Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sera

I’d held my breath as G walked back to the tree line. His gait was stiff, tension evident in every step he took. He’d refused to tell me what Karl had meant when he said lose yourself. I still didn’t know much about the mysterious Alpha project G had been a part of, other than the fact that they’d essentially tortured him. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to change right now.

“You ready for this?”

Dylan had changed from his jumpsuit back into the blue jeans and black button down I’d become accustomed to. His eyes moved constantly, surveying the area over and over, and I wondered what was going through his head. He’d agreed to help us in exchange for jail time instead of execution, should Cora not keep her end of the deal and return him to Ava. He’d serve a life sentence—that wasn’t up for discussion—but he’d be allowed to live. Maybe he thought Cade would help him escape again. Maybe he didn’t believe they’d actually go through with it. Who knew? It was possible he truly thought Cora would keep her word. If it’d been me? I would have chosen execution. Sixty-five years or so confined to a cell? Been there. Done that. Never, ever going back.

There’d been a lot of debate on the subject. On one hand, no one thought he deserved to get what he wanted. If Cora kept her promise to him, and nothing went wrong, he would get Ava back. But, on the other hand, if that happened, it would be like none of the carnage occurred. They still weren’t 100 percent sure what would happen with other worlds—and people from them, like Ash, Kori and me—but if Dylan went back and saved Ava, then this world’s Kori would still be alive. Rabbit’s theory was that it would only affect those with this world’s frequency, so nothing should change for the rest of us.

I hoped he was right.

I sighed. “I’ll never be ready for it. Seeing that woman makes my skin crawl.” There was something I needed to say, and since Karl was on his way over, it was now or never. “You were right.”

He quirked a brow.

“What you said about me—about her. How she was able to see past your flaws to the person underneath. I understand now.”

His gaze flickered to the tree line. “Other me isn’t a saint, eh? I could have told you that. I bet he’s just as bad—if not worse—than I am.”

“Not even close.”

He lost his grin. “The right person, the perfect person, will see through all of life’s bullshit,” he said. “They’re the ones who forgive you when you can’t forgive yourself.”

“I know.” And it was dead-on. G wasn’t able to forgive himself right now. He would, though. It might take a long time, but I knew he’d get there. I could forgive him for the both of us, for the time being, because I could see the parts of him that he couldn’t. The bits of brightest light peeking out from beneath the dark.

“She was that for me,” Dylan said. He grinned, and for the first time since I’d met him, it was a genuine smile. “She was the only one who saw me. If you’re really that for him, don’t let go, because without you… Without you, he’ll just become me.”

I still believed there was something wrong with Dylan on a fundamental level. Heartbreak and tragedy were part of human life. How you chose to deal with them defined you. Dylan had chosen the bloody path. Still, Ava must have seen him. She had to have understood what he was on a basic level—and she’d loved him regardless. When you stripped all the carnage away, all the pain, it was beautiful. That kind of love was pure.

“Clear on what to do?” Karl stopped a few feet from us and sank to the ground.

I rolled my eyes. He’d only asked us a thousand times already. “Yeah. Nothing. Act like the chip is in my head, and that I’m still worried it’s going to kill me.”

He was wearing the closest thing to a pinstripe suit we could scrounge up, but I didn’t think it would matter much. The other version would have had to change clothes, right? To fit in on different worlds? As long as it looked pricey—which Karl assured us that it was—we should be okay.

He handed Dylan the flash drive and said, “No funny business.”

“We’re past that now,” Dylan replied, sullen.

Karl nodded and laid his head down, closing his eyes. I was impressed by how his breathing evened out, and with the stillness he maintained. Though, I supposed that was why he was a solider and I wasn’t.

We didn’t have to wait long before Cora and her crew appeared. They walked through the back gates like they owned the world, her men all in deep purple and led by Yancy, and Cora wearing her signature white. Instead of being dressed to the nines, though, she wore simple pants and a knit sweater with flats.

“See?” she said, coming to a stop a few feet from where we stood. “How hard was that? Now we can all get what we want.” Hand thrust out, she wiggled her fingers greedily. “Where’s my flash drive?”

Dylan shook his head. “Yeah. Like I’m that stupid?” He nudged Karl with the tip of his boot. “Here’s your traitor. Give us what we want, and then I’ll fork over the drive.”

Cora laughed. Behind her, Yancy kept a straight face, but it was impossible not to notice the way his gaze raked over the scene, searching for…what? A betrayal? The others? Did she know this was a trap, or was the guy just paranoid? “Do I detect mistrust?”

“Damn right you do.” Dylan jabbed a finger in my direction. “Fix the chip in her head.”

“Gladly. Simply hand over my flash drive.” When Dylan didn’t move, Cora sighed. “You realize I can make this extremely difficult.”

“Dylan, just give her the drive,” I snapped. Then, to her, I said, “After everything that you’ve done to me, you better keep your word…”

Dylan hesitated. I had to give him credit. His acting chops were dead-on. His face was the perfect mix of anger and frustration mingled with distrust and impatience. He dug the drive from his pocket, then rolled it around in his fingers for a minute.

He made a move to hand it to her, then jerked back at the last moment, grinning. Gripping it between both hands, he said, “Second thought, hold up your end. You fix her chip, and I’ll hand it over. If not, I’ll snap it in half.”

Yancy made a move to come forward, but Cora held him back, face pale. “Fine. I will deactivate the chip. Then you will give me my flash drive.”

“And you’ll send me to Ava.”

“That’s what I promised.” There was something about the way she said it that sent goose bumps popping up all over my skin. She pulled something from her pocket—a small black rod with a flashing red light—and motioned for me to come forward.

Closer to Cora Anderson was the last place I wanted to be—especially since I knew there was no chip in my head—but I had to play along to keep this thing going. It had to seem like we still needed her. She braced her hand against my head, and I suppressed a shudder as, with the other, she pressed the metal tube against my temple. “Stand very still, dear. One sudden move and it’s an instant lobotomy.”

I so badly wanted to call bullshit, but instead bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. She kept it going for a few minutes, pressing the thing painfully into the side of my head. When she was done, she was grinning.

I tentatively touched my temples. “It’s deactivated?”

“You won’t die from a chip in the brain,” she replied, a little too cheerfully.

“Now me,” Dylan said, snapping his fingers in front of her face. He held out the flash drive and she took it. “You promised you’d bring me back to Ava.”

Cora’s grin grew wider. “I’m a woman of my word.” She stepped aside and Yancy came forward, gun trained on him.

“What the hell is this?”

“I’m reuniting you with Ava, of course,” she said with a snicker. “You really thought I could send you back in time?”

Dylan stared at her.

“The pretty ones aren’t always the sharpest, are they? There’s no such thing as time travel.” She waved a hand in the air above her head. “At least not yet. Give me time, though.”

Dylan seethed. I knew that look all too well. “Yeah? I’m the idiot? I’m not the one walking around with an empty flash drive.”

Her amusement lingered for a moment, just until what he’d said sank in. She looked down at the small chunk of plastic in her hand, then turned her head up to glare at him. “What are you saying?”

Dylan laughed. “Your flash drive is long gone. Destroyed. Tiny bits and pieces.”

Damn it! We should have planned for this. A Dylan contingency. Maybe we should have filled him in completely. If we’d told him what had been on the flash, then maybe he wouldn’t have poked her. Or, maybe he would. This was Dylan we were talking about. She’d crushed him by telling him there was no way to get back to Ava, and he’d reciprocated by telling her she couldn’t have what she wanted. Plan be damned.

Cora let out a howl, and Yancy bounded forward. I heard the snap as he released the safety, and I just reacted. Forget that if I’d had time to think about it, I probably wouldn’t have tried to save him. Despite the reasons behind his pain, he was still a murderer. But he was also a human. Another version of G.

I stepped sideways and brought my arm up as hard as I could. It connected with the barrel of Yancy’s gun just as he fired, and the shot deflected and bounced off the nearby trees with a horrible wail.

I made a move to scamper away, but Cora was faster than I was. She grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked back hard. The move disrupted my balance and sent me teetering backward until gravity won and I landed on a heap in the grass.

From there everything got a little hazy. I heard him before I saw anything—the distinct roar I knew had to come from G as he launched himself from his hiding spot and into the fray. I saw what I assumed was his blur fly by, straight for Yancy, as Cora barked out orders to the remaining guards. Karl was on his feet and swinging as well, and from the corner of my eye, I saw more movement from the tree line as the others rushed in to help.

Two sets of arms hauled me to my feet, one on either side, and before I could scream, before I could cry out for G, everything went dark.