Yesterday Never Dies (Die Again to Save the World Book 3) Read online

  Aki gasped and removed her hand from Rueben’s arm. “Your mom?”

  Rueben was vaguely aware of more footsteps behind him, and he turned to see his childhood friend Martha and Zach the police intern. One glance at Martha’s face revealed that she had seen his mother too. Of all his friends, only Martha had ever known his mom.

  “Carolyn,” Martha said and, after clearing her throat, she turned to Buzz, Aki, and Zach. “Guys, let’s um, give these two some space?”

  Zach and Aki nodded understandingly and started to walk away, but Buzz lingered, not catching her point. Martha flashed Rueben a supportive glance, gripped Buzz by the wrist, and tugged him after her.

  Now it was only Rueben and Carolyn and a thin waft of smoke that had blown between them like a veil so that they could barely see each other’s features for a moment. Then it dissipated, and Rueben realized he should say something.

  “Where…”

  “Oh, Rueben.” Carolyn rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

  So many conflicting emotions rushed through Rueben that he couldn’t begin to pin them down. Next came the flood of memories of her when he grew up: her helping him tie his shoelaces for the first time, her backing away from the oven with a tray of fresh-baked cookies in her mitt, her stepping into the crowd and leaving him…

  He was a certifiable hero. He didn’t need to deal with this right now.

  Suddenly he pushed her back from him and twisted out of her embrace.

  “Rueben…”

  “Mom…” He figured he ought to apologize, but then some cameras flashed off to the side of him again, and he turned and finally saw the point of the reporters’ interest.

  Fifteen yards away from them, a buff man wearing an open leather jacket was posing with one arm flexed. Dirt and ash spotted his chiseled jaw, strong forehead, and spiked-up hair, and he had makeshift tourniquets tied around his arm and leg. “Welcome to the gun show,” he was telling the microphone-toting reporters as several of the most attractive women Rueben had ever seen cooed and shouldered up to the man and rubbed his sore muscles.

  Well, they weren’t exactly women, Rueben knew, but robots named Binnie that his best friend Buzz had created. They were so lifelike that they could pass as human though, and they had played a crucial part in defending the U.N. building as they’d shot down the drones attacking the summit.

  “Fucking Mike Fury,” Rueben muttered.

  “Excuse me?” Carolyn said.

  “Nothing.” Rueben rested a hand on his mother’s shoulder and was about to apologize for his actions when he realized she was blinking from the most recent barrage of camera flashes.

  “Thanks,” Mike was saying, “for all the kind words, but the real hero is over there.” He was pointing at Rueben.

  Are you kidding me…

  With his hand still on his mother’s shoulder, he guided her away from the crowd of reporters. They passed through the smoke of a smoldering pile of debris and nodded at a crew of firefighters as they worked to extinguish a neighboring blaze in the parking lot.

  When he was sure that they’d momentarily lost the reporters, Rueben stopped and confronted his mother again. He swallowed. There were too many questions to ask. When his eyes fell to his mother’s reporter’s attire, the words spilled out of his mouth. “You left Dad and me to be a reporter? In the same city as us…”

  His mother winced and shook her head. “Not a reporter.” She tilted her chin down and eyed the mic clipped to her blazer.

  “Then what…” He let his words trail off as he caught sight of her face and realized she had just as many thoughts and emotions swirling through her head.

  She suddenly reached out and touched his wrist. “I’m dressed like this because I was trying to stop him. Or at least help the wounded if I couldn’t.” She sighed, her shoulders rising and falling as if she bore a great burden.

  “Him?” Rueben’s voice tightened. “Are you talking about Pete?” Of course, she had to be. Pete, the madman who had attacked the summit was the future version of himself from another universe. And Carolyn was his mom… Wait, was she both of their moms?

  If Rueben thought his head hurt earlier, now it felt like it was clamped in a vice and lit on flames from the inside.

  Carolyn studied Rueben’s face. “Pete?” Before she could say anything else, camera flashes approached them through the smoky parking lot.

  “Sir! Sir, do you have a comment on what happened today?”

  Rueben grabbed Carolyn’s wrist, and they made off in the opposite direction. They needed to get out of there. They needed to get somewhere safe. First, he needed to regroup with his friends.

  A few minutes later, Rueben stood with Aki and Martha next to a bench on the sidewalk not far from the U.N. building.

  “Where’s Zach?” Rueben asked.

  Martha rolled her eyes. “He and Buzz were posing with Mike and the Binnies. Knowing him, he’ll probably wind up taking one of those reporters home.”

  Aki screwed up her face. “Who? Buzz?”

  “Zach,” Martha said, and the two of them stifled laughs.

  “Buzz?” Carolyn said.

  Rueben swallowed. It was still confusing having his mom here. “My college roommate from Columbia.”

  Carolyn smiled. “I know. He seems like a good friend. What I meant was, where is he?”

  She knew? Shit. Had his mom been keeping tabs on him after she’d abandoned him? Did she know about his almost marriage to his ex-fiancée Rachel and how bad his relationship was with his father?

  Rueben shook his head to clear it. “Yeah. Buzz is a good friend.” What was his mom’s angle? Ugh. He needed answers.

  Martha carefully eyed Rueben and Carolyn. “Buzz said to leave him. You know how he is with the spotlight. Probably trying to get an interview.”

  Rueben nodded and glanced down the street lamp-lit sidewalk, cursing to himself when he caught sight of a figure with a bulky camera resting on his shoulder.

  “There they are,” the cameraman shouted from a block away, pointing in their direction.

  Martha sighed irritably and pulled out her cell phone. “These guys don’t give up. I would call for police backup to give us a ride out, but they’re needed here.” She gestured at the devastation back at the U.N. building.

  Aki caught her riff. “Don’t worry. I already have a car coming for us.”

  Rueben scratched his head. “You think an Uber is going to be able to get through all the roadblocks around here?”

  “It’s a company car.” Aki had a glint in her eye. That meant someone from the CIA was on the way to whisk them away, probably in an armored SUV or limo. Working for the agency had its perks.

  Rueben didn’t know if his mom knew he worked for the CIA or not. She shouldn’t, but there was so much he didn’t know about her. Plus the sudden way she’d appeared in his life now. To say it was a bit fishy would be an understatement. She was caught up in this Pete business somehow.

  He noticed that she kept glancing over her shoulders, her eyes flitting to the shadows of alleys and awning-covered storefronts. Although Pete had escaped earlier, Rueben had hobbled him with the help of his friends. Once immortal, now Pete had only one life to live. Was Carolyn worried about Pete coming after them? The man would be no match for Rueben.

  Regardless, Rueben let his eyes glance to the shadows on the street as Aki abruptly raised a hand. Headlights blinked at them, and a limo pulled up alongside them on the curb.

  “Where are we going to go?” Martha asked.

  Rueben noticed his mother biting her lip and he turned to her questioningly.

  She scratched behind her head. “These reporters. They have your faces on camera. It’s only a matter of time before they track down your addresses.”

  “Buzz’s mansion,” Aki said, and they all turned to her. “GPS doesn’t take you there. I’m good with directions, but I would never have found it without Rueben’s instructions.”
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  Martha agreed. “Rosa probably wouldn’t let any reporters near the front door even if they could find the place.”

  The limo stopped beside them, and the driver’s window rolled down. “Mr. Peet, Ms. Yamashiro, I’m here to pick you up. My instructions are to take you anywhere you’d like to go.”

  Martha’s mouth dropped. “Nice ride.”

  Aki gave her a sly smile and Rueben, Aki, Martha, and Carolyn all piled into the limo. Martha gushed over every detail—the interior, the complimentary champagne, and everything else in between.

  Rueben resisted the urge. He was impressed with the luxury accommodations, but he was too wrapped up in his family problems to think about it all: why his mother was back, why she’d left in the first place, and what she knew about Pete.

  He glanced over at Aki and saw that she had her eyes on her phone screen, getting caught up on everything she’d missed at the agency while they’d been trying to thwart Pete’s plan. “Shit. Sven wants a full report by the end of the week.”

  “Shit,” Rueben agreed, and his mom gave him a questioning look. He opened his mouth, but what was he supposed to say? No one outside of his friends knew he worked at the CIA.

  Luckily, Martha saw what was going on and touched Carolyn on the shoulder. They started talking softly. A few moments later, there was a loud pop and a bubbling bottle of champagne in Martha’s hands. Rueben didn’t drink any though. Aside from giving the driver directions to Buzz’s place, Rueben rested his head back against the seat. He was so tired of everything. Tired of saving the world. Tired of surprises. Just tired.

  Finally, the limo pulled into the circular drive in front of Buzz’s mansion. Having been driving here for years, Rueben hadn’t realized how hard it was to get here without GPS, but he could now understand what his friends had been saying. They thanked the driver and stepped out of the car.

  In the dark, it was difficult to see the details of the drive—the lilacs and the birdbath—but Martha filled Carolyn in as the car drove away. “It’s gorgeous here in the daytime. The gardens, the hedges, the fountains. You’ll love it. He has a manicured hedge maze and an observation deck, and God only knows what else.”

  They all laughed, and Rueben replied, “Yeah, I’m with you on the ‘God only knows what else’ thing.”

  Carolyn craned her neck and stared at the high arched columns and multiple levels. “Beautiful.”

  Rueben gestured toward the front door. “Shall we?”

  They approached the door, and without Buzz around, no one wanted to press the doorbell and wake Rosa at this hour. Rueben had the guest code to the smart lock, so they quietly let themselves in. As many times as Rueben had been here, the entrance still took his breath away.

  Carolyn gasped when they walked in. The high vaulted ceilings with the African wildlife fresco and winding double staircases in the foyer made it hard not to be impressed.

  They all stood in the foyer, and for the first time all night, it was quiet.

  Then Carolyn pulled Rueben aside. “We need to talk. You and me. I think we’re all in grave danger.”

  Chapter Two

  Monday, May 22, 11:22 p.m.

  Rueben stared at his mom. Martha and Aki soon took the hint and meandered off through the mansion. In the warm lighting of Buzz’s foyer, Carolyn was as pretty as he remembered from his childhood, but she had lost that spark that had made her magnetic, irresistible, and the embodiment of “home.” She was simply a woman now and a weary one at that.

  Carolyn dug her reporter’s disguise pumps deep into the plush white rug beneath her. She nodded approvingly. “Buzz has done well for himself.”

  Standing across from her, Rueben shrugged. “How is that related to how we’re in grave danger?”

  Carolyn dropped her gaze embarrassedly. “How about we catch up a bit first?”

  Her mysterious demeanor bothered him. Being raised mostly by Marshall, Rueben was never that good at expressing feelings. He had long ago learned to repress them, and they were more likely to come out with sarcasm and passive aggression.

  Her blue eyes clouded with guilt as if she knew what he was thinking. “Tell me, what are you up to these days?”

  “You don’t know? I work for the government.” Uneasy emotions tugged at his chest. Off to the side of him, he spotted a crystal decanter filled with Scotch sitting on the living room bar. Maybe some alcohol would help. It helped Buzz. “Drink?” He held up a crystal decanter filled with Scotch.

  “I’d love one.”

  He poured two glasses, and the gentle splash of liquid was the only sound in the room.

  There was so much to say, and he didn’t know where to start. Why was she hedging? What did she know about Pete? Ugh, he really didn’t want to get into all of his mother issues right now. On top of which, his mother issues were part of his father issues, and those were a whole different species.

  Wow, he was fucked up.

  Maybe his time warp power wasn’t a genetic anomaly but some kind of trauma response to his dysfunctional family life.

  Hah. He scoffed and handed her one of the glasses. Then they took seats on two couches opposite each other, and both drank slowly. He gave her another once-over, then leaned back into the leather of the sofa. Crossing his legs, he balanced the Scotch glass on his knee, tapping his fingers against it. “Um…” Fuck it, he thought. Screw catching up and this grave danger they were facing. “Why did you leave?”

  She gripped the glass in her hand, and her voice turned soft. “That’s a very complicated question.”

  “One that you no doubt came here intending to answer. Right?” Surely she hadn’t expected to appear in his life without explaining her past actions. He knew he was too hard on her. Maybe some of Marshall’s assholeness was rubbing off on him.

  She smiled fondly. “You’re smart. Of course, you’ve always been. That’s no surprise.” She sighed. “You deserve an explanation. Leaving was never what I wanted. God, it was the last thing I wanted to do. It killed me, and that’s the truth.”

  Her glistening tears melted Rueben’s anger a little, but his voice came out with more force than he expected. “Then why?”

  “There’s more going on than you know. Your universe is younger than the others—”

  Rueben cut her off. “You’re not answering my question.”

  She made a face, that maternal look he remembered from his early childhood that meant he had pushed her buttons too hard. “It was because of him...Thorne.”

  Rueben’s eyes widened. “Thorne? The man who attacked my school bus when I was in the fifth grade?”

  She nodded, and Rueben let the idea sink in.

  His voice cracked with emotion as he remembered. “That was the day you left. I knew you were there. I saw you in the crowd. I yelled for you.”

  Tears flowed down her cheeks. “I know. Walking away from you was difficult. Afterward, I nearly killed myself so I could go back in time and stay.”

  Rueben’s throat constricted and his gut clenched. “You. You’re a…” He couldn’t say the word.

  “Repeater?” Carolyn said.

  Rueben swallowed.

  “I am.”

  Realizing he’d been holding his breath, Rueben drew in a long deep breath. The room seemed to be cracking as the reckoning of his life shattered in one messy blast. “You’re a Repeater? Like me?”

  She nodded.

  “Then why didn’t you come back to me?”

  Carolyn shook her head sadly. “I couldn’t.”

  Rueben started to feel light-headed and numb, and he sucked in a couple more long deep breaths. “Wait, was Thorne a Repeater too?”

  His mother winced at Thorne’s name. “No. But he wanted to be, more than anything. That’s what he wanted from me. That’s why…”

  Rueben’s mouth dropped in shock. The biggest illusion of his entire childhood kept blowing up right in front of him. “Thorne was holding us hostage to get to you?”

  “Thorne wasn’t a Repe
ater, but he has this ability that… Well, you know the homeless guy in this city who knows more than he should?”

  Rueben nodded uneasily.

  “His name is Organic Jim…and don’t ask. It’s what he wants people to call him. He and Thorne have this ability to see multiple timelines all at once. They can’t Repeat, but they can remember things that didn’t happen, and both of them have been driven crazy by it. With Organic Jim, he’s mostly harmless. But Thorne… Well, Thorne did what he did.”

  “Used me to get to you.”

  She nodded. “When I was about your age—this was before I had you—I was admitted to the psychiatric ward because I said some things about my power to a friend. Well, they shared my secret, and it was only a matter of time before the guys with the white coats came for me. Psych ward.”

  Rueben nodded. He remembered when he’d first found out about his powers and had wanted someone to turn to that he could trust.

  “Once I got out, a reporter for an alt science newspaper heard about it and wanted to interview me. After everything I’d been through, I didn’t want to talk about it. He was persistent so I did one interview and developed a following I never wanted. That was where Thorne came in.”

  “He was a news writer?”

  That made sense. Tabloid writers would do anything to get their hands on woo-woo stories, complicated conspiracies, and juicy controversies.

  She shook her head. “No. He subscribed to that newspaper I mentioned. Once Thorne read my interview, he tracked down my address and started stalking me for years. He wanted my power and thought I could give it to him.”

  “And Dad knew you had a stalker?”

  She nodded. “I think that was part of the reason why he joined the force.”

  Rueben stared at her in disbelief. Marshall had known she was a Repeater all these years and hadn’t told him? He suddenly recalled how his dad had started to tell him something at Buzz’s bar when they were preparing for the summit attack. Then they had gotten into a fight and never finished the conversation. “Dad became a cop because you had a stalker?”