It's funny how people will make what seems like a meaningless decision that turns into a stupid one. Seeing it over and over again in my life, people have a tendency to overlook the things that they think are mundane or small. I've been guilty of that so many times in the past.
Standing in the snow covered hills of Vale, Colorado, I was starting to feel a little dumb for not grabbing my ski jacket instead of just the normal day to day rain Columbia I threw on as I rushed out the….window. Well, that was a strange set of events to begin with.
The tactical boots were a good idea. They were woodstove warm and keeping my feet bone dry. Of course that's what they are meant to do so, it makes sense. Even in the freezing snow. When I slipped them on all I was thinking about was they could handle any climate. With those boots, I really would have felt dumb if I'd chosen the Florida Keys with its hot dry sand.
There was only one goal to meet, spinning around I looked for what I needed. Throwing the backpack onto my other shoulder and securing the waste clasp, I headed for a cabin in the distance.
While I walked I thought about what had just happened and how. Understanding how it was happening was most important if I wanted to report it. I don't think there was any way to understand why it was happening to me only how it was happening.
When I concentrated on something and put emotion into it I could go to a place if it was focused in the right direction. When I focused it in two places at once I was in two different places at once. It sounded cool even to say it to myself, but when I was caught between two worlds it was highly disturbing and hard to grasp what was reality. My mind had trouble holding onto thoughts.
Looking up I was at a bar resembling a log building. It had a parking lot and then a snow cover road leading up to it. The sign said 'The Igloo' in blue ice covered letters. Moving up the steps to the porch, I let myself in the doors. It was a typical hick type bar. Some pool tables to the right, a jukebox to the left with tables around the outside and toward the middle. Then, right in the middle, was a massive oval circle bar. It was time to meet my goal.
"Hey. I'll have a Dirty Goose." The bartender was dressed all in black and looked like he belonged farther up the hill with the rich crowd.
"No problem," he said with a smile. "That'll be $6." He started making the martini in a can with the Grey Goose and then the olive juice.
I dropped a $20 and looked him in the eyes as he dropped off the drink. "Can I ask a question?"
It seemed this was everyday banter for him. "Sure. Directions?" He was pretty matter of fact about it like he was programmed to repeat them.
"No, nothing like that." I took a swig from the chilled martini glass. "Have you have seen me before?"
"Um, no. Nope, I've never seen you around here before," he said kind of questioning my motives in his tone.
"Good. Just wondering," I didn't want him to get weirded out but I did want him to remember me. "My twin brother and I were running around and he took off for the day to do some stuff on his own. I can't get him on his cell." I took another drink as he tried to give me change for the $20. "No, that's for you." I gulped the rest of it down. "Thanks for the help."
He realized there was no strange motives going on, "Thank you and no problem. You want to leave your number so I can call if I see him?" Nice of him to offer.
"Nah. Just tell him I'm looking for him," since he would never see me or my brother again it was a good plan and he would remember me when they showed up.
Walking to the front door the motion of people playing pool caught the corner of my eye. I looked over, scanned and looked back as I went out the doors, noticing some men wearing black tactical boots. Not normal for Vale I should think.
"Good," I thought to myself. "The Company will know I was here, too." Starting to smile, I walked down the porch to the snow. Twenty feet from the building in the snow it was too dark to make out anything well. Walking over my own tracks to cover up my entrance and exit, it was time to try what I learned.
Staring out into the snow I thought about the place I wanted to go. Just how bad I wanted to be in that place. My left hand started to twitch along with my eyes and a haze fogged over my vision. Closing my eyes and only thinking about this place and nothing else, my entire left arm was shaking and it was becoming more violent.
Opening my eyes, I found myself standing on a beach in the Florida Keys or at least it looked like it. Wanting to try something new, I put my hand up and waved and the other me waved back. Seeing through both sets of eyes tripped me out and made my head hurt. Focusing on myself in Florida and shutting my eyes, I listened for the ocean. Crashing waves were echoing in the background and getting closer and closer. When they were crashing in front of me and the force was vibrating, I opened my eyes. Standing on a beach I had never seen before, I could relax with the soothing sounds of the ocean.
Swiftly, I spun around to see a hole closing with nothing on the other side. In the middle of the circle it was clear as day, but around it was a white steam and faint blue electricity constantly in flux wrapped around the steam.
Once it was shut the beach was on the other side running away from the shore. Turning back I could see the moon glistening off the water and my boots which did look very ridiculous stuck in the sand.
To the right I saw some lights and headed down the beach in that direction. Tromping through the sand I could feel the crisp ocean air on my face and filled my lungs as I caught my breath from....well, whatever it was that I just did.
Just minutes ago I was in a bar in the snow, saw two guys, behind the men playing pool, standing against the wall. Both were dressed in snow gear except the black tactical boots they were wearing. They glanced at me as I headed out the door but tried to make it look as if they didn't. I noticed them noticing me.
They were from the Company, the same company that had been watching and following me since my 20th birthday. Between Matt, Bob and all of Bob's contacts in different agencies we were having a hard time finding out much about whom owned the company. Even Jax was having trouble finding anything out from inside the cyberspace world.
Normal people would have thought it strange that I would move through space-time and end up in a place of my choosing at a moment's notice. This was still all new to me, but anything the Company did wasn't strange to me anymore. It was the norm. They slipped in and out of places. They were always a step ahead whenever I went someplace even when I changed where I was going while in the car. For the first three or four months it was frustrating me. Then I just got use to seeing the tactical boots on some random people wherever I went. It became easy to spot them, not that they were trying to hide it.
Walking up to the first house on the beach, it was dark but had enough light on it from the next house over. Climbing the steps, I looked back over my shoulder. It wouldn't surprise me if black tactical boots were following me down the beach. No one was out in the moonlight that night. Waves broke in the distance as I turned back to find a door to the house.
Floor to ceiling widows covered the entire front of the house and even the door on the side of the house was made of glass. Cupping my hands I peered through the windows. White sheets covered every bit of furniture making it resemble some kind of haunted house. That was a good sign no one was living there. Even though it was obvious it wasn't, I tried the door handle to see if it was unlocked. I tried it twice and pulled my hand back. My eyes twitched a bit and I heard a clicking sound. Stepping back and looking through the window, I half expected someone to be standing there in a robe.
There was no one near the door. Could it be? Reaching down and trying the handle again, it turned. Pushing the door open and letting go, I had to wonder how it happened. The mind can make up some crazy excuses.
"Hello?" Not a peep from inside. "Power Company," still no shuffling of feet or creaking boards above. Just the same I made my entrance quickly.
I shut the door, pulled the shade over the window and locked the door to hide myself in the house. Leaving the rest of the windows open, I didn't arouse any suspicion if one of the neighbors were walking by the place. At the back of the living room was the open kitchen. Looking through the cupboards they were fully stocked with canned and boxed goods. Grabbing a box of crackers I went to the fridge to see what else they had.
"Wow," I said out loud. They had good Champagne and Caviar in the fridge. I grabbed both and a small spoon from the drawer next to the fridge and headed upstairs to the master bedroom. The windows overlooking the ocean and the beach were open to the fantastic view. Popping my backpack off, I sat with my back propped up against the foot board and put my groceries down next to me hoping to relax while I ate.
"First things first!" I lifted the bottle of Dom my face so I could see the label stamped 1990. Nice. With a loud pop and a cork shooting into the ceiling I started drinking it. Smooth and crisply refreshing, I set it down and picked up the caviar. It was Russian and a very decent brand.
"These people know what good is," I declared to no one. Grabbing some crackers I dabbed on some eggs and took a bite. My stomach was so empty I was worried I would eat too fast so I took another swig off the bottle of champagne. Well, if you are going to break into someone's house this was the house to do it in. My plan was to get drunk on Dom and full on Russian Caviar. A better place to accidentally need to break into I couldn't have planned out any better.
Drinking the Dom and eating the caviar I watched the inconstant moon rise above the ever changing ocean. Ever so slightly and ever moving it had me entranced. My eyes started to haze over and twitch. Startled, but knowing what was coming, I closed my eyes and shook my head.
"No!" Ending up on the moon would be a bad thing. At least I thought it would be a bad idea. I wasn't totally sure what would happen if I did end up there. An image of me standing on the moon holding my breath passed through my mind.
Opening my eyes, I could see clearly again and felt a wash of relief spread over my body and in my head. Trying to focus on the task of eating, I looked down to notice. I had accomplished what I wanted, so far.
Needing to be seen in Vale and then in Florida, was important to throw off whoever might be looking. Both had been accomplished to this point. Now I needed to form the rest of whatever plan I had.
Since my 20th birthday I had started to get worried something might happen to me. Of course, at the time I thought I would be kidnapped for ransom of some kind or the government would want me for something else having to do with the Company's influence. At the time I didn't think the government would be chasing me because I could slip through space-time. It really wasn't even a thought.
It felt like the right thing to do, so I left instructions for Matt and Bob in case something like this did happen. In them I put down the place to meet up with me and how many days from the time I would have sent Matt a text, which I did just before I threw my phone in the sink and disappeared from my apartment.
The text read: "Go to Playhouse. My office. Scan your hand. Have Bob scan his after yours."
Now the issue was I planned on having to travel to the destination myself. So, adding in time to make a couple of stops to fulfill the purpose I did in Vale and the travel time for the distance, I wrote in the instructions 36 hours. Little did I know it could be 36 minutes. Of course, they would need to travel the distance to get there themselves.
One of the seven hidden places I had in the country was going to be the hardest for anyone to find. At the time, I was guessing, that the company looking for me would be searching for the properties I owned. Fortunately, I had also sent Matt around the US over the last several months to buy up meaningless properties. Well, not totally useless, but nothing I was ready to use at the moment. Most of them were perfect to fit my businesses, though nothing I had going on at that moment. The scent needed to be strong for every lead. This would have the company and/or the government on a wild goose chase and spread very thin, if spreading the government thin was possible.
Companies were setup in different people's names with companies on top of those companies and companies on top of those. Companies were in people's name's that were dead. I had Jax setup companies outside the country that were owned by other companies in other countries. All of them owned different properties. Companies and properties were in Bob, Remy, Matt, Jax and even Austin and Lexie's names. To be honest, I bought a couple of houses in Austin and Lexie's names that they would own when they turned 18. Then I had some of them in my name and some in the name of the companies with my name on them. With a team of people it would take a month just to get through one company for one property. Trying to trace it to me would be almost impossible except for the ones I setup to be found easily.
This company tracking me was so well connected I figured they would be able to track down a lot of it. I was counting on it. They would be chasing their tales running down every lead and detail. Taking up time and personnel was part of the plan. At that moment I was sure they were in the middle of trying to find out whatever they could no matter how mundane the detail.
One last caviar piled cracker went into my mouth and a swig finished off the bottle of Dom as I got up. With my black tactical boots on and still wearing my coat I lay it down on top of the bed and shut my eyes thinking about the next move. Hoping to dream of a plan in great detail, and hoping I didn't bounce space, I drifted off.