The Blank Channel

They did not go with Evan Cross. It was not a graceful decision. It wasn’t even wise. It was instinct. Mara saw the old cassette in his briefcase marked Do Not Play and thought one thing only: if this man was really here to help, he would not be carrying the very object their future selves had warned them about. Ruth Bell moved faster than any of them. She shut the station office door and snapped the chain lock into place, like she was locking the past out with the present. “No time for manners,” she whispered. “You need to go to the tower. Before they haul the evidence away.” “Who’s they?” Cal asked. Ruth gave him a hard look. “You’ll know when you get there.”