Through Time Again

Ch.24 Guest

I've been shot! Tommy thinks. Or sucker-punched—

One moment he's running to Anet about to push past this man claiming to know her, the next moment he's on the ground ready to upchuck his gin and olives.

He groans, crumpled up on the floor.

"Anet?" She'd been shot. She—

Hands are on him turning him over. "Great Scott!"

Thomas opens his eyes.

"'The hell!?" He jumps back. "What— what the hell—where the hell am I?!"

Olivier, looking just as surprised and confused, crouches before him. Hands out showing he's no threat. "Calm down, there's nothing to worry about. I'm not here to hurt you."

"Anet! Where's Anet?! She was shot! She- She—!"

Olivier's features gray. "She's..." sigh.

"Doctor Olivier." The Mack standing by shakes his head.

"It's no use trying to keep it a secret, Daniel." To Tommy, "Young man, Anet Peters is back in the year 1933. You have accidentally, somehow, passed through time with me to the year 2010."

Thomas makes no reaction. How does one respond to a load of hooey delivered so casually?

"Anet died," Olivier continues, "but I can save her with this time machine!"

Tommy doesn't know how he can believe any of this... how can anything this Mack is saying, be possible?? Time travel? Not in his lifetime—

"This...this is the future?"

"It won't be hard to convince you, I promise."

~•~

Upstairs...
Olivier was right. It doesn't take long to convince Tommy this is the future.

"Tea?"

"I'm gonna need something stronger."

Olivier pours him a glass of bourbon.

He guzzles it down. "So this... this is where Anet is from?"

Nod. "Correct."

"You called her Detective Peters."

"Here, she's an undercover detective. She... I sent her through time for her safety. At least, that was my intention. The time portal is new and I didn't know where it would send her when she went through." He pours Thomas a little more.

"But she's Harvey Peters's daughter."

"Harvey Peters is her great-great-grandfather. Look, Anet is very good at her work. She's trained to assimilate to her surroundings. She didn't have to, but knowing who her father is, she probably thought it was an opportunity she couldn't pass up."

Swig. "It all makes sense, actually. The moment she met Vic she started acting differently. She never enjoyed it, but she kept at it... she said she wanted to tell me, but she never did..." he looks from his glass to Olivier. "Was she trying to infiltrate Maggio's gang to pinch him in my time?"

"I don't think so. Because the Maggios—." He stops himself. "Let's just say things aren't that different from before she went through time."

So many question run through Tommy's mind, but only one that matters most, "How are we going to save Anet?"

"I'm going to send you back where you belong, first. Then, I'll take a trip to a time before July 4, 1933, and I'll bring Anet back. Everything that happened will change. She won't be there in '33 to die. History will change."