Portals in Time 2

by Michael Beals

  “Until some frightened policeman or member of the public shoots him. At which point he’ll return to Hell.”

  Kat sensed a glimmer of hope. “So if I manage to sneak up on Rostock, I can vaporize him?”

  Cabot grimaced. “If Grantham sees it, it might send him into hiding. It could take you months to find Grantham again.”

  “Crap!” she cursed. “So I can’t shoot Rostock.”

  “Not in front of Grantham, you can’t. But you do have an advantage. Neither Grantham nor Rostock can be sure you know what year they’re in. There’s no proof that Lily didn’t teleport. She may have gone to a different year. McInnes may suspect you, but he has no proof either. The only thing you can be sure of is that from now on, escapees will go to a different era.”

  Kat sipped at her tea. It was delightful drinking tea at the Morgan Library, dappled sunlight filtering through the trees, but the subject they were discussing was far from pleasant.

  “Well, thank you, Inspector. At least we know where Rostock is.”

  “You’re also relatively safe. Rostock won’t try to kill you unless he thinks Grantham’s in danger of being caught. Knowing Persephone, and I’m quite sure Rostock knows how dangerous she is, it would be like raising a red flag to a bull. She’d go after Rostock with everything she’s got.”

  “But you think he’d try to kill me if he knew Grantham was in trouble?”

  “Well, yes. Almost certainly.”

  “Wonderful,” she snorted sarcastically. “That makes me feel a whole lot better.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  D ore and Lily were discussing guns when she got back to the Cosmopolitan, the coffee table was covered with an assortment of pistols and holsters, and Lily was walking around in her underwear. A Baby Browning was strapped to her thigh, and Kat had to admit, she looked really cute.

  “Where did all the guns come from?” she asked, pouring herself a coffee.

  Giselle, who was busy sorting out boxes of ammunition, held up a hand. “Elite headquarters. While you were talking to Inspector Cabot, we thought we’d make ourselves useful. You shoulda heard Pernass. You girls planning a war?” she mimicked. “Has the Commissioner always been so miserable?”

  “You should see him when he’s really pissed. Have you ever fired a Baby Browning, Lily?”

  “Yes, I have. I actually prefer the Colt 1908 because it’s easier to hold, and the safety doesn’t keep slipping, but the Browning’s a cool gun.”

  “Yeah, it is, especially if we’re wearing a long dress.”

  “I hate the damned things,” Dore remarked. “I can barely fit my finger in the trigger guard.” He grinned. “Course, I’ve got big hands.”

  “I don’t suppose anyone thought to get me a regular Browning,” Kat asked.

  “Yeah, I did,” Dore replied. “I knew you’d want something with a wee bit of punch. It’s on the dressing table in the bedroom.” He glanced across at her. “So when are we leaving?”

  “Good question. When we’re ready, I suppose. We’ve each got an artifact now, and we all have suitable clothes. As you know, we’re staying at The Fifth Avenue Hotel, which is only a stone’s throw from where we are now. But before everyone gets too excited, we have to zip over there and book into the hotel. Then we can all teleport to the same room.”

  “Why don’t I go on my own?” he suggested. “If we’re teleporting to Central Park again and Rostock’s also decided to teleport a day early, it puts you less at risk. I’ll book a suite for all of us, then teleport back here from the hotel room. When we all go, if I’ve been there first, maybe the artifacts will follow the slip-stream.”

  “You think that’ll work?”

  “I don’t see why not. If we program the artifacts to go to The Fifth Avenue Hotel, where I’ve already come from…”

  Kat shrugged. “Sounds good to me.

  “Maybe if we all stand in a group,” Giselle ventured. “and press Go at the same time…”

  Dore grinned. “Good idea, Ellie. I’d hate to end up in the wrong hotel room.”

  “What if it’s fully booked?” Lily asked.

  “August 5th is a Saturday,” Kat said. “The Fifth Avenue Hotel’s mainly used by wealthy businessmen. It’s never fully booked on the weekend.” She looked at Dore. “You don’t mind booking the hotel on your own?”

  “Not in the least. I can have a wee dram in the bar, and there’s no danger of bumping into Rostock. He’d risk being vaporized if he confronted me.”

  Kat could imagine Dore having a quiet drink, all dressed up in his new jacket and boots. If The Fifth Avenue Hotel wasn’t so swanky, he’d probably get propositioned. “You be careful, Jock. We don’t know what Rostock’s up to… or where he’s likely to be staying.”

  Dore shook his head. “Rostock might look slightly more human when he’s on Earth, but if he’s as ugly and freakish as I think he is, it’s unlikely he’ll be staying at The Fifth Avenue Hotel. I doubt if he’s carrying suitable money for a start.”

  She let out a sigh of relief. Jock was always a comfort when things threatened to turn ugly. “You think he might stay at the boathouse?”

  “He might. Do demons need to eat when they’re on Earth?”

  “I don’t know what demons eat when they’re in Hell,” she snorted. “They probably live on pondweed. So Jock, do you think you could go fairly soon? I’d quite like us all to get there while it’s still daylight.”

  Dore straightened. “It’s a time machine… Choose any hour you want to arrive. I’ll go and get changed.”

  She watched him as he went to the bedroom. She should really teleport with him, but he was probably right, if Rostock was hanging around, it wasn’t a good idea. She wondered what the relationship was between Grantham and Rostock. If it was true that Grantham hated demons, would Rostock have to keep his distance? Which posed another question. Was Rostock only teleporting on McInnes’s orders because McInnes now knew that she was an Elite and was afraid to expose himself? She tried not to think about it. She’d find out soon enough.

  Dore reappeared in the doorway. He was adjusting one of his guns to fit snuggly under the new jacket that Giselle bought for him. It was strange that she’d never realized how handsome Jock was. All through the war, she’d treated him like an older brother, making light of it if he ever got too emotional. Now he was in love with a woman who looked like Grace Kelly.

  “I have to say, you look amazing, Jock. I wish I was going with you.”

  “Thank you, Lass. Don’t worry; I’ll be back before you know it. Can you give me some money?”

  “How much do you need?”

  “Well, if the rooms at The Fifth Avenue Hotel are $3.00 a night, a suite for four people is probably $25 if you include dinner. Why don’t I book us in for ten nights? We can always extend it if we have to.”

  “Sounds good,” she said, taking $300 from the bag of money and handing it to him. “While you’re gone, I’ll sort out the rest of the money.”

  Opening the safe and taking out one of the artifacts, he glanced at Giselle. She was looking at him with a longing expression, and when he reached out and squeezed her arm, she looked as if she might cry. “Ye needna worry, Lass. I’ll be back in a jiff.” Then he stepped into the middle of the room and began jabbing at the artifact’s keyboard, August 5th, 1866, 12 noon.

  “Jock,” Kat said, “please don’t go anywhere. I know it’ll be tempting if it’s a lovely day, but please go straight to the room and come home. We’ll be back there soon enough.”

  He grinned at her. “Yes, Ma’am. Any other requests?”

  “None that I can repeat in public.”

  “That’s my girl,” he said, pressing the go button. “See you in five.”

  Two seconds later, he was gone.

  Kat stood there, rooted to the spot, unable to believe Dore just vanished. He was in the real world now, fifty-two years before she was born.

  “Are you all right, Ellie?” she asked...

  “I�
��m not sure if I know, Kat. I don’t know what to think.”

  “Well, he’ll be back in a few minutes. Why don’t we all get changed and prepare ourselves? He won’t want to hang around when he comes back.”

  So they changed, taking their time to make sure that their dresses fitted and that their weapons were easy to get at. Kat had the biggest problem. Not wanting to carry her tracksuit, she decided to wear it under her dress. It would be a useful rehearsal for when she had to follow Grantham into the future, if that’s where he went, which set her to thinking. What if the slipstream idea didn’t work? What if she needed to know precisely where Grantham was going? The only way Kat could do that was by reading his watch and then setting her own. How could she do that? She could hardly climb a tree to look down on him.

  And then it dawned on her. She wouldn’t be very far away, perhaps only fifty yards at most. Grantham had no idea what she looked like. If he teleported from Central Park, she would look like every other passing pedestrian. Picking up the phone, she dialed a number.

  Pernass must have been expecting her, because he said, “Katelyn! What can I do for my favorite stepdaughter?”

  “Field glasses,” she replied. “I need powerful field glasses, and I need them like yesterday.”

  “We have them in the armory. You’re welcome to sign out a pair.”

  “I don’t have time. Could you send the field glasses by courier? I’m at the Cosmopolitan.”

  Pernass hesitated. “Sure, I suppose I can do that. Where are you going that needs field glasses?”

  She laughed. “1866.”

  They were all drinking coffee and getting worried when Dore suddenly reappeared. He’d been gone for two hours, which was unusual. Typically, artifacts returned their passengers within minutes of departure.

  “What happened?” Kat asked. “You’ve been ages.”

  Dore looked perplexed. “Nothing. I checked into the hotel, went to our suite, looked around, and hit the Return button. Why? How long have I been?”

  “Two hours. It’s weird because even if you’d been there for three days, the artifact returns you within minutes of leaving.”

  “Yes, I know. Maybe it’s because I returned from a different location. Could be the artifact needed to reorient itself.”

  “Ah well, you’re here now. Everything go okay?”

  Dore raised his eyebrows. “Absolutely fine. There was no sign of Rostock, and it’s an incredible hotel. It’s like a Palace. It leaves Shepheard’s hotel in Cairo for dead. It’s got fountains in the foyer, bell boys, porters, a bar where you have to dress up–”

  “So you did go in the bar,” she said, accusingly.

  “I put my head around the door for a look.” Glancing at Giselle, he shook his head. When she grinned at him, he added, “You ladies ready?”

  Kat said, “we’re ready.” Putting down their coffee cups, everyone stood. “We’re going to stand in a tight circle. We want to end up in the same hotel room, so we’re all going to program our artifacts to The Fifth Avenue Hotel. You too, Jock. Your artifact’s still set to arrive in Central Park.”

  Slinging the moneybag over her shoulder, the field glasses around her neck, Kat herded everyone into a tight circle, then waited until they’d programmed their artifacts. Lily was the slowest because she mistyped the 8 in 1866 and typed in a 6. When she’d finally corrected it, and they were all ready, they looked at each other.

  “So we go in order,” Kat said. “First you, Jock, then Lily, then Giselle and then me, two seconds apart. Then our slipstreams won’t get confused. Everyone ready?” When they all nodded, she said, “one, two, three… go, Jock.”

  Dore’s finger must have been on the button because he vanished almost immediately, then Lily, then Giselle, and finally, she pressed her Go button. There were the usual swishing sounds, the room went dark, an atomic spangle of flickering light, and suddenly they were all standing there in the hotel room, sunshine streaming through the windows, a look of awe on everyone’s faces. Giselle looked the most traumatized. Her mouth was wide open, her eyes were glistening, and she was breathing heavily. It wasn’t hard to understand why. She hadn’t been to Earth for two hundred years, and it must have been a shock.

  Seeing the look in Giselle’s eyes, Jock put his arms around her. “You okay, Ellie?”

  “Yes, I’m… fine,” Giselle croaked. “I want to look outside.” Grabbing his hand, she hauled him over to the window and threw it open. “Wow, look! Real trees, real people, and… oh, my god, are those real horses?”

  “They certainly are. This is the real world in 1866, Ellie. Want to go for a walk?”

  “Are you kidding? I’d love to.”

  Kat looked around the room. It was larger than their suite at the Cosmopolitan. Two couches, a comfortable chair, and a desk furnished the room, a vase of flowers sat in the hearth of a Victorian fireplace, and the doors to three rooms stood open, revealing opulent bedrooms. It was a luxurious suite.

  “We should all go for a walk,” Kat said, “while it’s warm and sunny. I doubt if Rostock’s wandering around in broad daylight, and we have to work out a strategy to watch the escapees arriving. I suggest we walk in pairs, rather than a group of four.”

  “Who’s going to walk with who?” Lily asked.

  “I need Jock to walk with me, so you and Ellie walk together. As long as we keep each other in sight, we should be fine.”

  “I can’t walk with Jock?” Giselle asked.

  “I’m sorry, Ellie, not this time. Jock and I need to plan this. You can go for another walk later.”

  Kat handed everyone twenty dollars each, before stowing the moneybag in one of the bedroom drawers. Grabbing the field glasses, Kat led the group out of the room, down the huge winding staircase and out through the stately foyer to the street. Hansom cabs and horse-drawn coaches rattled by on the cobblestone surface. The Fifth Avenue Hotel was opposite Madison Square Park. Crossing the road, they made their way down to where the Hansom cabs were parked. Each couple hired one to take them to Central Park. When Kat’s group arrived, they looked for a perfect spot to observe the escapees arriving. They found a wide area of lawn, with thick undergrowth and tall trees nearby that looked promising. Kat looked around, trying to guess where Grantham, if he arrived, would be standing. Kat then chuckled to herself about Rostock. Perhaps the lizard was out there somewhere, sunning himself in a tree.

  When they arrived, they walked into the park and looked around. The sandy footpath leading to the park’s smaller lake was surrounded by trees and thick undergrowth. If they could work out where Grantham might stand, they stood a chance of observing him. The question was, could they follow him?

  She turned to Dore. “What do you think, Jock?

  “Well, there were only two of us when we arrived, and I think one of those girls we saw, saw us suddenly appear. We got away with it because there were trees in the way, but ten people?”

  “Yeah, they’d be better off arriving in the undergrowth, but I doubt if artifacts are intelligent. They dump you where they dump you.”

  “Hmm. Maybe that isn’t quite true,” Dore ventured. “Grantham’s been doing this for a long time, and he’s still using Central Park. It could be the artifacts drop you off where the least number of humans are walking around.”

  “So why weren’t we dumped in the lake?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it needs solid ground. For all we know, the ethereal highway we traveled down just happens to end up here.”

  “So you think where people land is partly chance?”

  Dore scratched the stubble on his neck. “Heck if I know. Maybe it’s affected by volume. If ten people are traveling, they might end up dotted all over the place, which is why Grantham has to meet them.”

  “That’s a good point, Jock. He’d have to be here before their arrival.” A thought occurred to her. “If we can recognize him and he’s standing in the right place…”

  He laughed. “You want me to climb a tree with the f
ield glasses.”

  She put her arm around him. “Could you… in those boots?”

  “Stop flirting with me, Kat. You’re wearing a tracksuit and sneakers under that dress.” Walking into the center of the lawn, he looked around. “If the landing point is fifty yards wide, for example, I think he’d stand somewhere near here.”

  Kat went over and stood next to him. From where they were standing, she could see the line of Hansom cabs, the smaller lake, and two footpaths leading off into the park. The lawn area was two hundred yards wide, and they were surrounded on two sides by thick undergrowth. It was a perfect position. She studied the nearest trees. There was an oak tree, although it wasn’t very tall, an old cherry tree, which looked easy to climb, and a small stand of elm trees. Choosing the cherry tree, she said, “Stay here and look at your watch.” Then she ran over to the cherry tree, checked to see that no one was watching her, and stripped off her dress.

  It took less than a minute to climb to a reasonable height, and she could just see Dore through the foliage. Sunlight was glancing off the leaves, so she maneuvered her position until she had a clear view of him. Peering through the powerful field glasses, she wavered them around until she found Dore’s face, then adjusted the focus. The quality was incredible. She could even see the stubble on his jaw. Kat Followed the line of Dore’s body, then traced her view down the length of Dore’s arm, until she found his wristwatch. It was perfect. The exact time was quarter after four. If Grantham’s time machine was anything like hers, she’d be able to see the date he set easily.

  Climbing down again, she quickly dressed and went over to Dore. “It’s perfect, Jock. If Grantham does turn up, and he stands where you are, we’ll know exactly what year he’s going to.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  Kat thought about it. It was unlikely that Grantham would come here without some form of protection, especially since he’d already lost one of his assassins. He would almost certainly have guards positioned around this part of the park, but where? One obvious place was where the Hansom cabs stood, perhaps another was on the lakeside of the lawn area, then maybe a third where the footpaths diverged. That way, he could also pick up stray arrivals.