The Children Who Time Lost (54 page)

She gave me a blank stare, as if my words didn’t mean anything.

“I swear I’m not lying to you. Can’t you see they’re using you?”

She kept walking forward. The gun shook in her trembling hands. “Good-bye, Rachel. I’m so sorry.”

The door burst open. Michael had his silenced Glock pointed at Amelia. She glanced at him and then at me. She started to pull the trigger.

“Amelia, no,” Michael shouted. Then he shot three times at her, hitting her twice in the chest and once in the stomach. She grunted and dropped to the floor, where she lay motionless, her eyes still open. I dropped to my knees, tears in my eyes.

Michael rushed to Amelia and felt for a pulse. “She’s dead.” He stood and picked me up. “We need to get out of here now.”

“You won’t get very far,” Carrie said.

Michael glared at her and pushed the door open. I caught the gaze of the bound guard—who had woken up—before we left the room.

“Doug,” Michael said, “we need you now. They’ll be on to us soon.”

“I’ll be right there,” Doug said.

“I’ll meet you by the elevators,” Curtis said.

Michael and I rushed down the corridor without running. The tears kept flowing from my eyes. I couldn’t believe they’d gotten Amelia involved. They must have known what was going on the whole time. But why didn’t they come in themselves to stop me? After we reached the main corridor leading back to the lounge, we slowed down, pretending that everything was normal.

“What happened in there?” Mandy said.

I couldn’t utter a single word.

“Now’s not the time to talk about that,” Michael said.

I could see the main lounge. We stopped a few yards from it and waited. Doug came into view moments later and waved at us. Michael grabbed my hand and led me forward. After we reached Doug, he led the way to the door. I avoided as many people’s gazes as I could, but they seemed to be multiplying.

“They’ve seen us,” Michael said.

I followed his gaze right and saw Lorenzo and Jarrod rushing toward us.

I quickened my pace, but Michael squeezed my wrist. “Don’t panic. Let’s just find James.”

Doug kept moving people out of the way for us, but Lorenzo and Jarrod drew closer. Then one of the guards called out to them. They both stopped and spoke with the man. Lorenzo spoke into his radio and ran toward the corridor.

“They know,” I said.

“Just keep going,” Curtis said through the earpiece. “I’m walking to the elevators now.”

I looked left and saw Curtis by the door. He was outside with a number of the guards. Then he went left and out of sight. I saw Michael looking everywhere for James Nielsen, and I did the same, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Anything?” Mandy said.

“Nothing,” I said. “He might have left.”

“Michael! Michael!” someone shouted.

We saw James approaching with two of his bodyguards. I sighed and rested my hands on my knees.

“Where are you going?” James said. “You can’t be leaving now. I was going to show you the script.”

“Guys,” Curtis said through the earpiece, “you’ve got to make your move now.”

“Another time, maybe,” Michael said to James. “Rachel’s not feeling too well.”

James leaned forward, bumped into Michael and staggered back. Michael grimaced, and I didn’t blame him. I could smell the booze on James’ breath from two feet away. James’ bodyguards held him steady.

“It won’t take long,” James said. “Just another hour and we’ll go. I promise.”

I saw many of the guards speaking into their radios and moving around the room with haste. Then I saw Lorenzo and a few other guards rushing toward us. I clutched my chest and grimaced. Michael grabbed me from behind, as if trying to keep me up.

“I’ll tell you what,” Michael said. “You want me to look at it, we need to go right now.”

James shrugged. “But—”

“Right now,” Michael said. “Take it or leave it.”

I kept my hands over my chest, hoping James believed the false agony etched in my face. Guards kept coming toward us, almost forming a full circle. James was taking too long to make his mind up. He was probably just thinking about all the women at the party he could sleep with. I had to remind him that Michael’s investing in his movie was what he really wanted. I coughed twice and squatted. Doug put his arm around me, along with Michael.

Michael helped me forward. “She can’t stay here. It’s now or never.”

James scratched his head. “Okay, let’s go.” He nodded at his bodyguards and they moved people out of the way. Then we made our way toward the entrance. Lorenzo and four guards followed us but kept their distance. Regardless of how much they wanted us, James was a pretty big deal in the film world, and doing anything to him would have brought a lot of bad press.

The guards by the entrance allowed us to walk out, but Lorenzo and the other guards followed us from a distance, constantly communicating on the radios, some with their hands inside their jacket sleeves. Curtis met us when we reached the elevators. One of James’ guards started to call the car, but Michael raised his hand. “Let’s take the stairs.”

James looked at him as if he were mad. “It’s twenty-six floors.”

“I know,” Michael said. “Enough time for you to tell me about the film before I see the script.”

James nodded and stumbled toward the eastern stairwell. Both his guards held him steady. I continued acting like I would pass out at any minute. Most of the people around looked at me with wide eyes, but we kept going. We cleared ten floors before we lost sight of Lorenzo and the other guards following us. But I knew they were probably watching our every move on the monitors, waiting until they could strike. But one of Curtis’ tasks was to disable all cameras from the fifteenth to the nineteenth floors.

Curtis, Doug and I had drifted a few yards from Michael, James and his bodyguards. Michael looked back at us and nodded. Doug pushed the door leading to the sixteenth-floor corridor open and charged through. Doug and I followed close behind. I knew where we were going but didn’t know the exact apartment. I worried that James would wonder where we’d disappeared to and whether I was feeling better. But the second he started speaking about his script, he forgot that anyone but Michael existed.

We stopped outside a door a few feet from the elevators. Curtis slid a key card in and the door swung open. We ran inside and headed through a narrow corridor with Italian marble flooring. When we reached the living room, Curtis crouched behind a large cream-colored couch and pulled out two gym bags. One was our weapons bag and the other had our change of clothes. Doug and Curtis changed in the living room, and I went into a room to my left and took my dress off. The suit I changed into was nowhere near as dazzling as my beautiful dress, but I didn’t feel special anymore anyway. How could I? All the hope I’d carried with me died when I saw what was on the laptop. Now we were racing against time to save the world from annihilation. I held the journal in my hand and stared at it for a moment. We had gotten what we came for, but I didn’t feel victorious in the slightest. I thought of how Dylan’s smiling face had looked when I first picked him up in 2108. I had planned to do so much with him and Kevin, and now I was alone, with no family or friends. Maybe things would change if we destroyed the master portal. But what would await me when I got back to 2043? I folded the red dress and placed the journal and my medication inside my jacket pocket. I emptied my handbag and took all the cash I had left and the touch-screen phone Michael had given me.

When I returned to the living room, Doug and Curtis stood near the corner in black suits identical to mine and large sunglasses. We looked exactly like every other guard working at the party. I grabbed my own glasses from Curtis and we headed out. I called out to Michael but heard nothing. Doug tried five minutes later. Still nothing.

“We can’t wait,” I said.

Doug looked at his watch and raised his index finger. “Give him two more minutes.”

We heard the sound of feet approaching from outside and squatted. The voices drew closer and closer before seeming to stop right outside our door. Doug reached into the weapons bag and pulled a Glock out. We didn’t hear anything at first, but the voices soon returned. It was a man and a woman talking about work. They must have been waiting for the elevator.

“I’m in position,” Michael said through the earpiece.

We kept waiting, but the voices still hadn’t gone. We continued hearing their conversation. The man was married but was sleeping with the woman, who was his wife’s sister. They spoke about their weekend in Paris planned for a week later, which would be disguised as work. They were quite entertaining. I wished it were Kevin and I making plans to go away on a romantic weekend somewhere. We’d stopped doing things like that after Madeline was born and the government took a vested interest in me. The elevator’s chime came after a few more seconds, and the voices disappeared.

We all stood up and straightened our suits. Then we stepped out and called the elevators.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

T
he lobby was almost completely clear when the elevator doors opened. We stepped out and headed for the entrance. A number of guards nodded at us and we nodded back. I glanced around but saw no sign of Lorenzo and his men. It felt too easy. We walked out of the building and headed down South Figueroa Street.

“We’re coming to you now,” Doug said to Michael over the earpiece.

“Okay,” Michael said. “We’ll be waiting.”

A tinted black limousine drove toward us. I saw James through a half-open window in the back with a blond woman’s head against his chest. I laughed to myself. Time didn’t change movie stars in the slightest. James could have been a clone of any number of actors from my time. We kept walking up the street. Michael’s limousine pulled up thirty yards ahead. I stopped and turned around, but there was still not another soul in sight. I held the earpiece. “Everything okay, Mandy?” I heard shuffling, but nothing else came back. “Mandy?”

“Everything’s fine,” she said. “I’ll meet you guys on West Eleventh Street.”

We continued walking toward Michael. We were now ten yards away, but I still didn’t feel safe. I just wanted to run and get into the car. The driver’s door opened, and Manuel got out. He walked to the other side of the car and reached for the back door, but his body lurched forward and crashed against the car. Automatic gunfire filled my ears. Blood poured from Manuel’s body and he dropped to the ground. Glass flew everywhere.

“Manuel, no,” I screamed before dropping to my knees and shielding my face. Doug and Curtis already had M4s in their hands. I reached into the weapons bag and grabbed the AN-94. I rose to my feet, but then the car exploded, sending all three of us to our backs. I scurried to my feet and screamed Michael’s name. Curtis grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back, but I resisted. Michael was still in there and I had to help him.

“We’ve got to go,” Doug screamed. He backed away with Curtis, but I was still thrashing, tears streaming down my face.

I saw movement in the fire. Michael stepped out, covered in flames and swinging his arms wildly. Then he dropped to his knees, shaking. The fire that covered his body was so dense that I couldn’t see any of his features. I wiped a tear from my eyes, turned around and sprinted down the street. Gunfire followed us. I didn’t know whether to veer left or right, so I just threw myself in all directions, praying that a bullet wouldn’t pierce my body. Mandy kept calling out to us, but I couldn’t understand anything she said. I couldn’t believe Michael was dead. He couldn’t be. It shouldn’t have been happening like this. He was the one who was supposed to save the world. He was supposed to publish a paper soon. Was he dead because of me? Had I changed a bit too much by coming back here?

I heard Curtis tell Mandy where to pick us up, but my head was somewhere else. We took a right and continued sprinting. The gunshots had ceased. I heard screeching tires in the distance and the SUV came into view, charging toward us. Then it spun around and stopped. Doug opened a rear door and threw the weapons bag inside. Curtis and I ran to the other rear door, but more gunfire came, striking the car in multiple places. I saw Mandy shudder in the driver’s seat as a sea of bullets tore through her body. I screamed and crawled toward her door. I opened it and her lifeless body slumped out, her eyes still open. I screamed her name and shook her, but she was gone. The bullets kept coming. I held my gun out and fired without looking. The assault on us stopped for a while, and I pulled Mandy’s body out of the car and placed it on the pavement. I stared at her for a moment before shutting her eyes.

“Rachel,” I heard Curtis scream. I peered into the SUV and saw him in the backseat beside Doug, who was clutching a stomach wound.

The gunfire resumed, so I returned some of my own. Then I jumped into the driver’s seat and stared at the car’s controls. They were identical to those in Holly’s Volvo. Lorenzo and two other guards broke cover and started firing at us again.

“Go, go, go,” Curtis screamed. “I’ll cover you.” He stuck his head out the window and opened fire.