Everyone has secrets. Some big blotch in life that no one else can ever know about. Some people are extremely fearful that this blotch will be discovered. These people will do anything to make sure no one finds out. Normally, this makes things worse on them than if they just told everyone their secret in the first place. Such was the case with Jason’s secret.
Ironically, his real troubles began just when he thought they had ended. Jason had turned 18 and had moved into an apartment in Babbabo on his own, when he received a note from Mr. Smith. Jason reluctantly read the note to himself.
"Jason," read Jason. "You remember me, your old boss. If you don’t, than you should. I’ve returned to deal with an old acquaintance of mine, Mr. Ben Trim. Your job is to spy on him for me, he trusts you."
Jason put the note down. "I’ll never work for Mr. Smith again." He remembered how he had been tricked into serving Mr. Smith before.
Mr. Smith had casually gained Jason’s confidence by talking to Jason as he walked home from school. Jason had thought that he was very close to Mr. Smith. Then, on what started out as an ordinary day, Mr. Smith told him that he and his family were in grave danger. Mr. Smith led him to "safety" but his parents were killed. That was when Mr. Smith adopted him.
Nineteen months went by. All that time, Jason had innocently been used by Mr. Smith. Then, Jason found out the truth about Mr. Smith. He was so ashamed that he just left without telling anyone where he was going. Now, his past had come back to haunt him.
A sudden thought brought Jason’s mind back to the present. Mr. Smith had to know that Jason wouldn’t serve him again willingly…..unless he had some kind of blackmail. Jason continued to read the note. To his horror, his suspicions were correct.
"Speaking of old acquaintances, Christine is with me," the letter continued. "Surely, you remember Christine. She’s foolish and trusts me blindly. You don’t want anything to happen to her. Do you? If you don’t, meet me at the old lab at 3:30 tomorrow for more details. Sincerely, Mr. Smith."
"OH, NO!" gasped Jason. He knew that he had to do as Mr. Smith wanted. It was his fault that Christine was working for Mr. Smith and he felt responsible for her.
Jason was the one that got Christine to trust Mr. Smith and he left without giving Christine any type of warning about Mr. Smith and his allies. Jason could not let Christine pay for his mistakes.
Jason felt very uncomfortable when he met Mr. Smith face to face. However there was something that made Jason feel even more uncomfortable. Christine was standing right beside him. She seemed to trust Mr. Smith, but did not seem to trust Jason.
"Why did you leave us?" bellowed Christine before Mr. Smith could stop her. Jason knew that he couldn’t speak out against Mr. Smith while he was right next to him, so he just kept quiet. Just in case Jason did want to speak out against him, Mr. Smith quickly changed the subject.
As usual, Mr. Smith intended to do most of the talking.
"Jason," he began. "You know why you’re here. Let’s not waste any more time. Now here’s what I want you to do…"
To shorten a long, boring speech; Jason was to get a job at Mr. Trim’s lab, learn as much as he could about Mr. Trim’s inventions and experiments, and report to Mr. Smith every Friday at noon.
The first part was easy. Mr. Trim owed Jason a favor and was glad to give him a job. However, Jason really didn’t want to give Mr. Smith the information he wanted, so he told Mr. Smith about some of the minor inventions. Just enough to keep Mr. Smith satisfied.
Jason was waiting for a time to talk to Christine, but it seemed like Mr. Smith would always join them before he got the chance. Christine would never let him forget that he deserted her. He felt guilty and isolated from her.
He felt isolated from everyone. There were plenty of people he could talk to, but he didn’t want to share his troubles with anyone.
A month went by. Nothing had changed much. Then, all of the sudden, Mr. Smith made his move. In what was known as the Jesterville Conjunction, Jason was confused and unsure of himself. He had to help the others; but if he did, Mr. Smith would do who knows what to Christine.
Jason thought he had solved this problem by helping the others to defeat Mr. Smith for him, but yet another problem had arisen. The others found out that one of them was a spy. They just didn’t know who. The two main suspects were Mark and Jason. It seemed to Jason that everything he did was self incriminating.
Fortunately, Jason had learned to use this to his own advantage. He had too help rescue the others in order to keep the suspicion off himself; this made everything work out.
Well, almost everything worked out. Unfortunately, Jason had to hurt Christine in order to escape. It was going to be very difficult for her to convince him of anything, but he had to try.
The next day was Friday and Jason reported to Mr. Smith as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that this time Christine wasn’t there.
After giving Mr. Smith the necessary information, Jason looked throughout the lab for her. When he finally found her, she was sound asleep.
Jason looked around what was obviously her bedroom. From the looks of things, she was taken good care of. Everything that she could realistically want was in there, yet Jason knew she was happier before Mr. Smith had adopted her. Things should have been left as they were a long time ago.
Then, he saw something next to Christine’s bed that made him break into tears. It was a picture of Christine and her family. It was the way Jason had remembered her. The way she used to be.
Jason looked at how innocent Christine appeared as she slept peacefully. Jason knew that he had caused Christine enough trouble without waking her up to apologize, so he left a note by the picture and left as quietly as he had come.
Jason wasn’t the only one with problems. Christine was having some problems of her own. At first, she was sure that Mr. Smith was right and Jason was wrong. Mr. Smith had been nice to her for years and Jason had deserted them when they needed him the most. However, seeing the concern and compassion in Jason made her wonder if he was really right after all. When she read his note, she realized the only way to tell who was right was to spend more time with Jason.
In the weeks that followed, with the days growing shorter, Jason and Christine got to spend more time talking to each other. However, since Jason was on Mr. Trim’s side and Christine was on Mr. Smith’s side, they had to be careful to make sure that neither Mr. Trim and his allies nor Mr. Smith and his allies saw them talking together.
They told each other where they had been since they last saw each other and what they had been doing there. Even though they had learned to trust each other, they knew that Mr. Smith would soon strike and they would have to be on opposing sides.
Jason tried time after time in vein to conform Christine to his side, so they wouldn’t have to oppose each other. He even showed her the note that Mr. Smith had used to blackmail him months earlier, but Christine believed the propaganda that Mr. Smith had told her, the note was forged by Mr. Trim.
Christine was so convinced by Mr. Smith’s propaganda that she tried to conform Jason back to Mr. Smith’s side. Needless to say, Jason would not change sides either.
Christmas eventually came and Mr. Trim threw a big party in the lab. It seemed like anyone vaguely connected with Mr. Trim was there. This was one of the best parties Mr. Trim ever hosted. Almost everyone was having a good time. In fact, everyone except Jason.
Jason looked jealously at where Torry and the gang had assembled themselves. They had all been friends for a long time. Jason didn’t have too many friends. He had always been a loner.
This alone wouldn’t have bothered him too much, but there was something else that had been bothering him. It was on a Christmas several years back that Jason first began to suspect that Mr. Smith had been using him. When he was sure of Mr. Smith’s sinister behavior, he panicked and left as quickly as possible.
In hind sight, he knew that he should have warned Christine and the others instead of worrying about his own neck, but it was too late now. All he could do was hope Christine would eventually believe him.
Dan and Amy had noticed that Jason was all by himself and invited him to join the rest of Torry and the gang, but Jason refused saying he’d rather think things over. Although they didn’t understand why Jason wanted to be by himself, they respected his right to privacy and left telling the others not to bother him.
The following weekend the inevitable occurred, Mr. Smith was ready for another attack. The Trims had left for a conference and the only one left in the lab would be John and Torry and the gang. Jason’s job was to lead them into a trap.
Jason had just entered the lab and Torry and the gang were having another one of their meetings, when Mr. Smith’s allies surrounded the lab. Everyone turned to John to ask what to do, but John was just as helpless as the rest of them.
"I’ve got an idea!" exclaimed Jason.
Not everyone was willing to trust Jason. They still remembered that Jason was probably a spy for Mr. Smith. However, they also remembered how much Jason had helped them the last time and there was no one else who could come up with anything, so they agreed to go along with Jason’s plan.
"Okay, Jason, what do we do now?" asked John.
"It’s simple," Jason replied. "All we have to do is get a few decoys to lure them away, so the rest of us can escape. John and I are the oldest, so I think we should be the decoys. We will both run out different doors at the same time and get as many people as possible to follow us; then, when we’ve lured away as many people as possible, the others will flee to safety at the big tree by the river. If John or myself are able to escape, we will join you there."
The plan sounded easy to accomplish, but the others knew that something was wrong with the plan. However, they had no other choice. They had to try it.
Surprisingly, when they actually tried it, Jason’s plan seemed to work. All of Mr. Smith’s allies were chasing either Jason or John . They others made it easily to the big tree by the river. Even Jason and John were doing fairly well evading their should be captors. John was eventually caught, but Jason was able to escape and join the others.
Jason told the other to rest for awhile to give him a chance to think of a plan to rescue John. All, except for Torry and Bob, agreed to rest.
Bob was a good friend of Mark’s, the other possibility for being a spy, and he knew that Jason wasn’t to be trusted. Besides, wasn’t Jason’s motto supposed to be, "Better an hour early than one second too late." It wasn’t like him to wait around like this. Quickly and quietly, Bob started back to Mr. Trim’s lab.
Torry knew from experience that someone had to watch for trouble, before it snuck up on them. Everyone resting would make it very easy for Mr. Smith to capture all of them at once.
"I’ll scout on ahead as a lookout," explained Torry as he took off.
As soon as Torry was a safe distance away from the others, he got out his magic crystal and changed into a bird. It would be easier from him to scout from the air.
From the air, he could see clearly the danger that the others were in. Mr. Smith and his allies were approaching the big tree by the river from all directions. They had already captured Bob, and they were within striking distance of the others.
There was no way Torry could warn the others in time, so he just flew back to Mr. Trim’s lab and changed back. All he could do was hope that they were able to escape.
Unfortunately, they never had a chance. Mr. Smith, Kenny, Jack, Bill, Christine, and many others came at them simultaneously. They had to surrender.
As the members of Torry and the gang were taken separately to Mr. Smith’s lab, Mr. Smith noticed that Torry had escaped.
"One of them got away," scolded Mr. Smith.
"It’s only Torry," Jason stated. "He won’t get far."
"Only TORRY!!" roared Mr. Smith. "It was Torry that escaped last time when no one else was able to. The name of their group is Torry and the gang. I underestimated him the last time. I now know that Torry is a dangerous and powerful adversary. You will find Torry for me or life is going to be very difficult for you."
"I will capture him," assured Jason.
While the others were still stunned, Dan quickly realized what was going on.
"Why, Jason?" Dan wondered.
"Out of the many secrets I have, I’d say this is my deepest one and I guess it’s about time I told someone," Jason began. "Do you remember Christine?"
"Yes," Dan replied. In the time of the Jesterville Conjunction, Dan had mistaken Christine for someone on his side.
"What about her?" insisted Dan.
"She’s my sister," Jason told him.
Since Mr. Smith was around, Jason couldn’t elaborate on what he had just said. The result was that Dan was even more confused than before, but Jason wouldn’t answer his questions.
Jason also knew that he only made things more complicated, but that was the least of his worries. He had to capture Torry. That sounded simple, but then he had to rescue all of them without letting Mr. Smith know that he was responsible for doing so. He knew that all he had to do was convince Christine of the truth and things would be much simpler, but that seemed almost impossible by now.
He thought that if he could get Christine to go with him to help capture Torry, Torry could convince her of the truth or maybe Mr. Trim would come back and he could do it. However, Mr. Smith was well aware of this, so he didn’t allow Christine to go.
Back at Mr. Trim’s lab, Torry was wondering whether or not to interrupt Mr. Trim’s conference and bring him back to Jesterville. He was so busy deciding what to do that he didn’t notice Jason enter the lab. Jason could have captured him very easily right then, but that wasn’t what he wanted to do. He just wanted to talk to Torry, since he didn’t get a chance with Dan.
"Torry," greeted Jason.
Torry had figured out that it was Jason that had led the others into a trap, so, at first, Torry was afraid of Jason and didn’t trust him. Eventually he realized that Jason would have easily overpowered him if that was what he wished to do, so he was prepared to listen to what Jason had to say.
Jason explained to Torry that Christine was his sister, who he had deserted a few years back, and she would suffer the consequences if he didn’t take Torry back to Mr. Smith’s lab. Torry, in turn, told Jason that he was wondering whether to get the Trims or wait for them to return.
"Better an hour early than one second too late," Jason thought to himself. This time he would follow his motto.
The conference that the Trims had gone to wasn’t at all what they had expected it to be. It had turned out to be quite boring and they were glad that Torry and Jason came and got them when they did.
Jason gave them a brief account of what had happened and the situation that he was in. The Trims were not the least bit surprised. They had known about the relationship between Jason and Christine for a long time and had been waiting for Jason to ask them for their advice.
Torry was told to stay with Mrs. Trim, while Mr. Trim took Jason to his office. Jason could tell by the grim look on his face that this was something very serious.
"Ever since I learned from Christine," started Mr. Trim. "that she was your sister, I have been doing a little research on your family."
Mr. Trim opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a copy of a police file with Mr. Smith’s picture on it. Mr. Trim didn’t need to say anything more as Jason read the cold, hard facts for himself.
Jason had suspected for a long time that Mr. Smith had killed his mother and father, but the file gave him absolute proof. His mind and body were full of rage. Mr. Smith had killed his parents, tricked him into serving him, threatened him, blackmailed him, and turned his own sister against him. He had had enough and he felt like it was time for Mr. Smith to pay.
Torry didn’t know exactly what had been going on in Mr. Trim’s office, but he knew that something had greatly upset Jason. Torry was actually eager to be "captured" by Jason, so he could use his magic crystal to free the others.
Jason might have forgotten many things in his rage, but he didn’t forget about Mark. In spite of all the trouble Mark had caused him during the Jesterville Conjunction, he was one of the truest friends he had.
Jason told Mr. Trim to get Mark and tell him to try and rescue the others in 15 minutes, just in case he and Torry failed. Mr. Trim agreed to do so. Knowing that that was taken care of, Jason started out with Torry towards Mr. Smith’s lab.
Things didn’t go as Torry had planned. Instead of a prison with bars as the others had, the door to Torry’s cell was solid and air tight. This meant that Torry couldn’t even use his crystal to save himself.
Jason was unaware of this, because he was busy showing Christine the copy of the police file. He figured that Christine would have to believe him now with the proof that he had, but she still thought the file was just a very clever form of propaganda by Mr. Trim.
He tried once more to convince her with the same result as before. Finally, Jason lost his temper.
"You are going to have to choose sides now!" exclaimed Jason. "I am going to stop Mr. Smith one and for all and you can either help me, or oppose me, but you can’t do neither one."
With that, Jason headed straight for the control room, where Mr. Smith was watching everything going on in the lab. However, when you’re watching everything, there are a few details that you miss. He didn’t see Jason coming toward him with a gun in his hand.
Christine carefully considered the situation she was in. She didn’t know who was right, but, since Jason was currently the aggressor, she decided to protect Mr. Smith even though it meant opposing her own brother. Things had just gotten tough on Jason.
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.
The next day, Jason had checked into the hospital and Christine and the Trims were there to visit him. The shot had itself didn’t do that much damage. It was just the fact that he had to do quite a bit of walking on it. On the way back to Mr. Trim’s lab, Jason had to stop and rest many times.
Christine felt awful about shooting Jason in the leg. Jason had been right all along and it took her almost four months to believe him. She couldn’t believe how blind she had been and the time she had wasted working for Mr. Smith, but at least Jason made the same mistake earlier and knew how she was feeling.
"Sorry for shooting you," apologized Christine.
"After deserting you the way I did, I probably deserved it," Jason replied.
The two of them hugged each other and all was well again.
With that out of the way, Christine could think about the future. She had been living in Mr. Smith’s lab, but now all she had was what she was able to scoop up on her way out. This included only a change of clothes, a picture of her family, and a few other items. It was nowhere near enough to live on.
"I have no place to live," she told Jason.
There was nothing Jason could do about that. His apartment was far too small and life was hectic enough for him already. She could use his apartment that night, while he was in the hospital, but what about the next night?
"You can stay with us," suggested Mrs. Trim.
"Are you sure?" asked Christine, for she thought that she had caused the Trims enough trouble without being a burden to them.
"If we can afford to pay Jason’s hospital bill, we can easily afford to take care of you for awhile," Mr. Trim replied.
Christine got out the old picture of her family and took a good look at how things use to be for herself and Jason. She gave the picture to Jason so they could both look at it together.
"Welcome home, Christine," said Jason.
Copyright MCMLXXXVI, MCMXCIX
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