Quantum (27 page)

“It’s fine, Olivia. She’s a princess after all,” she said, winking at Ella.

~

No kidding, I thought to myself. Gramadea had that right. No one could argue with Ella being a princess.

It was clear to me as soon as we walked into the library that they had been talking about me. Although this was not surprising, it was a bit disconcerting. I would have liked to have been there from the start. I looked over at Kellan, who was pointing at the chair next to him. I walked over and sat down. Ella was looking at her new grandfather with suspicion.

“But I didn’t know that I had a granddad! You’ve never sent me any cards or presents. That’s what granddads are supposed to do….”

Spencer smiled. “Tell you what, Ella, for starters, keep the tiara. How about that?”

“Well, yes, but Gramadea gave it to me, and I think she wants it back.”

Amadea smiled. “I don’t want it
back-back
, just let me keep it safe for you when you’re not wearing it. Okay?”

“Thank you, Gramadea and Grand…
 
what shall I call you?” she asked, confused.

“Just call me Granddad.”

“All right,” Ella agreed. “Thank you.”

“You are very welcome. Now there are a whole lot of people waiting at the pool who want to meet you. This is Alexa,” Spencer said, nodding over at a girl who had just walked into the room.

I guessed Alexa was around fifteen or so. She was very pretty, slightly gothic-looking, wearing all black, nail polish and all. I could see Ella’s little face beaming with appreciation.

“Hi, Alexa,” Ella said shyly.

“Hi, Your Highness. It’s my pleasure to meet you. I’ve been told that you’re a talented actress and singer. Shall we head outside, so you can tell me more? I play the guitar myself.”

Ella skipped off happily with Alexa, just as Spencer expected, no doubt. Was I supposed to call him granddad as well? I guess it was slightly better than having to call him
Your Highness
or something equally ridiculous. All eyes were on me. They didn’t have to ask. I knew that it was time for me to tell them about my little adventure.

I
f there was one thing Raj hated with a passion, it was being excluded. What was the point of having a brilliant mind, like his own, sitting idle while there was work to be done? Why trust Simla to do anything? He would have been more than happy to help Potomal with whatever project he was engaged. Sitting around in this room, magnificent as it was, was getting boring. He’d even spent time in the endless pool this morning. His body didn’t need exercise; it was his mind that needed stimulation before he turned into a vegetable. Plus, he did need to get back home to deal with his own business. The buyers for the portal blueprints weren’t going to wait around forever. It seemed that Simla hadn’t managed to contact them before she became involved with Potomal. Come to think of it, how had she become involved with this? Why had Potomal chosen her? Clearly, Simla was not a willing participant. Raj had surmised that much from their meeting with Potomal. In fact, the only reason he seemed to have been transported over was to be used as blackmail to get Simla to do whatever they needed her for. Why Simla? She couldn’t even wander. Raj walked over to the couch, slumped back into it and reached for the television controls. The unit didn’t even receive any regular programs; it was set to a movie channel only. He switched it back off, as he heard a noise from behind him.

Before he could turn, he felt a firm grip on his shoulders and the now-familiar sensation of Sigma-wandering. Where were they taking him now and why? Wherever it was, it was far away. The sensation of wandering lasted at least half an hour before he felt himself roughly dropped onto something hard. He was stiff from the journey when he opened his eyes and looked down at the wooden surface he was sitting on. His knees hurt. A quick scan of the surrounding area indicated to him that that he was in some kind of outdoor patio area, surrounded by trees and flowering bushes.

“Who on earth are you?”

Raj looked up to see a small lady–probably in her late sixties–walk up to him.

“Are you all right? You don’t look well. Are you hurt? Shall I call an ambulance? Did you fall? You look like you may have broken something.”

“No. Thank you. I think I’m all right.”

“Annie! Come out here,” she called, much to Raj’s dismay. Two of them would be so much harder to get away from. He stood up gingerly as Annie emerged from the house.

“Oh, my! Who is this, Lizzy?” Annie asked, with wide eyes. She, like her friend, was probably in her late sixties or seventies.

“Ladies, I am John,” Raj replied, thinking it would probably be better not to reveal his real name.

“John? Okay. Are you sure you don’t want us to call an ambulance? I’ve got a cell phone right here, my son insists that I carry one at all times,” Lizzy said, rolling her eyes at her friend.

“Yes, I’m sure. But thank you, I appreciate your concern.”

“Well, come inside for a minute and we’ll make you some tea before you’re on your way. Are you feeling up to walking? I can lend you one of my walking sticks,” Lizzy offered.

Raj’s feet did feel like jelly, but he found his balance and showed Lizzy that he was well enough to walk, even if it was with a bit of a limp. He would love to walk right out, but he felt dehydrated and he needed to find out where he was. “I’d love a cup of tea,” he said gratefully.

He hobbled into the house through the patio doors, which led into a small family room. The place was dark, with brown wall-to-wall carpeting and dark musty-smelling furniture. An enormous flat screen television, which looked completely out-of-place, occupied one of the walls. He was startled by two cats peering suspiciously at him from the behind the coffee table.

“Oh, that’s Chuckles and Couch Potato, never mind them. They aren’t used to strangers. We don’t have a lot of visitors,” Annie said and shooed them away.

Raj sneezed. He would have to get out of here soon; he was allergic to cats. “Annie, where are we?”

“You don’t know where you are? Did you get lost walking? You are not dressed properly for that, you know. Best to wear hiking boots when walking around here. We have snakes.”

Lizzy returned with the tea and sat down on the couch on the other side of Raj, sandwiching him. He felt claustrophobic.

“Where are we?” he asked again.

“Lizzy, John seems to have gotten lost walking. I was just telling him that he needs to dress in better shoes for walking,” she said, pointing down at his dress shoes.

Lizzy nodded. “At least you’ve kept them clean. Drink up, there is plenty more.”

Raj sipped the over-sweetened, creamy tea. The extra sugar would do him no harm, but it was disgusting going down. “Ladies, I’d like to figure out how lost I am… where did you say we were?”

“We didn’t, not yet. We’re about half-an-hour’s drive from the nearest city–Mountain View. Is that where you’re from? Or are you from San Francisco? You look like a city person. Out on a nature ramble? City folk sometimes get these funny urges, you know, to want to experience nature and all.”

“Yes, I’m from San Francisco,” Raj lied, taking a long sip from his cup. What the heck was he doing back in Mountain View? Which dimension was he in? He couldn’t go back to Mountain View until he knew. It would be best to head over to San Francisco and lay low for a while until he found out what was going on. Why did Potomal drop him off here? Was Simla finished with her project? Potomal should have had the decency to take him back to the cottage he took him from in the first place. Raj couldn’t believe that he’d just been unceremoniously dropped off at this place! It suddenly occurred to him that he had no money. How was he supposed to manage? He looked around to see if there was anything of value around. The ladies had the big television, so they were probably not cash-poor. There was bound to be money and jewelry sitting about that he could
borrow
for now.

“Did you hear me, John?” Annie asked loudly, nudging him.

“Sorry, Annie. I’m a bit tired that’s all. I need to be on my way. May I use your bathroom before I go?”

“Yes, it’s through there,” Annie said, pointing to the hallway. “Do you have a car somewhere? I could drive you to it.”

“Ladies, thank you, you’ve done enough for me already. I shall be on my way soon. My car is parked up the road. I’ll find it. Not to worry.” He got up and walked toward the hall but made a quick detour when he spotted the stairs and made his way to the bedrooms. That’s where the jewelry and money would be.

~

What a strange phone call! Of all things, Claire had
never expected this odd turn of events. Someone had made an anonymous call to the Bureau and left a message for her, an urgent message. Agent Pitt conveyed that the message was short, just asking her to pick up Raj Sen from an address about half an hour from Mountain View.

The FBI had hunted Dr. Sen for months after the disappearance of the Darley kids, finally giving up after Christmas last year. She’d never expected to hear from him again. There was no time to lose; the last thing she wanted was to let him slip by again. She hightailed it to her car and followed the GPS directions to the address Agent Pitt had given her. She had no further information because she didn’t wait for any. There was no time.

 
Claire brought the car to a halt right outside the small cottage surrounded by woods and waited for backup to arrive. There was no way she was going in on her own unless the inhabitants seemed to be in imminent danger. She called Agent Pitt as she staked out the cottage.

“Brief me, please,” she requested. “Start by telling me who the cottage belongs to.”

“It belongs to Elizabeth Jensen, who lives there with her sister Ann Strom. They are sixty-nine and seventy-two years old respectively. They are both widowed. Elizabeth has a son, a cop, works in San Francisco. Do you want his family breakdown?”

“No.”

“Ann has four children, scattered all over, no one close to Mountain View. They are fairly well off, they both have substantial savings.”

“Do they have any connection to either the Darley or the Fox families? Any previous connection to Raj Sen?” Claire asked.

“Not that we’ve discovered so far, but we are still digging.”

“Thanks, Agent Pitt. I can see backup arriving, so I’ll check back in a little while after I know what’s going on. This is probably a hoax call, but it’s always best to make sure.”

As the two squad cars parked behind hers, Claire could see the curtains from the downstairs left window twitch. Moments later the front door opened and a lady–Claire guessed Elizabeth from the description she’d been given–came walking toward her. Claire got out of the car and walked over to meet her.