Time Riders

CHAPTER 85

2001, New York

Foster finished telling Liam their story as they stood in the backstreet justoutside the open shutter door and gazed upon the ruined city.

‘My God,’ Liam whispered. ‘What do you think happened to thisworld?’

‘A nuclear war of some sort is the only thing I can think of,’ said Foster.‘I was hoping you might have a better idea, though.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Liam. ‘Kramer’s army had finished the jobof conquering America. I heard of no other wars going on. He still had Russia and China totake… but that wasn’t happening yet back where we were.’

Foster shrugged. ‘Then something must have happened not long after you left. Perhapsthis Kramer started a nuclear war. Who knows?’ Foster offered him an encouraging smile.‘We get things fixed in the past and we’ll never need to know what happened afteryou left because…’

‘Because it never will have happened,’ Liam finished.

The old man patted his arm proudly. ‘You’re getting the hang of it,lad.’

They stepped back inside and cranked down the shutter door. Inside, Bob had been busy fixingup the holes in the brickwork as best he could and hefting the bodies of the creaturesoutside.

They sat down at the table, joining Maddy, who quietly nursed a mug ofcoffee in both hands, still clearly very shaken by the attack.

‘Foster, you said it was possible we might get Sal back? If things rightthemselves?’

The old man shrugged. ‘It’s just a possibility, Liam. One of manypossibilities.’

Liam reached for a mug and sipped some of the tepid brew. ‘But right now, out theresomewhere, you’re absolutely certain she’s dead?’

Foster sighed. ‘We can only hope so. Whatever she went through…’ He shookhis head tiredly, his eyes briefly meeting Maddy’s. ‘Well, I’d like to thinkit’s over now. It’s done. She can’t suffer any more.’

‘But if we fixed things and she came back… Would she remember?’

Foster shook his head. ‘I don’t want to raise your hopes. Even if we get thetimeline corrected, she may just stay gone for good. There are no guarantees.’

‘She was so… so terrified,’ whispered Maddy. ‘I saw them carry heraway… I… I saw the look in her eyes. I — ’

‘There was nothing you could have done,’ Foster sighed. ‘Absolutelynothing. If I’d not stopped you going after her, then you’d have shared the samefate as her.’

‘But she was just a kid!’ cried Maddy angrily. ‘Just a kid! I told you weshould have gone after her!’

‘If we had, we’d be dead too,’ he replied softly. ‘I’m sorry,Madelaine, I truly am, but this is what it is. We just have to get on with it.’ Heturned back to Liam. ‘Our focus has to be on one thing now. One thing only: correctingtime. That literally is all that matters.’

A moment of silent reflection, then both Liam and Maddy nodded. He was right.

‘Now, Liam, you said you’ve identified a possible point in timefor us to send you back to?’

‘Yes. It was in that Hitler fella’s second book.’

‘In the correct timeline Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in what? 1925? And he shot himself in 1945, so he never gotto write any more books.’

‘Yes,’ said Liam, ‘but in the past that we were sent to Hitler lived on andwrote this second book. And shortly after that he was kicked out of the job by this Kramerfella who became the new Fuhrer.’

‘OK, so in this second book…?’

‘There’s this chapter where he describes receiving inspiration from God in theform of an angel. Apparently it’s a well-known chapter. Hitler never actually mentionsKramer’s name specifically, but it’s assumed that when he refers to a“ guardian angel” and “divine inspiration” it’s Kramer he’stalking about.’

‘Go on.’

‘I learned a lot about this guy, Kramer, whilst I was in that prison camp. He was avery mysterious man who seemed to sort of pop up out of the woodwork from nowhere. No familyhistory, no details of a childhood. A real mystery man. He took credit for steering Hitleraway from launching an attack on Russia in 1941. He claimed to have personally invented mostof the modern weapons that helped them win the war, that allowed them to invade America andwipe out their armed forces within just a few weeks.

‘His people worshipped him almost like a god. And I think he encouraged the idea thathe was extraordinary in some way. Apparently, up until he launched his invasion on America, hewas the most written-about man of his time. Hundreds of books about him… all trying towork out who he was and where he’d come from.’

‘And you recall the when and where of Hitler’s first encounter with him?’

‘Yes,’ replied Liam. ‘There was a fella who told me, a man called Wallace.If he remembered it correctly that is… then, yes, I can tell you the time and theplace.’

Foster considered that in silence for a moment. ‘So, this Kramer is our target, then. We can only presume he’s some foolish technicianfrom the future who fancied the idea of going back in time and ruling the world. Somebody whodecided to step into the past at a crucial tipping point… and make his ownhistory.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Liam, you understand what you’re to do?’

‘Locate him and…?’

‘And kill him. Execute him.Before he meets Hitler… before he has a chance to change anything to affect history.’

‘Sure.’

‘All right then. Give me those details of time and place.’