Time Sensitive

Lyndon has always been reliable. It’s important, that’s what he would say. Being reliable meant you were also trustworthy and industrious. With a name like Lyndon, it’s hard not to have these qualities. Most of the time he felt good about how others saw him. 

There we’re a few times he felt like an outsider. Truthfully, it was more than a few times.

Lyndon wasn’t an outgoing person and was happy to play the solitary role. He admired those who were the life of the party and wished he had a switch that could be flipped to turn himself into someone with a magnetic personality. Lyndon didn’t want a permanent change just a temporary one when he was in the mood to spice things up. This was a crazy thought but he couldn’t get it out of his head.

Would a different name change his personality? Lyndon searched many alternative names

finally settling on Lance, which seemed to be a name that evoked an adventurous nature. With a name change he couldn’t continue with his life as he had. Lance had to create a new life, so he joined a new gym and a travel club using his new name. It was easy at first. Lance would introduce himself as a new resident to the city. No one questioned his story. Changing his personality could be more difficult. Understanding that, Lance signed up for an acting class. This could help him take on a personality that was completely opposite of Lyndon’s.

He needed a new job title, something more exciting than corporate accountant. So, 

Lance became an importer/exporter of exotic goods. That’s all he needed, three little changes to validate Lance, the new-improved Lyndon. These weren’t lies, just the necessary back story to support his alternate life. 

It started out innocently in that Lyndon just wanted a little excitement in his life. Some

attention that he didn’t normally get. The first few months were exciting. Everything was going great. Lance became active in the new groups, it was only once or twice a month. Then, as the months passed, he became bolder, wanting more attention, and didn’t seem to shy away from exaggerating his back story. 

Then Grace showed up, clearly out of Lyndon’s league, but he was Lance. Grace worked

as an AI Intelligence Specialist which was so much cooler than Lyndon’s job or Lance’s fake job.

To impress her, his story got bigger. The back story now was all lies. He knew it wasn’t right, but

he liked this new life and didn’t want to lose it. The more lies he told, the easier lies became the

new truth.

Grace and Lance spent a lot of time together. Lance was only a character Lyndon was

playing. Spending less and less time as Lyndon seemed to make his real personality melt away.

The switch from Lyndon to Lance became easy, switching back had become increasingly

difficult.

Grace not only had an adventurous side, which is what attracted Lance to her. She

also had a dark side and wanted things that Lyndon couldn’t give her. However, Lance would do

anything to win her praises. Her dark side was intertwined with her adventurous side. At first it

was a few drugs. They’d take some to make things more exciting, then it was shoplifting. She

liked the danger and the risk of getting caught. She had the money to buy whatever she wanted,

but there was no excitement buying it. She liked elaborate meals and enjoyed eating out, but

what she enjoyed more was skipping out on the check. 

Lance loved her adventurous side and ignored her dark side. Grace would ask for favors

and Lance was happy to comply. He never questioned her because he didn’t want to disappoint

her. Each request challenged him. The last favor really wasn’t a favor as much as an order,

one that had a time limit. Lance was under her spell and she was in control. 

Grace played the pity card when she asked him to help her retrieve some stolen property

from her ex-fiancé, Shaun. She used her AI skills to set the retrieval in motion. It all seemed too

easy and justified. Lance knew his participation would enhance his relationship with Grace.

He quickly offered his help.

The plan was to break into Shaun’s house while he was out of town, remove two

valuable and sentimental paintings, then leave immediately before the silent alarm was

activated. The art was given to Grace by her father for safe keeping. She never recovered the

paintings once she moved out. Lance would have only three minutes before a silent alarm was

activated. Grace would work behind the scenes to get the entry code and combination to the safe.

She knew the paintings were in the house. They could be in any one of three locations: the living

room, Shaun’s office, more likely the huge gun safe in his cigar room. Shaun was cautious,

so, it was likely he would move the paintings to the safe when traveling for a business trip. He

was known to change the combination every Monday so it would be Grace’s job to run the AI

program and provide Lance with the new combination.

This story should have raised his suspicions, but Lance was mesmerized whenever Grace

was around. She assured Lance this retrieval wouldn’t take long, and it was a justifiable act,

returning property to its rightful owner. Nevertheless, she gave him a gun telling him it was for

his protection. This scared the hell out of Lance because it increased his level of intensity to a

new high. Lyndon wanted to reject the idea of carrying a gun, but Lance couldn’t refuse her 

request.

Enough! No more! Lance was done after retrieving the paintings. He hadn’t told Grace 

anything about his decision. He would take care of this last request then return to his old, boring

but safe life.

Tonight was it. Grace assured him everything was taken care of, no loose ends to cause 

any issues. Lance entered Shaun’s house using the code Grace provided. A good start. He made

his way to the first two locations but found no paintings. Lance then knew, they had to be in the

safe. Grace text him the combination. Shaun had installed internal alarms throughout the house

that Grace was unaware of. These had a shorter activation time. When he entered the room with

the safe, Lance heard a suspicious click. He checked his watch. There was exactly one minute

forty-five seconds left to retrieve the paintings and leave the house. Knowing that guided him

quickly to the safe. Once the code was punched in, the safe opened as Grace had promised.

His watch showed there were fifty seconds left. Lance hustled downstairs and tripped on the

carpet. He was in the process of picking up the artwork when someone said, “Drop the

paintings and put your hands up.” 

He didn’t do that. Instead, he dropped the paintings and without thinking pulled the

trigger on his gun. The officer went down. Lance didn’t mean to shoot. He never had any firearm

training, but he was unlucky enough to fatally injure the police officer. He immediately threw the

gun to the floor. Two more officers entered and took him into custody. 

He never spoke to Grace again.

Lyndon was tried and convicted while Grace never went to trial. The lies Lance told to

get close to Grace were nothing compared to the lies Grace told to convince others of her 

innocence.  

Lance lived in a concrete box and called himself Lyndon. Thirty years to life was a fair

punishment for his crime. He was ashamed of his actions as Lance but equally ashamed of

Lyndon’s response to Grace’s request. He mourned the past while he worked to change the

future. Grace lived a luxurious life on a yacht sailing the Mediterranean. Lyndon lived in a

6’ by 8’ cell planning his life after prison. Grace had an extensive art collection that she acquired

over the years from her many affairs. Lyndon had quotes pasted on his cell wall to remind him of

a life that could have been. Her story varied slightly with each mark, however all resembled the

first one with Lance. She left a trail of broken men on the path to achieve her sinister dreams.

After twenty-four years, Lance was paroled. The only question to answer, does Lyndon

take the first steps to rebuild his life or does Lance retaliate for a lost life?