Joseph, Lee, and Ren made their way to an unused room on the first floor without anyone paying much attention to them. Joseph felt numb as he followed the others inside. He felt detached from this building and everything he was doing. His mind reeled between worry and grief. What had Reilly done to Sheridan in the last month and a half? All the time Joseph and Sheridan had spent in Santa Fe together—it was gone. In the new timestream, she didn’t even know he was Joseph and not Echo. Back when she’d been captured by the Traventon government, everyone thought he was Echo.
Lee and Ren chose a room with an exterior wall that faced away from the street. There was less chance anyone would see them emerging out of the side of the building that way. Once they had locked themselves inside the room, Ren drew an oval on the wall. Each of them thrust their laser cutters into the outline to cut the hole. Unfortunately the steel interlacing in the wall kept diffusing the lasers’ energy and made cutting the hole slow work.
Ren and Lee immediately turned it into a contest, each straining to pull his laser cutter faster than the other. Ren was winning. “So your leaders favor assassination after all,” he said, gloating at Lee. “That’s typical. You wave the banner of peace with one hand and carry a dagger in your boot.”
Lee pulled harder. The veins in his neck stood out, and a line of sweat formed at the base of his short-cropped hair. “I don’t see why you’re complaining. Your leaders favored assassination all along.”
“Yes, but my leaders agreed to abide by the council’s rule. I thought yours did too.”
Lee’s cut was now slightly farther ahead of Ren’s. He let out a laugh. “The council voted not to order an assassination. That didn’t mean nobody else could order one.”
“Be careful,” Ren said. “If you twist your word too often, it will break apart.”
Joseph didn’t comment. From his perspective, it was a good thing the council leaders kept secrets from one another. If Abraham’s group had known one of the bodyguards was planning on killing Reilly, they might not have offered Joseph their help saving Echo.
Lee turned his attention to Joseph. “How did you figure out who Reilly’s assistant was? My sources couldn’t locate any personnel files.” He nodded toward Ren. “The only reason Ren’s leaders didn’t give an assassination order is that they couldn’t find any information about Reilly.”
“Not true, Brother Lee,” Ren said, huffing as he pulled. “We know Reilly used to date your mother. Have you ever considered your resemblance?”
Lee wiped the sweat off his forehead before it dripped into his eyes. “Watch your insults. Remember, I carry a dagger in my boot.”
“Coffee,” Joseph said, hoping that rerouting the subject would end their argument.
“What’s coffee?” Ren asked.
“A drink from the twenty-first century.” Joseph’s laser cutter’s handle was heating up and he had to shift his grip on it. “It had a mild but addictive stimulant in it. Reilly still has the habit. Taylor smelled the coffee on his breath when he questioned her. When we got to Santa Fe and she realized coffee wasn’t available, she told me about it.” Joseph adjusted his grip again. The handle felt so hot, he was afraid it would overheat and stop working.
“The Agrocenter in Traventon has several coffee plants to keep Reilly supplied. Xavier’s contacts found out the beans are delivered to a man named Tariq. They planted a receiver on one of his shoes and found out he’s Reilly’s main assistant. Brings him everything. They’ve been tracking Tariq’s crystal ever since.”
A memory came to Joseph, unbidden.
He and Sheridan were sitting on the couch in his apartment. Her long red hair spilled over her shoulders in gleaming waves. She watched him, her large hazel eyes showing their interest in everything he said. Joseph had just learned about Tariq and had told her about him. “Reilly’s assistant brings him whatever he wants: women, food, and a whole assortment of pleasure drugs.”
“No wonder Reilly has trouble finishing his project,” she said.
“Right,” Joseph agreed. “Women are a big distraction.”
Sheridan nudged into him, playfully upset. “How would you know? I never distract you.”
He dropped a kiss on her lips. “You distract me all the time. You and thoughts of you.”
Thoughts were all he had left now.
Joseph forced himself back to the present, back to the conversation. “When Tariq isn’t fetching things, he stays close to Reilly. Reilly doesn’t go a lot of places. Mostly he stays in the Scicenter, and . . . ,” he said with a pang, remembering the reports from the new timestream, “and the detention center.”
Joseph hated the way his memories kept shifting, how painful ones overshadowed the happy ones. All of the time he and Sheridan had spent together in Santa Fe—it was gone, as unreal as if he had imagined it. Now he had memories of sitting in front of a computer in Santa Fe, not only working on the program to save his brother but also studying the detention center’s layout and computer systems.
He had checked in on Taylor daily, mostly to remind her she had to eat if she wanted to be strong enough to go on the mission. He’d also gone to see her because looking at her was like looking at Sheridan. He had wondered every day what Reilly was doing to her, had imagined horrible things.
Joseph gave his laser cutter a particularly strong pull. He would find her today. And he wouldn’t even flinch when he killed Reilly.
They had almost finished the hole when Joseph’s memories shifted again and he realized what had happened. He let go of his laser cutter, left it there, while he leaned against the wall, heart pounding. He took a couple of shallow breaths.
Lee paused and scanned the room. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Joseph lied, and made himself return to his laser cutter. It would be too complicated to explain that the past had just altered again. This latest change didn’t affect what they needed to do right now—get to Sheridan. But he would have a long talk with his brother about it when they met again.
A new memory bloomed in Joseph’s mind.
He was sitting at the meeting with the scientists who had questioned him about Joseph’s disappearance.
Helix eyed him with particular suspicion. “You were dating Allana Arad?”
Joseph swallowed, trying to hide the fact that even hearing her name made him feel like hitting something. He unclenched his fists. “Yes,” he said. “Her and a few others. It wasn’t serious.”
“Do you see it as coincidental that both your brother and she disappeared?”
“People who get on the wrong side of the Dakine often disappear. That’s not coincidence. That’s their policy.”
Helix shook his head, making his black-and-gray-striped hair shiver. “When the Dakine are through with people, we find their remains somewhere.” He pointed to the crystal on his wrist. “These surface eventually.”
Joseph thought about saying, “You’re right. It’s the government that makes people disappear.” Over ten years ago, Joseph and Echo’s mother had joined the Traventon army and disappeared on a defensive patrol against San Francisco. The government said she had been permanently reassigned to one of the out-city posts, but Joseph knew it wasn’t true. She was dead. The government didn’t like to admit that any of its war measures were unsuccessful.
Joseph hadn’t pointed out this fact to Helix. Instead he said, “Perhaps Allana’s crystal will surface somewhere.”
Helix let out a grunt, and his eyes narrowed as though he was certain Joseph was withholding information. “You’ve seen the streetcam’s recording. She wasn’t taken somewhere. She vanished—was swallowed up in the air.”
“I don’t know what happened to Allana,” Joseph said, more firmly.
But now he did.
Echo had strained her. She was in the Time Strainer bay.