“Why would someone want to break into your apartment, Var’?” he said quietly. “What are you keeping in there?”
“N-nothing. I mean, Marisa meant it as a joke. She didn’t want to wait in the stairwell and…”
She thought she heard Sebastian sigh softly.
“Sebastian? What is this about?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Just make sure you come directly to the Rest Time Corps headquarters and bring the time transfer tech. Ask for Jonathan. I have to go now.”
He hung up and Varya made a split-second decision. The Rest Time Corps headquarters and her apartment were in opposite directions. She’d promised Sebastian to come to Rest Time Corps, but she had to make sure Kir and Elena were safe first. And Daniel. Zoe would never forgive her if anything happened to him.
“Varya?” said Connor. “Varya, what did he say?”
“I have to go. I have to go right now.”
“And take the transfer tech to…”
“Yes.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes and snapped the briefcase shut. “I have to take the transfer tech right now. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” She paused. “Thank you for your help, Connor. You may never understand how much this means to me, but just know that it means everything. I’ll make sure this technology never hurts anyone again.”
Connor sidestepped in front of her, cutting off her exit.
“Varya, wait. Why does this feel like good-bye? Where are you going?”
“I’m going home to check on my little boy,” said Varya. “Now get out of my way.”
He stepped aside and she marched out of the research facility that she had built and run, fuelled by her own grief, possibly for the last time.
Chapter forty-nine
Reg sat on Varya’s sofa, directly over the impression made by Sebastian the previous night. A uniformed police officer snapped his cuffs securely then read to him from a tablet, pausing from time to time so Reg could nod his understanding. Reg was the first in the room to see Varya as she pushed open her apartment door. He looked tired, thought Varya. And old.
Sebastian stood with his back to the front door, writing notes on his screen with a stylus and speaking quietly to a colleague. He looked up when the colleague did; over his shoulder his eyes met Varya’s. He murmured something else to his colleague and walked toward her.
“If you could wait outside for now…” he suggested gently.
“Why is he in my apartment? How did he get in without a…” Varya trailed off as she stared at Reg. Everything started to fall into place. “Marisa… is Marisa here?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“Mum?” she said. She started to calculate in her head how many hours she’d been away for; how many hours her mother might have been outside of the Time Lock for. How many hours she might have left until her Rest Time kicked in.
He pressed his lips together and flicked his eyes towards the kitchen.
“Mum!” she called out, a plea this time. She tried to walk towards the internal door separating the two rooms, but Sebastian stepped in front of her.
He shook his head. “Not yet. She’s still being questioned.”
“Questioned? Why are you questioning her? She has nothing to do with this, she’s…” Varya tried to push him out of the way but he took her by both arms and steered her around.
“Let’s go outside into the hall where it’s a bit quieter. I can explain there.”
Varya’s head swam but she clutched tightly to her handbag as she allowed herself to be led out of her own apartment. She pressed her fingers against the shape of the scanner, nestled next to her screen in the bag’s central compartment, reassuring herself it was still there. She wasn’t entirely sure what use it would be now, but she had to have it. It was her security blanket. Something to bargain with, perhaps. Sebastian led her to the small padded bench seat on the landing.
“Did you know your mother was seeing Reg?” he started.
Varya shook her head. “No, I had no idea. She can’t be involved with this, she wouldn’t…”
Sebastian held his hand up. “We know. She wasn’t directly involved. We caught the perpetrators earlier today. Reg swears he doesn’t know them, but they seem to know him and have copied the tech he stole from Rest Time Corps. Fortunately, they didn’t copy it particularly well. As we suspected, it’s an inaccurate duplicate and not functioning the way it should.”
“So, why is he being arrested? Why do you have him in cuffs?”
“Varya, he’s still responsible for a serious theft. And that theft led—albeit indirectly—to the deaths of four kids.”
Three kids, thought Varya. She studied Sebastian’s face for signs that he knew about the Time Lock, whether he’d found Daniel.
“Have you notified the children’s families yet?” she asked.
“Not yet. We’ll get Reg processed and the others fully questioned before we make those calls.”
So no, he hadn’t found the Time Lock. Otherwise Zoe would have been one of the first people he called.
“How about the people they sold the kids’ life spans to? Have you found them?”
Sebastian nodded. “Yes, we have. They’ve been taken into custody for receiving stolen goods. We’re still trying to decide what else to charge them with, and what their punishment should be. We can’t allow them to benefit from the proceeds of their crime. At the very least, we’ll confiscate the additional life span they stole.”
Varya pulled her handbag onto her lap, opened it, and handed him the black scanner.
“Is this…?” He turned it over, examining it as though he knew anything about the technology. Varya had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from laughing inappropriately.
“Yes.”
“You figured it out? It works? That’s pretty impressive.” He weighed it in his hands. “It’ll need to be destroyed again, though, after we confiscate the perpetrators’ stolen life spans. It’s no use to us now, with the kids…”
With the kids already dead, is what he meant to say.
“I’ll hold onto it for now, if that’s okay, while the higher-ups decide what to do with it,” he said.
Varya’s mind was already ticking over, trying to figure this bit out. She’d been so focused on getting Daniel out of immediate danger she hadn’t planned ahead for the bit where her team actually succeeded in reinventing the time transfer tech and Sebastian’s team succeeded in catching Daniel’s life span recipient.
“Your mum said she did it for you, you know.”
“Did what?”
Sebastian stared at her long and hard. “Asked Reg to steal the time transfer tech.”
She frowned. “What? For me? That doesn’t make any sense.”
He shook his head. “No. It didn’t make sense to me either.” He stood up and stretched to his full height. “I’ll need you to wait out here until Reg has been read his rights and removed to the station. Then I’ll come out and bring you inside. You’ll be able to talk to your mum then.”
“You’re not taking Mum into custody, then?”
Sebastian looked at her curiously. “No, we’re not. She says she doesn’t have long until her Rest Time. Maybe hours. We’ll question her and then she’ll remain here with you. It’s what she wants.”
Varya just stared right back at him as he returned to her apartment, her mind whirling.
If the time thieves had used the time transfer tech during the abduction of the children, it must have been stolen well before Daniel was taken. Why would her mother ask Reg to steal the tech before then? For herself? Did she hope to extend her own life span? It made no sense at all. Varya fidgeted and chewed on her tongue, hoping they would finish the questioning quickly.
It felt like hours, but her screen told her it was just seventeen minutes later, the door swung wide again, and Reg was led out by Sebastian’s colleague and the uniformed officer.
“Varya,” Reg nodded.
Varya looked at him, taking in his dish
evelled appearance. Did he feel guilty for what he’d done?
“I’m so sorry, love,” he said, as though he’d read her mind.
“I’m sorry, too, Reg.” If it hadn’t been for her mother would he ever have thought to try to steal the time transfer tech? None of this mess might ever have happened. The officers moved Reg along and they started the several storey descent down the stairs. Sebastian appeared at the door. The mess had thrown her in the way of him again, which wasn’t all bad. She’d been meaning to contact him, to ask about Kir, she’d been working her way up to it. She just wanted to try a few more things, to make absolutely sure it wasn’t something she could fix herself.
“You can come in now,” said Sebastian. “Your mum’s asking for you.”
He disappeared back down the hallway. Varya followed him, closing the door behind her.
Chapter fifty
Elena
“Mum, you need to go back now.”
My Varya is dancing around me like a toddler who needs to pee. If she could pick me up and throw me over her shoulder to put me back in the Time Lock, I believe she would.
“The boys won’t be awake for hours yet. There is plenty of time.”
Her eyes are desperate now as she checks the clock above my head. “How long have you been out here, Mum?”
I don’t answer her. I wait for Sebastian’s reaction, to see if she has told him yet. He looks very confused.
“What boys?” He looks to Varya. So do I.
“The children are out of danger now,” I tell my Varya. “So, you need to keep your promise.” I flick my head at this Sebastian. I feel sure that he will know the answers. He will be able to fix our Kir. Don’t ask me to tell you how I know this. Some things, you just need to have faith.
“Please, Mum. How many hours?”
I shake my head. No hours.
“Minutes? You have minutes left?”
Now I turn my head to look up at the clock myself.
“Thirty-seven minutes, my darling girl. I have thirty-seven minutes left.”
She comes to me then, throwing herself at my knees, tears in her eyes.
“Please, don’t do this. I can’t lose you both.”
“You have what you need,” I tell her, nodding towards Sebastian. His mouth opens and closes but he says no words. He is a sensible man sometimes. Perhaps he has grown through his grief.
“I need you,” she chokes.
I know in my heart of hearts that this has never been just about Kir. It’s about letting go of being able to control everything around her. She is a strong woman, this girl of mine, and for the most part, she asserts her will on the world with great success. But while she can leave Kir safely with me she will never swallow her own pride and admit her failings to Sebastian and ask for his help.
I take my Varya’s hands. “Your little boy needs you. He needs his mum. And he needs his dad. And he needs you both to figure this out. Not at some point in the next twenty years. Now. He doesn’t need to come out of there when you’re a mirror image of me and he has thirty-seven minutes left with you. He’s living his life now, and he needs to be out here in the world to do it.”
“But what if you’re… gone. And then I can’t fix him. What then? He needs you, Mum, please don’t do this.”
“You can’t fix him,” I tell her bluntly. I narrow my eyes at our Kir’s father. Varya turns to look at him, too. “But he can.”
“Fix who?” says Sebastian then. “What are you talking about?” He looks a little frightened now, confronted with this strong woman brought to her knees, reduced to tears at the thought of her mother leaving. She never cried when he left, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“Your son,” I tell him, simply.
“My son is dead,” he says, his mouth twisted. “Is this some sort of sick joke?”
“He’s not dead,” whispers Varya.
“What?”
“I said, he’s not dead,” she says, louder now. She turns to face him, wiping furiously at her tears.
“You told me he was dead.” He is horrified now, puffing out his chest, not sure whether to fight or flee.
“You left him for dead!” And now she is yelling. As she should—she is right. I check the clock again and decide to let them have it out for a few minutes. They need this confrontation, the one they never had all those years ago.
“I couldn’t stand to watch him in pain and to watch you in denial.” He is crying now, remembering. “I wanted to let him go and be in peace. But you insisted on keeping him, on keeping hope, even when there wasn’t any. Even when you were hurting our son with it.”
He has hit my Varya where it hurts. With truth that cuts her to the core. Because this is exactly what she did. Kir was in a world of pain that the doctors couldn’t keep at bay the whole time without killing him. The choice was pain and life, or death and peace. It’s not a choice any parent should have to make for their child. Sebastian couldn’t force Varya to choose death, so he left her alone to endure Kir’s pain instead.
“He’s alive?” he says quietly. I feel his anger dull to a throb.
Varya nods.
“But how?”
“A Time Lock.”
“You’ve kept him in agony for all these years?” His anger rises again.
“No! No, of course I haven’t. I made sure he was comfortable before he went in.”
Sebastian sits down heavily.
“A Time Lock,” he repeats, his head in his hands. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“They’re not legal. It would have put you in an impossible position.”
“Time Locks are theoretical. They’re experimental, they’re not illegal. They’re outside the law. How did you even…?”
My Varya smiles a little then, unable to keep her scientific pride at bay.
“I figured it out.” She shrugs.
“Clearly. But who looks after him? How do you feed him? How…”
He turns to me and remembers I’m in the room now. I smile broadly at him. The overlooked older lady that everyone forgot about. That nobody really noticed when I disappeared. They all assumed I’d had my Rest Time in sunny climates, just like we arranged. No funeral, no grieving, all my contemporaries gone within a few months.
“Your little boy has been safe with me,” I tell him with a gentle smile. “Marisa helps a little. She brings the food. Not quite the same as my cooking, but it passes. Cooking doesn’t work so well in the Time Lock. We’re not sure why.” I shrug. I miss cooking. I tried, early on. The vegetables would grow hot but not soften. The cake mixtures bubbled but never solidified.
“Sebastian, we found the cure for Kir’s brain tumour. He came through the operation and treatment with no side effects at all.” Varya is wringing her hands now. Sebastian and I both wait but she doesn’t go on.
She has come this far, but her pride won’t let her go further. She is all out of humility. I sigh and continue for her. “He still has a problem with his Time Chip. The treatment, it messed with it and made it go…” I wave my arms around a little, hoping Varya will interrupt me soon. I am quickly realising I don’t have the right words for this conversation. “His little body, it didn’t like the Time Chip anymore.” Usually if I bumble my way through scientific terms for long enough, she gets exasperated enough to tell me what I need to know. Or what Sebastian needs to know.
“His body started to reject the Chip?” Sebastian offers.
“Yes!” I say. “And the seizures. He started having the seizures.”
Sebastian looks to Varya. “This is what you wanted to ask me? About anti-rejection serums?”
Varya nodded, not meeting his eyes. “Connor said… said he thought you might know about one. We haven’t been able to develop one that we can test in similar enough conditions to ensure its safety. I need to know it’s safe.”
Sebastian smiled then, a watery, teary smile. “You’ve cured the cancer?” Varya nods. “And so… he’s still in the Time Lock because of the C
hip rejection, the seizures?” Varya nods again. “But that’s the only thing?”
“Yes,” she whispers hoarsely. “And it’s my fault. It’s my fault because I rushed the treatment without the proper tests…” She’s slumped at my feet now, twisted to face him. She flicks her eyes up to his briefly, trying to judge his reaction to this news.
He shakes his head in amazement. “Varya, you found a cure. You saved his life. That’s incredible.”
She moans. “I nearly killed him, Sebastian. I nearly killed him because I was rushing. I wanted it to be right. I wanted to be right. And it nearly killed him. I nearly killed our son.”
He stood up suddenly. “Can I see him? Is he near? Who’s looking after him?”
“Yes,” says Varya.
“He’s asleep,” I interject. “Can you fix him?” I ask, annoyed that they have had this big long discussion, taking up my valuable minutes but still not solving the issue at hand.
“Y-yes. Yes, of course. I can fix him,” says Sebastian, distracted. He’s trying to focus on me at the same time as looking around wildly trying to find where his little boy might be hiding. But I need to know. I raise my eyebrows expectantly. “Yes, Connor was right. We’ve been advancing in the field of anti-rejection serum over the past few years. We have several different types, including one that was developed specifically to deal with organ transplants and blood transfusion cases. It’s fully tested and operational. No side effects.” He turns to Varya. “They did a blood transfusion as part of Kir’s treatment?”
She nods. “Several.”
He grins. “Well, there you go. That’ll be what triggered it. The Chips are programmed to the recipient’s genetic code. Transfusions and transplants can screw with them if the genetics are too different, even if the blood type matches.”
Stealing Time Page 20