2001, New York

Maddy looked round at the sound of the shutter rattling up. She saw four pairs of legs and then Liam ducking down and stepping into the gloom of the archway.

Here we go.

He stood up and waved a hand at her. ‘You should see the daft bleedin’ costumes we –’ He stopped dead. ‘Who’s this?’

Becks was straightening up beside him as he asked. Her cool eyes evaluated the visitor. ‘This person is Adam Lewis,’ she answered. ‘He should not be here.’

‘Uh-huh,’ said Maddy. ‘You can say that again.’

Bob ducked inside. ‘Unauthorized presence.’ His deep voice filled the void. ‘He must leave immediately.’

‘Relax, guys,’ said Maddy. ‘He already knows too much. I can’t just turf him out.’

Sal was the last in. She hit the switch and the shutter descended noisily.

Both support units approached Maddy, a united wall of disapproving frowns. ‘This person is not authorized to be in here. This is a security –’

Maddy raised her hand. ‘I get it. It’s a security breach. But here’s the thing –’ she nodded at Adam – ‘he found us. We …’ She shrugged guiltily. ‘All right, I … was careless. I left a breadcrumb trail that he’s followed.’

Liam stepped around Bob and Becks, warily looking at the man. ‘He’s the fella you went to see?’

‘Yes. Adam Lewis.’ She turned to him. ‘Why don’t you say hello?’

Adam’s eyes remained on the intimidating form of Bob standing over him. ‘Uh … hi.’

Liam broke the stony silence with a proffered hand. ‘Well now, there’s always room for another, so there is. My name’s Liam O’Connor.’

Adam, relieved, grasped it.

‘And this here is Sal.’

She waved. ‘Hi.’ Adam returned the gesture. But his eyes flickered towards Bob. ‘Is this the, uh … support unit you were telling me about, Maddy? Am I safe –’

Liam followed his gaze and grinned. ‘You mean safe from Bob?’

He nodded. ‘I’ve heard a little about his … uh … exploits.’

‘You mean ripping the arms off bad Nazis?’

‘Yup.’

‘Oh, now don’t you worry about Bob. He’s a good, reliable chappie, so he is. He means well.’

Maddy got up from her chair and addressed Becks and Bob directly. ‘As team strategist, I’m authorizing him to be in here. In this field office. Is that understood?’

Both support units nodded like children and chorused, ‘Affirmative’.

She turned to Adam. ‘Temporarily, understand? Until we’ve checked out this Voynich Manuscript.’

‘Uh … that’s fine with me.’

‘Once this is done, once we know what’s in there … then we’re going to have to figure something out, Adam Lewis. You can’t stay and we can’t have you walking away from this, blabbing to everyone.’

He shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t! Honestly!’

Her eyes narrowed.

‘Listen,’ he said, standing up, ‘I’ve sat on the fact that I know time travel exists for seven years! I haven’t told a soul in all that time. I wouldn’t.’ He shook his head. ‘Really, I wouldn’t! It would ruin me; and ruin my professional reputation, apart from anything else. I’d never get another data security contract again!’

Maddy pursed her lips. ‘I can imagine.’

‘Anyway,’ he added. ‘I’ve been there before – treated like a complete nut, no one believing me. Been a laughing-stock. No thanks, I don’t fancy that again.’

Liam put his hands on his hips. ‘Well, you seem all right to me, chap.’

The support units both remained quiet, four grey eyes silently appraising him.

Maddy turned to them. ‘And you two – you’re not going to rip him to pieces as soon as my back’s turned, are you?’

Bob spoke for them both. ‘Negative. Adam Lewis has been temporarily authorized.’ He offered the man a hand the size of a baseball glove. ‘I am pleased to meet you, Adam Lewis,’ he rumbled.

Adam grasped it lightly. ‘Uh … sure, pleased to meet you.’

Becks did the same, offering a slender but equally deadly hand.

‘Sure she’s not going to …?’

Maddy laughed awkwardly. ‘Twist your finger off again?’

‘Negative,’ replied Becks with a friendly smile, grasping his hand. ‘Not unless I am ordered to.’

Maddy grinned and pushed her glasses up her nose. ‘Well OK, great, introductions made. We need to set you two support units up for the trip: data uploads, relevant history, period languages … the whole deal.’ She looked at Adam. ‘You said you’ve got a good knowledge of this bit of history?’

He nodded. ‘Twelfth-century history. It’s become something of an obsession.’

‘Good, then I’ll need your help putting together the data package. You can start by giving Bob and Becks a verbal briefing on the historical situation – what you were telling me earlier about the political situation: Richard and John and all that.’

‘All right.’

She turned to Liam and Sal. ‘A quiet word?’

‘He dies?’

Maddy watched their guest through the open door of the hatchery. He was sitting on the arm of one of the armchairs and talking Bob and Becks through the relevant bits of Plantagenet-era history.

The hatchery was illuminated by the soft peach glow of half a dozen growth tubes, each holding a curled-up foetus, maintained in stasis and ready to be activated and grown at the touch of a control screen; they hummed softly, the gentle aquarium-like noise of the pumps of their filtration systems.

‘He dies. I looked him up.’

‘When?’

‘Soon. Very soon.’

‘Jay-zus,’ uttered Liam. ‘How?’

‘That’s not important. The point is, even if he does blab, there’s not much chance for him to get anyone to listen. And, anyway, no one’s likely to believe him. Remember, the poor guy’s been a laughing-stock before.’

‘I don’t understand why you let him in,’ said Sal.

Maddy bit her lip. ‘I didn’t have much choice. He turned up on our doorstep. He knows we’re time travellers. I couldn’t just tell him to go away, could I? Anyway, he knows everything there is to know about the Voynich –’ she turned to Liam – ‘and about the time period you’re going back to. And if we’re going to try and find out what else is in that document, having the only guy to have ever decoded some of it around … might be a smart move.’

Sal nodded. ‘This is true.’

Maddy sighed. ‘I feel like I’m pushing you two on this. It’s not like the last two times, when we had no choice but to act and act fast. This time … I dunno, this time maybe we could just let this go; let some other team worry about it. But there’s been a change – not a big one, I’ll admit, but it’s right under our nose and –’

‘It’s OK, Mads.’ Liam put a hand on her shoulder. ‘We got a job, so. An important one.’

Sal frowned unhappily. ‘Maybe I got it wrong? Maybe that movie was always on and I just didn’t notice it before.’

Maddy shook her head. ‘You haven’t been wrong yet.’ She glanced at Adam again. ‘Thing is, what he decoded …’

Tell them, Maddy – tell them about the message in the safety deposit box.

‘What he decoded sounds too much like an important message. You know? Like our kind of message. We need to know.’

Liam grinned. ‘Ahhh, it’ll be fun anyway. Knights and maidens and maybe even a chance to meet Robin Hood? I can’t wait to go!’

‘It’ll be interesting to see,’ said Sal, lowering her voice pointedly, ‘to see how our two pet killing machines work together.’

‘What, Punch and Judy?’ said Maddy. She nodded thoughtfully. ‘This’ll be a good field test for Bob, I guess.’

‘Aye.’

‘And this Adam … do we trust him?’ asked Sal.

‘Not really,’ said Maddy. ‘But he’s here right now, and I figure what he knows may prove useful. And … this is going to sound harsh, but he dies really soon anyway.’

‘Seriously?’ said Sal.

Liam looked at her. ‘And you’re going to let him die?’

She sighed. ‘I have to. It’s the way we have to do things, isn’t it?’