"What's it?" they all said, practically in unison.
"We've been dealing with Jim and his grandfather. Where has Jim's father been? The only time I saw him was on the island as a little boy. I think Erica may have figured out a way to keep him out of the picture. We just have to figure out why that was so critical."
"So we need to know when he disappeared. That's where you come in."
Liz grabbed the ADA and said, "We'll find out all we can. You guys stay here. We'll be back as soon as we can."
A few hours later they were back. "In 1995 Jim and his wife took a sabbatical to travel to South America. The family reported them missing but they never found a trace of them. It sounds a little suspicious to me."
"We need to get back there before they disappeared and find out if young Jim and his grandfather had anything to do with this. Do we know exactly when they were last seen?"
"In May of that year he was still teaching," said Liz.
"You and Mike need to go back and talk to him."
"Let's go," commanded Liz. Mike looked a little skeptical.
"We'll be fine," she assured him.
A short time later they were in front of the office door of James Robert Crowson, II, in 1995. Mike glanced at Liz and then knocked. Soon they found themselves seated in front of Jim's father. Hopefully the element of surprise would work to their advantage.
Mike began, "We have had some reports of unusual computer activity coming from an IP address located here at the university.
Liz noticed that Professor Crowson sat up a little straighter in his chair, but his voice remained calm.
"Really? Do you know where it was coming from?"
"We can't pin it down to a building but we know you're interested in computer science so thought you could help us."
"Of course," he replied, but the expression on his face darkened just a bit.
"We can't tell you exactly what kind of activity, but we have reason to believe it's illegal."
Liz noticed that Jim began blinking a bit faster. Mike had obviously noticed it too and he pressed a little harder.
"The kind of activity we're talking about could be of interest to the feds, so we've been asked by the FBI to do a little digging around. Since you're head of the department, we felt you'd be in the best position to help us."
"I'd be happy to help. Right now I have a class to teach. Where can I reach you?"
It was obvious Jim wanted to end the conversation. Mike and Liz excused themselves and looked for a spot where they could watch his office. It was only a short time later that they saw him exit his office and head for the physics building. They smiled at each other because they knew right where he was going.
Liz and Mike made their way to the basement and heard loud voices coming from inside the lab.
"We got the reaction we were looking for," observed Mike.
"Why don't we crank up the pressure a bit?" Liz led Mike back outside and they headed for the administration building. After finding out where his next class was, they waited outside for him to arrive. When Jim finally turned the corner he was visibly upset, but when he saw Mike and Liz, it looked like he was about to turn and run.
Mike and Liz stood up to confront him. He approached them, looking defeated.
"Let's find a place where we can talk." Jim led them to an outdoor table.
"I thought you said you had a class to teach?" began Mike.
"You know more than you're letting on, but if I tell you what I know, you'll think I'm crazy." Jim spoke in a low voice and was visibly shaking.
"Try us." Mike and Liz spoke in unison.
"My son and father have been collaborating on a project in the basement of the university. They told me it was a private research project and they couldn't tell me much. One day I was visiting my son's house and he had left a bank statement lying on the table. I didn't mean to look, but there was a huge amount of money in it. The University pays us well, but not enough to warrant what he had in his bank account. It was then I decided to do a little snooping around."
"OK, so what did you find?" asked Liz.
"I went to their lab late one night and saw what they had on those computers. They were filled with page after page of sports scores from every sport known to man. Of course, I thought they were gambling. "
"Most gamblers don't have huge bank accounts. They're usually broke."
"That's what I thought," agreed Jim. "So I decided to do a little more snooping before I confronted him. I set up a hidden camera in their lab. When I retrieved the videotape, I was shocked at what I saw."
"And just what did you see?" asked Liz.
"They would be working at the computers, there would be a bright flash of light and they would disappear from the screen. Then a few minutes later they would reappear. I thought something was wrong with the video camera, so I went out and bought a new one. But the same thing happened. Then I noticed that sometimes they re-appeared wearing different clothes. One day a woman showed up at the lab when they weren't there. She was obviously looking for something. I don't know who she was. She showed up day after day. One day a few weeks ago she was in the lab and my son walked in. There was an obvious confrontation. The microphone on the camera wasn't close enough to catch what they were saying, but my son was upset. He hit her and knocked her out. Then there was a bright flash of light and she was gone."
Jim looked from one to the other and then continued, "It was then I decided to confront him. I showed him the videotape and asked for an explanation. He stormed out of my house and I hadn't spoken to him until today."
Mike's voice dropped as he spoke to Jim. "We have reason to believe your life is in danger. We can help you, but you have to tell us what you know. Everything."
"That's the problem," he said. I don't know for sure. The only explanation I have is ludicrous."
"Try it out on us."
Jim's face darkened. He looked around and then spoke very softly. "I think they're traveling back in time. My son talked about this often as he was growing up, but a few years ago he stopped mentioning it. I thought he had grown out of it. But then when I saw the videotape......"
"We're here to tell you, he hasn't grown out of it."
"How can I trust you?" asked Jim.
Liz pulled out a sealed envelope with Jim's address on it. The Preakness is being run later today I believe. The winner is written in this envelope with his winning time. Let's go watch the race together and then you can open the envelope.
After the race Jim sat staring at the envelope. He was shocked to see not only the winner but the exact time. "OK, what's your story?"
"We are from the future." As Liz spoke those words she realized how ridiculous that sounded. But Jim didn't look shocked or surprised. "We stumbled on your son's 'project' and think your life is in danger because of what you know, but not from your son or father. There's a third party involved and we wanted you to force her hand before she was ready to act. So that's why we came back here.
"This is a lot to take in." said Jim.
"We know, but we need your help." Mike was trying to sound reassuring, but they were flying by the seat of their pants here, without a firm plan.
Liz and Mike told Jim everything they knew and everything they suspected. They explained that Erica was holding him and his wife hostage in order to get control of the time travel project. They didn't know where but they knew that she was going to make a move soon. "Our only hope is to protect you so that she doesn't get control," explained Liz.
"I guess I have to believe you," Jim seemed resigned.
"We need you and your wife to come with us," explained Liz.
"My wife doesn't know anything about this!"
"Then we'll have to convince her." Liz, Mike and Jim immediately left for his house. Isabelle Crowson went through many emotions that afternoon, but in the end she reluctantly agreed to Liz and Mike's "plan".
By the end of the day they were all back in the present, reunited with Gary. Mike was on the phone with the witness protection program. After he hung up he explained to Isabelle and Jim that they would put them in hiding until they had Erica in custody.
"Now we need to confront Erica," said Liz.
"What do we do about the young Jim and his grandfather?" asked Gary.
"There are a whole host of charges we can lay on them, but we have to find them first. Our only hope right now is that Erica doesn't know what's going on yet." Liz explained. "Now we need to confront Erica and hope we catch her by surprise before she has time to disappear like the Crowson's."
Before long Liz and Mike were on a boat to Emerald Isle or Bogue Banks if they wanted to be accurate. They had decided to travel back in time to before Liz was sent back so that they could have the element of surprise on their side. They came ashore in a remote spot on the island, out of sight of any structures. They made their way to the shack where they had originally found Erica's computer equipment . Sure enough, Erica was there working on the computer. They decided to watch for a while. To their surprise, they saw a flash of light and Erica was gone.
"I don't know if I'll ever get used to seeing that, even though I've done it myself a few times now," said Liz.
"I know what you mean. But this gives us a chance to be in there when she comes back and give her a bit of a surprise herself."
They went around to the door and let themselves in. It was a very crude setup but obviously was enough to get the job done. They chose their spot carefully so that she wouldn't see them immediately, and then waited.
What they hadn't planned on was what happened next.
The computer equipment began to buzz and the light flashed brighter than Liz had ever seen it before. Suddenly she and Mike found themselves in unfamiliar surroundings. Before they could acclimate, they saw familiar faces. Jim and his grandfather were staring at them. As she became more aware of her surroundings, she realized what they were staring at...Erica was holding a gun on them. Erica, on the other hand, looked calm.
This confirmed Liz's suspicions. She had known Erica was behind the whole scheme. The only thing she didn't know was why. Whatever happened here, she hoped she was about to find out.
Erica spoke first. "I didn't know you were so resourceful." she seemed to be speaking to Liz.
"I knew we'd catch up with you." Liz couldn't help but smile. She felt she had the upper hand, although she wasn't quite sure how. Why was Erica waiting to pull the trigger? Then it dawned on her. Erica needed to get rid of everybody that knew about the 'lab' all at once. Otherwise, someone with knowhow could just travel back in time to stop her from killing them. It was as if Erica was reading her mind.
"So where is he?" she practically spit the words out.
"He's safe," said Mike.
The key all along had been James Crowson, II. He knew enough about the technology to be dangerous to her, and now he was out of her reach.
Then Mike spoke up, "We'll take you to him if you like."
Erica's eyes brightened. "I didn't think you'd give him up so easy."
"He doesn't mean anything to me. Until a few days ago, I didn't even know he existed."
" But, I know someone who does mean something to you." With that Erica turned the gun on Liz and fired.
Liz felt a searing pain in her right shoulder and immediately fell to the ground.
"Now, take me to James Crowson and I'll have you back here in time to save your girlfriend. Mess with me, and she bleeds to death."
Mike tried to control his emotions, turned to Erica and said, "Let's go."
She took Mike to the computer and they were gone in an instant. Liz lay on the ground stunned by what had happened. Then she heard young Jim Crowson calling her.
"Liz, Liz, wake up," he said. "She didn't tie you up. You can un-tie us and we can get to my father before she does."
Liz slowly and painfully sat up and with all her strength she crawled over to Jim. It took some time but she managed to get the tape off. They quickly got to work stopping the blood flow from her wound. Then all three of them went to the computer.
Young Jim started looked at her, "Where would he take her?"
Liz didn't know where Jim was being held and she knew that Mike wouldn't take Erica where they had left Nancy and Gary. "Can't you tell from the computer where they went?"
"No she erased it."
"Wait, I know where he took her!" If Liz was right, Erica made two very costly mistakes in a matter of minutes.
Erica found herself in the middle of a police station holding a gun. Before she had time to think she had 10 police officers yelling for her to drop her weapon. She was greedy, but not stupid.
Within minutes, Liz was there with the Crowson's. As the paramedics worked on her, it gave her great satisfaction to see the officers put Erica in cuffs, and even more satisfaction to see Mike talking with the DA about charges against Jim and his grandfather.
Just before the ambulance pulled out of the parking lot, she heard someone pounding on the door. She was happy to see Mike hop in the back of the ambulance. He took her hand and held it all the way to the hospital.
