The Kanewha was the oldest and most prestigious hotel in the state, a blond brick high-rise in the center of the capitol district. History buffs knew it as the place where President Irving Dudley died of a heart attack just days after his 1960 reelection. Had David sprung for the $4,200-a-night penthouse suite, and had he felt the urge to push his ghosting talents, he would have learned the death wasn’t entirely natural.
He sat on the patio of his decorous new room on the fourteenth floor, keeping a binocular vigil on the DP-9 building in the hilly distance. He could spy the familiar frame of their Royal Seeker in the parking lot. He’d caught Melissa Masaad, the exotic-looking leader of the Marietta raid, sneaking a cigarette behind the generator towers. Now he watched Ross Daley push Theo up the wheelchair ramp of the building. David smiled at the augur’s serene expression.
“I’ll never doubt that man again. He’s a true prophet.”
The Silvers in the living room didn’t share David’s cheer. They still had no confirmation that Amanda was inside, nor did they have a rescue plan. Shortly after check-in, Mia visited the business center and printed every online photo she could find of the old private school. Hannah and Zack raided the department store, purchasing black clothes and radio transmitters for everyone.
Now the cartoonist rooted through their bag of dark keepsakes from Terra Vista, finding Czerny’s small electron chaser (dead), the Salgados’ stun baton (dead), and the imposing revolver that Rebel had painfully introduced into their lives. It looked quite functional, with five .44 caliber bullets remaining in the chamber.
Hannah paced the carpet, nervously eyeing the gun. “Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?”
“No,” said Mia.
Zack chucked a hopeless palm. “I’m open to alternatives.”
“This is our best chance,” David insisted. He returned through the sliding screen and closed it shut behind him. “It’s a small building, isolated from its surroundings. From what I can see through the windows, there are only nine or ten agents in there.”
Hannah scoffed. “Oh, is that all?”
“You seem to forget we have talents they don’t. We also have the element of surprise.”
“How do you know they’re not expecting us?”
“They can’t possibly know we’ve divined their location,” David insisted. “We have the advantage. It’s just a matter of using it. I can create a distraction that lures most of them outside. While I keep them blind, you and Zack can look for the others.”
“What about me?” Mia asked. “What should I do?”
David regarded her with tender concern, mixed with an insulting amount of doubt. “I think you should stay here and watch from the balcony. You can let us know through the transmitters if reinforcements arrive.”
Mia shook her head. “Are you insane? You guys are outnumbered enough already!”
“He’s right,” Zack said. “I mean none of us are commandos, but at least our weirdness gives us a fighting chance. It’s not like you can throw notes at them.”
“But what if you get captured?”
“We won’t,” said David.
“We might,” Zack countered. “If that happens, use the money to get to Peter. He’ll take care of you. He may even be able to get us out.”
“You can’t . . .” Mia choked on her words. The thought of being alone on this world made her knees buckle. She failed to notice the tiny new glow in front of her chest.
“You can’t ask me to do that.”
“Mia . . .”
“You can’t ask me to sit here while you guys risk your lives!”
“Mia, you’re getting a portal.”
“What?”
She looked down at the glowing circle, yet another breach at the worst possible moment. She only seemed to get them when she was sleeping or stressed.
“Oh shit. Not now.”
“No, this is good,” said David. “It could be useful intel.”
She fished her journal from her bag. “It’s not. It’s a past portal. I’m sending, not receiving.”
Hannah’s brow rose with cautious hope. “Wait. Where does it go? How far back?”
Mia blushed, thoroughly grateful that none of them could see through the keyhole. Her younger self sat on a toilet in the Marietta library, her pants bunched around her ankles.
“Three days ago,” she replied. “Right before Theo and I met the girl with two watches. I need to tell myself about a passage in one of Quint’s books.”
“Oh my God. That’s perfect!”
Zack eyed Hannah cynically. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not? You said you were open to alternatives.”
“Yeah. Realistic ones.”
“How is it any less realistic than storming a building full of Deps?”
Mia was relieved to see David share her confusion. “What are you two going on about?”
“Changing the message,” Hannah said. “We can tell Amanda not to go to the health fair!”
David blinked at her like she was selling rainbows in a jar.
“I don’t think that’ll work.”
“How do you know? We never tried it before.”
“If it were truly possible to alter past events—”
“It is possible, David. Look.” She pulled the license of Jury Curado from her pocket. “We used to know this guy. Now we don’t. Evan changed the past. Why can’t we?”
Zack eyed the license with a raised brow. “That’s a good point, actually.”