The Prophecies Trilogy (Omnibus Edition): A Dystopian Adventure

by Linda Hawley

  Vanessa continued, “We had a situation that got a little out of hand yesterday, and he was helping us tie up some loose ends. Then this morning he shows up dead. We think they learned of his involvement with GOG, and he knew too much about too many secrets for them to let him go.” She took a breath. “He’s now a martyr for freedom.”

  The room was quiet with the word freedom hanging in the air.

  “He was my last friend from my CIA team,” I said somberly.

  “I am sorry, Ann.” Chow touched my arm compassionately.

  “Okay,” I said, getting myself together, trying to stuff my grief away to deal with later.

  “You okay to continue?” Vanessa said, leaning toward me over the table.

  “Let’s go on,” I said, looking up.

  “You Tasered two agents, zero kills?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I replied, matter of fact.

  “That’s all I need to know from today’s events. Calvin, do you have anything to add?” she said, looking at him.

  “No. That covers it.”

  “Okay…” Vanessa confirmed.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, Vanessa,” I began, “but I have something that came up yesterday that’s kind of urgent to cover.”

  “What’s that?” Vanessa asked attentively.

  “It’s nothing good. We either have a double agent or an undercover fed who’s trying to trap me.”

  “Who is he?” she asked coldly.

  “I work with him—”

  “Let me guess. His name is Paul?” Chow asked, looking at me.

  “How did you know that?” I asked.

  “I was doing outer surveillance at the Canadian meeting, and I saw him there.”

  “So he wasn’t there doing surveillance with you?” I asked.

  “He’s not GOG, Ann,” Chow informed me quietly.

  “That jerk set me up,” I exclaimed.

  “How?” Vanessa asked.

  “A few weeks ago, he arranged for me to go down to Portland for a GOG meeting. I thought he was in the family. He was planning to go with me and then backed out at the last moment. Then my plane nearly crashed, and—”

  “Your plane nearly crashed?” Chow interrupted, moving closer to me.

  “Yeah…but that was a weather thing. So the plane nearly crashes, which makes me really late for the GOG meeting at the Botanical Gardens, and consequently, no one was there,” I said, looking at the three of them.

  A look passed between Vanessa and Chow.

  “What?” I asked when no one said a word.

  “You’d think they could have changed their play,” Vanessa said to Chow, looking at him intensely.

  “But they got their man last time,” Chow replied, looking at her.

  “What are you talking about?” Calvin asked.

  “The government ran that play a few months ago and nabbed one of our guys,” Vanessa said, looking directly at me.

  “Oh no,” I said. “So he set me up for them to take me down in Portland,” I said, the truth setting in. “No wonder he was so surprised to see me at work that next morning,” I suddenly realized.

  “What does he know?” Vanessa pressed, serious.

  “I’ve given that some thought since yesterday—”

  “Wait—how did you find out about Paul?” she said with a raised hand, interrupting.

  “My boss fired me and then told me—”

  “You got fired?” Vanessa said, recoiling.

  “Yeah. But I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said, dismissing it. I pressed on. “Can you confirm that my boss—my old boss, I mean—is friendly to GOG?” I asked.

  “He was,” Chow said softly.

  “What do you mean, ‘he was’?” I asked reluctantly.

  “Earlier today, he died—”

  “What? Died? Died how?” I spat out with shock.

  “He was kayaking in Bellingham Bay, and he drowned,” Chow answered.

  “What?” I questioned. “But that’s not possible! He went kayaking every weekend in all kinds of weather. He lived on the water. No way he drowned,” I said emphatically.

  “He wasn’t alone. He was kayaking with his brother,” Chow added.

  “Oh no,” I said, shaking my head. “You know…I knew it. There was always something about him that never sat right with me.”

  “Who are you talking about, Ann?” Chow reached over again, putting his hand on my arm.

  “Brock…Bennett’s brother. Brock murdered him,” I said, looking at the three of them.

  “Why would Brock drown his own brother?” Vanessa asked, playing devil's advocate.

  “After Bennett fired me, he told me that he supported my cause. Then he told me the truth about Paul. After that, I asked him whether his brother was government, or if he was working with Paul. Bennett wouldn’t answer me, but what he did say confirmed that Brock was in opposition to our goals. Bennett said it was dangerous to speak of it. I guess he was right. Brock never liked me, but he was bosom buddies with Paul. I don’t think that Bennett and Brock ever saw eye to eye on anything, inside or outside the company.” I paused, thinking. “Bennett told me that Paul was there to spy on me. He said that by telling me about Paul, it put himself in real danger. Brock must have murdered Bennett for revealing the truth about Paul to me.”

  “Tell me exactly what Bennett said to you,” Vanessa instructed me.

  I told her the particulars of the conversation.

  “Bennett did not drown doing something he was extremely good at one day after he told me about Paul,” I said, looking at them. “Once you confirm that Brock is working with the government, then I would say he is Bennett’s killer,” I said grimly.

  “I’ll make a call,” Vanessa said, filing it away as a task.

  “He was killed for protecting me,” I said somberly, looking down at the dining room table.

  “Then he died a hero,” Chow said softly.

  I looked up and met Chow’s eyes, and I could see his surety.

  “Let’s take a few minutes and get some drinks. Calvin, why don’t you help me,” Vanessa said to him. They stood and walked to the kitchen.

  “Ann, this is not your fault,” Chow said, facing me.

  “I feel like people keep dying around me. Two people who helped me just died. But before that were all those people in Shanghai—”

  “Whoa, hold on there, Ann. You have a great deal of paranormal power, but I don’t think you yet have the power to quake the earth,” he said.

  I just looked at him, considering what he’d said. “You might be right. But now both Bob and Bennett?”

  “There are dangers both in being a member of GOG and in supporting our organization. Everyone who is involved with us knows that. You know it, and I know it. No one comes into the organization or helps us being blind to the dangers from the government. But yet so many risk their lives—just like you do. Ann, what do you think those two agents pursuing you today were going to do with you, had you not defended yourself with the Tasers?”

  “I honestly have no idea. So far, they’ve never caught me.”

  “You do know what they’ve done to other GOG operatives, though.”

  “Yeah. Interrogation and then death.”

  “Yes,” he repeated. “The fact that your paranormal powers are growing means that you are a living weapon that is adaptable. If you were to be captured by the government, your fate would be certain. Both Bob and Bennett assisted you. They did it because they had good intentions—had good within them—and they knew that you were worth saving.”

  Vanessa and Calvin returned to our table and sat down.

  I thought about what Chow said. “Thanks for the perspective,” I said, looking at him.

  I didn’t feel any better emotionally, but I understood intellectually what he meant.

  As Calvin passed around drinks, Vanessa asked me, “What does Paul know, Ann?”

  “First off, he knows the Pacific Northwest GOG codes. So they need to be changed immed
iately,” I said, looking at Vanessa. “When I was in Bellingham, I placed a call alerting GOG to the fact.”

  “Got it,” she confirmed. “What else?”

  “He knows I’m GOG, because after he gave me the code, I confirmed it, thinking he was in the family,” I answered, feeling a little stupid.

  “So we have a security breach, which places you in significant danger,” Vanessa announced.

  “You’re right. I am. I think the only reason I’ve been safe so far is because they don’t have any hard evidence on me. If I hadn’t made my home a safe house, they would have had evidence by now, recorded by peekers. Right now, it’s Paul’s word against mine.”

  “It was his word against yours. Now that we know he is a traitor, he will never get hard evidence on you,” Chow insisted, overtly protective.

  “Chow’s right,” Vanessa verified. “What else does he know?”

  “He knows I was in the CIA.”

  “Does he know what project you worked on for them?” she asked directly.

  “Yes.”

  Another look passed between Vanessa and Chow.

  “What?” I asked. “It’s not like the government doesn’t already know what I worked on for them,” I said in my defense.

  “It is not that, Ann,” Chow began. “Does Paul know that you have been using your paranormal skills again?”

  “Yes. He knows about my Canadian remote-viewing hack—”

  “So it was you?” Vanessa said with amazement, excitement in her voice.

  “Yes. That was me,” I said proudly, with a smile.

  “I want to hear all about your hack later, but right now let’s make sure we cover the situation with Paul,” Vanessa said, redirecting the conversation.

  “Then Paul knows you altered digital information, using remote viewing?” Chow said, trying to keep his tone neutral.

  “Yes.”

  Chow looked at Vanessa. “So he knows what Ann’s capable of.”

  “He knows Ann is a weapon against the government,” Vanessa said bluntly.

  “So she is in further danger,” Chow confirmed.

  “Most certainly,” Vanessa said, nodding her head.

  “It’s actually worse,” I said, looking up at Vanessa. “I have a new skill I’ve been practicing…”

  Chow and Calvin’s attention snapped to me.

  I decided to simply blurt it out. “I can go back in time and alter events to change history.”

  “You can time travel?” Calvin spoke up, looking surprised.

  “Yeah…”

  “How?” Vanessa said, leaning forward.

  “During the dream state. I can focus on a particular problem, and then my mind comes up with a solution to the problem during the dream. What I change in the dream is permanent, and the only person who remembers the original reality is me. Everyone else remembers the alternate reality. I’ve only done it a couple of times.”

  “Remember how we met?” Chow said softly.

  “Shanghai…and I brought the Herkimer back from my dream.”

  “You did?” Chow said excitedly.

  I brought the Herkimer out from under my blouse, on its chain, to show Chow.

  “Remarkable,” Chow exclaimed reverently.

  “You can bring physical objects back from a dream?” Vanessa pressed.

  “Well, I’ve only ever done that once,” I said, amending my statement carefully.

  “But you did it…once,” she said, clearly impressed.

  “Yes.”

  “I want to hear more about the time travel,” Calvin interrupted.

  Vanessa smiled at that. “Okay, Ann…give it to us…tell us exactly how you did it.”

  I explained my going back in time and changing history so that Raymond would be clear of the tax lien. Then I explained how Raymond’s widow only remembered the alternate reality. It was difficult to speak about his suicide, but my friends were gentle with me in not asking more questions about that part.

  “Do you realize what’s possible now, Ann?” Calvin asked with eyes wide.

  “Yes, I think I do. I’ve been giving it a great deal of thought.”

  “But Paul knows,” Chow began, “which means the government also knows you can alter history.”

  The room went quiet, taking on a solemn feel.

  “Ann, you’ve just become one of the most important weapons we have in our freedom fight,” Vanessa declared.

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “You were right,” Vanessa said to Chow.

  “Right about what?” I said curiously.

  Chow turned to me, considering his words.

  No one spoke.

  “By my request, I’ve been shadowing you since you left the CIA,” he said finally, eyes and voice soft.

  “You have?” I asked. “But I wasn’t even GOG when I was with the CIA,” I said, confused. “How would you have even known about my work?”

  “I was trained by the CSIS.”

  “You are full of surprises, Chow,” I said, impressed that he had worked for Canada’s version of the CIA. “Did your agency really have paranormal projects going on at the same time we did?”

  “Yes. But what I did was a little different. I was trained by the Canadian government in astral projection.”

  “What were you trained to do with it?” I asked, puzzled.

  “I was trained to control my spirit so that I could leave my body at will. The project I was involved in explored co-dreaming, using astral projection to enter another person’s dream—”

  “Hold on,” I said with shock in my voice, interrupting Chow. “That’s how you joined me in Shanghai,” I said, suddenly making sense of it all.

  “Yes,” he confirmed, nodding at me. “While I was a CSIS agent, I did have success, but it was limited. We learned that spontaneous astral projection while dreaming occurs in dreamers with paranormal gifts themselves. It also occurs more frequently with those who have had vivid near-death experiences. Eventually, CSIS scrapped the program because they couldn’t see a covert use for it in the near term. After I left them, I continued exploring astral projection on my own, using targets who were known for their paranormal abilities and who had reported near-death experiences. I learned about you when I was still with the Intelligence Service, so after I became involved with GOG, I asked them to track you down—”

  “Let me guess…you wanted to practice co-dreaming with me because I fit the profile?”

  Chow acted as though I had caught him doing something naughty. “I had a gut feeling that you would be important to our cause. Then, not long after that, you joined GOG. That freed my conscience—”

  “You were entering my dreams even before Shanghai, weren’t you?” I asked him directly.

  He paused, then nodded. “Yes.” His lips pursed in confession.

  “That’s why I feel like I know you and can trust you,” I said emphatically, looking into his soft eyes.

  “Yes. I know you, Ann. I know you well,” he said directly. “I’ve been co-dreaming with you for about ten years.”

  “Ten years! Holy cow,” I said in shock. “How come I don’t remember ever seeing you before Shanghai?”

  “I purposefully stayed in the background of your dreams, watching, but not participating—”

  “Until Shanghai,” I said, wonder filling the edges of my statement.

  “Yes.”

  “Why Shanghai?” I asked.

  “It was a GOG decision. Armond had passed. Elinor had gone to college. You had less to risk. It was time—”

  “You could have just asked me, Chow.” I shook my head, slightly annoyed.

  “You’re right. I should have,” he said, looking ashamed, eyes down at the table.

  “Thank you for admitting that,” I said, knowing it was difficult for him.

  “Ann, now that you’re in real danger, Chow will be your partner from here on.”

  “Partner?”

  “He will travel with you at times, and ot
her times he will be shadowing you. His job is to protect you at all costs. You’re extremely important to the organization, especially now that we know about your time-travel abilities, and we’ll do everything possible to make sure the government doesn’t capture or kill you.”

  “You know, Vanessa, there’s something about you I really like. You don’t mince words. You just tell it like it is.”

  “You have no idea, Ann. It’s like spending time with a 24/7 truth-sayer,” Calvin said, exasperated.

  “Very funny,” Vanessa said, staring Calvin down.

  “Well, I’d rather know exactly what I’m up against, instead of having some politically-correct, watered-down version of the truth,” I responded.

  “Thank you, Ann. At least someone around here gives me respect,” Vanessa mocked.

  “Since you’re gonna be hanging around me all the time, maybe we can practice some co-dreaming. I don’t like not having full control of my abilities,” I confided in Chow, looking at him.

  “Yes,” he nodded emphatically, seemingly relieved that I wanted to co-dream with him.

  “Besides, your Soo Bahk Do may come in handy,” I said, smiling at him.

  Chow slightly bowed to me from his chair and then said, “It is my honor, Ann.”

  “How about we go into the kitchen and make some sandwiches, and then we can talk about the other issues on a full stomach?” Calvin suggested.

  “Thank you, Calvin. Ever since I dumped my hot dog, I’ve been hungry.”

  Calvin laughed. “You don’t know how it grieved me to see that dumped, Ann.”

  “I do love a good hot dog,” I told him.

  We all stood and walked into the kitchen.

  “So do you work there, or own it?”

  “I own it, of course. I always did want to own an Orange Julius. Now I get to have my dream and an excellent cover.”

  He made me laugh again. “I think our sandwiches will be a little healthier than your hot dogs, Calvin,” Chow remarked.

  “Touché!” Calvin said with a slightly sardonic grin.

  I turned to Chow in the kitchen, as Vanessa handed ingredients to Calvin. “So you’re Canadian, eh?” the edge off my voice, making it a joke, not an accusation.

  “Yes, which makes me even more appreciative of your Canadian hack,” Chow said with a smile.

  “And Edwin is your brother?” I asked him.