“Mmm-hmm…very convincing,” Tina laughed. “Are you actually going to write anything or you just here for the ride?”

“Of course, I will write…among other things,” Alice winked and climbed on the back seat of Tina’s car.

“What is she talking about?” Bette whispered, glancing at their friend who was already busy checking the bag with the snacks and drinks.

“I think she’s still obsessed with this government investigation,” Tina replied with calm, though inside she was somewhat unsettled about the whole thing.

Bette didn’t say anything but she detected some uneasiness in Tina’s voice. She caressed the blonde’s cheek and smiled, “Ready to go?”

“We need to work out a new strategy,” Alice said as a matter of fact, when they were finally on the way to the Porter’s mansion.

“Al, I think our new strategy should be to stay away and let them investigate. There’s nothing out there that would lead them to any discovery,” Tina replied, concentrating on a road.

“Tina, we have to do something. What if they stay there long enough to find out about professor Kroll’s research? They can learn about oaks, portal, flashes, midnight and ultimately about the time travel. Do you see the pattern? Bette could be in peril. If anyone finds out that Bette and I went through the time portal, I could be in trouble…we all gonna be in trouble.”

“Alice, what do you suggest?” Bette asked nervously. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“We can send them on a scavenger hunt…on the wild goose chase,” seeing confusion on Bette’s face, Alice explained, “We can give them wrong leads and clues to follow.”

Tina looked at her sternly and Alice repeated stubbornly, “We have to do something.”

“Why do we have to do anything? The government agents will search, they find nothing and they leave…end of story,” Tina said, feeling anxious and edgy.

“Tina, you forgot about the mad scientist.”

“Maybe it’s better this way. They will think that whatever the witness saw was a part of the professor’s experiments.”

“What if they talk to him and learn about his research and he’ll put two and two together…remember, he wasn’t in the Orange County on July 19. He was in Portland, dealing with the crisis in his lab. Whatever the witness saw in July, it was me…jumping through the time portal. I can’t let anyone find out about this.”

“What are you planning to do, Alice?”

“Look at the situation this way. A witness saw something suspicious. He called local cops, they came and found nothing…the case was closed. The guy insisted, ‘No, I saw it, I wasn’t drunk, something was out there’. The local cops called the FBI…”

“Alice, it all sounds so x-filish to me…you don’t know that this is how it happened…”

“Tina, I know I’m making it up as I go but hear me out, please. It could happen this way you know.”

“Okay,” Tina sighed. “What happened next?”

“Okay, the FBI comes, finds nothing…the case closed again. Our witness is more persistent as ever, ‘I saw something, I saw sparks and flashes. What if it’s something to do with bombs?’ The FBI calls the ATF and this is where we come in. I can spread rumors that it was some local kids making pipe bombs,” Alice thought for a moment and said excitedly, “I can even plant some ‘hard evidence’ to misdirect them and nobody will think of searching the location or asking questions about Kroll’s experiment…and we’ll be home free.”

“Alice, this is very risky…”

“Risky-frisky, who cares…I can’t let them discover about the time portal and about Bette. They’ll take her away and do some weird experiments on her. It’s the government we’re talking about. Remember the X-files?”

“Alice, you watch too much TV. Even if they find out about the time portal, how can they prove that you used it or better yet, that you traveled into the 19^th century and then came back and brought Bette with you?”

“Tina, don’t underestimate the power of the government. They are everywhere…trust no one.”

TBC…