Time for Love (2 page)

Alex couldn’t care less. She just wanted to know about her sister.

Enough. She approached the busy receptionist who held up a finger to hold her off and pressed a multitude of buttons before she looked up with a smile. “Yes?”

“How much longer will Mr. Sawyer be? He told me to be here at four. I’ve been waiting nearly half an hour.”

The receptionist’s smile remained in place but dimmed somewhat as she turned to her computer and typed at a furious pace. “Mr. Sawyer is a very busy man. He knows you’re here. I’m sure he’ll be with you in a moment.”

“Well, can you inform him again, please.” Alex struggled to keep her tone civil.

The phone rang, and the receptionist turned to it, looking grateful for the interruption. “Excuse me, please.” She pressed a button, and the ringing stopped. She listened for a moment, then said, “Yes, sir. Right away.” She pulled off her headset and stood, motioning for Alex to follow. “Mr. Sawyer will see you now. If you’ll just follow me.”

She led Alex to an office at the far end of the building. A wall of windows showed off an amazing view of the city.
This Sawyer guy must be pretty high on the food chain to rate that view
.

Alex hid her surprise as a squat, balding man in a crumpled, three-piece suit stood to greet her. She hadn’t noticed him sitting behind the tall stack of files in the center of an enormous L-shaped desk that dominated the room.

He was not what she’d pictured. This rumpled mess didn’t match the cold, clear voice she’d heard over the phone.

She walked forward to grasp his outstretched hand. His crushing grip seemed more in line with her phone impression, and she pulled her hand quickly out of his grasp, flexing her fingers unobtrusively behind her back as she walked to the chair he indicated for her.

“Miss Turner, thank you for coming.” Sawyer made a dismissive gesture, and the door closed behind Alex as the receptionist left them alone.

Alex’s nerves twitched at the click of the door. All her nervousness rushed back as the quiet noise reverberated in her skull like the cocking of a gun. She cleared her throat as she took her seat. “So. What’s this all about? Where’s Charlotte?”

He shoved most of the files to a corner of the desk and sat back. He stared for a moment before speaking. “What did Miss Evans tell you about our meeting?”

“Nothing. We had a bad connection, the call kept fading in and out. I just heard something about a meeting with you, and that she’d call me later.”

He nodded, a satisfied expression on his face.

What’s he so happy about?
“What’s going on?”

“Miss Evans is a special client of Griffin International.” He picked a file from the top of the pile and tossed it across the desk where it slid to a stop in front of her. A few pages slipped out.

Alex stuffed them back in before she flipped open the folder and sifted through photocopies of old newspaper articles. “Okay.” She drew the word out, confusion showing in her voice. “So some kids disappeared about…” She looked at the date. “…two hundred years ago. So?”

Something caught her eye, and she pulled one of the articles closer to read in more detail. “Wait a second. These girls were named Alexandra and Charlotte? Now I’m even more confused.”

“You and your sister were apparently named after them. They were identical twins also. That necklace you wear…” He pointed at her chest where Alex’s pendant lay over her sweater. “…your sister has a similar one. Hers has an emerald dangling off the heart instead of a ruby. She told us it was a family heirloom that once belonged to the girls in the article.”

Alex picked up the heart-shaped pendant in one hand and held it up to her eyes. She fingered the words on the back.
We Love You, M and F
. “I always thought my parents bought it special for me.” Her chest ached, and she dropped the necklace down into the neck of her top.

Sawyer shrugged. “Well, apparently it’s what got Miss Evans interested in history. She was investigating that history when there was an accident.”

Alex dropped the file and slumped back in her chair. She glared at Sawyer, unable to speak for a full second. “An accident? You said she’s okay.”

He nodded. “Yes. We believe she is. For the time being. But not for much longer, which is why I rushed here to meet you. We need your help to rescue her before she comes to any harm.”

“Is she in a hospital or something? I’m not a doctor. What can I do if she’s hurt?”

“We don’t know precisely where she is, but we know where she’ll be.”

Alex shook her head. “You’re not making any sense.”

He reached across his desk and pulled a paper from the bottom of the folder Alex had dropped. “One of our researchers found this article from the London Gazette. It’s vague, but we believe the woman in the article is Charlotte. According to that…” He tapped the page. “…we have only until May twenty-ninth—about two months—to save her.”

She crinkled her brow, picked up the page, and forced herself to concentrate on the article. The reporter had a strange style of writing, making it difficult to read. Her horror mounted as she plowed through it. She shook her head in denial. “This can’t be her. This is about a woman who was murdered. You just said we could save her. We can’t save a dead woman.”

“Look at the date of the article.”

Her gaze traveled to the upper corner of the page. “Eighteen ei…” her voice trailed off as she stared uncomprehendingly at the year.
Couldn’t be
.

“Eighteen hundred eighteen. Almost two hundred years in the past. But two months from today.”

A laugh bubbled up, and she crushed the page in her hand. “You’re insane. What the hell is all this about?” She jumped up and shook the crumpled page in front of her. “I came here because I thought you might know something about my sister’s disappearance, and you’re playing games?”

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled for control. He was lucky he sat behind a desk. If he were any closer, she’d use that knife-hand strike on him she’d been perfecting in her karate class.

“Calm down, Miss Turner. I’m not playing games. Honest.”

Alex sat back down and concentrated on smoothing out the wrinkled paper across her lap. On the off chance he actually knew something real about her sister, she had to see this through. She just hoped she could do it without punching him.

“Thank you.” His chair creaked as he leaned back, apparently settling in to explain as he launched into a long winded and increasingly fantastical tale. “About thirty years ago, Griffin International was conducting an experiment when something went horribly wrong.”

“What was the experiment?”

“That’s neither here nor there. Suffice it to say, things did not go as planned. An explosion destroyed some very valuable equipment and killed several of our employees.”

Alex raised her eyebrows. His tone of voice gave her the impression he cared more for the equipment loss than the people who died. Her impression of the man sank lower and lower the longer she was in his presence.

“We sent teams to investigate and discovered these...” He circled his hands in the air before his face. “…swirling vortexes in place of our equipment. That was amazing enough, but we also found several bodies that didn’t belong.”

“What do you mean they didn’t belong?”

“They weren’t the bodies of our people. Not only that, but they were dressed strangely as well. During our investigations, we discovered the vortexes were portals into the past.”

“Time portals?” She couldn’t help glancing behind her at the door. Five steps and she’d be out of here.

Something kept her in her seat. She couldn’t shake the feeling Sawyer was serious. He actually believed the crap spewing out of his mouth. He was crazy all right. But did he know anything about Charlotte? That question kept her from running out the door.

“Yes. I know it’s difficult to accept, but Griffin International discovered time travel. It’s amazing actually. We’ve opened up an entirely new division of the company to handle it and have been able to charge an exorbitant fee for its use. We naturally have to be discreet in the clients we approach, yet it’s been immensely profitable.”

Alex held up a hand to keep him from going on about the benefits to his company. “Assuming this is real and you’re not off your rocker, what does all this have to do with Charlotte?”

“Ah, yes.” He sighed. “As I mentioned earlier, Miss Evans is one of our clients. She was using a portal outside London to research the ancestors I mentioned earlier. She had just returned from a trip when a cave-in forced her back through the portal and trapped her in the past. We are working as quickly as possible to clear the portal, but it’s been slow going and according to this article…” He pointed at the page spread open on Alex’s lap. “…we’re running out of time.”

“How did you find this article? And what makes you think it’s about Charlotte?”

“Immediately following the accident, I had a team of our in-house researchers scour the period newspapers for evidence of Miss Evans. They flagged this article based on the location.”

“Location?”

“Yes. They discovered the body very near the entrance to the portal.” Wrinkles furrowed his brow, and deep frown lines settled into what she assumed were their habitual place along his jaw. “Now, we’ve been able to keep it quiet so far, but word is bound to leak out sooner or later. If we’re going to save our program, we can’t let this happen.”

“Save your program!” She stared at him in disbelief. “So the only reason you want to save my sister is so you don’t risk losing your precious program?”

He at least had the grace to flinch. “Of course not. Miss Evans is a lovely woman. I don’t wish to see her hurt, but our clients know the risks involved in time travel. While I sympathize with her plight, my position as president of the Griffin International time travel division makes my first and foremost responsibility to our bottom line. We are in the midst of a government evaluation. Were they to discover this problem, the government could shut us down.”

“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” she said.

“Say you’ll help us.”

“First of all, I don’t believe this insane story you’ve been feeding me. Second, even if I did, what the hell could I do?”

“You can find your sister before anything happens to her.”

“Why me? Why not send in a rescue team the minute you clear the portal?”

“We can’t do that. While the government is aware of the cave-in, they’re not aware anyone was using the portal at the time. And they are observing our cleanup efforts.” He ran a hand through his hair, the first gesture of genuine emotion Alex had seen since she’d arrived. “They’re more hindrance than help. The safety measures they insist upon are causing the process to go much slower than it should. They have no notion of the urgency of the situation.”

“Then tell them about Charlotte.”

“I can’t.”

“You won’t.”

He nodded. “Yes, I won’t allow this situation to destroy my company.”

“Bastard.”

“There’s no need for profanity,” he said with a sneer. “I understand my decision is difficult for you to accept, but it’s final.”

The sneer faded, and he attempted what she guessed was supposed to be a smile, but it certainly didn’t reach his eyes, and she knew he couldn’t care less about her or Charlotte.

“So what are you going to do? And why am I here? You said yourself you can’t just leave her there to be murdered. It wouldn’t look good. So what’s your plan?”

“The fewer people who know about this the better. It decreases the chance of this news leaking. As I told you, the London portal is useless. However, we do have a portal right here in Philadelphia that travels to the same time period. We can mount a rescue attempt from here.”

“So the portal here comes out where Charlotte is?”

“Not where. When. The portal locations are fixed. If you go through in Philadelphia, you come out in Philadelphia. If you go now and catch the first ship traveling to London, you should have enough time to find Miss Evans before the events of this article take place. Our guess is that your sister sought the help of your ancestors.” He flipped open another folder and ran a finger down the page. “The Creswells—Lord and Lady Downing. She may have even claimed to be one of their lost girls since she didn’t have the resources for an extended trip. I suggest you begin by observing the Creswells’ home. Maybe you’ll catch sight of Miss Evans.” A thoughtful look replaced his frown, and he steepled his fingers under his chin, nodding. “You could simply approach the family and claim to be their missing daughter, reunite with Miss Evans and warn her. You can’t, of course, mention what you know to the family. No one can know about us.”

Alex blinked and was surprised to find herself halfway to the door before she even realized she’d decided to leave. “This is insane. There’s no such thing as time travel. I don’t know why I wasted my time. I’m going.”

“Then in two months, your sister will die.”

She stopped dead in her tracks with her hand on the door handle. She twisted slowly to face Sawyer head on. “Did you just threaten her?”

He was on his feet, though thankfully he remained a safe distance away with the desk between them.

“I merely stated a fact. You’ve seen the article.”

The crumpled paper crackled in her hand as she tightened her fist around it. “You could have faked this.”

“But why would I?”

She couldn’t think of an answer.

****

Later that evening, Sawyer looked at the incoming number on his cell phone and flipped it open. “Well?” he asked.

“She met a Miss Jessica Faraday for coffee, went to the University library where she checked out a few books on history, and then went back to her apartment. Looks like she’s in for the night,” the member of his security team assigned to follow the girl reported. “The phone tap’s done, and the transcripts will be delivered to you each morning,” he said, completing his report. “Sir.”

Sawyer cursed. “Who’s Jessica Faraday? I want a complete background check on her. Were you able to hear their conversation?”

“No, sir. I couldn’t get close enough without revealing my presence. Initial reports on Miss Faraday indicate the two are close friends. They attend a karate class together as well as get together on a regular basis. I have my men looking into it further.”