‘Yup.’
His eyes were drawn to the swirling ridges of scarred skin tissue running up her left arm. ‘Looks like she’s seen action already.’
Maddy sat down next to him. ‘A prehistoric monster bit her arm off. That’s regrowth there.’
His eyes rounded. ‘Prehistoric?’
Maddy nodded. ‘That’s a whole other story, Foster. I told you about it last time.’
‘Oh … this is not the first time you’ve come to me? I must seem like some senile old fart.’
‘Relax,’ she said, laughing, ‘it’s only the second.’
‘Ahhh … So, how are you coping?’
She sighed. ‘OK so far, I think. History’s still in one piece.’ She looked around the park. A toddler was tormenting the pigeons, his parents a few dozen yards away watching him. No one close enough to ear-wig. ‘Foster, I really need to talk to you about something.’
He threw the rest of the bun at the pigeons and dusted the crumbs off his hands. ‘Go on.’
‘Does the word Pandora mean anything at all to you?’
He tilted his head in thought. ‘Do you mean apart from the Greek legend?’
Maddy nodded.
‘No … I –’ he shook his head – ‘nothing especially.’
‘Only … when we were getting the spare foetuses from the San Francisco drop point, I discovered a handwritten note addressed to me, telling me to look out for it.’
He frowned. ‘Odd.’
‘There’s more.’ Maddy proceeded to spend the next ten minutes talking, explaining all about the Voynich Manuscript, Adam Lewis, the Holy Grail and freemasons from the future. Finally she explained that some sort of prophecy, some Big Secret, supposedly penned nearly two thousand years ago, was locked up in a password-protected portion of Becks’s brain.
‘… so, that secret, it’s right here, Foster, right inside Becks’s head. I wanted you to hear it as well as me.’
‘What about Liam and Sal?’
She shook her head. ‘They’ll be next … but I just feel I can trust you, because –’
‘Because I haven’t got long to live?’
Maddy winced. He was right. ‘No, that’s not it. It’s … The note said “tell no one”. So whatever Becks has got to tell us, I guess I just want to hear it first before I share it with the others.’
He nodded. ‘Fair enough. You’re quite right.’
Maddy beckoned Becks to sit down on the bench on the other side of Foster. ‘Becks … I’m going to open your locked partition now – are you ready?’
‘Affirmative,’ she said coolly.
‘I’m sort of worried, Foster. It’s something important. I’m sure it’s something to do with the future.’
‘Perhaps something the future knows about the past?’ he added.
‘Yeah … Could be anything really. But this – what she’s about to say –’ Maddy laughed a little manically – ‘this secret is what the legend of the Holy Grail is all about.’ She looked at him. ‘I’ll be honest with you … that kinda freaks me out a little. It’s going to be a big thing, right? Big. It’s gonna change things.’
He nodded thoughtfully. ‘Possibly.’
‘I’m scared.’
‘It’s just information, Maddy. Better to know something, than not.’ He reached for her hand and squeezed it. ‘We’ll figure it out together, so we will.’
‘All right.’ She leaned across the old man. ‘Becks. Listen very closely.’ She lowered her voice. ‘iPad – Caveman – Breakfast.’
Becks’s face suddenly became a blank canvas, expressionless. Her eyes locked on Maddy. ‘Hello, Maddy.’ She looked at Foster. ‘Who is this?’
‘He’s Foster, he’s one of the agency. He can be trusted. Do you understand?’
‘Affirmative.’
‘You remember you used that cardan grille to decode the Holy Grail document.’
‘Yes, Maddy, I do. It was a very interesting task.’
‘Good. I want you to tell me and Foster exactly what you read.’
Becks’s mouth opened to speak, then froze. She remained motionless for a good ten seconds before Maddy and Foster exchanged a questioning look.
‘Becks? What’s the matter?’
The question unfroze the support unit and her grey eyes swivelled on to her. ‘I am unable to comply with your request,’ she said.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I cannot reveal the message to you, Maddy. Not at this time.’
‘What? Who says?’
Becks’s eyes flickered as she checked data. ‘I am unable to reveal that. But it is a higher authority than yours.’
‘A higher authority?’ She looked at Foster. ‘A higher authority? Do you know who she’s talking about?’
Foster frowned, puzzled. ‘No … no, I don’t.’
‘Oh God, I don’t like this,’ she whispered. ‘Secrets within secrets. I hate it! It means somebody’s getting used here. And that somebody’s probably me.’
She turned to Becks. ‘Can you tell me anything about the message? Anything at all?’
‘I am allowed to tell you it is a warning. That is all.’
‘But you said I can’t know about it yet.’
‘Affirmative.’
‘Which – What? – Which means you’re going to be allowed to tell me at some point in time?’
‘Correct.’
‘When?’
Becks tilted her head slightly, almost the way a dog will do. Her grey eyes searched data, then finally settled back on Maddy. ‘When it is the end.’
Alex Scarrow, Time Riders
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