Dunworthy ignored him. “What do you mean you had no idea?” he said to Badri. “Why else did you think I was rescheduling them? And if Polly Churchill was on assignment, why wasn’t she on the list you gave me?”

“You asked for a list of every historian in the past,” Linna said, “and she’d already returned.”

Dunworthy wheeled on Colin. “You knew she’d gone, didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you knew,” Colin said. “What’s wrong? Why wasn’t she supposed to go to the Blitz?”

Dunworthy turned back to Badri. “How long will it take to set up the coordinates on Polly’s drop?”

“Has something happened to Polly?” Colin said again.

“No, because I’m pulling her out of there.”

“You’re sending a retrieval team after her, sir?” Badri said.

“No. That will take too long. I’ll go myself. How long?”

“But you don’t know where she is,” Badri argued. “She’ll be checking in in another day or two. Wouldn’t it be easier to wait till—”

“I know she’s looking for a job on Oxford Street. How long?”

“I’d have to change her drop to send mode,” Badri said. “It’s set up for a return drop at the moment. A day or two.”

“Too long,” Dunworthy said. “I want her out of there now. And I don’t want anything to interfere if she tries to check in. How long to set up a new drop nearby?”

“A new drop?” Badri said. “I’ve no idea. It took us weeks to find Polly’s. The blackout—”

“What about the St. Paul’s drop?” Dunworthy asked Badri. “How long to set new temporal coordinates?”

“An hour perhaps, but you can’t go through to St. Paul’s. John Bartholomew was there in—”

“Not in early September. He didn’t go through till the twentieth.”

“But you can’t go through in early September. It’s too dangerous.”

“St. Paul’s wasn’t bombed till October,” Mr. Dunworthy said.

“I’m not talking about St. Paul’s. I’m talking about your—”

“What day did Polly go through?” Dunworthy interrupted.

“September tenth.”

“Has something happened to her?” Colin said. “Is she in some sort of trouble?”

“What time was her drop set for?” Dunworthy asked Badri.

“Five A.M. The raids on the night of the ninth were over at half past four, and the all clear didn’t go till 6:22.”

“Set mine for four A.M. That way the fire watch will still be up on the roofs and I’ll have the entire day to find her.”

“You’re pulling her out the same day she went through?” Colin asked.

Badri said, “Sir, you can’t go through with a raid in progress. And the tenth is too close to—”

“I’ll only be there the few hours it takes to find her, and there’s a tube stop just down from the cathedral. I can go straight to Oxford Street from there. And the raids that night were over the East End, not the City.”

“Tell me why you need to pull her out,” Colin said, his voice rising. “What’s happened?”