“I was born in Ephesus!” she cried. “Came to the station through the Philospher’s Gate! From Athens . . .”
He went very still, staring down at her. Voice quiet, now, he said, “Tell me again where you were born. And when.”
“In Ephesus,” she whispered. “We did not reckon the years in the same way, but the Philosopher’s Gate opens into what the up-time world calls 448 B.C., in the time of Pericles . . .” She trailed off at the look of naked shock in his eyes.
“My God,” he whispered. “It’s true, then. Of course you kept saying you were born in Ephesus, when the city doesn’t exist any longer.”
Ianira blinked up at him, terrified and confused. Clearly, he believed her. Why, she couldn’t imagine. Something had obviously happened tonight . . . Ianira’s eyes widened. The Ripper Watch! He must have encountered someone from the Ripper Watch tonight, must’ve seen something that had left him convinced of the reality of time travel. John Lachley’s wild eyes focused slowly on her bruised face. He smiled, stroking her hair possessively. “My dear, tell me about the people trying to kill you.”
She tried to explain about the up-time world’s Lady of Heaven Temples, the Ansar Majlis terrorists who had sworn to destroy the Templars and her family, about Jenna’s murderous father and the men he’d sent to butcher his own daughter.
“Then you are quite important,” Lachley mused. “Far more important than that brainless bitch I left in Lower Tibor. A woman journalist, whoever heard of such a thing?” Ianira closed her eyes to shut out horror. He’d not only encountered members of the Ripper Watch Team, he’d kidnapped them. “Yes,” he was murmuring, “I do believe you’re far more important than Miss Nosette. Very well, my course is clear. I’d better do that bloody lecture tomorrow night, curse it, to lull suspicion. I shan’t risk drawing attention to myself over those wretched murders on the eve of stepping into the future!” He shook her again. “Tell me about the gate. What time it opens. That Nosette woman said something about Spaldergate House, in Battersea.”