Almost as one, they all turned to look at the board.It was still quiet.Or was it?Mel peered at the edges.Was that a quiver she saw?
She looked at Alice, who nodded.They turned back to the view of Con and the girl, Rita.
“I didn’t make that happen, Red.I wouldn’t know how.”She dug in her pocket and held something out.“All I have the ability to do is go back.”
He took the device and studied, holding it so they could see it, too.
“A recall device,” Mel murmured.“Not that different from ours.”
“But you’re afraid to go back,” Con said.
Rita nodded.
“Well, they did try to kill you—if you’re sure it was them?”
“Who else would it be?”Rita asked.“It’s not like there is anyone else out there traveling through time.”
Mel leaned back, exchanged a wry look with Jack.
“This could be awkward,” she said.
Con rubbed the back of his neck.His mom would have known what it meant.He started to pace again to hide the next tell—a shift from one foot to the other.Had he caused their problems when he kept the two small trackers?
He knew Rita’s eyes followed him.It’s not like there was much else to look at in here.
“Do you think they suspect something?”she asked, finally breaking the silence.
He stopped and looked at her.“Well, there are the bullets holes.And theStinkerwas wet, even though there’s not a cloud in the sky.”
“Did they ask you about them?”
Con sat down next to her.“Here’s the thing about pilots, at least stunt pilots.They notice everything, including when someone doesn’t want to answer questions.They keep their own counsel and let others keep theirs.”
“So we could just fly away?”
“Yes and no.If we are being tracked somehow, they could show up here looking for us.”He frowned, wondering what methods they might be using to track them through time.Those bread crumbs of information?Probably.They’d obviously found out enough to jump them, but they hadn’t known everything they needed to know to shoot them down.
They’d know now, though.It was possible that discovering they were moving through time had increased their desire to eliminate them.
There was a knock at the door and Ty poked his head in.“Okay if I come in?”
Con exchanged a look with Rita, then nodded.“Sorry for taking over your office.”
“No problem.”Ty’s tone was easy, but his eyes were alert.“I moved your plane inside the hangar.Hope you don’t mind.”
Con stared at him.“I don’t mind at all.”Satellite tracking?Was that how they were doing it?
Ty’s very slight shrug wasn’t exactly an answer to the question he hadn’t asked.
Rita walked over the tossed her bottle into the trash can, then turned and leaned against the edge of the desk, studying Ty with a frown.
“Something wrong, ma’am?”Ty asked.
“Oh no.I just have this weird feeling I’ve seen you before.”
“I think I’d remember you, ma’am,” Ty said, with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes.
Had Rita seen him in the past?As far as they knew, she hadn’t been with John back then, but she might have seen photos?Or been placed as an observer somewhere in the background?That’s what he’d been meant to do.Just take a look and leave.
