“I wouldn’t have helped you if I thought you were,” Red said.“But you might know something?”
“If I do, I don’t know what it is,” Rita said, but she said the words slowly.Had she seen something without realizing it?
Where she came from, the world was supposed to be safer, more fair.But it felt like all that had happened was that secrets were buried deeper.Because if everyone knew everything, then why didn’t everyone know about the time traveling?
Had someone sensed the questions she hardly dared to think about too deeply?Had she noticed things that she’d kept to the back of her mind, because she’d sensed it was dangerous?
She sat back.“That might be it.”
“How can I help?”
He said the words so simply, so directly, that tears pricked the edges of her eyes.She must be more exhausted than she’d realized.
“More than you’ve already helped me?”She looked at him, trying to find the words—the will—to walk away from him and the safety he represented.
She looked away, biting her lower lip.Was she about to go native, as they called it in the agency?She could just stay…no, she couldn’t, not while they were hunting her.
“You should walk away from me.I’m more trouble than you can possibly imagine.”
“You’d be surprised what I can imagine,” Red said, a hint of humor in his voice.
She looked at him then, saw the invitation to share her burdens.The words trembled on her lips, the words she’d been forbidden to ever utter under any circumstances to anyone.With a flash of humor, she thought, we don’t even say them to each other.
She rose and paced around the small room twice.It didn’t take long.Then she looked at him and just said.
“I’m a time traveler from the future.”
Red looked at her for a long moment, his face curiously blank.Then he said, “Well, that’s definitely easier to believe than the alien thing.”
A laugh escaped her again.“It’s the truth, Red.”
He looked up, met her gaze without flinching.“I believe you.”
“She said it,” Mel said, then sharply, “he’s now going to tell her…”
But Con didn’t tell her.
“They said they’ll give us fuel, or sell it to us.I just need to make sure nothing critical was damaged and we can move on from here.”
That was for them, Mel realized.He was letting them know he’d keep their secrets.
“We’ll find somewhere safe for the night.Eat and then figure out our next step.”
His voice was calm, almost dispassionate.
“You believe me?”She was the one who sounded skeptical.
“Well, normally I probably wouldn’t,” Con said, “but we’ve been shifting time and more than once.”
“You saw it, too?”
“Well, my mom didn’t raise a fool.”He rose, taking his turn pacing.“I couldn’t believe it at first, but there were gaps in time.We’d be flying in the afternoon and suddenly it was evening.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
He swung to face her.“I didn’t think you’d believe me.”He grinned.
Alice leaned forward, as if getting closer to the screen would help somehow.“So they had time shifts, too, like the ones that happened to me.”
