Then, just like that, they were staring at a brick wall, ten feet opposite, across a cobbled stone backstreet. The rolled-up tarpaulin with Forby’s corpse inside, that they’d placed just outside the entrance, was gone. Instead he was standing to one side of the entrance, talking in hushed tones with two other armed men. A spotlight flickered across the backstreet as overhead they heard the whup-whup-whup of a circling helicopter.
Cartwright’s jaw hung slack and open, his gun arm lowered down to his side. ‘This… is… incredible.’
‘Isn’t it?’ said Maddy.
Forby looked up from his conversation. ‘Whuh? Oh, sir?’ He looked perplexed, as did the other two men. ‘I uh… didn’t hear the door opening. You OK, sir?’
Cartwright’s face was still immobile, still frozen with incredulity.
‘Sir? Everything OK?’
He looked at his man. ‘Uh? Yes… yes, just fine.’ Alive once more. A faint smile of relief stretched across his thin lips. ‘Good to er… it’s good to see you again, Forby.’
Forby frowned and nodded. ‘Sir?’ Then he noticed Edward and Laura. ‘Who are these?’
Cartwright shook his head, gathering his confused wits. ‘I’ll… I’ll explain later.’ He turned to Maddy and the others. ‘Inside, you lot. Let’s close this door.’
Forby stepped forward but Cartwright waved him back. ‘You best stay outside for now, Forby, all right?’
He flicked his gun at Laura. ‘Close the shutter.’
She began to crank the handle, but Sal stepped in and pressed the green button. ‘It’s OK, we’ve got power now.’ The shutters clattered down as a small motor beside the door whined.
The old man took a moment to compose himself, to try to make sense of what he’d seen, and what he may yet see before the night was through. The shutters clattered down and the whining motor was silent.
‘All right,’ he said presently. ‘All right, so this means your friend and the cloned girl… they’ve been successful. They’ve killed those freaks in the past. So that means no reptile hominids.’ He nodded as he talked. ‘All right… I get that. I understand that.’
‘Cartwright,’ interrupted Maddy.
‘And… and Forby’s alive now, because… because…’ His eyes narrowed as he tried to make sense of things. ‘Because what happened… didn’t happen. No reptile monsters means he couldn’t have been attacked. But then that’s just crazy… that doesn’t make any… I mean
… I actually saw that thing rip his…’
He was rambling.
‘Cartwright,’ said Maddy again. ‘Listen to me, you need to hear something.’
‘… and he was dead.’ He turned to look at the floor. Halfway across, a pool of blood had congealed. Forby’s blood. ‘I mean… there! Look! It’s his blood! He was — ’
‘Cartwright!’
The old man’s confused eyes darted from the blood back to Maddy.
‘This new reality is still wrong,’ she said. ‘This reality with you and Forby and men outside and a helicopter buzzing overhead and your secret agency. It’s all wrong too. This is something else that should never have happened.’
‘What?’ His face creased with confusion.
‘Your life,’ said Sal. ‘Should be a very different one.’
‘In our timeline… in the correct timeline, you’ve lived a different life to this.’ Maddy tried appealing to him with a friendly smile. ‘Perhaps even a much better life… I dunno, with children, grandchildren?’
‘I’m not married!’ he snapped. ‘I don’t have children!’
‘But, see, that’s what I’m saying — ’
‘This agency is my wife! This secret! This secret! Time travel! It’s my secret. I know things that even our president doesn’t. I know time travel’s already happening! That’s what I’m married to! This… this knowledge! That’s my life!’ He raised his gun again and aimed at the frown between Maddy’s eyes. ‘And you’re not going to take that away! Do you hear? NO ONE IS GOING TO TAKE THAT FROM ME!’
CHAPTER 77
1941, Somervell County, Texas
Liam spotted them further up the river, two boys. One splashing around in the water, the other perched on a shelf of rock, sheltering from the scorching hot sun in a cool nook of shade.
Neither had seen him yet. His first instinct had been to call out to them, to find out what they’d been doing so far today… to ask them if they’d found anything interesting. But then if they hadn’t yet, his intrusion on their day might alter what they did; change the sequence of events for today, and they might not make their discovery.
So he decided to lie low and watch. He hunkered down in the shade of a yew tree and waited.
An hour passed, another, and another. The sun was well past midday, the shadows slowly shifting and lengthening. He checked his watch again. The countdown was telling him he had less than two hours to go. He was beginning to wonder whether he was watching the wrong two boys, and perhaps another several hundred yards up the river two different lads were right now cooing and marvelling over some incredible fossil writing they’d just discovered. Then the boy on the rock ledge called out something.
‘Saul!’
‘What?’
He couldn’t quite make out what the lad on the ledge said next, but from where he was he could see the boy was turning something over and over in his hand. The boy in the water, Saul, didn’t seem particularly interested, content to continue paddling around in aimless circles. The other, frustrated at his companion’s lack of interest, suddenly leaped off the ledge and into the river, swimming across to join him in the shallows. He showed Saul what he had in his hands, and among a garble of exchanged words Liam made out two distinct ones: look and message.
That’s it, then!
He pulled himself up, grimacing at the stab of pins and needles in his feet, and made his way towards them. ‘Hey there, lads!’ he called out.
Both of them turned to look at him. ‘Hey there!’ he said again, trying to sound as friendly as possible and not frighten them off. But as he drew closer he could see both of them regarded him warily.
‘Hey… it’s all right, now. I’m not going to eat you. Just saying hello is all I’m doing.’
‘Ma says we cain’t talk to no strangers, mister,’ said the boy holding the rock.
Liam drew up a few yards short of them. He hunkered down on his haunches and offered them a friendly smile. ‘Well now, my name’s Liam, Liam O’Connor. So I suppose I’m no longer a stranger.’
Both boys nodded at the unfailing logic of that.
‘I’m Saul. This here’s m’ brother Grady.’
Saul looked at him. ‘You sound funny,’ he said. ‘An’ you got strange clothes. Where you from?’
‘Ireland,’ said Liam.
The boy looked at his face curiously. ‘What’s wrong with you, mister?’
Liam shrugged, bemused by the odd question. ‘Nothing’s wrong with me.’
‘You sick or something?’
He really didn’t have the time for this. ‘No, I’m perfectly fine.’ He gestured at the rock Grady was trying to keep from his prying eyes. ‘What’s that you got there, lad?’
Grady hid the rock behind his back defensively. ‘Ain’t nothin’.’
‘Oh, come on.’ He inched a little closer. ‘Is it money? Did you find some money up there?’
‘No.’ Grady shook his head warily. ‘Didn’t find no money.’
‘It’s just some words on a stupid stone,’ said Saul. ‘Somebody made a message on a stone.’
Liam offered them a look of mild interest. ‘Really? How interesting. Can I see?’
Grady shook his head. ‘It’s mine.’
If he’d been a bit smarter about this, if he’d thought ahead, he’d have brought something to trade — a cool toy, a pack of baseball cards, a bag of sweets or something, even some…
