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Dean walked across the room then, glancing outside to us. Our eyes met. He paused. Looked back at Sally and Bryan. Looked back at us. His shoulders slumped. His face crumbled. He sucked in a breath of air, straightened his posture and nodded his head. His eyes met mine again, and this time I saw understanding. This time, I saw his sacrifice. His broken heart.
Bryan needed Sally. Because without Sally, he would stop at nothing to kill this Sergei. And I needed Dean to let that happen.
I nodded my head to him. Turned and shook Clive's hand. Then I boarded the Orion, joining Charles Crawford. It wasn't going to be easy keeping Sergei alive but stopping him from tearing Time apart. Mimi, for one, would probably want to kill him again.
I know I wanted it dearly. For everything he had done, for everything he could possibly still do in the future. I wanted the man stopped, and the only way I could be certain he was stopped was if he was dead.
"The 21st century, then, sir?" Charles asked, sitting in the Intern's seat, but thankfully not touching anything. He was a controlled man, a military man. He called me sir even though we were of the same age. He respected my authority on this mission as a good soldier would.
SAS, he had said. The best, the British Army had to offer. Clive wanted him on this trip. He wanted him here because of his skillset. Just what could the man do that would mean our success?
In just saving Mimi or more?
"Yes, the 21st century," I said.
"Very good, sir. Ready when you are."
I locked the hatch and took my seat, then checked the coordinates.
"Tell me something, Charles," I said, my fingers sweeping over the console as I did my thing. "Just what are you good at?"
"Good at, sir?"
"Clive said I'll need your particular set of skills. What are they, then?"
"Oh, I see, sir. Well, I'm good at incapacitating people, sir. I know my way around the human body and can make it sing. Or not sing, depending on the circumstances."
"Incapacitating people? Not killing them?"
"Oh, I can do that, too, sir. But that's not why you want me with you, is it?"
I looked at the soldier sitting beside me. His face was blank, his eyes steady. Clive had clearly given him some insight into what his role would be. Time had clearly allowed it.
"Incapacitating people, eh?" I said, smiling.
"The best at it in my unit, sir."
"Bloody good, then," I murmured, and hit the launch button, making the Orion sing.
