"Stop it right there, punks," the head of the uniformed men said, his gun pointing directly between Julia's eyes. "You're not going anywhere."
"What?" Julia asked, weakly. "No... we're trying to get out. We..."
"I know what you're trying to do," the man growled. "I'm here to keep you from doing it."
Julia eyed the man's automatic gun uneasily. "Who..."
"Alexander Boyle," the man said. "Army National Guard. The governor has dispatched us to keep people like you from getting out of this place."
"Please," Julia said wearily. "I know what we look like, but we're not prisoners. We're not even men. My name is Julia Jacobs. This is Chelsea, and this is Scarlet." She indicated her friends.
"Maybe so," Boyle said, "but our orders are to not let anyone go until everyone's identities can be verified."
"Please," Julia begged. "Chelsea here is a little girl. She's terrified. She..." Julia swallowed back tears. "I don't think I can bear to tell you what she's been through. And look at Scarlet," she said, waving at Scarlet's battered body. "She's hurt. Badly hurt. She needs to get to a doctor."
Boyle frowned.
"And these men," Julia said, turning and indicating the prisoners who stood several paces behind her, eyeing the soldiers warily. "The want to kill us. They tried to..." She felt herself getting nauseous; she couldn't bring herself to say it. "Please," she said. "Don't send us back in there."
Boyle looked at Julia for a long moment, his eyes softening. He began to relax his grip on his gun... then suddenly he tightened it, and his expression turned hard again. "No," he said. "I can't do that. We can't let anyone go free. You could be lying; all I have to go on right now is your word. If you're telling the truth,"--and here his gaze eased again--"then we'll let you go free. After we've confirmed your story. But not until then."
"I'm begging you," Julia said, despair creeping into her voice. "These men... we won't survive in there."
"We'll try to find a safe place for you to be held," Boyle said. "I'm sure there..."
Suddenly Boyle's eyes unfocused... and then they focused again.
"Scarlet?"
Jon sighed as the light flared and took him away again. The relentless tedium of his endless swaps was beginning to wear on him. Even with Karyn now by his side, this was getting old. He wanted to stay put in one life for a while. Even if it was an unpleasant life. Even if it was an old man, a girl... he would take life as an animal if he had to. Anything to stop this absolutely exhausting chain of swaps. Was the rest of his life going to be like this?
As the light receded, Jon found himself staring down the barrel of a gun at a heavyset woman in a jumpsuit. Right of her there was a young girl wearing a prison guard's uniform, and to the left, Jon saw...
"Scarlet?"
Scarlet Anderson looked at Jon through bruised and swollen eyes. She appeared to be in somewhat better shape than when Jon had last seen her, a few hours before; her wounds had been cleaned up, and the blood on her face had been washed off. It was still clear that she had been badly beaten, though; Jon was sure that, at best, Scarlet would walk away from her beating with ugly permanent scars.
Scarlet squinted--an action that appeared to be painful for her--and said, "Do I know you?"
Jon began to open his mouth to tell her who she was... and then he immediately shut it. He looked at the gun in his hands, which was still pointed at the woman in the middle of the trio before him (she looked naggingly familiar to Jon, but he couldn't place her). The gun looked pretty heavy-duty; it looked more like something a soldier would carry than a prison guard, or even a police officer. Looking past the gun, he saw that he was dressed in what looked like some kind of military fatigues. Behind him, he saw four men dressed in uniforms similar to his own... and Karyn, also dressed in an identical outfit.
They were standing in the courtyard of a large building; from the orange jumpsuits Scarlet and the other woman were wearing, the uniform the little girl was wearing, and the barbed wire along the high cement walls around the building, Jon guessed they were outside a prison. Besides Jon, Karyn, the other four people in military uniforms, and the two women and girl he was facing, Jon saw several men in orange jumpsuitrs behind Scarlet and several men in military fatigues and guard uniforms milling about the courtyard. Jon wasn't quite certain what he had jumped into, but it was clear that he and his fellow soldiers had the upper hand here. The prisoners--however they felt about whatever standoff they had jumped into--were at the mercy of the soldiers' guns.
Scarlet continued to stare at Jon expectantly. "Uh..." he said, "can I speak to you in private? And you two," he added, indicating the girl and the other woman.
"Sir, are you sure that's wise?" said one of the men behind Jon. 'Sir'... that must have meant that Jon had some kind of position of authority over the other soldiers. That would be useful.
"Yes, I'm sure," Jon said, trying to sound commanding. "I want to speak with them alone. But, uh... you..."--he pointed to Karyn--"I want you to come with me. Just in case."
"Um... yes sir," Karyn said. She looked as awkward as Jon felt.
"And the rest of you," Jon said. "Take care of these other men. He waved a hand at the assortment of prisoners behind Scarlet. "That's an order."
"Yes sir," said the man who had questioned Jon, striking a salute.
Jon nodded to Scarlet and her companions, and the five of them--Jon, Karyn, Scarlet, the woman, and the girl--walked a short distance away from the other soldiers... just far enough to be out of earshot. Behind them, Jon heard the soldiers rounding up the prisoners and ordering them to go back inside the prison.
As they walked, Jon looked at the portly woman and tried to remember where he had seen her before. He had jumped into her many, many jumps ago... around the time he had jumped into the prison and found Scarlet the first time, in fact. This was the woman he had jumped into in the department store dressing room, the one with the awful dress. It made sense, he realized... while jumping from body to body in his own home, what now seemed like ages ago, Jon had determined that each person he jumped into was jumped into the last person he had been. He must have jumped into this woman just after he had jumped away, leaving this woman as the prisoner Jon had been. Jon pictured the trail of bodies he had left behind him over the course of his numerous jumps, and his mind reeled a little.
Once he was sure they were far enough to speak, Jon said, quietly, "Scarlet... it's me, Jon Madison. Zoe's sister."
Scarlet's eyes went wide... or at least, the one that wasn't swollen mostly shut went wide. "Jon? Is that you? Again? I can't believe..." She stopped for a moment, apparently thinking. "Wait... where did you go the first time?"
"Long story," Jon said. "Looooong story."
"I take it you two know each other?" asked the woman from the department store.
"Yeah," Scarlet said. "Julia, this is Jon... he's the brother of a really good friend of mine. He's on our side." She looked at Jon. "I hope?"
"I am," Jon said. "So is Karyn here." He nodded at Karyn, who waved shyly.
"Jon," Julia said, "Scarlet and I, and Chelsea here"--she placed an arm around the little girl--"we've spent the last hour trying to escape from this prison. We got into some real trouble inside... I think we have some prisoners who want us dead now. But the man you've jumped into, and the other guys from the National Guard... they want us to go back inside." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "We can't. We can't go back in there."
Jon looked at the soldiers, who had finally managed to corral the prisoners and were marching them toward the prison door. Then he looked back at Julia. "I'll get you out of here. Follow me."
Jon led his friends across the broad courtyard toward the wide gate that led out of the prison complex. He tried to look like he knew what he was doing, but in fact he felt dazed, uneasy, and more than a little out of place. Any minute he expected someone to stop him and tell him to turn around and lead Scarlet and the rest back inside the prison... or worse to shoot him as an imposter or a traitor. Stealing a glance behind him, he saw a nervous expression on Karyn's face and knew she felt the same way.
They reached the far side of the courtyard without incident, but as they were heading through the gate, a man in uniform stopped them. "Riggs, Easley," the man said, "where are you taking these men? You know our orders are to prevent anyone from leaving the premises."
Straightening up, Jon tried to look and sound official. "These are civilians," he said. "They're in danger inside the prison. And this one"--he pointed to Scarlet--"is hurt. She needs medical attention. They don't belong in prison, and it's not safe to send them back there. I know we're not supposed to let anyone leave, but we need to make an exception for these people."
The man frowned skeptically... but as he looked Scarlet over, his expression softened. "You're sure they're civilians?"
"Positive," Jon said.
The man sighed. "All right," he said. "But if you're wrong, it's on your head."
"Of course," Jon said, saluting awkwardly. The man nodded curtly, and Jon and his friends passed by him and through the gate.
With the prison behind them, they picked up their pace. They were walking through a parking lot now, which was full of both civilian cars and military vehicles. Far in the distance, Jon saw the low skyline of town. A couple of pillars of smoke rose above the buildings.
"We're miles from town," Julia said. "We'll never be able to make it on foot."
"Um," Scarlet said, quitely, "I, uh... I might be able to hotwire one of these cars."
They all turned and stared at Scarlet.
"It's not what you think," Scarlet said. "My dad's a mechanic."
"Okay," Jon said. "Snag a car. Under the circumstances, I think we can all look the other way." He looked back at the prison behind them. "Karyn and I had better not be here when you do, though."
Scarlet nodded, and leaned in to give Jon a hug. "Thanks, Jon. You saved our lives back there."
"It was nothing," Jon said. "Now get out of here. And if you find Zoe, give her my..." He hesitated; Zoe and Jon hadn't gotten along over the last few years, so it felt strange saying it. But in the end, he cared about his sister. "Give her my love."
"I will," Scarlet said. With one last look at each other, the two groups--Jon and Karyn on one side, Scarlet and her copmanions on the other--parted ways.
Agent Marcus Hendrickson watched as the two soldiers who had escorted the the prisoners and prison guard out passed back in through the gates. He had his eye on the older man in particular... the one whose grey hair peeked out beneath his helmet. It had caught Marcus's attention when these two had pulled the prisoners aside to talk to them in private; so he had kept an eye on their lips while the five men had talked. Marcus's lipreading skills weren't perfect, but he had picked up enough of what the men had said. Most importantly, he had picked up four very interesting words: "It's me, Jon Madison."
Marcus had been in contact with his boss, Charles Finney, and the rest of the agency off and on all day, as his swaps had allowed. He knew that Finney's attempts to track Jon Madison by the progression of his swaps had come up short; when Madison had switched into the prison, Finney hadn't been able to follow the trail any further. But now... now Marcus had found Madison again. Now they had a chance to lock him down.
Marcus wondered if Madison had stopped swapping, too. Some time ago, Marcus's swaps had unexpectedly halted, leaving Marcus as the man he was now... one Tom Loeb, a soldier in the National Guard. It had been a satisfying enough place for Marcus to end up; as a soldier, he was at least still in service of his country. And he was an adult, and a man, which was certainly a relief.
If Madison's swaps had stopped, too, it would be simple for Marcus to apprehend him here and now. If not, then at least Marcus and his agency had a fresh place to start tracking him.
Marcus began to take off across the courtyard toward Madison... then he suddenly stopped, cursing under his breath. Turning to William Katzner, Marcus said, "Hey, Katzner, I think I saw those two guys over by the gate taking a couple of prisoners outside. I think we better interrogate them, see what's up."
"Loeb, that's not our job, man," Katzner said. "Let someone else take care of that."
Marcus sighed and grabbed Katzner by the arm, dragging him in the direction of Jon Madison. Marcus resented being tied down to Katzner. Since Marcus and Katzner's hands had both glowed in unison shortly after Marcus had jumped into this body--Katzner hadn't seemed to notice the glow, nor had anyone else, but Marcus had--Marcus couldn't seem to walk more than a few feet away from Katzner. Marcus hoped this wouldn't last long; he already couldn't stand Katzner. The thought of spending the rest of his life with Katzner was a miserable one.
"Jon Madison," Marcus said, reaching Madison's side, "I know that's you. I'm Marcus Hendrickson, federal government, and I've been trying to track you down all day."
"Loeb?" Katzner said, dazed.
"Jon Madi... I'm not Jon Madison," the man Marcus had pegged as Madison said. "My name is Jeff Stern, and I--"
"Dad?" the man next to Madison, or Stern, or whoever he was, said. "Dad, is that you?"
"Oh my God," the first man said, "Becky?"
Marcus sighed and ran a hand over his face. Turning to Katzner, he said, "Katzner, man, you got a phone?"
