Chapter 25: Confrontation

I took my time constructing the framework for what I wanted. I wasn't even sure this would work; I'd never actually bridged her. All the evidence showed that I had in fact been bridged, first into her memories, if that's what they were, and then into the dream in her office, by someone else. But going at it with an attitude of failure certainly wouldn't have help, so I proceeded under the assumption that it would in fact work.

With that in mine, I tried to remember every detail of Special Agent Rebecca Hampton's office. It must have helped that I had 'been' there before because the details started filling themselves in, the glass cubicle, the two chairs facing the desk; it snowballed quickly, the carpet, the printer behind the desk, filing cabinets, even the trash can. Then suddenly she was there at her desk and I knew I was ready. Today she was wearing a simple pair of black slacks and what appeared to be a men's dress shirt. I was 'observing' but this wouldn't work for what I needed to do tonight. I moved to the elevator and created my character.

The doors opened and I walked across the busy room into her office.

She glanced up as I entered the office. Then went back to what she was doing as she asked, "What can I do for you, Paul."

"I'm not Paul," I said.

This got her attention. She looked back up at me for a second. "Paul, I don't have time for games. Either tell me what you want or get the hell out."

"I told you, I'm not Paul. Paul is at his desk. Call him if you like. I just chose to look like him because he wouldn't look out of place in the office. It wouldn't attract attention. I know this is going to sound strange, but a friend told me I needed to come and see you."

"Fine, I'll play along." She picked up the phone and dialed. "Paul?" I could here the surprise in her voice and see the question behind her eyes as she looked sharply at me. She hadn't expected an answer when she called. But she covered well, "It's Rebecca Hampton. Actually, I was going to ask you about a report but I just found it. Sorry to bother you. By the way, Amy said to say hello... No Paul, not really, I'm sorry, you're still new and it's just something I do. I'm sure she would have wanted me to so I say it, so I did. I'm sorry... No, I wish it were true, but no, she is still the same. The doctors said there has been some increased activity in her neural pathways, especially the last week or so, it peaked last night for about 30 minutes, but then everything went back to where it was before, but thanks anyway."

She hung up the phone and looked at me.

"Okay. So you're not Paul. So, do you want to tell me who you are?"

"I can't do that just yet. I need you to check on something."

"Look. I don't know who you are, or who sent you here. Or why they went to so much trouble to find someone who looks like Paul, but I don't have time to play with you. So why don't you just toddle back to whoever sent you and tell them I laughed at their little joke and let me get back to work."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I promised I would talk to you about this and if you will just hear me out I think you will understand. As to why I look like Paul? I had to look like someone and he seemed like a good choice. You're not really in your office. This is a dream. You're asleep at home and I am here because I needed to meet you and give you a reason to believe me when I tell you what this is really all about. As far as names go, you can call me Jimmy."

"But that's not your real name."

"No, it's not. But it will serve for now. Should I call you Miss Hampton? Agent Hampton? I understand you dropped your married name. I don't know you well enough to call you Rebecca but I hope to one day."

"Not unless I know your real name. How do you know I was married?"

I hung my head a little. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up but I'm a little nervous. As to how I know? The person who sent me to see you showed me some wedding pictures." Well, sort of. I know it's kind of splitting hairs but no more so than Jimmy not being my real name. "As far as telling you my name, I don't know if I will ever be able to tell you. You'll understand why later but for now let's just say that I'm a little worried about what would happen if anyone found out who I really am."

"Why is that? You have something you're trying to hide?"

"Me, have something to hide? Like the fact that I just walked into one of your dreams? That I am sitting here talking to you in your sleep? At 3:00 in the morning. Yeah, I'm a little paranoid about who knows I can do this."

"Well, assuming that I believed for a second that any of this is actually happening I could understand your rationale. For the record, I don't believe any of it, even for a second, I think maybe I had a little too much coffee and ice cream after dinner, but, since we're here, what can I do for you, 'Jimmy'?"

"Help me stop a killer before he strikes again."

"Oh boy, here we go," she said, shaking her head, "gotta switch to Vanilla, Rocky Road is obviously more than I can handle. Okay, I'll bite. So who is this killer you are so worried about? Charles Manson? The UniBomber? Bad news, we already got both of them. The head of Islamic Jihad? If I could bag him I'd have done it by now. Who's your killer?"

"I have no idea. But he is a man. I'm hoping you can help with the rest."

"The rest of what? So far you've told me nothing. You have more?"

"I don't have a lot to go on, just a name and general description. Like I said I'm hoping you can find out more. The name is Diane E. McKenzie; late teens, maybe 5'10" or so; blonde hair, not sure of the eyes, athletic. I don't know where she lived. I know it's not much but like I said, that's what I need you for."

"I thought this was someone you knew? That's all you've got is a name? What makes you think she's dead?"

I could feel the tears starting to form. "Because I saw it happen."

"You saw it happen? How could you see it happen if you don't even know where it happened?"

"The same way I am sitting here in the middle of the night talking to you in your office, while you're asleep."

"A dream, you saw all this in a dream? Thanks for coming by to waste my time. You don't even know if this is real? Get out of here."

"Okay, I'll go. You're right, this is all just a little too much to believe. But tomorrow, when you get to the office, have Paul run the name anyway. Just for fun. I'll call you around 4:00 to see what you found. Thank you for your time, Miss Hampton."

As I left the office she was shaking her head and muttering about two guys named Ben and Jerry.

I headed back to Bob's 'office' to make arrangements for the next day.

"How did it go?" he asked as soon as I came in.

"Pretty well, all things considered. She didn't want to believe a word I said. I left her with what I hoped was enough bait to get her to start fishing. From what I've seen she takes her job very seriously. I'm sure she'll at least look into it. I'm going to need your help tomorrow after school. Are you busy?"

"No, not really, what did you have in mind?"

"I told her I would call her around 4:00. I need to go someplace where I can make that call without risking being recognized or traced. I think the easiest thing would be a pay phone. I need to find a location that doesn't have cameras around. So; no banks or convenience stores, no malls, that kind of thing. Also I would like it to be far enough away that we won't have people snooping around too close to home. I was hoping you could drive me somewhere. Not too far, but I think at least a half hour away."

"I know just the place. It's about 40 minutes away depending on traffic. It's an auto parts store now but it used to be a liquor store. They have a pay phone on the side of the building. No windows, empty lot next door. It's up in the desert. The only problem is you forgot about practice."

"Crap! It completely slipped my mind. I have to make that call. It will be virtually impossible to build credibility if I miss the first appointment that I actually set up."

"Don't sweat it. I can get it covered for you. Think you could survive an hour and a half alone in a car with Susan?

"Miss Swann?"

"Well, yes. Unless you've met another Susan with a driver's license that you failed to introduce me to. And as far as practice goes, I'll tell them I had you take an extra day off to recover from your problem yesterday."

"Miss Swann? How would I explain the trip?"

"Actually they are holding a special order part for me so the trip has to be made anyway. She'll do it as a favor to me; you'll just go along to keep her company. While she is getting the part, you make the call. If you get done first, wait for her to go back to the car before you come back where you may be seen. If she gets there first she will just wait for you. Trust me."

"Bob, if I didn't trust you we wouldn't be having this conversation. I was just worried about dragging more people into this. This could turn seriously ugly really fast if anything goes wrong. I don't want others to get hurt if I make a mistake."

"Like I said, don't worry about it. Maybe some day you will be in a position to do her a favor."

"Then thank you. I'm going to go spend some time with Allison and try to relax for a while. See you tomorrow."

I went to see Allison. She agreed with what I had done so far but suggested that I leave Agent Hampton alone for the weekend. She needed to spend time with her sister and waiting would just allow her more time to become familiar with the details. And right now, we needed to know as much as we could. She also suggested I should spend more time with Bob to try to pull out as much detail as I could from the stream of images that I had seen. And see if Amy could offer any suggestions to help convince her sister to trust me. She suggested I try to get some personal details from her past. Maybe a few things from Amy's, and some more from Rebecca's, things a sister might know that wouldn't be common knowledge; who her first crush was, things like that.

The next few days would be a critical time and I was having a really hard time relaxing. I guess she must have gotten tired of my pacing.

"Would you relax? You're making me nervous," she finally said.

"What? Oh, sorry. I guess I'm more nervous that I thought. I just can't help thinking about what's next and all the different ways it can go wrong."

"I figured that was it. Maybe I can help you take your mind off of it for a while."

Suddenly the scene faded and I awoke to find Allison climbing into bed with me. Without a word she began kissing me. I must not have reacted fast enough because after just a few seconds she took my hand and moved it to her breast. Hey, even I can take a hint if you wrap it around a brick and hit me with it.

As distractions go, Allison is definitely at the top of my list. The focus of my concentration shifted to pleasuring her in every way I knew how. I slid my hand under her sleep shirt and started massaging her breast and rolling her nipple between my thumb and forefinger. She broke the kiss and quickly had the shirt off. She dove back into my mouth and rolled so that she was straddling my waist. I could feel the heat from her pussy through both sets of underwear and found myself wishing I didn't have to wait for Shannon. Allison slid forward and offered me a nipple. I took it greedily between my lips and began sucking hard. Allison gasped in a breath and moaned deep in her throat. After just a few seconds she pulled back and offered the other one in its place. As I am strongly in favor of equal opportunity I sucked just as hard on this one. My hands were now kneading Allison's ass, enjoying the feel of her firm flesh. I shifted slightly and began stroking her pussy from behind. She immediately began pressing back to rub herself against my hand and stomach. Within seconds I could feel the moisture starting to soak her crotch. Suddenly she stopped and rolled off to one side. I was afraid I had done something wrong but then she began stripping off her panties. I rolled onto my side and reached to touch her again but she slapped my hand away and sat up.