A Year to Forget (The Accidental Time Travellers Book 2) (17 page)

“Will that mean another five days?”

“Has Abaddon not explained our return journey?”

“No.”

Hughes looked stunned.  “Well it won’t be on this ship.”

“Will we be home quicker?”

“Hopefully, if all goes to plan.”

They were interrupted by the phone ringing.

“Excuse me.”

Howard picked up the phone as David listened in.  “Hello...He’s on the plane?...Excellent, bye.”

“What was that?”  David asked nosily.

“Nothing to worry about.  Will that be all?”

“Yes thanks.”  As David turned to exit the room, Hughes shouted.

“Wipe the door!”

Chapter 36

Bobby had just got off the phone with the President, as it transpired he was about to come out to see them, as he hadn’t had any time to do so since the bombing.  Faraday and Bobby had decided to take some time off to get their heads together, but Jacob’s phone call had put pay to that.

“What do you think he meant?”  Faraday asked.

“I presume its NASA.”

“Well we should call them, if David is there he will be able to respond to any threats.”  Faraday advised.

“I don’t have a number, I could call Abaddon, he would surely have it.”

“Yeah I would guess so.”

Bobby walked back over to the telephone and called Abaddon.

“Hello.”

“Abaddon its Bobby Stinson, is David still with NASA?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you have a number I can reach him on?”

“I should do, may I ask why?”

“Jacob Cohen just phoned, he’s killed Garrett Underhill one of the men who helped us during the Kennedy assassination.  He told me his next attack will be coming from the sky, I’m guessing that means NASA.”

“May God have mercy on us all.  I will call and let him know.  Have you spoken to Hoover yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Okay I will call him too.  Did he say anything else that may be useful?”

“Not really, he said he wanted me to resign and he wants Kennedy to do the same.”

“He’s insane!”  Abaddon snapped.

“I know.  The President is on his way here.”

“Good.  I’ll be in touch with any news.”

“I’ll do the same.”

Bobby turned to face Faraday.  “Abaddon is calling David and Hoover.  We need to catch this bastard!”

Faraday was about to respond but before he could Clint Hill and President Kennedy entered the living room.

“What did he say Bobby?”

“He wants you to resign, same goes for Faraday, David and myself.”

“He said he was attacking us from the air?”

“He said, look to the sky and there we’ll see him.”

“Mr President I think we should return to the White House, it is the safest place in the country.”  Clint advised.

Kennedy nodded his acknowledgement.  “What are we doing about this?”

“Abaddon is calling NASA and David is there now.  He is also calling Hoover...”

The phone rang interrupting Bobby’s train of thought.  He walked back over and lifted the receiver.

“Yes?”

“It’s Edgar, a plane flying from Las Vegas has been hijacked.”

“What!”

“It’s headed towards the strip.”

“Fucking hell!  What are we doing about it?”

“We have planes in the air, but if the target is one of the casino’s we can’t do anything to stop it.  There’s not enough time.  Is the President with you?”

Bobby gestured for Kennedy to take the phone.

“What?”

Bobby watched as Kennedy turned a bright shade of scarlet.  “We can’t do anything?”

“Where is it now?”

“Marty, where the hell are those planes?”

“It’s hit?”

“Jesus Christ!  How the fuck could you let this happen!”

“I want all domestic and international flights grounded.  Nothing fly’s, unless it’s us.”

Kennedy slammed down the phone.

“We need to go to Las Vegas.”  He instructed. 

“Sir I need to phone for extra security before we can go anywhere.”

Clint walked over to the phone and ordered Air Force One to be readied and for an extra Secret Service detail.

“What did it hit?”  Faraday asked.

“The Flamingo Hotel.”  Kennedy replied.

Bobby’s jaw dropped, that was Meyer Lansky’s casino.

Chapter 37

After a terribly long and tedious journey, they had finally reached the site of the submarine’s remains.  The sky was dark and it was freezing on the deck of the ship.  David had been purely observing whilst Hughes walked around the ship in a buoyant mood. 

Sergei had been advising Hughes on how best to lift the submarine for the best part of two hours.  He had explained how essential it was to ensure the grapple did not destroy the submarine, there was a real chance that it could break apart. 

David didn’t care anymore he just wanted to be home, he didn’t care who had the nukes.  There were plenty more of them.  He struggled to light a cigarette with the strong winds, so he decided to go back to his and Sergei’s cabin. 

Once he had sat down on the bed he sparked it up and his thoughts turned to Sharon.  All being well he would be back with her in the coming months.  He had thought on multiple occasions about having to kill Martin Luther King, he wasn’t happy to be doing it but Abaddon was right.  He would be dead anyway if it hadn’t been for them.  And he would become more than a man, he would become an icon, an idea, and an idea can never be destroyed.

He wasn’t sure if he was lying to himself.  Maybe he was but it didn’t change anything, if this is what it took to get back to Sharon then this is what he would have to do.  She was his wife, his pregnant wife and she came first.  If Faraday was required to do this for Jane undoubtedly he would do the same.  Whilst he had been on the ship he couldn’t shake the thought that maybe he could persuade Abaddon to let them all go back.  It’s not like they had anything to stay for now.  They could maybe even go back and stop the explosion. 

He took a deep pull on his cigarette and shivered with the cold.  What the hell was he doing on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?  Why had Abaddon sent him?  Sergei was a Soviet defector but he showed no signs of being a spy, on the contrary he seemed more than happy to be here.  During the last week he had done nothing but complain about the Soviets, particularly there space program.  America could take another two years to land on the Moon and they would still reach it first, based on what he was saying.  He was excited to be part of the Apollo program, and when he had heard that Howard Hughes had taken over the program, he had been nothing but respectful.

Abaddon must have had a reason to send him, he seemed to have planned everything out so well, he still hadn’t even mentioned the date of when Martin Luther King would be taken out.  He had mentioned Cuba when they had spoken last, but as far as David knew nothing was going on in Cuba.  It seemed so elaborate, at least when Lyndon Johnson had tried a coup he had made it simple, shoot JFK.  Abaddon was making it so complex that there would be almost no way of tracing it back to him, unless David talked.  But there was no chance that was going to happen, there was no way Kennedy could get him back to where he belonged.  Abaddon had told him nothing about where the wormhole was, he had covered his bases.

As he took another pull on his cigarette the ship seemed to sway violently and there was a loud crash.  What the hell was going on out there?  He got up, but was knocked back onto his bunk when the ship swayed violently again, there was the sound of an explosion.  David’s heart was in his mouth, he again tried to get to his feet and this time he managed to stay on them.  There was another explosion, they were under attack.  The sound was almost deafening, David could hear nothing but ringing in his ears and he suddenly felt quite ill.

He managed to open the cabin door as the ship swayed violently.  He could not see any water entering the ship, but he was just one flight below deck.  Had the submarine caused the explosion?  He managed to struggle along the corridor towards the stairs, only being knocked over once.

He ran up the stairs two at a time and when he reached the deck it was a scene of carnage, there were bodies everywhere.  From what he could tell the ship wasn’t in too bad a state.  There was the sound of another explosion, which threw David to the ground once more.  He was going to die here.

He looked around him, he couldn’t see many men walking around, they all seemed to be injured and that’s when he saw movement in the helicopter and the rotors began to spin.  He struggled to his feet and ran towards it, he was again thrown to the ground as the ship gave a loud creaking noise.  He pushed himself up again and ran towards the helicopter, the closer he got to it he saw that Howard Hughes was the man in the pilot’s seat.  David was struggling to open the back door when the helicopter began to rise into the air. 

“Wait!”  He yelled as he grabbed onto the skids of the helicopter.  He had no idea what to do, it rose into the air much faster than he remembered it doing previously. 

“Help!”  He screamed, he could hardly hear himself over the noise of the rotors and the sinking ship beneath them.  He felt a hand grab his and try to pull him up, another hand then appeared nearer his shoulder and heaved him into the helicopter.  He was lying half on Sergei and half on the floor of the helicopter, not daring to move.

Sergei patted his back.

“Your safe my friend.”

David felt like kissing him.

“Close the damn door!”  Hughes shouted from the front. 

David still felt too petrified to move, but did what he was told.  When he sat back in the seat he realised it was only the three of them.

“What the hell happened?”  He shouted.

“The Soviets attacked the ship, that’s why we have the helicopter!”  Sergei advised.

“You knew this was going to happen?”

“Of course, didn’t you?”

“No!”  David screamed.  “How are we going to get back to the coast, it’s too far?”

“Mr Hughes has a yacht, we will make it.”  Sergei advised.

“Why did we deliberately get attacked? What is the point of this?”

Sergei looked stunned that David wasn’t in on the plan. 

“We’ll talk later!”  Hughes shouted.

Chapter 38

They had been in the air for just over four hours, it was now close to midnight.  The atmosphere on Air Force One was fractious.  Bobby Kennedy had erupted into fits of screaming, the twenty or so Secret Service agents on board were tense and they seemed to be expecting another attack.  Abaddon Wolf had been on the phone for the past hour or so trying to discover what was going on.  Bobby, Faraday and Chase were sitting slightly overwhelmed by the evening’s events.

“What!” 

They all turned their attention to Abaddon as he shouted down the phone.

“How can the media know all this already?  This is completely unacceptable!  Why didn’t you consult me David!  I don’t care if you didn’t have time! Anything related to NASA goes through me!  How many survivors?  Oh my God!  Keep me updated, I need to speak with the President.”

Abaddon hung up the phone and put his head in his hands.  Faraday’s heart went out to him, whatever had happened certainly sounded bad.

“Was that David Lewis?”  Bobby asked.