Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(44)

James tried his best to seem nonchalant. “Be my guest, though if she asks for more money, it’s coming out of your account.” There was nothing he could say to worm his way out of this.

Levin stood and looked at the lead monitor standing guard in the room. The lead monitor nodded and motioned for one of the others to follow him out the door, presumably to pick up Elise. James had to think of something fast.

Before he left, Levin turned back to them. “Handler, escort the chronman to the brig.”

Smitt frowned. “Why? Is he under arrest?”

“Not yet.”

“Then I’m taking him to his quarters,” Smitt said. “He hasn’t done anything wrong and is completely unarmed. I can confine his access until then.”

Levin shook his head. “To the brig. That’s an order. If everything checks out, it’ll only be for a few hours and I will be the first to congratulate you both on your soon-to-be new life on Europa.”

James and Smitt were quiet as they left the interrogation room. James’s mind raced as he went over his options. He would be hard-pressed to beat the monitors to Elise unless he left right now. Fighting out of here without an exo was suicide. They were deep in the bowels of Central, along with the entire garrison. The monitors didn’t worry James too much, but there were also at least three dozen chronmen and probably a few auditors here as well. They posed the real threat.

Smitt waited until they were alone in one of the corridors before rounding on him. “Tell me I have nothing to worry about, man. This is our ticket out of here. Tell me we’re in the clear and this is just an abyss-wasted exercise.”

James hesitated for only a split second before nodding. Smitt, however, had been operating with him since the Academy.

“What happened there, James?” Smitt asked, his eyes opened wide. He had a desperate look on his face. “Look, you can trust me. I’ve always covered for you.”

That much was true. Smitt had never turned his back on him or let him down before. James was going to need all the help he could get.

He leaned in. “I brought someone back.”

Smitt’s face turned ashen and a moan escaped his lips. “You did what?”

“I couldn’t let her die.” Now was James’s chance to escape. He hoped his friendship with Smitt held. “Listen, I need your help. I need to get to her before the monitors do. Can you help me get my hands on some new bands?”

Smitt look conflicted before he finally nodded. “Your access has been locked out, but mine should be all right. We can go to the armory.”

They continued past the holding cells and barracks down to the lower armory level. Smitt punched the security code and opened the main armory doors.

He turned to James. “Listen, James, it’s not too late to turn this person in and beg for mercy. Remember, we just got fast-tracked out of this place and into Europa. We got funds saved up. We can get out of here. Think about what you’re throwing away.”

And for those few moments, James considered it. Elise didn’t belong here. She was supposed to be dead. Leaving her with the monitors was assuring her death, but she was already living on borrowed time. It wouldn’t be a stain on his soul if he did the right thing, would it? He’d just be following the Time Laws. Righting the chronostream.

Strange, he had used this argument so often when he watched all those other people die. Prior to today, it had always made sense. His absence of action was justifiable. That past was already dead. James was just an observer of their history.

It had even felt right when he left Grace Priestly, the Mother of Time. But now, in the one moment when his entire future hinged on following the Time Laws, it felt like a pitiful excuse. Everything felt wrong.

“I … I can’t.” The words were a struggle to say. He slumped his shoulders. “Not this one. I can’t turn my back on these people anymore. I’m sorry.”

“I understand.” Smitt nodded. He opened the door and led James into the armory. “I’m sorry, too.”

Four monitors were waiting for him in the room. “Chronman James Griffin-Mars, you are under arrest for violation of the first Time Law.”

“He’s harmless! He doesn’t have his bands.” Smitt yelled, stepping to the side. “There’s no need for force. He’ll go peacefully. He’s harmless.”

James wasn’t sure what hurt worse: Smitt’s betrayal or what he was about to do next.

“I’m sorry too, Smitt,” he said.

Then James slipped his hand into his pocket, pulled out the razor blade, and showed everyone in the room just how harmless he was.





SEVENTEEN

ENEMY OF STATE

The two unlucky monitors closest to James were the first to face his wrath. Smitt had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when the monitor to James’s right dropped from an elbow to the face. Before anyone else in the room had a chance to react, James rammed the razor into the gut of the one on the left. The monitor stiffened as the blade entered his sternum.

Before the body had a chance to fall, James got behind him and propped his body up as a shield. The odds on a razor blade versus the two remaining armed monitors with wrist beams were poor, assuming Smitt didn’t get involved. Fat chance of that happening.

James had faced worse odds before. He surveyed the room. The main armory was square, with shelves lined along the walls and a large workbench in the middle. There was little room for movement and even less cover. The closer monitor, a fodder, judging by his clean-shaven face and textbook shooting stance—one hand gripping the forearm of his shooting wrist—was four meters away to his left.