The Eternal War

Liam frowned for a moment, then recalled. ‘Aye.’ He and Bob had travelled by truck from Washington to New York through a very different America back in 1956. An America overrun by an occupation army of Nazis.

‘We’re going to need a car, then,’ said Sal.

‘A car … and some big guns for Bob.’ Liam glanced up at the support unit and grinned. ‘He does like rather big guns.’

‘Affirmative.’

Maddy planted her hands on the table. ‘And we need to get going soon … I mean, like, in the next hour.’

‘Who’s going?’ asked Sal. ‘We can’t all go, can we? Doesn’t someone have to stay here?’

Maddy nodded. Sal was quite right. Somebody needed to stay right here to coordinate the opening of a return window.

‘Well, obviously you need to stay, Mads,’ said Liam. ‘We need you here to organize it all. Me, Bob and Becks can do this. The pair of ’em are an army between them, more than a match for anyone, so they are.’

‘Let me come with you,’ said Sal.

Liam shook his head. ‘It’ll be dangerous. You’d be best staying here.’

‘I’m always here! I’m always safe — I never get to do anything!’ She turned to Maddy, looking to her for support. ‘This time, please … let me do something more than just watching for things!’

‘Liam’s right … There may be shots fired if they have to — ’

‘I should be dead anyway, right?’ said Sal. ‘All of us should be! I should have been burned to death in Mumbai with my family. But I’m here now. So … every day is an extra. Every day is bonus time. And what’s the point if all I ever do is sit here and do nothing useful?’

‘You are useful, Sal. You’re very useful. You’re our early warning system!’ said Maddy.

‘I want to do more!’ Sal folded her arms. ‘I need to do more.’

Maddy gazed down at the wooden table in silence, glanced at the time on her wristwatch. It was gone twelve o’clock. Throughout today things across America were going to happen quickly. Right now, somewhere amid the panicking corridors of power, a FEMA-directed order was being issued to suspend all aeroplane flights across the entire nation. President Bush was in Airforce One in a holding pattern escorted by two F16 fighters. The Pentagon was on fire. Vice President Dick Cheney was sitting out the unfolding crisis in the Presidential Emergency Operating Center in the basement of the White House.

And Abraham Lincoln was — if Sal was right, if she had seen him in the back of that black van — undoubtedly being taken down to the FBI’s headquarters in Washington to be interrogated. He was probably already on the interstate, heading south through New Jersey.

‘OK …’ she said presently, ‘OK, this is what we’re doing. No need to drive down there. We’re going to open a window down there, right now, right outside the entrance to the FBI’s place. Not a time jump … just a location jump.’

She looked across the archway towards the computer desk. Becks was standing beside it, motionless and engaged in a silent Bluetooth conversation with computer-Bob. ‘Just as soon as we’ve got information on the layout and some coordinates we can use.’ She turned back to look at the others.

‘Liam … you and Bob and, OK, you too, Sal, you’re going down there and can watch the traffic going in. If you spot him, if you actually see this black van and Lincoln gawping out of the back window and think there’s an opportunity to snatch him … then you just go for it, OK?’

The three of them nodded.

‘Meanwhile, me and Becks and computer-Bob, we need to pool data. We need to get every piece of information we can on how all the terror suspects were moved around in the first week after today: where they’re being held, how they’re moved … so on and so on.’ She shrugged. ‘If you guys miss him, then we’re going to need to build up a picture of where all the terror suspects are being held during today. If we lose him, if we let the trail grow too cold, we may never find him again. I hate to think where that’s going to take us. I suspect we’re lucky that history’s only tweaked itself so far.’ She pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose noisily.

‘Sheesh … and God knows how long that’s going to last.’

CHAPTER 23

2001, New York

Half an hour later Bob, Liam and Sal stood in the middle of the archway’s floor, just outside a faint hand- drawn circle of chalk, four foot in diameter. Within the circle the concrete floor was gone, or, more accurately, scooped out, leaving a shallow crater as if an impossibly large bowling ball had been dropped from the ceiling.

Maddy hated the sight of it. They’d refilled the small crater several times; she’d even bought a cheap throw rug to cover it. But several times now they’d had to open a portal in the middle of the archway — ‘going dry’, that was their term for it. Going dry because there’d not been enough time to fill the displacement tube with water.

‘Now let’s see …’ Maddy looked at her watch. ‘It’s nearly twelve thirty now. If the FBI grabbed Lincoln just after nine-thirty, it’s what? … A three- maybe four-hour drive down Interstate 95 all the way south into Virginia?’

‘Correct,’ said Becks. ‘That would be my calculation.’

‘So I’ve set the coordinates for the slip road off Interstate 95 that leads to the grounds of the FBI Academy at Quantico. It’s a pretty discreet, quiet spot. Russell Road. There’s a checkpoint where every vehicle has to slow down and stop; you gotta show some ID and stuff. That’s maybe the best place for you guys to keep watch.’

She hunched over the desk and tapped at the keyboard as she spoke. ‘I’m not bumping you backwards or forwards in time — it’s just a straight spatial transposition. You should be there at that checkpoint before the van arrives.’ She glanced back at Sal. ‘If, that is, you’re absolutely sure you saw Lincoln in the back of it.’

Sal’s hesitant nod wasn’t entirely reassuring.

‘OK, then.’ She clicked the mouse on a dialogue box and tapped in a one-minute countdown.

‘What about a return window?’ asked Liam. ‘Do we not need to agree on a — ’

Maddy rolled her eyes. ‘See the mysterious-looking contraption Sal’s holding?’

Liam turned to look at her. She grinned as she held out her hand, the mobile phone sitting on her palm.

‘Just gimme a call, OK? And I’ll bring you right back home. No need for funky fossils or ancient parchments this time.’

‘Oh.’ Liam looked sheepish. ‘Right … yes, of course.’

‘And look, Bob, if that van looks like it’s full of SWAT guys wearing Kevlar vests and packing big guns, then don’t be a dummy. You may be a tough brute, but you’re not invincible.’

‘I will operate within acceptable risk parameters.’

She looked at Liam. ‘It’s your decision to make, OK? If you feel it’s too dangerous, then we can figure out something else. At the very least we’ll know where they’re holding him and we can work out some other plan of action.’

‘Aye.’

‘OK … so everyone good to go?’ She checked the screen. ‘Twenty seconds.’ The displacement machine’s hum began to rise in pitch and volume.

‘Careful, guys, OK? Particularly you, Sal. Let the boys do their work.’

Sal sucked in a tremulous breath, clearly excited by the prospect of doing something more proactive than sitting idle and intently watching the world for subtle changes. ‘I will.’

A draught swept across the archway, sending sweet wrappers flying and pizza boxes shifting across the desk. Before them a shimmering sphere of daylight had suddenly pulsed into existence.

‘See you soon,’ Maddy called out above the hum of energy.

Sal waggled her hand as Liam took the first step into the portal.