“No!” Kevin shouted at the revelation that Howie gave, Brian was receiving extra funds. “There is no way he is one of them.” Kevin moved towards Howie in a threatening manner. Howie held up his hands and backed away. It looked like he wanted to say something more but Kevin punching the air in front of him kept him from speaking.

Julie moved closer to him and wrapped her laid her hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him down. “Think about how many times you’ve covered for him to see family in the last year.” Julie pointed out. She hated to think of Brian as being one in on this but it did make sense. He was stuck doing something he didn’t care for, and he was away from his family. He was the only volunteer that Julie could think of that had a family and was still in the project.

“I can’t accept it,” Kevin said sitting down and hanging his head.

“Guys,” Howie spoke. “You have it wrong.”

“What?” Julie asked as Kevin looked back at the other man in the room.

“Brian is not guilty of changing history. I pointed it out so that we could discount it from the investigation.” Howie added.

“What do you mean? You showed he was getting extra money.” Julie asked looking at the sheet again. Maybe she had the wrong line?

“He is getting extra money.” Howie admitted and held his hands up in front of himself adding quickly. “But his position earns him that money.”

Julie looked at Howie confused and Kevin must have been giving the same look because Howie delved into an explanation. “The Librarian position has always earned extra income because of the nature of their job.”

“Because they are away from home?” Julie nodded as she asked. It made sense, they had to live in a time apart so they got paid more.

Howie looked at Kevin and continued hesitantly. “The Librarian gets paid extra due to the extra coding that goes into their DNA in order for them to perform their duties.”

“Extra coding equals more money? Wouldn’t everyone be fighting for a chance at that position?” Julie wondered.

Howie hesitated again glancing at the both of them before continuing. “For one, only a few are able to accept the coding as The Librarian and the link that connects them to The Library gives them some health issues.” Howie’s eyes got wide as if something just hit him. He turned to some shelves lined with several books and pulled one off beginning to thumb through them.

“And you let him do this?” Kevin’s voice rang out in the now quiet lab startling both Howie and Julie. “What about his family Howie?”

“It was not my decision to make. When it was discovered he helped Nick, Charles and Jessica decided it would be best to send Brian back to keep an eye on Charles, to ensure the project got started.” Howie turned from the book, his eyes falling briefly on Julie before settling on Kevin. “Brian asked if he could be tested to see if he’d be a match to become The Librarian. He decided, on his own,” Howie emphasized, “that if he could not be here for his family because of his past actions he would take on the position of The Librarian to help him while he was banished to twenty-twelve.”

“Nick is gone,” Julie spoke glancing at Kevin briefly. “Why doesn’t he come home?”

Howie shrugged at Julie’s question. “He felt that with Steph still a viable threat he would continue to watch over Charles until we could bring her in. We weren’t sure what Steph would try to do so we agreed.”

Kevin shook his head in disbelief. “And he’s been guilting me into watching Charles while he visits his family, the little…” Kevin dropped the sentence, he looked much more calm then he did before. “I still can’t believe he decided to do something that could give him health issues though.”

“Charles has it stabilized. Brian hasn’t been showing any ill effects yet.” Howie spoke up returning to his book. “Someone had to watch Charles though so he could spend time with his child and wife though.” Howie added with his back turned to the couple.

Julie stood between Kevin’s legs as he continued to sit. “Well, that means we can cross off two of the accounts.” Julie sighed. “Three left to figure out.”

“Howie, do you have an idea of who the other accounts are?” Kevin asked his friend.

Howie shook his head but did not turn to look around. He was engrossed in what he was reading. “I only know Brian’s account because I’m the one that set it up so that the funds filter from his account to an account his wife can access.”

“Better than not knowing anything.” Julie piped up.

Placing a marker on his spot in the book, Howie turned back 0around. “Why are you looking into this? How did you come by this information?”

Kevin started to speak up but Julie looked at him sternly and he closed his mouth. “Can’t say,” he mumbled and looked down, away from Howie’s gaze.

“I might be able to help you more if I knew where this information was coming from.” Howie admitted.

Julie hesitated but eventually gave in. “Go ahead and tell him.” She ran her hand over Kevin’s head and moved out of the way so the men could see each other without her as a barrier.

“Julie got the information from Nick.” Kevin admitted.

Upon hearing this information, Howie’s eyes fell on Julie. “From Nick? And you believe him?” He asked in a confused tone. “He tried to kill you.”

“I know,” she sighed out in exasperation. “But I don’t have much choice in the matter. We are linked.”

Howie nodded as if he already knew this fact. “I just discovered that your virus was a crude form of the link that connects The Library and The Librarian, I was going to do further tests. It has never been used to link two people together to jump though.” Howie spoke calmly now, almost as if he forgot the fact that Nick was still alive. “So when you jump, does he jump?” Howie asked.

Julie shrugged in response. “I haven’t tried that. When he jumps I go with him.”

Howie nodded, “Then it likely will not work the other way.”

“Look, Nick got Steph to inject me so that he could use me so he could jump. Somehow he visited a time in the future that cured him of the defective gene that allowed him to jump in the first place. Using this he got me away from the Project and told me what he had found out from someone on the inside, a spy. That someone inside was changing history for money. He told me that if I proved him wrong he would turn himself in. I am only looking into the possibility.” Julie added. The possibility was looking more and more likely the more she investigated but she didn’t want Howie to know for sure she believed Nick.

Howie nodded. “Right, and he expects you to help him because if he is right you get what? To die? The virus you have is very crude indeed since it is spreading. It is the earliest form of the link between The Library and The Librarian but the link between two people must be causing the rapid spread. How did he even get this technology, he was a genius at reading the coding but this…” Howie looked at Kevin then back at Julie.

“If I help him and prove him right, he will return, well, he has Charles.” Julie spat out the last words.

“He has Charles!” Howie shouted at her. The mere fact that Howie was shouting caused Julie to be alarmed, he never seemed to raise his voice. “You knew this and you kept it to yourself? We need to get him back, do you know where he is holding him?”

Julie shook her head. “I didn’t actually see him, but how else would he have all the information he had about what happened to him and then this,” She pointed to her whole body to indicate the virus that dwelled inside of her linking them together.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” Howie turned to look away from Julie and Kevin. “I need time to think about some things. Also, I need to do some research since I now have a starting point in what to research regarding Julie’s virus. I may not have Charles, but I do have his research.” Howie sat in front of the book and started to read and take notes, completely ignoring the two in the room, not even bothering to tell them good-bye.

Julie could feel Kevin’s hand in hers as he took hold of her hand and guided her out of the room. “What next?” he asked.

“Is there a way we can find out where a couple of volunteers are headed next?” Julie smirked up at Kevin.

“Yes, why?” Kevin asked.

“I want to know where Justin and Tessa are headed next.” She stated simply. She hated to imply her friend but with what she heard and with everyone seeming suspicious she had to check them out.

“This way,” Kevin pulled her along the corridor to the office that Kevin often went into for meetings with Charles and Howie, meetings she was not allowed to attend. He pushed the door open and flicked the light switch. Kevin dropped her hand and made his way over to a large stack of books and opened the first one. He ripped out the top page and quickly shut the light back off and just as quickly as they arrived, they were gone again.

“What is that room?” Julie asked.

“It’s where the assignments are given. If Jessica is sticking with the pre-assigned jumps this is where we should find them next. You want to follow them there and then see about getting information to follow them if they jump away?” Kevin asked.

Julie nodded. “I just want to find out what is going on and get Charles back so that he can fix me.” She admitted. “Right now I don’t care who is responsible I just want it over.” Julie did not smile as she spoke. She couldn’t believe Tessa would be involved in something like this, but she’d already accused Kevin and Howie and she wouldn’t think it of them either. Someone had to be responsible though and she was determined to find out who.