Right before he vanished he stood near the tiger cages eating an ice cream cone and staring at me confidently. I was sure I had him but I blinked and he was gone. He just vanished into thin air. “Fuck! I missed him again.” A little girl stopped to stare at me wide eyed and I realized I had sworn out load. I stuck my tongue out at her childishly before disappearing myself. I shouldn’t have made such a spectacle but whatever. I was tired of being invisible and who would believe her anyway?
“Lee! What happened?” Emily asked, “What did he do?”
“Nothing. He went to the zoo and had ice cream. Then he disappeared. What could he possibly be trying to change?”
“Maybe it’s personal.” She answered, “He didn’t interact with anyone?”
“No. No one significant and he saw me. Stared right at me while he disappeared. Did you see where he went?”
“Yeah he’s CTP. He didn’t retrieve anything?”
“He was eating an ice cream cone. He appeared at the zoo, bought an ice cream cone, leaned on the fence near the tigers, stared at me and disappeared, apparently to Current Time Period. Do you think he’s toying with us?”
“Yes and no,” she answered clicking on her ear bud, “Jenni, Can you get me some information on July 18th, 2025, 2:12 pm, Bronx Zoo? Keywords, Ice cream, Tiger, Cage. I want to know if there’s any relation to anyone at the zoo that day. Please look closely at the food vendor and search security archives. Full report to follow,” Emily turned back to me, “Write up your report and get it to Jenni ASAP. We need to figure out his angle before he creates a paradox. I hate time travel cases.”
“Emily, time travel cases are our whole job.”
“Oh. Yeah. I forgot to mention I hate my job.”
“No you don’t.”
“Ok. I don’t. Keep your comm on. I want to meet as soon as we have an analysis.”
“Sure thing.”
“Ok. Gangs all here!” Emily was clearly in her element. She obviously relished these meetings. “Jenni: Go!”
“So, it’s not the food vendor but I searched the security footage and found this,” She tapped her remote activating the holo screen and to my horror a young girls face popped up.
“Shit.”
“Lee? You know this girl?” Emily asked.
“Yeah, well. She spotted me.”
“She spotted you? Please elaborate.”
“When the perp disappeared I swore out loud and she noticed me and… I stuck out my tongue at her before I disappeared.” Jenni did a sharp intake of breath at my confession while Emily stared at me stonily.
“You mean to tell me that you made yourself known to a Past Time Subject?”
“Well. Not on purpose.”
“We’ll talk about this later. Let’s move on,” She regained her professional tone but I could feel her wrath from the other side of the table, “Jenni, who is she?”
“She’s Rowena Durgin.”
“Rowena Durgin?” Emily mused, “Why is that name familiar?”
“Because she makes what we do possible.” Jenni replied.
“What?” Emily looked dubious.
“Well, Ok so she didn’t exactly invent time travel but she posited the idea that led to the invention. Like, she literally figured out the exact math that makes it possible.”
“Ok, so we think he’s after her,” Emily glared at me, “Did he make contact with her or just Lee here?”
I felt myself blushing, “No. In fact, I doubt she even noticed him. I swore and she stopped to look at me.”
“Jenni, do we have footage to back that up?”
“Yes Ma’am.” She replayed the footage. “You see, the tiger enclosure is here and she is looking the opposite direction until… See here?” She paused the film as Rowena looked up as if startled. “That must have been when she saw Lee.”
“Keep playing.” Emily ordered. Rowena stopped walking and stared straight ahead looking astonished until her mother noticed she had fallen behind and collected her. As she walked away she kept her face resolutely turned to the spot where I disappeared.
“What else can you tell us?” Although she was addressing Jenni Emily was glaring furiously in my direction. I shrunk in my chair.
“Rowena is his great great grandmother.”
“Is there a personal reason he might want to contact her?”
Jenni stammered, “ Well, I think… I think he was successful. I think what happened…” She looked at me apologetically, “with Lee… I think it changed things. I think the timeline already changed. I mean, I can’t prove it and I don’t know how he knew it would change things but… That’t the problem with a timeline change. It’s impossible to track. What I can track is this: he’s benefited financially from her patents. Substantially, in fact.”
“Please explain.” Emily glared once more in my direction.
“Well, her official autobiography recounts a day she went to the zoo and saw a woman disappear and she credits it as sparking her interest in the possibility of time travel . Lee, I’m sorry,” she added softly, “She remembered you. It had a profound effect on her life and she had a profound effect on the future because of it.”
“Shit.” I looked at Emily’s livid face, “Emily, I didn’t know.”
“But you know the rules,” She intoned crisply, “You are not to be seen, not to interfere in any way with the workings of the past. I’m sorry, Lee. You are a good agent but you know the rules and the punishment. “
“I do,” I said trying to bite back the fear that welled up in me, “I’m ready.”
“Let’s do it quickly. Jenni, you can be excused.”
“Bye, Lee. It’s been an honor,” Jenni turned away quickly but I saw the tears welling up and was grateful for them. It was nice to know she cared.
I turned to Emily as the door closed behind her, “Ok. I’m ready. No delays. Live and die a warrior, right?”
“Right,” she agreed pointing her gun at me, “Godspeed, Lee.”
She pulled the trigger.
Originally published here: https://medium.com/@NatolieWebb/the-last-time-30751008eebb
Natolie Webb 