by Scott Baker
Shaun was silent.
‘What did he say?’ Lauren asked, seeing Shaun’s face. ‘He … ah … he’s going to meet us. Half an hour at the Circus Maximus. Father Giovanni, can we get there through this traffic in half an hour?’
Giovanni smiled and said something to the driver in Italian. Suddenly the siren and lights blared their full glory over the Italian streets, and the ambulance cut through the city racing to save not one life, but millions.
CHAPTER 70
Standing before the massive ruin, Shaun Strickland took in the full glory of the Circus Maximus. Its stones spoke of the ages it had been standing, and Shaun’s mind carried him back to a time when the crowds held Roman coins instead of cameras. He imagined the sounds, the roars of tens of thousands as mighty chariot races filled the arena. The spectacle played out in Shaun’s mind even as he stood there, staring at the massive structure that once had the capacity to hold nearly a quarter of a million people.
Shaun walked forward through the crowd of tourists and locals. Sitting alone at the gate was a boy of perhaps twelve wearing the all too familiar Carolina Panthers cap – the cap of Shaun’s local football team.
Shaun casually walked up to the boy, who looked Italian.
‘Bon journo!’ The boy kept his head down, but thrust his hand up in the air. He held something. Shaun took the item and examined it as the boy rose and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.
Shaun thumbed the object in his hand, then turned and walked back to where Giovanni and Lauren waited for him.
‘Well?’ Lauren asked. Shaun held out his hand. There, in his palm, was a large, tasty-looking walnut.
Giovanni made several calls before leaving Rome, and it bothered Shaun that he could not understand what was being said. He told himself that when he got back home and this was all over, if that day ever came, he would learn a language or two.
For the third time in a fortnight, Shaun travelled the road from Islamabad to Peshawar. The difference this time was that he had Lauren and Giovanni. Lauren was with him, and he knew that if that were the case, he could endure anything. Except losing her again. He was also armed with knowledge. Knowledge was power.
They had arrived at the hotel where he had left his driver. He met briefly with the mercenaries, who handed over the briefcase containing David’s player and accepted their final cash payment. When asked if he needed to see the prisoners, Shaun had declined, and said that he knew they were fine. He also knew that the bastards who had beaten David and him to near death would soon be wiped out by a US military unit, but he neglected to mention this.
The conversation with Giovanni had not gone quite so smoothly. The Italian was incensed at the notion that he had been deceived, even if only for a short while.
‘What do you mean I cannot have it? I gave you my contact, you give me the player! This was our deal.’
‘I know, I’m sorry. But it was your contact who instructed this. He said that if you want to stop Le Clerque, then you would come with us to The Facility.’
‘Come with you? You mean me? Go to The Facility? Well …’ Giovanni paused, then smiled. ‘Yes, I see how this might be of benefit, but you shouldn’t have lied to me. Lying is a sin, you know,’
‘Would you have come with us to Pakistan if I had told you that you could not return with the player?’
‘Well, no, I suppose I would not have. Very well.’
‘And we did save your life,’ Lauren added.
‘Yes, my dear, you did. I suppose it is not you that I should be angry with. I have, after all, always wanted to go to The Facility. How do we find it?’
‘We follow.’
‘Follow who?’
‘We follow me. The earlier version of me, the red me. But first I have to meet with Allan Johnston and give him this,’ he said, taking the walnut from his pocket. He felt for its seam with his fingernail, then popped it open and unclasped it. He then took the piece of paper with the diary translation on it, and refolded it exactly the way it had originally been folded and placed it inside the walnut, which he then snapped shut.
Lauren looked dubious. ‘So, that’s really going to live inside your stomach and keep that piece of paper safe?’
‘Something troubles me,’ Giovanni said as Shaun nodded. ‘If this is the version of the paper that you retrieved after you had been sent back, and you are now putting that same version back into this food to be digested by your earlier self, then does that not mean the paper is … I mean …’
‘I’ve thought about that too,’ Shaun said. ‘It’s caught in a time loop. I got it from the walnut, which got it from me, who got it from the walnut, and so on. The truth is, I don’t know. It means this paper in my hands is infinitely old. It looks pretty good then, doesn’t it?’
‘It just can’t happen!’ Giovanni said. ‘When you showed me the paper, one of the calls I made was to get a copy of this translation. They told me the document did not exist. It, how you say? Does my head in.’
‘I’m sure a lot of this will.’
They had approached the massive fort. Originally built by Baber, the first of the Mongols, some time in the mid-sixteenth century, its huge battlements and ramparts rose above the cityscape with imposing presence. Its long shadow cast far back into the city, and it had taken the trio more time than they had expected to find the tip at exactly six in the evening. The tip of the shadow happened to fall on a small bench in a city plaza.
‘Allan Johnston?’ Shaun said, taking a seat next to a bald man in sunglasses and a green cap who continued to throw bread to pigeons that huddled about the cobblestones. He recognised the man.
‘That’s right, son. Captain Allan Johnston. I believe you have some baking ingredients for me?’
Shaun handed over the walnut.
‘Okay then,’ the Marine commander said, ‘I have a present for you too.’ He handed a brown parcel to Shaun. ‘You need to get yourself and your friends up the Khyber. Our unit will hit the Pathans at o-nine-hundred hours tomorrow morning. We’ll take the captives up to the drop-off location and then return for you. There’s going to be a lot of activity around here by that time, so you need to be well clear of the ambush or they’ll shoot you soon as look at you. You understand, son?’
‘I do.’
‘Good. There’s a map in there. It has an X on it. Be there at nine-thirty in the morning. My unit will take you to where you need to be.’
Shaun took the package, which contained a small matte-black Glock 9-milllimetre; a semi-automatic pistol with a ten-loader magazine.
CHAPTER 71
Shaun and Lauren were woken from their cramped sleep in the station wagon by a tap on the windscreen.
The driver Shaun had paid so well had also sold his car to them for double what it was worth, and Shaun willingly paid the extra cash. Now the sun-silhouetted figure whose steamy breath gave testament to the temperature outside beckoned them and pointed to the road.
‘I can hear our ride. It sounds like they’re past us already – you’d best, how you say … shine and rise?’ Giovanni urged.
Barely awake, the trio raced through the cold air, clambering and jumping over rocks. Shaun was still injured, so Lauren raced ahead. At last she came around a rock and saw a large transport vehicle moving off.
‘Hey!’ she screamed, waving her arms. ‘Hey! Wait up!’ But the soldiers were too far away and the engine noise was too loud.
‘They’re leaving!’ Lauren called back to Giovanni. Without question, the priest reached into his jacket and retrieved a small pistol, making sure to flick on the safety before hurling it high into the air. Lauren caught it on the full.
‘The safety is on the lower left!’ the panting priest called. Lauren took as careful an aim as she could and squeezed the trigger. A puff of white smoke kicked up from a rock next to the transport and the vehicle stopped. She fired again and immediately doors opened and troops spilled out, taking cover behind the multitude of rocks. Lauren dropped the gun an
d began to wave with both arms.
It was a good thing Shaun was so far behind and did not see his wife fire on the group of Marines; he may well have died of a heart attack then and there. Fortunately the captain had the presence of mind to command his troops not to fire on the crazy woman.
‘… but it could have turned out very differently,’ Shaun said to her as they bounced along in the transport a few minutes later.
‘We’re here, aren’t we? And anyway, like you said, I can’t die! Not yet anyway, because I make it to the cave with you.’
‘Yeah, but I don’t know if you’ve lost a limb or have a bullet wound.’
‘Oh.’
‘Here we are!’ Captain Allan Johnston said as they pulled over. ‘Your buddies are over the rise, so I suggest you move quietly. The bug is due to move in seven minutes, so I hope you’re rested up.’
A few minutes later the transport vehicle moved off, and the three were left standing on the side of what could barely be called a road, amid an unfamiliar, aggressive landscape.
‘Okay, this hike is going to be long and hard. We’ve got about eight hours ahead of us.’
‘But then we reach The Facility, yes?’ Giovanni asked.
‘Yes. Then we see it. Then … I don’t know what happens next,’ Shaun said. He had grown a little comfortable with the advantage of foresight, however slight, and the thought of losing it sent an unfamiliar pang through his spine.
‘How are your headaches?’ Lauren asked suddenly. It caught Shaun off guard. He had not thought about that all day, probably because he had not had one of his massive head throbs in a while now. Curious.
‘Much better, thanks.’
The three snuck up to the rise and listened. There were no voices. Tentatively, Shaun peered over. He could barely believe it. Before his eyes, he saw himself in the flesh, from a different point of view. As an observer. He had not realised how tall he was, nor had he noticed that slight stoop he had when he relaxed. David was busy on his hands and knees examining the bug. Then without warning, it sprang to life. Lauren started a little at the sight of the small electronic creature as it hovered still for a moment. Then, like a dog beckoning its master, it moved off, pausing momentarily every few feet before moving again.
Shaun turned to Lauren and winked. ‘Game on!’
CHAPTER 72
The next four or so hours were unrelenting torture. The trek was harder than Shaun remembered it, mostly because of the additional task of keeping out of sight. They had agreed that if they needed to communicate, they would scribble on a pad and show it to the others.
Shaun did not want to risk anything now. He recalled feeling inquisitive and a little excited the first time he had made the trek, but now there was a horrible sense of foreboding; of fate; of things being preordained. He remembered what he had been told by the voice on the phone, about staying close enough to his previous self and David to hear their conversation – but it was the voice itself he continued to hear in his head, over and over. Maybe he had heard it at a speech one night, or … yes, his podcasts. It was one of those talks, he was sure of it. An English accent. Which talks had he downloaded from England? Oxford? Cambridge? Yes, Cambridge. What was that professor’s name?
‘Does that thing ever land?’ Lauren whispered in his ear.
‘Landus!’ Shaun exploded far too loudly. Giovanni looked back at him with a death stare. Shaun caught his tongue. ‘Sorry,’ he mouthed.
The bug kept going, relentless, uncaring that those following it were made of aching flesh and brittle bone. It flew on. Never too far, but never stopping either.
Finally, the little drone entered the mouth of the cave, with the three of them following slowly and listening as the earlier version of Shaun and David talked and jabbered away as if they were on a family picnic.
As David touted the merits of compression, explaining the difference between the spatial and temporal methods, Shaun took Lauren’s hand, and she took Giovanni’s. They moved forward in the darkness. The cave light was eerie, and it was only David’s endless babble that kept them moving in the right direction.
Shaun kept close enough that he could still see the lights of the bug, but they did not help illuminate the pitch darkness immediately in front of him. He felt his way along blindly as if reading giant Braille. Ahead, David continued his detailed explanation, which both Shauns listened to intently.
After a few more minutes the conversation died down again, giving Shaun more time to think, to process, to put the picture together.
The translation document said that the map and diary would be together, yet Le Clerque’s men were in possession of all the documents that came with the diary. Shaun, therefore, had to assume that the map was in the diary; encoded somehow, and he had missed it.
Damn! If Le Clerque’s seekers got their hands on the diary, they also got the map, which meant that they would find their way to the disc. And, Shaun suddenly realised, Le Clerque would almost certainly destroy the disc in order to ensure that nothing prevented his rise to the papacy. The disc offered proof, video evidence, that Jesus was killed on the cross; it also showed a genuine miracle. It confirmed for millions their faith and yet did no harm to any other. Why was it so important to him now, Shaun wondered. And then it hit him.
He believed.
The only thing Shaun Strickland had ever believed in was the power of scientific method. He had met hundreds who claimed to be Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu and none had been able to convince him. But now something was different.
There is no teacher like experience, Shaun realised, and what drove him now was not need – although he did not see any other way to stop Le Clerque’s nuclear war – nor interest – although the fact someone had mastered time travel was the very heart of his intellectual pursuit. No, now that Lauren was alive, and perhaps even because Lauren was alive, Shaun was driven by belief … by faith.
Suddenly Lauren bashed her shin hard against a rock.
‘Oww!’ she yelled. Giovanni had his hand on her mouth with lightning speed, but in the silence of the tunnels, the sound seemed to live forever. The two men froze and Lauren dropped to the ground, crying silently and hugging her shin. Shaun crouched next to her and hugged her tightly, letting her bury her face in his shoulder. Had they heard her? Of course they had. What if she had just screwed it all up?
‘It’s okay, baby,’ he whispered. ‘It’s okay. They don’t find us, I promise. It’s okay.’
Shaun’s words eased the fear that had raced through her body. She squeezed her shin tight and listened as she heard voices from up ahead. Shaun was yelling at the helicopter, telling it they were ready to go, but for the next few minutes it did not move. Just as Lauren struggled to her feet again and made sure she could bear the weight, the tiny bug moved forward into the tunnels.
The sound up ahead changed and Shaun remembered that it was this last hour that he had half-carried his injured friend. That meant they were almost there. The sensation was surreal, to remember the events before they happened. To be living in a state of déjà vu.
The last leg of the journey was the most painful. Finally Shaun had to come face to face with what he would do. What could he do once they had arrived? Shoot the men surrounding David? Shoot anyone who went near the diary?
No. His plan was to sneak in while Giovanni guarded the door. More importantly, he wanted the priest to guard Lauren. He remembered seeing the two figures, a man and a woman, so he knew that she was there with him. But he did not know what happened after that, and the last thing he wanted was to start a firefight with both David and Lauren in harm’s way.
He should have stopped and worked out a better plan, but instead he just moved forward, towards that point, that epoch to which he was drawn beyond his will. He had to see the machine work. He had to see himself sent back in time.
Finally, Shaun called a halt. He peered around the passage and saw the bug, sitting on the floor of the cave. He took a deep breath and then, exact
ly as he had remembered it, the deep humming sound started again. The sound of inevitability.
CHAPTER 73
An eerie blue light bathed the two figures in front of them. Giovanni and Lauren stared in amazement as the rock parted.
The bug sat motionless, and David, his arm still slung around Shaun’s shoulder, moved forward into the light. Soon, the two men passed away from view. When someone did speak, it was Giovanni.
‘Those doors were made in China,’ was all he had to say.
‘Oh God, Shaun, what is that? The cave just opened.’
‘Yeah, I would have told you about it, but I didn’t want to spoil the surprise,’ Shaun said, smiling. He was growing nervous. His brain was trying to tell him something, but he would not let it, not now.
Slowly they crept forward to look through the massive doors within the rock. Lauren and Giovanni could barely breathe.
‘It’s …’ Lauren started.
‘… beautiful!’ Giovanni finished.
They hid near the doorway, bathed in an angelic blue light, and beheld the impossible. In the middle of the Afghan mountains, at the end of a long, winding tunnel, hidden in a deep cave, was … this: a complete and perfect city of technology and nature.
‘Welcome to The Facility,’ Shaun said, one edge of his lip curling upward. Though he smiled, he was suddenly very afraid. He had felt safe knowing that Lauren would come this far, but very soon, the future was all open again. He squeezed her hand. She looked up at him and saw that tears were again forming in the corners of his eyes.
‘Hey!’ she whispered teasingly. ‘What’s with all the waterworks—’ She was silenced by a deep, passionate kiss as Shaun held her tightly. When he finally pulled away Lauren was lightheaded.
‘Wow!’ she gasped. ‘So, all a girl’s gotta do is die, come back to life, fake a priest’s death then hike through mountains for eight hours? Why didn’t you say so?’