Free The Eternal War by Alex Scarrow Page A

to him. ‘We mean you no harm … In fact, we came back in time to save you.’
    For several moments he regarded her hand as if it was a snarling dog ready to snap at his fingers. ‘Save me?’
    She nodded. ‘You nearly stepped right in front of a speeding wagon.’
    ‘Aye. It was Bob here,’ said Liam, slapping his meaty shoulder, ‘that yanked you back out of the way. Do you not remember?’
    Lincoln remembered that. Remembered being winded and lying on his back. But then it was all a confusing mixture of things he might or might not have seen or heard. The only thing he’d been sure of was the whispered conversation in the dark of the dockside. The mention of his name. The mention of a destiny. The mention of the Jenkins storehouse and the specific time of some mysterious rendezvous.
    ‘Yes, perhaps I do remember something of that,’ uttered Lincoln. He cocked a bushy eyebrow, narrowed his eyes as he struggled to make some sense of his whisky-soaked recollection. ‘A big … fast wagon? Barrels on it … was it?’
    Liam nodded. ‘Aye. A distillery wagon. The horses were running wild, so they were.’
    ‘There, you see?’ said Maddy. ‘Liam and the others went back to save you.’
    ‘Back?’ Lincoln nodded. ‘That’s some of what I heard these three say to each other. Back … they came back in time ?’
    Maddy shot a look of irritation at Liam and Sal. Careless talk. They should’ve been much more cautious in what they were saying and where they were saying it.
    ‘Yes, Mr Lincoln,’ she admitted. ‘Yes … they actually came back in time.’
    Lincoln’s scowl vanished and was replaced in an instant with a smile that looked horrifically out of place beneath his dark brooding eyes. ‘INCREDIBLE!’ He suddenly grasped her hand firmly and shook it. ‘Most incredible!’ He let her hand go and advanced towards the others.
    ‘Sir!’ he said, reaching out for one of Bob’s large paws. ‘Sir! As unsettlingly strange as you look, I am indebted to you for saving my life as you did!’ Lincoln’s energetic voice filled the archway as he pumped Bob’s arm furiously.
    Bob looked at Liam for help.
    ‘Just say “no problem”, Bob.’
    ‘No problem,’ he rumbled.
    ‘And you, sir!’ he greeted Liam. ‘You, sir, I suspect, by the way you talk, are from Ireland!’
    ‘Cork in Ireland, aye. Liam O’Connor at your service.’
    ‘A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr O’Connor!’
    He let Liam’s hand go and then graciously bowed in front of Sal, taking a gloved hand and kissing it. ‘Young madam!’
    Sal giggled as if his kiss had tickled. ‘I’m Saleena Vikram. Uhh … just call me Sal.’
    He glanced at Becks, reaching for her hand. She eyed him distrustfully as he grasped it and then, about to kiss it, he hesitated, taken aback by the livid ribs and swirls of scar tissue running across her hand, her forearm, all the way up to her elbow. He quickly released his tight grasp.
    ‘You … you have been in a fire. I am sorry. I hope I haven’t hurt you, ma’am?’
    ‘I am called Becks,’ she said coolly. She looked up at Maddy, who offered her a subtle nod. ‘Yes, that’s right, a fire. But I am all better now.’
    He nodded politely. Finally he turned back to Maddy. ‘And you, Miss Carter, I presume you lead this small and remarkable group of mysterious heroes and heroines?’
    She shrugged self-consciously. ‘I muddle through somehow I guess, Mr Lincoln.’
    He stood back, hands on hips to study them all. ‘Quite remarkable,’ he uttered again. ‘And am I to truly believe that I am standing in a time that is in my future ?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Maddy.
    Lincoln looked at the row of computer monitors on the desk, different sizes displaying different news feeds from around the world. ‘And those pictures … those moving pictures, they are of this time?’
    ‘Yes … live cable-news feeds,’ she replied, realizing as she did that there was little in that answer