The future next door box.., p.76
The Future Next Door Boxed Set, page 76
“What’s this about, Bill?” Eddie asked. “You know I haven’t been using the wormhole machine. I can’t afford to.”
“I know, I know,” he said. “Sorry, Eddie, but my superiors are a little jumpy where this machine is concerned. We don’t have a rational explanation for so many mechanical accidents happening all at once. We know that Amalgamated Synergy is out of the picture, so thoughts turn to your miracle machine.”
“The machine makes wormholes. It doesn’t make helicopters crash.”
Yates raised his hands in surrender. “I know. I have to check the logs anyway. Can you walk me through them? It won’t take long.”
Eddie sighed. “Maybe you should go without me after all,” he said to Caitlin.
There was a gurgled scream from the arch to the hallway. Private Svenson was flailing back and forth with his hands to his neck. He crashed into the wall, then sunk to the ground. His hands dropped, stained red. Blood covered his opened throat.
Janice stood above where he had fallen, a dripping butcher knife in her hand and a childish smile on her face.
“Hello, everyone!” She waggled the knife at them.
Private Svenson, on his knees, tried to aim his rifle at her. She kicked him in the head and he gave another gurgling scream. He fell to the ground and lay there, shaking. The color of the crimson carpet beneath him deepened.
“Janice,” Jack said. He was staring slack-jawed at his former Executive Assistant. “Janice, you killed him.”
She poked Svenson in the side with her toe. He shuddered again.
“Not quite yet,” she said. “But yeah, pretty soon.”
“But...” He took a step towards her. “But you killed him,” he said again, a pleading tone in his voice.
“Yeah!” she said. “I killed the downstairs security guard, too. You forgot to tell him I was banned, Jack. When my ID card didn’t work, he let me in. When my key wouldn’t work in the elevator, he used his. Then I stabbed him.”
“Why?” Jack shouted. “For god’s sake, Janice, why?”
She held the knife up in front of her. A drop of blood gathered on the top, and she shook the knife gently until it fell to the floor.
“Partly to see what it would feel like,” she said. “Partly to be sure that I wouldn’t...”
She stopped herself.
“It doesn’t matter,” she continued. “I killed someone and nothing happened.”
Jack sunk down to the floor, his face in his hands. Troy stood next to him, his hand on his back.
“Put the knife down,” Yates said, “and step away from that boy.” There was steel in the captain’s voice. He didn’t seem like a dad anymore.
“Or what?” Janice said.
“There is no ‘or,’” Yates said. “I don’t know why you’ve done this, Miss Cartwright, but it stops right now.”
He charged her. She slashed at him with the knife, but he evaded her attack. She stabbed at his stomach, but he stepped to the side and grabbed her arm. He made it look effortless.
“Damn,” Caitlin said. “He’s good.”
“Drop the knife,” Yates said. “Drop it. I’ll break your arm.”
Janice dropped the knife, and Yates, without letting her go, kicked it clear across the room.
Troy left Jack and sprinted towards them. “Wake up!” he shouted. “Wake up!”
“Troy, get back!” Jack jumped to his feet and grabbed Troy by the shoulders, pulling him away.
Yates looked startled by Troy’s outburst. He started to say something, but while he was distracted Janice brought her knee up into his groin. He doubled over in pain, releasing her.
Janice stood over Private Svenson, who had stopped moving. She bent down and pulled his pistol from the holster clipped to his vest.
“Should have grabbed this first thing.” She pointed the weapon at Yates, Jack and Troy. “Everybody back, please?”
Yates stood there a moment, unmoving, then joined Jack and Troy as they rejoined Eddie and Caitlin near the machine.
“Why did you do that?” Jack growled at Troy.
“I’m sorry!” Troy said. “I just...I can’t believe Janice would do this! I wanted to get through to her. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, everyone.”
He bowed his head. Jack grabbed him and held him close, kissing his hair.
“It’s all right,” he said softly. “It’s not your fault.” He looked up at Janice. “This is all for nothing. I don’t have the drive.”
“Oh, I’m not here for the drive, Jack,” she said. “We’ll have that soon enough. I’m just here to babysit.”
“Babysit?”
She circled around them. “This.” She reached out and stroked the metal wall which enclosed Eddie’s silent machine. “This beautiful thing.”
“You can’t operate it,” Eddie said. “Nobody can.”
“You know that’s not true, Eddie,” she said. “I can operate it. I did it before.”
“When? You’re no scientist, Janice.”
Jack breathed in sharply. “Oh, no,” he choked out. “Oh, Janice. I’m so sorry.”
Eddie looked at Jack in confusion, but Caitlin kept her eyes on Janice, evaluating the situation. Janice was holding the gun loosely in her hand, far more concerned with gazing lovingly at the wormhole machine than with covering her hostages properly.
There were only a few feet separating them. She just needed an opening. She might get shot, but Janice was a psychopath. If she did nothing, the woman might kill them all just for the thrill of it.
Caitlin took a step forward. Eddie put a warning hand on the small of her back but she ignored him. Janice didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t care.
“Why do you need the wormhole machine?” she asked.
“You know, I’m not sure,” she said. “I didn’t think we did. We’ll have the drive soon, then the egg. After that we can have anything we want. But my sister told me to secure the wormhole machine, and obviously I trust her.”
“Did you say, ‘egg’?” Caitlin asked.
Jack cut off Janice’s answer. “You don’t have a sister, Janice.”
“You know what I mean, Jack,” she said. She pointed the gun at him. “You know exactly what I mean.”
Caitlin charged her. She grabbed her arm and knocked it aside. The gun fired and one of the computer monitors exploded. Caitlin drove the heel of her palm into Janice’s nose, then punched her in the gut. She raised her elbow and brought it down on the woman’s outstretched arm, a few inches below the wrist. No bones broke, but the gun dropped to the ground.
Yates darted forward and snatched it up. “I’ve got it.”
Caitlin shoved Janice, who stumbled and fell backwards to the ground. She wheezed for breath, one hand on her stomach, the other on her bloody nose. Yates trained the gun on her.
“Very impressive,” Yates said. “Ever consider enlisting?”
“You!” Caitlin said, rounding on Jack and Troy. “You fucking liar!”
“I didn’t know,” Jack said. “I swear, I only figured this out now. I would never...”
“Not you!” She grabbed Troy and pulled him away from Jack, twisting his arm behind his back. “You!”
“Ow!” Troy shouted. “What the hell? Babe, get this crazy bitch off me!”
“Let him go!” Jack said. “This is my fault, not his!”
“Oh, I know,” Caitlin said. “It’s your fault. Again. But your boyfriend here is part of it, too.”
“Honey?” Eddie said. “What’s up?”
“He wasn’t trying to get through to Janice,” she said. “He was trying to distract the captain.”
“Um...no?” Troy said. “I know it seemed like a stupid thing to do, but I really am that stupid. Ask anybody.”
“He is, hon,” Eddie said. “He’s really, really stupid.”
Caitlin dragged Troy over next to Janice and let him go. She looked at Yates, who nodded and kept both Troy and Janice covered.
Caitlin came back to Jack and Eddie. “Something was bugging me, but I didn’t figure it out until he pulled that stupid stunt. He’s working with Janice, and with whoever this ‘sister’ is. Troy’s involved in the attacks at the High Line today.”
“He’s not,” Jack said. “On my life, he’s not.”
“She’s nuts!” Troy said. “Bill, come on! Put the gun down!”
Caitlin wheeled on him. “When Eddie told me to go and meet Dakota without him, you told me to wait. Said it wouldn’t be long, and we could go to the bar together.”
“Yeah...?”
“We never told you we were going to a bar. The only way you could have known that is if you knew what the original message said. The message sent to Tayisha at the High Line.”
Troy froze.
“Well. Fuck.”
He reached down and extended a hand to Janice, who was beginning to recover from Caitlin’s assault. She took it and stood next to him.
“No,” Jack said. “No. It’s not true.”
Troy smiled at him. “Sorry, babe.”
“You couldn’t...you wouldn’t do this to me. You wouldn’t. You’re being controlled. Like Janice.”
Troy shook his head, then tapped his temple with his finger. “Nope. It’s just me in here. That was part of the deal.”
“But...” Jack’s voice broke. “But you love me.”
Troy shrugged. “Eh. Kind of?”
A low, broken moan erupted out of Jack. He collapsed to the ground, his head buried in his arms. As much as she hated the man, Caitlin’s heart ached for him.
“It’s over,” Caitlin said. She nodded towards Janice. “I know what she is now. We’ll stop her. We’ve done it before.”
“I don’t think so,” Troy said. “Hey, look. Svenson’s still kicking. Bill, you mind?”
Private Svenson had managed to drag himself up to a sitting position. He had his hands pressed tight against his throat.
Captain Yates swung his gun around and shot him through the head.
Eddie screamed. Caitlin’s hands flew to her mouth in shock.
“It wasn’t Janice I was telling to wake up,” Troy said.
Yates was staring down the barrel of his gun in wonder. Janice took it from him and pointed it at Caitlin and Eddie.
“What a strange feeling,” Yates said. “Killing. I don’t think I liked it.”
“Really?” Janice said. “I enjoy it.”
Yates smacked his lips. “I want ice cream. I want to try ice cream. Captain Yates loves it.”
“Later,” Troy said. “There’s plenty of ice cream where we’re going.”
“For now, we have to stay here,” Janice said.
“Oh, right. Of course,” Yates said. “I forgot.” He turned to Caitlin and Eddie. “We have to wait for our sister.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mark loving
Mark sat and watched Tamsin eat cereal while he thought about how he was going to tell Amy what he knew he had to tell her. Tamsin ignored him, flipping through the pages of Dakota’s book on Pilgrim Campion while munching soggy flakes.
“This book is a little dull,” she said. She closed it, peered at the cover, and put it down on the table. “Do you have anything interesting to read? All Caitlin has are play scripts.”
“I thought you liked plays.”
She scrunched her nose. “Not lately. Do you have any math or science?”
“I might have some old physiology textbooks from college lying around.”
“That would be great!” she said. “A nice quick read while I finish eating. I have to leave soon, so nothing too heavy.”
“Where are you going?”
“North. We’re going to be a family again.”
Tamsin’s grin was deeply unnerving, but he didn’t question her further. A part of her believed herself to be Amy’s mother, so the implications of what she was saying were troubling and he didn’t want to encourage that line of thinking. He got up and made his way upstairs to find a book, thinking it would probably be a good thing if she had a distraction when Amy came back.
Mark had moved straight to New York from college without going back to Olympia first, and he knew he had saved a couple of textbooks. Buried at the back of his closet he found a thick hardback tome filled with medical illustrations detailing the glands of the endocrine system. It wasn’t exactly light reading, he thought, but it would probably keep Tamsin busy for a while.
He came down to find Amy already back and seated at the table next to Tamsin.
“How are they?” he asked.
“They’re all right,” she said. “They have a lot of questions I couldn’t answer.”
“Them and me both. Here’s that book, Tamsin.”
She took it from him, and bounced it up and down in her hands, feeling the weight. “Perfect!”
Amy started to say something to him, but he stopped her, indicating Tamsin with a nod. He led her upstairs and into his room. She closed the door behind her, but he opened it again.
“I want to be able to hear the downstairs door in case my parents come up,” he explained.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “Aren’t we going to the bar?”
“Have a seat.”
Looking worried, she stepped past him and sat on the edge of his bed. He crouched in front of her and took her hands.
“I need to tell you something,” he said. “Something I don’t think you know.”
“Oh!” She suddenly looked both excited and apprehensive. “Wow, Mark. Is this really the time?”
“Time?”
“For...for relationship talk.”
“Oh,” he said. “Oh, no, not that.”
She blushed. “Right. Sorry. Stupid of me.”
He brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face. “But since you bring it up...I do really, really...care about you.”
She smiled. “Me, too, Mark. I really care about you, too. I know it’s only been two weeks but I just feel like we connect. Like we really get one another.”
“Yes!” He took her hands. “Yes, exactly. I’ve never felt like this about anybody before. Which is what makes what I have to tell you so difficult.”
“Well, fuck. That’s ominous. Okay, just say it. I’m a big girl, I can take it.”
“Amy, I don’t think you’re...who you think you are.”
She frowned. “Come again?”
Mark wanted to take it back, to say he was only joking, but his family had been put in danger and he no longer had the luxury of denial. Now that he knew Pilgrim Campion was the mastermind behind the attacks, he had to find out if Amy was somehow being used as a tool in his crazy plan.
“I’ve seen your Facebook profile...”
“I would hope so.”
“And I found old articles and pictures about you online...”
“A little stalker-y, but okay.”
“But we’re going up against somebody who controls machines. Those could have been faked.”
She sat back. “Wait. You think I’m...what? Hustling you? Pretty sure I have more money than you, handsome.”
“No,” he said. “Fuck. I told you about Doctor Cheek, and what happened to Tamsin.”
“She got her brain scrambled with some old lady’s. What, you think that happened to me?”
“No. Maybe. Tamsin thinks you look like the lady’s daughter.”
“Yeah,” Amy said. “And you told me the old lady thought Caitlin looked like her daughter, and that Tamsin looked like her, too. Sounds like she thought that of pretty much any blonde.”
“There was a portrait of the daughter in the theater,” Mark continued. “Caitlin said you look just like her, so we looked her up online. We found a picture. You don’t just look like her. You’re identical.” He took a deep breath. “Even the names are similar. Amy. Short for Amanda.”
Her eyes widened. She looked away. “What the hell are you trying to say to me, Mark?”
“I don’t think you’re Amy Simmons. I think you’ve been given fake memories of a fake life. I think you’re Amanda Dillon.”
She froze, not looking at him. She sat like that for a long minute.
“Amy? Say something. Tell me I’m wrong, or crazy, or call me an asshole. Please.”
She looked at him. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on his. She took his face in her hands.
“Oh, Mark,” she said. “Oh, Mark.”
She kissed him.
“So close.”
“Wh – what?”
“I was worried when Tamsin recognized me. I didn’t know about her connection to Piotrowski until you told me, and it was past the point of no return at that point. I had to do some quick thinking, I don’t mind telling you.”
“Quick thinking...?”
“I didn’t think any of you would catch on,” she continued, “but then, I didn’t know about the portrait in the theater. I thought if I just stayed away from Jack I’d be safe.”
Mark’s heart was sinking. He sat back on his heels, pulling away from her.
“Why would you need to stay away from Jack?”
“Because he’d have recognized me. It’s why I didn’t go to the theme park with you. Couldn’t risk him or Doctor Cheek seeing me.”
“I don’t understand. Please tell me you’re not working with them.”
“Oh, I’m not. I’m not. The opposite, actually. I have other partners.”
“No.” Mark put his hands to his temples and shook his head. “No. I know you. You’re not working against us. You wouldn’t hurt my friends. You wouldn’t hurt me. Amy...Amanda...”
She slid off of the bed and knelt in front of him.
“Amy isn’t short for Amanda, Mark.”
She put a hand on his shoulder, then slid it down his back as she leaned in close. She whispered into his ear.
“It’s short for Amalgamated Synergy.”
“No,” he said again. He felt a sudden wave of nausea almost overtake him. He skittered backwards, away from her. “No.”
She sat back. “This is Amanda Dillon’s body, though.” She knocked on her head. “But Amanda’s not home. Just her memories. Made it easier to pass as a human. Bits and pieces from her life, just enough to sound convincing. We tried to scrub all the online pictures of her in case you got suspicious, but it’s so hard to remove things from the internet. Even for us. Easy to add, though.”
