by Jill Cooper
And that’s what scares me. My jaw sets and I clench my teeth. Anxious. Nervous. “Who signed the warrant for seizure?”
Jeff resists and I raise my voice and ask again. “Who, Jeff?”
He shrugs. “Judge Thompson. I got the order yesterday. It was on my desk and I was asked to pick it up.” His voice lowers. “I just do what I’m told. I’m chief counsel.”
“Who told you? The board?” My voice demands he answer. He’s no longer my boyfriend. He’s one of the guilty and I’ll not be denied.
Jeff shakes his head. “We shouldn’t even be talking about this.”
“Who!” I scream and slam my hand down on the table.
“Daniels!” Jeff screams with small, narrowed eyes.
All my suspicions are coming true. Is Daniels guilty of setting Reynold up? I still need to find prove, such a thing is possible. “What would happen to the computer if I didn’t take it? Were you ordered to destroy it?”
“Cass, you can’t ask what you’re asking. You need to stop.”
But I can’t stop. I’ll never stop. I snort with disgust. “It’s evidence. You just don’t go around destroying evidence!”
“Evidence of what?” Jeff asks and he looks clueless.
“Of everything. Rewind’s corruption. Of Daniels…”
“Do you have proof because last I looked; you’re an officer of Global Law which is run by Rewind. You uphold the law just like I do.”
“I don’t steal evidence.”
“And you’re going to what?” Jeff asks and grabs my arms. “You’re going to take down Rewind?”
“Collect evidence. See where it leads. See if Reynold Jackson was telling the truth.”
“Telling the truth about what?”
“If Daniels is using Rewind’s technology to stay in power. Kill those that will oppose him and win. Using time travel like his own sandbox.” I sigh and put my hands on my hips.
Jeff sinks down into the sofa and his face looks listless. “So you think Daniels is a murderer and you think I’m…his lapdog?”
My face hardens as I look at him. “That’s how it seems.”
“If he’s doing all that, I didn’t know.” His face drops. “I just do what I’m told.”
“No questions.” I sneer and shake my head at him. So much for that law degree.
“Daniels doesn’t like questions. You know that. No one likes to cross him.”
“Yeah and now I know why.” I’m considering leaving the apartment when there’s a knock at the door. Jeff moves to get it even though I beg him not to. “They know we’re here. We have to get it.”
“Fine.” My face flushes hot and I follow Jeff out. My hand wrapped tight around the computer. If I hide it, I know they’ll find it. So I have no choice but to keep it close, tell them the truth.
And refuse to give it up. Even if I’m thrown in jail.
Jeff pulls the door open and two officers and my captain walk in. He’s been raised from bed in the middle of the night, and it shows. His eyes are lined with sleep and his uniform is unkempt. “Damn it, Winters, what do you think you’re doing going out into Rewind Corporate like that? Using your boyfriend’s ID card. Do you know how much trouble you’re in?”
My lips twitch. I hesitate. I glance at Jeff and his faces softens, his eyes get that doe- eyed expression they have sometimes when he forgets to take out the trash on Friday mornings.
“It’s my fault, Captain Davis.” Jeff steps between the captain and me. “I had work to do and forgot I asked Cass to pick up my computer on the way home from dinner. In the excitement when you called, I just forgot.”
I hold my breath as the Captain eyes me up and then Jeff. He sighs and rubs his face. “You could’ve saved me a lot of trouble Mr. Wilkins. A lot of trouble.”
“Sorry, Captain,” Jeff says and his head is down low. “I promise it won’t happen again.”
“It better not.” Captain Davis gives me a level stare. “First thing in the morning, my office. We have a few things to work out, Winters.”
“Yes, sir. I won’t be late.”
“You better not.” The captain leads the way out and the officers follow. I latch the door and glance at Jeff, making eyes at him.
“Let’s go back to bed.” He says and offers me his hand, I take it and we go into the bedroom. Once I’m sure Rewind can’t hear I turn to him.
“What was that all about? Why did you cover for me like that?” I’m aghast at what he’s done.
Jeff takes my hands and I melt. “I’m on your side, Cass. I don’t know what is going on. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but whatever it is…I’m with you.”
“Can you promise me that? Wherever it leads? Whatever I find out about Daniels that you’re really with me?” I put my hand on his face. “Your career…”
“Is nothing,” Jeff says and places his hand on mine. “Is nothing if I have to give you up, Cass.”
I lean into him and we kiss. I don’t know if he’s telling the truth, but tonight my heart needs to believe him. If he wanted the computer back, he could’ve turned me over to Rewind, but he didn’t. My heart needs to trust in him.
“What you’re doing is dangerous. Do you have any idea what they could do to us?”
I think of Reynold and his secret execution. I’m pretty sure the answer to that question is yes.
9:Present: Lara
My stepdad, Jax, will be murdered in just a few hours unless I stop it.
But, I don’t know where to start. I retrace our steps as I lightly jog away from the school.
Jax picks me up at school. We stop at the same Orange Leaf we always go to for frozen yogurt. We drive, we eat, and we’re stopped by the construction on Mass Ave.
The men carrying the sheet of glass across the street, the ones that force us to slow down, look right at us through the windshield. I had thought they were just bored. But this time I see the way they look at us, and it chills me.
Maybe they’re the secret. Maybe they’re the clue.
My footsteps slow down as I come to a traffic light. I just pressed the walk signal button when I’m hit by a major headache. Grunting, my eyes squeeze shut and I grab my head. I can’t stop the memory as it hits me full force. I brace myself against the pole; it’s the only thing keeping me upright.
In my memory, I’m sitting in the car with Jax. We’ve just gotten on the road. My head turns to roll down the window and that’s when I see the man wearing the orange construction hat. Our eyes lock as he lifts the black walkie-talkie to radio ahead.
Maybe he was telling someone we were coming.
Beside him is a white pickup truck and on it are the words RALPH’S GRAVEL.
The memory fades and I’m pulled into the present again with a jolt. As if someone has wrapped a grappling hook around me and yanked hard. I have no control over the speed with which it happened.
Everything I learned to control in captivity, the time travel, the speed, the ability to jump backward to specific locations, is completely lost. It must be Rewind. Whatever that Doctor Xavier Daniels did to me.
But I don’t have time to worry about that right now. I’ll have to deal with that later.
Right now, I have to save Jax. If I can’t save him, I might as well not be a time traveler.
I cross the street, heading for the subway as I pull my phone from my pocket to look up the phone number and location for RALPH’S GRAVEL. I don’t know if it’s a cover or if those guys really work there but I’m going to find out.
Sliding my Charlie pass into the turnstile, I sprint toward the oncoming train. The doors slide open and everyone disembarks. I dash through turning sideways, and am almost sandwiched between the doors.
Huffing for a breath of air, I grab onto the metal pole on the subway car as it lurches forward. My mind is spinning as I piece together everything that is happening.
Whoever wanted Jax dead knew where we were going to be. That’s the only explanation for why there was someone wa
tching us at the Orange Leaf, which means Jax is being followed. His phone might be bugged. Maybe instead of hunting down Ralph’s Gravel I should be going to Jax. Warn him.
Glancing up, I see we are about two stops from the Pru, where Jax works in finance. He should be at work now, and I need to warn him, but not over the phone, just in case someone is listening, I need to go there. Pulling my phone out my fingers fly across the keys to send him a text message. Don’t come pick me up at school. I’m coming to you.
We come to a stop and it’s only when we’re inching forward again that I receive his reply. Alright. Everything okay?
I think of every answer I could give him that would make him feel better. Make up a lie. Instead, I decide to send the safe word. The family code word that we use if there is a bad situation, or we’re scared, the one that no one else knew; Scooby Do.
Not the most elegant of safe words, but we picked it a long time ago when I was just a kid. Jax doesn’t respond before I get to my stop, so I pocket my cell phone into the front of my jeans and I step off and walk with the crowd.
There are mirrors angled up at the ceilings for the conductors and I use them to check my surroundings. Behind me is a man in a black trench coat with a newspaper tucked under his arm. He stares straight ahead with a less than casual stony expression. Jax’s would-be-killer wore a black coat, but so do a thousand-other people in the city.
I have no reason to be scared.
But I am and I need to test my theory.
Turning down the corridor, I smell fresh buttered popcorn and hotdogs. I stand in line and fish some money out of my backpack. “Popcorn.” I slide the money across the counter and wait for him to hand me a small bag.
“Salt’s over there if you want it.”
Politely I decline and head back out the way I came. If I’m lucky, the man in the black coat will have continued past. He won’t be there. I won’t be being followed.
I step out back into the main hall and there aren’t many people left except for a few sitting on benches with headphones in their ears or leaning back with a good book.
But I see him. The man in the black trench coat.
He’s leaning against the wall, reading his newspaper.
I don’t stare. I move forward and use the mirrors to track his movements. He folds the paper, tucks it back under his arm, and walks. Picks up the pace toward the subway exit.
My heart quickens and I bite my lip. There’s no doubt who he is. There’s no doubt I have to stop him. I can’t lead him right to Jax.
How did we end up in the same train car? At the same station? My stomach is fraught with nerves and my face flushes. Tightly, I grip my backpack in my hand. It’s filled with heavy texts books from all five my classes. I might as well have weighed it down with bricks.
Tense, I put one hand on the railing to the stairs that lead up to the street, towards Jax. One-foot balances on the stairs as my eyes peer into the mirror and see the man in the dark coat has slowed his steps, falling back, hoping I won’t notice him.
But, oh boy do I notice him.
And now he’s within arms distance.
I spin and swinging my backpack, hit him in the face. The broken zipper catches his skin,, scratching him deeply. His sunglasses are knocked off and the skin of his face as if I’ve slowed time down. I ready my backpack again, but he grabs my arm with an iron-like grip and his other forces me against the wall.
All the air is forced from my lungs and I can’t draw breath. Behind the dark man, I hear someone scream. “Help! Help! Someone get the police!”
My free hand makes a fist and I bash him over the shoulder with it. Then I lift my legs and send my feet crashing into his stomach.
He doesn’t move back far, but it’s enough that I can take a step before he rears forward and grabs me by the throat. We spin, my foot dangerously close to being off the edge of the platform. I clutch the arm that’s lodged around my neck, take a deep breath, and hold on for balance. It’s like an anchor and I don’t dare let go.
Driving my elbow back into his gut, I bend and send him crashing over my body. He groans as his back crashes into the brick. I grab his arms and twist until he screams, his hands bent back at an awkward angle.
His joints pop and he gives another gargled scream.
Never let it be said that Lara Crane doesn’t know self-defense; I’d had two years of classes while imprisoned. No one is ever going to physically best me that way again.
Using his arms as handles, I drag him back. I stomp on his belly as hard as I can, and his coat falls open.
The gun at his waist shines up at me.
I pick it up and tuck it under the back of my hoodie in my jeans. Just as the MBTA police arrive.
“Miss!” They call as I stand up straight, heaving for air.
“I’m okay.”
They force him up and handcuff his hands behind his back. I’m victorious. I’ve won, but still the man in black snarls, “You think this is over, Lara?”
His voice is British. The snarl, the way his eyes look, chills me. It reminds me so much of Rex that I shiver on the inside.
“Who the hell are you?” My voice is low and guttural with demand.
“You’ll never really be free. Trust me.” He lowers his head so we make eye contact and his face twists cruelly. I don’t know what he’s gloating about, but a second later, he’s gone.
Only a blue swirl of smoke and light are left where a human being should be, and he’s just gone.
“What the hell?” The police share glances at one another as the color drains out of my face and I grab the wall. I’m pretty sure I’m about to fall over.
That’s not all I’m sure of. I’m pretty sure I just met someone just like me.
A time traveler.
*****
A time traveler.
Someone just like me. Here.
How is that possible? How?
I’m left with more questions than answers. As I think about them, I stroke the back of my head and feel the port cover Rewind has installed. I formulate an answer, but it’s not one I want to think about.
It scares me. Terrifies me; what I want to stop most in the world has already happened. The government, Rewind, it has all come to pass in another time. Another place. And there’s nothing I can do, because everything I do, leads me straight toward the future I don’t want to think about.
The MBTA police are so shaken by what’s happened, we agree not to talk about it. To not file a report because let’s face it; no one is ready for this.
I’m not ready for this.
I take the stairs two at a time and it’s not long before the Pru is in sight. For all I know, the time traveler has skipped ahead and already murdered Jax. Anxiety tightens my chest because if this assassin guy is a time traveler, he’s going places I can’t follow.
There’s nothing I can do. I don’t think I can travel back in time, even if I want to. Rewind has messed with my brain and everything they’ve done to stabilize me has cut me off from my power. If that’s why they did it, because let’s face it, Rewind has never told the truth about anything.
No matter the timeline. No matter who was in charge, they’ve always lied. Cheated.
I need to find a way to beat them.
When I step inside, I leap up the escalator steps, straight into the plaza where all the stores are located. I sneak by the crowd gathered around the center kiosks, which sell Boston trinkets, scarves, and teddy bears and go left toward the offices where Jax works.
His small office is unlike the big one he had at Rewind. I knock lightly and push the door open. Hoping he’s okay. Hoping he’s not dead.
I bite my lip as I step inside and as he stands to greet me, I break out into a relieved grin.
“Lara, you should still be in school. What’s this about?” Jax approaches me with a scowl on his face, his hands on his hips.
But I don’t care if he disapproves. Instead, I slam him with a hug and squeeze him so hard h
e yelps.
His arms come around me and he kisses the top of my head. “When you hug me like this, it scares me. You all right?”
I shake my head and straighten up. “We need to talk.”
“About?” Jax asks and sits on the corner of his desk.
“Your murder.”
Jax raises his eyebrows and picks up the phone. “Diane, you better hold my calls.”
Taking a deep breath, I weave my fingers together in front of me and tell him everything. About how I jumped time and he’s murdered right in front of me. Jax’s eyes soften and he squeezes my shoulder. I’m not sure, but I think the fact that I witnessed his murder upsets him more than the murder itself.
“I’m so sorry, Lar. That you had to see that.”
He’s probably in shock. So, I tell him how I travel back, without any ability to control it. About the man on the subway and how he vanished in a blue spark and a cloud of smoke.
Jax sits there; his legs straight, gripping the edge of the desk. As my words sink in around him, I wonder what he’s thinking. Feeling. Because he’s not coming out and telling me.
“You don’t have another British brother out there, right?”
Jax shakes his head no, but still can’t bring himself to look at me.
I have to wonder why. I think I might need to summon Diane and ask her to bring Jax a cup of tea when finally he speaks. “I’ve been getting death threats.”
My heart skips a beat. “When? Who?”
Jax moves over to his desk and takes a key from his pocket. He unlocks the top drawer and pulls out a manila folder. “I never wanted to show them to anyone, least of all you.” His voice is soft. “But seems you’re wrapped up in this just as much as I am and…I’m sorry, Lara. I never wanted any of this for you or your mom.”
I know of all that. He’s been apologizing the same way for over a year.
I’m afraid to flip open the folder and my heart gallops in my chest. There are pages, maybe half a dozen of magazine cut letters glued together to form words. Cliché. Not very original.
You’ll be dead.
