A Year to Forget (The Accidental Time Travellers Book 2) (15 page)

A few minutes past, Faraday continued crying and Will just stood and stared.  Once Faraday had finished one cigarette he lit another. 

The silence was broken when Faraday lit his third cigarette.  “Is it true?”  His pain seemed to thicken his Scottish accent.

Will waited a few seconds before answering, he wasn’t sure whether he should lie and say it was all in the heat of the moment.

“Yes.”

“When?”  Faraday yelled.

“Last year.”  He spoke softly.

“When last year?”  Faraday yelled louder this time.

“The night that we caught the Wichita Strangler.”

Faraday thought back to the night, he and Bobby had taken the man into custody.  David had been at home lost in his own thoughts and Chase hadn’t yet joined them.  They had gone out for drinks to celebrate later that night.  But he had been there after the drinking had started.

“Was this before we went to celebrate?”

“Yes.”

“So she was sober?”

“Yes.”

Faraday felt his holster with his left hand, his gun was there.  But Will would see him turn, he would have the advantage.  The bastard.

Faraday turned to look at the man, he knew that one day and hopefully one day soon, he would kill this man.  He walked towards him and pushed him.

“I know it was wrong, but if you hit me I’ll hit you right back.”

Faraday looked at Will, he had helped this man to catch the scum who had imprisoned him.  He had travelled through time to save Jane, why would either of them do this to him.

“Did it just happen the once?”

“Yes, we both knew it was a mistake.”

That didn’t make it easier.  Faraday got in the open drivers door and slammed it shut, the keys were still in the ignition.  He managed to get the car moving before Will could grab the door open.  Will had rented the car in his name, Faraday would drive back to Washington, that bastard could foot the bill.

Chapter 30

Bobby woke up on the couch in the living room, when he opened his eyes his head was pounding.  His mouth tasted of alcohol, how much had he drank?  He looked around the floor for clues and as expected it was littered with bottles, and a hand.  There was someone else here.

He got himself up on his feet and stumbled, his hip wasn’t sore, he was definitely still drunk.  The hand protruded from the other side of the couch, as he approached it he saw that it was Chase.  He struggled to remember the previous night.

After meeting Sarah he had been furious, Chase had driven him home and they had started drinking beer.  As he surveyed the scene he noticed that they had also drank whisky, vodka and wine.  That may explain why I’m feeling like this, he thought.  He sat himself back down and thought of Nancy and Clint.

He had tried to connect with the boy, but he was a strange child.  Very quiet, didn’t seem to like anyone else.  Nancy he supposed was a little bit similar, she wasn’t quiet, far from it but he had noticed that Nancy didn’t care for the others.  She didn’t mind David, but she hadn’t been enamoured by Faraday or Jane.  Oddly it seemed to just be Bobby and Clint Hill that she had any real affection for. 

It was a few minutes before it dawned on him that he hadn’t seen David since the previous morning, where the hell was he?  Was he in bed?  No he doesn’t sleep.  Surely he would have come into see Bobby and Chase if he had returned home.

He considered going upstairs to look for him, but he couldn’t be bothered.  Instead he screamed his name as loudly as he could.

“David!  David!  David!  David!  Where are you?”

There was no response, he must be out.  The screams had woken Chase who was now groaning and clutching his head.  He managed to struggle to his feet but fell over.  Bobby was beginning to grow quite fond of the big blonde Chase, he reminded him of a Golden Retriever. 

“Good morning!”  Bobby yelled.

Chase gave him an odd look as he struggled onto the other couch.  Chase now surveyed the scene in front of him, they had had a lot to drink.

“Why were you screaming?”  Chase asked in a voice that made it clear how much pain he was in.  His own voice made him grasp his head in pain.

“I’m still drunk.”  Bobby replied.  “Did David come home?”

“I didn’t see him.”  Chase managed.

“Did Faraday?”

“I didn’t see him either.  How are you feeling about everything?”

Bobby thought for a while before he answered.  He still felt slightly numb.  Perhaps it was because he had already lost them once before, but it just didn’t seem to be hurting him as much as it had the previous time.  He was more angry than upset, he wanted to catch the man responsible.

Instead of explaining the truth he opted for “I’m okay.”

“So what do we do today?”

“I don’t think we are going to be much use today.  When the drink wears off I imagine I’ll be like you.”

Chase started to laugh, but it turned into a wretch.  Thankfully he managed to keep it down.  He closed his eyes where he sat and fell asleep.

Bobby looked at his watch, it was 11:00.  Where were the others?

Chapter 31

When the helicopter eventually touched down on the Hughes Glomar Explorer, it was 11:00.  He had arrived in Honolulu the previous evening and had had dinner with Sergei Kravchenko, they had stayed the night in a hotel and had boarded the helicopter this morning.

As he stepped from the helicopter he felt relieved that it was over.  He had felt ill throughout the whole journey and Sergei had hardly spoken.  He looked around the ship and was overwhelmed by its size.  It was around two hundred metres long and forty metres wide.   He had been advised that the ship only travelled at around twelve miles an hour, and there was roughly one thousand three hundred miles to go.  This meant that they wouldn’t reach the submarine site until Tuesday or Wednesday, at the earliest.

David was annoyed as he thought back to what Abaddon had said, he hadn’t mentioned anything about it taking a week at least on the ship.  He had no change of clothes and he hadn’t considered the distances and travel times.  He hadn’t even managed to tell Bobby or Faraday where he was going.  The wind was picking up and David was thankful he had worn Abaddon’s red jacket.

In the middle of the enormous ship was a huge grapple that would be used to lift the submarine, it was certainly an impressive sight.  As he admired his surroundings he was interrupted by an impeccably dressed older man, who introduced himself as Howard Hughes.

“Glad you boys could make it.”  He spoke with a wide smile.

David was a little surprised, the way that Bobby had described Hughes was nothing like the man that was stood in front of him.  He had slicked back short grey hair and a grey moustache that was neatly trimmed, the long canine nails that Bobby had described were also nowhere to be seen.

Sergei replied first.  “The legendary Howard Hughes.”  He spoke with his thick Russian accent, he was far more dishevelled than Hughes.  He was short, fat and had grey tufts of hair on the sides of his head.  The top of his head was completely bald, he too had a moustache, but he had more hair sprouting from his ears.

“Dr Kravchenko, I presume?”  Howard replied with a smile, he did not offer his hand.

“That’s right.”  Sergei replied grumpily.

“Which would make you Dr Lewis?”

“Yes it’s lovely to meet you.”  David offered his hand, Howard stared at it for a moment.

“Sorry Dr Lewis, my hands are filthy.”

David noticed how awkward he had made Hughes and immediately regretted offering to shake hands.

“Well we have a long journey ahead of us, if you speak to Mr Swan.” Hughes said gesturing towards a heavy set man standing about ten metres away.  “He will take you both to your bunks.  I have arranged for you both to have your own compartment, hopefully it should be comfortable enough.  We can have a drink in my cabin this evening, but as you can imagine I’m very busy, so I will speak to you both later.”  Without waiting for a response Howard turned and disappeared below deck.

Chapter 32

Bobby awoke on the couch once more, he glanced around the room and saw that Chase was still asleep on the other couch.  His head was thumping much as it had been earlier but the pain in his hip was back, he was sober now.  He glanced at his watch and saw that it was 15:00.

He heard the slam of the front door which caused a stabbing pain across his forehead.  When Faraday walked into the living room he looked furious.  He didn’t speak, he just walked over to the breakfast bar and picked up a bottle of whisky before taking a seat next to Bobby. 

Faraday opened the bottle and took a swig directly from it, this almost caused Bobby to heave, but he managed to control himself.  Bobby watched Faraday, waiting for him to explain where he had been, but he didn’t.  He didn’t even acknowledge Bobby’s presence.  They sat in the living room with the only sound being the long puffs Faraday was taking on his cigarettes, and the sound of the whisky moving between the bottle and Faraday’s mouth.

“How did things go with Gottlieb?”  Bobby asked.

“He’s not involved, he works for the government.”  Faraday replied without even looking at Bobby.

“So no leads then?”

Faraday swallowed his mouthful of whisky before replying.  “Nope.”

Bobby had expected Faraday to at least be a little curious as to how he and Chase had got on, but he didn’t seem to care.  “We didn’t get anywhere either.” 

“Ok.” 

“Anything you want to talk about Faraday?”

For the first time he turned to look at Bobby, he looked completely broken.  “She fucking cheated on me with Will.”

Bobby had absolutely no idea how to comfort Faraday, he had never really been in a serious relationship himself.  “When?”

“Last year, the mother fucker just blurted it out.”

“Fuck.  I’m really sorry mate.”

“I’m going to kill him.”

Bobby was unsure as to whether Faraday meant literally.  “Was it just once?”

Faraday nodded.

“I know it must hurt but don’t let it ruin what you and Jane had.”

“She fucking cheated on me Bobby.  After everything I did to get back to her.  Then she moaned about wanting to go back to Scotland, it was probably to get away from what she’d done!”

“She must have regretted it Faraday, I know she loved you.”

“She had a funny way of showing it then!”  Faraday barked, he took another swig from the bottle.

This latest commotion had woken Chase.  He was about to speak, but Bobby shook his head.

“So what do you want to do?”  Bobby asked.

“I told you, I’ll kill him.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  Bobby advised. Chase suddenly looked concerned.

“He fucking deserves it!”

“I know but it could ruin your life.” 

“It’s a bit late for that, look at where we are Bobby!  Both our lives have been ruined for years.  I’m sick of this fucking place.  Every day there’s a new fucking problem.  That fucking bitch!  I loved her from the moment we met and this is what she does, with that fucking moaning bastard.”

Bobby could hardly argue with the first part of what Faraday had said, with all they’d been through they just never seemed to get closer to happy ever after, if anything that was further away than ever.

“She loved you Faraday, don’t talk about her like that.”  Bobby replied.

“What’s happened?”  Chase finally asked.

“Jane slept with Will!”  Faraday yelled his response.

“I never liked that prick.”  Chase replied.

“Do you have any idea where David is?”  Bobby asked.

“He’s looking into Apollo 8, Abaddon wanted him to give it the onceover.”

Bobby nodded.

“I need to get home.”   Faraday declared.

“I don’t think we can do that Faraday.  Chase perhaps you should head home while we have a chat, is that alright?”

Chase nodded.  As he left Bobby noticed him grasping his head in pain.  Once Chase had left Faraday spoke again.