Stealing Time by Rebecca Bowyer (bearly read books .TXT) 📗

distance fromSebastian, and her mouth shut, it was exactly the wrong place tobe. A small, local eatery, popular with families who had youngchildren who weren’t quite ready to be out without being loud andannoying, she and Sebastian had visited here almost weekly. As ababy, Kir would sit in one of the white moulded plastic highchairsand sort refried beans on his tray with immense concentration,popping one in his mouth from time to time. In the months beforehis diagnosis he had graduated to sitting on a proper chair at thetable with them and scribbling over the paper tablecloth, usingcrayons the wait staff had given him.

The décor had barely changed. There was anew picture of cacti on the back wall and the specials on thechalkboard had rotated. But the polished concrete floor echoed justthe same way as Varya made her way over to the small table whereSebastian sat, margarita already in hand. She slid sideways into aseat and picked up the identical drink he’d ordered for her. Shetook a large gulp, savouring the familiar mixture of cold ice andburning liquor.

Sebastian turned his glass around in hishands, watching her intently. He gave her a smile that wasn’treally a smile.

“This is harder than I thought it would be,”he said.

“Have you ordered?” she asked, after meetinghis eyes briefly and then flicking her own eyes down to study themenu. “I’m starving.”

He leaned forward and held out a hand asthough to touch her. She moved back and held the menu uphigher.

Sebastian spoke quietly but urgently. “Whatwere his last days like? Was he in pain?”

Tears of rage and pain burned at the backsof her eyes. She swallowed them down with another gulp ofmargarita.

“You wouldn’t need to ask me if you’dstayed.”

He opened his mouth to respond but she heldout her hand to flag down a passing waitress. “Nachos, please, withbeef. And a tequila, straight.” She handed over her menu and waitedfor Sebastian to order.

“Have you found Reg?” she asked when thewaitress had left.

“No, we haven’t.” He paused and Varyastiffened, waiting to see if he would try to resume his previousline of questioning. Whether he noticed or not, he clearly thoughtthe better of trying again today. He relaxed back in his chair andstraightened his shoulders. Was it her imagination or did he alsopuff out his chest just a little? “We’re pursuing several lines ofenquiry, though it seems he more or less went off the grid when heleft Rest Time Corps. We’re running facial recognition softwarethrough the last few months of CCTV footage at the moment. If thatdoesn’t work, we’ll move to satellite images.”

Varya nodded her approval.

“There have been some other developments,though. Two more kids have disappeared.” He let the words slidefrom his mouth dispassionately, pushed out like a weatherreport.

“Are they related?” Varya asked, hopefully.She immediately felt guilty. The guilt at hoping these abductionsweren’t related to the time thefts was overlaid by the guilt of nothaving recreated the time transfer device yet and the guilt ofhaving assisted in its original invention.

Sebastian shook his head. “We don’t knowyet. One of them, a girl aged six from across town, has beeninvolved in a custody dispute so it’s possible that thenon-custodial parent took her. The other one, a girl aged ten,routinely walked herself home from school and let herself into anempty house. So, there’s plenty of opportunity for abduction there,or she might have just run away. We have to hope that, if it isrelated to the other time thefts, we have the tools to treat themwhen they’re returned.”

“We’re working as fast as we can on the timetransfer device.”

“I know. And we’re doing everything we canto find the perpetrators so the life span can be restored when wefind the kids.”

“We’re making progress.”

“So are we.”

What if they both progressed more slowlythan the time thieves? It was the unasked question that hungthickly between them.

Varya nodded her thanks to the waitress andsipped at her drink, this time burning liquid without the relief ofcooling ice. It felt appropriate to the situation.

“It’s happening all over again, isn’t it?”she said dully.

“Yes, but at least we know the M.O. thistime. We have a head start; we know how to prepare.”

A thought occurred to her. “Is there anychance this is simply a regular serial killer with a talent forhacking?”

Sebastian frowned. “What do you mean? How isthat any better?”

“Have you considered that it might not be arepeat of the previous time thefts? Maybe this isn’t about the lifespan, maybe it has nothing to do with the time transfer device,after all. It could be just some psychopath getting their rocks offby killing kids.” She sipped again at her tequila. The officialnarrative seeded in the public consciousness was that the Chipscouldn’t be tampered with. The truth was that with enough time,knowledge and talent, any machine could be hacked. Of course,another truth was that it didn’t change anything substantively, itjust meant that it might not be Varya’s fault.

“I suppose that would change the motive, butnot the result.”

“It would mean that finding Reg might not beyour first priority.”

Sebastian shrugged. “It’s not our firstpriority now. First priority is finding the missing kids, second ismaking sure they’re safe and third is figuring out who killedDaniel and Ben. At the moment, finding Reg mainly fits in with thethird. Though if the motive is life span transference, he shoots upthe list a little.”

“But why would he want years anyway?”

“Maybe he wants to be immortal, who knows?Maybe he wants money and he’s found someone who wants to beimmortal and has money.”

“Or maybe Reg was threatened and forced tohelp the perps. Or maybe he has nothing to do with it after all andthe technology was simply stolen from the Rest Time Corps archive.”Varya knew she was clutching at straws now. She knew that Sebastianknew it too, as the tone and volume of her voice rose.

“Only you and Reg knew the technology stillexisted, and where it was located. That gives rise to a fewpossibilities. Either he took it, or he enabled someone else to, oryou took it, or you enabled someone else to. Or you’re lying aboutits existence.” Sebastian spoke in a soft, steely voice that madethe hairs