Time Scape: A Time Travel Thriller (The Rewind Conspiracy Book 3)

by Jill Cooper

  We take the hallway toward the stairs. Cassidy’s comm goes off and her face drops as she eyes the image. I glance at it and I see the hologram image of Cassidy’s face on her wrist. Wanted: for the murder of Katie Jackson and corruption charges.

  I guess it’s her turn to be executed for a crime she didn’t commit, all because she helped me. She wants a better future. Present. Whatever we’re stuck in.

  Personally, I think it’s hell.

  Cassidy takes the comm off and steps on it, squishing it into the ground with the heel of her shoe. She notices my raised eyebrows and answers the unspoken question. “They can track me with it. Let’s move out.”

  We charge down the stairs, and as the green light scans us, it turns red. An alarm sounds as the green light swims over Cassidy’s eyes. “They’ll be here any minute.” Cassidy grabs my arm and pulls me outside.

  We head to the car; it’s the only place we can go. Cassidy jumps in the driver seat and I take the passenger seat. We’re cruising along at top speed and she takes a hard right turn.

  Off in the distance, police car sirens blare and lights flash. “What now?”

  Cassidy grips the steering wheel in her hand, caressing it. “We head out of the city. If we stay here, we’ll be caught. Then we come up with a game plan. Figure out what’s in those journals that can help us.”

  Sounds almost like a Lara Crane plan. But at this point, any plan is better than no plan. Even a crazy one.

  14: Lara

  We ditch the squad car up by the harbor and Steal a rowboat. Before you know it, we’re paddling across Boston Harbor toward the islands. The island we dock on isn’t huge, but it’s big enough to get lost on. We pull the rowboat onto land, within the tree line and cover it in twigs and fallen foliage. If Rewind’s cameras do a sweep of the area, we don’t need them finding the boat.

  We hike to the center of the island. The night sky is huge, blanketed in twinkling stars. Out here in the harbor, they seem bigger and brighter. Intense. I can’t help but wonder how many times Mom or Donovan have looked at these stars.

  Wondering where I was. What I was doing.

  Now I wonder where they might be. Mom, Dad, Jax—are most likely dead-- unless people here can live to be one hundred and twenty. Don would be a senior citizen like Molly, except a few years older. Insensitive as it is, I hope I don’t have to see them.

  To hope for anything else would be too heartbreaking.

  Out on the island, we’re not monitored or under surveillance, but we’re not alone. There are a few homeless men, but they don’t look like bums. Their eyes glint with intelligence and they move away from us whenever we get close.

  They want to be left alone just as much as we do.

  “What made you want to be a Rewind officer?” It’s hard not to be judgmental as I ask, but I try. She grew up here. It’s the only way she knows.

  We drudge through the woods for a few more paces. “My parents died in a car wreck when I was a kid. My Granny,” Cassidy raises her eyebrows, “Molly says Daniels killed them. She’s lived in fear of him all her life.”

  I wait for her to finish as she clears her throat. “Anyway, I was told I was special. I had no future that could be read but now…” she shrugs.

  “Now you think Daniels saw the future and deleted it. He’s kept you close to control you and stop whatever it is we’re about to do.”

  “Precisely.” For such a small word, Cassidy packs a lot of emotion behind it. “I became an officer because of him. I thought he was like…a dad.” Her brows scowl and her eyes flash with anger.

  Vengeance.

  A look I’ve seen, when I’ve look in the mirror.

  “What happened to my mom? Jax?” I take a deep breath and almost lose the nerve to hear her answer. “Donovan James?”

  She stops and leans against a tree. “I don’t know a lot. It was a long time ago. Only what Granny told me. Her parents were divorced. Granpy Mikey died young in a boating accident. Eighteen, I think.”

  Poor Mike. So Mom and Jax went through with it. It saddens me and when I ask about my dad, Cassidy just shakes her head. She said she had no idea Molly had a half-sister so has no knowledge about my dad.

  That saddens me most of all. I saved him. Did everything I could to free him and now, not even family remember him.

  We fall silent. I’m weighed down with grief. Cassidy collects enough dry wood to light a fire. We sit by it and it warms my soggy feet, but my heart is still ice cold. I flip through the pages of the diary. Not a lot of it makes sense to me. It reads like drivel. However, when I turn the page to a drawing, everything is labeled and I think I understand it.

  I lick my lips and my heart patters faster, like the feet of little children.

  “What you got there?” Cassidy asks, hunched toward the fire. “The time corridor.”

  I’m not even sure what that is, but it’s written across the top of the pages. “The diagram is here and it looks like he’s manipulating more than just linear time.”

  Cassidy extends her hand and takes the diary. I let her study it for a while and watch her flip back and forth between it. “Timelines? He’s tapped into alternate timelines? It powers these things?”

  “Maybe all the timelines. Like chess, he extrapolates what will happen in each of the timelines with the various changes. Looks like his assassin,” I take the diary and flip it open, “is able to travel to the different timelines. Daniels suggests here that to do so would be worse than time travel sickness and to travel like that wouldn’t be limitless. There’d be consequences that even modern medicine here couldn’t fix.”

  Cassidy falls silent. “Is that how he framed Reynolds? He grabbed the images from another timeline?”

  I shrug. But it’s as good a hypothesis as any.

  “How is he doing it? What’s powering the corridor? If he got the tech in the past by studying your brain, you can’t do that, can you?”

  It’s a good question and one I don’t have an answer for. “No. Before now, I’ve only ever gone back in time. Then returned to the present. But never ever have I gone forward.” I pause. “Ever.”

  “I get it,” Cassidy says with a wry smile. “Maybe we don’t need to know. Maybe exploding the corridor is enough. Destroy it.”

  “That won’t send me back. It won’t bring back Reynold Jackson or anyone else Daniels has hurt.”

  Cassidy stares into my eyes and I picture her wheels turning inside her head. “So, go back and fix it if you think that’s what we should do.”

  “I can’t.” Unconsciously I rub the nub on the back of my head. “He fitted me with a restraint. I can’t travel back even if I want to.”

  Cassidy reaches around my neck and feels my device. “It’s a simple port? If we can get you into the lab, we can hook you up, deactivate it. It’s simple. A monkey could do it.”

  She’s so much like me I can’t help a smirk. “Except for the get me into the lab part. Your ID won’t work. Everyone is looking for us. How are we going to get in there?”

  “It won’t matter if we get caught if we can get it done. I deactivate you, you travel back in time, and you unravel all of this.”

  “How? I don’t know how Daniels creates the time corridor. I won’t know what to do when I go back.” A thought hits me and everything in front of me sways. “I need to talk to Daniels.”

  Cassidy’s mouth slips open. “Are you nuts?”

  “Maybe,” I admit. “Doesn’t mean I’m not right. I talk to Daniels, get him to admit how he did it. Make him think he’s won.”

  “And then go back in time.” Cassidy whispers and this time it looks like she might be the one who faints. “He’s going to have to think he’s caught you. If he thinks you’re up to something we’re dead in the water.”

  “I know. And it hasto be me, alone. I’m going to need you close. Someone still needs to deactivate this thing in my head.”

  Cassidy nods and her face sets to stone as I hand over my gun to her. She holds
it as if it’s forbidden fruit.

  “Are you sure about this? Your career, everyone you love—.”

  “None of it will matter if we win. If we get you back in time to stop it, everything here will be different. Who knows, maybe I won’t even remember.” Cassidy studies the gun in her hand, as if it being there is heartbreaking.

  “I will. I always do.” I don’t mean to sound so forlorn when I say it, gazing across the harbor. My heart feels the pain of it all. Losing mom at the age of five, losing dad to prison. Watching Jax die. Now all of this…

  Cassidy grips my shoulder. “Then this time, let’s cripple Rewind. Let’s make it so they can never do this again. No more reboots.”

  No more reboots. I like that. “Cassidy, I think you might take after your crazy aunt.”

  “Great aunt.” She reminds me.

  “Ouch.” I cringe.

  It’s time to get to work.

  ****

  I take the rowboat back to the harbor. I drop Cassidy off, beneath the bridge where she will be hidden and safe. When I offer to give her my hoodie, to hide her face, she shakes her head. “We don’t want them to suspect we’re working together, remember? Just stick to the plan. I’ll be okay.”

  Taking a deep breath, I settle back into the boat and row off. I aim for the spot we’ve settled on and I’m in no rush to get there. It’s in the quiet, those moments alone that are the hardest. I can’t stop myself from reflecting on the beauty of Boston, my home. Except now, there are beams of green light on all of the buildings.

  In the night sky, a helicopter flutters past and churns up wind around me. When the light hits the boat, and me I pick up speed. The light turns red and I dive into the harbor to get away. I’m not that strong a swimmer, but I’m strong enough to make it to the New England Aquarium, or what was once the Aquarium. Now it’s Rewind Harbor & Search and Rescue.

  Just something else it has taken charge of. Another thing Rewind has corrupted, like an infection. A disease. Everything it touches turns black, brittles and dies.

  When I pull myself up, my clothes are soaking wet and I’m freezing in the night chill. Police sirens are close. I want to buy Cassidy more time to find a way deeper into the city, so I make my way toward a shopping plaza, long closed for the night.

  “Stop!” Police behind me scream. They’re hot in pursuit and closing in on my tail.

  They don’t have guns, so I don’t listen. I charge up the steps toward a boutique. There is a chair outside so I grab it and fling it at the window.

  Glass breaks and I shield my face as I step inside and race toward the exit. The door isn’t locked so I pull it open easily. Running through the alley, I careen around a dumpster, straight into a waiting cop.

  I pivot and try to get away, but he grabs my arm. He yanks me hard and snarls against my cheek. “We know you’re confused. But you need to stop or we will do this the hard way.”

  I throw a punch, but he grabs my wrist and twists it behind my back. I cringe as he shoves my face against the brick wall.

  “You don’t understand!” I scream at him. “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

  He jolts me with an electric pulse through my back and my teeth chatter. I can’t move even when he releases the pressure. He takes my hands and handcuffs them behind my back. Today, it’s becoming a theme.

  I’m starting to wish I listened to them and just gave myself up, but I had to make a good show of it. Pretend I didn’t want to be caught.

  Even though I did.

  Took less than fifteen minutes from when I was first spotted. I hope that Cassidy’s okay and she makes it as the police haul me back up on my feet.

  “Call Daniels and let him know we’re calling the manhunt off on this one. We’re bringing her to him.”

  He shoves me back toward the front of the building, and the waiting squad cars. My wobbly legs collapse and I roll down the stairs. My cheek is torn as it smacks into some cement. I groan as he grabs me and pushes me into the car. So much for law and order.

  Leaning his arm on the hood of the car, he squats down to look me in the eye. “Where’s Winters?”

  “How the hell should I know?” I glare at him. “I got away from her the second I could. Corrupt evil bitch, not much different than you.”

  To drive it home, I spit at him.

  The officer’s face contorts into a strong scowl and it’s as if his face swallows his lips. “You little…” He makes a fist and I think he might tear me out of the car. Teach me a lesson out back. I sure wish he wouldn’t.

  “Knock it off, Richardson. Daniels is waiting for us. He’s not getting any younger.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Okay.” He brings his attention back to me. “Count your blessings. For now.” He slams the door and gets in the front.

  I hunch down and wait for the car to inch forward. It’s the ‘for now’ that worries me. It’s the ‘for now’ that preoccupies me all the way to the Pru. At least it used to be the Prudential. Now it’s a giant antenna pointing straight into space.

  A time travel antennae and I think it can’t be an accident. It wasn’t done by mistake.

  Daniels picked this building for a reason.

  The plans Cassidy and I came up with keep churning in my mind as the police park the car in the underground garage.

  Under the tons of cement, it’s dark and cold. Off in the distance, I hear a car door slamming, but little else. I sit with my head down as they radio ahead to Daniels that I’m coming. The old man must be up waiting for me.

  The backdoor opens and they pull me out. The two officers who I’m with look angry, as if they’ve lost patience. Their lips are pressed together and their arms are rigid. Something about these guys scream personal henchmen as opposed to officers of the law.

  “What’s the matter? You losing some beauty sleep?”

  “Just move it.” He grabs my arm and pushes me along with force. “Entitled little bitch.” He sneers.

  “You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

  “Yeah?” He taunts. “Poor girly, what’d you break a nail?”

  I huff as my cheeks grow red. “I’m going to enjoy watching this place burn. And all of you along with it.”

  They laugh nearly uncontrollably as we get into the elevator and when they’re not looking, I’m satisfied that my part has been played well.

  It’s show time.

  Dad always said I have a flair for the dramatic.

  ****

  Mom was into those old retro movies. Before 3D, way before 3D. Her favorites were now over a hundred years old. Back to the Future, the series. Kind of ironic that I think of that now, but as they lead me through the Pru, that’s exactly how I feel. As if I’m stuck in Back to the Future II and I’m Marty, being led to the lazy good for nothing, Biff’s headquarters for the first time. Biff, whose wealth only existed because of Marty.

  That was Daniels and I. His empire and all his power exist because of me. Take away me and he has nothing.

  It’s exactly what we have to do.

  I just hope I can go through with it when the time is right.

  His office is grand and sweeping. I can’t believe he’s taken half of the observation deck of the Pru as his own personal space. What a jerk this guy is.

  When he sees me, he smiles. Daniels has a regal cane in his hand as he hobbles forward. He’s wearing simple slacks and a comfortable blazer. I guess he really has been waiting up for me.

  “Lara,” Daniels gazes at me as if I’m his long lost niece. “Leave us for a few minutes, would you?” When he reads the officer’s dismay, he snorts. “Oh please, there’s nowhere she can go. Just wait outside. Give us a few minutes.”

  The officer’s nod and leave the office. They close the door, but I imagine they haven’t gone very far. Might even be able to hear everything we say.

  “You’ve looked better.” I eye him up and down. Shriveled grape.

  Daniels just chuckles. “I know what you think of me, but when we first met
all those years ago, I never meant you any harm. I still don’t.”

  As if, I’d ever believe that. “Except for people, that get in your way.”

  He shrugs. “Self-preservation isn’t a bad thing. You learned that a long time ago. Don’t pretend you haven’t.”

  I can’t deny he’s right about that. Self-preservation is the name of the game. “I’m surprised you’re still alive, to be honest. How old are you anyway?”

  Daniels relaxes and smirks. “One hundred and five.” He straightens up and I think he might break out into a little tap dance version of Hello My Baby.

  “How is that possible? How is any of this possible?”

  “Time travel. Borrowed time, to be precise. From space, different places. Those who can afford it, well they can buy the most precious commodity in the world.”

  “Time,” I whisper and can’t believe I’m staring at him in awe, but I am. He’s found, not the secret of youth exactly, but a way to extend life. Improve the quality. Maybe it’s possible my mom and Jax are still alive somewhere.

  “Rewind isn’t just about fighting crime and keeping the peace, Lara. It’s about improving the quality of life. Giving you more of what you already have. There are so many different factions under my control. Rejuvenation. You should see what we could do when given the chance. It’s not all bad.”

  I cross my arms. “Neither is hell. At least it’s warm there.”

  He laughs and pats my back. I restrain myself from grabbing it and breaking it in at least two places. “Oh, Lara. Give me a chance. Give this place a chance. I promise you won’t hate everything you see.”

  I can’t even perceive that as a remote possibility. No one should be able to play with what Daniels is playing with. He’s given himself the throne of God. He’s made himself the master of time manipulation. That will never sit right with me and I’m surprised so much of the world is willing to go along with it.

  “And then what, you’ll send me back?”

  “No.” Daniels shakes his head. “No, I can never send you back. You’re too dangerous. You’ll stop what’s happening here. I know that. You know that. But we can set you up. Make it so you never have to want anything. Suffer. It can be a good life if you let it be one.”