The Doomsday Code

down at a group of nervous-looking children.

‘It appears you made Liam O’Connor … laugh?’

She nodded. ‘Cluck, cluck,’ she added drily. ‘I called him and the others chickens. They laughed at this.’

He frowned, pondering. ‘Why did they find this amusing?’

She frowned too, puzzled. Eventually she looked up at him. ‘I do not know.’

Sal drew up outside the front window of the store. ‘This is it,’ she said. She called the support units back to join them and they stepped inside, a musty smell of mothballs and dust tickling her nose.

Becks and Bob led the way in, Liam following after them. ‘What sort of thing do I want?’

‘Large, plain coloured woollen smocks,’ replied Sal. ‘Nothing patterned.’

Liam nodded and headed off down a cramped aisle spilling over with costumes of all sorts of colours and eras. She watched him admiring a pirate’s costume, inspecting its lace cuffs and braiding with a grin on his face. She shook her head. He looked like a kid in a toy store.

She turned to see if there was someone in the shop she could ask for some help, and was walking back towards the shop front and the dusty front window when something caught her eye.

Something blue. Something vaguely familiar … sitting in a wooden rocking-chair to the side of the store window. A teddy bear. She walked over, squatted down to get a better look at it.

‘I know you,’ she whispered, lifting one of its threadbare paws.

She remembered this bear — this little faded blue bear — this one-eyed bear; she remembered it from somewhere, tumbling head over paws.

Where do I know you from?

She was pushing her mind to explore the fleeting image when Liam called out from the back of the shop. ‘Sal! Sal? Is this any good?’

She got up and headed back into the shop’s tight warren of musty aisles to try and find him; the little bear, for now, forgotten.

CHAPTER 18

2001, New York

Maddy looked round at the sound of the shutter rattling up. She saw four pairs of legs and then Liam ducking down and stepping into the gloom of the archway.

Here we go.

He stood up and waved a hand at her. ‘You should see the daft bleedin’ costumes we — ’ He stopped dead. ‘Who’s this?’

Becks was straightening up beside him as he asked. Her cool eyes evaluated the visitor. ‘This person is Adam Lewis,’ she answered. ‘He should not be here.’

‘Uh-huh,’ said Maddy. ‘You can say that again.’

Bob ducked inside. ‘Unauthorized presence.’ His deep voice filled the void. ‘He must leave immediately.’

‘Relax, guys,’ said Maddy. ‘He already knows too much. I can’t just turf him out.’

Sal was the last in. She hit the switch and the shutter descended noisily.

Both support units approached Maddy, a united wall of disapproving frowns. ‘This person is not authorized to be in here. This is a security — ’

Maddy raised her hand. ‘I get it. It’s a security breach. But here’s the thing — ’ she nodded at Adam — ‘he found us. We …’ She shrugged guiltily. ‘All right, I … was careless. I left a breadcrumb trail that he’s followed.’

Liam stepped around Bob and Becks, warily looking at the man. ‘He’s the fella you went to see?’

‘Yes. Adam Lewis.’ She turned to him. ‘Why don’t you say hello?’

Adam’s eyes remained on the intimidating form of Bob standing over him. ‘Uh … hi.’

Liam broke the stony silence with a proffered hand. ‘Well now, there’s always room for another, so there is. My name’s Liam O’Connor.’

Adam, relieved, grasped it.

‘And this here is Sal.’

She waved. ‘Hi.’ Adam returned the gesture. But his eyes flickered towards Bob. ‘Is this the, uh … support unit you were telling me about, Maddy? Am I safe — ’

Liam followed his gaze and grinned. ‘You mean safe from Bob?’

He nodded. ‘I’ve heard a little about his … uh … exploits.’

‘You mean ripping the arms off bad Nazis?’

‘Yup.’

‘Oh, now don’t you worry about Bob. He’s a good, reliable chappie, so he is. He means well.’

Maddy got up from her chair and addressed Becks and Bob directly. ‘As team strategist, I’m authorizing him to be in here. In this field office. Is that understood?’

Both support units nodded like children and chorused, ‘Affirmative’.

She turned to Adam. ‘Temporarily, understand? Until we’ve checked out this Voynich Manuscript.’

‘Uh … that’s fine with me.’

‘Once this is done, once we know what’s in there … then we’re going to have to figure something out, Adam Lewis. You can’t stay and we can’t have you walking away from this, blabbing to everyone.’

He shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t! Honestly!’

Her eyes narrowed.

‘Listen,’ he said, standing up, ‘I’ve sat on the fact that I know time travel exists for seven years! I haven’t told a soul in all that time. I wouldn’t.’ He shook his head. ‘Really, I wouldn’t! It would ruin me; and ruin my professional reputation, apart from anything else. I’d never get another data security contract again!’

Maddy pursed her lips. ‘I can imagine.’

‘Anyway,’ he added. ‘I’ve been there before — treated like a complete nut, no one believing me. Been a laughing-stock. No thanks, I don’t fancy that again.’

Liam put his hands on his hips. ‘Well, you seem all right to me, chap.’

The support units both remained quiet, four grey eyes silently appraising him.

Maddy turned to them. ‘And you two — you’re not going to rip him to pieces as soon as my back’s turned, are you?’

Bob spoke for them both. ‘Negative. Adam Lewis has been temporarily authorized.’ He offered the man a hand the size of a baseball glove. ‘I am pleased to meet you, Adam Lewis,’ he rumbled.

Adam grasped it lightly. ‘Uh … sure, pleased to meet you.’

Becks did the same, offering a slender but equally deadly hand.

‘Sure she’s not going to …?’

Maddy laughed awkwardly. ‘Twist your finger off again?’

‘Negative,’ replied Becks with a friendly smile, grasping his hand. ‘Not unless I am ordered to.’

Maddy grinned and pushed her glasses up her nose. ‘Well OK, great, introductions made. We need to set you two support units up for the trip: data uploads, relevant history, period languages … the whole deal.’ She looked at Adam. ‘You said you’ve got a good knowledge of this bit of history?’

He nodded. ‘Twelfth-century history. It’s become something of an obsession.’

‘Good, then I’ll need your help putting together the data package. You can start by giving Bob and Becks a verbal briefing on the historical situation — what you were telling me earlier about the political situation: Richard and John and all that.’

‘All right.’

She turned to Liam and Sal. ‘A quiet word?’

‘He dies?’