The Return of the Manhattan (19 page)

CHAPTER 35

Laura met Brad as she emerged from sick bay, and ran as fast as she could straight into his arms, and with tears of joy running down her face, she exclaimed, “Oh Brad—” He pulled her into his arms, and kissed her urgently not letting her finish, She could hardly contain herself until he allowed her to speak, “I was so afraid I’d lose you.”

“In my heart, I’d never let you go, darling. It was awful, I thought—I don’t know what I would do without you. I’ve been looking for you all my life and I won’t ever let you go again.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I was so confused—”

“Hush, no more of that. Tell me you will marry me.”

“Yes—Oh yes, yes, yes!”

She clung to him, her emotions running wild as she returned his love, kiss for kiss, with a passion she had never before experienced until he broke free. “Darling, you’re the most beautiful and desirable woman I’ve ever met, even when you’re crying. But, if we don’t stop carrying on like this, I’m warning you, I may not be able to wait for our wedding.”

“I don’t care. I want to give myself to you; but for now I guess you’d better get on in, and see Dr. Baker.”

Dr. Baker gave Brad a hearty welcome as he entered, “Welcome back to the Manhattan, Brad.”

“Thanks, Doc, I didn’t realize you cared so much.”

“Well, you grow on a person. Besides it was really Laura we were concerned about.”

“How is she Doc? I mean how is she physically?”

“Fine, she is the picture of perfect health. She has obviously been under quite a strain, but physically she’s in great shape.”

“I agree with you, Doc.” Brad grinned mischievously.

“Okay, enough of that, why don’t you get up on that bench and let’s take a look at you. Have you been taking those pills I gave you?”

“Sorry, Doc, I haven’t had the time. I did take them the first few days.”

“Well, let’s see how you’re doing.” He turned on the medical scanner, and monitored the readouts on the computer. He took a small sample of blood this time, and began the test procedure taking his time not saying anything.

“Well, what’s it look like Doc? Will I live?”

“Aren’t you the anxious one? It takes a little time to complete the examination properly.” He waited a couple more minutes until the computer analysis was complete. “Looks like you’re physically fit. You have the slight blockage in your arteries—it’s a little better than last time, though, I’ll have to give you a series of shots.” He didn’t wait for Brad’s reaction, but pushed a needle into Brad’s arm and gave him his first shot. “Sorry, Brad, but if you’d taken those pills like I ordered, you wouldn’t have needed that.”

“Sorry, I guess it’s just my life-style.”

“Well, see me every day until you get off the Manhattan, and I’ll give Laura more to give you later. Now get out of here, Dr. Ashton may have more business with you.”

Laura was waiting outside the door, and together, arm in arm, they went to see her father. He was waiting, looking up as they entered, “Well, it looks like all’s well with you two; now let’s get down to business. We’ve got some updates for you and we can discuss some strategies.”

Laura’s curiosity finally got the better of her, asking, “Well, did you find out which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

“Yes, well maybe, at least the egg hatched. That part we know worked well, but your mission was cut far too short, and the organization you left behind couldn’t continue without you, Laura. The measurable difference in conservation of petroleum was insignificant.”

“We had some luck in uncovering a conspiracy; were they ever prosecuted? What happened with Dana Higgins?”

“As far as we can tell, no. We couldn’t find any trace of Dana Higgins in the history books or in newspaper accounts,” David remarked sadly.

Brad laughed, “Good, at least that part worked. We were protecting her with a name change; maybe her father didn’t find her either.”

“What’s the name? We’ll plug it into the computer, and search newspaper accounts to see if we can find her that way.”

“Danielle Black.”

David gasped, “You mean Dr. Danielle Black, the noted physicist! She developed the theory behind the Electromagnetic propulsion units. It took 300 years before they were produced, but Dr. Black developed the whole theory in 2013.”

Laura beamed, “I knew she was extremely intelligent, and we were wasting her time behind that receptionist desk. If I had taken her back to the lab with me, she probably could have continued the development after we were gone.”

“It’s too bad we have to change that part of history, but I can see great possibilities for her. Let me tell you the rest of the story, and then you can check the computers for anything else that might help us out.” He showed them the articles he found in the newspapers concerning an assassination of President Dugan. “This accident with Air Force One was probably not an accident. No evidence was ever found of sabotage, but no explanation could be given for the simultaneous failure of all four engines either.”

Brad was adamant, “We need to warn him. Is it possible we can prevent his death, or is that a part of history we can’t change?”

“According to our computer memory banks, he wasn’t supposed to die that way; we already changed that part of history! And James Little was not supposed to be President, although he didn’t make such a bad president. In the next few days, you can stay here, and communicate with those you need to on the ground. We want to modify the C9 again before you deliver it to McDonnell Douglas. Since the whole world knows about the new engines, we don’t have to camouflage them anymore. We want to take the old engine cowlings off and put all the turbine accessories in the tail.”

CHAPTER 36

Brad and Laura were oblivious to the outside world when they entered the communications center, and didn’t immediately notice one of the crewmembers already at the console connected, and communicating with someone on the ground. They hadn’t made a sound, and the operator was so absorbed in his tasks that he didn’t see or hear them come in. They stopped frozen in their tracks as they heard him speak into the microphone: “. . . . They know about the snipers on the rooftop of the hospital. Dr. Ashton and Colonel Anderson will not be there!” Brad and Laura couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, and after a moment, he continued. “It doesn’t matter who I am; believe me, I know who you are, and they know too. The FBI has evidence linking the three of you to EMI, and the firing on the C9. I’m taking a tremendous chance—” He glanced up at that moment seeing Laura and Brad watching him. He spun off his seat, severed his connection, pulled a weapon from under his shirt, and fired, missing in his haste.

His second shot shouldn’t have missed, but it did. Brad reacted instinctively, first throwing Laura to the floor, rolling with her behind another console. The crewman fired again, hitting the console between them touching off an electrical fire that sent alarms throughout the ship. He continued to blast away, panic-stricken as he fled, directly into the grasp of the security forces David sent to intercept him.

Later that night, David sat watching the evening newscast, listening for information concerning the Dallas trap set for the assassins. “Here it is now.”

“Good Evening, this is Walt Crane with CBS news. In the headlines today, Colonel Anderson and Dr. Ashton were briefly listed as missing with their experimental DC9, but it was a false alarm as they experienced a minor electrical problem. They were en route to Dallas, where tragedy again struck as three FBI agents were killed while involved in a shoot-out atop the hospital across the street from the Dallas Convention Center where Colonel Anderson and Dr. Ashton were scheduled to meet with the nation’s major oil producers. We switch now to Dallas for a live report—”

“Good Evening, I’m standing in front of the wreckage of a Bell Ranger Medevac helicopter which crashed into the street here after a shoot-out on the top of the hospital building involving the five men killed in the helicopter with a score of FBI agents.”

David and Laura had a few moments to themselves following the news broadcast. David was indecisive about what to tell her about the traitor in the communications center. Did it matter? In the previous voyage, Brad had died again, but David again had the advantage of recorded history and prevented that crime from being consummated.

Laura raised the question without giving him the chance to decline, “Dad, why weren’t we killed in the comm center?

David hesitated but decided to unburden himself, “That was another event that actually happened. It was recorded that Brad was killed then and there. I couldn’t tell you ahead of time, I just placed a protective shield around both of you and had the security forces ready. I didn’t know who he was and it was probably the easiest way we could find him. However, I did know what was going down so we intercepted his call and the warning was never received.”

“I guess you have lots of knowledge you can’t share with me and that’s okay. I know you won’t let anything happen that would jeopardize the mission.”

“I don’t know, I helped make a decision several years ago that cost your mother’s life. Laura, you and I have both paid the price of that decision for too many years. If I had to support that decision all over again knowing what I know, I don’t think I would have been able to do it, even though I don’t know what else we could have done. Maybe it’s fortunate; I didn’t have that knowledge then.”

“Tell me about her. I have tried, but I can’t even remember her face.”

His voice broke; tears flowed freely as he held her close. “It’s—it’s hard, Laura—all you need to do is look in a mirror—you are the spitting image of your mother. I see her every time I look at you. That’s another reason why I had to come back to save you and Brad! That’s why it was so hard for me to give you up to the twentieth century!”

“What was she like?”

“She was a real lady, like you are. I remember watching her with you in her arms, overflowing with love. Laura, she loved you more than life itself, as I do. Sometimes when I look at you, I think I’ve gone back in time before that accident. I hope you understand why I sometimes had to walk out of the room with you, especially when you asked about her. That’s why I wouldn’t talk about her. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Yes, Dad, and I love you even more because of the way you are.”

“Thanks, Laura.”

“Dad, now you can take the Manhattan back and save her too.”

“No, believe me, I’ve thought about that, but it’s not the same. I’ve come a long way since then. In moments like this, I miss her, but when I get back, I want to try again to get Brenda to marry me.”

“Oh, I hope she will. I know you both will be very happy, like Brad and I.”

CHAPTER 37

On Monday morning, David brought the crew up to date informing all about the situation with the culprit apprehended in the Communications Center and what actually happened on the previous voyage. One asked, “How did the traitor know about General Higgins? I mean, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Unfortunately, in our century, EMI, the company founded by General Higgins, still exists; their spy infiltrated our crew, and has been here waiting for his chance since the beginning. Fortunately, time is on our side; we have to smash EMI and their conspiracy here in this century, and then we will have no problem when we return. It’s quite possible that they are controlling a large amount of oil, and our civilization isn’t in such bad shape as we thought, although we will never know.”

“What are we going to do with the traitor?”

Dr. Ashton hesitated, weighing the consequences before replying, “I hesitate because of the possibility of another spy on board; but I will take that chance, and trust each of you. We’re going to feed him false information that will help us destroy EMI. Our plans haven’t been formalized, so if any of you have any ideas of how to accomplish it, feel free to express yourselves. We haven’t been very good in predicting what effect our actions have on the future, but if we destroy EMI, then our ‘traitor’ may cease to exist.”

Laura and Brad left David with his crew and Laura placed a call to their office at SMA where Dana answered with a cheery, “Good morning, Solar Magnetics Administration, may I help you?”

“Hi, Danielle—“

“Where are you?” She exclaimed, “We’ve been worried sick, nobody knows where you are, or what happened in Dallas. The president’s been on the phone, and it’s been ringing constantly since Saturday afternoon.”

“Whoa, slow down, nothing happened; we are safe here at Scott Air Force Base. Nothing to worry about. Why don’t you get Charles on the phone, and I’ll only have to give you the news once.”

“Sure.”

Charles picked up the phone, “If you two scare me one more time—I swear, I should never have joined this outfit.”

“Charles, you need a little excitement in your life, I bet you’re having a ball. What did the president have to say?”

“He didn’t say. I think he wanted to find out first hand why you didn’t attend the session in Dallas.”

“We’ll talk to him. Charles, I think we’d better get a new receptionist. See if you can find another good one, will you?”

Dana broke in, “Wait a cotton picking minute, don’t I have anything to say about this?”

“Danielle, you’ve got the job as long as you want it, but I need you for a more important job. I’ll tell you about it when we get back. It’ll be your choice.”

“I love this job, even if you did leave me out on a limb.”

“I know, Charles, make sure the line is secure, and I’ll tell you a little more.”

Charles turned on the anti-snooper black box Laura had provided, “Okay, it’s secure.”

“You’ve heard the news, if Brad and I had gone to Dallas, we would have been killed. Obviously that didn’t happen, or at least history has been changed again, because my father came back, and intercepted us before we arrived in Dallas. We are with him now on the Manhattan; Dana, the Manhattan is the UFO we told you about earlier. Make sure no one else hears a word of it. Keep up business as usual. We want to get those manufacturers tooled up for production as quickly as possible.”

“We’ll take care of this end of it.”

“Okay, we’ll keep in touch but probably won’t be back until sometime next week, or maybe longer.”

Brad made the next call to Arthur Olson’s office, Arthur was there and immediately came to the phone, “Brad, are you and Laura all right?”

“We weren’t, but we’re fine now. I’m sorry about those agents; they took the shots that were meant for me.”

“I don’t understand how you knew they would be there. Don’t worry about those agents; they knew the risks. It’s only a matter of time before those guys we nabbed will tell us all they know.”

“Oh, what kind of tactics are you using to get that information?”

“You wouldn’t want to know. Anyway, they have already been traced to ArkTex. One of them had a paycheck stub from one of their subsidiaries.”

“Good, I think we’re getting somewhere. By the way, there is also a plot to assassinate the president. His helicopter crash was probably not an accident! I received that information at the same time—and, no, I can’t tell you my source. Unfortunately, you can’t set them up like you did in Dallas. But we are working on a plan to break things wide open.”

“Be careful.”

Brad put the next call through to Colonel Brandt. “Morning, Sir, Colonel Anderson checking in. How’s the airplane we brought back?”

“Very funny! I don’t think anyone will ever believe another word I say. Officially, the aircraft is in the hangar. What’s going on?”

“I can’t guarantee there are no taps on your phone so you’ll have to wait for the whole story. With your permission, I’ll be back Wednesday evening and fly a couple of locals on Thursday and Friday. I want to check out Jerry Winsome, your wing standardization officer so he can be ready to fly the aircraft if anything happens to us.

“That’s approved.”

“Good, one more request, I’d like to check out Major Sparks also. He deserves it after all he did for us, and I’d like to use him for another little scheme we’ve got cooked up. I’ll tell you about that Wednesday evening.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“After our locals, we will fly the aircraft on to McDonnell Douglas.

“Great, does that mean we’ll get it back soon? We haven’t cancelled any missions, but maintenance complains every day to the Wing Commander. We may lose a local or two this week.”

“I suppose that’s up to McDonnell Douglas. We may be able to push them, but I’d guess it will take a couple of months. Maybe you can get the depot level maintenance done at the same time?”

“Unfortunately, that aircraft just finished the cycle. We may have to delay putting the next aircraft in until we get this one back though.”

“That’s probably a good idea anyway. It would make more sense to get it done the same time it’s modified. At least the rest of the airplanes won’t have to go through the certification process. Sir, I’d like to talk with you more, but it’ll have to wait. I’ve got to call the president.”

The president was in his office with his chief of staff, Norm Dressler, when his intercom buzzed. He flipped the switch expecting Mary, his secretary, to be on the line, “Yes.”

“Morning, Sir, Colonel Anderson checking in.”

“Where the hell have you been?”

“I think you hit the nail of the head, Sir. Are you alone?”

“One moment.” He indicated the door, and Dressler left knowing his boss wanted privacy. “Okay, I’m alone.”

“Good, Laura and I were killed on Friday afternoon, and you were killed later this week!”

“That’s preposterous!”

“Sir, I didn’t want to shock you, but it’s true. Fortunately for us, the Manhattan is back, and has already insured that it didn’t and won’t happen.”

“But you said we were killed, not that I will be killed.”

“That’s right. It actually happened. But history is only history until it’s changed, and we have another chance.”

“That’s incredible! Tell me about it.”

Brad went on to explain the entire story leaving nothing out, “One event followed the other like a chain reaction. After we were killed, you were on little side trip to Kansas City to attend our memorial service. We appreciate that by the way, but I’m glad it didn’t happen this time. On the way back to Washington, your aircraft lost all four engines. There was no way your pilot could land in Saint Louis when he started to lose the engines due to a violent thunderstorm over the airport, so he opted to land at Springfield, Illinois. I think Scott AFB must have been down with the storms also. Anyway, it was too far and when the 4th engine was lost, you crashed short of the runway. The cause of the accident was never discovered, except for some reason, all four engines failed one right after another. We are certain that it was sabotage and someone wants you dead. We have every reason to believe the main conspirators are General Mike Higgins, CIA chief Clifford Burns, and your vice president, James Little.”

“That could be, and it agrees with the reports Arthur Olson gave me last week. Jim is a trifle incompetent, but I never really thought he would go that far. Maybe I should confront him, and have it out right now.”

“That would only make them go farther underground, and you have no proof; instead we need to flush them out in the open. We are working on a couple of schemes that might work. In the meantime, be inconsistent, I mean never travel the same way twice. Set up transportation and don’t use it. Stay off Air Force One and your helicopter.”