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"Then you take Carolyn Wylde."
"Jack," I said in warning.
"They need to be separated and interviewed back at RATS," he told me quietly. "It's standard procedure, Mouse, and I believe we need that procedure to get away with all of this."
Because this wasn't over yet. Anderson was back at RATS.
I nodded my head reluctantly.
"Charles, you grab Sergei," Jack went on. "And let's all get out of here before we have to answer to themilitsiya."
The soldier nodded his head and hefted the unconscious and bound form of Sergei Ivanov up as if he weighed nothing. Jessica took a moment to appreciate his muscles.
My eyes met Carrie's. She offered me a smirk and mock salute. And then she slapped Pratt on the shoulder, winked at Harding, and climbed into Orion 2b as if she owned it. Charles passed us with his bounty and disappeared inside Orion 0, which Jack must have called back to this plane. Holt returned to his Vehicle, my alternate mother and father following behind him like little lost ducklings.
In moments, Jack and I were alone. One after the other, the two other Orions present winked out of sight. I stared at the Neva. The police got closer. People were now congregating along the bank and pointing at something I couldn't quite make out.
Maybe that was for the best.
"Can you do this, Mouse?" Jack asked. Not was I okay? Or what did I need? Just a simple question of competence.
But in his voice, I heard my pain.
Letting out an agony-filled breath of air, I nodded my head, turned my back on the past, and boarded the Orion. Jack didn't waste time closing the hatch behind us or untethering from Orion 6b. He tethered the Lunik, blanked the camera feeds, shifted us a plane out of sight, and then stared at the console in silence.
I looked around the Vehicle, taking in all the familiar sights and sounds of an Orion MPCV, my eyes flicking over Charles and landing on Sergei. He was still out cold, but that wouldn't last, I thought. I didn't want to be in this module with the Russian when he gained consciousness. But I also didn't know what would greet us when we returned to RATS' hangar.
"Wearegoing to the hangar, aren't we?" I asked.
"There's no point hiding now," Jack said.
"Anderson is not going to be happy."
"Neither is Clive, and I'd place my money on Clive."
I huffed out a laugh and straightened my flight suit.
"You did it, Mimi," Jack said. "No matter what happens next, you did it. You saved your alternate family from Sergei. Anderson can't take that away from you. No one can. You set out to save them, and save them you did."
"Not without Carrie's help."
"No," Jack said, smiling slightly. "Your sister is quite an asset."
"She's kick-arse," I said.
"Bloody brilliant," Charles Crawford muttered.
We both glanced at him. His cheeks pinked up a little. I snorted. Jack chuckled.
And then I buckled myself in, for once getting it right on the first try, and Jack launched the Vehicle.
I didn't count the stars. I didn't hold my breath as the g-forces pushed me into my seat and then weightlessness surrounded. I thought of my parents. Of the opportunity lost. And then I thought of Time itself.
There are rules to travelling through Time. Some of them you can bend, some of them you can even break a little. But some of them are so set in stone, so set in their place in the universe, that neither you nor Time itself could budge them.
You can't raise the dead. You can't prevent a death that has already happened. You can only survive. And I chose life. I chose Time. I chose RATS.
I hoped my parents, wherever they were now, could forgive me. I hoped Time appreciated my sacrifice. It would certainly take time for me to forgive myself.
