Since Mr. Smith was around, Jason couldn’t elaborate on what he had just said. The result was that Dan was even more confused than before, but Jason wouldn’t answer his questions.
Jason also knew that he only made things more complicated, but that was the least of his worries. He had to capture Torry. That sounded simple, but then he had to rescue all of them without letting Mr. Smith know that he was responsible for doing so. He knew that all he had to do was convince Christine of the truth and things would be much simpler, but that seemed almost impossible by now.
He thought that if he could get Christine to go with him to help capture Torry, Torry could convince her of the truth or maybe Mr. Trim would come back and he could do it. However, Mr. Smith was well aware of this, so he didn’t allow Christine to go.
Back at Mr. Trim’s lab, Torry was wondering whether or not to interrupt Mr. Trim’s conference and bring him back to Jesterville. He was so busy deciding what to do that he didn’t notice Jason enter the lab. Jason could have captured him very easily right then, but that wasn’t what he wanted to do. He just wanted to talk to Torry, since he didn’t get a chance with Dan.
"Torry," greeted Jason.
Torry had figured out that it was Jason that had led the others into a trap, so, at first, Torry was afraid of Jason and didn’t trust him. Eventually he realized that Jason would have easily overpowered him if that was what he wished to do, so he was prepared to listen to what Jason had to say.
Jason explained to Torry that Christine was his sister, who he had deserted a few years back, and she would suffer the consequences if he didn’t take Torry back to Mr. Smith’s lab. Torry, in turn, told Jason that he was wondering whether to get the Trims or wait for them to return.
"Better an hour early than one second too late," Jason thought to himself. This time he would follow his motto.
The conference that the Trims had gone to wasn’t at all what they had expected it to be. It had turned out to be quite boring and they were glad that Torry and Jason came and got them when they did.
Jason gave them a brief account of what had happened and the situation that he was in. The Trims were not the least bit surprised. They had known about the relationship between Jason and Christine for a long time and had been waiting for Jason to ask them for their advice.
Torry was told to stay with Mrs. Trim, while Mr. Trim took Jason to his office. Jason could tell by the grim look on his face that this was something very serious.
"Ever since I learned from Christine," started Mr. Trim. "that she was your sister, I have been doing a little research on your family."
Mr. Trim opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a copy of a police file with Mr. Smith’s picture on it. Mr. Trim didn’t need to say anything more as Jason read the cold, hard facts for himself.
Jason had suspected for a long time that Mr. Smith had killed his mother and father, but the file gave him absolute proof. His mind and body were full of rage. Mr. Smith had killed his parents, tricked him into serving him, threatened him, blackmailed him, and turned his own sister against him. He had had enough and he felt like it was time for Mr. Smith to pay.
Torry didn’t know exactly what had been going on in Mr. Trim’s office, but he knew that something had greatly upset Jason. Torry was actually eager to be "captured" by Jason, so he could use his magic crystal to free the others.
Jason might have forgotten many things in his rage, but he didn’t forget about Mark. In spite of all the trouble Mark had caused him during the Jesterville Conjunction, he was one of the truest friends he had.
Jason told Mr. Trim to get Mark and tell him to try and rescue the others in 15 minutes, just in case he and Torry failed. Mr. Trim agreed to do so. Knowing that that was taken care of, Jason started out with Torry towards Mr. Smith’s lab.
Things didn’t go as Torry had planned. Instead of a prison with bars as the others had, the door to Torry’s cell was solid and air tight. This meant that Torry couldn’t even use his crystal to save himself.
Jason was unaware of this, because he was busy showing Christine the copy of the police file. He figured that Christine would have to believe him now with the proof that he had, but she still thought the file was just a very clever form of propaganda by Mr. Trim.
He tried once more to convince her with the same result as before. Finally, Jason lost his temper.
"You are going to have to choose sides now!" exclaimed Jason. "I am going to stop Mr. Smith one and for all and you can either help me, or oppose me, but you can’t do neither one."
With that, Jason headed straight for the control room, where Mr. Smith was watching everything going on in the lab. However, when you’re watching everything, there are a few details that you miss. He didn’t see Jason coming toward him with a gun in his hand.
Christine carefully considered the situation she was in. She didn’t know who was right, but, since Jason was currently the aggressor, she decided to protect Mr. Smith even though it meant opposing her own brother. Things had just gotten tough on Jason.
Copyright MCMLXXXVI, MCMXCIX
