by Linda Hawley
“Wow. Is she gonna be okay?” I asked sincerely.
“I have no idea,” Chow said, shaking his head. He stood. “Can we sit downstairs?”
“Sure,” I agreed, and Edwin and I rose.
We sat in the living room, and I could see that the move downstairs helped Chow gain some emotional distance from his experience with Vanessa.
“What Vanessa told us about Elinor and all the rest was difficult to hear. Your poor brother had to endure my nervous ramblings while we waited for you,” I said, nodding to Edwin.
Edwin looked at me with a face that I couldn’t make out. “It may be that I seem aloof…” Edwin began.
“Oh Edwin, I wasn’t trying to say that you were unfeeling,” I said, aghast.
He observed me, his gaze intense. “You did not offend me, Ann. I have been trained by GOG to reside primarily on the left side of my brain, where logic occupies me. But I am not without feeling. The future condition of the world—and of course your personal losses—matter to me.”
He waited a moment for his words to sink in. I nodded.
He continued slowly. “After I emerged from the dream upstairs, I realized that what the three of us experienced together—just now—is beyond coincidence. The moment I awoke, I realized for the first time that what you have been telling me is correct. I am the third Wisdom Keeper.”
“What convinced you?” I asked him, touched by his speech. He was more reserved than his brother, so this was a rare display of emotion.
He paused, collecting his thoughts. “As Vanessa answered our questions and the news worsened, I realized that without the third prophecy, we will not significantly change history. In my mind’s eye—without even pondering it—I saw the three of us together with the Herkimers in our hands. We do not need to change the past,” he said, looking at Chow and me. “What we need to do is affect the future by fulfilling that third prophecy. That is our charge. That is our duty to mankind.”
“That thing you saw…it was a vision?” I asked him.
“Not a vision, but more like an insight that brought me truth.”
I reached over and hugged him, and for the first time, I felt close to Edwin. He hugged me back tightly. Our friendship may have been born of purpose, but our hearts shared the passion of our need to drastically change the future, or to die trying.
* * *
We sat at the antique dining-room table, eating almond croissants. Actually, I was the only one eating; the guys were drinking tea. I ate with one hand while I petted Lulu with my other, occasionally feeding her bits.
“How come I’m the only one eating?” I asked.
“It happens to be three o’clock in the morning, Ann,” Chow responded.
“So? Aren’t you hungry? They really are delicious,” I said enthusiastically.
Edwin chuckled, while Chow looked into his tea, clearly pondering things other than the croissants.
I said to him tenderly, “Tell me about Vanessa.”
His head snapped up, then he stared at me for a full minute. “We have known one another a long time,” he said quietly.
“Are you…”
“What? Are we involved?” he snarled, his normally easygoing nature hiding behind a wall.
“Wow…you really woke up on the wrong side of the floor,” I said, recoiling.
Chow looked at me, and I could see the pain on his face.
“I’m sorry, Chow. I didn’t realize.”
“How can you act so flippant with what we just learned?” he asked me directly.
I thoughtfully considered his question before answering. “You saw me in the co-dream when I learned about my family. I was a wreck. To consider that reality happening is unacceptable to me. Everything this year leading up to this point has been extraordinary, and not of this world. Today—in 2015—my daughter and son-in-law live. My Aunt Saundra lives. Calvin, Joe, Vanessa, and the five of us in this house live. The future we just learned of is five years from now. I believe—just as Edwin reiterated—that The Prophecies are true. I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that the third is fulfilled, or I will give my life trying. Nothing else is acceptable to me. Your woman lives, Chow! All you have to do is believe that we can save her—and history.”
“She is right, brother,” Edwin said with emotion.
I’d never before heard him call Chow that. It sounded both reverent and endearing.
“We can do this, if we have faith,” I said passionately to Chow.
As I looked deeply into his eyes, a single tear slipped onto his cheek.
Chapter 19
The five of us sat with Jean-Pierre in the dining room as Lulu lay behind my chair. Françoise had cooked up a late breakfast feast.
“It’s surprising that the three of you have joined us, considering that you were awake all night,” Jean-Pierre said as he stabbed a sausage.
I nodded, noticing that Chow looked particularly groggy. I wasn't sure how I appeared; I was certainly overwhelmed with all we’d learned last night.
“So let’s have it,” our leader said. He was aware that we were working all night, but he had no idea what he was about to learn.
Remembering what Vanessa had said, I looked to Jean-Pierre and grimly repeated her words. “Prepare yourself.”
Jean-Pierre stiffly returned my stare. “Spit it out, then,” he said, as he put down his knife and fork to focus on us.
Chow and I remained silent as Edwin spoke up to explain. He told our companions the news, and as he shared more details, the air in the room thickened. I looked out the window into the colors of the garden to relieve my mind of its burden. As Edwin drudged on, it was all I could do to continue to have faith that we could change our future. I looked over at Chow, and the same sorrow from last night permeated his features. He seemed to be lost, and I found it heartbreaking, considering that he had always been a stalwart inspiration to me. As Edwin finished answering Jean-Pierre’s questions, a heavy silence blanketed the room. Even Lulu felt it, because she sat up right next to me, alert. After a second, she leaned into me, her head resting on my lap.
“It’s true that the news is bad. But I want to remind us that the third prophecy is soon to be upon us. It reveals that the Wisdom Keepers will know the time that it should be fulfilled, by witnessing signs in the sky. Then, we will amplify our collective spiritual energy, and a celestial event will occur. Now is not the time to lose hope. What we learned last night was five years into the future. So far, everything we’ve learned from The Prophecies has been true. There’s no reason to doubt the remaining event,” I said, trying to interject hope into our dismal company.
“Pardonnez-moi,” Philippe said, standing abruptly.
All our eyes snapped to him. He was clearly contrite and looked down at the dining table. I had no idea how to take his actions.
“I must offer my apologies,” he said, then looked at me. “Especially to you, Ann.”
I shook my head, uncertain what he was apologizing for.
“In arrogance, I wanted scientific facts to prove that The Prophecies were true. I didn’t want to risk my life and the life of my dear Françoise for someone’s paranormal fantasy. I willingly doubted what all of you had told me and threw it in your face, Ann. But this morning…” He looked to Françoise, who nodded. Then he looked at Edwin. “Edwin, you are someone I deeply respect, who shares my desire for scientific truth. To hear of these events from your lips, I must confess that I can feel it in the depth of my soul that The Prophecies are true!”
Faith. Philippe had found faith. He looked to each of us sitting around the table; several of us nodded.
“Ann is right. The Prophecies are our only hope. Everything the three of you learned last night has been validated by the events we see right now—in our time. All of the government’s actions right now logically lead to the events in 2020 that Vanessa told you of. None of it is a stretch to imagine happening.” Philippe took a deep breath, and his eyes misted over, noticed by all of us. �
�And I am proud that my beloved France stood fast, even being willing to secede the EU in the face of chipping our bébés.”
Tears freely flowed down Françoise’s cheeks as Philippe returned to sit next to her. She kissed him, proud. It was a touching speech, and his patriotism was inspiring.
“Why don’t we take a little break?” Jean-Pierre said, his voice quavering. “I must call mon amour to say hello.”
* * *
When we reassembled, a sense of hope flowed through our group. Even Chow seemed inspired, which made me smile.
“Let us make a plan,” Jean-Pierre said as he stood. “I want to learn everything we can from every source possible to gain an advantage before we enter the third prophecy.” He let it settle in before continuing. “Fourteen years ago, as France prepared to battle Brazil for the World Cup, our team carefully studied their opponent. They didn’t simply stroll into the final, hung over and lazy. No. They were at their very best, and they knew their adversary intimately!” he exclaimed, slapping his hands on the table. “We must do the same. Just as France defeated their opponent that July, we must defeat our enemy. I want all of you to spend the next hour putting an offensive plan together, and then we will meet back here to discuss it. I have already sent for a GOG runner, who will carry my message to the twelve who fill the GOG board.”
Jean-Pierre then stepped to the back door, opened it, and strode into garden.
* * *
An hour later, we reassembled at the table.
“We need to remote view the basement of the Bund Hotel one hour before the Shanghai earthquake, to see if any remote viewers are present. Our goal is to identify a viewer from Project Continuum,” I said.
“For what purpose?” Jean-Pierre asked.
“We don’t know yet. We need to determine if we can trace a viewer. This will be our first attempt. I must tell you that both Chow and Edwin doubt that we can trace a government viewer back to their location, but there is something there that’s drawing me in. I don’t know what it is, but they’re willing to explore it with me.”
“Then you should proceed,” he agreed.
I nodded.
“What else?” Jean-Pierre asked.
“We must terminate the remote viewers from Project Continuum. If we kill all of them, the government will not have time to retrain anyone before the third prophecy occurs,” Chow said.
“How?” Jean-Pierre asked.
“We do have some viable ideas, but we first want to conduct the Shanghai view that Ann just explained. If we can gather enough information from that to determine the location of one viewer, we may be able to locate the others, taking them out individually. We plan to terminate them, but we need to consider the best method. We can update you on this later today, as we will be conducting the Shanghai view after this meeting,” Chow said.
“I like your enthusiasm, Chow. Why don’t the three of you go do the Shanghai view now, while you’re focused on the goal. Philippe, Françoise, and I will discuss their ideas,” Jean-Pierre said. “Chow…I’m glad to see that your passion has returned,” he said with a sincere smile.
Chow nodded to him in gratitude as the three of us rose from the table. As we climbed the stairs, I summarized our objective.
“It’ll be the same as before—viewing the basement of the Bund Hotel. The only difference will be the time. We’ll go in at nine p.m., the day of the earthquake.”
“Why do you think a government viewer will be there, observing at that time?” Chow asked me.
“I have no idea. It’s just a gut feeling I’ve had that’s been nagging at me.”
“It certainly will do no harm to view it,” Edwin said.
“We may learn nothing. But we may catch a Continuum viewer red-handed, and that’s what I’m hoping for. If we don’t achieve anything except practice, then I have some other ideas about what we could view,” I said.
* * *
The room was just as I’d viewed it before, with the large table and the assault rifles against the far wall on a side table. Again, it was as if I were standing there, in the room. The room was no longer empty—it now contained three American Navy SEALs, dressed in black from head to toe. One of them was unmistakable—a young Tony Steele. They were bound in chains against the far wall, whispering to one another, though their captors were not present.
It took effort on my part to focus on subtle information and not to allow my emotions to move to the forefront of my mind, which would only distract me. I decided to seek out Chow and Edwin in the view. I first perceived the familiar green monochromatic flash of light that pulsed beside me, then the red flicker of light, which I knew was Chow. With my blue light, we again created a prism. Somehow being in this view with Chow and Edwin quickly helped me re-center my energy, and I focused on scanning for another viewer.
I didn’t observe any other light source, so I returned to observing the room itself, to gather more data. As I did so, I perceived a void of color—as if color itself had been vacuumed from that space—right next to the far side, where the soldiers were held. The moment I became aware of it, something inside of my perception engaged, and it was as though my remote-viewing skill was vastly—and immediately—boosted.
I’d never experienced anything like it. The power I felt was beyond my abilities. As I focused all my psychic energy into the colorless void, an image looked up at me. The shock pulled me out of the view.
* * *
“What happened?” Edwin asked, when he and Chow followed me out of the remote view.
“Did you see?” I asked, looking at them both.
“Do you mean the lack of color in the corner of the room?” Edwin asked.
Chow had no idea what we were talking about.
“Yes. Did you see her?” I asked him.
“No. I only saw the disturbance of energy in the room,” he replied.
“You’re not gonna believe this,” I said, looking at them while shaking my head. “I saw a Project Continuum viewer all right. Grace…it was Grace…from my CIA days. She’s not dead.”
“The same Grace—the remote viewer—who left the CIA to work at the Pentagon?” Chow asked.
“The very same.” My blood was beginning to boil as I considered the implications. “She’s the one who's been training the other viewers!”
“There is good news, Ann,” Chow said, with a smirk.
“What?” I asked impatiently.
“Since we know her name and what she looks like, we can find her.”
“Hah!” I said loudly, triumphantly. “It’s even better than that. We’ve got someone on the inside of Continuum. All we have to do is name her and have that person give us her location,” I said, feeling smug.
“It seems your gut feeling is proving to be very useful,” Edwin said dryly.
I chuckled.
* * *
“So she’s part of the Pentagon’s project,” Jean-Pierre summarized.
I nodded. “Or she’s leading it, which I think is likely. Grace was a good remote viewer, and she’s been doing it since before I joined the Agency.”
“I’ll have the runner carry a message to our contact…that we need her location,” he said.
“Once we know where she is, we can remote view her to gather more data on her project and determine where the others are,” I said.
He nodded slightly.
“There is one other bit of information you should know,” I said sheepishly.
“Out with it,” he said.
“She saw me. She looked up from the SEALs and then looked directly at me.”
“Perhaps she was seeing a void of color, as I had,” Edwin said.
“Maybe. But I felt like I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I think she saw me.”
“What’s it mean?” Jean-Pierre asked.
“Nothing, really…only that she knows that I’m onto her…that I know she’s not dead. We’ll have to be careful.”
“I’ll ensure that GOG locates he
r urgently,” he promised.
“The sooner we find out where she is, the sooner we can end this,” Chow said explicitly.
Jean-Pierre nodded.
Chapter 20
“I’m gonna miss you,” I said to Lulu.
I sat on the living room floor, holding her in my arms. I knew that the wisest thing I could do to keep her safe was for her to go back with Jean-Pierre. I felt as though a part of me was leaving with her. We had been through so much—she had saved my life when Paul had attacked me—and I was sad to let her go.
“I will keep her safe,” Jean-Pierre said as he stood in the archway to the living room, watching me.
“Because of what we learned in 2020, I know that you will, but I’m sad to leave her again. It’s selfish, really. I know she’s been happy at your chateau, but I feel safe with her by my side.”
“She is a loyal companion who saved your life. It’s understandable that you grieve,” he said, coming over to us.
I stood, and Jean-Pierre gave me a big bear hug. His hands on my shoulders, he intently looked into my eyes, saying, “Ma chère, neither of us know what lies ahead. The four people here have sworn to GOG that they will protect your life at all costs. Did you know that?”
I nodded my head, tears falling down my cheeks.
“They will give their own life to keep you safe, just as Lulu was willing to do. All four of them are trained combat operatives. Trust in them.”
I nodded again, unable to speak. It seemed that an awful lot of kindness had been extended to me, and I wondered if I deserved it. He hugged me once more.
When he released me, I said, “Jean-Pierre…I need a favor from you.”
He waited to hear the rest.
“Elinor and Eliott…” I began.
“I have already sent for them,” he said, interrupting me.
“You have?” I asked with surprise.
“Yes. I sent the GOG runner with an urgent message…that they must be on the next plane to Vitre, and that they are to join Aimée and me at Chateau de La Rongere immediately,” he said, then put his hands on both of my shoulders. “I will keep them safe, upon my honor,” he promised.
