by Jill Cooper
“I killed you once before, I’ll do it again.” I cock the safety off the gun, and my eyes never deviate away from his. I make sure he sees the anger in my eyes. The lust not for power but for blood. But it’s not about vengeance or revenge. It’s about protecting myself and my family. That is all I am interested in at this point. It is everything I want.
And Rex is a murderer. An intruder. A blackmailer. Everything that is wrong in this world is standing right in front of me in a nice little package.
With a bull’s eye right on the chest.
Jax takes a deep breath and pushes his eyes closed. “Lara, you don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself messed up in.”
“No? I know in the future this one locks me in a plastic box. I know he’s stripped Mom of her memories of me, the twins, everyone. And Molly.” My teeth grit together. “What he’s trying to do to her—turn her into me. And I know better than anyone she shouldn’t have to be me.”
“So.” Rex raises his eyebrows, but he doesn’t threaten to move a step forward. He wouldn’t dare at this point. He sees the hatred in my eyes just as I see the amusement in his. Somehow he still thinks he still has the upper hand and I have to strip it away from him. I have to put all the cards on the table and hope he goes for the biggest bluff I have.
“What he does to you, Jax, maybe it’s worst of all. Want to tell him, Rex, how much you really despise him? The plans you have to stick him into a little box, chain him to the wall?”
“To my baby brother born two minutes after me? I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Liar.” I spit the word out at him.
Rex shrugs and picks a piece of lint off his shoulder like it’s the most interesting thing in the world, but I know he’s not really disinterested in me. He’s fascinated by it all.
“We’re at a standstill.” I grit my teeth. “You aren’t getting me this time. If you do, I’ll time travel you right to the police. And with the evidence I have, you’ll be lucky if you see daylight ever again. I promised myself I wouldn’t murder you. Even you, I’m afraid, are a human life.”
“So what do we do?” Rex asks.
“I give you the thing you love most in the world, well, other than yourself.” I raise an eyebrow. “Money.”
Now it’s Rex’s turn to look amused. “Well, I like where this conversation is going.”
“I’ll give you what I have upstairs. And it’s a lot. In return, you buy me some time with Patricia. Tell me where to find her and I’ll let you go. If I ever see you again”—I lower my voice—“I’ll just time travel back to this moment in time and blow your head off.”
Rex forces a smile and the white of his teeth shows off just a bit too much. I’ve made him nervous. He doesn’t know how much I don’t want to kill. He doesn’t know me yet. All Rex knows is that I’m a time traveler and I have a gun. That’s what I have to keep him focused on.
“You drive a hard bargain. I think I can agree to your terms.”
I give my mom orders. “Go upstairs to my room. There’s a locked box under my bed. Empty the contents into a bag and give it to Rex.”
To Rex, I say, “You will let them go with Mike and Molly. We will give them a head start. Do you understand?”
He nods. “And you trust me?”
“No.” I laugh. “But I’m pretty sure you believe I’m a time traveler and I’ll do what I promise.”
Jax glances between us. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Rex—Lara—how do you know she’s a time traveler? She’s just a kid!”
“Because,” Rex snarls, “when I missed the shot on the day Miranda Crane was supposed to be killed, I shot this one instead. You bled out on that street. But here you are.”
“Here I am,” I echo with a smile. It’s not a happy smile, it’s bittersweet as I think of the last two years, how I couldn’t leave well enough alone and just be happy with my dad, our dog and my boyfriend. It wasn’t a lot, but part of me would give anything to go back in time and tell Lara not to do it.
Not to change time.
But then I’d have to watch my mom die all over again and that just isn’t acceptable.
Mom comes downstairs with a bag and hands it to Rex. She keeps her distance from him and swings the bag out to him. He opens it and gives it a quick glance over.
“Quite the big cash for a kid,” Rex says.
I shrug. “I consider getting rid of you an investment. Cross me, and we’ll be back right at this spot in time. You’ll be dead and I’ll be richer.”
It’s clear from the look of horror on Mom’s face she doesn’t like hearing me talk this way, but if I let the tough girl act fall, Rex will seize control of the upper hand. “Into the kitchen.” I point the gun into his face while I fish the keys from my pocket and toss them at Jax.
“Get the kids. Just keep driving. Cross the border. Go somewhere. Anywhere.”
Jax hurries up the stairs even though I’m sure he has more questions than answers, but Mom hesitates. “How will we know you’re all right?”
“I’ll be in touch. Now, please, move.”
They hurry up the stairs and I push the barrel of the gun into Rex’s back, edging him into the kitchen. I guide him over to the sink and we face the window. I keep the gun pointed at his head. Out in the living room I hear the sound of soft footsteps down the stairs. Rex turns his head slightly.
“Don’t even think about it.” I push the gun against his head with more force.
“You think you’re unstoppable? If I was to get that gun from you, maybe I’d shoot you dead instead of living with the threat of your time travel abilities.”
“I only need a split second to travel in time.” The lie rolls off my tongue easily. “And even if you did, Patricia would never let such an indiscretion go. She’d kill you for losing her big chance to shape the world.”
“So”—Rex’s voice is sour—“we really have done all this before.”
I don’t answer him. Across the street I can see the gleam of headlights barreling down the street. “Now that we’re alone, tell me how you can help me. Tell me where I can find Patricia James?”
“Am I allowed to turn around now?”
I back off and lower my weapon. “Go on.” I toss my hair back and my jaw is set firm.
Rex turns and lowers his hand. As he moves from his pocket, I raise the gun on instinct. “I need to show you something. Don’t shoot.”
Relaxing again, my arms return to my side, but the grip on my gun is still hand over hand. Rex reaches inside his breast pocket and pulls out an envelope. “I must say, for someone so young, you handle that gun well.”
“I had a good teacher,” I sneer. “Open the envelope and show me what’s inside.”
“I gave you weapons training? Well, that was a bad move on my part.” He unfolds what looks like an invitation and places it down on the counter.
It’s solid black with gold writing. An important black tie gala event that the senator is hosting at a regal hotel downtown. It takes place tomorrow night. And it’s title?
Fundraising for Police Time Travel.
It says the attendance will be local law enforcement and senators in favor of the bill plus celebrities in favor of changing the law.
“If you’re going to take her down and make it public, this is the place to do it. Ironic isn’t it, that her fundraising effort will be the end of her?”
“Slide it back inside the envelope. Do you know who else is on the guest list? Will Senator Marcus O’Reily be there?”
I haven’t yet met Senator Marcus, but if my assumptions are correct, and I have to pray they are, we still met when he was a young college student. I have to bank on that meeting still meaning something to him. Because the way he talked, it was like once he thought we might have a future.
And right now a future is all I want.
Rex snorts. “Please, Patricia would never let him in the door. Or you. But if you have one of these invitations, well, you’ll just stroll in. That’s why
you need me.”
I smirk. “You really think I’m going to let you go to the gala? With me?” I snort. “Rex, I’m impulsive, but I’m not stupid.”
“You need me.” Rex grits his teeth.
And I roll my eyes. “I don’t need you. I have what I need. I have Donovan. He’s always invited to these things. He’ll be my date.”
Shock rolls across Rex’s face. I don’t know if he forgot about me and Donovan or somehow he missed that little development. I grab the invitation from the counter and slide it inside my hoodie and zip it all the way up.
“Get Patricia on the phone and tell her you have me, but I haven’t given up the location of the microchip. You’re talking me somewhere secluded to extract the information and you have armed men on my parents. Do it and make it look convincing.”
“And then what? You’re just going to let me walk out of here with a bag full of cash?”
“Pretty much. You’ll leave the country and never come back. If I ever see you crossing the street again, even if it’s just to go to CVS, I will come back here and I will kill you.”
“So you keep saying, but I wonder, Lara, if you really have it in you. Really.” He steps up closer. “You talk tough, but your eyes, you don’t have the eyes of a killer.” He smiles with those charming dimples. “At least not yet.”
“Make your phone call.” I refuse to meet his eyes and further the discussion. The more we talk, the more he sees into my soul and that’s the last place I want Rex to see into.
“Patricia, darling,” Rex says into the phone, “I have the girl. No, she won’t give up the evidence or the microchip, but I think she can be persuaded. I’m going to take her in. There’s an isolated cabin I own not too far from here. Few tools of my trade.” Rex pauses as he listens. “No, I don’t think the virtual system is ready for that kind of test… I know it’s what we agreed on, however I think we do this old school, nice and easy. She’ll crack.”
Rex snarls at me and his eyes give me the chills. “She is, after all, just a girl… All right then. I’ll be in touch. My best men have her parents and the kids under watch. If she doesn’t cooperate, we’ll hurt them… Ha, yes, well, pain is my specialty.”
He slides the phone shut and places it on the counter. “Satisfied?”
I am. I don’t think he sent Patricia any secret messages, but I can't be sure. I pocket his phone and Rex raises his eyebrows at me.
"Now, what a second," he says.
"Time to disappear. You can't do that with this phone. ’Course, if you disagree, I can just call the police..." I make a show of pulling the phone back up.
Rex raises his hand. "No reason. I'm on board. Jax must have taught you how to really negotiate."
"Let's just say you've motivated me," I snarl at him. “I’ll take you out to your car then.” I wave the gun toward the living room.
Rex follows the movement. “You’re going to see me off then?”
“Something like that.” We walk through the living room and when we get to the front door I tell him to open it. The fresh air outside greets my lungs and it’s a welcome change of pace. I haven’t drawn a real, deep breath since I first saw him standing in my living room. Now we walk across the street toward his car.
He slides behind the wheel and starts it up, the bag of cash on the passenger seat beside him. As the engine revs, he looks at me. “It’s hard to think we’re somehow done. Our destinies, yours and mine, are somehow mingled together.”
“I guess then I’ll see you in hell, Rex.” I raise the gun and prepare my shot.
His hands dart up and his face falls. His teeth grit together. “Wait a second, we had a deal. We made a deal.”
“Never deal with the devil, Rex.”
Chapter Sixteen
Rex was a liar. A cheat. A murderer. He violated me on countless occasions.
But still I am consumed with grief and guilt for what I’ve done. I hurry across the street toward home and I take the steps two at a time until I am in my bedroom. I pocket the gun into my rear jeans and know I need to get rid of it.
Get rid of my clothes.
I need an alibi and I need an ally, one I can find across town and one I can find ten years in the past.
I fire up my computer and do a search for the Berkley City Club. I find a picture from ten years ago and guess that’s going to have to do. It’s down on a pier by some nice boutiques and shopping districts. I enlarge the photo and grab some of the money I left in the duffle bag.
Pocket change.
I stare at the photo and a few seconds later I’m there, standing in my hoodie, covered in gunshot residue and a murder weapon stuffed in my pocket. I turn from the Berkley City Club where the fancy party is going on, where Marcus O’Reily is, and just seconds ago I’ve kissed him. Now he’s looking for me and he’s going to find me.
But not in these clothes.
I turn toward a boutique and see a tight black dress in the window. It shimmers in the sunlight with golden flecks. The mannequin is shapely and on her head is a purple wig. But instead of the hair just being straight, it’s done up in spiral curls like Shirley Temple’s.
Well, it seems like all this time I’ve been fighting it, I just should have been running toward it.
It’s time to become the woman with the purple hair, but instead of helping Patricia James, I’ll be putting her down.
And this time she won’t be getting back up.
****
I toss my old clothes in a dumpster along with the gun. In thirty years, they’ll be rotting in some dump.
I’m wearing platform pumps and elegant, black gloves complete the look. The shoes and the hair make me feel like a different person. My rear sashays side to side as I climb the stairs to the Berkley City Club and I see him standing in the lobby talking to someone.
Marcus.
His arms are splaying as if he’s trying to explain something to the room full of people. He has their attention captivated, and I push past all of them. When he sees me in my purple wig, he doesn’t recognize me. His eyes are cloudy as I go up on tiptoe and push my lips against his.
Everyone in the room must think I’m crazy, but maybe I am. Maybe I lost my mind in captivity a long time ago.
Marcus pushes his lips hard against mine and takes me in his arms, his hand on my lower back. “I don’t understand how you changed so fast.” His eyes search me as I bite my lip. He’s a pretty good kisser and the energy between us is electrifying.
“I need you to come find me, Marcus.” I hold out the invitation.
He takes it and pulls the paper free. His eyes dart across the page as he reads it. When they settle on the date, Marcus looks like his eyes might bulge. “I think there might be a typo on this invitation.”
“There’s no typo. I need you on the guest list. Come find me.”
“Ten years in the future? I admit I’m fascinated by you, but this? What you’re asking…”
My eyes search his. “Remember the name Patricia James. Remember it and know you have to stop her. That’s all I can say.” I press my lips up against his in a gentle kiss.
“Stay here,” Marcus urges. “Explain this to me. Have coffee, dinner. Just let’s talk this through.”
The beginning of becoming partners or something more? Talk about your forbidden fruit. “Goodbye, Marcus.”
I slip away from him and before I’ve reached the front door I shimmer back to my time. My city.
I slip inside a Dunkin Donuts and order a hot coffee to go. I make sure I use my credit card to purchase the coffee and glance at my watch. It’s 12:52AM, right when Rex is about to get shot.
Glancing at the video camera, I take my coffee from the woman and smile my thanks. On the monitor above I see myself—and two police patrol men entering through the front on what must be their coffee break. It stills my heart and my chest clenches tight.
They can’t know who I am or what I’ve done, but I’m scared anyway.
I keep my head down
low and turn the corner. I head down a small hallway toward the women’s bathroom. Inside, I barricade the door.
Adjusting my wig in the mirror, I pull out my phone and call Donovan. It’s time to set my meeting with him.
It’s time to tell him … mostly … everything and get him on my side.
Time to come clean.
Chapter Seventeen
When I arrive home, Rex's car is still there. I ignore it and head inside. I need a change of clothes and put the dress, shoes and wig inside the duffle bag full of evidence. I take it all with me to meet Donovan at the James Estate.
I pick the old pool house because it's behind the property and its far from Patricia, considering we are meeting on her property. I assume she'll never think to look for me there, especially after the phone call Rex has placed with her.
The spotlight by the pool casts a glow and there's a trickle of water coming from the fountain. Following the ceramic surround, I come to a lush, green portion of the yard and the pool house comes into view. It's the type of pool house that would make the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air gasp in awe.
Inside the lights are on and I see a profile pacing inside. It has broad shoulders and I have to hope that it's Donovan. My heartbeat gallops at a fast, even pace as I come to the door and I rap my knuckles against it.
The blast of cold air from the AC greets me as he pulls the door open, but I'm taken more at the sight of Donovan. When I saw him at the mall I was frantic, nervous to piece my life back together and save Molly from certain doom. But now, in the quiet of the night, it's just him and me.
My eyes fall on him and I melt at the sight of him. He's alive. His heart is beating. He hasn't been shot in the heat of the night. Instead, our future is in front of us, if only we can get through the next twelve hours and come through on the other side. I have to hope Donovan wants the same thing.
But we're talking about his mother and I don't know where his loyalties lie. It's easy for me to confuse the Donovan I knew in the virtual reality and this one. But are they really the same? Is Donovan as committed to us as I really want him to be?