Lost Time (The Bridge Sequence Book Two)

by Nathan Hystad

  That could mean anything. I continued to play dumb. “Dinner? We’re both hungry. It’s late. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

  She smiled and drove from the parking lot. I caught a glimpse of my car in the vacant lot, with snowflakes melting on the hood as we headed away from the college. Her purse was in the center console, and I considered grabbing it and looking for a gun, but I stayed where I was.

  “Do you ever get lonely, Rex?” Her question surprised me.

  “Sure. Who doesn’t?”

  “I’ve risen to the top by working hard. You have no idea the hours I’ve had to put in,” she said casually.

  Had she seen me in Colorado? I needed some indication of her motives. “I can only imagine. It must have taken a lot of work to be offered the role. Especially in such an old institution.” That could have meant the college or the cult. I let her choose.

  “And being a woman. Do you know how difficult it is to be seen as a leader when you wear stockings and high heels?” She gave me a light laugh.

  “You deserve everything you have coming to you.” I kept grinning, letting the threat of my words wash over her. She didn’t even blink.

  My friends were scouring her home, searching for the Token, and I was stupidly risking it all by wanting to call her out. I pumped the brakes. “And if I have any say in it, maybe I’ll be part of your future too.” The tension dissolved from my tone.

  “I’d like that, Rex. I was instantly attracted to you. From the moment we met. I remember the interview like it was yesterday. I asked you the simple questions, and you answered with ease and grace, but the entire time, I could see your thoughts were elsewhere.”

  I recalled the day, and she was on the nose with the commentary. I’d been under pressure by Richard to join the staff at Harvard, and my mother had been sick, in the hospital, during what ended up being her last week alive. Instead of being there with Beverly, I’d stayed at home, using the interview as my excuse. When it was over, I’d met with Marcus and drunk too many beers, wallowing in self-pity at my lackluster career and dying mother. That was when the email had come in with the job offer. I’d been so relieved. Mom had died two days later, and I’d had no idea that Jessica’s reason for hiring me was to keep an eye on my every move.

  “You’re correct. I was surprised you even employed me.”

  “I told you I was married, didn’t I?” she asked.

  “You did.”

  “Donovan was a good man. Is a good man. But he and I didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. I remember thinking about him when you walked in the door that morning, and contemplated calling him to check if he wanted to meet up. He’s remarried, has two kids. Made partner at his firm last year.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

  She turned left, and I flinched. Downtown was in the opposite direction. “You changed my mind. I saw you and told myself I didn’t need Donovan or his memory any longer. I wanted a future with you in it.”

  I pointed out my window. “Isn’t the restaurant in that direction?”

  “The bridge is backed up.” She said it so casually, I almost didn’t notice the word she used. Bridge.

  “I took it earlier,” I said.

  “Oh, then maybe they fixed it. It was full of sirens. I think someone died because of the bridge.” Her thinly veiled threats were growing bolder. She sped up, the SUV speeding down the road. A light turned orange, and she raced through it.

  “Jessica, where are you taking me?”

  “There’s something I want to show you,” she said, not breaking her stare with the road.

  More snow fell, distorting our surroundings. It twirled in her LED headlights, making it difficult to see ahead. Traffic was light as she drove down the side streets from the core.

  I tried to think of what to do, but was at a loss. It was clear she wasn’t going to stop until she reached her destination. A light ahead flashed yellow, and turned red. She gripped the wheel tighter, a saxophone solo erupting from the speakers as she ran the light. A minivan honked at her, skidding to a halt from our left.

  “You need to pull over,” I said as calmly as I could. “Let me out of the car.”

  “I don’t think so, Rexford. I know what you want from me, but you’re never going to get it,” she said.

  “And what is that?” I stared at the parked vehicles, hoping there was a police car waiting to catch unsuspecting speeders somewhere nearby. But it was cold and snowy, meaning they’d be dealing with accidents all over the city.

  “You consider yourself a step ahead of everyone else. Always have. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was attracted to you, Rex. I was aware of who your father was, and I made it my personal responsibility to keep tabs on your movements. At first I thought it was a waste, because you didn’t seem to have any interest in the Bridge.” And there it was. We were out in the open. I looked at her purse, and she shoved it along the door beside her. I guessed I might get out of here alive if I fended her off. I could take the steering wheel, jar it to the side and crash the SUV. But she was going too fast.

  “Why does the Bridge scare you so much?” I asked as the song changed.

  “You should be afraid of it too. It’s the end, Rex. We’ve been shown the truth. There’s nothing across there but pain and torment for our people. Understand that. Everything I’ve done is for humanity, not myself. If you’d just open your eyes, I can show you.” She spoke with passion, and I could tell she believed what she was saying. I had to agree with her; otherwise, she would kill me without question. I saw that now.

  “I want to understand,” I whispered.

  She glanced at me, a small grin appearing on her face.

  “Look out!” I called, and she focused on the road, right in time to avoid hitting the delivery truck pulling from the side of the street.

  She slammed on her brakes, and we sat there, snow falling heavily on her windshield. The wipers streaked it away, and she took my hand. “Don’t be afraid.” Jessica yanked a gun from her purse, setting it on her lap, and signaled, turning into an alley.

  I almost considered grabbing for it, but I was too intrigued by her caution. I sat quietly while she headed for an underground parking lot. The building looked nice. Expensive.

  It had a mixture of sports cars, high end SUVs, and sedans. Clearly somewhere I couldn’t afford to live. She parked over the lines of two spots near an elevator entrance and turned the engine off. The music faded, and she gazed at me. “Are we going to have a problem?”

  And I understood what this was. She knew I wasn’t carrying the Case and Tokens, but she wanted them. Jessica thought she could strike a deal with me, and I had to let her believe that.

  I lifted my hands, showing her I was playing along. “No problems here.”

  “Good. I’m going to bring you upstairs. The penthouse.”

  I recalled our earlier conversation when we’d eaten at the Lebanese diner. She’d mentioned having an apartment in the city, but told me she’d been too close to work, so she’d moved back to her house full time. She’d obviously held on to the apartment. It appeared that the Sovereign position paid well.

  I climbed out first, and she shoved her gun into her jacket pocket, motioning for me to enter the elevator before her.

  The steel doors opened, and I walked in, hoping like hell that I’d make it through this night alive. I wished I could talk to the others, to check on their progress, but that wasn’t an option. I trusted Tripp and everyone else was doing everything possible to retrieve the seventh Token.

  She pushed a button, standing close. I figured I could kill her if I needed to. Her scent drifted to my nose, and she stared forward, hand inside the pocket with the gun. What had driven this beautiful and professional woman to become the leader of a cult? Maybe if I grasped that, it would help me survive.

  The elevator rose slowly, each of the four stories crawling by until it finally stopped, the doors beeping open.

  There was a hallway w
ith two doors on opposite ends, and she took me right, staying behind me. Jessica didn’t speak as she tapped a key fob to the high-tech lock, and it clicked.

  “After you,” she said.

  I entered the unit, expecting to be faced against an army of Believers. It was vacant.

  She turned the lights on, and a cat emerged from the living room, purring as it rubbed against her ankles. Seeing the interaction felt out of place. It was far too human. She scratched it behind the ear and waved me inside. I dropped my jacket on a coat hook, and she set her gun on the kitchen table, draping her coat on a chair.

  “Rex, welcome to my place. This is Annabelle.” She indicated the cat, who stalked over to me, inquisitive of the new guest entering her home.

  I crouched, petting the cat, and it let me, moving between my feet, tail high. “You have a lovely apartment.”

  That wasn’t quite true. It was cold, sterile, but extremely expensive. The chef’s kitchen was all stainless steel and white marble, with a giant concealed refrigerator and an island the size of my main floor. She kept the lights dim and headed across the room to a luxurious bar full of crystal decanters and bottles. “Drink?” she asked.

  “Anything that isn’t already open?” I added a smile, trying to break the tension.

  “Rexford, if I wanted you dead, you’d have been gone years ago.” She poured two drinks into snifters, and I accepted one, swirling the brandy slowly.

  “I don’t doubt that,” I said. “But you needed something from me.”

  “Yes, the Bridge.” She sauntered to the living room, using a remote to turn on a gas fireplace. The windows were floor to ceiling, and we could see a view of downtown Boston peeking over the nearby townhouses. “I love this city. It’s such a wonderful place to live.”

  “Where did you grow up?” I wanted to disarm her. Here we were, two contemporaries, seemingly working the opposite sides of a war I didn’t quite understand.

  “Can we cut past the crap, Rex?” I waited until she took a drink to try the brandy.

  “Sure. What do you have in mind?” I asked, and she lifted an eyebrow, walking closer.

  Her finger touched my chest, and I glanced down, seeing the well-manicured green shellacked nails. “Don’t tempt me.”

  She’d left the gun in the kitchen. It was hard to believe she was that trusting.

  “What do you really think is going to happen when they arrive?” I asked her.

  Jessica stayed close, her palm warm against my shirt. “This world isn’t ours. Never has been. Humans have always been too cocky, too arrogant for their own good. We’ve foolishly dominated the planet since we learned to communicate. I often wonder what the Unknowns expect when they return. Do they think we’ll still be wandering around, beating our dinner with clubs? Or do they assume we’ve expanded into space, working as a global entity to accomplish our goals? I’m disappointed in mankind, aren’t you?” She lowered her hand, walking to the windows. The fireplace sent shadows of her onto the couch.

  “I’m not disappointed in the people. I think we’re inherently good. It’s the greed and power struggle of our leaders that causes the issues,” I said.

  “Is that really what you think?” she asked.

  “Would the rest of the Believers have chosen to kill innocent college students if their leader hadn’t ordered it?” I laid it on the table.

  “You were there.” She didn’t seem overly surprised. “When I saw the helicopter, I was sure your little tramp was part of it.”

  “She’s not a—”

  “I don’t care. You set us back in Colorado. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” she asked with a tremor in her voice.

  “I rescued my father,” I said.

  She looked at me through misty eyes and quickly regained her composure. “Father? What are you talking about?”

  I’d said too much, but maybe I could use it. Create the impression we were more powerful than we were. “You had no idea Dirk Walker and Clayton Belvedere were in your custody?”

  Red blotches appeared on her chest, and she took another drink. “Either way, we press on. And here we are, at a bit of an impasse. You want the book, and I want the Bridge.”

  The book? She thought I wanted a book, not the seventh Token. “Is the book here?”

  “I’m not stupid, Rex. Just like I assume the Bridge device isn’t with you.”

  “It’s close,” I lied. The real Case was hiding at Hunter’s place with Bev, but she didn’t need to know that.

  “If your father is here, that means you’ve used the Bridge,” Jessica said. “I was worried that was true. What happened to our agent?”

  “Fred?” I asked, sipping the brandy.

  The look on her face was priceless. “You figured it out.”

  “It became quite obvious when he pulled a gun on us and tried to kill everyone.”

  “Maybe Fred was a poor choice. We never actually thought you’d bring him and your sister with you to Portugal,” she said.

  “Either way, Fred is dead, and so are the rest of the team he was with,” I told her, pretending Saul had been killed then too.

  “That’s a shame,” she said quietly. “One of those men was close to me.”

  I wondered for a split second what that meant. Was it Saul she was referring to, because he claimed he didn’t know the Sovereign’s identity?

  “And what did you find across the Bridge?” She went into the kitchen but didn’t reach for her gun. She poured another drink instead.

  “The answers. Help. For what’s coming,” I lied again.

  “I doubt that. Not if you’re seeking the Book.”

  I wished I was aware of this book she was referring to. “Will you show it to me? Maybe we can discuss and exchange.” I knew that was what she would offer anyway, or maybe my life for the Bridge. Not that I trusted her to keep her end of the bargain up.

  She was distracted, and I grabbed my cell phone. There was a single message from Tripp. No Token. We’re out.

  Damn it all. If it wasn’t there… I glanced around the living room, which led to a hallway past the kitchen. “Do you mind if I freshen up?”

  She peered at me, at the gun, then at the hallway. “Go for it,” she said, grabbing the weapon. “But be quick.”

  I hurried past, setting my glass beside hers. There were three other doors beside the bathroom, and I tested one, finding it locked.

  “It’s the first door on the left,” she called from behind me.

  “Thank you.” I entered the huge bathroom and locked the door. There was a window here, but I couldn’t risk trying to escape. It was freezing outside, and my allies hadn’t found the Token. If it wasn’t here, in this apartment, she knew where it was. I pulled the tiny vial from the hidden pocket sewn into the lower hem of my blazer. The powder was potent enough to knock her out for an hour, according to Tripp. I hadn’t asked where he’d procured the stuff, and didn’t really care. I had no other choice.

  I flushed the toilet, ran warm water, and returned to the kitchen. Jessica stood where I’d left her. “Rex, it’s time we moved this show along. We can make a trade.” She walked closer, her hips swaying, a smirk on her red lips. The vial was hidden in my grip, and I set my other hand on the small of her back.

  “You can have the Bridge. I only wanted my father. The rest is not my concern.” I said this beside her ear, stretching around to drop the powder into her glass. I finished the dose by pulling her into me. “I’ve wanted you since that first day as well.”

  My lips found hers, pressing firmly as we stumbled backwards, nearly spilling the brandy. I managed to pick up her glass, swirling it while we kissed. I hoped it would work to hide the residue. We broke apart, and she smiled hungrily at me. The gun was in her grip, and she shoved it into my stomach, right where I’d been shot. “Do you think I’m a fool? Why were you snooping around my Seattle offices? Why were three of you caught in Palm Springs? You’ve been everywhere, searching for the Book, and that tells me the Br
idge didn’t work. I thought it had failed, but if your father returned, I have to assume you haven’t been across it yet.”

  I raised my hands, gave her some distance. “That’s true, but I’m done with these games. I don’t care about the Bridge. I just want to survive what’s coming. I have to take care of my friends and family, Jessica. Even you can understand that.”

  “Even me?”

  “If you’re saying that you’re doing what’s necessary, explain it. Tell me why we can’t use the Bridge. I only have what my dad and his allies offered up, and that’s precious little,” I pleaded.

  “Yes. Hunter Madison, right? Brian Hardy?”

  “They’re both dead. I can see how my life will end too. That’s why I reached out. I want to make a deal with you, Jessica. A real one.” For a moment, it looked like she was going to buy it, but she waggled the gun in the air, telling me to enter the living room. I glanced at the brandy and sat on the couch by the fire.

  “Whatever your father encountered on the other side of the Bridge is a lie. They seek you out, get into your mind. Ask you things. But they’re a poison to their people.”

  “Who are?”

  Jessica looked wild, her eyes wider, her lips parted to reveal bared teeth. “The Unknowns will take what they want. Know this. They cannot dream their way into existence. It’s why we’ve been tasked with preventing anyone from using the Bridge, only Hardy discovered the secret of it before we did. When Dirk and Clayton left and didn’t return, we thought they’d failed, but hearing that they survived for thirty-something years… and have come back on the cusp of the Unknowns’ arrival? That doesn’t bode well for us.”

  I only grasped half of what she was telling me. “The Book is our guide. You think I’d ever give it to the likes of you and your cronies? What a joke.” The gun wavered in her grip as she flailed her arms. “I want the Bridge, Rex Walker. I want it now, or you and all of your friends will be dead before sunrise. I’ll personally seek out your niece and nephew and sacrifice them for my own attuning. I’ll drench myself in their blood and link to my contact, bonding once and for all. Do you understand?”