“You can count it if you want,” she said as she handed it to him. “But I assure you there are a thousand dollars in here.”
Maloney pocketed the envelope without opening it.
“It’s been a pleasure doin’ business with you,” he said, getting up to stand in front of the Board.
“But you need to do something else for me,” Miss Z said.
“What?”
“I’m going to send you to a specific location in New York City in the year 1912,” Miss Z explained. “If those four children survived the sinking of the Titanic, that’s where they will be. When you get there, I want you to gather them together at the exact spot where you landed so I can bring them back here. Do you understand?”
“What if they ain’t there?” Maloney asked. “What if they went down with the ship?”
“That will be my problem,” Miss Z said. “You keep my thousand dollars and continue on with your life. I promise you will never hear from me again.”
“Sounds fair,” Maloney said, “but I could really use another thousand. . . .”
“Enough!” she shouted. “Our negotiation is complete. Quickly! Stand in front of the Board. They might have already left the pier. I just hope we’re not too late.”
Miss Z pointed a small remote control at the Board. It buzzed gently and flashed some quick messages to indicate it was booting up. She tapped the exact latitude and longitude of Pier 54 into the keyboard.
“Is this gonna hurt?” Thomas Maloney asked.
“You won’t feel a thing,” Mrs. Vader said. “Close your eyes for the next minute or so. There will be a very bright light. But it won’t hurt.”
The technology inside the Board is far too advanced for me or just about anybody to explain. Even if I could explain it, you would be bored to death and probably stop reading this book right now. So let me just say this. It works. You’re going to have to trust me on this. You know how grown-ups always say you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it? Well, imagine how much you can accomplish if you put your mind to something and throw in a few billion dollars for research and development.
The crucial point is that the Board can send a person—or a group of people—to any moment and any spot on the globe if it has the exact date, time, latitude, and longitude.
A buzzing sound came off the Board, and then it lit up in a brilliant blast of bright blue. It glowed for a few seconds, and then the blue split into five separate bands of different colors. Mr. Maloney peeked and caught a glimpse of the bands of color merging together to form one solid blast of intense white light. He closed his eyes again.
The light appeared to stretch out and away from the surface of the Board until it reached Mr. Maloney. The Board seemed to be sucking him into it.
“It will all be over in a matter of seconds,” Miss Z said. “Hang on. Soon you will be back in the year 1912. Back to your time.”
The Board began to hum and vibrate, a low-frequency rumbling that was pleasant to the ear. It was like the purring of a cat.
“This better work,” Miss Z muttered under her breath.
Thomas Maloney began to flicker, as if a strobe light was shining on him. The humming was getting louder.
It was happening. Maloney was making the transition from one century to another. He had reached the point of no return.
“I could use . . . another hundred bucks,” he said, trying to extend his hand.
“Good-bye, Mr. Maloney!”
And then he vanished.
CHAPTER 3ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE
MEANWHILE, ON PIER 54 IN NEW YORK, THE FLASHBACK Four were alone, depressed, and anxious about their future. And their past. It was getting dark and cold outside.
“We’d better find a place to sleep,” Luke told the others as he stood up. “Let’s go. It looks like that building down the street might be a hotel—”
All four of them stood up. At that instant, before anyone could take a step, there was a flash of bright light off to the right and a puff of smoke. And then, not more than ten feet away, Thomas Maloney appeared.
“Eeek!” screamed Isabel as she grabbed David’s shirt.
David jumped back in terror, almost falling over and taking Luke down with him.
“Holy—”
Mr. Maloney stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance. Then he looked around to get his bearings.
“So we meet again,” he said to the group.
“Who are you?” asked Julia.
“He’s that guy!” said Luke, pointing. “The guy at our meeting spot on the Titanic! Remember? He disappeared from the deck just as I was about to take his picture. And now he’s here!”
“Thomas Maloney at yer service,” Mr. Maloney said, making a little bow before checking to see if he still had his envelope full of cash. “Nice to see we’re all safe and sound on dry land.”
“How did you get here?” asked David. “Where did you come from?”
“Boston, Massachusetts, from what I understand,” he replied.
“Were you in a big office building?” asked Julia.
“That’s right,” Maloney replied. “Never seen one so high. And there was an aeroplane flying around in the sky.”
Luke snapped his fingers.
“Miss Z must have been trying to zap us back from the Titanic, but she zapped him back instead!” he said.
“You gotta be kidding me,” said David.
“I couldn’t believe it, neither,” Mr. Maloney told them. “I met your lady friend. In the wheelchair. She gave me a thousand bucks to send you home.”
“Hey, I gave you a thousand dollars so we could take your picture!” Julia said. “We never took it. By all rights you should give me that money back.”
“By all rights you should be floatin’ belly-up in the Atlantic,” said Mr. Maloney. “And if it wasn’t for me, you’d be stuck here forever. So you can kiss your thousand good-bye. Do you want to go back to your own time or not?”
“Of course we want to go back!”
