Goon - 6. Chapter 6

“What do you think you are doing?” Each word was enunciated by the tall, lean figure seated behind the desk. Micah stood at attention, mostly because it was the safest position for him. He was also glad he’d worn one of the nicer pairs of slacks and an actual button-down shirt today because Senator William Howard was not a very happy man at the moment.

“Sir?” Micah asked, absolutely unsure of what the man was talking about.

“I believe I made myself clear when we talked over Easter about what I expected from you.” Senator Howard said with a sharp look. He’d gotten his dark blond hair cut recently, and the suit he was wearing was slightly rumpled from a long day followed by a plane flight and long car ride. When he’d arrived at home he’d hugged his wife, both of his sons and then summoned Micah directly to his office.

“Yes sir.” Micah said without a nod or any other physical move. He was standing stock still and wouldn’t move until this ‘conversation’ was completed.

“How does your apparent change in relationship with my son impact what we discussed?” William Howard asked as if the answer was a foregone conclusion.

“You wished me to continue doing my best to make sure that Corey’s amorous activities were not the source of further blackmail attempts, sir.” Micah said, using the cadence of a soldier reporting to his superior. The Senator had served six years in the Army after his time at Huntsville, and was still an officer in the state’s National Guard. Hearing Micah speak like a soldier put them both on much more comfortable ground.

“How does your becoming physically involved with him accomplish that mission, Jericho?” Senator Howard asked.

“Sir, I finally figured out that part of the problem is that he has been physically and emotionally attracted to me since we first met.” Micah answered. “If he is romantically attached to me, he will not be sleeping around.”

“If he has it in him to stay faithful to one person.” Senator Howard groused. “Sometimes I wonder if either of my sons is capable of that.”

“It’s harder for him to cheat on me at a school full of gossips, sir.” Micah said. “If he cheats, I’ll hear about it within a week, and he knows that.”

“Do you plan on keeping him monogamous all through your remaining years at Huntsville?” Corey’s father asked. “That’s a long time for kids your age.”

“Did you cheat on your wife, sir, or break up with her after you met?” Micah dared to ask and the glare he got in return was not at all friendly.

“ Jericho, since when did you learn to ask questions like that?” The man asked him harshly.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think things through since we talked last, sir.” Micah said as he resisted the urge to look anywhere but at the spot right above the man’s head. He could see the man’s reactions out of his peripheral vision, and that was enough.

“I will have to remember to not give you time to think.” Senator Howard said with a sigh as he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands in a steeple while his elbows rested on the chair’s arms. “My wife was attending a finishing school in South Carolina while I finished my time at Huntsville. We met during vacation and only interacted by correspondence. When we chose our colleges, we decided to attend one together.”

“So you did cheat on her.” Micah said, and instantly regretted it.

“I don’t care if you were thirty, I’ll not stand for a question like that, young man.” Senator Howard’s voice grew louder and he leaned forward on his desk with a very angry expression. “We are discussing my son and you, not my past history.”

“My apologies, sir.” Micah said in a steady voice, glad he was at attention so his legs shaking would be less obvious.

“I was thinking of the scared, uncertain child I met last time and found him to be totally incapable of handling a relationship with a Howard.” Senator Howard stated. “If my wife has not told you already, Howard men are difficult to handle, and we have nasty tempers. You will need as firm a hand with Corey as my wife handles me with, and learn how to handle it when you are physically separated. If we have any luck, your relationship might survive through Huntsville and into college, but we will see. Then there is the matter of your grades.”

“My grades?” Micah asked.

“Yes, they are not good enough to get into Stanford, where Corey will be attending his undergraduate education.” The Senator stated and he smiled slightly at the look of surprise on Micah’s face. “What, you thought I didn’t know?”

“Sir?” Micah asked in confusion.

“Now, tell me how I would know that my son is going to choose Stanford University.” Senator Howard said and Micah swayed a little. “Grab yourself a chair while you’re at it. There’s no need to stand there at attention like you were just a goon. You’ve had quite an interesting experience and you might become family.”

“You know.” Micah said in a breathy voice. “They’re real.”

“What are real?” It was the Senator’s turn to look a little confused.

“The memories.” Micah said.

“Yes, of course they are real.” The man said. “Doctor Zebel said the transmission came through on the computer just fine, but mentioned something about interference from you. I had quite specific information for myself in the transmission and my biggest mistake was underestimating you. The transmission included a video recording of the last ten minutes of the experiment and its success.”

“The two scientists that he killed…” Micah said in a slightly lost voice, taking a step backwards and to the right so he could practically collapse in the chair that was there. Fortunately he hadn’t misremembered its position and was able to relax into it.

“I doubt I would have sanctioned such an action.” Senator Howard said with a frown and a shake of his head. “Regardless, I was not the man who would have made the decisions on that. That man is gone, Doctor Trasker I mean, or at least the version of him that you knew. He is, of course, quite alive and well in the here and now.”

“He’s a murderer.” Micah said flatly.

“No, he’s a potential murderer.” William Howard corrected him and Micah frowned at the distinction.

“I don’t understand.” He admitted.

“Has Doctor Trasker, in this year, 2011 committed murder to your knowledge?” Senator Howard asked patiently.

“No, sir, he has not.” Micah had to answer honestly. “Still, we know he’s going to commit murder in a few years.”

“We will have to make sure you are there to stop him this time.” The man smiled at Micah as his frown deepened. “Regardless, he has not yet committed those murders and we do not arrest American citizens based solely on the potential of their committing murder. At this point in time, Doctor Trasker has not even met the scientists that were killed in the past. No, what is really interesting is that you are here with memories of the next five years. The device was meant to send transmissions back in time, and Dr. Zebel received the transmission as was obviously intended.”

“But… how did you know I have these memories?” Micah asked. “If the device was supposed to send information back, how did it send me?”

“It didn’t send you.” Howard corrected him. “It sent your spirit, or your memories, or something we really don’t know yet back to your body of 2011. We weren’t even sure until you told the boys verifiable details from your ‘dreams’ of the future. Billy talked to me about them the other day, and I’ve had both Doctor Trasker and Doctor Zebell working out a theory on how this was possible.”

“Doctor Trasker.” That name stuck out in Micah’s mind.

“Yes, Doctor Trasker.” Senator Howard confirmed in a stern voice. “I am not going to have any problems from you on that matter, am I?”

“Sir?” Micah asked.

“If you are in the same room as Doctor Trasker, will you start trouble?” The Senator asked. “I don’t have much information, yet, on what you were like in this other future, but the transmission that was sent back included a few references to you. Most of it was just a bare-bones biography of key people. You were identified as a loyal security person, and a friend of my son’s. Either you were never in a relationship with him or that relationship had long since ended.”

“It was only five years in the future, sir.” Micah said defensively, now letting himself meet the man’s eyes. They were a surprising hazel color. He’d never noticed that before. Billy had gotten his father’s eyes the way Corey had his mother’s.

“So you were never in a relationship with my son?” The man pushed.

“No, sir, I was not.” Micah admitted, resisting the urge to sink into the chair. “We were friends, best friends, but not lovers.”

“Then why are you with him now?” Senator Howard asked. “Think about it from my perspective. You may be in the body of a fifteen year old, but you have the mind of an older man, a legal adult. What are you doing with my son?”

“It’s not like that, sir.” Micah said with a frown. “It’s… he was going to marry this… total flaming queen. I couldn’t stand the guy, but he was the guy that Corey said ‘filled the hole’ and he wasn’t talking physical. I knew what he was talking about.”

“What was he talking about?” This time William Howard spoke far more gently than he had been for a while and Micah lowered his head in shame. When he spoke, his voice shook a little.

“He was talking about the hole I left when I rejected him.” Micah’s voice was barely above a whisper and he could not look the man in the eyes. “There was a night; it was the night before graduation review at Huntsville. During school, I’d occasionally let him have some kind of sex with me. It was always one-sided, him coming on to me, and I let him think I was straight. That night, he pleaded with me to not join the Army, to go with him to Stanford and to be his boyfriend, but I refused.”

“You are saying my son begged you to love him and you obviously had feelings for him and are not really heterosexual.” Now there was a terrible sound to the man’s voice and Micah felt another wave of shame crash over him.

“Yes sir, I did.” Micah admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

“What was that?” The man asked in a tone that said he’d heard, but wanted Micah to repeat it, to say it louder.

“I said that I did do that, sir.” Micah said in a louder, even if shakier voice. His eyes were moist, but he refused to admit he was on the verge of crying. “We didn’t talk for a while after that, but when we did, when you started your run for President and worried about his past coming out, he told me it was like I’d taken his heart and ripped a hole out of it. My letting him have sex with me gave him hope I’d crack, that I’d be with him in the end and when I flat refused, it ripped a hole in him. Perry Treat filled that hole.”

“Perry Treat?” He asked in a voice filled with disbelief.

“Yes, and they were going to get married.” Micah said with a sigh. “I thought for all your acceptance of him, you’d never let him live openly with another man, but you never held him back or made him keep it a secret. The only thing you kept secret was how much he slept around.”

“Being gay and being promiscuous are two totally different things.” Senator Howard said with a note of derision in his voice. “Surely you understood that?”

“Only once it was too late.” Micah admitted sadly. “When I heard it announced they were getting married, I knew it could have been me, but then Afghanistan happened.”

“Explain.” The order came like a whip crack, and Micah spent at least twenty minutes explaining that whole mess. When his voice cracked the Senator got up and went to his side bar, pouring a whiskey. To Micah’s surprise, he poured a second and handed it to him. “If I have done the math correctly, you would have been just barely old enough to drink.”

“Yes, sir, by a few months, sir.” Micah said.

“So I had you assigned a position in these laboratories but did not tell you the nature of the experiments or what I wished?” He asked Micah when Micah had finished his story.

“That is correct, sir.” Micah answered, taking a sip of the whiskey. It helped his nerves a little, and the smell alone was enough to make his head spin.

“Now why wouldn’t I tell you if you should have been helping Doctor Trasker?” William Howard asked aloud.

“Sir, you would have told me.” Micah said confidently. “I don’t know why you didn’t tell me, but I do know I had your trust.”

“Yes, that word was connected to you in the file I sent myself.” He said with a frown, taking a sip of his drink. “Doctor Zebel will be coming here this weekend to examine you. I want you to cooperate with him in any way that does not cause you harm.”

“Yes, sir.” Micah said without hesitation. It felt good to be given orders.

“I fear there is no undoing your having told my sons, but they will have to learn to keep their own secrets from now on.” Howard said firmly. “You will not share any more of your knowledge. As I have been told, the future you know will no longer happen the way you remember.”

“I figured that part out when Corey and I started…” Micah blushed and lost his train of thought as he remembered that night and there was a smile on his face.

“Well, my fears that you are just using my son appear to be unfounded.” There was relief in the man’s voice. “You do care for him, I presume?”

“Yes sir, I do.” Micah said. “He’s not quite the way I remembered, but he’s the same Corey.”

“Future events will begin to diverge from what you knew before.” The Senator said as he leaned back in his chair. “I will share the files with you that I received, or what I believe to be the relevant sections. Once you have read them, I expect a full report on how your memories correspond with them. You’re too young to set on Dr. Trasker as a minder, but I have someone else to do that.”

“Sir?” Micah asked.

“None of your concern, son.” The man said with another sip of his drink. Micah remembered the glass in his hand and wet his lips before taking another small sip. He didn’t want to get drunk off of this one little glass, but knowing his body, he would. “I want you to concentrate on remembering what you can and giving it to me as a report along with any differences between your memories and the files I give you. You can use the laptop I will provide you and I expect you to keep that laptop on you at all times in the future.”

“Yes, sir.” Micah said. Again, orders were so much easier to deal with.

“The files I received covered many important bits of information, but they are just words on the page.” Senator Howard said after a long moment of silence while they both took sips of their drinks. Micah was feeling a little light headed, and much more relaxed. “That is all they were, just words on the page. Reading about something and having lived through those events are totally different things. It’s just like people who lived through 9/11 and those who didn’t. Do you remember that event?”

“Not really, sir.” Micah answered. “I was a little kid at the time. Mostly I remember the anniversaries and how sad my parents were. I guess Dad knew someone who died there that day.”

“I’ve found that people with no direct memory of the event don’t see it quite the same way as everyone else.” The Senator said. “That is my concern with this whole sending messages back through time. It’s like receiving a message in a bottle, washed up on shore.”

“Yes sir, I can see that.” Micah said as something the Senator said tickled his memory. He couldn’t quite put it together yet, so he set it aside to think upon it later, when he had the time to just think.

“I haven’t informed anyone beyond those that already know about this.” Senator Howard said as he shook his glass just enough to roll the remnants of the amber liquid around the bottom. “Trasker Labs is still a private venture although it looks like they received government funding at some point or another.”

“It was in 2014.” Micah answered. He knew that from the briefing he’d gotten. “Trasker ran out of funds for his project and was able to get funding from the Defense Department. It remained a civilian project funded through the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.”

“Hrmph, DIA and CIA funding something together?” Senator Howard groused. “Now that is something a little odd. Why did the file require my password?”

“I don’t know sir.” Micah answered with a frown. “I never knew what the project was about. All I knew was it was a good job on an island in the Caribbean that kept me away from having to watch Corey’s romance and would give me an excuse to miss his wedding.”

“I might have just sent you there to have someone I trusted on hand if needed, and to do precisely what you just said.” Senator Howard said with a little laugh.

“It’s what I asked for, sir.” Micah said with a slight shrug. “You told me to ask for what I wanted, and I told you ‘something that keeps me away from Corey’. I think you understood what was going on at the time.”

“Most likely, if you and my son were as close as you have said.” Corey’s father said in a much different tone than the one he had been using. This tone Micah wasn’t as comfortable dealing with as the order-giving tone. “I’ll do my best to keep you from becoming a lab rat, Micah.”

“Thank you, sir.” Micah said gratefully. He’d do whatever he was ordered to, after all this was the man who had held his personal loyalty as well as his professional loyalty for a long time, and had never done him wrong. It was like working for one of those men in all the stories of the old days, where people you worked for were as loyal to their employees as the employees were loyal to them.

“What do you think is important that I should know about my family’s future?” Mr. Howard asked and Micah sighed before sinking lower in his seat. “That sort of reaction doesn’t bode well. Does one of us die from something like cancer?”

“Billy, in a car wreck just after his graduation from law school.” Micah said with a frown, downing the rest of his drink in a gulp. He almost coughed at the way it burned down, but he resisted that urge. Mr. Howard looked at him with a frown before getting out of his seat. He took Micah’s glass and refilled it along with his own, handing it back to Micah before sitting in the chair next to Micah.

“Give me the details.” He ordered in a low tone as he took a rather large amount of his drink in one gulp. Micah took a rather large drink from his glass before spilling everything out in a rush of words. He left nothing out, not even about what he’d learned today regarding Billy’s sexuality, or the least significant of his wild thoughts on what might have happened.

“So you see, sir, I don’t really know everything that happened, but there’s what I do know about it.” Micah said as he finished talking. His head was definitely light now from the alcohol.

“I wonder why the files didn’t contain this information.” Mr. Howard said as he stood up, sipping on his drink again and looking down at Micah, whose face caved in at the thought that the man might not believe him. “Oh, don’t worry Micah Jericho, of the people involved in this, I trust you the most. Until they came to my office with a computer needing my password to open the files, I had never heard of Trasker or Zebel.”

“I never met a Dr. Zebel, sir.” Micah said with a frown. It certainly was not the name of anyone associated with the laboratory.

“Well you will soon enough.” Mr. Howard said gently. “I’m not going to tell you what to say to my sons, either of them, but I hope you will be as judicious with your information as possible.”

“I… I wasn’t sure what to say about the accident.” Micah admitted. “If I’d known you already knew and I wouldn’t have to prove it to you, I’d have told you sooner.”

“That was the catch, wasn’t it?” He said with a gentle smile. “Billy was the one who told me, mostly because he was worried for Corey’s safety. You have to admit you are a pretty big boy and can cause a lot of damage to Corey if you’re not careful.”

“In more ways than one.” Micah agreed, being careful to set the glass down on a side table and not have it fall to the floor.

“I will talk to you tomorrow, before Dr. Zebel arrives.” The man said, giving Micah a familiar nod of dismissal. Micah stood, nodded at the man instead of saluting and made his way out of the den.

It was kind of interesting walking up the stairs with what amounted to a very good buzz going. He’d not been big on getting drunk, ever, earning a reputation as a bit of a prude, but he wasn’t about to have refused the offer of a drink from Mr. Howard. The offer was one about respect for Micah from the man, and refusing might have been insulting. As it was, he did his best to not stumble, but he nearly fell backwards when he found Corey waiting for him with a worried look.

“Billy told me as soon as you went in there about what he did.” Corey said in a rushed whisper. “I’m sorry if Dad went demented on your ass for it. I’ll tell him it was a joke on Billy if you want.”

“No need.” Micah said with a smile, managed to squeeze Corey’s shoulder without being too obvious.

“You’re drunk!” Corey said in shock. “Dad gave you something to drink?”

“Whiskey, two glasses.” Micah said with a sigh, letting some of his weight transfer to Corey who wrapped his arms around Micah’s waist. Corey was slightly taller than him, not shorter, even if he was a lot slimmer in build. Why did everyone always assume Corey was weak just because he didn’t have the same broad build as Micah?

“Why would he…” Corey started to wonder aloud as they walked towards Micah’s room. He stopped, forcing Micah to stop as well. “It’s all true, isn’t it?”

“And then some.” Micah said sourly, regretting the whiskey. It left a sour feeling in his stomach.

“Holy shit – this is cool.” Corey said as they started walking again. Micah wanted to be nearer the bathroom in case his body rejected the alcohol. “I can’t wait to shove this back in Billy’s face.”

“He doesn’t really need to know, does he?” Micah asked, proud the words barely slurred at all. The whiskey was hitting him harder now and he was surprised it was only two drinks having this much effect.

“No, of course he doesn’t.” Corey said after a moment. They reached the bedroom and he began to help Micah get to the bed. It felt good for Micah to let Corey take care of him, getting his shoes off, followed by his shorts. He didn’t even complain when Corey ran a hand over the front of his underwear. It felt good.

“That feels good.” Micah said aloud as he laid back on the bed. Corey laughed that funny, light laugh of his and rubbed harder.

“What did he say about us?” Corey asked.

“I think he always did like me better than that fucking queen you were going to marry.” Micah said and then frowned as Corey’s hand disappeared.

“The what I was going to what?” Corey’s voice held a very dangerous tone and Micah lifted his head to look at a very angry boyfriend. “What the hell is this about?”

“You were going to marry that Perry Treat fucker.” Micah said with a sigh, letting his head fall back onto the pillow. When he felt Corey’s weight shift the bed and then fall on his lap he opened his eyes and looked up to see an angry Corey glaring down at him.

“You were about to let me marry some other guy?” Corey growled angrily and Micah frowned.

“It’ll never happen now.” Micah responded, using his hands to massage Corey’s thighs that were now over his. Corey’s weight on his crotch was getting him hard despite the alcohol and he was imagining their clothes off…

“Why did it even happen in the first place?” Corey demanded. “How the hell did I even give this guy two seconds of my damn time when you were around?”

“I wasn’t around?” Micah frowned. “I ran away to the Army when you told me you wanted me to marry you. Okay, I was stupid thinking your father would never let me marry you. Having me be your friend and your protector was one thing, but having me be your husband was a line I thought he’d never let me cross.”

“That’s fucking stupid.” Corey growled. “I fucking slept around to get you jealous. I thought it worked.”

“I was always jealous, but I never let it show.” Micah growled, rubbing those thighs even harder. “The last year you’d even arrange it so I had to watch you fuck those guys and then you demanded I marry you instead of going in the Army and so I ran away. Then I get word you’ve got this boyfriend and you get engaged to him.”

“How long was the engagement?” Corey asked, his butt grinding into Micah’s hard on, eliciting a groan of pleasure. His hands went from massaging to holding Corey down while his hips pushed up for the friction. Corey’s hands landed on his chest, pushing his shirt up so his fingers could begin to rub Micah’s large nipples. That got another groan.

“Do you really want to talk about this now?” Micah groaned.

“Yes.” Corey hissed. “We need to get this out of the way, Micah Jericho Howard.”

“Hey, I haven’t married you yet.” Micah growled. “We’re way too fucking young.”

“I decided I was going to marry you within a month of you being my roommate.” Corey growled, slapping Micah on the chest. “Now tell me what the fuck made me change my mind. How long was I engaged with this fucking Perry Treat?”

“Over a year.” Micah said with groan as he pushed harder into Corey. He wanted to rip off Corey’s clothes and his own underwear, but he wasn’t about to make this their first time for full anal.

“Good, that’s what I was doing.” Corey said with a groan as his body descended until his lips closed over Micah’s.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Micah asked as the kiss broke. He didn’t feel like an adult at that moment, but younger, less experienced and a hell of a lot hornier than he ever remembered being before.

“It means I was trying to make you jealous enough to show up at my damn wedding and tear me from this Treat fucker’s arms while declaring your undying love for me.” Corey said in a rush and Micah laughed.

“Fuck I’m stupid.” Micah said.

“No, you just needed time to figure it out.” Corey said. “Looks like it worked too.”

“Yeah, it did, in a way.” Micah agreed, his voice going soft and hoarse.

“You owe me, you know.” Corey said with a glint in his eye.

“Oh?” Micah asked as Corey began to unbutton his pants. The sight of that long dick poking towards his face as Corey scooted closer drove all other thoughts from his head and he opened his mouth eagerly, hungry for the taste of Corey.