Stolen Time Read online

  “Not to pile on the bad news, but I don’t think we exited the anil at the correct time,” Willis said, nodding out the window. The sun was creeping below the tree line, sending fingers of gold light flickering through the woods. “The sun is only now setting, so it can’t be later than six p.m. Fort Hunter will be fully operational for the next eight hours.”

  “That means armed soldiers guarding every entrance, security cameras following our movements, a locked gate at the perimeter, not to mention security codes to get through the doors.” Zora ticked each item off on her fingers as she spoke. “Right?”

  “Full staff, full security, yes,” Willis confirmed. He shook his massive head. “Our best bet would be to wait here and try to enter the complex at two in the morning, when they drop down to a skeleton crew again.”

  “If we do that, we risk missing the Professor completely,” Ash said. “According to his journal, he planned to arrive this morning, between two and six a.m. We have no way of knowing if he meant to stay here past that window, or head somewhere else once he got whatever he came for. We have to find a way inside, now.”

  “Haven’t you been listening?” Zora said. “That’s impossible.”

  Dorothy had been taking deep, even breaths to try to calm herself after that flight, but now she tilted her head, her interest piqued. She’d spent a lifetime opening locked doors and slipping inside private rooms. If there was a building that was impossible to break into, she hadn’t found it yet.

  Ash said, “There’s got to be a record of the old access codes somewhere in those notes Willis found.”

  Willis shook his head. “I didn’t see anything like that, at least not in the materials I’ve already downloaded, and seeing as there’s no internet in the eighties, we can’t exactly double-check.”

  “Then we’ll take out a guard. Get him to open a door.”

  “We’re not breaking into a bank, Ash,” Zora said. “These are trained soldiers at one of the most secure military complexes in the world. They’re not going to let a bunch of civilians slip through the door.”

  Dorothy turned all this over in her head. Trained soldiers at every entrance. Doors held shut with access codes.

  Yes, that did sound tricky. . . .

  It was too bad they weren’t trying to break into a bank. That was actually fairly simple. Dorothy had once needed to retrieve an expensive diamond broach from a bank that was supposed to be impenetrable. She chewed back a smile, remembering.

  In the end, it’d been easy. The building had top-notch security, but it was the funniest thing. Once they caught you milling around outside—

  Oh. Dorothy curled her fingers around the ipecac, a plan taking shape in her head. The others were still arguing and seemed no closer to landing on a solution of their own. She could help them. . . .

  But she hesitated, eyes flicking to the time-machine door. Why would she help them? All she’d wanted was a ride back in time, and here she was. She doubted anyone would stop her from leaving. There was no reason for her to get involved.

  And there was that strange vision. Roman leaning toward her, his face inches from her own. You shouldn’t trust them.

  Nerves prickled inside of her. But the vision had been nothing—just a trick of her subconscious. A dream memory, like the ones she had when she’d gone from 1913 to 2077. And the plan was already there, fully formed, and, if she could say so herself, perfect. She chewed on her lower lip. It would be a shame not to try it.

  Tucking the bottle into her pocket, she leaned over, nudging Willis on the shoulder. “You have a sort of . . . map of this Fort Hunter place, right?”

  Willis nodded. “All twenty-nine floors.”

  “May I see it?”

  Willis tapped on his computer a few times and then handed it to Dorothy. “If you want to zoom in, just do this.” He made a pinching motion with his fingers.

  Dorothy didn’t know what that meant, but she nodded like she understood, and took the device, squinting down at the image it displayed.

  Tiny hallways and rooms spiraled out in front of her. It made her dizzy to look at them all. The words labeling them were too small to read, black blurs of ink on a too-bright surface. She’d never find what she was looking for.

  “What are you doing?” Ash sounded wary, but there was something in his eyes as he looked at her. Amusement, maybe.

  Dorothy said, “I thought I had an idea.”

  Now he grinned. “I hate to break it to you, but you ain’t getting those doors open by batting your eyes at some soldier.”

  “I have other skills.” Dorothy tried to say this in an offhand way, but she could feel the defensiveness seeping into her words. Men tended to assume that beauty and intellect were mutually exclusive. It was wearying.

  Ash’s eyebrow went up, making it feel even more like he was laughing at her. Dorothy could feel her neck heating.

  “Is that so?” he said.

  “Sometimes I do this little half smile. Turns men to putty.” Dorothy kept her voice light, as though they were flirting, but her shoulders stiffened.

  He kept underestimating her. First, back at the churchyard, when she’d snuck onto his ship, and then again after Roman had kidnapped her. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much. He was nothing to her but a ride. She wasn’t even particularly interested in the contents of his pockets.

  And then she realized: she hadn’t been trying to fool him. Every other man she’d known had only seen her pretty face. That was sort of the point of con work: she had to disappear long before anyone realized how talented she actually was. But she’d shown Ash who she was, and he didn’t believe her.

  The thought made her feel strangely lonely. She itched to pull the watch she’d stolen out of her pocket and dangle it in front of his nose, like a child. See! See what I can do? As though that might convince him that she had more to offer.

  He was still smiling at her, a lazy sort of smile that said he didn’t expect much from her, even now. “All right, sweetheart. Impress me.”

  Ugh, she thought. Sweetheart.

  Luckily, that’s when her eyes zeroed in on the room she’d been looking for. It was to the side of a tunnel leading in from the main entrance. She handed the computer to Ash. “There,” she said, pointing.

  He leaned in closer, frowning down at the tablet, one hand brushing against her back.

  “You’re joking,” he said, in a very different tone of voice. His smile was gone.

  “I’m not.” This time, Dorothy was the one smiling. She tapped the device again, her confidence growing. “That’s how we’re going to get inside.”

  24

  Ash

  Twenty minutes later, Ash stood outside a chain-link fence, the massive mountain that hid the Fort Hunter complex towering over him. The only clue he had that he’d ended up somewhere special was the warning sign hanging above him.

  WARNING. RESTRICTED AREA.

  This installation has been declared a restricted area according to a secretary of defense directive, issued May 19, 1963, under the provisions of Section 31, Internal Security Act of 1950.

  All persons and vehicles entering hereon are liable to search. Photographing or making notes, drawings, maps, or graphic representations of this area or its activities is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the commander. Any such material found in the possession of unauthorized persons will be confiscated.

  Ash looked past the sign, fixing his eyes on a blinking red light hanging just over his head. Security camera. Someone was watching.

  Nerves crept up his spine, warning him that this was probably a very bad idea. He wasn’t sure he knew Dorothy well enough to place his entire crew’s safety in her hands.

  She got away from Roman, a small voice reminded him. That meant she was smart. And she’d stowed away on his ship, which meant she was sneaky. And she’d jumped out an eighth-story window, so she was brave, too.

  Those were the reasons he’d agreed to her plan back in the Second Sta
r, but now he was having doubts. He should have made her go over the details again, to check for holes. He should have tried harder to come up with an idea of his own. He should have waited. He should have—

  Ash shook his head, forcing the concerns aside. The Professor was somewhere inside that mountain, past the security fence and the cameras, closer than he’d been in almost a year.

  Ash would have to trust her. He lifted the walkie-talkie to his lips. “I’ve reached the perimeter. Over.”

  Zora’s voice answered through the static: “You’re clear. Over.”

  Ash clipped the walkie-talkie back onto his belt and glanced over his shoulder. He’d insisted the others hang back and let him go in first, as a pawn, just in case there were any trigger-happy soldiers hanging around the main gates hoping for a little target practice. Willis hadn’t loved that idea, but Ash had pointed out that, of the two of them, he was the only one who knew exactly how and approximately when he was going to die. If he were shot, it wouldn’t be fatal—it couldn’t be. Willis had grudgingly agreed that was true.

  Now Ash squinted, trying to make out the shapes of his crew spread out in the black. The moon hung full and silver in the night sky, but its light did little to break up the shadows of the woods. The gnarled tree branches looked too much like arms, the leaves twitching in the wind too much like fluttering hair.

  Ash turned back to the gate. “Here goes nothing,” he muttered, and said a quick, silent prayer as he cut straight through the fence. The link split with a pop.

  Ash continued working in silence. After a few minutes, he’d created a vaguely person-shaped hole in the chains. He paused to wipe a hand over his forehead—damp with sweat, even though it was cold enough in these woods to freeze him where he stood—and then lowered the bolt cutters and ducked through the hole.

  To the walkie-talkie: “I’m in. Over.”

  “We’re right behind you,” came the reply. “Over and out.”

  A bat flew above, casting a jerky shadow onto the already darkened ground. From somewhere in the distance came a sound like running water. Ash headed for the mountain, dry grass crunching under his feet. Every soldier worth his salt was taught to walk without making a sound, to move like a shadow. Ash felt like an idiot for ignoring his training, but he wanted to be seen. He’d spent enough time in the armed forces to know that there were always a few soldiers who fired first and asked questions later. If someone was going to get shot, it needed to be him.

  His palms had started to sweat, his muscles gone tense. He tried not to think of the others creeping through the woods behind him, hiding in the shadows, ducking from tree to tree.

  According to Willis’s blueprints, the main entrance cut into the rock face about twenty yards ahead. The walk seemed to take longer than it should have. The dark playing tricks, Ash figured. Or maybe it was his nerves, drawing the seconds out, making every minute feel like three. He found himself speeding up, subconsciously hoping to shave a few seconds off the time it took to reach the Professor. He stopped himself when he realized what he was doing. Cutting corners would screw up everything.

  They were so close. Now was the time for caution.

  Finally, the trees parted, revealing a great metal tunnel protruding from the side of the mountain, like a mistake of nature. Barbed wire–topped fences stood to either side of the paved road leading up to the entrance. Soldiers waited at attention just before it, silent, their boxy guns carving lines across their chests.

  Ash dropped to a crouch, fumbling for the walkie-talkie at his belt—

  Cold metal pressed against the back of his neck.

  “On your feet, civilian,” said a deep, steady voice. “And keep your hands where I can see ’em.”

  Ash stood slowly, reaching for the sky. The gun didn’t leave his neck.

  “ID?” the voice asked. The gun vibrated against Ash’s skin when he spoke.

  Ash swallowed. He had a driver’s license from 1945 tucked in a shoebox back home. Not that it would have done him any good now. He shook his head.

  “Why don’t you try explaining what you’re doing around here, son?”

  Ash’s mouth felt dry. “Nature walk.”

  “In the middle of the night? Right. Want to tell me why you need a walkie-talkie for your nature walk?” The man removed the gun from Ash’s neck and stepped around to where he could see him. He was a soldier, generic-looking in his army-green fatigues. He nodded at the walkie-talkie hanging from Ash’s belt. “That looks military grade.”

  Ash didn’t say anything. It was military grade. Stolen from 1997. He hoped the soldier didn’t look at it too closely.

  “Our cameras show you cutting a hole into our fence back there,” the soldier continued. “Now that wasn’t very nice. In fact, we call that destruction of military property around these parts. And then you went and ducked through that fence and started wandering around our base. We call that trespassing on military property. You’re wandering around without ID, carrying what appears to be stolen military property.” The soldier scratched his chin. “Well, that doesn’t look so good. You and your little friends are in a hell of a lot of trouble, son. A hell of a lot of trouble.”

  “My friends?” Ash said. Before he could answer, Willis, Zora, Dorothy, and Chandra shuffled out of the trees, hands over their heads, a line of soldiers fanned out behind them.

  “You think you’re the first group of kids we ever found messing around out here?” The soldier shook his head. “Happens practically every week. Doesn’t mean we’re letting you off easy, though. No, siree. There’s protocol to follow in situations like this. In fact, I believe we’re going to need to detain the lot of you back at the complex until we can get the local sheriff out here to pick you up.”

  The soldier nodded at a dirt path stretching through the woods, motioning with his gun to indicate that they should start walking. Ash forced himself forward, falling into line behind Dorothy.

  She winked as he moved past, eyelashes flashing up and down so quickly he could’ve imagined it. He knocked his shoulder into hers when the soldier wasn’t looking, smothering a grin. If they’d been alone, he might’ve grabbed her and kissed her.

  Detain the lot of you back at the complex, the soldier had said. Which meant her crazy plan had actually worked.

  They were in.

  Dorothy’s idea had been deceptively simple. Breaking into Fort Hunter was impossible. So they weren’t going to try to break into Fort Hunter.

  “You want us to get arrested?” Zora had asked, appalled.

  “I got the idea when you mentioned breaking into a bank,” Dorothy had explained. “Breaking into a bank is actually quite difficult. There are guards to get past, and locked doors, and all this security. But once you’re caught breaking in, they bring you right inside while they wait for the police to come pick you up. And if you’re very lucky they leave you alone in an office, of all things, where you’re separated from the rest of the establishment by a single door.” She held up a finger. “One lousy door, and it’s probably got a normal lock and everything. Any fool can get past that.”

  “Fort Hunter isn’t a bank,” Ash pointed out, skeptical.

  “Of course it’s not. But this room is clearly intended to detain people who aren’t authorized to be on the grounds.” She’d lifted Willis’s tablet so that Ash could see it and pointed to a tiny room labeled detainment. “Notice anything special about it?”

  Ash had squinted down at the blurry image. It was right inside the complex, off what appeared to be some sort of service road. He followed the twisting road with his eyes, understanding washing over him. It led all the way around the base.

  “We can get anywhere we want from there,” he’d said.

  Dorothy had lowered the tablet, looking triumphant. “Exactly.”

  Now the soldiers loaded them into a boxy, green jeep. Ash glanced at Dorothy as they all climbed in back.

  She was already watching him, her brow furrowed, but she looked away th
e second their eyes met, her features smoothing over again.

  He let his gaze linger for a second longer, wondering if she was nervous. Maybe, beneath the calm exterior, she’d been just as worried as he’d been that her plan wouldn’t work. She always came across as so confident. Ash had never considered that she might be faking.

  No one spoke as they drove. Trees and bushes and grass blurred together outside their windows, rocks and brush crunching beneath the jeep’s massive tires. They followed a dirt path that curved out of the trees and deposited them onto a paved road lined by barbed wire fences. The entrance to Fort Hunter yawned ahead.

  Ash swallowed. He’d spent the last eleven months telling himself that finding the Professor was the solution to all of his problems. And now that solution was here, in this building.

  He couldn’t help wondering if this was enough. Had his future already changed? Maybe he’d never meet the woman with the white hair, never climb into that boat, never feel the heat of her dagger.

  Maybe just this—going back in time, coming here—was enough to alter everything.

  A line of soldiers stood in front of the entrance, guns at the ready. Spotlights shone above them, and rain slanted in front of their faces, fracturing the yellow light.

  Ash glanced at Zora and saw that she was watching the soldiers as well. Only her eyes were narrowed to slits, and a deep frown cut across her lips. Something was wrong.

  Ash tried to catch her eye but she shook her head, nodding to the armed men sitting in front of them. Not now.

  The soldiers guarding the entrance shifted aside, and their jeep rumbled through. The arched doors opened into a cavernous white space. Monstrous spotlights hung from the ceiling, pouring sterile light over blackened concrete floors. Dozens of identical Humvees filled the room, each surrounded by a unit of army-green-clad soldiers, rifles hanging from their shoulders. The hum of conversation buzzed around him, muted by the Humvee’s thick glass.

  The gateroom, Ash thought, remembering this point on Willis’s map. He scanned the faces as they rolled past, his breath catching every time he caught a glimpse of salt-and-pepper hair. It was never the Professor—but it could’ve been. He could be anywhere. He could be close.