Through the Storm

Chapter Eighteen (Part 2)

It wasn't a question. I followed behind him, feeling totally freaked, but also dying to figure out how all of these people and events connected. Besides, wasn't like I didn't have a way out of there.

I struggled to keep up with the mans long strides. He held the door open for the elevator and I stepped in. He swiped a card in a hole and a small door slid open big enough for his hand. I craned my neck, trying to get a good view. It was some kind of fingerprint scanner.

Was this normal security for hospitals? Especially in 1996? And why were we straying so far from the ER?

He kept his eyes straight ahead but answered my unspoken question. "The government wing of this hospital is only available to those with security clearance, but I'm sure you knew that already."

"Uh...no," I said.

My voice came out like a scared child's and yet this man was cool and calm. Like he brought people to his secret fingerprint scanner place all the time.

I could feel the elevator going down, but the numbers that usually lit up to tell you what floor you were on stayed dark. When the doors finally opened, I sucked in a breath. Four men with guns stood right outside the elevator. They all raised their weapons and pointed them at us. I froze in my spot, debating whether or not to push another button.

"You can't go back up without clearance," the mystery man said.
It was at that moment I tried to focus and get out of there, and back to Kevin in 2007. Of course, like that time when I was in my dad's office with his hands around my throat, I was too freaked to do it. One of the armed men grabbed me and started feeling my pants all the way up to my shirt.

"He's clean, no weapons."
"Thank you, follow me."

I managed to put one foot in front of the other and took in my surroundings. It was some kind of underground tunnel. The man opened a door and pushed me inside of a room. Another man forced me into a chair, like the kind at the dentist. He tied my arms with straps. I thought about fighting back but decided there was no point if these dudes had guns.

"I'm Chief Marshall," the man who had led me down here said.
"Who are you? We both know Scott Hoying doesn't have a brother."

I didn't answer and Chief Marshall nodded toward the other man. "Test his blood."

Okay, totally creepy. I closed my eyes and tried to let the room dissolve. To get the hell out of here. To avoid the one experiment Kevin and I couldn't perform.

Yes, the dives into the past were like Groundhog Day. And the light feeling that I always had during a jump. (Except that one time on October 30, 2009) kept pain at a minimum. In other words, if I hurt myself in a jump, when I came back to the present, I'd have a bump on my head or whatever, but never a bad one.
But still, what if they killed me in this year? One that wasn't my home base? I had no idea what would happen. If I would really be dead.
I barely felt the needle prick my arm, and seconds later I heard feet shuffling away.

"You can't leave from here, just so you know," Chief Marshall said.
My eyes flew open again. "You already told me that."

"I mean you can't leave by any method. New security device Dr. Bram invented. An electromagnetic pulse."

Um. What the hell was he talking about? And he knew Dr. Bram. Maybe Courtney was right about the connection. Was Dr. Bram trying to zap me, or whoever else they brought into this room, with electromagnets? Except Chief Marshall was in here, and the other guy, too.

"Come on, tell me your name," Chief Marshall said in his deep Southern voice as he sat in a chair across from me, arms folded over his chest. "How do you know Scott Hoying?"

I stayed silent, staring over his shoulder, trying to calm myself.

"He's not a Forever," the other man spoke up.
"Are you positive ?" Chief Marshall asked.
"Yes." He walked over and stared closely at my face, then yanked off the stocking cap.

"A Forever?" I finally said.

"Don't act dumb," Chief Marshall said. "You see the resemblance?" He asked the man with the needle. "To the others."

Others?

The man put his face so close to mine I could smell the Gaelic he must have eaten for lunch. "Yeah. I see it. But it can't be...right?"

For the first time, Chief Marshall's face lost it's calm, collected expression. He hit a button on the wall and shouted, "Edwards, get in here!"

Seconds later, the man who had raced past me out on the baseball field came charging in. "What's going on, Chief?"

"Get Agent Hoying down here right away," Chief Marshall said.

Oh, man. Too freaky!

"Sorry, sir. He's with the boy."

"Fine. Bram, then."

"Also with the kid in the OR," Edwards said.

Chief Marshall turned slowly to face Edwards before saying, "And so am I."

Edwards opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Do you mean he can...I mean, not yet, but eventually--"

I didn't get to hear the rest. The idea of my father coming down there and seeing me, older, after what had happened in his office in 2003, was enough to give me the ability to focus on my escape. The last thing I saw was Chief Marshall's face up close as he examined mine. I don't know what freaked me out more...the look in his eyes or the greedy smile that was snaking onto his face as I jumped out of 1996.