Braden nodded in sympathy. “Yeah. I guess that’s true. I don’t know how to answer your question.”
Oliver stirred. “They covered it up.”
I slid my eyes to him, conflicted. “Are you sure?”
He nodded without hesitation. “I’m most definitely sure. They covered it up. They didn’t want any information to get out. The trainer and I were the only ones who witnessed what happened and we couldn’t actually say what went down because we were both knocked unconscious.”
That brought up an interesting thread. “I was knocked out, too. Like you, I wasn’t transported through the gate.”
Braden lifted his chin. “Don’t even suggest anything of the sort.”
I didn’t have a choice. “I have to. Sixty years ago, the gate acted up and fourteen people were sucked through it. Today, the gate acted up. Five people returned. What happened to the other nine? Why wasn’t I sucked through? I mean ... other than the vision, nothing weird happened to me. Why?”
“Those are all compelling questions,” Oliver agreed, stretching his long legs in front of him. His expression was hard to read as he held my gaze. “You saw something when you were unconscious. I would like to know what you witnessed.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by the request. He knew the missing men, after all. Still, it was an uncomfortable conversation. “I don’t know if I really saw what happened to them or if I dreamed it.”
Oliver arched an eyebrow. “You seemed sure when you convinced Cormack to bring you here.”
“That’s only because I didn’t want to be left out of the adventure.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It makes no sense for you to dream of men you didn’t know existed. You’re powerful. When you went under, you saw a memory. You couldn’t make that up in your head because you didn’t know the participants.”
I hadn’t really considered that, but he had a point. “I don’t know what I saw. There was a group of men — I didn’t count them so I don’t know if they were all present — and they were huddled together on the other side of the gate. It was like this weird cliff area. There was nowhere to run but the woods, and they were too frightening to consider escaping in that direction.”
Oliver nodded for me to continue. “Did they speak?”
“Yeah.” I told him about the discussion I’d overheard, leaving nothing out. When I was finished, he looked more agitated than when the conversation started.
“Something was coming for them from the trees?” He leaned forward. “Did you see what?”
“No. That’s when I woke up.”
“That’s ... unfortunate.” He rolled his neck until it cracked. “I can’t imagine what happened to them. I don’t understand any of it, including why they haven’t aged. I just ... it’s a mystery.”
“I think you’re about to get a chance to at least try to solve that mystery,” Braden noted as he tilted his head toward the door. Cormack entered, looking grave. “Are we clear to talk to the returnees?”
Cormack nodded. “Yes, but we have only twenty minutes. Make them count.”
THE HOSPITAL WARD WAS EXACTLY as I imagined. It was like a scene out of Harry Potter, with one long ward and beds lined up on either side, creating an aisle down the center.
The men were spread out, separated by beds, and partitions had been placed to give them some privacy.
They were all awake ... and complaining loudly.
“I want to know what’s going on right now!”
“That’s Doug,” I automatically volunteered to Oliver. I recognized him from the vision.
Oliver slid me a dubious look. “I know.” He looked nervous as he stepped forward, focusing his full attention on the man. Doug stopped grousing at the nurse taking his blood pressure and focused on the man at the end of the bed.
“Why don’t you have to be strapped down?” he demanded, frustration practically oozing out of him. “Why aren’t you getting the hard treatment like the rest of us? What makes you so special?”
Oliver looked at a loss. “I wasn’t with you,” he said finally. “Somehow I got left behind.”
Doug made a face. “Left behind when? We were all in the gate room together and it started making that noise. I think we passed out or something. Now we’re here.”
I shifted from one foot to the other, myriad questions bubbling for supremacy. Didn’t he remember being on the other side of the gate? It sounded as if no time had passed for him. How was that possible? I kept my mouth shut — for a change — because it seemed the thing to do. This was Oliver’s show.
“That’s all you remember?” Cormack asked, stepping into Doug’s view. “You don’t remember anything else?”
“What else am I supposed to remember?” Doug’s anger had teeth and he was looking to bite someone. Apparently it didn’t matter who. Of course, he had no way of knowing that Cormack was one of the highest-ranking reapers in the Detroit office. Cormack hadn’t even been born when the men disappeared.
Cormack slid his eyes to Oliver, uncertain. “What have you been told?” he asked finally. “I mean ... when you were removed from the gate room you must’ve been told something.”
“I was told that I passed out and I was fine. I need to call my brother. Do you have a phone?”
Cormack pretended he didn’t hear the question. “What happened to the other members of your group?”
“What other members?” Pure bafflement washed over Doug’s pinched features. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Oliver made a sound deep in his throat to draw attention in his direction. “Fifteen of us were going through orientation. Did you notice how many people were in the room when you came to?”
Doug glanced around, as if doing the math. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean,” he said finally. “Did something happen? Wait ... was it the Russians? I bet it was the Russians. Or it could’ve been the Cubans. Did they gas us?”
The questions seemed fantastical, and I had to ask the obvious question. “Why would the Russians attack?”
“Sixty years ago things were different,” Braden replied absently. “Russia was a superpower until the eighties. They weren’t always as bumbling as they are now. Things are much different these days. They have been for the entirety of our lives.”
I understood what he was insinuating, but I was still confused. “Why do you know so much about it?”
“My father is a history buff. He used to make us watch things like Rocky IV, where Rocky ended communism with a single fistfight.”
Huh. I vaguely remembered that movie. My grandfather had been a fan, too. “At least he looked hot doing it.”
Braden snickered. “We can play that game later.”
Doug was wide-eyed as he glanced between us. It was obvious we’d stepped into Twilight Zone territory here and he was incapable of keeping up. “I don’t understand what any of you are saying. I demand to know what’s going on ... and I want to know right now. Then I need to call my brother and tell him I’ll be home late. He’s probably worried.”