cronies. Writing down the bank account number, she thanked the woman and hung up. Strike two; they’d made contact. All they had to do now was pay the money.

  Two days passed when the woman from Holiday of a Lifetime finally called back, by which time, Lily was safely ensconced in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, Kat had bought a tracksuit from Bloomingdale’s, and Giselle had bought a period dress from a theatrical shop. Dore looked dumbfounded, as if he was falling in love with Giselle all over again, although Kat had to admit, Giselle did look stunning in a long Victorian dress.

  Retaking Lily’s place, Kat spoke to and agreed with the woman from Holiday of a Lifetime, that she would be teleported in three days. In two days, Lily was to take a cab to Idlewild Airport, contact a demon at the check-in desk of Harris Tours, fly to West Fork, and check-in at its only hotel with all the other escapees. She would have time to buy a suitable dress, then the following morning, they would be driven to a secluded ranch, taught how to use an artifact, given their pocket money, and prepared for the journey.

  She gazed at Lily. She was beginning to feel sorry for her. She was in no real danger, but it would be a frightening experience all the same, and she’d be on her own, hoping and praying that the heroic trio would rescue her. She would also be on her own at the Cosmopolitan Hotel for two days while Kat, Dore, and Giselle made their way out to Quiggly’s.

  “You’ll be fine, Lily. You’ll be with other escapees, and they’ll be just as nervous. West Fork is a bit rough, but the hotel’s okay, and even if you do have to teleport, it’s very straightforward.”

  “But you’re leaving today. What if I freak out? There’ll be no one to talk to.”

  “You don’t have any friends?”

  “Yes, I do, but none I can talk to about this.”

  Kat gazed at her. Lily was a nice young woman and used to having people around. It wasn’t difficult to understand why she was so nervous. “Think of the benefits, Lily. You don’t have to work, and you can watch television which you didn’t have before, or go for a walk in Central Park. If you get scared, call Persephone, she’s very nice.”

  “Persephone? You mean Hades’ wife? You’ve got to be kidding. I’d be terrified to call her. Can’t you delay your trip by a day?”

  “We could, but it would be a risk. We’ve got to drive the last few hundred miles, and I don’t know what the terrain’s like. We want to be camped near Quiggly’s Gulch the night before your departure. Anyway, there’s no reason you can’t work at The Hooded Crow while you’re waiting. At least you’d be around people.”

  Nevertheless, that afternoon Kat called Persephone. “I’m sorry to call you about this, but what we’re about to do is a really big deal, Lily’s very nervous, and she has no one to talk to.”

  “Why don’t you leave Giselle with her? Surely it won’t take three of you to rescue her, and you’ll have more room in the Jeep.”

  Kat had to agree; they were only taking Giselle because she’d become part of the team and had been with them at West Fork. In reality, there’d be nothing for her to do. Even if Lily was forced to teleport and one of McInnes’s men was still hanging around when she hit the Return button, it wouldn’t take three of them to ambush him, Dore could do that on his own.

  “You’re right, Sephy. Maybe we’ll do that. But while we’re talking, could you do me a favor? We think the escapees will be monitored by one of McInnes’s men when they teleport, so Lily may be forced to go with them. If that happens, we’ve told her to hit the Return button and come back, but there’s a danger that whoever accompanies them to the ranch may still be there. If you were to keep an eye on the situation, perhaps do a fly-over on Pegasus, he’ll probably make a run for it. We’re quite capable of taking him out, but I’d rather not. It would arouse Grantham’s suspicions.”

  “I can do that. Exactly when are they teleporting?”

  “In two days, at about ten in the morning.”

  “I’ll be there. When you all come back from your little adventure, give me a call. Perhaps we can go riding.”

  Kat promised to call Persephone when she returned. Kat then broke the news to Giselle, and it went down like a lead balloon.

  “I’m not coming with you?” Giselle exclaimed, in a pouting tone. “I don’t mind keeping Lily company, but I was looking forward to coming with you.”

  “Next time, Ellie. Promise.”

  The flight to Grand Junction was slow and laborious. They flew out in an old DC-3 belonging to East-West Airlines, with layovers in Iowa and Denver, and scheduled to take 13 hours to reach Grand Junction. It was considerably slower and less comfortable than the Comet Hades used for the Palace. To make matters worse, they were wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts, and the plane’s heating wasn’t very efficient. They’d searched the Gypsy’s props department for something suitable to wear when they switched to the Jeep. Jock had selected British army desert fatigues bearing his old rank of Sergeant Major, which reminded Kat of their wartime exploits, so she’d chosen something similar, khaki shirt and shorts. Now they were freezing aboard an airplane in Hell.

  Kat managed to sleep for the first few hours, but Jock was restless, and as soon as she was fully awake, he wanted to talk. To her surprise, he wasn’t worried about rescuing Lily, or even having to take down McInnes’s guard. That would be easy. If the guard was still hanging around, they were going to sabotage the Return button on Lily’s artifact and send him to the 1700s. One day, he might thank them.

  The airport at Grand Junction was surprisingly busy, considering it was in the middle of nowhere. Kat could only imagine it was a stop-off point for places like Cisco and Thompson Springs. It wasn’t a large airport, and they’d agreed to meet the helicopter pilot at the East-West check-in desk, but he was nowhere to be seen. So they checked the coffee bars, of which there were two, but no luck, so they went back to the East-West desk again.

  “Maybe he’s out by the helicopter,” Dore suggested. “Was our plane on time?”

  “I didn’t check, but we took off on time. Shall we check the airfield?”

  Passing through several aircrew only doors which, unsurprisingl
y for an airport as small as Grand Junction, were unmanned, they made their way out to the aircraft taxi area. There were only three passenger planes, counting the one they’d flown in. Ground crew were wandering around, but no one stopped them, so they headed to where the private planes were parked. There were only two helicopters, a Jet Ranger and a Cessna Skyhook. The Skyhook look very peculiar, so they made their way across to the Jet Ranger. They found the pilot asleep in an old deckchair. Dore was furious and kicked at the souls of the man’s shoes.

  “Are we supposed to come looking for you?” he barked when the pilot stared at him, wide-eyed. “We’ve been in the air for thirteen hours, and you’re sleeping on the job.”

  “Very sorry, I… nodded off.”

  “So I see. You were supposed to meet us at the check-in desk.”

  The pilot leaped to his feet. “I’m really sorry. What time is it?”

  “Time we were in the air. Get this thing cranked up. It’ll be dark in two hours.”

  The sun was still relatively high when they finally took off, but by the time they crossed the mountains into Utah and were flying over dry, barren plains, interspersed by the occasional range of hills, Kat began to worry. Fluted buttes of stratified rock separated deep, desert valleys, and dry riverbeds snaked in all directions. She had never been to Thompson Springs, but she knew it was hilly, and if it was anything like the land they were now flying across, it wouldn’t be advisable to drive in the dark.

  She tried to relax; they were committed now. In less than an hour, they would be picking up the Jeep. They would be on their own, driving across the wilds of Utah, a semi-arid and sparsely populated state, with its spectacular buttes and National Parks, if such things as National Parks existed in Hell. The helicopter began to descend. She could see Thompson Springs now, but there wasn’t much to see, a straggle of houses on either side of a dusty highway, a range of low, dun-colored hills to the west.

  “Is that it?” the pilot asked, pointing to a group of vehicles parked on the side of the highway.

  “Looks like it!” Kat yelled. “I can see a Jeep!”

  The helicopter settled in the middle of the highway, nearby trees thrashing in the downdraft. The Jeep was a Willys CJ-2A and looked almost new. A man in brown overalls stood beside it, and Kat waved at him as she climbed out of the helicopter.

  “Bob Kelsea?” she called.

  “That’s me! Agent Wolfram?”

  “The same!” she called, walking over to him. “Did you manage to get all the provisions and equipment?”

  “Everything you asked for. I’ve also loaded six cans of gas. You’ve arrived kinda late.”

  “Yeah, I know. How far d’you think we’ll get?”

  “Before the sun goes down? Bout fifty miles.” He laughed. “At least it won’t rain.”

  They watched as the helicopter took off in a cloud of dust, arced around to the east, and finally disappeared behind a range of hills. When she next glanced at the Jeep, Dore was climbing aboard. She almost smiled. They were in the desert again. She spent six years in the Sahara desert, and surprisingly, she felt at home. Kat climbed into the passenger seat and settled in. The CJ was larger than a standard WW2 Jeep, with better shock absorbers, springs and more comfortable seats for added comfort, and could easily do 60 miles per hour. Half the space was taken up by supplies and equipment.

  “Wow, this is great,” Kat said, as Dore accelerated down the road. “If it wasn’t for the lack of sand, we could be in Egypt.”

  “Did you study the map?”

  “Yes, I know, we’ve got mountains to cross.”

  “It’s nothing like Egypt, Kat. And there are lakes.”

  “There are lakes?”

  “Yeah, there’s a big one at Fishlake.”

  “We don’t go as far as Fishlake. We head north before we get there. Stop worrying, Jock. We’ll be fine.”

  It took two days to reach the outskirts of West Fork. Two days of desert, dry riverbeds, and rocky tundra, during which they took turns in driving, ate their meager rations, and slept in tents. Kat was elated. She felt free again. There were no demons, no unhappy people, no bars where you were advised not to drink, no faux diners with Marilyn Monroe lookalikes, just endless hills and deserts, spectacular buttes and windy outcrops. She could have happily spent months out here.

  They knew they were near West Fork when the land began to level out, and they saw smoke rising in the distance. It was about twenty miles away, but in the clear desert air, easy to spot. They’d come in from the south, so they knew they weren’t far from Quiggly’s Gulch, but they were making their way through a low range of hills before the ranch came into sight. It was 8:00 in the morning, so they didn’t expect to see anyone, and sure enough, the place was deserted. They parked the Jeep in a stand of cottonwoods and walked the last few hundred yards, finally settling down to wait in a nearby gully. There were no settlements or active mines in the area, so they doubted if the escapee’s guard would be on the lookout for trouble.

  At one point, Dore suggested hiding in the house, but as they had no idea how many guards would accompany the escapees, it seemed a bit risky. So they laid there and waited, debating what they would do if there were more than one or two guards.

  “What are we going to do if Rostock’s one of the guards? He won’t be easy to overpower, and if we send him back to Earth in the eighteenth century, there could be hell to pay.” Dore snorted.

  “I very much doubt if McInnes would send Rostock to accompany the escapees. He’s a demon; he’d freak the locals out.”

  Kat and Dore stopped talking. There was no point debating something they had no answers for. So they waited, every so often checking their watches as the minutes ticked by.

  CHAPTER NINE

  I t was exactly half-past ten when the bus trundled over the brow of the hill. It was a yellow bus and covered in dust. At first, they could only see the driver, but when the bus turned into the driveway leading to the ranch house, they saw the passengers. They looked dazed and slightly forlorn, as if they were about to be sent to prison, quite the opposite of where they were really going.

  Kat studied them with field glasses until she found Lily. She was sitting right at the back of the bus and looked like a lost little girl. Lily was wearing what looked like a period dress that she must have bought in the shop in West Fork, and Kat suddenly wondered if Lily was playing them. What if she didn’t stay behind? What if Lily allowed herself to teleport and didn’t come back? They wouldn’t know the date she teleported to, so she could lose herself in the past with all the other escapees. And it hadn’t cost her a penny.

  Kat found herself smiling. That’s exactly what she would have done in Lily’s place. She was an attractive young woman. It wouldn’t be difficult for her to make a new life for herself. She scanned the bus again. There were no guards that she could see, which only left the bus driver. Maybe they were in luck. Perhaps the driver would simply watch the escapees, to make sure they entered the house, then he would simply drive away. This would mean that the escapees were tutored on how to use the artifact before they left the hotel, possibly in the dining room, which was why it was always closed off.

  Lowering the field glasses, she watched as the people disembarked and made their way into the house. There were two women and eight men, all but one in period clothes. Lily looked lovely in her long, blue dress, her hair tied up in a loose chignon.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when the driver got out and walked towards the house. He was going to check on everyone. Damn, she thought. If Lily comes back, we’ll have to take him out. So she studied his body. He wasn’t very old, perhaps in his thirties, and he was well built. Dore would have his work cut out subduing the man.

  She watched the escapees mingling in the living room. They were all talking to each other, perhaps deciding who should go first. She couldn’t see Lily. She must have been right at the back of the room. Pulling out the field glasses, she studied them. They were peering at their
artifacts and pressing buttons, programming them. She couldn’t see the driver; he must have been standing in the doorway.

  “Are you ready for this,” she whispered.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Dore said. “Have I got to subdue the driver? He’s not exactly small.”

  “I’ll help you, Jock. If Lily doesn’t do a runner, I’ll flirt with the driver… then you whack him.”

  “Very funny. We have to think about this. I don’t mind holding the driver's arms while you stuff the artifact in his pocket, but we’ll need to re-program it, which won’t be quick. I’ll have to knock the bugger out.”

  “Then knock him out. Let’s go. They’re all lining up.”

  Getting to their feet, they ran down the short drive, skidded to a stop by the open front door just in time to hear the murmur of voices subside into silence. From where Kat was standing, she couldn’t see the escapees, but she could see their shadows on the floor of the living room. They were all standing perfectly still. And then one of the shadows disappeared, and then another. It was a strange experience to see those shadows disappearing one by one. Slipping through the front door, she veered into the house. The bus driver was standing in the living room doorway with his back to her. He wasn’t saying anything; he was just watching. She could see Lily now. She was standing by the other woman as she prepared to teleport, a look of anxiety on her face as she peered at the artifact in her hand, the index finger of her other hand pointing at the go button.

  Kat squinted at the woman. She was having second thoughts about teleporting, Kat could see it in her eyes. She was shifting her weight from one foot to the other and seemed slightly breathless.

  “Take your time, Lady,” the driver said. “There’s no hurry.”

  “Are you sure someone is meeting us?”

  “Absolutely. There’s always someone to meet you.”

  The woman took a deep breath, hovered her finger over the go button, closed her eyes, and then pressed it. There was a soft humming sound; she opened her eyes at the last minute, and then she was gone. It was Lily’s turn.