Second Chances

by Phelps, K. L.

  Cameron scowled. Was the entire world conspiring against him? He looked at his watch and let out a sigh. The way this day was turning out, she could have stepped out for a late dinner or even have left for the day. He raised a hand to his temple and sighed again. He could feel a headache starting.

  "Perfect, just perfect."

  He looked at his watch again and then walked over and sat down at her desk. It was busy, but neat. Loose papers and reports in binders in three neat stacks on the side of her desk. He noted that her screen saver, rotating tropical island pictures, was on and guessed she couldn't have been gone long since the computer hadn't switched into power saver mode.

  "Perfect," he repeated to himself.

  He grabbed a small pad of sticky notes next to the stacks of reports. He reached into his jacket pocket and sighed once more when he discovered it was empty. He pulled the top desk drawer open and began to look inside. There were half a dozen pens, but his attention focused on the framed picture resting on top of the pile of papers. He pulled the picture out and slid the drawer closed, all thought of leaving a note gone.

  She had her arms around him, leaning against him. Her smile was practically it's own light source. She glowed with happiness as did the man she was clinging to. Judging from the look of both of them, Cameron guessed it might have been from about eight to ten years ago. Given how happy they seemed and the fact that the picture had been taken in a lab, he could guess the event that had been the source of their celebration. Ten years might be about right. She didn't look that much older now, but from the last photograph Cameron had seen, he knew that the man in the photo had not aged nearly as well.

  "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

  He practically jumped at the sound of her voice.

  Julie stood in the doorway. She was in a lab coat as always. Her hair in a familiar ponytail and her eyes on fire.

  Cameron began to rise.

  "I said, what the hell do you think you are doing?"

  "I..."

  She stormed into the room and snapped the frame from Cameron's hands.

  "Just because you are my boss, that does not give you the right to ransack my office."

  "I would hardly call..."

  "Oh you wouldn't, would you?"

  She opened the drawer, returned the framed photo and then slammed it shut.

  "No, I wouldn't..."

  "I don't give a damn what you would call it. This is my office. You got that?"

  Cameron backed up a few steps. Her anger rolled over him.

  "I was just looking for a pen. I did not know where you were or when you'd return."

  "Did that look like a damn pen to you?"

  "Enough, Julie."

  "No. You ever come into my office when I am not..."

  Cameron shook his head and held a hand up, silencing her.

  "I said enough. We have serious issues and I don't have time to deal with your emotional outbursts."

  "My emotional out..."

  "I said enough."

  He took a step forward and this time it was Julie who retreated.

  "This entire situation is screwed. I don't know what is going on with Paige, but the situation is not acceptable."

  "You are the one who pushed the timeline, Cameron."

  "I am well aware of that. I am also beginning to suspect that someone else may have had a hand in things going awry. Now if I find out you had any part in this I can guarantee you someone will not be happy."

  Julie shivered at the threat. She hated that she did.

  He kept his smile in check. It was his favorite threat. Mostly because it was the one that he knew always worked on her and given the photograph he had just found, he knew it likely carried even more weight then normal.

  "I had nothing to do with...whatever it is that has happened."

  He believed her, but he wasn't about to admit that. She had yelled at him, made her own threats. No, he wouldn't let her off that easy.

  "I had better not find out otherwise. What has happened, has happened. Now we need to fix it."

  "I already started to pull the data for review."

  "That is going to take too long."

  She bared her teeth, but bit back the comment that was dying to escape her lips.

  "What would you suggest? I am a scientist. Data is all I have to work with. I wasn't there so I can't tell you what went wrong until I..."

  "I am aware of that. And I have every faith that when you have analyzed the data you will discover the cause."

  "I already suspect the cause. The shortened timeline did not allow..."

  "Yes, yes. I know. And perhaps that is correct, but right now we have a new problem."

  "Which is?"

  Cameron paced a moment.

  "She is gone."

  "Gone? What do you mean gone?"

  "She...she fled from her meeting with Linda."

  "Fled?"

  "Yes, that is really the only way to describe it."

  Julie sat down at her desk. Her brow knitted in thought.

  "Why would she do that?"

  "I was hoping you could tell me."

  Julie shook her head.

  "You got me. Who the heck runs from their security blanket? Are you going to bring her in?"

  "That is another of the problems. We don't know where she is. We didn't have a tracker in place. And yes before you say it, I am aware that is because of me upping the timeline."

  "Why would she run?" Julie asked.

  "I think it has something to do with this man," he said, pulling out the picture he'd printed and handing it to Julie.

  She took the paper. Unable to hide her surprise, her eyes went wide. She looked from the picture to Cameron and then back at the picture. Hope stirred within him.

  "You know who that is?"

  "Yes, and so do you."

  He knew he'd been right, the man was familiar. He cursed himself for having to ask.

  "Who is he?"

  "That's her husband."

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  They waited outside for what seemed like forever for the taxi to arrive. Nathan paced. He was certain that something was wrong. Why else would it be taking so long? They were on to them, whoever the hell they were. He tried to remain as calm as possible, not wanting to spook Paige more than she already was. Finally the taxi arrived. The driver exited the vehicle and took Paige's bags as they entered the backseat.

  "Where to?"

  "The airport," Nathan said.

  The driver nodded and slipped the car into gear, pulling away from the hotel.

  "No, wait, we need to make one stop first."

  Both the driver and Paige looked at Nathan.

  "Paige, I've been wearing the same clothes for two days now."

  She nodded. The driver laughed and Nathan saw him wink at him in the rearview mirror. He didn't bother to try and explain, the man clearly had his own idea what his words meant.

  "Any stores close by?" he asked the driver. He looked at his watch. When had it gotten so late? Where the heck had the day gone? He shook his head, debating with himself. He felt like they were on the run and yet he'd just insisted on a stop that would delay them even further.

  The taxi driver nodded and turned right at the next intersection. A few minutes later the car pulled to a stop in front of a Gap. He jumped out while Paige stayed with the taxi. When he returned ten minutes later, Nathan was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a dark green button-up Polo shirt and a light blue windbreaker. Paige smiled at him as he got back into the vehicle.

  "Better?"

  "Definitely less wrinkled."

  "I guess that is a plus."

  "No bag? Where are your old clothes?"

  "Tossed them. I can always get more, besides I don't think I want to check a bag of dirty clothes on the flight. Everything besides my shoes is new."

  "You look good in green."

  Nathan smiled. It was only small talk, but it felt good. It felt normal. It felt
like old times.

  They lapsed into a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip to the airport, partly because it just felt right and partly because they didn't want to talk in front of the driver.

  They entered the airport and moved off to the side out of the flow of traffic.

  "Okay, so we are at the airport. Where to now?"

  Nathan was silent. She looked at him, waiting for a response, hope in her eyes. He was quiet for several minutes. He paced in a slow circle until he noticed that he was being watched by some of the security personnel and then he forced himself to stop.

  "So where?" Paige implored.

  "I'm not entirely sure. We both have so many questions."

  "You can say that again."

  "So where do we go for the answers? Who can we ask?"

  "Well I thought Linda would be..."

  "More importantly, who can we trust?"

  Paige frowned. "Until today, I would have said Linda. What about you? Who do you know and trust? Who knew...well us? Even if I do not believe I was apart of your us. Did that make sense or am I just babbling?"

  Nathan let out a short laugh and smiled.

  "No, I understood you perfectly."

  "So who? Your parents maybe?"

  His smile was instantly gone.

  "No. Like you, both of my parents are gone."

  Paige shivered. "I'm sorry," she said.

  "No. I'm sorry. I know you said you hate me doing that. I didn't mean to."

  She knew what he meant and nodded.

  "I know you didn't mean to. So, anyone we can turn to for help? We had friends right? I mean you and your Paige did, didn't you?"

  He frowned.

  "You didn't have friends?"

  "No, we did. Well kind of. We were well liked, but honestly we were each other's world. We did everything together, spent almost every minute together. We made friends wherever we went, but..."

  "Not close friends?"

  Nathan nodded.

  "Yeah. What about you, anyone else you can think of?"

  Paige fell silent. She looked away from Nathan, her eyes seemed to glaze over. Her lips began to quiver. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

  She pressed her lips together in a scowl and shook her head, as if trying to wake herself. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the doctored picture. She stared at, her eyes blazing with barely controlled fury.

  Nathan reached out and plucked the photograph from her hands.

  "Okay, we have our destination," he said.

  "What?"

  "Your college."

  "Salve? Why?"

  "As good a place as any. Plus, it is one thing we both agree on about you."

  She fell silent for a few moments. Nathan watched her closely. She frowned a little and her lip began to quiver again.

  "Ar...are you sure?"

  He took her hands in his. "Yeah, afraid so. I wish I had a better plan. This may be a dead end but we have to start somewhere, right?" He gave her hands a gentle reassuring squeeze and after a minute she nodded.

  "Okay."

  He squeezed her hands again, this time to stop their trembling.

  "Come on," Nathan said, looking at his watch. "Let's see if we can still catch a flight tonight for Rhode Island."

  They made their way over to the United ticket counter and he inquired about their next available flight out.

  The woman at the counter tapped away at her keyboard for a few moments.

  "You are in luck. Our last fight leaves in just under two hours. You'll have a rather long layover in Chicago, but it will get you into Providence at just about eleven in the morning."

  "Excellent," Nathan said. "Can we still get seats together?"

  The woman smiled and nodded. "Plane is half empty, that won't be a problem."

  He paid and they checked Paige's suitcases and then quickly made their way through security.

  As they walked down toward their gate, Paige's stomach grumbled so loud that Nathan laughed. He realized they had more or less been on the run since mid-afternoon and they hadn't eaten since breakfast. There were a few places to eat, but they ended up just buying pre-packaged sandwiches, chips and sodas from one of the catch-all shops and ate while they waited for boarding to begin. They ate in silence, both of them feeling drained from the day and lost in their own thoughts.

  As the time to board drew closer, Nathan noticed that she seemed to fidget more, her hands trembling. He was nervous too, but he thought it was something more than just nerves with Paige. He took her hands in his and squeezed gently. She didn't resist.

  Fifteen minutes later they were on the plane. They'd been the last two passengers to board. The cabin was indeed half empty and they had an abundance of seats to choose from. They ignored their assigned seats and picked a row towards the rear of the plane. The next closest passenger was four rows away. Paige had him take the window seat. A night time take off meant less to see. She left the middle seat open and took the aisle seat. Nathan noted it, but said nothing. He placed his laptop bag on the middle seat and then sat down and buckled in.

  The plane pulled back from the gate and one of the flight attendants began to review the safety procedures. Paige looked over at Nathan and saw his head resting against the window, already asleep. She realized he likely hadn't slept more than a hour or two since they had first met. She gave him a sad smile and almost reached out to him, but stopped when she saw how much her hand was trembling. She gripped the armrests tight enough for her knuckles to blanch. She closed her eyes and tried to force herself to take slow deep breaths. Questions echoed in her head. Questions for which she had no answers.

  When she finally opened her eyes, Paige saw that they were already in the air. She did not recall even feeling the motion of the take off. She glanced at her watch and saw they were already thirty-five minutes into the flight. The cabin was very dark, only the occasional passenger had their overhead light on. Paige reached up and clicked hers on as well as the one over the middle seat.

  A moment later one of the flight attendants came by and asked if she needed anything. A pillow or blanket? She declined but asked if she could get some water. When the flight attendant had gone, Paige looked down and noted her hands still trembled a bit. Her eyes lingered on Nathan's laptop bag. By the time her water arrived, she had made up her mind. She thanked the attendant for the water and then took a sip. She pulled the tray table down for the empty middle seat and placed the glass of water on it, before opening the laptop bag and removing the journals. She closed her eyes, trying to remember if Nathan had said what order he had written them in. Moments later she was leaning forward in her seat, lost in the journals.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  "Her husband?" Cameron snatched the picture out of Julie's hands, his brow furrowing as he scrutinized the picture.

  "Yes. From a couple of years ago, I believe."

  His eyes flicked briefly up from the picture to Julie and then back down. A desire to flair out a hand and slap her flashed through his mind. Was she toying with him? He suspected she knew exactly who this was, no guess work needed. Her husband? Yes, that seemed very possible. The man definitely looked familiar and he'd have seen pictures of him if he were Paige's husband.

  "What's his name?"

  "His name?"

  "Did I stutter? Who is this man?" he demanded as he tapped the picture.

  "Norman? Nick. Something starting with an N."

  "Nathan?"

  "Maybe. I don't remember. It's late Cameron, can't this wait until tomorrow?"

  She looked down at the corner of her desk and bit her lower lip, doing her best to appear to be thinking hard. She could feel the anger and anxiety rolling off of him in waves and couldn't decide how she wanted to play it.

  "This is important, Doctor. Don't let me find out you had anything to do with this."

  She didn't have to feign her shock.

  "What the hell are you talking about? You think I h
ad something to do with this?"

  "Come now. Do you really expect me to think this is just coincidence? He just happened to come across her? Please," he said with a sneer. "I am not a fool. The odds of such a thing are so astronomical it isn't even funny."

  He stepped around the desk until he was close enough that she could smell his cologne.

  "Did you or he have anything to do with this? Come clean now and perhaps I won't take it out on him."

  Her hand was moving before she even realized she had decided to take a swing at him. His head snapped back more from the shock than the actual force of the slap.

  "I had nothing to do with this," she said through the tears rolling down her cheeks. "He had nothing to do with this. How the hell could he? For the love of heaven, explain to me just how the hell he could have had anything to do with this?"

  "Then you are saying you acted alone?"

  He saw the anger flair again in her tear filled eyes and stepped back before she could take another swing. No, she definitely had nothing to do with it, but he had had to know.

  "Screw you, Cameron."

  "Now Doctor, let's not get melodramatic about all this. Perhaps you can not maintain your objectivity anymore. Perhaps you need a break from this, from him. I can arrange for someone else to visit him this week. Perhaps these visits are just too distressing for you."

  Julie shivered. Fear and anger waging a war within her.

  "Don't even think it, Cameron."

  He slammed the picture onto the desk top. "His name?"

  "I told you, I don't know. Nick or Norman, maybe like you said, Nathan. I don't have any of the old files up here. Look in the archives. His name was something like Prince or Crown or something."

  "Fine, I'll go check the archives."

  "Cameron?" She asked through her tears, the tone of her voice unmistakable as was the unspoken question.

  "You may still see him. However, if I find out you've been holding back some information or had anything to do with this." He left the threat hanging in the air as he stormed out of her office.