“Why, Willie,” Jack said amused, “one would think that you had seen a ghost.”
William, who was now of course Woodrow Wilson, smiled weakly. “Perhaps I have. Why are you here? Are you here to kill me?”
Jack laughed. “Willie, if I wanted to kill you, I could have done so many, many times. No, I’m not here to kill you. Although my feelings are still a bit sore from when you tried to kill me. You almost did, in fact. But you forget I can move where I please and your home century has fantastic medical technology.”
Wilson looked at Jack carefully. “So why are you here?”
Jack smiled widely. “My old friend, why don’t we start with coffee?”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Washington, D.C. – November 1921
“So, I noticed you’re not the President,” Jack taunted.
Anger rose in Wilson but he restrained it. Jack noticed. The underlying anger turned Jack’s taunting smile into a genuine smile. “Touchy, aren’t we?”
“What do you want with me?” Wilson asked.
Jack looked closely at Wilson, knowing his momentarily pause would gather Wilson’s attention. When he had it, he responded. “I want to help you.”
The comment surprised Wilson. “You want to help me?” He paused for a moment and looked at Jack. Then, he squinted his eyes in mistrust. “No thanks. I remember the last time you wanted to help me. I almost ended up dead. You did, too,” he said looking hard at Jack. “Unfortunately, the thought of your death was premature.”
Jack laughed as if he had anticipated the response. “Others have found I’m difficult to kill. You have the distinction of living to tell about it. You have joined very elite company,” Jack said referring to Dr. Bagster Phillips.
If Wilson was aware of whom Jack was referring, he ignored it and pressed on. “And you will find that I am as well. Nor am I a man who gives blind trust to one such as you.”
Jack scoffed. “A man such as me? You mean is a monster such as me. And make no mistake about it, I am a monster. But at some point in my life, I was merely a man. And that man lives within me still. So part of me is not such a bad guy and can be trusted.”
Wilson inhaled deeply. “Shall we continue this circle of bantering? Or would you like me to humor you and ask how you would like to help me?”
“I thought you would never ask. The couple you just visited…”
“The President and her husband? Well, her husband; she was not there.”
“Exactly who I mean. Do you know them well?”
“I know them well enough. I have made it my business to know the woman who replaced me as the President of the United States.”
Jack smiled. “And there it is: the issue that faces us both.”
Wilson looked up at Jack. “What do you mean that faces us both?”
Jack grew serious. “They do not belong here.”
“Any more than we do?” Wilson questioned.
“You don’t understand. You and I chose to be here. We developed the technology – well, you stole my design – but regardless, we made a conscious decision to move throughout time. I’m not certain they made that same decision. Libby Williams should have been the President of the United States during the 21st Century, not the 20th.”
“That much I know. They are time travelers from the future just as we are. But that doesn’t explain your comment.”
“Do you not find it strange that President Williams invites you into the White House? Does she invite other university presidents? No, she does not. So why, if she had traveled here with the intent of taking your place in history would she invite you in? She should be distancing herself as far from you as possible. It’s almost as though she feels guilty because she knows history is changed but she doesn’t know what to do about it.”
Wilson was intrigued by Jack’s story. “So you are suggesting that they came back against their will or at the very least were unaware of what was happening? If that’s true, we need to find out how they traveled and do something about it. It’s not too late for us to return everything to the way it should have been.”
Jack looked at Wilson. “You still don’t get it do you? I’m not here to try to get you back the White House. I’m here because something much deeper has happened. Something that will affect everything in the future, including me. Have you noticed anything missing from the newspapers this month?”
The month was November. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“That pretty much sums up your academic career, don’t you think? Two days ago, there would have been a large public meeting in Germany in the Munich Hofbräuhaus. This meeting was to have been held by the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler was to be a key speaker.”
“I didn’t hear anything about that.”
“Of course you didn’t. That’s my point. You didn’t hear about it because it didn’t happen. But it should have. It’s a well-documented meeting in the history books. It didn’t happen because Hitler wasn’t there.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s dead.”
Wilson was visibly confused. “What do you mean dead? Did you…”
“Of course I didn’t. I may be sadistic and narcissistic but I’m no idiot. I know better than to change history.”
“So how do you know he’s dead?”
“I watched him die. And your friend, the First Gentleman, was the one who killed him.”
Wilson didn’t speak for several moments as he considered everything Jack had just told him. “They changed history. That’s why President Williams is now in the White House,” he finally said.
“They
