Day of the Predator - Alex Scarrow [99]
But now, finally, there were occupants inside. Occupants from – his heart fluttered and his breath caught as he considered the phrase – another time.
Cartwright instinctively reached into his suit jacket for the service-issue firearm he kept there as he looked at his watch and realized that after forty years of waiting and preparing he was finally down to counting off the last ten seconds.
‘So … this is it,’ he uttered.
The second hand of his watch ticked past midnight and all of a sudden he thought he felt the slightest puff of displaced air against his face.
He leaned forward, balled his fist and knuckled the shutter door gently.
CHAPTER 55
2001, New York
Maddy looked at Sal. ‘Oh my God! You hear that? That was a knock, wasn’t it?’ She hadn’t fully expected to be right, that come the stroke of midnight and the reset there would actually, for real, be a knock on their door.
The roller shutter rattled again, and they heard the muffled sound of a man’s voice outside.
‘So we’re going to open it, right?’ whispered Sal.
‘I … uh … yes, I guess we’ve got no choice.’ She stepped forward towards the button at the side and pressed it. With a rattling whirr of a winch motor begging for oil, the shutter slowly rose. Both girls looked down at the ground, at the gradually widening gap, and the soft glow of the street lamp outside creeping across their stained and pitted concrete floor.
Two shoes. Two dark-suited legs. Finally the person outside ducked down slightly to look in, and his wide eyes met theirs.
‘Hello there,’ said Maddy, raising a limp hand. ‘We were … kind of expecting you.’
The shutter rattled to a stop and the man stared at them for a long while in silence.
‘I …’ he started, his voice croaky with nerves. ‘You … but you’re just kids.’ He narrowed his eyes, looking past them at the dim interior. ‘Are there any others here?’
‘Just us, I’m afraid,’ said Maddy.
He looked at her; his old creased face seemed to be struggling to cope with the moment. ‘Are you two … are you f-from the future?’ he asked.
Sal looked at Maddy and she finally nodded her head. ‘You’ve got a million questions you want to ask us, I’m sure,’ Maddy addressed the old man. ‘And we’re prepared to answer some of them. But … you have something, right? Something for us?’
He eyed her cautiously. ‘Perhaps.’
‘A message?’
He ignored the question. ‘Are you time travellers?’
‘I won’t answer anything until you answer me. Do you have a message for us?’
He took a step forward, squinting at the machinery on the far side of the arch. He nodded towards it. ‘Is that some sort of time machine?’
She bit her lip. ‘I’m not saying anything until you answer me.’
‘It is, isn’t it?’ He smiled. ‘My God … this is incredible.’
‘Please!’ called out Sal. ‘Something brought you to us. It’s a message from our friend, isn’t it?’
The old man turned away from them and barked an order down along their backstreet. A moment later Maddy could hear the slap of boots on cobblestones. She retreated from the entrance and into the arch, taking several steps towards the computer desk.
‘I’m sorry,’ said the old man. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled a handgun on them. ‘Please remain perfectly still. Do not touch anything! Do not do anything!’
Half a dozen men emerged from the backstreet, all of them wearing bio-hazard suits, faces hidden behind tinted fascias of plastic. All of them armed with what looked like television remote controls.
Oh no. Maddy felt lightheaded. This isn’t good.
‘We’re going to talk,’ said the old man gently. ‘But we’re going to talk safely away from this place. Please,’ he said, beckoning for them both to come forward, out of the archway and into the street, ‘step forward, away from the equipment.’
Now! You have to do it now!
Maddy spun to face the computer desk.