by Simon Rose
Parallel Destiny
Simon Rose
A Flashback Novel
Flashback Novels
Flashback
Twisted Fate
Parallel Destiny
Parallel Destiny
Copyright © 2018 Simon Rose
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage & retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright holder, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third party websites or their content.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this story are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead would be really cool, but is purely coincidental.
Published by Tyche Books Ltd.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
www.TycheBooks.com
Cover Art by Wiktoria Goc
Cover Layout by Lucia Starkey
Interior Layout by Ryah Deines
Editorial by M. L. D. Curelas
First Tyche Books Ltd Edition 2018
Print ISBN: 978-1-928025-82-5
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-928025-83-2
Author photograph: Simon Rose
This book was funded in part by a grant from the Alberta Media Fund.
For Maggie
2003 to 2017
"Your life’s journey came to an end,
I'm so proud to have been your friend.”
The finest companion anyone could ever wish for.
I’ll never forget you.
Chapter One
New Arrival
DR. ALASTAIR HAMMOND approached the front door. He’d been here before and recognized both the exterior of the house and the surrounding neighbourhood. He cautiously walked past the blue luxury car on the driveway, daring to believe that this time he’d finally achieved his dream. This time, they’d be here and his long painful quest would be over. As he drew closer to the door, he didn’t hear any voices coming from inside the house but wasn’t overly concerned. The members of his family could be out somewhere for the moment. His hand was trembling as he reached for the door handle. He took a deep breath as he gently turned the handle and eased open the door.
The room looked the same as it had done the last time he’d been here. The framed photographs displayed on the wall and on top of the oak cabinet also appeared to be identical to the ones he’d seen on his previous visit. Yet to his dismay, the photographs of him and his wife looked to have been taken several years earlier. His children were also shown at the age when they’d been tragically taken from him. No wonder there had been no voices inside the house. They weren’t here. He’d failed again.
“DR. HAMMOND,” A voice whispered in his ear.
He felt the familiar sensation of dizziness as the room began to shimmer and shift around him before the usual burst of light appeared and he was back in the laboratory at the clinic.
He was lying on the bed, connected to a number of machines that had been closely monitoring his vital signs. His loyal assistant, Dr. Suzanne Bethany, was standing at the side of the bed as she carefully uncoupled some of the tubes and cables.
“How was it this time?” she asked.
Hammond exhaled.
“It was the same as before, well almost. The car on the driveway was different and the house seemed that way at first too, but once I was inside, the photographs were the same as they were the other times.”
He sat up on the bed as Bethany handed him a glass of water. She was in her mid-forties, tall and slim with dark brown hair cut in a bob. She had a habit of wearing her dark-framed glasses perched on the edge of her nose. She’d been with Hammond for many years, and unlike his former colleagues in the medical profession, she shared his vision and his firm belief in the existence of parallel realities.
“Thank you,” he said, accepting the water and downing it in a few gulps.
He ran his fingers through his thick gray hair. He was also only in his mid-forties but the stress of losing his family and his subsequent struggle to find them, while simultaneously rebuilding his professional career, had taken its toll on Hammond’s appearance. His face was deeply lined and he looked almost ten years older than he actually was.
Bethany smiled and gently touched his arm.
“You know, we could take a break for a while. You’ve been at this nonstop for three months now. I know we got such a great lead from Kendall but we can always wait, allow your body some time to fully recover before we try again.”
Hammond shook his head.
“No, not when I feel that we’re this close. I have to find them.”
Bethany sighed.
“I know I’ve said this before, but you can’t blame yourself for what happened.”
“I’m beyond that, Suzanne. I tried to contact them, I even visited that psychic for all the good it did me. I know I can be with them again, and I’ll keep searching if it’s the last thing I do. And it was my fault. I was the driver that night, you know that.”
“But it was still an accident.”
Hammond smiled.
“I know you’re just trying to make me feel better, Suzanne, but it’s fine. I’ll be okay, really. I’ll take a rest for a couple of days if you prefer, but we’ll need to do some more work on Kendall, learn more about where he saw Madeleine and the children.”
“We can’t,” said Bethany. “He’s dead.”
“Already?”
She nodded.
“Yes, he went into shock when we extracted the fluid but the cause of death was probably related to the extreme memory overload that he experienced.”
“Oh well,” said Hammond, without emotion. “Hopefully there’ll be plenty of others like him. We have enough fluid for now to keep making the serum. It’s a shame though. He was the best subject we’ve had so far.”
“There may be another one that’s even more promising,” said Bethany. “Eastwood called.”
“And?”
“A Jane Doe was admitted at Mountain View yesterday. She seems to be an excellent fit for us.”
Hammond raised an eyebrow.
“How does Eastwood know that?”
“He did all the usual tests and found the telltale brainwave patterns,” Bethany replied. “But the patterns were extremely intense, almost off the scale at times. There were other anomalies with the girl’s readings too.”
“Where’s she from?” asked Hammond.
“The police found her in the woods at Castlegate Park. She was almost dead and it seems like she’d been there for a while. In the ambulance and when she arrived at the hospital, she was raving about how she wasn’t supposed to be here.”
“So?” said Hammond, clearly unimpressed. “We’ve seen that kind of thing before. It usually doesn’t mean a great deal.”
Bethany shook her head.
“Eastwood said that she seemed very similar to Kendall when we first brought him in. Like him, she didn’t appear to be crazy at all but seemed genuinely convinced that this wasn’t her world.”
“Very intriguing,” said Hammond, nodding. “What shape is this girl in?”
“She’s sedated in a semi-private room at the hospital,” Bethany replied. “Shall I call Eastwood and tell him that we’ll be right over?”
“Yes, yes, please do,” said Hammond. “Wait, isn’t Dexter coming over later today?”
“That’s tomorrow,” Bethany replied. “He’ll be here on Saturday to take a look at how the construction
work’s progressing on the new wing.”
Hammond frowned.
“Yes, right, sorry. Things slip my mind these days.”
“That’s hardly surprising,” said Bethany, “considering what you’re putting yourself through at the moment.”
Hammond smiled.
“It’s all for a good cause, Suzanne. Give Eastwood a call and let him know we’re on our way. I’ll just clean up a little and we’ll get going.”
Bethany nodded and left the laboratory.
HAMMOND SIGHED AS he stood up from the bed. Yet another attempt to reach his family had failed, but Hammond was determined to keep trying. Ever since he’d lost his wife, son, and daughter in a tragic road accident almost five years earlier he’d thought that one day he’d see Madeleine, Noah, and Abigail again. Twelve months after the accident he’d even visited a local psychic called Deanna Hastings. She’d been very nice and had offered words of comfort but she hadn’t been able to help him. Hammond had then turned to more scientific methods in his quest to be reunited with his family. He’d worked with child and adult psychiatric patients for most of his career and used to have an office in the psychiatry department at Mountain View Hospital, but had specialized in multiple personality disorder patients in recent years. After considerable study, he’d finished formulating his theory that people with multiple personalities were actually from parallel universes two years earlier. Yet despite the seriousness of his belief and a great deal of documented research, his professional colleagues had ridiculed him. He’d quickly lost his esteemed reputation in the medical community and had resigned from his position at the university. He’d then closed down his regular office, along with the one at the hospital, and established his private clinic. It had sometimes been a struggle to secure donors, but people like David Dexter had been invaluable. The new wing for which the Dexter Foundation had provided funds would be a welcome addition to Hammond’s facility, even if the benefactors thankfully weren’t fully aware of everything that went on at the clinic.
Despite their close working relationship, he didn’t share everything with Suzanne either. She was helping him in his quest to be reunited with his family, but had no idea what Hammond intended to do when he finally located what he’d consider to be his ideal world. To ensure that he could always stay there, he planned to merge different realties, combining different versions of himself into one person. His research indicated that this could have dire consequences for every other reality, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was finding his family. His former colleagues that had ridiculed him and ruined his reputation would also pay a terrible price, as their realities were eliminated from existence.
Hammond walked over to the sink, quickly washed his face, and then dried it with a hand towel. In the mirror he examined his face, which seemed to have more lines every day. He’d certainly been under considerable stress lately but now it seemed as if he was on the verge of a breakthrough. Kendall had been very encouraging and had seemed to be the key to the project moving on to the crucial next stage. His death was unfortunate but Hammond and Bethany still had enough of Kendall’s brain fluid to enable them to continue their work. And of course, there would always be more men and women with special qualities for them to choose from.
Kendall, like many other patients at Hammond’s private clinic, had been provided courtesy of Eastwood and his corrupt colleagues at Mountain View Hospital. When Kendall’s death certificate was fabricated, the document had stated that Kendall had been highly infectious and that his body had to be cremated right away to prevent any contamination of other patients. Fortunately, his family had said their goodbyes at the hospital, little knowing that Kendall lived for an additional five months before his very recent demise. Hammond was pleased that he and Bethany still had the deal, as expensive as it was, with Krieger at the crematorium. Sometimes the families of patients insisted on a funeral and bodies were secretly sent to Hammond’s clinic once they’d been delivered to Krieger for cremation. As far as Hammond knew, Krieger had always been convinced that the men and women were dead and that Hammond simply wanted fresh specimens to dissect and study at his clinic. When the time came, Krieger would need to be disposed of, but for now they had to keep him happy.
Hammond went back over to the bed to put on his shoes, wondering what Eastwood had discovered with this new arrival from the woods in Castlegate Park. Eastwood and his people at the hospital made sure that all potential test subjects were effectively concealed at the hospital before their death certificates were falsified. Similar to the arrangement with the crematorium, this had also been expensive. Eastwood had been very well paid for his cooperation. He was also deeply implicated in the scheme after he’d been forced to silence one of the hospital’s nurses. She’d discovered the truth and had threatened to expose the entire operation, demanding a great deal of money to remain quiet. The car accident and resulting fire that virtually consumed her body had almost been bungled but nevertheless had solved the problem.
Bethany returned as Hammond was slipping on his jacket.
“Are you ready?” she said. “The car’s out front.”
“Yes, let’s go,” said Hammond.
THE REAR OF the car was separated from the driver by a soundproofed transparent screen so Hammond and Bethany could talk privately during the journey to the hospital.
“I’m worried about Eastwood,” said Bethany.
“Why?” Hammond asked.
“He’s getting very nervous these days. Ever since that nurse’s threats and the car accident, he’s seemed on edge.”
“He’s getting paid, isn’t he?” said Hammond. “The payments are still going into his offshore bank account, aren’t they?”
“Yes, but there have been some questions about those two deaths last year. Nothing too serious, but it’s only just coming to light.”
“I’ll deal with it,” said Hammond, with a smile.
“I worry about Krieger too,” Bethany added. “He’s always been reasonably reliable but it’s all getting a little too risky.”
“Well, it won’t be long now,” said Hammond. “Especially if this new girl’s as promising as she sounds. We already have enough of the serum for me to travel to the other realities, and if there’s more that should allow me to stay for longer. That’s especially important if I’m to remain with my family permanently. This girl could be the key to all that.”
Bethany frowned.
“As I’ve said before, there’s no guarantee that your theory will work in practice. Yes, you may be able to stay there, but that’s not certain. You could just as easily be consumed by the memories of all the different realities that you could ever experience. You’re connected to all of them, especially when you’re traveling between the various universes. As you know, there’s an infinite number. There’s no way you’d ever survive something like that.”
Hammond turned his head to gaze out the car window.
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” he said. “What did Eastwood tell you about this Jane Doe?”
“She was in Castlegate Park, almost dead apparently, and had maybe been there for a couple of days. She regained consciousness when the ambulance arrived and kept insisting that she wasn’t supposed to be here. They managed to calm her down but when they arrived at the hospital she started getting hysterical again so they sedated her. That’s when Eastwood ordered the tests.”
“Who found her?” asked Hammond.
“A guy called John Carrington, in his sixties, an ex-police officer out walking his dog. He also works as a private detective, although he seems to be mostly retired.”
“They told you that?”
Bethany smiled.
“You know I’ll always look into things. I just did some digging and found that part out myself.”
“Is he a possible threat to us?”
“I don’t think so,” Bethany replied. “According to the police, he checked if the girl was still alive when he found her and then called f
or help. He stayed with her but she was unconscious until the police and paramedics arrived.”
“Are we sure about that?” asked Hammond. “Might she have talked to him before they got there?”
“That I don’t know.”
“But you’ll take care of it if needed?”
“Of course,” said Bethany, with a wry smile. “A man of his age could easily have an accident or fall ill and collapse in the park. That kind of thing happens all the time. Don’t worry. It seems fine, but I’ll keep an eye on things.”
“Well, here we are,” said Hammond, as the car drove into the hospital parking lot. “Let’s go and see this girl for ourselves.”
Chapter Two
Mind Games
MAX WAS WITH his friends Jeff and Jason in the food court at a shopping mall, where they’d headed straight after school had finished on Friday lunchtime. They’d all seen each other in class recently but hadn’t got together for a gaming session since before Max’s birthday party the previous weekend. They hadn’t intended to stay at the mall for a late lunch but they’d been kept waiting in the game store for a little longer than they’d expected. The mall wasn’t close to where they all lived, and Max had never been to this particular one before. However, Jeff had insisted on this location to get the new game that they’d all been waiting for expectantly. It was going to be available at the store in the mall closest to their part of the city the next day but Jeff had been determined to get it right away, rather than waiting even another twenty-four hours. Max and Jason didn’t have anything better to do that afternoon so they’d agreed to accompany him.
By the time they’d reached the food court around two o’clock, it wasn’t particularly busy. After they’d bought their meals, they sat down at a table by the large windows that overlooked the shopping mall’s huge parking lot.
