Of course. He suddenly remembered he had on him something way better than any of those. Something either boy couldn’t fail to be entranced by. ‘Hang on,’ he said, digging into the thigh pocket of his tattered shorts. It was in there somewhere still. He’d… ah, his fingers found the sharp edge. A moment later he pulled out a four- inch-long fishhook-shaped object. He held it out in front of him and their eyes widened. ‘It’s a claw,’ said Liam. ‘A real dinosaur claw.’
Saul’s and Grady’s jaws dropped open synchronously as four young eyes admired the vicious-looking nicks along the curved edge of the claw.
‘See, I just found it this morning, up the river, so I did. I heard you can find all sorts of fascinating old things along this river. Want to hold it?’
Both their heads nodded vigorously.
‘We could swap,’ said Liam. ‘You can take a look at my claw… and I’ll look at that message stone of yours.’
‘Sure,’ said Grady quickly, the passing fascination with his curious find more than trumped by the four-inch glistening claw dangling from Liam’s fingers. He passed his rock over without another look at it. ‘Message don’t make no sense to me anyways.’
He reached out for the claw.
‘Careful, it’s quite sharp,’ said Liam.
Grady took it off Liam and then hunched over, turning his back on his brother.
‘Hey! Grady, lemmesee too.’
Grady shook his head. ‘My stone, my first look-see.’
‘Aw, come on, lemmesee! Lemmesee!’
Liam found a boulder nearby and let himself stiffly down on to it, ignoring their squabbling. As he turned the flat nugget of dark slate over in the palm of his hand, his heart silently skipped a beat.
Jay-zus… there you are again. After all this time. My silent messenger.
There it was, his own handwriting, reversed and faintly embossed with web-thin ridges and grooves of rock compressed and preserved by time.
‘You’re right,’ he said, looking up from the rock, ‘the words make no sense at all, do they?’ But Grady wasn’t listening. He was entranced by the vicious-looking claw and too busy fending off Saul’s grabbing hands.
‘It’s just a load of gibberish,’ he said, a knowing half-smile spread across his face.
‘Wanna swap, mister?’ asked Grady. ‘My stone for your claw?’
Liam shrugged as casually as he dared. ‘I dunno… my claw’s a pretty good find an’ all — ’
‘Please…!’ The boy dug deep into the pockets of his own trousers and produced a wooden yo-yo. ‘I’ll throw this in for extra!’
Liam made a show of interest in the toy. He’d had one just like it back in Cork: large, cumbersome and one he’d never managed to get on with.
‘Well… all right, then, I suppose. Yo-yo as well, you’ve got yourself a deal.’
They exchanged a solemn nod in silence — a deal officially sealed — and then Liam picked himself wearily up, for some reason feeling as old as the hills, and politely bade farewell. But both boys were already stuck back in a heated debate about the rights of access to the claw, and who was going to hold it all the way home.
He picked his way back along the shingle of the riverbank, through sliding, clacking wet pebbles, running his fingers across those faint embossed lines and his eyes looking for that small cairn of stones.
CHAPTER 78
2001, New York
Sal felt it again, the early ripples, the faintest sensation of dizziness. But it looked like no one else had felt it. Cartwright still had his gun on Maddy.
‘This… this is my life. This world. This reality!’
‘Y-you have to step outside now… rejoin your men,’ replied Maddy firmly.
Sal was impressed with her calm, her cool in the face of his wavering gun.
The old man shook his head and laughed. ‘What? You’re expecting me to just walk away from this? The greatest discovery in the history of mankind… and what? I just walk out into that backstreet and try to forget about it?’
Sal glanced at the other two kids. They met her gaze; eyes exchanging a shared imperative.
We’ve got to do something.
‘Listen!’ cut in Maddy. ‘If the wave comes and goes while you’re in here… y-you’ll be left behind. It’ll rewrite the present without you — ’
He smiled. ‘Oh… I think I could live with that, Maddy. In fact, I’ve been waiting a long, long time for something like — ’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘This isn’t about state security any more, is it?’
He shrugged. ‘All right, yes! And why not? This thing… this time machine… it’s a boy’s dream! It’s a man’s dream! Mankind’s dream, goddammit! To travel anywhere, to any time, to see it all. To see things no other human will ever see!’
‘It’s not a toy, Cartwright. You know you… you just can’t think of it that w-way.’
‘Oh, right! You… some snot-nosed teenager and her buddies… you’re to be entrusted instead, are you? You’re the guardians of time, huh?’
Sal glanced at the others again, then took a hesitant step towards the old man. She looked to see if the other two were going to do likewise. Laura remained where she was, trembling, face ashen. She shook her head. Too frightened. Edward, however, took a silent step forward along with Sal.
She had no idea what she intended to do — make a grab for the gun?
Oh God, the thought made her knees wobble.
‘I was selected!’ replied Maddy. ‘I didn’t freakin’ want this, Cartwright! Jesus! In fact, I didn’t have much of a freakin’ choice at all!’
The old man shrugged. ‘Guess what? I don’t really care.’ He stepped towards her, across snaking cables. ‘This is what I want. And I’ve spent my life waiting for it. Preparing for it.’
Sal noticed something blinking on one of the monitors.
‘I’m an old man,’ he continued, stepping on to concrete floor in the middle of the archway, clear of any cables that could trip him up. All the while the aim of his gun remained resolutely on Maddy. ‘My whole life, my whole adult life, has been leading towards this moment. And I’ve known for so many years that a time machine was going to arrive under this bridge, in this archway, on September tenth, 2001.’ He sighed. ‘Can you imagine what knowing about something like that does to you? Knowing that near the end of your natural life… something truly wonderful is going to happen.’ He shook his head. ‘And what?’ He laughed drily. ‘You’re telling me to just forget about it? Just walk away and forget about it?’
Over Maddy’s shoulder Sal could see the blinking cursor in Bob’s dialogue box. He was trying to tell Maddy something. A warning of the impending time wave?
‘The things I’ve wanted to see, Maddy Carter… the things I’ve dreamed of seeing over the last fifteen years, the destruction of Pompeii, the fall of Atlantis, the crucifixion of Christ… the battle of Bunker Hill, George Washington crossing the Delaware, Lincoln giving his Gettysburg address! The arrival of Columbus…’ His rheumy old eyes were alive with naive wonder. ‘My God! The impact of the K-T asteroid that ended the time of the dinosaurs! Can you imagine actually seeing that impact for yourself?’ He shook his head. ‘How far back can I go? Do you know?’
Maddy spread her hands. ‘I… I don’t know. I — ’
‘The beginning of life on earth? The first division of cells?’ Cartwright seemed lost in his reverie, of the things he could see, the places he could go. All his now for the taking.
Sal suddenly felt the hairs on her forearms stand on end, and knew it was here — the time wave. A moment later the ceiling light dimmed and flickered and they all felt it, a moment of imbalance, the floor dropping away beneath their feet. The monitors over Maddy’s shoulder all flickered and went dead. Laura cried in alarm and
