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It was the roll of money. Simon stands there for about a minute, watching, the usual sneer back on his face. Then he gets into the passenger seat, and the car drives off.
I switch to a stable point out front and watch as a fight breaks out between the man who reached the money roll first and the others, who’ve clearly decided he needs to share. I skip forward in thirty-second increments until they leave, making sure no one decides to burn down the house and that Martha and Joe are no longer in danger. I have a feeling I’m going to be doing that a lot, even after tonight is over, because I see no reason for Simon not to come back and finish the job. The yard finally clears out about five minutes later. Joe and his brother drive over to check the place out around 1:30 a.m. and talk to a Georgia state trooper, who I’m very relieved to see has located his car.
When I’m reasonably sure all is as it should be, I roll the time back and watch the stable point at the gate until the black car filled with bright blue light takes a left and zooms off into the night.
Then I tuck the CHRONOS key back into its pouch and stare at the carpet, trying to figure out how I’m going to explain to Co
My phone buzzes again, and I pick it up, partly because I want to see if there’s news from Dad about Grandpa Keller, but also because I really want to delay the conversation with Katherine and Co
The next two texts are from Trey. The first is a totally u
There are also two texts from Charlayne. I have to look away from the phone for a moment, because a bit of dizziness hits me, but it passes quickly. I click first on the text that came in while Trey and I were at di
Di
It was nice of her to try and warn me, assuming this was sincere and not another plank in the ongoing campaign to instill Charlayne as my BFF.
The weird thing is that her second message has the same time stamp. I start to click “Delete,” thinking it’s a duplicate, but then I open it.
Welcome to the Fifth Column!!
I stare at the phone, trying to remember where I’ve heard those words recently. My brain is too tired to pull it up, so I move to the voice messages. There are three—two from Trey and one from Mom. But the one from Mom came in three days ago, and I don’t remember missing a call. I click to start the message, and after a moment her voice comes on. She’s giddy beyond anything I’ve ever heard, ten times as excited as she was about the research grant.
“Kate, sweetie, I have the most wonderful, incredible news. Call me the second you get this. Unless it’s after—argh! I can’t think clearly enough to figure out the time zones. Or just talk to your grandmother. Or your dad. I’m calling them right now. I love you! I’ll talk to you soon!”
For some reason her excitement has the opposite effect on me. I’m terrified, and Charlayne’s text—Welcome to the Fifth Column!!—flashes into my mind again. I toss the phone onto my bed and run to the door.
“Katherine! Co
The lights are on in the library, and I start ru
“Kate!” It’s Trey. He’s sitting on the couch, petting Daphne. I’m so surprised to see him that I miss a step and have to grab the rail to keep from stumbling.
“Why are you here? You can’t be here, Trey. Something is going on—something with Mom, I think.”
Katherine and Co
“Mom called. Something happened. What happened?”
“Kate, it’s going to be okay,” Katherine says, but I’m pretty sure she’s been crying.
Trey puts his arm around my shoulders and starts leading me to the couch, but I stop him. “You didn’t answer me. Why are you here, Trey?”
The truth is that I’m happy beyond belief to see him. I want him to put his arms around me and make me forget the rest of the world exists, because I don’t think I want to hear what Katherine is about to tell me. But I’m also certain that no matter what has happened, Trey is in danger if he’s near me.
“Trey is here because he brought us some information,” Co
“And I asked him to stay,” Katherine says, “because we’ve had some news.”
It hits me with absolute certainty, and my knees buckle. Trey gets me to the couch, and I lean into him, breathing him in. Without that, without the solid reality of him next to me, I don’t think I’d have found the strength to say it.
“She’s dead, isn’t she?”
“No!” Katherine says. “She’s not dead. It’s just that . . . she’s found Prudence. Or I guess I should say Prudence has found her. Deborah called me a few days ago, and she was ecstatic.”
I’m too stu
“Deborah believes it was a chance meeting. Prudence gave her some story about having amnesia for the past thirty years, totally unbelievable. Straight out of a soap opera, but Deborah bought it.”
Co
“You know what I mean, Co
I finally find my voice. “How? I just talked to her tonight, before I left, and she didn’t . . . and I was here a few days ago . . . and . . .”
Of course, I know the answer before Katherine even starts. “Something changed, dear. A number of things, actually, although the call from Deborah is the only thing that triggered a direct duplicate memory for me. Are the keys still in your room?”
It takes a moment to realize what she’s asking. The thing I was so nervous about telling them seems almost insignificant now. “I didn’t get them. Any of them. Simon—”
Co
“We just assumed,” Co
I turn to look at Trey, and he shrugs. “It isn’t much really. It’s just—please don’t get angry, Kate—after you left, I just couldn’t . . . I couldn’t let you walk away like that. Dad means well. I know he’s trying to protect me, and I know you are, too, but I was wrong to promise him I’d stay out of this. If everything you’ve told me is true—and I know it is—then nobody with an ounce of decency can stay out of this.”
He takes a deep breath and says, “I called Tilson, okay? I didn’t give him specifics on what you needed or why, but as soon as I mentioned your name, he hung up. A half hour later, a taxi pulled up outside the house. It was Tilson, and we had a long talk. Outside—I’m a little spooked about saying anything inside the house right now. Anyway, Tilson is part of a large anti-Cyrist alliance. Scientists, lawyers, political leaders—it’s apparently been around since the early 1940s, but they’re really secretive. Some of them are even Cyrists, working on the inside. He said whatever you need, they’ll help.”