The Didymus Contingency

FIFTEEN
Building
2005

Arizona

Sally woke up with a start and nearly flung herself onto the rugged industrial floor. Her eyes stung and her mouth was stale, sticky with paste-like saliva. With her nerves shot and her mind distracted by the events of the past days, one hour of sleep was all she could manage. The sleep was welcome but the fact that she had awakened on her own was very disappointing. She had given orders to be wakened should Tom, David or Roberts return. But she was alone in the room and no one had come to give her good news, which meant the worst possible news. Something had gone wrong in the past. It had been hours since Captain Robert’s left the present. Had he succeeded, Roberts would have returned to within an hour of his departure. She knew he was either dead or had gone rogue. And she knew what that meant for Tom and David.

Sally stood and stretched. Her back ached. The sturdy loveseat in her office wasn’t designed with comfortable snoozing in mind. Her cream-colored office was expansive, meagerly decorated and full of space, but had become cluttered overnight. Sally spent most of the previous evening riffling through schematics, studying notes and memorizing the functions of the watch, which she now knew to be more intricate then anyone had previously conceived. If only David knew what she knew now. Then again, maybe he did.

Sally dressed quickly, though not in her typical power suit and high heels. She finished the knot on her black running shoes, tightened the belt on her skin-hugging, charcoal pants and straightened her raven hued turtleneck, which showed the curves of her body in a way no one at LightTech had ever seen. She felt silly, dressing like this, like some kind of spy or ninja, black from head to toe, but she knew the main lights would be out for another hour and she would need to be stealthy if she was going to make it in and out of George’s office in one piece.

Sally tied a black scarf around her mouth, nose and then forehead. She looked in the mirror. Her reflection looked like an obsidian sculpture, whose eyes had been colored with a burning brown paint. Ridiculous. She strapped a dark backpack to her shoulders, peeked out her office door and crept out into the dark hallway.

It was a ten-minute trek from Sally’s office on the lower level to George’s office, five floors up. She couldn’t use the elevator; there was an armed doorman, even at this time of night. She could have easily walked past him and ordered him to leave his position, but she hoped anonymity would allow her to keep her job, and her life, when this was all over.

She broke a sweat by the fifth floor. She ran every day and she was in perfect shape, but the nervous tension gripping her muscles made every movement a struggle. It was exhausting. She crept to the stairwell door. George’s office was just down the hall, but Sally knew this would be the most difficult portion of her covert operation. George, ever the paranoid, had two guards posted outside his office at all times. But Sally knew George wasn’t just being paranoid, he was being cautious. No one puts two armed guards outside a room unless they have something inside to protect. This is why Sally believed the office would contain the robot insects Jake had so proudly described. She would steal the little bugs and make it look like corporate espionage. They had plenty of tough competition that wouldn’t be above such a stunt. Hell, even LightTech had engaged in theft and espionage before.

Security was impregnable from the outside in. Getting into the LightTech facility was pretty much impossible. But once inside, security was lax. Though from Sally’s perspective, security was downright impervious. She peered down the hallway. Damn. The guards were wide-awake and ready for action. She felt sure she could outrun Chuck, the chubbier of the two guards but the other man, Sean, looked to be in Herculean shape. Probably took his job too seriously. He might be a problem. The only weapon Sally had brought was a five-year-old stun gun she took when she went running, and it could only fire once.

The sound of approaching footsteps from the right caught her attention and Sally quickly and silently closed the hallway door so that only a sliver of space remained to peer through. She glanced at her watch. Damn again! The building would be flooded with employees in a half hour. She ducked back as a body moved past the door, toward George’s office and the guards.

Sally watched through the small opening. It was Jake…and he was waving the guards away.

“Chuck, Sean, you guys can take off. Go get a coffee or something. I’ll only be a few minutes,” Jake said.

Chuck looked confused. “But Director Dwight ordered us to stay until he-”

“Yes, yes, but who delivered the order?” Jake asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, technically, you did, sir.”

Sean crossed his buff arms, trying to look like an authority figure and said, “Sir, may I remind you that it’s against regulations to-”

“And now I’m telling you to go. Consider it an executive order. Take a walk. Come back in a few minutes. I won’t be long.”

“But-”

“Now,” Jake insisted with a cold gaze.

“Yes, sir,” Chuck said. “But just for a few minutes.”

Chuck and Sean turned and headed toward the opposite end of the hallway, away from Sally. Thank you, Jake! Sally was thrilled by Jake’s advantageous appearance, but wasn’t thrilled with how he so easily issued orders with executive power. What else could Jake be doing without LightTech knowledge? Jake entered the office and the door slowly moved toward the closed position. This was Sally’s chance! The two guards were nearing the end of the hallway, which turned left, but if she waited, the door might close and lock. She had to risk it.

Sally opened the door and breezed into the hallway, mixing with the shadows and moving like a cat. The guards didn’t hear or sense a thing as they rounded the corner and disappeared into the adjacent hallway.

The door, still ten feet away, was only three inches from closing, and it was moving swiftly. Sally bolted forward and dove to the slick linoleum floor. She hit hard and the air was thrust from her lungs, but she slid quickly. She reached out as the last shard of light from inside the office began to shrink away. The door bounced gently, without a sound and began to reopen. Sally rolled onto her back and caught her breath; she caught the door with her index finger only a centimeter before it closed.

Sally returned to her feet and entered the room silently, stun gun armed and ready for a fight. But the office was empty! Jake was nowhere to be seen. The room was pristine and nearly barren. A large desk sat in the center of the room, one chair behind it and two chairs in front. That was it. Sally didn’t know where Jake had gone, but she didn’t have time to figure it out. She launched into the desk drawers. Empty. Empty. Empty! Where the hell did George keep his secrets? He’d want them within sight of his place behind the desk. He’d want them hidden, but easily accessible. Sally pulled out the plush leather desk chair, which seemed heavier and sturdier than most, and sat down. There was nothing to look at! Just three bare walls and a door!

She was about to give up when she instinctively reached down and pulled a lever, which allowed the black leather office chair to recline. Sally stared at the chrome light fixture on the ceiling. It was very plain, but it was something else about the ceiling that caught her attention. The light in the room was changing. It was getting brighter. Sally leaned forward and snapped her head to the right. The wall had opened up without a noise!

Sally stood and gawked at the newly discovered chamber. She felt a moment of envy: I don’t have a secret room! But this wasn’t any ordinary room-far from it. Sally stepped into the alcove and after absorbing its contents, came to the startling conclusion: George has a secret lab! The laboratory was forty feet long and lined with robotic equipment, carefully labeled vials of liquid and even more carefully stored computer components. Jake was at the rear of the room with his back to Sally. He hadn’t heard a thing. Sally tiptoed toward him, stun gun in hand.

She walked to within four feet of Jake’s back. She didn’t want to miss. She felt her face turning purple as she held her breath, frightened to make even the slightest sound. If he moved, she might miss. Even if only one of the electrodes that would launch from the stun gun missed its mark, she would be done. Sally thumbed the stun gun’s trigger and pushed it down. Click. Nothing happened! Click, click, click. Nothing! Damn!

Jake whirled around and gasped. Apparently, not only was Sally’s outfit stealthy, but also quite frightening. “Who-who are you?” Jake asked.

Sally didn’t say a word, in part, because she didn’t want her voice recognized, but she also didn’t know what to say. “What do you want?” Jake asked, his voice shaking.

Sally could see his nervous eyes wandering. He was sizing her up. Looking for anything to make sense of this dark figure that had frightened him. He found it in her eyes. The steely gaze. The penetrating eyes. “Sally?”

Sally froze. He had seen through her disguise. She knew Jake didn’t think fondly of her. She knew he was stronger than she was. And she knew she had to strike first before Jake came to the full realization of what was happening. Sally was going rogue and Jake was the only one in her way. Whack! Sally acted on instinct, punching Jake in the throat. She had taken a self-defense class five years ago and was amazed at how quickly it came back and how well the techniques taught for defense worked just as well for assault.

Jake’s legs crumpled below him and he fell to the floor as his hands clenched his throat. He forcefully sucked air into and out of his lungs as blood rushed to his head. Sally was horrified at what she had done but quickly returned her attention to the task at hand. She turned and looked at the countertop where Jake had been working. She saw two cases and opened them both. The first contained four syringes of what she assumed was the antidote to the robot’s poison. She opened the second case: empty. Though from the impressions made in the protective foam, this is where they had kept the insect robots, four of them. The fact that they were gone meant that Sally was too late. She would have to alter her plans.

After snagging two syringes, Sally put them in her pocket and stepped over Jake, who was still writhing on the floor. Sally smiled. She was going to make it. Getting out should be no problem without the guards at the door.

“GUARDS!” Jake’s throat had opened up momentarily and his lungs managed to take in enough air to get out one loud scream.

Sally glared at Jake and he crawled backward, away from her rage, away from those eyes. His face was two shades of crimson as he struggled to suck in another breath. The door to the office was kicked open as Sean and Chuck burst in, weapons drawn. Sally was caught.

“Freeze!” Sean yelled.

“Move and you’re dead!” Chuck shouted, as his sweaty index finger twitched nervously on the trigger of his gun.

Sally’s mind raced for a solution. She knew it was only a matter of seconds before she would be killed.

Jesus had led the disciples clear out of the region called Judea, where he believed their lives to be at risk. He made it clear that it was not his time to die and the entire group, including Tom and David, retreated to the region of Samaria, just north of Judea. Rather than stay in a city, the group had set up shop under the stars and had been camping for a week.

Tom and Judas lay in the grass, far enough away from the campfire to see the bright stars above. The conversation around the fire that night hadn’t been as jovial as Tom would have liked. In fact, everything since leaving Judea had seemed more somber, more serious. Tom and Judas had tired of the seriousness and left the group to talk about the future.

David joined them soon after, waiting just long enough, Tom suspected, so that it wouldn’t seem obvious that he was keeping tabs on him and Judas. Tom knew the name Judas held negative connotations in the future, something to do with betrayal, but that was about as believable as Jesus being the Son of God. David sat on the grass next to Tom and looked up at the sky.

“They’re beautiful aren’t they? Like sparkling gems floating in the sky,” Judas said with a smile.

Tom chuckled. He couldn’t help himself.

“What’s so funny?” Judas asked. “What do you think they are?”

David cleared his throat and gave Tom a look that said: Don’t you dare.

“I think,” Tom started with a semi-sarcastic tone. “I think they are a gift from God, to light our path at night.”

“The truest words to exit your mouth yet,” Jesus said, as he approached from the campfire. “Are you not cold over here, away from the fire?”

“We’re fine,” David said.

Judas sat up and perched himself on his elbows. “It was getting too hot by the fire.”

“And the conversation was dull,” Tom said with a smirk.

Jesus smiled. “I fear it will be the last dull moment for some time to come.”

“Are we leaving?” Tom asked.

“Not yet,” Jesus answered.

“Jesus!” yelled a voice from the dark.

A single torch light cut through the darkness as an out of breath man ran toward the group. “I’m looking for the one called Jesus. Have any of you seen him?”

Jesus walked to the man. “I am Jesus.”

“Master, I have been sent to you from Bethany, from the home of your friend Lazarus,” the man said.

Jesus’s face sank. “He has fallen ill?”

The man looked surprised, “Yes, his sisters sent me to you so that you might come to Bethany and heal him.”

“Go then,” Jesus said. “Tell them I am coming.”

“Yes, Master,” said the man, who then returned to the darkness from which he came.

Tom had heard the whole conversation and walked to Jesus. He saw the look on Jesus’s face and realized something wasn’t quite right. “We’re not going to Bethany, are we?”

“Not yet.”

“But you just told him-”

“Mary is a strong woman. Do not worry about her.”

“I didn’t say-”

“Your eyes say enough.”

“We can’t just let them wait,” Tom said, trying not to appear overly irritated.

“Thomas, his sickness will not end in death. The glory will be to God when His son is glorified through it,” said Jesus.

David approached Tom as Jesus returned to the fire. “What a load of crap!” Tom said in hushed English.

David pulled Tom further away from the fire and listening ears.

“Can you believe this?” Tom asked, returning to Aramaic.

“I can believe lots of things.” “You’re not worried about Lazarus?”

“No.”

Tom scrutinized David’s face, looking for answers. Then his jaw dropped open as he came to a realization. “You know what’s going to happen. You know everything that’s going to happen. But you’re not just guessing, you actually know. Don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“How?” Tom wasn’t asking. He was demanding.

“It’s all in the Bible.”

“Tonight was in the Bible?”

“Yes.”

“And whatever it is that happens with Lazarus, you know the outcome?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Next you’re going to tell me there was a disciple named Tom in the Bible.”

“Actually…”

“Not funny.”

“And I’m not joking, Thomas,” David said.

“Thomas?”

“That’s what you’re called in the Bible.”

Tom’s jaw clenched shut for a moment, grinding his teeth. “David, really. This isn’t funny.”

“Actually, I think you might be the only disciple in the Bible who actually had a nickname.”

Tom stared at David, his mind racing with thoughts.

“Do you know how your name translates into Greek?”

Tom didn’t reply. He knew David was going to tell him.

David smiled. “Didymus…remarkable coincidence. Now you see why it is so funny that they call you that. Not only did we look like twins, but your name translates to the Greek word for twin, Didymus.”

Tom sat down. “I’m in the Bible?”

David nodded happily. “And every Christian child has grown up hearing stories about you.”

What David was saying made no sense, but Tom knew he wouldn’t lie about something like this. “That doesn’t make them true,” Tom said.

“But it makes the Bible accurate.”

Tom closed his eyes in thought, “What else do you know about me? About what’s going to happen?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“It might affect the decisions you make.”

“You know what happens in the next week?”

“Yes.”

“A month from now?”

“Yes.”

“How I live? How I die?”

“Tom-”

“You know what happens to Mary?”

David is thrown by the question. “I…no, I don’t.”

Tom looked away, trying to hide any concerned look on his face that might give his feelings away. But it was too late. David noticed.

“Tom, do you?” David asked suspiciously.

Tom shook his head. “Don’t ask me how, but yes.”

David couldn’t help but smile. He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “That’s great.”

“Is it really?” Tom turned around and looked at the stars, trying desperately not to make eye contact with David.

David stood next to Tom and gazed at the glowing night sky. “I promise you. There isn’t any other person alive today or tomorrow that Megan would be happier to see you with.”

Tom smiled and glanced at David. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?” David asked.

“The woman who inexplicably holds your heart is two thousand years in the future.”

David smiled, “A minute won’t pass for Sally. I’ve been gone for years, but to her it will only be a minute.”

“It’s hard to be away from someone you love for that long. I know.”

David nodded. “I miss her smile. Granted, I only saw it a few times in all the years we’ve known her, but when I did…there was nothing better,” David said.

“Well, maybe you’ll get to see her smile soon?”

“Not soon enough,” David said. “Not soon enough.”

Sally grimaced behind her black scarf. This was not going well.

“Raise your hands,” Sean demanded after Chuck had removed her backpack.

Sally did as she was told. She didn’t want to incite these guys into pulling a trigger. Jake was still struggling to catch his breath as Sean ran to Jake and helped him to his feet. Jake struggled to speak. “What is it, sir?” Sean asked.

Sally knew that if Jake regained the ability to talk he might give the order to shoot. She had to act fast. Sally moved her right hand subtly to her watch and began slowly pushing buttons.

“It’s…It’s…” Jake was beginning to get out a sentence.

Chuck emptied the backpack’s contents while keeping his gun raised at Sally’s head. Sally’s business suit, heels, nylons and I.D. badge fell out of the bag. She had planned to change into her normal clothes as soon as she made her getaway. She could have easily strolled comfortably back to her office. But that was no longer an option.

Jake pointed toward Sally and said, “That’s…”

“Director McField?” Chuck asked. He was holding her I.D. in his hand.

Jake relaxed. They finally understood.

“I think this guy broke into Director McField’s office too,” the guard said.

Jake’s eyes bulged. “NO!” he shouted. “SHE’S… SHE’S…”

Both guards stared at Jake. What was he trying to say? Jake’s eyes widened when he saw Sally lower her arms and reach for the gun. “SHOOT HER!” he screamed.

Sally grabbed Chuck’s gun and quickly kneed him in the groin. Sally’s ears rang with pain as a gunshot ripped through the air. She felt the breeze created by the bullet as it passed her face and shattered several beakers. Sean aimed for a second shot, but Sally had begun moving before the shards of glass from the beakers hit the floor. She ran out the door, through the office and burst into the hallway.

The elevator door directly across the hall opened up with a ding. A stunned guard struggled to draw his weapon as Sally skidded to a stop and ran down the hallway toward the stairwell. Two shots echoed through the hallway as Sean leapt from the office and took aim for a third.

As Sally slammed through the stairwell door, a third bullet punctured the metal door behind her, just missing its mark. She scrambled up the stairs, covering two steps at a time. She had a plan. She thought it was stupid, but it was a plan nonetheless. The three guards, two running and Chuck limping, followed quickly, weapons ready to kill.

Jake picked up the office phone and dialed three numbers. “Sir, it’s Jake… Better prep…all four. Spencer was right… Sally’s gone crazy… I think she’s going back… Yeah… She’s got a watch.”

Sally’s legs burned as she heaved up each flight of stairs. The men behind her were gaining, and if they caught her, would most likely kill her. She couldn’t let that happen. Sally slammed into a thick bulkhead and pushed. The doors were heavy, covered in sand and meant only for emergency use; only a select group of people knew they existed, and from the outside, they were invisible. An alarm sounded as soon as the first piece of daylight entered the stairwell.

Pang! A bullet ricocheted off the stair Sally was standing on. The vibration caused by the bullet shot a tingling sensation up her leg. That was close. A few more seconds and she’d be dead. Sally grunted as she pushed the bulkhead open and ran into the blazing sun. The searing heat of the desert and blinding light of sun on golden sand was disorientating.

Sally stumbled forward a few feet and covered her squinting eyes. She saw it just in time. She planted her feet firmly in the sand and leaned backward. Her toes protruded over a five hundred foot drop. Sally was teetering on the edge of oblivion.

“Don’t move! Don’t move a freakin’ inch, lady!” the elevator guard shouted.

“Turn around, nice and slow,” Sean said, as he inched toward her, keeping a watchful eye on the cliff.

Sally turned around slowly, but did not move away from the cliff’s edge. She had to time this perfectly and make sure she didn’t get shot in the process.

“Take off your mask,” demanded the elevator guard. “Take it off, now.”

Sally punched one last button on the watch as she raised her hand to her scarf and unwrapped it. The guards took a step back when they saw Sally’s face. They had been shooting at their boss!

“Sorry for the trouble, boys,” Sally said with a smile.

She tossed the scarf at the guards, obscuring their view. By the time the skinny guard plucked the scarf out of the air, Sally had already jumped.

“Director McField!” Sean shouted, as he reached out for her.

All three men ran to the edge of the cliff and looked over. Sally was plummeting toward the ground. A light began to pulsate. With each flash it grew brighter and brighter, enveloping Sally’s body in a blaze of white. The three men jumped back as a sound like an explosion rose from below. They waited only a second before looking back over the cliff. And what they saw, they couldn’t believe. Sally was gone. No broken body. No stain of blood. She had vanished. Only a glowing cloud of blue particles remained, carried by the wind.

“Holy… She’s…she’s gone!”

“This must have something to do with that secret stuff they’ve been working on.”

“Yeah, but where did she go?”

“Not where did she go,” Jake said. “But when did she go?”

As Jake finished his sentence, a tingling zap of energy coursed up through the sinews of his back and into his skull. He was suddenly filled with the knowledge of what he had to do next…and it was wonderful.

The guards turned around and saw Jake standing in the bulkhead. He had a gun raised. “Sorry guys, but you’ve seen too much and we need to tidy up a bit.”

Before any of them could react, Jake fired three shots.