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It wasn't perfect. I was clearly feeling the strain. But nothing broke, and no one got hurt. Bryan always said any landing you could walk away from was a good landing. He would have made a smart remark, but my throat was dry and my voice might have shaken.
We didn't have contemporary clothing available. Once again, we were pushing Time's limits. But I had to believe Time wanted us here. It wanted us to capture Sergei Ivanov. I had to hope that Time would bend its rules again.
"Coordinates confirmed," Mimi said. "Time and location match. Orion 6b is here. They haven't noticed us."
"They will when we emerge from the Vehicle," I told her.
"So will the Lunik sitting over there."
I looked at the main viewscreen. Mimi was right. A Lunik module was sitting out in the open in contemporary time right beside the Neva River. A small, heavy block of ice began to take weight inside my stomach, getting heavier and colder the longer I looked at that scene.
I checked the date. When Mimi had first arrived at the Academy, I'd researched her history as much as I could. There was a newspaper article on the front page of The St Petersburg Times, I came across, that mentioned tourists having driven off a bridge and into the Neva, their bodies never found but presumed drowned. The date of that article was tomorrow.
"Perhaps it would be best if one of us remains with the Orion," I said, my eyes glued to the date, the scene, the river. "I wouldn't put it past Sergei to try to steal it and strand us here."
"That makes no sense, Jack," Mimi told me. She hadn't worked it out yet. "We can send the Orion a plane away and recall it when needed."
I shook my head. My heart hurt. It was hard to breathe. "He knows our technology. He could just as easily crack our frequencies and call the Orion himself."
"He wantsme, Jack. Doyouwant to stay in the Orion? I'm guessing you want Charles out there for his incapacitating skills? So...?"
She was right. I would never let her out of this Vehicle without me and Charles couldn't stay behind because he was key to resolving this non-lethally.
I touched the taser on my belt. Maybe I could...
"Come on, Jack," Mimi cajoled. "Are we doing this or not? He's right there. Waiting for us."
That was what I was afraid of.
"Anchor the Orion," I instructed. "Tether it to 6b. There's no way he can steal an occupied Orion, and with ours anchored, no way 6b can leave."
Mimi gave me a strange look but did as I instructed. Our way home was secured. What happened next was out of my control, even if I did know the outcome.
I looked at Charles. "You know what to do," I told him. He nodded his head, checked his weapons and kit were secured, and then looked at the door. He'd slip out and separate from us, coming around from the rear toward the Lunik. "Good luck," I told him.
"And you too, sir. Ma'am."
I entered the command to bring the Orion into contemporary time and immediately turned to open the hatch. The comm light came on; Orion 6b trying to hail us. Charles didn't wait around to see what we did. He slipped out of the Vehicle like a wraith and disappeared into St Petersburg as if he belonged. I had no idea how he did that.
"We're sitting ducks here," I said. "Come on."
Mimi followed right behind me and as soon as we were both out of the module, I sent it away. It would still be tethered to Orion 6b and anchored to this spot on the timeline. But it was one plane away and therefore out of contemporary view.
Sergei was not so circumspect. His Lunik clicked and clacked, liquid oxygen spewing from its tanks, a high-pitched whine accompanying the multitude of slightly misaligned sounds coming from the module.
"You've not been looking after your Vehicle, Sergei," I said, loud enough for my words to carry.
Sergei Ivanov walked out from behind his module as if he had not a care in the world. Beside him, strode Carolyn Wylde. So far, I couldn't see Mimi's parents. I flicked my eyes around the street we were on, noting the multitude of hiding spots they could be using. I couldn't look behind us without giving my disquiet away, which only made my shoulders itch. Maybe I should have kept the Orion on this plane to cover our backs.
I took in their appearance, then. Sergei looked younger than I thought he should be. But also world-worn. As if he'd survived an apocalypse. Carolyn, on the other hand, looked older than Mimi. This was the Carolyn Wylde who had visited Clive so many times, who had been picked up by our Sergei and had worked behind enemy lines for over a decade. This Sergei, however, was not from our universe. How had he teamed up with this Carolyn?
It wasn't an important question. Either it had happened by happenstance, or Carolyn Wylde had manufactured their meeting. I didn't think this Sergei knew what our Sergei had been up to, and according to what Clive had told me about Carolyn, she wouldn't have made him any the wiser.
But she had clearly told him something to gain his trust. She walked just behind him, to the side. An easy position to stab him in the back. And yet, Sergei's eyes and attention were all for Mimi and me.
"You came," he said, in his slight accent. "Carolyn said you'd come. I did not wish to believe her, but she is very convincing." He offered a charming smile, one I'd seen many times before and believed in its sincerity. Sergei was good at wearing a mask and having you think it was flesh and bone. "Perhaps she is also truthful in her assertion that we can negotiate."
"This is to be a negotiation?" I asked.
