Break Me One More Time [McLennon]

in which paul reunites with some friends

"And what happens if you lose today?" Ringo said. "They let me go home? They already tried to kill me, Paul. That was before I knew what was going on."

Paul frowned and thought about how President Wilson told him, eighteen years ago, that if Paul couldn't save John then he, George, and Ringo were all going in the White Room. Ringo wasn't safe, and he never was. "You're right," Paul sighed.

"He is?" John said.

"He is," Paul said. "Hell, you've all got the right to be here if you really want to fight. Once you know about all of this, you're in it. You're a part of it. So of course, you've got a right to be here to fight for your own life."

Freddie grinned. "Then let's fight for our lives," he said. "What's the plan?"

Paul laughed. "You adjust quickly, huh? Okay, I'm thinking we find some of our people. People we know for certain we can trust. Tessa and Steph, George and Yoko, Darren, maybe Marbella. We need to get back on track, figure out where we're needed."

"Right," Freddie said. "But what's the plan? How're we going to find them?"

"That... I do not know," Paul said.

"Can you track one of them with the weird phone?" John said.

"Weird phone?" Deaky said.

"We have two iPhones," Paul said.

"Whoa," Roger said. "It's been a second since I thought about one of those."

"What are they?" Brian said. "Did you call it an iPhone?"

"Phone from the future," Paul said, and Ringo, Freddie, and Brian all frowned at him. "Don't worry about it right now. And you know what, John, I just might be able to. That phone belongs to the Unknowables and I was able to track..." Paul trailed off. "Well, I think I'll be able to track Darren or Marbella with it." He pulled it out and looked. "Yes, we can find —"

Just then, the battery on the phone ran out and it died.

"Well, there goes that plan," Paul sighed.

"Well, not necessarily," John said.

"Hm?" Paul looked at him.

"I, uh...." John dug his hand into his pocket. "I have Barney's phone. I thought that it might come in handy."

Paul sighed, and then nodded slowly. He did his best not to cry as he took it from John. "You were right. Good thinking. Give it here, then. I'll see if I can find out where anyone on our side is." They all ducked into the nearest empty room that they could find and Paul fiddled with the phone for a while. It was more advanced than what he had been accustomed to in 2015 (and it's not as if he had been exactly been tech-savvy in 2015), so it took some time.

Roger and Deaky kept a lookout.

"Got it," Paul hissed. "Here it is."

John leaned over his shoulder.

"There are no names, just serial numbers."

"So we won't know who we're going after."

"But we'll know they're on our side."

"Well, that is something."

"Who's closest then?" Ringo asked.

"I don't know who, I just said -"

"Right, right. I meant where. Where's the closest one?"

"Um..." Paul looked back at the screen, "A couple of floors down."