Chapter 16-The Assassination

"Hey, Elijah," Rob said as I was approaching the house, "are you ready?" I remembered what I needed to tell them, but telling them about Mary Anne could potentially get me in trouble because they may figure out I formed a personal relationship with her. I would keep it to myself for now and look out for any interference from her. There, no harm done. "Uh, yeah, let's finish this!" I said in response. Susan chimed in, saying, "Okay, let's review our plan here. I will approach the sheriff and say there's some racket going on at the bar and that there are firearms. Rob will be back up in case any shootouts occur. He will make sure that Mr. Williams is kept alive. Elijah, you are our eyes and ears. Use your coms device whenever you spot any activity out of the norm. Stay from a safe distance, please." This was it. As many bad things I have seen in my life, I had never seen shootings or any type of violence involving death. Hopefully this operation would go as smoothly as planned and that all we had to do was keep this "assassin," who, who snuck up on Mr. Williams while he was drunk, from using his gun.

The sun was nearly completely below the horizon as Rob, Susan, and I headed towards the town. I kept my handgun concealed, occasionally patting my side to make sure it was still securely in place. Except for training, I had never used a gun before, and the thought of having to use it on another human being sent butterflies in my stomach. Gun ownership was completely outlawed in the ASA, but since I was an agent of the WCO and was at least 16, I was allowed to use a firearm only during missions and training.

The town was awfully peaceful for such an historical night of violence. However, hopefully there wouldn't be any lives lost. Susan split from Rob and I to head to the sheriff's department, and right after, Rob quietly made his way to the bar where Mr. Williams was about to be assassinated. I remained behind a horse buggy, which had a good sight of the sheriff's and the bar. To keep in the loop with what was going on, we all kept our communication channel open and unmuted. "Alright, the target is acquired," Rob said. "Things are starting to get heated in here. Susan, your move. Susan approached the sheriff's department in character, saying, "Mr. Sheriff! Oh, please help! I couldn't help but hear a bunch of shoutin' and racket at the bar. I think they're drunk, and they have guns too!" In response, the sheriff and his deputy calmly made their way to the bar. This was it. We were about to change the future, hopefully in a good way. It was finally about time to see for myself the impact of our work as time traveling agents. Rob snuck his way into the bar and moved towards the back of the room to be there in case anything went wrong. The sheriff approached the entry of the bar to put an end to the imminent violence, saying, "Now, what's all the fuss in here?" All the people, including Mr. Williams's assassin went silent and stared at the sheriff. The assassin was in the corner hiding his gun on his side. From Rob's view, there was an intensity building up, one that was implied and not seen. "Guys, what's going on?" Elijah said. The whole town seemed to have gone completely silent. There was no response from either Rob or Susan, and everything seemed eerily still as if time was frozen. Then, Mr. Williams's assassin slowly, but obviously reached for his revolver, quietly pulled back the hammer, and as soon as it clicked in the midst of the silence, he blindly slung the gun at one of the deputies and shot. Chaos had just erupted. The sheriff and the deputies retaliated and took cover—one had been shot but was still alive at the moment. The sheriff pulled out his gun and began to fire back at the assassin while Mr. Williams made a run for it. He knew that if the Sheriff hadn't intervened and distracted his killer, then he would have died, as that was how history was written. Some people at the bar sided with the killer and began to shoot their guns at the sheriff and deputies while others began to defend the sheriff and deputies. What came next was even worse—other men in the town hurled towards the chaos with their guns and joined in, eventually leading this "battle" outside on the street. I remained hidden, viewing the bloody battle from afar. I could not believe what I was seeing. I was seeing people being shot and killed all because of us. If we had left history alone, only one would have died tonight, but there were already several observed casualties. Because of us. Contradictory thoughts were running through my head—was the WPA right? Was it really better to leave history alone? Could changing one small event lead to mass differences in the future that could actually be much worse? No way. The ASA government had told us countless times that what they were doing in partnership with the WCO was what was best for the nation and the rest of the world and that they knew what was best. The government was always here to help us. But how? How was this situation going to better the future? What if these other people here who died because of us were crucial in shaping the future? There were now several generations of families who would never exist. My faith in the WCO must not be shaken. We must protect Mr. Williams at all costs. "Rob, get out of there! It's too dangerous," Susan said over the com device. "I'm trying," Rob said, panting, "Meet me on the outside of town on the west side, away from danger. We'll regroup and find Mr. Williams." "Wait," I said, "You don't know where he is?" "He went out the back entrance of the bar, so I'm sure he's fine for now." Rob stated. "No, we need to protect him at ALL COSTS, just like Dave said, remember? Mr. Williams is gonna be on the east edge of town " I said. "Elijah, the west side of town is farthest from the shooting. You and Susan can't risk navigating through danger since you're already not in it. I will find a way over there and out of the chaos. Again, meet me on the west edge of town, and that's an order!" Rob exclaimed. I was so frustrated that he would say that. I knew that the safety of the agents was a priority for the WCO, but I did NOT want to let Dave down and have this mission fail. No, not after all this time and hard work. Plus, the WCO was all I had, and I couldn't risk losing my job. I could see Susan slip behind the buildings on the west side of town as more chaos ensued. Some women had been shot, leaving screaming children to scramble around, bawling their eyes out because their parents were either dead or not to be seen. I couldn't bear to see this go on any longer. I wasn't going to wait for Rob and Susan to do the job for me. I disabled my coms and booked it behind the buildings on the east side of the little town. I pulled out my gun, hiding in the shadows and looking around every corner to make sure no hostile was around. About fifty yards ahead of me, I could see a silhouette of a tall, thin man panting and leaning against the back wall of the bar. It was Mr. Williams, and he was still alive. What was I going to say to him when I approached him? I didn't know, but my first instinct was to run to him, yelling his name and telling him to find cover. Whether or not his killer was dead, I still hadn't seen any confirmed interference from any WPA agents. But I had thought that too soon. Just as I began to approach Mr. Williams, everything seemed to move in slow motion. From the corner of the bar, a girl popped out with a silenced pistol five feet away from Mr. Williams and shot him straight in the head. There was no way he could have survived that—the moment the bullet hit, Mr. William's lifeless body tumbled to the ground, never to move again. Mary Anne had just shot the man we had vowed to protect. I was dumbfounded. I screamed on the top of my lungs, and I was so angry that I almost blacked out. If I hadn't known Mary Anne and hadn't felt for her the way I did, I would have shot her clear and dead right there without any remorse. "DROP YOUR GUN AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP, NOW! I screamed as I was trembling while aiming my gun at her. Mary Ann just stared at me in my eyes with the most heartbroken look. She was so calm and unmoved when she killed the man, but when she saw that I was mortified and was angered, she could not keep control of her emotions either. Mary Anne dropped her gun and put her hands up because she wouldn't shoot me either. "Elijah," she said, "please don't go this way! You are a GOOD guy, and the WCO is just using you!" "SHUT UP," I said, crying, "the WCO was everything. It was all I had…" "Elijah, the WCO is using you and all of its agents to only benefit themselves," Mary Anne said gravely, "I know it's hard to hear because they provided a life for you, and it seems like they actually do want to better the world. But they don't. The WCO is rooted in evil and self-interest." I knew she would say that. All of those conservative nuts over on the east were always protesting changing the past, but there wasn't even any evidence that the WCO was doing any harm. "You say that, Mary Anne, but what have they done that's only helped them? Your entire organization is based on conspiracies!" I was still shaken, and my voice was trembling as my words poured out. Mary Ann pointed at the dead body of Mr. Williams, saying, "Do you know the significance behind this man? He's related to the founder of the WCO. They were pretty vague about why you needed to save him, right? What did they tell you was the reasoning behind saving Mr. Williams?" I froze, thinking back to what they said. Dave told me that it was to make America more prosperous—honestly, that was kind of vague. Maybe I should listen to Mary Anne. "Okay, so what's your point?" I said, lifting my gun to point it at her again. "We have much intel and secret access to all of their databases, which includes every mission completed, in progress, and in the planning. All of them, Elijah, ALL of them, according to our analyses, in some way benefit the WCO, giving them more and more power. The United States would likely still exist if it wasn't for time travel and the faction that now dominates most of the mainland of North America. Elijah, they're dangerous. Please, I beg you to stop helping them achieve world dominance. Join us. Come with me. I can take you to New Boston, and we can take down the WCO together and restore the free world." So many thoughts were racing through my head. I didn't know whether to trust Mary Anne, who I had strong feelings for and who seemed passionate about what she believes in, or the WCO, who provided me a source of housing and income. Rob and Susan were everything to me, too. I couldn't just leave them. Was she right? Was the WCO really a dangerous faction in disguise? My gun was still pointed at her head, and I was trembling. "Please," she said as a tear rolled down her face. Right then and there, I made the decision which my gut told me was right. I dropped my gun, got down on my knees, and buried my face in my hands. Mary Anne did not hesitate to run over to me and embrace me. "You made the right choice," she said with a weak smile. I looked up at her with twinkling eyes, and my heart fluttered as it had before when we were at the pond together. Mary Anne grabbed my hand and assisted me to a standing position. "Okay, we need to get out of here. Our mission here is done," she said. She pulled out a small spherical device with one red button on it. "I'm gonna need you to put one hand on this and one on me. We're going back to New Boston," Mary Anne said. Adrenaline started rushing through me. I had no idea what was going to be on the other side. I was about to explore uncharted regions of a life I never expected to have, but I was about to do it with Mary Anne, and that was all that mattered to me. "Are you ready?" she said as she looked at me directly. "We're in this together, always." As I looked directly into her beautiful blue eyes, I said, "Yes, I'm in. Together always."