The Time Travel Directorate (14 page)

“Ah, yes,
your simple but effective web technology. Quite a boon for travel on the sly, as I like to call it,” Julius responded, gesturing to a chair next to him.

Holding
her head high, Kanon followed his lead, arranging her skirts as she sat down. She never expected Julius would portray himself as a martyr—unfairly persecuted by the Directorate. How could he pull off such dramatic spin? Kanon realized her only option at present was to ask him. Chief Smiley had her web—she was trapped.

“What exactly
are you planning?” she asked.

“
Me?” Julius asked, his eyebrows rising like two great big caterpillars. “It is clear that I have my issues with the Directorate. I want to give time travel to the people.”

“So you
are a modern day Robin Hood,” Kanon replied sarcastically, “allowing the little people to take their hedonistic adventures.”

“Why not
fuel our masochistic desires in the past? You act as though it matters!” Julius responded coolly.

Kanon
felt her anger flare.

“It does
matter,” she shot back, as both Julius and Chief Smiley exchanged glances.

“You
think I have been doing these horrible things,” Julius began, leaning towards her, “for my own pleasure? I seek to prove a point. The government is regulating something they should be promoting. My actions in time have not impacted Standard D in the least. The universe, it seems, corrects itself. The people I kill would have died anyway—it is all averaged out, my dear.”

“That is a circular
argument. Only you have been committing these crimes, what if everyone did!” Kanon cried.

“
Think of it, Inspector Hay,” he said, clucking his tongue at her. “Do your father justice by using that mind of yours—all that schooling he paid for!” Julius cried, slapping his hand down on his leg. “No present-day crime. Murder, eliminated—rape, a thing of the past. If people could fulfill their most lustful desires in history, they would have no need for such acts in the present.”

Kanon
shook her head, the theory was more terrifying than she assumed.

“Standard
. . . ”

“I have been to
practically every restricted area that’s been identified by your little Directorate,” Julian shot back. “None of my actions have impacted Standard D. Isn’t that right?” He looked at Chief Smiley, who gave the slightest of nods.

“You are leaving out the part about the tremendous
amount of money you will make once you market the web,” Kanon replied. “How can you call your claim altruism with this in mind?”

“What use do I have
for more money? There will surely be knock offs, that is the nature of business,” Julius said. “The Directorate had a long run, to your father’s credit—he has done a wonderful job. But you can’t stand in the way of the coming revolution. The new world is just within reach. Will you stand in the way?”

“What will happen to
the inspectors?” Kanon asked, understanding the depth of Julius’ mission and his attempt to persuade her.

It was now very clear what her mission
was—eliminate Julius Arnold at all costs.

“The time for the Directorate has passed.
” Julius sighed, annoyed that she was still unconvinced. “I’m sure there will be interest from Congress about my activities,” he hinted. “Revolution is coming, my dear.”

“
So all this is a political ploy?” Kanon asked.

Julius snorted
in response.

“Haven’t you been listening to me?
Kanon Hay, I am going to change the world!”

He brought his hand on top of hers and
squeezed it hard. Kanon was at a loss for words.

“And
before you begin threatening me,” Julius said to her, slapping her hand playfully. “Know that Chief Smiley here will make sure you are brought in trussed and feathered, case closed. That is, if his inspectors don’t kill you on sight. Either way, you are hopelessly screwed.”

Kanon
fell silent, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Of course, there are
many ways to skin a cat,” Julius purred. “Trust me, I’ve done it. We could use you to help pave the way for our little takeover—taking care of inspectors who were getting too close to our little secret. Chief Smiley here tells me you that your ability to use the web is unsurpassed.”

“Not as precise as min
e I’m afraid,” Chief Smiley commented.

Julius continued as if he hadn’t spoken
, eyes locked on Kanon’s face.

“
Inspector Hay, put away these juvenile notions of what is right and wrong and embrace reality. What I propose is a way forward. It will change the world as we know it. And you, my dear, can be at my side when it occurs.”

He
fell silent, looking at Kanon intently.

Kanon
quickly accessed her options. If she refused, she was dead. If she agreed, she was further embedded in the conspiracy, with no one in the Directorate able to defend her.

All
except for Vin.

Could she rely on
him to believe her, even if she allied herself with Julius Arnold? She heard herself answer.

“It’s a big
decision, one that will impact my life forever.”

“Sure, think it over
. Where we are going, you’ll have plenty of free time.”

As he said the words,
Chief Smiley moved towards Kanon.

“You can’t force me to go anywhere
,” she noted, looking at the web Chief Smiley offered to her.

“Yo
u are right. Bring the Duchess, Inspector Hay wants us to convince her,” Julius said, an evil glint in his eyes.

“Wait
,” Kanon said, reaching across to put her hand on his.

Julius
looked at it queerly before narrowing his eyes.

“
Your softness doesn’t help you, Inspector Hay. You would have been a formidable opponent, if only you were a man.”

“I can’t watch her die again
,” Kanon said, knowing this made her look even weaker but not caring very much. “I will do as you say—tell me where we are going,” she said, accepting the web with shaking hands.

Julius smiled broadly and gestured to Chief Smiley.

“Show her.”

Vin knew something was wrong when Kanon did not show up at the appointed time. Inquiring amongst her friends, he determined no one had seen Countess de la Motte for several hours.

S
earching her quarters, Vin came to the inevitable conclusion that she was missing and Julius Arnold must have some role in her disappearance. Panicking, he moved for his web, a message from Chief Smiley flashing on the reading pane.

Return with update.

Vin quickly mounted his horse to depart for the present—finding the dark countryside a convenient jumping off point.

Arriving in
the deployment room, Vin quickly set off for Chief Smiley’s office—determined to confront him then and there. Throwing the door open, Vin found a startled Inspector Quill, seated on the floor sorting through some files.

“What are you all fired up about?” Quill asked.

Vin
studied his detached expression and relaxed slightly.

“I’m looking for Chief Smiley
,” he said, letting his breath catch up.

“
He was called away to the budget talks. I’m helping him file.”

“
Under threat of jail time?” Vin asked, an edge to his voice.

“What, you think he’d ask you
?” Quill said sharply, tossing a file to one side and digging for another.

The Directorate was never able to go entirely paperless—something that always amused
Vin. But watching Quill go through the files seemed to agitate him more than usual. He decided not to answer Quill’s last question, leaning against the doorframe.

“
I’m on the Kanon Hay case now,” Vin stated, watching Quill’s reaction carefully.

Quill shrugged
.

“You have to accept that she is in Julius’ employ,” he responded. “The Director is coming around to it as well.”

“
That’s bullshit and you know it. It isn’t Kanon,” Vin said.

“Dude, when are you going to wake up?” Quill demanded, “Have you been reading the news lately? All signs
are pointing to a budget resolution. So guilty or not, your precious Kanon will have a whole new set of problems on her hands if they find her with Julius.”

“Even if she’s held against her will?”
Vin shot back, making a mental note to catch up on the latest news.

“I
think at this point, she has some explaining to do, if she’s innocent why doesn’t she bring herself in?”

“
Maybe she doesn’t want suspicion to fall on her father,” Vin said.

“Or maybe she doesn’t want to face him
,” Quill quipped back.

Pulling himself up into a standing
position, he sighed heavily.

“Listen
, man, I’m all for defending our girlfriends . . . ”

“She’s not
my . . . ” Vin stopped himself, feeling his face blush.

He thought back to their intimate picnic
. She had been so aloof—it was impossible to tell if she returned his feelings. If only he could convince her to be with him, they could take this on together.

“Ok, whatever,” Quill continued, rolling his eyes. “Y
ou’ve got to wise up before she pulls you down with her. It’s clear she has some alliance with Julius—you want to get involved in that?”

“I’m already involved
,” Vin growled. “What’s more, Director Hay asked me to bring his daughter back.”

“
Oh, you’ll bring her back all right—to jail,” Quill said.

“
Julius is the real threat here,” Vin reminded his friend.

“I think you’ll find they are one and the same
,” Quill responded.

“Oh
, screw this,” Vin cried, slamming the door on his way out.

He retreated to his cubicle—there was nowhere else to go. Sitting down heavily, Vin ran his hands through his hair, thinking anxiously of Kanon.

Sighing
, he turned on his reading pane, intending to review Julius Arnold’s case files for any possible clues. Before he could, an icon at the top of the reading pane illuminated. Clicking in it, Vin realized it was a recording. Wondering what it was from, he clicked the play button.

He heard his
muffled voice and Chief Smiley’s high-pitched response.

Vin
laughed out loud. Remembering the early conversation he recorded in Chief Smiley’s office. The exchange didn’t go on for very long, as Chief Smiley dismissed him after several minutes. Vin listened anyway, hearing sounds of movement which he assumed was him exiting the office.

He
was about to turn the recording off when he heard a ringing sound. It was Chief Smiley’s reading pane. Sitting very still, Vin listened intently as Chief Smiley answered the call.

“Hello, yes
, I was just clearing that bit up.”

Vin
strained to hear who was on the other line, but all he heard was static. After a pause Chief Smiley continued.

“It’s clear the blame
will fall on her.”

V
in put the reading pane to his ear, his heart beating faster.

“As
I told you once before, only I control Central Computer. I’m not handing access over without assurance.”

Vin
heard what sounded like shuffling papers before Smiley spoke again.

“
Yes, I understand. Goodbye.”

The conversation stopped.

Vin listened for the next few moments, elated with what he had discovered. Here was hard evidence that Chief Smiley was helping someone on the outside. If the person on the other end of the line was Julius Arnold, Vin had the proof he needed.

R
eeling from his discovery, Vin set his reading pane down, unsure of what to do next. As soon as he placed it on the desk the screen lit up, and the scrolling sign for Standard D appeared—still holding steady.

Vin
stared at it, shaking his head.

“All the
things we’ve done, and not one change in Standard D,” he said aloud, watching the icon as it disappeared across the screen, and the reading pane switched to silent mode.

Staring at
the blank screen, Vin was gripped by a new and intriguing idea. Acting quickly, he drafted a message to Director Hay.

Meet me at your office
ASAP, I have important information about the case.

Vin
heard a door slam and whirled around, watching as Director Hay appeared in the hallway. Outfitted in his usual trench coat, he reached his office in several long strides. Giving the slightest of nods, he held the door for Vin to enter.

“I have a budget meeting in thirty minutes, so let’s make this quick. I thought I told you to keep y
our head down and work the case.”

“The situation has changed. There is a mole in the Directorate.
It’s Chief Smiley,” Vin blurted out.

Director Hay stopped fiddling with his reading pane and looked at
Vin with piercing blue eyes. He raised a finger and pointed it accusingly.

“You better talk fast.”

Vin
drew out his reading pane, hitting the record button and leaning forward to explain.

“My reading pane picked up a conversation between Chief Smiley and someone who
either is Julius Arnold or is connected to him in some way.”

Turning on the recording
, Vin watched as Director Hay listened to Chief Smiley’s voice, his frown deepening. After re-playing the recording several times, he pushed the reading pane away.

“Turn it off, I’ve heard enough,” he barked.

Vin retracted the reading pane, anxiously watching Director Hay as he rubbed his temples vigorously. He stopped, looking up at Vin.

“I trusted
him like a son,” he said, before looking up at him accusingly, “You are absolutely certain?”

“
Yes, sir.”

“Is there anyone else?” Director Hay asked.

“I’m not sure how far the corruption has gone, but it’s safe to say the only people I trust are you and Kanon,” Vin answered.

“Where is she?” Director Hay asked.

“I’m not sure, but I have a feeling she is with Julius. We have to keep the ruse up that Kanon is somehow involved,” Vin cautioned.

“How does Smiley fit
into their plans?”

“He has access to Central Computer.”

“Which is why Julius has been one step ahead of us this entire time. My deputy was the one giving him a heads up. Goddam it!”

Director Hay looked for a reading pane to smash, but
Vin held his firmly at his side.

“Chief Smiley may have been working with Julius for longer than we realize.”

“Why?” Director Hay asked, still unable to wrap his mind around the accusation.

“Smiley craves prestige—power.”

“I gave him that,” Director Hay retorted.

“For some people, it’s
never enough,” Vin replied. “Despite his reasons, it’s clear he needs someone to take the fall for helping Julius. In his conversation, he mentions a scapegoat.”

“Meaning who?”

“Your daughter sir,” Vin replied. “The good news is he needs her alive—so she can be identified by the Directorate as the mole.”

“Once the budget crisis is over, I’ll have no choice but to send my inspectors after her,” Director Hay said in a strangled voice. “I can’t let them go after my own daughter.”

“Not if I get to her first,” Vin stated. “I need to find out where Kanon is—we need Chief Smiley to tip us off.”

“And how are we going to do
that?” Director Hay asked, looking at Vin skeptically.

“Standard D,”
Vin said, pausing for effect. “We are in complete control of how that number is reported. If, say, Standard D went haywire . . . ”

“We can’t . .
. ” Director Hay began, as Vin cut in.

“Respectfully sir, we absolutely can. Julius isn’t playing fair, and neither should we. His vision is
unregulated time travel for the masses—he thinks Standard D is a complete fabrication. What if that number goes off the charts? We pull the rug right out from under him.”

Director Hay looked at him for a few moments, arranging his thoughts. He pushed back from his desk, looking pensive.

“It will send a message,” he said, straightening. “It might also tip the budget talks. I’m fighting for our livelihoods, Vin. I never knew it would get this bad. The combination of Julius and the threat of Standard D might just do it.”

“And when
the government is back online, inspectors will come through that door,” Vin said, pointing behind him. “Ready to go after them.”

“You think he needs her alive,
that he won’t hurt her?”

“I’m positive, sir
,” Vin said, leaning forward across the desk to make his case. “Besides that, Kanon can obviously take care of herself. I’m sure she’ll be happy to act as bait.”

“Yes, but she doesn’t know that. She might think that . .
. ” Director Hay began, his eyes suspiciously watery.

“She trusts you,”
Vin said simply.

His words
found their mark, Director Hay slapped his reading pane down.

“I’ll have to make a few hard edits to the system
,” he growled, tapping furiously. “Watch Smiley carefully—he’ll probably panic. Your first priority is to find Kanon and bring her home, don’t worry about Julius. Once the budget crisis is over I’m going to send everything I have after him. This time, there won’t be a snitch on the inside.”

“Yes, sir,”
Vin said, rising to leave, elated with the recent turn of events.

Returning to his cubicle, he went over the Julius Arnold’s case files again. Searching for something,
anything that might lead him to where he might be hiding Kanon.

Despite his
confidence with Director Hay, Vin was deeply aware of how delicate the evidence was against Chief Smiley. His arguments fit neatly, but there was always that nagging doubt that Julius would outwit them all.