'And then what?'
'That's when we leave. Or when we left. This time will be different.'
Lionel looked confused. 'Different? How?'
'This time I know more than he does.' The rumble of tire on tarmac caught their attention. 'Remember,' Josh added, 'go with it.'
Two blacked-out SUVs pulled up, hidden grille lights flashing. Ramirez had spotted them first and was approaching them as they pulled up. The men who emerged were inconspicuously suited, just as Josh had described. Ramirez led the group of four over to Josh and Lionel, introducing them and then vanishing as soon as he was dismissed.
'I'm agent Tom Edwards,' the man leading the group said, 'and I'm sorry for this whole debacle. I'm sure we can get this resolved right away and be out of your hair.'
'Edwards . . .' Lionel mumbled.
'Yes, that's right,' Edwards said, his expression quizzical. 'I appreciate that you have a site to run, Mr. Parker, and the sooner we can get our job done, the sooner you can get back to yours.'
It was Josh's turn to take the lead. 'I know what this is about,' he said, looking between Lionel and Edwards.
'Can I ask who you are?' Edwards said.
'Josh Reed, Principal Tunnel Engineer. I assume you're interested in what we found, and it was me and my team that found it, so we may as well get to talking.'
Edwards smiled, not unkindly. 'Fair enough. Let's get to it then.' He turned to his colleagues, who took it as a sign to disperse into the site. When he faced Josh and Lionel again, the three of them were alone. 'You're both intelligent people, so I won't dance about the subject. You're right: this is about what you found. We will perform our investigation, and we may need to confirm some things with you—both of you—depending on what we find. For now, I can only ask that you stay in town and stay contactable, in case we need to follow up on anything.'
Lionel was staring into infinity, dumbfounded by the whole ordeal. Josh spoke for him. 'We're not going anywhere. You may not realize it now, but you need us more than you think. It's in there, Edwards. What you're looking for is in there.'
Studying Josh, Edwards held his tongue, deliberating his response. Then the smile returned. 'And what do you think we're looking for, Mr. Reed?'
Josh had to pick his words carefully. He wanted Edwards to take him seriously, but didn’t want to show his hand just yet. Edwards couldn't be trusted—that much was clear. 'Something you've been trying to find for a very long time.'
Edwards stared at Josh for a while, then at Lionel. His decision was made. 'Okay, Mr. Reed, Mr. Parker, I think I've used up more than enough of your time.' He gestured for them to leave, then started for the site entrance himself. 'We will be in touch if we need anything further.'
As Edwards walked away from them, about to disappear into the site, Josh called out, 'You've sent one of your men in there. He'll die if you don't stop him.'
Edwards stopped, and when he turned to face them, his expression was dark. 'Be careful with what you say, Mr. Reed. Threatening a federal officer is a serious offence.'
Josh had never seen Edwards like this before. He knew the man was ruthless, but he was also calculating, and this brief exposure of his inner self gave him the chills. 'It's not a threat. The room, it's—it's not like the ones you've found before. It's alive. It's protected. I'm the only one who can go in there.'
Edwards was clearly torn. It was apparent that he couldn't believe Josh knew anything, but he also couldn't ignore what Josh had just said. 'Tell me how you know this,' was all he asked.
'You—you told me.'
Taking a few steps toward Josh, Edwards said, 'What do you mean, I told you?'
'The room.'
'What about the room?'
This was a pivotal moment, Josh knew it. The words were loaded in his mouth, ready to fire, but once he pulled the trigger, there was no going back. 'It's a portal,' he said slowly. 'A portal through time.'
Chapter 20
Edwards appeared to have frozen; even his expression was ice. Josh swallowed, throat dry, waiting for Edwards to respond. Perhaps Edwards already knew? He didn't seem to; there was surprise in his locked down expression. Did Edwards believe Josh? Perhaps not. Regret ballooned, and Josh's throat would not moisten.
Reaching into his pocket, Edwards broke his motionless pose by retrieving a radio. He spoke into it. 'Do not go into the room. Repeat: do not go into the room. Report back immediately.' Without breaking eye contact with Josh, he waited for a response.
'Bryant and Owens have already headed down there. We aren't able to make contact with them.'
Thinking briefly, Edwards replied, 'Stay there. I'm coming down.'
'Copy.'
To Lionel, Edwards said, 'Wait there.' To Josh, he said, 'You, come with me.'
'Josh . . .' Lionel said, as Josh followed Edwards into the site.
'I'll be fine,' Josh said.
Lionel nodded, still affixed to the spot, as Josh entered the site. A police officer closed the gate behind them, and without a word, Edwards led Josh to the elevator. They boarded, and descended into the cavern. Josh decided to break the silence first.
'What are you going to do with the room?' he asked.
Edwards stiffened.
'You may as well talk to me. Surely you want to know what I know?'
'I have no guarantee that you know anything.'
'Come on—you know I'm not making this up. That's impossible.'
Edwards gave Josh a reproachful look as the elevator came to a halt. He slid the cage door open. 'Maybe later,' he said, then headed down the stairs. Josh followed.
Two agents waited for them down at the station. The train was gone, presumably deep into the tunnel with Bryant and Owens.
'Sir,' one of the agents said, approaching Edwards, 'we keep trying to get them on the radios, but there's no response.'
'You need radios tuned in to our repeaters down here,' Josh told them.
'Okay,' Edwards said. 'If we can't get in contact with them, how do we get to them?'
'There's usually a train, sir, but they've taken it.'
Edwards addressed Josh. 'Any other quick way in?'
Josh shook his head. 'Only on foot. Takes about ten minutes.'
'Then we go on foot.'
'Yes, sir,' the two other agents said at once.
There was no formality with hazmat suits this time; Edwards marched right on into that tunnel with purpose. If he didn't believe Josh now, he would soon. In a way, Josh admired the tenacity of the man, and the stubbornness with which he held his tongue. Surely he would have a thousand questions for Josh—but he didn't ask one. Not yet. He wasn't going to compromise his position that easily. There was a chance he wasn't going to compromise his position at all. He was a man who, by his own declaration, did not share what he did not need to share, and Josh wondered what else there was to find out. Whatever happened, Josh felt the need to keep his guard up. Edwards was not in this for Josh—he was in this for himself.
'How much further?' Edwards asked without looking back.
'About five more minutes,' Josh replied.
What had Edwards given away so far? Not much. And that was what made Josh so wary. If Edwards had no ulterior motive, then why would he not be open with Josh, talk to him on a level and build the bigger picture together? After all, Josh knew more about this phenomenon than anyone, and still Edwards was being cagey about it. It didn't add up.
'There's the train,' one of Edwards's agents said, pointing.
'Just a little further,' Josh told him.
Edwards was hiding something. It was obvious. And he didn't seem to care that it was obvious. Alienating Josh was worth less than what he had to protect, and a man with something that big to protect would stop at nothing to do so. That man would be a dangerous man, not to be trifled with.
'Bryant!' Edwards shouted to a figure visible at the end of the tunnel. The figure, wearing a hazmat suit, turned and ran toward them.
'Sir!' he sputtered, voice muffl
ed, then nearly tripped. He collected himself, carried on running, and arrived panting and ashen. He pulled off his facepiece, sweat glistening on his skin and soaking his hair.
'Where's Owens?'
'He—' Bryant panted. 'He went in, sir.'
'He went in? Why? I gave explicit orders to stay outside of the room—'
'I know, sir. I told him not to, but he wouldn't listen. He went in. Hasn't come out.'
Edwards was silent for a moment. 'Okay, Bryant. What can you tell me?'
Bryant, although calmer now, took a deep breath, uncertain about reliving the events preceding. 'There's an energy in the tunnel up ahead. You can feel it. It gets stronger as you get closer to the room. The walls, they're like a crystalline metallic—'
'Yes, I know,' Edwards interrupted hastily. 'Tell me about Owens.'
'He wanted to go in, sir, and I told him no. He said he'd be fine. Seemed entranced by the energy, wouldn't look away from the room. As soon as he climbed down, there was this flash of light and I saw him go flying. He won't respond now, sir.'
For the first time since the surface, Edwards looked directly at Josh. 'You think you can go in there?'
Josh nodded. His chest was tight.
'Follow me,' Edwards said, leading the way. The group followed, and Edwards stopped. 'Just Mr. Reed. The rest of you, wait here.'
Looking a little confused—except for Bryant, who was more relieved than anything else—the others did as they were told. Josh followed Edwards up to the drill and into the fresh tunnel, still round and intact.
Inside, the energy only became noticeable about halfway in. It's still weak, Josh thought. Soon, its power will spread across the continent. They could still get close without time being affected. In a few hours, things would be very different.
They stood together at the precipice. Darkness yawned around them. The air hummed with electricity. Then Edwards did something Josh hadn't expected. He smiled. It was involuntary, and Edwards seemed to have forgotten that he wasn't alone. There must have been a long road to this point for him, and now he'd made it. Then he snapped back to reality, addressing Josh.
'Prove it,' was all he said. Josh knew full well what he meant, but nerves kept him frozen to the spot. Edwards folded his arms. 'I'm waiting,' he said.
There was no getting out of this if Josh wanted Edwards to believe him—he'd have to do as he was asked. The ladder was still propped up against the edge, and he made his way toward it.
'Slowly,' Edwards instructed.
Josh stepped backward over the edge, feeling for a rung. Then he stepped down to another, and another, and another. Soon his head was below the edge, and then he was standing on the crystalline ground.
'I'm in,' he called up.
Edwards didn't respond at first.
'Hello?'
'Okay, you can come back up,' Edwards said at last.
Hurriedly, Josh clambered out. The Edwards he met when he was back in the tunnel was not the same as the one he'd left there. He was different: anxious perhaps? Uncertain? No—he was in awe.
'Do you know why you can do that?' he said.
Josh shrugged. 'No.'
The awe had a certain curiosity to it. Edwards circled Josh, who remained still, as if weighing up what he knew to be true against what he hoped to be true. 'You say you've used . . . the portal?'
Nodding, Josh said, 'Yeah.'
Edwards had completed his circle, and by now the curiosity had flushed away any trace of reservation. 'I believe you,' he said. It seemed to be more of a big deal to Edwards than it did to Josh, like he was saying it for his own benefit. 'I want you to tell me everything.'
'Well,' Josh began, but Edwards held up a hand.
'Not here.'
'Where?'
'Langley.'
'Why?'
'You'll see. There's a helicopter waiting. Let's go.'
The CIA motorcade rumbled through the Manhattan streets, sirens yelping at anyone that dared get in their way. Josh clung on to his seatbelt as the driver hurled them around yet another corner without slowing down. They were heading for JFK—if they didn’t roll over before then—but as they left Manhattan and entered Queens, Josh realized that they weren't going the usual way. They left the traffic behind, slowing to enter a gated area that spilled onto a long driveway. The gate rolled shut behind them and they sped down the drive, kicking up the loose stones that had accumulated since its last use.
The main airport was a few miles over to the left, big commercial airliners coming in low overhead and touching down a little way off from where they were headed. At the end of the driveway, the motorcade pulled up outside a row of small hangers, agents climbing out before the vehicles had come to a complete stop.
'Come on,' Edwards said, disembarking. Josh followed, silenced by the whole situation. He jogged to catch up with Edwards, who was already marching across the concrete to one of the hangers, where a helicopter awaited them, blades already chopping at the air. Edwards ducked under them and Josh did too—he'd seen the movies—and they boarded the helicopter. Belt buckles barely fastened, they were in the air.
Edwards handed Josh a headset, and put on his own. 'Thirty minutes,' he told Josh, anticipating his first question. 'Now—tell me everything you know.'
Josh was uncertain: Edwards's sudden change of heart had thrown him, left him feeling vulnerable. 'You tell me something first,' he replied.
'In good time,' Edwards said.
'How do I know I can trust you?'
Edwards laughed, but the humor in it seemed forced. 'You came to me, remember?'
'I know what you're capable of.'
Still smiling, Edwards said, 'So it seems. Tell you what—how about I bring your family along with us, let you talk with them first, see what they think you should do?'
Josh didn't quite know how to react to that. Was it a threat, or a genuine reassurance?
'You'd like to see them, wouldn't you? I know how much they mean to you, Georgina and Joseph.'
Swallowing, Josh said, 'Yes.' There was no malice in Edwards's tone that he could detect—but Edwards seemed like the kind of person who'd be good at hiding it if he wanted to. He was a professional manipulator.
'That's settled then. I'll have them brought to Langley immediately.' He punched a message into his cell and pocketed it. Just like that, Josh's family had been summoned. Clearly Edwards was keen to get the information he wanted. 'So, Mr. Reed—you were saying?'
And Josh told him. He told him about drilling into the room, the material, the energy. The darkness. He told him about the headaches, the visit from the police, the CIA. Then he told Edwards about the visits, to him, to his colleagues, to his family. The picture frame. Edwards listened without a word. He seemed to be taking it in, but his expression was neutral. It stayed like that until Josh was talking about the portal, the trip to the future, the sun speeding up through the sky. Then Edwards's expression changed. It became more intense. He was hearing what he wanted to hear.
'Everything was in ruins, like it had been deserted for years,' Josh explained. 'It seemed like everyone had left in a panic. There were abandoned cars everywhere.'
Edwards was giving his full attention. 'Tell me more about what happened to the sun.'
'It's—it's hard to remember, but the way it moved, it was like time was . . .'
'Accelerating?' Edwards suggested.
'Yeah—the further I got from the room, the faster time went. The sun moved through the sky quick enough to see. Days lasted minutes. Does that makes sense?'
'And then what?' Edwards asked, ignoring Josh's question. 'You came back?'
'Everyone was gone. I had no choice but to come back again.'
Edwards was silent for a moment, his face unreadable. Then he said, 'The portal, what else do you know about it?'
'Well—as the energy in the room grows, its effects do, too. I don't know how to explain, but it’s like a well that's getting deeper and deeper, and the longer we wait, the longer
it takes to climb out. I think the room is supposed to contain it, but we—we drilled through it.'
'Time is not on our side then.'
'No,' Josh said. 'No, it's not. We've got half a day at best.'
Edwards's expression seemed to suggest that what Josh was saying made sense, but Josh couldn't be sure. He wanted to ask, but he knew he wasn't getting any answers until they arrived at Langley. There was no escaping from Langley.
'So what do we do?' Josh asked.
Edwards broke from thought. 'Don't worry about that. We'll take care of everything. All I need you to do is keep talking to me. I need every last detail.'
Down below, the Potomac River could be seen winding its way across the horizon. The CIA headquarters, a blocky, symmetrical building surrounded by car parks, and then trees, could be clearly seen in the crook of the river. It was a little underwhelming; Josh had expected something more . . . impressive. The housing estates dotted around the building and the highways beyond did not add to the sense of high security and global secrecy.
'There's not much else to tell,' Josh said. 'I've told you everything I know.'
'As long as you're sure.'
Josh wondered if Edwards was just bringing him to Langley to keep him secure, stop him talking about what he knew to anyone else. The room, the portal, they were powerful pieces of technology, and of course Edwards wanted to keep them protected. He'd probably already had Josh's family flown in—the offer was simply a pleasantry. 'I've told you what I know,' Josh said. 'Why can't you tell me anything?'
Edwards, looking out of the window, had a glint in his eye. He was close to something. The pieces were falling into place for him. What the outcome was to be, only he knew. 'Because it would be better to show you.'
Chapter 21
The helicopter set down just outside the building complex, where agents awaited them. They bustled Josh from the helicopter, leading him quickly to the main entrance. There were no pleasantries.
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