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  It started to rain, and as I sat on the bench with the droplets of water falling on me, I saw Melissa across the street, headed to her car.

  I'm sorry, I thought. I'm sorry babe but I can't stop this. I'll see you in a different world.

  She stepped into her car and after a moment she sped off to her fate.

  It was time to get back to my own world.

  CHAPTER THREE

  While I had a basic understanding of what Thomas wanted to do, I still didn't know the whole story and I needed to find out everything; surely he had a successor in mind in the event anything happened to him.

  I had thought Lynne might be that successor, but after what I had witnessed between her and Thomas, I wasn't so sure he would trust her to that position now.

  Which meant he would either have to pick someone else in his organization, or find someone new, someone more powerful than Lynne.

  In my mind I could actually sense these individuals, more so than I could with someone like Lynne. If I concentrated I could get a fix on her, but these other people – it was like a whispering in my mind that never went away. I hadn't really noticed it before, but now that I was I knew where these people were.

  None where in my world, to my relief.

  And just how powerful where these others? People kept saying I was the most powerful jumper, but I wondered.

  It was an incredible and wonderful thing, this ability to create focused wormholes. It was also terrifying to me.

  What if this were just the tip of the iceberg? What if the ability was really being able to create anything by thought alone?

  And these other individuals I could sense, could they do that?

  And why hadn't they come after me yet? Surely if I could sense them, they could sense me.

  This was one of those situations with no answers. Maybe they were aware of me but had decided, for whatever reasons, to just leave me alone.

  And what if Thomas got wind of them?

  Maybe he had.

  I shuddered at the thought of Thomas recruiting these individuals to his cause.

  I wondered how much they knew. Maybe nothing. It suddenly seemed like a really good idea that I try to find these jumpers and tell them about what was happening.

  Taking a breath, I closed my eyes and cleared my head of thought; I focused on that whispering in my head and concentrated on one individual.

  And jumped.

  Emerging in front of Melissa's apartment complex, in the world she existed in with Thomas and Lynne, actually surprised me.

  I was also a little surprised by the fact that I emerged in front of the apartment building, rather than where I had been focusing, which should have put me in the same room as her.

  Any other time and I would have came out exactly where I had imagined.

  Was she stopping me somehow? What about the memory wipe?

  As I grappled with these questions it really surprised me when Melissa suddenly appeared net to me.

  “You!” she said. “What are you doing? Who are you? Why are you following me?”

  Good questions. Apparently the memory wipe held.

  “I'm like you,” I said. “We need to talk. We're both in danger.”

  “From...him,” she said, looking puzzled when she did. “That man. I can't think of his name, but I keep getting this image in my head of this man who wants to...” she trailed off.

  “Yes, that man. I can tell you all I know, but before I do we...”

  I didn't get a chance to finish; suddenly I was standing inside of my house.

  Melissa was there, standing by the bookshelves and looking at my wedding portrait.

  “So we do know each other,” she said. “But that's not me.”

  “No,” I said, trying to get my bearings. “That isn't you, exactly. It's more the version of you that lived in this world. Which, I should say, I'm a little surprised to be back in. How'd you get us here without touching me? And how'd you even know to come here?”

  She set the portrait back on the shelf. “Touch you? I don't need to touch you to jump. And this place? It's where you wanted to go, right?”

  “Right,” I said. “I'm just surprised you knew that.”

  “You were practically screaming it from your mind,” she said. She looked at me, confused. “I don't even know how I can do this. And all of my memories are disjointed. It's like I can barely remember what happened to me a few hours ago.”

  I headed for the couch and motioned for her to join me. “Let's talk,” I said.

  We both sat. “Fine,” she said. “Talk. What's going on?”

  “What you can do...how long have you been able to do it? I call it portal jumping, seems like lots of other people do as well.”

  “I have no memories of it beyond the last couple of hours!” she exclaimed. “But it feels like something I've been able to do my whole life.”

  I nodded. “There's a man who is after me. He works for your government. He wants to kill me. He's wiped your memory.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “That man in my mind...he's the one that did this?”

  “He did,” I said. “His name is Jeff Thomas. He has a whole group of individuals like us, working for him. He's been wanting to kill me for a long time now.”

  “Why?”

  I sighed. “It's a long story. Let's just say he's been pissed off at me for 20 years, and time hasn't softened him at all. He covets what we can do. If he knew what you were capable of, I think he'd either be wanting to recruit you to his team, or be wanting to take you out with me.”

  “So what can we do?”

  “We can put a stop to him. I need to find out everything he has in store, and I really need to find out if he has a successor. But we need to get your memory back.”

  “You think you know how it can be done,” Melissa said; it wasn't a question. “I can read it in your mind.”

  “Can you read it in my mind? I'm not surprised. But yeah, I think that I do,” I said.

  “You think I'm the most powerful one?”

  “That's the feeling I get.”

  She smiled. “It's not me. And I don't think you fully understand your own ability. You don't need to...jump to get places. You were using those portals as a means to an end. You can do it without the portals. You're only limited by your imagination.”

  “You got that by reading my mind?” I asked. “Kind of makes me the Green Lantern without the ring.”

  “I didn't read your mind, exactly,” Melissa said. “And what's a Green Lantern?”

  “Never mind. I do think I can remove your memory block. You just need to close your eyes. Try to remember something, anything, and focus on it.”

  She did; I closed my own eyes and focused.

  Could she be right? Was it possible to do all the things I could do, and more, just by thinking about it? It seemed amazing but then again, everything else up to now had been pretty damn amazing as well.

  I closed my own eyes and tried to direct my attention on Melissa. After a moment I was able to see an image in my mind. What I saw was a very long train track, in a circle, and a train traveling along the rails. There were many gaps on this track, and as the train approached it, instead of derailing it would just vanish and reappear on the next set of track.

  And as I watched this, I was able to recreate the missing sections of track, one after the other. After a few moments the track was whole again.

  When it was done, I opened my eyes; Melissa did the same thing.

  “Charles?” she asked, eyes wide.

  “Yes,” I said. “Do you remember?”

  “I do,” she answered. “And we were...married? In your world. I remember that, too,” she said. “And I...she...died?”

  “She did,” I said. “You have her memories?”

  She frowned. “I don't think I have all of them, but I have some. He killed her, didn't he? Thomas.”

  “He did,” I said. “In fact, I just watched him arrange it.”

  “Did you?
Why?”

  “I had to see for myself that he was the one who did it. But he wasn't alone, he had help.”

  “Maybe we should get help,” Melissa said. “I should call Lynne.”

  “That's a bit of a problem. She's helping him. She's one of his agents.”

  “My Lynne? She is? Why would she do that?”

  “I don't know, she made it sound like she agrees with what he's doing. She thinks people like us are some kind of threat to the world.”

  “But she's one of us,” Melissa said.

  “She doesn't have the same abilities we do, although she seems to have her own tricks. She was able to change the weather.”

  “You could do that,” Melissa said. “If you wanted. You can do anything.”

  “You can as well, can't you?”

  “No, not like you can,” she said.

  I smiled. “You think? Maybe you can do more than you think you can. Between us we should be able to stop Thomas.”

  “And her,” Melissa said.

  “And her,” I agreed. “But I don't want to hurt her, Melissa. I think she might be...misguided at this point. Thomas can be very persuasive.”

  “Just a second,” Melissa said, suddenly.

  “Yes?” I replied.

  She handed me a file folder. “How'd you...wait...is this what I think this is?” I opened the folder.

  It was the insurance paperwork from Melissa's car...my Melissa's car.

  “There,” she said. “This was troubling you, it was clear in your mind, and now you know how it happened that no one found it.”

  “I didn't even see you leave!”

  “You can do the same thing, you know. Just think that you want to go somewhere, and you'll go, no matter when or where. You need to start thinking of things differently. Get your head around that, and what you can do is limitless.”

  I nodded. “I'll try that. But to get this folder, how did you do it? I think she brought it with her to the car; I think she was on the way to her insurance agent with it.”

  “I was able to get it,” she responded. “I don't want to worry you with the details.”

  “Okay, I'll not worry about it. But you're changing the past by doing that.”

  “She wanted you to have the insurance, Charles, she'd just been pressured by other people to change the information. So I didn't really change anything, I just...set things right.”

  “They can detect us, you know,” I said. “There are other jumpers who can do that, just like I was able to find you.”

  “Yes, but you can block all of that out,” Melissa said. “So nothing to worry about.”

  “You seem to know a lot more about my own abilities than I do,” I said. “But I trust you.”

  “You'd know the same things if you gave it a second, Charles. You just have to change the way you think.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “Will you be okay here? I need to track down Thomas and get some answers.”

  “You don't want me to go with you?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Not for this, no. I need to have a chat with Jeff Thomas, alone. Man to man, so to speak.”

  “Do what you need to,” Melissa replied. “Be careful.”

  “That I can do,” I said. I smiled and closed my eyes.

  The world exploded into a rainbow of colors and a symphony of sounds.

  I never had this sensation before when portal jumping.

  And what I could see, in my mind, was the universe, in infinite quantities.

  It was overwhelming.

  I took a breath and focused. The colors swirled, and suddenly my mind was rushing through that universe, and I could see a face growing larger as I approached.

  It was Jeff Thomas, at home. That seemed like a good place to talk to him.

  And just like that, I was there.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Hello, Jeff,” I said.

  He had been sitting at a desk, studying a computer monitor. He turned around and gaped at me.

  “Matheson!” he exclaimed. He took a moment to compose himself. “I guess I shouldn't be surprised you'd just show up like that. Makes my job easier. Have you come to turn yourself in?”

  “I haven't. Why should I? I just want to talk to you.”

  “I could stop you right now, Charles. Why shouldn't I?”

  “You could try,” I said. “It wouldn't change anything.”

  “Cocky, aren't you? You weren't like that when we served together, Charles.” He stood, and I wasn't surprised to see he was pointing a gun at me. “I think I will stop you now. Report it as breaking and entering. It's my right as a citizen.”

  “Do what you need to, Jeff.”

  He pulled the trigger.

  My mind reacted on its own.

  Thomas was frozen in place, and inches in front of my face, a bullet floated.

  I grabbed it and put it into my pocket.

  “I told you it wouldn't make a difference,” I said.

  I wasn't surprised when he fired again.

  I pocketed the slugs and this time simply took the gun from his hand.

  “I just want to talk to you, Jeff.”

  He looked down at his hand, which a moment ago had contained a pistol.

  “You mean business,” he said, although he couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face. “Fine, lets talk, Charles. But like you said, it's not going to change anything.”

  “It's not going to work to have one of your jumpers come here,” I said. “No sense of even trying.”

  “Fine, Charles,” he said, and sighed. “Let's...talk.”

  “Good deal. Let's go somewhere private. You probably have this place bugged. No one else needs to be a part of this, Jeff.”

  “Somewhere private,” he said. “Fine, sure, whatever you want. You're in control, it would seem. But I'm not going to forget this little intrusion, Charles.”

  “Sure, Jeff, I understand. I know the perfect place.”

  “Lead on, then,” he said.

  I did.

  * * *

  Now that I was beginning to grasp the mechanics of jumping in the way Melissa could jump, I was finding the experience was completely different; for one, there was no “crackling” sensation nor was there a shimmering of light; it just happened. It was, however, disconcerting, because one moment you were in one place, and a fraction of a second, a completely different one.

  Thomas was flabbergasted by it.

  “What the hell!” he exclaimed.

  We were standing inside a familiar location. Thomas wasn't quite connecting the dots yet, and I really couldn't blame him for his confusion.

  “Where are we?” he asked. The room was empty; in fact, the room was dark, and I walked over to a wall to find the light switch. I flipped it and the lights flickered into light.

  “Here? It's our old stomping grounds, Jeff, don't you recognize it?”

  He looked around. “The officer's club from Iraq? I thought the who base was closed ten years ago.”

  “Was it?” I said. “I didn't know. Even if it was closed, this is 20 years ago, so no worries there.”

  “Did you bring me to the past?” Thomas asked. “How unusual. Where is everyone?”

  “Oh, they'll be along. For now we can have some privacy.” I motioned to our old table. “Have a seat. I'll get us some drinks.”

  “I'm fine,” Thomas said, walking to the table.

  I went to the bar and rummaged in one of the refrigerators and pulled out a soda. I headed to the table and sat; Thomas was in his usual seat.

  “Lynne was a good touch,” I said, taking a sip of my soda.

  “What do you want, Matheson?”

  “No small talk, Jeff? Fine. What I want is to understand why you feel compelled to wipe me off the map. It's like you've gone crazy with this obsession over me.”

  “You flatter yourself, Matheson,” he replied. “I don't need to justify anything to you. It's not all about you. There's a larger picture here. You and people l
ike you are a threat to our national security, and it's my job to stop you and prevent you from harming our citizens.”

  “While employing people like me.”

  “Under my jurisdiction, they can be controlled.”

  “Is that really why you want to kill me, Jeff? I don't buy it.”

  “Think what you want.”

  “When we flew together you were a mentor, you did a lot for me back then. How do you go from that to wanting me dead? To wanting to kill the people important to me?”

  “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  That threw me. Hadn't he and Lynne talked about me when they were making the arrangements to drain the brake line of Melissa's car?

  “My ex-wife, Melissa. Her car.”

  “What about it?”

  I sighed. “I was there when you and Lynne went back and set things up for her to get into that accident. You know, the one that killed her.”

  He looked blankly at me. “I don't remember that,” he said.

  The thing was, the look in his eyes told me he didn't know what I was talking about, or remember it.

  What did that mean?

  “No? I sure had a good view of you under the hood of her car. Was there a different Jeff Thomas in attendance?”

  “You're out of your mind,” he said. “Are we done? How about you take me back to where I belong.”

  “I could do that,” I said. “Or, I could just leave you here if you want to be a dick. Your call.”

  “You wouldn't do that!” he cried. “No way.”

  “No? Really? Is that what you think? It would be easy.”

  “And change the past? That's against your moral code, isn't it?”

  “I don't think it would be changing anything to leave you...just like you are now. Maybe you'd enjoy the solitude for the rest of your life. Give you a chance to reflect on things.”

  “Bastard. That's why people like you need to be stopped. You think with that power there are no consequences to using it.”

  “And who are you to decide what people can do?” I asked. “Sounds like you want your shot at playing God, too.”

  “You don't know anything.”

  “Maybe we can reach some kind of understanding,” I said. “You agree to stop hunting me, and I take you back to your present. I'll stay in my world. I don't belong in yours anymore. What do you think?”