out.’
Liam, Maddy and Sal reached out and fumbled in the dark, each finding desperate probing handsand grasping them tightly.
‘Whose hand have I got?’ asked Foster, squeezing as he asked.
‘Uh… mine,’ replied Liam.
‘You holding someone else’s?’
‘Mine, I think,’ whispered Maddy. ‘And I’ve gotSal’s.’
‘Good… let’s move, slowly and quietly.’
Foster clambered to his feet and Liam felt a gentle pull. He followed, his eyes remaining onthe pale cloud a few yards away. It was hesitant now, still finding curious fleeting outlinesand just as quickly abandoning them.
Liam felt his feet catch on something snaking across the floor and steppedgingerly over it, fearful of tripping and making a noise. Behind him he heard Maddy and Saltreading lightly.
Through the pitch black, Foster led the way stealthily until finally Liam sensed they hadarrived at a wall.
‘The door’s here somewhere,’ hissed Foster.
He heard the old man patting the crumbling brick wall with his palms and then the rattle ofknuckles on something metal.
‘Found it.’
Liam turned to look over his shoulder. The seeker was little more than a faint blotch in thedarkness.
Foster cursed under his breath. ‘With the power off I’ll need to crank theshutter-door open by hand.’
‘Will it take long?’ asked Sal quietly.
‘Not too long.’
‘Good, because I think it’s moving our way.’ She looked at the others.‘Oh my God, can you
Liam cocked his head as he studied the faint bluish blur. He couldn’t hear anything butFoster working the crank handle. ‘No… but you’re right about it coming thisway.’
The manual winch was squealing like it needed oil badly while the metal shutter rattlednoisily in its frame as it inched slowly upwards.
He felt a draught of cool outside air on his legs and saw a crack of pale light at the bottomof the shutter.
‘She’s right, it’s definitely coming closer, Foster,’ said Maddyurgently. ‘Can you do that any faster?’
The shutter clunked and rattled up noisily, the sliver of light coming from outside wideningmuch too slowly.
‘There… that’s enough to duck through,’ he uttered, winded from theexertion.
‘Ladies first,’ offered Liam. He turned to look back over his shoulder, almostinstantly regretting his chivalry. The seeker was making fast progressgliding towards them… almost upon them now, no more than a dozen feet away. Theamorphous cloud of scintillating particles seemed to rear up as it drew across the floor,forming the momentary outline of some kind of face. An angelic, childlike face, a littlegirl… Then the face decayed into some kind of nightmarish creature with empty eyesockets and an elongated jaw.
Liam wondered whether this thing was as
‘Under you go, Liam,’ said Foster, tapping his shoulder, ‘quicklynow.’
Liam dropped down and squeezed under the shutter door, joining the girls outside. Fosteremerged a moment later, and with far less difficulty using the handle outside, worked theshutter down again. It rattled against the ground just as a faint tendril of blue light hadbegun to feel its way out through the gap.
‘It’s weakened enough that it won’t get through,’ he said with asmile.
He took a deep breath, and grinned apologetically. ‘Sorry about that. Now then,’he continued, turning to gesture at the world around them with both hands. ‘Welcome toyour new home.’
Liam turned from the corrugated metal shutter, daubed with messy paint — that he wouldlater find out was called
‘Oh Jay-zus-’n’-Mary… that’s… that’s… ’His voice faltered at the sight of the futuristic scene.
‘Oh
‘That’s right,’ said Foster. ‘Let’s go get something to eat. Iknow a great burger place just over the bridge.’
CHAPTER 8
2001, New York
Half an hour later the four of them were sitting in a window booth, perched on tallstools around a table and tucking into double cheeseburgers and fries.
Liam’s initial reaction to the plate of food had been one of bemusement. The frieslooked like no potatoes he’d ever encountered before and the burger bun — waxy andbrown — reminded him, oddly, of varnished wood. The savoury smell wafting up, however,soon overcame him and, warily watching the others hungrily tucking in, he followed suit.
As he clumsily manhandled the well-stacked cheeseburger into his mouth, his eyes were on theintersection outside: the pulsing lights of a billboard, the busy throng of pedestrians, carsthat looked as sleek as dew drops, the neon glow from lamp posts and a sky, barely visibleabove the tower blocks, filled with the winking red and green lights of planes criss-crossingthe night sky.
‘It looks
Foster nodded. ‘The year you come from, Sal — 2026 — New York was already adying city. People moved out, whole neighbourhoods were left deserted and began falling intodecay.’
Maddy finished a mouthful of burger. ‘It doesn’t look that different to me,though.’
‘That’s because right now we’re in 2001, only a few yearsbefore your time, 2010,’ Foster replied. ‘The global economic crash had onlyreally just started.’
Liam turned from the window to look wide-eyed at Foster. ‘I can’t believe this isalmost a hundred years in
‘For you, Liam, yes. For Maddy it’s just nine years ago, for Sal…it’s eleven years before she was even born.’ He sipped a mouthful of cold, frothybeer from a tall glass. ‘This is where you, as a team, will be stationed. The archwayunder the bridge is your base of operations: your
Maddy looked at him. ‘Are there other field offices?’
He wiped his mouth and nodded. ‘But you’ll never meet them or communicate withthem.’
‘Why not?’
He picked at the fries on his plate. ‘It’s just the way it is.’
Sal chugged a mouthful of Dr Pepper. ‘I still don’t get why we’re here.What exactly you want us for.’
‘You are
‘TimeRiders?’
Foster hunched forward and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
‘Look… think of time as a river. A river that always flows downhill. Well, we canride up it or down it. Ride time. Timeride. Just like being in a river boat with a paddle, wecan go against the flow. And your job will be looking for other people on the river goingagainst the flow when they have no business to. You’ll look for them, find
