Time Riders

CHAPTER 81

1957, New York

Bob parked the Kubelwagen down the backstreet as Liam looked out of thewindscreen at the row of brick arches running underneath the Williamsburg Bridge.

‘We’re home,’ said Liam.

‘Incorrect,’ replied Bob. ‘We are back where.We are not yet back when.’

Liam shrugged. It felt like they were almost home, sittingoutside on the kerb looking at the familiar old brickwork. In place of the sliding corrugateddoor were two large wooden doors. Across them both was painted the sign DANG LI POH LAUNDRY. Plumes of steam spouted from a pipe beside thewooden doors out into the cool late-afternoon air.

Bob consulted his internal clock. ‘We have seventeen minutes until the time wespecified for them to open the window.’

Liam leaned forward to look up at the sky. There were more hoverjets circling the skylineabove Manhattan, patrolling in pairs. He wondered if anyone was looking for them yet.

‘You’re right, no time to waste.’

He opened the door and climbed out, adjusting the black uniform and putting the cap on hishead, tugging the peak low to shadow as much of his boyish face as possible.

Bob joined him on the cobbled pavement strewn with rubbish from a kicked-over garbagepail.

Liam rapped his knuckles on the wooden door. He waited anxiously for aminute before rapping again on the wood. A moment later a small service hatch in the left-handdoor slid open and a ruddy-faced oriental man in a white apron peered out.

‘Yeah?’ he snapped irritably before registering the death’s-head insigniaand pitch-black uniforms.

Liam cleared his throat. ‘You will let us in immediately,’ he said, affecting aclipped officious tone.

‘Whuh?… Er… What — what wrong?’

‘We have reason to believe these premises are harbouring a criminal.’

The man’s eyes widened. ‘We not have bad man here!’

‘You will let us enter NOW or I shall have you all arrested.’

The man’s eyes widened still further. ‘I let you in. One moment.’

He slid the hatch closed and then a few seconds later they heard bolts slide and the woodendoor creaked open. The man waved them in.

‘You come in… see. No criminal here.’

Liam and Bob stepped inside and almost immediately felt a fug of warm moist air against theirfaces. The arch was dimly lit by several bulbs dangling from the arched ceiling.

‘You see… no bad man here!’ snapped the Chinese man.

Liam looked around the gloomy interior. There were about a dozen men and women standing overtubs of steaming water, stirring clothes with ladles, scrubbing them with bars of soap. Strungacross the archway were laundry lines from which clothing and bed linen hung to dry.

‘We laundry. Make super-clean for customer,’ the man explained.

‘You will tell your people to leave the building immediately,’ ordered Liam.

The Chinese man’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why you want us leave?’

Hmm. He hadn’t actually thought that far ahead. Liamhesitated a moment too long as he struggled to conjure up an answer.

The Chinese man squinted suspiciously. ‘You just boy… not real soldier pig. You steal uniform an’ try rob my laundry!’

Liam stared at him helplessly. ‘Er…’ was all he could manage.

The man continued to glare at him. ‘This is trick. Youleave now!’

Bob stepped in to help Liam out. He reached for the gun in his holster, wrenched it out andaimed it at the man’s forehead in one fast and fluid motion.

‘This is not a trick.’

The man’s suspicious expression was instantly wiped away and replaced with wide-eyedfear as he stared down the barrel of the pistol.

‘You will instruct the personnel here to leave these premises immediately or you willbe terminated!’ Bob’s deep voice thundered.

The man swallowed nervously, then, eyes still anxiously locked on the hand gun, he shoutedout in Cantonese over his shoulder at the others. Through the gaps in the hanging laundry Liamcould see fear on their faces as they spotted the gun levelled squarely at their boss. Quicklythey dropped their bars of soap and their stirring ladles, and filed out, ducking under thelaundry lines and heading for the open door.

They disappeared outside and a moment later the wooden door swung shut, leaving Liam and Bobin the faint, familiar gloom of their arch.

Bob once more consulted his internal clock. ‘Seven minutes and twenty-nine secondsuntil our specified window.’

‘And how long have we got until your brain explodes?’

Eyes fluttered. ‘Sixty-four minutes and three seconds.’

Liam pushed his way past a damp bed sheet and found a stool on which to sit down. ‘Soif this fails, if there’s no window, you and I will have less than an hour lefttogether?’

‘Affirmative.’

‘I guess that’s enough time to say our goodbyes.’

Bob cocked his head, curious. ‘You will be sad?’

‘Sad? That you’re going to be left a vegetable? Of course I flippin’ will!I mean… after all this time you’ve just about worked out how to appear less like acomplete idiot, and more like a human. It’d be a waste, to be sure.’ He sighed andshook his head. ‘Hang on. What am I saying? I guess maybe it’s the humans that arethe idiots.’

Bob shrugged, not entirely understanding what Liam was muttering on about.

Liam laughed at that. Such a human gesture.

‘Six minutes.’