The bottle of water was the most significant clue they weren’t where they’d been.
The date put them somewhere around 2021.
And now Mel.Her clothes weren’t close to the 40s or 50s.She hadn’t been in this particular time before, but she’d studied fashions of the various times during her training.
Mel fit better with the water bottle than with this room.Nothing she could see was consistent with any time or place.
And where had Mel come from?The hangar?There was nothing else that Rita had seen during her short walk to the building.Even shaken by almost dying, she had looked around her.
She was tired, she hurt, and she wanted a comfortable place to sleep and something to knock her out so she didn’t ache.
“I was going to take some water out to Red,” Rita said, half stepping toward the refrigerator.
“That’s a good idea,” Mel said.“You both look like you could use some food, too.”
Did the hangar have a kitchen?She supposed it was possible.When Red had circled the landing strip, she’d only seen the hangar and this building.
Before they could move toward the door, it opened and Red and another man came in, though not with the man who had greeted them when they landed.
She glanced at him and then at Mel.Since the new guy was looking her at—and Mel was studying Red—Rita didn’t hide her own scrutiny of them.
They were a couple, she decided.While she still felt wary, she liked the look of both of them.
She’d like the look of Red, too.Weird how she could almost see the connection between them.
She lifted her water bottle and sipped, thinking.They’d shifted in time.That was the only way this bottle could be sharing space with her.
That horizon?She’d always thought the wavering was a warning, or a signal that time was changing when it wasn’t supposed to, or adjusting to change, not a portal to another time.But here they were.
As far as she knew, she was the only person in the agency who could see the phenomenon.She’d never been able to find out.Was that deliberate on the part of the agency?Had someone figured out what she could do, what she could see?
But…wouldn’t they want to make use of it, if only for research purposes?
They’d tried to kill them.That didn’t signal interest in her abilities.If did seem to indicate they thought she was a danger.
Or was it Red they were after?She thought back to that moment she’d asked him for help, and realized she’d assumed they were there for her.And she had felt her danger signal, she reminded herself.Her gut wasn’t screaming at her right now.
It was just hungry.Mel had mentioned food.But it looked like they were going to have the questions first.
She glanced from Mel to the guy.She had a feeling they wouldn’t buy her “I’m an alien” pitch.But would it be any more plausible than telling them she was a time traveler being hunted by the people who’d sent her here?
Rita was avoiding his gaze.Did she think she was the only one with a secret or two?It was kind of cute if she did.
Mel and Jack were carefully not looking at them, too.Jack was studying his boots, Mel her fingernails.
Were they waiting for Rita or for him to speak?
Probably Rita.Would she float the alien story again?He kind of hoped she would, just to see their faces.
But mostly he wanted to look at her and say, “I know and it’s okay.”
Only it was only okay for him and technically he was in deep trouble.Mel and Jack?They had to be really worried.
Jack had also studied the bullet holes and said, “Well, those look familiar.”
Jack had listened without speaking as Con gave him a condensed debrief on what had happened since he left and handed him the capsule with pictures that he hadn’t dared deploy.
“There’s one more thing,” he said.“Rita had a tracker and so did her backpack.We—I removed them and wrapped them in copper wire and a copper sheet and attached them to the frame of theStinker, on the inside.”He’d frowned.“I thought I had it sealed tight but maybe there was some leakage?”
