Time Riders

Much kinder.

He had no appetite for his meal now.

You trust me, Paul, don’t you?

He’d always trusted his inner voice, his instinct. It had guided him far better in hislife than any tutor or mentor, any father-figure or friend. ‘If you can’t trustyour own instinct,’ someone had once told him, ‘then you’re a lostman.’

Don’t you see? Someone or something is out there. And it will findyou, whatever you do, however much you decide to erase history and disguise your tracks. Itwill eventually find you. The body was a warning.

Deep down he knew there was truth in that. Perhaps he’d known that from the moment heand Karl had been presented with that cruelly twisted corpse, but he’d been unable tobring himself to admit it.

I think you realize now… your run of luck has finally come to anend.

‘Fifteen years,’ he said.

That’s right, fifteen years. Twelve of them as the world’sgreatest ruler. And in that time you’ve achieved so very much. But your time hasfinally run out. Someone has come to get you.

‘A time traveller?’

Possibly. Or worse.

‘Worse?’

You’ve meddled with time. You’ve crossed dimensions.You’ve stepped through chaos itself. There’s no knowing for sure what seeks youout.

Kramer felt his guts twist with anxiety, a churning unease eating away inside.

An agent of the future could take this world from you with anassassin’s bullet. But it could be far worse. Something we can never hope tounderstand could come for you… could be out there in that dark city rightnow…

He felt his scalp prickle, his skin turn cold.

But you could prevent that.

‘By destroying this world?’

Yes, Paul… by destroying this world.

He pushed his chair back. Oddly, there was some growing comfort in that notion. This worldrendered still, silent, lifeless and unchanging. An everlasting monument to the world createdby Paul Kramer. All life ended with a sudden flash, instead of the protracted misery thatwould exist in the future. And there was a way — a doomsday device he’d consideredin his idle moments.

We both knew this might happen one day. Didn’t we? Perhaps it wasalways going to be your destiny.

Kramer narrowed his eyes, almost sensing the inevitable subtle shifting of destiny ahead ofhim, future histories adjusting, rewriting, as he felt his decision being firmly made.

‘Then it has to be so.’

His voice, his instinct, seemed appeased by that.

A fitting end to things, Paul. Mankind was always destined to destroyitself. It’s in our nature to destroy all that we create. And you will be the one whodoes it.

Isn’t that just a little bit like being God?

CHAPTER 49

2001, New York

‘Sal will be all right out there, won’t she?’ asked Maddy.

Foster was scrolling through their history database. ‘She’ll be justfine.’

They’d found her a plain dark-blue T-shirt and grey jeans. They belonged to a member ofthe previous team and were large on her, almost swamped her. But she stood out far less thanshe did wearing her favourite emo clothes.

‘No one will notice a little girl,’ he added. ‘She’s just a harmlesschild.’

Maddy shuddered. ‘It looks so grim, so grey and ordered outthere.’

She had stepped out with Sal briefly to get a glimpse of this alternate New York. The citylooked tidy and drab. The only colour amid the uniformly monotone towers was the stabs ofbright red from unfurled banners and pennants that dotted the city skyline.

Foster nodded. ‘It is grim. But, for an innocent child just walking around, perhapswalking home from school or an errand to a shop, it’s probably a great deal safer rightnow than it would be otherwise.’

‘What do you mean?’

He looked up from the screens. ‘I don’t imagine they have a crime problem, hmm?This is a fascist state. I think it’s a safe bet that muggersdon’t get away with a slapped wrist and a behaviour order in this version of NewYork.’

Maddy nodded. ‘I guess not.’

‘Anyway, back to business,’ he said. ‘I suggest we pick a return windowwithin the vicinity of the White House, not too far away but safely beyond any securityperimeter. We need to see whether they have a map of Washington in this new Nazi version. Thecity may be different, sections rebuilt.’

‘OK.’

‘So that’s the where. We need to now consider thewhen. I have a suggestion for that. We set it for the lastpossible time for their mission. Bob’s maximum mission durati-’

Maddy felt it. Light-headed, as if she was losing her balance.

The screens went blank and a moment later the fizzing strip light above them winked out,leaving them in pitch black.

‘What the — ?’

‘That was a time shift.’ Foster’s voice emerged from the dark beside her.‘A big one. I felt it as well.’

‘We’ve lost power,’ whispered Maddy. ‘That’s not good, isit?’

‘It means that whatever the world is like outside our fieldbubble, we’re no longer able to tap electricity from it.’ Foster balledhis fists with frustration. ‘In fact, the field generator’s down as well. Thatmeans there’s no forty-eight-hour flip-back. We’re well and truly stuck in this world’s timeline… whatever it is.’

‘I’m not sure I like the sound of that.’

‘We should take a look,’ he said quietly.

She heard his chair scrape on the concrete. ‘Come on.’

She stood up, her hands spread out in front of her.

‘This way.’

She followed his voice across the floor.

‘Keep coming.’

A moment later her fingers brushed the crumbling brick wall.

Foster cursed under his breath. ‘I hate winching this wretched thing up.’

‘I’ll give you a hand,’ said Maddy. She felt her way along the wall untilher fingers brushed the winch box. She found a space on the handle beside Foster’s frailold hand.

‘Let’s get to it, then,’ he said quietly.

They pulled on the handle and it creaked round. The shutter door began to crank up slowly andnoisily.

A faint afternoon light eased into the room, pushing back the absolute darkness behindthem.

‘Looks like another grey day in Manhattan,’ laughed Maddy skittishly.

The shutter inched up until it was waist height.

‘That’ll do, Madelaine,’ said Foster. ‘Duck down, will you, and takea look?’

She nodded. ‘Sure.’