JB, Jonah, and Katherine are in the conference room time hollow as the time agents are discussing how to rescue at least some of the kids trapped in a cellar in 1918. The cellar that is supposed to be the execution room for the Romanov family.

The director is originally referred to by Jonah as the bearded man. I made a guess as to his position since JB would have been more familiar with him.

Disclaimer: All dialogue is quoted from the book. Considering that most of what Ms. Haddix writes I would never think of in a million years, there is no way that I own any of this aside from my sidestory idea.

"Alright then. Show what happens if you send me all by myself."

JB held his breath, waiting for the projection to appear on the time hollow's wall. Dreading to see what would happen. Sending Jonah and Katherine back together would prove disastrous. Simply based on that proved that sending Jonah back alone would yield nothing. But if just Katherine went . . . ?

"Very well," the director said with a terse nod. "Humphrey?"

Then JB noticed one of the agents shake her head, her Elucidator just barely visible below the tabletop. He barely heard the director's blusters as he pulled out his own Elucidator, vaguely noticing everyone else pull theirs out as well.

He watched as Katherine appeared on the scene. "If you want to live, grab onto me!" her subtitled words read before she dived onto the basement floor. First two latched onto her, grabbing onto two more. There were more subtitled shouts, before the final child, one of the original missing, was linked. A split second before they were trapped, they made it out again.

Heart in his throat, JB looked around at all those present. It was possible. So very possible. Yet there were still so many variables that could change the outcome. There were so many regulations and rules that would be broken for this to work. His keen mind already knew that, and yet . . . this was the first real chance they had found. A sidelong glance at the director and he knew there was little to no chance that the man would allow it. He didn't know these two kids and their success rate. JB did.

"My apologies," JB said, standing up. He smiled his best apologetic smile to the director. "Of course there's no reason to run a projection with just Katherine going. It'd be too dangerous." Now the tricky part, to let Katherine in on what needed to be done for the best outcome without the director being the wiser. He forced a near laugh. "She'd have to carry a modern, fully functioning Elucidator, and in such a dicey situation, that's directly prohibited by about fifty regulations. And she'd have to leave it on voice-command mode — again, totally forbidden under the circumstances. And she'd have to get in and out in the thirty seconds before damaged time resumes. And of course she'd have to be prepared for the possibility that her presence would short out some of our controls, and the likely result would be that all the Romanovs would become visible once more–"

"I'm glad you're actually being sensible for once," the director snapped.

JB internally winced. Okay so he had gotten attached to the kids. It was a little hard not to let that happen, especially after realizing he shared so much in common with them.

As the director started the meeting again, JB reached behind to wrestle his chair into perfect alignment with the table's edge. He could be the only one to provide the Elucidator. None of the other agents would dare to cross the director. He secretly smirked. He was becoming a maverick. Who knew what his dads would think? His adopted dad would probably shake his head and say that his brain was too advanced for his own good. His birth dad, Albert Einstein, just might have smiled and applauded his free thinking.

He would have never been here if it wasn't for Jonah and Katherine. Ever since their paths crossed, they had laid the groundwork that ultimately led to Jonah giving an Elucidator to his birth mom which led to JB living in this time period. His heart clenched as his thoughts turned to Katherine.

She was the one to give him the nickname JB, the first nickname that he actually didn't mind. In curiosity, he had looked into her future. She was destined for an amazing life, even before original time had been thrown off by the plane crash. Now that her future was enriched by Jonah and Chip, not only was she experiencing time travel before its time but her life held so many more possibilities. Could he really jeopardize that?

It was increasingly difficult to ignore Jonah's glare drilling into him. It only made him all the more aware of the consequences if there was a single misstep. Based on past experiences, JB was all too aware of what would happen if he released his Elucidator for even an instant. Even though of the two of them, Katherine tended to be the one to plan and think everything through, she still acted on impulse. She would think nothing of risking her life if there was even the slightest chance of rescuing her friends.

And yet, every single time she acted in the past, things turned out alright. Because she acted on behalf of her friends. She did everything in her power to help those around them.

JB gave his chair one last vicious jerk, scowling. He couldn't do it. He shouldn't do it. Then his peripheral vision caught sight of the frozen image. Chip, Gavin, Daniella. They already had their new lives in the twenty-first century. Leonid and Maria could have that too. Potentially even some of the others present. He had gotten a second chance, even before he realized he had. Shouldn't they have the same opportunity?

He felt the director's disapproving gaze, no doubt thinking that he was causing a disruption. Well, let the old man try to make a difficult decision in a few seconds time without being obvious about it.

One last sidelong glance at the frozen scene steeled his nerves, making his decision. Fully aware of Katherine watching his every move from where she stood, he huffed, set down his Elucidator, and reached down for the chair arms.

His hands barely made contact before Katherine snatched the Elucidator and leaped out of reach, screaming, "Voice commands! Take me back to 1918! Take me there!" JB barely saw her pointing to the frozen screen before she disappeared. An instant later, she was in the scene and time started moving again.

"No!" Jonah cried out beside him.

JB only watched the scene in rapt attention, hoping, praying that everything would play out as the projection suggested. It did. Maybe a few words were different. But all the actions, happened according to simulation. Then as was predicted, all six teenagers disappeared from 1918 and returned to the conference time hollow.

JB slumped back in relief. He was fairly certain that Jonah would get after him later for letting Katherine leap into danger like that. But for now, he allowed himself to breathe easier knowing they were all safe.

Author Note:

The idea popped into my head shortly after I finished reading the book. JB said that it was the hardest thing he had ever done, and yet Jonah, and us the readers, didn't see any of that. So I thought I'd try to get into JB's head and show what could have possibly been running through his mind. I attempted to follow Haddix's ultra pinpointed third-person point-of-view style for this story to help it potentially fit. Hope you enjoyed.