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Ryan had just settled down with a mug of tea to make a start on a depressingly tall mountain of paperwork when his door opened and Claudia came in, a phone held to her ear and a harassed expression on her face.Cutter was a few paces behind her, looking impatient as usual. He reached out for the phone, but she slapped his hand away.“I’m going to put you on speakerphone, DI Cross,” she said briskly. “I have Professor Cutter and Captain Ryan with me. If you wouldn’t mind repeating what you’ve just told me for their benefit, please…”Claudia pressed a button on her phone handset and placed it on Ryan’s desk.He recognised the name. They’d come across the scruffy detective inspector a couple of times and Ryan knew the man had been making some discreet enquiries about what went on in the ARC. They’d found out the hard way that operating completely under the radar simply wasn’t possible. The Home Office leaked like a sieve at the best of times, and no organisation that distributed quite as many Defence Advisory Notices to the press as they did could hope to function entirely unnoticed.“I’ve had a call you might be interested in,” DI Cross said. “A woman rang her local station half an hour ago, asking us to send someone out to deal with a snake.”“So why not call the zoo?” Ryan said.“Because she says it’s a fucking great big snake and that simply by existing it’s committing a public order offence. And as Mrs Malinson was a magistrate for about 30 years, she knows a public order offence when one’s curled up on her lawn.”“Did she really describe it like that?” Claudia asked.“No,” Cross admitted. “That was when the weird shit started. She actually said, and I quote: ‘I know a titanoboa when I’m looking at one, young man, so you’d better get on your bat-phone and find someone who can deal with this, because if it wakes up and starts moving around, I won’t be answerable for its actions.’ I googled titanoboa and drew my own conclusions. Then I phoned you lot.”The look on Cutter’s face would have been priceless if it hadn’t been for the fact that Ryan disliked snakes almost as much as he disliked spiders.“Eleanor M. Malinson?” Cutter said incredulously.“The very same,” Cross agreed. “How did you know?”“Eleanor Marguerite Malinson was Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Edinburgh University when I was an undergraduate. I met her again a few years ago at a lecture at the Royal Society. She used to be a JP in Edinburgh before she married a man half her age and moved south.”“So she really does know a titanoboa when she sees one,” Claudia said, looking distinctly unhappy.“I’m afraid so,” Cutter said.“You’re not even bothering to deny the weird shit?” Cross said, sounding amused.“There wouldn’t be much point, would there?” Claudia said acerbically. “Besides, I got you to sign the Official Secrets Act last time we met. Send me her address and we’ll be there as soon as we can. In the meantime, get there first and keep anyone else away. I don’t want footage of this ending up on YouTube.”“You’re in luck. Her house is surrounded by the sort of hedge that’s straight out of a fairy-tale. I’m texting you the address now. It’ll take you about 45 minutes. What do I do in the meantime if it starts to move?”“Keep out of its way,” Cutter said.****They reached their destination in 42 minutes, but only because Ryan decided to adopt a cavalier attitude to speed limits.DI Cross had been right about the hedge. Unless someone decided to fly over in a helicopter or a light aircraft, it looked like they were at least guaranteed some much-needed privacy on this job, but from what Connor had gleefully described on the drive over, if the snake started to move, the beech hedge wasn’t going to do much to stop it.There were no obvious signs that the police were in attendance, and when Claudia phoned to announce their arrival, the large wrought-iron gates swung inwards and they could drive up to the house. The creature wasn’t in evidence at the front of the house, but any hopes that Ryan had entertained that their unwanted visitor had just quietly gone home were soon dashed. The unmarked black Range Rover parked on the gravel was something of a clue.DI Cross came down the steps at the front of the mock-Georgian mansion and announced, “It’s round the back. Mrs Malinson says it probably won’t get up to much in this heat, but if it wrecks her rose-garden, we’re in trouble.”Cutter winced.Ryan stifled a grin. He was very curious to meet a woman who could instil that sort of respect in the maverick professor. He got that wish a moment later when an immaculately-dressed woman in her early 70s swept down the steps after DI Cross. She was wearing a white linen blouse over a pair of pale blue slacks. A pair of scruffy gardening shoes contrasted with the rest of her outfit. Her silver-grey hair was swept back into a complex bun, but enough wisps had escaped to soften what might otherwise have been a somewhat severe effect.Her eyes widened as Cutter got out of the Hilux. “Nicholas Cutter! I might have known you’d make a break from the confines of academia eventually.”Cutter stood there looking faintly unsure what to do next. “Professor Malinson, It’s good to see you after all this time.”She rolled her eyes in a gesture that would have done Lester proud as she stepped up and gave Cutter a peck on both cheeks, her eyes gleaming in amusement at his discomfiture.“Claudia Brown, Home Office,” Claudia said, holding out her hand. “This is Captain Ryan, he’s in charge of our security. Stephen Hart and Abby Maitland are our animal experts. Connor Temple works with Nick on creature identification and science matters.”“I’ve got all your books!” Connor declared happily.“A young man of impeccable taste,” Eleanor Malinson declared. “So, do I take it from the fact that you’ve arrived with what looks like a squad of Hereford’s finest that this isn’t the first instance of what Detective Inspector Cross so colourfully describes as ‘weird shit’ that you’ve had to deal with?”“Not exactly,” Cutter admitted. “There have been a few other instances of this sort of thing.”“Splendid. Once you’ve dealt with my uninvited guest, you can tell me all about it over tea.”At Ryan’s side, Connor pulled out a hand-held anomaly detector, which promptly started beeping.“If you’re looking for the big, shiny thing, it’s in a shrubbery at the end of the rear garden,” DI Cross said.“I told you to keep out of its way!” Cutter said.“And I did,” Cross countered. “But I’m not blind, or stupid, no matter what you lot seem to think. I wanted to make sure that if the snake suddenly disappeared in that direction, we weren’t going to have to worry about it.”“If it’s any consolation, he was most insistent that I stayed away from it,” Eleanor Malinson said. “Now, do you want to see the titanoboa or not?”Ryan’s mutter of ‘Not’ appeared go unheard by anyone other than Abby, which was probably fortunate, but Stephen shot him a sympathetic look anyway.“Just be thankful it’s not a giant spider,” Stephen said in an undertone as they walked around the side of the house.“I don’t know which is bloody worse,” Ryan retorted.A moment later, his eyes widened in amazement as he took in the size of the creature curled up in the middle of a large expense of immaculately trimmed-lawn. The snake’s body was curled in a loose coil. Its mid-section was slightly taller than Ryan, and at a rough estimate, it was easily in the region of 14 metres long.“Titanoboa cerrejonensis, unless I’m very much mistaken,” Eleanor Malinson declared.“The largest, longest and heaviest snake ever discovered,” Connor said, sounding like he was quoting directly from a Wikipedia article, which he probably was.“As these delightful specimens last slithered the Earth approximately 60 million years ago, I can only presume the magnetic ball of light currently rotating in the middle of my shrubbery is some form of temporal anomaly linking us to the Paleocene.” Eleanor Malinson delivered that statement with such evident relish that Ryan wondered if the project had just managed to acquire another consultant.Cutter looked like he’d just swallowed a fly but Connor was grinning widely. Their reactions provided exactly what the woman needed by way of confirmation.Ryan turned to Stephen and muttered, “How the fucking hell are we going to shift that if it doesn’t want to go home?”The look Stephen gave him said quite plainly that his lover hadn’t the faintest idea. The only consolation Ryan had was that at least on this occasion, Abby wouldn’t be able to put the sodding thing in a bag and expect either of them to hold it.“Connor, take a look at the anomaly and see if you can give us some idea how long it’ll be around for,” Cutter said. “Claudia, check the weather forecast, will you?” In response to her puzzled look, he added, “If it stays warm, the snake probably won’t do much, but if it turns cooler, it might get a bit more active and decide to go home.”“Is there anything we can offer it by way of an inducement?” Eleanor asked, her expression thoughtful. “I have a very obliging local butcher who can probably rustle up a dead cow if I ask nicely.”“It’ll depend on when he last ate. If it was recently, it probably won’t be interested in food for several weeks, maybe longer, but it’s worth a try.”“If it doesn’t work, we can always have a barbeque!” Eleanor declared briskly, endearing herself to Ryan and any of the soldiers within earshot, providing she meant to cook the dead cow rather than the snake. “I’ll organise a delivery.”Oblivious to the attention it was receiving, the snake continued to snooze in the sun.*****While Kermit went to collect the slab of beef, Eleanor Malinson produced copious quantities of tea, coffee and cake, making this the most civilised anomaly shout they’d been on for a while – if it hadn’t been for the presence of a giant snake.While they waited, they had the amusing diversion of listening to Cutter being quizzed on both his recent publication record (3 out of 10, must try harder) and the anomalies themselves. Claudia’s attempt to produce the usual paperwork was waved away with a blithe assurance that their hostess had already signed it. Professor Malinson was starting to remind Ryan of the first female colonel he’d worked with, a woman of frightening efficiency with an innate ability to reduce squaddies to gibbering wrecks over the most minor transgressions.“So how are we going to get it interested in the bait” Claudia asked in a lull in the questioning.“Wave it in front of its nose?” Stephen suggested.“That could be tricky with half a dead cow.”“Tie it to the winch on the Land Rover and reel it in,” Ryan said.The look Stephen shot him was glacial in the extreme.“Connor says the anomaly is stable. If that changes, we can come straight back through.”“It’s too bloody risky.”“Is this a private argument, or can anyone join in?” Eleanor asked with mock sweetness.Cutter stared at them, puzzled. “Spit it out.”“He intends to drive the Range Rover through the anomaly and work the winch from there,” Stephen said, his tone making it perfectly plain what he thought of the idea.“I’m open to alternative suggestions,” Ryan said.“Can we knock it out?” Connor said.Abby looked unhappy at the suggestion. “Possibly, but we’d need a very large dose of ketamine, or I could possibly use isoflurane, but the problem would be what to do it if stops breathing. There no way I can intubate something that large.”“We’d still have to take vehicles through the anomaly to tow it back,” Ryan pointed out. “More than one if we’re going to have a chance of dragging that thing anywhere. But before we try that, I need to take a look on the other side to see what the ground conditions are like.”“And I’m coming with you!” Eleanor declared.“I can’t agree to that, ma’am,” Ryan said.“Absolutely not!” Cutter said at the same time.“That’s settled then,” Eleanor Malinson said, smiling meaningfully at them both.
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“Stay behind me, do exactly what I say,” Ryan ordered. Without waiting for a reply from anyone, he stepped through the anomaly.No matter how many times he experienced the transition from one time to another, he didn’t think he would ever get used to it. The magnetic field prickled on his skin like heat rash. He felt the insistent tug on the weapon held tightly in his hands and the hairs on the back of his neck rose like a dog’s hackles. Then he was through, breathing in warm air, more laden with moisture than that of the world he’d left behind.He’d walked into a lush environment decked everywhere with greenery. Ryan had spent time on exercises in the jungles of Belize and this was much the same, although the trees were far less densely packed. He felt sweat start to prickle on his back and bead on his forehead as he scanned the area around the anomaly for any threats. He could hear birdsong in the trees, but could see far enough around them to be reasonably sure that there were no large animals in the immediate vicinity and nothing that caused him any alarm.The ground underfoot was reasonably firm and there was nothing to stop them taking one of the Land Rovers through and reeling in the cow carcass in the hope of attracting their unwelcome visitor’s attention.A sharp intake of breath behind him announced the arrival of Professor Malinson, Cutter and Stephen, flanked by Blade and Finn. The woman’s eyes were wide with wonder as she took in her surroundings. The thought of having two high-powered academics to wrangle was enough to give Ryan a headache, but he hadn’t had much choice other than to agree. Their hostess was clearly used to getting her own way and Cutter was very obviously completely in awe of her, which had made the whole thing very much a foregone conclusion.“Fifteen minutes, tops,” Ryan said. “I’m not prepared to take any risks, professors. Hart, make sure that you keep an eye on the time and I don’t want anyone getting out of sight of the anomaly. We’ll send someone through if it shows the slightest sign of weakening.”Back in his own time, the snake hadn’t moved, although Ryan could have sworn the bloody thing was watching him. Its dark eyes seemed watchful, but so far it had made no move. Abby was keeping a close eye on it from the veranda at the back of the house, and she had stationed Ditzy and Kermit where they could watch both the titanoboa and the anomaly. Connor had set up his monitoring equipment and seemed satisfied that the anomaly was still stable; Claudia was on the phone giving a sitrep to Lester and DI Cross was leaning against the wall of the house watching them all.“Any chance I can take a look?” the policeman said. “I think we’ve rather gone past the stage of pretending it’s some sort of weird light thingy, haven’t we?”“Looks just like a weird light thingy to me,” Ryan said.Claudia finished her call and frowned at Cross. “That thing is neither healthy nor safe, DI Cross.”“You let Professor Malinson go through.”“She’s scarier than you.”Cross grinned. “Tell that to my bag-carrier when I’m in a pissy mood. Come on, Miss Brown, play nicely. I kept everyone else away for you. You’d have been knee-deep in the local guys if this hadn’t gone through me.”“Consider yourself appointed as our official police liaison,” Claudia told him.Ryan spoke into his radio. “Ditz, stick your head through and tell Finn and Blade that they’re getting someone else to babysit. And I want the bloody lot of them back in the next ten minutes.” He fixed Cross with his best intimidating squaddies glare. “Do as you’re told on the other side, sir.”Cross’ grin widened. “Scout’s honour.”Ryan resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. He was clearly going to have to work on his intimidation techniques. Giving the snake a wide berth, Ryan went to check on the Land Rover he was intending to use to winch the side of beef through the anomaly, hopefully with the snake in hot pursuit. He had to admit, he didn’t have a vast amount of confidence in the plan, but unless inspiration struck, or the bloody thing started to move in the right direction of its own accord, he was fresh out of ideas, and so was everyone else.A phone call from Kermit told Ryan that the young soldier was on his way back from the village with a lump of beef that definitely wouldn’t be out of place at a special forces barbeque.Ryan kept an eye on his watch, but no reminders were necessary. Blade and Finn were practised at herding reluctant academics who possessed little sense of time once they’d got engrossed in something. As the group stepped back into the 21st century, Eleanor Mallinson and DI Cross had the wide-eyed look of a couple of kids who’d just discovered that the Tooth Fairy really did exist. Cutter was talking ten to the dozen to his old mentor and probably had been the entire time they’d been in the past, judging by the amused look on Stephen’s face.“All quiet through there,” his lover reported. “I don’t see any problem in getting one of the vehicles through and using the winch. But whether that’s going to get sleeping beauty interested, I really don’t know.”“We could try kicking the bloody thing,” Ryan muttered.“We might have to.”Ryan did not find that a comforting remark. He had no desire whatsoever to get up close and personal with a snake that size – or any size at all, for that matter. The fucking thing was simply lying there in a loose spiral, looking like the world’s biggest Cumberland sausage, but its eyes were open, and it seemed to be aware of their movements, even though it was displaying no other reaction beyond the movement of dark eyes that looked like two shale pebbles.“Where do you want the meat, boss?” Kermit asked, over the radio.“Round the back,” Ryan told him.The butcher had certainly done them proud. A very large slab of beef was taking up most of the back of the vehicle. Kermit quickly tied a rope around two stiff hindlegs, attached it to the winch on the Range Rover and looked at Ryan expectantly.“Fiver, you’re driving,” Ryan said. “If it takes the bait, get the hell out of here as fast as possible.”Fiver nodded and jumped in the vehicle.Ryan turned to Abby. “If it starts to move, how fast is it likely to go?”Abby shrugged. “With something that size, I’ve got utterly no idea. An anaconda can move at up to eight to ten miles an hour if it’s stalking prey, faster if it’s striking.”“That’s not comforting,” Ryan muttered. “Kermit, Ditz, dump that slab of beef in its line of sight. I want the rest of you up there,” he ordered, pointing at the veranda behind the house. “Stay still and stay quiet.”Keeping a wary eye on the giant snake, the two soldiers manoeuvred the bait into the snake’s line of sight. It stared at them impassively but made no movement in any direction.“OK, shift it forwards by a couple of metres,” Ryan ordered.Fiver took off smoothly, not even leaving any tracks on their hostess’s immaculate lawn. The bait started to move. The snake took utterly no notice.“Keep going,” Ryan told him. “If it doesn’t work first time we can always have a re-run.”Fiver started to drag the cow carcass across the short-mown grass. The titanoboa’s eyes turned towards it, but other than that there was no obvious reaction.“Head towards the anomaly. Let the rope pay out behind you. It might be more interested in something moving a bit faster so stop just this side of the anomaly and start reeling in. If it takes the bait, head through.”“On it, boss.”While Fiver moved into position, Ryan joined Abby at the edge of the raised veranda. “What do we do if this doesn’t work?” he asked, in a voice too low for anyone else to overhear.“I have no bloody idea,” their animal expert admitted. “I’d rather not try to knock it out, but we might have no choice.Once he reached the anomaly, Fiver started to operate the control for the winch. The piece of beef jerked at the end of the rope like an oversized toy being twitched in front of a kitten in the hope of enticing it to play.The titanoboa watched, completely unmoved and unmoving.Ryan bit back the urge to swear.Then, slowly but with intent, the enormous head started to move, tracking the movement.“Go on, you know you want to,” Abby breathed, her whole attention focussed on the scene playing out on Eleanor Mallinson’s lawn. “Go on…”“Keep it steady,” Ryan ordered. “He’s starting to take an interest.”A sudden noise drew everyone’s attention. Ryan turned and watched as, to his horror, a white pony ridden by a girl no older than his own daughter came cantering around the side of the house onto the lawn.“Hi, Nana!” the girl called, just as her eyes registered the monstrous creature curled up on the lawn.The pony shied back, nostrils flaring.“Amy!” Eleanor Malinson cried, a look of horror on her face.“Fiver, reel in!” Ryan ordered, hoping to distract the snake’s attention from the new arrival.The hunk of meat started to bounce across the lawn, but the snake now only had eyes for live prey. Faster than Ryan would have believed possible, it started to move across the short grass, massive body uncoiling and darting forwards to strike.The white pony recognised the threat and broke into a run. The girl on its back gathered the reins in her hands and tried to take control of its headlong flight. The pony responded to its rider, allowing itself to be checked, but with the titanoboa in pursuit, and a thick hedge surrounding the garden, there were few options left open to them.The anomaly glittered in the sun. By all rights, the pony should have veered away from the spinning shards of light, but Ryan had been on the project long enough to know that things didn’t work that way where anomalies were concerned. The magnetic pull of the rips in time enticed more than metal.At Ryan’s side, Abby swung her tranquilliser rifle up to her shoulder and glanced at Ryan, waiting for his command.“Blade, Finn, get through to the other side!” Ryan ordered. “If the girl goes through, stay in contact and get her back! Fiver’s coming through after you!”The two soldiers promptly dived through the anomaly.“Fiver, get after them! See if you can confuse the fucker!”The Land Rover accelerated through the anomaly, dragging the dead meat behind it.The live meat cantered across the lawn, knowing it had become prey. The girl fought for control and for a moment, Ryan believed she might have achieved it, but then the snake accelerated across the grass, uncoiling fully like a spring and powering forwards.Without waiting for an order, Abby fired. The dart hit the snake and bedded in. But there was no instant solution to their problem.The pony let out a frightened whinny. Amy leaned back in the saddle, pulling at the pony’s mouth, doing her best to arrest its headlong flight into the heart of the anomaly. The white pony tossed its head, trying to rid itself of the controlling influence of the bit between its teeth.Ryan now found himself hoping that the pony would win. In the confines of the garden, the pony and its rider stood little chance of escaping the titanoboa, but on the other side it just might stay out of its grasp.Blade and Finn ran through the anomaly. The girl saw them go and gave the pony its head. Eleanor Malinson watched as her granddaughter disappeared from view.“Fucking hell!” DI Cross looked horrified.“We’ll get her back!” Ryan said quickly. “Stephen, see if you can get to the anomaly.” He hoped they wouldn’t need his lover’s tracking skills on the other side, but it still made sense for Stephen to get through after them. He turned to Cutter and Cross. “There are nets in our kit. Get a vehicle on either side of the anomaly and have a net on the ground between them. When we get the girl and the pony back, I want the net up. If we can get rid of it, I want everything done on this side to stop it coming back.“It’s on its way!” Abby said.Moving with a speed that Ryan wouldn’t have believed if he hadn’t seen it, the snake glided through the anomaly back to its own time. They’d got the result they’d wanted, but not quite the way anyone had expected.
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Ryan emerged from the anomaly to see the titanoboa frighteningly close behind the girl on the pony. Amy was still doing a remarkable job of controlling her mount, despite the terror of being hunted by something out of one of Ryan’s nightmares. She was crouched low over the pony’s neck to avoid low-hanging branches.Fiver, behind the wheel of the Land Rover, had abandoned any attempt to use the cow carcass to distract the snake. He’d reeled in the hunk of meat so that it was only a metre behind the speeding vehicle and he was now doing his best to run interference for Amy, cutting across the titanoboa’s path attempting to slow it down. The vehicle bumped over fallen wood, and Ryan was amazed the young soldier hadn’t turned it on its side, but somehow the Land Rover was still upright and still managing in get in the snake’s way, despite the obstacles on the ground.Stephen had managed to land a couple of tranq darts in the snake, obviously hoping to slow it down now that they had it back where it belonged, but it was impossible to tell if the drug was having any effect or not.Amy glanced over her shoulder, and watched as Fiver managed to cut right across the snake’s path again, making it swerve to one side, clearly uncertain how to react to the Land Rover. Amy bunched the reins in one hand and gave Fiver a thumbs up.As far as Ryan could see, the trees thinned out a little way ahead and it looked like the girl was directing the white pony in that direction. There was little between the two in speed, but Fiver would be better able to run interference in the open and that might just give the girl the edge she needed to make a break back to the anomaly.“Christ, she’s doing well,” Stephen said, smoothly dropping another dart into his rifle and readying himself for another shot.Finn brought his M4 carbine up to his shoulder and looked at Ryan expectantly. “Boss?”“Hold your fire,” Ryan told him. “Stephen, what are our chances of bringing it down with live rounds?”“It won’t even notice,” Stephen said.“It would if I stuck the grenade launcher on,” Finn commented.“Get ready, but don’t loose until I tell you,” Ryan ordered. “She’s got the pony under control but if we spook it even more, she’s stuffed. Stephen, get as much tranq into the sod as you can.”Ryan heard Fiver gun the engine on the Land Rover. He swung the wheel and used the vehicle to batter at the side of the titanoboa’s head and then cut across its path again. That finally succeeded in diverting its attention for a moment from its original prey. They watched as Fiver yanked hard on the wheel and took off across the long grass, bouncing over rocks, but still managing to maintain control.The snake took its attention off Amy and as soon as she realised what had happened, she swung the now-tiring pony around and started to ride back towards the anomaly, encouraged by shouts from Ryan and the others. For a glorious moment, Ryan thought she was going to make it, but the pony stumbled, dropping its shoulder on the right side and coming crashing to the ground.Ryan and Blade promptly started running.The white pony thrashed on the ground, but Amy had been thrown clear. The girl jumped up, still clutching the reins, and promptly started to encourage her mount to get back on its feet. To Ryan’s amazement, the plucky creature scrambled back up, seemingly with no bones broken. Amy hauled herself back into the saddle and urged the pony on. It had lost speed and was clearly on the brink of exhaustion, but it rose to the challenge.“Boss!” Finn’s voice was low and urgent. “The anomaly’s fading!”Ryan glanced back over his shoulder. Finn was right, the anomaly had lost a fraction of its brilliance. Not enough to make him panic – yet – but it wasn’t a good sign, although if they were lucky, they could turn this to their advantage…“Fiver,” he said into his radio mic. “Keep it occupied for another minute then I want you back through the anomaly as fast as you can. We haven’t got much time left.” To Amy, approaching on the pony, he yelled, “Come on, you can do it!”She gave him a nod and carried on urging her pony on. The animal’s mouth was flecked with foam and it was limping off one foreleg, but it was now closing on the anomaly, still some distance away from the titanoboa.The snake appeared to be torn between chasing prey it understood and battling with a foe that it clearly didn’t. Fiver took advantage of its confusion and got in another couple of glancing blows from the Land Rover. The snake retaliated with a head-butt that almost turned the Land Rover on its side.“Go back through, miss!” Blade yelled, pointing at the anomaly.Amy did as she’d been told, setting the pony’s head at the middle of the anomaly and riding through.“Fiver, get back here now!” Ryan ordered. “Finn, drop a grenade in front of its nose. Don’t hit it. Blade, as soon as he’s through, I want a wall of smoke across here when we get back. As soon as we’re out of here, toss a flashbang back through. I want it to go off just on the other side.”“On it, boss,” Finn said, taking aim.“Fiver, peel off now!” Ryan ordered. “Grenade incoming!”There was no one else Ryan knew who’d be able to pull off what he’d just asked for, but with perfect coordination, Finn put a 40mm grenade about three metres in front of the titanoboa just after Fiver accelerated away from it to one side, putting as much distance as he could between his vehicle and the impact.The M406 high explosive round had a 5m kill zone, but the snake wasn’t a human being, and he hadn’t ordered a direct hit. But if this didn’t slow it down, he didn’t sodding well know what would.The grenade sent earth and stones flying into the air. The blast checked the snake’s forward momentum, sending it veering off to one side, slower than before. They’d gained precious time. It was now moving at less than a walking pace.“Fiver, get your arse out of here!” Ryan ordered.The Land Rover changed course and came bumping back through the trees. For a moment, Ryan thought the vehicle was going to end up on its side when it lurched unsteadily over a partially-hidden chunk of wood but Fiver kept on coming, and bounced through the anomaly at speed.“Go!”Ryan waited until Stephen, Finn and Blade had leaped through before he followed them. Behind them, the titanoboa had recovered from the concussive impact of the grenade blast frighteningly quickly and was still intent on following its quarry.Once Ryan had dived through the anomaly, Blade lobbed a flash-bang back through as planned. Hands grabbed Ryan and hauled him away as strong netting was hastily erected around the anomaly. Dirt blown up by the grenade flew back at them out of the now-dimming shards of time.For a moment, Ryan thought it was over. He stared at the anomaly, positively willing it to close.He was out of luck.The titanoboa’s head shot out of the anomaly. It was covered in clods of earth and had a streak of blood down one side, but even so, the netting strained under the onslaught, and Ryan could only stand by and watch as the two Land Rovers acting as anchor points started to move, despite their weight.“The anomaly’s fading!” Connor yelled, taking that day’s prize for stating the bleeding obvious.“Its head’ll get cut off!” Abby exclaimed, distressed at what was about to happen to the titanoboa,“Try this,” DI Cross said firmly.A sudden jet of water blasted past Ryan, hitting the titanoboa full on its blunt nose and spraying up into its eyes.Cross stood there, holding the nozzle of a pressure washer that had clearly been cranked up to full power. Under the onslaught of a very effective water-cannon, the titanoboa recoiled. The detective kept the water trained on the anomaly, aiming at where the huge head had been only a moment before.The anomaly shimmered, making Ryan think the snake was coming back for another go, but instead, the ball of light abruptly closed in on itself and vanished, leaving everyone staring in dazed jubilation at the empty air that only a moment before had looked likely to decapitate the titanoboa.“We did it!” Connor yelled, throwing his hat in the air.Blade caught it and tossed it back onto Connor’s head with the ease of long-practice and then everyone was laughing and talking at once.*****“He seems fine,” Abby said, stroking the pony’s grey nose. “He did well – you both did.”“She’s a brave girl,” Ryan said quietly, watching as Amy chattered happily to Abby, seemingly none the worse for her experience.“That incident has just shortened my life expectancy by at least a decade,” Professor Malinson declared.“You look well on it,” Nick commented.“You’re not too old to slap,” she said briskly.Ryan would have paid good money to see that, but he kept quiet, not wanting to attract her ire.Next to him, Jamie Cross was lounging on the veranda with a glass of beer in hand, clearly in no hurry to get back to work. “So, you do this sort of thing all the time?”“Is that a leading question?”The DI raised his glass in salute. “Ryan, I’ve just seen a giant motherfucker of a snake and been through a rip in time. I think that means we can stop dancing around each other like a couple of virgins on a first date.”“Not my call,” Ryan said, glancing over at Claudia.Claudia shot the pair of them an amused glance. “I’ll ask Lester to talk to the Chief Constable. Apparently they’re members of the same club. In the meantime, I take it we can rely on your discretion, Jamie?”Ryan interpreted the use of the detective’s first name as an indication that they could lower their defences around him. The man had kept a cool head in the middle of a difficult situation and had almost certainly saved the titanoboa’s life.On the far side of the now less than pristine lawn, Finn and Fiver were busy hosing down the half cow that had been unceremoniously dragged around behind the Land Rover. It looked very much like beef was going to be on the menu at the weekend’s barbecue. Finn had taken his mother’s words on the subject of waste being a sin very much to heart.Cutter and Eleanor Malinson were now deep in debate about the evolution of snakes and Amy was busy feeding carrots to her plucky pony. When Stephen joined them on the veranda carrying a bottle of cold beer, Ryan was feeling relaxed enough to snag the bottle from his lover and take a welcome drink.At least he wasn’t going to have to be the one to report the day’s events to Lester. He could very happily leave that to Cutter and Claudia.