The Prophecies Trilogy (Omnibus Edition): A Dystopian Adventure

by Linda Hawley

  “He brags that he is,” Chow said with feigned disgust and then shook his head.

  I laughed, the realization suddenly hitting me. “You’re twins?”

  “Yes,” he said simply, with a nod of his head.

  I laughed again. “Wow…fraternal twins. I would have never guessed,” I said, astonished. “So your parents became members…then what?”

  “We were shipped to Shanghai to live with family there, learned several Chinese dialects, English, French, and Spanish, and we learned to meld into the Shanghai culture, so we could function as GOG operatives,” he said, matter of fact.

  I was regularly surprised by Chow’s understated nature. “When did you go to work for the CSIS?”

  “After University.”

  “Did you know you’d be paranormally trained in astral projection?”

  “Much like the CIA, the CSIS doesn’t tell you anything about your project before you show up to start work.”

  “No kidding,” I agreed.

  Interrupting us was the sound of a plane. We both looked overhead.

  “Just as expected,” Chow announced, looking at his watch.

  We saw the seaplane line up for entrance into the bay. Because of its narrowness, we could see it would be tricky. The pilot landed expertly just before the mouth of the inlet, giving himself enough room to slow down. It was exhilarating to watch.

  “Let’s get everything into the dingy and meet the plane,” he said.

  After putting Lulu’s life jacket on, I got into the dingy, and Chow passed her to me, followed by the luggage. He then joined us. We motored over to the seaplane, which had settled a hundred feet from our bow.

  Two men who were new to me, but whom Chow seemed to know, met us. One of them took Lulu, then me, and then the bags into the seaplane. Chow joined us while the other man boarded the dinghy and returned to the sailboat. As the seaplane started moving, I could see the man out the window, pulling anchor on the Ranger.

  I made sure Lulu was right next to me as we started to gain speed, heading out of the pristine bay. When the speed increased, I could see foamy white water from the pontoons. As we neared the bay’s entrance, we were suddenly airborne. The pilot banked to the east, heading for Vancouver; I held on tight to Lulu.

  Chow asked the pilot, “Any contact?”

  “Negative. It looks like you’re in the clear.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. We were going to make it safely onto Canadian soil. It had turned into a cloudy morning, and we couldn’t see the islands. The pilot was relying on his instruments to navigate.

  “We’ll be landing in Vancouver Harbor, and then we’ll deplane at the Canada Place dock,” the pilot informed us.

  I chuckled. “Now that’s ironic,” I said, looking over at Chow.

  “My apartment is in Gastown. It is right next to Portside Park, where we met in Canada,” he said and then paused. “We will be there for a few days before flying out, while I get all our papers together. It is safe there.”

  We descended through the fog, just before landing smoothly in the harbor, with Lulu giving a little bark as we did so. After taxing to the dock, we quickly moored to the same dock that led from Canada Place to the Pan Pacific Hotel. The pilot had us deplane quickly, and I leashed Lulu.

  After catching a taxi in front of the Pan Pacific, we arrived at Chow’s apartment a mere five minutes later. As I stepped out of the taxi, I saw that Chow lived in a skyscraper made of glass. Looking up, the top of the building wasn’t even visible—it was hidden in the fog.

  A doorman approached us, taking my bags from the car. I followed Chow inside with Lulu by my side. The skyscraper’s foyer mimicked the outside, with a ceiling that must have extended two stories. There were glass and steel surfaces everywhere; even the bellman’s stand was made of glass. It smelled of floor polish, chemical and slightly overpowering my olfactory.

  “You live in a glass house,” I said to Chow.

  He chuckled as the bellman loaded up his cart with my bags, moving it to the elevator bank and pushing the call button.

  “I can take it from here,” Chow said to the bellman, handing him a bill.

  “Yes, sir,” the bellman replied, leaving the cart to Chow.

  The elevator arrived, Lulu and I entered, and Chow pushed the cart forward and pressed the button.

  “It was you,” I said to him suddenly.

  “What?” he asked with his eyebrows extended.

  “In the elevator at the Pan Pacific…that was you I saw get out as I was getting on with Paul.”

  “Yes, it was,” he nodded in confirmation.

  “I can’t believe it. I turned to get a better look at you, but I only saw your back.”

  He smiled at me as the elevator voice spoke. “You’ve arrived at the penthouse.”

  “Ooh, the penthouse,” I said, teasing as I got out. “Wait a minute…” I said, stopping to look directly at him. “You don’t live in a chick-magnet apartment, do you?”

  Chow laughed right out loud, saying, “No,” which satisfied me greatly.

  A biometric retinal scanner was installed beside his apartment’s front door, at eye level. He leaned into it, stood still for a few seconds, and the front door opened to a regal entrance hall, about fifteen feet wide.

  “Good morning,” the female voice with a French accent spoke.

  I looked at Chow quizzically.

  “You had Sinéad, and I have Juliette Binoche,” Chow said very seriously, answering my unspoken question.

  I laughed. “You have a crush on her,” I said, slapping him playfully on the arm.

  Chow was silent, simply watching me standing in the entrance hall to his apartment. “What if I do?” he asked with all seriousness.

  I laughed even harder.

  “Ann, you sound like a hyena.”

  “I do not,” I said, defending myself while I wiped my eyes. “So you have a real crush. Well, Chow, at least she’s a fantastic actress.”

  He did finally smile. “May I show you my home now?” he asked, slight irritation creeping into his voice.

  “Yes,” I replied, trying to keep a straight face.

  Juliette lit the way as we walked down what must have been a fifty-foot-long entry hall. I could see that beyond the hall was a view of something, but the alcoves recessed within the walls distracted me; they were filled with trinkets and art from around the world.

  “These are beautiful,” I said reverently as I stopped in front of one alcove.

  “I wanted to remember all the places that were special to me,” he softly replied, standing by my side, looking at the two-foot-tall lion sculpted in brass.

  I knew he was sentimental, I thought.

  As we neared the end of the hall, my breath caught within my throat. “Wow.”

  Before me was a wall of windows, floor-to-ceiling, running what I guessed was the entire length of the apartment, which must have been a hundred feet. Outside the windows was shadowed silence, because we were literally so high that we were in the fog.

  “Normally there is a perfect view of the Vancouver Harbor and the Coastal Mountain Range,” he said, disappointed as he looked out the window and into the white fluff.

  He reached down, unleashing Lulu. “She can just run around in here.”

  Lulu quickly disappeared, sniffing out everything, starting with the floors.

  The entire floor space was covered with white marble, with black veins running through it. The living room, which faced the view, contained two contemporary black leather couches facing one another. The floor between them was covered in a geometrically woven rug, in black and white. The lamps on both ends of the couches had black-and-white checkered shades with deep purple lamp bases. Track lighting lit the art on the walls. There was no dining-room table—in its place was a high-tech office that looked as if you could run a large corporation from it. The kitchen seemed state of the art—filled with stainless steel and chrome, with the same marble on the counters and bar that w
ere on the floor. Everything was in its place, and there was not a speck of dust anywhere.

  “It’s very chic,” I said sincerely.

  “Thank you. May I show you the rest?”

  “Yes.”

  He first showed me the second bedroom.

  “This is where you’ll be staying,” he began. “I hope it’s comfortable for you.”

  “It’s wonderful, Chow.” It was a simple room, with a queen-sized black leather platform bed with two black nightstands facing the extension of the picture windows from the living room, with a closet that ran the length of the room. Two deep-purple lamps flanked the bed.

  Chow deposited my bags in the room as Lulu sniffed around. He opened the door to a connected bathroom. Everywhere except the ceiling was white marble.

  I guess he likes marble.

  His room and bathroom were a mirror image of mine. After the brief tour, he ushered me into a small storage room.

  “One other thing…” he began as we stood facing one another.

  “You want to show me your high school photo album?” I joked, seeing all the boxes stacked up.

  He looked at me dumbfounded, then pulled aside a wall panel, revealing a very large safe with another biometric retinal scanner attached. “I don’t have a photo from high school,” he said seriously. “But I do have a wall safe to store your cash in.”

  I smiled. “That’s good. I didn’t wanna bring all my cash to Europe. I’m pretty sure the airlines would lose my luggage,” I said, winking at him.

  He answered with a smile. “You don’t need to bring any cash to Europe. Everything will be taken care of.”

  “Europe’s on you?” I asked, feigning excitement.

  He chuckled, ignoring my question. “I’ll code the safe for access by only you or me. Can you stand up close to it for the scan?”

  I moved my eyeball up to the scanner and held still. Then Chow did the same.

  “It is now coded for us. If my chip ceases, then Juliette will activate the override.”

  “Two questions. What chip? And what’s the override?”

  “I had myself chipped. Only Juliette knows my chip encoding. If my heart ceases, then the chip will stop communicating with Juliette—”

  “You have a chip implant that communicates with your SmartWired home computer?” I said, astonished, with my mouth slightly open.

  “Yes,” he answered, matter of fact.

  “Why?” I asked out of sheer curiosity.

  After a moment, Chow replied solemnly, “So I don’t simply disappear.”

  “What?” I asked, bewildered.

  “I’ve lived a life dedicated to our cause. I have no posterity. If I die fighting, I want to be remembered by those whom I fought beside—like you,” he said, looking intently into my eyes. “If Juliette uses the override, then she will notify my brother and parents about my death so that they will remember me as I move on to the next life.”

  My vision clouded, and I blinked, hard. I reached out and folded him into a rough embrace. He quickly returned it and hugged me hard.

  “I won’t forget you,” I whispered in his ear, touched to the heart by Chow’s confession.

  After a moment, I untangled myself and sniffed. He just stared at me, looking into my eyes. It was the first time we’d embraced. I could see he was considering something.

  He spoke softly, “If I die, I want you to consider this your home.”

  “I couldn’t—”

  He put his hand on my arm, interrupting me, peering into my eyes. “If I die, Ann, I won’t need it anymore, and you need a home now.”

  Realizing suddenly that I was indeed homeless, I reflected on his offer. “I would stay only until I could find a new home.”

  “You’re not comfortable here?” he said flatly, more of a statement than a question.

  “No…I love your home…I really do. It’s just that I think it’s right that Edwin and your parents benefit from it, or from the sale of it.”

  Chow heartily laughed out loud. “My brother and I have been greatly blessed and have passed our good fortune on to our parents and even our Shanghai family. It would take a lifetime to spend the money that we have made in our worldwide investments.” He smiled. “Did you not see my home office adjacent to the living room?” he asked me.

  “Yes. It looks like you can run a country from there.”

  Chow laughed. “Take my home if I die, Ann, and consider it yours,” he tried to persuade me as he smiled, looking at me.

  “Well…I did give your brother my sailboat…” I reasoned.

  He laughed out loud again. “Yes, you did…an even trade,” he said seriously, then winked at me.

  “Okay, okay. But do you know how morbid this conversation is?”

  “It does seem like it. Let it be done, then. I will reprogram Juliette so that you will have full access, as well as me. If my chip does not respond, then you will be the owner.”

  I nodded and then walked out of the storage room as quick as possible.

  He followed me. “Of course, you can use it as long as I’m alive, as well,” he said, joking with me.

  I smacked him in the arm in response.

  “I don’t spend much time here,” he said as we walked to the kitchen, redirecting our conversation away from death.

  “I can understand that. I love the monochromatic design, with the main color coming from your art collection. It gives the space life.”

  “Thank you,” he said as he began to brew water on his high-tech induction stove.

  “I bet when it’s not foggy, it’s extraordinary with all the light pouring in through the windows,” I said, sitting down at the kitchen bar.

  “I bought the place for the light.”

  “I still can’t believe it’s in Gastown.”

  He smiled.

  As he set out the cups, he said, “In the next few days, I’ll be arranging our next passage. We’ll be flying from Vancouver to Brittany, France.”

  “Wait. I thought GOG was sending us to India.”

  “Yes. But we will go via Brittany.”

  “Brittany—my son-in-law’s family is from there,” I remarked.

  “I know.”

  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  “We need to bring Lulu there to stay while we travel to India.”

  As Chow said her name, she trotted into the room from my bedroom and sat down beside me, paying attention.

  “I have to leave her in France? Can’t we take her to India with us?” I pleaded.

  “Ann, Eliott’s family lives on a farm—a huge farm. Lulu will be filled with joy, being there.”

  “But she’s never been on a farm,” I protested.

  “Maybe they can teach her to herd chickens,” Chow said, deadpan.

  I laughed hysterically while Lulu wagged her bottom excitedly.

  Chapter 26

  EUROPE

  The Year 2015

  Within two days, Chow arranged for my fake Canadian passport and identification showing me as a citizen of the country. In keeping with his love of Juliette Binoche and his sense of humor, he named me Juliette French and had me dye my hair brown. I’d already been growing my hair out of the bob, so after the dye job, I looked quite different than my U.S. passport photo.

  The third day, I was flying out of Vancouver International Airport as a brunette, with Chow trailing me. We were able to get seats on Virgin Atlantic’s pet flight, with Lulu by my side.

  We flew from Vancouver to Amsterdam to Paris to Brest, France, in West Brittany; thankfully I flew with Tylenol aiding my sleep and a Dan Brown thriller keeping my mind busy in between naps. Chow and I had jogged with Lulu in Vancouver before we left for the airport, to exhaust her for the long flight. I also gave her a light sedative that the Canadian veterinarian gave me when we had Lulu’s international health guarantee written up, ensuring that she wouldn’t be held in quarantine when we landed in Amsterdam.

  When Chow and I departed Vancouver, we
split up for safety. After our first flight, we cleared customs into the Netherlands separately, and once we were released into Europe, we met back up, flying together to Paris and then Brest.

  Fifteen hours and twenty-five minutes after departing Canada, we landed in Brest. It was ten o’clock in the morning. I was exhausted, and it appeared that Lulu was as well.

  Governments can track anything on the earth, but they still can’t cure jet lag. It figures, I thought.

  A driver sent by the Belle farm met us after clearing baggage claim. He certainly didn’t look like a farm worker, dressed in his black suit. Since my French was rusty, Chow took the initiative and talked with our driver in his native tongue as we walked out of the airport to the waiting car. Chow walked near me as I kept an eye on Lulu, who was still groggy from the vet’s sedative. It seemed as if every plane landed at the airport at the same time, as it was very crowded with people from all over Europe. My ear was going to need to get accustomed to the rhythm of the French language rather quickly, but in the meanwhile, Chow translated.

  “Paul-Henri says it’s been raining in Brest for two days, but the temperature has been mild,” Chow translated as we reached the exterior doors exiting the airport terminal.

  I nodded.

  It was drizzling as we departed, and immediately Paul-Henri popped an umbrella over my head before I knew he even had one. He seemed to be a magician.

  “Merci,” I said and then smiled into his almond-shaped dark brown eyes. I’ll just start off slow, I thought, regarding my French.

  As we reached the car, Paul-Henri opened the door for me, and I slipped in, with Lulu following. Chow quickly joined us.

  “Did you see how he pulled that umbrella out of nowhere?” I remarked to Chow.

  He chuckled. “I think you are tired, Ann.”

  “I’m not tired, I’m exhausted.”

  “I’m sorry to tell you, but the Belle farm is in Vitre, which is in the middle of Brittany, so we’ve got a four-hour drive ahead of us,” Chow informed me.

  I sighed. “First things first, then. We need to find a park—I mean a garden—somewhere Lulu can run around for fifteen minutes, and I can give her food and water. Maybe Paul-Henri can stop at a patisserie before that? Since we’re in France, I believe I’ve just started craving an almond croissant and a hot chocolate for breakfast. I doubt it’ll live up to the hot chocolate l'Africain at Café Angelina in Paris, but it’ll have to do,” I said, with my mouth watering.