What James Did: The Accidental Time Travellers-Book 3 (7 page)

“Why don’t you have any guns?”  Faraday asked.

“Outlawed.”  Jacob replied.

“Well, we need to save Bobby before we consider doing anything else.”  Sarah interjected.

“This was my thinking, I am experienced in warfare and I have escaped from Alcatraz.  I can break Bobby out without your help.  You save Salmond.”  Jacob replied.

“Bobby would never trust you.”  Chase snapped.

“What choice will he have?”  Jacob smirked.

“Problem is Jacob, we don’t trust you.”  Faraday stated.

Jacob laughed almost mockingly.  “I wasn’t suggesting I go to Auschwitz alone.  Some of you can come and the rest of you can help Faraday.”

“I am not trusting you with the wormhole generator.  I will come to Auschwitz and Faraday can take the other.”  Edward stated.

“Fine with me doc.”  Jacob smiled.

“Anyone else have a preference?”  Faraday asked.

“I want to help Bobby.”  Sarah said, almost blushing as she did so.

“I will come with you Mr Faraday.”  Guy stated.  “You saved my life, I owe you a debt.”

Chase was silent, he seemed to be deep in thought.  “I don’t think this is a good idea, we can’t trust him.”  He said, looking to Faraday for support.

“I don’t see that we have much of a choice.”  Faraday replied.

“I think Sarah should go with you then.”  Chase stated, again looking to Faraday for support.

“This is everyone’s personal choice.  We could all die, I will not tell anyone where they should or shouldn’t go.”  Faraday replied.

“You are our leader Faraday.”  Chase replied hopefully.

“I am no one’s leader.  I’m not pretending to be Bobby and I do not want to be.”

Chase looked furious.  “Well then I will go with Jacob, I can’t trust him with Sarah and Dr Teller.”

“That will give us a chance to continue our friendship.”  Jacob stated sarcastically.

“So where and when do I go to meet with your men on the ground?”  Faraday asked.

Jacob smirked.  “They are waiting for you in what I believe was once your local pub.  The Auld Hole in the Wall, in Linlithgow.”

“Really?”  Faraday smiled, he used to take Jane their often.

“Yes.  Go to the date August 24
th,
2015, at 15:00.  But you must buy guns before you do so.”  Jacob instructed.

“No problem.”  Faraday replied with a smile.

“I really think we should stay together.”  Chase argued.

“We will get in and out of Auschwitz, I have a plan.”  Jacob smirked.

“Faraday please stay and help me.”  Chase pleaded.

“Help you do what?”  Faraday asked in confusion.

“Help me protect the others, we can’t trust him.”

“I assure you Chase, Faraday is about as much of a threat to me as you are.”  Jacob chuckled.

“He is trying to mess with us!”  Chase barked.

“He is our best chance.”  Sarah argued.

Chase was astonished by her words, he blushed again.

“Very kind of you to say Miss Salmond, although why don’t you go with Mr Faraday, it may help put this moron's mind at ease.”

“No, I’m here to help Bobby.”  Sarah snapped.

“What about your brother?”  Chase tried.

“I’ve never even met him.” 

“Mr Faraday perhaps you should just leave.”  Jacob said with a smile.

“No don’t leave.”  Chase countered.

“He’s right Chase.  Even if I stay, there is nothing to stop him from hurting any of us.” 

“I thought you wanted to do what was right?”  Chase argued.

Faraday sighed.

“I assure you all.  I am not here to harm you, I am here to help you.”  Jacob smirked.

“If he wanted to kill us, he would have done it by now.”  Sarah agreed.

“I am going to Scotland.  He is far more capable than I am.”  Faraday stated.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye then.”  Chase muttered.

“Good luck everyone.”  Faraday said, rising to his feet. 

Guy followed Faraday from the apartment and left the others to discuss their plan.

Chapter 15

As they stepped out of the light, the LA sun was beautiful. Guy stared in amazement as he saw another car.

“Incredible.” 

“Yes, it must be.”  Faraday replied.  “Now listen Guy.  I don’t know how happy David is going to be to see us.”

“So who exactly is this man?”

“An old friend.”  Faraday replied vaguely.

“Then why wouldn’t he be pleased to see you?”

“It’s complicated.  I came to see him before we rescued you, he didn’t seem to want anything to do with me.  But that was almost twenty years ago, well, to him anyway.” 

He led Guy up to the door and rang the bell.  In the years since he had last been here the house had deteriorated.  The last time he was here, the grass had been trimmed neatly, and the house was white.  The garden was now overgrown and the house seemed to be stained brown.

When the door was answered, they were greeted by a young woman, perhaps in her early twenties.  She had blonde hair, was slimly built and was taller than Faraday.

“Can I help you?”  She smiled pleasantly.

“Yes, I was hoping you could.  I was looking for Dr David Lewis.”

The woman suddenly became guarded.  “Who are you?”  She snapped.

“My name is James Faraday, this is my friend Guy Fawkes.”

“What do you want with my father?”

“I’m an old friend.”  Faraday smiled.

The woman frowned slightly as she looked at him.  “You had better come in.”

She ushered Guy and Faraday through to the living room.

The inside of the house had also deteriorated since Faraday had been here, only days previously.  Both he and Guy took a seat on a stained cream couch. 

A large black man came through from the kitchen and looked baffled by the men’s presence.

“Who are they?”  He asked the girl somewhat aggressively. 

“They are friends of my father Kevin.” 

“Your father?”  Kevin’s eyes widened.  “Should I get Sharon?”

“Please.”  The girl replied.

Kevin turned and went back to the kitchen, before he returned with Sharon, she like the house had aged since they last met.

Sharon took a seat on a cream armchair, whilst Kevin and the girl sat on the other couch.

“I recognise you?”  Sharon said as she stared at Faraday.

Faraday hadn’t been expecting that, although he reasoned the eye patch probably made him quite memorable.  “We met many years ago, I came to visit your husband.”

“Yes, I know who you are.” 

“You do?”

“I’ll never forget the face of the man that killed my husband, Mr Faraday.”

Guy stared at Faraday in confusion, Faraday’s jaw was agape.  “I’m sorry did you just say that I killed your husband?” 

“Yes, that’s exactly what I said.”

“This is the guy?”  The girl shouted.

“I’ll kill him!”  Kevin yelled.

“Jane, Kevin, calm down.”  Sharon cried.

“Your name is Jane?”  Faraday asked in astonishment.

“Yes.”  She replied a little baffled.

“That was the name of his wife.”  Sharon explained.

“I’m a little confused.  I did not kill your husband, I was his friend.”

Sharon scowled.  “Perhaps you didn’t pull the trigger, but you caused his death.”

“I haven’t seen David since the last time I met you.”  Faraday protested.

“Oh, believe me, I know.  He was a happy man Mr Faraday.  Then something changed that day.  After you left he got very drunk, something he didn’t do very often.  He got all worked up and told me it was all his fault, he said that he had killed people.  I thought he was losing his mind, he said that he had travelled through time.  He said that you had done the same, that between you, you had caused the President to get into power.”

Faraday could not believe David had told his wife everything.  “He was telling the truth.”

“I am aware of that.  At first I did not believe him, I wanted to take him to the hospital.  But then he went into such detail, he convinced me.  He told me that he had to go and speak to the President.  I told him it was crazy, if what he had said about the man was true then I assumed it would be the wrong move.  He said that he had made some kind of deal with Abaddon and that he would understand.”

“What happened?”

“Well, that is something I will probably never know.  He never came home, not alive in any case.”

“Abaddon killed him?”

“As I say Mr Faraday, I will never know who killed him.  But I always hoped that you would come back one day.”

“Why?”

Sharon’s eyes suddenly filled with tears.  “I wanted to tell you that because of you, my husband is dead.  Because of you his daughter had to grow up without a father.  I wanted you to know that Mr Faraday, because I hate you with every fibre of my being.  He was a good man and a wonderful father.  You destroyed our lives, I wanted you to know that.”

Guy was in stunned silence.

Faraday could hardly believe what Sharon was saying to him, had he actually caused David’s death?  “I’m sorry.”  He mumbled.

“Well, that makes everything much better.  Our lives can go back to being perfect again now, can’t they.”  Sharon snapped.

“I didn’t kill your husband.”  Faraday protested.

“I think you had better leave.”  Kevin interjected.

“He was my friend.”  Faraday said in disbelief.

“Now.”  Kevin instructed.

Guy rose to his feet, Faraday was shell-shocked but followed Guy reluctantly.  When they had left the house they walked back into the street, Guy didn’t seem to have a clue as to what he should say.

“I never would have done anything to hurt any of them.”  Faraday said to himself as much as to Guy.

“She was just upset Mr Faraday, try not to let it worry you.”

“There is no one left Guy, I don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Perhaps we should spend the night here and go to meet the others after a night’s sleep.  It may not be wise to meet them in the state that you are in.”  Guy advised.

Faraday nodded.  “I think you might be right.”

Within an hour the two men were sat at the same table that Faraday, and Edward Teller had been at only days previously, at the Four Seasons Hotel. 

On this occasion Faraday was not hungry, he didn’t feel capable of digesting food, alcohol, on the other hand, was exactly what he wanted.

He sipped from his pint and Guy did the same.  Guy still felt incredibly awkward and didn’t seem to know what to say, after a few hours the alcohol had loosened both their tongues.

“This President Wolf seems like a genuinely evil man.”  Guy stated.

Faraday nodded.  “He is.”

“Then why help him?”  Guy asked.

Faraday frowned, he hadn’t seen that question coming.  “I made a mistake.”

“I’m sorry Mr Faraday, you misunderstood my question.  I was not trying to offend you, I was simply curious as to why you chose to help him?”

Faraday took a long gulp from his pint before he answered.  “At the time it felt like the only choice I had.”

“Why?”

“Well, my wife had just died, I was upset.  I found out that a man named Will Carter had raped her, and as you can imagine, I wanted him dead.”

“I am sorry.” 

“So am I.  My friend Bobby knew about that but still allowed Will to work for him, I was furious.  I wanted to hurt him.  I wanted to get away from there, from that time.  So I joined Abaddon.”

Guy frowned but did not reply.

Faraday sipped from his pint and could see that Guy had something on his mind.

“What?”  He snapped.

“It is not my place to comment, I wasn’t there.”

“Tell me.”

“That is incredibly short-sighted, that is all.”  Guy replied.

Faraday was astonished by Guy’s words.  “You’re one to talk.  You tried to blow up the houses of parliament.”

“What I did was for the benefit of the country.  King James I was persecuting Catholics.”

“But how did you ever think that would work, I mean what were you planning to do?”

Guy looked irritated now.  “We were going to ensure that his daughter was installed as the Catholic head of state.”

“And you thought it would be that easy?  Kill the King and make sure his daughter supports the men who killed her father.  Didn’t you send some letter to the Catholic members of parliament? That was bloody short-sighted.”