The Time Rip (42 page)

“Oooh, you really did get a scare didn’t you,” Greg interrupted, “I’ve only ever seen you this acidic when you’re covering your fear.”

She shook her head at him. “You’ve got to stop believing all those movies you watch.”

Jeremy reached for his coffee and took one of the others. “I’m going to see Brett. I may need the coffee as a bribe. Janet, I trust you will make enquires about the house? Greg will give you the address. I believe we should purchase the property regardless. See if you can find out how much of the surrounding land is up for sale as well.”

Brett walked with Jeremy into the dark silent kitchen. He listened with half an ear as Jeremy talked of the advantages of living in 2008. The coffee, the better weather, the economy. He could hear the note of desperation buried in Jeremy’s smooth voice.

He considered his little brother as he looked around the empty kitchen. Jeremy might not have realised yet how deep his feelings for Freya ran, but to Brett it was obvious.

He pictured the kitchen as it could be, sunny and warm. A place of peace. Then there was this woman, Janet, who was willing to come over here to teach him the ways of this era. She lived in Reading, a good distance from here, and she worked in London. Jeremy had told him she was Freya’s friend and it said a lot that she was willing to disrupt her life to such an extent.

They walked around the rest of the house. Jeremy doing the social bit while Brett made enough enquires to keep him going. He wanted to live in the twenty first century and Jeremy was giving him the ideal opportunity.

Peeking into one of the upstairs rooms, Brett saw a tabby cat stretched out in one corner and surrounded by kittens. He tuned back into the conversation.

“—here. I don’t think Janet was too impressed with me. Nonetheless, we can get the animals removed easily enough. Janet tells me the auction is for tomorrow. We were lucky that it had not already happened.”

Brett approached the cat, who mewed pathetically. He crouched down, putting out a hand cautiously before gently scratching the animal behind her ears.

Jeremy watched his brother with affection. Of course Brett would stroke the cat, he loved animals; seemed to have an affinity with them. He would likely keep the cat as a pet.

Brett stroked his hands over the thin furry body. The kittens were fluffy balls, curled up sleeping. “We need to get her some food,” he said glancing up. He noticed Jeremy’s smile and returned it with one of his own. “Are you laughing at me?”

Jeremy looked down, still smiling, and shook his head. “I’ll tell Janet to buy some cat food and a basket. We’ll come back.”

Brett gave the cat a last gentle rub and stood up, following Jeremy from the room.

“Here, let’s see if the water is still connected.” Jeremy was standing just inside the doorway of what looked like a small bathroom. He turned the tap on the sink, but nothing happened. He shrugged, “Hardly surprising. We’ll have a look for the well, afterwards. See if it’s still useable. I’m sure your furry friend in there would appreciate a drink.”

They wandered back through the house and out into the sun-drenched field. Jeremy stood side by side with Brett as they viewed the farmhouse. Brett, hands on hips, allowed his gaze to wander over the weeds and long grass; the house with its boarded up windows.

He let out a breath between his teeth, “Lot of work here.”

Jeremy glanced at his brother, “Janet is going to sort out the auction and we aim to complete as soon as possible after that.”

“What about Greg, is he okay about Janet coming over here every day? If they’re just starting a relationship he may resent her spending all her time down here.”

“I am not sure how serious they are about each other. You know Greg. He wants Janet on board, says her software skills are first class for this era. As for their personal relationship…” Jeremy shrugged.

Brett looked again at the weeds and boarded up windows. He shook his head slightly, “I must be mad to even consider it. And you say there’s a time rip here somewhere that comes out in 1908.”

“Yes, although Freya has still not revealed the exact location.”

“Do we know when it opened up?”

“Kitter believes it would only have happened once they began to monitor the kitchen of the farmhouse in 1908. He tells me it will be within a quarter mile radius of that point and may close up again if they stop monitoring.”

“That’s close.”

“Precisely.”

“So, why me? You’re not gonna tell me Kitter couldn’t spare someone else for this job. What about your man in the field, working alongside Greg?”

“I need someone I can trust implicitly. The W1 office will be there as back up for you, and Janet will give you the information you need to settle here and help you blend in.”

“You think Freya will give you the location?”

“I cannot imagine why not, once I have explained to her that she can come and go as she pleases. What would stop her?”

Brett shrugged. “You’re serious about this girl, aren’t you?”

Jeremy sighed. “The first few times I saw her I thought she was a sweet little girl, fairly typical of 1908, a girl who needed looking after.” Jeremy paused but Brett didn’t speak.

“I started to get serious about her when she was hurt running from a guy who was pestering her. She just seemed to run from one catastrophe to the next and I wanted to keep her safe.”

Brett grinned inwardly and pretended an interest in his feet while Jeremy spoke.

“But that’s not all, by any means. She has this undercurrent of steel running through her. I think she’s an incredibly strong person, someone who’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in a few years time. Right now, she’s this chaotic mixture of confidence and uncertainty. I just hope she still wants me around in a few years.”

“Why would you think that she’d not?”

Jeremy shrugged. “I know she has emotional issues to deal with. Janet told me Freya lost her elder brother when she was just a kid. I think there is friction with her family, possibly over his death, but I haven’t gone there.” Jeremy shuffled his feet. “She wants to meet you, all you lot, in fact. I thought I was going to cry when she asked me. Knowing about time travel, how much strength of character does it take to ask to meet our family and yet never mention her loss?”

Brett nodded somewhat absently. He wondered how deep Freya’s feelings ran for Jeremy. He had never seen his little brother display such interest in a girl. All Jeremy’s previous relationships had been care free and short-lived. He hoped Jeremy didn’t get his heart broken. It was interesting too that Freya had requested to meet him and his other brothers, and that she had tried to steal a time device. That certainly showed backbone, and might be about her brother.

Jeremy wanted him to keep an eye on the time rip to make sure no one else discovered it, but Brett was uneasy with the fact of its existence at all, so close to where he was expected to live. Jeremy had presumed Freya would be happy to give up the location once he had assured her that she could still use it, but Brett was not so sure it would be resolved so easily.

“Jeremy,” Brett said, his voice low and smooth like his brother’s, “I’ll take it on. It would suit me to live here. I do have a couple of conditions though.”

“Of course, what is it that you wish?”

Brett grinned and shook his head. “I never get used to that 1908 speak. It sounds so formal, so wrong.”

“So polite,” Jeremy interrupted with a grin, “All right, I’ll ask you in the 2112 manner. He paused for effect and then said, “Wa ya want?”

Brett snorted a laugh out, “Uh huh, that’s more like it.” His smile faded as he surveyed the boarded up house once more.

“I want to know the location of the rip when you manage to find it. I also want training on the use of a time device.” He held up his hand before Jeremy could interrupt him, “I’m not asking for a device, but it occurs to me that if a felon were to escape your clutches and somehow make it through the time doorway, or others like Greg are to visit me, then I at least need to know what I’m dealing with.”

Jeremy nodded slowly, “That’s not unreasonable.”

“As well as that, I want to be kept in the loop about any suspected felons from our time in this era, as well as those from 1908, and also any personnel such as Jones from our time.”

“Done,” Jeremy nodded again.

Brett smiled slowly, “So. When are you going to introduce me to Freya?”

Janet huffed as she parked her small hatchback down Merrywether Lane. Jeremy had called her with directions, instructing her to meet Brett at the house. Greg had promised to join her later on but had work to do in the meantime, and Jeremy had said he needed to get back to 1908.

Janet knew they all had jobs to do. This was why she had stepped in to train up Brett, but she huffed anyway. Jeremy hadn’t been joking when he had said the company could not spare anyone to see to Brett’s needs. He had taken her at her word and left her to find and introduce herself to Brett.

She was annoyed with this apparent lack of courtesy, even as she acknowledged she had volunteered for this job knowing they were busy. Jeremy still could have found time to introduce her to his brother, though. She got out and slammed the door. Then had to open it again to pop the boot.

Jeremy had given her a credit card that apparently worked in any time zone from 2000 onwards, and Janet had been sorely tempted to add one or two items for herself to the list he had given her. They had decided that Brett would sleep in the farmhouse overnight and then, all being well with the auction, would stay there permanently even though completion of the sale would not take place for another month.

Janet surveyed the car boot filled with carriers containing clothes, sleeping bag, food and a cat basket, of all things. Fair enough, the man wanted a pet, but was it so essential to have these things on the first night? Jeremy had not bothered with any explanations, simply giving her the list and saying Brett would need it all this evening. She had driven back to Reading to do her shopping and from there it had been a hot uncomfortable drive to the farmhouse.

She wondered how she was going to lug all this junk to the house, and then simply decided she would take only one bag and get Brett to come back and help her carry the rest. With this happy thought, she chose what she saw as the useless bag: the cat stuff.

She had even added a shiny red collar with a little gold bell, for good measure. Snickering slightly, she locked the car and walked up the tree-lined dirt pathway. As the boarded up house came into sight, it occurred to her that Brett might have wanted the pet supplies for the cat she had seen with Jeremy.

She shook her head slightly. No, the cat had been a stray and was probably feral. Brett would have to be an impossible optimist to think he could keep the animal as a pet. But enough doubt remained that she began to wonder it might be fun after all to watch some dopey brother of Jeremy’s play at Dr. Doolittle.

She began to hum a happy tune as she neared the house. She swung the carrier bag gently, looking around to see if there was any sign of Brett. There was no way she was going back inside that creepy house on her own.

She hesitated a moment near the boarded up door. It was utterly deserted. The only sound came from the wind rushing gently through the long grasses of the nearby field. Then a man walked around the corner and started as he saw her. He smiled in welcome and came forward saying, “Janet, hello. I’m Brett Sanders.”

He held out a hand and Janet took it as she quickly revised her opinions of him. Like Jeremy, he was tall and dark, with the same dark chocolate coloured eyes. And more than that, there was a definite resemblance, but Brett had clearly been cut from a different mould than his younger brother.

His face was rougher and shadowed with stubble. Where Jeremy looked seraphic with an almost feline grace, Brett looked like the kind of man you would expect cast as an action hero in a film. He had a more elemental look, stockier in build than his brother, and less perfect in both feature and form.