The Causality Loop by Wendy Nikel

Author:Wendy Nikel [Nikel, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: time travel fiction, World War One, WWI spy, time travel series, time travel adventure, historical fiction world war I, place in time, science fiction novellas
Publisher: World Weaver Press
Published: 2019-10-29T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

I yank Nell forward through the crowd, fighting to reach the place where I’d spotted Cass moments before the attack. She’s nowhere to be seen now, which is probably a good thing, considering the crowd that’s gathering around. In the middle of it all, a man in a long, dark coat lies still on the ground.

“Let’s get out of here,” Nell hisses at my ear. “Cass is gone, and people are going to start asking questions about what happened.”

“Let them ask,” I whisper back. “We had nothing to do with it. You’re a time traveler now; you’ve got to blend in, and anyone trying to get away from the scene right now is going to draw more attention than the people trying to see what happened. Besides—” I gesture to the man on the ground. “We’ve got our guy. We just need to get close enough to get a good look at him.”

I press my shoulder toward the prone man. We need to hurry; the stun gun must’ve been set on low, because already the man is waking and being helped to his feet by those around him. He’s facing the opposite way, so I still can’t see him, but I can tell he’s tall and broad-shouldered. On his wrist, he wears a watch with a shining black band.

“Just fainted,” one of the men helping him up calls out. “He’s all right, everyone. Give him some air.”

The attacker starts walking away, and I nudge my way through the crowd. I can’t let him go without getting a good look at him, but there’s no way I can reach him before he disappears into the mass of people. “Hey, you!”

At my shout, he turns, and though his expression when he glances our way is blank and unaffected, I hear Nell’s gasp next to me and know that she recognizes him, too. He looks younger than I’ve ever seen him, but the nose is undeniable.

It’s PITTA’s head technician, Taylor.

***

After recovering from our initial shock, we try to follow him, but he’s already gotten a lead on us, and by the time we reach the Brandenburg Gate, he’s gone. Vanished from this time without a trace.

“What do we do now?” Nell asks, resting her hands on her knees in a most unladylike fashion as she catches her breath.

“I don’t know.” I stare up at the monument, at its Doric columns and the sculpture of the quadriga on the top, the horses drawing it frozen, midstride, in time.

“What was he doing there?” She pulls her hat from her head to fan herself, and her hair looks like a plume of burgundy feathers around her head.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think he knows who we are?”

“I don’t know!”

Her eyes have gone wide in panic, so I take her shoulders and try to calm myself so that I can calm her.

“I don’t know,” I say, more calmly this time. “Try to think. How old do you think he is?”

Nell is quiet for a moment. “He’s younger here than when I started working at PITTA.

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