Justification For Killing (52 page)

“
Wait a minute Mike. Are
you telling me...? What exactly are you telling me?

“
Captain, I believe Forrest arrived on Wednesday the 20th, and
will assume he and Olive Marie will have until Saturday the 23rd to
get back inside
Pegasus
and return to the 2012. I’m afraid if they wait
until Saturday they are going to be two days late.
Pegasus
IS going to
leave on Thursday the 21st!”

“
Okay
Mike, now I’m really getting worried. Tell me exactly when we
should expect
Pegasus
to reappear in the lab.”

“
I have
already given this some thought Captain. If they left here at 4:35
a.m. yesterday morning, regardless of the 12:30 arrival time in
Texas,
Pegasus
will disappear at 4:35 a.m., our time today and return to our
lab.

From Forrest and
Olive’s prospective
Pegasus
will disappear Thursday at 12:30, their
time.”

“
So, Mike your saying we
have to sweat it out until 4:35 tomorrow morning?”

“
I’m
afraid not Captain. I have been trying to call them using the
Tachyon communication system, but a couple of things had to have
happened for it to work. To begin, Forrest or Olive Marie must have
had their Smartphones with them, and they must have the phones
turned on. For the Smartphones to work, even if they are turned on,
they will still have to have to be within five miles of
Pegasus
. I tried every
hour on the hour since yesterday morning, without
success.”

“
What are you saying
Mike?”

“
Captain
you have six minutes until
Pegasus
should return and I emphasis ‘should’ because we
are never sure it WILL return, but if it’s coming back it should
reappear downstairs in our lab with Forrest and Olive Marie inside
in a few minutes.”

The time was 4:29 a.m.,
Friday, December 7, 2012.

Chapter
Forty-One

THE CLINT MURDOCK
ESTATE

Forrest had estimated that
they would arrive at the Clint Murdock estate sometime around the
middle of the afternoon. Now it was beginning to look more like a
late afternoon rendezvous. The treacherous journey from Celina to
Dallas, which on a warm, clear, summer day would have taken, at
most, an hour, had now consumed most of the day. Today was anything
but warm or clear and certainly was not summer. They had slipped,
spun and trudged down the snowy road in the midst of a brutal Texas
blizzard.

They were slowly
coming to the outskirts of Dallas. “Sis we must be getting close. I
will keep a sharp eye peeled for the Addison Airport cutoff.” No
sooner had the words left Forrest’s mouth he saw the large green
“
ADDISON AIRPORT - NEXT
RIGHT
” sign. “Slow down Sis the Cedar
Springs Road should be up here on your left.”

“
Forrest, if I drive any
slower we will stop!”

“
There
it is Sis, there on your left, just past the closed Texaco service
station. Hey, look at the sign – gas 26.
⁹
cents per gallon. I guess
this is what they mean by the ‘good ole days’”

“
Yeah, I see it Forrest,”
she said turning onto the Cedar Springs Road. “What
now?”

“
Just a piece down this
road should be Wood Valley. It will be on your left. Follow it and
you will make one right turn onto Ash Hill Lane. The address, 45
Ash Hill shouldn’t be very far after the turn.”

It was ten minutes past
five p.m. when they pulled across the street from the Murdock
estate’s driveway and parked. The snow had gradually tapered off
the farther south they drove from Celina. Here in Dallas a few
flurries were still occurring, but the ground was only covered in
two or three inches of snow. Most of the snowfall had taken place
north of the city. The worst part of the blizzard with its deep
snow and driven wind had been between the northern suburbs of
Dallas to deep into the central part of the state of
Oklahoma.

“
Forrest, I’m
worried!”

“
Now Sis, just play your
part - no one will be the wiser.”

“
No, I’m
not talking about that – we arrived in Texas yesterday, Wednesday
at 12:30. Unless the instructions had been changed
Pegasus
should return
home today, Thursday at 12:30, right? That was nearly five hours
ago.” Without waiting for Forrest to answer, “What if
Pegasus
left without us?
How are we going to get home Forrest? This is what I am worried
about.”

“
Nah,
don’t worry, when Grandpa came here his instruments were set to
allow him to leave on Saturday the 23rd. I’m fairly sure they were
not changed.
Pegasus
will be right there waiting on us ‘til Saturday. Come on Sis,
we have a mission to complete, everything will be
fine.”

Little did Forrest
realize, Olive Marie was right - they had a lot to worry
about!

The time was 5:15
p.m., Thursday, November 21, 1963, a little over four and one-half
hours after
Pegasus
had returned home - empty!!

Chapter
Forty-Two

PEGASUS RETURNS
HOME

Grandpa and Mike Watkins
hurried into the outer reception area. Looking left toward Krista’s
office he motioned with his hand, and shouted, “Come on Krissy,
Forrest and Olive Marie are coming back! Come on, shake-a-leg we
only have a few more minutes.

Running as fast as
possible in her high heel shoes Krista caught up with Captain
Scarburg and Mike at the elevator door. “Gracious Captain! What is
going on? What do you mean, ‘Forrest and Olive Marie are coming
back’? Where have they been?”

“
Krissy,
Mike said he knew who took
Pegasus
.”

“
Who Captain? Who would be
crazy enough to do such a thing?”

“
Forrest and Olive Marie!
They took it!”

“
NO! Your wrong Captain,
not my Forrest and Olive Marie!”

“
I’m
afraid so Krissy. We don’t know why they took
Pegasus,
but Mike has calculated,
from the instruments in the laboratory the time machine should be
returning within the next couple of minutes. We are on our way to
the lab to wait
Pegasus’s
arrival, come join us. We are hopeful Forrest and
Olive Marie will be inside.”

Entering the
elevator she asked, “Captain? I don’t understand, why would the two
of them take
Pegasus
? And where were they going?”

“
We don’t know all the
answers Krista, but we believe they were destined for Texas in the
year 1963. Maybe in a minute or so things will become
clearer.”

The elevator dropped
swiftly from the fifth floor, the door dinged announcing their
arrival at the laboratory in the basement. As the door opened the
three bolted across the hall, past the security guard just in time
to hear the sound of rustling wind and see the static electric
charges jumping through the air. The faint whiff of ozone could
also be detected. The miniature tornado like effect was beginning
to appear in the center of the room. A swirling fog like haze was
becoming prominent. Gradually the outline of the gleaming, silver
craft began to appear. At this stage of re-entry, the whole machine
was transparent. Within seconds, the transparency began to
solidify, and the shiny, lustrous object settled down within the
confines of the launch facility. The loud hissing noise almost
overshadowed the faint tranquil bagpipes heard playing in the
background. The escaping air indicating the hatch was opening,
caused everyone to scamper to the hatch to await the exit of those
supposedly inside the craft. The service platform was rolled up
beside the hatch, and Captain Scarburg ran up the steps like a mad
man.

Gaining the last
step, he bent over and pushed his head inside the craft. The group
standing around
Pegasus
was holding its collective breath – anxious with
anticipation. Finally, Captain Scarburg withdrew his head, turned
and exclaimed, “No!!”

It was an exercise
in futility, no one was inside –
Pegasus
was empty!

The Captain slowly
stole one last glance into the machine then turned, and somberly
walked down the steps with head bowed. Reaching the floor his
expressionless face suddenly brightened as he turned to the
assembled group. “Mike, Spook, Tinker, Sam Lin, Si Lei and Krista
all of you to the conference room, now! Mr. Rousseau,
prepare
Pegasus
for another flight, same departure time, leave the arrival
time the same also. Let
Pegasus
settle down in the same cow pasture. Walking
toward the exit to the elevator he spoke to Krista, “Call Dr. LJ
and Rocky, I need them too.”

EVERYONE TO THE CONFERENCE
ROOM

Once in the conference
room everyone was buzzing as each took a seat. The last to arrive
was Captain Scarburg with a thick manila folder. Walking to the
podium, “Folks, I know we have just been disappointed since Forrest
and Olive Marie did not return, but I have a glimmer of hope.”
Knowing Krista was sick with worry he believed this would lift her
spirits.

“
If you all will remember
back to our previous meeting when I assigned duties and
responsibilities for our return to Dallas to dig into the John
Kennedy assassination. I asked Spook, Tinker, Forrest, Olive Marie
and you, Krista to stay behind and mind the store while we were
gone. I had previously asked Sam Lin and Si Lei to go back to
Bangkok, and investigate Ryan Rousseau and they successfully
completed their task.

“
Spook
and Tinker have already provided some basic information on the
Mafia’s connection with the assassination. That’s good guys keep
working on that angle. Krista, you were to coordinate all the
activities and keep everything in an orderly fashion. Mike your job
was to ensure
Pegasus
was up and running for the return flight.

Now this brings us to the
current situation - Forrest and Olive Marie,” the Captain said
opening up the manila folder. “I know they were certainly not
satisfied with being left behind. Forrest, I’m sure, believed he
could be useful, and I relegated him to a minor role in our Kennedy
mission. Olive Marie was mad because I said she was not old enough
to participate. I believe these two concocted a plan. A plan, which
they believed they could pull off, and prove to us, well actually
me, they were able and capable of handling responsible SCAR
assignments.

Spook replied, “Captain,
we believe you are correct, but what are the new
assignments?”

“
I see
two pressing actions. To begin, I need to go immediately back to
Texas and find Forrest and Olive Marie and bring them home. They do
not know the danger they are in!! To do this, I have instructed Mr.
Rousseau to prepare
Pegasus
for a return trip as soon as
possible.

“
The second action
involves you, Mike. I have informed you about my suspicions of Mr.
Rousseau, and those suspicions were confirmed by the information
Sam Lin and Si Lei discovered on their trip to Bangkok. Mr.
Rousseau was back in the ‘60s and still today an active operative
for the CIA. The CIA was involved in some downright terrible things
during the Vietnam War. Things the CIA does not want uncovered and
exposed to public scrutiny. I believe he was planted within the
SCAR organization in order to keep tabs on us. I now further
believe his assignment at SCAR was to intervene in any plans we
might undertake to investigate the JFK killing. The CIA did not
want us to find out they were deeply entangled with the shooting of
the President, especially, their connection with Lee Harvey
Oswald!

“
Since SCAR was formed,
and even before it was started, we had a goal, to investigate the
John F. Kennedy tragedy. Mr. Rousseau knew about our goal. I
believe, it was his mission to sabotage our efforts if we made an
attempt to pursue the Kennedy assassination, and he did a darn
clever job on fouling up my first flight to Dallas.”

Opening the folder he
said, “I believe Forrest thought if he could prove Vice President
Johnson attended a party at the home of Clint Murdock the night
before the presidential assassination he could show a connection
between Johnson and the murder of Kennedy. A connection a lot of
political big wigs wanted to be kept secret. Did Johnson, along
with some of his powerful friends, plan or assist in the shooting
of the President? I believe that was Forrest and Olive Marie’s
mission - to find out.

“
I’m
getting ready to return to Texas, but Mike since I told Mr.
Rousseau to program my departure and input all the coordinates,
times and dates to the onboard computers for the flight, I need you
to discreetly check all his input data and see if he is once again
attempting permanently to get rid of me and send
Pegasus
to an unknown
time and to an unknown place.