Chapter Twenty-Four

My skin began to crawl as Luther stalked past my hiding spot. I tried to calm my rapid breathing so he wouldn't hear me. My body was pressed against the hard ground, but I knew he could feel my energy. He knew one of us was close.

"I know one of you is here," he said, walking back toward my hiding spot. "You can't hide from me. Come on out Esa. My guess is that it's you."

His boots made a soft crunching sound as he passed and continued on several yards in front of me. Suddenly, he whipped his head back around in my direction. His eyes looked empty and emotionless—not like the Luther I had seen just minutes ago. Both of his hands were wrapped around the base of a large gun.

It took everything for me not to lunge out, grab him and release all of the energy that was coursing through my veins. It would have been revenge for Mary. I hadn't known her for long, but she'd deserved my protection.

I could feel the rest of the team approaching us. They were quiet, but their energy was strong.

He crouched behind another tree and fired several more shots in their direction before pulling his medallion and disappearing on the Jump Line.

Still I was unable to move. Why would Luther shoot at the rest of the group? Why would he want to hurt his friends? We were a team, a family. He always seemed so goofy, but obviously there was more to him.

It had grown quiet again and then I heard Theo's voice. "Who's over here?"

"Me," I responded, slowly making my way out from my cover. Small clumps of dirt had left indentions in my palms.

Samuel was the first one to approach me, not Theo. "What is it? What's wrong, Esa? You look like you've seen a ghost. Are you okay?" He squeezed my shoulder.

"I... I... I'm not sure what I just saw. Luther. I saw Luther," I said, lost in my own thoughts as I tried to calm my racing heart. I remembered the first day I had met Luther. He couldn't be a traitor. Finally, I mumbled, "He did it. He killed Mary and betrayed us."

Samuel nodded. "I know. I'm sorry Esa."

"I need to tell you all something." His shoulders slumped. "I recently found out Luther was up to something, but I never thought he would kill Mary. I honestly didn't think he was capable of something so horrible. I just assumed he wanted to get back at the team for something. But I wasn't really sure, which is why I didn't tell anyone... until recently."

I looked over at Theo and it suddenly clicked. "The bridge?"

His eyes told me everything I needed to know. Theo had kept me in the dark.

"Yes, Samuel's note warned me to watch my back, but I also didn't think everything would accelerate so fast. I thought we had more time." Theo shook his head.

I wanted to forgive him for keeping the information secret, but part of me couldn't let it go. He had lied to me. Why?

A sarcastic laugh escaped Audrina's lips. "Time? Did you really just say time?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I looked over at Theo. "Why the big secret?"

Theo stared directly at me, as if he could look into my soul. "Do you really want to know? Do you? Fine. I didn't know if I could trust you either. I started questioning the timing of everything. First, you reappear and then I find out Luther may be working against the team. It was all very confusing."

There it was again: Theo letting me know he didn't trust me.

Paul stepped in before I could say anything further. "Theo, I've always thought of you as family, but you are wrong on this. Very wrong. This was not Esa's fault. At some point you need to forgive her."

"Really, Paul? You want to be the one to tell me about forgiveness?"

"Someone needs to tell you, but I really think you know how to figure this out on your own. Just offering some friendly advice."

"Exactly. Now stay out of our lives," Theo said.

Paul shook his head. "I really wish I could, but that's not possible. I trained all of you. Don't you remember? You are the soldiers you are today because of me."

"Paul, you trained us, but that doesn't mean we owe our lives to you," Gave said, his voice shaky.

Gave's response didn't seem to faze Paul. "We need to go somewhere we can talk. There are things I need to tell you. You are no longer safe. Your team has been penetrated. All of your secrets are now in the hands of the enemy. Samuel, please take us to the Northern Sector, 2105."

Samuel pulled out his medallion. The swirling vortex encased us, and one by one, the others entered the Jump Line. I waited until last, before finally taking several steps toward our next destination.

We landed inside what appeared to be an old apartment. Covered in cobwebs, it looked like it hadn't been lived in for years. I dragged my finger along one of the tables, making a line in the layer of dust that covered the glass surface. Thick drapes hung loosely from the windows.

"What is this place?" I asked between coughs from the dust, continuing to inspect our landing spot. Thin streams of light peaked through the old curtains. It looked like the place had once been a lavish apartment, but now it was old and deserted.

"Yeah, what gives?" Theo asked in an uneasy voice. "Where are we?"

"Welcome to my home, or what use to be my home, sixteen years ago," Paul said, drawing back one of the drapes and then turning to me. "Esa, this was our home. Before the war. Before your mother and I got so wrapped up in our careers and fighting Troy. Do you remember any of it?"

"No," I responded, dryly. It was the truth. There was nothing about this place that seemed familiar.

Beyond the glass stood the eerie remains of what must have been a tall office building in the middle of a business district. Gaping holes now covered the massive exterior, as if several bombs had gone off inside, sending glass and pieces of the stone façade to the ground.

"Oh my God." Audrina covered her mouth. "What city is this?"

"It was Chicago, but now it's called the Northern Sector due to NorthStar," Paul said. "Although, on some occasions, I still call it Chicago. It's too hard for me to admit that this once-great city is no more."

"I'd heard this area had taken a big hit, but I didn't want to jump over here for fear Troy's soldiers would be waiting to capture me," Audrina said. "I guess I should have paid this area a visit, to see what was really happening to our home."

We all walked to the window in stunned silence. It was hard to see a city that had once been so full of life, now destroyed. The roadways and sidewalks were empty, and sad.

"This can't be Chicago." I shook my head. "That's impossible. It looks so different from all the pictures I've seen of the city."

"It once was a bustling place, but then the bombings started to happen and shortly afterwards Troy managed to gain control," Paul shrugged his shoulders. "He only made it worse."

"How?" The word escaped from my lips. "How could he do this? I don't understand. Why didn't we stop him?"

"We tried. Trust me. We really tried to stop a lot of things, but we weren't successful."

Paul stared at Samuel as he ran a hand through his white hair. "Troy was a researcher at OnyxFive, but it was his side work that helped him accumulate massive wealth, in the billions of dollars. Without my knowledge, he had secured several major contracts with the military. Once I caught wind of what he was doing, he was already gone. He left and started NorthStar. As you know, the two factions became enemies. We also went after government contracts and had major deals with several countries. The war started as we fought for control. For many years, I'll admit, NorthStar was in the lead. Our soldiers were no match for Troy's military. For some reason, we were called the rebels, but I never thought that was a fair name. We weren't rebels. We were equals," Paul said. "But Northstar's soldiers were stronger and faster. Then Troy heard rumors that OnyxFive had developed the formula for time travel. He knew Marie had been working on it for years. She had gotten close several times before, but this time she really did it. His attacks escalated. He told us he would destroy the planet if we didn't give him what he wanted. We refused, but he didn't back down. In the matter of five years, millions of people were killed. We figured he had some inside help, but we never really knew who it was... until recently."

Paul's eyes grew glassy as he continued. "Marie trusted Troy at first, but then things changed. She also trusted Luther. He was one of her first research subjects." He paused. "Esa, Samuel, please know we were a good family, a strong family. It was partly my idea for you to be among the first your mother studied. I wanted to make sure, if the war got any worse, you would be safe, but as it raged on, she realized I was becoming dangerous. I knew it, too, but I couldn't stop. My anger had made me want nothing more than to destroy Troy for what he had done. So, five years ago, she took the team and left. About three years ago, she came to me in a dream and told me we were all in grave danger, but that she had taken measures to protect us. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then I noticed that, if we had any readings on the team, it was everyone but Marie and Esa. I knew something was up, but I didn't know exactly what."

Theo looked down at the floor. "What does that mean?"

"I wasn't entirely sure, until Samuel paid me a visit and told me about finding Esa, and the ripples in time around her accident. Then, when you brought Esa to the lab, I had a better understanding," Paul said. "I swear, I didn't know anything until the past few days. Then events became more clear."

My breath caught and my heart rate quickened with Paul's every word. Everything he said sounded so sincere and true. It was hard for me to doubt him, but I knew that I would need to dig down and find a reason not to trust him.

Paul turned to me. "Samuel told me you killed someone in 2010. Is that correct?"

"Yes," I looked down at the floor unsure if I was about to be punished for my revelation.

"Did that person look familiar?"

"No!" My eyes shot back up to look at Paul. Where was he going with his questions?"

"Think about it a little harder, Esa. Think about the person's features. Their mannerisms."

"Okay, but I really don't know what you're talking about. It was just a stupid boy who I encountered in the alleyway. There was nothing more to it."

"You killed Luther's grandfather."

"What!?" I responded in disbelief.

"You heard me."

"How do you know that?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Samuel and I went back and did some research," Paul said. "I'm sorry. What I'm telling you is the truth."

"That's impossible."

Paul scratched the back of his head. "Wrong. It is very much possible, and it's exactly what happened."

"Esa," Samuel said. "We think mom initially sent you to that time to take Luther out of the equation by killing off one of his ancestors. We haven't done that before, but it's an obvious solution to a very bad problem. I'm also assuming something must have happened during the jump and she realized you had lost your memory."

"But we just saw Luther and he's fine."

"That's because Audrina and the team went back and corrected what had happened. Don't you get it? Luther is alive because Samuel found you and the team went back to adjust the timeline," Paul responded.

I thought about his words and then turned to Samuel. "Luther was missing when you first found me. That's because I had killed his grandfather, isn't it?" I wanted Samuel to tell me I was wrong, but there was an odd look in his eyes that said I was right.

Samuel nodded. "Yes. There were too many things that weren't making sense. That's why I went to visit Paul. He then suggested I bring you to the lab for a scan using some of his better equipment. I thought it might be wise to see if your presence revealed anything else for us. I'm sorry, but I had to know if there was any connection between you and Paul."

I turned to Paul. "What did you find during the scan? You need to tell us everything. I'm tired of the games."

"Your mother hid something very valuable on you. That's what I was trying to tell you and Samuel, but I had to know, first of all, how much you all knew."

Samuel nodded. "He's telling the truth. I scanned your body but missed it. Mom didn't hide it in a little disk that could be picked up on my scan, she hid it right on your body. Esa, it's some sort of invisible tattoo on your neck. We couldn't figure out the properties at first, but then realized the ink shows up as black dots when you run a magnet over it."

"What did she hide on me?" I asked, wondering what could be so important that she had to put it on my body and then push me into another year without any memories.

"The location and access code for where she hid all of her research."

"Code?" I asked, still unsure of where he was taking this conversation. Just the other day I had wanted to destroy this man and now he was standing near me with a look on his face that said he was trying to earn my trust.

"Yes, she didn't want to hide her research in the present day. So she hid it in the past, making you the key. You are very valuable right now, Esa."

"Do you know where it's located?" I asked, rubbing the base of my neck.

Samuel answered. "Yes. I haven't gone to get it yet. I'm still waiting to make sure it's safe to travel to the location. We can't do that until we've got Luther and Troy. It's too risky with them around. I assume mom realized that, if something happened, Luther might try to take out her or her ancestors, so she wanted another layer of protection."

Theo cleared his throat. "Samuel, did you tell Paul the location?"

"Paul was with me when we figured out the code, but neither of us has visited the site."

I rounded on Samuel. "Why are you only telling us this now? What else are you keeping from us? I'm so tired of your half-truths." It seemed like such a violation of trust that he had kept so much information from the team... and me.

"What do you mean?" Samuel asked, a little too quickly. I could tell he was hiding something else. "What about the thing you took out of my wrist? What was it?"

Paul hit something on his hand and a screen appeared in front of him. It looked similar to the one in Samuel's lab. "Esa, all of you have microchips in your right wrist. They contain important information about you, as well as your individual identity number. That was a must when Marie first created all of you." Samuel quickly inserted himself into the conversation. "Esa, the chip we found on you wasn't from Mom. That's what raised the flags for me. I've always known about our microchips, but the one in your wrist was located right next to the one I knew about, and it was masked by human tissue. That's the main reason the scans missed it. Once I extracted it, I noticed the chip had an odd sheen to it. When I looked closer, I found a unique code, one I haven't seen before. It was then that I realized this wasn't your microchip, it was a tracker. Someone was tracking you and knew where you were the entire time."

The conversation made me want to vomit. It seemed like everyone was somehow able to track my every move, yet three years of my life were gone. I realized that, while my memories might be gone, someone out there knew what had happened—they had watched me since the very beginning.