body, while not fat was less fit. Chase knew if they were in the same room, people would assume they were identical twins.
He stood and looked into the cracked mirror over the sink. Even in the dimly lit hotel room, he saw himself, short dark blonde hair, brown eyes, tall and fit. Most would say he was muscular like a professional athlete, with tight washboard abs and thick arms and legs. If Frank could take over his body, he could do just about anything. The evil he could create scared Chase to his core. He couldn’t just sit by and let Frank not only ruin his life but put others in danger. He looked around for his belongings and quickly dressed. He looked at his watch, surprised it was still on his wrist, and noticed the time. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it had only been a few hours since he left the break room at the base.
*****
“I don’t understand. Where could he be?” Lisbeth was pacing the small bunkroom. Jonas and Stieg had come with her to gather her things. She had decided to go to Germany and live with him. As a wedding gift, Marc had signed off on her contract for the remaining time she had left with the study under KenSpec Labs.
Rita shook her head. “I don’t know. Lisbeth he was acting so strange. It was scary really.” She looked at Paul who was sitting in his chair with his elbows on his knees, his hands dangling. “Paul and Chase talked alone for a bit because he asked me to leave. He acted like he wanted to hit me. I’m telling you, Lisbeth, I’ve never seen anyone look at me the way he did.” Rita gave a little shiver.
Dave walked into the bunkroom with Marc and Sadie. He shut the door behind him and took a deep breath. “Okay, crew, it’s time we had a chat.” He looked back to Marc who nodded. “I hadn’t told anyone what happened to me after we returned from our mission. I also didn’t go to Barker, but now,” he cleared his throat, “I think that was a mistake.”
Marc walked over to Dave and put a hand on his shoulder. “It was a decision we both made. We thought our experience was unique. But after talking with Lisbeth, we found out we were wrong, but no one else came forward with any strange incidents after you came back from the mission. Until Lisbeth came to see Dave a few days ago. I see now, it was a serious miscalculation on our part. I need to know if either of you has had unexplained things happening to you since you returned from the flight over the time distortion.”
Paul and Rita shifted uncomfortably, but neither said a word. Lisbeth knew them well enough to know they were hiding something. “Guys. Stop acting like everything is okay.” Neither said a word. “Rita, you’re hiding something. You always bite your thumbnail when you want to say something, but you’re trying not to. And Paul, you look down and won’t look anyone in the eye when something is up. I’ve bunked next to you two for over three years now. I know you as well as you know me.”
“Well, you must have been keeping a big fucking secret if you got married to Stieg Warner. None of us even had a clue you knew him.” Paul leaned back in his chair and raised his eyes to meet hers. “Fess up. You tell us what happened to you and maybe I will tell you what’s been happening to me.”
“That’s fair, Lisbeth.” Jonas grabbed her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. “You didn’t tell anyone either. It has to be hard on them. I watched Stieg, and it was heartbreaking.”
Dave sighed and moved empty chairs away from the table. “I think I should start this off. Sadie,” he held out his hand to the gorgeous dark-haired woman, and she came to sit beside him. Marc sat on her other side. They each took one of her hands in theirs, and they began to explain about the two timelines, the dreams and the fact they were now a family. Then Lisbeth and Stieg told their story. No one noticed that Chase had walked in and was standing by the door.
*****
“Wait.” Chase’s voice was quiet but got everyone’s attention. They all turned to look at him. “So, the time distortion was a rip between two different timelines, and if our counterparts were in the other chopper, their memories swapped with ours. On this side.” Chase’s legs were so weak he wasn’t sure if he could walk to the nearest seat. He felt his body sliding down the wall when Marc and Dave quickly stood and moved toward him. He looked up just as the men squatted down, one on either side of him.
Dave got to him first and reached a hand to his neck to feel for a pulse. “Chase? Where have you been? We’ve got Security Forces out looking for you. You’ve been MIA for nearly thirty hours.”
Chase looked up, fear nearly overwhelmed him. “What? I thought I just left a few hours ago. I, I was standing in the break room watching the news about Lisbeth,” his voice trailed off as his eyes searched the room. He finally spotted her standing next to her new husband, clasping his hand with a pale face and clearly upset. Behind her a large dark-haired male stood with his arms across his chest, studying him very closely. Chase batted the other men’s hands away from him.
“Stop. Just stop touching me. How could you keep something like this to yourselves? You were such a narcissist that you thought only you would suffer from,” he stopped talking and moved his hand to indicate everyone in the room. “Did you think you were the only one smart enough to be on that chopper in both timelines?” Chase pushed himself up from the floor and used the wall behind him to prop himself up.
“No, Chase. When we got back, I had a seizure in front of Tel, and since I was the only one to have a seizure, I just assumed I was the only one who was affected. We had no way of knowing at the time what the distortion was or that there were two timelines.” Dave was shaken. “But, you’re right. I was wrong to assume anything. I didn’t go to Barker because with Sadie being married in this timeline to another man, it goes against the military adultery law.” He shook his head. “I found Sadie within a few days. Lisbeth came to me on our first morning back to work. I thought if you or Paul or Rita had issues, you’d have come to me too.”
“Well, I guess you were wrong. See, I don’t have a sweet love story. Hell, the other me couldn’t have been on that chopper. I don’t know how that psycho ‘other me’ connected to me, but he keeps crossing over the timeline, and each time his connection gets stronger.” He looked up and saw his other self from across the timeline staring at him. Chase saw a smirk on Frank’s face as he strode toward him quickly. He knew he was going to take over his body again and fear slammed hard. “No!” He jerked and moved away from the advancing apparition of himself. He was too caught up in trying to escape his psychotic doppelgänger, which only he could see.
“Chase.” Dave was trying to grab his arm, but Chase evaded his hands. He began to move around the room trying to outrun the man who would enter his body and take over. “Chase, just calm down. What’s going on? Talk to me.”
“Something you don’t understand. Your other self is just like you. Mine is a psychopath. Frank’s taken over my body once already.”
He watched Frank grin, “Do you really think these people will believe you? You just signed your own crazy papers. And I’m still going to have my last go round.” Chase didn’t know what he meant. He only knew he had to evade Frank.
“Chase. What do you mean? Is he here? Now?” It was Jonas who asked. Something in his face let Chase knew he believed him. Maybe it was the fear he projected, but the big German bodyguard seemed to understand.
“Yes. He took over my body. That’s why I don’t remember anything until a few hours ago. I don’t know how he did it. Unless he jumped into my body.”
“Good guess, Chase. I knew you were smart, even though you’re boring as fuck.” Frank sounded amused. “When I get inside you this time. I’m going to act just like you. They’ll never know. I’ve been in this cell too long. I need some fun. They’re going to execute me soon, and I want to go out on a bang.”
Frank laughed a terrible, horrible laugh. Chase knew if Frank got into his body, he’d never be able to live with what he did while he had control of his body. Everyone moved around the room, trying to stay out of his way. Stieg and Lisbeth moved toward the door, while Jonas had ended up further away from the couple. He jumped behind Lisbeth and jerked her from Stieg’s grasp and pulled her from the room. She didn’t scream as he thought she might. Everyone must have been so shocked no one moved but the big German motherfucker named Jonas. But Chase was faster, and he knew his way around the base.
Grabbing Lisbeth’s upper arm, he made it to the elevator in seconds. The door shut just as Jonas got there. Chase heard the man yelling in German before the lift moved quickly to the roof. Lisbeth was talking, trying to plead with him, but he focused on keeping his body and mind alert. He didn’t know how Frank had gotten control of him before without him knowing. Maybe he hadn’t been paying attention and Frank could sneak up on him, but that wasn’t going to happen this time.
The door opened, and Chase pulled Lisbeth behind him to his quarters, sparse as they were, he had his sidearm there. Lisbeth was fighting his advance to his quarters now, trying to pull herself from his grasp, he tightened his grip, still trying to pull her but not hurt her. “Stop fighting me, Lisbeth. I need your help.” He jerked her into the room and slammed the door. He did not doubt that the big German, and maybe even Dave would be knocking down his door soon. He was counting on it. She stopped fighting him.
“What’s going on, Chase? Why didn’t you just ask me to help you? I –”
Chase cut her off. “I don’t have time. Frank could get to me at any time. He’s a psychopath, a murderer and he can use my body. I need you to shoot me.” He handed her his gun. “You have to hurry. I’d rather die than let him hurt you or anyone else I care about.”
“What? No! There has to be another way.” Lisbeth looked horrified, just as Frank walked through the wall and into the small quarters.