But as he speaks, I’m not really listening anymore, because his words are like a puzzle piece fitting everything together. Memories flash in rapid succession: the moment before the aperture opened, when Trent reached for the case of genicote. Back in the present, when he told the others, “I swiped something from Lynne’s office we can use as leverage.” Zoe’s girlfriend’s apartment, ransacked as though someone was looking for something. Lynne being out of the office all day.
“Did Lynne call you today?” I ask slowly, not wanting to believe the theory forming in my head.
“Yeah, she called me this morning. She asked if I had any extra doses of the cure, but I didn’t. I asked her if there was a problem. She said no, and then she hung up. Why?”
It’s not Aether Corp trying to kill us. I was wrong this entire time.
Lynne is the killer.
I can’t believe it. I trusted Lynne. She wanted to help us. She saved us in the future.
No, she saved Adam. The one person who could cure her daughter. She never cared about the rest of us. She just needed to make sure Adam brought the cure back. And she had to make sure he returned to the present to develop the cure in the first place. The rest of us were disposable.
In the future, she lied to us about Dr. Kapur wanting to “purge” us. She’s the one who recruited us in the first place. It all makes sense. Perfect, horrible sense.
Trent must have stolen the cure from her to try to use it to protect us, but Lynne needed that to save her daughter’s life. She must have tracked him down, and when he wouldn’t give it to her, she killed him. The others must have been in on it too, which is why she searched Zoe’s place. Does that mean she didn’t find the cure—does Chris have it? Is that what he meant when he said he was handling it?
I would never believe Lynne could kill someone, but I saw her shoot that cop. She had zero hesitation with the gun. Her aim was perfect. And if she would kill an innocent cop to save her daughter, I can believe she’d kill us too.
“Elena?” Adam asks, searching my face. “Why do you ask?”
“Um. I was just curious because I tried to call her earlier. But she wasn’t in the office.”
“Oh.” He runs a finger along my arm, staring into the distance. “I talked to her when we got back from the future and told her that you thought Aether was going to kill us. She said she’d protect us, but if the others are dead, then…” He trails off and shakes his head. “But it doesn’t matter, because by coming here you’ve already changed the timeline, right?”
“I don’t know.” Chris could already be dead by now. There’s nothing I can do for him or for the others, but I might have time to stop Lynne from pinning the murders on me and getting away with it. It makes me sick, knowing that in the future she’s friends with Adam and he had no idea she was the one behind our murders. That is not going to happen this time.
Adam’s right—I changed the future by coming here, and I can change it again now.
But I can’t call the police. I have no real evidence Lynne is the killer, and I can’t tell them some crazy story about the future and the cure for cancer. I don’t even know where Lynne is right now.
But I know where she will be.
“We’ll figure it out.” Adam breaks through my thoughts again, giving me a grin. “Hey, I said I was going to protect you and I meant it.”
I force a smile. “I thought I was the one protecting you.”
“Not this time.” He wraps his arms around me and I breathe in his warmth, wishing I could freeze this instant forever. This memory, this is the one I want to remember. Because I have to lie to Adam to save him.
I can’t tell him about Lynne. He’ll want to come with me, and I care too much about him and his future to risk his life. I have to know that even if I fail, Adam will live to develop the cure and save millions of lives.
“Do you have any food?” I ask. “I haven’t eaten anything all day.”
“Oh, yeah. We have some pasta leftover from dinner. I’ll go fix some for you.”
“Thanks.”
He kisses me quickly and then heads into the kitchen. I watch him as he disappears, memorizing every movement, every line of his body, every strand of his hair. And then I silently slip out the front door.