Lay Down Your Hand

by Cherie Mitchell

  He watched the couple closely as they sat and talked, although he was unable to catch any of their conversation from his table at the back of the room. They stayed at the wine bar for almost an hour, obviously finding plenty of common ground, before Kacey got up to leave. The Knave remained in his seat, saying something to make her throw her head back and laugh merrily as she picked up her coat. Terrifyingly enough, she stooped to brush a friendly kiss onto the man’s cheek as she left, patently unaware of his horrible plans for her. The Knave waited a brief minute after she left the bar before getting up to follow her, giving Elliot his cue.

  He walked slowly over to the door, taking his time to allow the Knave his chance to begin trailing Kacey through the night-shadowed streets. He’d just reached out his hand to open the door when it flew open and a girl almost barrelled straight into him. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” She gazed up at him, a mischievous grin dancing across her face and her eyes alight with life and laughter.

  He stared dumbfounded at the girl, frozen to the spot and unable to say a word. His stomach looped into painful knots and his heart hammered loudly in his chest. This beautiful young woman with laughing blue eyes looked so much like his Annie that it made him want to weep.

  The laughter quickly died in the girl’s eyes under the dead weight of his stare. She gave him an odd look and scooted around him, making sure not to brush against him as she passed. He hurriedly shook himself out of his shock. It’s not Annie. Your Annie is dead and gone.

  By the time he’d pulled himself together enough to step out onto the street, there was no sign of either the Knave or Kacey. Elliot spun around frantically, raking his eyes over the lamp-lit streets, furious with himself for losing his focus when so much was at stake. Now Kacey was in mortal trouble and it was entirely his fault. Yet another happy, vibrant woman would die unless he found her in time. The overwhelming sense of déjà vu was not lost on him as he ran from the wine bar and began peering down alleys and laneways, hoping against hope that there was still time to save her.

  He would be the first to admit that good luck rather than his own clever quick thinking led him to the exact laneway that Kacey had chosen as a shortcut and it seemed he was just in time. Midway down the shaded and shadowy passageway, he saw Kacey cowering against a brick wall as the black figure of the Knave towered above her, his hand cruelly gripping her arm and his knee pinning her leg to the wall. A bank of mini skips sheltered the pair from the casual eyes of anyone passing by. Elliot was running and shouting before he had time to think. “Hey! Hey you! Take your filthy hands off her!”

  Taken by surprise, the Knave dropped his hand from Kacey’s arm and whirled around to face Elliot. The man pulled his lips back into a snarl, his eyes flashing with blind hate. “Mind your own business. You’ll keep walking if you know what’s good for you.”

  Kacey was smart enough to make the most of this unexpected opportunity. She ducked past the Knave, hurling insults that would make a fisherwife blush, and ran down the alley towards the bright lights of the busy main street. Elliot stopped running, gasping with relief. She’d be safe now, with the tube station a mere block away from the end of the alley.

  The Knave was furious and he made no attempt to hide it. He marched towards Elliot, swinging his fist wildly and sparking with anger. “I told you to mind your own bloody business.”

  Elliot easily sidestepped the Knave’s furious punches, used to evading a fight when it suited him. Deciding it was best to avoid a brawl with a man who didn’t know how to play fair, he ran after Kacey and out onto the main street. He checked behind him when he reached the busy pedestrian footpath to see that the Knave had chosen not to follow him and was now hurrying in the other direction. Determined to complete his assignment after he’d nearly ruined everything, he kept Kacey in his sights until she safely entered the tube station.

  Elliot sagged back against his seat on the train home, still distraught and struggling to compose himself after the near miss. He dialled Ramona’s number and shamefully admitted what had happened. “I almost let him kill her. I allowed myself to become distracted and I nearly wasn’t there to save her. That monster almost got away with murder.” His voice was loud and ragged with grief and a middle-aged woman in a plastic raincoat sitting on the seat across the aisle gave him a worried glance. All he could think about was Annie’s lovely, innocent face and the terror of her final moments at Jack the Ripper’s violent hands. Tonight another woman nearly died because of me.

  “But she didn’t die,” Ramona said, her voice steady and soothing enough to penetrate through his pain. “Kacey made it home alive. I’d just hung up from speaking with my contact when you called.”

  He swallowed hard, fearing he was losing the battle to contain his emotions. “I shouldn’t have allowed my concentration to lapse as it did.”

  “Elliot, are you listening to me? Kacey is fine. She’s at home now, probably showering or making herself a snack, and thanking her lucky stars that a random stranger came along when he did.”

  “Ok.” He focused hard on calming his breathing. “Ok.”

  “Do you want me to come over? I can meet you at your apartment.”

  “No.” He didn’t want to face Ramona like this, not when he was completely unwound and frighteningly vulnerable. “I don’t need company.”

  “Well, come over to my apartment in the morning anyway. We’re due for another talk with Darcy.”

  “Ok,” he said again. He turned his head to stare at his blurred reflection in the window beside him rather than meet the concerned gaze of the woman across the aisle.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?”

  “I’m alright.” He wanted to get off the phone. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He needed to get back to the sanctuary of his apartment so he could calm himself and steady his nerves. He needed to be alone.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow. Come over around 10.”

  He nodded, forgetting that Ramona couldn’t see the gesture, and hung up the phone without saying another word.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  He slept badly that night, tossing and turning and tormented by memories of his frantic flight through the lanes on the evening Annie went missing. At one point he sat bolt upright in bed, his mouth dry with fear, certain he could hear someone trying to unlock the door and enter the apartment. Of course there was no one but the feeling of imminent danger remained, making it impossible to fall back to sleep. He left his tangled sheets and prowled around the apartment, pausing often to stare out the window at the dimmed lights of a city sleeping.

  At 5am, aware that there was no longer any point in waiting for sleep, he sat on the couch with Annie’s love note in his hand and reread each word over and over, even though they were all so deeply etched on his memory that reading them was irrelevant. He thought of the absolute perfection of the year and a half that he’d spent with Annie, of their plans for the future, and how he’d imagined his life was complete once he found her. He thought of his sisters, two beautiful little girls lost before their lives had barely begun. And then he thought about how all the hopes and dreams that were now lost forever and how those halcyon days were now relegated to just fleeting moments in time. He cried too, allowing silent tears to run unchecked down his cheeks and soak wetly into his beard.

  At 7am, sleep deprived and headachy, he stood under a hot shower for a lengthy while, hoping to wash his tears and his troubles away. He told himself he should have expected this, this mini breakdown, after the tumultuous events he’d been through ever since he climbed into Darcy Darcel’s time machine. Coping with great change was never easy and unfortunately, the near miss last night had reminded him all too painfully of his own failings. Perhaps the corporation wasn’t so clever after all. They had chosen the wrong man despite Ramona’s assurances that he was the best candidate for the job.

  By the time he knocked on Ramona’s door later that morning, he had convinced himself of his utter unworthiness. He mumbled a desolate hell
o as she let him in, unable to bring himself to meet her eye. She noticed immediately. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” He’d decided on the way over here to come straight out with it. There was no sense in prevaricating now that he’d reached his conclusions. “If there’s any way to send me back to where I came from, I’d appreciate it greatly.”

  “What are you talking about? Elliot, look at me,” she commanded. She stood toe to toe with him and tilted her head so she could look into his downcast eyes. “Why are you talking like this? You’re doing a brilliant job.”

  “Kacey could’ve died last night. My distraction nearly caused another woman to lose her life. The corporation needs someone who can keep his mind on the job and that person clearly isn’t me.” He hated to hear the weakness in his voice.

  She’d heard it too, if her quick frown was any indication. She threw up her hands in exasperation. “This is ridiculous! Kacey is fine. No one died.”

  “I barely slept,” he admitted. “She very nearly died because of me. I’m haunted by thoughts of how close the Knave came to killing her.”

  “Close maybe, but not close enough. You completed your assignment despite the small hiccup, which is why the corporation chose you. You’re not a man who gives up.” She fixed her steady blue gaze upon him. “Are you?”

  He returned her stare, feeling his resolutions beginning to crumble beneath the undeniable challenge in her eyes. No, he was never a man who gave up easily. He was used to finding solutions. He allowed his lips to curve into a faint smile. “No, I’m not a man who gives up.”

  “Good. I’m glad we’ve got that settled.” She dropped her eyes and turned away from him, just as he was beginning to enjoy the intimacy of their locked gaze.

  “Has Kacey reported the incident to the police?” He’d wondered about this too during the interminably long hours of the night.

  “No, it seems she’s brushed the whole unsavoury episode off as her date making an unwanted pass. She’s none the wiser as to the Knave’s real intentions, which is probably a good thing.” She picked up her keys from the benchtop and her voice returned to its usual business-like efficiency. “Darcy sent me a message last night. He thinks he’s fixed the glitch in the time machine and I have to go to the woods and do something to the dials. He’s given me a page of instructions and if everything works out as he thinks it will, the machine should be winging its way back to 1889 later this morning. Do you want to come with me?”

  “Sure.” He realised this was his chance to tell her that he would go back when the time machine returned to Darcy’s front room but strangely enough, he no longer wanted to. He cleared his throat and marched over to wrench open the door, determined to reinstate his masculinity after his embarrassing little transgression. “After you.”

  The time machine was exactly where they’d left in the small group of trees, which surprised Elliot somewhat. “It’s lucky no one has seen it here. I expected it to be vandalised or pieces to have been stolen.”

  “My guess is that no one has noticed it. People can be frighteningly myopic when it comes to seeing something they don’t believe in, even if it is sitting right under their nose. Can you give me a hand to shut the door?”

  Elliot helped her to ease the buckled door shut, feeling a little guilty that he’d made such a mess of it when he kicked his way out.

  She leaned her elbows on the machine and frowned down at the page she’d brought with her from the apartment. Elliot could see the lines of tightly packed writing from where he stood behind her. “Are those your instructions? There seem to be a lot of them.”

  “Yeah. Darcy wanted to make sure he didn’t leave out any details. I’m not very technical when it comes to machinery or automations and he knows that.”

  Elliot couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to tease her. “Are you telling me you’re not good at everything?”

  She ignored him, instead bossily thrusting the page over her shoulder for him to take. “Here, you can read them out while I work.”

  It was pleasant out here in the woods with the sun dappling lazily through the leaves above, the birds singing, and the rhythmic hum from the traffic on the street a short distance away. Elliot was content to perch on a fallen log and relate Darcy’s instructions while Ramona twiddled dials, adjusted knobs, and reset levers. Despite her protests that she wasn’t technically minded, he knew he would be hopelessly lost if he was the one in front of that dashboard. His own technical skills were limited to the fine art of chimney cleaning, and screwing the individual components of a sweeper’s brush together was a world of difference away from the delicate intricacies of a machine capable of harnessing time. However, he knew he would be more than willing to learn if the chance ever presented itself. Perhaps once his assignment was finished, he might ask her for a few lessons in mechanics…

  “I think that’s everything. Can you read me that last line again?” Ramona, who had been crouched in front of the dashboard for some time, finally stood up and stretched, arching her back like a graceful cat while Elliot studied the curves of her body in silent admiration.

  “Set the illumination dial to 3 and pull the corrosion prevention lever down to midpoint.” It was all gibberish to him but she nodded in agreement. “That’s it then. Shall we see if it works?”

  He hurriedly climbed off the log and went to stand beside her. “How will we know if it works?”

  She looked at him as if he was an inmate escaped from Peckham House. “Because it will disappear.”

  He hastened to explain himself, anxious not to show her yet another flaw in his sanity. “Yes I understand that, but how will we know if it’s gone to the right place? What if it jumps to some other time instead of returning to Darcy’s front room?”

  She screwed up her nose and he had the sudden and completely overwhelming desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He hurriedly walked away, positioning himself in a place of relative safety on the other side of the log. Control yourself, Elliot Cinder.

  “I think we’ll just have to hope for the best,” she said at last, oblivious to the fact he was fighting against his emotions just a few steps away from her. “Darcy will be able to track it down if it turns up somewhere else.”

  “But how will he get to it?”

  “I’m going to have to leave that part up to Darcy. Time machines aren’t my speciality. All the infinity devices are under Darcy Darcel’s jurisdiction.”

  All of them? He tucked that information away for some other time. “So what happens now?”

  She took out her phone and punched her index finger at several of the keys. “I’ll send him the code to let him know I’m done and then we’ll wait.” She shoved her phone back into her pocket and grinned at him. “We’ll wait with our fingers crossed.”

  They didn’t have to wait long. Within moments, the air around them filled with a clamorous vibrating noise, the sky momentarily darkened, and then the machine was gone as if it had never existed. Elliot blinked stupidly at the spot where the device had sat just seconds before. There was a small, flattened indentation in the grass but other than that, there was no sign that a time capsule had ever rested here in the woods.

  Ramona gleefully clapped her hands together and performed a small dance, her cheeks pink with pleasure. “We did it!”

  “When will we know if it has reached Darcy?” He had visions of the device crash landing in the wrong place or time, complicating matters yet again. It was disconcerting to think that his only possible means of returning to his own time was gone but then again, what reason did he have to return? It seemed he had more than enough reason to stay here. He laughed as he watched Ramona swoop and dance, delighted at this impromptu display of excitement.

  Her phone pinged with a notification and her grin grew wider. “That’s Darcy’s signal. The machine is back where it should be.” She hooked out her arm for Elliot to take. “Come on partner, let’s go home and raise a cup of caffeine to
our success.”

  Partner. He liked that. The word spoke of cooperation and collaboration, of a connection between two like-minded people – even if one of them did happen to be a woman. He gladly hooked his arm through hers and they walked back to the edge of the woods.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  His next two assignments went off without a hitch, restoring Elliot’s wounded self-confidence, although it was clear that the Knave now knew that someone was onto him. He’d glared at Elliot across the bar two nights ago as his date left, making it plain that he recognised him and did not appreciate his presence. Elliot had passed this information onto Ramona, who pursed her lips and said they were worried that this might happen. She’d told Elliot to leave it with her and he hadn’t heard from her since. He’d picked up his phone several times this morning, thinking he would call or text her, only to put it down again. He knew she’d call when she was ready and she’d already told him that her week was exceedingly busy.

  He finally heard from her in the early evening, just as he was staring moodily into his refrigerator and wondering what to make for dinner. He snatched at his phone the instant it rang. “I was just thinking about you.” It was almost a lie because he’d been thinking about her for most of the afternoon. Oddly enough, the image of her laughing face and her happy dance when she realised she’d fixed the time machine had wedged itself in the front of his brain and refused to move on.

  She sounded tired. “Can you come over? Something unexpected has happened. I need to fill you in on the details.”

  Chilly fingers of dread scuttled across his scalp. “What do you mean by something unexpected? Has the Knave killed someone?”