JB only sat up, staring back at him.
“You weren’t supposed to bring that into the twenty-first century,” JB said. “You know that’s illegal.”
His voice was calm and resolute, which comforted Jonah somehow. If JB wasn’t afraid, then maybe Jonah didn’t need quite so much adrenaline coursing through his system.
Then JB’s words sank in.
Weren’t supposed to bring that into the twenty-first century… Was that proof that JB and Gary and Mr. Hodge weren’t from the twenty-first century? Jonah wondered. Did that mean that Angela’s theory was right?
He still didn’t want to believe it.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Mr. Hodge was saying with a shrug. “Surely you’ve heard that one before.”
“These are desperate times only because of you,” JB retorted.
“ I didn’t choose the century,” Mr. Hodge said, taking a step closer to JB and lowering his arm slightly so his gun—or whatever it was—was pointed right at JB. “Children, get away from the interloper. This doesn’t concern you.”
Before any of the kids had a chance to move, JB reached out and grabbed the girl who’d wondered if the fight was a role-play— Ming Reynolds her name tag said. The force of his grasp knocked her name tag from her shirt, and it went fluttering toward the ground, showing the name, then the blank side, then the name, then the blank side…. JB jerked Ming upright, so they were both standing. He held her tightly against his chest, like a shield.
“Oh, you wouldn’t hurt one of them,” JB said. “It might cut into your profits. What are you getting per kid—a million? Two?”
“That one’s only a minor Chinese princess from the fourth century,” Mr. Hodge said, keeping his arm steady. “Very obscure. Who says I wouldn’t sacrifice her to keep the others?”
“Minor Chinese princess from the fourth century?” What? Jonah thought. He felt frozen, unable to do anything but watch JB and Mr. Hodge stare each other down.
“Um, hello? This is seeming a little too realistic. I want to stop now,” Ming said.
JB looked down at the girl, frowned, and carefully set her to the side.
Jonah immediately stepped between JB and Mr. Hodge.
“You can’t shoot him!” Jonah shouted.
Mr. Hodge began to laugh.
“Amazing,” Mr. Hodge said. “And you are…” He squinted at Jonah’s name tag. “Jonah Skidmore? So you’re really…” Mr. Hodge peered down at the small silver object in his hand. Jonah wondered if maybe it wasn’t a gun, after all. Maybe it was a Blackberry or a really high-tech, tiny computer with an incredible audio system.
Or maybe his mind was just trying once more to turn something surreal and unbelievable into something ordinary and familiar and easily dismissed.
“Well, that’s very interesting,” Mr. Hodge muttered.
“What?” Jonah said. He wanted to say, “Who am I?” too. He wanted to understand everything. But the words stuck in his throat.
Mr. Hodge had turned his attention back to JB.
“I can’t believe they think you’re on their side,” Mr. Hodge said. “You must not have told them what you want to do.”
“Oh, and you did?” JB taunted.
Mr. Hodge shrugged.
“I’m not the one pretending to have ethics,” he said. “ And I’m taking them to a better place. A better time.”
“If the future’s still there after we release the ripple,” JB said.
Jonah wondered if, on top of developing claustrophobia, he also might have begun to hyperventilate. JB and Mr. Hodge’s conversation seemed to be making less and less sense.
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot. You’re allowed to play with time, even if no one else is,” Mr. Hodge said.
“We have to protect it,” JB said. “You wounded it so badly, we can’t follow any of the old rules anymore.”
Jonah’s head began to throb. He didn’t know if it was from being slammed into solid rock so many times, or from the strain of having a gun pointed at him—if it was a gun, or from the effort he was making to come up with an explanation for everything he’d witnessed. But it was getting harder and harder to think straight. He glanced over his shoulder, hoping JB could give him some directions.
JB was gazing past Jonah, past Mr. Hodge, even, into the darkness beyond.
Backup, Jonah thought. Of course. JB wouldn’t have planned to overpower Mr. Hodge and Gary all by himself. He would have brought the other janitor from the FBI, the one who’d given Jonah the Mountain Dew. Maybe he’d even brought Mr. Reardon—maybe he was in on this too.
The person who stepped out of the shadows was Angela DuPre.
Gary evidently saw her at the same moment that Jonah did, because he screamed, “Watch out! Behind you!”
Mr. Hodge whirled around, pointing his gun at Angela now, instead of JB. But Angela had a gun too. Or, no—hers looked more like a toy, all black and yellow. Then she pointed it at Mr. Hodge and a stream of light shot across the room, jolting him. Mr. Hodge let out a scream and fell to the ground, twitching. The silver object in his hand hit the ground too and skittered across the floor, toward Jonah.
Jonah reached down and scooped it up. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see JB bending over Mr. Hodge and Angela fiddling with the front part of her gun. And Gary? Where was Gary? Jonah turned his head, and there was Gary racing toward him, ready to slam into him yet again. Jonah took a step back, but it wasn’t necessary. Before his second step, Gary was on the floor, screaming and twitching like Mr. Hodge.
“Is that a ray gun?” Jonah asked, in awe, because this, finally, would be proof he couldn’t ignore.
“Nope,” Angela said. “Just a regular twenty-first-century Taser. I ordered it off the Internet.”
“But the lights,” Jonah said. “And—”