CHAPTER ELEVEN

By the time we get to the Place in Time Travel Agency in New York, Dr. Wells has explained the basics of time travel to Elise, who’s listened quietly and asked all the right questions. It’s easy to see how she ends up becoming one of the best Retrievers PITTA has ever known. She’s sharp and doesn’t let her emotions run away with her.

I have to be careful, though, about what I say in front of her. It’s important she doesn’t realize exactly when we’re from or how we’re tied to her future. It’s not wise for anyone to know so much about what’s going to happen to them or when, so I keep my explanations as vague and free of dates as possible. Better for her to assume we’re from a more recent future, that we’ve only traveled back a matter of months or years to get help, rather than knowing exactly how far into the future we really are and how exactly I know her.

I tell them that Taylor is a fellow PITTA employee who’s gone rogue and is trying to get back at me by harming some other time travelers who are close to me. It may not be the full truth—at this point, I don’t even know the full truth behind his motives or what, exactly, he was hoping to accomplish—but the explanation will work for our purposes. When I get to the part about mentioning Elise’s name to Taylor and that he might come after her now, too, her eyebrows shoot up, but she doesn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “It was dumb of me to even mention you, I know. He can look up PITTA’s records—in our time—and come after you wherever you Jump.”

“I’m not worried about that,” she says, idly sipping the cup of coffee Dr. Wells had made for her.

“You’re not?” I ask.

“You said already that Dr. Wells knows ways around the DeLorean Box’s Jump log, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And that there are ways to falsify information in that log?”

I think I get where she’s going with this. “You want Dr. Wells to leave a false trail?”

“Why not? Dr. Wells can input a bunch of fake dates under my name, dates when no one else was time traveling. The guy will Jump back, hoping to catch me at each of the places, and each time, he’ll come up empty. And my actual Jumps—that is, assuming Dr. Wells is serious about wanting me to join his organization—” she says, not quite hiding her excitement anymore, “we can just log under a pseudonym. If this Taylor guy only has the name, it should be no problem at all, and if there’s anyone else in this era who needs the real records, Dr. Wells can clue them in to the change-up.”

“That’s… simple, but brilliant.” I look to the others for their assessment.

Dr. Wells is sitting back in his chair, looking amused and somewhat contemplative. Nell, on the other hand, is frowning.

“What are you thinking?” I ask.

“I’m thinking it’s not going to be enough to just send him on a wild goose chase,” she says. “I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be able to return to the twen—”

“Nell,” I say sharply, a warning in my voice. I jerk my head toward Elise.

“That is,” she starts again, “I’d like to return to our present someday, and if he’s there, what’s to keep him from coming after us again? It’s not like we can just go to the police and get a restraining collar put on him for threatening to send us back in time.”

“Restraining collar?” Elise asks, her eyes widening.

“Never mind that.” I turn to Nell. “You’ve got a point. What are you suggesting?”

A smile slowly stretches across her lips. “I’m suggesting… an ambush.”

***

Figuring out the best time and place to set up our ambush fills most of our evening. We have all of history to choose from, but the circumstances need to be just right. It has to be fairly secluded so that if Taylor puts up a fight or makes a scene, we won’t have to risk anyone interfering. It also has to be a time when none of PITTA’s travelers are present, at least for the next fifty years or so beyond. If we really intend to maroon Taylor in time as he’d planned to do to us, we’ll need to make sure he has no way back, no matter how long he waits or how far he travels across the earth. Yet the location also can’t be so far-fetched that the records make him suspicious. It has to look like any other Retrieval.

In the end, we opt for ancient Egypt, in the Early Dynastic Period.

“It’s perfect,” Nell says. “Civilized, so he should be able to survive among the people there if he can figure out how to adapt to their lifestyle, but PITTA’s clients who book trips to ancient Egypt are going to be more interested in the time after the Great Pyramids are built. We’ve got hundreds of years before construction starts, so that will keep him away from any future time travelers. All we need is to alter the records to show Elise—rather than us—Jumping to this time.”

“You can do that, can’t you?” I ask Dr. Wells.

“I believe so.”

“We’ll need to alter the records to show ‘Elise’ Jumping to 1915 and 1893 as well,” Nell says, “so that he won’t catch on that they’re not all the same person.”

“That can be done,” Dr. Wells nods, though he doesn’t look too thrilled about the whole thing.

As Nell and Elise pore over the maps, trying to determine the best Jump location, Dr. Wells pulls me aside. His brow is furrowed, and despite the relative youngness of his face, I can see in those crease lines the older version of him that I’ve come to know.

“What’s up, Doc?” I ask, forgetting momentarily that the first time I heard that phrase was between him and my father, whom Dr. Wells hasn’t met yet. It’s going to be a while before he gets that inside joke. On the other side of the room, though, I can see Elise look up and smirk at it.

“I’m not certain how close our relationship is at your time. No, don’t tell me.” He holds up a hand to stop me from responding. “But you ought to know that I am not normally a hard man. Some might even say I’m a bit of a softie. However, I have laid out a set of Rules—”

“I know about your Rules,” I say. “We still have them in place in my time, and I understand their importance.”

“But you’re going to do this anyway, even though it goes directly against those Rules to leave someone in the past like you’re planning. Rule number one states—”

“Travelers must return to their original era as scheduled,” I recite. “I don’t see another choice, though. I don’t know what Taylor has planned, exactly, but he’s obviously dangerous.”

“And you’re certain that he is, in fact, a rogue agent? That this isn’t somehow just a simple misunderstanding?” Dr. Wells studies me, and I fight the urge to squirm under his close scrutiny. I’d seen him attack my sister in 1915. I’d heard about how he tried to fling my mother from a Ferris wheel in 1893. And he’d had no qualms about threatening Nell and me with that knife.

“Yes,” I say firmly. “He’s gone rogue, and he’s a danger to us and to the timeline. What would you do?”

“Well, I’m fortunate enough that I haven’t had to deal with that particular sort of issue yet. You forget, PITTA has not been around for very long yet at this point.”

“But what would you do?” I press him. “If you were in my position?”

“I… I don’t know,” he says. “And I can’t presume to decide for you. This is between you and Taylor and is well out of my jurisdiction. But perhaps there are other options you ought to be considering.”

I glance over at Elise, her head bent over the Egyptian map, chatting animatedly with Nell. “I suppose Nell and I could go on the run, take on new names and disappear into the past. If it were just me, I think I could pull it off, but Nell—”

“Nell has less experience in this sort of thing, doesn’t she?”

“Her first Jump was only a few days ago.” A week, maybe? I’m quickly losing track of time. I don’t even remember when I slept last. Regardless, she probably does have some sort of life back in 2134 beyond her receptionist’s desk, and I know the pain it’d cause to pull her out of that.

“And you can’t think of any other options?” Dr. Wells asks, each word enunciated so pointedly that I can’t help but grasp his meaning. “Anything more foolproof?”

“You mean… get rid of him? Kill him?” My mouth goes dry.

“I’m not saying you should,” Dr. Wells says quickly, “or that I would be able to do it in your case, but it is another option. If what you say is true and this person really is a threat to the timeline, that’s a very serious charge, and it may warrant—”

“I can’t do that,” I interrupt, and I know in my gut it’s true. I never meant to hurt anyone, and I still don’t, not if I can help it.

“All right,” Dr. Wells says, wiping his hands on his pants as though trying to remove some stain from them. “As I said, this is not my jurisdiction, but I will assist you in whatever way I can.”

“Thank you.” I look to the women at the table who, by the looks of it, have come to some agreement. “I think what we’ll need next are some costumes.”