New Atlantis Bundle, Books1-3 Page 2

  He had a job to do, and he needed to get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible. No time for sightseeing or playing at being a local. He was running out of time. And wasn’t that a relief, of sorts.

  But Cara made him remember what it was like to enjoy life. There was something about her, something that appealed to him. Maybe it was the fact that she looked as he had looked just a few short days ago – a mature adult, not a hard bodied kid. He preferred the later stages of each body. It became a comfortable place to be. He hated to give it up when the clock ran out.

  Looking at Cara, an attractive older woman with lush curves, wispy blonde, shoulder-length hair and wide, intelligent blue eyes, reminded him how comfortable his body had been at that age, and how much time he had to wait until that optimal period came around again.

  He wondered how she would feel leaving that body behind. Some people they brought over Crashed and Burned. That’s why they had to choose their Targets carefully. The Consciousness didn’t just have to be intelligent and self-actualized, it had to be adaptable. Without the ability to adapt to the myriad differences in their new life, the Consciousness would tip into psychosis. And the brave new world of the 24th Century had no place for psychotics.

  A Crash and Burn was a wasted opportunity. Spend time getting it right up front, and there was less risk of that kind of waste, later in the process. But it wasn’t a science. If five centuries exploring the human psyche had taught man anything, it was that Consciousness, all levels of it, was a very volatile, complex and unpredictable thing.

  He just hoped Cara would be one of the survivors. Although he didn’t know her well yet, what he did know from her files, and from their short time together, was that she would make a perfect addition to their new world. She was a valuable human-being.

  June 18 2011, Westchester NEW YORK

  Cara collapsed back onto the yoga mat, perspiration stinging her eyes, and wondered what on earth had brought her back here again. Laura had the right idea. She’d already given up. But, fool that she was, the aches and pains she’d suffered for a couple of days after the workout hadn’t been bad enough to get her to surrender. Yet.

  If she was honest, and she did try to be as honest with herself as she was with other people, it was more than just physical fitness that had brought her back to sign up for full membership. It was the hope of running into Jac again. She knew it was foolish, she knew they could only ever be friends, but he’d touched something in her that hadn’t been touched in twenty years.

  When he looked at her with those gorgeous green eyes, he made her feel attractive and womanly again. Even though she knew it was her own over-active imagination at work, it felt like he’d found her interesting, and worthy of his time. When there’d been a room full of gorgeous young things around him, he’d only seemed to have eyes for her.

  Maybe he has a mother fixation, or saw me as one of those cougars.

  No, she definitely didn’t fit the job description for a cougar. She was the right age, but far too girl-next-door to be cougar material. Any young man worth his salt could see that.

  But then, Jac wasn’t like other men his age, was he? He seemed so much more mature. There had been times, during their conversation, when she’d felt as if he was way older than her. He’d made her feel young.

  Oh, no. That did not bode well!

  She scrambled to her feet when the instructor turned the music off, and staggered for the door. She missed Laura. It was easier taking the abuse when she had someone to bounce jokes off.

  Not nearly as much fun on my own.

  What am I saying? It was no fun at all!

  As she walked into the main gym, she found her eyes scanning the room. It was late Saturday morning, around the time she’d seen Jac in the gym before. Could he be here again?

  Her eyes found their mark, lifting weights in the corner, and she was flustered to see that his eyes had already found her. It felt as if he had been waiting for her to come out of the aerobics class.

  That was nonsense. Just nonsense!

  But he was finishing up his set, and towelling off as he walked toward her. He was walking toward her, wasn’t he? She wasn’t in front of the change room door, was she? No, his angle would have been different if he was heading that way. He did seem to be making a bee line for her. God, she wished she looked better in leotards! All those layers of bulging fat! If he gave her a chance to get dressed, she could at least disguise the flab.

  ‘Hey, I was hoping I’d see you again. Where’s your friend?’ He said as he came to stand in front of her. She made a feeble effort to draw the straggling strands of dirty blonde hair back from her sweaty face.

  ‘Hey! Laura wasn’t up to it today. Not really her thing. Not really my thing either, but here I am. Sucker for punishment, I guess.’ She shrugged her shoulders, and grimaced at him.

  ‘Want to do lunch again? I just need a quick shower.’

  ‘Oh, oh sure. I… I mean, yeah, okay. It is better eating with someone, rather than on your own, isn’t it? I have to take a shower, too.’

  ‘Great, meet you out front of the café in ten?’

  ‘Sure… yes. Ten minutes it is.’

  She scuttled away, aware of the critical looks the other women from the class were giving her. It was obvious what they were thinking. They saw her as a stupid, aging woman getting silly over a guy half her age. They were wondering if she was rich. They were wondering if she was easy.

  Stop it! You have no idea what they’re thinking. And it doesn’t matter, anyway. Jac wants to have lunch with me, and that’s the only thing that matters.

  Maybe she did remind him of his mother. Maybe he’d lost her, like she’d lost Billy. Maybe they’d be surrogates for each other. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Jac – beautiful, intelligent, mature and vulnerable Jac, wanted to spend time with her.

  With a secret smile on her lips, she closed the door on the shower cubicle, and turned on the water.

  He was waiting for her when she got to the café. Wearing jeans and a pea green T shirt, his gorgeous, tawny hair and golden skin looked great. And when she was close enough to see, his amazing green eyes sparkled at her. God, what she wouldn’t give to be twenty, make that twenty five years younger. And several dress sizes smaller. Then she’d deserve to be looked at like Jac was looking at her now.

  ‘Are we being healthy again or do we splurge on something more filling?’ he asked, as she reached him.

  ‘You can afford to eat something filling. You’ve got the metabolism for it. Me, I better stick to dull old chicken salad. My metabolism has trouble getting out of bed in the morning these days.’

  He chuckled at her joke, and put in their order. He also remembered she liked decaf lattes, and ordered her one. She felt like a girl on her first date with a sophisticated older man. God, she needed to get a grip!

  As they took an empty table that looked out over the lake, Cara stopped for a moment just to appreciate what was happening to her. She was sharing a meal with a handsome, young friend who was happy to be with her. She was healthy and content with her work, had good friends, and a nice apartment. There were so many positives in her life.

  ‘Penny for them?’ Jac said, leaning his chin on his hand, and staring at her intently.

  ‘I was just feeling grateful, that’s all. Moments like this, I feel very grateful to be alive.’

  ‘Hmmm.’ His tone gave mixed messages. She wasn’t sure whether he agreed or disagreed. There was something sad in the air between them.

  ‘What if you lost this life you have, Cara? What if it was taken away and you couldn’t get it back?’

  She frowned, wondering if he was speaking hypothetically or from personal experience. A shiver ran up and down her spine.

  ‘Am I still alive, or have I lost that, too?’ she queried, turning it into a hypothetical.

  ‘Oh yeah, you’re still alive. Still healthy and active. Just everything you have now is taken away.’

&nbs
p; ‘I guess I’d still be grateful. I’ve already experienced losing everything, or it felt like everything. And I bounced back. While there’s life there’s hope.’ She paused thoughtfully. ‘Have you lost everything Jack, or do you think you’ll lose everything?’

  He looked at her in surprise, and then turned hastily back to his carb-laden plate. ‘No, not me.’ Then he looked up at her again. ‘Maybe. I guess there have been times when I’ve felt like I lost everything. But that was a long, long time ago.’

  ‘When you were a child?’ She knew she was pressing, but somehow it seemed important to plum this man’s depths.

  ‘No, I was happy as a child. It was later.’

  She couldn’t think of a question that would make this conversation seem less like an inquisition. So she allowed the moment to sit, a shared space for reflection. When she did start to speak again, it was from her own experience.

  ‘My parents died when I was young. I had to leave my school, and move to New York City to live with my grandmother. It felt like I lost everything, then. But kids are resilient. I think I bounced back from that pretty well.

  ‘I didn’t bounce so well when I found out my husband was unfaithful, a lot. And it was even harder to bounce back when he killed himself and my fourteen year old son in a car crash, six years ago. I nearly didn’t come back from that one. But I did. And so now I can sit here, with you, and feel grateful for my life.’

  ‘You are an amazing woman, Cara. Do you know that?’ He was looking at her with a peculiar expression, as if he couldn’t quite believe she was real.

  ‘Not really. Everyone has tragedy in their life. It’s part of the human condition.’ She felt flustered by his compliment, worried that he saw her as making her life into a Greek Tragedy. The idea that she might be considered a drama queen terrified her.

  ‘I have a good life, Jack. I’ve had a good life. I’m luckier than most. The world is filled with so much want, so much pain and fear. People in this country don’t appreciate what they have.’

  Jac looked down at his food again, and mumbled, ‘Yeah, you’re right there.’

  ‘Tell me a little about your life. What brought you to Lake Innes? Work? Family?’ she decided to shift the mood and refocus attention on Jac. And she was curious about him.

  ‘I came here to do a job. I don’t have any family. Not for a long time. I like what I do. It makes a difference. Sometimes I wish…’ He looked away, out the window, and the fork in his hand clattered to the table.

  ‘Shiii…t, not again.’ He turned back to pick up the offending fork, and place it neatly on the table beside his plate.

  ‘That neurological condition. Is it bad? Does it affect your quality of life?’

  ‘I’m getting better. Didn’t fall off the treadmill once today. And that’s the first thing I’ve dropped in the last few days. It happens when I lose concentration. I have to focus on anything I want to do or say.’

  ‘Like your brain has to consciously give your body its instructions?’

  ‘Yeah. I’m having to create new neural pathways in my brain. That takes time.’

  ‘Yeah, it does. Brain injuries can really screw with your system.’

  He looked at her, and smiled. His teeth were strong and white, without being Hollywood white. The slightly crooked front tooth told her his teeth were not artificially engineered. She liked that about him. He was natural – a handsome, young man with no artifice.

  ‘I haven’t had a brain injury, Cara. This is just … part of the package. I will get better.’

  ‘I’m glad.’

  ‘Will you come out with me? On a date?’

  She let her own fork clatter to the table. She couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d offered her a check for a million dollars.

  ‘Jack, I’m… I’m flattered but… I’m rather old for you aren’t I?’ she stammered.

  ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just enjoy being with you. I thought it would be nice to have someone to go out with. To movies, clubs, that sort of stuff. I don’t know anybody here but you.’

  She tried to get her heartbeat under control. Of course, he didn’t mean a date date. He meant a companion, someone to hang with. It made sense, if he didn’t know anyone. And office environments didn’t breed social interactions; she knew that from personal experience. What would it hurt to give them both an opportunity to go out and enjoy themselves?

  ‘Okay Jack, that would be nice. I don’t go out much myself anymore. It would be nice to have someone to go places with.’

  ‘Tonight?’

  His enthusiasm had her jaw dropping in shock. It took conscious effort to rally and close it, so that she could smile back at him.

  Just be cool, Cara, be cool. This isn’t what you think. Don’t get the wrong idea. He’s just lonely and impulsive.

  ‘Okay, why not? Where will we go?’

  ‘Do you bowl?’

  ‘Ah… not really. Do you?’

  ‘No. But I’ve always wanted to try it. Where I come from, there aren’t any bowling alleys. And it’ll help with my co-ordination.’

  Although she wanted to help him out if she could, the idea of bowling turned her stomach. Maybe it was because she remembered ‘family nights’ with Bill and Billy, when they’d go down to the Bowling Alley, and try to act like normal people. Bill would always be hyper-competitive, and sulk if he played poorly. Billy would cultivate a long suffering air, and make little effort. And she would be stuck in the middle, just try to keep the peace. No, not something she wanted to revisit with Jac.

  ‘We could go dancing. That would help with your co-ordination.’ The idea came out of her desperation to find an alternative to bowling. But as soon as she suggested it, she knew it was too much like a real date to be considered.

  Jac frowned, his beautifully arched eyebrows arrowing downward as he tapped the top of the wooden table with a finger nail. ‘You’d be taking a risk. I have two left feet, even on a good day.’

  Oh, God, he’s considering it! What am I doing here?

  ‘There’s a club that specialises in Latino I’ve heard about in Midtown. I used to be pretty good at the rumba in my younger years. I could teach you a few simple steps.’ Stop pushing!

  ‘You are a brave and foolhardy woman, Cara Henderson. But if you’re game, so am I.’

  It wasn’t until she was dressing to go out, later that evening, that she realised she’d never told Jac her surname, and she didn’t know his.

  Chapter Three

  Jac pressed the buzzer next to Cara’s name at the entrance to her modern, two storied apartment block, and waited. He was feeling more excited and happy than he’d felt in a very long time. It had taken him until mid-afternoon to realise that his mood had nothing to do with the speed with which he was connecting with his Target, and everything to do with Cara herself.

  And it wasn’t just that she was a pretty blonde with a curvaceous, hour-glass figure. She was also a breath of fresh air – strong, determined and quirky, with an innate kindness that never veered into bleeding-heart territory. He felt understood by her, even though she knew nothing about him or his life. He felt accepted by her, even though, in so many ways, he was unacceptable. After all, he was her three hundred year old Angel of Death. He was here to tell her that her days were numbered, and that the life she knew would soon be over. In so many ways that was not acceptable.

  There had been many times over the last sixty years in-situ when he’d wished he could say ‘Just joking!’, and walk away from a Target after he’d broken the news. Times he wished he didn’t have to look into those confused and shattered eyes at the moment they finally got his message – D Day was coming, and there was only one way out – his way.

  He didn’t want to look into Cara’s eyes, and tell her this life she valued so highly would be over in a few short weeks. He really didn’t. The coward in him wanted to abort the mission, and just let fate take her as it should. Hers was going to be a relatively painless passing. She
would take a sailing dingy out onto the lake on a stormy day, and never come back. The dingy would be found, but no sign of her body would ever be discovered. The death certificate read ‘death by misadventure’. It was likely she was hit by the boom as the wind took the sail, knocking her overboard without a life-jacket. If she was lucky, she’d be knocked unconscious before she drowned. If she was lucky.

  But Cara deserved better than that. She was a brave, worthwhile human being who had experienced more than her fair share of heart-ache. She deserved a second chance – a chance to be young again, and to explore a whole new world. He couldn’t take that away from her just because he didn’t want to see that look in her eyes.

  ‘Hello? Is that you Jack? I’ll be right down.’ Her gentle, melodic voice came through the speaker to interrupt his thoughts.

  Head back in the game, he told himself. Eyes on the ball.

  The dance club, located in the cellar beneath a classy Bar and Grill in the main street of Midtown, was loud, colourful and crowded, even at this early hour of the evening. And it was as close to Jac’s definition of Hell as was possible, without shooting flames and sulphurous fumes. Fighting back the agoraphobia he often experienced in crowded spaces, he braced himself for the crush as they made their way down the darkened, narrow staircase.

  There were no crowds in his world anymore. He hadn’t been part of a crowd in his own time-line since he was a young man. The first time he’d been a young man.

  And, in-situ, he avoided throngs wherever possible. Too many people, packed in tight, reminded him of mass hysteria and death, reminded him of the nightmare that was the latter part of the twenty first century, when food riots were common daily occurrences. An icy chill ran down his spine, as a wave of heat coursed up his body.