Read TimeRiders: City of Shadows (Book 6) for Free Online Page A

softly. ‘It’s your team now. Not mine.’
    She picked at the burrito on her plate,
     fumbling with both hands to keep the mince and assorted gunk from spilling out either
     end. ‘I suppose we could use Rashim. He’s got a better understanding of the
     displacement technology than I have.’
    ‘Than any of us,’ added Foster.
     ‘To be fair.’
    ‘True.’ She nodded and glanced
     up from her food at the man. He seemed fascinated by the rack of ribs on his plate,
     inspecting it like a forensic pathologist picking over a cadaver. She smiled at that.
Of course.
He’d probably never experienced real meat in his time.
    ‘And he knows forty-four years
more
of the future than I do,’ said Sal.
    ‘Excuse me.’ Rashim looked up
     from his ribs. ‘You’re all talking about me like I’m not right here
     sitting next to you.’
    ‘Sorry, Rashim,’ said Maddy.
     ‘You’re right, that is kinda rude.’
    Rashim nodded. Apology accepted. He turned
     to Sal. ‘When do you come from?’
    ‘2026. From Mumbai.’
    ‘Really?’ His eyebrows arched.
     ‘That’s not long before the …’ He stopped himself.
    ‘Before?’ She looked at him.
     ‘Before what?’
    He shrugged. ‘The first Asian
     War.’ Rashim winced apologetically. ‘I’m sorry … I
     shouldn’t –’
    ‘No, tell me. Please.’
    He deferred to Maddy. ‘Tell her about
     it later if you like, Rashim. Right now we need to focus on our next move. We’ve
     got to decide what we’re going to do.’
    ‘What is it
you
wish to do,
     Maddy?’ asked Foster.
    He’s pushing me to lead
. Not
     for the first time, Maddy wondered if she tended to open things up for discussion too
     much.
    She put down the leaking burrito, licked her
     fingers. Buying time … because she simply didn’t know just yet. A part
     of her had almost made the decision that the game was up, that their duty as TimeRiders
     was done and perhaps they should all just put some clear miles between themselves and
     New York, and then all go their separate ways to live whatever was left of their lives
     how each of them wanted.
    But then an insistent, nagging voice inside
     her reminded her of the horrendous timelines they’d narrowly prevented from
     happening. And of course that voice had an even greater urgency to it now she knew it
     was just their one little team keeping an eye on history. Not some vast agency of
     multiple teams, with multiple redundancies, safeguards, fail-safes.
    Just them.
    So the decision, in truth, was already made
     in her mind. But she wanted to hear what the others had to say, particularly Liam and
     Sal.
    ‘We run,’ she said.
     ‘Then?’ She looked at Liam with a shrug.
    ‘What do you mean by that?’
     asked Liam.
    ‘I’m putting it to you.
     I’m asking what you think, Liam. We run … then what?’
    Liam frowned for a moment. Then put down his
     burger – no,
dropped
his burger. Suddenly indignant, he exclaimed,
     ‘Jay-zus, Maddy! Are you asking me whether we give up?’
    She said nothing. That was her answer.
    ‘No way!’ He turned to Sal.
     ‘Right? No bleedin’ way!’ He looked almost angry. As close to anger as
     she’d ever seen him. ‘Now listen here, Madelaine Carter! I’ve nearly
     died a dozen times, so I have. To keep that …’ He flung a hand towards thewindow and the glistening lights of Times Square. ‘To keep New
     York just like it is! I’m not giving up on that now!’
    Maddy noted a proud smile steal across
     Foster’s lips.
    ‘Sal? I’m right, am I
     not?’ said Liam. ‘We want to go on, right?’
    She chewed on the straw in her glass of Dr
     Pepper and blew bubbles for a moment before she finally spoke. ‘There’s
     things I want to know. I want to know what Pandora is. I want to know what Becks knows;
     what’s locked up inside her head. I want to know what
that man
was trying
     to tell us.’
    That man
. Maddy and Liam knew who
     she meant: the poor soul who’d arrived back in New Orleans,