Linkage: The Narrows of Time

Chapter 3

Resolve





Lucas rushed over toDrew. “Are you okay?”

Drew only nodded,though it wasn’t convincing.

“What the hell’sgoing on here?”

“Those guys cut infront.”

“We’ll see aboutthat,” Lucas said, returning Drew to his former position in line.He stood in front of the tallest rugby player, taking a defensiveposition. The skin across his forehead tightened as a warm sensationswelled within his cheeks. “Keep your goddamn hands off mybrother!”

The rugby player moveda step closer, grit his teeth, and then raised his chin. “Oh, yeah,what are you gonna do about it?”

Lucas reciprocated bystanding toe-to-toe with the stout man and pushing in close to hisface, looking him dead in the eye. “Go ahead. Take your best shot.”

A slender, redheadedsecurity officer appeared from around the corner and pulled Lucasaway from the rugby player. He stood in between the two would-becombatants with a hand pressed against both of their chests. "Someonecare to explain?"

"These a*sholescut in line," Lucas replied, fixing his shirt collar. Theofficer looked vaguely familiar, but Lucas couldn't place him. Hefigured he must have seen the older man around campus somewhere.

Two British studentswaiting in line behind them agreed. “Yes, they jumped the line infront of all of us.”

The officer told therugby players, “I think you should leave, now. I don’t want tosee you here for the rest of the day. And next time, wait in linelike everyone else.”

The brutes complainedto the officer before finally leaving the cafeteria and walkingupstairs. They maintained eye contact with Lucas the entire way. Twoof the men mouthed something quietly before flipping him the bird.

Lucas crossed his armsand put his trembling hands under his sweat-soaked armpits.

The officer told Lucas,“Just because they cut in front of you is not a reason to getphysical.”

“You’re absolutelyright, Officer. I overreacted.”

“Next time, justignore them. A few extra minutes in line aren’t worth a trip to themedical center.”

“Yes, sir. Won’thappen again.” He waited for the officer to disappear around thecorner before asking Drew, “Did you see the size of those guys?They would have kicked my ass six ways from Sunday.”

Drew nodded. “Maybewe should eat someplace else tomorrow.”

Lucas followed hisbrother through the buffet line, carrying both of their food trays toTrevor’s table and put them down. He removed one of the chairs toallow Drew to scoot his wheelchair under the table. Lucas sat inbetween Drew and Trevor.

“Sorry we’re lateagain,” Lucas told Trevor. “We got delayed by a bunch of soccerhooligans.”

“They were rugbyplayers,” Drew said.

“Rugby, soccer, samedifference.”

Trevor glanced at bothof them but did not respond. He kept on eating one of the lastremaining items—a large clutch of seedless grapes. One of thegrapes squirted its juice across Lucas’ tray.

“You ready for labtonight, Trevor? Did you fix that programming bug?” Lucas asked,watching Drew rearrange his chow in alphabetical order, carefullyspacing each food group a precise distance from the others.

“Ja. No moresystem crash.”

“Good thing, becausethey’re taking down the mainframe tomorrow for maintenance. Aftertonight, we won’t have computer access again until late Sunday.”

“Isn’t tonight whenthe new lab tech arrives?” Drew asked.

Lucas loathed thedocumentation requirements of their research. “I hope so. We coulduse the help.”

“It’s too badGracie graduated. I really liked her. She was nice.”

A smile grew onTrevor’s lips as he shoveled in another spoonful.

Lucas had been glad tosee Gracie leave. She was always staring at him as if he weredeformed in some way. She was a quirky young woman who seemed totwitch and prance when she got nervous, but he had to admit she wasan excellent assistant. "Let’s hope the E-121 material getshere soon. If we have to keep running simulations, I’m going to goBundy on somebody.”

Trevor nodded, then puthis hand on Lucas’ shoulder and squeezed gently. It was clear Lucaswasn’t the only one tired of waiting for the Navy to deliver.

He saw an abandonednewspaper sitting on a neighboring table. “Drew, could you hand methat paper over there? I want to see if the Board of Regents voted toincrease the tuition again—only one more semester to go, brother.”

“You’re luckyyou’re done. I’ve still got a full load to get through,” Drewsaid, handing the paper to Lucas.

“Yeah. Right. You’llace them without breaking a sweat; you always do. I was the one whohad to study my ass off.”

“At least you’regetting a steady paycheck. I’m still working for free.”

“How about I tradeyou my puny paycheck for your photographic memory?”

“Fine by me. I wouldrather work in the lab than study, anytime.”

Lucas opened the paperand scanned through the articles while they finished breakfast. Hismind quickly wandered, dreaming about Drew’s graduation day whenhis brother would receive his PhD degree, and then be allowed to jointheir anti-gravity project as a paid physicist. He smiled,thinking about his mother sitting in the audience, watching Drew rollup to the podium after hearing his name announced by the universitypresident. She cried at Lucas’ graduation ceremony and figuredshe’d do the same for Drew. Too bad Dad didn’t live long enoughto see them both graduate with honors.

* * *

Thatevening, Lucas and Drew cut across the street just west of theStudent union  , headed to the John Koehn Memorial Science Lab fortheir nightly shift.

The science lab’sexterior was like its neighboring buildings, red-bricked, and shapedakin to an oversized chalkboard eraser. Each floor was outlined by aprotracted series of evenly spaced, metal-grated windows giving it a1950s industrial look.

Lucas could hear thegrind of motorized gears overhead while walking through thebuilding’s courtyard. Above him was an 8.4-meter binoculartelescope being repositioned along the building’s roofline. The$136 million telescope was the pride of the Astronomy Department.Funds for its construction had been raised by Dr. D.L. Kleezebee,Dean of the Astrophysics Department.

“Looks like theyfinally got that thing operational. Kleezebee must be pleased.”

“Speaking ofKleezebee, there he is,” Drew said, pushing his wheelchair forwardwith both hands.

“Where? I don’t seehim.”

“He’s to the right,behind the flower bed.”

Lucas leaned to hisright to see beyond the rose bushes blocking his view. His mentor waswearing his usual attire, blue coveralls and an orange-coloredflannel shirt, standing bent over with one foot resting on the top ofa short, cement wall.

As they moved closer,Lucas realized Kleezebee was talking on a cell phone. It waspartially hidden by a frazzled gray beard that stretched down to themiddle of his chest. His boss was holding a lit cigar in his otherhand.

“Jesus, I canalready smell that thing from here.”

“I can’t believe hegets away with it,” Drew replied.

“Seriously, who’sgoing to stop him? Certainly not us.”

“Still, it’sagainst the law.”

“Never gonna happen,little brother. They would rather look the other way than give up allthe money he raises.”

Lucas intended to stopand ask his boss about their new lab tech, but changed his mind whenhe overheard Kleezebee’s side of the conversation. He knew firsthand not to stand in the way of that flannel-covered tornado, once itgot rolling.

“Look, I don’t givea rat’s ass what you think. You don’t know the first thing aboutit. Trust me, I’ve been at this for thirty years and it’sperfectly safe. Besides that, the rest of the committee alreadysigned off on it . . .”

“I’ll ask himlater,” Lucas said, grabbing hold of Drew’s wheelchair andpushing him through the science lab’s revolving door.

The brothers werewaiting in line to check in through the lab’s front desk security,when Kleezebee approached them from behind, gently grabbing Lucas bythe shoulders. “How’re my two favorite scientists doing today?”he asked, massaging Lucas’ neck with finger squeezes.

“We’re good, boss,”Lucas replied, sliding out of Kleezebee’s hands and turning around.The cloud of cigar smoke on Kleezebee’s wrinkled clothes nearlyknocked Lucas off his feet. It smelled as though the professor justwalked through a rubber fire. “What’s the latest on the new labtech?”

“She starts tonight.I think you’ll like her—she’s brilliant. I just have to arrangeher security pass, and then I’ll send her down with Trevor. Do yourbest to bring her up to speed quickly, all right?”

“Will do,” Lucasreplied, praying the new chick was not a handful.

“How’s your momdoing after her surgery?”

“She’s gettingaround okay. The neighbor lady’s keeping an eye on her.”

“Are you guysplanning to go home for the holiday?”

“No, we’ve got waytoo much work to do here.”

“You know, if youlike, I can send Bruno to Phoenix to pick her up for you. I’d bemore than happy to let her stay in one of my vacant apartments. Ihate to think she’ll be spending Christmas alone.”

“Thanks, Professor.I’ll ask her but I doubt she’ll take you up on your offer. Shehates to be a bother to anyone.”

“It’s no bother.It’s the least I can do since she always takes care of me with herdelicious care packages,” Kleezebee said, smiling. “Dorothyshould really open a bakery. She’d make a killing.”

“Everyone tells herthat, but she likes teaching at the college too much. I don’t thinkshe’ll ever leave that place.”

“I know how shefeels. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t work here everyday,” Kleezebee said, patting Drew on the back. “I’m havingBruno and his guys over for a poker party at my apartment onChristmas Eve, if you’re interested.”

Lucas wasn’t sure howto respond. He didn’t want to disappoint his boss by saying no, buthe and Drew didn’t play poker. He knew they’d be the suckers atthe table. “We appreciate the invite, but we really don’t knowmuch about poker.”

“I think it soundslike fun,” Drew said to Lucas. “Come on, let’s try it.”

“I’ll make surethere’s plenty of grape soda and nachos for you two,” Kleezebeesaid.

“How much money wouldwe need to bring?” Lucas asked.

“We don’t play formoney. We play for vacation days off.”

That’s what Lucasneeded to hear. “Okay, then, what time should we show up?”

“The game startspromptly at eight, don’t be late.”

“Anything else youneed, Professor?” Lucas asked, remembering Kleezebee’s heatedphone call outside the building, wondering what bombshell was aboutto explode. He pushed Drew’s wheelchair to the front of thescreening line.

“Yeah, there’s onemore thing I need to talk to you about. One of those goddamn suitsfrom the Advisory Committee is on his way over here. It’s thatfricken a-hole of a prick, Larson. God, I hate that pompous bastard.He says he wants to see firsthand what you two are working on. I hopeyou don’t mind the intrusion, but I need to give him the nickeltour.”

Lucas didn’t want thescrutiny. The last thing he needed was some bureaucrat poking hisnose around their lab. He assumed the magazine editor’s Internetassault sparked the inspection and wondered if Kleezebee had heardabout it. “Sure. What does he want?”

“I have no idea whathis true agenda is. You would think that even a suck-ass weasel likehim would have something else better to do on a Friday night, butapparently not. I think he really gets off on being a total pain inmy ass. You’d never know he used to be a gunnery sergeant in theMarines.”

“When are you comingby?”

“In about thirtyminutes. Don’t worry, I’ll run interference and handle theprick.”

“Okay, no problem.Just let us know if we can help,” Lucas said.

Kleezebee turned towalk toward the building’s entrance door. Then he stopped and said,“Hey, I almost forgot to tell you . . . your material finallyarrived.”

“Sweet,” Lucassaid, celebrating with a huge grin.

“I’ll see you in abit,” Kleezebee said before walking back outside the building.

The security checkpointwas monitored by three armed security officers. The brothers wererequired to empty their pockets, remove their shoes, and have theirpossessions checked before walking through an x-ray scanner and aweapons detector.

Lucas leaned in closeto his brother’s ear. “Here comes Bruno. Remember, don’tmention Mom, okay?”

Drew nodded. “Yeah,got it.”

Drew’s disabilityrequired that he be carried through the scanners by a member of thesecurity staff. Usually the task was handled by Bruno Benner, atwenty-year veteran of the campus security force. Bruno was easy torecognize, even from a distance, given his hefty size, shaved, baldhead, and neatly groomed goatee.

Bruno removed his dutybelt and other metal objects before asking Drew, “Hey, Chief, youready for a lift?”

Drew smiled and nodded.

Bruno lifted Drew fromhis wheelchair and used his keg-sized gut to prop up and carry Drewto the security equipment. The guard’s powerful forearms werecovered with orange-colored tattoos of ferocious-looking creatures,which came alive whenever Bruno’s muscles were active. The body artwas partially obscured by an expensive-looking digital watch on hisright wrist. The unique timepiece was black and shaped like thePentagon Building with five equal-length sides, and a series of tinyorange push buttons around its perimeter, which Bruno used forreasons unknown to Lucas.

Just before enteringthe first device, Bruno told one of his colleagues to fetch thebackpack from the back of Drew’s wheelchair and bring it throughthe inspection station. A second wheelchair was waiting for Drew onthe other side of security.

“How’s that projectof yours coming along, Dr. Lucas? Did you hear Dr. Kleezebee found areplacement for Ms. Gracie?” Bruno asked.

“Yes, DL just toldus. Trevor should be bringing her by shortly.”

Lucas thought aboutremaining behind for a moment and watching the new lab tech’s firstencounter with Bruno. The guard’s ability to befriend a newacquaintance was truly remarkable, requiring only a few minutes toprobe her background and gather details about her life and family.The same thing had happened to Lucas the first time he’d met Bruno.Lucas began sharing private information he never thought he’d tellanyone, at least not outside his immediate family. Whenever he neededthe inside scoop on something, he’d ask Bruno. The man was aninformation station and seemed to have the lowdown on everyone.

Once through screening,Bruno deposited the younger Ramsay into the waiting wheelchair.“There you go, Chief, safe and sound.”

Drew thanked him forthe ride with his customary knuckle-bump hand gesture. He turnedaround in his seat and checked that his backpack was properly hungover the handles.

Bruno realigned hisbelt’s position, raising it up along his waistline, before leaningback and rubbing his oversized belly. “Now that I’ve had myexercise for the day, I think I might take a break to get mychocolate fix. Obviously, I need it to maintain my girlish figure.”

Lucas laughed at theman’s worn-out gag even though he had heard it a dozen times.

The security team’sbreak room, which also doubled as a locker room during shift changes,was only fifteen feet inside the checkpoint, along the right side ofthe lab’s main hallway. Lucas had seen the room’s vendingmachines, which were stocked with candy bars and other junk food.

“Dr. Lucas, how’syour dear sweet mother doing these days?” Bruno asked.

Lucas fought the urgeto release too much personal information. “Pretty good. The docsays she can go back to work in January.”

“That’s great news.I’ll bet she’s tired of being cooped up in that house. Be sure totell her I said hello and I’m looking forward to more of herdelicious fudge bars.”

Lucas responded with aquick nod, hoping not to be caught in yet another long-windedconversation with the guard. They left Bruno behind and headed fortheir lab.

Their assignedworkspace was located at the far end of the science lab, through amaze of interconnecting corridors five hundred feet away. They wouldhave to pass two dozen lab doors—many without windows—plus asprinkling of restrooms, storage rooms, and utility closets.

Security was tight toprotect the sensitive research being conducted throughout thebuilding. A security card-reader controlled access to each lab andwas installed a few inches above the project number.

When they rounded thefinal corner, they saw that there were three silver-colored boxessitting just outside the double automatic swing doors that led intotheir lab. The containers were about the size of a microwave oven andlabeled with blue print that said U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.Each box was wrapped with three evenly spaced strips of yellowsecurity tape.

Two imposing Marine guards armed with shoulder-slung rifles andunyielding attitudes stood next to the boxes. The taller soldier, afirst lieutenant by his insignia, was holding a red briefcase andfussing with the handcuff fastened around his left wrist.