Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(43)

“It’s not usual, that’s for sure.” Smitt sounded worried. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dual signature in a jump before.”

James kept Smitt talking while he scanned his bathroom. As he changed into a fresh set of clothes, he hid a shaving razor in his pants. It was the best he could do.

“Let’s go,” he said cheerfully as they left his room.

The monitors closed rank and escorted him to the interrogation room. A few minutes later, James and Smitt walked into I-3, where a fuming Levin scowled from the other end of the table. Levin shot Smitt a furious look.

“He had to take a shower,” Smitt said, looking embarrassed.

James shrugged. “I was being considerate. I smelled.”

“Let’s get down to business,” Levin said, his jaw set. “Explain your delay.”

James tried to look exasperated. “What’s there to explain? Big explosion at Nutris; city sunk into ocean. Thousands of people died. I salvaged the gear and barely made it back.” He got up. “Can I go now?”

Levin’s eyes narrowed. “Sit down! The monitors recorded a dual signature from your jump. Explain that.”

“I don’t even know what that means,” James said.

“Did someone else come back with you?”

“No. Well, maybe I brought back a couple liters of ocean since I was underwater when I jumped.”

“You think Hops can’t differentiate between bringing back water and life?”

“I don’t know what they don’t know,” James said. “Maybe some fishes came with me.”

“Did you bring back a shark? Because it was a damn large signature,” Levin snarled.

“What’s a…?” James asked.

“It’s a big damn fish!” Levin snapped. He spread his hands out. “This large! Because that’s how big it’d have to be for surveillance to register the additional signature.”

“I didn’t have time to check what type of fish it was,” James shot back. “I was busy trying to survive a ground zero radiation blast.”

The two stared off. Finally, Levin lowered his eyes to his AI band and spoke in a calmer voice, “Why don’t we start from the beginning? And I want every detail. Don’t leave out a thing.”

With a sigh, James retold his entire job, starting with the explosion and how he had narrowly recovered the three marks for Valta. He continued with the failed jump due to the residual tear in the chronostream and painstakingly detailed the hundreds of slow deaths he saw people dying due to the radiation. Then he talked about his feelings. He followed Levin’s orders and reported every minute detail of the mission. Most of them were actually true, but he embellished a little to convey the drama. The only thing he omitted was any mention of Elise.

To Levin’s credit, it took almost an hour before he, now completely annoyed, snapped and told him to move on. James gave himself a mental pat on the back. It was a masterful telling. Finally, he moved the story to the return jump to the present, where he began an entirely new narrative. He continued to talk about his feelings, describing in detail about how he felt so completely disturbed by the deaths he saw yet was so relieved he had made it out alive.

At one point, James tried to will tears to drip out of his eyes. His body, however, would do no such thing. He finally finished his story, telling them how he wanted to celebrate the golden ticket by getting a couple of drinks.

Levin raised an eyebrow at that part of the story. “Why didn’t you go to the Never Late?”

James smirked. “Because that bar is full of ChronoCom men. I wanted to taste freedom, being so close and all. Feels good to be a ruck, you know.”

Levin’s eyes glazed for a second before he spoke again. “All right then, tell me about the room you booked at the Heights.”

James kept his smile plastered on his face even as his throat closed. Of course Levin checked his transaction records. He had hoped it’d be something the monitors overlooked, but he was prepared for this question as well.

“Whores,” he said. “Can’t celebrate without them, right?”

Levin looked at the mirror to his left, his head nodding slightly. James turned to it as well and waved. Then he noticed the glimmer in Levin’s expression. He’d found something. That couldn’t be good.

“You rented a whore to celebrate at the Heights.” Levin didn’t say it like a question.

James nodded.

“Is she still there?”

James’s mind raced. Levin must already know or have something on him; otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked the question.

He nodded again. “I did hire her for an entire day. Going to get my money’s worth.”

“She’s the one using your access on the net right now as we speak?” asked Levin.

James’s heart sank. Elise must have figured out how to use the vid. “I didn’t want her to get bored,” he finished lamely.

Levin stood up and banged his fist on the table. “You expect me to believe that you gave a whore your chronman access to the entire vid network?”

It was time for James to double down. He stood up and stuck his face right in front of Levin’s. “Yeah? So?”

They exchanged scowls. “Very well, then,” Levin said finally. “You might be here a while, so I’m sure you won’t mind if we send someone there to bring her back for questioning.”