by Jill Cooper
“Am I allowed to turn around now?”
I back off and lower my weapon. “Go on.” I toss my hair back and my jaw is set firm.
Rex turns and lowers his hand. As he moves from his pocket, I raise the gun on instinct. “I need to show you something. Don’t shoot.”
Relaxing again, my arms return to my side, but the grip on my gun is still hand over hand. Rex reaches inside his breast pocket and pulls out an envelope. “I must say, for someone so young, you handle that gun well.”
“I had a good teacher,” I sneer. “Open the envelope and show me what’s inside.”
“I gave you weapons training? Well, that was a bad move on my part.” He unfolds what looks like an invitation and places it down on the counter.
It’s solid black with gold writing. An important black-tie gala event that the senator is hosting at a regal hotel downtown. It takes place tomorrow night. And it’s title?
Fundraising for Policing Time Travel.
It says the attendance will be local law enforcement and senators in favor of the bill plus celebrities in favor of changing the law.
“If you’re going to take her down and make it public, this is the place to do it. Ironic isn’t it, that her fundraising effort will be the end of her?”
“Slide it back inside the envelope. Do you know who else is on the guest list? Will Senator Marcus O’Reily be there?”
I haven’t yet met Senator Marcus, but if my assumptions are correct, and I have to pray they are, we still met when he was a young college student. I have to bank on that meeting still meaning something to him. Because the way he had talked, it was as if he once thought we might have a future.
And right now, a future is all I want.
Rex snorts. “Please, Patricia would never let him in the door. Or you. But if you have one of these invitations, well, you’ll just stroll in. That’s why you need me.”
I smirk. “You really think I’m going to let you go to the gala? With me?” I snort. “Rex, I’m impulsive, but I’m not stupid.”
“You need me.” Rex grits his teeth.
And I roll my eyes. “I don’t need you. I have what I need. I have Donovan. He’s always invited to these things. He’ll be my date.”
Shock rolls across Rex’s face. I don’t know if he forgot about me and Donovan or somehow he missed that little development. I grab the invitation from the counter and slide it inside my hoodie and zip it all the way up.
“Get Patricia on the phone and tell her you have me, but I haven’t given up the location of the microchip. You’re talking me somewhere secluded to extract the information and you have armed men on my parents. Do it and make it look convincing.”
“And then what? You’re just going to let me walk out of here with a bag full of cash?”
“Pretty much. You’ll leave the country and never come back. If I ever see you crossing the street again, even if it’s just to go to CVS, I will come back here and I will kill you.”
“So you keep saying, but I wonder, Lara, if you really have it in you. Really.” He steps up closer. “You talk tough, but your eyes, you don’t have the eyes of a killer.” He smiles with those charming dimples. “At least not yet.”
“Make your phone call.” I refuse to meet his eyes and further the discussion. The more we talk, the more he sees into my soul and that’s the last place I want Rex to see.
“Patricia, darling,” Rex says into the phone, “I have the girl. No, she won’t give up the evidence or the microchip, but I think she can be persuaded. I’m going to take her in. There’s an isolated cabin I own not too far from here. Few tools of my trade.” Rex pauses as he listens. “No, I don’t think the virtual system is ready for that kind of test… I know it’s what we agreed on, however, I think we do this old school, nice and easy. She’ll crack.”
Rex snarls at me and his eyes give me the chills. “She is, after all, just a girl… All right then. I’ll be in touch. My best men have her parents and the kids under watch. If she doesn’t cooperate, we’ll hurt them… Ha, yes, well, pain is my specialty.”
He slides the phone shut and places it on the counter. “Satisfied?”
I am. I don’t think he sent Patricia any secret messages, but I can't be sure. I pocket his phone and Rex raises his eyebrows at me.
"Now, wait a second," he says.
"Time to disappear. You can't do that with this phone. ’Course, if you disagree, I can just call the police..." I make a show of pulling the phone back up.
Rex raises his hand. "No reason. I'm on board. Jax must have taught you how to really negotiate."
"Let's just say you've motivated me," I snarl at him. “I’ll take you out to your car then.” I wave the gun toward the living room.
Rex follows the movement. “You’re going to see me off? How cute.”
“Something like that.” We walk through the living room and when we get to the front door I tell him to open it. The fresh air outside greets my lungs and it’s a welcome change of pace. I haven’t drawn a real, deep breath since I first saw him standing in my living room. We walk across the street toward his car.
He slides behind the wheel and starts it up, the bag of cash on the passenger seat beside him. As the engine revs, he looks at me. “It’s hard to think we’re somehow done. Our destinies, yours and mine, are somehow mingled together.”
“I guess then I’ll see you in hell, Rex.” I raise the gun and prepare my shot.
His hands dart up and his face falls. His teeth grit together. “Wait a second, we had a deal. We made a deal.”
“Never deal with the devil, Rex.”
Chapter Sixteen
Rex was a liar. A cheat. A murderer. He violated me on countless occasions.
But still I am consumed with grief and guilt for what I’ve done. I hurry across the street toward home and I take the steps two at a time until I am in my bedroom. I pocket the gun into my rear jeans and know I need to get rid of it.
Get rid of my clothes.
I need an alibi and I need an ally, one I can find across town and one I can find ten years in the past.
I fire up my computer and do a search for the Berkley City Club. I find a picture from ten years ago and guess that’s going to have to do. It’s down on a pier by some nice boutiques and shopping districts. I enlarge the photo and grab some of the money I left in the duffle bag.
Pocket change.
I stare at the photo and a few seconds later I’m there, standing in my hoodie, covered in gunshot residue and a murder weapon stuffed in my pocket. I turn from the Berkley City Club where the fancy party is going on, where Marcus O’Reily is, and just seconds ago I’ve kissed him. Now he’s looking for me and he’s going to find me.
But not in these clothes.
I turn toward a boutique and see a tight black dress in the window. It shimmers in the sunlight with golden flecks. The mannequin is shapely and on her head is a purple wig. But instead of the hair just being straight, it’s done up in spiral curls like Shirley Temple’s.
Well, it seems like all this time I’ve been fighting it, I just should have been running toward it.
It’s time to become the woman with the purple hair, but instead of helping Patricia James, I’ll be putting her down.
And this time she won’t be getting back up.
****
I toss my old clothes in a dumpster along with the gun. In thirty years, they’ll be rotting in some dump.
I’m wearing platform pumps and elegant, black gloves complete the look. The shoes and the hair make me feel like a different person. My rear sashays side to side as I climb the stairs to the Berkley City Club and I see him standing in the lobby talking to someone.
Marcus.
His arms are splaying as if he’s trying to explain something to the room full of people. He has their attention captivated, and I push past all of them. When he sees me in my purple wig, he doesn’t recognize me. His eyes are cloudy as I go up on tiptoe and push my lips against
his.
Everyone in the room must think I’m crazy, and maybe I am. Maybe I lost my mind in captivity a long time ago.
Marcus pushes his lips hard against mine and takes me in his arms, his hand on my lower back. “I don’t understand how you changed so fast.” His eyes search me as I bite my lip. He’s a pretty good kisser and the energy between us is electrifying.
“I need you to come find me, Marcus.” I hold out the invitation.
He takes it and pulls the paper free. His eyes dart across the page as he reads it. When they settle on the date, Marcus looks like his eyes might bulge. “I think there might be a typo on this invitation.”
“There’s no typo. I need you on the guest list. Come find me.”
“Ten years in the future? I admit I’m fascinated by you, but this? What you’re asking…”
My eyes search his. “Remember the name Patricia James. Remember it and know you have to stop her. That’s all I can say.” I press my lips up against his in a gentle kiss.
“Stay here,” Marcus urges. “Explain this to me. Have coffee, dinner. Just let’s talk this through.”
The beginning of becoming partners or something more? Talk about your forbidden fruit. “Goodbye, Marcus.”
I slip away from him and before I’ve reached the front door I shimmer back to my time. My city.
I slip inside a Dunkin Donuts and order a hot coffee to go. I make sure I use my credit card to purchase the coffee and glance at my watch. It’s 12:52A.M., right when Rex is about to get shot.
Glancing at the video camera, I take my coffee from the woman and smile my thanks. On the monitor above, I see myself—and two police patrolmen entering through the front on what must be their coffee break. It stills my heart and my chest clenches tight.
They can’t know who I am or what I’ve done, but I’m scared anyway.
I keep my head down low and turn the corner. I head down a small hallway toward the women’s bathroom. Inside, I barricade the door.
Adjusting my wig in the mirror, I pull out my phone and call Donovan. It’s time to set my meeting with him.
It’s time to tell him … mostly … everything and get him on my side.
Time to come clean.
Chapter Seventeen
When I arrive home, Rex's car is still there. I ignore it and head inside. I need a change of clothes and put the dress, shoes, and wig inside the duffle bag full of evidence. I take it all with me to meet Donovan at the James Estate.
I pick the old pool house because it's behind the property and its far from Patricia, considering we are meeting on her property. I assume she'll never think to look for me there, especially after the phone call Rex has placed with her.
The spotlight by the pool casts a glow and there's a trickle of water coming from the fountain. Following the ceramic surround, I come to a lush, green portion of the yard and the pool house comes into view. It's the type of pool house that would make the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air gasp in awe.
Inside the lights are on and I see a profile pacing inside. It has broad shoulders and I have to hope that it's Donovan. My heartbeat gallops at a fast, even pace as I come to the door and I rap my knuckles against it.
The blast of cold air from the AC greets me as he pulls the door open, but I'm taken more at the sight of Donovan. When I saw him at the mall I was frantic, nervous to piece my life back together and save Molly from certain doom. But now, in the quiet of the night, it's just him and me.
My eyes fall on him and I melt at the sight of him. He's alive. His heart is beating. He hasn't been shot in the heat of the night. Instead, our future is in front of us, if only we can get through the next twelve hours and come through on the other side. I have to hope Donovan wants the same thing.
But we're talking about his mother and I don't know where his loyalties lie. It's easy for me to confuse the Donovan I knew in the virtual reality and this one. But are they really the same? Is Donovan as committed to us as I really want him to be?
Or is everything I want just smoke, mirrors and fairytales?
“Hey.” My voice is quiet as I shift the duffle bag’s position on my shoulder.
Donovan offers me his hand and I take it as I step inside the pool house. For a moment, he checks the area to make sure we’re alone before he secures the door. I move into the room and place the duffle bag on the coffee table. There’s a fire roaring over beside the television. There are candles lit on the brick surround that separates the room from the kitchen.
I take a deep breath and I smell Donovan’s aftershave as he wraps his arms around my middle and nuzzles my neck from behind. I stroke his hand and lean my head against his. Warmth and love spreads through me, but I’m not here for a midnight booty call. I’m here to save my family. I just pray I can go about it the right way, that I can reach Donovan in a way that he’ll believe me.
When he pulls his lips off of my neck, I stiffen and turn around. “It’s nice to see you too.”
“You look tired. Stressed out.” Donovan takes my hand. “You want to just tell me what’s going on?”
I wish it was that easy. We sit on the sofa, our knees touching, as I rest my head on his shoulder and sigh. My eyes fall on the laptop on the table. “I think it’d be easier if I show you.”
Donovan nods and slides the computer closer to us and lifts the lid. I take the flash drive from the duffle bag and snap it in place.
“What you’re going to see is going to upset you. But I can explain. I promise. Just let me, okay?”
His eyes crinkle. “You’re starting to scare me. You know I’m always on your side, don’t you?”
I do. Well, I wish I could. I wish it could be that easy.
With a flick of my finger, I open the flash drive’s directory. Inside is everything I swiped from my mom’s computer, several days ago now that I’ve jumped back in time. The video is titled ‘My Confession’.
I queue it up and my stomach somersaults. I squeeze Donovan’s hand as the screen fills with my mother’s face. And she looks so haunted, so sad.
Mom leans into the camera and I know the words coming will shock Donovan, so I grip his fingers, trying to ground him.
“If I have an accident, if I end up dead, let this serve as proof that Senator Patricia James, my colleague and old friend, had a hand in it.”
Donovan flinches and goes rigid beside me. We glance at each other, but he doesn’t say anything. He just looks back at the screen.
Mom’s hands shake as she wipes a strand of hair from her face. “I dare not let on that I know how dangerous she’s become. But I am going to finish my current project and then, God help me, take my family and get out of the country. Hide. If I live that long.” Mom blinks back tears. “Jax, Lara, no one knows how scared I’ve been the last few months and I have to keep it that way or put their lives in jeopardy—” she takes a deep breath “—I never should have listened to Patricia. Never.
“The memory storage program at Rewind is nothing but a cover for our real goal. I never should have gone along with it, but Senator James can be convincing. We’ve kept our illegal experiments on people secret. She wants time travel at her fingertips to change the world. She wants us to develop the power to remove memories and insert new ones. And now that technology is near perfected. I know now we never should have done it. I never should have gone along with it.”
Mom sighs and Donovan’s mouth hangs open in shock. “People have tried to stop us and they’ve all had accidents. Disappeared. Even a journalist. If Patricia finds out I’m on to her and where her money comes from, I have no doubts she’ll wipe me out.
“I used to have the same goals as the senator—” Mom swallows hard “—But I wanted it to help people like my Lara. Like myself. Victims. Patricia wants it for herself. And that can’t be allowed. So once I’m done and safely out of the country, I’ll send this video. And be done with her once and for all.”
Donovan lets out a shaking breath. “What else is on that flash drive?”
“Schematics of the technology. Briefings from my mom to yours on the progress.”
His face is blank and I have no idea what he’s thinking. “Where’s your mother now?”
“I got her, Jax and the twins away. It’s too dangerous right now for them to stay in Boston. The senator sent those thugs after me and they tried to snatch Molly. If they stayed here, I have no doubt my mother’s worst fears would come true.”
“This isn’t enough evidence to convict anyone of anything.”
“I have other evidence.” My words come out harsh and Donovan squints at me and pulls his hand away.
“What other evidence?”
I want to scream at him to please emote, but it’s like he can’t. He’s still processing and I can’t read him like I usually can. Part of me wishes the return of Donovan from the virtual world, the one who I stood with as one against a common enemy, even if it was his mother.
“Lara? What evidence?” Donovan asks with power behind his words.
“Sorry.” I shake my head. “A money trail that links Rewind and Patricia to my mother’s attempted murder. It shows how they framed my dad when they failed.”
Donovan shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair. He tugs at it like his brain is at war with itself. I move to touch him and he shrugs me off. “Don’t.”
My heart pangs with pain. “Don—”
“—You’ve been carrying this evidence around for how long, that my mom is guilty of what, conspiracy, murder? Breaking the rules Congress put in place? And you never once told me?” Donovan slams the laptop shut and storms off to the kitchen. He leans over the counter and from how his shoulders round up I know he’s angry.
I can’t really blame him, but we only have so long to work through his pain and come out on the other side. Taking my time, I go to his side and put my hand on his back. “I didn’t know how you would take it. I didn’t know if you would choose me.”
Donovan glances at me with a severe glare. “If everything you say is true, you think I would side with a murderer over you? No matter who she is?”
