Troy Holmes

“Thank you sir, the senator appreciates your continued contributions and this will be a great election year. Thank you for your support, and have a great day.” The secretary smiled apprehensively as she hung up the phone.

 

“Gotta pay the bills right?” the secretary said to the man with the briefcase as she looked up at him. “How can I help you today sir.”

 

“Hello Mrs.” The man with the briefcase paused as he looked around her desk for her name plate. “Ah, Mrs. Tillman” The main continued.

 

“Yes sir, sorry for the clutter it’s been one of those weeks.” Mrs. Tillman said to the man.

 

“No need to apologize ma’am, I am a little early for my meeting, but if it’s okay with you and the Senator I would like to begin now. My name is Mr. January; I am here for the monthly lockdown”

 

“Ah, yes Mr. January we are ready for the procedure. We know how you boys down at Homeland Security are; we are ready whenever you are sir.” The secretary said as she motioned to the Senators office door.

 

“Sir, Mr. January is here and ready for the monthly lockdown.” The secretary said into the intercom.

 

“Yes Gillian, send him in.” The senator said over the intercom back to his secretary.

“Go on in Mr. January.” She said.

 

“We should be in lockdown for exactly one hour. We will just be sitting, shooting the breeze, so go ahead take your lunch break. This isn’t anything we can’t handle by ourselves; it was a pleasure meeting you Gillian.” Mr. January said as he gracefully grabbed her fingers and kissed the top of her hand making Gillian blush.

 

“You boys have fun.” Gillian said back to Mr. January. He then left her and entered the Senators office closing the door behind him.

 

“Senator O’Neil, from the great state of Illinois, pleasure to meet you sir, my name is Derrick January.” He said as he extended his hand to the Senator.

 

“Nice to meet you Mr. January, Have a seat, relax. We have one boring hour in front of us. We better to get know each other.” The Senator said as he motioned Mr. January to the seat in front of his desk. The man placed the briefcase, which was still clutched in his hands, down beside him and took a seat.

 

“Yes sir Senator, this should be one boring hour.” Mr. January said with a smile. He knew in a couple of minutes it was going to be the exact opposite of that.

 

“Sir I feel like I already know you, your reputation precedes you.” Mr. January said to the Senator as he leaned back in his chair.

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“I am just a humble servant to the people.” The Senator said as he started to chuckle. The Senator then grabbed a drink and motioned to Mr. January if he wanted a drink also.

 

“No sir. I never drink on the job, but thank you. It clouds the mind if you know what I mean. I always like to stay sharp.” Mr. January said as he pantomimed a cloud around his head.

 

“I know what you mean. But on a day like today, I considered it a much needed break. Once a month I have the joy of looking forward to these meetings.” The senator said as he finally sat down.

 

“Ever since 9/11, every month we do one of these mandatory lockdowns. After the first couple months I got so extremely bored, I needed to spice things up. The last couple of guys just sat there and didn’t even say a word, said it was policy or something to that nature.” The senator paused as he took a sip of his drink.

 

 “Ah, a 33 year old single malt. It can’t get much better than that. I know we just have to sit here for an hour as if we are being attacked. I know we can’t have any communication with the outside world for one hour. But can’t we at least have fun.” The senator continued to chuckle.

 

“Yes sir, I am a little different than my colleagues. I don’t like dead air. If we are going to be here for an hour we might as well talk. For instance, I heard a story the other day and it’s a good one, would you like to hear it.” Mr. January said.

 

“A story? Who doesn’t like a good tale? Have at it Mr. January, the floor is yours.” The Senator said as he motioned to Mr. January to continue.

 

“This tale actually takes place in your home state sir and it’s a good one.” Mr. January said as he started his story.

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“Many years ago a man had a mistress. This man was a public officer such as yourself sir. The pride of Illinois as some people called him, and of being in such high society, a man of that nature with a mistress isn’t necessarily hard to believe. However this man was into some weird stuff. He didn’t only have one mistress, but many.” Mr. January was getting into his story as the Senator chirped in.

 

“Hey! My kind of guy, I like this guy.” The senator said as he poured another drink.

 

“I bet you do sir.” Mr. January said to the senator as he continued his story. “Yes, so this man had many mistresses and soon his mistresses were starting to get jealous. They all wanted to be the man’s wife and live in high society for the rest of their lives. However one day, one of his mistresses got impregnated. This was horrible news for this man in high society so he had to get rid of the problem. Now most men, you would think, would just pay the woman off, give her money for an abortion or whatever and cut ties with this woman and send her on her way. However, this man did nothing of that nature. Instead he told the woman that he wanted to marry her. He told her too pack her bags, and get ready to live the rest of their lives, together. This woman was as happy as she ever was. She truly thought her life was going to change. He told the woman that he paid a priest to wed them in the woods in secrecy. He drove his soon to be wife into the woods to the secret wedding. As they reached their destination the woman was surprised to see the other three mistresses waiting in the woods for them. She was so surprised to see the other women she didn’t even see the man that drove her into the woods pull out a pistol.” Mr. January paused his story, as he looked at the Senator. The Senator was now completely quiet, his smile was now gone, and sweat was running down his forehead.

 

“The man pulled out the pistol and shot all three women in the back of the head in rapid succession. All three women killed instantly before they realized what was happening. As the three women fell to the earth the man turned his back, got back into his car and drove away. The police never notified, the women never reported missing. The bodies never found.” Mr. January then sat up from his relax state to the edge of his seat.

 

“Why did you kill those women Senator O’Neil?” He said to the senator as the senator sat silent, stunned from the man’s story.

 

“How the hell do you know about that? I haven’t told anyone.” The senator tried to say as his voice left him. He didn’t know what to say or think he was in total shock. “That was 35 years ago.” The senator said.

 

“Yes Mr. Senator. I think it’s time to tell you the real reason I am here. It’s quite simply really. I hate men like you. Men like you are the reason the world is in such disarray, as it is now and as it is in the years to come.” Mr. January said as he got up from his seat and put his titanium briefcase on the Senators desk. “Men like you think they can do whatever they want. Men like you think they run this country. Men like you steal, murder, and rape people of their innocence. Men like you are the reason Men like me exists. I am here to level the playing field.” Mr. January said with a smile as he opened his brief case.

 

“You’re here to kill me.” Said the Senator in a very quiet and wispy voice, he was still in shock.

 

“No sir, If I was here to kill you then that would make me no better than you. Killing you is the last resort. I am here to rob you.”

 

“You’re here to rob me. How the hell do you think you are going to get a single dime from me? I am not going to give you shit.” Said the Senator slowly, he was starting to get out of his shocked state.

 

“Yes, Mr. Senator. You will give me everything.” Mr. January said as he started to take his tools out of his briefcase. “You see Mr. Senator this is no ordinary robbery. I have tools with me that will make you submit. These tools in your time have not been invented yet.” Mr. January said as he pulled out a small personal computer, a small metallic rectangle, and a small knife.

 

“In my time, what are you talking about? You’re crazy if you think torturing me will get me to give you my money. All I have to do is wait it out and after the lockdown is over you will be caught.” The Senator said as he snapped back at Mr. January.

 

“Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention. You will not catch me. I am from the year 2035. Time Travel exists. I repeat it’s hard to comprehend hearing it for the first time, but Time Travel exists. In my time, time travel is only permitted by a select few. Not everybody can do it, we have laws about it. If you change one thing in the past, the future changes tremendously. So without getting into all the headaches of time travel, just know this.  I have come back to right the wrongs done by all the corrupt forces in my time. You see this is not my first operation. My team and I have done this many times before. We have been successful every single time. We get our results fast. We get in an out in under an hour. It’s the perfect heist. Now the key question for you right now is how we get our results so fast. How is this, the perfect heist? Well the answer is right in front of you.” Mr. January said as he picked up the small metallic device in front of him.

 

Mr. January pressed a button on the side of the device, as he did a glowing screen emerged from the middle of the device and projected a display in front of the two men. In the display a man’s face emerged. The holographic image of the man in front of him started to speak.

 

“Mr. January, everything is ready on our end. How are things on your end?” The man in the display said.

 

“Ah, Mr. November it is good to see you sir. Everything on my end is fine. We are ready for phase two. Get the Senator in position.” Mr. January said to his partner Mr. November.

 

Mr. January’s partner then left the screen and was replaced by another man.

 

“Is that me?” The Senator said looking into the holographic device in horror.

 

“You continue to impress me Mr. Senator.” Mr. January said. “Your attention to detail is remarkable. You see we are not bad people. We are giving you a gift. You now know that you will live for another 20 years. Isn’t that exciting?” Mr. January said to the Senator in a jovial fashion.

 

“Excitement is not a word I would use to describe this situation.” The Senator said as fear entered his eyes.

 

“Mr. November, can you restrain the older Senator while I explain the situation to the younger subject. For I am sure you have done the same with the older version.” Mr. January said into the hologram.

 

“Yes sir, I will wait until I hear the word.” Mr. November said holding the older Senator.

 

“Like I said Mr. Senator, this is the perfect heist and I will tell you why.” Mr. January said shifting his focus from the hologram back to the senator. “You see, I have my team in the year 2035. Fortunately for you, you are still a United States Senator in my time. You are an older man, and are more corrupt then you are now. You followed up your murders with more murders and even more corruption. You steal money from your constituents on an everyday basis. In the year 2035 your net worth is 156.43 million dollars. As of today your net worth is 23.4 million dollars. So we have two options. We can steal money from you later in life. Or we can steal money from you in your early days. That choice is entirely up to you. Either way though, I will take that knife on the table and use it till I get my results. Which one is it going to be? Who is going to sign over their money first?” Mr. January said as he grabbed the small knife on the desk in front of him.

 

“Don’t tell him anything boy, keep your trap shut.” The older Senator said in a muffled and grizzly voice. As he spoke Mr. November hit him beside the head punishing him for talking.

 

“How do we even know these men are telling the truth, just shut up and let them do their worst.” The older Senator continued to say as if the hit didn’t affect him at all.

 

“They can do their worst to me, they are not getting a dime!” The younger Senator said triumphantly.

 

“Oh Jesus, just shut up you are only going to make this worse son.” The older Senator said back to his younger self ignoring his upbeat counterpart.  “You think this is the first time I have been in a situation like this, the best we can do is just shut up and we will get these guys.” The older Senator continued.

 

“Yea, just like Detroit. They aren’t gonna take anything from me!” The younger Senator said regaining some confidence.

 

“Oh wow, Detroit. I forgot about Detroit. If we just keep a cool head we will come out on top just like then.” The older Senator said slowly remembering the event that happened in Detroit many years ago. With this memory, a switch went off and it could be clearly seen, the Senators now believed what these men were saying.

 

“As much as I would love to find out what happened in Detroit, we are on a time crunch here gentleman.” Mr. January said with a chuckle.  

 

“Now this, this is just a little kick start. To show you we are not messing around.” Mr. January said as he stood behind the Senator still seated. Mr. January then grabbed the man with extreme force. Mr. January, stronger than his appearance, held down the Senator with one hand. With his other hand, he took the knife and held it in front of his cheek.

 

“Now this is going to hurt, and it’s going to be hard but I want you to look into the monitor very closely. Do not blink. I repeat, Do not blink” Mr. January said as he pointed to the screen with the small knife. As he slowly entered the knife into the cheek of the Senator, the Senator on the monitor, and the Senator in the chair, let out a blood curdling scream. As if the Senator was looking into a mirror a small scar started to appear on the man from the monitor out of nowhere. The scar stretched from the corner of his mouth up to his ear lobe. The Senators eyes faded into the back of his head and the Senator lost consciousness.

 

***

 

As the Senator awoke, he noticed that the holographic screen that was in front of him was no longer there. The holographic screen was replaced with a small computer monitor. Mr. January was sitting in front of the computer monitor waiting for the Senator to wake up.

 

“Ah, Senator O’Neil you have awoken from your slumber. I’m sorry it wasn’t a nightmare though, I am still here.” Mr. January said to the Senator.

 

“Just take it. I don’t care anymore.” The Senator said sounding defeated.

 

“Oh good, we will not have to use the knife anymore. Your fingers were next. I will take it Mr. Senator, I will. The next step is on you sir, and then it is all over. In front of you I have a computer you can access your account. I would like you to transfer the entire 23.4 million dollars to this account here. You see at the end of the day it always comes down to money. We have a very expensive expenditure with our mission and we need capital to finance it. Across all times and when’s and where’s, money still rules the earth. But, don’t worry you are not the only man we will be stealing from today. It cost a lot of money to keep the lights on.” Mr. January said giving the man a slip of paper.

 

The Senator sat on the edge of his seat while clutching the hanging flesh of his cheek. He then typed his information into the computer and completed the transfer.

 

“There it’s done, did I do it first. Was I the first one to complete the transfer? Is your team going to leave the older me alone?” The Senator asked Mr. January fearing the answer.

 

“Mr. Senator I think I have told you too much about your own future. I guess you will never know. It wouldn’t be the perfect heist if we gave away all of our secrets” Mr. January said as he started to pack up his tools back into his metallic silver briefcase.

 

“Ok Mr. November, we are done here. The Senator completed the wire transfer. I will be returning momentarily.” Mr. January said into a microphone on the sleeve of his suit jacket.

 

“You won’t get away with this. Someone will find you guys. You can’t get away with this.” The Senator said to Mr. January as the fire returned to the Senators eyes.

 

“Mr. Senator, have you learned nothing from today. No one will find us; no one will look for us, and if they do they won’t be looking in the right place or time. It was a pleasure meeting you sir. May the rest of your life be lived in just. I hope we do not have to meet again. Good day sir.” Mr. January said to the Senator as he picked up his briefcase and walked to the door.

 

“You think you are just going to walk out of here and everything is going to be fine. You just assaulted, kidnapped and stole from a United States Senator.” The Senator said as he stood up from his desk yelling at Mr. January.

 

“Who said anything about walking?” Mr. January said as he turned his back to the Senator. Mr. January then knelt down to the side of his briefcase. With a push of a button on the side of the titanium briefcase an illuminating, blinding force of energy pulsated through the Senators office. In a flash the smartly dressed man in a dark grey suit with a solid red tie disappeared.

 

                                                           

                                                         The End

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