Hunter

  Episode 1

  Kara

  Six months earlier

  The artificially dark sky shaded the metal hanger. On the back platform, wind whipped around the four scientists. Each was in front of a computer monitor that didn't have a keyboard or anything else connected. On the far end from the door was Jeffrey Hunter.

  He stood looking up at his experiment. There was no awe in his eyes, but they still held deep interest. Jeff, lacking the glasses on his face, studied every particle of the effect above them. Having done this test at least a dozen times before, he was looking for any change that occurred - no matter how minute.

  Glancing at his screen, he checked to see if the array of sensors had detected any changes from previous tests. Nothing had changed. Now he turned around to face the other scientists.

  "What's your readings, Brian?" He called to the scientist on the opposite side of the platform.

  "Looks good. I think this problem's solved." The problem he referred to was slight variation of the size of the portal - the thing that was causing the dark sky above them.

  Jeff moved on to the lone woman of the group, "Liz, how's the power regulation?"

  "It's going fine. No surges, even when it was near proximity." She shifted her protective goggles a bit. They weren't necessary, but she found the wind whipping around her prescription glasses annoyed her eyes too much.

  Jeff made one last check on his monitor before turning back, "Anything I need to know, Gil?

  The man next to Jeff simply replied, "Nope; good here."

  "Then...we're done." Jeff pressed a few keys on the computer screen. The portal closed and the sky brightened up to the sunny, noon light. Only a hum remained as the Dimensional Transport still hovered over the open-air hanger.

  "That was the last one," Jeff proclaimed.

  There was only a short cheer from the other three. They couldn't be too excited with much of their work that had yet to be finished.

  Jeff continued, "With that, once you guys are done, take the rest of the afternoon off. We'll need the rest for next week." Jeff was about to finish some of the work he had, then a different thought came into mind; one that really had never occurred to him before. "Liz, can you finish this up for me?"

  Liz looked a bit confused, "Uh...sure. You have something else I didn't know about?"

  "Nope, I just decided to take the afternoon myself."

  "Really? Are you sure?"

  Jeff had a firm look, "Yes, I'm sure."

  "OK." She walked to Jeff's console to finish up his work, keeping her feeling of reverse deja-vu very apparent.

  Jeff silently walked passed the other scientists, including Brian, and left the hanger through a door in the back. Noticing that Jeff was leaving early, the friend quickly typed a few last critical notes into the console and ran back to catch up.

  Outside the hanger was a minimally lit and decorated hallway. A formally-dressed soldier walked by as Brian caught up to Jeff.

  "Hey, Jeff, are you coming tonight?" Brian asked.

  "You know that it's my anniversary with Kara."

  "Hey, the meal's on me. Brenda will be there; and I know Kara was wanting to meet her." Brian slightly leaned toward Jeff while they continued walking, trying to put a bit of insistence on the matter, "So.....?"

  Jeff gave a small laugh, "Relax. Both me and Kara will be there. She actually preferred it."

  Brian stopped, while Jeff continued walking, "Great! Seven o'clock, the A.I.E. restaurant!"

  "I'll see you then, Brian."

  Brian ran back to the hanger. Jeff continued walking toward the offices and out of the facility.

  Jeff wandered in front of a large window that clearly labeled the dance studio. Looking inside, he had a perfect view of the dance floor. There was only one person inside: a nimble red-haired dancer. Kara was practicing some of her moves, a few were very apparent that it was with an imaginary partner. Most of the motions were for solo sequences. She performed artful acts of twirling and leaping to unheard music.

  One could easily tell that Jeff was content with the sight. After the few moments of watching her, Jeff decided to move forward. He walked to the door and opened it. An electronic sounded as he entered the quiet building.

  It was that sound that stopped Kara in her tracks. She straightened herself up a quick bit before noticing who came in the door. Her bright teeth were revealed as she almost leaped toward Jeff, landing inside his arms.

  "How'd you get time off?"

  "I gave myself the afternoon," he honestly replied.

  Kara gave him a suspicious look. "You gave yourself the afternoon off?"

  "What? I am the head of my team. I can always give work to somebody else once in a while."

  "Yeah...You would rather give someone else the day off and work on their experiments then give yourself the day."

  "OK, you got me there," Jeff conceded.

  Kara released him from the hug, then took his hand as they wandered aimlessly around the studio.

  Jeff turned the questions toward Kara, "How about you? No one else seems to be here."

  "Just a dead spot in the schedule. I've got a few hours before the next class."

  "That's good, 'cause I was going to see if we can have lunch together."

  "That sounds good," Kara decided to turn things back toward Jeff again, "But first, when are you going to take a vacation?"

  "Actually...rather soon. The project's almost done, so I was planning on us flying to-"

  "Maui," Kara inserted.

  Jeff still had his mouth open from before he was cut off. He was about to say something, but decided otherwise. "OK, Maui it is. Any reason for going there?"

  Kara playfully smiled, "You'll have to find out when we get there."

  Jeff took that response in stride, "Alright. Shall we head on out to lunch then?"

  "Sure. I'll trust you to choose a good place."

  The two, still holding hands, turned and walked out the door.

  Jeff was pacing at the bottom of the stairs. He took a quick look at his watch then leaned up toward the stairs, where Kara was still getting ready. "It's almost six-thirty, honey."

  Kara didn't even lean out of the room. She wasn't anxious like Jeff. Instead she was more excited towards the coming evening. "I'll be ready in a sec."

  Jeff nonchalantly hid around the corner. He took a small black box out of his pocket and checked the jewelry inside. Inside was a bracelet, diamonds adorned all around with the center pieces being a blue sapphire and a ruby. He did that probably a few too many times, but couldn't help but be eager for the time to give it.

  Then the sound of heels hitting the stairs came along. Jeff quickly closed the box and re-hid it inside his pocket. Returning to the bottom of the stairs, he saw Kara. While she had a fancy, multicolored dress on, she looked just as casual as ever. The look was made more casual with her hair loose upon her shoulders, no formality to it at all.

  "You don't even have to ask: you look beautiful."

  Kara smiled at the comment. She was now at the bottom of the stairs, standing close to Jeff."Thanks. Now let's go see your friends."

  "Isn't Liz your friend too?"

  Kara playfully said, "OK, let's see your coworkers."

  Jeff was a bit caught off-guard from the response. "Why do you always get me like that?"

  "You should know why. Now, come-on. Let's eat."

  The low hum of the crowd can be heard as Jeff and Kara's dinner party was seated at a rather large table. Brian was alongside his girlfriend, Brenda. While the group laughed at Brenda's joke, Jeff opted only to smile. For him, it was another in a long line of "that's Brian" kind of moments.

  "So, Brian literally fell over you?" Kara asked Brenda.

  "Yeah, he just ran right into me. Of course, he asked me out before he had even got up."

  The group gave a short laugh, again with Jeff just smiling. Even Brian laughed, having a good sense of humor about himself.

  "Hey, give me som
e credit," Brian responded, "I helped her first, then asked her out."

  Liz spoke up, "And was she carrying anything?"

  Brian gave a blank stare for a second, then gave his reply, "Well, no. But that didn't restrict me from helping her."

  That caused another eruption of laughter, one which even Jeff was part of.

  After the laughter died down, Liz turned the conversation toward her other coworker, "So, Jeff. This is your anniversary, have any speeches?"

  "No, not really. However, I do have something I wanted to give..." Jeff stood up, and removed the black box in which he was carrying. He aimed it towards Kara, and opened it. She gave a very pleasant look as she raised the bracelet to look at it. Jeff could tell she liked it, watching her put it on her wrist.

  Brenda requested, "Kara, let us have a good look at it."

  Kara got up and presented the bracelet. Then, she leaned over and gave Jeff and good, almost too-long kiss. The group applauded.

  As they withdrew, Brian asked, "Where's your gift, Kara?"

  She looked at him in a playful manner. "I don't think that would be appropriate."

  Brian returned the tone, "Then I'll leave it at that."

  Jeff responded, "I'm not sure if I can."

  Kara turned to him and whispered, "It won't be what I'm wearing..."

  That intrigued him enough to let it sit.

  The man sitting next to Liz raised his voice, "So Jeff, as I understand it your project is pretty much finished. How does it feel to have done something that no one knows or can know about?"

  Jeff looked at Liz with suspicion, "Liz, did you tell him anything?"

  Liz replied, "Are you saying I can't trust my husband?"

  Jeff knew the answer and showed it in his glare.

  "All right, I can't trust him at all with that. I know how he is with his coworkers. No, I didn't tell him a thing."

  Brian said, "Well, I know what it is and still want an answer."

  Jeff pronounced, "You should know by now that I never wanted accolades. No, that what this wasn't about. This project will change everything that we know. It may take years, maybe even decades to go public. Even during that time, what we have done will quietly whispered in other places. Whether it be NASA or some other government agency, our secret will come out. I just hope to live to see what will be done with our discovery."

  Brian stood up from his seat. "And that's a good moment to end on."

  With that, the other dinner guests stood up from their chairs and began to leave. The group were on the opposite side of the restaurant from the door. Jeff and Kara was last to leave the table, and was the last to exit the clear glass door.

  Jeff had held the door open for Kara. He had just released it when, as though he just remembered something, patted the back of his pants. "Dang, I think my wallet fell out again."

  "I'll get the car while you look," Kara offered.

  Jeff took his set of keys out of his pocket and handed them to Kara. "Thanks. It shouldn't be too long."

  "See you then."

  Jeff jogged back into the restaurant, while Kara headed the other way to their small car.

  He made a quick walk back to their unattended table. Swerving back to where he was sitting at, Jeff ducked down to look for his wallet. Underneath the table, the wallet could clearly be seen. He leaned forward and snatched the wallet with ease.

  Just as Jeff got up, a large boom came from outside. He looked out a large window that was facing the parking lot. Even with plenty of other people obscuring his view, he saw the large fire. Panic came over him - it was his car that was aflame. He immediately ran out of the restaurant.

  "Kara!"

  He ran towards the blazing car, looking around for Kara. He was thinking, hoping, that she didn't get into the car. It happened too soon for her to have gotten there.

  "Kara!"

  Jeff had passed near the fire when Brian was ran into him.

  "Kara!"

  Brian took hold of Jeff, stopping him. "Jeff, she was in there."

  "No, she couldn't have been in there-"

  Jeff had turned around, finally looking directly into the flames. He saw a well-burnt hand. It had the bracelet that he just gave to Kara.

  Jeff fell onto his knees, whispering, "Kara..."

  Jeff sat at the foot of his house. Brian and Liz could only get him to go that far. All he did through the night and as the sun rose was stare at the blacked bracelet. It was the only thing the firefighters were able to retrieve.

  Brenda also remained with the group. She could tell that Jeff needed people around him, no matter how alone he wanted to be. The group remained silent. All the words they had were all expelled. They all waited for Jeff to do something.

  A military style truck, overlaid in the classic green camo, stopped across the street. Two people got out: a man from the driver side and a woman from the passenger side. Both were wearing formal military uniforms. A visible sigh came from the man.

  The woman walked up next to him and gestured toward Jeff with a nod. The two pass by the separate party without even taking notice.

  The two soldiers stood in front of Jeff. They whispered to him, "Jeffrey Hunter."

  Jeff stayed silent, not acknowledging their presence.

  The woman tried to get his attention, "Sir, we have important news we have to tell you."

  Jeff still was silent. The military man looked at the woman and did a slight shrug in his shoulders. The woman had the same look on her face. They turned back and proceeded with their duty, "There has been a break-in at Femas."

  Jeff still remained silent.

  The man continued, "Two guards were injured. Three of the five intruders were also killed, another one was injured.

  "The last one, the leader of them, escaped by....umm....using your project."

  Now Jeff looked up at them.

  The woman took her turn, "We talked to the police. They found that the bomb that caused the explosion here was the same as several others that were used before."

  "And was the same person stole "my project"?" Jeff presumed, speaking for the first time since the explosion.

  The man answered, "Yes. We're referring to Nathaniel Karns."

  "He killed Kara?"

  "Yes, and blatantly so."

  Jeff now had initiative. He got up and marched straight towards Brian. Without looking back, he said to the military officers, "Thanks."

  The two military personnel stood there, watching Jeff march away.

  Jeff quickly approached Brian, "Brian, I need your car."

  Brian hesitated. He wondered what his friend was doing. But giving in to trust, he pulled his keys out his pocket and handed them to Jeff. Without any explanation, Jeff walked toward the nearby car.

  Brian, worried for his friend, released Brenda and offered her to Liz. "Can you take her home for me?"

  Liz nodded. With that done, Brian ran toward his car. Jeff was already opening the door and getting in. Brian had to quickly open the passenger door and get himself in the car before Jeff drove away.

  While the friend put on his seat belt, Jeff had skipped that step. He was very much intent on driving.

  "What did those two tell you?" Brian asked.

  Jeff didn't look at his friend and kept his eyes on the road; onto his objective. "That Nathaniel Karns..."

  Brian interrupted Jeff. "Karns! The mob boss killed Kara?"

  "Yes. They identified the bomb was Karns'. He also stole the Dimensional Transport last night."

  "Stole as in took it, or as in he's in another reality?" Brian inquired.

  "The latter," Jeff plainly said.

  Brian took a second to think. Then it came to him, "Wait a sec. You aren't thinking on using our secondary prototype?"

  "It's the only way to get him."

  Brian tried to reason with Jeff, "We don't have an "anchor" yet, we had the secondary for just that purpose. If we get the anchor ready..."

  Jeff remained firm, "That's presuming he doe
sn't move from universe to universe. By the time we get the anchor ready, I doubt we can track him."

  "So you're going to chase him?"

  "That would be the plan," Jeff said.

  Jeff opened the hallway door. He was still in a quick march as he guided himself inside the hanger. Despite being in a separate location, this hanger was designed exactly like the other one they worked in. The main difference was the piles of various emergency supplies that were in duffle bags or boxes of various size.

  The main feature of the auxiliary hanger, as with the main one, was the Dimensional Transport. It was larger than any SUV truck and raised on a pair of round skis. One can easily tell that it only had two rooms; a small cabin for the two pilots and the large rear section for any passengers or equipment. More subtle were the two tubes placed along the main body.

  Jeff leaped down the raised platform and went straight to those boxes and bags. He picked up a couple of bags, neither one too heavy for his lack of exercise, then took them to the back of the Transport. He had to drop them for a second to open the Transport. Pressing a series of codes on the keypad located on the end, that caused the back-side ramp to open. Not bothering to wait for the ramp to touch the floor, he tossed the bags in and went through several more cycles of loading for his trip.

  Brian arrived not long after Jeff. He went to the far end of the platform and activated the computer monitor. Brian began the start-up procedures that he was all too familiar with, even though this was normally Jeff's job in the experiments.

  In total, it took only a minute for both to finish their work. Brian, right as he finished his last command, went back to the short ladder and jumped down to the main floor. Jeff stood at the end of the ramp to snag a small remote key for the Transport. Brian met him there.

  "Last chance: are you sure about this?" Brian still voiced concern, hoping that his friend would not go forward.

  Jeff looked directly into Brian's eyes and spoke frankly, "I'm sure," He then held out his hand to Brian,"Thanks for everything."

  Brian shook his friends hand and smiled, "It's been a pleasure. Good luck, Jeff."

  "Thanks."

  Jeff walked into the Transport, stepping over the boxes and bags he randomly piled in. Once in the pilots cabin, he pressed a button and the ramp began raising back up.

  Brian climbed up the ladder and went back to the computer panels. He watched as the ramp closed. Then he watched the monitors for any problems.

  The roof slowly opened, showing the bright morning light. It was nearly open when the Dimensional Transport began hovering upwards. The vehicle cleared the rooftop before it started to tilt upward as well. It gained considerable height before stopping mid-air.

  Brian watched it hover over the hanger, taking only quick glances at the monitor. This wasn't an experiment anymore; it was seeing a friend leave for the last time.

  A new hum coursed through the hanger, as the tubes gained more and more energy. Then, they each shot a beam of light into the air. It ended about a hundred yards away, where the sky darkened and a swirling portal appeared.

  With the wind whipping about, Brian saw the Dimensional Transport fly into the portal. Once it was through, the portal flashed away; Jeffrey Hunter was gone.

  The other side of the portal formed in the night sky. From it, the Transport shot out above the cityscape. The portal remained open for only a second more before disappearing. Jeff could see that he was fairly high up in the air; about as high as the skyscrapers in the distance. He couldn't directly see what he was over with the way the cockpit was designed. The view was mostly filled with the various nearby buildings. In one direction, there what seemed to be a retail market within another calm neighborhood.

  He decided neither one of those were appropriate places to land. While there was security mechanisms in the Dimensional Transports, he didn't want to put it where it would be very conspicuous.

  Placed between the two pilot seats was a screen. It was showing a rough map of the city that he was over. While it wasn't perfect, it still a good indicator whether an area was heavily populated or not. Jeff tapped a bar on the right side of the screen and scrolled it down to have the map zoom out. He then noticed an open area, then tapped it to mark it. With one last command, a line appeared with directions to that area.

  Jeff took the control stick and rotated the Transport toward the new location. Being this far in the air, it only took that turn before he was directly aimed at the open field. Boosting the Transport forward, he sent the craft through the skies at about a moderate speed.

  His destination turned out to be a park. It was wide open grass with only a few trees spotting the field. Switching the map to a camera mode, he looked around the park for an open area that was out of view of anyone passing by. The best he saw was a ditch that was a fair distance from any marked path.

  Jeff slowly moved the Transport over that ditch. He then, just as slowly, lowered it until it lightly touched the ground.

  Now set on the ground, Jeff powered the Transport down and opened the rear ramp. He calmly walked out of the vehicle, pressing his remote key to close the Transport back up. His target was the city lights in the distance.

  The police station was silent. This was the time of night that usually one officer was in the whole station. Most apparent was the officer manning the front desk, watching for anyone that would have something to report - even at this late juncture.

  Jeff opened the door to the seemingly dark station. The officer looked up at this new person and asked, "You have something to report, sir?"

  Jeff replied, "Well, I was actually wondering if you can help me find someone."

  "If this is a missing person report, you'll have to wait until..."

  Jeff stopped the officer, "No, this is not. I'm looking for a felon and thought he might have shown up on your radar."

  "I'm not sure if I can give out any information to public citizens, not unless you have any new information."

  "I might have some. The guy I'm looking for might go by the name of Nathaniel Karns. He is about average height, short grey hair and has a tattoo of a dragon on the back of his hand."

  The last part caught the front-desk officer's attention. Rather then writing anything down or looking up anything on the nearby computer, he said to Jeff, "Wait in here, I'll get someone who can help."

  Jeff nodded in acknowledgment as the officer went to the back. As he waited, Jeff wandered about the waiting area. There were plenty of pictures on the wall. Some were photos of officers who have long since retired. Toward one side were pictures of charity events, a few that was quite new compared to the others.

  Then there was one old photo. It was on a wooden mantle with a gold plate engraving the officer's name. Below his name was the dates he served as an officer; it was for only ten years.

  "Excuse me, sir," a man called out.

  Jeff turned to see that the officer from before returned back to the desk, and a new officer was holding open the door between the waiting area and the offices. Jeff approached him.

  He held out his hand to Jeff, "I'm Sergeant Garret Nelson."

  Returning the handshake, "Jeffrey Hunter."

  Nelson gestured toward down the hallway. "This way to my desk."

  As Jeff walked down the hallway, he noted that it was a bit dark. It wasn't difficult to navigate since all the chairs and other office equipment was set to one side. No one else seemed to be here. Jeff thought it would have been otherwise, that some officers would be on call.

  While Jeff and Nelson walked down the hallway, the officer began his questioning, "I heard you were looking for my suspect?"

  "Yes. His name is Nathaniel Karns."

  "And why are you looking for him?"

  Jeff paused in the hallway, with the officer following suit. The now-former scientist looked directly into Nelson's eyes, "He killed my wife."

  "I'm sorry for your loss." Nelson gave out genuine empathy. They had a second of silence between them. The off
icer was the first to continue walking.

  They entered the office area. It was filled with work desks and had little in any barriers or dividers. The other side had several windows that peeked into meeting rooms. Everything, especially the meeting rooms, was dark. There was only one light in the entire area: the computer monitor that, as Jeff guessed, was on Nelson's desk.

  The officer walked to the desk, sat down and pulled out a couple of folders from his files. Jeff chose to remain standing.

  "So, what do you know about this...Karns?"

  Jeff explained his knowledge of his enemy, "He's a mob boss. Usually he doesn't work directly, instead hiring others to do his dirty work."

  "Well, he's changed his tactics since you last knew him."

  Nelson opened the top folder and pulled out a few black and white photographs.

  "Here's the security photo we got late last night. From the footage, it appeared he was directing the others, but he certainly wasn't staying on the sides. We have a decent I.D. on the other perps. I was going to see if I could find them tomorrow. And until now, we couldn't get an I.D. on this Karns fellow.

  "Do you have any idea why?"

  "I doubt you'll believe me," Jeff said.

  Nelson gave a laughing sigh, "You know, I've seen and heard of some strange things. Try me."

  Jeff prepared himself, mostly in some way to be mocked, "OK, both he and I are from an alternate reality."

  "An alternate what?"

  "I'll explain it this way: an alternate reality is the similar to this world. It can have the same buildings or people, just with something different. It could be some part of history went a different way, somebody made a different choice and might become a villain rather then a hero."

  Nelson caught on to the idea, "Like that one Star Trek where..."

  Jeff held up his hand to stop Nelson. "Yes. Apparently we share that in common."

  Nelson was about to ask another question when the hand-held radio that was sitting on his desk came to life, "Attention Sergeant Nelson."

  Nelson took the radio and spoke directly into it, "This is Nelson."

  "We have a break-in occurring at 5th and Cherry. The security camera shows a couple of the suspects you were looking for."

  "Thanks for the tip. Have a couple of patrol officers meet me there in five."

  "Copy that."

  Nelson put the radio into the holster on his belt. Then he opened a drawer in his desk, "Do you know how to handle a gun?"

  "One of the better things about working for the military," Jeff replied.

  Nelson took out a pistol from the drawer, then offered it to Jeff. "I usually don't do this, but I might need you there."

  Jeff took the pistol. Nelson went back into the same drawer and retrieved another pistol for himself. While he led Jeff to the parking garage, he holstered the weapon. Jeff, first making sure that the weapon had its safety on, set his in the back of this pants as an impromptu holster.

  The officer led Jeff along another hallway to another door. Even though they were on the inside, the door required a card key for it to be opened. Nelson took a card from his pocket and swiped it to release the door.

  The garage had a few cars left; only two that weren't marked police vehicles of some sort. The entire area was well lit, although was very quiet.

  Flipping through his thick set of keys, he held the remote for his car. Clicking it came the familiar sound of the doors unlocking and the front and rear lights flashed.

  The two just got into the car when Nelson's phone rang. The officer started the car before pressing a button on the center console. "This is Garret."

  "Garret, where the heck are you!" The voice was of a deeply displeased woman.

  As he backed the car up, Nelson silently cursed himself. "Sorry, Jen. Work took much longer. I won't be..."

  "You won't be home until late. Again. I had to skip out my own business for this, you know. When was the last time we had a good night out, much less had sex?"

  "Jen..."

  "Worse, look at the pile of clothes you have yet to clean. I don't have time for all of that! You need to do your share..."

  Nelson practically yelled, "Jen!" The silence indicated he got her attention, "I have Mr. Jeffrey Hunter here helping me."

  A barely audible verb came out, then she realized what Nelson just said. "Oh, sorry. Thought at this time of night we'd be alone."

  Jeff felt even more awkward. "That's fine."

  Nelson suggested, "We'll try to discuss this tomorrow."

  Jennifer replied, "I can't. The conference starts right in the morning and I need to be in the office right after that."

  Nelson was a bit disappointed that this couldn't be worked out in a simple fashion. "All right, we'll figure it out. Right now I have to work. Sorry.

  "Love you."

  Despite the gesture of affection, he ended the call not very happy. He sat in the car and took a few moments to let the moment pass. Then he gather his willpower to set the car in drive and leave the garage.

  There was another car parked on the street when Nelson and Jeff arrived. It was purposefully dark; the lights and engine were off. The building itself looked equally inactive.

  Nelson stopped the car behind the parked police vehicle. After the car was shut down, the two got out of the car while the two in the other vehicle did the same.

  As they met, Nelson asked, "Are they still in there?"

  The first man answered, "Yup. They've been in there for fifteen minutes. I doubt they knew about the cameras." Looking at Jeff, he asked Nelson, "Who's the 'civ?"

  "This is Jeffrey Hunter. He knows a few things about our mystery suspect. I'd like to introduce you two, but we should head on in."

  The two police officers nodded. The second one pointed out doors in the building, "The front seems to be the best entrance."

  "You two go first."

  The group moved swiftly but also tried not to make any noise. With the two unnamed officers leading, they calming walked to the front door. It was left slightly ajar, definite evidence that whoever was in there used that door. One officer moved to the side to make sure no one was on the other side. Quietly opening it, they moved quietly into the dark building.

  Once inside, the first police officer signaled toward the right. Despite the dark conditions, Jeff could see most everything in the hallways. There weren't many chairs or other obstacles for the four to move around.

  They walked for what seemed like a long time before he saw where the burglars were. Inside a corner room, lights sputtered across the blinds. The officers moved along the wall and ducked down below the windows.

  Nelson gave hand signals to the police officers, showing that they should go to one direction. He then signaled Jeff to stay behind him.

  They all moved their respective positions behind the two shut doors. With guns drawn, they took a ready position.

  "Now!" Nelson yelled.

  He kicked the door open. Holding his gun up, Nelson aimed at two burglars that were standing up. They were about to draw their own weapons when the door to their side was broken.

  "Drop your weapons!" ordered the other officer.

  The four burglars, including the two that were on the floor, were at first confused as to what to do. Then they did just as they were ordered: they dropped their guns and held their hands up in surrender.

  Nelson cautiously moved to the captives. The guns were tossed into a small pile that was a good distance away from them.

  With the action over with, Jeff calmly walked into the room with his gun drawn as a just-in-case measure. He looked at the standing burglars; none were Karns. Jeff couldn't help but have a bit of disappointment, even though he doubted the villain would have been there anyway.

  Looking around, Jeff saw a door that was to his side but behind the three officers. He opened his mouth to alert them. Before that could happen, the door swung open. A burglar was hidden behind and had waited out until he saw the perfect time to ambush.


  Jeff quickly reacted by aiming his pistol. Without giving time for precision, he fired several times.

  Nelson and the others swung around to face the new threat. It was already over. The ambusher fell back against the wall, blood leaking from his chest.

  The other officers switched their aim back to the other burglars to make sure that they didn't do anything. Nelson ran to the wounded man and slapped the gun he was holding away. He then took out his radio, "Shots fired. Need ambulance at 5th and Cherry, suspect wounded."

  "Copy that."

  Jeff slowly lowered his pistol, then briskly walked up to the wounded man.

  "Where's Karns?" he simply asked.

  The robber, almost half conscious, gave a grimace of pain. He grabbed his wound before answering, "Who?" Then it occurred to him who Jeff was talking about, "Oh, yeah, that guy. Never said his name actually. Just had a job for us, got some good stuff."

  The robber knew that he was defeated, and it mattered little what he said.

  Nelson asked, "And you thought you could do it again here?"

  "Yeah," he said, emoting a sense of pain as he said it.

  Jeff took his turn, desperately wanting an answer, "Do you know where he is?"

  "Nope, not a clue. I just knew that he took some bombs."

  Jeff looked at Nelson, knowing very well how dangerous Karns with explosives. "Great."

  Jeff awoke from a clatter of activity. There was quite a bit more people wandering around the police station than the night before. The lights were all on, making the space seem like it in relative daylight despite the lack of outside windows.

  He rotated himself upwards from the impromptu bed of seats. Everyone around him looked like either an officer or office worker; yet no one took notice of him. He guessed that he wasn't the first to sleep there.

  Before he was dropped off there, he didn't think he was at all tired. Jeff guessed that all the events of the previous day had got to him. Although he didn't remember any dreams, he still felt something from one: a mixed feeling of nostalgia and sadness. He was too tired from waking up to show either one. Even if he was fully awake, he tended not to show that type of thing publicly anyway.

  Nelson came from the office area and walked toward Jeff. He held a cup of steaming liquid, "Coffee?"

  Jeff took the cup and sipped it. Jeff wondered, "What time is it?"

  "Eleven. I would have been here earlier, but...you know the problems I have at home." Nelson sat down next to Jeff, "Enough about me, how are you doing?"

  "A bit disoriented."

  "First night in a new world," Nelson humored.

  Jeff couldn't quite tell if Nelson really believed him about his alternate universe travel. Either way, he let him help out last night. He guessed that even if Nelson didn't believe him, the officer still trusted him enough for that.

  But Jeff still wanted to know, "You never really mentioned why you believe me."

  "When you're a patrol officer for fifteen years, you get a sense when people are lying. Or otherwise. You also get a sense of when to trust someone."

  "Like last night."

  "Yeah."

  Nelson changed the subject, "I have two other officers look into a few things about our case. In the mean time, I would like to show you something."

  Nelson got up and started walking toward the office. He waved at Jeff, instructing him to follow. Jeff took a quick sip of his coffee before getting up to follow. They walked down the hallway to the office then turning the opposite direction from the garage. There was another hallway that was similar to the main entrance. This one had more doors, probably various storage closets or another. They traveled to the last door before a corner. Using his key-card, Nelson opened the door.

  Inside was racks of various devices or another. The larger items were placed toward the bottom racks, while the opposite was very true. From what Jeff could tell, nothing in there could be considered evidence or any type of weapon. The only thing he saw that he could recognize was a few open cases of fingerprint kits.

  Nelson walked to the back of the small room. Reaching up to the top-most rack, he took a small device about the size of a small cell phone. "Normally we have our counselor prescribe these, but I figure you can be an exception."

  Jeff, standing only a few steps from the doorway, wondered, "Why do you say that?"

  Nelson plainly answered, "You didn't hear yourself while you were asleep." He didn't elaborate further.

  The officer walked over to Jeff and handed him the device,"With this, close your eyes."

  Jeff shut his eyes.

  Nelson continued his instructions, "Hold the projector up, so it's pointing away from you."

  Jeff complied, extending his arm like he was aiming the device at something.

  "Now, imagine your wife."

  "Her name is Kara," Jeff blurted out, without knowing exactly why.

  "OK, imagine Kara. When you have the perfect mental image, press the green button."

  Jeff saw Kara, just like the day before. His memory of her was just as fresh as ever. He pressed the button.

  "Now open your eyes."

  With the mental image of Kara still in mind, he opened his eyes to only find the background has changed. Kara was standing in the storage room. She was breathing but not talking or doing anything else.

  "How..."

  Nelson explained before Jeff could complete his question, "Some company developed it about three years ago. They say it helps those in grief, in which I think was the case here. The technical stuff I don't know that well, but I've heard it definitely helps."

  Jeff didn't take his eyes off the Kara hologram. She was in a loose dress, the very one she wore at her dance school. Her red hair flowed in the unseen breeze. The green eyes casually stared right back to him. He could see that she was happy, just as he always saw her. It was almost a relief to see her.

  Nelson caught his attention by patting him on the shoulder. Jeff couldn't really tell how long he stood there; just that his arm relaxed a bit.

  Nelson said, "Let's go see what they've found."

  Jeff was a bit hesitant to leave this moment, but he knew he had to. "Sure," he responded to Nelson.

  Jeff pressed the green button again, dissolving the hologram.

  Nelson led Jeff back to the office a few moments later, where his desk was occupied by two people. The man and woman, both dressed in office attire, appeared to have waited a few minutes for them to arrive.

  Nelson introduced the two, "This is detectives Millie and Charlie."

  "First name basis?" Jeff asked.

  The young woman answered, "We're brother and sister. It's easier for the both of us."

  Nelson moved onto business, "Have you found anything?"

  The man, only a few years older than his sister, answered, "We've found our burglar's hide out and figured out what they had stolen. After checking the inventory from the Sandvale robbery, there's still plenty missing."

  "So what's missing?" Jeff asked, hoping it wasn't similar news to last night's revelation.

  Millie took out a note-pad from her pocket, "Other then quite a bit of explosives, we got several low-grade lasers, heat sensors, night vision binoculars, various communication devices and some pieces of some experiment or another."

  Jeff wondered, "What kind of experiment?"

  Charlie took his turn, "I believe the Sandvale people said it was an experiment on some kind of new energy. Something like that at least."

  An idea came to Jeff, one he hoped would work, "Can you get them to send a part of that experiment over to me?"

  Charlie answered, "Actually, I think there was a piece of it in the evidence locker. I'll go get it."

  Charlie got up and jogged to the hallway that Nelson and Jeff had just came from.

  Nelson looked at Jeff, "Got an idea?"

  "Possibly. We're going to have to take a trip to do this."

  Millie interjected, "On a more important topic, do you know what thi
s "Karns" will use those explosives for?"

  Jeff grimly said, "Yeah; none very pleasant. He has plenty of experience with them."

  Charlie returned from the main hallway with a black box. It was about the size of a external hard drive. He handed the metal piece to Jeff. He examined it in greater detail. It seemed to be very plain, with the exception that it still had some fingerprint dust on it. Looking more carefully, he saw small holes and dents, showing it was wedged between something.

  Charlie said, "I don't think this piece did anything. But then again, I'm not an scientist."

  "Well, I am. But I'll need some equipment that's in my Transport," Jeff faced towards Nelson, asking him, "It's in a park nearby. I'll need a car."

  "I can drive," Nelson offered.

  Jeff marched toward the garage. Nelson followed, but still faced the siblings, "I'll give you a call if we find anything."

  Nelson followed Jeff to the garage, hoping that this lead would help.

  Jeff was leading Nelson around the park. The two was slightly lost, going down a few empty pits. Jeff had a good sense of direction and found the Transport that was just out of sight. The few people that was wondering around saw the two. They were all watched to see if they were looking for something.

  Nelson stayed at the top of the small hill when Jeff arrived at the Transport. Luckily it hadn't rained, Jeff thought. Otherwise the entire ditch would have been waterlogged. Taking his remote key out, he opened the back ramp to the Transport. Jeff noticed that Nelson was still at the top of the hill, ushering people away from the sight.

  Jeff yelled to him, "You can just come down here."

  Nelson took the suggestion and slowly walked down the hill. He stopped aside the ramp, content to peek in at what Jeff was doing.

  "Hold this."

  Jeff handed him the black box from the police station. Nelson saw Jeff then rummage through the various bags and boxes, looking for something. All of the supplies Jeff had gathered were still in a bit of a mess. The search was further hindering any organizational efforts.

  Then he found it. The device was a small wand with a screen at the bottom. Tapping a few instructions into it, Jeff walked back to the ramp where Nelson stood.

  Nelson held out the black box while Jeff waved the scanner around it. It took a few rounds of waving the scanner back and forth over the box before it beeped.

  Jeff was enthusiastic at the results, "OK! This is better then I thought."

  "So, what is it?" Nelson asked.

  "I have no idea," Jeff blatantly answered, "But I have seen this before. And I know that it can be tracked miles away."

  Jeff turned around and walked through the cabin. He sat in the pilot seat and began start-up procedures. Without turning, he said to Nelson, "You might as well hop aboard."

  The ramp started to raise up on Nelson. He practically dove into the Transport before the ramp would close up on him. He walked to the front, taking a bit of wonder to the ship.

  Jeff took a lever and pulled it upward. That action caused the Transport to start to hover, then go flying straight up. While it wasn't too fast, it made Nelson decide to sit down at the passenger seat.

  Jeff said to him, "I figure that at this altitude, we could increase our chances of finding where Karns is hiding."

  Nelson was looking outside, almost in awe. "I definitely believe you now."

  Jeff took the scanner to a nearby console, its screen showing it is connecting to the Transport's interface. With the scanner's information set in the Transport, he tapped a few buttons to begin the scan.

  He looked over to see Nelson's expression of awe. He said to him, "I guess you don't have hover-craft technology."

  Nelson shook his head, "No."

  The display panel beeped, notifying Jeff that it found something. He looked at it to find a dot right in the middle of downtown - where larger buildings were located.

  "It won't be very accurate until we move closer," Jeff informed Nelson.

  Nelson saw where the map was pointing to, "Don't worry, I know exactly where that is."

  The police car that Nelson drove moved slowly. Although the afternoon traffic was light, most of the cars passed by them. Jeff had his scanner in hand. He constantly looked at the screen to see exactly where the other pieces of the stolen project is at.

  Jeff knew that his other Transport was not hidden here, but he might get Karns; that was the important thing.

  The scanner beeped, showing that it found something.

  "Right in there," Jeff said, pointing to a mid-level hotel. It was one of the older, smaller buildings in the area. It was still quite tall and would otherwise be a hard place to find someone.

  Nelson, without acknowledging Jeff's discovery, parked the car a block away. Before getting out, he took the car's radio mic, "This is Nelson, I'm at the corner of 42nd and Douglas, heading into the Billiard Hotel, checking on a suspect."

  "Copy that," said the operator, "I'll send in a patrol car over to your position."

  "Thanks. I'll be inside."

  He set the mic back and the two got out of the car. They walked casually, trying not to look too conspicuous. Inside the hotel a concierge approached them. Jeff went ahead, following the signal the scanner was giving him. Nelson put his finger to his lips, telling the concierge to be silent. He held up his badge as credentials and the formally dressed man let them by.

  Then Jeff stopped in the middle of the open waiting area. He was directly below the signal. They quickly looked around and found a sign for stairs. They found the door to the stairway, which went all the way to the tenth floor. As they went up in the dull area, Jeff checked to see if they were level. He found the mark as they got to the third floor.

  They went to a hallway that had many doors, each a room for the hotel. Jeff moved slowly while he tracked the signal; getting closer to where Karns was.

  Then he found it. The door was just the same as the others: with a card needed to open it on the doorknob. Jeff pointed it out, trading his scanner for the pistol that Nelson gave him.

  The officer took out his own pistol. Taking a step back, Nelson slammed his foot into the door. It took a second kick to break the door open.

  With his guns aimed forward, Nelson moved inside. He quickly checked the open bathroom before moving to the bedroom. "I don't see him."

  Jeff, very close behind, pointed out the cracked balcony door. "He probably has been gone a while. I doubt the car alone would have scared him."

  It all wasn't for naught. Quite a bit of stuff was piled on the bed. Jeff raised his scanner, waving over the assorted items. He found a small piece of electronics and some other things that looked like they belonged with it, "I think this is what we were tracking."

  "Have any idea why he would want that piece?" Nelson asked.

  Jeff shook his head, "I have no idea. I don't even know what this does; he might though. Probably would found some way of getting information on it beforehand."

  They sifted through more of the stuff, seeing if there was anything else important. Nelson was the first to give up, "I don't think we can do anything here. I'll call Millie to come down and check to see what all this is."

  He was about to take out his cell when the hotel phone started ringing. Jeff was about to pick up the ringing phone next to him when Nelson signaled otherwise, "No, I'll get it."

  Jeff stood back to let Nelson in. He calmly picked up the phone, "Hello?"

  "Is this Sergeant Garret Nelson," said the voice on the other side.

  Nelson decided to lie, "No, it isn't."

  "Hmm...He was leading the investigation into me. Oh well, you'll do."

  "Is this Nathaniel Karns?" Nelson asked.

  "That's interesting," Karns said curiously, "I don't think I used that name here."

  Jeff listened to Nelson intently, trying to get an idea of what the conversation was about.

  "One of your flunkies overheard it." It was another lie. That was a technique officers used to collaborate
information. In this case, he didn't want to tip him off about Jeff.

  "So that was the case. Then I'll have to get rid of them." The way Karns said it was as though it was fact, with no anger or annoyance at all.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "That won't be of much concern to you. Especially once you learned why I called."

  Karns waited for a second for some response, but Nelson didn't give one. So he continued, "There was a reason I preferred to have Sergeant Nelson on. I have something of great importance to him."

  "And what would that be?"

  "A better question is who."

  Nelson clearly had to hold his breath for a second; as well as his temper. He knew exactly who Karns was talking about. "You have Jennifer."

  "That's correct. It was good that you know Mr. Nelson. That way you can tell him yourself." Again, no anger, hate or any negative emotion came from Karns. He just made cold, calculated statements.

  "And I presume you want him to stop his investigation," Nelson guessed.

  "No," Which surprised Nelson a bit, "I've been around long enough to know how to properly kill an investigation.

  "No, my needs are more...self-interested. I need money, and plenty of it. Actually, if you can get as much of the largest common denomination in a briefcase, that'll do. I'll be in the construction yard along 6th street at ten. Only one person will deliver; I don't care who it is. The rest should be obvious.

  "And relay this to the Sergeant: don't take this personally, it's just business."

  Karns hung up his end of the phone. Nelson slowly set the phone back down on the hook. "Damn it," saying it not only about the situation, but also metaphorically kicking himself.

  Jeff could more than relate to Nelson's pain.

  The police station was in a fury. Various officers were running around the desks, trying to get their jobs done and move on to the next steps. The noise was blocked by the large window. The Chief of Police was now leading the investigation, standing at the head of the table in the meeting room.

  "Does anyone know how she got kidnapped?" asking the group.

  The siblings were sitting next to each other, opposite from Jeff and Nelson. The brother said, "We got witnesses that she was caught in her work place parking lot."

  Jeff wondered, "Did anyone see him?"

  "At least two people did. He didn't hide himself at all."

  Jeff pondered this for a second, then gave his estimate on Karns' goals, "I think he's planning an escape. When he stole my Dimensional Transport, he did it blatantly. If that's the case, he'll be even more dangerous."

  The Police Chief raised an eyebrow at Jeff. The foreign scientist has proven himself thus far, but he was still a civilian. "I appreciate your help thus far, but why couldn't you just trace your machine?"

  Jeff knew all too well why, "I'll spare the technical details. The Transport can be tracked across different worlds, but not that well within third-dimensional space. I can only get it to within ten miles at best."

  Millie wanted to move onto real business, "With that aside, this meeting tonight is the best time to capture him."

  Nelson, wanting to do just as Millie suggested, still had concerns. All of those concerns were for Jennifer. "Just a few problems. I checked out the site. No one's there, but there's still plenty of explosives that are now armed."

  "So we can't be on site," said the Police Chief, "We still can have snipers and other people off site."

  Nelson offered, "Then I'll be the one to go in to meet him."

  The Chief leaned forward, making sure he was insistent. "No. I will need you on the ground, coordinating." That was true, but he sensed something in Nelson he didn't recognize. He did well as a cop, but he could see in his eyes something that made him a bit too impulsive at the moment.

  Everyone knew that someone had to go up there.

  The Police Chief could delegate this duty to anyone, but Jeff decided, "Then I'll be the one going."

  The Police Chief asked the obvious question, "And why should I trust you on this?"

  "I know what he has; what he is capable of. And I'm going to guess you'll need your men elsewhere."

  The Chief knew that was true; he could use everyone someplace other than straight in the line of fire. Moreover, since Jeff was the only one to know Karns at all, it may be a good card to play. "All right, you will go. Hopefully seeing you, of all people, will throw him off. And we need him to make mistakes.

  "The meeting is in six hours. Everyone be on site in five. Dismissed."

  The sun was setting; it was getting late. Jeff only heard the sound of the waves crashing. This was the first time at the beach in a long while. Kara - actually her hologram - was standing next to him. While he heard the beach, he stared at the vision of the very happy woman.

  Millie had found him. She quietly approached, seeing how Jeff was in a mood of nostalgia and grief.

  She saw the hologram of Kara. It was still, only breathing. No sound emitted from the vision; something that was purposefully done. "Is that your wife?"

  "Yeah, that's Kara."

  Jeff let the silence set before asking, "Why do you suppose they didn't make it so then she could talk?"

  "I guess to keep it from being too much of an escape."

  Jeff didn't care for the answer. A wave of regret just rolled over him, "I should have grabbed my answering machine. I kept a few of her calls; for no real reason. But, in my haste in leaving, I didn't go and get it. I miss hearing her. I miss talking with her..."

  Millie gave a swift kick to Jeff's shin. It didn't hurt him but it was enough to get his attention. "You'll have to grieve later," She said frankly, "For now, we have work to do."

  Jeff gave a quick look at Millie, confirming by saying, "OK."

  Millie walked back from whence she came.

  Jeff, still holding the hologram projector, gave one last look at Kara. He whispered to himself, "That's another thing I miss: a reason not to work."

  The construction site was still a skeleton. It was surrounded on one side by two larger buildings; the other it towered over the smaller buildings. Lights illuminated much of it, with very little that one could not see from the outside.

  Emergency vehicles of all types were on the street. Flashing red and blue reflecting off the covered fence. Most of the people on site were police officers, although there was medics, firefighters and SWAT teams ready in case they were needed.

  Nelson appreciated the response. The main goal was to get Jennifer back. However, everyone knew it was also to stop Karns before he could do any more damage. Part of that plan was being set at that moment. Raising the radio to his mouth, Nelson spoke, "Sniper team, what's your status?"

  The snipers were all in the nearby buildings. They were positioned to get as many angles as possible. There were a few blind spots, but he doubted that Karns would have it any other way.

  "Lead here," the man spoke from the radio, "All snipers have checked in ready. Negative on any presence within target site."

  Nelson looked around the buildings to try to see where they were. However, these guys were experts: they knew how not to be seen. Into the radio he instructed, "Keep me posted if you see anything I can't."

  "Copy. Sniper out."

  Nelson lowered his radio, keeping it in hand.

  Out of an armored SWAT truck came Jeff. His chest was a bit larger then before, with the extra protection of a bullet-proof vest. He otherwise looked just liked when Nelson first met him.

  The sergeant approached Jeff. He removed a small device from his pocket, "There's just one more thing you'll need up there."

  Nelson lifted up Jeff's hand and strapped the watch-sized device to his wrist. "This is a magnetic grappling rope. There actually isn't any rope, it's more like a beam. Which is why people nicknamed it the grappling beam. The length you have left is on the face here."

  The officer pointed out the device's face. The small display that had 1500 on it. While small, one could still r
ead it if they lowered their arm.

  Nelson continued his instructions, "It'll attach to pretty much any surface. You just have to ball your fist up..." He mimicked what Jeff would need to do, extending his arm out to show him, "...and bend it downward. The angle your wrist is in will have it extend, slows or retract it. You'll need it if you fall."

  "Hopefully that won't be necessary."

  Nelson checked his watch, noting the time, "You got ten minutes. Ready?"

  Jeff didn't nod, "Yes. I'm ready."

  "Head on up. The case is at the entrance. Good luck."

  Nelson held his hand up for Jeff to shake. The handshake wasn't a cheerful one at all, but far more serious.

  Jeff released and walked toward the construction site. One could not tell how many scenarios that ran through his head; many of them not good.

  He found the briefcase easy enough: it was placed at the feet of one of the officers who were guarding the site. Jeff picked it up, noting that it didn't weigh all that much for him. The officer nodded, a silent way of saying good luck. Jeff returned the nod.

  Inside the fence, there was still quite a bit of construction equipment: concrete mixers, drills, hammers, all the things one would expect on such a location. There was an open-air elevator ready for Jeff to use. He calmly walked to it and set it to go up.

  Arriving at the eighth floor, Jeff halted the elevator and opened the gate. There was a nearby ladder and small wooden walkways. For Jeff to get to the outer ledge, he had to walk directly on a few steel beams.

  The beams were wide enough that he could walk somewhat normally. He decided it was best to take each step in a careful manner. There was no need no hurry and he certainly didn't want to fall. Coming across a vertical beam, he held his loose hand to it in order to step on the makeshift walkway. After that his path became much easier.

  The wooden platform hovered over the ground with nothing below. It had a makeshift sign that said, "Wait here." No doubt something Karns set. With neither Karns nor Jennifer there, Jeff had to wait for something to happen.

  From above, Jeff heard it. The familiar hum of the Dimensional Transport. It slowly floated to the skeleton of a building. At this distance and angle, he couldn't see inside the cabin.

  The Transport stopped a few hundred feet above the building, then lowered itself down. It seemed like a long time, as Jeff both anticipated and dreaded meeting his foe. The former made worse in that while he hoped to end this entire scenario, he dreaded the many possibilities that Karns could have brought with him.

  Unexpectedly, the Transport stopped just above him. It shifted to a metal beam that was sticking out. The rear ramp began opening during in its approach. It took only a few seconds before the beam was inside the open Transport.

  Jeff tried to shift his body to get a view inside. He couldn't hear anything either. Whatever Karns had planned, he knew it wasn't good.

  As the Transport shifted back out, Jeff spotted Jennifer. Her arms was tied to the steel beam. She hung just out of reach to the nearest metal walkway.

  The Transport lowered itself with the ramp still open. The end of the ramp just touched the wooden platform. The white-haired Karns turned around from the pilot cabin. His attitude was almost cocky, as though he knew that he had won the day. He approached the back of the Transport. The villain's feet stopped just before the ramp. As he looked onto Jeff, his attitude changed.

  Nelson could see the Transport from his binoculars. Unfortunately, he couldn't see Karns at all. He raised his radio, "Sniper team: does anyone have sight of target?"

  The answer did not please Nelson, "Negative. Target's location is known, but not within sight."

  Mentally kicking himself, Nelson lowered his radio back down before returning to the binoculars. "OK Jeff, let’s see if you can do this."

  Jeff stared down Karns. The villain looked curious, as he saw something he didn't expect. It took him a second to fully comprehend the situation. Then he smiled. "I see that you survived my attempt to kill you."

  "That I did," Jeff responded, revealing a hint of anger.

  "Judging from your tone, your wife wasn't so lucky."

  "Was killing her part of the plan?"

  Karns shook his head. "Not necessarily, no. She was only collateral damage. Just someone who was at the wrong place...at the wrong time," Karns said that as a simple statement, "I just needed you dead, to delay anyone chasing me. Apparently that part of the plan failed."

  That didn't sit well with Jeff. "So, you didn't really care that I was alive or dead. You just kill for only a little gain?"

  "Don't get me wrong. People don't care about anyone that they can't see. Or even meet. Even then, we manipulate others, try to gain favor or devalue others. There's no one that really cares about anyone else. We only value ourselves. Heck, our entire society is based on caring about ourselves."

  "And Jennifer and Kara was merely a string to be pulled."

  Karns smiled, "Well I use anything to my advantage. Caring about someone in this world....or any worlds.....can hurt you. They may leave you. They may hurt you, intentionally or otherwise. And as you have found, it will hurt you if something happens to them."

  "That may be, but I'll take that pain any day." For Jeff, that was the truth of things; something that Karns clearly didn't understand.

  The villain checked his watch. He could have taken as much time as he wanted. However, Karns didn't want to waste anymore time on small talk. "It's been a fun chat, but I require that case you have. Slide it over here."

  Jeff set the briefcase down, flat on its side. Standing straight up, he slide the briefcase using his foot. It made an audible thud as it hit the end of the ramp. Karns leaned down and quickly took the step down to retrieve his prize before diving back into the safety of the Transport.

  He opened it, checking to make sure that there was money in the case. Closing it, he remarked to Jeff, "Looks good. So long, Mr. Hunter."

  Karns reached into his pocket, clicking his remote key without removing his hand. The ramp started to close. Feeling secure that the deal was done, Karns turned his back to Jeff.

  Jeff saw the opportunity. Quickly pulling the gun that was hidden on his back, he aimed at Karns. With the ramp moving upwards, he had to be quick. Jeff lined up the small sights to Karn's back and fired.

  The villain fell forward. Blood splattered ahead of Karns. Jeff saw the body landing on the floor, just below his view with the ramp rising up. He dove forward, stopping the ramp from closing further with his hand. He looked in to see the condition of his rival.

  Karns was breathing, heavily. Jeff was about to pronounce to Karns that he was defeated when the villain slumped to his side. In his hand was the red button of the detonator. He pressed it.

  Nelson saw the red fireball rising out from the building. He desperately looked for Jennifer, but couldn't see anything through the flames or black smoke. Starting to run forward, he wanted to go in and find her. But a hand stopped him, grabbing his arm. It was Charlie. The friend held a combined look of concern and insistence.

  Nelson got the message: it was too dangerous to go in. The firefighters scrambled all about. Some were spraying water to put the immense fire out. His fellow officers went to the streets, trying to do all that they could to keep the few onlookers from panicking.

  All that Nelson could do was pray that Jennifer was fine.

  Jeff lifted himself up. The blast knocked him into the Transport and down onto the wooden platform. He was lucky in that it hadn't caught fire - yet. He looked inside to see Karns was now in the pilot seat. Jeff was about to reach for his fallen pistol when he heard a thud.

  A shoe had fallen; a woman's shoe. Jeff looked up to see Jennifer was still hanging on the beam, now panicking more than ever. He looked back down to the pistol. His mind was going through different scenarios of what he could do. Karns could do more damage, threaten more lives. If he overtook him fast enough, he could use the Transport to rescue Jennifer.

  That
wouldn't happen if he failed. Karns would be able to run free with no one to stop him. He would have failed Jennifer, Nelson...and Kara.

  It was the image of the young woman that was his wife, the love of his life, that made the decision. That image of Kara smiled, always full of joy. It was that radiance that made him love her and made his life worthwhile.

  Gripping the gun, he pushed himself forward away from the Transport. He had to save Jennifer, above anything else.

  Running along hot flames, he ran across the boards and beams. The end of the wooden platform was blackened and partly ablaze. He naturally avoided any fires, almost skipping across collapsing portions of the blackened wood. Then he moved onto the hot metal beams. It was getting hot but not hot enough for him to stop. He pushed himself further, knowing that time was short.

  He passed by the elevator. It had been long gone from either the explosion or flames. Instead, he went for the nearby ladder, luckily still intact. He climbed, as fast as he could. Jeff was never the athletic type, but he pressed himself farther than he ever had to before. He had to.

  Jeff heard something from above. He looked up, seeing something accelerate towards him. Hugging the ladder as close he could, a breeze of debris sweep past him. He continued climbing.

  After the long climb, he swung onto a metal beam. Jeff looked around to find Jennifer, who still hanging and swinging wildly. Even with no wide platforms, Jeff still ran to Jennifer. He knew that he could slip or misplace a step. Yet, time was short. He ran and swung around any vertical beams that got in his way.

  He arrived to the edge. The metal beam was several feet away from where Jennifer was swinging. She saw him and started to make a more concentrated effort to swinging herself over. Jeff reached over, trying to catch some part of her. She swung back, then forth, missing his hand. She swung back, then forth again. This time he caught her ankle. Carefully pulling her towards relative safety, he saw that her mouth was taped and limbs bound with a thin rope.

  With her close enough, he quickly untied her legs first. She was just over the metal beam, so he untied her hand while she held onto the rest of the hanging rope. As the last knot undone, she let go while he made sure she was safe on the beam. The last step was to rip the tape from her mouth. Although she was now free to say anything, all she could do was convey fear.

  Jeff looked back. The flames toward the middle was now a constant inferno with constant debris falling. He knew that option was out. Looking up at the metal beam, a though had come to him. With a flick of his wrist, he launched a blue beam towards where Jennifer was hanging. "Hold on," he told Jennifer as he grabbed onto her. Together, they jumped.

  Nelson was on his knees as the building was collapsing onto itself. No one had seen Jennifer or Jeff. He had almost lost all hopes of seeing her again.

  But that hope was finally answered. Jeff was holding Jennifer as they walked out of the black smoke. Immediately several other officers and medics running towards them. Jeff waved them off, knowing who Jennifer needed to see.

  Nelson ran right for her. As he neared, Jeff let Jennifer go onto her own feet. She walked toward her husband - the love of her life. The two embraced each other. Tears very visible in her eyes. Even though Nelson didn't have any tears, he might as well have with the look of his eyes.

  Jeff knew that he saved a life, a marriage, and two people's happiness.

  Kara was in front of him. She was once again showing that smiled he loved. Even though it was a hologram, her red hair flew with the breeze of the ocean. Jeff wanted to touch her once more. But that couldn't be done.

  A hole had been made next to her. It wasn't much, but it was all he could do for her now. This was her place: the beach. It was where both of them had been happy, where they were free to frolic, have fun, do anything they wanted to without restriction. It was where he had plenty of the best moments of his life.

  Jeff shut down the projector, Kara disappearing for the last time. He tossed the small device into the hole that was marked with stones. He proceeded to take the shovel that was next to him to haul dirt over it; burying Kara.