13

Sabotage Attempt

Back in the year 2020 the clock was just hitting 10:30 p.m. in the hidden New Mexico base when Agent Harris and Dr. Weiss came hobbling out of the infirmary, with respective canes, Agent Harris’s pace looking a little uncertain at first.

“Maybe you should wait a bit longer before trying to walk, Sue,” Dr. Weiss was saying. “It’s only been a few hours.”

“Which is a few hours too long of just laying on my ass,” she replied. “I can out-hobble you any day of the week.”

“Then may I challenge you to a cane race? First one to the end of the hall springs for the next pudding cup at the cafeteria. The workout should be good for you.”

Sue grinned, then started hobbling along faster. “Just remember I like my banana pudding,” she said.

And so, watched by a nurse peeking out from the ER and a couple of passing soldiers making way for them, the pair started a cane race toward the end of the hall, where it joined up with another one perpendicular to it. At first Dr. Weiss took the lead with his stately, dignified walk, but a determined Agent Harris powered through any lingering weaknesses she may have been suffering and set herself into a fast-paced hobble that had her pulling ahead of Dr. Weiss.

“That dignified walk of yours is going to get you a distant second.” She grinned.

“A gentleman never corrects a lady, but in this case . . . not if I can help it.”

Sue was a full three feet in front and nearly to the end of the hall when something literally appeared in a twinkle of prismatic lights at the intersection ahead. Three men that Dr. Weiss immediately recognized and to which the nearest soldiers instantly reacted.

“Those are the same three as before,” Dr. Weiss gasped. “Where did you take my niece, you Russian thugs?” He raised his cane, trying to wave it about threateningly.

Agent Harris immediately sized up the situation and changed her course into a half tackle of her friend, bowling Dr. Weiss off to the side and against a wall, then down to the floor. “Stay down,” she ordered. Turning around as quickly as her condition would allow, she glanced over to see what was going on.

Three soldiers already lay on the ground twitching, each one having fallen victim to the electrified bullets, while three more were charging down from the other hall with pistols aimed and shouting threats for the Russians’ surrender.

Agent Harris flattened herself against the wall and started creeping her way closer to the intersection. The soldiers fired their guns only to see their bullets be deflected once a foot away from the Russians, followed by the Russians then getting off their return fire. Three more soldiers quickly joined the others napping on the ground.

One of the Russians called out to the other two while taking out a small palm-sized device for a quick glance at its display. Agent Harris tapped a finger to her right ear and the small device hidden within it and whispered, “Harris here. If my Russian’s not too rusty, these guys are here to sabotage the time chamber and shut it down. I’ll do what I can up here.”

Message sent, she removed her finger and crept around the corner and positioned herself against the wall, with one hand gripping tightly the head of her cane. A moment later the central Russian snapped another order and they spun around and jogged directly past Agent Harris’s position. They took no notice of the invalid with the cane, judging her as obviously harmless, and Agent Harris did her best to look weak and helpless, at least until they were about halfway past her, at which point her cane suddenly whipped out into a swift arc that took the middle one to her left behind the knee on its way up to the back of the head of the one just to her right. The left one fell back into the third behind him, while the right one bowled over to hit the ground unconscious. Agent Harris turned slower than her normal but still fast enough to face the one on the ground just as he was getting to his feet, while his companion behind him was also getting back up and getting a few feet of distance from the encounter.

Agent Harris’s cane smacked the rising figure straight in the center of his forehead like a pool stick hitting a cue ball. This time when the man fell back he did not stir. This left the third one at the back to face Agent Harris alone, who suddenly did not seem quite as helpless as her cane and condition might imply. The remaining Russian eyed who it was that was facing him, then suddenly widened his eyes a bit in alarm and quickly brought up his pistol.

“Agent Susan Harris,” he said in thickly accented English.

She was leaning against her cane, obviously still recovering from her experience in time travel, yet her face was set with determination, while the one conscious Russian found that his hand gripping his pistol was shaking a little. Then he found that his hand had gone suddenly numb, and his pistol dropped to his feet from brief contact with Agent Harris’s cane. She had stepped one foot forward, swung her cane round, and, before her body could sway too much to one side or the other, smashed the end of her cane down hard across the other’s hand, bringing her cane back into place in time to catch herself.

A few choice words escaped the Russian’s lips, none of which can be translated in polite company. Then, with his good hand, he quickly reached into a pocket and drew out a round disk. More soldiers were just racing down the hall.

“I did not sign up to face you, Agent Harris.”

A press of his disc and he, his two companions lying unconscious, and even his fallen pistol shimmered in rainbow flickers and vanished before all eyes.

“Coward,” Agent Harris muttered under her breath. “Can’t even face an invalid with a cane.”

While the new guards came in to examine the six fallen victims of the futuristic bullets and scour the area for anything that might have been left behind, Sue hobbled back around the corner to where she had left Dr. Weiss. He was midway to his feet, still struggling with his cane, when her free hand reached out to help him the rest of the way up.

“Are you all right, Sam? Sorry I had to shove you away like that, but the way they were going with those guns of theirs, you might have gotten hurt.”

“Why, thank you, Sue.” Then, once fully on his feet with cane in place, he turned the subject around. “But what about you? You could have landed back in the infirmary again. You should not have been fighting them in your condition.”

“What fight? This may be my first encounter with these guys, but these future Russians seem to rely too much on their high-tech widgets and neglect good old-fashioned training. Pathetic, really. They should be embarrassed.”

“That one looked more terrified,” Dr. Weiss said with a little grin. “It looked like he recognized you, and not for the better I might add.”

“I guess I have a reputation in the future,” she said with a shrug. “Now let’s head back. We still have a cane race to finish.”

She started off once again in her cane-assisted hobble, tossing one last comment over her shoulder as she went.

“And you were right: the workout was good for me.”

Dr. Weiss replied with a chuckle and then hobbled along after her.