The Children Who Time Lost (41 page)

I had a quick shower and wore the dressing gown that came with the room. I was midway through drying my hair when I heard a knock on the door. My clock read 5 a.m. Manuel and Michael stood outside, still in the same clothes we’d arrived in. I stood aside and they walked in. Moments later, Doug and Curtis joined us. I ordered room service and we all ate the steaks and fries that were brought up.

“So, what’s the plan?” Doug asked Michael after all the plates were empty.

“I’ve asked my secretary, Mandy, to come here.”

I stared at him. Doug stomped to his feet. “You crazy? Why did you do that? We can’t trust anyone, remember?”

“We can trust her. Besides, she’s a master of surveillance. Without her, we’ll be completely blind going up to the Sacramento facility.”

No one responded.

“Come on, people,” Michael said. “We all know we can’t walk in there without some sort of heads-up.”

“When’s she coming?” I said.

“Tomorrow afternoon. We’ll prep and head out at nineteen hundred. It should take us an hour or so to get to the facility.”

We huddled by the bed and continued going over our plans. It was almost eight when they finally left my room. I fell asleep almost immediately.

Chapter Thirty

T
he knock on my door at 7 p.m. the next day woke me from my brief nap, causing me to knock the pizza box to the floor. My room was a mess. Why I’d allowed everyone to eat lunch in here baffled me. My head hurt, and my hands trembled. I held my left wrist in an attempt to control the shaking.
What’s happening to me?
It’s only been five hours since my last dose.

I glanced at the purple bottle on my bedside table. There was a little over a quarter left. I knew I had to start rationing it or I would run out. The knock came again.

“One minute.” I ran into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I was a mess. My eye shadow had run, and my foundation was smudged. I grabbed my makeup bag and threw some powder onto my face. Then I put on some mascara. I still looked as if I’d just left a nightclub after having a few too many, but it was an improvement.

I headed toward the door.
Why am I worried about meeting her? It’s just his secretary.
I opened the door and stood aside. A tall brunette with short hair gave me a beaming smile with pearly white teeth. Her skin looked perfect, as did her figure.
Secretary? Yeah, right.
“Hi,” I said, beaming. “You must be Mandy.”

She waved and leaned forward. “And you must be Rachel. Hi.” She kissed me on both cheeks. Her jasmine-scented perfume smelled divine.

I gestured for her to come in. She picked up a large leather bag and brought it in. She sat on the bed and pulled out a thin Sony laptop. I watched her open almost thirty Web pages and numerous command-line DOS screens in two minutes, her eyes blinking like a robot’s. I didn’t know what else she did for Michael, but she was most certainly handy on a computer.

“I’ll go get the others,” I said.

“Okay.” She continued typing without looking up at me once.

I stepped out and walked to Michael’s room, unsure of how to feel about Mandy. All four men were there, wearing fitted black tops and black pants. They looked like they belonged in a special operations unit. Michael kissed Mandy on both cheeks when we returned to my room. Then he introduced her to the others. Manuel and Curtis all eyed her after she sat back down. I sniggered to myself.
Men
.

Mandy continued opening many Internet pages. We just huddled behind her in silence, waiting.

“Right,” Mandy said. “I’ve got it up: Wilson Research Facility. They’re apparently working on all sorts of stuff: neutron generators, aeronautical research, diabetes. The list goes on.”

We all studied the overhead pictures that filled her laptop screen. It looked like a satellite shot, with trees and grass surrounding a one-story building the size of some of the largest in Silicone Valley.

“So how do we do this?” Doug said.

Mandy covered her fountain pen and held it to the screen. “We start here.”

We spent almost an hour planning our entry into the facility. By the time we left for Sacramento, it was a little after 8 p.m. An orange haze surrounded us as we cruised along I-80. Michael drove this time. Mandy sat by herself on one of the extra seats behind Manuel, Doug and Curtis.

I found myself sneaking peeks at my new team. Together we were attempting to foil the Orchestrator’s plan, whatever it was, but what a mix of people we were. I gazed at Michael. His dark hair wasn’t as neat and tidy as when I’d first met him, but his blue eyes and handsome face still tugged at my heartstrings. I felt pity for him. Going from a billionaire who never had to do much to being part of a resistance army must not have been easy.

Manuel, as always, wore an obedient look, but he could just as easily have been a bullfighter, with his broad shoulders and thick chest. Doug, with his stubble, carried off the rugged, brooding look better than anyone I had ever met. Even with the pain in his heart over the loss of his wife, he exuded as much authority as Michael. But I saw the sadness buried deep inside. I empathized with him and found myself drawing closer the more time we spent together.

Curtis was Mr. Supercool. His gorgeous blond hair and smooth face would have brought any catwalk to a standstill, and yet he had a creature of pure menace within him. And Mandy was just the girl I’d have loved to hate, with her perfect figure and pearly white teeth, but she was just so darn nice and helpful that I couldn’t help but love her. And there I was, the future girl trying to save her son but running out of time. My medication looked as if it would run out in a few days, but the adrenaline surging through my blood kept pushing me further and further. We had to succeed. There was no alternative.

After a half-hour on the road, Doug opened the two bags with the guns. He held the SV98 in front of Manuel, who smiled and took it. Doug reached into the bag again and looked at Michael. “And which one’s yours?”

Michael shifted lanes and glanced back. “The Glock will do for now.”

Doug pulled the Glock from the bag and studied it for a moment. It was black and had a silencer over the muzzle. He slipped it to Michael. When Doug turned his gaze to me, I just nodded at the AN-94, which was sticking out of the bag. He smiled and passed it to me. Then he faced Curtis, who hadn’t taken his eyes from the road the entire time. “And which gun is yours, future boy?”

Curtis gave Doug a firm look. “I’ll take my gun back if that’s all right with you.”

Doug nodded and smiled. “You know, I forgot I even had it.” He leaned over to the extra seat, past Mandy’s legs, and grabbed a suitcase. He opened it and pulled out a small sterling-silver gun. It immediately stood out from the others. The chamber was not much larger than the eye of a needle, and yet it packed so much punch. He put it in Curtis’ hand.

“Thank you,” Curtis said. He returned his gaze out the window.

I stared at the gun on my lap for a moment and then faced the road again. We continued on in silence. Michael gave me a few brief glances, occasionally asking if I was okay. I nodded each time without speaking. Things were just about to move to the next level.

We got onto Jackson Highway just before ten-thirty. We drove for a short while and took a right down a narrow path lined with tall trees. Our surroundings told me we were in the correct place, judging by the images Mandy had shown us on her computer.

A car’s headlights came on in the distance, shining on acres of grass all around it. The trees were even larger than I’d thought. Another set of lights came on, and both cars started moving. None of us uttered a word. The cars turned right and then left. Their lights shone straight at us.

“Reverse, reverse,” Doug shouted.

Michael turned the SUV’s headlights off, shifted into reverse and floored it. The car shuddered as it struck the trees’ branches. The lights drew closer. I glanced back into the pitch darkness, scared that we would crash into a tree or something much larger. Our car kept charging backward until I saw a glimmer of the street lighting. We backed out to the road, and Michael spun the car and backed into a narrow road opposite the path to the facility. He shut the engine off and put both hands on the steering wheel.

We sighed almost simultaneously and stared at each other. Then the headlights appeared in front of us. The cars took a left and headed in the direction from which we’d come. I tried to catch a glimpse of who might have been in the cars, but the windows’ tint was too strong.

The engines faded after a few minutes and I glanced back at everyone. “That was close.”

“Too close,” Michael said. “We need to go the rest of the way on foot.”

“But we don’t know what’s waiting for us there,” Manuel said.

“Yes, we do,” Mandy said. She climbed over her seat. Manuel, Doug and Curtis all slid up. She sat beside Manuel with her laptop in front of her. A grid of sorts was on the screen, with a number of red dots spread around it. “Heat signatures,” she said. “We can see everyone out there.”

“Maybe not,” Curtis said. He leaned forward and studied the screen. “My people don’t always show up on those things. I wouldn’t rely on it.”

“But they must, right?” I said.

Everyone gave me blank stares.

“Especially if they’re trying to pass for humans.”

“That’s true.” Curtis nodded at the laptop screen. “But those things aren’t the most reliable when it comes to my people.”

Doug grimaced as if he were considering options. “You got those binoculars?” he asked me.

I reached into my pocket and handed them to him.

“Can I have that?” he said to Mandy.

She passed him her laptop. He studied it for a moment and then placed his hands on the western section of the grid. Three dots moved around in close proximity to each other. “Three people there, right?”

We all leaned closer to the screen and nodded.

“Okay,” Doug said. “Let’s see what we’re really dealing with.” He held the binoculars to his eyes and twisted the knob. Anxious, I pressed my palms together.

“Damn it,” he said.

“What is it?” Mandy said.

He handed her the binoculars.

She looked through the binoculars and turned the knob right a few times. Then she dropped them to her lap and grimaced. “Five people.”

I took them from her and looked. A building’s light shone on five men, all fully armed with machine guns. I looked at the infrared display and it still showed only three men. I looked through the binoculars again.

“Hang on,” Mandy said.

I took the binoculars from my face and saw Mandy pointing at the screen. Two extra dots appeared and then disappeared after a few seconds. Then they appeared again.

“I told you,” Curtis said. “With my people, heat signatures aren’t the most reliable.”

We did the same with other sections of the grounds surrounding the facility. It was much the same: guards appearing and disappearing on the infrared display. After covering the entire ground with the binoculars and the heat signatures, we concluded that twenty men stood between us and the facility. The only good news we got from our reconnaissance was that each guard frequently left his post to roam the grounds, sometimes patrolling in groups of two.

“How heavy is the muscle once we get in?” Michael said.

“It depends,” Curtis said.

I frowned at him. “What does that mean?”

“Put it this way: Most of the guards are outside or guarding the portal.”

“What about the journal?” Doug said.

“There are a few, but only a few people know it’s even there, so they keep security around it light. I guess they figure no one will be stupid enough to try and take it.”

“And we definitely don’t have to go past the portal to get to the journal?”

Curtis shook his head.

“What about my son and Doug’s wife?” I said.

Curtis didn’t answer.

“What?” I said. “What is it?”

“They could be in the containment chamber, but it’s too dangerous. There are Shriniks in that section of the building.”

My eyes widened. “And you didn’t think to mention that before?”