“It’s a jammer. It blocks audio and visual recording devices within a twenty-foot radius.” He hands the device to his younger self, who begins to study it.

“Why do we need that?” I ask. Isn’t he working for Aether? Will they be expecting us?

“I don’t want Aether’s cameras recording us.”

Adam examines the jammer and then hands it back. “It looks like a sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who.”

“That’s not an accident.” Future-Adam grins at him. “A friend made it for me. Same person who designed the flexis.”

“You were wrong,” Trent mutters to Chris. “Adam is still the biggest nerd here.”

“And now there are two of them,” Chris says.

I shake my head as we step into the elevator. The two Adams stand side by side, the younger one sneaking peeks at his older self. It’s freaky seeing them together and noticing how similar they look, except for the thirty years added to the future version.

“Why do you still wear glasses?” Adam asks his older self. “Flexis can auto-correct your vision, right?”

“A girl once told me I look cute in glasses. But you need to pay attention.” Future-Adam checks his watch, and I’m surprised to see it’s the same twenty-four-hour watch we all have on now. He kept it all these years.

The door opens, but he blocks us with his arm so we can’t exit. “Get ready to run.” He peers outside the elevator, then checks his watch again. “Wait…wait for it…”

People in suits enter in a huge group from the revolving doors and head to the front desk where a security guard is waiting. They crowd around, completely blocking our view of the desk.

“Now!” Future-Adam runs out and darts across the lobby toward a section of elevators labeled FLOORS 2–15.

I give Adam one quick glance and then we run after his older self, although I’m still not sure what the hell is going on. Our footsteps are drowned out by the chattering of the people in the lobby, who also hide us from the view of the security guard.

“Hurry up!” Future-Adam ushers us inside another elevator, his arms waving frantically. We crowd inside and the doors close. The elevator starts to rise and he turns to us with a grin. “That worked perfectly. Good thing I remembered how this all went down. I hope you’re keeping track of all this,” he says to his younger self.

“Um, yeah.” Adam looks at me like Is this guy for real?

I shrug. I’ve given up trying to figure out what Future-Adam is doing. We put our faith in him once we got in that car, and all we can do is go along for the ride now.

“Okay, get ready to move,” Future-Adam says. “Adam, keep your hat down.”