Chapter 7 - First Day

After graduation, I was partnered with Matthew, and we were sent on my first official assignment.

On my first day on the job, Matthew greeted me at the office with a smile and a handshake, "Welcome to the first day of your new job, Agent James Lawson."

I smiled and shook his hand, "Thank you, Agent Lam. So, what's our first assignment?"

"It's an easy one, we're going to be taking a detective back with us for a criminal investigation."

Matthew and I went to meet the detective in the reception area.

I held out my hand, "Good morning, I am Agent James Lawson. This is Agent Matthew Lam."

"Detective Miles Stephens," the detective introduced himself as he got up to shake my hand, then Matthew's. "Let me show you the time and place."

Detective Stephens took out his mobile phone, which looked like a regular smart phone from back in 2015 CE. Then, he pressed a few buttons on the screen, and his phone's screen popped out and expanded to the size of a tablet. He flicked through a few files on the screen, and the case file came up. He jumped to page twenty-two of the file and showed us a map. There was a mark on an alleyway just off of Jameson Avenue, and beside that mark was a note that said 'Tuesday, April 7th, 79 TTE - 12:34 AM'.

"Think you can get us there, but about ten minutes earlier?" Matthew asked me rhetorically, with a jesting smile on his face.

"You really want me to drive on our first assignment?" I asked.

"Of course, it's your first assignment, so you get to do the honours."

I nodded and flipped on the time travel device on my wrist.

I pressed my thumb against the thumb pad on the device. After the device had scanned my thumbprint and confirmed that my print matched the one on my TPA file, it asked me to enter my passcode, which I did. A safety precaution, of course, so that the device can't be used if stolen; and if the passcode was entered wrongly three times, the device would fry itself.

After the device had confirmed my identity, I punched in the time and the coordinates. The device whirred and opened a time portal in front of us.

The three of us walked through the portal, and we landed on April 7th at 12:24 AM. We quickly hid behind a parked car and observed the alleyway.

At around 12:28 AM, a young woman, probably in her early twenties, was drunkenly walking on Jameson Avenue. She was heading close to where the alleyway was.

Suddenly, a man wearing a dark leather jacket, black leather gloves, and a black mask ran up to behind the woman. He grabbed her from behind and pressed a knife against her face, "Now, be quiet and come with me."

The man dragged the woman into the alleyway. It was 12:29 AM.

I got up and took out my gun, but Matthew grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back into our hiding place. He looked at me, and, in a serious voice, he said, "Remember, we can't change the past."

I looked at Matthew's face. It was tired and sad, as if he had to sit through this many times.

I looked at Detective Stephens' pained face as he watched the alleyway; he gripped his phone tightly, begrudgingly having to record the events with the camera on his phone.

Finally, I looked at my gun. I wanted to stop this - we all did. But we couldn't. All that we could do, was listen to the muffled screams and wait and hope that we could catch the guy.

So we watched and listened. We watched and listened as the man violated the woman. And finally, at 12:34 AM, we watched as the man stabbed the woman in the chest.

We continued watching as the man walked out of the alleyway, and we watched as the man finally took off his mask for Detective Stephens' camera to capture.

At 12:44 AM, with nobody in sight, Agent Lam nodded at me. I nodded back and opened a time portal to take us back to our time.

We landed back in the reception area. Judy smiled and was about to get up to greet us, but she must have noticed our solemn expressions, because her smile faded and she sat back down. She gave us a nod and went back to work.

After quickly exchanging handshakes with Matthew and I, Detective Stephens headed off to arrest the criminal that we had just witnessed. Later that day, we received word that the perpetrator was now in police custody.