The Portalis shook as it transported Janelle to another time. She shut her eyes and hoped she wouldn’t throw up again when it was over. The next step was going to be tricky because it was sending her 2 days prior to her sister getting shot and she had to be careful not to run into her ‘other’ self, as Will explained before she left. The shaking stopped, and all became still, and the low hum of the Portalis faded away. Janelle looked around and realized she was back where she had begun. She exited the Portalis, and it seemed like she was alone. The computers were on, everything was running, but no one was there.
Her stomach felt queasy, but the experience was easier to go through the second time, and luckily, the chocolate she consumed stayed where it belonged. There was a clock on the wall that showed it was 10 pm and she had to get to the other side of the town. She grabbed the bags and headed for the door when a voice stopped her in her tracks.
“I see you made it back in one piece.” He said with a southern gentleman’s accent.
She turned quickly and noticed a man she had never seen before. He wore a peculiar 3-piece black-and-white striped suit, yet the white lines were so thin that one could hardly tell they were there. He sat with his legs propped up on the desk reading a newspaper - of all things. Round gold-rimmed glasses sat on his face but didn’t shield his uncommon eyes - one blue, the other like grey rain clouds. A thin cigar hung from his mouth, below a thick and well-maintained brown and auburn moustache.
“I like to keep up on the news, especially that of the past.” He explained as he folded the paper. “1941 was an uncanny year in history. Simpler times, they say, but honestly, time is never simple.”
The paper did not look old, so she assumed it didn’t come from the past, but then again, when was the last time she saw a newspaper?
“Who are you?” She asked in defense, heart racing from the surprise of not being alone.
“It’s a bit too late in the evening for introductions, Ms. Paisley. You’re running late and I suggest you hurry or none of this will amount to a hill of beans.” He stood up as he cast the newspaper on the table. He looked over at the Portalis Minor and said in his southern tongue, more to himself than to her, “I’ll have to instruct Jasper to tweak the time entry a bit more. The chap cuts it way too close.” He finished with a grin as he puffed the cigar in thought and removed it from his lips. Smoke pooled upward as he exhaled.
Janelle choked on the heavy aroma and smoke that quickly filled the surrounding air with white swirls inside of a larger cloud. She instantly felt queasy again. His concentration broke with the sound of her cough, and he eyed her. “Are you still here? I said go and go now.”
She coughed into her arm again and headed quickly for the door as he called out to her, “and do take the train. It leaves in 5 minutes. That’s 300 seconds, Miss. Paisley and not a second more. Good luck.”
As she exited the warehouse, she took a deep breath in. The clean, cold air filled her lungs, only to make her cough again. She remembered what the strange man said and started running for the train depot. With each stride, the bags hit her leg, and she could feel the box of chocolate shift back and forth as she ran. Up ahead, she could see the doors of the train open and she raced faster toward it.
A green gate blocked her direct path, and she had to run around it to enter the depot, which was just a covered platform lined with ticket kiosks. She quickly scanned her track card at a kiosk and then raced into an open train car just before the doors shut.
Janelle plopped down on the seat, out of breath, and took a moment to consolidate her bags. She placed the white one inside the black bag to conceal the name of the candy shop that didn’t exist in her time. No one else shared the car she occupied, and she was grateful to be alone, but her stomach turned with forewarned danger that lay ahead. The train roared down the tracks and came to a stop at another depot for several minutes. Then it was off again. The darkness swept by the windows with sporadic glimpses of light from the city.
Before long, she exited the train and made her way to the Ha House. The plan was simple: give Loren the vest and make sure she wears it. Then she was to head back to the warehouse and wait out the next few days for time to catch up. Meanwhile, she wondered about the strange man in the suit and how he knew so much. Who was he? He wasn’t there before, and Will never mentioned him. She made a mental note to find out when she returned, but first, her priorities were Loren.
The guard at the Ha House opened the door for her as she entered. The woman at the front counter was the same as last time and led Janelle to the back room where the meeting was already under way. As she entered the room, her eyes met Loren’s. She was defying Elan’s orders to never go there again, but her sister’s life was more important than Elan’s rules.
“Janelle, what are you doing here?” Loren whispered as she came to her side. The other 6 people in the room continued going over the maps and blueprints laid out on the table. Janelle could see that one of them was Will. He glanced over momentarily, and she wondered if he knew why she was there, or if this version of Will was different and didn’t know her at all.
Janelle’s heart sank as she gazed upon the face of her sister, alive and well. “I brought you something.” Janelle said, half removing the vest from the bag. “I need you to wear it.”
Loren looked down at the bag in Janelle’s hand. “How did you get that?”
“Don’t worry about how I got it. Just know that you need to have it. I don’t know what you’re about to do, but what I know is that you need this.” She responded with a plea in her stern voice.
“Janelle, our plan is fail-proof. In and out in 7 minutes. I probably don’t even need this, and it will probably just slow me down.”
She shook her head. “Do not argue with me sis, you are going to put it on and I’m going to make sure you do. I went through a lot of trouble to get it. The least you can do is wear it for me.”
Loren sighed, but gave in, and the two excused themselves to the ladies’ room so Loren could change. She fit the vest as close to her body as possible under her sweater, but when she looked at herself in the mirror, she made a face of disapproval. “I look fat and frumpy.”
Janelle rolled her eyes. “Well, better to look fat than to look dead. Just keep the damn thing on, please?”
“If you insist, I will.” She said, turning left and then right in front of the mirror. “At least it’s light, and that’s one good thing.”
Janelle stopped her and hugged her close. “Be careful.” She whispered as she remembered the blood and Loren dying on the kitchen floor, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Janelle watched Loren leave the restroom and then made her way back to the train station. She rode the lonely train back to the empty warehouse. The strange man in the suit was gone, but the lingering stench of cigar smoke made the drafty warehouse feel like an auto repair shop.
There were a couple of couches on one end of the warehouse and she lay down on one of them to rest. Loren’s dangerous mission overshadowed Janelle’s thrill of seeing a world before her own. She worried herself to sleep but dreamed of happier times together when they laughed and played as children, chasing each other in the small one-bedroom apartment they grew up in with their parents.
***
The van moved quietly through the parking lot behind the hotel. A door opened and light poured out as the cook watched their approach. They raced out of the van, faces masked and in the tight formation they had practiced for weeks. Weapons drawn and ready to strike, they ran past the cook, who stood holding the door with sweat beaded on his brow. Will turned off the headlights but kept the van running. He started the countdown on his watch as he waited, monitoring all his mirrors. The hotel door closed behind his comrades and he was alone in the dark.
They raced up 10 flights of stairs and as they neared the top; they felt the burning in their legs but couldn’t stop. Loren looked at her watch - the countdown was 3 minutes in. She hadn’t factored in tiredness from stair climbing. She ran track in high school with Janelle, but it had been years since she pushed her body past its physical limits. Plus, she could now feel the weight of the vest and it added to her fatigue.
“Lock and load.” Said the commander at the head of the group.
Each one of them chambered a round. Two of them only had handguns, donned with oil can suppressors, intended for single kill shots. The other 3 carried assault rifles. In case they got ambushed, stealth would no longer be an option. At that point, it wouldn’t matter how noisy they were, they would have to fight for their lives to escape. Loren’s heart raced, not from the flight of stairs, but from anticipation and fear. There was no turning back.
He opened the door slowly, aimed his handgun down the hall, and signaled with his hand to move in. They crouched in the elegant elevator hallway, decorated with a grand floral display of white tulips and birch branches on a long, narrow table. Yellow and white gold fleur-de-lis wallpaper lined the top half of the walls, the bottom decorated with white chair rail and square molding. The commander peaked around the corner. Two armed guards stood outside the door of their intended target.
He turned to look at his crew and gave the signal to Loren to take the guards out. Quickly, she emerged from the corner with her handgun aimed at the unaware guards and took her shots. Each bullet found its target as her mind went blank and her vision tunneled in on the two figures whose bodies convulsed in opposite directions before hitting the ground. She practiced weeks for this one moment. Her breath caught in her throat. Time ticked on.
The team moved in as the clock continued - 4 minutes had passed since they entered the hotel. At the door of the intended target, Loren crouched down to make sure both guards were dead while the others braced for action. The commander produced the card key from his pocket - given to him by the cook that let them into the hotel. He opened the door with one quick motion and then he entered, followed by Loren and the others while one stood guard outside the door. The suite was big and spacious, luxuriously furnished with fine linens and art. A single lamp lit the room, but the target wasn’t there, so they moved on to the closed bedroom door.
Slowly, the commander turned the knob - 5 minutes. The bedroom was dark, but they could see the outline of a body in the bed. He took aim and fired 3 shots. The body didn’t stir, although the sheets rippled with the impact of each bullet. He flipped the switch and light flooded into the room. Blood moved slowly along the white bedcovers, staining them in rich red. Loren approached the body of Nikolai Kuzmin and grabbed his hand to feel for a pulse. She then nodded to the commander that he was dead.
“Let’s go.” He replied.
7 Minutes.
Time ticked on as they filed out of the room and made their way down the hall when they heard an elevator door open and the sound of rushing feet. They crouched down against the wall and aimed their weapons as two men in suits came into view.
The suited men aimed their handguns at them, but they were no match for the rapid firepower of the AK-47’s. The bullets came screaming down the hallway, tearing holes into the walls and finding the soft spots of the intended targets. Blood splattered against the beautiful wallpaper as flesh tore and their bodies fell to the ground. It sprinkled over the white tulips like decorative red dots.
“Times up, we need to get out of here now.” The commander said as he led the team down the hallway and to the elevators. “There’s no time to take the stairs. We’ll chance it with the elevator.” He pushed the button.
“We should take two, just in case we get ambushed.” Loren suggested.
“Good idea.” He replied.
The first elevator arrived, and Loren entered with the commander and one of assault rifle holders. The other two waited for the second elevator to arrive.
“Reload.” Instructed the commander, and Loren replaced the clip inside her gun with a fresh one. Better to have a full 9 bullets instead of 7. Sweat built up and soaked the black mask she wore as her ears ached and her heart raced so fast it seemed to skip beats. The adrenaline rushed through her body so fast, her senses heightened and she wondered how long it would last. As they reached the first floor, they drew their weapons.
They cleared the elevator hallway, and as the second elevator came down, the team moved through the lobby. The clerk at the counter nearly screamed as her voice caught in her throat and she froze in fear. A couple, just coming back from a night out, were too drunk to comprehend what they were witnessing, but stood and stared. And as the team reached the hallway that led to the side door with the staircase, shots came flying at them from the other end of the lobby. As Loren turned around to engage, a bullet hit her side, and she fell backwards from the force. A rail of gunfire came at them from the other side of the lobby.
“Cover us as we move out.” The commander said as he helped Loren to her feet, nearly dragging her up.
Gunshots continued as they exited the hotel to the waiting van outside. The two with rifles returned fire, giving them time to escape. The crisp air hit Loren’s face and froze the sweat on her brow through the mask as she stumbled to run. Her arm draped around her commander, she cried out in pain. He pushed her into the van, and she let out another cry.
The others filed in practically on top of each other, slammed the door shut, and Will moved into action, driving quickly out of the parking lot while shots fired at them from the hotel. It felt like they couldn’t drive away fast enough.
“Fuck.” the commander yelled as he threw his mask to the floor. “Are you hurt?”
Loren examined her side and said, “no. I’m fine. The vest stopped the bullet, but it still hurt like hell.” A sigh of relief filled the van as it sped down the highway and into the cover of night.