A Year to Forget (The Accidental Time Travellers Book 2) (13 page)

“What is the phrase?” 

“A friend is someone who has the same enemies that you have.”

“So if we can get to Sirhan and say that, he will do what we want?”  Faraday asked.

“No he only responds to Jacob.”

“Even though you programmed him?”

“Yes.”

“So you don’t know where they are or what they are doing?”  Bobby asked.

“I know that they want Kennedy gone and I know they have people working on the inside.”

“Do you know who?”  Bobby asked.

“No but they are high up.  Someone wealthy is funding them.”

“Who else is involved?”  Will demanded.

“I never met anyone else, only Jacob and Sirhan.  They are using the journalist Sarah Salmond to spread their ideas.”

“How many people are involved?”

“I don’t know.  They have other doctors for their mind control, some Cubans, they will not stop until Kennedy is removed from power.”

“What Cubans?”  Bobby asked.

“Anti-Castro Cubans.”

“How many?”  Bobby barked.

“I don’t know, maybe one hundred.”

“One hundred?”  Faraday asked in disbelief.

Mengele nodded.

“For what purpose?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you recognize the name Sidney Gottlieb?”  Faraday asked hopefully.

“Who?”  Bobby asked.

“David’s doctor, I’m sure that was LSD.”

“Jacob mentioned that name, I never met him.”

“Anything else?”  Bobby asked.

“There was a Scottish doctor I think, I can’t remember the name.”

“Do you have any idea how many people they have programmed?”

Mengele shook his head.  “They have access to unlimited numbers of people.  These are doctors, they go into prisons or psychiatric wards and test their methods on them.  A person can be programmed easily, once you know how.  The people that are used are people that nobody cares about.”

Faraday glanced at Will and saw how angry this last statement had made him.

“Faraday come with me a second, Will stay with him.”  Bobby said, gesturing to Mengele.

Bobby hobbled from the kitchen followed by Faraday and closed the door behind them.

“What do you think?”  Bobby asked.

“I think this tells us nothing about what happened to Jane.”

“You don’t think someone could have been programmed to plant the bomb?”

“I think if they were going to bother to kill you, they would just send one of these people with instructions to shoot you, why bother with a bomb?”

Bobby considered this for a moment.  “So what do we do about it?”

“Well we know the journalist and we know Sidney Gottlieb is involved, one of them may know how to find Jacob?”

“They won’t talk to us.”  Bobby grumbled.

“What do you suggest?”

“What if we use Mengele?”

“We can’t trust him and he doesn’t even know where Jacob is.”

“Well then we will have to follow the leads ourselves, if we can get a location for Jacob then perhaps Mengele will become useful.” 

“Okay so who goes where?”  Faraday asked.

“You take Will and visit Gottlieb, I’ll get Chase and visit the journalist.”

Chapter 26

As Abaddon began to explain the situation, David began to fear for what little was left of his soul.

“So this Sergei Kravchenko knows everything there is to know about Aerospace engineering, he worked on the Sputnik Satellite.  He arrived here late last night, he managed to escape through Berlin.  He tells us that the Soviet space program is an absolute mess.  Better yet, he has confirmed the contents and precise coordinates of a Soviet submarine that sank in the Pacific last year.”

“So what do you want me to do?”  David asked baffled.

“We are going to raise the ship from the ocean floor, it contains nuclear missiles and Soviet launch codes.”

“How do you intend to do that?”

“Howard Hughes has built a ship, a very large ship.  Using the ships grapple we will be able to lift the Soviet submarine, allowing us to recover the codes and the warheads.”

“I still don’t understand what you want from me?”

“Sergei could be a very valuable asset to the country, the Soviets will be furious when they discover he is here, but when they discover what we have done they could threaten an all out war.  I need you to stay with Sergei, keep an eye on him.  You must ensure he has not been sent to spy on our technological developments.  I don’t want you to let him out of your sight, not even for a second.”

“You just want me to watch him?”

Abaddon frowned.  “I want you to do whatever he wants, he is very special.”

“So you intend to put the US and the Soviets on the brink of a nuclear war?  This will be the second time in three months.”

“It will not come to that, we just need to apply some pressure to unsettle the President.  He won’t risk a war, but when the people find out what he has been doing in Cuba and with regards to this submarine, they will be furious at the position he has put the country in.”

“But he hasn’t done any of it, it’s all been you?”

“Once the media tell the people it was President Kennedy they will believe it and he has no idea what I am doing.  Did you happen to catch the news this morning?”

“I was a little busy with my friends dying.”  David snapped.

Abaddon nodded solemnly before continuing.  “Well as luck would have it, Dr Gottleib discovered that President Kennedy has a sister named Rosemary, were you aware of that?”

David shook his head.

“I didn’t think you would be, they like to keep it quiet.  Rosemary suffered from learning difficulties and old Joe Kennedy decided to arrange for her to be lobotomised, she now lives in St Coletta’s, a mental institution in Wisconsin.”

“He had her lobotomised?”  David asked stunned.

“Barbaric isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Well Sidney contacted Sarah Salmond who broadcast the news this morning.  That should be another nail in the President’s coffin.”  Abaddon again smiled smugly.

“Are you enjoying doing this?” 

“Of course I am.  I’m a patriot David, I’m doing what my country needs me to do.”

David’s jaw was agape, how had he gotten himself into this position.  “So where do I need to go for this ship?”

“You need to get a flight to Hawaii and from there a helicopter will take you to the vessel.  The submarine is around 1500 miles North West of Hawaii.”

David could hardly begin to believe that he was about to set foot in another helicopter, and in Hawaii of all places. 

“Can I not get a boat to the vessel?”

Abaddon frowned.  “We don’t have time for that.  It will be a short flight, it will only be about two hundred miles from the coast. Then when you and Sergei are onboard, you will head towards the submarine, he will be waiting for you in Hawaii.”

“So I need to go now?”

Abaddon nodded.  David looked at the clothes he was wearing, a pair of white trainers, a pair of light blue denim jeans and a white t-shirt.  “I don’t have a change of clothes?”

“You’ll be fine, you might need a jacket.”  Abaddon rose to his feet and left the room, when he returned he was carrying a bright red waterproof jacket.  He handed it to David.

“You don’t have anything a little darker?”

“Not one that I want to give away.”  Abaddon chuckled.

Chapter 27

Bobby and Ethel Kennedy were sitting at the dining room table in their residence at the White House.  They had managed to repair the damage done to their relationship following the controversial release of Marilyn Munroe’s diary.  It had certainly not been easy for Ethel to put the past behind her, but she knew Bobby was not his brother, he loved her and he had made a mistake.  The mistake had hurt her, more than he could begin to imagine, but she knew he regretted it deeply.

Bobby had been in a foul mood since he had seen the news, how could someone report on such a sensitive and private matter.  It wasn’t his fault that Rosemary had been lobotomised, his father had done that himself.  He didn’t blame his father, he knew that he was trying to help her and hadn’t understood what the consequences of his actions would be.  It was Rosemary that had suffered her entire life and now the media were making her disabilities public.

“You can’t blame yourself Bobby.” Ethel advised, she could see that he was hurting.

“I don’t, not for a second.  I had nothing to do with it, but they shouldn’t be reporting this sort of thing.  There is no scandal, Dad made a mistake, he knows that.  Neither of them can even defend themselves.  Why attack an old man on deaths door or my poor sister.”

“It’s that reporter, she has no morals.”

“That’s right.  If she doesn’t agree with my policies then that’s fine, she can report on that it’s her right.  But to attack my family is just completely out of order.”

“How do you think she got the information?” 

“Well I don’t know Ethel.  Rosemary has been in the hospital for years, the lobotomy was almost twenty years ago.  The staff at the hospital have always been very discreet, I find it hard to believe that they would release information like this out of the blue.”

“Well who knows about her?”  Ethel asked.

“That’s just it, no one outside the family knows.”

“Could Jackie have told her husband?”  Ethel guessed.

“She wouldn’t do that and even if she had, he would have no reason to go to the press.”

“Well who then?”

“I don’t know.”  Bobby sighed.  “I’m starting to wish I hadn’t run for a third term.  Someone is conspiring against me, whoever is funding this Jacob Cohen must be the one feeding this to the media.”

“Could it be Nixon?”

Bobby considered this for a moment.  “You could be right you know.”

“He’s slimy enough to try dirty tricks like this.”

“I think I shall invite him to the White House.”

Chapter 28

When Will and Faraday had left with Mengele, Bobby called the Washington Post in order to enquire as to where Sarah Salmond lived.  As luck would have it, he had briefly managed to speak to her, she was in the office working on an article.  She had agreed to meet with Bobby and Chase.

When Chase finally did arrive it was in a beat up blue and white Volkswagen Type 2 , Bobby shook his head in disbelief at the van.  It looked identical to the Dharma Van Bobby had seen in the TV series Lost when he was young. 

He got in the passenger door and Chase instantly offered Bobby his condolences.

“Bobby I’m really sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks Chase.”  Bobby replied.

“How are you feeling?”  Chase asked obviously concerned.

“To be honest I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet.  I just want to catch the bastard that did it.” 

Chase smiled sympathetically.  “We will.  Where are we meeting her?”

“The offices for the Washington Post.”

“No problem.”  Chase said with a smile.  He began to drive slowly towards the offices.

A few minutes had gone by before Bobby spoke.  “You know Chase I always thought you’d be good with girls, but this van must really put them off.”

Chase laughed.  “Believe me it doesn’t.  I love this van and there’s plenty room in the back.” Chase winked at Bobby.  He managed to illicit a laugh for the first time today.

When Chase had parked up outside the offices they both headed inside, Sarah Salmond was waiting in reception for them.  She was wearing a black suit and a white shirt, she was beautiful.  Bobby noticed Chase’s mouth hanging open at the sight of her.

“There’s no chance she’ll get in that van.”  Bobby muttered.