Guns And Dogs Read online

  “Then let’s haul ass, and pray he hasn’t had time to complete his mission.”

  Mentis could see President-elect Lincoln’s train pull into Camden Street Station. According to Lycarian intelligence he would be protected by a human security detachment run by a man named Alan Pinkerton. Lincoln would be disguised inside the car as the transfer was made. But now, in his policeman’s uniform, he could get closer to the car and infect Lincoln with the Ebola before anyone knew what had happened.

  The only thing standing in his way were the two damned humans and their two canines. Mentis had planned to leave his hotel room booby-trapped so that when they tracked him there they could be eliminated, but he had run out of time. His priority was exiting the hotel before they arrived to detain him.

  He watched as a team of muscular horses were brought and hitched to the sleeper car. Only a few station attendants were on hand. He checked his cane, loaded with the delivery system that would launch the Ebola dart. All he had to do was target Lincoln.

  His Lycarian vision made seeing in the dark rudimentary. Then, he saw movement inside the sleeper car, and a bearded face peeked from behind one of the window curtains.

  Lincoln.

  Mentis drew his cane and checked to make sure the dart was ready in its chamber. He would only get one shot at this.

  “Step the hell away from that train.”

  Mentis spun around and saw the two humans, they were pointing their hand-held weapons at him. He kept his rage in check. How could they have snuck up on him? Especially with his advanced Lycarian hearing? Maybe they were cloaked?

  “I must say that I underestimated you both. You’re both worthy adversaries.”

  “Cut the bullshit,” the dark-skinned human said, “and hand over that cane. Nice and easy. Or we’ll vaporize you.”

  Mentis had already slipped his other hand into his front pocket. There he had hidden his own energy weapon. “It’s a shame we had to be enemies,” Mentis said in a patronizing tone, “when we could’ve been friends.” He drew his weapon but before he could get a shot off, he felt a painful stab in his leg, then a powerful weight latched onto it, followed by another. He looked down and saw the two canines had bitten into his leg, their jaws clamped tight over it.

  Mentis cursed in his native tongue, before summoning his strength. Using his other leg, he managed to kick one of the canines away from him before making his move towards the train. The second canine wasn’t relinquishing its grip. Mentis looked up and still had Lincoln in his sights, as he aimed the cane loaded with the Ebola, he felt his arm sizzle as an energy beam enveloped it.

  Johnny was glad that Jessie and Studs had arrived when they did. It had bought him and Argos enough time. The Lycarian was dead, its body disintegrated. The charred remains resembled an overcooked slab of chicken. Both Red Dobermans eyed the corpse before sniffing it, making sure it was dead.

  “That was too damn close.” Argos gave the remains a good kick and the corpse dissolved into a mound of black ashes. “The snow should clean this up.”

  Johnny watched as Lincoln’s railcar, hauled by a dozen horses, made its way towards Camden Street Station. “I wish we could’ve met him, Argos, he did so much for America.”

  Argos nodded. “Yeah, he also freed the slaves. But, as much as I’d have loved to have met him too, we’ve still got work to do.”

  Johnny turned towards Argos. “I’d of thought our work here was done. We got the assassin, Lincoln is safe, history should be back to normal.”

  “No, Johnny, we’ve still got one more thing left to take care of.”

  (2)

  After returning to the Lycarian’s hotel room, Argos told Johnny to begin searching.

  “What exactly are we looking for, Argos?”

  Argos was rummaging around a writing desk when he stopped. “A mission log buoy. Most of these time-traveling assassins have one. They usually contain itineraries, some of which are linked to other missions. It’ll help AL find out what else this guy’s been up to.”

  They searched for about an hour until Argos found something hidden inside the bathroom vanity. It resembled a small cube. Johnny reached for it but Argos grabbed his wrist before he could touch it. “You may wish to brush up on your field manual Johnny, that cube could have countermeasures. Last thing we need is a fatality after a successful mission.”

  (3)

  “We’ll have to get this back to AL Command,” Argos said, “our scientists can find whatever information’s on it.” He waved his scanner over the buoy. “There don’t appear to be any countermeasures in place.” Argos looked at Johnny. “Alright, grab that thing, and let’s get back to our own time. I’ve had enough of 1861.”

  Johnny understood his friend’s desire to leave this time period. He took the cube in his hand. It felt cold against his skin as he ran a finger along its smooth surface where strange runes where engraved upon it.

  “By seizing this buoy we’ll also eliminate any chance of the Lycarians finding out what happened to their assassin. They usually transmit their daily activities to the buoy so if something goes wrong it can serve as a beacon to alert its superiors. Without it, they won’t be able to track the exact location of their operative; and they won’t know what happened to him. This way we keep them in the dark about AL.”

  After one more sweep of the hotel room they set off towards Gina.

  (4)

  Patrice breathed a sigh of relief when TimeBoss indicated a change in the timeline.

  “99.8% restoration to original timeline,” it confirmed stoically.

  “That should be close enough, when they return it should bump that figure up to 100%,” Patrice replied. She was glad that Johnny had started off on the right foot. A successful first mission was critical in the career of a new AL agent. Perhaps she’d been too harsh on him. She wondered how both his middle and high school had overlooked his intelligence. He had never been recommended for GT or AP courses. Perhaps the entire education system needed to be revaluated.

  Her first impression that he was a cocky little snot was fast fading. Now, she was glad that he’d been recruited to the team. It had been hard on Argos ever since they’d lost Scott Veto.

  She checked the command roster and was happy to see Otis Mitchell’s name had been restored. With the immediate threat in 1861 neutralized, she returned to her quarters to get some rest. She hadn’t slept in over a day, and if she continued to ignore her level of tiredness, it would catch up with her and affect her efficiency rating.

  In her quarters she changed out of her pants suit and pulled the covers over her. The bed felt soft, yet sleep was evasive. She couldn’t stop thinking about Johnny. He was a lot like her; more than she wanted to believe. It reminded Patrice of her first week at AL. Right after she’d passed her TimeBoss training class. It seemed like only yesterday she’d arrived here from MIT.

  “You must be the new Eyeball,” the man said in a friendly voice. Despite his imposing size and gruff-looking features, he extended his hand to Patrice who shook it nervously. “I’m Argos Better, I’m excited to be working with someone as gifted as you.”

  Behind him was another man wearing a black suit and tie with a blue dress shirt and shoes so shiny they resembled mirrors. He also extended his hand. “I’m Scott Veto. I’m also looking forward to working with you, Miss Waters. Your qualifications are quite impressive.”

  She nodded politely and thanked Agents Veto and Better, before her new boss, Director Otis Mitchell, the man who’d recruited her straight out of MIT, asked her to take a seat at the conference table.

  “As you all know, Miss Waters will be working directly with TimeBoss as our Lead Eyeball,” Mitchell began. “Doctor Murdoc has been reassigned as Director of our new LifeHouse division. He’ll be missed, but Miss Waters has been versed in TimeBoss protocols, and is more than capable of handling the demands of her new job.” Everyone around her nodded politely and welcomed her to AL Command. Director Mitchell then went on about her impressiv
e accomplishments at MIT and she tried to remain calm but her left arm was shaking and she summoned every last ounce of her strength to make sure she didn’t blush. She hated it when others treated her as if she was “special.” The truth was she simply applied herself harder to every assignment she’d ever encountered. It wasn’t her fault she was born with an I.Q. rating that belonged in the stratosphere of human intelligence.

  After the meeting, she was given a tour of AL Command Headquarters and met the scientists in the Research and Development division. After lunch, she rubbed elbows with more AL operatives and facility technicians, and she received her clearance codes and security badges. Then it was off to meet Dr. Murdoc, who would be relinquishing his TimeBoss duties to her.

  When she first entered TimeBoss’ chamber she nearly fainted when she laid eyes on Murdoc. It was his bright orange eyes she found disconcerting. She had never seen an alien before, and even though AL’s mission was to protect Earth from hostile extraterrestrial threats, she never imagined she’d be coming face-to-face with someone from another world. The alien must’ve picked up on her reaction because he smiled warmly at her and took her hands in his.

  “My dear, I’m sure meeting someone from another planetary system must be new to you, but I can assure you that I’m quite harmless. Except when I ingest too many of your Earth brownies. Then I can become quite flatulent.”

  She suppressed a giggle but in the end it escaped her lips and her apprehension lessened towards this alien with the stringy hair and ridged face. Even his orange eyes didn’t appear as intimidating as they had before.

  “Now that we’re friends,” Murdoc said, “let me welcome you to the most important position at AL Command. As an Eyeball you will literally be watching over Earth’s timelines, making sure everything is prim and proper.”

  After a brief explanation of how TimeBoss’ detection systems had saved the human race countless times from alien incursions, Patrice was given the opportunity to take her station and begin her monitoring duties under the careful eye of Dr. Murdoc.

  After a week of training she had settled into her new position, Dr. Murdoc, whose encouragement had enabled her to settle into her new role, had left her in charge of TimeBoss, while he was off to inspect the first of many new LifeHouses. She had been left with a HoverBot to assist her, and Oscar Brookstone, a new computer engineer who’d recently been brought in by AL to work in the IT division.

  Murdoc had left specific instructions that he’d be under her supervision.

  “I don’t see why we can’t do a little extracurricular work, Patrice,” Oscar said, “we might even improve TimeBoss’ efficiency.”

  This is what she disliked about him, his incessant need to prove himself, and lack of protocol adherence. “The maintenance cycle is still three weeks away, Mister Brookstone,” she replied. She never liked his demeanor, and did her best to keep her distance from him by using his last name in all their conversations.

  “What are you scared of, Patrice?” Oscar asked. “Or are you just worried that we might fail?” He looked over TimeBoss’ systems. “I don’t think Dr Murdoc would mind, and if we do a stellar job we may earn commendations for showing initiative.”

  “For someone who graduated with an engineering degree from Yale, you sure don’t act rationally, the answer is still no.”

  He nodded. She had the idea he wasn’t happy with her order, but that was that, besides, she had a bunch of diagnostic tests to run and didn’t want to fall behind.

  An hour later the HoverBot reminded her of a mandatory meeting she had to attend and she left Oscar with TimeBoss with clear orders to summon her in the event of an emergency.

  When she returned, Oscar was not at his post. “Mister Brookstone?” she called out. Just when she was about to alert security of his disappearance she heard him call out to her.

  She found him outside TimeBoss’ central computer core, a maintenance panel had been removed and he was working on one of the power supply cells.

  “What the hell are you doing, Brookstone?”

  He looked up from his work and smiled at her. “Hi Patrice,” he replied jovially, “just running some tests on TimeBoss.”

  She looked at him alarmingly. “You shouldn’t be playing around with anything. What have you done?”

  He stood up and chuckled at her, as if nothing had happened. “Relax, I’ve only been tinkering around, nothing to get all worked up about.”

  “Tinkering?” Patrice felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. “What type of tinkering?”

  “I think I’ve managed to increase TimeBoss’ efficiency by reconfiguring the power supply cells.” He drew a scanner from his labcoat pocket and showed her the readings. “Impressive huh? You’re not the only brain around here.”

  Patrice tried to calm herself. Getting angry would only cloud her judgment and make her look weak in front of this opportunistic prick. She eyed the readings and noticed that TimeBoss was operating at a slightly higher level. “How did you manage this?”

  “Easy, I rerouted half the power from one of the auxiliary power generators. It’s not like we use them regularly.”

  “You moron! Those auxiliary generators exist in case of an emergency. By rerouting power you could create an imbalance in power distribution. Did you even bother to run a simulation before you started messing with these systems?”

  Oscar flashed her a dubious glance, as if she’d stepped on his foot and forgot to apologize. “Simulations? That’s just a waste of time. I’m a man of action. I had an idea and just went with it.”

  She tossed the scanner back at him and he juggled it before catching it. “This is what you’re gonna do right now, Brookstone,” she said, sounding like an angry parent scolding a misbehaving child, “you are to immediately restore these new configurations to their default settings. Do that and I’ll overlook your act of insubordination.”

  “I think you’re upset because you didn’t think of this idea yourself. But, if it makes you feel any better Patrice, I’ll give you equal credit.”

  She shook her head ruefully and pushed him aside. “Not only are you reckless, but you’re pigheaded as well. If you won’t do as I say, then I’ll be forced to fix this hodge-podge mess.”

  “Wait! That’s my work we’re talking about!”

  An alarm went off and Patrice turned away from Oscar. Rushing towards the nearest computer terminal she saw a flashing indicator on her screen indicating a fire had broken out in one of the smaller hangars. Unfortunately, the system that activated the FireBots—the fire extinguishing team—found themselves tied to the auxiliary generators, which Brookstone had rerouted. It would take time to fix. “I need your help,” Patrice said, “we’ve got a fire in hangar bay two, go and restore your modifications now.”

  Oscar didn’t look too happy but he nodded and started working.

  “Hurry, the fire is starting to get out of control,” Patrice said.

  “Alright, alright,” Oscar said, as his nimble hands worked quickly to fix the problem.

  A second later, another alarm indicator flashed on her screen. Part of the fire had reached one of the fuel tanks used to refuel AL utility vehicles. Patrice noticed this and notified Brookstone. “I’m almost done here,” he said. But the fire had reached the first fuel tank. The computer indicated an explosion had taken place. Now the fire was raging out of control. Patrice felt like strangling her colleague, but now was not the time for her to lose her cool.“Hurry!” she insisted.

  Moments later auxiliary generator power had been restored. The FireBots were alerted of the fires, and dispatched to extinguish them.

  “You’re both suspended until further notice.”

  It was the first time Patrice had seen Director Mitchell exacerbated. But he had good reason to be upset. Millions of dollars of equipment had been damaged when the fire had ignited the fuel tanks half a dozen people had been seriously injured, and three FireBots had been destroyed while fighting the fire. It would take we
eks to repair the damage.

  “It’s a miracle no one was killed,” Mitchell continued, “but that doesn’t get either of you off the hook. This incident will be logged as a reprimand on both of your service records.” He sat down in his leather chair and shook his head before addressing Oscar Brookstone. “You’re dismissed.” Brookstone nodded and slinked out of the office like a snake. Patrice turned to leave.

  “I’m not done with you, Waters.”

  “May I say something, sir? In my own defense?”

  “You may, but I doubt it will help you.”

  “I gave specific instructions to Brookstone to follow my directions: not to attempt any modifications on TimeBoss’ systems. The computer log will validate my orders. It makes no sense that I’m being punished.”

  Mitchell stared at her indifferently for a few seconds before exhaling. He looked tired, and older than before, as if this incident had aged him. “Patrice, one thing you must understand is that being assigned a leadership position doesn’t excuse you from the actions of others. Quite the opposite, as a leader you have to assume full responsibility for the actions of those assigned under your command. Good, or bad.”

  She opened her mouth to interject but he raised a thick finger to silence her.

  “I expected more from someone with your pedigree. To say I am disappointed in you would be an understatement. This reflects badly on both of us.”

  “Sir, Oscar Brookstone is an egotistical opportunist, without any regard for authority. He thinks he can operate above the law and get away with it.”

  Mitchell nodded. “Yes, we knew this when we recruited him, and that was one of the reasons I had him assigned to work with you.”

  “Sir?”

  “Patrice, your AL test results indicated a strong propensity for leadership. I know that apart from your extracurricular activities at MIT, you haven’t had much experience in leadership positions in real world situations, that’s why we assigned a risk-taker like Brookstone to work with you. Unfortunately, this incident proves you’re not ready for command. You’ll still be our lead Eyeball assigned to TimeBoss, but we may need to assign you to more leadership training classes. I’m thinking about assigning you to training duties in between your Eyeball shifts.”