Chapter 26
“Dude, what was it exactly that you were hinting at knowing about me and Brandon and the barn?” Trevor asked me in a soft voice as we manhandled the school’s obstinate goat back into its pen. We were pretty much alone out here, the first day I’d gone back to school since the Soviet coup on Monday. Trevor was wearing a pair of coveralls, proving he was smarter in some ways than I was. I had been surprised to find him in this class, and to find out he was going to be joining the 4H club.
“Oh man, you know what I was referring to.” I said with a slight blush as he closed the gate on the pen. I couldn’t prove it, but I strongly suspected Paul or one of the other seniors of letting the animal out earlier in the morning.
“Do I?” Trevor asked and I could see a slight smile forming on his face as his gaze roamed up and down my body. I was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a tight blue lycra shirt. I hadn’t had much time to do laundry lately, and the shirt was one I normally wore just for workouts. Part of me wished Sean had come to school today, but he was still recovering from his drinking binge.
“Yes, you do.” I retorted in a low voice. We were alone, but who knew who might come around the corner at any moment.
“You know what I think?” Trevor said rhetorically as he moved to stand in a pose that I figured he meant to be seductive. It was, because despite the coveralls he looked good and my body gave a slight twinge at the way his hips thrust out slightly. “I think you know what Brandon and I use to do in the barn because you went out there with me in one of your past lives.”
“In the first time line, yes.” I admitted with a slight sigh. He smiled at that and moved to stand a little closer to me.
“So, was it good?” He asked and I managed a glare at him.
“It was decent.” I admitted and when he put his hand on my arm to squeeze it, I pulled it out of his grasp and gave him a stern look. “It was just in that first time line though.”
“Really?” He asked me while giving me a curious stare. “Why not the second?”
“Because I was committed to someone else.” I answered honestly.
“Let me guess, you did it with Brandon and fell in love with him.” Trevor said softly as the goat let out a bleat.
“No, it wasn’t Brandon.” I said with a sigh and looked away from him. This was not where I wanted the conversation to go, especially after hearing from Sean what they’d done to him back in Modesto. Why he was even being so… brazen about it now was strange to me. I thought he’d have done anything to deny it after Sean’s story.
“Well it wasn’t Brian, that’s for sure.” Trevor said with a snort. “That guy has his head so far up his ass about sex he wouldn’t do any more than kiss his girlfriend.”
“Really?” I asked with some surprise and my voice choked on even that one word. His words about the Brian of this time line both gave me hope and a hint of worry.
“Ah!” Trevor exclaimed. I looked back at him and he had a wide grin on his face. “I would never have guessed Brian might swing that way.”
“What makes you think that?” I asked Trevor with a frown.
“Dude, your face gave it away.” Trevor was almost laughing now. “When I said his name your face lit up and then the way you just spoke told me even more. So, like was it just one time or was it serious?”
“It was… serious.” I said softly. “Twenty years together serious.”
“Fuck, that’s hard to believe.” Trevor snorted again. “Two guys bumping together for twenty years.”
“Yeah, well, it was something special.” I said with a shrug, almost wishing someone would come around the corner.
“Well, just don’t expect this Brian to be so easy about it.” Trevor said with a hint of negativity in his voice. “That guy has his head so far up his ass about queer sex that he goes bonkers at the littlest hint of that stuff. Back at Downey he egged Brandon on to throw this little queer in a trash can.”
“Brian did that?” I asked in surprised shock. My voice even broke in the middle of the sentence and Trevor nodded.
“Yep, he got Brandon to throw the little queer into the trash can.” Trevor said with a shrug. “He doesn’t know about Brandon and I having fun together or he’d probably never talk to us again, so I won’t say anything to him about you.”
“Thanks.” I said miserably. It seemed the fates were conspiring to keep me away from Brian. Still, I knew the guy I’d fallen in love with was still in there. “Maybe he’ll change his mind after a while.”
“Just don’t expect to be the one doing the changing.” Trevor warned me. “He’s having a hard enough time dealing with you as it is.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with some surprise. “We got along okay when you guys first came out here.”
“Yeah, well that’s the only reason he’s liking you at all.” Trevor warned me. “He’s pissed about losing his girlfriend and moving out here, but she was actually happy to see him go, and that just made him angrier. She got fed up with the way he never wanted to do more than kiss her and told him she was going to dump him soon anyway.”
“Fuck.” I said with chagrin. “Thanks for the warning.”
“So, you’re going to try to hook up with him again?” Trevor asked me, but he never got an answer because Mrs. Ferguson came around the corner.
“Oh good, you boys are done.” She said with a huff. “We need you two to help unload the rest of the hay from the truck. The period is up in twenty minutes and we need the truck unloaded before then. Those freshman just aren’t as big as you.”
“We’ll be right there.” I said quickly and nodded for Trevor to follow me out. By the time the class ended, Trevor was breathing heavily, to the enjoyment of Paul and his buddies, and I was picking hay off of the tight blue shirt I was wearing. After Trevor shrugged out of his coveralls, revealing the gray Downey High Football t-shirt he was wearing and the jeans he had on, we headed into the school.
“Dude, this altitude sucks.” Trevor wheezed a little as we passed the office. I did my best to not look inside where Mom was sitting at her desk. She’d gotten back yesterday evening and we had yet to speak to each other.
“You’ll get use to it in a few weeks.” I assured him. “The altitude really does make a difference.”
“You keep saying that, but I’ll believe it when I see it.” Trevor muttered and I laughed. We quickly crossed the school and entered the gym through the back way. Coach Crutchley nodded to us from his usual perch on the gym side of the stage as we crossed towards the locker room doors. Trevor and the others had managed to snag lockers near mine and my other friends, so we began to strip down and change into our gym gear while the guys from the class before us took their showers. Shortly after the bell rang ending the class period, the rest of our friends entered. Brian was talking quietly with Brandon and nodded towards us as they opened their lockers.
“Damn Davey, did you manage to fall in the hay again?” David asked as he entered with his brother and Derek. It was funny to see Brian roll his eyes as David crossed over to me and brushed hay off my shirt while I stood there with no pants on.
“You never pick the right clothes to wear with that damn class.” Derek muttered, garnering a few laughs.
“Leave him alone.” Sam opined. “He’s a little slow when it comes to dealing with farm animals.”
“That’s bad.” Brandon sniggered from his locker and I shook David’s hands away before peeling my shirt off. Brian may be holding to the ‘straight’ line, but I saw his eyes go my way for a brief moment.
“You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up and get dressed.” I told them as I reached for my jock. They settled down to the business of getting dressed as more people filtered in and I finished rather quickly, doing my best not to look where Brian was getting dressed. This was going to be difficult, being in the same locker room as him again, without the familiarity of before. Still, I managed to finish pulling on my green shirt and gold shorts (which were much shorter than those worn by high school students of later years) before anyone else and headed towards the gym.
When I spotted the mats on the gym floor after exiting the locker room I paused for a moment. It seemed Coach Crutchley was doing wrestling this week. With Brian in the locker room, seeing those mats on the floor brought about so many memories of him in the other time line. Wrestling was how we’d gone beyond being just friends, and had formed a core part of our relationship. Whenever we’d gotten angry, argued, or fought over something, we’d almost always ended up on some wrestling mats. Those matches had almost always ended up with some lovemaking, after which we’d talk out the problem and find some resolution we both enjoyed.
“Jones, you decided to grace us with your presence today.” Crutchley’s gruff voice called me out of my reverie and I sauntered over towards where he sat on the edge of the stage.
“Wrestling?” I asked him with a slight grin.
“Yeah, and if you think I’m letting Tammy wrestle you you’re out of your mind.” Crutchley grunted just as other people began to filter out of the locker rooms. I glanced over and saw Brian in a group with Sam, David, Derek, Trevor and Brandon. My friends from Modesto were all wearing tight blue shorts and white t-shirts. It seemed they’d yet to find time to get to a store that had their new school colors in stock.
“Darn.” I stated in mock depression at his comment and he barked a bit in laughter.
“Okay, let’s get everyone warmed up.” He said in a louder voice and I went to line up with the rest of the guys while the girls trotted over. After ten minutes of warming up, he had the guys line up around the mats while the girls were sent off to play a half-court basketball game.
“Wrestling again, eh?” Sam whispered to me with a half-grin. He and David had always been good at this sport, like they were good at almost everything. Brian had a very subtle grin on his face as well.
“Okay, we’re going to be doing wrestling again today.” Crutchley said from in front of us. “Since Jones has decided to grace us with his presence, we’re going to start with him and… Breckenridge. You two get on the mat. Jones, you’re on the bottom.”
“Isn’t that where you normally were with him?” David whispered to me as I started to move. That comment got him a very dirty look from me and he actually started laughing aloud. Brian gave him a dirty look before motioning me to lead the way onto the mat. I took a deep breath and tried to calm the butterflies that were in my stomach. Getting hard in front of the class, or giving in to an urge to make a pass at him right now just was not a good idea.
I got down on all fours without saying a word and felt Brian as he knelt down against me, his hips touching my rear just as his arm snaked around my waist to rest on my stomach. That was all it took to send me fully erect, and a barely kept myself from groaning as his other hand grasped my arm. I barely even heard Crutchley’s whistle, but I reacted to the way Brian tensed his arms with years and years of familiarity. No matter that I was extremely horny at the moment, I squirmed out of his grasp while still maintaining a grip on his right arm. The Brian I had married would have expected the leg sweep, but this one did not and within seconds I almost had him pinned. He managed to flip me over, though and then almost pinned me. Our eyes met as I struggled to keep my shoulders off of the mat and he had a wide grin on his face.
Brian didn’t expect my next move as I put both arms on the mat, braced my legs, and pushed so that I did a back flip. I landed right on top of him, knocking the breath out of him with a loud ‘oomph’ from him. Crutchley called out the three count and I stood up while Brian stared at me with wide eyes before a much more evil grin formed on his face. He did take my hand to stand back up while our classmates chatted excitedly about the move. Even the girls had stopped playing to watch as Brian took off his t-shirt. I did the same, knowing it meant he was getting serious and if mine stayed on, it was likely to be ripped. Crutchley didn’t say anything except “Okay, now from the standing position.”
Brian and I faced off in the center of the mat and locked our arms in preparation for Crutchley’s whistle.
“We wrestled a lot in your last life, didn’t we?” Brian asked me so softly I could barely hear him.
“Yes.” I answered simply as the whistle blew. I prepared myself for a leg sweep from Brian’s left foot, but he surprised me by shifting his balance backwards and carrying me to the mat with a flip. This time it was him who landed on me, knocking the breath right out of me. Unlike him, though, I reacted quickly by locking my legs around his before he could grab them and rolled. We must have rolled three times, and the intimate contact caused me to get hard again, but I tried to ignore that as I moved to pin Brian. He didn’t let that happen though, managing to roll me back the other way and to get a good headlock that I knew I’d not be able to get out of this time. All thought about trying to escape his grip left me though as I felt his own erection rub mine. For a split second I almost came right there, and that gave him all the time he needed to pin me. It was only when Crutchley counted out to three that Brian must have felt my erection, because his face scrunched up and I could see a look of desire on his face warring with a disgusted look. That alone told me much of what must be going on in his head right now.
“What the fuck?” Brian muttered as he jumped up off of me and stared at me for a long moment. His gaze was locked on my shorts, and I was glad both that I was wearing a jock strap that could hide my erection, and that I was just average-sized instead of so big that it was extremely visible.
“Breckenridge, get down for the last round.” Crutchley said and Brian looked slightly hesitant before getting on all fours. As I got positioned, careful to keep my groin away from his rear, I could hear Brian muttering to himself. This time it seemed like he moved at the same exact moment that Crutchley blew his whistle. It was only my leaping backwards, away from him that kept Brian from pinning me within seconds. He didn’t give me any time to adjust either, but sprang to his feet while turning around and charged in for me.
Both of our torsos were covered with sweat, and that gave me the edge necessary to squeeze out of the hold he was forming and I had to back up quickly on the mat. Brian’s eyes held a mix of emotions in them, ranging from lust to anger, and to what I had often called his ‘desire to win’. Sean’s words from the last few nights about how different Brian was, and Trevor’s words from earlier rang in my head, nearly distracting me from the wrestling match at hand. Ten seconds later, Brian grunted in victory after managing to pin me to the ground with a rush and leg sweep.
“Okay, Walker and Mulkey, you two are up next.” Crutchley called while Brian and I grabbed our shirts and walked back towards the rest of the class. He wasn’t ignoring me, but he wasn’t looking at me either. At least now I knew for sure that he felt some of that same desire for me as the last life, and that what Sean and Trevor had told me also held some strong kernels of truth. The changes in the time line had created some differences in Brian, differences that could be a hindrance in establishing a relationship with him. I’d have to take things slowly, that much was for sure.
“You’re pretty good.” Brian’s voice next to me startled me slightly. He was speaking quietly while most of the other people in the class were watching Brandon and Derek grapple at each other much more clumsily than Brian and I had.
“You taught me a lot.” I responded back, risking a quick look towards him. He was facing the two wrestling on the mat, not really looking at me, and I did my best to ignore my heart fluttering in my chest.
“That wasn’t me.” Brian pointed out and I had to agree.
“True.” I stated. “He was different than you are now, but you’re very similar.”
“All this shit is hard to deal with, you know?” Brian half-asked, and half-stated.
“I know.” I said simply. “Try having to deal with losing all your friends except you really didn’t. They’re still there but they don’t remember you or being friends with you.”
“Okay, it sucks all around.” Brian granted me with a nod of his head.
“Jones!” Crutchley’s yell interrupted our conversation and I nodded towards the teacher who was giving me a critical stare. “What’s Mulkey doing wrong?”
“He’s shifting his balance too much every time he makes a go at Brandon.” I answered easily. I’d been keeping on eye on the match. Derek had been shifting his balance too much, giving Brandon plenty of chances to take him down. Unfortunately for Brandon, Derek was a squirmer and kept on managing to squirm his way out of the holds.
“Show him what you mean.” Crutchley directed and I headed onto the mat to position Derek a bit. “Breckenridge, what’s wrong with Walker’s holds?”
The rest of the period went like that, with Crutchley having guys start wrestling, and then having Brian and I show them what they did wrong. After he dismissed us, we headed into the locker room and took showers before lunch. It was after the showers, while we were dressing that I realized I’d never invited Brian to lunch with us.
“Hey, Brian, we always eat at the Eureka Café for lunch.” I said as I struggled to get my blue shirt back on. He looked over at my words. “Would you care to join us? It’s my treat.”
“Uh, I got invited by some guys in the World History class to the Owl Club.” Brian said with a shrug. “I can go with you tomorrow.”
“That’s cool.” I said carefully, trying not to show my disappointment.
Lunch was fairly enjoyable, with Trevor and Brandon joining the usual group of David, Sam, Derek, Julie, and Tammy. Derek had a lot of questions regarding the changes in the Soviet government, some of which I could not answer for security reasons. Out here, those with satellite dishes (in this time they were very large and very expensive) might be able to watch CNN and its twenty-four hour news coverage, but most people only had the broadcast channels from Elko, and those were often very faint.
After lunch, the rest of school passed rather normally. Mr. Farringer took great joy in handing back an essay to me with a grade of ‘B’ instead of the regular ‘A’ grade. Before I’d had time to do more thinking about the morning’s P.E. class, I was back in the locker room getting dressed in my practice uniform and hiking down the road to the elementary school. The high school didn’t have room for a baseball field, so we practiced and played home games at one of the fields located on the grammar school grounds.
It was hard not staring at Brian during practice. He fit his uniform perfectly and I kept remembering Trevor’s barn after a few games and had to make an effort to not think too long about those days in the previous time line. After the warm-ups, coach wanted to focus on batting practice so I actually ended up with some time to chat with my friends. Brandon was the first one to come up to me while we were waiting for our turn at bat.
“So, dude, Trevor said you and he had a little chat.” Brandon said hesitantly as I leaned against the fence and watched Derek taking a few swings. Hell, even Brandon was looking good right now in his grey pants and tight t-shirt. Fortunately we were talking so I had to keep my gaze on his face.
“Yeah, we did.” I responded with a slight smile.
“Dude, you have no idea how freaked out I was by what you said last week.” Brandon said in a hushed voice. “If anyone found out they’d…”
“Your mom cried at your wedding in the last time line.” I decided to tell Brandon and he got a confused look on his face. “She thought it was so beautiful that you were marrying the guy you’d been dating for all those years.”
“Two guys can’t get married!” Brandon exclaimed a little louder than necessary and looked around nervously to see if anyone had overheard.
“Not yet they can’t, but that was changing in both the last time lines.” I answered his declaration with a broader smile.
“Dude, that’s whacked.” Brandon said with a worried expression. “What Trevor and I did…it was just messing around, nothing serious.”
“I never said you married Trevor.” I said just as David approached us.
“What’s up?” David said and Brandon jumped slightly since he hadn’t seen David approaching.
“Just chatting about things.” I answered with another smile while Brandon swallowed nervously.
“Trevor’s pretty good at batting.” David remarked and I looked over to see that Trevor was hitting another long ball deep into the field.
“He’s pretty good, but football’s where he’s best at.” Brandon replied and the conversation shifted to the possibilities of the fall’s football season. Eureka had fielded a team for the first time in two decades this last year, and while we’d won no championships, we hadn’t done too badly. Truth be told, with Brandon, Trevor, and Brian here, we’d probably be doing a lot better. I was dragged away from the two when my name was called for my turn at bat.
I could see Brian watching me from where he stood talking to Paul Ithuraulde and Mike Raines. From the expressions on the other two faces I knew they were already dismissing my turn at bat, largely because I’d been careful not to stand out too much at this sport. When it came to Brian seeing me, I felt an urge to really show off.
Sam was pitching now and lofted an easy one in my direction, not expecting anything spectacular. The ball ended its flight by bouncing off the brick wall of the school building, about four hundred feet from the plate. Sam gave me a look of surprise and threw a fastball next, and this one managed to go about three hundred feet before falling to the ground. His next pitch, a curve ball, went foul, but also at a pretty good distance.
“Jones, what the hell is going on here?” Coach Grant shouted angrily as he stormed up to the plate. “Have you been purposely not doing this all year?”
“Didn’t you hear, coach?” I asked, trying to downplay the whole thing. “I’m the Bionic Kid and now I don’t have to keep it secret anymore.”
“Jones, you better hit like that in the next game or I’m going to kick your ass!” Coach Grant said as he stormed off. He was a younger man, no more than twenty-eight and a relatively new teacher at the school. My glance caught Brian’s as I turned back to hit Sam’s next pitch. Brian’s look towards me was speculative, and I could see that there was a hint of stiffness in the front of his uniform.
For some reason I missed the next two pitches as I kept glancing over to Brian.
By the time practice ended, there was a car waiting just outside the school’s fence. The Air Force markings on the side told me it was most likely for me and I went around to the driver’s side after picking up my book bag from the dugout. A marine driver was sitting there and nodded when I got close enough.
“I’m supposed to take you to the base immediately, sir.” The marine said as soon as I was close enough. “I’ve already picked up your bags from the school.”
“Okay, let’s get going.” I said firmly as he started the car and I got in the back seat. Sure enough my bags were all there, which meant they’d somehow gotten the combination to my locker or they’d just cut the lock. When I remembered that I’d given Sean the combination last week, I figured out that he’d likely given it to them. I didn’t relish the idea of changing into my regular clothes without having taken a shower, so I just pulled out my tennis shoes and put them on instead of my cleats as the driver maneuvered the car onto the highway and out of town.
To be honest, I wasn’t surprised at the car waiting for me down at the field instead of up at the school, nor the rushed departure. I’d actually been surprised at making it throughout the day and the fact that I’d made it through the day without interruption was either a very good sign or a very bad sign. Last night, I’d sent in a proposal on the worsening international situation and this was a signal that the proposal was at least being considered seriously.
When we reached the gate, I had to pull my identification out of the wallet for the Marine guards, who unlike the Air Force guards would never just wave a car through. Then it was a short drive to my office building and I grabbed both the clothes bag and the book bag before heading inside. My secretary, Janet, was waiting for me with an armful of folders and a harried expression.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook all morning, Mr. Jones.” She said instead of any sort of greeting, letting me know it really had been a busy day for her. I nodded and headed towards the office, picking her up in my wake as I passed her. “That memo you wrote last night has generated a lot of activity. I was told to notify White House Signals as soon as you got back so there’ll probably be a call from the White House soon.”
“I kind of expected that.” I said as I entered my office and saw another stack of paperwork waiting there. Janet got a pinched look on her face as I sat down and she began to organize the files in front of me.
“Well, next time tell me something you write is going to do this and I’ll be better prepared for the White House yelling at me.” Janet said with a sigh and a smile. She was a good secretary, as proven by how well she had all the files I’d requested be ready, and some extras that I hadn’t requested, but would likely be helpful.
“Any luck on finding you some help?” I asked her. She’d suggested it two nights ago. Someone to help out, especially when I worked late which was almost every night would be helpful to both her and to me.
“I’ve got a few leads but I might go with a local.” Janet said. “She’s already got a security clearance and is looking to work full-time. If she checks out, I’ll have her on the morning and afternoon shift while I work the afternoon and evening shifts. Don’t even think about arguing about that, Mr. Jones. You need me here when you’re here and we need someone to take calls and handle paperwork in the morning. I’m more experienced and you’ll need me here at the same time you are, which means the afternoons and evenings are perfect. Plus, I’ll have the mornings to spend with this guy I’m seeing.”
“You met someone?” I asked her with a little surprise. She smiled and nodded slightly and I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous for her finding someone.
“He works the afternoon and evening shift at the Sheriff’s office.” Janet explained and I nodded. That made sense given her enthusiasm about working the same shift here. It’d make it easier for them to do things together.
“Fine, we’ll go with that, then.” I agreed and she smiled before turning to leave.
“Thanks, Mr. Jones and I’ll have the White House for you shortly.” She said as she left and I shook my head. I’d learned in the last time line to not argue with good secretaries too much. They usually had a fine grasp of matters and could be trusted to handle most details. I started going through the day’s signal pages while waiting for her to connect the phone call. There were some interesting items I’d want to look at in more detail later, but they also gave some credence to my suggested plans. By the time the phone rang, I’d added two more arguments in support of my plan to my own agenda.
“Jones speaking.” I said as I picked up the phone and heard the tones assuring me this was a secure phone call.
“David, how was school?” The President’s voice was collegial as he started the call and I smiled before responding.
“It went well, today, sir.” I answered with a hint of humor in my voice. “The only bad thing was I didn’t get a chance to change after practice before they whisked me back here for my real day to start.”
“I’m glad to hear you had a good day.” The President replied. “As you probably are aware, your memo has created quite a stir. I have the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the CIA Director and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff here in the Oval Office and we’ve been talking about your idea for the last hour. There are a number of questions we need to discuss before we go any further with this idea. First off, Mr. Jones, what makes you think this idea can even work?”
“Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, General, and Mr. Director, this idea is based on a combination of factors.” I began my explanation carefully. “In the first time line, there was a huge scandal when a similar idea was implemented and later discovered by Congress. Congress and the media spent years grilling people on this and it ended several good careers. The plan I’ve proposed deals with the reasons why that program ended so ignobly and hopefully will correct them. The basic idea isn’t mine, it was implemented by this administration in previous time lines, but the structure of this plan, and how it is implemented has been tweaked by me with the benefit of hindsight from the failures experienced the first time around.
“Iran is currently losing the war with Iraq. Saddam Hussein is very well equipped and his recent use of chemical weapons caused great damage to their forces. The Iranian Navy and Air Force are starting to really feel the pinch of our arms embargo. Most of their armed forces were equipped with American or French equipment and they have no replacements, and are either out of spare parts or soon will be out. They are running low in air-to-air missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and other munitions.”
“That’s the purpose of the embargo after what they did to our embassy.” Casper Weinberger pointed out.
“Yes, Mr. Secretary, that is correct and it is working, to a point.” I said firmly. “The embargo is militarily weakening Iran, but it won’t destroy them. In the second time line, the worsening situation for them induced them to join with the Soviet Union in military action against our forces and allies in the region. In the first time line, they were developing nuclear weapons and were within a few years of having atomic bombs before I went back in time. Khomeini passes away by the end of this decade, but his regime is still in power in the twenty-first century and prospering. To be blunt, embargo only works so far. They have oil, gentlemen and oil buys a lot of open doors in other countries around the world and they will continue to be a thorn in our side for decades to come.”
“So your idea is to give them weapons in return for money?” The CIA Director snorted facetiously and I barely kept myself from sighing aloud. Instead, I leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on my desk in order to relax a little.
“My idea is to engage them diplomatically, sir.” I responded as nicely as I could. “We need money to hold the Soviet and Chinese advances in South America at bay. Funding them through traditional channels carries a tremendous risk of the information making its way into the hands of our enemies. Just as importantly, the economic situation in this country is not the best, and we’re going to have a hard enough time getting the public portions of this program approved in the form of Foreign Aid packages.
“Just as we need the money for the South America programs, the Iranians need our weapons, or at least believe they need them. They’ll be willing to pay top dollar and we can negotiate some… moderation in their international support for Hezbollah and similar terrorist groups. That’ll be hard to negotiate, and we have to be ready at the least to accept that no American weapons will go to those groups as a minimum agreement, but we might also be able to get them to limit their support in other ways too.
“Gentlemen, you’ve all seen my reports on Saddam Hussein and Iraq. As violent and vitriolic as the Iranian Revolution was towards Americans, the mullahs in that country pose less of a danger to this country and our citizens than Saddam Hussein. Giving them support now, even while Khomeini is alive, will help us when more moderate leaders come to power and the likely better military success they’ll achieve will help to contain Saddam Hussein. That’s why I’ve recommended we strongly rebuke him in the UN and put into place economic and military embargoes on Iraq for the gassing of the Iranian troops.”
“Don has been fairly insistent that we should pursue closer ties with the Hussein regime.” The Secretary of Defense stated softly through the speakerphone on the other end and I didn’t bother to hide my snort of disgust.
“Pardon my bluntness, Mr. Secretary, but Donald Rumsfeld always likes to back Hussein right up to the point where Hussein invades an ally of ours, either on his own or as a pawn of the Soviets.” I said after letting out my snort. My tone was harsh and I didn’t care if it made me look petty or arrogant. “Mr. Rumsfeld has a blind spot when it comes to petty dictators who will mouth platitudes and stroke his ego while setting our country up for a fall.”
“I get the hint that you and Mr. Rumsfeld have never hit it off well.” The President chuckled softly and I took a deep breath.
“That would be an accurate assessment, Mr. President.” I agreed. “Kissing up to Saddam Hussein will get us nowhere. Iran on the other hand holds some promise. I’m not talking miracles here, gentlemen, but even the fanatical leadership of Khomeini and his mullahs are more pragmatically honest. What we need to get from them, and what they want will need to be fine-tuned and addressed in actual negotiations, but if we approach them with relative honesty and respect, we might see a favorable response.”
“Let’s assume for a moment that this works with getting Congressional approval, the Iranians cooperate, and everything’s ready to go.” Secretary Weinberger said with a heavy sound that resembled a huff. “How do you suggest we make this all work?”
“The primary factor is going to be having one central authority coordinating the efforts by all the government agencies on this project.” My voice threatened to waver on this point, but then again it was something that had only been partially successful over a decade from now. “Preferably someone who is retired military with a background in Special Operations and some diplomatic experience will be chosen as the program administrator. He’ll report directly to the President while having deputies from Defense, State, CIA, NSA, Coast Guard, Treasury, Agriculture, and Trade reporting directly to him. Obviously this is not going to work unless we coordinate the efforts of all the different departments that aren’t really used to working together.”
“That’s a tall undertaking.” The President said with a hitch in his voice. “It is going to be difficult finding someone to take that role, but I have a few people in mind. What I think we might have some real problems with is getting Congress to cooperate. Those Democrats don’t really like me and it is an election year.”
“Let me deal with them, sir.” I offered quickly and instantly regretted it at the sudden silence on the line.
“Why is that, David?” The President asked.
“Well, sir, I uh, kind of speak their language.” I admitted, grateful they couldn’t see the blush on my cheeks. “I have a few ideas on how to convince the leadership that this is necessary and am fairly sure I can convince them to go along with this. Even Dinkums will probably give it his support.”
“David, if you manage that I’ll come out there to Nevada and campaign for your father’s state Senate race.” The President said with a laugh.
“That’s a deal, sir.” I took the bet with a chuckle of my own.
“Okay, I think our questions are answered for now.” The President said after he’d finished laughing. “Expect another call around this time tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mr. President.” I said before he hung up the phone on his side. With the line dead, I hung up the phone and scratched an itch on my leg. That reminded me I still hadn’t changed out of my practice uniform. Before I could do more than plant my feet on the floor, my door opened and Sean came into the office.
“Got a minute?” He asked me and I nodded towards one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. Sean looked… better. His eyes were still a little glassy, but he’d showered and combed his hair. He’d even changed into a nice pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
“What’s up, bud?” I asked him cautiously. Our last few conversations hadn’t been exactly the best, and his working on drinking his liver out of commission didn’t help much either.
“I want to apologize for going off on that bender.” Sean said with a frown. “I woke up this morning and realized I was messing up major. In the last time line you told me once that you’d taken the opportunity to create a new life, a better life, for yourself. I didn’t really do that then or now. Instead I was just letting myself hurt over not having Brandon anymore and on how much this sucks.”
“It’s not that easy to deal with.” I said with a shrug. “Plus, you never really hit bottom like I did in that first time line. I had nowhere else to go but up, whereas you had done fairly well for yourself both times.”
“Not really.” Sean said with a shrug. “There’s a lot I pretended not to remember about that first time line. I’m sure you noticed how if we let ourselves drift along our memories we can remember everything almost clearly. They’re not always there, I mean I at least have to work at it, but I can remember some things so clearly. It must be a side effect of the time machine’s scanning process. Last night, I remembered something from when I was just a baby. My eyes weren’t focusing, but I could remember what must have been my mother’s face and I felt this love sweeping through me. It made me wonder how much had changed in her so that she’d do what she did and I realized what you’d told me was true, that she was doing it because she loved me and believed it was right. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’ve been right with a lot of the things you’ve told me and so I’m willing to believe you’re right about a new time line being a new chance.”
“I’m glad to hear that, buddy.” I said with a nod. He was right about the memories, but I’d never really consciously tried to remember things that far back, focusing only on the memories of the ‘present’.
“I’ve also been thinking about what you mentioned regarding the concept of building a new time machine.” Sean said slowly. “It’s possible, you know, but I’m going to need a lot of help. Mr. Rush can help with the physics part, but we’re going to need a world-class computer programmer. Also, there’s no regular computer in this day and age that can handle the data streams. The closest will probably be a Cray supercomputer. Then there’s the MRI machine. Maybe in a few years there will be one sensitive enough to do the scanning we need, but right now there’s no hope.”
“So you’re thinking we can do it?” I asked him with surprise. “What about all the stuff you just said regarding living in this time line?”
“If one of us goes back, we go back and you can help me understand this better in the next time line.” Sean said with a shrug.
“Okay.” I said with an internal sigh of relief. “When do you think we might be able to have a working model?”
“The technology won’t be ready for another two years, and it won’t be as good as the other machines.” Sean said with a frown of his freckled face. “Still, I do believe I’ll have you a model ready for testing by late 1987.”
“Thank you, Sean.” I said with a nod of my head while he smiled. “It’s good to have you back.”
“Thanks Davey.” Sean said with a smile.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
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