TimeRiders: City of Shadows (Book 6) by Alex Scarrow Page B

am!’ he shouted.
    He heard Sal’s muffled laughter on the
     other side.
    Bob was already awake. Not that he ever
     slept. ‘Maddy has instructed me to tell you we are getting ready to move
     on.’
    They’d all decided they needed a good
     night’s rest before resuming their journey up to Boston. They’d all been
     strung out, far more exhausted than they’d realized. A week in Ancient Rome
     struggling to stay alive and now this. Fatigue had finally caught up with them all.
    ‘Maddy says we will eat some breakfast
     then set off.’
    Liam’s stomach still groaned. Last
     night’s triple-decker meat platter pizza was still lying heavily in his gut. He
     wondered if he could manage anything else right now.
    They met outside in the car park beside the
     RV. Rashim was looking particularly ill.
    ‘Jesus, what’s up with
     you?’ asked Maddy.
    ‘I’ve been up all night,
     vomiting.’ His face looked almost grey.
    ‘The food wasn’t
that
bad!’
    He shook his head, his dark ponytail wagging
     limply. ‘No, it’s my fault. I was stupid. The food was too rich. I’m
     used to synthetic proteins. Soya products.’ He gulped air and stifled a belch that
     could easily have been an empty retch. ‘Not used to the real thing.’ Rashim
     had had a mixed grill. Wolfed it down as he relished the texture and savoured the
     billionaire-luxury of eating nuggets of real meat.
    Foster obviously hadn’t slept well
     either, dark bags evident under his sunken eyes. Maddy looked at the men in their party
     with a mixture of pity and contempt.
    The diner was open and several trucks were
     parked up in the gravel car park, their drivers inside already tucking into pancake and
     waffle breakfasts. Further along their side of the highway was an out-of-town mall
     called North Haven Plaza. Across acres of car park it looked open already. At least the
     eateries probably were.
    ‘OK then, let’s try and find
     something a little healthier over there, if you guys are feeling a bit
     precious.’
    ‘Let me quickly check in on
     SpongeBubba.’
    Maddy unlocked the side door to the RV for
     him and Rashim stepped up inside.
    ‘Morning, skippa!’ chirped the
     robot, squatting in the passenger seat upfront. It was playing with the steering
     wheel.
    ‘We’re having some food over
     there.’ Rashim pointed through the windscreen at the mall. ‘We won’t
     be long.’
    Maddy joined him inside. ‘Does your
     robot have a wireless broadcast protocol?’
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘If anyone comes looking at our
     vehicle … cops, for example, can he bleep a warning over to Bob?’
    ‘Yes, of course.’
    She looked down at the lab unit. ‘Reckon
     you can do that for me, then, SpongeBob?’
    ‘SpongeBubba,’ corrected the
     robot. His lips quivered a jocular, angry snarl. ‘That’s my name,
     missy-miss!’
    Maddy rolled her eyes at the lab
     unit’s pre-programmed plastic expression. ‘Just tell your
toy
to
     keep a lookout,’ she said to Rashim. ‘OK?’
    The mall wasn’t busy. A few people
     inside walking freshly polished floors, mostly people who worked there. Clearly no one
     felt like shopping today. A jazzy rendition of a Stevie Wonder hit wafted across the
     bright and cheerful circular centrepiece atrium and a pair of overweight security guards
     shared a joke with a janitor and made one or two heads turn with their echoing
     laughter.
    ‘Up there,’ said Maddy, pointing
     to a balcony overlooking the atrium. ‘RealBean Coffee. The place looks open. We
     can get a panini or …’
    She checked herself. Stupid. Sure, although
     the mall looked no different to any other in her time, it was still 2001. No one did
     paninis back then. Back
now
.
    ‘… or maybe we’ll get a
     toasted sandwich or something.’

Chapter 15
    7.20 a.m., 12 September 2001, Interstate
     95, south-west Connecticut
    ‘Information: you are driving too
     fast,’ said Faith.
    Abel turned to look at her. ‘The
     driving is suitable,’ he