TimeRiders 05 - Gates of Rome by Alex Scarrow Read Free Book Online Page A

another team before us, right?’
    Maddy nodded.
    ‘That they died. That that ghost thing … that “seeker” killed them.’
    Liam cupped his jaw in his hands. ‘Hold on! That’s right! I remember that.’
    ‘Was that team
us
, Maddy?’
    Sal’s eyes remained resolutely on Maddy, watching her fidget, delay … fudge.
    Do I tell them that Liam is Foster? Because if Liam’s been here before … maybe Sal’s right and all three of us have
.
    ‘I’m asking because I’ve seen something I can’t explain,’ said Sal. She looked at Liam. ‘Your uniform from the
Titanic
.’
    He nodded. ‘Aye, you told me you saw one a bit like my –’
    ‘No, Liam. No. It IS your tunic.’
    Maddy frowned.
Her
turn to be silenced by a revelation. ‘What?’
    ‘In that antique shop, the theatre costume shop near us. There’s Liam’s tunic hanging up.’
    ‘Don’t be stupid,’ replied Maddy. She pointed at the rack of clothes hanging just outside their bunk nook. ‘It’s over there!’
    ‘It’s the same, Maddy. Exactly the same!’
    ‘How can it be the same one, Sal? How can it be here and in that shop at the same time?’
    ‘It
is
. It’s missing the same button. It has exactly the same stain on it. The same shape in the same place!’ She stood up, strode over to the wardrobe beside the nook. She pulled out his white tunic, still on its hanger, and brought it over to the table. She spread it out beneath the light above them.
    ‘There. See?’
    Liam got up and studied it.
    ‘You got that stain on the
Titanic
, right? Down the left side. Big stain. What was it … wine or something?’
    Liam frowned. ‘I see it. Jayzzz … never even noticed that before.’
    Maddy joined them. ‘Me neither. It’s faint.’
    He looked at Sal. ‘I … I don’t think I ever spilled wine down me jacket. I don’t remember doing anything like that. Chief Steward would’ve had me guts for garters.’
    ‘So then it wasn’t you?’
    He shook his head. ‘Maybe someone who had the uniform before me?’
    ‘That’s possible,’ said Maddy.
    Sal shook her head irritably. ‘That’s not the important bit. The point is there are two copies of it!’ She looked up at them both. ‘Do you see? Maybe that means Liam’s been here before?’
    Liam’s eyes widened. ‘This is …’
    ‘Messing with your head?’ asked Sal.
    He nodded.

CHAPTER 10
2070, Project Exodus, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs
    Who was it that once said, ‘A week is a long time in politics’? Well, that was a pretty good observation to take note of, if not to adapt very slightly.
    Rashim stared at the news-stream from New London, in the north of England.
    A week is a long time with a pandemic.
    This particular media feed had been running uninterrupted for two days now; a digi-streamer dropped on its side on the street by some panicked cameraman, had still been broadcasting powered by its own hydro-cell battery pack. The signal was being streamed round the world, no doubt watched by millions of other frightened people like Rashim.
    The street had been full of people running from faint blooms descending from the sky like flakes of ash from a bonfire of paper. The blooms – viral spores – landing lightly on scalps, backs of hands, faces had an almost instantly lethal effect. The street had been full of stampeding people, and screaming voices … Then, five minutes later, after the camera had dropped and settled on its side, it was silent and full of corpses.
    Twenty-four hours ago, he’d been shaken by the sight of a solitary young girl staggering into the static view of thedigi-streamer. A girl no more than eleven or twelve, collapsing to her knees, whimpering with fear and agony as her left arm dissolved and bacilli-like growths, like veins on the surface of her skin, snaked past her elbow and spread to her shoulder, her neck, her face.
    She’d collapsed into a huddle very quickly, quite dead. And over the next six hours transformed into a pool of