The Rewind Series Boxset

by Jill Cooper

  Seems that this future senator comes from money and likes to party. Now I’m about to show him everything a real party can be.

  I’ve read my history books and I know 2014 is a time of economic downturn, a lot of people lost their jobs. There are the stories about the Ebola outbreak, the terror group ISIS, and the country divided over a president. I thought the world would be all doom and gloom back then, but at the party, everyone is happy. There are a mixture of pretty dresses and snappy suits. Everyone is smiling with drinks in hand.

  No one seems to have a care in the world.

  For a moment I stand at the window and stare out at the sea. There are boats docked at the harbor and I watch them bob up and down. The gentle waves break onto land and they seem to sparkle under the sunlight. It’s real. Perfect. Everything here seems so much more real than the virtual world I’ve been plugged into for so long.

  Virtual life is muted while this is vibrant.

  If only I could stay here, run away and build a life for myself. Rex hasn’t yanked me back so that must mean he doesn’t know what I’m up to. Why can’t I just stay here and pretend nothing bad ever happened to me?

  But in ten years it would all happen again. For the sake of my family and everyone, I need to find a way to stop Patricia and Rex.

  I sigh and rub my arms and pivot on my heels. The room is decorated in soft colors and teens are clustered together at tables. Even on sofas they are collected, but everyone is acting so refined. It’s unlike any party I’ve ever been to before. The parties I’ve thrown in my apartment were over pizza and light music.

  This makes me feel totally out of my element so I go around the side toward the patio door. Before I get there I pass by a waiter and grab a fluted glass. As I sip the bubbling compound I’m surprised it actually is booze. Who serves booze at a kids’ party?

  But the salt air of the wind calms me. And it centers me. I down the rest of my drink and set it down on the railing. I turn to my left and see for the first time I’m not alone. Ten years younger and boy was he handsome, it’s Marcus O’Reily. He’s leaning on the railing and gazing out at the ocean like he’d rather be anywhere but here.

  God, don’t I know that feeling.

  But he’s handsome. Black slacks and a purple shirt complement his blond hair and blue eyes. His hair is wavy and thick, unlike Donovan’s, but still I think of him. That memory drives me on to do what is necessary.

  “Hey,” I say with my hand on my hip. “Isn’t this your party?”

  His head turns toward me, but he keeps leaning on the railing. “Funny, but I’m pretty sure we’ve never met so how do you know it’s my party?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I guess your reputation precedes you.”

  “Who sent you out here? Was it my father?”

  What an odd question. I shrug. “No one, I promise. I came here on my own.”

  Marcus grins and he has cute little dimples. He stands and approaches me. “What is it to you if I want to stand out here and stare at the ocean? I saw you doing the same thing when you got out here.”

  I hold up my hands. “Well, hold up, I never said anything is wrong with it. We all have to be alone sometime, right? I really am just trying to say hello to the future senator Marcus O’Reily.”

  He sizes me up with his eyes. Marcus can’t figure me out and he’s desperately trying to figure out my angle. “Guess you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t know your name.”

  I go up against him, so my chest is just touching his. “It’s Lara Crane,” I whisper and my lips graze his. That’s where I intended it to stop, but I guess Marcus has a deeper need for something else, because his mouth opens and he kisses me.

  My fingers grip his shoulders and he drives on further, pulling me in. The connection between us is instant. I feel it bounding in my chest and I feel so guilty because he isn’t Donovan. My eyes flash with disbelief as he lets me go.

  “I guess that’s not what you were expecting.” Marcus kisses my cheek.

  “Doesn’t mean it wasn’t nice.” I pull myself away. “See you in ten years.” I pivot and with a wiggle of my hips tear through the parlor for the exit.

  “Wait, Lara.” Marcus chases after me and grabs my fingers. “I didn’t mean to scare you off. You were flirting so I thought it would be all right if… Why don’t you stay and have a drink?”

  I really want to. That is the problem. It would be too easy to get lost in the eyes of Marcus O’Reily because they are so much like Donovan’s. It would be too easy to replace him with this guy I can’t have. I don’t belong in this time and in my time he is way too old for me.

  And way too married.

  “It was a pleasure.” I blow him a kiss and head for the front door. My vision zooms in on it as I take a deep breath of air. Everything around me shimmies and pixilates. The door changes as I walk up some brick front steps.

  The door has a peek hole and behind me the leaves in the tree rustle.

  I knock on the front door.

  Marcus O’Reily, thirty-year-old Marcus O’Reily, pulls the door open. He is doing up his black tie and when he sees me that all stops. His eyes flash with disbelief and his mouth falls open.

  “Car trouble.” I say pointedly. “Can I borrow your phone?”

  His answer has nothing to do with my question. “My God, it’s Lara Crane.”

  I smile and saunter up the steps. “At least you know who I am this time.”

  Marcus shuts the door and I feel bad for everything I am about to unleash onto him. It’s time for him to take a trip down the rabbit’s hole with me.

  ****

  We sit in his parlor and there is a coffee table between us. Marcus holds his head in his hands trying to digest everything. He now knows everything that I’ve experienced over the last two years of my captivity. The look on his face is absolute shock. I leave out everything I did to save my mother because I don’t think he can handle much more information.

  But how my father was framed by Patricia and Rex, that he knows.

  I just have no idea how he will process that information.

  Marcus rubs his face. “And I asked you to go to that party? I asked you to give me time travel proof?”

  “Yes. But you have no memory of it because we haven’t had that conversation. Not this time anyway.”

  “And this is the second time you’ve been here, to my house?” His face is crestfallen and if he wasn’t already sitting, I think he might faint.

  “I guess you could think of it that way, but the first time doesn’t really count anymore.”

  Marcus sighs. “I think I need a drink.”

  I smile. “I don’t blame you. It’s a lot to process, even for me and I’m the one going through all of it, but Senator”—it feels weird to call him that as for me it feels like we locked lips just a few minutes ago, not ten years—“we have to stop Patricia. She has my family. She’ll experiment on pretty much anyone she wants. She has no regard for human life.”

  “And if I stand in her way, she’ll kill me? That’s why she sent you, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t have to kill you, but if I fail, I’m sure that’ll be her next step. She’ll keep experimenting on others until they’re ready and then she’ll send them back here. She’ll get the job done.”

  “So even if I go to DC and make my voice heard, she could just come back and kill me anyway. That’s the new set of rules we’re living our lives by.”

  “While she’s still walking around a free person.” I nod. “But if we can stop her…”

  “How? How can we stop her with no proof and if she has time travelers at her disposal?” Marcus puts his hands together.

  “Get proof. Find me. Get me out of the facility along with all the others. I’m on a tight leash. But if we can send them scattering… There’s more than enough evidence there to put them away and I’ll testify. I’ll do whatever is necessary, but my mom … Molly … they need to be safe.”

  Marcus stares me down and his
eyes are hard. “Where are you being kept?”

  “It’s a hospital. In Massachusetts.”

  “But you don’t know—” Marcus sighs and shakes his head “—you have no idea where you’re being kept.”

  “Her name has to be on the deed. The hospital is being used for serious time travel testing. It can’t be that hard to find. You’re a senator. You must have access to that kind of information.”

  “I’ve been inquiring about the Rewind Agency a long time,” Marcus admits. “They have a lot of powerful people on their side. I get stonewalled in every direction. I’m sorry, this must be terrible for you. But for me, it seems so … farfetched.”

  He’s right it is. I pat the sofa beside me. “Come sit beside me for a second and I’ll show you something.” Marcus hesitates and I laugh. “Promise I won’t bite.”

  “All right. All right.” He sits beside me and I take his hand and slide it under my hair When his finger nicks the port at the base of my skull, Marcus gasps and pulls his hand back. “What is that? Is that the port you told me about?”

  I nod because that’s about all I can do while trying to ensure I don’t cry or become over emotional about the entire thing. But having your brain modified is a pretty big deal. “They violated me, right? But there’s been nothing I can do about it. But if we have a chance to stop them, really stop them, we have to take it.”

  “I’m sorry, Lara. I’m sorry they’ve done this to you.” Marcus sighs. “Ten years ago when I first met you, well… I guess it’s kind of funny now. I always thought I’d see you again but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

  I snicker because I’m nervous and I’m not sure what else to do.

  “I thought about you almost every year. Wondered where you went. After you left the party, for the days that followed I looked for you. Couldn’t find you anywhere and I even put an ad on Facebook trying to locate you.” Marcus laughs.

  And I laugh too. “I’m sorry if you expected… You should send your family out of town. Grandparents? Aunt and uncle? Somewhere. Just in case.”

  Marcus nods. “I’ll call my wife. And what do I do?”

  “Try to find where I’m being held. If it’s an illegal Rewind facility, just the existence of the place should be enough to arrest Patricia. Hold her for a few days and give my family a chance to break free. But you have to go dark. If she realizes I didn’t kill you…”

  His eyes flash with confusion mingled with resolve. “But, the vote… If I’m not there, Senator James will get everything she wants.”

  “Won’t matter once we have Patricia arrested. Then everything will fall apart, no matter how the senate voted.”

  “All right.” He sighs and it’s obvious he’s nervous. “I’ll start here. I guess if I ended up suddenly in Massachusetts, she might get suspicious.”

  My nose crinkles. “Just a bit. Good luck.”

  When I stand, Marcus does too. “You’re leaving?”

  “There’s no point in me staying. I’ll head forward to two days and see if we’ve done it. Please be careful. I don’t want to leap forward only to find out you’re dead.”

  Marcus shakes my hand. “Hopefully we will meet again under pleasant circumstances.”

  I echo his sentiments. It’s the only thing I have to keep me going. The only thing.

  Chapter Twelve

  When I return to my time period I’m no longer inside my cage, instead I am sitting on a hospital bed. A low thud-thud-thud pounds through my head, but as far as time travel headaches go, it’s not that bad. I don’t yet have memories of this changed timeline, but I am hoping they are slight and not enough to throw me off my game.

  Glancing around, I hop down and go to the window despite the fact that my legs feel like jelly and just want to collapse under me.

  I grab the window frame and peer outside. It’s still day; summer time. My hand touches the back of my head and I can feel my port, but is my time travel chip turned on or off?

  There’s no time like the present to try.

  I grip the window and gaze far off in the distance. I think back to yesterday and the trees rush toward me like I am on a freight train. But that’s as far as I get before a pounding symbol echoes through my head and it feels like an axe wants to tear me apart.

  I gasp for breath and groan. My knees buckle and I grab on to the wall as tight as I can. I want to scream, but my throat won’t let me.

  Well, I guess that answers that. In this time period that I’ve slammed back into, my chip is active.

  The door to my room opens. Whoever it is can’t know what I just did. What I tried.

  I whip around and smile at Mom as she strolls inside. Mom the lab tech that is. If she remembers me at all, her eyes flash only the most basic recognition.

  “There’s a big celebration going on in the cafeteria. Mr. Montgomery has said you can come if you behave yourself.”

  Mr. Montgomery, my heart flashes, but then I realize she means Rex and not Jax. “I can behave myself.” I put on the white slippers they allow me to have and follow after her. “What are we celebrating?” It’s hard to keep my voice even, but I manage to pull it off.

  “Senator James’ initiative was passed in the senate. They’ve appointed her the new Czar of time travel and have loosened restrictions on the police. Now they can use time travel as a means to gather evidence. Of course, it’s going to take some time to train officers, but everything we’ve learned from you is going to make it so much easier.”

  Mom’s voice swells with pride and I feel like I’m going to be sick. I just want to reach in and shake her. I want to scream about how none of this is a good thing, but instead I just nod my head and whimper a “That’s great.”

  We come to an elevator and I watch her push the call button. The red marks on her wrists are worse, which means Rex has been doubling down his efforts. It makes me see red and the anger collects center mass around my chest. “Have you met him? The other Mr. Montgomery?”

  Mom stares at me and there’s not even a flicker across her face.

  I lean in and whisper, “Jax. You know, Rex’s twin.”

  “He has a twin? There’s two of them?”

  I nod. “Oh yeah, except Jax is pretty cute. Blond, though the blue eyes are the same. He lives not too far away in Boston with twin kids. Mike and Molly.” I pause so my words will sink in, but if there’s an effect on her, it’s slight. All she does is gaze at the floor and blink her eyes. “I’m just surprised he hasn’t been around to check on his brother.”

  “Check on him?” Mom asks as we step on the elevator.

  “Well sure, Rex is the problem child, you know. I heard that Jax’s wife didn’t even realize he had a twin until Rex showed up. Crazy, right?” I shake my head, but I keep a close eye on Mom.

  She hasn’t pushed the elevator button yet. Her hand is hovering in mid-air.

  “Something wrong?”

  Mom sighs and pushes the button. “No, just when you said that an image flashed in my mind. Pink streamers.”

  My birthday party. The day Rex collided with our reality. The truth is just beneath the surface of her mind. It doesn’t matter how many times Rex erases her memories and inserts his own, Mom will always remember with time and enough prodding.

  Time is a luxury I can’t afford right now.

  The elevator opens and we walk toward the party. The cafeteria is decorated with streamers and everyone is gathered around. There is a giant cake and in the center of the celebration, Patricia and Rex clink together two glasses of champagne. I haven’t seen Patricia so jovial in years. Her smile is wide and she shakes hands as people congratulate her.

  “Thank you!” She puts a hand to her cheek. “Honestly, I never thought this day would come. I don’t know why Senator O’Reily didn’t show up for the vote, but I’m just glad he didn’t. Hopefully he got run over by a train.”

  People laugh softly as if they are just trying to be polite and Patricia’s laugh is hearty. She might not be c
reeping everyone out, but she is definitely creeping me out. I move away and I am handed a piece of cake.

  It’s Delilah. I try to say something but she only puts her finger to her mouth. “Nice to see you out of your cage, Ms. Crane.”

  I turn my head to follow her, but she wanders off to hand out more plates to people. I’m left wondering if she meant what it sounded like. Can she remember strapping me in? Does she know we has changed the past?

  If she is truly an ally, and probably the only one I have in the hospital, then how can I use her to get out of this mess?

  “I’m guessing we have you to thank for all this.”

  I glance forward and see Rex, his finger dragging through the frosting of my cake.

  “Don’t soil my cake. And I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Senator O’Reily. He missed a senate hearing. The first time in three years. We sent you back in time to fix the situation, didn’t we? Patricia suspects the answer is yes. If the answer is yes, that means we finally have you on board.”

  “I thought all your monitoring told you when I traveled back in time.” I say it mostly to test him. I watch his face go slack and it takes him more than a moment to straighten up.

  They have a lot of data on me, but they can’t do it yet. They can’t tell when or where I am time traveling to. They can’t pass that information back and forth because I travel in time differently than others. I’m not just a hologram. They can’t monitor me no matter how much they lie. How much they try.

  I feel like a fool that I’ve bought their answer for so long, but now I’m in control of the game. I just can’t let Rex realize it. He still has to feel like he’s in control.

  “Yes.” Rex smiles. “Of course, I just was trying to find a way to say good job without coming out and saying it.”

  “Thanks, I guess. It felt good. To time travel. It’s been a long time.”

  “I’m sure we can find ways to get you to help out again. There’s going to be a lot of training involved to get the police on board. We’re almost there with the others, but to have you on board, to have you not resist us anymore, it would be a great feat for us, Lara. It would speed up the process immensely.”