The Rewind Series Boxset

by Jill Cooper

  He holds his hands up and I notice they’re shaking. “All right, all right. I concede that wasn’t my finest idea. But we could find a spot here for you. Something to reward you for everything we’ve given you. Even a front row seat.”

  “Why not just kill me?” I narrow my eyes at him.

  “Oh, Lara,” he squeezes his arms around my shoulders. “I’ve never wanted to kill you. I’ve only ever wanted to understand you. And now I do.”

  “How?” Finally I get to the question of the hour. If I could, I’d take notes.

  Daniels smirks like he’s won and I let him keep on thinking that. “Let me show you.”

  “Sure.” I swallow hard and gaze up at the clock. “I’d love to know how my brain helped you do all this.”

  He hobbles over to the desk and hits a button on his phone. “Monroe, she’s ready for the beginning of her introduction.” He heads back over to me. “He’ll be right here. It’s just the beginning, but I think when you see him, everything will become crystal clear.”

  I sigh and cross my arms. When the door opens I ready a witty come back, but it dissolves when I turn and see his face.

  There’s an old scar down the left side of his face from the eye all the way down the cheek. The time travel assassin, the one I battled is standing right in front of me. Except instead of a spry thirty-year-old guy is an old shriveled man.

  My mouth falls open and I stare at him.

  His legs shake as he takes steps toward me, but his eyes are as angry as they were that day. “When you left, I got trapped there. I spent the next seventy-five years in a time I didn’t belong in. My family. My friends.”

  “Getting off topic, Monroe.” Daniels tries to bring everything back on point.

  “Sorry, Sir.” Monroe puffs up his chest as much as he could. “Mr. Daniels didn’t send me back to kill Jax Montgomery.” I move to argue and he holds up a shaking finger. “At least not this one. I was sent from a different timeline. One where Jax turned the diaries over to the authorities and I got stuck in this timeline.”

  Jumping timelines?

  “You see, Lara?” Daniels says even though I clearly don’t. He puts his hands on my shoulders. “You jumped forward in time thanks to my harness messing up your brain signals. You saw the future and warned Jax. He gave you the diaries which is something he wasn’t going to do before so when he did that, he created a new parallel timeline that runs alongside the one our friend Monroe is from.”

  “It was too late for me.” Monroe refuses to look at me, like somehow I’m the guilty party in all this. “I was already in this timeline. Trapped. I could never get back.” He shakes his head.

  “When I discovered that changes in time, like the ones you are so famous for, create new timelines I realized, there is no such thing as changing the past. It’s just the creations of new time alternate universes. A world where Lara Crane’s mother is still dead. A world where she’s still stuck in that damn cage.

  “And a world,” he stops forward and sneers, “Where Patricia James won. Beat you. Every change you’ve made created a new world. You’re not changing anything, Lara. You’re jumping between worlds. Alternate realities. That’s the power I learned to harness from you.”

  My eyes fall to the floor and every bit of confidence, believe in myself is gone. What I know, what I think I know, is shattered.

  “How did you…” my voice is so small that I stop to collect my thoughts, “how did you know I saw Jax murdered and went back in time to fix it?”

  “Easy,” Daniels smirks. “You told me.”

  Future Cassidy

  Lara takes the boat and paddles off. When I first saw her name in Reynold’s computer I never thought I’d meet her. Never pictured her so young. Strong or stubborn. I’m sure if we had a chance to get to know her, there are things about her that would drive me crazy. But right then I’m just mournful of the fact if we succeed, I might never remember meeting her at all.

  When she’s out of range, I turn and pull myself up the old wooden dock. Cameras are going to be looking for me. Officers are going to be full-on alert so if I want to keep moving, I’m going to need to be fast.

  Ruthless.

  And above the law.

  Everything I promised myself I’d never do.

  It’s hard, but I push my thoughts away and run down the street. I use doorways as cover. When the green lights on billboards and on the flying drones activate, I side step and hide behind trees, park benches and the occasional entryway. With a few close calls, I make my way into the Harbor Marriot hotel.

  Hotels are crowded, but they have phones almost everywhere. I need one to send word to Jeff for help. I need an accomplice in all of this. Someone that can get me in Rewind without any questions being asked, which means finding a phone. I destroyed my comm back at Katie Jackson’s home and even if I hadn’t, Rewind would be listening.

  They’re always listening.

  The hotel’s roofs are arched and the skylights are plentiful. The lobby expands the length of a football field and is lit with a warm rich glow from the table lamps. It’s late and few people are loitering around which means I stick out.

  I keep my head down low as the front desk clerk looks up. Shoving my hands into my pocket, I duck into an opening elevator and push to the back, hiding behind a cluster of people. I face the wall and rest my forehead against it. Able to hear the buzzing sound as the green light turns on to scan us.

  If it picks me up, I’m a goner.

  It doesn’t and I feel blessed. The elevator ticks up a few levels and on the fifteenth floor, I push past the other guests right into the hallway.

  There’s a security guard at the other end. Big guy with a beer-gut spilling over the edge of his belt buckle. He puts his hand out like that’s all it will take to stop me. “Ma’am, you need to be scanned.”

  Not so blessed it would seem after all.

  “You’re going to have to catch me first.” I answer with a tilt of my head.

  “Ma’am!”

  The security guard takes a ginger step toward me and I bolt. Pivot on my heel and I’m just gone running to the other end of the hallway. He screams into his walkie-talkie, “Suspect on the move, I repeat suspect on the move!”

  But do they know it’s me? Or am I just one suspect in an ocean of suspects drowning at sea? Because here everyone is guilty of something.

  Everyone.

  Coming up is the door to the stairwell and I slam into it. My shoulder takes the brunt of the force. I need to find a phone and I know the top levels will be searched last. I leap up the stairs two at a time before I’m on the seventeenth floor. I struggle to take even, deep breaths and peer out the window. If they’re waiting for me, I don’t see anyone.

  Blowing out some air to calm my nerves, I fix my hair and step out into the hall. I nearly bump into a cleaning cart and see a woman down on her hands and knees. She’s in an all blue uniform and her body shakes back and forth as she’s desperate to get a stain out of the rug.

  “Excuse me?”

  The lady’s eyes dart up? “Can I help you with something, Miss?” She wipes her hands on the hem of her uniform and stands on up. Her eyes are tired and withdrawn. I think she might be new.

  “I was making a midnight snack run and got locked out of my room.” I do my best to look sheepish. “Do you mind letting me back in?” I crinkle my nose, try to look extra cute.

  Her eyes dart away. “Oh…I don’t know…It goes against…”

  “Please.” I put my hands together as I beg her. “I promise I won’t forget again.”

  Sighing, she nods and takes the key from her pocket, but then her walkie-talkie sounds and we both glance at it. “Suspect on the upper levels. Female suspect on the upper level.” Her eyes are suspicious as they meet mine.

  “That’s not me.”

  She nods, but takes a step back. She doesn’t believe me. Her hand goes for her walkie and I know I have to act fast. So I spin her around and wrap my arm ar
ound her throat. Hand over hand, I squeeze my arm tight and the cleaning lady, she doesn’t give up without a fight. She thrashes back and forth. I jerk her back with my arm to get her to settle down.

  Finally when she settles down, her face is bright red and she’s unconscious. Like a rag doll in my arms as I gently place her on the ground. “Sorry about that.” I whisper and take her key card. I hope the room I pick is empty.

  It is.

  Curtains are drawn and the queen sized bed hasn’t been slept in.

  I pull the cleaning lady in and drop her on the ground. Taking my handcuffs I restrain her in the bathroom on the towel rod. I won’t be long, but I can’t take the chance that I’ll be caught before I get a chance to help Lara.

  Long strides take me over to the bed and I pick up the phone and dial home.

  “Hello?”

  My eyes close with relief. “Jeff.”

  “Cass?” His voice is frantic. “Where’ve you been? Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

  Boy is that a loaded question. “I can’t explain over the phone. You’re going to have to trust me.”

  Jeff hesitates and I squeeze my eyes shut. “Please, Jeff. You have no idea how important this is. No idea. A girl is in trouble and I need to help her.”

  “Lara?”

  So he has pieced some of it together. I nod even though I know he can’t see it. “If you can meet me fast, that’d be great. I don’t know if she has much time left.”

  “Where?” Jeff picks up a set of keys because I can hear them jingle in his hand.

  “That place where we had our first date. Do you think you can do that?”

  “Ten minutes.” Jeff promises.

  “Better make it five.” I hang up the phone and give the room the once over. The cleaning lady is awake and jerking on the handcuffs, but when she sees me her face goes stone white.

  I could apologize. I could say a dozen different things, but instead all I do is turn toward the door. Using the peephole, I can see the hallway is empty. I sneak outside and head for the stairwell.

  When I get to the lobby, I peer around the corner. There are three cops pacing in the lobby. I’m going to have to make it across the room and out the emergency exit that faces away from the busy street. Out there I can see police squad car lights spinning, flashing red and blue.

  No matter where I go, this isn’t going to be easy. The guards might think they’re doing their job, but I need to find a fast way out and it has to happen now.

  With my back to the wall I wait for one of the guards to get close. My hands are twitching and are ready to just make their move. I’m anxious like Mexican jumping beans, even my legs jitter. I grab my black electrical stick and pull it free. I spin it like a baton in my hands just as I used to when I was a cheerleader.

  The guard approaches. I sink back into the stairwell so he can’t see me. And when he’s close enough I strike like a cobra. My arm up offensively, I jolt the side of his neck with electricity. His body goes rigid as I hold the baton there long enough to render him unconscious, leaving him with a giant red welt on his neck.

  The other guards’ eyes are on me before his body hits the floor. I reach down and free the other electrical stick from his holster. The guards approach me and I approach them.

  Zot-zot-zot go the batons as I bang them together.

  The blue light seers up the black devices and as I pull them apart, the electrical field grows, breaching the space between them. The further I pull them apart, the wider the net between them. The guards stop as they see me coming. Frozen with fear for what I’m about to unleash on their sorry little butts.

  They should be scared. They’re nothing but rental cops and sure, they do a good job most days, but they didn’t train at the academy like I did. They didn’t zot electrical prods together for the fun of it just to see how many volts you could take before going unconscious.

  I’m a damn good cop and I’m a girl which means I had a lot to prove then.

  And now I’m nothing but another guilty suspect.

  That only fuels my anger so I stretch my prods apart like a sail. The field of blue grows between the open spaces like a net, desperate to cling to each other. “Flick of my wrist and this electrical field will run off and just keep running until it hits the wall. The ground. Or you.” My eyes widen for impact and from how the guards shake; it works.

  “Get out of my way. Now. Or you’re going to feel what it’s like to fry from the inside out.” It’s wouldn’t kill them. It’d hurt for a while, but they’d be okay.

  But they don’t need to know that.

  The guards back away, keeping their distance. I trot passed them and then I spin. I walk backwards to keep my eye on them. I use the monitors above on the ceiling to keep an eye on the door.

  When the green light sweeps over me, the alarm sounds.

  My heart pounds as I rotate on my foot and I slam through the glass door, my arms up to protect my face. I’m back in the street and everywhere the cameras are red and the alarm pierces in all directions at once. They’re pulling out all the stops to catch me.

  So I take off running. I bank right around a corner and if I don’t stop, I’m going to slam right into two Rewind Officer’s standing by a patrol car. I cross the black prods in my hand to form an X. My right leg shoots out high to kick one in the chest while the other one gets the full brunt of my elbow.

  Or at least that’s what is supposed to happen.

  But he catches my elbow as the other officer deflects my foot. I spin toward the ground and land on one knee. Standing up right we duel, our black batons meeting in mid-air. The charge between us intensifies and a random spark flies off at random. I spin; they pivot as they try to get their prod against some of my exposed skin. High jabs and low kicks, I crash one of the guards down onto the pavement and I rear backwards, my leg coming high up the side to kick Mahoney right in the face.

  “Uhhh,” Mahoney grunts. Older, his face flushes pink and there’s sweat along his brow. He holds up his hands to fend me off and my foot cracks right through his defenses with a defining crunch right under his jaw. He starts to fall to his knees and I help him by jolting the back of his neck with electricity.

  “Sorry, old pal.” I struggle for breath as I step off the sidewalk. Behind me the wreckage of the police are like fallen down bowling pins. Mahoney is clutching at his neck, laying on the concrete with murder in his eyes.

  “You leave us here like this and you’re done, Winters. You’re done!”

  “We’re all done.” I consider throwing the batons down for impact of my words, but decide to keep one for myself.

  And then I trudge off the curb and run to meet Jeff. I need to keep going. Can’t slow down the pace. If I don’t, my heart might catch up with me.

  And that’s something that can’t happen.

  ****

  When I get to the Boston Garden everything is locked down. I jump the fence and walk across the luscious green grass even though there are signs everywhere that say not to. Under the pedestrian bridge are the locked down Swan boats for the night.

  And on them I see Jeff.

  I hurry over and when he sees me, his eyes light up with relief. He stands and we hug. The embrace is short, way too short. But for a brief moment I hold his face in my hands and gaze into him. It gives me everything I need to push on to see his love. Devotion.

  I just hope we can make it. I hope if we can help Lara and undo all of this somehow we’ll still find each other. Somehow we’ll still have a future.

  “What’s going on, Cass?” He’s scared. I can hear it and I’m scared too. I’m terrified.

  “Do you love me?”

  Jeff’s eyes widen, exasperated with me. “Don’t ask me to prove it again. You know I do.” He holds my chin delicately. “But whatever is going on, it goes far above anything you’ve ever done before.”

  “We don’t have time to answer every question you have, but I need you to get me into Rewind. The old Pr
u towers and we need to do it now.” I pause to let it sink in and I can practically see an exclamation mark appear over his head. “Lara’s there with Daniels and she needs our help. All of our help.”

  “To do what?”

  “Change the past. Stop all of this from happening.”

  Jeff isn’t a convert yet. He shakes his head and wipes his mouth. “This is…crazy. You’ve asked me some crazy stuff before, but never like this.”

  “I know and if we had more time I’d tell you all of it. But she’s in there now. Already I’ve wasted enough time. So I need you to take me in there. Tell everyone you’ve convinced me to turn myself in. I don’t care what we say as long as it gets me through the door.”

  Unsure, Jeff’s face flickers.

  I grip his jacket in my hand and yank him close. “You have to get me to Lara and it has to be now.”

  “She’s so important to you? Suddenly she’s more important than your career? Me? Your life? What you’re asking…”

  “Daniels is manipulating everything. Everyone. He’s killing people and using information only he has to cover it up. He killed Katie. Reynold’s wife.” My mouth tastes bitter.

  Like bile.

  “The news is saying you did that.” Jeff stares deep into my eyes with a question.

  A question I can’t believe he needs to ask.

  I’m appalled and my mouth gapes open. “You really think I’d do that? After everything…we share a bed, and you believe I’m capable of killing a defenseless woman? Someone I was trying to help?”

  Jeff sighs. “No, of course not. I’m sorry. Just…to lose you, Cass? Do you have any idea what they’re going to do to you if you fail at all this?”

  “Well thanks for the vote of confidence.” My eyebrow arches with anger.

  Jeff sighs. “I didn’t mean it like that. You know I didn’t, but you’re scaring me. All of this is scaring me.”

  “I know.” I say softly. “It’s all I know and I don’t want to die, Jeff.” I slide my hand behind his head and force him closer. My lips play against his. “I want us to be the future and doing this, it’s all we have. It’s our only chance. Please.”