“What did they do to her?”
“What was she wearing?” Farrow suspected something, but needed confirmation. She knew Williams too well.
“A hospital gown. She was wearing a flimsy, light-blue hospital gown that looked way too big on her,” Alik frowned before yelling. “Right, turn right!”
Creed was concentrating on the road, chasing the echo of a girl that only existed these days in his dreams. He yanked the wheel right. The sedan fish-tailed just enough to make Farrow’s stomach lurch, but Creed’s strength was poured into his invisible lifeline to Meg. He wasn’t going to let anything stop him from helping Alik track her. He ripped the gear smoothly from second back to third as he pushed the vehicle harder.
“I think she was kept sedated. That would be just like Williams.” Even as Farrow said the words, she knew in her heart they were true.
“He could move her around from place to place and not have to worry about her fighting him.” Creed’s voice was pained and on the verge of rage.
“I’ve been thinking about this for months now,” Alik kept his eyes on his retro-cognitive image as he spoke. “Arkdone said the sub aural blast targeted her memory—wiped it clean. It wouldn’t take away her core personality. Meg is a natural born fighter. She’s stubborn and passionate. I don’t think she would take to being ordered around for very long.” Alik’s eyes glowed indigo against the velvet night sky blanketing the windows of their car. He never stopped watching the echo signature left by the car holding his sister, but over the past three months, he’d gotten better about being able to control his retro-cognition while holding a conversation with people in the present. The technique was a little disorienting at first, but the more he practiced, the more naturally living in two planes of time became.
“Can you see her?” Creed asked, desperate for more information.
“If you can speed up about seven miles per hour and stay in the left lane, I’ll try.” Alik squinted ahead in his effort.
Creed obeyed immediately, downshifting to help with the rapid acceleration he was looking for.
“I see her. She’s lying down in the back covered with a blanket. She looks like she’s sleeping peacefully, Creed.”
“She was when this happened. How long ago was this, Alik?”
Alik frowned, still watching the echo of his sleeping sister through the back glass of the car that was no longer there.
“Two, maybe three nights ago—it wasn’t longer than that.”
“How are we going to track them if we’re always forty-eight to seventy-two hours behind them?” Farrow asked.
“She’s got a point, Alik.”
“I’ll think of something. They can’t drive forever. At some point they’ll have to stop and that’s when I’ll try to fast-forward chunks of time and still keep track of them.”
“We should call your mom now.” Farrow reached to pull her cell phone from her pocket in anticipation of Alik’s answer.
Chapter 48 Rock-a-Bye My Blank Slate
“Yes, sir.” Sirus spoke in a clipped, respectful tone. “I understand. Thank you, sir. We’ll see you soon. Goodbye.”
“Well?” Meg asked, feeling very unsure and out of control.
“The Senator has sent his car to retrieve us. Ermos will be waiting for us at the gate with a sign.”
“Who’s Ermos?”
“The Senator’s personal driver and bodyguard.” Sirus was looking out the window across the aisle watching the scenery zoom past. Meg leaned forward to try to watch his eyes. She was fascinated with the shifts he would go through: one minute Sirus, the next Gideon. He was so difficult to read emotionally, but now that she’d watched him switch a few times, she knew what signs to look for.
“Sirus?”
“Yeah?”
“I was just checking. Thank you for your help, but I was wondering—could I talk with Gideon for a few minutes?”
Sirus’ eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What about?”
“He rescued me from Williams’ drug induced coma, right? I just want to ask him a few questions about that.”
“Okay.” Sirus turned away and stared at the landscape passing more slowly through the white frame of a passenger window. Meg watched his profile intently. She saw his muscles relax in his jaw. She even noticed a change in the color of his skin—as though the blood vessels there responded to what she’d already heard was a different heart rate. When he turned around she saw the black eyes of Sirus had changed to the goldish eyes of Gideon.
“Hi.” Meg offered a tentative smile.
Gideon took a slow deep breath and smiled back. “Hi, yourself.”
“We’re landing,” Meg offered, not sure what else to say to the man who’d sat beside her for the past several hours but would have no memory of her conversations with Sirus.
Gideon looked around as if waking from a nap, needing a moment to orient himself.
“So we are,” he responded simply.