Chapter 8
A few days had passed since returning to 1984 for Dom, String and Sam. Dom dusted off an old bicycle and gave it to Sam to ride to school. She reluctantly accepted the offer as she could not drive a standard transmission as of yet.
Sam continued to spend her own money as she made her way through 1984. At 22 years old she hated the idea of asking anyone for a handout. She hung out with her new friends from school and found she liked Mr. Hinkley and wished more teachers were as interested in actually teaching the students. He not only taught subjects but critical thinking skills as well and she found that aspect refreshing. She didn't know his politics and that was fine with her. He didn't preach politics or bash any political figures, he simply taught the class.
Walking into McDonald's reminded her of her youth as the establishment was brightly decorated and seemed more of a happy place in atmosphere. She had the deep friend apple pie and had to agree with Dom, it was heavenly. For Sam everything seemed to be right on track and nothing could go wrong.
At Santini Air, String was working with Dom and Caitlin when an old friend pulled onto the field in a long white limo. It was Michael Coldsmith-Briggs the Third, code named: Archangel, who had come with his assistant Marella for a new mission.
String stood scowling at the sight of the limo as he wondered what Middle East dictator they would send him after now. Archangel stepped out of the back of the limo wearing his trademark white suit, carrying a cane and had one eyeglass darkened. He sported a white fedora and walked with his assistant into the hangar.
He greeted, "String, Dom, Caitlin." He gave a nod to the crew of Airwolf.
String kept his annoyance in check. He replied, "Michael."
Dom wasn't as tame. He wanted to tell the agent to leave and never come back and to leave his family alone. He barked, "What do you want?"
Caitlin simply stood and waited for the debriefing.
Archangel remained smooth, "I have a new assignment for you and this time it's right here in California." He held out a bill, "Take a look at this, Hawke."
String took the bill and looked upon it. It was a twenty dollar bill but it looked different. The designed was off and then he spied the date on the bill. He gulped as he soon realized where it came from. "It's a fake." He tried to throw Archangel off Sam's trail. "Call the FBI. We don't deal with counterfeiting."
Curious, Caitlin took the bill and looked at it closer.
Archangel stated, "It's not a fake. Did you look at the date?"
Caitlin gasped, "2018!" She looked rather baffled. "It's dated 2018. It has the security markers." She handed the bill back to Archangel. "I saw enough fakes to know one. I can't explain that."
String traded glances with Dom who stood rolling his eyes in disbelief. He wondered where Sam was getting her money from since she never asked him for any.
"Exactly!" Michael agreed. "We can't explain it." He looked to Marella.
His assistant stated, "We examined the currency with very sophisticated equipment that only the Federal Reserve has. That bill legitimate. The question is, where did it come from and who had it?"
Caitlin asked, "Where did it come from?"
"Local merchants have been finding them. Not just that one." Michael stated. "Even in the local high school. They found a number of one dollar bills."
Marella handed the dollar bills to Caitlin first for she understood that she had law enforcement experience. "Take a look."
"All of these dates start with 20." she assessed.
Dom muttered, "Great."
String was determined to protect Sam. He stated, "It has to be a fake Michael. It can't be real."
"But it is." he countered. "Why would someone go through all the trouble of making a fake with all the anti-counterfeiting measures the Federal Reserve has and then put the wrong date on it? Why change the graphics yet, keep the anti-counterfeiting measures?"
"Where do you think it came from, Michael?" String asked trying to asses just how close to the truth his friend was.
Michael paused and took a breath, "I'm not for certain but…" he glanced at Marella for the conclusion sounded to far fetched even for him.
Marella stated, "We believe the bills are from the future and someone brought them here and spent them into circulation. At first we thought perhaps the Soviets were behind it, counterfeiting the bills but we eliminated the avenue. The only government who made these bills was our own. So, that means…" she paused and looked back at her boss.
"As unusual as it sounds we could be dealing with…" Archangel gathered his words, "a time traveler."
String could see they were uncomfortable with the conclusion though it was correct. He smirked, "Where would we find this time traveler, Michael?"
"I don't know." he barked assuming String didn't believe him. "The currency is circulating in the county. The FBI has been notified. A bill was sent to Knight Industries for analyzing and they concluded it was real as well. The school has had a number of bills passed there. They found them in the lunch receipts. We want you to go undercover at the local school."
"And look for what?" String balked. "A time traveling teenager!" he mocked.
"Or teacher." he suggested.
Caitlin spoke, "If these bills are appearing in the lunch money then it has to be a student. Most teachers do not eat the school lunches. They bring their own." She then suggested, "We can have Sam keep an eye out for these bills too."
String winced as Caitlin mentioned Sam's name. Dom sucked in a held his breath.
"Sam?" Archangel asked.
"Dom's daughter." she informed. "She's a sweet kid. Smart too. She just lost her mom and moved in with Dom."
Archangel and Marella looked upon Dom. "You have a daughter?" he asked.
"I do!" he claimed her. "Samantha Santini. I knew her mother during Nam. She's 16 years old and has nothing to do with any of this funny money going around."
He stated, "I wasn't aware you had a daughter, Dom. I'm glad you have her with you."
Caitlin asked, "You contacted Knight Industries?"
"Yes, they have advanced spectrometers." he disclosed.
She wondered, "Are they sending in someone too?"
"Matter of fact they want to do their own investigation as well." he agreed. "You are familiar with them?"
Caitlin smiled to herself, "A former cop I used to work with works for them now. His name is Michael Knight." She didn't disclose his real name nor she was one of the few police officers who knew he survived the ambush.
"I'm not sure who they are sending. Mr. Miles did say they would be looking into it's origins as well." Michael replied.
Caitlin stated, "I did undercover work in schools before. I can go in."
Dom whimpered, "Oh boy."
String agreed, "Cait can take it. I'm too busy for this nonsense. Time travel. Really Michael!" He tried to build doubt in the theory.
Dom mimicked, "Yeah, really! That just plain ridiculous, even for the FIRM." he ridiculed.
Caitlin defended, "I don't think it's ridiculous. Heck, I bet Sam might have a time travel theory. She knows physics!"
Dom waved it off, "Don't drag Sam into this. She has enough to worry about."
Caitlin was surprised by how much Dom and String rebutted the mission. She stated, "What does she have to worry about? She just a teenager in school. It not like she has a high demanding job. I can go undercover in the school. I can dress up and pass myself off as a senior. Heck, I can go in as her older sister."
Dom rolled his head, "Oh' god."
String miffed, "Sam will just love that."
"I can't believe you two." she chastised.
Dom then reached for the money for he knew he had to get it back to the future. "If we are going to take this job we should hang onto these then."
Archangel prevented him from grasping the bills as he took the currency back. "The FIRM will hold onto the money. Once we find the source, whoever it is, needs to be brought in for an interview. We must know who is responsible and why they did this."
"And how they got here." Caitlin added.
"Obviously." he agreed.
Dom found the response curious. He asked, "The FIRM doesn't have a secret time travel experiment does it?"
He replied, "Don't be ridicules." He looked to Caitlin, "Thank you for taking this assignment." He then addressed Dom, "I look forward to meeting your daughter." He said his goodbye, "I will be in touch, Hawke. Marella." He motioned to leave.
Dom, String and Caitlin watched as the climbed back into the limo and drove away.
Dom spoke softly to String, "No way in hell are we leaving him alone with Sam."
"Obviously." he agreed for he knew Sam would tell Archangel and the FIRM all about the future.
Caitlin looked at the pair wondering what they knew and what they were not telling her.
Later that Day
Sam arrived to the hangar late and carrying a shopping bag. She grinned to herself as she parked the bicycle in the hangar by the entry. She had to a good day and had fun with her new friends from school at the mall. She couldn't wait for the weekend as she was invited to a party. She felt warm and fuzzy inside as for the first time in her life she had friends close to her own age even if they thought she was a teenager. Her warm fuzzy feeling was soon broken by Dom's voice.
"Sam!" he called from his office, "Can I see you for a minute?" he waited in the doorway with String.
She walked over wondered what was wrong. "What's up?" she asked hoping nothing was wrong on the other end of the wormhole.
"Where have you been?" Dom asked much like a protective parent.
String asked, "What's in the bag?" He feared she had been shopping.
She grinned, "I went to the mall with my friends after school. I got some neat 80's things. Check it out…" she opened the bag and held up a pair of new sneakers, "See…Now I can go to school in style. I even got leg warmers for gym class." She then held up, "And this watch…Never thought I would need a watch but I can't use my phone so…" she noticed the disturbed looked.
String asked, "What did you use to pay for all this?"
"Cash." she shrugged. "I can't use my pay app…it's on my phone."
"And where did you get the cash from?" he asked knowingly.
She replied, "The ATM. I got it out of my account."
"How much did you get out of your account?" he asked fearing the amount.
She replied, "Two hundred. Why?"
Sting asked, "Do you have any left?"
"About half." she nodded concerned.
Dom gasped, "That's a hundred dollars you spent."
"It's my money." she balked. "If I want to spend my money on a few things at the mall…I can…I'm an adult."
String asked, "Can I see one of the bills you got from the ATM?"
"I suppose." she agreed. She handed him a 20 dollar bill from her wallet. "What's this all about?"
He looked at the bill and then handed it back to her, "Did you look at this?"
She grasped the bill, "What's wrong with it?" It looked normal to her.
Dom pointed, "The date."
She looked at the date. It read 2021. "So…" her mouth then dropped, "Oh-no…" she winced.
String stated, "Remember the lollipop story your dad told us? You just had another lollipop moment."
She gasped, "I never thought of the money. I never bothered to really look." Her eyes grew wide, "I've been using my own money from the future all over the place."
"We know!" Dom told her. "Archangel was here this morning. He has the bills you spent at school. They know the bills are real and want us to investigate."
She suggested, "Tell them they are fake."
String shook his head, "Tried that already. They ran test. They know the bills are real and now have a theory that is real close to the truth. Cait has volunteered to go into the local high school as a student to help find the source of the bills."
"What?" she asked shocked.
Dom added, "It's gets better. For her cover she will be your big sister. She doesn't know you are the source or about the engine."
"That's not good." she complained.
String added, "And the FBI is on the case along with Knight Industries."
She asked, "Who are they?"
"Not sure." he replied. "I figured we could get some info from Sinjin on the other side."
"See dad?" she asked.
He nodded, "Got see him."
"Can I have three dollars?" she asked.
String asked, "What for?"
"Dad, Mom and Cait in the future wanted me to bring some deep fried apple pies from McDonald's. I can't use my own money now." she explained.
String gasped, "What?"
"They can't get them in 2022." she reminded him.
"We got to get back all the money you spent." he informed.
She rebutted, "That's just about impossible. I spent it."
Dom figured, "We will tell Sinjin what's going on and we can come up with a plan on how to get the bills back."
String agreed, "We can figure this out as a family." He then grabbed a dum-dum out of the small container that Dom had on his desk for a treat. He handed the candy to Sam. "Here!"
"Dum-dum? Handing me a sign, huh." she asked not enthused.
He smirked, "We all have our moments."
She took the lollipop and miffed, "Thanks Uncle String." She unwrapped the treat and placed it in her mouth. Thus, appearing even more like a kid.