15 Minutes: A YA Time Travel Thriller (Rewind Series) (13 page)

Mom
and
Jax
stay with me while the ambulance comes. While
I am aware of them touching me, begging me to hold on, my mind isn’t there.

It’s
elsewhere, gone.

In
the past.

****

I
hurry determinedly down the hall of an office building between two rows of
cubicles, as though I belong there and know exactly where I’m going. I am
dressed in blue heels, skinny jeans, and a dark blazer. A visitor’s pass flaps
from my lapel, and over my shoulder I carry my backpack. Telephones around me
buzz, and people are leaned back, wearing headsets and taking calls. Must be a
sales area.

I
come to an office door. The brass plate in the center says
Jax
Montgomery
. Glancing over my shoulder, I bite my lip before giving
a pretend knock and slipping inside. His office has a glorious view of the
Boston skyline. I quickly draw the shades, take off my backpack, and hurry over
to his desk, which is covered in photos of our family and me. Seeing them, I
burn with a red hot rage, but I push it down, so I can go through his desk drawers.

I
don’t find what I’m searching for there, but I do manage to gain access to his
computer with his password and find one of the documents I need. While it
prints, I run to the filing cabinet and search those drawers one at a time.
Coming up empty, I move to the larger cabinet against the wall and find a
manila folder under a stack of papers.

Bending
down, I balance it on my knee as I flip through the records—Names, dates,
everything I need. I also find black and white photos of Dad—my real dad, John
Crane—taken with a long lens. They are surveillance photos, ones of my mom on
her daily walk to work, the day some unknown person saved her, and my life
changed forever. The day I lost my dad.

I’ll
do anything to get him back.

Anything.

I
have to try.

Running
back to the computer, I stick in my flash drive. Rewind must be stopped. I copy
over every file I can find about their mind-scrubbing technology. Although new,
they will perfect it with time. They will use it on people.

I
can’t let that happen.
Jax
, my Mom, the Senator, I am
going to bring them all down. What first started as an investigation about my
dad has now turned into a crusade. It’s bigger than me and my dad. It’s about a
million people’s lives and what will happen if the Senator keeps her power.

But
I’ve connected the dots. The Senator is responsible for trying to have my mom
killed because she wanted to leave Rewind. And when that failed, she framed my
dad. Afterwards, Mom changed her mind about leaving Rewind and fell deeper into
research, trying to bury the pain of what John Crane did to her. And through it
all, the responsible party wooed and married her and became my stepfather.

They
all deserve to burn in hell.

The
doorknob turns, and I pull my flash drive free. I won’t be safe with the data
until I get it to Joyce Meyers, so she can bring it to the press. I run to the
printer and shove the papers into my backpack. As
Jax
steps into the room, I finish zipping it up and sling it over my shoulder.
Steadying my breath, I brush my perfectly straight hair out of my face.

“Hi
Daddy,” I say and grin from ear to ear.

Jax
masks his surprise with a smile and comes over
to kiss my cheek. I do my best not to grit my teeth or clench my jaw. He always
notices stuff like that. “Well, I didn’t know you were coming today. We have a
lunch date I forgot about?”

I
shake my head. “Nothing official. Only here to apply for the internship next
year.” I hold up the badge I’m wearing around my neck.

His
face lights up with pride, and he sits on the edge of his desk. “We’d be lucky
to have you here. You are a chip off the old block.”

I
smile and nod, something I’m good at these days.

“Why
don’t I take you to lunch anyway? We don’t get to do it enough anymore.”

He
puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me a squeeze. I remember when I loved
it. I remember when I loved him, but all I feel now is betrayal, and when I
tried to talk to Mom, she blew me off as though I were a liar, a freak. All I
want is to know the truth. My dad—the man I only remember in flashes—deserves
to know too.

“I’d
love it,” I say, and we link hands as we leave his office. I watch him in my
periphery, but my eye is trained on the prize.

It’s
almost time to put my plan into motion.

****

Consciousness
slams back into my body. With my eyes closed, I hear the soft hum of machines
and sense the presence of people around me. I try to process what happened,
what I know.

The
Lara I was pieced together the details of Mom’s attempted murder and knew she
could find a trail back to her stepfather. All those memories of
Jax
loving me and tucking me into bed cut me like a knife.

But
why?

Why
do that to us? Why marry the woman he wanted dead and then keep her alive all
these years? Why have children with her? Why be so kind to me? Was he too
working for Senator
 
Patricia James and
keeping an eye on my mother, so she wouldn’t step out of line?

Did
he ever really love me?

It
can’t matter. My real dad has spent the last ten years of his life in prison,
and I have to get him out. I have to finish what Lara started even if it means
pissing off my mom, who let’s face it, is pretty mad at me to begin with.

The
first step is for me to get out of here somehow and get to Lara’s stash, so I
can piece together her plan and whether she let anyone in on her secret. More
than once Donovan has referenced
the plan
,
but I thought it was a shallow reference to the prom. What if I was wrong? What
if I was wrong about everything?

I
try to raise my eyelids, which feel weighted with stones. At first, my vision
is blurry, as if I’m peering up from beneath water. My parents are talking at
the foot of my bed. Out the window beyond them I see what appears to be the
dawn sky with a trace of morning in the clouds.

How
long was I out, and how has my injury inconvenienced Molly’s kidnappers? If
there was a kidnapper at all. Given the circumstances, I have no choice but to
suspect
Jax
was involved.

My
hand creeps up my face to the oxygen tubes inside my nostrils. How far has my
health deteriorated? I must have given my mom quite a scare. I only hope I have
enough time.

“Mom?”
I finally croak out, sounding like an old man.

Her
head jerks towards me, and she rushes to sit beside me. In one hand, she has a
death grip on a tissue, and with the other she strokes my hair.

“Lara,
baby?” I don’t think she can say anything else as her body appears rocked with
emotion. When she leans down to hug me, I cherish it.

“I’ll
get the doctor.”
Jax
says and steps out into the
hall.

I
grip Mom’s arms as she hugs me, burying her face in my hair. This is the
closest I’ve felt to her since I changed the past. Part of me cherishes it, and
another part wants to keep my distance because I don’t know how long it’s going
to last.

“I’m
sorry.” I edge the words out of my mouth like a reluctant jumper. “About Molly.
About—”

She
shakes her head, eyes squeezed shut. “You didn’t know. It wasn’t your fault. I
shouldn’t have … I shouldn’t have made you feel like it was your fault.” Her
voice quivers, and the tears in her voice make it almost impossible to
understand her. “I’m the one who is never around. It’s my fault. Mine.”

“No,
Mom—” I shake my head, wanting to tell her everything that’s wrong—why
Jax
is married to her.

“To
think, you took all those pills because of me, of how I treated you.” She
blinks and laughs bitterly, such as when your emotions are so strong, you have
no options left. “You’ve said before how I make you feel, but I never knew …
how true it was.”

“Mom.”
I gain strength as she takes a deep breath. “I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I
only wanted to stop the pain. My head …”

She
nods quickly, seeming to know the answer I’m about to give, but the lines on
her face tell me she doesn’t believe me. She really thinks I was going to kill
myself. All these years with me and she doesn’t know Lara Montgomery at all.
But my dad, John Crane, he’d know I never give up. No matter what.

The
door opens, and a doctor comes in with
Jax
. Mom
stands and shakes his free hand. In the other he carries an X-ray. He smiles at
me, the type of smile you never want to see. Forced, required. One you give
someone sick, not someone about to get better. But at least my head is no
longer splitting in two, giving me hope that all this might be coming to an
end. Which, considering I have a baby sister to rescue, a father to free, and a
stepfather I need to prove murdered my mother in another timeline, is a good
thing.

I
tune out their conversation. The doctor slides my MRI Scans against a backlit
frame, and I watch the picture of my brain glow to life. Something about it
stills the room. Even though I have no idea what I’m looking at, my heart is in
my throat, preventing me from swallowing. I can barely even breathe.

Mom’s
eyes twitch, and her hand covers her mouth. “That’s not possible,” she mutters
to herself.

“Impossible
as it is, I wish I could give you better news. I’m sorry, Ms. Montgomery.” The
doctor’s eyes are on me, and the sadness in them says my diagnosis isn’t good,
that I don’t have much time left. But I don’t believe him. I can’t.

“The
bleeding in your brain is severe. I’m not sure if I can stop it. A neurosurgeon
is on his way. He’ll see you as soon as he gets here.”

I
go numb. Even my fingers won’t work right. I nod my head and glance at my
grief-stricken mother before my eyes fall to
Jax
. His
face is crestfallen and his eyes moist. I can’t help but wonder why he worries
so much whether I live or die. I’m not his, and all of this is his fault
anyway, so why care so damn much?

“The
IV drip should keep you comfortable until the specialist arrives.” He pauses,
but no one moves to speak. Does he expect us to thank him?

I
shouldn’t be surprised at my brain injury. I signed up for it the moment I
jumped into the past. I have no one to blame but myself, but I’m still angry I
didn't get the fairytale I wanted.

The
silence is interrupted as the door shuts behind the doctor. No one moves or
speaks.
Jax
grips my foot. His eyes are intense as
they lock with mine, and his chin trembles as he strives to regain control.

“I
would like some time alone with Lara,” Mom says with a hushed voice, as though
speaking over a grave. Her face has gone cold as ice, practically unreadable.
“Head home, in case the kidnapper calls.”

Jax
blinks, surprise lighting up his face like a
freeway sign. “I can’t leave.”

Mom
folds a corner of my blanket repeatedly, her head ducked too far down for me to
read her expression. “Think of Molly. We can’t abandon her. Please,
Jax
.”

The
silence multiplies the space between us until I feel stranded in the middle of
a desert.
Jax
walks over. I try my hardest not to
look at him, but I finally let him grip my hand as I turn my head. I am
perplexed by his concern for me. He pivots and leaves without a final word.
It’s better that way I tell myself, but it still stings.

Mom
stands up and goes to the wall, staring at my brain scan. I hold my breath as
her finger traces over the gaps between my hemispheres, signifying small pools
of blood.

“I’ve
seen this before.” Her voice is high, unnatural, barely holding her emotion
together. “I’ve seen this a million times, so why don’t you tell me what you’ve
done.”

Licking
my lips, I consider how I should play it. “I’m not sure what you mean.” Denial
still seems my best alternative.

She
spins to me. Her face is harried, as if she’s spent all night pacing in the
wings. It’s possible she has. She’s at my bedside in a moment’s breath and
gripping the sheet around my body.

“I
work with time travel for a living, Lara. I’ve seen the case studies for those
that tried to change their past.” Her arm reaches straight out to point at the
wall. “And that is it. I’ve watched them suffer, and then I’ve watched them
die. So why don’t you tell me ... ” Her eyes are a blaze of anger, but her lips
scrunch, “… if it was worth it.”

My
eyes fall away to the bed, and I shake my head as she sits beside me and takes
me by the shoulders. “I didn’t—”

 
“You hate our life with
Jax
so much you’ve invented this story. You think of your father as an innocent
cub, but was it really worth your life being over?”