he saw and heard could be of any use to him.
Cabot scratched his beard. ‘And who would believe what I have seen? They will call me a fool.’
‘She’s right,’ said Liam. ‘We still need you to mind the Voynich Manuscript. It has to stay with you alone. You can’t tell anyone about
‘Fear not, Liam,’ he laughed gently, ‘I have no desire to be burned as a heretic. I will not talk of round worlds, or days yet to be, or a place called “New” York. Ye can trust in that. ’
Liam smiled and offered his hand. ‘It’s a deal, then, Mr Cabot.’
He grasped it. ‘A
Becks and Bob both stood up at the same time. Liam guessed they must have been quietly exchanging data. ‘You two all right?’
‘We should proceed with creating the Voynich Manuscript,’ said Becks. ‘It is two hundred and thirty-four pages of manuscript and will require approximately seven hours to duplicate.’ She turned to Cabot. ‘I will require parchment and ink. Do you have these things?’
Cabot nodded. ‘We have. The priory’s librarian will not be a happy man … but I shall see to it.’
‘Thanks,’ said Liam. The three of them watched the old man go. ‘We can trust him,’ he said.
‘We know where to locate him if a contamination originates from this point,’ said Bob.
‘He is an acceptable risk,’ said Becks. ‘And terminating him would be simple.’
Liam shook his head at them. ‘You really do make a charming couple, so you do.’
They both looked at each other, then back at him. ‘Please explain.’
Liam waved that away. ‘Never mind.’
CHAPTER 85
2001, New York
‘Yeah, the film poster’s gone,’ said Sal, standing outside the Golden Screen cinema and studying the billboards. ‘What’s that?’ she said into her cell phone. Several yellow taxis lined up on the far side of 7th Avenue were honking at a delivery truck backing into a side road.
‘Yeah, I’m positive! No sign of it. Nothing on the “coming soon” list. It’s gone.’
She nodded several times at Maddy’s instructions, then hung up. She looked around. This was Tuesday morning as she knew it; she was out and about a little earlier than normal, but it all looked as she expected it to look.
Times Square hummed with life, the sky a deep welcoming blue and no sign of this movie
No film starring Leonardo DiCaprio on the run from sinister agents and clutching an ancient-looking scroll in one fist.
She suddenly felt a rumble in her stomach and realized she hadn’t eaten a thing since yesterday lunchtime. She checked her watch. It was 7.23 a.m. An hour and twenty-two minutes to go until Tuesday turned into its regularly scheduled horror show. Time enough to go for a bottle of soda and a cream — cheese bagel.
Maddy tapped her phone and put it down on the desk. ‘It’s gone, Adam,’ she said. ‘The movie about you and the Voynich, well … it never happened.’
He ran a hand through his hair. ‘What does that mean, though? Have I been
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘No … it’s OK. Just the one you. But your life’s a different one now, that’s all. If the wave had come while you’d been standing outside, you wouldn’t know any different. You’d be off living that life, wherever it is. But because you were inside our field, it means you’ve got to go out and track your new life down, find out what it is …
‘I — that’s — you telling me I might not be living in New York any more?’
Maddy shrugged. ‘I dunno. You could be. You might be living back in England. Who knows?’
He pulled his apartment key out of his jacket pocket. ‘You’re saying if I go back to my apartment, it might not be mine?’
‘I’ve no idea. Probably not.’
He looked like he was struggling with the idea of that.
‘Your life is probably going to be
He shrugged. ‘I did. God knows if I do now.’
‘Call them. Talk to them, find out
‘You can say that again.’
Adam stood up uncertainly, grabbed his expensive suit jacket, draped over the back of an armchair. ‘It’s been a weird twenty-four hours, hasn’t it?’
She nodded. ‘Very weird.’
‘I feel … I feel like I’ve known you, and Sal and the others, for ages. But I knocked on that shutter just a day ago.’
She smiled sadly. ‘That’s time travel. Messes your head up.’
He looked at her. ‘Could I not stay?’
The question caught her unawares. A part of her longed to say
‘Adam … I, uh … I don’t think so. I’m not sure I have the authority, the
‘But,’ he said coyly, ‘surely I know too much now? I’ve got to be some kind of a security risk? Better for me to join you chaps, right? Than be out there — you know, blabbing about all the stuff I’ve seen?’
‘I don’t think you’ll
He hesitated, staring at her as a long and uncomfortable drawn-out silence filled the space between them. ‘All right.’ He nodded finally, awkward, a little embarrassed. ‘OK, well … I thought I’d ask. You know? If you don’t ask, you don’t get, right?’
She felt she owed him something of an explanation. ‘I’m sorry. The three of us are still new here. We’re still just trying to figure out whether we’re doing our jobs right. And I … just don’t think I’m meant — I’m
‘No, that’s fine. Sorry I, uh … I asked.’ He stepped across to the computer table to collect his hard drive. ‘OK for me to take it back?’
She considered that for a moment. His work on decoding the Voynich was on there; his photographs of stones in the Kirklees Priory graveyard were on there. But then, none of it would mean much to anyone now.
She nodded. ‘Sure.’
He picked it up and tucked into the pocket of his jacket. ‘I suppose this is goodbye, then?’
She pressed her lips together, holding back an urge to change her mind, to tell him he could stay. ‘Yes. It’s goodbye, Adam,’ she said eventually.
His feet clacked across the concrete towards the door, and he pressed the green button. The shutter rattled up, letting daylight creep in across the archway.
He turned round. ‘Maybe one day I can write a book about it?’
‘As long as you call it
