Linkage: The Narrows of Time

Chapter 16

Tuesday, December 25





Lucas woke at 6:00 AMthe following morning in his brother’s hospital room. He wasslumped down in a red armchair next to Drew, who was snoring in hishospital bed. Lucas didn’t remember sitting in the chair, let alonefalling asleep in it the night before. He sat up and looked aroundfor Trevor, but his friend was missing, as was the orange wheel bag.He assumed Trevor had slipped out during the night.

The side of his neckfelt like someone had slashed it repeatedly with a hockey stick. Herolled his head around in a circle, trying to stretch out his neckmuscles. When that failed, he started rubbing the sore spot with hisright hand, trying to loosen it up—it finally did. In the process,he found some type of tacky residue on his hand. It felt likeleftover wood glue that had partially dried between his fingers; hethought it’d come from grape soda or the BBQ chips.

He walked into Drew’sprivate bathroom, closed the door to muffle any noise, and thenwashed his hands under the faucet. He had to lather up and rinsemultiple times, but he finally got rid of the sticky stuff. When hemoved to the towel rack to dry his hands, his right shoe stuck to thefloor for a moment.

He returned to Drew’sbed and found his brother wide-awake and talking to a short, chubbynurse with plump cheeks, who was wearing a Santa Claus hat. She couldhave doubled for Santa’s wife at the North Pole. Her nametag said“Rose.”

“Looks like you getto go home today,” the nurse said, after taking his temperature.“No sign of infection.”

“When can I leave?”

“As soon as Dr.Marino discharges you.”

Lucas asked her, “Howlong will that take? We’d like to be home in time for Christmasdinner.”

“That shouldn’t bea problem. There’re only a handful of patients left with theevacuation underway.”

“I’m surprised thisplace is still open.”

“It takes time tostabilize and transfer a thousand patients,” she said, scribblingsomething into Drew’s chart. Before she left the room, she toldDrew, “You can go ahead and get dressed, if you like.”

Lucas held upKleezebee’s car keys in front of Drew’s eyes. “As soon as weget out of here, we’re going back to the apartment and pack forhome. I’ve had enough of Tucson for a while.”

“It’ll be nice tospend some time with Mom.”

While Lucas was helpingDrew out of his hospital gown, he saw that Drew was missingsomething. “Where’s your leather pouch?”

Drew felt around hisneck and chest. “I didn’t even realize it was gone. Is it in theclothes bag on the counter?”

Lucas searched theclear plastic bag, but only found his brother’s pants, shirt,wallet, comb, watch, socks, and shoes. “It’s not here. When wasthe last time you remember seeing it?”

Drew didn’t respondright away. “It was when I first got rescued. I was sitting on agurney by the stairwell.”

“What happened next?”

“I remember feeling alittle dizzy when some lady put gauze on my leg. Next thing I know, Iwoke up here in this bed.”

“Maybe the EMTs tookit off you for some reason? Do you remember the name of the ambulancecompany? I’ll call their lost and found.”

“I don’t remember,”Drew said, shaking his head. “Geeze, I can’t believe I lost it.”

Lucas knew it wasunlikely they would ever see the pouch again. It’d probably beentossed into the trash during the chaos. He patted Drew on the back.“I’m sure it’ll turn up.”

While they waited,Lucas turned on the TV. He scanned the channels to see if there wasany new information about the energy fields. The local news channelreported that dozens of domes were destroying cities all over theglobe and each time they appeared, they were getting larger andlasting longer. “It’s definably spreading,” he said, “but atleast they’re not showing any more of them around here.”

“Maybe those thingsare done with Arizona.”

“That might bewishful thinking. The sooner we can get away from here, the better.In fact, we should probably take Mom away from Phoenix and go hide inthe mountains somewhere. The domes seem mainly interested in largecities.”

“One of us shouldcall her and let her know I’m getting released.”

“I’ll take care ofit. Hand me the phone.”

* * *

Twohours later, Lucas and Drew were still sitting in the hospital room,waiting for Dr. Marino to sign off on Drew’s discharge. Lucas gottired of waiting, so he tracked the doctor down, finding him near thenurse’s station, looking over a chart. He gently reminded the docthat they wanted to get home in time for Christmas dinner. Marinoapologized and thirty minutes later, Drew was released.

“How’s your legdoing?” Lucas asked, pushing the wheelchair across the parking lotin front of the emergency room entrance.

“It’s still sore.”

Lucas was shocked byhis brother’s response since Drew only had marginal feeling in hislower extremities. “If you can feel it, then it must beexcruciating.”

“It definitelyhurts,” Drew said, right before his stomach growled loud enough forLucas to hear. “Can we stop at Dairy Queen on the way? I could gofor a large Oreo Blizzard and maybe even a chocolate sundae.”

“That actually soundspretty damn good right now, but I doubt they’re open, and that’sassuming the building’s still standing.”

When they entered theice cream parlor’s parking lot, Drew said, “Their lights are on.”

“But I don’t seeanyone inside,” Lucas said, walking up to the door. He reached forthe door handle and pulled at it. It opened. “Somebody forgot tolock up. I’m surprised this place is still in one piece.” Helooked around for signs of looting, but there was none.

“Let’s make our ownblizzards,” Drew said, wheeling his chair forward. “I’ll gofirst.”

Lucas closed the doorbefore Drew could get inside. “No, we’re not going to steal icecream.”

“Come on, I’mstarving. Where else are we going to get food? Everything’sprobably closed.”

“Okay, but I’mleaving ten bucks on the counter,” he said, pulling out his wallet.

After making and eatingtheir ice cream treats, they walked the rest of the way to theirapartment complex and pressed the call button for the elevator, butit didn’t light up. “The electricity must be out. Looks like I’mcarrying you up more stairs,” Lucas told Drew.

He carried Drew up thethird floor, then returned to the ground level to fetch thewheelchair. Once Drew was in his chair, he followed Drew to theirapartment door, unlocked it, and they both went inside. Lucas openedall the blinds to let sunlight in so they could see what they weredoing.

“You get startedpacking. I’ll grab the laptop and few of our books,” Lucas said,taking Drew’s knapsack off the back of the wheelchair. He unzippedthe center pouch and put it on the study desk next to the computer.He slid the molded plastic chair out and sat down. He drew in a long,slow breath and then exhaled—it soothed him. He let his mind driftto thoughts of recent events, as his fingertips brushed across thesmooth, wood-grained surface. So much had happened—it was hard toprocess, even for him.

He tried to rememberlife before the campus tragedies, but couldn’t seem to recall itclearly in his mind. He felt like he was on the outside looking in,viewing the memories as if they belonged to someone else. Nothingfelt as it should, not even his own skin. Deep down he knew thevisions were his, but now they seemed foreign, tainted in some way.Certainly, this was not what he expected when he enrolled at theuniversity as a wide-eyed teenager.

He often wondered whatconstituted a normal college life. Was it the endless beer bongs andhookups, or was it something more? If he had to do it over, would hejoin his classmates in the occasional alcohol-induced, three-daybender, or would he stick to the original plan? One path was abouthangovers and unchecked venereal disease, and the other was aboutduty and responsibility.

It was easy tofantasize about a different life. One filled with playful days ofinnocence and guilt-free Sunday mornings. Yet, he knew it was ahopeless illusion. You are who you are and there’s no going back.Life is a series of mistakes—some critical and some not so much,and he’d certainly made his share along the way. He hoped that ifsomeone dissected his life, they’d find that he always tried to doright by Drew and his adoptive parents, even if things spun sideways.

Sure, he had a bit of atemper and sometimes overreacted, but who doesn’t on occasion,especially when family is involved? Was he really so different?Everyone struggles with their own personal demons, just some arebetter at hiding them than others. But today was one of those dayswhen control seemed just out of reach, as if his footing in realitywas slipping. He wondered if he listened hard enough, would he hearthe malignant shadows closing in?

* * *

Tenminutes later, Lucas stood up from his wood-grained study desk andleaned forward with his thighs pressing hard against the centerdrawer. He thumbed through the physics material on the top shelf inhis Tucson apartment, looking for his quantum field theory book. Hefound it next to the reference notes on spatial anomalies, and slidit out. Slips of yellow notepaper fell from within the pages,scattering like forgotten dreams across the river of unpaid bills onhis desk. He gathered the notes, trying to put them back where theybelonged, when he realized they no longer mattered. Neither did hisanti-gravity research. Years of accelerated graduate study, pluseighteen months of tireless research gone in a flash.

Lucas dropped the red,600-page physics book on the floor when someone started pounding onthe front door. The book landed perfectly flat, making a bang thatricocheted through the room like a gunshot. His heart pounded at thewalls of his chest, trying to break free from its cage.

“Dr. Ramsay, we needto speak with you. It’s urgent,” a man shouted from the otherside of the door.

Lucas walked to thedoor and looked through the peephole, but could only see a close-upof a man’s face—maybe a Hispanic—Lucas did not recognize him.

“Dr. Ramsay, pleaseopen up,” the man insisted. “It’s urgent.”

Lucas hesitated, thendecided to open the door, expecting it to be someone from theuniversity. Immediately, a second man, a white guy with a dimpledchin, scrambled into view with a rifle pointed at Lucas’ face. Bothmen were wearing combat fatigues, and equipment packs, and helmetswith MP stenciled on the front.

“Wait, don’tshoot!” Lucas said, raising his hands above his head.

“Are you Dr. LucasRamsay of the Astrophysics Department?” the Hispanic soldier asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Is your brother withyou?”

Lucas moved a stepcloser to them with his hands touching both sides of the upperdoorframe. He looked past the soldiers, down through the open railingbordering the catwalk outside his apartment, and saw two green Humveetrucks parked outside the manager’s office on the ground floor. Tothe west and south, massive fires burned as looters took to thestreets.

“He’s in thebedroom. What’s going on here?”

“We’re here to takeyou into custody by order of Major General Rafael Alvarez.”

“What the hell for?”Lucas asked, knowing that martial law had been declared within theTucson city limits a few days ago.

“For the murder ofone hundred and twenty-seven people on campus. Both of you need tocome with us, immediately.”

“Look, you need tounderstand. It was an accident. My brother had nothing to do withit.”

The lead MP opened apair of handcuffs. “My orders are to detain both of you. Turnaround and place your hands behind your back.”

Lucas tightened hisgrip on the doorframe and braced his feet.

The other MP pressedthe open end of the barrel against Lucas’ forehead. Lucas stoodfirm. He didn’t believe the soldier would shoot.

The MP cocked the rifleand flared his eyes. His face burned a deep red color. “Just giveme a reason, a*shole.” He pressed the barrel hard against Lucas’scalp, pushing Lucas’ head back until it hurt.

“You really need tolet me cuff you before my trigger-happy partner decides to redecorateyour face,” the lead MP said. “Trust me. He’s usually not thispatient.”

Lucas didn’t respond.He needed a moment to think.

“You don’t have achoice here, Dr. Ramsay. You’re both coming with us—one way orthe other. Doesn’t matter how.”

“Okay, okay. Justdon’t hurt my brother,” Lucas said, throwing up his hands. The MPpulled the rifle back. Lucas turned and overlapped his wrists behindhis back. He heard the ratchets closing around his wrists as theshackles were tightened against his skin.

The white MP pushedpast Lucas and went into the apartment. Drew was confronted by thesoldier the moment he rolled into the room in his wheelchair.

“Hold it rightthere!” the MP shouted, aiming his gun at Drew. “Hands up where Ican see them.”

“Drew, just do asthey say. These guys mean business,” Lucas said.

Drew nodded and put hiswrists together above his lap and allowed the MP to handcuff them tothe arm of the wheelchair. The soldier stood behind Drew as if hewere getting ready to push the chair, but instead, opened a Velcropocket along the front of his equipment vest and pulled out asyringe. He jammed the needle into Drew’s neck.

“What are youdoing?” Lucas screamed, struggling to wriggle free from his captor.The Hispanic MP grabbed Lucas’ head and pushed it to one side. Hefelt a sharp pain on the exposed side of his neck, followed by a warmsensation spreading out under the skin. He was about to pass out whena black hood was pulled down over his eyes.

* * *

Sometimelater, Lucas felt someone splash a cold liquid on his face. Hethought it was water—not a lot, maybe a cup full. It hit him rightbetween his eyes, which were closed, then trickled down his cheeksand pooled beneath the side of his head.

“Time to wake up,Ramsay,” a male voice said.

Lucas opened his eyes.Two sets of car headlights were lit maybe twenty feet in front ofhim, burning his retinas before his pupils could adjust. His rightcheek was lying in loose dirt and his hands were restrained behindhis back. He could see frosted breath each time he exhaled.

Someone grabbed theback of his shirt, forcing him to sit upright. He couldn’t seeanything beyond the vehicle headlamps except the indistinctsilhouette of a three-fingered saguaro cactus rising up to block aportion of the star-clustered sky. Two desert bushes were in view,one between the two vehicles in front of him, and another just to hisleft.

Drew was sitting on theground to his right, ten feet away. Lucas made eye contact with Drew,who tried to speak, but couldn’t with a gag in his mouth. BehindDrew was a rectangular hole about six feet in length. Next to it wasa pile of brown dirt with a long-handled shovel sticking out of thetop of it.

A slender silhouette ofa person approached Lucas, possibly a man judging by the size,interrupting the high-beam glare as he moved from right to left.

“Who are you?”Lucas asked, squinting to catch a glimpse of the man’s face.

“I’m Major GeneralRafael Alvarez, commander of the Arizona National Guard,” the mansaid as if Lucas should know who he was.

Lucas thought aboutLarson’s cryptic phone call in NASA’s conference room just beforethe science lab was leveled. He flashed back to Larson talking tosomeone named Rafael and wondered if this Rafael was the same person.“Larson’s Rafael?”

“He’s mybrother-in-law,” Alvarez said with a slight Spanish accent.

“What do you want?”

“Payback.”

“For what?”

“Jasmine LynnAlvarez.”

“Who?”

“My daughter.”

“Sorry, but I don’tknow who the f*ck you’re talking about.”

Alvarez grabbed theunderside of Lucas’ chin and lifted it up with force. “You killedmy sweet innocent girl, you son of a bitch. The least you could do isacknowledged that you knew her.”

“But I don’t, Iswear.”

“You two were on adate the night she was killed, were you not?”

Lucas finally realizedwho the general was referring to and replied, “Jasmine? Thestripper?”

He got whacked on theleft side of his mouth, sending him crashing into the dirt. He spatout blood and dirt before someone pulled him back up into a sittingposition. His head was ringing, and his jaw was stiff with pain—hehoped it wasn’t broken. He tried to loosen it up with severalopen-mouth jaw extensions.

“She was a bartender,you a*shole,” Alvarez said, shaking his right fist in Lucas’face.

“Okay. Okay. We wereon a date, but it was a blind date. I never actually met her.”

“I doubt that. Herpersonal journal mentioned you by name and included explicit detailsof your relationship.”

Jasmine must have beenas nuts as her old man, or else she was stalking him. Maybe Abby andJasmine were both stalking them, setting up him and his brother forwhatever was going on. “I don’t know what she wrote, but it wasobviously made up. I didn’t even know her name until that day.”

“Stand him up,” thegeneral said to one of the two soldiers with him.

Lucas looked over hisshoulder and realized that the man holding his arm was the samesoldier who’d drugged Drew earlier in the apartment. Just behindthe soldier’s feet was another six-foot hole in the ground.

“Wait a minute,”Lucas said, trying in vain to pull away from the guard. “You’vegot this all wrong. I didn’t kill your daughter. It was anaccident, we—”

“I know all aboutyour supposed lab accident. Randol filled me in on all yourlies,” Alvarez said, pulling his sidearm from its holster. Hechecked its ammo clip, then cocked it. “Gag him, Thompson.”

“Wait, you don’thave to do—” Lucas replied, but he couldn’t get any more wordsout before Thompson stuffed a thick cloth into his mouth.

The general walked towhere Drew was sitting and pressed his weapon against Drew’s lefttemple. Alvarez told Lucas, “You took my precious little girl awayfrom me, and now I’m going to return the favor.”

Before Lucas could evenblink, the general pulled the trigger, and the weapon recoiled as thegunshot echoed across the barren landscape. The far side of Drew’sskull blew apart, sending his limp body tumbling sideways into theunmarked grave. Lucas dropped to his knees. His heart wanted to weepfor his brother, but his brain and mouth had other plans.

“Motherf*cker,I’ll kill you!” Lucas screamed into the gag, but his words weredulled to an indecipherable level. He tried again to shake free fromThompson, but again failed. Alvarez fired two more shots into thehole where Drew’s body landed.

Alvarez turned toLucas, pointing the weapon at his forehead. “Now you know what itfeels like to have a loved one ripped from your life. Before I killyou, too, you’re going to watch us piss on your brother’s bodyand then smother him with dirt.”

The general’s cellphone buzzed and then rang twice. Alvarez looked at the phone’sdisplay and promptly answered it. “Alvarez here.” A minute later,he climbed up on the roof of his Humvee and looked off in thedistance. “Yes, I see it.” Ten seconds later, he ended his callwith, “Yes, ma’am, right away.” The nimble general jumped downfrom the vehicle, before telling the second soldier, “Rodriquez,you’re with me.”

“Is something wrong,sir?”

“That was thegovernor. Another energy field is heading toward the capitolbuilding. She wants us there ASAP.”

“Sir, what do youwant me to do with this one?” Thompson asked, still holding on toLucas’ arm.

“Finish it, and thenbury them both,” Alvarez said before sliding into the frontpassenger seat of the Humvee.

“Gladly, sir.”

Rodriquez sat behindthe wheel and started the truck. He shifted it into reverse and spunthe tires hard, sending a hail of rocks and dust at Thompson andLucas. The Humvee made a one-eighty, before darting off in the samedirection as the general had been looking when he was perched on topof his vehicle.

Blue-white rage battledwith screaming grief and coursed through Lucas, making it difficultfor him to think straight. He stood up and tried to turn around toattack Thompson, but the soldier punched him in the left kidneybefore he could complete his spin. Lucas gasped and fell to hisknees.

Thompson leaned inclose, forehead to forehead and, pressing the razor-thin edge of along-handled knife to Lucas’ throat, and said, “Britney and Carl,Junior,” he said with fury in his words.

“What?” Lucasreplied with half breath, trying not to scrape his throat musclesacross the man’s blade.

"My wife andunborn son. Two of the people you killed on campus,” Thompson said.

Lucas’ mind filledwith a vision of the pregnant woman and her friend being swallowed upby the energy field eating its way across the grassy mall.

Thompson pushed inclose to Lucas’s face. “I’m going to enjoy bleeding you, slow.”

Lucas rammed hisforehead into the soldier’s nose, making Thompson stumble backwardand land flat on the ground, face up. Lucas sprang to his feet andhustled to Thompson’s position. He jumped high into the air, aimingboth of his knees at the man’s face. He heard a crackling snap whenthey made impact.

Lucas rolled off thesoldier, dodging a steady stream of blood jetting out of the man’snose. Thompson’s eyes were closed and his limbs weren’t moving,but Lucas could see the soldier’s breath puffing into the nightair. Thompson’s knife was a few feet beyond his head, thrown clearby the man’s tumble.

His heart howled forrevenge, demanding that he finish Thompson off for his part in Drew’sdeath. An eye for an eye, his heart screamed. Go ahead and do it; doit now. No one will blame you. This man, along with Alvarez andRodriquez, deserved to die.

Lucas agreed and waseager to play the role of the Reaper. He raised his right foot untilhis thigh was level with his waist, ready to crush Thompson’s face.The instant before he unleashed his wrath, sanity broke through thecyclone of rage consuming his thoughts. He stared at Thompson’sbloody face, seeing him not as a guilty soldier, but as a younghusband, not much older than Lucas was. He thought about Thompson’spregnant wife and unborn son who were killed by the rampaging dome.If they had been his family, wouldn’t he have responded the sameway? In fact, wasn’t he about to do the very same thing—wield thesword of vengeance for a loved one? If he took Thompson’s life, hewould be no better than those who just murdered his brother. Hewasn’t a killer; he was a scientist. If he snuffed out this man’slife, how could he live with himself?

Lucas lowered his legslowly and backed away. No longer consumed with exacting revenge, hisheart swelled with an overwhelming desire to hold his little brotherin his arms—he needed to say goodbye. Then he intended to takeDrew’s body back home for a proper burial.

He knelt down next toThompson to search the man’s pockets. Lucas’ hands were stillcuffed behind his back, making it difficult to see what he was doing.He found an aluminum key in a third pocket; he hoped it was the rightone. He fumbled with the key, trying to insert it blindly into thehandcuff’s keyhole. It took several attempts, but he finallymanaged to unlock the restraints and free himself.

He removed the gag fromhis mouth and ran to Drew’s grave. When he looked into the hole,his brother’s body wasn’t there; only a muddy pool of red liquidremained along the bottom.

“What the hell?”

He heard rustlingbehind him. He turned to see Thompson’s limbs moving slowly, butnot all at once. He ran back to the solder and punched him in thejaw, making sure Thompson stayed unconscious. He used the handcuffsto secure the man’s hands, then stood up to admire his conquest.

He was proud of himselffor not killing Thompson when he had the chance, but decided that asmashed nose and sore jaw wasn’t sufficient punishment. He pickedup the soldier’s KA-BAR knife and used it to carve Drew’sinitials, DR, into Thompson’s forehead. It would serve as aconstant reminder of what had happened today.

Lucas searched in and around the clearing for his brother’s body,scouring every inch of dirt within a two hundred foot radius, but hefound no evidence that Drew’s body had been carried or draggedaway. Somehow, Drew’s corpse had vanished.