Chapter 23
When we graduated from the
Or rather, where we had planned to attend when we graduated.
“This is weird.” Davey said as we unpacked our bags in the dorm room, two weeks before school started.
“Yes, it is.” I agreed with him. We were both halfway through our sixteenth year, and freshmen about to begin our first year in college.
“Did you see the house?” Davey asked me and I nodded. The dorm room was one of those on the top floor of the building, providing a spectacular view of the surrounding area. Well, it would be spectacular if you were the least bit interested. At least the dorm room we had been assigned was just the two of us instead of one of the bigger rooms. We had gotten here about an hour ago, and after doing our check-in were almost unpacked.
“I did.” I said after taking a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh. I had not realized until I’d seen it how much I’d loved that house.
“This is going to suck.” Davey said as he finished connecting the last connection on his computer and he sat down to boot it up. He had gotten his buzz cut freshened up back in
“You want me to remind you it’s your fault?” I said in a tight voice and he actually laughed sharply before shaking his head.
“Would it help if I said I was sorry?” He said as he turned around in his chair and gave me a pouting look.
“Oh stop that.” I said with irritation and he smiled, knowing I’d already forgiven him. Damn it, what were they thinking? We were only sixteen!
“Don’t worry, it’s not like we’re really sixteen.” He said after seeing the expression on my face. I gave another sigh, and nodded my head in agreement. Instead of arguing further I went over and hugged him, giving him a kiss on the top of the head.
“I’m going to go for a walk.” I said gently and he nodded as his computer finished booting up and he turned back around. He’d already hooked up the phone line to the 4,800 baud modem and would be making sure everything worked just fine. Shutting the door behind me I went out and took the elevator down to the first floor. With a nod for the sleepy student at the front desk I left the building, barely wincing as the heat hit me like a wall. I’d survived
We were here early, and except for some athletes, most of the campus was still fairly empty as I walked around the familiar environs of
Both Sean and Brandon had been remote ever since Spring Break, when the two of them had left our campsite for the mission in
Trevor had brought up a story in talking with his father about how a student at the Academy had been caught smoking in his room. His father had shaken his head, and commented that smoking was stupid and dangerous. One of his co-workers at the lab had died just a few days before when his pilot light had gone out during the night, and the man had woken up and lit a cigarette. That was all the confirmation we’d needed, and towards the end of summer we’d all breathed a sigh of relief when we’d not heard anything more or any whisper that the death had raised suspicions.
After making a circuit of the central part of the campus, I made my way up, past the dormitories and by the stadium. Memories of Trevor playing football there came to the forefront of my mind, and I shook my head while a half-smile flitted onto my face. As much as I wanted to be mad at Davey for getting us into this… situation, I could not really blame him.
The Davey Jones I had first met in my original timeline had over a century of experiences behind him, and he’d done just about everything he’d ever dreamed of doing, except maybe making it into space. When I came back in time, I’d known that there would be a lot of challenges, and one of those would be that the Davey Jones I was meeting would not have had those experiences. Davey had told me, in the original timeline, that he’d craved adventure and excitement when he was younger. That had led him into many interesting experiences.
In my first trip back in time, Davey had been patient, but after Sean had come back he’d gotten a taste of being involved with ‘the big picture’ in a direct way, and I knew that deep down part of him craved something similar in this timeline. That was why I’d pushed him and my friends to the
“You’re back!” Davey said when I came back to our dorm room. He got out of the chair in front of the computer and crossed over to hug me as soon as I’d closed the door behind me.
“You smell good.” I said as I caught the scent of the cologne he was wearing.
“You’re sweaty, and you smell good too.” Davey said in a familiar, husky tone. Even as I leaned forward a bit more to kiss him comfortably, I could feel him hardening in his jeans. By the time we were done, we were both sweaty, and feeling very good as we laid together on one of the narrow dorm beds. It was a good thing we had four years of practice sleeping together in small beds at the Academy.
“I like it when you greet me like that.” I said as I ran a finger along his side. He shivered slightly at the touch.
“So you forgive me for getting you into this?” He asked in a very soft tone.
“Yes.” I said without hesitation. “Sorry, you know how I get when plans get changed.”
“You and your plans.” Davey said with a slight chuckle. It was probably his biggest frustration with me. I didn’t react well when my plans were de-railed or sidetracked.
“I’ll get over it like I always do.” I said as I reached around discovered to my joy that he was ready for another round. He sighed as my hand began to stroke him gently.
“I love it when you do that.” He said quietly, and it was another hour before we were walking down the hallway to the showers. Two football players were in there, and greeted us with nods before heading out. That night we ate at a restaurant on
We could have easily afforded the house, or other off-campus living quarters, but our ‘handler’ at the CIA wanted us to live on-campus. Thus we were going to get the ‘full’ experience on campus this year. We were even being encouraged to pledge a frat if the opportunity arose. Davey seemed to like the idea, and if he wanted it, I’d go along with him.
“Brian, I’m excited.” Davey said later that night as we lay together in one of the two beds.
“Excited?” I asked.
“Yeah, excited.” Davey said with a sigh. “Sorry, it’s just, you know, I’ve got this feeling like anything can happen. I know you put a lot of time and effort into your plans, and they’re good plans, but I feel like right now anything can happen and that excites me. Part of me feels like we’re going to be getting to go to school for real now, unlike last time. With all the others around, last time felt like just an extension of high school, but now it’s just us and that’s exciting.”
“I understand.” I told him gently and he snuggled up tighter against me. His breathing became regular as he drifted off to sleep, and I was falling asleep soon after.
The next morning we had our interview with Professor Lee. He looked no different than he had in the last timeline, and we spent a good hour sitting in his office talking in nothing but Russian. That had been one of our courses for the last four years, giving us both a good reason for being proficient in the language. After we were done, he had signed off on putting us in the advanced-level language courses.
With that mission accomplished, we headed back downtown to the coffee shop that we’d enjoyed with our friends in the last timeline. Then, our families showed up in the late afternoon, and we went out with all of them. Jenny was fourteen now, getting ready to start high school. Her parents had offered to send her to a boarding school, but she insisted on going to
Last year, the company our parents started had gone public, and at least on paper they were now millionaires with their stock options. By and large, they hadn’t changed how they lived much, and even Davey’s mother was trying to live her life as if not much had changed, but they did enjoy a few things, like staying at the more expensive Biltmore Resort while in
They stayed for three days before heading back, and Davey and I got down to business preparing for the upcoming semester.
The truth is, I love school. I enjoy learning, even if it’s learning something over again. Each time is a little different, and the classes I had that first semester were all slightly different than those I’d had in the last timeline, and of course different than those I’d had at Stanford. Another thing I had discovered is that while some schools have a deserved reputation for excellence in education, the quality of any education, at any school depended on two primary factors:
The desire, or motivation, of the teacher to actually teach and the desire of the student to learn.
The finest teacher, with the finest materials, the best-prepared curricula and lessons plans, and the absolute finest in teaching aides is wasted if a student has no desire to learn. Likewise, the best-prepared, highly motivated, eager student is wasting his time if the teacher in front of him has no desire to really teach. Good textbooks, lab equipment, support staff, office hours, money for extra materials and other supporting mechanisms are important, but given two bare essentials: a good teacher and a good student, it is possible to achieve the best in education with little else.
That was one of
We also developed friendships with several other students. By its very nature, the university’s foreign language programs tended to produce tight-knit groups of students. Studying a language effectively took more than going to class and doing the assigned homework. Watching movies in that language, reading literature in that language, and actually holding conversation in the language was necessary to move from a basic proficiency into actual competence. Many of the students we joined that year had been studying the language together for three years already, and while at first we were interlopers, they quickly grew to accept us as part of their group. Of those students, they were all in their early to mid-twenties, and so there was a slight age gap between us at first, especially when they would go out drinking on the weekends, but as the semester stretched on, it became less of a barrier.
Davey and I went home to
“Now that you boys are at a school with girls, have either of you started dating yet?” His mother asked us with a piercing look. My parents looked a little uncomfortable, having figured us out long ago, but his parents were still largely in the dark about the true nature of our relationship.
“Mom!” Davey exclaimed with a slight blush. “The youngest girls at ASU are all eighteen or older! I’m jailbait to them!”
“Oh.” His mother said with a worried frown. “What about girls from one of the high schools?”
“I go to college.” Davey said with a shake of his head. “What mother is going to want her daughter dating a college student?”
“That might be a problem.” His mother said with a shake of her head.
“Don’t worry, son.” Davey’s father said with a smile. “In just over a year you’ll be eighteen. Plenty of time for that.”
“Thanks dad.” Davey said with a shake of his head. His hair, like mine was growing out a bit, and we both needed at least a trim to keep our hair looking neat.
We managed to hook up with our friends the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and we all spent most of the day up at Don Pedro Reservoir, sitting in a rented boat in the middle of the lake and talking about the last few months. None of us were extensive letter-writers, and e-mail was still a few years away as a means for us to communicate. Davey and I had a phone in our dorm room, but we were the only couple that had that luxury. So, we spent the day catching up with our friends.
“We miss you guys.” Todd said about halfway through the day. “But, well, it’s like we’re learning how to make other friends at school. It’s kind of weird, like maybe that when we were all together we didn’t really need other people so we shut them out. Don’t take it the wrong way, but it’s nice making new friends again.”
“It is.” Davey agreed. “Just don’t think we’re going to forget you guys, though.”
“No, we’ll always be the best of friends.” Sean agreed while everyone nodded.
When we returned to
Both of us were certain we’d done well on our finals, and we left
Dad had mentioned they’d taken the company public a few months ago, but our Christmas presents included stock in their company. When we realized the stock we had been given was valued at nearly a million dollars for each of us, I was floored. This was far better than providing a winning lottery ticket had been.
The one troubling point was Davey’s mother and grandmothers both throwing girls at him the entire time we were back in
When school started up, it was proving to be a hectic semester. The other students in our Russian courses were by and large preparing to go to the
That was why we’d been sent to ASU in the first place.
By the end of the semester, we’d managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA, and fully establish ourselves as regular, if a little young, students at ASU. During the summer, Davey and I spent several weeks at an ‘intensive’ Slavic-language program being offered by
“Dude, I like the new nose.” Trevor said when we met up with him and Todd over the summer. Brandon and Sean were taking summer session courses at MIT, and we’d just missed them by two days.
“Shut up.” Davey responded to Trevor sharply. He’d always been a little sensitive about his nose, and now that it was narrower, and no longer had that little ‘hump’ halfway down, I could see him staring at himself in the mirror a lot. His eyes were more almond-shaped now as well, but the changes were less immediately noticeable.
“So, other than your face getting smashed up, everything else is alright after your car accident?” Todd asked in a slightly worried tone.
“Yes, everything’s fine.” Davey assured our old friends. Not even they were to be told yet about the real reasons why the surgery had happened. For that matter, we didn’t even know the full story yet.
Last year, we’d finished the highest level of undergraduate Russian language courses that were regularly offered, so this year we were given special upper-division classes where we studied under two professors. We also were assigned as ‘assistants’ to the beginning-level courses, and as the months wore on, found ourselves making a fairly lucrative business in tutoring some students.
Most of the students we tutored were freshmen, and were usually only a year or two older than us. That led to a situation that had me very nervous, and caused one of the most serious arguments yet. Matt Stoler was a handsome young man, eighteen, and he kept looking at Davey in a way that made me very nervous. Worse yet, Davey responded to his smiles with smiles of his own, and the body language between the two of them was far more friendly than made me comfortable.
“Brian, you worried about me and Todd when we first got together.” Davey said with a hint of scorn in his voice when I broached the topic. “After all these years I’d have thought you could learn to trust me by now.”
“I do trust you.” I told him. “I don’t trust Matt.”
“It takes two to tango, Brian.” Davey said in a warning tone. His statement worked both ways, really. He was telling me that nothing would happen because he wouldn’t let it, and he was telling me that it took both of us to make our relationship work, or to not work.”
“You’re right.” I said with a sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s just that, well, you look so damn good I know you could have any guy you wanted…”
“I only want you, Brian.” He said in a tone that made my heart melt. That night I was sure our neighbors heard what we were doing, but we didn’t really care. It was too much fun.
It was the day before we left for Thanksgiving when something happened that affirmed my reasons for worrying. Davey was tutoring Matt in our dorm room while I was out supervising a make-up exam for Professor Lee. It was an oral exam, with the students having to recite several poems, and afterwards I spent an extra half-hour with two of them, helping them to fix their pronunciation of certain words. After I was done, I headed back to our dorm room, and was just opening the door when I heard the familiar sounds of two people kissing.
There was Davey and Matt, whose back was to me, kissing on my bed!
Instead of erupting and making a scene, I started to close the door with a sinking heart when Matt fell to the floor. With the door just open a crack, I couldn’t see much, but I could hear what was being said, and my heart started to climb back out of my feet. Matt was on the floor because Davey had pushed him there.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Davey snarled angrily.
“I… uh… I thought you were…” Matt stammered with real fright in his voice.
“You thought what?” Davey snarled again.
“I thought you were… you know… like me.” Matt stammered even more. “You know… gay.”
“Yeah, I’m gay.” Davey stated with anger dripping off of every syllable. “What makes you think you can kiss me, though?”
“I’m sorry.” Matt said softly. “I just thought if you were gay, you wouldn’t mind hooking up. I mean, everyone says you and Brian are both gay.”
“We’re a couple.” Davey said firmly. “I’m not interested in anyone but him. If you knew that we were gay, what made you think I’d cheat on him?”
“You’re a guy, aren’t you?” Matt shot back and Davey laughed.
“Just because I’m a guy, don’t think that means I’ll cheat on someone I love.” Davey said around his laughter. “Brian and I have been together for longer than you’d believe, and I’m not about to risk my relationship with him, no matter how cute someone is.”
“You think I’m cute?” Matt said in a pleased tone.
“You’re easy enough on the eyes.” Davey said. “Brian’s better though.”
“Oh.” Matt said softly. “I’m sorry I misunderstood.”
“Just don’t try something like that again.” Davey said firmly, and I walked away from the room. When I came back an hour later, Davey smiled as I handed him a dozen red roses.
“You heard, didn’t you?” Davey asked with a smile.
“Yep.” I admitted with a slight blush.
“What did you see?” Davey asked curiously.
“I opened the door when he was kissing you.” I was blushing furiously now.
“And you didn’t make a scene?” Davey asked with a tilt of his head.
“I heard you push him to the floor, and stayed around to hear the rest of the conversation.” I admitted, looking at the floor.
“So you know you can trust me, don’t you?” Davey said softly, but there was an edge to his voice.
“Yes, and I’m sorry I ever doubted you.” I said softly.
“You were right though, too, about what he was after.” Davey gave me that much. “Thanks for the roses.”
“They’re not half as beautiful as you.” I said, and that got me a very deep, passionate kiss.
It was the day after Thanksgiving when Trevor’s father called Davey and invited us to his house that evening. Davey and I were both a little confused when we arrived and found that Trevor and Mrs. Rush were both gone, and two men were waiting with Mr. Rush. We recognized one of them as the ‘handler’ we’d been working with from the CIA.
“Mr. Breckenridge, Mr. Jones, this is Walter Ameson, my supervisor.” Richard Long, the handler introduced us to the older man with white hair.
“I was surprised when Mr. Long called me and said he needed my help.” Mr. Rush said as we all sat back down. “It has been some years since I had contact with the Agency. I was more surprised when I found out you two boys were involved with them. You have not gotten Trevor involved in whatever this is, have you?”
“No, sir.” Davey said cautiously while Long nodded. “What’s going on?”
“You two young men have expressed an interest in working with the Agency while you were still in High School.” Ameson explained. “I believe you both remember your summer internships. Your group of friends and you had some strange ideas, but they are starting to appear not to be as far-fetched as we first assumed. Unfortunately, our operations are not geared towards obtaining the kind of information we would need to verify some of the theories that are now being kicked around by our analysts. That is where you come in, Mr. Jones.”
“Me?” Davey asked with surprise.
“Yes, you.” Mr. Long added. “You’ve been very good about doing what we ask without demanding an explanation. Now, your patience is about to pay off.”
“We were quite nervous when Mr. Long brought up this idea, especially since it centered on such a young person.” Ameson said with a shake of his head. “Still, you appear to be quite an unusual young man, very mature, and we are going to take this risk.”
“What risk?” Davey asked cautiously.
“Davey, you were born here in
“Yes, at
“Trevor was born at the same hospital.” Mr. Rush stated. “It was six weeks after you, as you know.”
“Yes.” Davey murmured.
“My wife and I were at the hospital the same night you were born.” Mr. Rush said and Davey’s eyebrows rose. “In fact, I think I remember seeing your mother brought in to the Labor and Delivery area. She was quite…vocal about wanting you out of her.”
“I can imagine.” Davey said with a slightly stunned look on his face. I was surprised too, since this was the first I’d heard of it in three timelines. Trevor’s parents had been there the night Davey was born?
“Do you not wonder why we were at the hospital?” Mr. Rush asked and Davey nodded. “You see, my sister was pregnant at almost the same time as my wife. They were only a month apart.”
“I’ve never met your sister.” Davey said quietly.
“She died in childbirth.” Mr. Rush said sadly.
“I’m sorry.” Davey said immediately and Mr. Rush shrugged it off.
“She went into labor three weeks early.” Mr. Rush said sadly. “She didn’t know it, but she was bearing twins. Something went wrong inside of her, and she went into labor prematurely. The first boy was delivered without too much trouble, but the second had gotten the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck during the birth process. The hospital was a mess that night with your mother and three other women, all giving birth at the same time. The twins were fraternal, not identical. You do understand the difference?”
“Fraternal are from different eggs inseminated at the same time instead of one egg that splits into two separate embryos.” Davey said automatically.
“Yes.” Mr. Rush continued. “The second twin died before he could be delivered by emergency cesarean section. My sister also died later that night.”
“I’m very sorry.” Davey said quietly. “What happened to the one that survived?”
“He was returned to his father.” Mr. Rush frowned.
“I am still sorry about that.” Mr. Ameson said to Mr. Rush. “He found out about the delivery and there was nothing we could do to prevent it when he made the demand.”
“What does…” Davey began to ask, mostly to cover the fact we already knew Mr. Rush was a defector. In this timeline we were not supposed to know that.
“I was not born in the
“Sereosna?” Davey asked in Russian, the word for ‘seriously’.
“Pravda.” Mr. Ameson replied with a slight smile. Simply put, he was saying it was ‘truth’.
“My wife and I came to the
His sister had been a secretary for a mid-level bureaucrat in the Foreign Affairs office. She had helped them arrange their defection, and gone with them. The father of her unborn children was an older man, who would now be in his early sixties, and had not had any children by his wife. After the mother had died in childbirth, he had demanded his son be returned to him, and legally there had been no way to stop him short of creating an international incident.
“The boy, Dmitry Verakov, died about a year ago in an auto accident while vacationing in
“You want to use Davey to get close to this man.” I said while Davey stared at the picture. The young guy in the picture was handsome, and he looked a lot like Davey, in fact, with the changes to Davey’s appearance, I’d have very few doubts they were brothers.
“Did the other twin really die?” Davey asked in quiet voice, and Mr. Long chuckled.
“Are you thinking maybe you were adopted?” He asked Davey with a very amused expression.
“This guy looks a lot like me.” Davey said, pointing at the picture.
“Not only that, he has the same blood type as you.” Mr. Ameson added. “Although, if a genetic test were to be done, you’d find that you do not really share his genetics. It is just a fortuitous resemblance, and the fact that your blood type is the same is an even bigger stroke of luck.”
“So I’m not really…” Davey’s voice drifted off.
“No, you are no relation to Mikhail Markovich Verakov, although when he sees you we believe that he will suspect a great deal.” Mr. Ameson stated. “A check of your blood type will prove that you could be his son, and that will likely be enough for him. He is currently a high-level assistant to the Politburo member responsible for overseeing domestic production of consumer goods in the
“You want me to get him to defect?” Davey asked.
“If it’s possible.” Ameson stated. “If not, wiggle your way into his life, his home, and learn as much as you can. Pass that information to Mr. Breckenridge, who will bring it back to the
“And the whole idea is just plain insane.” Davey said with disbelief. “What makes you think I can do this?”
“Please, Mr. Jones, you’re quite capable of hiding secrets.” Mr. Long said with a snort. “It took us until two months ago to verify that you and Mr. Breckenridge are homosexuals in a long-term relationship. We still have not been able to find out when that relationship started. Three FBI agents doing background checks on you both failed to uncover that information.”
“Matt.” Davey said flatly and Mr. Long grinned.
“He didn’t know who he was doing it for, just that he was being paid to see if he could seduce you.” Ameson said with a shake of his head. “That is why we are including Mr. Breckenridge in this. We assume you will not wish to go without him.”
“Aren’t you worried that Verakov will find out and get mad?” Davey asked.
“When it comes to the children of powerful men like him, the
“You make it sound like it is for certain.” I stated.
“Yes, Mr. Breckenridge.” Long said with a grin. “Both of your files will indicate that you were rejected for service with the Agency because of your sexual preference. It is the policy of the
“But you trust us.” I stated with a raised eyebrow.
“Call me an enlightened individual.” Long said with a shrug.
“You both are very unique individuals.” Ameson added. “We would not normally even think of such a hairbrained scheme as this, but you are both fairly mature, obviously able to keep secrets without looking like you’re keeping secrets, and have shown yourselves to be dependable. If you accept this plan, this will be the last time we officially meet. The two of you will apply for the Study Abroad program that is scheduled for next summer. You will both be eighteen by then, and legal adults.”
“While you are there, you will be invited to attend several events.” Long continued. “At least one of those will be attended by comrade Verakov. He often gets sent in the place of his boss. Make sure that you meet him, and if possible speak to him. Let him take things from there. Mr. Jones, you will use Mr. Breckenridge to pass any information learned out of the
“Mr. Breckenridge, you will pass your information along through Mr. Rush.” Ameson took up the explanation. “We suggest you write nothing down, nor take any incriminating photographs. Both of you have shown that your memory is near-perfect. That is the safest way for you to pass information to each other. Mr. Rush can put it in written form, and send the reports in through his regular channels.”
“You will both be paid for your work, if this succeeds.” Long finished. “We will protect your identities by listing you as being denied for service, but Mr. Rush will receive a significant raise in his living allowance that we pay him. When this is over, I believe you both trust him enough to pay you appropriately.”
“We trust him.” Davey didn’t hesitate to reply but he got a worried look on his face. “How long am I supposed to do this for?”
“Until Mr. Verakov dies, retires, or the
“It’s up to you.” I told him. “You’re the one who wanted to get involved with the bloody Agency.”
“I… you know… I… uh… I can’t do this. Sorry.” Davey stammered after a moment.
“Why not?” Ameson asked with a frown.
“I… Brian doesn’t really want to be involved in this cloak and dagger stuff and I won’t drag him along.” Davey said. “You’re right, we are a couple, and we’d have to do this together or not at all.”
“Thank you, Davey.” I said quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder and not caring about the other men in the room. “But you know you want to do this, don’t you?”
“Yes, but…” Davey protested.
“We’ll do it.” I said to Ameson who nodded, although he was obviously trying not to look at my hand on Davey’s shoulder.
“Why?” Long said.
“It’ll help our country, and Davey really wants to do it.” I said with a shrug. “I like spoiling him.”
“I love you.” Davey breathed out in a whisper, and he was smiling from ear to ear.
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