Grace

I squeeze my eyes shut as pain shoots up my arm.

I taste the leather and grimace.

“Ms. Dawson!” The guard’s voice grows louder.

He’s getting closer.

“There.”

Travis shows me the blood-covered chip he just cut out of my arm, then throws it away. Then he tears off part of his sleeve and presses it against my bleeding cut.

“Let’s go. I’ll bandage it properly later.”

I nod and hold the piece of cloth as we run off. After a few minutes, as we no longer hear the guard shouting, we stop in another alley.

He’s off my tail.

I let out a breath of relief. “Thank goodness.”

Travis takes a bottle of antiseptic from his backpack and pours it on my wound. I hiss as it stings.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

Then he fishes out a roll of elastic bandage and wraps it around my wound.

“Better?”

I glance at the bandage. “You’re almost as good as Nancy. Did you learn that while you were a Marine, too?”

Travis nods. “I’ve had to bandage worse wounds.”

I can tell from the sad expression that’s suddenly taken over his face that not all the people he bandaged recovered from their wounds.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him.

He looks at me. “Why are you the one apologizing?”

“Because I know it must have been hard being a soldier.”

“It was,” he admits.

I press no further.

“I wonder why that guard was looking for me. You don’t think I committed a crime the last time I was here, do you?”

Travis shrugs. “I believe he said you didn’t need to run. Maybe he was just going to ask you a few questions because you were gone for some time and you’re suddenly back.”

I, too, shrug. “I guess we’ll never know.”

“Hey.” He holds my hand. “Are you regretting having me remove the chip? Maybe you should have just let that guard catch you. Then maybe you would have found out a few things.”

“If I wanted the authorities to tell me who I was, I would have just gone up to them and asked them,” I tell him. “I saw a few earlier, you know.”

“Why didn’t you ask then?”

“Because I’m afraid,” I confess. “What if they tell me something I don’t want to hear?”

“I thought you wanted to hear the truth.”

I give another shrug. “Maybe not. Maybe I don’t need to. I was just upset at first knowing someone else invented my life, but now, I don’t mind so much. Because I have you in it.”

I squeeze his hand.

Travis smiles.

I lift my head to give him a kiss but stop as my own head suddenly spins. I place a hand on my forehead as I wobble. My stomach turns.

“Grace.” Travis puts his arm around me.

“I’m fine,” I tell him as the wave of nausea and dizziness passes. “Maybe I just lost a little too much blood.”

“You should rest,” Travis says. “I’ll find a place for you to rest and you can wait for me while I get the parts from the Lab.”

I look at him with wide eyes. “You’re what?”

“I’m going into the Lab,” he answers in a whisper after cautiously looking around. “I’ve met someone who can sneak me in.”

“I’m going with you,” I tell him.

Travis shakes his head. “No.”

“Why not? I want to help you. What will you do if they catch you?”

“What will you do?” he asks me.

I shrug. “I’ll find a way out of it.”

“So will I.” He touches my cheek. “You have to trust me.”

“I want to go with you, Travis.” I look into his eyes. “So far, I haven’t run into anyone who knows me, even though I’m supposed to have lived here. What if I worked at the Lab?”

He gives me a confused look. “I thought you don’t care about remembering who you were.”

“I don’t. All I want to know is whether my parents and Katie are alive or dead. What if they’re in the Lab? My father was good in math.”

“And if you find them?”

“I’ll let them know I’m safe and happy and kiss them goodbye.”

“It’s not that simple, Grace.”

I touch his cheek. “Trust me. All I want is to see them one more time and let them see me so they won’t be worrying. If they are worrying. I mean, what if they’re the ones who sent that guard to look for me?”

“And if you… don’t find them?”

I look down at my feet. “I’ll be able to accept it. I have no choice. I’ll move on. I just want to know for sure that I am moving on and not just leaving anyone behind by accident.”

Travis nods. “Alright. But we can’t be at the Lab long. Once I get the parts, we’ll go—regardless of whether you’ve found something or someone or not.”

I nod. “I understand. At least I’ll know I tried. Thank you.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to it, though?” he asks in concern. “You look a little pale.”

“Like I said, I just lost a bit too much blood,” I tell him. “I’ll be fine after it’s been replenished. What time do we have to go to the Lab?”

Travis glances at his watch. “We have to be at Dr. Scott’s house in three hours.”

“That’s plenty of time,” I say. “I’ll be ready by then.”

And I’ll be ready for whatever happens. And when it’s all over, I’m going home with Travis, and maybe I’ll never leave Hope Creek again.

The thought makes me smile.

“What?” Travis asks me.

“Nothing,” I answer as I squeeze his hand. “Let’s do this.”

~

 “You want me to do what?” I look at Dr. Scott with eyes wide.

We came to his apartment at five just as he asked and now we’re in the middle of planning how to sneak into the Lab, which apparently is more complicated with me in the picture.

“Pretend to be my girlfriend,” Dr. Scott repeats. “That way, I can get you inside the Lab. There’s only room for one person in that crate, after all.”

I glance at the wooden crate. Dr. Scott is planning to smuggle Travis into the Lab inside it, saying that it’s a new machine he’s working on.

“You could just opt to stay here,” Travis tells me.

I can tell he doesn’t like this plan, either. Even so…

“Fine, I’ll do it,” I say after taking a deep breath. “If you’re sure they’ll let me in.”

“They will.”

Okay. He sounds like he’s done this before.

“Even if I don’t have a chip anymore?” I show him my arm.

“Just cover that wound up and I’ll take care of the rest,” Dr. Scott says.

I glance at Travis, who shrugs.

I turn back to Dr. Scott. “And Travis will be in the crate, which you’ll ask someone to take to your office, and once he’s there, he can break out?”

He nods.

“What if they don’t bring it to your office?” I ask.

“Worst case scenario, they’ll put the crate in the storage room.” Dr. Scott looks at Travis. “Or maybe the best case. That’s where you want to be, right?”

“Yes,” Travis answers.

He shows me the map of the Lab that Dr. Scott gave him and points at the room marked with an X.

“This is the storage room where the parts are,” he tells me. “Meet me outside it no sooner than 7:15. Got it?”

I look at the map. “Got it.”

“Should I draw another map of the Lab?” Dr. Scott asks.

“Good idea,” Travis says.

“Just don’t forget to give me Dr. Baker’s invention,” the scientist reminds him.

I throw Travis a puzzled look. “What invention?”

“I’ll give it to you later,” he whispers to me.

My eyebrows shoot up. “You’re giving him one of Phil’s inventions?”

“It’s not too important.”

Okay.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks me in a normal voice.

“Yup,” I answer. “Don’t worry about me. Like the genius here says, he’ll get me in.”

“By pretending you’re his girlfriend.”

“Hey. I pretended to be your wife. Pretending to be his girlfriend shouldn’t be so hard.”

Travis frowns.

“I’ll be fine,” I assure him with a pat on his shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine.”

~

“It’s fine now.” Dr. Scott lets go of my arm as soon as we’re in an empty corridor. “You’re through.”

I let out a breath of relief.

My heart was seriously pounding back there. For a moment, I thought they wouldn’t let me in and the whole plan would get screwed. But they did.

I’m in.

“Thank you,” I tell the scientist. “Even though you practically told them I’m some kind of prostitute.”

“It was the only way to get you in,” he explains. “But just so we’re clear, I’m not into that kind of women.”

I nod. “Got it.”

He shows me his open palm. “The invention?”

“Right.” I take the pair of lenses out of my pocket. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you about them, but I don’t really know what they are. Phil and Travis never told me, and I’m not a scientific sort of person, so…”

“So it’s a mystery.” Dr. Scott grins. “I love mysteries.”

I pat his arm. “Have fun with it. And thanks again.”

He nods. “Good luck.”

He goes back toward the entrance of the corridor, turning the lenses over in his hands as he walks. I check my map and continue on.

The storage room is in the basement, so I have to find a flight of stairs or an elevator. According to this map, there’s an elevator not far ahead.

I continue walking at a steady pace. Not too fast and not too slow.

Someone walks past me and I look away.

I walk on, passing by a door with a large button next to it.

I stop.

A button?

The image of someone pressing it flickers in my mind like the flash of a camera. My head throbs.

I lean against the wall and clasp my forehead.

What was that image? A memory? Was I here before?

Suddenly, I hear a clatter and turn my head to see a tall woman with a white coat and auburn hair clasping both hands to her mouth. The clipboard that she must have been holding lies at her feet.

She looks at me with wide bluish green eyes as she steps forward. “Grace?”

My eyebrows furrow at the sound of my name.

She knows me?

“My God, it is you.” She places her hands on my arms. “I can’t believe it. You’re alive and you’re here. Oh, I should tell Michael.”

She lifts her wrist and presses a button on her watch.

Michael? Who’s Michael?

“Sorry, but I don’t know you,” I tell her.

“Right.” She drops her hand. “You don’t remember me because… well, you probably don’t remember much.”

I blink. This woman knows that, too? Who is she?

“I’m Courtney McCain,” she introduces herself as she grabs and shakes my hand. “I’m a friend of Michael’s.”

Michael again.

“I really should tell him you’re here. Why, he’ll be so thrilled. He’ll never let you go ever again.”

She lifts her arm again and presses buttons on her watch.

I step back.

Never let me go? What am I, his prisoner? His property?

No. I have to go. I have to go find Travis. I have to go back to Hope Creek.

I run.

“Grace, wait!” Courtney calls after me, but I ignore her.

I keep running until I see the flight of stairs then lead down.

I have to go to Travis.