Twisted Time

34 - The Café

The roof, 03:17

Flat on her stomach, Dan pulls her arm and the fire extinguisher out of the illuminated area. Her heart beats like a drum against the coolness of the concrete slabs covering the roof. Ric's grip on her ankle is gone, and the next moment, he grasps her elbow and pulls her to her feet and into a run. She follows his lead, not daring to ask questions.

Her companion sprints directly towards the lights, then he turns left at a sharp angle before they reach the wall, around a corner, and back into darkness. They skid to a stop, panting.

Still blinded, Dan leans against the wall and tries to catch her breath. Out of immediate danger of detection, she shivers in the chilly night air. Ric seems like a bundle of nerves too, and Dan is the first who dares to spy around the corner.

The lights show her a tidy area with a neatly tiled floor, surrounded by a row of lush, potted plants. Small palm trees and decorative ferns surround sleek, artsy tables in a dark shade of mauve, and fitting purple chairs are arranged in front of what reminds her of a bar. It is kept in the same colour scheme and closed by a roller shutter.

The setting looks like an attractive coffee shop, and Dan wonders if it is as overpriced as museum cafés are in her period. She turns to Ric. "Guess I triggered a motion sensor for the lighting. What do we do now?"

Ric leans forward to glance around the corner.

"Hope for the light to dim before someone sees it and comes barrelling in... bugger! Already happens. Come."

He pulls Dan further along the wall, away from the roof garden and around another corner. They reach the backside of the tiny restaurant, aware the searchlight might pick them out any moment. The flat roof offers no other hiding spot. Ric dashes on, pulling Dan along on her elbow. She still carries the fire extinguisher, the fingers of her right hand trailing over the wall they follow. When the texture changes from rough concrete to cool metal, she stops in her tracks, pulling almost free of Ric's grip. "Wait, I found a door."

He immediately turns to check her discovery, Dan's searching fingers already found what might be a lock. A square metal plate is inserted into the door panel almost flush with the surface, a doorknob is missing.

While the chopper hovers over the lit terrace, the sound of the rotor deafening and the wind tearing at Dan's hair despite the shelter of the restaurant, Ric digs out his electronic device. She holds her breath while he presses the Metec against the lock. A short whirring announces their luck. The door opens with a click and Dan pushes it inward, opening a crack wide enough to slip through. Ric follows and reseals the lock.

They are inside the café now, standing in the back, between a cupboard and a humming fridge. The open room is separated from the terrace by sliding glass panels. From their position, the helicopter seems only steps away, holding its position above the roof garden. Tables, chairs and potted plants are scattered around, overthrown by the turbulences. A strong wind ruffles the leaves of the remaining palm trees.

Dan's gaze is drawn towards two black-clad figures jumping from the open door of the machine onto the roof. "Shit."

"Time to move." Ric shoves her towards a winding metal stair in the centre of the piece. They descend in a rush of clattering footsteps, the noise drowned out by the ruckus of the helicopter and the shouts of their pursuers.

Hand in hand, they reach an enormous dark room only illuminated by the fingers of searchlights falling to a few overhead glass panels. Dan stumbles over her own feet on the last step and Ric has to support her. She hangs onto the arm of her partner and follows him through the great hall, glancing up whenever the ghostly light-fingers from above dance through the room, painting patterns on the floor. They duck into the shadow of a display case situated in front of a wall.

Exhaustion seeps into Dan's every bone and muscle. "Ric, could you take me back to your time? They will be here any minute, and I can hardly keep my eyes open." Not even adrenaline will keep me going much longer. 

"Sorry, girl, unlike your doggo, you don't fit into the thirty per cent rule. We must figure out how to return both to our respective times. Point is, we can't leave on the possibility they call you back here after I've left. We need to guarantee you stay where you belong, somehow."

"How do you know this time machine thingy still works? It might have burnt out by now."

For a short moment, Ric releases her hand, only to grasp it again after a few seconds. Dan appreciates the illusion of stability his touch offers.

"See? Proves the TA still works. Otherwise, you'd disappear back into your own dark century the moment we lose contact."

Dan sighs and rubs her eyes with the hand that holds the cylinder. His teasing doesn't even tempt her to reply. Her gaze takes in the room they are stranded in. Showcases line the walls, not giving away what secrets they are supposed to exhibit to the ordinary daytime visitor. "We can't remain here then."

On the opposite side of the hall, she makes out a dark opening, perhaps the entrance to a hallway. She points it out to her partner, but Ric shakes his head.

"Too dangerous. We would have to pass beneath the glass panels. But if the layout of the building is symmetrical, our side should have a similar passage. Let's go!"

While they dash around the showcase, the crack of splintering glass in the upper storey resounds through the building.