June 18, 1988
Bunche Middle School
Los Angeles, California
2:03 pm PST
Al stepped quickly through the Door. He materialized to find himself in a crowd of teenagers moving rapidly in all directions. "Oh boy!" he muttered to himself, as several of them walked through his hologram image without even seeing him. That always made Al feel strange, even after as much experience as he'd had with this. Al frantically began looking around. It took him a few moments to spot Sam, as Shawn, in the flood of people, some of whom walked right through him, since of course they couldn't see him. "SAM! SAM!!" he shouted. Even though Sam was the only one who could see or hear him, he wasn't sure Sam would be able to with all the noise. Damn it, school must've just let out for the day!
This definitely was one time Al was relieved to be only a hologram when he visited Sam; if he'd had to try and get through this mob in the ordinary way, it would've really been a major pain in the butt, and he absolutely didn't have time for that now! "SAM!!" he shouted again.
A few minutes later, Sam managed to get to Al's side. A few minutes after that, Sam steered Al into a classroom that luckily was already emptied out, so they could get a little bit of privacy. At least, Sam hoped so; it would never do to have someone who knew Shawn see him talking to empty air.
"What's up?" Sam asked, seeing how agitated Al clearly was.
"What's up, pal, is that things have gone to hell in a handbasket!" Al cried. "I'm glad I found you! The timeline has gone all to pieces, big time!! You've got to fix this or...!" He broke off as another lump rose in his throat, thinking about Mary and the children's having vanished. "You've just got to fix this, Sam!!"
"Fix what? What's happened now?" Sam asked. "Is Kyle pulling some crazy stunt again?"
Al shook his head. "It's not Kyle this time--it's Shawn, who's supposed to be you, remember?? Those lowlifes are going to kill him--you--damn it Sam!"
"Calm down, Al." Sam urged him. "Your having a heart attack won't help me either," he managed a smile,despite the seriousness of the situation. "Now just tell me what Ziggy says is supposed to go wrong and I'll make sure it doesn't!"
"It's those creeps who've got their hooks into Kyle, Sam!" Al explained, still frantic with worry. "They're going to come after you--Shawn, that is!" Damn it, Sam didn't have the slightest idea how bad things were going to end up being, if Shawn died today! "And that causes all sorts of other things to happen, terrible things! Some of those involve..." he swallowed. "Sam, the changes have gone all the way back to the Project. To Tina, and to me. Do you remember Tina?" he asked, hoping to jar some fragment out of Sam's scrambled memories.
Sam paused for a moment, trying to pick the name ouf of the gaps in his swiss cheesed memory. "I--I think so." he murmured, summoning a vague image of blonde hair and glowing earrings.
"She's going to be in a lot of danger if you can't fix this!" Al cried, imagining Tina falling back into the clutches of that psycho 'Lord' Ravenclaw. "She...Sam, she's supposed to marry a grown up Shawn. But if he doesn't live past today that won't happen, and that'll leave the way for...well, other things. Very bad things." The very idea of Tina back with Lord Ravenclaw sent chills up his spine. Not to mention, if Ravenclaw got Tina, and "Albie", back, it was likely they'd come for him, too, and that definitely didn't bear thinking about. "Major ca-ca things!" he added, not sure how else he could put it without giving away any more than he already had. He wasn't sure Sam would believe anyone like Lord Ravenclaw could exist anyway, since Sam didn't believe in magic or anything else that wasn't scientifically provable. Not to mention that Al didn't want to end up having to tell Sam that he, Al, would be in danger as well, to say nothing of Sam himself. Al knew he was treading an extremel thin line here, but what other choice did he have? Sam had to at least have some idea of what the stakes were, and he didn't dare mention what would be the worst of the outcomes, at least for Sam; the part about the potential closing down of the Project.
Sam nodded. "Okay. I'll be careful. I'm supposed to, or rather Shawn's supposed to, hang out with Kyle again this afternoon. I'll be careful, Al. I promise." He managed another smile. "Scout's honor and all that." But a moment later the smile faded, as he realized what else Al had said. ""What do you mean, to you?"
Al sighed. "If Shawn dies today...one of the things that happens is..." another swallow. "Sam, I'd married again. To a wonderful woman--her name is Mary--and we have three kids already and another one on the way."
"That's great!" Sam said. While some of his memories of his life before the leaps were gone, he did remember other things, and Al's track record with marriages was one of them.
"Hang on, pal, let me finish." Al said, holding up a hand to cut Sam off. He didn't want to say this, it hurt like the dickens to even think about it, but Sam had to know at least some of what depended on his saving Shawn. "Past tense, Sam. We did." He struggled to keep his voice from breaking, and had to pause to wipe away a tear that threatened to escape. "Damn it! When history changed...she was...gone." He couldn't stop himself from rubbing at his empty ring finger, as if a part of him still couldn't quite believe the ring was no longer there. "And the kids, too." he said, his voice still shaking. He clutched at Sam, forgetting for a moment that, being a hologram, he couldn't actually touch him. "I can't lose you, and Mary, and the kids, Sam! You've got to save Shawn, and Kyle both!" Al pleaded. He was not only afraid of losing his family, but also his best friend. What might happen to Sam if the body he'd leapt into died while he was still occupying it didn't bear thinking about.
"It'll be all right, Al. I haven't died yet on a leap, have I?" Sam said, trying to reassure Al. "Come on, I've got to find Kyle or he'll take off without me, that is, Shawn. And if he does that, he might end up going straight to see the bad guys again." Sam shook his head. He had to keep Kyle away from them as long as he could.
Al nodded. "Right. If he goes to the dealer today, that may be, probably is, when he gets that last batch, the one that's supposed to kill him. You can't let him do that. Just don't get Shawn killed trying, or yourself either." He was still terrified of what might happen to Sam, not to mention everyone else who would be affected by the changes that would result from Shawn's death in this time. So many lives changed from what they should've been, changed for the worse. He took a deep breath, and tried once again to force himself to calm down, to trust Sam. What else could he do now, but watch and see what was going to happen. At least he had managed to warn Sam of the danger he, as Shawn, was in. That had to be enough, it just had to be!
Al followed Sam/Shawn out of the empty classroom. There were still a few students in the halls, but not as many as there had been earlier. The afternoon rush had finally passed, much to Al's relief, as it made his keeping close to Sam easier. While as a hologram he wasn't physically solid, so he didn't have to worry about anyone bumping into him, it was also true that having people walk through him was still, even after all the leaps, somewhat unnerving. Sam, however, didn't have that luxury, and there was always the chance Al could lose him in too large a crowd. True, if that were to happen, Gooshie could simply use Ziggy to get a new location fix on Sam. That, however, would take time, and that was a commodity which Al felt they couldn't spare. They were simply too close, according to all Ziggy's projections, to the critical time. .
Fortunately, there was at least one bit of luck going for them, at least for now, and that was the fact that Kyle had decided to wait for Shawn in the hallway, as opposed to simply taking off on his own. The fact that he hadn't done anything of that sort, not yet anyway, gave both Sam and Al some hope that Sam would be able to stick to Kyle like glue this afternoon. That, Sam and Al both knew, would be the best possible way to make sure that Kyle didn't go off to meet with Tommy Douglass, or someone working for him, again. Sam knew that such a meeting, if it took place, would be all too likely to result in Kyle's getting that last fatal dose of the drugs. Al had come to a similar conclusion, based on the probability data Ziggy was feeding him, which still, much to Al's chagrin, was showing the outcome that'd sent Al racing back to 1988 only a short while ago. Sam didn't think Kyle had as yet managed to get the money, after he'd stopped him from committing armed robbery yesterday, that didn't mean he couldn't still get the drugs somehow, and Sam knew it was better not to take the chance that Kyle would do just that, and get himself killed in spite of all Sam's efforts to prevent it.
Al tagged along, unseen as always by anyone except Sam, as Sam and Kyle headed down the street.
"So, I was just wondering, where'd you want to hang out today?" Sam asked, improvising a question in the desperate hope of keeping Kyle talking. "I mean, that is, if you weren't planning on just going straight home after school. I was thinking, I might like to go by the..." where would Shawn probably like to go, Sam thought quickly. Oh, yes. "that music store downtown?" Sam hoped there was one downtown--he didn't know specific streets the way Shawn would've.
Kyle stared at 'Shawn' for a moment, then shook his head. "You can if you want to," he managed a brief smile, "I know that's your thing." he chuckled slightly. But then his expression became serioius again. "I'll take a raincheck, though, I've got, um, something else I've got to do."
Uh oh, Sam thought, frowning. The last time Kyle had said that, it'd ended up that he'd gone to see those drug dealer 'friends' of his. Another red warning flag went up in Sam's mind.
Seeing the look in 'Shawn's' face, he rolled his eyes. "And don't you dare say anything, okay? You've gotten me in enough trouble this last couple of days already!"
"Don't let him do it, Sam!" Al urged. "Don't let him out of your sight!" If Sam lost track of Kyle now, things would be even more ca-ca than they already were; it would be a complication they did not need, not right now!
Sam shook his head in a silent reply to Al; he didn't dare risk speaking out loud, not with Kyle right there.
While Sam's outward expression remained calm, inside he was almost as frantic as Al was. Oh, boy! That was the exact thing that Sam had been afraid of, that Kyle would say would be his plans for that afternoon! Now Sam had to desperately scramble for some way to keep Kyle close by and not let him carry out that errand; it was all too likely to be another meeting with Tommy Douglass, which could lead to fatal consequences for Kyle.
Sam was, of course, still worried about what Al had just told him, concerning the threat to Shawn, but right now he still felt that it was Kyle who was in more danger; Shawn wasn't the one using drugs, after all. "Is that what you call my saving your life, Kyle? I'm trying to get you out of trouble, why can't I get you to see that?!" he sighed. "Anyway, I just figured we could go and get something to eat, I meant before you did anything else." he scrambled frantically, hoping that that would be enough to delay. or better still, prevent, Kyle's taking off on his own. Any kind of delay would give him time to come up with something else in the way of an excuse to stick close to Kyle. "You can't be in that much of a hurry to not even stop for a bite."
Kyle sighed. "Okay, okay. You're right, I wouldn't mind getting something to eat, either, and that's the only reason I'm doing this. But damn it Shawn stop hassling me about everything else!" he shook his head, once again wondering what he'd been thinking of when he'd agreed to let Shawn move in with him. He'd wanted someone to talk to, not someone who'd be nagging all the time.
Sam shrugged. At least Kyle hadn't run off, yet, so he still had a chance. Maybe between now and when they finished the meal he'd have thought of something else to distract Kyle, something to keep him close by.
The two boys headed for the Burger King, Al walking along with them.
Once they had gotten there, and settled down to eat, Kyle did seem to relax a bit. However, he still refused to respond to any attempts Sam made to discuss his using drugs or his dealings with the people who were selling him the stuff. Kyle merely repeated what he'd said before on those subjects, that he was okay and that his friends didn't like people asking too many questions, so Shawn shouldn't ask if he knew what was good for him.
Al, in the meanwhile, tried to relax as well. He was too worried about what would happen here today to go back through the Door just yet, and checking the handlink every five minutes didn't help, as Ziggy still was showing that Shawn would die this afternoon. There was a part of Al that was expecting someone to come in here shooting at any minute. Al had heard too many news reports over the years of people like the ones Kyle was mixed up with pulling stunts like that, and a lot of innocent people getting hurt or killed as a result, to entirely discount the possibility of that happening here. Ziggy's assessment that the probability of that particular type of scenario happening here was very low, almost nil in fact, didn't entirely reassure Al.
Much to his eventual relief, nothing like that happened while Sam and Kyle were in the restaurant. However, that didn't keep Al from continuing to fret and murmur warnings under his breath, which Sam heard and again urged him to calm down and trust him, that he'd handle whatever happened. He'd gotten a couple of minutes to speak to Al when Kyle had gone to the restroom.
Sam was pretty sure Kyle wasn't simply using that as an excuse to slip away. He'd been in that restroom himself, so he knew that there was only one entrance or exit from that area. Just to be on the safe side, however, he was keeping an eye on that. He was very worried about what might happen today, but he was not only trying to keep tabs on Kyle, he was also trying to keep Al from agitating himself into a heart attack as that wouldn't help the situation any. Once Kyle came back, he couldn't continue talking to Al, unless he wanted Kyle to start doubting Shawn's sanity. That, Sam knew, might do more harm than good; Kyle was already too inclined to resist what 'Shawn' was telling him about the drugs; if he started thinking Shawn was seeing things, it wouldn't help the situation at all.
As they left the restaurant, and started down the street, Sam was somewhat relieved that Kyle hadn't yet said anything more about wanting to go off on some unspecified errand. He was almost ready to let himself hope that maybe he had managed to talk him out of it, at least this time. He'd just have to watch and make sure Kyle didn't try and give him the slip a second time, like he'd done on that first day. If that happened, it'd be a complication they didn't need, not now with everything that depended on getting both Kyle and Shawn to survive through today.
They went past two more blocks of rundown buildings. There were so many of those around here that they were all starting to look alike to Sam. But then, Kyle suddenly turned into an alley. Sam, quickly following him, did a double take, recognizing the place. This was where he'd leapt into Shawn three days ago, the exact spot. "Come on, it'll be quicker getting back to my place this way." Kyle said. "I'll walk you back to my place and then I've really got to go. Things to do, you know." He hoped Shawn wouldn't start in on him about that again, either. He was in no mood for yet another lecture, or having to argue with Shawn; why couldn't Shawn just get it? That was something Kyle still hadn't managed to figure out.
Sam nodded. That first part was true, he figured; why else had they been going through here on that first day, after all. As for the rest, once they'd gotten to Kyle's apartment, he could think of something else to keep him from making that meeting.
Al looked around nervously, not liking this at all. Some gut instinct was screaming that something was wrong here. This was simply too good a place for an ambush, and he didn't think it was just his Nam experiences talking there. Al found himself looking up at the boarded-over windows on both sides, wondering if someone was about to take a potshot at them from one of those.
Al's and Sam's fears were confirmed a moment later. The two boys and their hologram escort had only gotten about halfway through the alley, when suddenly a car came around the corner ahead of them. The car's brakes squealed in protest as its driver slammed to a stop.
"Oh, boy." Sam muttered. Turning to look back the way he and Kyle had just come, he saw a second car had entered, blocking them from exiting that way.
Kyle seemed puzzled. He hadn't expected this. He recognized both cars and their drivers, but was surprised they'd shown up here. He was late to go meet with Tommy, that was true, but Tommy had never sent the boys out after him before. Why he would do that now, Kyle wasn't sure; the only reason he could come up with was that they'd been so interested, asking so many questions, about Shawn. But he'd already told them everything he knew, hadn't he?
"OH MY GOD SAM! THIS IS IT!!" shouted Al. He'd thought, as per Ziggy's initial report, that Shawn's death was to be a result of a drive-by shooting, but evidently circumstances had changed yet again. This was more like an ambush! If only he wasn't merely a hologram, here and now, and could do something!! he thought desperately. He started tapping the handlink, frantically trying to get Ziggy to come up with alternatives to get Sam and Shawn both out of this mess.
Sam nodded in Al's direction. Then he took a deep breath and braced himself for what would happen next, scrambling for some way to get himself/Shawn and Kyle out of this. He shot a look in Kyle's direction. "Are these your 'friends', Kyle?" he demanded, though he figured he already knew what the answer would be.
Kyle nodded. "I...well, yes. But they didn't tell me they'd be coming to meet us. They...probably just want to talk to you." he said after a moment, fumbling for the only explanation he could think of. They had been asking about Shawn, after all. That had to be it, wasn't it? Of course it was. Nothing else made sense.
Sam shook his head. "Yeah, right. You really believe that, there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'll sell you for a dollar." Did Kyle really believe that? Was he that clueless? Sam sighed. Assuming he could come up with a way to get them both out of this alive, Kyle was in for a rather rude awakening within the next five minutes.
The two drivers stepped out of their cars almost simultaneously, and began to approach the two boys.
Kyle, not knowing what Sam and Al both did regarding what was about to happen, came to an entirely different conclusion than they had. "Pete, Billy, what's up?" he asked, looking from one of the new arrivals to the other.
The man in front of them gave a cold grin.
Seeing that look sent chills up Sam's spine, and did little to reassure Al. Kyle, however, didn't register it as anything potentially dangerous.
"We're just here to, shall we say, take care of some business," the first man said. "And you know that taking care of business for the boss, is something we're both very good at. You really should have known that by now, kid."
The second man gave a chuckle that would've frozen the very air around them all, if such a thing were possible. "The boss sent Pete and me out to come looking for you. Not just you, either, but also your goody two shoes pal there."
"What a surprise, we found you both together." the first man, Pete, said, with another cold chuckle, his voice dripping pure sarcasm. "It certainly saved us a lot of time. I suppose that should count for something, don't you think so, Billy?"
Billy nodded, "Sure it should."
Sam tensed. He did not like the tone of this at all. These guys were definitely hired thugs, and quite probably cold blooded killers into the bargain. He would have to be ready for anything in dealing with them; even one mistake on his part, and not only could Shawn end up dead, but Kyle as well. He didn't even want to try and guess what effect Shawn's death might have on him, not to mention what it would do to the timeline, going by what Al had told him earlier. No, he couldn't, wouldn't let this happen. He was going to have to be ready, and seize the first opportunity to act when it came, if they were to have any chance whatsoever of surviving this. Too much depended on it.
"Damn, damn, damn!" Al muttered to himself, though of course no one present except Sam could hear him. He was still trying as hard as he could to get some suggestion from Ziggy that would point to a way to resolve this without anyone getting killed.
"Um, I told you, Shawn's okay." Kyle said, even as both men drew closer.
"The boss doesn't think so, Kyle. He's very disappointed in you, too." Pete said, still with that same cold smile.
"He doesn't like it when people disappoint him." Billy put in. "He doesn't like it at all."
"And do you know what he does when that happens, Kyle?" Pete continued. "I'll tell you. He sends Billy and me out to fix whatever the problem is. You could call us the repairmen." he laughed, and Billy joined in. "It's just too bad you had to go and get mixed up with the wrong sort of people." he nodded towards Shawn.
"What the hell are you saying, Pete?" Kyle demanded, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"What he's saying is he's going to take me out permanently, that's what." Sam said. "That's the kind of people your so called friends really are, Kyle. Take a good look. Is that the kind of person you want to be?"
"No hard feelings, kid. But the thing is, the boss doesn't like snoops." Pete replied. "He really hates it when people stick their noses into his business, know what I mean?"
"Shawn's no snoop!" Kyle said, staring in disbelief at Pete. He'd hung out with these guys and they'd never talked to him like this before. Not even when they'd been asking him about Shawn the other day.
Sam just kept quiet, waiting for his chance. Letting the thugs talk to Kyle, might help get through to him about what sort of people they were.
"As for you, Kyle...well, the boss did want you, shall we say, dealt with, too. But we're your friends, remember? So we talked him out of it, for now. We did something nice for you, because that's what friends do." Pete continued, in such saccharine tones that not even a six year old would've fallen for it.
It was lucky Pete couldn't hear Al cursing at him. "What a crock," Al muttered.
Kyle didn't say anything, and Pete took his silence as encouraging and went on. "Let me tell you something, Kyle. The boss had been wanting to bring you into the organization, before this little problem came up. Now, Billy and I , we think that that could still happen, if you don't give him anything more to be disappointed about."
Kyle continued to struggle with Billy, while Pete went on with his lecture. "The boss just tells us what he wants done, Kyle. He leaves it up to Billy and me just how we do it, take care of his business, which right now included you. So Billy and me, we talked about it, and we decided there'd have to be a bit of a test, first," Pete laughed chillingly, "just like they give you in school."
Al rolled his eyes on hearing that comment. "Like you jerks would know jack about school. I'll bet neither one of you made it past sixth grade." he muttered to himself. "If you ever even got that far."
"But this one's easy. You don't have to answer any stupid questions, or make marks on some damn paper with a number two pencil." Billy chuckled. "All you have to do, kid, is, just keep cool about this, and watch. Just to make sure you do,..." he lunged for Kyle, grabbing him in an arm hold from behind.
"What the..." Kyle managed to exclaim as Billy grabbed him; instinctively he tried to break free, but he wasn't used to street fighting and Billy was. "Let go of me, damn it!"
"Call this a little personal insurance, kid. Our personal insurance. We can't have you messing this up, you know, or it'd mess things up for us too. We stuck our necks out to give you this chance, pal, and we can't very well have you, or your pal there, getting them chopped off." Pete said with a cold smile. "Now for you, Mr Goody Two Shoes, it's time you had a little bit of a lesson about minding your own business."
As Kyle and Billy began to struggle with one another, Sam saw Pete drawing his gun, clearly intending to shoot at 'Shawn'. Sam seized that moment to jump out of Pete's line of fire, by moving to help Kyle deal with Billy, figuring Pete wouldn't risk shooting his buddy by firing while the three of them were so close together. It bought Sam a little time, anyway.
Al, meanwhile, could only mutter oaths and curses against the fact that he couldn't do anything but watch events unfold. "Damn it don't let this happen!" he pleaded to God, Time, Fate, or Whatever was controlling this whole scenario of Sam's leaping through time. "Please, don't let this happen!" It wasn't much, but being unable to physically intervene to save Sam, or anyone else, didn't leave him with a lot of options. It wasn't just Sam's and Shawn's lives at stake here, but Tina's, and his own, and Donna's, and a lot of other people's. This just had to come out right for all their sakes.
Sam seized Billy by his shirt and dragged him off Kyle.
Billy let out an oath at this assault and took a swing at 'Shawn'.
Sam managed to dodge this, and struck out at Billy with a jab to his midsection.
Billy tried to take another swing at Shawn, a blow which Sam once again managed to dodge, and retaliate with yet another blow, martial-arts style.
Kyle had been knocked off his feet when 'Shawn' had grabbed hold of Billy. He'd been surprised at Shawn's doing that, but at least it'd gotten Billy off him. As Kyle got back up, he realized with real fear that Pete had his gun out and was trying to aim for Shawn. What the blazes?
Pete hadn't fired yet, but Kyle realized that that was only because Shawn and Billy were still too close together, and Pete apparently didn't want to shoot Billy. This couldn't be happening, he thought. It wasn't supposed to be like this; they'd only wanted to talk to Shawn, that's what they'd said!
Al saw the same thing, and opened his mouth to yell a warning to Sam, at the same time cursing yet again that there wasn't something tangible he could do. Not being able to take a swing at these jerks, or do anything else physical, was infuriating, especially when Sam was in danger. "Sam! Watch out!!"
Before Pete could fire, Kyle realized he just couldn't stand by and let this happen! He let out a yell, "Shawn--no!" Racing forward, he threw himself at Pete, intending to deflect his aim from Shawn.
Sam heard Al call out, and then Kyle's cry half a second later. With one last right cross to the jaw, he knocked Billy down for the count. Then he went for Pete, to deal with him before he got a chance to use that gun.
Unfortunately for Sam, Kyle was between him and Pete.
Pete swore a string of four letter words as he saw Billy go down. "Oh, you'll pay for that, you little punk." he snarled. He braced himself as he saw Kyle coming towards him. "You want a fight, you'll get one." he taunted.
That was as far as he got before Kyle was on him.
A brief struggle resulted; and then a sharp crack echoed through the alley as Pete's gun went off.
Kyle staggered. A momentary look of surprise came over his face, then he clutched at his midsection and collapsed onto the sidewalk, moaning.
"Well, you blew your chance, kid." Pete said. "Too bad, but you get an F." With that he turned back towards Shawn, intending to finish what he and Billy had come here to do, and take out the nosy little punk. He brought up the gun again, taking aim at Shawn.
Sam saw Kyle go down, and that Pete was going for another shot at himself. The only thing he could do to stop that was to throw himself at Pete, knocking him down before he could take aim and fire again. Sam didn't take the chance of the fall's by itself having taken Pete out of the fight, either: he gave him a hard right cross for good measure. While Sam wasn't normally a violent person, this was one time he had to make an exception. That, Sam hoped, would keep Pete out for the count until the police were able to get here.
Al let out another string of curses. If Kyle died now after all this, it'd just be..he couldn't even think of a word strong enough. Terrible just didn't seem to cut it. The good thing was that Shawn would be all right. Checking the handlink again, he saw Ziggy was already sending updates.
Sam raced over to Kyle, who lay moaning on the ground, clutching at his stomach. Tearing off 'Shawn's' jacket, Sam folded it up and pressed it against the wound, in an attempt to at least slow down the bleeding. At least Kyle was still breathing--if only he could keep him that way until help got here.
Kyle blinked, through the pain and haze he could see Shawn kneeling beside him. "S-shawn..." he managed to croak out.
"Don't try to talk, there'll be help here soon." Sam could hear sirens in the distance, getting closer; apparently someone had heard the shot and called the police. A surprising thing for someone to do in this neighborhood, but it may have just saved Kyle.
Kyle shook his head..."B-better me...than...you..." The effort of getting those words out was too much and he passed out. Sam checked again in desperation and saw with relief that Kyle was still breathing.
"Al!" Sam cried out.
"You saved him, pal. Ziggy's just revised the probabilities. He's going to live." Al said with a grin. "And you saved Shawn, too." Al smiled, thinking of what else Ziggy had told him. Mary and their children were back at the Project, as were the adult Shawn and Tina's other three children. Al wiped a tear from his eye and firmly told himself that when he got back home, he was going to give Mary, Trudy, Sammy, and Austin all the biggest hugs any of them had ever had. They'd never know how close he'd come to losing them all, and he never wanted to come there himself again. These last few hours had been pure hell for Al in more ways than one.
"What about those two?" Sam nodded towards the unconscious forms of Billy and Pete. "What happens with them and their boss?"
Al tapped some buttons on the handlink, then let out a war whoop. "You got Mr. Big T, too, but good. Those two are going to sing like canaries and the bastard goes down for attempted murder, not to mention everything else. The LAPD, the State of California, and the Feds are going to have a lot to say to him, Sam. And his shyster lawyer pals won't be able to get him off the hook again, Sam, not this time. He'll be lucky if he doesn't get at least thirty years, if not life. He's been a very bad boy, one of the worst in this part of the country. But now he's going to get his. I just wish I could be there to see him go down." Al chuckled.
"That's great," Sam said with a smile, at least a brief one. But then it faded as a question occurred to him "Then why haven't I leaped out yet?" Sam wondered.
Al shrugged. He wasn't sure about that one himself. Whoever or Whatever was controlling these leaps did so at its or their own whim, and it wasn't always one that he or Sam was always easily able to predict.
However, Sam couldn't continue the conversation with Al any further at that point, The police arrived, and Sam, as Shawn, had to start answering all sorts of questions. He wasn't worried about being able to handle that, but he was very worried about Kyle. From his medical background, Sam knew that this sort of an injury could be very serious, and it was frustrating that he couldn't do more to help, but the paramedics wouldn't let what they saw only as a thirteen year old kid work on an injured person. Sam had to content himself with what they did allow him to do, which was ride in the front of the ambulance, so as not to be in the way of the ones working on Kyle in the back.