Stealing Time by Rebecca Bowyer (acx book reading .txt) 📕

her, which I thoughtstrange—she only had eyes for Sebastian by then, youunderstand—until I realised what they were whispering about, ofcourse.

“It’s the time transfer devices that werestolen, I’m sure of it,” he trembled, his intonation rising andthreatening to push up the volume.

“But it’s the Time Chips that have beenkilling them at precise moments, they’ve clearly calibrated themspecifically.” Varya’s voice was soft, comforting, but I heard theslight note of panic, that only I could pick up on.

“But why, Varya, why would they do that? Whywould anyone go to the trouble of kidnapping a child, rewindingtheir Time Chip, and returning them to their parents, just so theycan watch them die?”

“A psychopath, a serial killer, maybe? Maybeit has nothing to do with profit.”

“No, there are too many children, too manyplaces. It’s not just a serial killer, this is an organisedsyndicate. They’re taking the life span, I’m sure of it. They’rejust hacking the Time Chips as well to cover it up. It’s all smokescreens and mirrors.”

“You’re being paranoid,” she said, trying tosoothe. “There’s no way to be certain that the life spans have beendrained.”

“You’re being naïve,” he hissed. “Where doyou think the missing time transfer prototypes have gone?”

“Keep your voice down. They were probablyconfiscated and destroyed. It’s not like we were supposed to havethem anyway.”

“Varya, they were stolen. If they’d beenconfiscated, you and I would have been marched out of that facilityand straight into the nearest prison. That project was stopped bysomeone high up.”

“But… but you said we had approval.”

“We did. It was retracted.”

There was silence for a good while, then. Myown hand shook, and I wished I had a tumbler of that single malt tofortify me, too. I feared for my Varya then, for what she’d gottenherself mixed up in. She was a good girl, you must understand. Andgoodness knows, she’s paid her penance a thousand times over sincethen.

Then Reginald said this: “I have one left,that I hid apart from the other ones.”

“So, use it. Test your theory.”

I heard the clink of glass against glassthen, as he put his down on the table.

“I’m going to.”

He left after that. I listened to the frontdoor close and my Varya go to her bedroom and slam her door. Ididn’t hear anything after that, but I did watch my daughter becomemore withdrawn and fearful. I wanted to put it down to it simplybeing an extension of the fear everyone was feeling. She workedlong, long hours trying to help find a way to ‘fix’ the kids whowere returned, before their Time Chips kicked in. But one afteranother, they dropped dead in front of the nation’s eyes. It washorrifying.

And then, Sebastian and his esteemedcolleagues caught the bastards and their technology. The technologywas destroyed, the bastards sent to jail for life, and we all setabout living our allotted years to the fullest again.

By then Varya had married Sebastian and leftme for good, and Kir was already rolling around Varya’s womb,unbeknownst to us all.

I had a few delightful years to myself,after Varya moved in with Sebastian and before Kir got sick.

I didn’t particularly want it to come to anend. But at sixty-four years of age the Rest Time Authority thoughtI’d had enough time for fun. If only they knew about my retirementbonus in here, with Kir. It does get a little boring at times. Ilook forward to catching up on some Netflix when I get out. But I’mhappy to wait for the right moment.

Chapter thirty-three

Marisa

Marisa brought spaghetti bolognese into the Time Lockfor dinner that evening. Enough for three this time. She hadn’t hadthe chance to check what Daniel’s favourite meal was, but shefigured she couldn’t go wrong with spaghetti bolognese. She smiledas she watched Daniel mop up the last of his sauce with a chunk ofbread and stuff it in his mouth. Kir watched the newcomer infascination, stooping to take a bite of his own meal from time totime whenever prompted to by Elena.

Elena glanced at Marisa meaningfully andraised an eyebrow. Marisa nodded and flicked her head at thechildren, raising her own eyebrows.

“Kir, why don’t you show Daniel your game of3D snakes and ladders?’’

“I’m bored of snakes and ladders. I’vealready played it eleventy billion times,” Kir complained, droppinghis head onto the table.

‘’Well maybe it will become even moreinteresting on the eleventy billion and first time,” saidElena.

Kir bumped his head against his arms again.“No.’’

Daniel tried to stifle a laugh.

“Maybe you’ll be able to beat Daniel,” saidMarisa. “He’s probably only played it twenty times. You’re anexpert compared to him.”

Kir’s head snapped up as he consideredDaniel as a potential new opponent.

Daniel shook his head. “Thirty times, atleast. And I’ve won twenty-seven of them, I reckon.”

Kir ran out of the room and down the hallwaytowards his bedroom, shouting, “I’ve played eleventy billion times!I’m going to win!”

Daniel took another slice of bread from thetable and folded it in his hands before following the small boywith an amused smile on his face.

Elena watched Marisa as she stared after thechildren. “They’re safe for now,” Elena reassured her.

‘’Do you think it’s our fault Kir is stillhere? Maybe if we’d pushed harder, earlier.”

Elena shook her head and started to collectthe dirty dishes from the table. “My Varya cannot be told. She isstubborn, that girl, always has been.” She stood and carried thestack of plates over to the sink and started to fill it. “Our jobis to look after the boys and keep them safe while she finds a wayto fix them.”

Marisa moved over to the sink and plucked afresh dishcloth from the second drawer down.

“She’s agreed to turn the lab over tofiguring out how to fix Daniel. And any other kids who might betaken and returned.”

Elena nodded and submerged the stack ofdishes into the warm soapy water. “And Reginald? Did you askhim?”

“Yes, I did.” Marisa paused, fidgeting withthe cloth. “He swears it has nothing to do with him, that he keptthe time transfer device locked away. Do you trust him?”

She hesitated for a moment and then nodded.“To be truthful, yes, I do.”

“I’ve asked him to check, anyway. To makesure it’s still there. He says he will, but