by Jill Cooper
Other Lara nods. “That won’t happen. I’ll sacrifice myself first,” she hands me the keys to Cassidy’s prison, “Stay here. Get her on our side. I’m going to return the car so Don never knows.”
“And then?”
“Then I’m going to merge back into you…or the other you, maybe. I think I like her better.” Other Lara smirks at me as she heads out of the office and I’m left dumbfounded.
Wow, what a smart ass.
****
Cassidy still flits in and out of sleep. I watch her unmoving body from the window and I worry. In the future, she has never had any seizures…that I know about. So, what had Cameron done to her? With a sigh, I cross my arms and walk through the lobby. I make sure the front door is locked. I draw the blinds down tightly on the windows, so no one can see in.
The sun is beginning to rise. A new day is starting, and out there is another version of me, living my life. Two Lara’s, with two different missions, but we both want the same thing. A future where we can live our lives in peace. And one in which both Dad and Delilah are alive. I am just beginning to wonder if I can secure that future for me.
Or am I securing it for someone else?
Scary thoughts. Big thoughts and it makes my stomach uneasy. Other Lara spoke of sacrifice, but what if I am the one who needs to sacrifice everything? Does it matter which version of Lara Montgomery is allowed to survive? Because I kind of think it does matter and I really, really want it to be me.
But if I fade, will my consciousness continue on in the other? As if my individual choices don’t matter?
Big questions for another day. From inside the small corner office comes the sound of knocking.
Cassidy’s awake.
Chapter Twenty- Four
Cassidy
I don’t know where I am or how I got here.
Everything looks different from last time. There’s a blue mattress on the ground. I’m kneeling on it and I can feel it. Really feel it. It’s soft to the touch like it’s real, but nothing is real in the cage.
Nothing.
Except, this doesn’t look like the cage. It looks so normal; as if it’s a regular room. There’s a pile of granola bars on the ground and I’m so hungry. My stomach is growling and my mouth is as dry as sand, but Mr. Kincade… He hasn’t told me I can eat yet. He hasn’t told me what to do. This is all new. Scary.
What to do? What to do?
Hungry. Do I give in?
My head hurts so bad; I am blinded by the pain. Why does it hurt so badly?
I crawl along the ground and feel along the wall. When I come to a door, I gingerly press on it, but it won’t budge. I’m locked in. Why should I be surprised?
I knock softly on the door. “Hello?” My voice is hoarse as I call out. “Hello…hello…can someone help me, please? “Cameron?”
Mr. Kincaid, where is he?
I cringe as a memory of what must have happened fills my mind. I see her menacing, scowling face. The one I am supposed to stop. The one who wants to kill me.
Crane.
She has a taser in her hand. A taser and she hurts me. She hurts me badly. What if she has me? What if somehow, she’s managed to capture me? Mr. Kincaid will be so angry if I let that happen before I follow through with our plan to kill John. Hurt Lara before she hurts me. I don’t know why she cares so much.
Why can’t she just leave me alone?
The door unlocks and I scoot back to the mattress like a crab. A darkened silhouette enters the room. I can’t breathe as I make out her face in the dark. It’s Crane. She’s here and she holds a…paper cup?
My teeth chatter together as she crouches down beside me. She’s far enough away that I can’t touch her. “Get away from me,” I order her, the fear rising like acid in my mouth, “Let me go, Crane!”
“I thought you might be thirsty. You had a big ordeal tonight.” She offers me the paper cup, but I won’t touch it. I won’t. Anything she offers me is poison. I remember the things she has done to me. I remember how she has hurt me.
“Okay then,” Crane puts the cup down on the floor beside me, “You might change your mind later, right?”
“I won’t take anything from you.” I turn my head and duck it low, onto my shoulder so she won’t see how my lip quivers. Crane can’t see my fear. If she does, I know she’ll hurt me. I know she’ll torture me, as she’s done before.
Cameron saved me from her. He did. I know he did, but even he terrifies me. Even he…I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I don’t…
Crane tries to stroke my hair and I jerk my head away from her. “Don’t touch me.” My teeth clench tightly and I fight off a hot wave of tears.
Her hand drops to her side and that surprises me. “I’ll try again later then, maybe. If you’re hungry, you should try eating something.”
“I won’t eat anything. I’ll die in here first. And then you’ll be sorry,” I laugh as I roll my head back against the wall. “You’ll be sorry because he’ll come for me. He’ll make you bleed for doing this to me!”
Crane walks away, but she stops at the door. “You know, Cass, he kept me in a cage once, too. I know how confused you are. I know what you’re feeling.”
My face twists and I can’t stop screaming at her. “Liar! Liar!”
She leaves me, the door slamming shut behind her. I wrap my hands around my ears and I rock back and forth. Lara Crane was a liar. She can’t be trusted.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
So why am I crying? Why is my heart breaking?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lara
Cassidy has been far more damaged by Cameron than I had even suspected. Maybe even more than I had feared. The strong, independent woman I had once known no longer exists. The fearless assassin who had killed Delilah and my father is nothing more than a façade. Really, she is a broken, destroyed woman.
I need her help to stop Cameron, but I don’t know if I can get to Cassidy; really reach her, before time runs out. Either the TTPA would catch on to what I am up to, or Cameron will realize she is missing.
If I am going to do anything, I have to do it soon. Real soon, but I don’t want to reach Cassidy with pain and fear. I want to reach her with compassion and love. Real love, not the kind that Cameron is filling her head with. Watching her through the window, her distress is palpable. She rocks back and forth, changing positions every few seconds.
With no time to waste, I go back to see her, bringing a stack of magazines under one arm and a brown bag lunch. As soon as I enter, Cassidy backs up against the wall. She hugs her knees into her chest as I draw closer.
“Brought you something to eat and something to read.” I place them beside her, but I try not to get too close. I had seen how she’d flinched when I had nearly touched her hair earlier. There’s no reason for me to upset her too much, especially if she always expects violence from those around her.
Cassidy glances at it. “I can’t travel in time anymore. When I try, it hurts.”
“I couldn’t have you going back and trying again. I want to talk to you. Spend some time with you.” At the foot of the mattress, I crouch down to make eye contact, but it’s a struggle.
She doesn’t look at the same spot for long. “Why? Because you want to hurt me again?” Cassidy asks.
“Cass, I’ve never hurt you before. I know you think I did—.”
“So, I don’t know my own mind, now?” Cassidy shakes her head and rests it on her arms, “Just go away! Go away. I don’t want your magazines or your food.”
“Mind if I leave it here anyway? I got one of your favorites. Turkey with cranberry mayo.”
Cassidy flinches and lifts her head. “How’d you know that? I’ve never told you anything. I wouldn’t.”
“You told me once.”
Cassidy shakes her head.
“It was a long time ago for me, but for you, it never happened. And won’t. But we sat in a rowboat. As friends. You helped me fix a problem and we spent a lon
g night in the wilderness,” I laugh, “cold and hungry. You told me about all your favorite foods and I told you about my mom’s turkey chili. It’s the only thing she can make.”
Cassidy’s jaw grinds side to side. “We were never friends.”
“Because you hate me?”
“Because you hate me.” She rests her head back down on her arms and I’m afraid of pushing her. So, I leave.
But she doesn’t touch her sandwich. Not for the longest while, but by the time dinner rolls around, I hear the crinkle of the paper bag. A smile unfolds on my face, but I don’t go in to gloat or talk. I just sit in the quiet and through the plaster wall, I listen to the pages of the magazines flip.
It’s six o’clock. Another night is about to fall and I wonder what I’m up to. What is the other Lara doing that I should be doing? Is she sitting in her bed talking to Donovan on the phone? Is she wishing him a good night while secretly wondering what it is I’m doing?
And what will we do when this is all over? If I manage to fix it all, will I forget everything that Donovan has done to get us to this point? Was I blameless?
I didn’t know the answers to any of my questions. The only thing I can do is focus on what is coming and deal with it, one thing at a time.
****
Close to eight o’clock p.m., I bring Cassidy a mug of hot chocolate. It seems friendlier than coffee somehow. I place it on the floor beside her, and she refuses to acknowledge me. Maybe she needs more time to talk. I’m restless and disappointed as I make my way to the door, but her voice rings out.
“What did you mean when you said you were in a cage once?”
My hand against the door, I stop in my tracks. “A few years ago, I was kidnapped and put in a cage because of my time travel abilities.” I go over to the mattress and sit beside her.
Carefully, I watch her as I cross my legs. She is on guard but doesn’t flinch. “They plugged me into this virtual world. I was confused. Everything blurred together. The virtual world was more real to me.”
I haven’t said this aloud in a long time. As I say it, my shoulders round and all the pain of it hits me again.
“I lost my loved ones over and over again. He tried to break me. He almost did, but I got away.”
Cassidy leans forward. “Who? Who did that to you?”
“Rex Montgomery, but you know him by a different name. Cameron Kincaid.”
My words sink in and Cassidy snaps back. “Cameron Kincaid is Rex Montgomery? I’m…my grandmother’s a Montgomery. Or, she was. What you’re saying—.”
“I know I’ve made you angry. That’s okay. Just, do me a favor,” I grab her hand and she tries to yank it back, but I hold on tight, “Just trust me for one second, all right? Please.” I slide her fingers under my hair so she can touch the port on the back of my neck. She does.
And it’s as if she touches fire. She jerks away and her eyes widen. “It’s just like…mine.”
I nod.
“But he wouldn’t…he wouldn’t do that to me. He…he wants to help me. Save me. He loves me.”
“He’s using you.”
“You’re a liar!” Cassidy snarls at me and crawls away to the corner of the room. She huddles there and refuses to look at me. “You’re the manipulator. He told me you would do this. You’d try to confuse me!”
I won’t get any more out of her tonight. “I know it’s hard to hear and I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Cass, because we’re family. I’m a Montgomery too. Your grandmother is my sister.”
“Impossible,” she mutters under her breath, “It’s impossible.”
Nothing’s impossible when you’re a Crane—or a Montgomery. Cassidy will learn. She will. I have confidence I can reach her—save her—but will it be in time?
That I’m not so sure about.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cassidy
Lara is nothing like I remembered.
My memories of Lara are different. I can see her face, the snarl and the evil glint in her eyes. She’s tried to kill me more than once.
But this Lara is kind. She reaches out to me when we talk. She even knows my favorite sandwich. I’m not sure what to make of her or what her game is. But I know it has to be something. Cameron wouldn’t lie to me after all this time, after everything we’ve been through.
Still, my stomach is uneasy. For now, I’m Lara’s prisoner, unless I can find a way out of here. But part of me doesn’t want to. I want to discover what she is trying to tell me, and see the things she is trying to show me.
But how can I trust the things she says? All I know is, we have matching ports on the backs of our heads. If what she’s saying is true, and Cameron altered her, isn’t it possible that maybe he had altered me too?
****
Through the night, I sleep off and on; I can’t keep my mind off one simple thing. Lara. My mind spins and swirls in circles, but there are no clear answers. When I finally drift off to sleep, I dream of where I had first met her.
I’m back in the cage and Lara is staring at me with that evil face she makes. In a way that she only does when she’s ready to hurt me. She bangs the electrical batons together. Those shooting electrical pulses set off a warm charge I can smell.
There is nothing I can do to get away from her. I’m strapped down on the floor. It's cold and my feet are secured together with thick leather straps. There's nothing I can do to get away. All I can do is cringe and await the pain that is sure to come.
"Please, no. Don’t hurt me again." I shudder as Lara takes a step forward. She crouches down with one knee on the ground.
“This is for your own good, dear Cassidy." Lara strikes me with her electrical baton. Once, and then again, but this time she holds it, twisting it against me. Increasing the pain.
My insides shudder, everything inside me shakes. I can't stand the pain. It’s so bad, I let out a scream.
That's when I realize I've been shrieking in my sleep. There’s a warm hand on my arm and it shakes me back and forth, back and forth.
"Cass, it's okay. You're just dreaming."
My eyes open to see Lara. She's beside me, and I can't understand the look of kindness and compassion on her face. She looks as if she really cares, but she never cared before.
Could this be a trick? If it is, she’s doing a better job of it than I’ve ever seen before. Under my flannel blanket, I scurry to sit up on the mattress and I wipe my face dry. My head is foggy. "I was dreaming I was in that cage. You were there." I gaze up and Lara sits beside me.
She licks her lips. "I've had dreams like that a lot—maybe not as much anymore—but sometimes they still haunt me. Like I'm still there."
"How did you get over it?"
Lara shrugs and I understand the sadness in her eyes. "Time." Lara laughs as if the answer is funny and I guess it kind of is. She says it again, but with conviction," Time."
****
In the morning, when Lara brings me breakfast, I can't find the will to resist her. When she lays a small Styrofoam plate in front of me with a basic breakfast of eggs and a blueberry muffin, all I find myself saying is ‘thank you’. Lara seems grateful as she gives me a small smile and sits down across from me on the mattress.
While I scarf down the eggs, I notice she plays with the hem of the small blanket that’s beside me. As if she’s the nervous one, and that startles me.
"Thanks for breakfast."
"You're welcome. Did you want to tell me about that dream you had last night?"
I think to shake my head or just shrug, but I don’t. "I’m in the cage. There’s nowhere for me to go. But you’re there, and you’re torturing me."
"With the electrical batons?"
I nearly choke on my eggs when she says that. Slowly I nod. "But you know nothing about that, right?" The bitterness in my voice startles even me, and I watch as Lara shifts uncomfortably on the blanket.
"I know because I was there. I saw what they did to you. But it wasn't me; it was an orderly. And I'm guessing C
ameron put them up to it. I know he did because he was in charge of the facility."
I shake my head as I pick up the white Styrofoam cup of orange juice. "You weren't there as a prisoner in a cage. You were the one doing the torturing."
Lara leans forward and her fingers touch mine. "I know the things they put into your mind seem real, but they're not. I'm going to show you something."
She gets up from the mattress and walks across the room. I watch with puzzlement as she exits the office, leaving the door ajar. As if I won't just follow her out. Maybe this is my chance to escape. I gather myself up and go out into the hallway. Slowly, I creep along until I reach the lobby.
I stand there, at the mouth of the lobby, and in the center, stands Lara. In her hands, she holds the electrical batons that I use, that have been used against me. Cameron liberated me with those and then handed them to me. They became mine.
I became the master of my own domain and now I wield the devices that once tortured me. But now, they are in the hands of my enemy and she's going to use them against me all over again.
She’s manipulated me again. She used them against me once and now she is just playing games, allowing me to believe she is nice, kind, and has somehow become my friend. Right now, I don’t know if I am angrier at her or at myself.
As she comes at me, I shudder and back up a step. "Please, don't do this." I take a defensive stance with my left leg, leaning forward with my arms forming a defensive block, but inside I am shaking. I really don’t want to do this. I don’t want the pain to come back.
"Is this what you're afraid of?" Lara smacks the batons together and I watch the electrical bolt dance from one to the next.
Yes, yes, that is what I am afraid of.
Lara stops. She just stops and allows her hands to drop to her side, each holding a baton but neither of them strike out at me. Instead, she offers one to me.