by C. A. Wilke
Cash walked over and dropped his bag on the other side of the divider. “You’ve been at that for nearly two hours? I’m amazed you can still stand.”
She took a swig from her bottle of water. The icy liquid made the muscles in her throat tense up. Cold sank its way down into her chest and she gasped. “Yeah... Me too.”
Scarlett moved behind the wall to hide her shaking knees, but from the look on her brother’s face, he knew. “Scar, why don’t you take off. You’re not really in any shape to teach, and it’s a slow day anyway.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Okay”
Scarlett retrieved her own duffle from the other side of the half-wall and headed for the door. “Thanks Cash. I’ll, uh... I’ll call ya later.”
“Get some rest, sis.”
She plodded to the door and stopped when her hand touched the metal grip. “Cash... I think I need to go up to the city.”
“What for?”
Scarlett turned around and leaned against the door jam. “I, um... My thing yesterday, at the party. I need to see what it means. What I saw... It had something to do with Universal Dynamics.”
Cash stepped over to the mannequin and took up a stance. “What, the defense contractor?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, alright. But be careful. Just... Take a shower first, k?”
Scarlett gave a weak laugh. “Ha, ha. Last I checked, you were the one who produced a foul odor.” She turned and shoved open the door. As the door swung closed behind her, Cash shouted, “That’s only from your cooking!”
* * *
Cash laughed to himself as his sister disappeared around the corner. He glanced at his watch. The first of the children would arrive in about five minutes. This won’t take long. It better not.
He retrieved his cellphone from the duffle. It took a moment to remember the number he wanted to call. After seven years, he was surprised it came so quickly.
The voice that answered on the other end was deep and smooth. “Cash. It’s been a while. Looking to get back into the business?”
Cash’s voice was hard and serious. “No. I need you to look something up for me. I know you’ve got the contacts.”
“Please. After all this time you think you can just ask for a favor?”
A car pulled up to the curb in front of the dojo. Danny Green, one of Cash’s students, started to climb out of the shiny silver minivan.
“You’re damn right.”
The voice on the other end sighed. “Fine. What’cha need?”
Cash moved around behind the half-wall. “Universal Dynamics. I need to know if there’s been any kind of explosions or fires related to them. Would have been at least five years ago.”
“Alright. Want me to call you back with that?”
Little Danny bounded in through the door and waved. Cash waved back with a smile. “No. I’ll call you.”
03Chapter 3
Road Trip
Most people regret their pasts. They want to go back to fix bad decisions, take different roads and speak when they chose to stay silent. I don’t regret my past. I can’t regret what I don’t have.
* * *
Scarlett’s gaze drifted up the copper and glass sides of the building until it disappeared into the clouds. Her eyes traced the structure’s stark lines back down to the sparkling black and silver luxury sedans drifting by on the hot asphalt. She winced at a flash of sunlight reflecting off another skyscraper’s sun-tracking panels.
The giant Universal Dynamic Industries logo dominated the cement courtyard of the copper building. The ten-foot-tall, metallic-orange letters, UDI, surrounded an even more massive glass globe.
The cars came to a stop and Scarlett decided it was time to go in. She wove her way through the vehicles. Dozens of people milled about, some standing outside for a smoke, others coming and going from the building. None of the passers-by paid her any attention. She was just another bystander.
Scarlett’s stomach twisted as she approached. Logic told her to be calm, that no one inside would remember or know her. Even so, she felt vulnerable. Each breath came only with effort as the scale of the skyscraper threatened to crush her.
Ahead, the gigantic logo warned of the limitless corporate power contained within the building. Bright sunlight reflected off the building’s surface and glared down on her. The intense light sent a stab of pain into the back of her skull. The pain vanished as soon as she passed into the shadows.
Inside, the lobby was a model of corporate minimalism. At Scarlett’s right sat the main information desk. The rest of the space opened up above for at least three stories. The floor was covered in a black tile flecked with bits of copper. Sparse pieces of metal and leather furniture dotted the waiting area.
An unfamiliar voice drew Scarlett’s attention back to the desk. “Can I help you Miss?”
“I’m sorry?” Scarlett’s voice was meeker than she intended.
The young, twenty-something man stared at a holodisplay. He sat on a chair perched on a raised platform, putting him at eye-level with her. “I said, ‘Can I help you Miss’.”
“I’m, um... I’m looking for someone. I think.”
The clerk rolled his eyes for a second and turned to her. He made no effort to hide his disdain. “Well are you or aren’t you?”
Scarlett cocked her head to the side. “Aren’t I what?”
“Are you or aren’t you looking for someone? I can’t help you if you don’t decide.”
She was taken aback and could not find the words to express her confused annoyance.
“What’s the person’s name?”
Scarlett placed her arms on the chest-high counter. “I’m not sure. I...”
The man’s impatience won out and he interrupted her. “I’m sorry Miss, but if you don’t know who you are looking for, I cannot help you. If you need help, you can use one of those data terminals over against the far wall.” He raised his arm and pointed.
Scarlett followed the man’s direction to a nearby wall with alcoves built into it. Inside each alcove sat a holodisplay console.
“Oh... thank you.”
When she looked back at him, the clerk was already staring back at the floating shapes and letters made of light from his holodisplay.
Scarlett walked across the glossy floor to one of the terminals. Her knuckles became white as she clutched her purse. She reached the small cubicle and set her handbag down on the counter.
Something whirred overhead. She looked up to see a security camera angling down to see her. A shiver ran down Scarlett’s back at the thought of someone on the other end of that video feed staring at her. It was clear she had someone’s attention.
She swiped at the holographic display, bringing it to life. Something touched her shoulder and she jumped. She spun around and came face to face with a blonde woman a few years older than herself.
The woman stared at Scarlett with wide brown eyes and an open mouth of surprise. “Jill?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Jill McAdams? Where’ve you been?”
Scarlett stared at the woman, her eyes squinted in confusion. “Um, do you know me?”
“I worked in Data Processing when the accident happened. My God, you look exactly the same, just…” Her eyes squinted and she looked Scarlett up and down. “Much sexier.”
Scarlett was about to ask the woman about Jill McAdams when an image of the overhead camera flashed in her mind. Her heart began to race, but she had no idea why. She had the sudden urge to get out of the building.
“I think you have me mistaken with someone else.”
The woman’s surprised expression vanished. Her brow wrinkled in confusion. “Oh. I’m, sorry.”
As if on cue, the security camera whirred again. The more Scarlett thought about it, the more her pulse raced. She knew something was off.
She forced her face to relax and smiled. “Oh, that’s okay. I guess I just have one of those faces.”
Scarlett picked up her pu
rse as the woman backed away.
“I guess so.”
Scarlett made her voice as cheery as she could to hide her anxiety. She bid the woman a good day and strolled out of the building. Only when she was outside could she breathe easily again. Something about that definitely felt wrong.
After a deep breath, she fought the crowds on her way back to her car. Ahead, she saw the sign for the garage where she had parked her vehicle.
When she reached the garage, she turned to head up the stairs. Her left foot stepped into the shadow of the building when she felt someone’s gaze on her. She scanned the area for anything unusual. From the direction she’d just come, her eyes stopped on a man in a dark suit. He fought his own way through the lunchtime crowds until he looked up at her and stopped.
Everything but the man’s face faded away as their eyes locked like hunter and prey. Panic flooded her mind. She snapped back to reality and bounded up the stairwell.
Scarlett’s intense workout earlier had left her more drained than she expected. By the time she reached the fifth floor, she could barely breathe. She burst through the metal door and stumbled down the parking ramp. Behind her, she heard feet pounding up the metal stairs.
Her chest heaved and she fell against the side of her small, blue sedan. In her pocket, her fingers found the right button on the vehicle’s key. A single chirp echoed through the garage. She flung the door open, plopped down into the seat and slammed the door shut.
The car turned over on the first try. She threw it into reverse and pulled out of the narrow space. Shifting again, her tires squealed and her car lurched forward. She didn’t even care about the dent her door left on the car that had been next to her.
In the rear-view mirror, Scarlett saw the dark suited man, bent over trying to breathe. He reached for the side of his head and spoke into an earpiece. She had no idea what the man wanted.
She also had no intention of finding out.
When her heart finally calmed down and she could breathe normally, she parked at the back of the nearest Mackey Burger parking lot. Outside of her car, she paced around with her commpad in hand. She knew she needed to call someone, but had no idea who. She couldn’t very well call the police, as technically there was no crime. Cash? No, he’d just tell me to come home. I’ve got to deal with this myself.
She leaned against the vehicle and looked at her device. Her mind flashed back to the blonde woman. What did she call me? Jill. Jill McAdams.
Scarlett opened the browser on her commpad and did a people-search for ‘Jill McAdams.’ The listing for Center City came up with no Jills. But it did find one Jillian.
So, I seem to have a name...
She tapped a few more keys and a map to Jillian’s address popped up.
And now I have an address.
Chapter 4
The Super
I imagine that I was a stubborn child. My parents probably struggled with getting me to follow rules and let things go. I imagine these things, but really have no idea. I only know what I’m like today. And today...I’m like a bloodhound with a scent.
* * *
Scarlett sat in the seat of her little blue sedan staring at the apartment building across the street. The brick facade was five stories tall and had a red door. Bright yellow, red and blue flowers grew in small windowsill boxes beneath each window.
Scarlett knew the longer she waited, the harder it would be to walk through that door. She could not wait forever.
As she walked across the street and squeezed between the parked cars, her knees felt weak. It was more than just the sprint up five flights of stairs. If she was nervous at entering Universal Dynamics, Scarlet was positively a wreck at the thought of walking into what may have been her home before the accident.
Little more than an hour ago, she had strolled into the corporate offices of the defense contractor, hoping to find some hint as to her connection with the company.
She got more than she expected.
A woman Scarlett had never seen before walked right up to her and called her Jill, confirming her suspicions and giving her a name. But what really frightened, and intrigued her, was the strange man who chased her to her car. Who was he, and who was he on the phone with?
Scarlett’s hand grasped the brass door handle to find it locked. To her left, an intercom buzzer poked out from the wall. She glanced at the button when the door flew open. She jumped back and her heart leaped in her chest. A middle-aged brunette with someone who must have been her husband, from the ring on his finger, exited the building. The woman offered Scarlett an apology for startling her as the couple bounced down the short stone stairs hand in hand.
With her hand on her chest, Scarlett tried to catch her breath. The door swung mostly closed then slowed. Scarlett thrust her hand into the shrinking gap.
Inside, the building was warm but smelled fresh. Dark hardwood clacked under her shoes. She put her foot on the first step and looked up. Her gaze followed the stairway up in a squared spiral. Here we go.
She climbed to the third floor and stood before the door with the brass letter E on it, she knew that even if she had lived there, there would be little to no evidence of her here now. It’s been five years. Somebody’s had to have rented it by now.
She imagined the cute couple leaving the building a few minutes ago living here. Their lives, happy and uneventful, knowing just as little about her past life here as she did. This was their home now.
A sound behind her made her jump again. She spun around to find only the empty hallway. She looked up and down the stairwell, but there was no one to be seen. Maybe just a cat.
Scarlett was about to turn back to the door when she heard the sound again. The thump came from behind the other apartment’s door.
Scarlett took a cautious step toward apartment F. “Hello?”
No one responded.
She crept over and listened. At first there was no sound, but when she placed her ear to the door she heard a faint whisper.
“It’s not real. Listen to Mr. Crow. It’s not real.”
Scarlett leaned back and stared at the door. “Hello? Are you there?”
Still no response, but the whisper became a murmur loud enough to hear several inches from the wood surface.
The young man’s voice quivered with fear. “Listen to Mr. Crow! It’s not real! She’s not real! It’s not real! She’s not real!”
Scarlett twisted her mouth to the side, trying to make sense of the situation. “Um... Sir? I am real. Can I talk to you? Hello?”
As she spoke, the man’s voice grew even louder, as if he was trying to drown her out. The voice yelled a final “You’re not real!” before Scarlett heard feet thumping away, deeper into the apartment.
Damn.
Another voice called from the stairwell, catching her off guard. “Can I...help you?”
Scarlett turned to see a man of East Indian descent in his mid-fifties standing on the landing between the second and third floors. His face was familiar, yet still foreign to her. She was not sure how, but she knew this man.
He gawked at her with his mouth open. His words were barely a whisper. “Ms. McAdams.”
* * *
Scarlett carefully watched Rishabh lean over and pour the steaming brown liquid into her cup. Logic told her to flee while she could; it told her not to trust anyone. But her ghost-like memories, those flashes of insight and remembrance that came and went over and over in her mind’s eye, told her he was not a threat. After pouring his own cup, Rishabh sat down. The two sat in his kitchen at an old table covered with an avocado-green laminate and wrapped with a dented aluminum edging. The table reminded her of something from the 1970’s. To her right was an old stove and an even older refrigerator.
She looked from her cup out the window to her left. A leaf fell from a tree on the far side of the street and landed on her car.
Rishabh Dwivedi was the owner and super for the building. His salt-and-pepper hair and grey mustache contrasted a
gainst his light brown skin. Scarlett couldn’t remember any specifics about their relationship, friendly or otherwise. But her heart trusted him.
The man stirred the milk and sugar in his cup, turning the dark liquid into a soft mocha color. She watched him slowly pick up the cup and take a sip.
Scarlett held her own cup in her hands, feeling the warmth soak into her fingers. “This is probably going to sound like a really crazy question, but... Who am I?”
Rishabh’s chair creaked as he leaned back and regarded her. His eyes showed no sign of surprise. When he spoke, his voice was deep with a barely distinguishable Hindi accent. “Not such a strange question. At least, not based on your reaction to seeing me.”
Scarlett had to keep her jaw from dropping. “Uh. Were we, um...”
He leaned his head back and laughed loudly. “Oh my, no. Nothing like that. Other than the monthly rent collection, we would play an occasional game of Pachisi. But that is all.”
“Parcheesi?” Scarlett’s brow wrinkled.
Rishabh laughed again. “More or less. It is just a simple board game. We would just sit and play while we sipped chai.”
“Oh.” Scarlett gazed down into her own cup and the light brown liquid. She picked it up and took a sip. The warm, creamy liquid flowed over her tongue. Her mouth exploded in a spicy riot of flavors. She picked out the cinnamon and hints of cardamom. The rest was just a blur.
“Wow... that’s really good.”
Rishabh smiled. “It always was your favorite.”
A long moment of awkward silence fell on the pair. Scarlett wanted to ask a dozen questions but could not find the words.
Finally, Rishabh broke the silence. “Are you happy?”
She looked down into her cup. “Am I happy? I, um... Yeah. I’m happy.”
His face widened into a smile. “Good. Do not take this the wrong way, but... go home. Jillian was not a happy person. There is nothing here for you.”
“Yes, there is.”
“What? What is so important that, suddenly after five years of not having it, you cannot live without?”
