What James Did: The Accidental Time Travellers-Book 3 (8 page)

“I think this is getting a little personal Mr Faraday.  You should stop before you say something that you will come to regret.  I am the only friend that you have left.”  Guy spoke calmly.

Faraday blushed, he suddenly felt quite stupid.  “I’m sorry Guy, it’s been a rough few days.”

“It’s quite alright.  When I mentioned, you had been short-sighted, it was not an attempt to annoy or undermine you Mr Faraday.  As I told you, I owe you my life.  It was something that you should keep in mind.  Spending time in the Spanish army, I learned about the importance of planning.  Of course, that was for military purposes, but is something that you can apply to everyday life.”

Faraday was surprised.  “I hadn’t expected you to be so wise.”

Guy chuckled.  “I don’t know if I would call myself wise.”

“Were you ever married?”  Faraday asked, before taking another slurp from his beer.

“No, there was a woman, once.  We never married.  What was your wife like?”

Faraday smiled.  “She was perfect, way too good for me.  I loved her.”

“You must miss her terribly.  How did she die?”

“There was an explosion.” 

“Why not use the wormhole generator and save her?”  Guy asked.

“I don’t think that I can.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated.  If I was to go back and save her from the car bomb then I wouldn’t have helped Abaddon.  In that situation, I would, therefore, never have the wormhole generator, which means that I wouldn’t be able to save her.”

Guy looked confused.  “But surely there would be two of you in that time?”

“Yes, there would.”

“Perhaps the other you, may still believe that she is dead and you can carry on with her.”

“Believe me Guy, it’s not that I haven’t thought about it.  At some stage, you have to give up and realise that something’s are just meant to be.”

“And yet you plan to kill Abaddon.”  Guy replied.

“It is hard to explain Guy, there’s a lot of history there.  I’ve saved her before, I just don’t think I can do it this time.”

“If you say so.  Do you think we will be able to kill this man?”

“I hope so.  We’ll need to see what these people are like that are working with Jacob.”

“So we head there first thing tomorrow?”

“That’s right.  I guess they are either highly effective or they don’t exist.”

“Why wouldn’t they exist?”  Guy asked in confusion.

“You don’t know Jacob.  He is scum.”

“And you chose to leave him with the others?”

Faraday nodded.  “The way I see it, he was either telling the truth in which case he is the best chance of saving Bobby.  Or he is lying, in which case there is nothing that I could do to stop him anyway.”

Chapter 16

The atmosphere in the condo had been tense since Faraday and Guy had left. 

“I would suggest that we go elsewhere, I believe Nancy and Jane are due to return shortly.  It would not be wise for them to find us here.”  Jacob advised.

“Where do you suggest we go?”  Chase asked.

“I have some friends that I believe could be of assistance, but first there is someone that we are going to need to visit.  Or rather you are going to need to visit.”  Jacob replied.

“Who?”  Chase asked, almost irritably.

“Wernher Von Braun.”  Jacob replied.

“He is dead.”  Chase snapped.

“Not yet, we need to travel to May 1969.  He is in prison, awaiting execution.  All you need to do is go to the prison and book him out for questioning by the FBI.  Then we can take him to my friend’s home.”

“To what end?”  Edward interrupted.

“We need someone that can get inside Auschwitz, I can think of nobody better.”  Jacob replied.

“But they’ll notice his age.”  Chase replied.

Jacob laughed.  “Listen, I don’t want to be patronising young man but I know what I am doing.  You to my knowledge had an entire three field missions.  The first of those I handed Mengele over to you, the second time you were kidnapped before losing your mind, and the third time you were shot.  It would save us all time if you just did as you were told.”

Chase rose to his feet aggressively, causing Jacob to laugh again.  “Young man, how many times must I best you physically before you realise that you can’t win?”

Sarah grasped Chase by the arm and he reluctantly retook his seat.  “Why should any of us trust you?  After everything you have done, you expect us to follow your lead?”  Chase barked.

Jacob chuckled.  “Do you believe you would have a better chance without me?”

Chase blushed.  “I don’t trust you.  For all we know you intend to get us captured.”

“Young man, if I wanted to kill you then I would just do it now.  The simple fact of the matter is, I am the only chance that you have of saving your friend.”  Jacob chuckled.  “That isn’t arrogance that is a stone cold fact.” 

“He’s right Chase.”  Sarah interjected.

“Fine, we will do it your way.”  Chase replied begrudgingly.

“That’s better.”  Jacob laughed.  He removed the wormhole generator from his pocket.

“I would like you to give that to me now.”  Edward stated.

Jacob’s cold dead eyes zeroed in on Edward.  “Is that so?”

“Give it to him Jacob; that was the deal.”  Sarah instructed.

“And which of you is going to make me?”  Jacob asked coldly.

Edward looked towards Chase, who looked down at his feet.

Jacob burst into a fit of laughter.  “Do not worry, I was kidding.”  Jacob got to his feet and handed the generator to Edward.

“You said May, 1969?”  Edward asked.

“That’s right, he is in Washington County Jail.”

“Is May 1
st
alright?”  Edward asked.

“Yes.  It will be okay, Chase will go alone.”  Jacob instructed.

“Why?”  Edward asked.

“He is the only one able to get access to Von Braun.  I have an arrest warrant out for me and I am not staying here alone.  I imagine that Chase here would not be too pleased with Sarah staying here with me all by herself.”

“You imagine right.”  Chase replied.

“Just show him what to do and he can come back here in a minute’s time.”

Edward reluctantly explained the machine to Chase. 

“Will you both be okay until I return?”  Chase asked.

“In sixty seconds there is very little that can go wrong.”  Jacob smiled.

Chase disappeared into the light.

Jacob winked at Sarah, which repulsed her.  “Do you even care about Bobby?”  She asked.

Jacob chuckled.  “I can’t say that I do.”

“Then why are you doing any of this?”

“I have explained my thoughts Miss Salmond, tell me why have you chosen to save a cripple from Auschwitz rather than save your own family?”  Jacob smirked.

“Bobby is a great man, he’s worth a million of you.  I’ve never even met this so called half-brother, for all I know it isn’t even true.  You’re hardly a reliable source.”

“Yet for almost a year you based your news reports around what I told you.”  Jacob laughed. 

Sarah did not reply to this comment, Edward was trying to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room.

“Tell me, Dr Teller why are you doing this?”  Jacob asked.

Edward reluctantly looked towards Jacob, his dead eyes made Edward’s spine tingle.  “I’m fixing my mistake.”

Jacob burst into a fit of laughter.  “Which one would that be Edward, you invented the atom bomb, you invented the wormhole generator, you essentially gave Abaddon everything he’s ever needed to destroy the people of earth.  But here you are trying to save someone you don’t even know, I’d have assumed you would have bigger fish to fry.”

Edward stared at Jacob for a moment before answering.  “It wasn’t me that nuked anyone, it wasn’t me that used the wormhole generator for my own personal gain.  I am a scientist, the people who use my devices are to blame for their own mistakes.  But it was me that sent Bobby to Auschwitz, I have helped to save both Chase and Miss Salmond, I will do the same with Mr Stinson.”

As Edward finished speaking Chase appeared back in the room, beside a baffled looking Wernher Von Braun.

“Another scientist for you to play with Edward.”  Jacob laughed.

“Have a seat Dr Von Braun.”  Chase said, ignoring Jacob.

Wernher sat beside Sarah and Chase took the seat that Faraday had been sitting on, leaving Jacob with a couch to himself.

“I’m feeling very unloved.”  Jacob joked.

“So why am I here?”  Wernher asked nervously.

“We don’t have time to explain this here, we need to get to my friends.”  Jacob ordered.

Edward sighed.  “So where and when are we going?”

“We are going to the diner on Main Street of Gibsland, Louisiana.  I have arranged to meet them at 08:30, on May 23
rd,
1934.”  

Edward typed in the details while Chase stared accusingly at Jacob.

“Who are these friends?”  He asked.

Jacob laughed.  “You’ll see.” 

“We aren’t going anywhere until we know who they are.”  Chase barked.

Jacob glowered at Chase.  “You’ve read the story of Jesse James, of how he lived and died, if you’re still in need, of something to read, here’s the story of Bonnie and Clyde.”  Jacob smirked.

“The gangsters?”  Chase asked, stunned.

“They’re good people.”  Jacob replied.

“According to you.” 

“Well, perhaps not good people, but they can shoot.  Which is more than can be said for the journalist over there, and the two scientists.”

“So that’s your plan, shoot your way in and out?”  Chase spoke with derision. 

“Chase it is not my plan, but it doesn’t hurt to have a Plan B.  They need help, just like your bonfire man did, in fact, it was you that gave me the idea.  So I went to visit them, I told them how close they were to their deaths, and I told them to meet me at this diner.  They will come with us, or they will drive a little further down the road where they will be killed.”  Jacob smiled.

“Why would you even want their help for something like this?”  Chase asked.

“One man cannot get us in and out, who knows what state Bobby will be in.  I highly doubt that we are all getting out of there alive.  It doesn’t matter how brave anyone is, or how good their intentions.  The only things that matter is your ability to lie and your ability to shoot.”

“The generator is ready.”  Edward announced.  He got to his feet and walked clear from the couches, and the light then appeared.

“Are you going to kill me?”  Wernher asked, trembling slightly.

“No, we just need your help, if you go through the light we can explain everything.”  Chase reassured him.

“But I might still kill you.”  Jacob chuckled.

“Ignore him.”  Chase advised before scowling at Jacob.

Wernher nodded and did as he was asked.

Sarah went to go next before Chase grabbed her arm.  “You don’t need to do this, we can do it without you.”

“I’m coming.”  He reluctantly released her arm, and she too walked into the light.

Chase looked towards Jacob, who seemed to be on the verge of laughter.  “What’s so funny?”  Chase snapped.

“I don’t think she’s interested in you.”

Chase shook his head and walked into the light.

“Well doc, it’s just you and me left.  I’ll see you on the other side.”

“Yes you will.”  Edward replied awkwardly.

Jacob walked into the light and disappeared like the others.

Edward stared at the light for a moment, he knew it was his last chance to leave.  He looked around the condo and wondered whether he should just rid himself of the wormhole and these people.  He heard the key turn in the door to the condo and the sound of women’s voices, startled he decided to join the others in Louisiana.