Second Chances (16 page)

He reached out and righted his monitor. His eyes fell on the print out of the picture that Linda had obtained.

"Let's start with you," he said to the picture of Nathan. "Who are you and why do you look so familiar?"
 

He stood there for a moment looking at the picture, then stormed out of his office.

Jimmy answered the buzzing phone immediately.

"Sir?"

"How did he respond?"

"He's so flustered he isn't thinking straight. Took only a minute or two to run the names and faces from the inbound flights. I assumed you didn't want me to suggest that to him?"

"Nope, but if he does think of it, give him the information. Send me what you have and keep me in the loop."

"Of course. Sending the information now."

"I want to give this asshole plenty of rope to hang himself with."

"Yes, sir."

"I appreciate the assistance, Jimmy. You'll have your choice of assignments when this is over."

"Thank you, sir."

The line clicked dead and Jimmy dropped the phone onto his desk. He didn't care about the power play he was in the middle of. He knew who was higher up on the ladder and aimed to keep him happy. Besides he could handle whatever jobs either of them asked him to do in his sleep. He turned his attention back to
 
the more important matter of retasking the Chinese satellite he'd taken control of. He'd heard that Kate Upton liked to sunbathe nude and intended to find out for himself.
 

Nathan grabbed his laptop bag and then joined Paige in her room. She had left the door open and when he entered she was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at the picture.

"Paige, I think we should get your stuff together and get out of here."

She continued to frown at the picture in her hands.

"Paige?"

"This doesn't make any sense. I know Linda. Why would she have to make a fake picture of us together? And why this picture?"

"Paige, let's get your stuff, okay?"

She got up off the bed and walked slowly across the room. She unlatched the door to the balcony and stepped out.
 

Nathan watched her. He didn't know if she hadn't heard him or was just not listening to him. He shook his head. He found her lack of urgency disturbing. She seemed detached from the moment. He felt his palms go sweaty and his breathing quickened.

"Paige?"

In his mind he saw it all. She stepped to the railing and ran her hand along it. Her other hand released the photo and, caught by the breeze, it fluttered out over the balcony and then down. She turned to him, a slip of a smile on her face. She opened her mouth and said something and though he couldn't hear the words he knew it was goodbye. She hoisted herself up onto the railing then spun around until she was facing him, staring at him, the smile still on her lips. She wobbled slightly and it looked like she was giggling, but still Nathan could hear nothing but the thundering rush of his own blood in his ears. She winked at him and then leaned back falling off the balcony.

"No!"

The sound of his own scream startled both of them back to reality, Paige nearly leapt a foot off the ground, turned quickly and slammed her arm against the railing. Nathan blinked and realized it had all been in his mind. He saw the fear in Paige's eyes as she looked at him and rubbed at her elbow.

"Sorry, Paige, really sorry. I...I." He tossed up his hands, unsure how to explain.

She followed his eye-line and saw he was looking out over the balcony. He didn't know whether or not she guessed what he'd been thinking, but she came inside and slid the door to the balcony closed.

"Sorry," he said again.

She nodded and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

"Now what?"

It was a simple question and his answer was just as simple.

"We leave. We get out of here."

"But go where? This is insane."

"I don't know. But I think we need to leave quickly. Linda may come after us here."

"So? I mean this is insane."

"You said that already."

"Well it is true," she said. "This entire thing is totally insane."

"I can't argue that, but I still think we need to go."

"No. We need to stop. I need to stop and think. Besides, Linda doesn't even know where we are staying."

He opened his mouth to argue, but knew from her expression that he wouldn't be able to coax her to move on until she was good and ready.

"Okay, then let's talk it out a little."

Paige stood back up and began pacing the room. She was silent for a very long time. After ten minutes, Nathan stopped looking at his watch. He knew it was only making her more nervous and she needed to work through it in her own way, in her own time.

"On one hand I seem to be running away from a woman I have known and trusted for years."

"And yet she..."

Paige shot him a glance and he fell silent. He understood immediately, she was driving this car. He just needed to be quiet and sit in the passenger's seat.

"And yet," she continued, picking up on his thought, "Linda has for some reason made a fake photograph of me and her. Why? Doesn't make any sense. We took plenty of pictures together during our time at college. I'm sure of it. So why would she have to make a fake one?"

Nathan wanted to answer. He didn't know if he was right or not, but half a dozen theories were rattling around in his head, all of them shed Linda in a bad light.

"On the other hand there is you. Someone else with photographs of me. Me with you to be exact. Someone I do not know, but you claim to know me quite well. To the point of marriage in fact. I looked at all those photos you had and they looked real. I don't remember looking for shadows, but..." She shrugged her shoulders.

"So I have one person who I know and yet for some reason don't trust, though I should. And I have one person who I don't know and yet for some unknown reason seem to trust. I feel like someone has taken my life and put it in a blender."
 

Nathan's eyes were locked on her. She had started to tremble a little again, though he could understand why this time. She balled her hands into fists at her side. He could see tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. She swung around and kicked out in frustration. Foot met wall and wall won. She leapt back, hopping on one foot while grabbing at the other. She lost her balance and before Nathan could make it to her, she fell to the floor, landing with a solid thud on her backside.
 

Nathan stood over her, looking down. She sat cradling her injured foot, tears rolling down her cheeks and laughing.

"And now I think I broke a toe," she said through her laughter.

He knelt down next to her and she allowed him to take her injured foot in his hand. He slid the sandal off her foot and gently touched each toe, she winced when he reached her middle toe.

"I'm afraid its the little piggy that had roast beef," he whispered and was rewarded with a genuine smile and giggle.
 

"Well I guess its a good thing it wasn't the one that went to market, because I am guessing we need to get out of here. Don't we?"

Nathan looked into her eyes. He wanted so much to be able to say something that would explain all this. To say something that would comfort her, but he couldn't.

"I'm afraid so."

Paige nodded and allowed Nathan to help her up. He remained silent while she quickly got her stuff together. She winced a bit with each step. He wasn't sure if she had actually broken her toe or not, but she had certainly hurt herself.

"Okay, so where to?" she asked.

"The airport."

"And then where?"

She wasn't surprised when he said, "I don't know."

He knocked once but didn't wait for a response, it was more to announce his presence than to ask permission. He opened his mouth to begin an assault of questions, but shut it when he found he was facing an empty desk.

Cameron scowled. Was the entire world conspiring against him? He looked at his watch and let out a sigh. The way this day was turning out, she could have stepped out for a late dinner or even have left for the day. He raised a hand to his temple and sighed again. He could feel a headache starting.

"Perfect, just perfect."
 

He looked at his watch again and then walked over and sat down at her desk. It was busy, but neat. Loose papers and reports in binders in three neat stacks on the side of her desk. He noted that her screen saver, rotating tropical island pictures, was on and guessed she couldn't have been gone long since the computer hadn't switched into power saver mode.
 

"Perfect," he repeated to himself.

He grabbed a small pad of sticky notes next to the stacks of reports. He reached into his jacket pocket and sighed once more when he discovered it was empty. He pulled the top desk drawer open and began to look inside. There were half a dozen pens, but his attention focused on the framed picture resting on top of the pile of papers. He pulled the picture out and slid the drawer closed, all thought of leaving a note gone.

She had her arms around him, leaning against him. Her smile was practically it's own light source. She glowed with happiness as did the man she was clinging to. Judging from the look of both of them, Cameron guessed it might have been from about eight to ten years ago. Given how happy they seemed and the fact that the picture had been taken in a lab, he could guess the event that had been the source of their celebration. Ten years might be about right. She didn't look that much older now, but from the last photograph Cameron had seen, he knew that the man in the photo had not aged nearly as well.
 

"What the hell do you think you are doing?"

He practically jumped at the sound of her voice.
 

Julie stood in the doorway. She was in a lab coat as always. Her hair in a familiar ponytail and her eyes on fire.

Cameron began to rise.

"I said, what the hell do you think you are doing?"

"I..."
 

She stormed into the room and snapped the frame from Cameron's hands.

"Just because you are my boss, that does not give you the right to ransack my office."

"I would hardly call..."

"Oh you wouldn't, would you?"

She opened the drawer, returned the framed photo and then slammed it shut.

"No, I wouldn't..."

"I don't give a damn what you would call it. This is my office. You got that?"

Cameron backed up a few steps. Her anger rolled over him.

"I was just looking for a pen. I did not know where you were or when you'd return."

"Did that look like a damn pen to you?"

"Enough, Julie."

"No. You ever come into my office when I am not..."

Cameron shook his head and held a hand up, silencing her.

"I said enough. We have serious issues and I don't have time to deal with your emotional outbursts."

"My emotional out..."

"I said enough."

He took a step forward and this time it was Julie who retreated.

"This entire situation is screwed. I don't know what is going on with Paige, but the situation is not acceptable."

"You are the one who pushed the timeline, Cameron."

"I am well aware of that. I am also beginning to suspect that someone else may have had a hand in things going awry. Now if I find out you had any part in this I can guarantee you someone will not be happy."

Julie shivered at the threat. She hated that she did.

He kept his smile in check. It was his favorite threat. Mostly because it was the one that he knew always worked on her and given the photograph he had just found, he knew it likely carried even more weight then normal.
 

"I had nothing to do with...whatever it is that has happened."

He believed her, but he wasn't about to admit that. She had yelled at him, made her own threats. No, he wouldn't let her off that easy.

"I had better not find out otherwise. What has happened, has happened. Now we need to fix it."

"I already started to pull the data for review."

"That is going to take too long."

She bared her teeth, but bit back the comment that was dying to escape her lips.

"What would you suggest? I am a scientist. Data is all I have to work with. I wasn't there so I can't tell you what went wrong until I..."

"I am aware of that. And I have every faith that when you have analyzed the data you will discover the cause."

"I already suspect the cause. The shortened timeline did not allow..."

"Yes, yes. I know. And perhaps that is correct, but right now we have a new problem."

"Which is?"

Cameron paced a moment.

"She is gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"She...she fled from her meeting with Linda."

"Fled?"

"Yes, that is really the only way to describe it."

Julie sat down at her desk. Her brow knitted in thought.

"Why would she do that?"

"I was hoping you could tell me."

Julie shook her head.

"You got me. Who the heck runs from their security blanket? Are you going to bring her in?"

"That is another of the problems. We don't know where she is. We didn't have a tracker in place. And yes before you say it, I am aware that is because of me upping the timeline."

"Why would she run?" Julie asked.

"I think it has something to do with this man," he said, pulling out the picture he'd printed and handing it to Julie.

She took the paper. Unable to hide her surprise, her eyes went wide. She looked from the picture to Cameron and then back at the picture. Hope stirred within him.

"You know who that is?"

"Yes, and so do you."

He knew he'd been right, the man was familiar. He cursed himself for having to ask.

"Who is he?"

"That's her husband."

They waited outside for what seemed like forever for the taxi to arrive. Nathan paced. He was certain that something was wrong. Why else would it be taking so long? They were on to them, whoever the hell they were. He tried to remain as calm as possible, not wanting to spook Paige more than she already was. Finally the taxi arrived. The driver exited the vehicle and took Paige's bags as they entered the backseat.