I can't leave.
Was she intending to? Her heart raced again, adrenalin surging. Hewould be safe with these monks. She would return at some point, of course shewould. She couldn't abandon him here. But she had to go now. She had to findher husband the way she remembered him, from a decade ago. She had to keep himfrom vanishing from her life, convince him to destroy the BackTracker before hecould take it to the train station and leave it for his younger self. If shedid, Cade would never have to kill him for it. She could change the past, and changethe future at the same time.
But if she failed, or if Muldoon truly no longer existed in thistime, then the infant Harry Muldoon would still be here, safe and sound. Hewould exist.
The door slid open, and she stepped outside.
"All is well, I trust?" Yeng asked with a hopeful archof his eyebrows.
"Yes. Thank you." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Anxiously.
"Are you leaving us?"
How does he know? "Canyou...watch him until I get back?" She swallowed. He wasn't her child. Howcould she leave him with strangers?
"Of course." Yeng nodded.
"I just need to take care of something. Then I'll beback." If I can. "I promise."
Kuan looked as if this were a common occurrence—women leaving theirbabies at the temple in the middle of the night. "We will watch overhim," he said in a serious tone. "Is he in any danger?"
"From the father, perhaps?" Yeng added, leaning in."Should we keep the child from him?"
"No." Irena frowned. "No, it's nothing like that."
Both monks relaxed. The smiles returned.
But if there's someone to keep him from— "Theonly person who shouldn't come near this baby is a man named Cade. He was amonk of the Way, but..." How could she explain it? Any of it? "Heserves another master now."
"Very well. We will do as you wish." They asked noquestions.
"Thank you." She reached forward without thinking andhugged Kuan, stiff in her arms. She realized the faux pas and drew back."Thank you, both of you, for everything."
Yeng was beaming again. He'd enjoyed his brother's awkward momentin her grasp.
"We will be seeing you." He bowed.
Kuan did likewise. "May the Master bless your endeavors, aslong as they are pleasing in His sight."
Kidnapping and auto theft? Probably not.
She nodded, bowing in her own way without knowing why. Maybe areflex reaction to all of their bowing. She set off across the courtyard.
But then she turned back.
"There's...one other person who shouldn't see him. Myhusband. We're...no longer together. He's not the father, but..." Thethought had struck her all of a sudden. "His name is Muldoon."
What would happen if the two of them met eachother?
"He could be dangerous," she added.
She remembered stories she'd watched as a girl, science fiction ofcourse, but vaguely she recalled something about a space-time-continuum and theinherent danger of meeting your younger or older self. Nothing good ever cameof it.
"We will watch over the child," Kuan promised.
"Fear not," said Yeng. "He will be safe here."
She nodded again, watching them. After all she'd done to saveHarry's life, now she was going to abandon him with these strange men?
"I'll be back," she said, and her throat tightened.
"Of course you will." In Kuan's eyes, she saw a peacethat surpassed understanding.
She set off across the grounds, feeling something inside herstretch to the breaking point the farther she left that small cubicle andsleeping infant behind.
The gate rolled open with a long creak as she approached, and shekept her head down, eyes on the path before her. She crossed the threshold fromholy sanctuary to silent real-world outside, and only then did she look up.
Her father's clone sat in the driver's seat of the stolen auto.
"Oscar—release the passenger door," he said.
The AI gasped, but Irena didn't pay attention to it. She stared back at the clone.He'd followed her. Or somehow, he'd known where she would go.
Of course he knows. He knows everything I'mgoing to do! She bit her lip in frustration.
"Get in," he said coolly as the door glided upward.
She glanced at his hands, his wrists. "Whereis it?" The BackTracker. "What have you done with it?
"Get in, Irena," he repeated.
She remained outside the vehicle. "What aren't you tellingme?"
"There is no time!" His tone left no room for debate.
Grinding her teeth, she dropped into the seat beside him. The doorclosed automatically.
"Oscar—activate engine, manual drive." Of course, theclone also knew the OSCAR override command.
"Confirmed!" the AI responded ecstatically.
The clone took the steering grips as the engine hummed to life. Hedidn't look at Irena. She glanced back at the temple as the car acceleratedfrom the curb and veered away. The clone whipped the grips to the side,maneuvering a tight U-turn.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"You are. Away from here."
"But Harry—"
"He will be fine. Better than fine. I promise I will lookafter him. But right now, we have to get you to safety."
"What are you talking about?" She clutched the sides ofher seat as he righted the vehicle and floored the accelerator, throwing herhead back against the support cushion. She tugged on the safety harness andbuckled it.
"Have you seen anything...odd? Since we arrived in thistime?"
She frowned, then nodded. "The Pit. It's called The Pearlnow." It had been strange, other-worldly in a way, but there had beenother things on her mind at the time. "What's that all about?"
"The timelines. They're twining," he said. "Yourfather said it was possible."
She waited for him to elaborate. The car tore down the vacant street,grey buildings whipping past both sides in a blur. "Whatdo you mean?"
He turned to look her full in the face. "If you remain here,you will die. Just like your alternate."
"My what?"
He returned his gaze to the road. "There's no time to explain fully. Therealities are twining past the original divergence point, and if you remainhere, tied to this world, you will cease to exist—both of you."
"My younger self, you mean?"
"She belongs here. You don't."
"Because I'm from the future."
"Because you're from a different reality."
What?
He slammed on the
