15 Minutes- The Complete Saga Boxset

by Jill Cooper

  But Mike does. He hangs himself.

  “Molly?” Mike’s terrified voice breaks through my wall of memories that haven’t happened yet—memories I hope never will happen. “What is it? What did you see?”

  I don’t answer…I can’t.

  When I don’t, tears spring into his eyes. “What did you see!”

  I press my lips together to keep my chin from trembling as time speeds back up. The police officer handcuffs Mike and my twin gazes at Mom. She’s being strong, the tears in her eyes the only thing that gives away how she feels inside.

  “Mom,” Mike says, but can’t bring himself to say anything else.

  Mom only nods and her lips quiver with a failed attempt at a smile. “It’ll be okay. We’ll clear this all up.”

  Mike doesn’t say anything as the police lead him away. As soon as he goes through the door, the waves of sorrow and panic from him hit me and my knees tremble. I almost fall except Mom catches my arm. “Easy, sweetheart. He’ll be okay.” Her voice cracks as she helps me sit down and kneels in front of me. She buries her face in my knees and I stroke her back with my trembling fingers.

  Nothing will be okay. All roads lead to heartbreak. There’s only one way to prove Mike didn’t do it and it’s something I’m loathe to do.

  Go back in time. Witness who beat Morgan so savagely that she had died—and pray to God that it wasn’t Mike. If it’s the only way, it’s what I have to do.

  “Mom,” my voice sounds small, “I can help Mike. I can figure out who killed Morgan.”

  Mom shakes her head. “No. You stay out of this. You let the police—”

  “Railroad him?” I let my words sink in. “The police want an arrest. They smell blood and they’re not going to let go.”

  “What can you do?” Mom asks with a shrug. “What can any of us do?” Now that Mike’s no longer in the room, her real desperation sounds in her voice and it mirrors in her eyes.

  “You were in the altered timeline. You know what I can do.”

  Her face breaks down as tears flow. “I’ve been trying so hard not to think about what that means…and about everything that happened. But I do remember.” She takes my face in her hands and kisses my cheeks. “I forgot my own son. My own daughter.” The grief she feels compounds on her face and I hear it in her voice as she hugs me, and I cling to her, too.

  “I won’t let you down again. Either of you.” Mom feels so much guilt for things she can’t control, and I can see that it’s crushing her.

  “It’s not your fault, Mom. They took your memories. They changed you. They changed everyone, but they can’t change me. I’m special. I can stop whatever is happening with Mike.”

  “You think this has to do with your Uncle Rex?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know what to think, but I can find out. I need time by myself. I need to go back.”

  Mom holds me tighter. With time, she lets me go and rises up to her feet. “Can you save her? Can you make it so this never happened?”

  “I might be able to, but first I have to see who hurt her. I have to see what it is I need to stop.”

  Mom sighs and strokes my face. “I don’t wish any of this on you or Lara, but my girls…I wish I could save you from this.”

  “You should catch up with Mike, just in case. He needs you.”

  Mom wipes her face clear. “Be careful, baby. Please, be careful.” She hurries from the room, but she lingers to glance back at me.

  “Close the door, please.”

  Mom explains to the receptionist that I need a moment of privacy and closes the door. I have no time to waste. I cup my hand to open the portal and head up to the bridge. I can’t travel in time like Lara does, but I can use the bridge to go to a specific moment in time.

  And I hope to catch a killer red-handed.

  ****

  Cassidy meets me on the bridge. She sits in a chair beside me as I bring up the timeline’s metrics on a computer terminal. “So, you’re going to go witness Morgan Drake’s attack in order to retrace the steps and then find a way to clear your brother’s name? Well, that’s one way to do it.”

  “Pretty much.” I waste little time on talking and spend more time on finding the exact pinpoint in time I’m looking for.

  “That’s going to be a lot for you to watch. I can go back for you.”

  “I can do it, Cassidy.” My lips draw into a thin, stubborn line.

  “I know you can. I’m not sure you should have to. Witnessing that is going to be hard. I’m not sure you’re ready. I’ve been through beatings, torture. I can handle it.”

  “He’s my brother. I’m ready. I have to do this.”

  Cassidy nods and crosses her legs. “I know you do. I think it’s going to be harder than you realize.” She gets that faraway look on her face she gets sometimes. She thinks of Rex when she looks like that. I know even though we’ve never talked about it.

  We don’t have to.

  “Ready?” Cassidy asks as she bring up a portal for me.

  Ready as I’m ever going to get.

  Chapter Fourteen: Molly

  When the time portal opens, I step out into the hallway of the country club. It feels eerie to be back here so soon after everything happened, but now I have time to fix everything.

  I walk down the hall leading to the bathroom. The heat is on pretty high and it flames my cheeks. The carpet is forest-green and the walls are a deep cocoa-brown. A waitress hurries past me and I follow after her down the hall.

  We turn right into the women’s washroom and step inside. I head into the closest stall and close the door. I listen, with my hand flat against the door. Concentrate.

  The woman I had followed in washes her hands. The water turns off and the door squeaks as she leaves. A few moments later, I take a deep breath and smell the lavender of the soap as the squeaky door pulls open again. I listen to heels as they click across the floor toward the sink. When the water turns on, I bend over to catch a glance of her red pumps.

  It’s definitely Morgan, which means any minute that her attacker will enter the washroom.

  My anxiety ramps up as her phone rings. I open the door enough to catch sight of her. Morgan’s back is to me as she takes her phone out of her black purse. “Hi! I didn’t think you’d ever call me back.”

  I wonder who she’s talking to, but I figure it must be a business associate.

  “I’m meeting his kids right now. There will be a few challenges, but I think they’ll come around. The girl is really sweet…. No, I’m giving them some space to work through a few things. Pretty sure his son is going to be the problem.”

  Her choice of words makes her sound like she’s anything but the doting girlfriend and I wonder who she really was. What was it she really wanted out of my dad?

  Some light shimmers outside of my peripheral vision inside the washroom. It lights up the bathroom in a way that’s so intense it steals Morgan’s attention away. She gasps as someone charges her from an area just outside of my vision. He pushes her against the bathroom wall closest to the bathroom exit.

  His fingers tightened around her neck.

  I run from my hiding space as Morgan wheezes and I do my best not to focus on her as she’s beaten, but I’m unable to keep my eyes off of her. The man has his hand around her throat and bashes her head back into the tile.

  His legs are spread wide and he’s in an expensive pressed suit. His brown hair is short, trim and perfect and from how he moves, I know who he is.

  My brother.

  “Mike!” I scream and it gives him pause. He glances back at me with a hard scowl, his brow harsh and the look in his eye gives me pause. This version isn’t Future Mike, but he’s not the brother I know.

  Something has happened to him. He’s from another time and place.

  “Help….” Morgan begs as Mike tightens his grip on her throat. Her eyes are wide as she claws at his hand and she makes an inhuman gagging noise.

  I rush him, my hand extends to grab him.
Mike whips around and his hand covers mine. When that happens, I’m jolted with electricity and everything around us begins to bubble up as time freezes. When Lara moves through time she creates pixels but this is new—it isn’t something I’ve experienced before. This isn’t me, this is Mike.

  Drawing breath, I panic because I feel like I can’t breathe…except that I can.

  “You need to leave,” Mike says. “If you stay here, I can’t finish what needs to be done. Morgan can’t be allowed to marry Dad.”

  He is older and from the future, but just barely. I hadn’t recognized it before. “Why?”

  Mike’s eyes twitch as he gazes toward the sink. He’s searching for an answer, but I can’t be sure that he’s telling the truth. “She doesn’t love him. Morgan wants to get close to him for us. Lara. When she marries Dad, things go wrong. She works for a corporation that wants to exploit time travel, repackage it.”

  I’m exasperated by him and everything he says. I sigh and my lips part. “She’s a realtor, not running a giant corporation, Mike.”

  “A cover. She can’t be allowed to remain next to us or Lara.”

  I can’t let Mike kill a woman in cold blood, using his bare hands. The notion that my brother could do this sickens my stomach. “You’ll go to jail if you kill her, but not you, my version of you. I can’t let that happen, Mike.”

  He grits his teeth. “I need to save Dad. You have no idea what she does to our family and I don’t want you to know. But if I have to show you to get you on my side, I will, Molly.”

  I wish I could trust him, but I can’t. “Even if you show me, how will I know if it’s real? You could be changing my memories and playing with me. I wouldn’t even know it, Mike.”

  Mike sighs and his eyes dull with sadness. He flops his arms to his side. “I guess then we’re at an impasse, but I wish you could trust that I’m telling you the truth.”

  After everything that’s happened, I can’t. “I know now. You warned me. I’ll keep an eye on her and expose her for what she is. I’ll convince Dad that she doesn’t love him.”

  “You think it’ll be that easy? She’ll burn the TTPA, our family, all of it to the ground regardless of whatever you say or do. She’s ruthless.”

  “I can do this. If you give me a chance, I can save us.”

  “Your hands are already full.” Mike sighs and shakes his head. “You’ll keep coming back here until you save her, and I’ll keep trying. We’ll be in an endless loop.” Mike raises his eyebrows. “I’m sick of endless loops.”

  I’m glad he sees it my way.

  “You win. For now, but if they get married, Moll…. You have to get him to walk away. If you can’t, I’ll get her. Another time. Another place.”

  “I will. I promise.” I extend my hand and Mike takes it with a smile. “It’s good to see you happy again. I forgot what it was like to see you smile.” He stares at the ground and a type of horror plays in his face.

  I wish I could ask, but bits of pieces begin to snap into place for me as we hold hands. I see the rise of a foreign corporation expanding across the country and the dark shadow it casts. The time travel police become a real thing. Mike and I are locked away where we can’t be found or touched and Lara…

  She never gets her powers back, no matter how much they experiment on her.

  Oh God, how I hate it. I won’t let that happen. I won’t.

  Mike’s eyes lock with mine and I see his truth as much as I know mine. Together we rewind time. Morgan’s injuries heal as she walks backward over to the sink. The water is back on and her phone is to her ear. She’s frozen in time but because our time travel ability works different than Lara’s, Morgan is able to blink. She can’t move.

  I glance at her phone display and memorize the number that called her. I might be able to trace it later from the bridge.

  Mike waves his hand and opens a portal. “Tell Lara I’m looking for a way to fix her. Tell her to be careful.”

  My heart clenches at the notion that at some point in the distant future, Lara is still without her time travel ability. “Of anything specific?”

  “Me,” Mike says mournfully. “I haven’t learned yet everything that I need to, but I will.”

  It’s everything I fear wrapped up in a not-so-pretty bow. “Maybe you should talk to our Mike. Maybe you can—”

  He shakes his head. “There’s forces at play here you haven’t discovered yet. I’m sorry for my part in it. I’ll be paying for what I’ve done for the rest of my life.” He waves his hand and opens the portal.

  “Mike, wait…” I reach for him, but he steps through the shimmering portal and is gone as quickly as he arrived.

  Behind me time snaps back into place. “Molly?” Morgan asks. “When did you get here? I had the strangest dream…”

  It wasn’t a dream, but I’m afraid to tell her. I’m scared to say anything or even move. If the version of Mike I had just met is willing to murder a woman in cold blood, can I really trust him?

  And do I really have a choice?

  ****

  There can’t be two of me at dinner, so I bid Morgan good-bye when she heads back to the dinning room. When she leaves, I head out. The doorman opens the door for me and the valet gives me a funny glance. “You all right, miss?”

  “Just looking for my father’s car.” When I spot the silver sedan, I rush toward it. Mike is leaning against the hood with an angry expression on his face, his arms folded across his chest. Seeing him looking so juvenile makes me mad. Why can’t he let things drop?

  “Hey!” I call out and bring my walk up to a trot.

  Mike glances up. “What are you doing here?”

  “Making sure you’re all right. You’ve seemed so angry.”

  “Yeah, well, having something sprung on me like marriage makes me angry, what can I say?”

  “You’re right, okay? There’s something not right about any of this and if we’re going to figure out what, I’m going to need your help.”

  Mike does a double take as he slides off the car. “Are you serious? You need my help and not Lara’s?”

  He doesn’t know yet that her powers are missing but he’ll find out soon enough. We all will. “She has enough going on to worry about. This one is all on us. We protect Dad. What do you say?”

  Mike nods. “What do we tell him?”

  “Nothing until we have proof. He won’t believe us if we come out and tell him, so for now, you go back in there and smile. You have dinner. Everything you’re supposed to. Everything, Mike.”

  He nods that he will.

  “Can you do it? Can you pretend not to be angry?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I can do it. I promise, Molly,” Mike says and I believe him. “When do we start?”

  “Soon as we can, but right now you have appearances to keep and when you see there’s another version of me at the table, don’t lose your mind.”

  Mike opens his mouth and then snaps it shut again. I can tell from the look in his eye that he doesn’t like it, but at least he understands and right now that’s the best I can hope for. He heads off through the parking lot, then pauses to shout back at me. “You owe me!”

  I owe him? No, brother, you owe me.

  When he’s out of sight, I open the portal onto the bridge and step back on. Cassidy is there, just as I left her. “Feels like you just left. Everything work out? Did you see who murdered Morgan?”

  I slide down into a seat beside her at the computer console. “Well, the police weren’t wrong, except they weren’t exactly right. There’s something coming for our family and if we don’t stop it, time travel may never be the same.”

  “Oh, not again.” Cassidy pushes her lips together. “What do we do?”

  “Morgan Drake. We need to find her and find where she works, what her connections are. She doesn’t just want to marry Jax. She wants to build an empire—and she wants to use us to do it.”

  Cassidy brings up a panel on her computer terminal. “This might take a whi
le.”

  It sure might, but at least on the bridge we had all the time in the world.

  *****

  “Trident Computing,” Cassidy says and pivots her seat toward me. She crosses her legs and smiles, a little smug having found the information before I did. “It didn’t exist until a few years ago and now it’s a fortune 500 company.”

  I peer over her shoulder to read the information she’s dug up. “She’s not on the board?”

  “Silent partner far as I can tell, but where Trident came from, is a mystery. If what you say is right about her wanting to build an empire, looks like she’s succeeded. Not so much with the time travel yet.”

  “I guess that’s where we come in.” I scowl.

  “You look like Lara when you make that face.”

  Lara. My stomach ties into knots when I think of her. “What are we going to tell her? What are we going to do?”

  Her powers are gone and she’s having seizures. Soon, Lara will start to piece everything together and that will spend the end for all of us. I might lose my sister as well as my brother. That knowledge punches me in the chest.

  Cassidy expression softens and she sinks a bit in her seat. Her voice is waif thin. “Donovan will physically hurt us if we lose Lara. I don’t want to lose her either.” Grief twists her features and she casts her face down.” and I know exactly how she feels. I’m trying to come to grips with the same feelings that she struggles with.

  “How about you?” she asks. “You see where all this trouble is going to get us?”

  “I see a lot of choices, none of them good. Our path is darkened now. We might never get back to where we were.” I chew on my lip. “If she comes out and asks me, I’m going to have no choice, Cass. I won’t lie to her.”

  Cassidy takes a deep breath and then blows it out out. “I guess we better make sure that she doesn’t ask you.”

  “Could you really do it? Could you really lie to her?”