‘I have just received a weak signal from the field office,’ he announced.
‘What?’ Liam’s face lit up. ‘Just now?’
‘Affirmative.’
‘Oh… thank Mary-mother-of-Jay-zus they’ve found us! And they’re OK,right? Of course they are.’
Bob became unfrozen and took another bite out of his bread.
‘So don’t keep me in suspense, Bob. What’s the message?’
His eyelids fluttered. ‘Message from field office: timecontamination in present. Result is complete devastation. Very low energy. Unsure of windowsize. Perhaps for one only. No second chance. Time-stamp as follows: Lat:38°54′24.35"N — Long: 77°2′33.94"W — Time 23.50, 03-03-57.’
Liam stared at Bob. ‘I… I’m not sure I understood much of that. Didyou?’
Bob nodded. ‘Their timeline has experienced a significant shift resulting in muchdestruction. As a result, their external power feed has become compromised.’
Liam’s eyes widened. ‘So what does that mean? Their time machine doesn’twork?’
‘Incorrect. It works, but they have a limited supply of power.’
‘Window for one only… That means…?’
‘That means they have only enough power to return one of us,’ Bob answered.‘That must be you.’
Liam shook his head. ‘Surely they can get us both backsomehow? If they fiddle around with their dials or something.’
‘Negative. Body mass affects the energy required for timeriding. You are very small,requiring much less energy than myself.’
Liam sat in silence for a moment, then finally shook his head.‘I… I can’t just leave you here on your own to… to terminate yourself,Bob. I just — ’
‘That is an illogical assessment.’
‘Surely something can be done to boost the energy their end, or lighten the load ourend? Something, surely?’
‘There is something that needs to be done,’ said Bob. ‘The data on thistimeline is stored in my hard drive and must be transported back with you.’
‘Uh… I’m not sure I like the sound of that.’ Liam swallowednervously. ‘Does that mean what I think it means?’
‘You will have to break open my cranium and remove the soft tissue inside, including myorganic brain, to access the computer. Disconnecting the computer and removing it will requireme to provide detailed instructions before you do this in order to prevent you from triggeringthe self-termination firmware as you extract the computer.’
‘Ugh… no… I’m not sure I can do that, Bob. Really… I’m-’
‘You have no choice. It is a mission requirement.’
Liam shook his head, already feeling sick at the thought of hacking open Bob’s head.‘So… so when would I have to perform this operation?’
‘The extraction window is set for twenty-five hours’ time.’
‘And where is it?’
Bob blinked, retrieving data. ‘The co-ordinates are for a street called JeffersonPlace, in the city of Washington DC. It is approximately one mile from the location of ouroriginal arrival window.’
Liam’s eyes widened further. ‘A mile from the White House? But that’s justcrazy! That whole area is going to be thick with soldiers and those buzzing air-jetthingies.’
‘We must make for this location within the time left. Once there youmust extract the computer from my cranium, or alternatively remove my head and take that withyou.’
‘Cut your head off?’ Liam blanched, his face turning sickly pale. ‘Ican’t do that, Bob. I’m… I’ve never been good with blood and ickystuff. I’ll faint… I’m telling you, I’ll keel over and faint, so Iwill. And then I’ll miss this window and we’ll both bein a fix.’
He looked down at the tepid remains of lumpy soup in his bowl and put it to one side, nolonger feeling hungry. ‘Is there really no other way?’
‘If you were smaller. If I was smaller. If the extraction window was opened geographically closer to the field office. If the extraction windowwas not so far back in time. These factors all affect the total energy required.’
Bob looked at him with his calm grey eyes. For some reason Bob tried out one of those pitifulsmiles he’d picked up from Sal. As far as Liam was concerned, that didn’t helpmatters. Didn’t help at all. It made him look strangely vulnerable, like an oversizedtoddler.
‘You will need to acquire a bone saw or blade with a serrated edge to remove myhead,’ Bob continued. ‘Also, you may need to acquire a power drill with-’
‘Jay-zus Christ!’ Liam blurted suddenly. ‘Enough! I need some air — think I’m going to puke!’
CHAPTER 65
1957, woods outside Baltimore
Liam stood outside breathing deeply, sucking in the cold air until the sensation ofnausea began to ease. He took a few steps through the undergrowth away from Bob’sshelter, trying to clear his mind of what needed to be done.
Past the slender sapling trunks and low fir tree branches he could see the flickering lightof the campfire in the middle of the clearing. Around it huddled most of Bob’s littlearmy, nearly a hundred after that last raid. He wondered how betrayed and angry all those menwere going to be when he had to announce that Bob was leaving with him; that they had othermore important matters to attend to.
Men don’t give up their gods or leaders lightly.
He imagined the scene was going to be nasty. Their eyes would be upon him, suspicious andaccusing, wondering what poison he must have dripped into their leader’s ear. But therewas no time to delay if Bob’s decoding of that message was right. Washingtonwasn’t so far away from here. Just over an hour of driving. But there’dundoubtedly be roadblocks and guarded perimeters to figure their way through, once theyreached the city.
Why’d they have to pick a place so close to the WhiteHouse?
He wondered how on earth they came to the conclusion that that was such a good idea. But thenit occurred to him that Foster, Maddy and Sal could have no idea where theymight be. So they were making a simple logical assumption — that they’d remainedin the vicinity.
That’s one hell of a big assumption.
A lot could have happened in six months; they could have ended up on the other side of thecountry in that time. Or even the other side of the world.
He shook his head. It was crazy and stupid that he and Bob couldn’t communicate back.Not for the first time he cursed this insane time-travel technology. Just when you thoughtyou’d managed to get your head round it, it just seemed to get even morecomplicated.
So, they had a time and a place now. At least that was something. Heading for the middle ofenemy-occupied Washington DC sounded like suicidal foolishness… but it wasn’t asif they had a choice.
‘Oh well,’ he muttered to himself. He was sure Bob would enjoy himself cutting aswathe through the bad guys. It’s what he did best.
The sooner they got a move on the better, left these woods behind… and Bob’s loyal band of worshippers.
Liam decided they’d be best setting off at first light. With a nationwide curfew inplace, they’d look far more suspicious if they were stopped at a checkpoint travellingaround at night than they would during the day.
Meantime, Liam decided, he’d better figure out a way for Bob to extract himselfpolitely from his devoted followers. He had visions of those men lynching him for luring theirmessiah away from them.
CHAPTER 66
2001, New York
Day 5? (since the power went)
So now we’re waiting. Waiting for the time machine to store up enough of acharge for us to try opening a window.