Chapter 16 - Prisoner
Sheldon gaped at his old friend in surprise. "What….How…..Leonard?"
"We found your notes, your diary and the machine."
"I hid the machine."
"Penny found it."
"It figures, the least intelligent solves the puzzle." Sheldon shook his head, now calming a little.
Leonard forced himself not to walk up and hit Sheldon, as he thought of how Penny looked when he last saw her, it had broken his heart to see her like that. Even thought he didn't have Sheldon's eidetic memory the expression on Penny's face, when he left, would always be in his mind, her eyes telling him she thought she would never see him again. Leonard was truly a little scared on what he find when they went back and he had to force back his fears as he looked at the person who was the cause of this all.
Leonard reminded himself that arguing with Sheldon was always a useless endeavor, the man just could not understand that he could be wrong and someone else could be right, like now. So Leonard resigned himself to getting this over with and concentrating on the job at hand, getting Sheldon back to the right place in time. He also forced himself not to get upset, by telling himself it didn't matter, calming himself so he could speak to Sheldon again. "Sheldon, we need to go back to our time now."
"Leonard I am not leaving with you." Sheldon then shook his head and pulled a revolver from the waistband of his pants, that he had been hidden under his jacket. He didn't point it at Leonard but it was in his hand and the intent of it, in his hand, was there for Leonard to see.
Now it was Leonard's turn to shake his head, a small sad expression on his face. "Sheldon, you're right, I can't make you come back, but that is not why I'm here. They want you back either dead or alive, I actually came to talk to you and try to make that alive."
Sheldon then noticed the two laser dots on his chest and as he looked back at Leonard for an explanation, he then saw the two modern special forces soldiers lift up from the field behind Leonard and move to stand on each side of him. They had automatic weapons and Sheldon knew if he moved the wrong way he was dead, it was CHECKMATE. Sheldon then looked back at Leonard who just nodded his head making Sheldon know he was coming back, whether he wanted to or not.
"Sheldon just open your hand and drop the gun. These men will kill you, if you resist." Leonard simply told him.
Sheldon just stood there his eyes moving from the Leonard to the soldiers, as he still held the gun. He tried to weigh his options, but every scenario he thought of ended with him dead. He didn't know if he should hate Leonard right now or thank him for coming to make sure he wasn't killed, as he continued to stare at him.
Sheldon's lack of movement made Leonard worried. "Please Sheldon, this isn't the time to die..….and Amy is waiting and wants to talk to you."
Sheldon's eyes flashed and the thought of Amy made him tremble, then he regained his composure, nodded and let the gun slip from his fingers. The soldiers quickly moved up, retrieved the gun then put Sheldon's arms behind his back and handcuffed him. They also took Sheldon's marker to prevent him from trying to escape, Sheldon didn't resist, but stood there calmly, looking at Leonard the whole time.
Leonard frowned, "Is that necessary?"
The lead soldier, an officer looked at Leonard and slowly nodded. "Orders sir. We disobeyed them, for you Dr Hofstadter, when you asked us to hold fire until you gave him a chance to surrender, but we need to do this now. Also sir, like you promised, when we debrief, we fully obeyed our orders and if anyone asks, it was easier to capture him."
Leonard nodded, "Thanks Captain, I understand and I will keep my promise. Just don't hurt him." The Captain looked at Leonard for a second then nodded.
The four of them then began their hike, back to the clearing where they arrived, Leonard didn't know if the location was important for getting back, but he decided to take no chances, they would leave from the spot they arrived. They walked for the first half hour in silence, Leonard walking next to Sheldon, while one soldier scouted the way ahead and the other followed behind, Leonard knew that man behind them would not allow Sheldon to escape. "Now the Government knows." Sheldon's words surprised Leonard and they were a statement not a question.
"Yes Sheldon, I told the Government, it was the only way to get to you to come back. Howard and me were obviously not going to stop you." Leonard spit out as he thought of the gun.
"They will not know how to use it and they will make mistakes. You probably have done more damage than I would have done." He was lecturing Leonard again and the smugness in his voice irritated him, Leonard was tired of his arrogance and his lack of concern about what he had done.
"Really, you tried to change time a few days before a significant point in history and I probably did more damage. Howard was right, you really are a stupid bastard." Leonard spit out.
Sheldon looked down at Leonard in shock, Leonard's confidence and condescending tone towards him was unnerving. "I fail to see where using foul language proves your point. Lewis was not significant in time."
"Yeah you are right." Leonard admitted, but before Sheldon could say 'of course I'm right', Leonard continued, putting him in his place. "But did you check on the rest of the men in that plane? Did you know 9 of the 10 survived World War II and did you know one of them did have a significant contribution to history."
Sheldon just looked at Leonard, "No"
"Of course not." and both of them went quiet again as they walked
Leonard and Sheldon walked for the next three hours back to the spot that they arrived at, while the two special forces soldiers watched Sheldon. No matter what they agreed to with Dr Hofstadter, the Captain was going to shoot Dr Cooper dead and take his body back if he tried to escape. The men were deadly serious and kept their eyes on the surrounding terrain and their two charges the whole way back.
It was as they finally got close to the spot Sheldon spoke again, "What did I miss."
"You didn't check out his co-pilot Lieutenant Gray did you?" Leonard responded in a tone that told Sheldon he had made a big mistake.
Sheldon didn't make mistakes so knowing he did and Leonard's tone grated on him, "No I didn't." he snapped.
"Well, Lieutenant Gray makes it through WW II and has a son, who joins the Air Force to be a flyer like his father. Captain Simon Gray flies reconnaissance jets during the Cuban Missile Crises and is the man, who by his bravery, gets the first positive photographic evidence that Russian ballistic missiles are being put in Cuba, which leads to what happened in history next, the blockade. Killing Gray kills his son and the Air Force determined that there is a 50/50 chance that the late discovery of the missiles would make Russia more reluctant to take them out, thereby leading to a nuclear exchange between them and the United States." Leonard explained then looked at Sheldon to make sure in sank in, what he almost done.
Sheldon just stared at Leonard, he had been really wrong so he quickly changed the subject, to avoid admitting it. "So the Government now has and controls the time machine."
Leonard shook his head, as Sheldon changed to subject "You really are something, you know that." Then he forced himself to be calm again. "Yes they have it, they used it to send planes back into this past to make sure that bomber got home, once they found out what could happen in the future by your stunt."
"It was not a stunt!" Sheldon said in anger.
"Really." Leonard said in disgust. "You know you have already changed history, yet Lewis is still alive, you already did damage and you don't really care do you!"
"Of course I do." Sheldon said not really meaning it. "As a scientist I care about all my experiments."
Leonard shook his head again. "Yeah, right." Then he looked Sheldon directly in the eye. "You know your changes may have done away with Amy. Did you ever think about that, Mr. Scientist."
Sheldon stared at Leonard in shock, the realization of what he was saying making Sheldon turn cold inside. He turned then to looked ahead as he walked, trying to think things through, never saying another word till they got to the spot. Leonard actually welcomed the silence as he walked, his mind going to his wife and baby, he said a silent prayer they would still be there when he got back.
Once they reached the clearing, the Captain spoke again, to Leonard. "Sir I am to verify you both leave, so you two will go first and we will follow."
Leonard nodded and brought Sheldon to the side with him, taking a marker out of his pocket to activate it. The trip home was the same as the trip there, but it seemed faster, because it was now not new to either of them. It was with relieve though when they arrived, however Sheldon and Leonard were deposited back in the room Sheldon left from, not surprising him but shocking Leonard. "Something's wrong." Leonard said, disbelief on his face.