6. Chapter 6
Chapter 6
A t the pull of the bell, Ethan Ralkin folded the newspaper and rose from the armchair in his sitting room. He hadn’t seen the visitor come, but the position of the armchair partially blocked the view from the window. Not ideal if you wanted to keep things under control, but he preferred this one. Back when they were furnishing the house as giggly newlyweds, Frances had picked this piece. Saw it in a department store and wouldn’t let go of it, even if it clashed with both the rug and the sofas they’d already bought. Ethan liked his things neat and preferably in two color tones at most, including the wood—and the obnoxious floral-patterned armchair was far from fitting. But Frances had wanted it.
She didn’t know at the time she’d only get to sit in it for a year.
She didn’t know Ethan would never dare to throw it out afterward and would instead sit in it every time he was in the drawing room. If he had a good day—or perhaps those were the bad ones—he could almost still feel her.
Penny was already walking down the stairs when he got to the hallway .
“Where’s Mrs. Daniels?”
“Gone home earlier today to care for her mother,” Ethan explained. He’d given the housekeeper a free afternoon—she tended to eavesdrop. “I’ll take it. It’s a colleague. Go rest, darling.”
Penny rolled her eyes before spinning around on her heel and disappearing up the stairs. He waited until he heard the door to her room close, then went to greet the visitor.
Opening the door revealed an impeccably dressed man in his thirties, with a carefully maintained light brown beard and piercing gray eyes. “Mr. Ralkin.”
“Ross?”
The man gave a short bow of his head and entered at Ethan’s hand gesture. He disposed of his hat in the hallway and followed Ethan to the drawing room.
Since Ethan had first read of Sir Richard Ross, he’d been curious to meet him in person. The man was younger than he’d expected, but scientific progress these days required young minds. Perhaps Ethan’s thinking was still a victim of the old Watchers’ regime—they did not admit members until those were twenty-one, and even then, one could hardly expect an important position in Science right away. He should’ve known better; did he not have a group of very bright former students at college, himself?
“I’m pleased to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of impressive things about you.”
The Englishman merely nodded. He hadn’t brought anything with him—perhaps the device was small enough to put into a pocket? One way to find out .
“Let us get down to business, shall we?” Ethan glanced toward the closed door. “You have the Diffictor with you? I have a small lab in the basement, private use only. We can begin right away.”
“It is … in the States.”
The man betrayed no emotion, so Ethan was left to wonder if the words were supposed to be strange or if this was how Ross usually expressed himself.
“Sir, you do realize I have little time to lose.” Ethan didn’t expect they could fix this in a day, but for God’s sake—this was about Penny, and judging by Ross’ eagerness in their communication, the man was anxious to get their research started, too. Why was he being so cryptic?
Ross pressed his mouth in a tight line. His pale eyes almost melded with the whites around them as he stared through the window. “I have a slight situation which will be amended shortly.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we will be on schedule. In a week or so.” Ross sounded cold but also determined—and Ethan could use determined.
“I have a lot riding on this.”
Ross’ gaze flicked to him in a smooth movement. “Who?”
How did he know? He’d never told him his reasons in their correspondence. Well, no need to hold it back now—if they were going to be partners, they needed to trust each other.
“My daughter is very sick.”
“I see.” The smallest trace of gentleness crept into Ross’ voice.
“There is no cure for her here. In the future, however …”
“Yes, I understand.” Ross tapped his fingers on the armrest. “My sister died. Many years ago. ”
Died? But … “I thought bringing someone back from the dead using time travel was impossible.” He may not have known as much about the Watchers and time travel minutiae as the senior members did—he’d been in the group for only weeks before Lincoln, their last Leader, was assassinated, and everything went downhill—but he knew the more impactful the change, the harder it would be to accomplish. Resurrecting people was impossible—hence, why Lincoln was still dead. And even though he didn’t have the Watchers anymore, he had Lien. The man told him: if there was a solution for Penny, it’d have to be done while she was still alive.
Ross’ eyes were pure ice as they drilled into his. “Impossible only means someone is not trying hard enough.”
“It would break the rules.”
“The rules they’d put forward?” Ross stood and flicked off a speck on his coat. “The Watchers are irrelevant. I have a mission, and so do you. Together, we have the means. The rest only depends on how far we’re willing to go.” He looked around. “You were offering to show me a lab?”
“You said you didn’t have the device.”
“I said we will be on schedule. In the meantime, we can prepare. I’m interested to see your developments. An extraction machine?”
Oh, that thing. Ethan had toyed with the idea of trying to extract almonite from his own body, but the way the substance mutated when injected, it appeared impossible. He’d only mentioned it to Ross back when he was trying to impress the knighted Royal Society member. Well, if it worked …
“I have several items that might interest you.” With a polite smile, he motioned to the door. Ross gave an approximation of a close-lipped smile in return, but it was far from reaching his eyes.
Ethan led the man downstairs, forcibly ignoring the alarm bells in his head.