chapter 4

‘What the hell is going on,’ screamed Todd through the tiny radio.

  ‘I dunno,‘ replied Jones. ‘One minute she was fine, then she was screaming that a bomb was on board and kept pointing at me.’

  ‘You got away safely? The train blew up anyway?’

  ‘I left with everyone else and yes, the train blew up as planned.’

  ‘Ok. Keep close.’

  ‘Roger that,’ finished Jones.

Todd slammed the radio down on the table. He was angry and annoyed that Darcy had resisted the suggestion and managed to short the implant. His blood was boiling in pure frustration and the smoke was rising. He had to breathe, get his thoughts together and figure out what was going on.

  Todd Peters was sure the reset would fix Darcy, getting back to the stage where he could get her to do anything. He then looked at the display in front of him, the tiny yellow writing flashed across the screen, blinking on and off.

Error.

 

‘Damn it. What the hell does that mean? And where is Pete,’ he screamed at no one in particular.

Todd was the only one in the basement. They had agreed to call it, The Hub, the center of operations; the room in the basement where they could observe Darcy and keep an eye on the function of the implant. But standing alone in the damp, musty room, the only information they had on Darcy was error.

In 2080, the real hub was filled with screens and machines whirring away as programmers, like Pete, uploaded suggestions, and situations to the central computer. Darcy was the first viable subject that had accepted the implant and was mission ready. Control had ten other candidates in training, being subjected to nerve simulation, neuron realignment and other forms of painful procedures. All in the hope that these ones could be sent throughout time to change events and alter the future. Darcy had been the test subject and so far, it was not going to plan.

Todd knew that if he did not retrieve Darcy, Control would want answers and probably his life as well. Control was all about power and even though he had never met anyone from the top, he felt like he ran the show. Without him, Control was nothing.

But How did she know, he pondered? How?

  It was then that he noticed the stack of papers spread across the table. Some were neatly together, while others lay loosely on top of one another. He began to pick them up, slowly at first and then faster and faster looking at the page numbers until he had all the sheets from Darcy’s file. Except page one.

  They had recovered that page from Darcy before the reset because it had triggered her memories and now it was missing again. Did she have it? Not possible. Todd’s mind was whizzing round and round until he realized. Pete. That must be it. He was the only one here and earlier they had argued about the motive behind their mission. When Pete understood what would happen on the train, how many people would die, he expressed his disapproval, but Todd dismissed him, telling him to get on with his job. Even resetting Darcy had upset him. Pete had become a liability, just like Darcy.

Todd quickly grabbed the radio from the table and called Williams, who was outside the basement building as backup.

  ‘Williams. You there?’ asked Todd. A moment of silence, then Williams monotone voice came through the static.

  ‘Here,’ was all he said.

  ‘You seen Pete?’

  ‘Yeah. He left about two minutes ago.’

  ‘You still see him? Stop him.’

  ‘What?’ questioned Williams.

Todd yelled into the radio, his knuckles white as he clutched the unit and spat as he screamed,   ‘Stop him now!’

The radio went dead because outside the building, Williams saw Pete and instantly ran into a sprint, chasing after him. Pete was walking briskly; he crossed the road and turned the corner.   

  Williams dodged past an elderly couple holding on to a disobedient dog, who was pulling and tugging at his lead. He dived through the traffic, barely missing a red truck that screeched to a halt and honked his horn. Pete automatically turned around at the noise to see Williams run behind a white minivan.

  Without hesitation, Pete stepped into the doorway of a small convenience store and positioned himself next to a large display advertising a soft drink, casually browsing the products for sale.

  Williams then dashed out from behind the van and sped down the street, ran past the store and carried on at full speed, chasing nobody. He soon stopped because he realized Pete was nowhere to be seen. Spinning around, he looked up and down, noticing shops, alleys, and doorways; Pete could be anywhere, hiding anywhere or have slipped into any one of the shops that lined the street. Annoyed, he tucked himself into a small gap between two buildings and waited, hoping Pete would reappear and then Williams could make his move.

Pete quietly waited in the shop, looking through the various choices of chocolate, drinks, magazines, anything that you needed. Still hidden from view by the full-size poster, he peered out tentatively and glanced toward the main door. No sign of Williams.

  He thought about what was going on and knew that Todd was on to him, probably figuring out that he had helped Darcy and hidden the sheet of paper in her backpack. From what had happened before he was certain that it would trigger her memories and help Darcy to stop the bombing. He had also set the computer to fry the implant, something only he knew how to do, because he had programmed a hidden sequence in the computer that could disable the implant. It was painful, sometimes caused burning and even worse, could make the subject pass-out, but the implant could never be fixed again. The only solution was to remove it and replace it with a new one, a procedure that could kill the subject, because it was attached to the nerves on the spinal cord.

He now decided to step out from behind the giant poster of a soft drink, and walked out of the shop, back out on to the street, pulling his coat round his body as the cold hit him. The evening air was fresh and stung his face causing him to shiver a little. He felt confident that Williams had gone, probably heading back to the basement to report he had lost Pete and face Todd’s wrath.   The road was busy with traffic, drivers delivering goods, taxis dropping off tourists and the occasional honk from an angry car.

Pedestrians walked by, some leaving the office, others late for a meeting, and those like Pete, who were leisurely strolling, enjoying the day.

  But the moment he started to casually walk up the street, he felt a hard impact on the side of his chest. No one noticed and the strike doubled him over and Pete coughed a little from the pain. Before he could regain his composure, another strike caught him again and he dropped to his knees, struggling to breathe. No one wanted to get involved and crossed the busy road.

  In between the pain to his lower chest he looked round to see Williams towering over him. The soldier grabbed Pete’s arms and pulled him up, dragging the big man down the street. Pete tried to fight back, but Williams had tree trunk arms and held a tight grip, almost squeezing the life out of Pete’s arms. Slowly the numbness around his chest was fading and his breathing was back to normal. Williams continued to drag Pete along the street, forcing him to walk as they made their way back to the basement, back to Todd and ultimately back to a lot of pain. He knew Todd would not tolerate what he had done; the betrayal, sneaking off and helping Darcy. Control would order his death and Todd would be more than happy to carry it out.

Shuffling his feet along the pathway, Pete stopped and allowed Williams to drag his dead weight. It was surprising that not a single pedestrian stopped or even acknowledged the distressing scene. Pete was definitely making a scene.

  It was becoming increasingly difficult to pull the large man along the ground, with Pete’s shoes sliding along and his body was limp. Williams pulled harder and harder, trying desperately to keep going.

  ‘Move it old man,’ ordered Williams.

Pete continued to be difficult, that the soldier released his grip and started to push him instead, barking for him to keep moving. They needed to cross the road and stopping at the lights, Pete took the opportunity. Using his weight, he swung his body round, so that Williams was forced to let go of his arms and with all his strength, Pete pushed Williams into the road.   Pete regained his balance but the jolt was enough to send Williams tumbling into the road, caught off balance by the push. Pete stepped back from the lights, watching the well-built man stumble, then gathered himself and attempted to step back out of the road, out of danger from the traffic. But the headlights from a small black car were pointing directly at the fallen man. Instantly, the sound of rubber screeching against the tarmac filled the air as the vehicle tried to stop, smoke pouring from the tyres as the driver locked the brakes and swerved to avoid the lunatic standing directly in front of him. The driver missed Williams by inches but plowed directly into the back of a red pickup truck, causing the vehicle to slide across the road.   

  An unsuspecting car was travelling the other direction, when it clipped the red pickup and tumbled on to its side, metal grinding along the tarmac, sparks flying in all directions. All three cars came to a stop, the smell of rubber drifting through the air and the sound of passerby’s yelling if everyone was alright.

  Williams had now stepped off the road and looked totally bewildered, completely shocked by what had just happened. He then looked up and down the street but Pete was nowhere to be seen. He was hiding in a dark doorway, out of sight.

Disappearing quickly, Williams walked down the road away from the wreckage, reluctantly pulled out his radio to call Todd and report that he had lost Pete.