Thanks to Kenny, Mark’s rescue attempt had failed before it had even begun. Mark had been placed in the same cell that Torry was in, so it was up to Jason.
Once again, Jason had problems of his own to worry about. This time, things were worse than ever for him. Christine had caught up with him and was now holding a gun to his head.
To make herself think that she had made the right choice, she thought only about how Jason had deserted her. It wasn’t working, but she certainly wasn’t going to let him attack Mr. Smith. She had to keep Jason where he was.
Jason forgot about trying to logically prove that Mr. Smith was wrong and just tried to make her understand that he was sorry for what he had done in the past and he was trying to help her.
"Please!" pleaded Jason. "Listen to me! Mr. Smith is just using you! He’ll get rid of you as soon as you are no longer needed! He is here for the sole purpose of torturing Mr. Trim and his friend until he gets the blueprints to the time machine!"
"And why not?" Christine cut in. "If it weren’t for Mr. Smith, Mr. Trim would have never invented the time machine. He just wants his rightful share of the accomplishment."
Christine’s response brought back Jason’s debating skills. He knew he had to win this time.
"If Mr. Smith gets the time machine, he will use it to change history and make himself ruler of the world," Jason explained.
"How do you know Mr. Trim won’t do that?" demanded Christine.
"If Mr. Trim wanted to do that, he would have already done so," Jason replied.
At that time Jason saw that the debate was going in the same direction as all the debates before it. He wouldn’t convince her that Mr. Smith was using her unless he drastically changed his tactics.
"Mr. Trim has never tried to capture Mr. Smith or his allies," stated Jason. "Mr. Trim hasn’t tried to get back at Mr. Smith for the way he had been wronged and most importantly Mr. Trim calls his allies his friends. He has really done a lot to help them……to help US. Yes, Mr. Trim is my friend and cares what happens to me, and to you."
As they had been talking, Jason had been walking slowly to the control room. Christine was unaware of this and had just been walking with him.
While Christine was thinking about what he had last said, Jason saw his chance and made a break for it. Christine took off after him as fast as she could go.
Mr. Smith was caught completely off guard. Jason had his gun pointed straight at Mr. Smith. Then, there was the sound of a shot. To Mr. Smith’s delight, it was Jason that had been hit. He was clutching the lower part of his right leg in pain. Christine entered the room. In order to prevent Jason from shooting Mr. Smith, she had to shoot Jason first.
Mr. Smith was pleased. He hadn’t expected Christine to be loyal enough to him to shoot her own brother. If he could get her to kill Jason her loyalty would be eternal.
"Don’t just stand there, finish him off!" ordered Mr. Smith.
Christine hesitated. This gave Jason enough time to recover. Even in the condition that he was in, he could have easily shot Christine, but he didn’t. He could never shoot his own sister, even if his own life depended on it, so he handed Christine his gun and surrendered.
"KILL HIM!" yelled Mr. Smith.
Christine was beginning to have second thoughts about her decision. She looked at Jason. He was obviously helpless. Then, she looked at Mr. Smith. He wanted Jason killed. He wanted her to kill him.
"Look at you!" cried Jason. "Look at what serving Mr. Smith has done to you! You have just shot me, your only brother! Now, you might as well finish me off as Mr. Smith wants you to."
For the first time, Christine was able to see the truth for herself. She thought about all the things that Jason had warned her about earlier. She thought about the copy of the police file and how Jason had apologized for deserting her years ago. She also thought about how they used to go with their parents on family picnics in the park. Then, she made her choice.
To Mr. Smith’s horror and Jason’s delight, Christine turned and pointed the gun at Mr. Smith. She also gave Jason his gun back and helped him slowly to his feet.
Mr. Smith reached in his desk for a gun that he kept there in case of an emergency. Fortunately, Jason knew all about it.
"Shoot one of us, and the other one will shoot you," Jason declared. "You can’t shoot both of us at the same time."
"Now release my brother’s friends," commanded Christine.
Jason and Christine looked at each other and knew that all was forgiven. Then, they looked at one of the many security cameras to make sure that Mr. Smith had indeed released the others. They waited until they saw, through the outside camera, that everyone was outside and safely on their way to Mr. Trim’s lab.
The others couldn’t believe that the doors to their cells had suddenly opened, but they didn’t ask any questions. They just figured that Jason had succeeded in finding a way to free them and, in a way, they were right.
After they saw the last member of Torry and the gang make it to safety, Jason and Christine slowly backed out of the room, together.
Copyright MCMLXXXVI, MCMXCIX
