The Chrononauts

Victoria looked at Mrs. B. “Why don’t you have a houseful of kids?”

Mrs. B. laughed, “Heaven knows we have tried.” Victoria giggled but she could feel her sadness.

She said softly, “For what it is worth, Mrs. B., you have a great bedside manner.” Together, they weeded the backyard garden in silence. Larry “helped” but didn’t grasp the concept of “weed”. He thought they were looking for buried bones.

The next day, the detectives were looking through the cell phone of the recently deceased Senator Abel. Smithy chuckled, “He shot himself in the head and then hung himself. Why would they do that?”

Matt laughed. “It is that son of a bitch, Senator Howard saying, ‘See? I can do what I want and you can’t stop me’.”

Harvard got to the squad room in time to see the bulletin on TV about a car exploding on the interstate highway. It was lime green and belonged to Yuri Brankovich. Harvard chuckled. “I’ll say this for Senator Howard: he doesn’t let grass grow under his feet.”

Matt laughed. “No, he doesn’t, and we are probably next.” The gang at the Red Lobster had just visited the Little Bighorn and the location of the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. The night ended with Victoria sobbing.

Brady asked, “What is wrong, honey?”

She sniffed. “You’re the first real friends I have ever had. I hope you always remember me, no matter what happens.” She hugged everyone, the Bradys especially hard. She started to laugh and skipped to the car.

The general sat in the back of the parking lot. He pushed a button and the whole lot exploded.

Snowflake, the owl, sat quietly in the oak tree and watched the parking lot explode. They had killed her only friends. She would bring them back but first...

Senator Howard got the call from the general at his thousand-dollar-a-plate fund raiser. “They’re all dead? You are absolutely certain? Good job, General. See you soon.”

A half an hour later, Senator Howard stood looking out the window at the parking garage. He watched the general’s limo enter. He pressed the redial on his phone and the whole building shuddered. He laughed, “Waste not; want not.”

The television was showing the Red Lobster parking lot. An onsite reporter droned, “Among the dead were the D.A., his wife, several detectives and their families, and a young girl. There is also a report of an explosion at the Copley parking garage.”

Senator Howard made the most of the situation. “We won’t tolerate terrorist acts against our protectors. When I am elected president, I will squash them all like bugs.”

Captain Brown watched the newscast with Smithy. He shook his head slowly. “The little son of a bitch killed them all and we can’t do a thing about it. I am retiring, Smithy. I can’t stand all the corruption anymore.”

They watched the CIA box up all the detectives’ things. Over the next few weeks, Howard built up a huge lead in the polls. He planned a parade down the center of town in a convertible with the top down. He figured it would display his imaginary bravery.

He secretly had a hundred plain-clothed Secret Service agents on each side of the road armed to the teeth to protect his butt. He also had on the latest bulletproof vest. His aide was going to call in a death threat to score more TV coverage.

He got his wish and scored a CNN helicopter. Senator Howard checked his vest for the fifth time. He laughed, “Are you ready to take the ride, Congressman Cain? I mean, ‘Mr. Vice President’.” Cain looked a little nervous.

Howard laughed. “Relax. We killed all our enemies and friends.”

The makeup man shook his hand. “Have a safe ride, Mr. President.”

Howard laughed. “Thanks, Frank.” They had chosen a bright red Caddie with bulletproof side windows. He and Cain got in the car. He said, “Show time!”

His publicity man ran over. “Thanks for calling in the death threat, Senator. I got busy with the speech and forgot all about it.” Senator Howard’s face turned white. “I didn’t call it in. Tell the agents the call is real.” The Caddie started down the street with the Senator standing and waving with a big smile, while his brown eyes darted frantically back and forth.

The hot CNN reporter on the helicopter glanced up as a shadow crossed her body. “Holy shit Batman check that out. Get the camera on the triplane and stay on it!” She whispered to herself, “Maybe there is a God. Please be here to kill that son of a bitch Senator Howard.”

It was loud enough to get a couple laughs on her earwig. She watched the plane head straight up and then dead hammered and down towards the Caddie. It leveled off and started its run straight at the car.

The men in the Caddie had sheer terror on their faces. Two Parabellum fifty-caliber guns opened up on them with loud clattering. The pavement in front of the car exploded. A hundred Secret Service agents fired at the plane. The car tore apart and the plane plowed into what was left of the car and exploded.

The anchor looked at the cameraman, who gave her a thumb up and a huge grin. She gushed, “Was that some kind of awesome or what?” The video was replayed constantly. It showed Senator Howard pulling Congressman Cain in front of him right before the guns opened up. He died a coward.

Larry became the squad room mascot and was spoiled rotten. The government lost all interest in the detectives and the plane. The police would conduct their own investigation. Dave was processing the wreckage.

“The plane was a vintage World War One German triplane. It was genuine, right down to the oil in the motor. The bullets were period, the ammo period, and the pilot’s uniform period. Hell, even the change in his pockets was period.”

He continued, “All known surviving planes from that era are accounted for. It was as if he flew out of history just to kill Senator Howard. The only weird thing was the pilot’s uniform was British, not German. The man was six-foot five and had a fireproof folder taped to his chest.”

He nodded, “I am still trying to remove it from the charred body. I contacted a friend of Matt’s and she is trying to reconstruct the face to see if we can identify the pilot. The sky that night was filled with northern lights. The moon appeared to be double its size also and freaked out a lot of scientists.