"Caroline!" shouted Quinn, "Won't the church be open now?"
Caroline struggled to open her eyes and gaze intently at the clock by her bedside. "In about half an hour," she replied, collapsing back onto the bed, wishing that Quinn would exercise a little patience. She understood that he was worried and couldn't sleep, but she could see no reason for him to stop her from sleeping.
Quinn heaved a sigh of relief and stopped pacing for the first time in several hours when Caroline finally got up. "I thought you were never coming," he commented, looking slightly hostile.
Caroline ignored him, but she got ready quickly, and soon they were entering the church.
Watching from a distance, Quinn saw Caroline approach the Reverend and greet him. They were obviously old friends. He worried that perhaps he was falling for some trap of theirs in the same way Wade might have, but he could see no other way of finding her. After what seemed like an eternity, Caroline returned.
"He's given me an address. The place he sent her to yesterday to see the underground." Caroline smiled and patted his shoulder. "It should be OK, I know one of them."
Quinn barely spoke to Caroline while they were in the car. When they arrived at the house the Reverend had directed them to, he simply followed Caroline in. The door hung partially off its hinges, obviously kicked in, and there was a body in the hallway.
Caroline gasped, "Mick! Oh no, how did they find you?" She turned to Quinn. "I hope you're not with the people who did this," she stated angrily. "If I find out that you are." She trailed off, unable to think of anything terrible enough to do to him which would make finding Mick acceptable.
Quinn glared back. "Well, what about Wade? If these people hurt her, then I think I'd rather be on the other side."
Caroline shook her head, trying not to cry. "I hope you don't know what you're saying." Taking a deep breath and pulling herself together, she became more business like. "We'd better search the rest of the house, see if there's anyone else here. But quickly, they may return."
They split up and worked through each of the rooms in the house. There was no one else to be found. No bodies, no clues, and no sign of Wade.
When they met up again, Caroline hurried Quinn out of the building. "We have to get out of here, they check places like this regularly even when they don't have enough men to stake them out. Move!"
Caroline and Quinn returned to the house in a sombre mood, haunted by the images of Mick dead in the hallway and the damage that had been done to the house. As Caroline went to unlock the door, it was opened by Remmy.
"Have I got a surprise for you!" he grinned, motioning them inside.
"Not now, Remmy. I'm really not in the mood, thanks," mumbled Quinn.
"No way, man, you're gonna love this."
"What?"
Remmy danced about a bit then replied, "Wade."
Wade walked out of the kitchen, a little bruised but otherwise OK. Instantly Quinn's mood brightened.
"I thought you were dead when I saw that house," he exclaimed, hugging her happily. "What happened? We were so worried. How did you get away?"
"Maggie saved me," replied Wade. "While the soldiers were all running after the underground, she spotted me and helped me get away before they captured me."
"Wow, that was timing," commented Remmy, who up until now had had no real idea of just how close Wade's escapade had been.
"Yeah," agreed Wade, "I really owe her."
"Where is she now?" asked Quinn, intrigued.
"She went back. She thought our best chance of finding Max lay in her sticking with the military. And she said she wanted to have a word or two with her double."
"Oh boy," grinned Remmy, "two of them."
Caroline cut in. "I hate to break up the party, but you have to get out of here." She looked at Wade.
"What? Why?" groaned Wade.
"Where do I start?" replied Caroline. "The military may have seen you at the house and already begun looking for you, and if we wait to be sure it will be too late to get out." She paused for a moment, then added, "or maybe one of the members of the underground, who will almost certainly suspect you of bringing the military to them, will have escaped and at this very moment be describing you to the entire American underground. Take your pick. Either way you're not going to help Max much."
Quinn glanced at Remmy, still unsure of Caroline. "She really didn't lead the military to them."
"Right," said Caroline, completely failing to reassure Quinn.
"So what now?" asked Remmy, looking down at Wade.
"Lay low for the day, don't even answer the door. Let me see what I can sort out," smiled Caroline.
Relieved to see his old friend, even though he knew it was only a double, Max was about to leap off his bunk and embrace Bennish when he noticed the looks the guards were giving him and hesitated.
Bennish spoke, "Maximillian Arturo, the notorious British spy. I can't believe we finally caught you after all this time. You realise that we'll have to interrogate you, of course, that's what we're for." He paused to grin maniacally. "We've got to do what's best for the US here, dude." Bennish glanced at the guards. "It's OK, you can wait outside," he addressed tehm.
"What is the meaning of this?" thundered Max.
"Don't give me that, Max. You know what this is about. I shot the world, and now I want to keep it." Bennish smiled again, unnervingly. "All you have to do is keep the secret."
"What on Earth are you on about, boy? You're babbling like an idiot."
"Hey, less of the idiot, Max. You know who I am. I'm the genius who created the atom bomb. And you are nobody. Well, actually, you're a British spy, but I told you that already."
"You blistering idiot, I am no such thing!" blustered Max.
"You are if I say so, dude," laughed Bennish as he turned to leave, clicking his fingers and pointing at Max. "You are if I say so," he repeated quietly to himself, smiling as if at his own private joke.
Maggie heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed that no one had noticed Wade in their rush to get to the members of the underground. She hoped that she had got away with it. Then she heard one of the soldiers remark on the capture of the leader of the underground group, Wilkins. She groaned. She'd seen the methods used to gleen information in this sort of place and it seemed way too likely that he would give away vital information. Maggie had seen enough of this place to know whose side she was on, she had to do something. If Wilkins gave information which led to the capture of Wade, or even one of the others, she knew they would never be able to all escape this world.
She returned to her quarters. She knew she needed time to formulate some sort of plan. Then she was confronted with another of her problems, her double. Her double was still securely tied to the chair, but now she was awake and struggling to get free. Maggie sighed, she certainly had her work cut out for her.
Maggie's double began to struggle violently, apparently trying to say something. Cautiously, Maggie removed her gag.
"You'd better not shout for help, I'm really not in the mood," remarked Maggie.
"You really are me, aren't you?"
"I am," replied Maggie, a little surprised.
"Then you should trust me."
"Why?" responded Maggie. "So far you've attacked me and threatened me."
"Because I can help you. I know how things work here."
"Knowing isn't enough, you need to know which side you're on."
"I know," replied Maggie's double. "Do you think I could keep travelling to England and still not realise what was going on? Rickman and the others, they have no idea, I think they prefer it that way at the moment. Rickman sends me out there, then makes sure I write reports which agree with the current policies, he says there's no point being impractical. He hardly even asks me about the truth anymore."
"So why send you?" asked Maggie.
"They think it may become important to have loyal contacts in Europe at some point."
"Where do you stand, then, if not with Rickman?" asked Maggie directly.
"With you."
"I don't."
". you can't lie to me, Maggie," interrupted her double. "I know you too well. You are against them. Join me. This is the greatest hope we might ever have, two of us."
"You'd better be telling the truth," muttered Maggie as she released her double. But she believed her completely, her double wasn't lying. "Do you have any plans?"
Maggie's double smiled. "Just as soon as I can contact my allies, we're in business."
"What about Wilkins? He got captured, and he may give away one of my friends."
"Don't worry, I can deal with that no problem. I had to see him anyway, before I could put anything into action."
Maggie's double stood up, ready for immediate action. Maggie stopped her. "One thing. How did the military find Wilkins?"
"When I saw you, I knew it was time to act, and I need Wilkins here if this is to work. I told them."
Maggie's jaw dropped. She grimaced, thinking how close a call Wade had had. "This had beter be good," she muttered.
"It is," replied her double.
"Hi, Rembrandt," smiled Caroline, as she entered the house after work. "How long have you got before you have to go out?"
"About an hour," replied Remmy, "you're pretty early today, sweetheart."
"I have a plan, for Wade, but I need your help to convince her and Quinn."
"Oh yeah?" Remmy raised his eyebrows suspiciously.
"I've arranged to send her to England. She'll be safe enough there."
"England! That's a little drastic isn't it? And she's got to be back here in 5 weeks. How reliable is the trip?"
"That's no problem, provided you know the right people. Which I do, by the way. I can make sure she gets back here by then, if it's important. But you might be better off just staying."
". it's really important," interrupted Remmy.
"Don't worry about it, I can handle it," replied Caroline. "And it's not drastic at all," she added. "Wade could easily now be a target for soldiers on both sides of our little underground war. Even Max was only wanted by one side. You want her to stay here?"
Remmy hung his head, conceding.
"What's all this?" asked Wade, having heard Remmy shouting.
Remmy turned and looked her in the eye, holding both her shoulders tightly. "Caroline thinks you could be in really serious trouble. She thinks she can get you to England, out of the heat for a while."
"What? " Wade turned to look at Caroline, then back to Remmy's sombre face. "I can't go to England. What about the Slide? What about Max?"
"We'll deal with that, girl. You did your best, but now you're in more trouble than we can hope to deal with. You know I wouldn't send you away if I didn't think it was necessary."
"You can't SEND me anywhere," retorted Wade abruptly. Then she saw the look in Remmy's eyes and nodded. "Sorry, I know you wouldn't. Are you sure it's the only way?"
Remmy glanced at Caroline, then looked Wade firmly in the eye. "I'm sure," he said quietly.
Within ten minutes Wade was ready to leave. Caroline was to drive her to the airport, and return in time for curfew. Wade would then catch a plane to France, where a connection through to England had been arranged. As Caroline opened the door, and Wade hugged Remmy goodbye, Quinn walked in.
"What's goin' on?" asked Quinn, slightly alarmed by the scene which confronted him. "Where're you going, Wade?"
"I have to go to England," Wade replied quietly.
"Why?" Quinn grabbed her arm, trying to stop her leaving.
"It's too dangerous here, Q-ball," said Remmy, patting Quinn on the shoulder.
"Did she convince you of that?" yelled Quinn, no longer caring that Caroline was stood in front of him.
"She's right, man," whispered Remmy. "Wade could be killed here, is that what you want? Let her go."
Quinn released Wade's arm. "Are you sure?" he asked her.
Wade nodded, her eyes down on the floor. "See you soon, Quinn," she whispered. "Bye, Remmy." Then she followed Caroline out of the door.
By the time she stepped off the plane in Paris, Wade felt as though it had been months since she had seen any of the others, yet it had only been 10 hours. Confronted by a multitude of signs in a language she couldn't read, and hoards of babbling people, Wade was more than a little apprehensive. The propaganda she had heard about England itself, and Quinn's suspicions about Caroline were only making things worse. For a moment she felt as though the entire world was closing in on her, suddenly everything seemed threatening, then a tall, thin man approached her and spoke to her in heavily accented English.
"Allo, are you Wade Wells?"
"Yeah," replied Wade cautiously.
"We were expecting you. You are trying to get to England, no?"
"Yeah."
"Right this way."
More than a little relieved to no longer be completely alone, Wade followed the man out of the airport.
The following day, Quinn left for work earlier than usual, intending to avoid Remmy returning from work. For the moment he truly didn't want to talk to him. Remmy had known of Quinn's misgivings about Caroline, yet he had still convinced Wade to go along with her plan, and there had been nothing Quinn could do to stop her.
Quinn walked along the streets of San Francisco, weaving in and out of all the frantically busy people rushing towards him. He couldn't believe Wade had gone too. With Max gone who knows where, and Maggie caught up with the military already, that only left him and Remmy. Quinn kicked the pavement, dejected. He wished he had a plan, some course of action which in no way relied on Caroline. So far they were way too dependent on her. Then he remembered Maggie. There was no way Maggie would depend on Caroline or anyone else. Quinn smiled to himself, and somehow felt better. Maggie could be difficult sometimes, but it was nice to know she would be there to watch your back.
Suddenly ready for anything, as if he'd had a great weight lifted off his mind, Quinn looked up and began to walk more quickly. He wondered if there was any way for him to get in touch with Maggie, anything he could do to help out with her plans. It gave him a renewed purpose. As he stode along, working out how to contact Maggie, he noticed his Mom crossing the street towards him. His heart leapt. Before he could approach her and talk to her, a hand yanked him back against a wall, away from the road. He saw his Mom pass him by, oblivious.
"Mom," he whispered. Then he turned to see who had pulled him back. "Remmy." Quinn glared at him. "Why did you do that?"
"What're you thinking? She's not your Mother anymore than this is your home town. Don't go complicating things, Q-ball. You're already a wanted man."
Quinn's anger faded. "Hey, Remmy. I'm sorry about last night, I know Caroline's your friend, and you're only looking out for us. Like when any of us is about to do something monumentally stupid." Quinn nodded in the direction of his Mom, now several yards down the street.
"No problem, man." Remmy clapped him on the back. "You know I'd do anything for you or Wade."
Quinn nodded. "I know, Cryin' Man."
"So just keep your cool, and get to work," laughed Remmy, glancing at his watch. "I'll catch you later!"
Quinn glanced back at his Mom once more, then said goodbye to Remmy and left for work. Despite Remmy's words, he couldn't help wishing that he could've talked to her. It would be so good to speak to her again. He kicked himself mentally for starting their Sliding nightmare, wishing once again that he'd been more careful, but he caught himself before he began to wallow in self-pity, or start thinking about the Professor. He had to focus on saving Max, and making sure everyone else stayed out of trouble.
"You have to be Wade," grinned a tall, thin man of approximately her age.
Wade looked up at him, "yeah," she replied, sizing him up.
"Hi. I'm Stevie." He offered his hand.
Wade shook his hand firmly, all the time staring intently at him. In her head she had always known that British people weren't all like the Professor, but she had met so few that Stevie came as something of a shock. He looked as if he'd spent the night sleeping in the waiting room while she had been on the ferry.
"Have you been waiting long?" asked Wade.
Stevie caught her look. "Ah, no. I always look like this. Come on." He led her to a small, dark bus stop. "We've got to catch the bus to Canterbury." He glanced around. "What do you think? You been here before?"
"No," smiled Wade, "never. It's good so far though, I got the impression it was always raining."
Stevie chuckled, "wait til we get up north."
"Where are we going?" asked Wade.
"I don't think you'll know it. It's a place called Baswich. It's a bit north of Birmingham."
Wade was quiet for a while, trying to take everything in. It was all so different. What little she could see of the road was so narrow and curved. And there was something subtley different about everything that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Wade remained quiet while Stevie navigated her onto the bus and then a train. Then there was the tube in London. Wade simply took a back seat and watched. She would've liked to look around, but Stevie looked a little lost himself and she didn't want to confuse him.
When they were finally on the train going north out of London, Stevie interrupted the silence. "They said you know Max. Is that true?"
"Yeah," whispered Wade.
"What's he like?" asked Stevie. "He's a big hero here, you know. Everyone sees him as a symbol of hope. That maybe Bennish will be removed and." He saw the look on her face. "Sorry. I don't suppose you're quite used to people not liking Bennish. Max is a good guy though, I'm sure he is."
Wade smiled, "I'm just worried about him, that's all. We've no idea where he is, or how to save him, and we have so little time."
"Save him? He was captured?" Stevie looked horrified. "They can't capture Max! He's like one of those historical figures that."
Wade interrupted, ". he's captured now, and we have to get him out."
Stevie smiled and straightened out his crumpled shirt and bright yellow braces. "Right. I'll just get the commandoes in then."
Wade was startled, trying to imagine Stevie doing anything even remotely like that, then she realised it was a joke. Despite her concern for Max, she couldn't resist smiling. "Where do I sign up?" she asked.
Quinn strolled casually round town, taking in both the similarities and the differences between this world and his own. He finally felt a little more comfortable on this earth, now that he knew the rules. Maggie had called with some brief but promising news on Max's whereabouts, and this morning they had got a message from Wade confirming that she had arrived safely. It had been a long week, especially waiting for news of Wade, but with that good news combined with his first afternoon off, Quinn wandered round whistling happily to himself, almost without a care in the world, if it hadn't been for his concern for Max.
"Quinn? Is that you?" a voice called from behind him.
Quinn froze. It was his Mom. He considered running, but he knew he couldn't bear to treat his Mom that way. So he turned round to face her.
"Mom."
"You're all right! Why didn't you come home straightaway? I was so worried. When those men came, and wouldn't explain." she trailed off.
"I'm not exactly who you think I am, Mom," began Quinn.
She looked up at him nervously. "What are you talking about? You're my son."
"Well, actually, I'm not." Quinn took a deep breath. "I'm a double of your son. I'm your son from a parallel earth."
His Mom sighed and shook her head. "How do you dream up these things?"
"It's true! There must be some way I can convince you." Quinn racked his brains for a plausible explanation.
"Come on," said his Mom, "at the very least you can spare the time to come home and explain it to me, can't you?"
Looking into her eyes, Quinn couldn't resist. "Yeah, I can manage that," he croaked.
Arriving at his house on this world brought the memories of their last visit flooding back. Quinn realised that they held the key to convincing his Mom of who he was.
"Mom. You have to let me explain."
"OK, explain away. Tell me how you're not my son."
Quinn described the events of their previous visit, ranging from their attempt to recreate their Sliding machine from his double's equipment to his candlelit dinner with Wade, and helping the Professor and Bennish to blow up the asteroid. As soon as he mentioned being in the basement, he could tell that she believed him. Her mouth fell open as she patiently waited for him to finish.
"I'm so glad it was you that made the mess in the basement. What with everything that was going on in the world, this world," she corrected herself, "at the time we thought it could have been anyone. My Quinn was quite upset about the mess you made of his equipment, you know."
"Tell him I'm sorry," smiled Quinn, "but I really have to go." He noticed the look on her face. "What's the matter? Where's your Quinn?"
"They took him away, Bennish's men," she whispered. "It was nearly a year ago now, I was so hoping you were really him. That he was out."
"He'll get out," whispered Quinn, "you just have to believe. But I'm afraid I really have to go."
"Can't you stay a while?" his Mom asked.
"I can't, I'm sorry. But if there's anything I can do for your Quinn, I will."
His Mom nodded, tears running down her face.
"He'll be back. Count on it." Quinn hugged her briedly, then turned and left before he lost his nerve. He knew he was taking far too many risks simply being there, and Remmy and Maggie were going to need his help rescuing Max. Maybe his doulbe too, it they were lucky.
"Hey. How'd your day go?" Remmy greeted Caroline. "Any good?"
"Not bad," she smiled.
"Ah, wait a second, someone left this for you." Remmy picked up a small, sealed envelope and handed it to Caroline.
"Strange." Caroline read the note inside, then sighed. "I knew things were going too well. It's been nicely quiet since Wade left, then this."
"What?" asked Remmy, alarmed.
Caroline handed him the note.
"You should be more careful who you invite to stay," read Remmy aloud. "Don't think we don't know who he is." Remmy frowned, "huh?"
Caroline passed him a small photograph. It clearly showed Quinn outside his double's house with his Mom.
"What!" exclaimed Remmy. "I warned him. I told him not to go."
"Who left the note?" asked Caroline, ignoring Rembrandt's remarks. "Did you see them?"
"Yeah." Remmy took a deep breath to calm himself so that he could think straight. "It was a girl, about ye high. Dressed in black and white."
Caroline frowned. "No one I've heard of."
At that moment the door opened and Quinn arrived back from work.
"Q-ball. I thought I warned you about going to see your Mom!" shouted Remmy, exasperated.
"Hey, chill out Remmy. I didn't have a choice, she saw me. I couldn't go making a scene in the middle of the street. Besides, I was careful, no one saw me," smiled Quinn.
"You sure about that?" asked Remmy, thrusting the note and photo into Quinn's hand.
Quinn read the note twice. "I don't believe it. Where did you get this?"
"For a genius, sometimes you can be real stupid, Q-ball," groaned Remmy. "Some girl left it."
Quinn blinked, "a girl?"
"Yeah," replied Remmy. As Remmy described her again, Quinn realised who he was talking about.
"She's the one from work who kept questioning me. I guess she was more curious that I'd anticipated." Quinn rolled his eyes. "She's just a nosey kid, nothing to worry about."
"You don't understand," interrupted Caroline, "everyone here is someone to worry about. She could have told anyone. All it takes is just one person in authority to believe her, to take notice. You have to get out of here."
"What? Run away because of this? That's ridiculous," exclaimed Quinn.
"You're not thinking with the times, Quinn. What other people think you're doing is important here. You are in trouble."
"You're just kicking me out."
"Q-ball! Man, I don't believe you just said that!" objected Remmy.
"Whatever. You have to decide whether you trust me or not, once and for all. Right now, Quinn. No more suspicions. Don't think I didn't notice. Either you can trust me and I'll help you get away, or you can simply leave this house. Do you understand?" Caroline glared at him.
Quinn looked down at his feet and nodded slightly.
"So? Which will it be?" demanded Caroline.
Quinn looked Caroline in the eye for several long seconds, trying to decide. Then he glanced at Remmy, and the decision was made. It wasn't necessarily a question of trusting Caroline as much as relying on Remmy's judgement, something he always regretted not doing in retrospect. "I trust you," he replied, "but if I run away too, what about Max? We've not exactly made much progress, just got ourselves into trouble." At least Wade got into trouble trying to help Max, he thought.
"We'll manage," responded Caroline.
"I have another point," added Remmy. "We have to do more than get Max out, we have to try and put right what we may have caused."
"What?" asked Caroline.
"How?" enquired Quinn, not seeing Remmy's point.
"Maybe you can put those brains of yours to good use," suggested Remmy. "Look, the only reason Bennish has an advantage is the atom bomb."
". take that away and the balance is restored! I have to help someone build an atom bomb?" Quinn saw what Remmy was getting at.
"Did I miss something?" asked Caroline.
Remmy grinned, "I'll say you did! But then I did too at the time. I'll explain later. Do you know if there is anyone currently attempting to create an atom bomb?"
"I know just the place," laughed Caroline, humouring them.
Exhausted from trying to get Quinn safely out of the country so quickly, Caroline finally got to sit down and rest once Quinn was on his way.
"I hope you're not planning on doing anything stupid," she told Remmy.
"Relax," replied Remmy.
"Maybe. Once you've explained to me where you're all from," answered Caroline.
"Now that's a long story," chuckled Remmy, "can it wait til tomorrow?"
"Sure," replied Caroline, "tomorrow's fine." Relaxing comfortably on the sofa with a glass of wine, Caroline's hand knocked the TV remote, and she switched it on to see if there was any news.
". once again. Today a press statement released from the White House by President Bennish announces the scheduled execution of the British spy Max Arturo one month from now. The President says that prolonged imprisonment of such a dangerous enemy of the state and country would only increase the risk of outside interference."
Remmy and Caroline exchanged horrified glances. Then Remmy noted the scheduled date of execution.
"Oh man. That's the day we Slide!"
On to part 5