Twisted Fate

by Simon Rose

  Rolling the Dice

  JULIA SPED OUT of the mall’s parking lot, barely missing the sidewalk as she turned into the main road. Two police cars and an ambulance with its lights flashing drove by in the opposite direction, heading for the mall’s main entrance.

  “That was close,” said Max, breathing a sigh of relief.

  “No kidding,” said Julia, concentrating on the road ahead. “How did he find us so quickly?”

  “It has to be the security cameras,” Max replied. “He must be able to tap into them somehow, maybe coordinate those with his own powers to track me down. He could also just be able to sense my thoughts, no matter where I am.”

  “Or maybe he’s tracking my thoughts.”

  Max didn’t want to accept that Julia’s family link to Kane could be a factor but knew that she was probably right. He feared that Kane might even be using her as a homing beacon rather than tracking him and that neither of them was safe. Max’s lingering doubts about Julia also persisted. Was it even possible that Kane was already controlling her, whether she realized that or not?

  “Yeah,” he replied. “It’s possible.”

  They continued their journey in silence before Max spoke again.

  “We’re lucky that this van doesn’t have any phone numbers or company logos on the sides. That would make us really easy to track.”

  “It still has a license plate,” said Julia. “That’s what they’ll eventually be looking for.”

  “So, what are we going to do? The driver’s bound to report his van stolen, and the police are now going to have another reason to look for us.”

  “Well, we need to avoid that,” said Julia, finally forcing herself to smile. “If they stop us they’ll find out that I don’t have a license.”

  “You what?” said Max, shocked. “You can’t drive?”

  “I never said that. I said I don’t have a license. My dad’s taken me out a few times off road and in empty parking lots so I’ve had some practice.”

  “Oh, this is great, just great,” said Max.

  “Relax,” said Julia, grinning. “I’m sure a missing driver’s license is the last thing the police might want to ask us about if they catch us. Now pull up that map on the laptop, while we still have some battery power. I think we’re headed in the right direction but I still need to know exactly where we’re going.”

  She swerved slightly on the road as she reached down below the driver’s seat and handed Max her backpack.

  “What are you doing?” he said, in panic, as he snatched the backpack.

  “Relax, it’s fine,” Julia replied, smiling at him.

  She then turned her attention back to the road ahead and braked sharply as she almost ran a red light. Max had just unzipped the backpack and dropped the laptop onto the floor.

  “Are you sure you can drive?” he said, reaching down to grab the computer.

  “Yeah, don’t worry,” replied Julia.

  Yet she looked far from confident. As she pushed her hair back from her face, Max noticed that Julia’s hands were shaking. The drivers of the cars beside them briefly glanced over at the van then quickly looked away. Max hoped that the drivers were merely reacting to Julia’s poor driving skills and didn’t think that anything about the van appeared in any way suspicious.

  While they were waiting at the traffic lights, Max opened the laptop and brought up the map showing the industrial area. Julia glanced over at the map.

  “Okay, it looks like we’re headed the right way. I think I know where we’re going now.”

  The lights changed to green, and Julia pulled away but then steered the van into the parking lot of a small strip mall. She drove into one of the parking spaces and turned off the engine.

  “What are you doing?” asked Max. “Why are we stopping?”

  “I need to find out if we can stay off the main roads, for most of the time at least. Pass me the laptop.”

  Max handed it to her and Julia studied the map.

  “Looks like there’s a few different ways we can go,” she said, examining the alternative routes to the industrial area displayed on the map. “If we stick to these streets there’s less chance of us meeting any police cars or someone reporting us driving by in a stolen van.”

  She handed the laptop back to Max.

  “Okay,” she said. “Now we can go. Keep that map page open, I’m going to need it later.”

  “And you’re going to be careful, right?”

  “I’ll be the perfect driver, Max, just for you,” Julia replied, smiling sweetly.

  Max grimaced as Julia turned the ignition key, crunched the van into reverse gear, revved the engine then backed up without looking in the rear-view mirror. She narrowly avoided hitting a passing car and the driver angrily honked his horn. Julia simply waved at him and drove out of the parking lot. Max crossed his fingers when the van joined the main road.

  JULIA’S DRIVING IMPROVED a little as she gradually got used to the roads. She still made mistakes or alarmed Max at times. This was mostly when she was simultaneously looking over at the map on the laptop while checking the passing street signs. More than once she slammed on the brakes in order to make a sudden turn or when she was in danger of missing an important intersection. Each time Max yelled at her, wondering if they’d arrive at the industrial area in one piece. Julia either ignored him or shouted back, sometimes asking him if he wanted to drive instead. Eventually they settled into an uneasy peace, undertaking the journey in silence until Julia broke the ice.

  “What if someone’s been to this place since last night?” she asked. “They may have found out what happened and gone there to get rid of the bodies and cover it all up, remove the evidence.”

  “I’m hoping not,” Max replied. “Everything happened very quickly when Kane attacked. There might not have been time for anyone to get a message out to others in Evans’ organization.”

  “Okay,” said Julia, “but the police might have been there, especially if someone in the nearby buildings reported hearing gunfire.”

  “There was no one around in that part of the industrial area when I escaped so let’s hope no one talked to the police about anything strange going on. I’m pretty sure that Kane won’t expect us to go there though.”

  “But what if he knows somehow? So far he seems to be able to find out exactly where we are.”

  “It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” said Max. “He might not see us as a priority and after what happened at the mall, he and his friends are on the police radar. A lot of people were hurt so Kane and the others might be lying low for now. Like I said, I doubt if anyone got a message out, but some of Evans’ partners might have learned that she and all her people are dead. They’ll most likely suspect that their star pupil is free and more dangerous than ever before. They’ll be looking for Kane so he might not have time to think about us, even if he wants to.”

  Fortunately, the traffic became lighter as they drove further from the residential districts and neared their destination. Since it was Saturday, few people were working in the industrial area and Julia became calmer once she didn’t have to deal with so many other vehicles.

  “You’re very quiet,” said Julia.

  “I just can’t help thinking . . . never mind.”

  “What?” said Julia. “What were you thinking?”

  “That this is all my fault somehow,” Max replied. “I mean it’s my fault everything changed, when I only wanted to try to make things better.”

  “That’s not true, Max. For all you know Evans would still have found Kane and tried to revive his powers.”

  “Maybe,” he said, “but it still seems like I’m responsible for him being on the loose again. If Kane hadn’t met me at the lab he might never have remembered that there used to be other timelines. He was really struggling with his memory, even if his powers were coming back. Without me being there it might have taken him years to recover, if he ever recovered at all. My presence triggered the attack that ki
lled everyone at the lab.”

  “You can’t blame yourself, Max. It’s not your fault.”

  “And what if it’s not just living people that he can get inside and control? What if he’s been manipulating my mind too? Can I even trust what my mother’s ghost said to me about all this when I met her? Or in the memories and dreams where she’s appeared? What if this is all Kane’s doing?”

  Julia thought for a moment.

  “I know how you must feel, Max, but you’ve got to put this aside. If you keep second-guessing yourself, you won’t be able to focus. We only have one chance to get this right and you’re the one that has to do the most dangerous and important things if this is going to work. You’ve got to keep it together.”

  Julia then decided to change the subject.

  “How do you think you’re going to be able to get to exactly the right place in Kovac’s memories using this machine?”

  “I’ve thought about that,” Max replied. “I think that the key memories in someone’s life are the most important. When I first started having images from David’s life it was about family occasions, the piano competition, his parents, things like that, as well as what happened at the waterfront. When I saw Deanna’s memories on the screen at the lab, they were about her childhood, especially when her great-grandmother appeared to her and Deanna realized that she had psychic abilities. These were significant moments in their lives. I think that this makes the memory stronger, like the ones about Kane and that kid at the playground that we both experienced.”

  “And you’re convinced Kovac had something like that in his life too?”

  Max nodded.

  “I’m hoping that the memories of his nephew’s death and Kovac’s near-death experience after the car accident always stayed with him, even if he suppressed them because of his grief. That experience was what got him interested in psychics and set this whole thing in motion. I think that’s the key to all this.”

  ONCE THEY ARRIVED at the industrial area, Julia drove into one of the streets whose name she’d retrieved from Max’s mind and stopped the van in one of the empty parking areas. She intended to study the map in more detail but the laptop’s battery was finally exhausted.

  “Great,” said Julia. “So, what are we going to do now?”

  “Well, we’re here,” Max replied. “We’ll just have to drive around until I see something that looks familiar.”

  Julia nodded, started the engine, and drove back onto the road. There was very little traffic and only a few of the buildings appeared to have people working in them. As Julia drove along the streets, Max was becoming increasingly frustrated that he couldn’t see anything that looked familiar, then he spotted something.

  “There’s the water tower,” said Max, as they rounded a corner.

  “Is that close to the place where they held you?”

  “I think so. I saw the tower from the bus but I didn’t have to run that far to get to the main road. There must be some rail tracks near here.”

  “Okay, keep looking,” said Julia.

  She drove around a few of the streets as Max surveyed all the different buildings although many of them looked very similar. They all appeared to belong to legitimate companies but both Max and Julia knew that this could easily just be a cover for Evans’ operation. There were also several nondescript warehouses but none of them looked familiar to Max. They even drove around the back of most of the buildings in the area, checking out the loading docks and employee parking lots.

  “This is hopeless,” said Julia. “We’ll never find this place.”

  “Wait,” said Max, as they drove past the entrance to a narrow alley partially blocked by a rusty metal gate. “Stop.”

  Julia was startled and hit the brakes, bumping the sidewalk as she brought the van to a halt.

  “Did you see something?” she asked.

  “Back up,” said Max. “I think this might be it.”

  Julia put the van into reverse and backed along the edge of the sidewalk until she reached the alley’s entrance. Halfway along the alley was an open door and slightly beyond it there was faded lettering on the brick wall.

  “This is it,” said Max. “The side door’s open. That’s where I came out.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “It was dark but I think so. I remember those letters on the wall and the old gate. If the door’s still open that might mean no one’s been here yet. We need to move fast.”

  “Okay,” said Julia. “Let’s dump the van and walk back.”

  She drove a few streets further away, looking for a suitable place to park the van where it wouldn’t be easily spotted. Eventually Julia saw a short side street running between two tall buildings. At the end of the street there was a large storage shed.

  “Let’s leave it here,” she said, turning into the side street.

  There was just enough room to drive along the side of the storage shed and park the van behind it. The space was tight and there was very little room to open the doors. Julia decided to leave the keys in the ignition before she and Max managed to squeeze out of the van. Max handed Julia the backpack containing the laptop, and she pulled it over her shoulders as they hurried out of the side street.

  “Do you think anyone’s going to find it?” asked Max, when they reached the road.

  “Eventually,” Julia replied. “But not right away and hopefully by then you’ll have changed everything for the better.”

  She winked at him, and Max managed a brief smile, despite the highly uncertain future that lay ahead of them.

  LUCKILY, THEY SAW no traffic or pedestrians on the streets as they quickly made their way back to the building where Max believed he’d been held captive. When they arrived, they slipped between the gate and the wall and cautiously walked down the alley to the open door. When they reached it, Max gently eased the door open a little more. He shuddered as he peered down into the stairwell.

  “Do you still think this is it?” asked Julia.

  “Yes,” Max replied. “I definitely remember this. Are you ready?”

  “As ready as I’m going to be,” said Julia. “Lead the way.”

  When they reached the bottom of the steps, the place was eerily quiet and they had no idea what to expect. Max went ahead, staying alert as they moved along the empty hallways. As they turned a corner, Julia gasped when she saw one of the security guards, face down on the floor in a pool of blood.

  “You okay?” asked Max.

  “Yeah, yeah,” she stammered. “It just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

  “It looks like no one’s been here yet so you’ll probably see a few more bodies.”

  Julie gulped then nodded in agreement.

  “Which way do we go?”

  “It’s this way,” said Max.

  He led Julia along the corridor and saw the bodies of several other guards as well as the bloody remains of Connor and Drake. Max couldn’t be certain but was convinced that no one in the facility had escaped alive. They passed the room where Huxley had run his tests with Kane and the security cameras. A little further along the hallway was the medical room where Kane had been introduced to Max. Huxley’s body lay beside the open doorway, even in death his eyes still wide with terror. Finally, Max and Julia reached the small lab where Evans had shown him the device that accessed Kovac’s mental records of Project Mindstorm.

  “This is it,” said Max, as they entered the lab.

  Julia quickly surveyed her surroundings as she took off her backpack.

  “How long do you think we have?”

  “It’s hard to tell but it looks like no one from Evans’ operation has been here to check on things yet. I have no idea how well connected Evans was to others in her organization but there’s a good chance that someone else is going to come here at some point this morning. We need to move quickly.”

  Max walked over to the three consoles with their accompanying computer terminals. He sat down in the leather chair in front of the centre
console, hoping that he could remember how Evans had operated the switches and dials. He picked up the headphones and examined the different wires and cables leading to the console.

  “Do you know what you’re doing?” Julia asked.

  “I think so,” said Max.

  He put down the headphones and used the keyboard to access the computer. It had gone into sleep mode but the KPM folder was still displayed on the screen.

  “Great, Evans never logged out. She said she was coming back to do some work on the machine while those other two doctors worked on me. Kane made sure that she never got the chance.”

  Max brought up the Kovac memory files on the screen. He quickly studied them to make sure that he could recall exactly what Evans had done before clicking back to the folder itself.

  “You said that she used this to get to parts of Kovac’s memories and access his thoughts about the Mindstorm program?” said Julia.

  “Yes, Evans only gave me a quick demonstration, and I assume she always knew which areas of his memories that she wanted to access. She also said that she’d once accidentally tapped into Kovac’s personal memories too, including the ones where his nephew was killed and Kovac almost died, before he started all his psychic research. Based on what I was able to do with David and his experiences, I’m going to try and alter the events in Kovac’s life. Specifically, I’m going to try and change what happened in that car accident.”

  Julia looked sceptical.

  “Is it safe?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” said Max. “But I have to try.”

  Struggling to recall exactly what Evans had done, Max made several errors as he adjusted the switches and dials and pressed a few incorrect buttons on the console. Finally, he seemed to have got it right and settled into the chair.

  “So how does it work?” asked Julia.

  Max showed her the headphones with the small attachments.

  “Evans put on the headphones and these small pads were fixed to the sides of her head. They send Kovac’s thoughts and memories into another person’s brain. She closed her eyes and said that once the machine’s activated, a person’s heart rate becomes really low and they’re sort of in a trance. She said that it was like watching a movie but in your head. She was only accessing one file but I’ll need to go into the whole folder if I’m going to have any chance of finding the right memory.”