I must leap out of here. But I have to close my eyes to concentrate and he’ll know what I’m doing and stop me. And I need to message Eve, so she knows Le Temps is a criminal. I must get help. I must find a way to distract him.

‘Are you still on Facebook?’ I say.

‘No. It died a death. I set up my own website to recruit staff. Modelled on Facebook.’ He swivels his chair and starts tapping. His page comes up and he logs in. As I unzip my bag, he swivels back to face me.

‘I use a different name, of course. And no photo. I’m too well-known.’

I remember Millennia saying he’s won awards.

‘Do you have conversations with people?’

‘All the time. Look!’

He’s facing the screen. I quietly take the phone out of my bag.

‘That’s lots of conversations,’ I say. I tap on the messages icon. I know what I must do.

‘Yes. I have hundreds of Friends . . .’ He’s scrolling down his Friends list.

I tap the caps lock on the phone . . .

‘3,274, to be exact.’

. . . and I do what I must do. I type:

‘SOS L . . .’

. . . and in the same moment, Le Temps swivels his chair back.

‘What are you doing, Elle?’

I press send and the phone makes a whooshing noise and SOS L is sent to my TwentyTwenty and I’m shaking. I wanted to type ‘SOS LE TEMPS LOCKED ME IN HIS OFFICE. DEFINITELY A CRIMINAL’ so Eve could get help but there wasn’t time. I should have sent it to 2000 so the Time Squad could come and arrest Le Temps. I can’t do that now.

The phone says 23:00.

Predictives don’t lie.

Le Temps leaps out of his chair, snatches the phone from my hand.

‘SOS L,’ he says, in his voice. ‘A message to your Leaper boyfriend?’

He throws my phone across the room. It crashes on the floor and the back comes off. I have to concentrate to pick it up, my hand is shaking so much.

‘He’s my BEST friend.’

I must keep talking to distract Le Temps. But if I’m talking I can’t concentrate to leap. To be safe, I must leap forward in time AND place. The only time I can think of is Leap 2100. MC2 and GMT must be there. They can help me. I must keep talking. If I talk about something I know well, it will keep me calm. Then I might be able to concentrate at the same time.