She heard the Professor lock the emergency exit and come down the stairs to the entrance to the top floor. He stopped as if he had heard something. Elle held her breath; he was only a flight of stairs away. Seconds later, he was gone and she let out her breath. It was too risky to go back to the lift, so she tiptoed down the staircase and let herself out of the fire exit at the bottom.
It was after 11:00 pm when Elle got back to the flat. She had promised to speak to Jane and she was not looking forward to it. If she told Jane the whole story, she would also have to tell Ben. And she wasn’t sure how he would take it.
She opened the door, and she saw that Ben was working at his computer on the table with a glass of wine in his hand.
“Where’s Jane?” said Elle.
“She’s on call tonight. She’s covering for one of the other medics.”
“Any more news about Richard?”
“No. But he’s in good hands. Jane will look after him. I know they fight a lot; but she’s got a soft spot for the idiot. I think that’s why she’s covering tonight; to keep an eye on him.”
“So we’re on our own.”
He held up a bottle of wine. “Do you want a glass of wine?”
She got a glass from the kitchenette and he filled it for her. She went over to the settee and sat down.
“What are you working on?” she said.
“Just a class. But I’m finished now.” He closed down the computer, came across to the settee, and sat down next to her. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
“It’s a bit late.”
“Nonsense. What have you got in the morning?”
“Nothing much. Okay, but I want to change into my night clothes first.”
She went into the bedroom to change and returned in her nightshirt. She sat back down on the settee next to him.
“If you hear me snoring half way through don’t be surprised. What are you putting on?”
He got up and put a DVD into the player.
“It’s called ‘Starman’; it’s a classic sci-fi movie.”
“A horror?”
“No; more of a love story.”
He sat back down next to her. She pulled up her legs onto the settee and leant against him. Instinctively he put his arm around her and she snuggled into his chest.
“You will wake me, if I snore,” she said.
“Most definitely.”
An hour later she felt her eyes wanting to close. She must have dozed off. She was half asleep but she felt him pick her up and carry her into her bedroom. He slipped her under the bed covers and tucked her in. He kissed her on the forehead.
“Do you have to go?” she said. “I miss you being there.”
“But what about…”
“No one will know… I just want to sleep.”
A few minutes later they were curled up together in bed and she drifted back to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ben got back to the Medical Centre about 11a.m. the following day. The receptionist recognised him and buzzed Jane. Five minutes later, Jane emerged from the swing doors.
“How’s Richard?” said Ben.
“Oh, he’s back to his normal delusional self. I’ll take you through.”
Richard was in a side ward, wide awake and chatting to one of the young nurses, when Ben and Jane came in.
“Ben, where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to contact you all morning. Don’t you ever have your mobile switched on?” said Richard.
“Battery has been dead for a week. We went to Scotland and I forgot to bring the charger. How are you feeling?” said Ben.
“A bit stiff,” said Richard.
Jane laughed.
“I didn’t mean that,” said Richard, looking embarrassed. “It’s bad enough having the nurses check me out every half hour.”
“What do you mean?” said Ben.
“It’s something to do with the drug they gave me.”
Ben was still confused.
“Viagra,” he said, “do I have to spell it out.”
“Oh,” said Ben.
“It’s quite unusual for the effects to last so long,” said Jane, trying to contain a laugh. “It’s caused quite a stir among the nurses.”
“I don’t mind the female nurses; but I’m a bit worried by the male one. I’m sure he’s gay.”
“How long are you going to be in here?”
“Where’s Elle?” said Richard.
“I think she’s gone to the university library.”
“Ben, you need to find her quick and get her out of here. It’s the women in black — they’re after her and it’s all my fault. I told them she was the woman in the photograph.”
“You’re not making any sense, Richard.”
“The Russian women, Natasha, and Nina — I told them Elle was on the beach with the UFO. I’m sorry, Ben. They were amazing; I would have told them anything.”
“You mean you had sex with them?”
“Well, the young one, Nina.” Richard was grinning all over his face.
“And you told them Elle was the alien cat woman. I don’t know who’s crazier: you for saying it, or them for believing it,” said Ben.
“You need to get her away from here now, this minute. She’s in grave danger. My friends have been watching your place for me. They saw some men break into your place and bug it on Sunday. Please, Ben, trust me this one time. She really is in danger. You need to get her away now; but don’t say where. They might be listening even here.”
“I think for once he might be right,” said Jane. “Elle had a black catsuit in her drawer like the one in the photograph.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” said Ben.
“I… don’t know,” said Jane. “Elle was going to explain. We just didn’t get around to it. I didn’t think it was that important.”
“I’ll find her,” said Ben, getting up to go.
“Wait,” said Richard. “You need to take her somewhere safe; really safe, where she can’t be found. Don’t use credit cards, or your mobile; they’ll be traced. And keep away from CCTV.”
“Here,” said Jane, pulling out her credit card. “She can use mine. The PIN is the day and month of my birthday. And you can take my mobile.”
Ben took the card and the mobile, and ran out of the medical centre. Back at the flat he changed into his leathers, grabbed Jane’s leathers, and threw them into a holdall. Then he grabbed the motorbike helmets and casually walked out of the flat and up to his motorbike. In a second, he had mounted the bike and gunned it into life. With the rear wheel spinning, he turned the motorbike three-hundred-and-sixty degrees and raced off. In his mirror, he could see two men climbing out of the back of the van parked nearby. He raced around the block, entered the university from the rear entrance, and followed the narrow roads through the university to an alleyway adjoining the library. Now all he needed to do was find Elle.
Elle was working in her usual spot in the university library on the fifth floor in a small booth usually used by post graduates. Safe in the knowledge no one could see her she pulled out her portable computer, CAI.
“Computer on. CAI, give me an update.”
The screen came to life:
“Don’t speak. The CIA and KGB have your details and MI6 are not far behind. From the increased mobile activity, it is likely at least one of them will try to apprehend you in the next 24 hours. The flat is being monitored; you have been followed here.”
“But I’m not ready,” she typed.
“You are in immediate danger, Elle. Even as we speak, they are tracking you by satellite. I am using the same satellite to target them and I’ve found multiple target points outside the library. I also detect the presence of a laser microphone on the library window. They are listening to everything you say. Get out now.”
Elle felt dazed and unable to decide what to do next. She closed the computer, slipped it in her bag, and headed towards the lift. She got into the lift with a male and female student. Th
ey were talking, and although Elle wasn’t listening, she knew he was coming on to her. The lift came to ground floor and opened. She waited for the students to get out of the lift. In the foyer, people were coming in and out of the library, but they all looked and behaved like students absorbed in their own worlds.
Elle walked out through the revolving doors of the library and glanced up. She could see the CCTV cameras looking back at her from a pole on the library roof. She turned towards the Arts building and saw the same. Wherever she looked she felt they were monitoring her. She turned into an alleyway behind the Arts Building to hide from the cameras and came across a tramp sitting there. She gave him a wide berth and walked briskly past him.
As she started to relax again, a hand grabbed her left arm.
“Give us your bag...”
“Get off,” she yelled at him.
It was the tramp. His grip felt like steel. She turned to look into his face and froze with fear. He looked more like a soldier than a tramp; his head was shaven, his muscular arms were covered in tattoos and his eyes had a look of evil determination.
She threw her bag at him and he released her arm. He grabbed the bag. It was her opportunity to catch him off-guard. She kicked out as hard as she could and caught him between the legs. He collapsed to his knees grasping at his groin.
She picked up her bag and started to back away from him.
“Bitch,” he screamed at her.
She stepped backwards and tripped up. She watched as he got to his feet and pulled out a switchblade. He was smiling with an insane grin.
“Get away from me,” she said, as she tried to struggle to her feet.
“I haven’t finished with you yet,” he sneered. “You were told to leave and you didn’t. You need to be taught a lesson.”
“Rider?” she gasped to herself, as he waved the blade from side to side in front of her face.
She kicked out hard again, but missed and fell over and tried to crawl to her feet.
By the time she turned, he was on top of her and thrust his free hand over her throat.
She saw his knife hand moving towards her, when a hand grabbed it from behind. As his hand was slowly bent at right angles to his arm, she saw the expression change on his face. There was a loud crack and he gave out a cry of pain. A leg seemed to come from nowhere, kicking him hard in the rib cage under his extended arm. It landed with a thud. He fell to his knees. Then Elle saw the source of the blows; it was Ben. As the tramp tried to get back onto his feet Ben kicked him hard again, this time catching him in the chest sending him crashing backwards over a pile of dustbins.
“Are you all right?” said Ben.
Elle nodded and picked up her bag. Behind her, she heard the tramp running off. It was too much for her; she burst into tears. “He was going to …”
“No time. Come with me,” he said, grabbing her hand and urging her forward. They broke into a run to the end of the alleyway where Ben had left his motorbike. Two minutes later, they rode off through the narrow roads of the university towards the rear exit. As Ben reached the main road, he gunned the bike and roared away. They had got away and were safe at least for the time being.
“Where the hell are they?” shouted Daniels. She was sitting in the back of a blacked out van with Allie, Doug and Jim.
“I’ve lost them,” said Allie.
“What do you mean, you’ve lost them? You had SpyNet tracking her for god’s sake.”
“SpyNet’s down. The whole system is down. It’s never happened before. I can’t see a dam thing; we’re blind,” said Allie. “Something is interfering with it.”
“What about tapping into the road network CCTV,” said Daniels.
“The Brits cut off our access when you decided to go it alone. Do you want me to get the Major on line?”
“Better not: it will give our position away and he’s probably pretty much pissed at what we did to IFT. Can we hack in?” said Daniels.
“Yes, but it will take time.”
“Then you better make a start. What other leads do we have?”
“We still have surveillance on their flat.”
“I don’t think they would be stupid enough to call there, would they? What about mobile networks? They’re bound to use mobiles at some point. Get Langley and Homeland Security to see what they can do in terms of satellite surveillance of calls. Hell, there must be a way of finding these two people.”
“It would be a lot easier if we had MI6 on-side,” said Allie.
Daniels turned to Allie and glared at her. “Just do your job,” she said.
The Major made his way to the reception desk at the hospital. The head of MI6 had been contacted by the Russian embassy. They had formally lodged a complaint about the treatment of Natasha Zubrovski.
“You have a Natasha Zubrovski here?” he said to the receptionist.
“Are you family?” said the receptionist.
The Major flashed his MI6 pass, “This is a matter of national security.”
The receptionist froze not knowing what to do or say.
“Just point me in the right direction,” he said.
A couple of minutes later, he opened the door to Natasha’s private room. She was sat up in bed and a gorilla-sized bodyguard was sat in the chair next to her. She said something in Russian to the bodyguard and he left the room.
The Major put down a bouquet of flowers on the bed. “I’m sorry this happened on my watch, Natasha. It should never have happened if I had kept a proper leash on Daniels.”
“I told you she was a loose cannon.”
“I know. Are you okay?”
“I’ll recover.”
“Have you any idea where Daniels is? She’s gone off the map.”
“She’s after the cat woman: Elle Masters,” she said. “She’s the woman living with Ben Turner the university lecturer. Find him and you’ll find her; find her and Daniels won’t be far away.”
“What are you going to do?” said the Major.
“I don’t hold you responsible; or the CIA. But that bitch will get what she deserves.”
“I don’t blame you; but I would rather you let me deal with this.”
Natasha smiled at him. “Scotland,” she said. “I think they’re in Scotland. I don’t know where.”
“Thank you, Natasha,” said the Major and he turned to leave the room.
Ben pulled into a small service station to give Elle time to change into her leathers. Elle went off to the ladies’ toilets to change while Ben ordered coffee for them both.
When she returned she was dressed in her leathers.
“So what’s going on,” said Ben.
Elle grimaced. She knew it was going to be difficult to explain to Ben that she was a time traveller, and why she hadn’t told him from the outset.
“Ben, I wanted to tell you earlier; but you would never have believed me. The security forces are trying to find me about the UFO sighting.”
“But that’s just Richard’s over developed imagination,” said Ben.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Richard was right — I was on the beach.”
“So, what if you were on the beach. I was to.”
“But I’m the pilot of the craft.”
Ben stared at her shaking his head in disbelief.
“You’re an alien?”
“No,” she said. “It’s not an extra-terrestrial craft. It’s man-made; an experimental craft powered by a faster than light tachyon drive.”
“But no one has that kind of technology today.”
“They will in thirty-five years’ time.” She paused letting the idea sink in. “I’m from 2046, Ben.”
“You’re a time traveller?”
“Yes.”
“This is crazy… crazy,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” said Elle, “but I knew you would flip when I told you.”
“I just can’t get my head around this. I’m a scientist; this is science fiction.”
Elle to
ld her story of how she witnessed the murder of Jason Brannan, her escape from 2046, and how she collided with the US experimental aircraft.
“But why all the interest in those physics equations if you’ve already got time travel.”
“The craft is only an experimental prototype. It has a major glitch in the temporal directional control. I arrived in 2011, but I could have arrived in 2011BC; or god knows what.”
“Then our meeting was not by chance?”
“No,” she said tight lipped. “My computer found you and tracked you down to the beach that night from your mobile signal. You were the only one who had done any serious work on Tachyons in this period.”
Ben was trying to take it in.
“I was desperate,” she said. “The archives in my time show that you published a paper with Professor Campbell on the Tachyons in 2020. That’s where a lot of my original research came from. You were my best option.”
“Your best option? So it was all planned: the trip to Scotland, the kiss on the beach. I can see it now. I thought we were friends, but all the time I was just being used so you could sort out your glitch. God, I’ve been stupid. First Cindy, and now you.”
“You’re so, so wrong,” she said. “You can be a real pig when you want to.” She tossed her helmet at him and stood up. “You don’t have to help me anymore.” She turned around and stormed out of the cafe.
Ben sat there staring into his coffee, annoyed at himself and the feelings she had stirred inside him. The minutes passed and she didn’t return. Something inside of him snapped his senses back. She was not coming back. By the time Ben got to the door, she had crossed the car park and was trying to hitch a ride. A large truck came to a standstill beside her.
Ben sprinted across the car park. The truck was starting to move when he ran out in front of it. The air breaks squealed and the truck came to a halt. Ben stared into the cabin of the truck; he wasn’t going to move until Elle got out. Ten-seconds later the passenger cab door opened and Elle jumped down. The driver cursed at Ben as they moved out of his way and the truck pulled away.
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