by Libby Drew
Reegan held his gaze for many long, painful seconds. “I’ll take that under advisement.”
Chapter Seventeen
“There’s a lot of people on the street. Maybe it was a good thing, getting here a bit later than planned.”
The parking meter spit out a ticket. Saul plucked it from the machine and coasted into the dim garage. They’d been held up in the park for far longer than he’d hoped. The city streets were more active now as people began their mad dash to work, and Saul had to concede Reegan’s point. Their unscheduled delay would be a boon if the morning rush hour disguised their surveillance.
“That was some of the best luck we’ve had so far. If your lack of identification—and identity—had come to light, we’d be sitting in a holding cell right now. Frankly, that could still happen. You probably should’ve stayed behind.”
Reegan stripped off his pair of borrowed sunglasses. “I couldn’t.”
“You could’ve. I know what I’m doing.” Keeping the petulance from his tone took considerable skill. He’d proved his competence to Reegan already, or so he’d thought. He didn’t appreciate the implication that he needed a babysitter for a simple stakeout.
“I know.” Reegan’s honest gaze bolstered Saul’s mood. “But this way there’s no room for confusion. If you have a question, I’m right here. Strategically, it makes sense for us to do this together. Besides, I feel safer when I’m near you, wherever we might be.”
Parking the Rover into a narrow space between a cement beam and a minivan took enough concentration that Saul was spared from spouting a sentimental reply.
The parking garage took up most of the block that lay catty-corner to the church. Saul had chosen a space on the third level, in the corner. The sun had trouble reaching all the way inside, providing ample cover for the two as they edged along the outer rim.
The church came into view around the next corner.
“That’s it,” Reegan said.
Saul hated it on sight. Not for its looks. Even abandoned, it was a beauty, with ten-foot high stained glass windows and multiple gables. The roofline looked more optical illusion than real life architecture, the way it dipped and disappeared in several places, only to appear again where he least expected. There could be two dozen men hiding on it, and they wouldn’t know until too late.
“Could you have picked a harder place to approach unobserved?”
“It’s not exactly part of our normal criteria.” Reegan took the small set of binoculars Saul passed him. “Private and unobtrusive, that’s what’s usually important. How do you use these things?”
Saul slipped behind him and held them up to his eyes. Reegan let out a delighted sound and began panning them over the church’s roof. “You have the quaintest toys.”
Jamming his fingers against his eyelids, Saul sank to his haunches behind the waist-high concrete barrier. “This is a bit like being on stakeout with a ten-year-old.”
“Would a ten-year-old make you scream in bed like I do?”
He couldn’t let that pass. “I don’t scream.”
Reegan lowered the binoculars long enough to bestow Saul a self-indulgent look. “You’re right. You sing like a nightingale.”
“Is this part of your grand plan to make me hate you?”
Reegan relinquished the binoculars. “Is it working?”
“Not yet.” Saul rose to his haunches and started a thorough inspection of the façade. “Can you describe the interior?”
“How much detail do you want?”
“Be as specific as possible.”
“You’re not going to like it.”
Saul shifted his gaze to the people loitering in front of the church. “I already don’t like it.”
Reegan settled cross-legged onto the cold pavement. “They’d tried renovating it at some point. But I could tell when we came out that the work has been suspended for some time. The doors you see there, the three double doors that face the street, they lead into an arched narthex. That’s not how I got out, though. There’s a side door. It’s off a sheltered courtyard on the east side of the building. There’s a stairwell inside that leads up into the narthex.”
“Is the door locked?”
“I locked it behind me, but that’s no guarantee of anything. D’arco’s men might be using it as well, and I doubt they have a key.”
Saul absorbed that fact in silence. “How big is the narthex?”
“Big.” Reegan tapped a finger to his lips. “At least seventy feet across. Maybe twenty-five feet deep.”
“Is it open to the nave or separated by more doors?”
“There are doors if I recall, but they were propped open.”
“How many aisles?”
“One main and one down each side.”
So three in all. Which aisle would be safer depended on too many factors to count. It’d be like trying to dodge a sniper in an open field no matter how they went about it. He pressed a palm to his temple, trying to quell the pounding there.
“It’s going to be a bitch, isn’t it?”
Saul measured Reegan’s tone, decided he wasn’t expecting an answer, and signaled for him to move farther down the wall. “I don’t think sneaking past them is going to be an option. We need a workable alternative. How much time will you need to…leave.”
Reegan considered. “Once we get inside the sacristy, it’s just a matter of keying the return sequence into my bracelet. I’ll have to wait for the portal to activate on the other side. A few minutes, at least. Once it’s ready, all I have to do is push this.” He showed Saul the proper button. “We’ll be gone in seconds.”
They paused at the very corner of the building, near the entrance to the stairwell. From this angle, Saul would be able to pick the best approach point. Assuming anything about the current situation reeked of bad judgment, but he’d have to make some educated guesses or they couldn’t move forward.
“What options do we have if we can’t sneak by them?” The shadows exacerbated Reegan’s grim expression.
“There’s only one, to be honest.” Saul pressed his back to the stairwell wall and glanced around the corner to the sidewalk in front of the church’s main doors. “I’ll have to lure them out. Leave the way inside clear for you and Silvia.”
Reegan’s jaw twitched its unhappiness with Saul’s answer.
“Hey.” Saul pressed them both farther into the shadows, out of sight, concern growing when Reegan wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I’ll get you two in there safe.”
Reegan’s head swiveled toward him. “What makes you think I’m worried about us?”
It never got old. The knowledge that somebody else cared whether you lived or died. Saul cupped Reegan’s cheek in his palm. “I got this.” Reegan’s lips parted, an invitation Saul couldn’t deny himself, but he kept the kiss brief. “It’ll work.”
Reegan gave a grudging nod. “When?”
“As soon as we get back. It doesn’t make any sense to wait.”
*
Saul risked a detour on the way back to Cammie’s, swinging into the parking lot of a Walmart. Rationally, he knew Reegan wasn’t safe anywhere. He’d come to believe that fact as much as he did the time travel gig. In fact, listening to Reegan describe the Novikov Principle to Silvia explained some of the events of the last few days, including Reegan’s penchant for being the victim of unusual accidents.
The man could just as easily be eliminated sleeping on Cammie’s sofa as he could anywhere. There were a million ways to die, but at least there Saul had fewer variables to keep an eye on. Here, danger could come from any direction. It was Walmart, after all.
Watching Reegan’s stoic expression slide into curiosity and then excitement made the risk worth it.
“What are we doing here?” He pressed his face to the window. “Jesus Christ, it’s a Walmart.”
“You still have Walmart in the future?”
“Are you kidding? You can’t kill Walmart. It’s like a giant, multi-billion-dollar co
ckroach. But stores like these? No. Not for decades Are we going in?”
“Yeah, but only for a minute. I’m starving. There’s a fast-food joint inside.”
Saul wasn’t taking any chances. He chose an out-of-the-way parking place and kept a firm grip on Reegan’s elbow as they made their way across the lot and into the store. Once inside, Reegan slowed to a snail’s pace, head whipping back and forth as he tried to take everything in at once.
“Okay, come on.” Saul tried to speed him along toward the food counter. “We need to be quick.”
Reegan grunted something that passed for agreement, but dragged his feet. He almost yanked Saul’s arm out of his socket when they passed a display of bottled water. “Three dollars for water?”
“Well, yeah.” Saul tried to examine the product critically. “It’s in tiny bottles. You pay for the convenience.”
“No. I mean, that’s all it costs?”
It felt exorbitant to Saul. Tap water was free, after all. “Uh, yeah. That’s all it costs.” He hooked Reegan’s elbow. “Let’s go.”
“Amazing,” Reegan mumbled. “Hey!”
Saul whipped around, hand going to the gun concealed beneath his jacket, but the only danger appeared to be a huge cardboard bin filled with hats. Reegan had folded himself in half to get at the goods and was teetering on the edge, feet clear off the floor. Saul yanked on one of his belt loops. “What are you doing? Get out of there.”
Reegan’s upper half emerged. Triumphant, he waved his prize at Saul. “Look!”
“It’s a hat.”
“It’s my hat.”
It did appear to be the twin to the brown, wide-brimmed hat on Reegan’s head, only in olive-green, complete with leather cord and tassels. Nor was it torn, stained, or frayed, as Reegan’s was. Saul groaned. “Isn’t one of those enough?”
Clearly Reegan considered the question rhetorical. “I’d like to have it.” He took in Saul’s obvious exasperation. “Please. To remember you by.”
Denying a request like that wasn’t possible. “Fine.” Saul took his arm. “Now let’s go.”
At the register, he counted out the proper amount of cash and handed it over. Reegan watched the transaction with hawklike eyes.
“Why did that man hold the bill up to the light?”
“To check for a security thread.” At Reegan’s blank gaze, Saul clarified, “To see if it was counterfeit. Do you still have problems with counterfeit bills in the future?”
“We don’t use cash.”
“What, you have a chip implanted in your ass or something that keeps track of how much money you have?”
“Yes.” Reegan cracked a sly smile. “I’m kidding. Of course not. But paper money is a novelty item. Banking information is completely electronic. The marketplace reflects that.”
“How’d you get so much cash, then?” The thought hadn’t occurred to him before then. Where had Reegan’s century-old novelty money come from?
“My boss gave it to me. He keeps stuff like that in the vault, for specific emergencies like this one. Not that I think he’s ever had this particular problem before, but preparedness is one of Maxie’s rules of thumb.”
“Lucky for you.”
They found the McDonald’s counter tucked into the corner by the exit doors. The smell of french fries reminded Saul yet again that his last meal had consisted of two pieces of french toast several hours ago. “Stay here.” He pointed at a spot near the door. “Right here. Where I can see you.”
Reegan met the order with an arched brow.
“Just do it, okay?” Saul ran a finger over the fresh bandage on Reegan’s cheek. They’d opted for a smaller one that morning. The wound was healing fast. “I don’t want you out of my sight.”
“Yes, Mommy.”
Saul returned in under five minutes, bag stuffed with food. Reegan examined the haul, holding up a cardboard box. “Hamburger?”
“Yeah. But I’m not promising it’s as good as the one you had at Once in a Blue Moon.”
“Who cares? It smells perfect. I might eat the bag too.” They took over a nearby bench and separated the order. Being quick wouldn’t be an issue with Saul. He was too hungry to eat slowly.
“Hurry up,” he prompted when Reegan’s attention drifted for the third time.
“Sorry, it’s just…” Reegan’s eyes shifted from one rack to another. “I’ve never seen so much clothing in one place.”
Saul paused mid-chew. “I thought you said you still had Walmarts in the future.”
“Well, sure. But not like this. How do you know which clothes fit?”
By this point in their relationship, Saul had learned most of Reegan’s questions were sincere, if odd. “You try them on.”
“One at a time?”
“Is there another way?”
Reegan frowned at the rotating racks of shirts. “I suppose not.”
The dubious tone Saul could endure. The thinly veiled amusement got his hackles up. “You do realize most people wouldn’t buy a piece of clothing they couldn’t try on first.”
“I can see how that would be true now.”
“How is not true in any time?”
Reegan inhaled a handful of fries before answering. “Simple. A body scan. It leaves nothing to question. The computer tells you what will fit.”
“A body scan.”
“It’s incredibly accurate. You step into the scanner, and the computer compiles a three-dimensional image of your body. From that, it calculates what size of any item you might need. For example.” He took a long drink through his straw. “You tell the computer you want jeans. It might ask you a series of questions in return. Your preferred color would be one. The program can even suggest the most flattering style based on your body type.”
These were details Reegan shouldn’t be sharing. By doing so, he perpetuated and expanded ripples in the time line. Ripples that would get him killed. Saul had to remember that when his curiosity about body scans and other things got the best of him.
He crumpled the empty bag. “Let’s go.”
*
Two blocks from Cammie’s building, Saul crossed an intersection, proceeding on a green light. Reegan was talking, something about billboards and cherry blossoms, hands gesturing and pointing, and only half of Saul’s attention was focused where it should have been. A near-fatal mistake.
As with most traumatic accidents, he didn’t remember much. The blare of a horn. The screech of tires. A sickening wrench of movement. His head slammed off the steering wheel as the Rover spun in a circle, throwing his stomach into his throat.
Blackness hovered at the edges of his vision, narrowing further the longer the car spun. No, he couldn’t pass out. Reegan might need him. Whatever had hit them had struck the passenger side of the vehicle, where Reegan had been sitting.
Saul moaned as the sickening spin slowed, then stopped. He tried to blink his vision clear. “Reegan?”
“I’m okay.” His voice trembled, the words gritty.
Saul’s mouth felt wrong, as though it were stuffed with cotton, his jaw refusing to open and close as it should. Blindly, he reached across the console, and a hand caught his.
“I’m okay,” Reegan repeated. “Jesus. That was close.”
With great care, Saul swiveled. Reegan’s body was pressed close to the console, pinned, though not tightly, by the buckled passenger door. “You sure? Can you move?” The words came out garbled, but Reegan laughed low in his throat.
“I’m fine. Bruised, but alive. Which is a miracle. You swerved just in time.”
He had? He didn’t recall that. “Oh.” He gave a weak cough. “Go me.”
“Damn straight.”
Faces appeared outside Saul’s window. Concerned witnesses. He gave them a weak thumbs-up, trying to ignore the throbbing in his jaw. “Think I screwed up my face.”
Scraped fingers took hold of his chin and turned him into the light. “Yep. No worries. You’re still gorgeous.”
A
policeman shouted through Reegan’s splintered window. “Hang on. We’ll have you out of there as soon as we can.”
Reegan drew a rattling breath as he tried to shift from beneath the crushed door. “You think D’arco’s men are having this much fun? ’Cause the idea of one of them pinned under a bus makes my heart sing.”
Another sickening spin began, and Saul shivered with a chill. Shock was setting in, he realized. His vision narrowed. Became tunnel-like. Staying awake for Reegan became his sole focus. “We can hope.”
“Hope is for the weak.” Reegan gave up trying to wriggle free. He slumped against the console and closed his eyes. “But right now it’s all we’ve got.”
Chapter Eighteen
“I said I’m fine. Please don’t ask again.”
Reegan’s voice penetrated the fog of white noise, but the words meant nothing to Saul. Thinking about them too hard made his head throb. A chorus of other voices hummed in the background. The air smelled of antiseptic. He heard the swish of a curtain being drawn nearby. Felt a soft breeze brush his bare arms and chest. Focusing on any one stimulus took tremendous effort. His ears buzzed, and a delicious warmth tingled in his arms and legs.
Saul knew that feeling. He was either drunk off his ass or high on narcotics. The left side of his face felt numb, but when he reached to touch it, pain lanced through his shoulder. He groaned his dismay, and Reegan’s voice came again, closer this time.
“Easy. Don’t try to move too quickly.”
Tongue thick and mouth dry, Saul nonetheless managed a question. “What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?”
It raced back the moment Reegan answered. The accident. But hadn’t he been conscious afterward? They’d been sitting in the ruined Rover, waiting for an ambulance. One had obviously arrived, because Saul was now flat on his back on a gurney. A loud beep above his head signaled the blood pressure cuff on his bicep to tighten. Saul waited for it to release before verbalizing the obvious conclusion. “I’m in a hospital.”