by Jill Cooper
“Well, thanks for the vote of confidence.” My eyebrows arch with anger.
Jeff sighs. “I didn’t mean it like that. You know I didn’t, but you’re scaring me. All of this is scaring me.”
“I know,” I say softly. “It’s all I know and I don’t want to die, Jeff.” I slide my hand behind his head and force him closer. My lips play against his. “I want us to be the future and doing this, it’s all we have. It’s our only chance. Please.”
Jeff’s eyes dance with mine as we kiss. I know he’ll help me. I always knew he would, but this final tender moment among the swan boats is ours. It’s something we both need. I wish it’d last a few moments longer. I wish it could.
But it can’t. Because nothing is forever.
We’re racing toward the end game.
He takes my hand in his and squeezes his fingers around mine. Jeff steps off the boat and even though I don’t need his help, he grips my arm as I step down. I let him do it because I always have. I might be strong, but I love Jeff. I like that he takes care of me, even though I can take care of myself. Isn’t that what love is all about? Taking care of each other.
In the car, I lay down in the backseat and he speeds towards Rewind’s headquarters. “Inside, when we get there, things are going to get tense. Bad.” I lick my lips. “Find somewhere to hide and don’t come out until it’s safe.”
“No,” Jeff says with deep resolve. “I’m not going to hide while you’re risking everything.”
“Jeff…”
“I said no, Cassidy.”
Silently I curse, but I nod. “Okay. We do it together then.” I lean my head against the seat cushion. The drive to the Pru seems to take forever, but part of me wishes it’d never end. Once we get there, I can’t guess how it’ll go.
I don’t know what will happen when it’s through.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I say a silent prayer. I’m not the type, usually, but on a day like this, we can use all the help we can get.
Please let Lara be okay. Please…
16: Lara
I wish I had never come here.
I wish I never thought I was smart enough or brave enough to beat Daniels at his own game. Before this big reveal, I didn’t even realize what the game was. I thought we were playing Monopoly, but it turns out we’re playing Chess.
Daniels has been twenty steps ahead of me because he knows what I’ll do, twenty different ways from Sunday, because he controls everything.
The wave of the future; multiple futures that spread infinitely across the universe. Sure, I’ve heard the theories before from every Whovian I’ve ever met, but now, I’m staring truth in the face.
Literally.
Daniels escorts me to what used to be the other side of the observation deck. It’s been reconstructed into a narrow hallway and behind the curved panes of glass is a room that spreads as far as the eye can see. It contains a series of white and silver tubes, coax cables, and monitors. Inside, people sit at computer terminals and the air is electrified, as if we’re in the middle of a lightning storm.
I push my hand to the glass.
Daniels studies my expression. “They’re studying the future near and far. It spreads like a spider web across infinity, Lara.” He talks quick, as if he’s excited. Daniels wipes his mouth as saliva gathers in the corners of his mouth.
There’s no witty comeback from me this time.
I’m not even sure any of this has sunk in yet. All I can do is stare. The place is massive and the amount of power needed to generate something like this I can’t even comprehend. How was Daniels able to do this so easily and transform the country—the world—in such a short time?
“You want to know, don’t you?” Daniel leans in and whispers against my ear. “You want to see how it all works? Think I should let you in on my secrets.”
I stare into his dead, hollow eyes. that are so near to mine. I could reach out, snap his neck, but that wouldn’t change the future. It wouldn’t change the dozens upon dozens of alternate universes that he’s manipulated.
I nod, staring into the face of whom might as well be the devil himself.
Daniels takes me to a small glass door. He knocks on it and then swipes his ID card. As the door opens, those at the computer terminals stand to salute Daniels. He ushers me in, his hand firm on my arm.
Stepping inside, I glance over my shoulder. I hope Cassidy is on the way as I step into the belly of the beast.
Daniels, for his part, is relaxed as he takes me through the facility. He lifts his cane and swipes it in the air to gesture at the expansive nature of it all. “Here we exist almost outside of time itself. Able to move back, move forward. Catalog hundreds of different choices and different outcomes with a flick of a switch.”
My jaw clenches. “That’s how you were able to frame Reynold.”
“He was guilty in one world.” Daniels’ eyes flash and his lips turn down in a defensive expression. “All the other worlds, he was guilty of helping our detractors. Some they won, some they lost, but in all of them he was guilty.”
Of trying to take down Daniels? Reynold deserved a prize.
“This is the world where it matters most. The building block of all others. Here, Reynold had to fall. If he took me down, if they took down this place, all of it would fall apart. No other second chances.”
“So this place is connected to all the others? It draws its power from the other timelines.” Gears begin to tick inside my brain.
Daniels nods. “You could say that.”
“How did you learn how to do that?” I ask, my brows pinching together. How could one man be this smart? Daniels had never been on my radar, but I’m now beginning to think he’s more dangerous than Patricia James was. Rex. Everyone I’ve gone up against in my past.
“I’ll show you. I call them my collection.”
The eerie way he says it, with a click of his tongue, makes my skin crawl. I’m about to get the final piece and I just pray I get enough information to stop the creation of this place.
He leads me further in. I see stations on the side with beds. This must be where the time travelers hook up. We turn the corner and then I see them.
Rows of small glass boxes, almost as if they were designed to hold life-sized Barbie’s. However, inside, there weren’t dolls at all.
My throat is tight and I can’t breathe. Beside me, Daniels’ eyes glint with happiness. Pride. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
Inside the glass boxes. No, I almost can’t believe it. I touch one box with my hand and my lip quivers.
Inside the glass box… Inside all these glass boxes…
It’s me.
****
I’m in a cage.
Dozens, possibly a hundred versions of me. Some young, some old, but they are all without a doubt me.
Lara Crane Montgomery.
I can’t fathom it. I can’t deal.
The ground shifts below me and I sink to my knees. My breath is rapid and my pulse is off the charts. If it’s possible to feel your blood pressure rocket toward the roof then I’m there. My vision starts to sway almost as if I’m about to jump back in time, but my vision is going dark.
I’m going to pass out.
The only thing keeping me grounded in this grotesque version of the future is my hand pressed against the glass. I stare up at her. Lara. Me. Some version of me that I don’t know and don’t want to know, but there she is.
She’s the only thing keeping me from blacking out.
Her head is tilted back and over her face, she wears what looks like a gas mask, but it’s fitted with a hose. It runs up out of the box and into the ceiling where all the tubes and pipes pulse with life. Lara’s arms are spread-eagled and are held up by a series of wires running through them and into multiple points throughout her body. The wires glow and pulse blue, flowing with life.
Lara’s face is wrinkled and her long curls are silver. She’s been here a long time and I stare at her. I rise to my feet and
whisper her name with uncertainty, almost as if I’m whispering to the dead. “Lara?”
I’m not sure if she can hear me, then her head jerks and her eyes open. Lifeless. Dull. They take in the sight of me, of whom she was one, and they light up with a spark. A tear forms in the corner of her eye.
Seeing me upsets her. She’s trying to move. Trying to say something. Alarms sound around us and Daniels pushes a button on the box. With a hiss, a nozzle lowers into the prison, filling it with a haze of white smoke.
Drugs.
Lara falls back into her stupor and I feel as if she’s been ripped away from me. I grit my teeth and angry, hot tears fill my eyes, but I dare not let them spill.
“She was first. The first one of our assassins, as you’ve called them in the past, to jump back in time. Made that jump across the slipstream into the world where you were still in the cage. We grabbed her and brought her here.”
This version of me…this version of me had never gotten out of the cage? The grief I feel for her, for me, threatens to cripple me. The prize of toppling Rewind, of bringing Daniels down seems so far off now. There isn’t even a hint of light at the end of the tunnel.
Not even a beacon of hope, because no matter what I do, there is always a version of me, of a world, that’s lost everything.
“You’re the last,” Daniels says in my ear. “The last to add to my collection. I’ve saved a box just for you.”
My chin quivers and the emotion welling inside me is so intense, I can’t stand to feel it.
“And the most important. You’re the one who was that Lara in the box. And that one. And that one over there. A hundred different choices and you’ve made nearly all of them. You mind is the most powerful of them all. Once I hook you up, Rewind will have no limits. No one will ever get close to stopping us again.”
The truth of his words is daunting and they anger me. I squeeze my jaw together so tightly, it aches. “You’re using me, my brain to power this thing?”
So twisted, so wrong.
I see the answer in his eye and it sickens me. I clench my stomach and think I might be sick.
“Monroe went back a hundred times and brought you to me. But for some reason this time,” Daniels shrugs, “he was stranded and you ended up somewhere you shouldn’t have. The middle of the street, rather than in my containment hold.”
Daniels puffs up his chest and takes a step back to gaze at me with a strange lust in his eyes, as if he must have me. Must understand me.
I want to punch him in the face.
“You’re different than the others. Your ability. Your power. It’s growing and I don’t think even I can stop it.” Daniels licks his lips. “You can do things none of the others can. With you, my calculations are always off. You never do what I expect.”
“Why?” I say softly, the first time I’m able to find my voice at all.
“My belief, you are the first. The original Lara before the timelines split and fractured into a hundred different possibilities. You created the splits. The divisions. Almost the way a cell separates and multiples. You not only have your abilities, but you have theirs. You’re the secret. The code.”
Daniels starts toward me, his hands grip the open air. “And I must have you.”
I back up away from him and straight into a box. Glancing back at it, I see Lara’s serene old face, she should be a grandmother. Not a sick science experiment.
“Ready the box,” Daniels calls to someone standing off to the side. The flunky nods and rushes off.
Behind Daniels, I hear the telltale click of the safety release on a gun. His head jerks in that direction.
“Move,” Cassidy snarls, “and I blow your head off.”
It’s nice to have law enforcement in the family.
17: Future Cassidy
Jeff drives us through the garage and it’s nailed down tighter than a sardine can. He slows down at the gate and flashes his ID. “Have business with Daniels.”
The security officer just waves him on after a quick glance at his lawyer ID. In the past, no one liked having to deal with lawyers, which I guess makes the future no different. Not special. No one likes lawyers.
But this one I love. As he drives us past the security stop, I can only see the back of his head. Soon we’ll both be rushing into danger. There’s no time to tell him how I feel. I can’t risk the distraction. From my spot on the backseat’s floor, I shift. “Pick a spot in the back. Isolated as you can get.”
Jeff doesn’t nod or say anything, but as he turns left, I know he’s heard me. He takes orders like a real soldier. I imagine he’s nervous, scared. Everything I am, but at least I can control it. He’s not as used to dealing with it as I am.
Once the car is parked, he shuts the headlights off and takes out the key. He turns to the backseat and looks at me. “You really ready for this?”
I nod. “I can’t imagine I’ll get any more ready later.”
His eyes are withdrawn and serious. If I’m honest with myself, he looks a little green. When he exits the car, I wait for him to open my door. His hand reaches for mine.
I grip it and step out of the car into the garage. It’s moist and the sound of the car door closing resounds behind me. We head toward the glass doors. The Rewind emblem is etched in the center.
Jeff’s handshake as he fumbles with his ID and nearly drops it. He sighs and his cheeks redden. “Sorry. Just…sorry, Cass. I don’t think I can do this.”
“You can.” I squeeze his hand to give him strength. “I wouldn’t have asked you if I thought you couldn’t handle it. You’re my only hope. If you can’t do this, it doesn’t get done. And Lara, just a teen, she’ll be hurt. Or worse.”
I can’t say what I think will happen to her. Death? Destroyed? Tortured? I have no idea to what lengths Daniels will go to keep her and where she’s from under wraps.
“You can handle this,” I whisper and kiss his cheek. “Now swipe your card and just walk in there like any other day. Just bringing me in to talk to Daniels.”
Jeff nods and struggles for a breath. I can’t read his eyes and I’m terrified I’m wrong. I’m terrified he can’t do this. Maybe he’s not up for the challenge. If I put him in harm’s way and we fail, I’ll never forgive myself.
He swipes the card and I hold my breath for a split second, but it seems like minutes tick by before the light glows green and we step inside.
The elevator at the end of the hall will take us right up to security and straight to Daniels. Jeff takes me by the wrist and pulls me into the elevator. I stay a pace or two behind him, so it appears he’s in control.
Inside he pushes the button to the second level. From my peripheral vision, I can see the camera is activated. I turn from Jeff’s eyes and look straight at the camera. “You’ll explain all of this to Daniels,” Jeff says with venom in his voice.
It’s good. So good that it makes my heart skip a beat.
Defiant, I just snarl at the camera. “I didn’t kill that woman. Daniels will know that. He can prove I didn’t.”
Jeff tugs on my wrist so I stumble. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”
When the door dings open by the security checkpoint Jeff takes the lead and pulls me from the elevator. I go willingly, but reluctantly. Over by the security booth, Jeff flashes his ID and we get to bypass the usual metal detectors and scanners.
The security officer glances at his comm, his eyes wide. “She’s wanted by Global. What the hell is she doing here?”
“Daniels,” Jeff says with a shake of his head. “She’s his pet subject. She’s asked to plead her case to him. I figured he’d want to see her.”
“I have something he wants.” I hold up the leather bound diaries If the security guard knows what they are, it doesn’t show in his stony expression.
He puts his finger to his ear. “I’ll radio ahead. Let Daniels know you’re on your way.”
“That’s not necessary,” Jeff says with an even tone and an even smoother stare.
“I’ve taken the liberty of calling ahead.”
“It’s my job, Sir.”
“And it’s my job as lead counsel to get in there and get this done before anyone notices we’re here. The cameras have swept us once, it can’t happen again or Global will know I’m bypassing their authority. Let me in so Daniels can make the call.” Jeff pauses and we watch the guard struggle with his decision.
“Have you ever crossed Daniels?” Jeff asks and lowers his head to meet the security guards eyes.
From the fright in the security’s widening eyes, I’m sure Jeff has him where he wants him. Over the years, Daniels has been known for his temper. .
He finally sighs and waves us on. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Jeff shakes his hand. “You won’t regret this, I promise.” He gives the pearly white lawyer grin he does so well. He ushers me ahead and we slip past the crowd.
“You did great,” I whisper.
He turns about twenty shades of green. “I felt like I was going to throw up the entire time.”
I chuckle and we turn the corner toward the elevator that will take us upstairs to Xavier’s office and walk straight into my captain.
“Captain Davis!” My mouth falls open and I stare into his beady little eyes. If I was scared of him before, I’m now shaking. He’s staring at me with his soulless peepers and his arms cross.
“The both of you better rethink exactly what you’re doing or you’ll find yourself on the wrong end of a lethal injection.” He glares at me and then Jeff. “The both of you.”
I’m pretty sure a feather could knock Jeff over, but I remain strong on the outside. On the inside, I’m quaking like a little girl. “Five minutes, Sir, that’s all I need to explain myself. I didn’t kill that woman. I promise you that.”
He glowers at me.
“One minute. Thirty seconds. Just let me plead my case before you rain hell on my head, Sir. Please.”
The captain sighs and throws his head toward a private office. “You have ninety seconds.” He says as we step inside. He closes the door swipes his ID across the handle to lock it, and then turns the cameras off inside, thanks to his Global executive status.