Twisted Time

23 - Offensive

The headquarter, 02:12

Unprepared for the shift, Dan stumbles and falls, hitting her knee against a table leg. She finds her balance and pulls herself upright suppressing a groan. Ric has his ear against the connecting door to the adjacent office and stares at her with wide eyes. His raised eyebrows twitch into a frown. Leaving his eavesdropping spot, he steps up to her.

"Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?" His whisper is hoarse.

Dan shakes her head and massages her knee before she digs the bag of cough drops out of her pocket. Ric's frown persists, and she pushes the bag at him, urging him to take it.

"Pick it up already, the drops aren't poisonous. And it contains something else." Despite her hurting kneecap, she grins.

When Ric pulls the Metec out, the worry lines on his face melt into his trademark, boyish smile. He hands her the crumpled bag.

"Nice hiding place. Thanks for keeping it safe. Now let's find out what they talk about in the queen's warren." He picks up the wheel brace from the tabletop and stows it in his waistband.

Dan suppresses a giggle, studying his broad frame. "You wear the thing like a gunslinger his silver-studded colt."

"Oh. It's yours, do you want it?"

"No thanks, I doubt it looks as professional on me. Besides, I don't feel the need to hit people over the head."

"Neither do I, believe me. But then, the mission goal was to collect data and correct the timeline without being seen. Guess I failed in more than one point tonight." He presses the Metec to the office door and operates a tiny switch. Nothing happens, and Dan releases the breath she was holding. Her partner answers her questioning glance with a shrug. "They left, probably. That's the opportunity I hoped for. Come."

For a few seconds, he holds his multifunctional contraption against the door's lock. It emits a small, whirring noise, and the door opens with a click. Ric stows the box in his pocket and peeks through the door crack before he beckons Dan to join him. Her heart beating fast, Dan takes the offered hand. Worry and anticipation result in a squeaky whisper. "Isn't this dangerous?"

Ric's sends her a quick glance out of narrowed eyes. She flinches. This was a stupid question.

Her tongue is dry, and she gags on a lump of fear while she follows him into a large, empty room with a high ceiling. A thick, cream-coloured carpet swallows their steps. To the left, a group of cushioned black leather sofas squat in front of a well-stocked bar.

"Whoa. This could be the lobby of a five-star hotel."

"Hardly. When my information is correct, it's the office of the boss." After a quick glance around, Ric turns towards the giant desk of rich, dark wood situated to the right. He lets the Metec run over the shiny tabletop. It is polished to perfection, and no folder, pen, or other utensil clutters the surface.

Dan jumps when the grey box whirrs, but Ric's grip of her hand remains steady. A shiny touch-pad lights up in the desk's plate, blending seamlessly with the wood.

"Got you!" Ric grins and sets down the Metec on the glowing, blue field. An orange light on the box's surface blinks, slow at first but picking up speed. He turns towards Dan to answer her last question, running his thumb over the back of her hand. "This whole mission has become dangerous. But while they search for us downstairs, we've got a unique opportunity to collect data up here. I've saved everything we need from the lab level, but I never dared to hope we'd get a go at their operations centre and main comp. You're my lucky charm!"

Dan snorts. "This doesn't look like an operations centre. It gives me the vibes of a space deliberately decorated to impress visitors—or to frighten them."

"You're right." Ric nods, his face rigid and without a trace of his usual, cheeky smile. "That's probably exactly what it is. The actual OC lies one storey below this room. It has heavy protection, I doubt we could sneak in there. But we're in the office of the organisation's boss. As headmistress, she has direct access to the main computer system from her desk."

"And what if the famous boss-lady returns?"

"Hopefully, we will be gone with all the information I need. And a sly virus will sneak its way into their storage and program files. It's built to delete most of their long-term memory. My little electronic friend is hard at work. I already started the sequence down in the time lab, and the virus is set to activate in ninety minutes. Then, we will both be gone back to our own respective times. Preferably leaving no traces in this century."

A painful sting in Dan's gut dissolves most of her anxiousness. I'll only have an hour or thereabouts left with Ric. Then I'll be back in my cold car, in my wretched life, and he will be nothing but a memory, lost forever.

She presses her lips together, trying to imagine how it will be living out her life in the knowledge he'll be born long after her demise.

"What's wrong, don't you want to go home anymore?"

"Sure, but..." She trails off, wondering how to put her questions. There is still so much she wants to know about him, time travel, and her own future. And she has to admit she'll miss his company, including his captivating grin—and even his annoying arrogance. Calling herself a sentimental fool, she straightens up, determined to hide her useless sentiments. "There are so many questions I'd like you to answer."

"Shoot away, we're stuck here for another few minutes."

Taken by surprise, she begins with a random question that pops into her mind. "Um, for example, have you ever heard of the cashew-effect?"

"You're joking, right? You explain it in your biography. Gee, you even named the book after it. I always thought you must have had a wonderful sense of humour. Or, well, do have... I never thought I'd get to know you personally."

The sudden glint in his eyes makes Dan smile. Is this admiration? How did she earn it? A bout of disappointment lets her smile falter. For Ric, she is an abstract personality out of the past. I'm a historical figure he associates with things the real Dan doesn't know about. Someone he almost worships, but who'll never belong into his world.

An aggressive beep of the Metec tears her out of her frustrated thoughts.