“I think I’ll go call the police.” I said, turning toward the house. I was about to start moving when two figures materialized and aimed some sort of weapons at Tricia and Noah.

“Freeze Adam!” One called. “Or they’ll go, one by one.” I dived at them and tackled them. Noah dived too. We were having a jolly good fight when a weapon went off. I looked to see where it had hit. I looked down and the person I had been fighting disappeared. I felt a warm tingling feeling in my right calf. Looking down, I found I had been hit. Easing myself over, I propped myself up against a tree.

“You know, Noah. I could be wrong, but I think I’ve been shot.”

“I don’t know, let me see.” He came over and looked at my leg. “Yes old boy, you’ve been shot. Tricia, go call the ambulance.” He shouted at Tricia who immediately obeyed. While she was in there, two more figures appeared.

“Hey Noah, looks like they came back for more!”

“Oh no!” He cried. Turning around, he got in a position to defend me.

“We want Adam Schofield.”

“Oh no you don’t, you’ll have to get through me first!”

“You don’t understand. We are the good guys. My name is Andrew Miller, Crack-shot Lawyer from the year 2060, and this is my investigator, Ryan Chapman. We’re here to catch the infamous team of criminals who call themselves the Dastardly Duo.” (Sounds like a bad Batman spin-off!) Andrew said.

“Yes, the Double D committed several felonies, including stealing the first Space Quest game ever made. In 2025 they were sentenced to life imprisonment.” Ryan said.

“Your last act as detective was to put them behind bars. In 2060 they escaped and stole a time machine control device from a nearby lab.” Andrew said.

“They came back here for the Da Vinci Palette, and to kill you before you could stop their scheme in the future. In order to do this, they enlisted the help of Matt and Noelle, by controlling their minds.” Ryan added.

“So you see, Matt and Noelle delivered the Palette to the Double D and that is why you could not find it. I was on their trail and ready to take the Palette when I heard them discussing their scam here. So I came.”`

“We need your help to find the Palette in the future!” Ryan said.

“But how can I be of any help, what with this leg and all.” I asked.

“Come with us.” He said, standing me up. He put a belt around me.

“What about Tricia and I?” Noah asked.

“To you, it will appear as if we had never gone. So until a few minutes from now!” Andrew said, pushing a button marked recall on his watch. The scenery around me faded and I saw the complete visible color spectrum. It felt as if I was moving at a greatly accelerated rate. We seemed to slow down and the scenery faded into a future scene. I saw many technicians in this dark room. They were all wearing clothes that had the same design, but with different colors. All had goggles or something on.