Where Is Anybody? by Simon R Green

Author:Simon R Green [Green, Simon R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2024-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

FIVE

The Con Is On

It should have been instantaneous.

When we stepped into the mirror in the tea room, we should have stepped out into my shop without a moment having passed. But all the lights had been turned off, leaving everything masked in gloom and shadows, and a quick glance at the window confirmed that although we’d left the tea room in bright sunlight, outside it was night. I turned to the mirror, which took one look at my face and backed away.

‘Sidney! What the hell just happened?’

‘I don’t know!’ he said. ‘Something went wrong! It’s not my fault!’

‘Have you brought us back to the night we left?’ I said, forcing my voice into a more normal tone because it didn’t help the crew to hear me losing control. ‘Or have you taken us forward, to the night of the next day?’

‘We’re in the early hours of the morning after,’ said Sidney. ‘But I didn’t choose this! Someone messed with my coordinates!’

‘So the kidnapper has had to hold on to Annie for longer than he expected,’ I said tightly. ‘Without hearing anything from us and unable to make contact. Which means she could be in real danger.’

‘You know I’d never do anything to put Annie at risk!’ said Sidney. ‘No one is supposed to be able to interfere with my Space/Time coordinates. It’s like someone reached inside my head and rearranged my thoughts.’

‘Maybe it was the kidnapper,’ said Sally.

I rounded on her, and she actually fell back a step. I clamped down hard on my emotions and did my best to speak calmly.

‘Why would he want to do that?’

‘Why would he do anything?’ Polly said quickly. ‘Since we have no idea who he is, we have no way of knowing what his actions might be.’

Sometimes the reasonable answer really isn’t what you want to hear.

‘This could be an attack,’ said Lex. ‘By someone who doesn’t want us going after Time’s Arrow.’

He glanced at Sally, and they moved quickly to stand back to back, so they could cover the whole shop. Polly took on her wolf form, bursting through her black leathers so quickly she split some of the seams. She tilted her shaggy head back and sniffed at the air.

‘I’m not picking up any recent visitors,’ she said.

‘Sidney?’ I said. ‘Is there anyone else in the shop?’

‘Not unless they’re out in the stacks,’ the mirror said immediately. ‘You know what it’s like, back there.’

I hit all the switches, and it was like turning on the bedroom light after you’ve woken from a nightmare. Everything seemed to snap into sharp focus. But this time the light brought no comfort, because it allowed me to see what had been done to my shop while I was gone.

Someone had trashed the place. All the shelves had been broken or torn away from the walls. The glass display cases had been smashed and the contents scattered. The main counter had been reduced to firewood. As though someone had been searching for something and didn’t care who knew it.

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