Borrowed Time: Saving John Lennon - A Beatles Fanfic

Chapter 2 - ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

August 5, 2020

"Thank you all for being here," Agent Thomas Brady began.

As people were getting comfortable in their chairs, Holly DuPont scrolled through the screen in front of her, briefly looking around at the eleven other faces in the room.

"Before we begin, are we all aware that this will be the ultimate and final group meeting regarding Project 1403-C?" Brady continued.

A few nods and some mumbles of affirmation were the answers that followed.

"Very good," replied Brady. "Thomas, where are we in terms of machinery?"

Holly looked across the meeting table, towards the dark features of Agent Samuel Thomas. She had known him probably a full decade at this point, but he looked almost exactly the same as the day she was introduced to him.

Agent Thomas didn't look up from the device in his hands as his lips moved. "Everything is a go from my standpoint. The most recent diagnostics were run this morning." He finally glanced up, his eyes catching Holly's before looking towards Agent Brady, "Agent Monroe has the report." He glanced to his right and Agent Lisa Monroe nodded in agreement.

"Perfect," responded Brady as he picked up his own tablet from the desk and paused for a moment while reading the screen. "Do we have a final list of items to be brought along?" he asked, angling his chin in the direction of the man directly to Holly's left.

"There is always the possibility of a last minute omission," Agent Christophe answered, "but this list should contain everything. After I get the final approval today, nothing can be added to the list."

Holly turned her head to the left and glanced down at the screen being held by Agent Tyler Christophe. She watched his thumb scroll up and down, not really seeing the words as they passed. It almost seemed like he was intentionally avoiding her gaze, and for a brief second, Holly felt a jolt of guilt. Tyler had become a good friend of hers over the past five years and she knew he was risking a lot to help her accomplish their secret plan.

She and Tyler had entered the CIA at the same time, nearly twenty years ago, as young, fresh faces. It's always a bit competitive at first, wanting to get your foot in the door and make all the right connections. Holly and Tyler had bumped shoulders many a time, struggling to out-do the other on their way up the ladder. But as they each found their niche, the competition waned and a friendship formed.

Tyler turned to Holly, giving her a quick smile. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Holly pushed aside her worry and guilt.

The rest of the meeting went quite similarly; Agent Brady asked questions and the answers came, one by one, from the men and women around the table. Brady ended the meeting with a nod towards Agent DuPont.

"You've got a lot on your plate in the next five days," he said. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm holding up just fine, thank you," Holly answered. "I just want to make this project as successful as possible."

This Project. It had an official name, but Holly rarely called it anything other than This Project. She had come to realize that if she called it anything else it would make it too real. Time travel. Project Back to the Future. Project Try-Not-to-Die-While-Testing-Out-New-Scientific-Concepts-and-Perhaps-a-Bit-More.

Everything about it was unreal. Time travel was something out of science fiction, not real life. But not anymore. Project 1403-C was on the books to take place in less than 5 days; August 10, 2020 at 16:00.

When first brought into the project, Holly assumed she was joining a routine science team. Little did she know that she was lining up to become the guinea pig of all guinea pigs, and her life would be altered forever because of it.