by Alexia James
Janet frowned in concentration for a moment as she committed the instructions to memory. “Okay. Good. You know, the more I think about it, the more I think they won’t be able to get it closed. You said Greg and all believe it to be a rumour anyway. How will they go about getting it closed when they don’t even think it’s real?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think about that. I hope you’re right.”
Freya bit her lip. The pizza she had eaten was feeling heavy in her stomach. Why was it that when she was with Jeremy she felt certain he wouldn’t be angry with her, but as soon as she was away from him, she was plagued by doubts.
Would he keep her in 1908 just to teach her a lesson? She remembered the cold look he had worn briefly in the kitchen the evening before. Perhaps he would be angry with her if he found out she had broken into the office.
It would be her fault, too, if Janet were caught hacking into the alarms. Janet would never have done it without her influence. What if it stuffed things up between her and Greg?
Freya sighed. She certainly wouldn’t get another opportunity to use the time doorway. Jeremy would watch her even closer when she returned. She would almost certainly have to have that discussion with him.
She felt panicky at the thought of Jeremy voicing his feelings for her, but at the same time, she was mentally kicking herself for being afraid to talk things through with him.
She could tell him she wasn’t interested, but she had a feeling he would easily pull her lies to bits, and if he kissed her again she would be lost. She could simply show him the doorway, knowing she had her time device as a back up, but if she then ever used the thing, he would be bound to find out and she’d be back where she started. Of course, all this was dependent on her finding a device. If she didn’t…
It was too late. She would have to at least attempt to steal a device now that she had come this far.
At 12:55 a small black hatchback pulled up on a side street in W1. Freya was jumpy with anticipation, Janet calmer. She cut the engine, yawned and fluffed her brown curly hair, pulling it out from her shirt collar.
Janet insisted they not break in until ten past one, to allow plenty of time for her watch to be slightly out from the alarm’s inbuilt clock. Freya had an odd feeling the air was too thick in the car and fidgeted the whole time, grateful when Janet finally declared it was time to go.
Janet’s door closed with a thunk that seemed unnaturally loud, despite the traffic noise from the A4. Freya winced and shut her door gently as Janet reached onto the backseat for her laptop bag.
Janet seemed incredibly blasé about it all, and Freya wished she could claim the same confidence, but she was shaking in her shoes.
Watching nervously, Freya blocked the view from the street with her body as Janet slotted plastic between door and jamb, just above the lock.
It took five tense minutes before the lock suddenly gave; both girls breathed out and grinned at each other. Shutting the door carefully behind her, Freya followed Janet up the narrow stairs. A streetlamp shining through a high up casement threw yellow and black stripes over the walls and Freya struggled to see the steps in the dark.
Having not been home since the previous day, Freya was still wearing the soft floor-length skirt Jeremy had provided for her. The fabric was heavy cotton and she had to gather up the front of it as she climbed. It swept gently over the steps behind her, making a soft hushing sound.
The stairs were brighter higher up, and the third floor corridor felt somehow less intimidating than the stairway, giving a boost to Freya’s confidence.
Janet led the way, having been to see Greg a number of times now. They slipped into his messy office and Janet picked past the piles of paperwork to sit at his desk. She used her key card to open the drawer for his laptop and soon had both hers and Greg’s machines booted up. She became quickly absorbed in her work and Freya flitted about uncertainly for a while until her restlessness impinged on Janet’s concentration.
“Freya,” she whispered, “Get searching.”
Freya nodded and swallowed her nerves. She began with Greg’s office, going carefully through the junk on the shelves and delving into filing cabinets. Having no luck, and feeling a bit calmer, she whispered to Janet that she would be back soon.
The office was three stories and, as she was at the top, Freya resolved to be systematic in her search, taking one floor at a time. It was harder than it should have been. The building appeared to have been an old rambling house originally. There were odd corners and stairs giving the impression of floors in between where you would expect to find them.
The ceilings were high and had some impressive looking plasterwork going on. Freya could almost imagine the rooms hung with huge oil paintings and silk drapes around the windows. Floors were covered in peeling carpet squares, but there was evidence of scuffed parquet around some odd corners.
It was weird to see desks and filing cabinets surrounded by worn grandeur. The semi darkness made it easier to imagine how it might have looked in another era, and Freya found herself daydreaming instead of concentrating on her search.
The third floor seemed to be all offices, some messy like Greg’s and others clean and empty. She did not worry over locked drawers and cupboards, simply leaving them and searching where she could.
It was strange to be walking through empty offices lit only by the sodium glow of streetlights, and Freya wondered idly why they didn’t have blinds. She was much calmer now. The unreality of the situation made it seem as if she were simply dreaming.
Walking through shadowed offices streaked with dim yellow light and brown black shadows, she opened cupboards and drawers full of paperwork and staplers.
She came across someone’s stash of chocolate and absently broke off a few squares from a giant half-eaten bar of Dairy Milk. Whoever it belonged to obviously had a thing for chocolate. There were all kinds of dark bitter chocolates as well as the more standard fare.
The sweet chocolate was lovely, but only added to the dreamlike quality of the experience. By the time she reached the first floor, Freya was getting tired. It was half past three and she had not seen anything remotely like a time device.
She came across various papers and, half-curious, lifted down a lever arch file to peek at the contents. It was all meaningless business stuff. She recognised enough from running her own business to see it was nothing special, simply the daily correspondence and invoicing of a million similar offices all over the world.
Having worked her way down all floors, she was now back up on the third level. The tiredness and surreal feeling continued to grow as she walked through an empty quiet kitchen area that she had somehow missed earlier on. She was about to go back to Janet, to tell her it was no good, when she recognised the room where she had overheard Greg say Jeremy could trap her in the past.
It appeared to be a boardroom. She skirted around a huge table with chairs tucked in all round and leaned back against a deep windowsill, putting her head in her hands and closing her eyes for a moment.
It was hopeless. Why had she thought there would be a time device waiting to fall into her hands? She had a sneaking feeling that Janet had probably figured this would be the case and had decided to get them in here simply so she could have a go at Greg’s laptop.
Freya sighed, wondering what she was going to do now. She could not stay with Janet forever and she could not go home to her flat or get on with her life without Jeremy finding her.
It had seemed like such a good idea to use the time doorway and come here to steal a device. She should have known it would not be that simple.
Her eyes were gritty with tiredness, and fatigue was an ache that ran throughout her entire body as the last few days began to catch up with her.
It all seemed like madness: being attacked by and kidnapping Martin and then being kidnapped by Jeremy. Making a manic escape to Janet’s and now, stuck in an empty boardroom at half past three in the morning, searching through an office building for
a time device she would not know how to use, even if she managed to find one. When had her ordinary life spiralled so far out of control?
Her gaze wandered over grey carpet squares, scuffed chair legs and something small and shiny. Someone’s mobile. She crouched down to get a better look. It was a mobile. Small, shiny black metal with a screen and slide up panel. It felt heavier than it should be, as though it was made of lead or something. She turned it over in her hands. Something about the shape of it seemed strangely familiar. The buttons looked standard, but had odd symbols above the numbers.
It was like any other mobile phone in size and shape, yet unlike any that she had seen before. A slow awareness of what she was holding seeped through her like ice water, making her hands tremble slightly. What were the chances?
It was almost ludicrous. She had come here in the hopes of finding this little box, and as the evening wore on, she had been certain she would never succeed. That her plan was flawed from the beginning.
Now that she had found what she was looking for, it seemed too incredible. Almost as if strangers, who were even now rubbing their hands together as they viewed her on CCTV, had planted it just to catch her out. Of course, that was impossible. No one knew she planned to do this, she had only thought of it herself this afternoon.
Good grief was it only this afternoon. Or rather, yesterday afternoon she corrected herself absently. It felt like a lifetime ago. It was too dark to see properly and the darkness seemed suddenly overbearing. Her palms were sweaty and she felt threatened in some way, as if someone were sneaking up on her. She suddenly didn’t want to be alone in this creepy place any longer, and pushed the little device up her sleeve to look at later on with Janet.
Chapter 11
She straightened up too fast, felt a wave of dizziness swamp her, and then turned bang into a warm body, and nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked up to see Greg Jones shaking his head at her.
“Freya. I won’t say it’s a pleasure because it’s the middle of the night and I’ve been dragged out of my bed to come here.”
Freya simply stared at him at a loss for words, while fear caused a sick, sinking sensation in her gut. “Jan— Janet,” she managed.
Greg took her hand and said, “Don’t worry about Janet, I’ll look after her. Jeremy is going to owe me big time for this one. What were you girls after anyway, a time device? You don’t think we’d leave one lying around an unguarded office do you?”
Freya fought back unexpected laughter, the weight of the small device up her sleeve not helping to slow her heart rate. “How did you know we were here?”
Greg gave her a grin as he rummaged in his jacket pocket. “Sweetheart, you girls tripped every alarm in the place the minute you entered. You’re lucky I was on call tonight, or you might have been doing your explaining to the police instead of Jeremy.”
“Jeremy?” Freya looked up as he pulled out what was clearly a time device. She sucked in a breath, to shout and shove. There was a bright flash and they were standing in the farmhouse kitchen.
Freya blinked as she tried to adjust to the sunshine streaming through the window. She squinted around in horror, feeling the blood drain from her face. At that moment, Jeremy walked through from the hall, his dark eyes instantly meeting hers, amusement lighting his face.
“Jeremy.” Greg held Freya’s hand out towards him, “I found your little friend here engaged in a spot of midnight B&E at the office. I’d stick around to chat, but it’s 3:30 in the morning for me and I still need to deal with Janet before I can get back to bed.”
Freya wrenched her hand free and made a dash for the back door. She got halfway across the kitchen before Jeremy’s arm snaked around and hauled her back to him.
Panic slithered down her spine before she mentally shook herself. She felt embarrassed that she had been surprised into making a run for it. Stupid reaction. She flicked her gaze heavenward. She was where she needed to be, after all, just not quite as she’d planned it.
“Greg, this is a surprise, what date are you on at present? I will meet you at the office in the morning to discuss this.” Jeremy wrapped both arms around Freya as he spoke, holding her close.
“The sixteenth, but don’t come before ten thirty or I’ll be a gibbering wreck.”
Another instant and Greg was gone. “Freya,” Jeremy said quietly, his hands turning her to face him, one arm still wrapped around her. He sighed and said, “Why were you in the office at three thirty in the morning?”
Out of everything he might have said to her, he had to pick that. She knew he would easily get the whole story out of her if she attempted to talk to him now. She needed time to work out her fibs. After all, she hadn’t anticipated mentioning any of it to him.
Fatigue was making her feel slow and it occurred to her it might be her best defence. She pressed her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around him, and sighed.
His hand cupped her chin, tipping her face up to him as his mouth brushed gently over hers. “You and I need to have a talk about all this, you know. Mmmm, chocolate.” His tongue tasted the corner of her mouth and her legs felt wobbly. She leaned against him and had an idea.
“I’m so tired. Can I sleep here? Is that okay?” Her voice was barely a whisper, eyelids dropping, hands sliding from him, apparently nerveless, even as her pulse accelerated and she wondered if he would buy her little act.
“All right.” He took her hand and she followed him up the stairs. “Get some sleep, Freya. We’ll talk in a few hours when you’re feeling better.” He tossed a blanket carelessly to her, and she caught it with a lazy grin, then he crossed to the window to draw the curtains.
The door closed softly behind him and she cautiously eased the little black device from her sleeve where it had fitted so snugly. She’d bought herself some time to think. Now all she needed was a suitable hiding place for her newest acquisition.
Jeremy walked slowly down the stairs. He shook his head slightly, Freya had been dead on her feet and he should have taken the opportunity to question her, but when he had seen her looking so tired he hadn’t been able to bring himself to.
Greg had deliberately chosen to bring Freya here at a time that would cause a jet lag effect, but Jeremy wanted to win her trust, not bully her into submission. He would get further by looking after her needs and talking to her when she had rested. She could sleep the afternoon away and wake in the early evening. In the meantime, he would chat to Greg and get some answers.
He flashed into W1, 2008, straight into Greg’s office. His colleague was sitting at his desk, his laptop open in front of him and a scowl on his face. To one side sat a pretty woman with rich brown ringlets tumbling around her face.
She was dressed in Jeans that were several sizes too large, turned back hugely at the cuffs, and an equally large green tee shirt with Kermit on the front that Jeremy recognised instantly as belonging to Greg.
The girl was smirking as he flashed into the room. She glanced up, not at all startled by his sudden appearance, and gave him a big friendly smile. “Hi, Jeremy, how’s Freya?”
Jeremy returned the smile. This could only be Janet. “Janet, good to make your acquaintance at last. Freya is sleeping at present.” He turned to Greg and said, “I suppose you could not have brought her to me at a time closer to the one she was occupying. She is going to be severely time lagged now and most likely will not sleep well tonight.”
Greg grimaced, “You seriously expected me to bring her to you at three in the morning? You probably would have shot me before you realised who I was. No way in this world would I disturb your beauty sleep.”
He turned to Janet as he spoke, “A word to the wise: if you like the skin you’re in, don’t take Jeremy by surprise, especially at night. He’ll have you flat on your belly with your hands cuffed behind you or a gun to your head before you have time to blink.”
Jeremy shook his head at Greg, “No, that’s not true, Greg, I only do that to you. Everyone else gets offered tea and ca
ke.”
Never one to miss an opportunity, Janet said, “See, I told you that you need to work on your social skills. For a man employed to finesse people, you have a lot to learn.”
Greg merely rolled his eyes. “Janet is on a drive to improve our procedures. She has most kindly begun with our computer system, which she informs me is in need of updating.”
Janet shrugged, “Well, it’s true. I was able to hack into the main frame in less than twenty minutes this morning. Which reminds me, you still owe me a tenner for betting I couldn’t do it.”
Jeremy smirked and said to Greg, “I can see you’ve got your hands full here.” Then turning back to Janet, “Does Freya have software skills I’m not aware of?”
“I guess you’ll have to ask her. But seriously, Jeremy, if you ever have problems with your computer, I’ll be more than happy to be your IT support.” Janet looked up at him, straight-faced, sincerity in every nuance of her voice and expression.
Jeremy gave her a lazy smile, “You put me in mind of Daniel when you talk like that. My brother,” he added, on seeing her enquiring look. “Perhaps you would like to inform me what you and Freya hoped to achieve with your midnight excursion.”
“I was installing some software for Greg while things were quiet. It’s always hard to find a time when people aren’t accessing the system so it can be re-booted. Freya was kind enough to keep me company.”
Greg looked up, “She was searching for a time device. I was watching the cameras and she went through every room here, looked in every drawer and cupboard that wasn’t locked. She even managed to find Branigan’s chocolate stash, and we’ve all been looking for that for weeks. Don’t tell me she wasn’t looking for a time device, Janet, because I won’t believe you.”
Janet scowled suddenly. She ignored Greg and leapt to her feet, crossing the room to Jeremy and sliding a bit over the paperwork on the floor. “Well, she wouldn’t have to if someone wasn’t keeping her a prisoner in another era.”
She glared up at Jeremy, not in the slightest bit intimidated by him, hands on hips. “You can’t keep her there forever, and you’re going to have me to deal with if you upset her. I don’t care who you are, if you hurt one hair on her head I’ll write a bug for your computer system that’s so vicious you’ll be reeling from the impact for the next ten years.”
