“The signal?”he asked.
“The same,” Alice said.
“Could they set a trap that spanned time?”The idea seemed ridiculous, but here they were, sitting by the side of a road in 1965.That was pretty ridiculous, too.He didn’t really expect an answer from Alice.She was smart, but she didn’t have a glass ball or any way to see into the future and figure out what they could or couldn’t do.
“This is such a random place to choose,” Alice said, rightly ignoring his question.“It’s not on any of the UFO sighting lists.”
“I read that it’s haunted,” Ty offered, knowing it wasn’t helpful, but unable to stop himself.
Alice gave him a look and he grinned, feeling some of the tension in his gut relaxing.
“If we have to start looking at all the haunted places…” Alice shook her head.
“We could bag this and go have our honeymoon,” he offered hopefully.They could keep driving until they ran out of money.
“It’s pretty quiet now.”Alice continued her thoughtful study of the landscape.
Ty didn’t blame her for ignoring him.If he’d been her, he’d have ignored himself, too.But she was the brains.He was just the muscle.
It was true that the time waves seemed to have calmed down.The road stretched empty in both directions, winding out of sight.
He cleared his throat and said, “I wonder when we are?”
“It would be helpful to know that,” Alice said.“Do you think it is safe to get out?”
She held a small device that beeped a bit mournfully, he thought.
“I’d like to take some readings,” Alice added.
“Only one way to find out.”Ty opened his door and clambered out, then went around to open the door for Alice.The gesture may have been out of style back where they came from, but Alice was an old-fashioned girl who deserved old-fashioned courtesy.
Without coordinating, they both crossed to the other side of the road, their hands clasped tight enough to be considered clutching.Ty tried not to think of chicken jokes.Had they had chicken jokes in Alice’s time?
“It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like,” Alice sounded thoughtful, possibly even a little sad.“It’s okay now, weather-wise, I mean, but it must have been hard in the winter.Hard…” her voice trailed off.
Was she remembering John Phillips attempt to trap her at Area 51?He had the odd thought that Alice had some things in common with the people who had been forced to live here.Of course there had been things in his life that constrained his choices, but he’d always had more choices than this—or Alice.Because he was male, because of when he’d been born.
But when he’d met her, the box she lived in had been very small.He recalled the images of the camp they’d studied.But not that small.Even now he found it hard to believe that the country he loved, that he’d served, would do this to their own citizens.
There was nothing quite like traveling back to a different time to really put things in perspective.He opened his mouth to answer her, saw the horizon ripple, and said instead, “Hang on.”
There wasn’t time to do more than lean into each other and then it had passed over them or around them.He was never quite sure.He twisted to see over his shoulder.
The camper was still there.That was something.
He realized Alice wasn’t looking back.Her narrowed, thoughtful gaze was fixed on the dirt road.And the young woman walking toward them from the direction of the camp.
He guessed she was late teen or early twenties and something about her clothes struck him as off.He probably needed to brush up on clothing styles for the different decades.
He wasn’t sure if she’d noticed them yet.She kept pausing to look at one side, then the other.And then behind her, as if she expected to be followed or stopped.
His first impression had been that she was lost, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“She doesn’t belong here,” Alice said, her voice low, the deepened line between her brows an indication she was worried or troubled.
“Doesn’t belong here?”He wasn’t sure he understood what she meant.
“Her clothes are wrong for the period.”
