Time Skip (16 page)

“Well that’s a hell of a story.”

“It sure as hell is.” Lovelle nearly shouted. “And now you know exactly what I couldn’t tell the Germans. You know what I’ve never told another living soul.
You
know because the only people who could possibly believe me are the people who know damn well that I handed them Timothy McVeigh, and can damn sure figure out that I had no way to know about that either. I don’t expect you to take my word for anything right here. I expect you to take what you know about me, and figure out that I’m not lying. I expect you to at least decide that this is worth looking into. I’ve sure as hell told you enough that you can confirm that I’m not a complete nut case. You just have to decide to do it.”

Rosewood looked pensively at Lovelle. He wasn’t sure what to say next, he finally settled on, “How much more do you know?”

Lovelle didn’t think Rosewood was humoring him. But he was also sure the agent didn’t actually believe him. That was to be expected. Lovelle could only hope that Rosewood would do his due diligence.

“I don’t know if I know much more that will be of use to you, but, I’ll tell you everything I know. I’ve got nothing to hide. You can strap me to lie detectors. You can interrogate me to your heart’s content. You can shoot me up with truth serum if that’s what it takes to save those people’s lives.”

Lovelle truthfully explained how he had known about the 9/11 attack even before the Murrah bombing, and how he formulated his plan for using the Felix the CAT pseudonym to make another anonymous tip. He explained his purpose in traveling to Germany to gather information on Atta so that his tip would be more effective. And he explained that once he’d decided that he wouldn’t be able to extricate himself from his current predicament, that he might as well do everything he could to stop the attack without regard to his already compromised personal wellbeing.

A couple of days later he was quietly shipped back to the U.S. while some sort of diplomatic excuse was formulated for the Germans. Once again he found himself back at the FBI headquarters where his life had nearly taken a different turn. This time for debriefing.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Lovelle was treated surprisingly well by the Feds. Despite the fact that those involved with him probably considered him either nuts or a fraud, no one treated him that way. He was a cooperative witness and was treated as such. He was put up in a nice hotel and assigned a very polite agent to chaperone him. He spent his days being debriefed and his nights lounging around the hotel, reading and swimming. It wasn’t exciting, but, it was pleasant enough.

Rosewood seemed to be in charge of the whole investigation, and talked with him frequently. As often as not, he spoke to Lovelle about his life more than about the attacks in general. The feds had to be considering how much they trusted him, and what use they could make of him if he turned out to be genuine.

“What do you expect to do after you’re done here?”

“It seems to me, that’s up to you.”

“Maybe so.” Rosewood paused, “If you had your choice?”

“Frankly, I’d like to go back to my life. I’d like for the FBI to forget I exist. But, what are the odds of that? Is there any chance that you’ll figure out that I really can tell the future and still let me walk away without some sort of short leash?

“What if we don’t decide you’re telling the truth?” Rosewood almost sounded sincere.

“I really don’t consider that an option. You’ve already figured out that I believe whole heartedly in what I’ve been telling you. All you have to do is see some of my predictions come true and you’ll know, I am what I say I am. One way or the other you’re going to find out soon enough.”

The FBI took him up on his offer to go under hypnosis. This caused him quite a bit of anxiety. Fortunately his cover story held up. He had explained to them that the visions were actually like dreams. They came to him in his sleep. He also told them that they only happened once, and that he had no control of what came to him, or when.

Rosewood discussed the results of the first session.

“You were pretty accurate when you said it was like you had lived through your visions. Under hypnosis you describe it exactly that way. You even seem to know more than you remember.”

“Oh yeah?” Lovelle was uneasy.

“Sure. This might be of interest to you.” Rosewood informed Lovelle after the session.

“Hmm,” Lovelle mumbled curiously.

“It seems that you heard in one of your dreams that Atta was living under a different name while he was in Hamburg. There’s nothing in your head about what name he was using, but, at least that explains why no one there has ever heard of him.”

“Yeah, that would have been helpful information to have before dragging my butt over there and getting myself into this mess.” Lovelle stated sardonically.

“Technically, you did have that information.” Rosewood said, a little flippantly

Lovelle chuckled, “Yes, well, I’m not getting out of here on that technicality, am I?”

“No, I guess not. But, it does lend a little credibility to your story. That is, if you weren’t faking to improve your position.” The agent sounded as if he might actually still believe that Lovelle wasn’t sincere.

“Can you really still think I’ve been lying? Christ, I can see where you might think I’m nuts, but, how can you possibly still entertain the notion that I don’t believe every word?”

Lovelle had made any number of little predictions around upcoming events. He had taken a lie detector test that was “inconclusive”, and spent hours hypnotized. If what he was telling was not the truth, then the only possible conclusion was that he was completely deluded.

“I have little doubt about anything you’ve been telling us, as hard as it is for me to believe it.” Rosewood confirmed.

It surprised Lovelle to see that the small group of men and women that were assigned to handle him seemed equally convinced of the value of his prognostications. He knew that the government had a history of experimenting with psychic powers, but, that seemed to be the domain of the CIA. The FBI had always seemed more grounded and skeptical. Heck, even knowing what he had been through, Lovelle still didn't believe in psychics.

What surprised Lovelle more was when they let him go home. Although he was sure that they were not actually letting him out of their sight, they did release him with no real strings attached. Lovelle treated this news with some serious skepticism. Rosewood, who had been tasked with giving him the news, could see just how incredulous Lovelle was.

“I know you weren’t really expecting this, but, I’m sure you can see the logic in it if you try. The fact is, we really don’t see any advantage in holding you right now. In a roundabout way, you came to us of your own will in the first place. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to go on pretending you had no knowledge of the plot right up until the last, and then phoned in your tip. But, you put yourself in harm's way just to try and bolster your credibility with us. Your trip to Hamburg may have been ill conceived, but your motivation was not. We can see that it’s no exaggeration to say that you care more about stopping them than you care about yourself.” Lovelle nodded in agreement and Rosewood continued, “That’s as much as we ask of any of our own agents. So what purpose would it serve to keep you tied up here? We’re confident that you’ve told us everything you know, and just as confidant that you’ll help us at any point in the future if needed. We're equally sure that you'll tell us if you have any more dreams on the matter.”

“Maybe there’s something more that I haven’t considered. For that matter, maybe there’s something you haven’t.” Lovelle knew he should stop before he talked himself into a corner. But, he just couldn’t quit. He actually felt guilty leaving things to somebody else. For so long he had bore the responsibility for stopping the attacks, he didn’t know how to hand that responsibility off.

“Sure, that’s always a possibility. But, unless you’ve had a sudden change of heart, how difficult could it be to address that situation if it arises? I trust you’ll answer if I call, and that you’ll call if you think of anything more that we need to know.”

Lovelle could see the logic of that. But, he never would have expected the Feds to see it that way. In fact, he had been so sure, that he had never seriously considered presenting such a case himself. He supposed he had seen too many bad late night movies and was completely jaded. But, he had figured on being a government lab rat for the rest of his days.

Whatever the FBI’s motivation, Lovelle was allowed to return to Las Vegas. He was asked to check in with the local FBI office, where he was assigned a local contact. But, he was otherwise free to pursue his life again. He did not have to check in on some regular interval, and he was no given indication that he was going to be under observation. Although he suspected that he would be.

This whole scenario had taken only a matter of a few of months. Lovelle was back home, his mission complete, or more accurately, cut short, before he had even counted on his first visit home. He eased back into his life, which was not too difficult, considering the flighty nature of his employment before he left. He had far from exhausted his personal funds, so he was in no great need on that score. He notified the school district that he was available again, and started working after a few days.

Then he booked his trip to Detroit. Spring break was coming, and he would soon see Trina again.

Lovelle had carefully considered how he wanted to handle things with her. As far as she was concerned, he might well be busy for another year. He could simply visit her, and his family for a while, without commitment. Still fearing that his personal freedom may yet be in jeopardy, he planned to do no more.

At any time Lovelle might be pulled back in to the whole 9/11 affair. Worse yet, he could realize his fear and simply become the subject of government paranormal experiments. And as long as the terrorist attacks loomed, he wouldn’t fight them. Afterward, he could not say. Either way, if the Feds decided to drag him back in, it wouldn’t matter whether he chose to acquiesce or to fight. It would mean the end of anything he might have with Trina, at least for a while.

*****

Lovelle failed miserably at what should have been a simple task. On the very first night back in town he left his family shortly after dinner and went to see Trina for a drink. She had taken their last meeting not as the promise of some future relationship, but, as the beginning of a long distance one. As far as she was concerned, they were on their first official date. She treated him almost as if they were a long standing couple who were reuniting after a long and difficult separation. She nearly smothered him with hugs and kisses as soon as she saw him. And, despite any misgivings, he loved it and reciprocated gladly. He knew then that she was going to test his resolve.

Their conversation that evening centered on her activities since their last meeting. She asked only once if Lovelle could talk to her about what he had been doing, and dropped it completely when he informed her that he could not. Then, once her own latest happenings were dispensed with, they made small talk until it was time to go.

He drove her home and parked in her driveway. She leaned over to kiss him, and did so with a great deal of passion. This was more than he could resist, and they spent what seemed like an immense amount of time making out in his car. They were like a couple of teenagers at a drive in movie.

“We should have done that back in high school.” He observed breathily.

“And whose fault is it that we didn’t?” she gave him her patented pretend anger look.

“I know, I know,” He answered resignedly. “But, all’s well that ends well.”

“You’ve got a lot of making up for lost time to do before I’m going to let you off the hook for that mistake.” She said with a broad smile, then she leaned in for another kiss.

That night they consummated their relationship. It was easily the most wonderful night of his second life. He told her so, leaving out the second life part.

Once the elation wore off, the regret was immediate. It was something he could not help. However, he realized that how he handled this feeling was immensely important. Lovelle could imagine how terrible Trina might feel if she sensed his regret, regardless of any explanation he might give after the fact. He would have to rely on his many years of experience in deception. As with most women, Trina could be very perceptive about such things. But, he had to make it work. After all, the alternative would be to try to explain his regret with either some lie, or by explaining the danger that his project had exposed him to. He did not want to add one more layer of deception to the mountain upon which his life was built, and he also did not want to leave her to worry about him in the interim

So Lovelle acted like this was the greatest day of his life. As well it should have been, at least, in the current version of his life. As long as things worked out, Lovelle was sure he would look back at it with exactly that fondness. However, if he had to break her heart now, he would forever regret doing this to her

CHAPTER TWENTY

Lovelle attempted to settle back in to his life as best he could. After a brief return to the sports books, he decided to quit gambling altogether. Since spilling the beans on his talents to the Feds, it seemed a poor bet to continue. Trouble with law enforcement and the IRS were two of the possible outcomes of his confession, and he did not want to compound his troubles. Besides, he was plenty wealthy for the time being, and not without the skills to make money honestly. It was July of 2000, and he was looking forward to a short visit to Detroit in a few weeks. He was anticipating months of this sort of quietude. Again, he was mistaken.

One afternoon Lovelle received a call from his local FBI contact asking him to come in for a visit. Upon arrival he was put on the phone with Agent Rosewood.

“You’ll be interested to know, a man by the name of Mohammed Atta has just enrolled in flight school in Florida.” He paused, seemingly waiting for Lovelle to respond, but he did not. Lovelle was too surprised. Not surprised that the FBI had located Atta, but, that he was receiving the call so soon. Of course it was logical. He had given them everything they needed to find Atta. A name, a description, and a modus operandi. Lovelle just hadn’t thought of things coming to a head this early on. For some reason the timeline had escaped him. He felt as if it would be well into 2001 before he would hear of any concrete results.

“Apparently, he was living as Mohanned El-Amir in Hamburg, right where you had been looking for him.” Rosewood continued. “So I need you to come and ID him. Just a formality, since he is a dead ringer for the description you gave us. I could just send over a photo, but, we need to talk about some things anyhow.” Rosewood was anticipating an argument, but Lovelle had no intention of resisting. Lovelle had fully expected to have to deal with the other piece of his story once it became clear that he wasn’t lying about the plot. It was only the question of timing that had thrown him off.

“Can I have a day to rearrange my schedule?”

“Of course. We’ve already arranged for a flight out tomorrow evening. At this point you've earned plenty of deference. We wouldn't rush you at all, but, you understand our sense of urgency.” Rosewood reassured him.

*****

The morning after next Lovelle was escorted into an office where he had so recently spent a great deal of time. Rosewood waited for him. The men shook hands then exchanged a polite greeting. Rosewood directed Lovelle’s attention to a couple of photos of Atta. He confirmed the man’s identity for the agent.

“That’s him for sure. One hundred percent.”

“Good.” Rosewood called for someone to come in, gave the woman instructions on how to proceed, and sat down behind the desk. He laid his elbows on the desk and formed a little tent with the tips of his fingers. “Well now,” He said after a long pause and a deep breath. “I imagine you know what we need to talk about now.”

“Sure. Psychic visions.”

“Yes, well, you’ve kind of proven yourself to be quite a person of interest. Your lie detector results and everything else showed you believed exactly what you were telling us, which meant you were either a nut case, or a true psychic. If you were a nut case, then you wouldn’t know what you know, would you. By process of elimination you’ve proven yourself.”

“And now you need to study me.” Lovelle said resignedly.

“That’s the funny thing. We don’t know what to do with you. What’s to study. You’ve been examined from top to bottom. No one can find anything unusual about you. You’d be more interesting if it had turned out that you were delusional. Maybe not for us, but from a scientific perspective. Oh sure, we have lots of questions, but, we don’t even know where we would start to look for the answers. So we’ve decided to punt.”

Lovelle looked at him in disbelief. “You mean you’re just going to leave me alone?”

“For now.” Rosewood answered. “I said punt, not forfeit. We’ll certainly be in touch. But, no one here has plans to disrupt your life in any serious way.”

“Come on. Leave aside all of the scientific stuff. I can’t believe that no one in the government is chomping at the bit to pick my brain for every tidbit of information they can squeeze out of me.” Lovelle was ripe with skepticism.

“Oh, I’m sure they would. But, I don’t know how much good it would do them. Because of what you’ve given us, I don’t think the future is going to look much like you've envisioned it. At least not the part of the future that we would have an interested in. So, those of us who know about you have agreed not to share that knowledge outside of our little group. We're trusting in you to come to us if you ever see something we need to know about. I can’t promise you that the secret will hold forever, but the group was unanimous in the decision.”

Lovelle wasn’t sure how to take this bit of news. He had never considered that his secret might be kept once anyone in the government had it. “Really? You’ve been keeping my secret? How could you manage that with all the people I’ve talked to in this office.?”

“You’d be surprised at how well we keep secrets around here, even from each other. This isn't like the movies where every agency leaks like a sieve.” Rosewood explained. “We knew right away that yours wasn’t one to share, so you’ve been handled with that in mind from the start.” He stopped for a moment, then seemed to guess that Lovelle was still bewildered. “As soon as I reported on you, it was decided that you had to be either totally insane, or someone who was willing to sacrifice himself to save other people. If you turned out to be the former, then we risked looking the fool for listening to you. In that case, the smaller the circle who knew about you the better it would be for our careers. If you were the genuine article, then you were owed as much deference as we could manage.” He stopped as if to allow Lovelle a response, but, none was forthcoming, so he continued, “I know you are no big fan of the government. Knowing what you know of what was about to happen under our noses, I can’t blame you much. But, you have to realize that it’s the bureaucracy, and not the people. In small groups we can be quite effective. We can even show some pretty good judgment.”

“I just can’t believe that you could, or for that matter would, do something like that for me.” Lovelle was incredulous.

“Well, the could wasn’t so difficult. We just hand picked our team based on their records. The would just came down to the decision of my boss. If he didn’t feel like I do about the whole matter, then there would have been nothing I could do for you. Since he did, it was just a matter of getting everyone else to agree, and they seem to have done so to a man.” Rosewood seemed confident in his decree, and all Lovelle could do was thank him, and then hope for the best.

*****

And so Lovelle got his life back. As unbelievable as it seemed, a few good men and women made a judgment that Lovelle never expected. And they had done so with enough forethought that they might really be able to keep his secret, at least for a time. These people had somehow decided that no greater good would be served by sacrificing him. Lovelle couldn’t express his gratitude sufficiently to that small group, any of which could have spilled the beans and thrown his life into turmoil. And so he did not try. He could hardly imagine himself being so so disciplined.

Lovelle not only expected them to sacrifice him for the greater good, but he hardly would have blamed them. He was no altruist, and he did not feel that he, or anyone else, owed their life or their freedom to the larger society. But, when push came to shove, he had chose to put himself in this position and they all knew that. So, in that scenario, even he would have a hard time ignoring the needs of greater society in the face of the individual rights that he believed in so strongly. Life could be funny that way. Principles could be hard to live by, especially when the ox being gored is someone else’s.

Regardless of how it came about, Lovelle was set loose to pick up the pieces of his life. This was easy enough, since he had stepped out of that life so cleanly, and had already began the reconstruction.

Before flying out of DC, he made a call to Vegas to arrange for a little more time away. Then he proceeded to book a flight to Detroit. He arrived there later that very night, picked up a rental car and checked in to a nice hotel.

Lovelle barely slept in anticipation of seeing Trina. He would finally give himself to her totally. She would own his heart, as long as she wanted it, and he was confident that she would. But it might take her some time to decide what she wanted for the future. He didn’t want to push her, or he would have proposed to her before going back to Vegas. He knew exactly what
he
wanted.

As it was, Lovelle spent only that first night in the hotel. He lived with Trina for the next three days. She insisted on it as soon as he told her that he was done with his project. He called her at work early on the first morning and surprised her with a request to have lunch.

They met, as they had so many times before, at a little diner near her office. He gave her a long soft hug and they sat. “Trina,” He addressed her with a serious tone as he took her hand into his own, “I’m ready to be with you now, if you’ll have me. I’m finished with my job. I’m finished with everything that has ever stood between us. There’s nothing in the way now, and I’m only sorry that it’s taken so long for me to put all of those things aside. But, I haven’t much room for being sorry. I’m too full of hope.” He wanted to say that he was too full of love, but he wasn’t sure she was ready to hear that yet. He needn’t have worried about that.

“Of course I’ll have you. I love you. It’s taken every bit of self control I could manage not to beg you to stay with me every time you’ve been here.” Trina threw the ‘I love you’ in as if it were a second hand comment.

“I love you too!” he answered with appropriate emphasis.

He went away from their lunch feeling as high as he had in many years. He went to visit his father at work then, and his good feeling tumbled away. Lovelle’s dad was not feeling well, and, although his father didn’t know it yet, Lovelle recognized this as the beginning of cancer. With all that was going on in his life, Lovelle had almost forgotten that this was coming. This reminder was like a kick in the teeth.

Lovelle believed his father was now experiencing the first effects of Pancreatic Cancer. With everything Lovelle knew, and all the time that he knew it, there had been nothing he could do about this until now. Even now there seemed very little he could do. Although he had not anticipated the illness rearing its head so early on, he could have seen this as a blessing. But, the news was so disconcerting that Lovelle could not see the forest for the trees. Luckily, he did not need to recognize the opportunity to take advantage of it.

He knew that he could not get his father to see a doctor for the condition until the disease manifested in some form of symptoms. With this particular cancer, for most people it was generally too late once that occurred. Originally, his own father had not reached the point of seeing a doctor for several more months, and even then, the diagnosis did not follow until right before he passed away. If things didn't change, he would die early the next year. Lovelle had planned for years to push his father to see his doctor sooner. It seemed the only thing he could do to help him. He had hoped he might nudge his father to an earlier diagnosis, but he didn't know how he would convince him to go in much, if any, earlier. He knew his father had ignored the first signs, as many people do. He also knew that the doctor had looked at a lot of things before settling on Pancreatic Cancer. Lovelle thought that he might suggest the possibility to his dad, who might pass the idea along to his physician. And having the idea front and center might just speed the diagnosis. But, he never thought the opportunity would come so early. Lovelle allowed himself to hope that maybe, just maybe, they could catch this thing early enough to extend, or even save his father’s life.

Before Lovelle returned to Vegas, he saw to it that his dad saw a doctor. Trina had agreed that Lovelle would move in with her just as soon as he could get his affairs in order. She seemed quite willing to make the move to Las Vegas, and he really did prefer living there. But, although he could not tell her so, his dad was going to be a primary concern for the foreseeable future. The circumstances made the choice for him quite a simple one. They could always consider Vegas some time in the future.

It only took a couple of weeks for Lovelle to get back to Detroit. He left his house behind as a vacation home, which made moving quite easy. Having plenty of money definitely had some advantages. Not having to move a scrap of furniture made for a light load. The smallest U-haul trailer he could rent seemed like an extravagance in consideration of the few things that he had to drag across country.

He arrived back in Detroit to the news that his dad’s doctor had found nothing. Lovelle’s hopes of getting an early diagnosis and treatment were dashed for the moment. His father was feeling better now, so Lovelle couldn’t imagine how he might convince him that his doctor had missed something. In fact, Lovelle couldn’t be sure that the doctor
had
missed something. Maybe it was too early. Maybe his father had just experienced a run of the mill illness, and not the first signs of his impending cancer. Lovelle could only imagine how strange his reaction seemed. Instead of being relieved at the news, he could not help showing his concern. He would spend the next few months fretting.

In the meantime, Trina patiently watched Lovelle fret. She took it in stride, sitting through just one more interference in their relationship. As irrational as it must have seemed to her, she never once showed any sign of impatience with his behavior. Lovelle didn’t know if that meant that she was a saint, or simply resigned to having these barriers between them.