Second Chances (24 page)

She buried her face in her hands and again asked herself, "What the hell have I done?"

The flights were uneventful for Linda. It was the time before she left that was hectic. After getting off the phone with Cameron she had headed into the shower and lost total track of time. She had been flooded with relief at the thought that there would be no clean up crew knocking on her door and more then a little thrilled at his words that he needed her. She knew she was likely reading too much into it, but she allowed her imagination to run away while she repeatedly soaped up her body.

A phone call interrupted her fantasies some time later and she had slipped getting out of the shower. She feared it was Cameron calling back with further instructions. She had slammed her knee when she slipped and cursed when she had seen it was only Phillip calling yet again. Rather than continue to ignore him, she had decided she needed to unload on him. She had berated him for his repeated calls, insisting that she had told him that she would be in meetings and couldn't be bothered. She ignored him pointing out that it was after eleven at night and had then launched into the fact that the Hawaii trip would need to be put off and that she had an emergency trip that would leave her unreachable for the foreseeable future. She didn't give a damn what he might have thought she was up to.

She had gone back into the bathroom and dried off, wrapping herself in a towel. She had fallen asleep on the couch while icing her knee. It was Cameron's call that morning that woke her. Rather then thrilled, she was chilled by the call. He'd been calling to make sure she was going to make the early morning flight. She insisted she would and cut the call as soon as possible, then ran around the apartment throwing together a suitcase. She had actually started to open the door to her apartment before she realized she was naked.

She paid her taxi an extra fifty to break every driving law possible to ensure she made it to the airport in time to make her flight. She panicked again when she was checking her bag while getting her ticket. She reached into her purse for her identification and saw she still had her gun. She had freaked out a bit and startled the ticketing attendant. She quickly covered with a story of being certain she had left her stove on. As soon as she was finished checking her suitcase she made her way outside and as inconspicuously as possible dumped her weapon in a garbage can.

She got into the security line and waited as it slowly moved along. She was notified that she had been randomly selected for enhanced screening. She freaked again at the thought of going into the body scanner. Her mother had endured radiation treatments and the memory of what they had done to her were never far from her mind. She told the screener that she was opting out of the body scanner and this seemed to upset them. She was told it was perfectly safe, but Linda would have none of it. She was instructed to wait a moment while they got a female agent to come give her the pat down. She wasn't thrilled by the idea, but there was no way she was going through that scanner. When the beefy woman in the poorly fitting TSA uniform asked her to come with her and then stand with her arms out, Linda complied and closed her eyes. She let her mind drift to Cameron again and imagined it was him who was patting her down. She opened her eyes when the agent told her it was over and noticed the woman was giving her a disgusted look. Linda didn't even realize she had a smile on her lips, but she did hear the TSA woman comment to one of her partners, "What a sicko."

The remainder of the day had gone relatively smooth. She checked in with Cameron during the layover. She informed him about the gun incident and could tell he was less then pleased, but he didn't berate her, only said he would see what he could do about retrieving it. The gun was unregistered and untraceable, but her fingerprints were on it and someone with enough clearance might be able to access her file and then there would definitely be questions. She was certain it was nothing that Cameron could not handle, but she didn't like screwing up in front of him. She had already messed up and he'd forgiven her, any more screw ups and he might reconsider just how much he needed her.

When the plane landed she quickly retrieved her suitcase and made her way toward the exit. She hated the changes that 9/11 had caused. In her mind she envisioned Cameron waiting for her at the gate, a smile on his face and perhaps even with flowers in hand. She shook her head and laughed as she felt her flash flush.

"Get a grip Linda. You need to focus," she said to herself as she lightly slapped her face and exited into the light of the late afternoon.
 

She looked at the cars parked in the pick up area. She had no clue what he drove. She saw the trunk of a black BMW M3 coupe pop open and then Cameron got out of the driver's side. She suppressed her smile as best she could and made her way quickly over to the car. He took the suitcase from her and put it into the trunk, then without a word got back into the car.

She frowned and again wanted to smack herself, but figured he was watching her. What the heck had she expected? A hug and a kiss on the cheek? She silently cursed her foolishness as she got into the car.

"Good flight?"

"Yes."

"I managed to have your weapon recovered."
 

She sighed softly, so much for small talk.

Cameron's phone rang and he answered it. Linda could hear a female voice on the other end but couldn't make any of it out.

"I see. No, you did the right thing. Excellent work, continue to monitor things. If anything happens I trust you will act accordingly."

Linda looked at him when he hung up the phone. She wondered who the woman on the other end was. Wondered who he was praising.

"So where are we?" she asked. "Do we know where they are?"

"I was just going to call and get an update from Jimmy."

She watched him dial his phone and sat up a little straighter.
 

"Status update," is all he said when he heard Jimmy answer the phone.

"Hey boss, give me a second." Jimmy's voice boomed from the phone's little speaker. Clicking keys could be heard as well. "Well they are checked into a hotel called Bayside and they've made several purchases from some local stores in the area around the hotel."

"What are they driving?" Linda asked and received an approving nod from Cameron.

"Silver Ford Taurus. Sadly he cheaped out and didn't get GPS, otherwise I could track his exact location easily."

"Shouldn't be that hard to acquire them. We know where they are and where they are likely going. Thank you, Jimmy."
 

He clicked off the phone and returned it to his pocket. He pointed to the glove compartment.

"I have a replacement weapon for you."

Linda opened the compartment and retrieved the weapon and silencer. She transferred them into her purse and let out another quiet sigh. It was obvious this was to be no pleasure trip.

Nathan had to admit that Newport, at least the portion he had seen today, was impressive. It was everything his Paige had said it was during their time together. He wished he could have relaxed and enjoyed it. He had kept a close eye on Paige as they had wandered through the shops in the Brick Market Place and the surrounding area. She seemed to swing back and forth between happy and sad, or perhaps confused. She helped him pick up several changes of clothing, which he had lugged around for the afternoon. They had considered dining at the hotel's restaurant, but in the end neither of them had much of an appetite.

Paige was standing by the window, looking out over the water. Her hands trembled a bit and she cursed her lack of control. She balled her hands into fists at her side. She realized she had been doing that an awful lot these last few days.

"I guess we can't put this off any longer, can we?" There was a hopeful tone to her voice, as if she expected that there might actually be a chance of him saying they could delay.
 

"Afraid not."

She turned away from the window and looked over at Nathan. He was sitting on the edge of the far bed. She nodded and walked over and sat on the edge of the bed opposite of him.

"Where do you want to start?" he asked.

She reached over and picked up his laptop bag that was leaning against the nightstand between the two beds. She unzipped it and pulled out the black journal, flipping it open to the last entry.

"Your questions. They were pretty much the same as mine, so I guess that is as good a place as any."

"Okay," he said, reaching out and taking the journal from her. "So is it possible that you are my Paige?"

She looked at the ground and said, "I don't think so."

"Neither do I."

She looked up, her eyes wide. She had not expected him to say that.

"As much as I would love for that to be true," he began. "And believe me, you've no idea how much that is. I just can't come up with a scenario where that is the truth. What am I supposed to think? Amnesia? Time travel? You look almost exactly like Paige did when I met her, but that was years ago. I can't say she looked that much older when...when I lost her, but she had definitely aged some."

He reached for the box of tissues on the night stand and wiped at the corners of his eyes. Admitting that she wasn't his Paige had been harder than he'd expected.

"I don't believe in time travel either. Amnesia though...well I don't think so and yet." She threw her hands up and shrugged.

"Because things aren't exactly like you remember them to be, right?"

Her eyes went wide again.

"I noticed. I watched you today. It was like you were on a roller coaster. Your face would light up with joy and relief when you saw something the way you remembered it and then drop into a frown and agitated frustration or confusion when you saw something that didn't seem right."

"You saw that?"

"It was impossible not to."

Paige pulled one of the pillows off the bed and hugged it to her body.
 

"I thought I was losing my mind. Hell, maybe I am. How is it possible that so much has changed? I haven't been gone that long and yet so many things seem different."

"How long do you think you've been gone?"

"Only a few weeks. After the fire I was a wreck. Linda wanted to come out and be with me, but she is still new to her job and she hadn't set up everything for me out there so she suggested I get away from everything. A solo vacation to clear my head and get ready for the first step in my new life after college. That was why I was in Miami."

"Did it work? How was Miami?"

Paige went quiet for a minute. She seemed to look beyond Nathan and said, "Miami was wonderful. I had a great time."

Nathan shuddered at the sound of her response and was instantly reminded of lunch the other day with Linda. He reached out and placed his hands on Paige's shoulders. She trembled a little and then oriented on his face.

"Wonderful? Can you tell me what you did?"

She was quiet and then repeated, "I had a great time."

"Yes, but what did you do during that great time? The beach? Clubs? What?"

She pressed her lips together and frowned, her brow furrowing in concentration for a few minutes. She gripped the pillow tighter.

"I...I had...I..."

A tear ran down her cheek.

"I don't...I can't remember," she said. She looked at Nathan, her eyes wide, watery, and full of horror. "What does that mean?"

"I wish I knew."

She grabbed the box of tissues, wiped her eyes and runny nose, her hands trembling even more. Part of her, a very large part, wanted to run from the room, but she stayed seated on the edge of the bed.
 

"What's happening to me? What in the hell is happening to me?"

"We are gong to find out."

"How?"

He got up off the bed and paced back and forth from the bed to the door several times before saying, "I don't know, but we will. How about we start by comparing your history and my Paige's history? Do you think we can do that?"

She nodded and said, "I guess so."

"Okay, so when I met Paige she was twenty-four."

"That's my age now."

Nathan nodded, not surprised, but encouraged by the news.

"She had grown up in Kline, Kansas."

Paige nodded.

"Her mother worked at the local grocery-store."

"Yes, she was basically their accounts manager."

"And her father taught chemistry at the local high school."

Again Paige nodded.

"Paige's mom died when she was fifteen. Cancer. She told me it was an incredibly rough year, she even dropped out of school. She ended up having to redo her sophomore year of high school which is why she graduated late."

Paige was wiping the tears from her eyes. "She..she tried not to show how much pain she was in. She tried to be brave for me and dad, but...but we knew. It was horrible."

He sat down next to her. She leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her. He didn't like causing her pain and knew he was about to cause her more.

"And then it was sophomore year again, only college this time."

She nodded her head against his chest.

"Daddy had a heart attack. I was a wreck. The semester had just ended. Linda was there for me. I don't think I would have made it through without her. I never went home again. One of my dad's friends took care of everything, settled the estate for me. Had him buried next to my mother. It's horrible that I never went back, isn't it? What kind of daughter doesn't attend her own father's funeral? I just couldn't handle it."

She sobbed against Nathan and he held her tighter. He'd heard this all before and it was no less heart wrenching this time around.

"I'm sorry," she said after a few minutes. She wiped away her tears and released her hold on him.

"Don't be. I'm sorry you have to go through this again."

She didn't seem to hear that last word and he was grateful as he hadn't meant to say it aloud.

"I hate to do it, but...so two or three weeks ago. The fire?"