Time Thief

by Jill Cooper

  “A multiverse?” Donovan shrugs and his eyes shift around. “I read comics as a kid. Who didn’t, right?”

  I nod. “Just like that. In my timeline, I’ve been fighting Rewind for so long, I barely remember anything else. My life is crazy but I have a fresh husband, the love of my life. In that crazy world, the only thing that matters, is you.” Unconsciously, I rub the back of my head.

  Donovan stares at me but doesn’t move. I’m surprised he doesn’t pull away from me but instead he slips his hand on top of mine. I don’t pull away, no matter how shocked I am. Instead, I squeeze his fingers with mine.

  “I knew something was going on when I…attacked you in your apartment. The way you looked at me. The heartbreak on your face. It just made me angrier. I can be a real asshole sometimes.”

  More than that—at least here—but I can’t separate him from my Donovan. “I just want to be happy. I just want to go home.”

  “And that thing you’re trying to do? Where does it lead?” he asks.

  “Place called the ‘bridge.’ It lives outside of time and all the timelines. If we can get there, I can return home and out of this place forever. Maybe I can use its tech to find out who really killed Patricia James and free this Lara’s name. I just want her to be happy.”

  “What about me? Delilah set me up to be killed back there and I don’t know why.”

  “I don’t know. I’m being selfish…”

  Donovan shakes his head. “I wish I knew this other version of me. He must be a stand-up guy.”

  I nod, smiling through my tears. “He’s the best. He never lets me down even when I think I don’t deserve his support, he’s always there.”

  “Well, if you can’t get back, maybe you and I….”

  The idea is abhorrent that I would settle for this Donovan because I can’t have mine. They are so different and this one is power hungry. He’s so different, he might as well be another person.

  “It’s time for us to get you protection. I’m ready to call my defense attorney.” If I can’t get to the bridge, I’m going to need to secure my future here, but I’m not ready to give up hope.

  I cup my hand and it crackles. The opening is no bigger than a golf ball. I stare into the bridge, at least at the small parts I can see; the tile floor, the leg of a desk.

  Does anyone miss me back home? Are they looking for me? Because I want to be back with them so badly it hurts.

  ****

  Cassidy hasn’t come and neither has Molly. Instinctively, I fear that something has happened to them that I won’t be able to fix until I get home. If I ever get home. I bounce with nerves as Donovan and I head outside to meet Jax. It’s two in the morning, but he’s agreed to meet us quickly so he can square things away with the police.

  We stand at the loading dock at the rear of the factory and my stomach tightens as as a black sedan—headlights blazing—make its way toward us. “Here we go. You ready for this?” Donovan asks.

  My eyes crinkle as I think about it, but I brush it aside as Jax and Rick get out of the car.

  I’m surprised as Rick crushes me in a hug. “Are you all right, bae? Jax told me what happened at Delilah’s place. I can’t believe you got out of there without getting hurt.”

  I open my mouth to speak as Jax shakes hands with his brother. My attorney gazes at the building and takes it all in. “Let’s get inside so we can go over this in private. Highly irregular for you to be here,” Jax says to Donovan with a glare.

  “His life is in danger too. I needed him to come with me. I couldn’t just leave him there, Ja—Mr. Montgomery.”

  Jax motions to the door. “Let’s head inside and discuss it.”

  Donovan pulls the door and holds it open for us.

  Rick takes my hand and gives it a squeeze but he doesn’t take his eyes off Donovan. We follow Jax and Donovan into the garage. Jax goes to the other side of a mechanic’s table and places his briefcase down. “I’m going to need you to tell me everything from the beginning. Do you think you can do that, Lara?”

  I nod. “Sure. I don’t think it’ll take very long.”

  “I’m just glad you’re safe,” Rick says. He nuzzles the side of my head and I close my eyes, enjoy the bit of affection I’m given.

  I recount my story for Jax but leave out the multiverse and the time travel bits. Donovan gives me a look that says ‘tell him everything,’ but I don’t.

  “Sounds like a hard day. I’m sorry, Lara,” Jax says. “You didn’t call anyone else, did you? Does anyone else know that you’re here?”

  “Only you.”

  “I’m going to get to the bottom of this, but first I’m going to need you to hand over the gun you took from the Chase mansion.”

  “Right, sorry.” I pull the gun out of the back of my jeans and hand it to Jax. As I do, our fingers overlap and I’m jolted by a powerful memory that sends shockwaves of pain rippling through my brain. I’m back at the James mansion the night Patricia had died, and she cowers on the floor while I lord over her.

  “Please!” she begs and holds up her hands. I raise my gun and take center aim. “I have a son and a family. You might not agree with what I’ve done, but have mercy on me. Your mother wouldn’t want this for you.”

  So, she’d speak for my dead mother now? “Admit it. You had her killed. Admit it!”

  “Yes!” Patricia screams and her hands shake. “I did it, now please, do what you want with my confession, but please let me go.”

  In my other hand is a voice recorder I hadn’t seen before. Smiling, I hit the stop button. “I’ll do what I set out to do.” I lower the gun to my side. “I’ll turn this over to the cops. And you…you’re finished.” My words are laced with venom and hate.

  Patricia squeezes her eyes and sobs on the floor. Happy tears because I’ve spared her life, or tears of sadness because I’m going to ruin her—I can’t be sure which. I don’t really care, either. All I feel is justified satisfaction and boy, does it feel good.

  Until two gunshots rip through Patricia’s skull. Her head falls back, she’s dead instantly, and I’m left standing over her body with a gun in my hand.

  But I never did pull the trigger.

  I turn around. The shooter is still there, in his fine pressed suit and black thick glasses, but it isn’t Rex.

  It’s Jax. Jax Montgomery killed Patricia James.

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Lara Crane

  My hands shake as I lift my gun and aim it at him. This Lara has no idea who he is, but I do. Inside all she feels is intense fear, like she’s bitten off more than she can chew. Lara is drowning in fear and guilt that she’s somehow set all this in motion. If only I could tell her it had been set in motion long ago.

  “You’re out of your depth, Lara Crane.” Jax’s voice is void of emotion. With a quick movement, he snatches the gun out of my hand, pockets it and grabs my arm. He whips me around, pulling my arm behind my back painfully, and holds a white cloth over my face.

  The fumes make my eyes water and he rips the voice recorder out of my hand.

  “Don’t worry,” Jax whispers against my ear, “you won’t remember any of this when you wake up, darling Lara…”

  Darling Lara.

  Funny. That’s what Rex always calls me. That’s when I realized the brothers in this time had switched places. Here things are strangely reversed and flipped on its head. Nothing is as it seems. So how can that get me back home?

  ****

  Jax takes the gun from me and places it inside a white handkerchief. Carefully, he wraps it up. “Thank you, Lara. Now we can really get to work on your defense, now that you have a witness.” He heads back to the other side of the table to open his briefcase.

  I stare at him and position myself in front of Rick and Rex. Rick scowls at me and I put my finger to my lips to tell him to be quiet. I remind myself that Jax isn’t my stepfather here, he’s just a version of who Jax could be, same as Rick, and Donovan.

  “What happens now?” Donovan as
ks.

  “That’s up to the three of you, really.” Jax unsnaps his briefcase.

  “Why did you really meet with us? Why bring Rick?” I ask.

  Jax smirks at me and it’s a smirk that is so familiar, so haunting, that it hurts me to see it on his face and not his brother’s. “It’s clear you already know the answer to that question, darling Lara.” He pulls a gun from his briefcase and aims it at me. “So, I can get rid of all the witnesses at once. And you’ve given me the perfect motive and opportunity.”

  Rick stiffens and grabs my arm to yank me back, but I hold strong. My hands ball into tight fists as Donovan closes in on the other side of me. They both want to protect me but they’re wrong. I’m the one who needs to protect them.

  “You and Rick came to talk to Donovan. He shot you both and you shot him.”

  Donovan shakes his head. “It’ll never work.”

  “No?” Jax snorts. “It’s been working for years, foolish boy. Your mother set it all up and she died by her own game. Seems only fitting that we’ll keep it going. If you had managed to fall in line…”

  Donovan charges forward, but my arm keeps him back as I address Jax. “C’mon, Jax. You’re nothing more than a hired gun. You think we don’t see that? Delilah wanted Rewind for herself and you helped her. How much is she paying you to wipe us out?”

  “More than double what Patricia paid me to kill your mother.” Jax laughs and pulls the trigger.

  The nerves in my belly pulse outward like a grenade and I stomp my foot onto the tile. The tiles rupture with time and spin upward like debris and I push my hands out creating a barrier around Rick, Donovan and myself. It glows gold as the bullet slowly bounces off of the protective barrier and heads right back toward Jax. I speed time up and glance back at Rick and Donovan.

  “Run!”

  The tiles cascade back down to the ground like an ocean wave. Neither Donovan nor Rick move like I’ve told them to. Before the stray bullet collides with Jax’s chest he fires off two more shots.

  Both Rick and Donovan are in the path. I react on a split second and push Donovan out of the way. The bullet will collide with me, but it’s the choice I’ve made. I can survive being shot. I’ve done it before.

  “No!” Rick screams and pushes me out of the way. He didn’t have to do that. I would’ve been fine! I could deal with a little thing like a bullet. How could he—I skid along the floor and only stop when I slam into the wall. When I gaze up, Jax is on his back and across from him so is Rick.

  I scurry over to him. “Rick!”

  There’s blood everywhere, all coming from the center of his chest. “Just hold on, okay?” My hand shakes as I push it against Rick’s hoodie, and I watch the blood seeping out like a broken river dam.

  Donovan touches my shoulder. “I’ll get help. I’ll call for help!” He runs out of the garage and he means what he says, but he’ll be too late. Judging from the amount of blood coming from Rick’s wound, he won’t make it.

  “Just hang on, okay?” My voice shakes and cracks. I never wanted the events of my life to lead us here.

  Rick’s bloody fingers stroke my cheek and it makes me sob. “You never killed Patricia?”

  “Just thought I did.” I shake my head but I can’t see him because tears mar my vision. “Hang on, okay? I’ll go back and save you. I’ll go back…” My chin quivers as I watch Rick in so much pain, and my mind fills with memories from so long ago.

  As kids, hanging out with Rick on fire escapes to watch fireworks.

  Our first kiss at the elementary school basketball game.

  When he asked me to go steady with the stupid purple lollipop ring that I’d worn with pride until it was covered in dust and lint.

  He grabs my cheek and leaves behind a cold trail of blood. “Not even you’re that special, Lar. This is it for me.”

  No, it isn’t. It can’t be. Maybe Rick is no longer mine, but there are other Laras out there who need him and love him. He’s too nice of a person, too special, to just die here on this floor with no one but me to mourn him.

  As he dies, the anger builds inside of me, so intense that I scream. Like a tornado of emotion, time ripples out of me, more powerful than ever. Tools, the table, and containers of motor oil, go flying, windows shatter outward as though a mighty storm is ripping through the building. A moment later, it all reverses and pulls itself back together as if nothing had happened.

  Time had gone forward and backward. If I can do that, why can’t I travel back in time?

  Why?

  I grip my hair and scream, picturing the moment before Jax had taken his first shot. The vision is crystal clear in my head, and slowly I edge toward it, nearly becoming one with the Lara from the past, but I hit a wall. I scream, cry and try again.

  And again. Until my nose bleeds.

  I force it, willing it to happen, time after time. Until my head feels it will split in two and I can barely here my own tears.

  And then it happens. A shimmering portal opens above me and I stare up into the bridge. And there’s a man staring at me, his eyes filled with surprise. His eyes wide, mouth open, a look of untouched innocence about him that I can no longer comprehend. I’ve seen too much and felt too much pain.

  I rise, leaving Rick’s limp body alone on the ground as his body continues to bleed out. The man on the bridge—whoever he is—he’s the one responsible for all of this and then I realize, I know him.

  I’ve seen his face before.

  He’d stuck me with the needle, which had started all this trouble at my wedding reception. Not only that, but I saw his face before. He was the police officer who’d led me into an ambush when Cassidy, the time travel assassin, had nearly killed me three years ago.

  It’s him. I fear it’s always been him.

  His eyes narrow and there’s a manic sort of pain behind them. He lifts his hand and the bridge starts to close. I won’t lose this chance. I whisper good-bye to Rick and a moment later, I bend my knees and shoot through the portal before it has the chance to close.

  I’m ready to end this. I’m ready to go back home.

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Cassidy Winters

  “Cass? Wake up. You okay?”

  My eyes open slowly. I have a heart pulsing headache through my temples and the back of my skull. Pausing, I take in where I am and see I’m in a hospital room. Don is sitting beside me, concern on his face, his hand on my arm, lovingly squeezing it.

  “What happened?” I push myself up but when I do, I’m taken aback by how much my body aches. I cover my mouth, fearing I might be sick.

  “Easy, hon, easy.” Donovan holds a cup under my mouth. “Take a sip. You had a real bad blow to the head.”

  I did? Why don’t I remember that?

  I sip from the straw and then lay back down, and close my eyes. I take a few breaths and try to remember where I had been and what I had been doing. My stomach feels so tight and nervous, it had to have been something big.

  But why couldn’t I remember it?

  “What happened?” I ask again. My head spins and I grip the bedframe to right myself. It’s like the nastiest case of vertigo I’ve ever had.

  “You had a little accident. Nothing serious, but you’ll recover. I’m just glad you’re awake.” Don smiles at me and takes my hand.

  I sit up in bed, my brow furrowing. “What kind of accident? What happened? Was it work-related—was someone hurt?”

  “Other than you, no. Of course not.” His smile is smooth and too calm, almost as if he’s trying to make sure nothing upsets me.

  “What do you…” I turn my head and find I can see outside the window of my room door. There’s a man in a policeman’s cap standing there. “Why are the police outside my door?” I pull back my covers so I can take a look and realize find I’m handcuffed to the bed railing.

  “Don?” I’m breathless with fear as I yank my wrist as far as it will go. “What is this?”

  “For your own protection. I promise I’m going t
o stand by you on this. No matter how long it takes to clear the air.”

  Clear the air? “You’re scaring me. Just tell me what’s going on.”

  Donovan’s face is so neutral and his voice so even, it scares me. “You were in Miranda’s office upstairs. Delilah got help because your voice was getting loud and threatening.” Don sighs and stares off in the distance as if something is bothering him. He can’t say the words, whatever comes next has him tied up into knots.

  “What happened? You have to tell me.”

  “We don’t know for sure but it looks like you shot her. You were holding the gun and Miranda…” Don shook his head and can’t look at me.

  My mouth falls open and I whisper. “Dead?”

  Don rubs his face and won’t say it, which means it’s true. I can’t fathom what he’s saying, but he wouldn’t lie. He loves me. “If I shot someone, I wouldn’t forget. If I killed her, I’d remember. There’s no reason why I’d hurt Dr. Crane!”

  “Are you sure?” Don’s eyebrows crinkle. “There was nothing between you two?”

  “No…I.” Suddenly, I’m not so sure as waves of memories hit me. “We met at a diner a few days ago, to talk about things.” What Miranda had said was fuzzy, but I remember how her words had scared me and spurred me on to look into things I normally wouldn’t look into.

  Don studies me intently. “If there’s something you know that can help your case…”

  “She…” I remember as my memories lock into place. “She thought her daughter was killed to keep her working at Rewind. She thought that Rewind was involved in illegal activity, experiments. If anything, I was helping her. I wasn’t going to hurt her, Don.”

  It was his mother. His mother who was going to hurt Miranda, not me. Could I share that with Don? Would he believe a word of it?

  He lets out a long sigh, his hands in his pockets. “Rewind is on the cutting edge—I’ll give you that much—but illegal?” Don pulls away from me as if he doesn’t trust me.

  “So, you’d trust Rewind before you trust me?”