Second Chances

by Phelps, K. L.

  "Are you sure we shouldn't just go up to their room and take them out right now?"

  He looked over at Linda. "I'll tell you, I am sorely tempted to do just that. I want this done with. However, today's little trip has me more convinced than ever that there are others involved in this whole mess. I need to know who those loose ends are so I can take care of them once and for all."

  "Do you think they are in for the night?"

  Cameron scratched under his nose, considering. "I just don't know."

  She heard the uncertainty in his voice and resisted the urge to sigh. She knew exactly what his words meant. They were in for a very long night. All thought of another night in the luxurious bed back at the hotel drifted away. She settled back in her seat and turned up the heat as the sun set and the evening turned cold.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

  Paige left the bags she'd been carrying by the door, then dropped onto the bed and let out a loud sigh.

  "Tired?" Nathan asked.

  "So beyond tired. I feel drained all the way down to my toes. What has it been, only two days?"

  Nathan picked up the bags she'd dropped and carried them over to his bed.

  "No, seriously. How long has it been? It feels like we have been going nonstop for weeks. I really have completely lost all track of time. It's like being locked on a roller coaster that never ends. I just want the ride to stop and I want to get off."

  Nathan sat down next to her. She sat up and leaned against him and he wrapped his arms around her.

  "We are going to get through this."

  "How do I have the memories of a dead woman? How did your wife have those same memories?"

  "I don't have the answers, but hopefully we are about to find out."

  "I'm afraid," she whispered.

  "I know. So am I."

  Nathan kissed her on the head and then got up. He picked up his laptop bag and pulled out his computer.

  "C...can we wait, just a little while?"

  He nodded and placed the computer on the nightstand.

  "Do you want to get something to eat first?"

  "Are you hungry?"

  He shook his head no.

  "Good, neither am I. In fact, I'm regretting those french fries."

  "Okay, then we skip dinner. How about we get these set up," he said dumping the contents from the bags onto the bed.

  She picked up one of the disposable cell phones and began working on opening the packaging. Nathan began working on another, but neither made any progress.

  "I hate these things."

  "Phones?"

  Paige laughed. "No, this stupid plastic packaging. At home I'd use a nail file or something to puncture it."

  Nathan picked up his laptop bag again and pulled out a couple of pens. He tossed one to Paige and used the other to stab at the plastic of the package he was working on. After a minute he managed to get the phone out of the box. He plugged it into the charger and then began work on the next one.

  It took a few more minutes for them to open up and begin charging all four phones. Paige gathered the prepaid minute cards and read through the directions. Ten minutes later she had loaded time onto all the phones. She sat on the bed, looking over at the nightstand.

  "We can wait a little longer, if you want."

  She looked over at him and shook her head.

  "This is stupid. I know we need to check out that website. I want to check it out, but..."

  "But you are afraid?"

  Paige nodded and dropped her head into her hands. Nathan came and sat with her again.

  "It's natural, Paige. Hell, I would be worried if you weren't afraid. In the last few days your entire reality has been flipped. So has mine. We get a mystery call telling us to drive hours to pick up a set of instructions to check out a website and buy some disposable phones. How the heck could you not be afraid?"

  "What if..."

  "Is not knowing better?"

  She shook her head no.

  Nathan reached over and picked up his computer. He opened it and booted it up.

  "Then let's get it over with, okay?"

  "Okay," she said, getting up and walking over to the window. She stayed where she was and listened to Nathan tap away at the keys.

  "Hmm."

  "What is it?" she asked, unwilling to turn away from the outside.

  "Well this first page is a scan of yo...Paige's obituary and an article on the fire."

  "What's it say?"

  "Umm, hold on a second, let me read it." Nathan leaned closer to the screen. "Seems to basically be what Daniel told us. The article talks about the fire breaking out in the early morning, quickly engulfing the house. One person, Paige, injured and in critical condition. The fire department was able to prevent the fire from spreading. There is a picture of the remains of the house. The obituary is rather simple. Paige was twenty-four. Survived by her father and fiancee. There is a picture of y...her"

  "Why did they want us to see that?"

  "I don't know. There are more pages. Let's check out the next one. Do you want to come see?"

  She shook her head no and continued to look out the window.

  "What the hell?"

  Paige turned her head slightly towards Nathan. "What is it?"

  "It's another scanned news clipping."

  She could hear a slight stutter to his speech, as if he didn't want to tell her.

  "What is it about? The fire again?"

  "No."

  "Then what?"

  He remained quiet. She finally pulled herself away from the window and turned all the away around.

  "Well?"

  Nathan shook his head in disbelief. "It's...it's a story about a suicide. Paige's suicide."

  "Your Paige?"

  "No."

  "What?"

  "This article is from about three years or so after the fire. They identify the victim as one Paige Kendall."

  "What? How?"

  "Let me see," he said, reading the article.

  "Three years after the fire? Another Paige?"

  "Happened in a bed and breakfast in Bar Harbor Maine. It says she slit her wrists and was found in the bath tub by the owners."

  "That's horrible."

  Nathan nodded.

  "H..how many more pages are there?"

  "Not sure."

  Paige leaned back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor.

  "Should I..."

  "Yeah," she said. "Check out the next."

  Nathan could hear the fear in her voice, but he knew they couldn't stop now. He clicked on the next page and two more articles popped up. He quickly started to read through them, not bothering to ask Paige if she wanted to see."

  "So?" she asked after a minute.

  "T..two more suicides. A Paige Keller in Helena Montana and Paige Reese in Bismarck North Dakota. One hung herself, the other jumped from the roof of a building. One of the articles is from about two years after the first suicide article, other is from about three."

  "Oh my god."

  He clicked on the next page. "Holy crap."

  "What?"

  Nathan sat on the edge of the bed shaking his head.

  "What is it?"

  Again he shook his head.

  "Tell me."

  "Paige Hampton. Ocean City, New Jersey. M...murder suicide."

  "What?" Paige clambered off the floor and over to the bed.

  "Shot her husband three times, before turning the gun on herself," Nathan read off the computer. He did not want to, but he clicked onto the next page.

  "No, no, no."

  Nathan read the new article that appeared on the screen and in his mind he echoed Paige's words. Paige Reading of Grand Junction Utah, stabbed and killed her husband and four month old son before using the knife on herself.

  Nathan shook his head in disbelief. He could hear Paige crying and knew he should say something comforting, but he could think of nothing. And there was still one page left. He clicked on the las
t page and even before it loaded he knew what the article was about. There was a picture of the wreck. It was a picture he knew all too well.

  He flipped through all the pages once more, not believing what he was seeing, but being unable to deny it. He checked the dates on the articles, trying to process it all.

  It was the sound of Paige in the bathroom that finally pulled him away from the screen. He was now very glad they hadn't gotten dinner. He put the laptop aside and went to the bathroom. Paige was on her knees throwing up.

  Nathan grabbed a washcloth and ran some cold water. He knelt next to her and gently wiped her forehead. She retched a few more times, but there was nothing left in her stomach. She took the washcloth from him and began to wipe her face.

  He waited for a minute or two until Paige indicated that she didn't think she was going to throw up anymore and then helped her to her feet. She leaned over the sink and ran the water again, scooping some into her mouth and spitting it out. She grabbed the small bottle of mouthwash and gargled.

  She stood looking at herself in the mirror. She began to shake her head, her hands trembling. She turned and hugged Nathan tightly, crying against his chest. He could hear her talking, but was unable to make out any of the words. He lifted her up off her feet and carried her out of the bathroom. He sat down on the edge of the bed and held her tight while she continued to cry.

  A few minutes later she was out of tears. She loosened her grip on Nathan, but didn't let go entirely.

  "Better?"

  She shrugged. Better? Better than what? She felt numb inside.

  "W..wh...what does it mean?"

  Nathan opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it.

  "What does it mean for me?"

  "I don't know."

  "Am I going to kill myself? Am I going to kill someone else and then kill myself?"

  The hysteria in her voice was building and Nathan wasn't sure what to do. He held her tightly for a moment before pushing her back a little so he could look at her.

  "Paige, I don't know what all this means. I don't know why they showed us this, but we will find out. Tomorrow we will call them and demand answers." He didn't say what they would do if the woman on the other end of the phone refused to give them and hoped Paige wasn't wondering the same thing.

  "But...but what happened to them? Why did they all...do...those things? What if I am going to do that too?"

  "You won't."

  "But what if I do?"

  "You won't do that, Paige. I won't let you. I am going to be by your side until we figure all this out and I won't let you," he said, looking deeply into her red puffy eyes.

  "Bu..."

  Before she could say another word, Nathan leaned in and kissed her. It was all he could think of to get her to stop. She seemed surprised at first and began to pull back, then she was leaning into him and returning his kiss with a fury.

  Nathan knew the intensity of their kiss was fueled more by their overwhelming need for reassurance than by the emotions they felt for each other, but he didn't care. He had missed holding his wife, kissing her and feeling her kiss him. He knew she wasn't his wife, but at the moment he didn't care. Whoever the hell she really was, he'd already fallen in love with her.

  When the kiss finally ended, they both felt drained. Neither one wanted to release the other. They sat together, enjoying the comfort they found in each others arms.

  "What happens tomorrow?" Paige asked after a few minutes.

  Nathan shook his head. He got up, slipping free from Paige. He closed the computer and put it on the nightstand then walked over and turned off the lights before returning to the bed. He pulled back the covers.

  "We worry about that tomorrow."

  He stretched out and Paige crawled into bed with him, laying her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her. They exchanged no more words. They were each lost in their own thoughts. Questions tumbled through their minds, but they gave voice to none of them. They took what comfort they could from each other, both fearing what the coming day might bring.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

  "As far as I know they are still in their room. Either that or he left the phone behind. GPS has not shown any movement since you reported them back at the hotel."

  Jimmy refreshed the computer directly in front of him once more and the data on the screen remained unchanged. His eyes flicked to the screen of the laptop to his right and then over to the movie playing on the laptop to his left. He tried his best to stifle a yawn and failed.

  "Sorry to have you going twenty-four-seven, Jimmy. I simply don't have much choice. I've been put in a place where I don't know who it is I can trust."

  Jimmy grinned and shook his head.

  "No problem boss. I've pulled longer sessions in World of Warcraft."

  "Of course," Cameron said, not having a clue what Jimmy was talking about.

  "Besides I've slept in this office many times."

  "I can't have you fal..."

  "Don't worry about me missing anything. I have alarms set on the programs I have tracking them. I'd be awake and on top of them before they were out of the lobby."

  Cameron said nothing.

  "Trust me boss, I am on top of them."

  "Okay, Jimmy. Any luck on that audio from earlier? Any chance you could get a trace on that?"

  Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Nah, no luck. Sorry."

  "Anything on Dr. Merrick?"

  "No. She went off the grid. I have every connection to her tapped, but so far not a peep."

  "At the first sign, call us," Cameron said as he hung up the phone.

  Jimmy clicked his phone over to the other line.

  "Did you get all that?"

  "Yes. Any other information?"

  "Yes, Mr. Dillinger. I've been monitoring all traffic coming out of the hotel's internet connection and am certain this is a piece of the puzzle." Jimmy tapped a few keys on the laptop on his right. "Obviously someone has compiled these reports. Do you want me to delete the site or brick the server?"

  "No, not yet. Can you check for mirror sites?"

  "You basically want to know if I can erase this information from the net entirely?"

  "Yes."

  "Sorry, Mr. Dillinger. I can send out some programs to crawl the net and destroy the information if they find it, but to say with a hundred percent certainty that it will be completely gone, that I can't do. Controlling digital information isn't nearly as easy as hardcopy info."

  "Do your best. Tag anything you find, but don't remove it from the net yet. I don't want to spook anyone. Things are already crazy enough without throwing extra chaos into the mix."

  "You got it. What do you want me to tell Kassar?"

  "Keep him up to date as he requested, information at a minimum, but make sure I get all information first."

  "Of course."

  "What's the story with Jason and Dr. Merrick?"

  "I wasn't kidding with Kassar. She really has gone off the grid. Well, as much as possible anyway. She obviously did her homework, likely has new IDs and is probably paying cash for everything. I know you likely don't want me to use official channels, but if you'd let me piggyback on the main system I could have real-time facial recognition programs running and be able to..."

  "No. It's not that important. As long as Cameron can't find them I am content. I'd rather not have this on the books, even in an unofficial way. Son of a bitch made it personal a very long time ago."

  "There is going to be a job opening soon, isn't there?"

  "Do you really want to know, Jimmy?"

  "Um, no, I guess not."

  "Don't mourn for Kassar just yet. He's made his own decisions and will have to deal with the consequences. How things end up, will be up to him. I personally hope he continues on the path he's been taking. I don't like his methods and he's already shown a willingness to expose us. I know the outcome I am hoping for. He makes any more of a mess and I will gladly clean it up."

  The phone clicked o
ff and Jimmy sat there for a moment. He thought about Dillinger's words and shivered as a chill ran down his back. He didn't ever intend to get on that man's bad side.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

  Nathan woke with a familiar and comfortable weight resting in his arms. He looked at her. She was sleeping soundly, there was almost a smile upon her face. Exhaustion was his only conclusion. He couldn't imagine how else she could manage to sleep. He'd woken every hour or so. He kept seeing the web pages in his mind, every news clipping and obituary. What did it all mean? What could it mean? So much death. Paige after Paige after Paige. What the hell did it all mean? What happened to his Paige? What happened to the other Paiges? What might happen to this Paige?

  "Nothing," he said to himself. He didn't know what had happened to them. Perhaps the woman on the other end of the phone knew, perhaps she didn't. Whatever the case, he intended to make certain that nothing happened to the woman in his arms. She wasn't his Paige, but she was definitely someone special. She didn't deserve what was happening to her. Of that he was certain and if it was within his power to protect her, even a little bit, then he would do it.

  Nathan carefully slipped out of bed. He went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and shook his head. He looked exhausted, felt it too. He wondered what Paige must think when she looked into the mirror. No doubt she questioned exactly who it was that was looking back at her. What must that be like? He was tempted to grab his phone, dial the number and demand answers. Part of him was worried the woman would just hang up on him and they would never hear from her again. The other half of him was worried she would actually give him answers. Was he prepared to deal with those answers? Was Paige?

  He slipped back out of the bathroom briefly and then returned with his laptop and shut the door. He booted up the computer and returned to the website. He clicked from page to page rereading the information. He lingered on the story about his wife. He had spent the last year trying to forget that horrible night. Now he concentrated on remembering every detail.

  They had planned on spending the night in. Paige had picked out several movies and they were going to eat dinner and then curl up together and watch them. He remembered that she had gotten a phone call while he was cooking dinner. She had said it had been a wrong number, but he had thought it had been too long of a call for a simple wrong number.