When Connor stepped through the anomaly, he dropped Abby's hand and whirled around, looking for Helen. All he saw, though, were Becker's men fanning out, rifles trained on a tropical forest that was clearly from another time. Strange plants with oversized leaves and thorny vines surrounded them. Animals hooted off in the distance while insects provided a constant drone. The air felt heavy, moist, and too full of oxygen. The smell of vegetation was so strong, Connor could taste it in the back of his throat.
He figured they were in the late Paleocene or early Eocene, though he'd have to see a creature or two to know for sure.
Abby raised her tranq gun toward a narrow trail that disappeared into the bush.
"Any sign of her?" asked Danny.
Becker shook his head and pointed to the trail. "I don't imagine a creature made that."
"No," agreed Danny. He slapped the detector into Connor's hand and nodded to the anomaly. "How long is that thing going to stay open?"
Connor turned and held the detector up, checking the readings. "It's strong now, but it's hard to tell. This is a manmade anomaly, so it might stay open longer than other ones, or it might close faster."
"Well, that . . . doesn't help at all, actually." Danny made a face.
Abby lowered her tranq gun. "Why didn't Helen just close it like she usually does?"
"She knew we were chasing her, didn't she?" said Connor. "It would take too long." He bounced on the balls of his feet, anxious to take off down the trail. Cutter had trusted him with artifact, and he'd barely had it a month before losing it to the woman who'd murdered him. "We have to get going. Now!"
"We will, but you need to stay calm," said Danny. "I need someone back here to monitor the anomaly. The second it starts to weaken, we're going back through it, artifact or no artifact." He gave Connor a long look. "Understood?"
Connor nodded. Anything to hurry up the process. "But I'm not staying behind," he told him.
"Wouldn't dream of asking you." Danny chewed on the inside of his cheek as he glanced from Becker's men to Abby. "We're going to need firepower in case Helen has her clones with her. Sorry, Abby, but you'll have to stay."
She opened her mouth to protest, paused, and then nodded, a grim set to her jaw.
Danny told her to cross to the other side of the anomaly and radio Sarah. "Tell her to monitor the anomaly from the ARC while you do it from here. Any change at all, let us know. Got it?"
Abby gave him a sharp nod. Connor met her eyes and held them for a moment. "Be careful," he said.
"You too." When he handed her the detector, their fingertips brushed against each other.
Just as everyone turned to go, the ground came alive, jerking and undulating as if a giant were jumping up and down nearby. Connor fell on his side, bruising his hip on a rock. Abby let out a scream as she fell on top of him. Connor tried to grab hold of her, but it was hard to move his arms in the direction he wanted while being tossed around like a kernel of popcorn. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the other men had fallen too.
When the shaking stopped, Connor was aware of Abby clinging to his shoulder, fingers digging into his skin. Her left leg was looped over his hips, and he'd somehow managed to pull her against him with his right arm.
"Are you okay?" he asked, trying not to wince as she pushed against him to sit up.
"Yeah, I think so. You?"
Connor sat up and rubbed his hip. "Just a bit sore."
Danny and the others were climbing to their feet. "Brilliant," said Danny, brushing dirt and moss off his clothes. "This time period has bloody earthquakes? I'm tempted to scrap this whole mission right now."
"No," said Connor, scrambling to his feet, "as far as we know, they don't affect anomalies, just the ground."
Danny swore. "Fine, is everyone all right?"
When they all gave him a thumbs up, he gestured to the trail. "Then let's go."
Connor glanced at Abby, and she nodded for him to go. He turned and followed Becker, Danny, and his men down the trail.
They jogged for what seemed like miles to Connor. He'd been working out on a treadmill, but the climate-controlled gym at the ARC was no preparation for a hot jungle run across uneven ground with vines slapping him in the face and air so moist he felt like he was breathing water.
Finally Becker held up a fist, signaling them to stop. They huddled together behind some brush breathing hard. Sweat trickled down Connor's face.
"There's a building of some sort," said Becker, pointing to a clearing that Connor could just make out ahead of them.
"Any sign of Helen?" asked Danny.
One of Becker's soldiers crawled forward on his belly and peered through binoculars. "The clearing is empty," he said when he returned. "But there might be someone in the building."
Danny ordered them to secure the building, while he and Connor kept watch for Helen and her clones in case they appeared from another direction.
"I guess I'll just shout for help if I see anything then?" Connor held up his empty hands and gave Danny a pointed look.
Danny glanced at Becker, who then cleared his throat and pulled out a spare gun. "You remember how to use this?"
Connor resisted rolling his eyes, barely. "No, after your five million lessons, I can't remember a thing."
Becker passed him the gun. "Just be careful."
At Connor's nod, they stood and moved cautiously into the clearing. Helen's building was a small wooden structure with a flat roof, gradually being taken over by the jungle. Vines snaked up the side. Bushes and fledgling trees sprouted next to the walls. The wood itself looked like it had started to rot in places. It didn't look to Connor like she'd been there recently.
Danny and Connor hung back while Becker's soldiers pulled open the door and trained their guns on the inside. "Clear," called one of them.
As the soldiers stayed outside, Connor followed Danny into what looked like a small home. Shelves stood against one of the walls, filled with water, canned goods, bags of rice and beans, ammunition, and a couple of rifles. A cot, sleeping bag, and kerosene lamp took up space against another wall. A small table held a camp stove and cooking implements, as well as a pile of technical gadgets.
Danny shined a torch on the table. "Recognize anything?" he asked Connor.
Connor gently touched the circuit boards, capacitors, batteries, and other gizmos, some of which he couldn't identify. "Yeah, but I'm not sure what they're for."
"Well, we might as well take it all with us," said Danny with a rueful twist to his mouth. "If we can't catch Helen, at least we can steal from her."
Connor glanced around until he spied Helen's pillow covered with a floral pillowcase. It seemed incongruous for a murdering madwoman to have something so domestic like this. He almost didn't watch to touch the cloth she'd rested her head on, but he made himself pull it off the pillow and dump the gadgets inside.
Becker stuck his head in the doorway. "You about done in here? I think we need to head back. We obviously lost Helen."
Danny handed the ammunition to Becker, who stowed it in his pack. Then he slung the rifles over his shoulder. "Yeah, we're done. Connor?"
"No, not yet," he said. "We can find her. We just have to keep looking." He rushed outside and walked around the clearing, peering into the jungle for another path that might be too overgrown to be easily visible.
"Connor," called Danny, "mate, we lost her. She made another anomaly and is who-knows-where now. Or when. Come on, let's go."
"No, Cutter gave me the artifact. He told me it was up to me now. It could be the secret to understanding everything. Helen can't have it. She can't. She murdered Professor Cutter, and now I've let him down." Connor's voice rose until he was practically shouting. He forced himself to stop talking and turned back to the jungle. His eyes burned with unshed tears.
After a moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault," said Danny softly. "We'll get back at Helen sometime, okay? She'll show her hand again and we'll be ready for her. Just not today."
Connor pressed his fingers to his eyes and nodded.
Danny slapped him on the back. "Good man."
As they headed back to the trail, Connor paused beside the hut. "We should burn it."
When Becker and Danny glanced back at him, he repeated himself. "Let's burn it. Give her a surprise next time she comes through, yeah?"
Danny chuckled. "You've got a ruthless streak, mate. I like it."
Connor stood back as Becker poured kerosene around the inside of the hut and threw a match on it from the doorway. As the fire blazed hot and crackling, devouring Helen's stash of supplies, Connor clutched Helen's floral pillowcase to his chest. He expected to feel a sense of satisfaction for burning her oasis in the distant past. Or maybe the heat from the fire would warm up the icy spot deep in his heart that had been there since Cutter had died with his head resting on his shoulder. It did neither.
Connor turned and headed back to the anomaly.
- - - x x x - - -
Abby paced in a circle. For the millionth time, she checked the readings on the detector. The anomaly was just as strong as ever, but it didn't stop her from worrying about what was going on in the jungle. She hated being stuck back here babysitting a glowing ball of light. Sure, it was an important ball of light, but anyone from the ARC could be doing this. She needed to be with the team.
Connor especially worried her. He'd taken Cutter's death extremely personally. Sure, they all mourned for the professor, and sometimes Abby had to excuse herself to the ladies' room at work when his absence brought tears to her eyes. She'd cried in the last stall of the first floor loo more times than she cared to admit, and she suspected Connor had done his share of crying too. She knew with his dad being gone for several years, he'd looked up to Cutter as a father, and she imagined it would be doubly hard to lose someone who was so much more than just a boss to you.
The problem was, with Connor living somewhere else, they didn't get a chance to talk like they used to. She knew Connor was spending all of his time at work or bringing it home with him. He'd looked exhausted today, and Abby wished she'd told Connor they could hang out tonight rather than saying she had plans with Jack.
And now he was out in the jungle with Helen-freaking-Cutter, a proven murderer, while she was here. She just hoped Connor didn't do anything foolish to prove himself to Cutter's memory or in revenge over his death. Or that he wasn't too tired to react fast enough to keep himself safe.
Abby turned and paced in the other direction. She should be out there making sure he was okay, not stuck here like a toddler on time-out.
A sudden gust of wind blew her way, carrying with it the smell of fire. She raised a hand against the sun and looked up. A thin trail of smoke writhed grey against the blue sky. It was coming from the direction of where Connor and the rest of the team had gone.
Abby pulled out her radio and pressed the button. "Danny? Becker? Is everything okay?"
Before they had a chance to answer, though, a movement in the anomaly caught her eye. A person was stepping through, long and lean, too tall to be Sarah.
"Yeah, we're fine," she heard Danny say over the radio. "We should be there in a couple of minutes."
But Abby wasn't listening. Helen Cutter herself was materializing from the flickering shards and walking right up to her, a smug smile playing across her face. She held the artifact in one hand and a pistol in the other.
Abby dropped the detector and fumbled for her tranq gun, but she couldn't seem to get it of its holster. Coming face to face with the woman who'd murdered Cutter had made her clumsy and slow.
Helen raised the pistol and pointed it at Abby's head. "Abigail, so nice to see you again. Were you looking for this?" She held up the artifact.
Abby nodded. "You better not have hurt Sarah."
"Is that who that was in the supply room? She's pretty. Stephen would've liked her." She chuckled as she'd just told a private joke.
"You won't get away with this," said Abby, trying to keep her whole body from trembling.
Helen opened her mouth to reply, but Abby's radio crackled.
"Abby? You okay over there?" asked Connor. "Come in, please."
Helen smirked. "I best be off before your boyfriend gets here. I might decide to keep him for myself this time."
Helen stepped forward and pressed her gun to Abby's forehead. "You, on the other hand, are expendable."
Abby closed her eyes and felt tears run down her face. She had a sudden wish to tell Connor she loved him before she died. If she didn't think it would just get her killed sooner, she'd pick up the radio and do just that. It would shock him to hear her say the words, but he'd said them to her so long ago and they'd never talked about it, so it served him right to be shocked a little by her saying them back to him out of the blue like this. Perhaps it shocked her too, to be thinking them at all.
It's funny the kind of things that go through your mind about when you're about to die. "Please don't do this," Abby begged. She screwed her eyes as tight as she could and waited for the pain to explode in her forehead. Instead, something struck her on the side of her head, sending her into blackness.