JAA Ch. 05: R E R U N

My plan this time around was to try to die of old age, but to have fun in the process. I invested in the stock market and some other things, which netted me millions. I bought a nice little place, in a quiet little neighborhood, bought an average looking car where I spent my days writing and creating. Every weekend I would travel somewhere nice. I didn't care who I spent the weekend with until the '90s came along, then I had three women who lived with me and I took care of.

The arrangement was fine with them as we all had fun each weekend and they could go shopping whenever they wanted. They didn't have to cook or clean, I had two maids to do that. Did I get tired of them after awhile? Sure, so I swapped them out occasionally. It's easy when you have money and I wasn't all that bad looking. I did have two wonderful doctors taking care of me, so I was set. I sat back and enjoyed life, as I couldn't any of my other lifetimes. It was great.

I did sneak some articles into a couple of lesser-known medical journals, in which I laid out the formula in each of the articles for the cures that my company had discovered. My pen name was different for each article and I had my payment given to the medical center for which my doctors worked as a charitable contribution. I heard nothing from anyone about those articles and wondered if they had been pulled from the market.

Then one day I was in for a checkup with Shelly when she plopped a magazine down on her desk. She seemed excited as she beamed at me.

"I have just found an amazing article and can't find out what the author's real name is. And I need the cure that is outlined in the article."

"Why don't you just make it and use it, test it first of course," I smiled at her.

"I couldn't do that. Besides we don't have the money for that kind of thing."

"Let me see that," I said reaching for the magazine.

I already knew what was in there, so I just pretended to read. The article, printed verbatim, as I pretended to scan the pages.

"This shouldn't cost much to make. All these chemicals are readily available in your pharmacy. What's the problem?"

"They won't let us make it, the hospital won't. I haven't the faintest idea why."

"Well, why don't you and Susie do it on your own time?"

She looked at me stunned for a minute, then smiled at me nodding her approval. My exam was over so I said good-bye and left.

Within a month, I read in the paper, Shelly and Susie had been arrested for bilking people on a hoax cure for cancer. I shook my head wondering why this happened. Would it happen in the original timeline if an announcement were made of those cures?

I wrote another article lambasting the authorities on their trumped up charges against the two doctors. I used the same penname on the article and even included the original script of the article. I sent it to the local papers, news outlets, and the national papers. They printed it immediately, as the current administration was not in favor with the news organizations around the country. There was a clamor from the people and the politicians stumping for re-election.

Within days, Shelly and Susie were released, as their patients came forward and the hospital produced medical records. There were hearings on Capitol Hill and in the press. The world was in chaos with the two doctors that had found a cure for cancer. After the fervor died down Shelly, accompanied by Susie, told the world about the article and the author they couldn't find. That he had been the one to discover the cure for cancer.

Susie and Shelly also told the press about three other articles, which outlined the formulas to cure diabetes, epilepsy, and MS. They also displayed an article that had the beginnings of hope for a cure for AIDS. To say the press conference went well is an understatement. Susie and Shelly were heroines of the medical world, even though they denied the accolades.

It would seem that by my doing nothing but a few simple articles I had thwarted the cover-up. Or had I.

Chapter 15

Shelly, Susie and I were sitting in the bar down from the hospital having a celebratory drink when we felt more than heard a huge rumbling. As it seemed to get closer, the walls of the building began to shake. Looking around I saw that everyone was doing the same. With a force that belied the sound, the windows in the bar blew in, scattering glass all around the room.

Grabbing each of the women, I fell back onto the floor, pulling them with me. All three of us lay there trying to catch our breath covered in glass watching the flames hit the wall above us. The wallboard seared black and caught fire the moment the flames licked its surface. Within seconds, the place was ablaze. Rolling to my right I pulled Shelly and pushed Susie toward the door around the corner of the bar. There were people screaming, as they burned alive. Susie kept trying to go to them, but I pushed her forward toward the door, shouting at her.

"You can't do anything for them, they are dead. The only thing to do now, is help those outside who aren't burning."

She nodded and hurried forward to the door. It hung by its bottom hinge and we could see people laying in the street and the trees burning in the park across from the bar. Dragging Shelly I exited the bar and stood looking around. Shelly slowly climbed to her feet using me as a cane of sorts. Susie was standing in the middle of the street looking back at the hospital with a look of horror on her face. Looking down the street, I saw the sky where the hospital had once been.

It was gone. There was nothing there anymore, just a big crater where the hospital had been.

"My god, my god, my god..." Susie repeated over and over.

"Susie," I shouted at her.

Shelly was holding on to me as she too stared down the street.

"Shelly, can you stand on your own?" I asked her.

"What?"

"Can you walk, stand on your own?"

"Yes...my god...what happened?"

"I don't know. Wait here, Susie needs help."

I turned and walked to Susie. I grabbed both her arms and gave her a little shake. She just stared right through me repeating over and over "My god." Shaking her harder didn't snap her out of it so, I took drastic action, I slapped her face, hard. She stopped talking and her eyes focused on me for just a second, then she hit me back and screamed.

"What the hell was that for?"

I smiled at her and nodded to Shelly.

"Go help her, she's hurt."

Nodding Susie sprinted over to her friend while I looked around at the people in the street. They were all dead. It appeared the bar was in the right place and was not blown to smithereens by whatever caused this. Searching the street both ways I noticed that not a soul was stirring as far as I could see in either direction.

Rejoining Susie and Shelly I helped Susie. Both women appeared dazed but functional. Shelly had some minor cuts and abrasions, Susie looked fine, just covered in suet. I was unhurt.

Chapter 16

It took us a good thirty minutes to walk out of the devastated area around the hospital. I wanted us to avoid police and rescue workers. Telling Shelly and Susie why was difficult, but once I did, they went along with me. We found a garage that was open and ducked inside. There was a cleanup area in the corner, running water and everything.

We each helped the others to clean all noticeable suet from our skin. All abrasions tended to, from the first-aid kit on the wall. Our coats were dark enough not to show the suet. We walked out of the devastated area. My place was the closest so we went there. I made one phone call on an internet hook-up that went through ten proxy servers, then we sat there and waited. Twenty minutes later, a knock on my door startled all of us. I held up my hand for us to wait. When the sound of a key in the lock came to my ears, I pushed the girls into the bedroom ahead of me.

I pulled my pistol from the drawer and stood just inside the bedroom door. In the quiet, I could hear the soft steps of one person coming down the hall. As the gun of the other person came into view, I placed mine where his face should come around the doorframe. Part of a face slowly came around the corner. I didn't recognize the person so I pushed my pistol into his eye socket.

"Let go of your gun," I said softly, gently grabbing the barrel of his gun.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage, Mister Abernathy. Or should I say, Doctor Abernathy?"

"Who are you?" I asked pressing my pistol into his eye harder. He still hadn't let go of his weapon. "And let go of your gun now or you will never get to answer my questions."

I felt the weight of his gun in my hand as he released his grip.

"Who's with you? How many more are there?"

"I am alone, I promise."

I didn't believe him of course. I handed his pistol to Susie over my shoulder. I grabbed his hair and pulled him into the bedroom and down onto the floor.

"This isn't necessary, Mister Abernathy."

I ignored him. Putting my knee in his back, I grabbed the gun back from Susie. I looked it over, standard thirty-eight, six-shot, three-inch barrel, no safety to worry about.

"Susie, come here. Put your knee where mine is. Take his gun, put it at the back of his head, if he moves just pull the trigger. Do you think you can do that?"

"Why, who is he?"

"I don't know. We'll find out in a minute, but I have to go out and check..."

"For what?"

"Susie, someone killed, I don't know how many people, what would three more mean?"

Her eyes got big and round and she grabbed the gun from me. She jammed her knee into his back making him grunt with pain. Then cocked the pistol and jammed the muzzle into the back of his head.

"Move and I will splatter you brainstem all over the floor. Got it?"

"Yes," he croaked.

I hoped he didn't move I had questions that needed answering. I hope Susie's finger didn't twitch, although I did notice her move her finger off the trigger as I rose.

Chapter 17

I stepped out of the bedroom cautiously, peeking around the doorframe down the hall into the living room. I saw the front door, closed, as I started down the hall. The living room was clear as was the kitchen and bathroom. Back in the living room, I checked outside peering through the slats of the blinds without moving them. Nothing, no movement, no vehicles that weren't there when we got here, he was alone.

Walking back to the bedroom I halted as I heard Susie speaking harshly to the man she was kneeling on.

"Don't you move shithead, you might cause my finger to flinch and pull the trigger on your gun."

"Christ, lady, you don't have your finger on that trigger..."

"You bet I do asshole..."

I stepped into the bedroom silently. Susie looked up at me without moving anything but her head. I signaled she should get up quickly. She nodded and sprang to her feet, still pointing the gun at the man on the floor. Where she had learned how to do this was a question that popped into my mind, but there were other pressing matters at hand.

"Wha...," the guy started to say until Shelly kicked him in the ribs.

"Shelly, that's enough," I told her quietly. She nodded and stepped back.

The guy rolled over on his back looking up at us all with a pained look on his face. I just smiled down at him and chuckled.

"All right Mister Messenger, give us the bad news so I can decide whether to kill you or not," I hoped the smile on my face wasn't too evil.

"You don't understand what you have done."

"Sure I do. We have found cures for four of the biggest most devastating illnesses the world has ever known and someone, somewhere, doesn't want us too. Why is that?" I stood looking down at him my gun at my side.

I will give him this he was fast but not as fast as Susie. The sound of the gunshot caused me to flinch and may have kept me from harm. A foot went flying past my head as I ducked to the right from the sound. When I looked back, he had a hole in his left arm with a grimace on his face. Kneeling down beside him, I looked at his wound. He would survive, it was a through and through, no harm was done, just a little muscle loss as the bullet ripped through.

"Now that we, you have that out of the way, why don't you tell me, who, what, where, how and why," I smiled at him as I squatted beside him.

"Where did she learn to shoot like that, it's not in her records?"

"My daddy taught me slimeball."

"Oh. May I sit up?"

"Of course, and let's go into the living room. It's more comfortable for listening to stories."

I helped him up all the while Susie was covering him with the pistol. He shook me off once he was up. Walking ahead of him, I led the way into the living room.

"Sit, on the couch. Shelly, there is a first-aid kit in the bathroom, go get it, please. It's on the wall behind the door."

"Okay," she was gone.

I shoved my gun in my waistband at my back and stood watching our guest bleed.

Chapter 18

Shelly was back with the kit quickly and sat beside him ripping his coat sleeve and shirtsleeve open to get at the wounds.

"I would have taken them off," he told her politely.

"Then I wouldn't have the joy I got from ripping such fine clothes."

Shelly worked on his wounds while I peered out the window. You could hear the sirens blaring in the distance as emergency service from other parts of the metro area raced into the disaster zone. Susie patiently watched the man her friend was treating. Her watchful eyes missed nothing. I wondered whether he would tell us what we wanted to know.

"Why," I started turning toward him, "did all these people have to die?"

"You know why, Mister Abernathy."

Pulling my gun from behind my back, I pointed it at his face.

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you, but you won't like the answer."

I stood waiting, gun still pointing at his face. His shoulders slumped as Shelly finished up with her ministrations and she moved away from him.

"In twenty minutes this house will be obliterated if I don't make a phone call."

"Then you had better start talking or you will be dead in fifteen and we will be out of here in sixteen," I told him smiling.

"You might as well kill me I have already resolved myself to die today. You see I was to be at the hospital, but at the last minute, I received a call to come here instead. So shoot me..." and I did. Both Susie and Shelly jumped at the thunder my gun caused in the confined space of the living room.

Stepping over to the man as he slouched down on the couch I pulled his wallet, phone and a set of keys from his pocket. Standing up I looked at the keys, one was a car key, which means his car was out front in the street.

"Let's go, Doctors," I nodded to both women as I headed for the front door.

Once out the door in the hallway, I flipped his wallet open, pulled the cash from it stuffing the bills in my pocket. I quickly looked at his license got his name and address. As we stepped out the front door, I looked up and down the street and found his car. There weren't that many on the street, to begin with, and only one make that matched the key in my hand. I pulled his license from the wallet and threw the wallet in the back seat of the car. Shelly climbed in the back seat and Susie took the shotgun.

Shoving the key in the ignition, I thought back to the last time, I did this. As I turned the key, the engine started and I was relieved. Putting on my seatbelt, I put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. As we approached the stop sign at the end of the street, there was a roar and an explosion where my apartment used to be. Hitting the brakes there was a flash and a roar inside the car. Everything went black, as I thought, "Not again."

Chapter 19

I sighed as I felt the mattress moving beneath me. I popped my hand in the air so as not to frighten anyone. Lisa was at my side as the bed lowered to floor level.

"What happened this time?" she asked smiling down at me.

"Car bomb again, this time hooked to the brake. Went off the second time you used it. Go figure."

"All right John, we'll have a debriefing in fifteen minutes."

"Good, there is some shit going on in this country that needs to be looked into."

Lisa smiled, nodded and walked with me to the locker room.

The debriefing took four hours and really only covered the last couple of years of my life in the alternate timeline. Lisa asked me to wait when the rest of the debriefing team left the conference room.

"John, I want to do research on this before you go back again. I also would like you to stay here while we do the research..."

"Here! You have to be kidding. Don't you have a safe house or some luxury suite at a high priced hotel?"

"No, yes, but you will be safer here. Please, it should only be for a couple of days. I will join you for dinner every night if you wish."

"Well that would be nice, but I don't know if I could keep myself out of trouble here. So much to see and learn..."

"Here," Lisa handed me a keycard, "this will let you roam the building. You can talk to anyone you wish. I will have Silvia accompany you and she will explain anything for you or get someone that can."

"All right, dear Lisa, dinner with you would be enjoyable and Silvia is very intelligent and kind. I will stay here until you finish your research, where do I stay, I think I need a little nap."

"Follow me, John, I'll take you to your room."

I walked with Lisa to a part of the building I had never been to. Separate apartments made up this floor of the building. Lisa walked me to a door with the number two beside the doorframe. She stops looking at me and then at the keycard reader on the door. I slipped the card in and pulled it out. The door popped open. Pushing it all the way open I allowed Lisa to enter first. As she stepped inside the lights came on and the blinds opened. Walking in I noticed the view out the windows and the comfortable looking furniture placed about the living room.

"Remote for the TV on the table, computer on the desk, your login is your last name, your password is password. The computer has an internet connection and you will be able to access information on our local servers, with some exceptions. Clothes in the closet in the bedroom through that door there, kitchen through there. Any questions?"

"What time is dinner? Do I cook for you or will it be brought in?"

"I will have it brought in," Lisa said laughing, placing her hand on my arm. "I will be here at six this evening, I will see you then.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek, turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Chapter 20

Dinner with Lisa was very enjoyable. After dinner, she explained the time travel device in more detail, going so far as to let me have access to the research material online at Quantum. We also talked about the vast conspiracy that must be in place in order to stop the discoveries they killed people. Lisa asked me to take it easy for a while so she could research what was going on.

For the next week, I spent the day reading the research on the time travel device. Dinner with Lisa every evening was a pleasure. As we grew more comfortable with each other, we began to talk about personal things. I found out she wasn't married, she was forty-two years old and loved her work. She loved her work so much, that having dinner with me was the first social event she had enjoyed in fifteen years.

Within a week, she was kissing me goodnight at my door. I was a little mystified by this, but she was a beautiful woman and was very good company. Eventually, the night came when she didn't leave to find her own room in the complex. It had been a long time since the last time I was with a woman. In bed, naked, ready to enjoy each other's charms. She was good, very good. I enjoyed her thoroughly. I hope she enjoyed being with me.