Twisted Fate

by Simon Rose

  “So, it’s kind of like tapping into another person’s dreams?”

  “Exactly, but based on my experiences, I’m hoping that I can access those dreams and actually become Kovac inside his memories, like I did with David.”

  Julia looked decidedly uneasy.

  “Max, I’m worried. What if you get hurt or even die when you’re in someone else’s life? Does that mean that you die here, in the real world? What do I do if I see any signs that you’re in trouble?”

  “When I first went into David’s life, Deanna was monitoring me and said that she’d wake me up at the first sign of trouble. On the first try I was having convulsions so she brought me out of it but that was because I had to get past the time of David’s death. The second time I went further back to a few days before David went to the waterfront and Kovac captured him.”

  “But you still almost died,” said Julia.

  “Yes, and I think that might have led to me dying in this life too, but we can’t let that hold us back. I have to do this.”

  Julia nodded but appeared far from convinced.

  “How long will this take?”

  “No idea. I was in David’s life for a few days but then returned to a time before I’d gone back, to when I was in the cemetery with Jeff when I’d first touched David’s gravestone.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “No, but then again none of this does really, does it?” said Max. “If this crazy idea works all this is going to change. We might not even remember this conversation or even that we know each other.”

  “I’ve not had a problem remembering the timeline when things have been altered before.”

  “True, but this will be a major change. All Kovac’s work will never have happened, including the role of our mothers in the whole operation.”

  Julia thought for a moment before she spoke again.

  “Do you think I can monitor you while you’re in this trance, like Deanna did when she used hypnosis?”

  “I guess you can try. You can read other people’s thoughts sometimes, even if you can’t do that as well as she did.”

  “I’d like to,” said Julia. “It’d make me feel better while you do this.”

  Max simply nodded then picked up the headphones and put them on. He flinched slightly as the small pads instantly attached to the sides of his skull.

  “You okay?” asked Julia.

  “I’m fine,” Max replied. “Open the folder.”

  Julia reached over and squeezed his hand. She then stepped forward and Max was taken aback as she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

  “Good luck,” she said, with a smile.

  Julia used the computer’s keyboard to open the KPM folder as Max closed his eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Role Reversal

  “YOU CAN’T JUST shut this down. Not when we’re this close.”

  It was Kane’s voice. Max was in the lab at the waterfront, frantically typing at a keyboard and working on the adjacent consoles. He immediately realized that he was experiencing Kovac’s memory of his final conversation with Kane as the police closed in. Max knew that if he’d turned around he’d see the terrified David Dexter secured to the nearby operating table.

  “We don’t have a choice,” he heard himself say in Kovac’s voice, as he faced the computer screen. “We can’t let the police find all this.”

  “But we were so close,” said Kane.

  Kovac turned his head to face him. Although Max knew that this was only a memory, he still shuddered at the sight of Kane.

  “You know we have copies of all the research and records safely hidden. We’ll be able to start again, eventually, once all this blows over.”

  “But when will that be?” Kane demanded. “We only needed one more session for me to maximize my power. You said so yourself, only yesterday.”

  “I know, I know.”

  Kovac went over to the table and Max saw David lying on the table. It all seemed so real. Max could even feel the texture of David’s restraints as Kovac’s fingers quickly unfastened them.

  “You’re worried I’ll get too powerful. That’s it, isn’t it?” said Kane. “You never wanted me to reach my full potential, did you?”

  “How can you say that?” Max heard himself reply. “You know it’s all been about you.”

  “Yeah, I’m like a son to you,” said Kane. “You said that yesterday as well.”

  Max braced himself. He seemed to be inside Kovac’s mind but unable to influence his actions or what Kovac was saying. Max was merely a silent witness to what was going on in the lab. He felt his hands flinch as he fully expected David to grab the hypodermic needle from the shallow metal tray and plunge it into Kovac’s hand, but instead the scene suddenly changed.

  MAX WAS NOW in another part of the waterfront facility. He remembered witnessing this scene from his hiding place. Kovac was in conversation with Doctor Lawrence, who was wearing a white lab coat.

  “If they knew about this,” said Lawrence, “they’d probably think twice about shutting us down.”

  “It’s more likely they’d be much more worried about defection,” Max heard Kovac reply, although he still couldn’t influence what the doctor was saying. “Keeping Dexter and the others in the dark makes it more likely that we’ll get away with all our research data. We can then restart the project somewhere else.”

  “Somewhere else?”

  “I’ve changed my employers before, Doctor Lawrence. We’ve already had offers from Russia and China, even the Middle East. We might even end up with a wealthy private backer, rather than a government. Wherever we go, the others will eventually be there too.”

  “But they’re nowhere near ready yet,” said Lawrence.

  Before Kovac could reply, everything changed again. Max was in a room at the downtown hotel, where Kovac was talking to Jonathan Dexter, Colonel Marshall, and General Travis.

  “You can’t do this! I’m so close to a major breakthrough! What about that girl we grabbed at the university last week?”

  “Aleksandar,” said Dexter, “I’m sorry. These disappearances have drawn far too much attention. We can’t afford for this to be exposed. Once you’ve finished with the subjects you have at the moment, we have to close everything down at the end of the month. All traces at the old navy warehouse will be erased. There’s nothing you can do.”

  “Isn’t there, Mr. Dexter? We’ll see about that.”

  Kovac turned and stormed out of the room. He flung the door open and Max shuddered when he saw David standing alone in the hallway.

  “Ah, David, isn’t it? I hope you’re enjoying yourself tonight, although it seems the party’s over.”

  ABRUPTLY THE SCENE shifted to the facility in Europe that Max had seen in his dreams. Max’s mother didn’t seem to be present but Max clearly recognized his surroundings. Once again Max understood what was being spoken although all the signs and other writing around him were in a foreign alphabet. Through Kovac’s eyes, Max was examining a laboratory that closely resembled the one he’d first seen at the waterfront. Armed soldiers had just carried in a heavy piece of equipment and placed it beside one of the operating tables. Beside Kovac stood a short, stocky man in a drab-coloured military uniform. The man was clearly an officer and had several medals displayed on the upper left side of his tunic.

  “This should do nicely,” said Kovac’s voice. “Thank you, Major.”

  “We’ll be bringing people here from different countries,” the officer replied. “All the other governments and military chiefs have offered us their full cooperation. We have a batch of test subjects here from Czechoslovakia and I think you’ll be very pleased with one of them.”

  “Really?”

  “It’s a girl, only a teenager. She’s a little younger than we’d usually like but she’s a great prospect.”

  “Good. Bring her in so that I can take a look at her.”

  MAX WAS EXPECTING Marina Kolar to be wheeled into th
e lab on a gurney but instead he found himself outside in the sunshine. He was in a cemetery but this wasn’t the place where he’d initially seen David Dexter’s gravestone the previous summer. Several people, mostly dressed in black, were gathered around an open grave. It seemed to be a funeral, presumably for Kovac’s nephew. Max knew that he was getting close to the place in Kovac’s memory where he’d attempt to alter the timeline. The previous memories had shifted rapidly but Max hoped that he’d be able to slow them long enough so that he could affect Kovac’s actions. When trying to save his parents, Max had been able to control his father’s movements. Yet he’d been frustrated when trying to influence his mother’s decision to walk to the edge of the station platform where she was pushed to her death.

  As Kovac approached the men and women at the gravesite, Max felt a tear roll down his cheek. He instinctively reached for his face to wipe the tear away. Was it possible that he was slowly gaining control over Kovac’s actions? Then for the first time, Max was also aware of Kovac’s emotions, sensing the grief sweeping over him. Max wondered if he was getting close to being able to more dramatically alter the previous course of events.

  A middle-aged woman standing beside the grave glanced over her shoulder and walked over to meet him. She was wearing sunglasses and a plain black scarf covered her hair. Max saw the younger face of Kovac reflected in the woman’s glasses.

  “How are you feeling, Aleksandar?”

  “I’m fine, thank you. I’m so sorry about Viktor.”

  “It was an accident, Aleksander. There was nothing you could have done.”

  “But if only I’d been able to . . .”

  “Please, Aleksander, try not to think about it. We all need to be strong right now, for Viktor’s family.”

  Max was about to make a determined effort to affect Kovac’s reply when the cemetery vanished.

  MAX WAS IN the driver’s seat of a car moving along a street in the older part of a city. Somehow, he knew that he was driving through the centre of Belgrade, capital of the former Yugoslavia. Kovac’s nine-year-old nephew, Viktor, was in the car’s passenger seat. This was the crucial memory that Max had needed to access. As he held the steering wheel, knowing full well that he had no idea how to drive in real life, Max hoped that he’d be able to do enough to prevent the car accident and also avoid getting killed in the process. The car drove past small businesses, shops, and restaurants, as well as people ambling along the sidewalk and browsing the various market stalls selling produce. Max continually scanned the road ahead, looking for signs of the truck that he knew Kovac was destined to slam into. Max also kept glancing over at the sidewalks, wondering if he’d get enough warning of the little girl darting out into the path of the car as she chased her ball.

  “Thanks for driving me to the park, Uncle Aleksander,” said Viktor.

  Max didn’t respond. He knew that he had to focus on what was about to happen if he was to retain control of Kovac’s body at the vital moment. Then Max saw the girl, bouncing her ball on the sidewalk. He also spotted the truck approaching from the opposite direction on the other side of the road. Max knew that this was it and he only had one chance to get it right. Suddenly the girl dropped her ball.

  “Look out!” yelled Viktor, as the girl ran onto the road.

  Max twisted the steering wheel but to his horror he was unable to do what he wanted and instead turned into the path of the oncoming truck. The truck driver braked sharply but there was no way Max could avoid a collision. He struggled to turn the steering wheel but it wouldn’t budge and Max’s frantic pumping of the brake pedal had no effect. It was almost as if Kovac was somehow fighting him, determined to keep things exactly as they were supposed to be. The car was barely three feet from the truck when Max finally yanked the steering wheel to the left. The car’s right rear door was almost sheared off as it scraped against the front of the truck. Careering toward the sidewalk, Max slammed his foot on the brake as the car plowed into the market stalls, scattering fruit and vegetables all over the sidewalk and onto the street.

  People crowded around the car, trying to determine if Kovac and Viktor were hurt. Although several of the market stalls had been wrecked, Max was relieved to see that no one had been injured. He glanced in the mirror at the young face of Aleksander Kovac and smiled. There was gash on his forehead that was bleeding but it appeared to be a minor injury.

  “Are you all right, Uncle Aleksander?” said Viktor.

  His voice was the last thing that Max heard before everything faded to black.

  Chapter Thirty

  Secrets and Lies

  “HEY,” SAID JULIA.

  Max was sitting on a hard, concrete floor. He instinctively reached for the headphones that he expected to be covering his ears but they were gone. Max quickly examined his surroundings, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing. The consoles, computers, and everything else in the lab had disappeared. Julia was kneeling on the floor in front of him beside her backpack.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. “Where are we?”

  “This is the lab, or at least it was,” said Julia. “Now it’s apparently just an empty room in an underground warehouse.”

  “What happened?”

  “I really don’t know,” she confessed. “I just blinked and it had all changed and you were sitting there on the floor.”

  Max shook his head in disbelief.

  “But you remember things, right? I mean, like they were before?”

  “Yes, I can remember it all. Whether we’ll both forget later I can’t tell, like you suggested when we first discussed changing timelines. It’s pretty crazy but I guess we ought to be used to this by now.”

  Max had a slight headache but otherwise seemed to be in good shape.

  “How long was I under for?” he asked.

  “Five, maybe six minutes.”

  “That’s all? It seemed a lot longer than that.”

  “Your fingers flinched a little here and there,” said Julia. “I could see your eyeballs moving from side to side too. You were breathing heavily a few times but you seemed to be okay.”

  “It worked, it really worked.”

  “Hopefully,” said Julia. “We’ll need to get out of here and see if our moms are alive now, as well as your dad. Then we can check that everyone else is alive that used to be dead. That sounds really weird. So, what did you do?”

  “I was there in Kovac’s memories,” Max replied. “Some were familiar, maybe because I was connected to them, like at the waterfront and when David met Kovac at the hotel. In the last one I was in the car accident, when Kovac’s nephew was killed.”

  “So, there was still an accident?”

  “No, I mean yes, but no one was hurt. I steered the car away from hitting a truck. Kovac was only slightly hurt and his nephew was still alive. I drove the car into a market stall and knocked all the fruit over.”

  “So there were a few casualties,” said Julia, smiling.

  She helped him to stand up as Max looked over at the empty space where all the equipment had once stood.

  “And this is the same building and everything?” asked Max.

  “Yes, I think so. I haven’t had chance to walk around, but my guess is that this place was just never used by Evans and her people. It might have been empty and disused for years, it’s hard to tell.”

  Max sighed with relief.

  “So it’s all changed. Kovac never even started his work with psychics. All that stuff never even happened. We really did it.”

  “Yes,” said a deep voice behind them. “It looks like you did it again.”

  They both whirled around and saw Kane standing at the far end of the room by the main door. The room had no other way out. Both Max and Julia eyed the only exit, something that Kane immediately noticed.

  “Don’t even think about it, either of you. I’d prefer to keep you both alive for a little longer but if you try to run you’ll be dead long before you reach that door.”r />
  “How did you find us so quickly?” asked Julia.

  “The security cameras that are all over the city these days certainly helped,” Kane replied, as he slowly walked over to where they were standing. “I’m sure you remember the experiment you witnessed here, Max? But although I’ve been able to track you sometimes, it’s been so much easier when you’re with your delightful friend here. I’m not sure why I’m so in tune with you, Julia. Perhaps you can enlighten me?”

  Kane stopped just a few feet in front of them. Behind him, the room’s door was open but even if they somehow overpowered Kane, Max knew that he and Julia would never make it to safety.

  “Where are your friends from the mall?” said Julia.

  “They’re both gone, of course,” Kane replied, “along with any others I’d located here in the city. Since your friend Max changed everything yet again, my recruiting of other powerful psychics never occurred, at least not yet. In fact, I probably shouldn’t be here either but here I am. But then again, I exist outside all the timelines you keep creating, don’t I, Max, just like you do? One day I’ll find out why. Maybe then I’ll get rid of this.”

  He ran his fingers along the deep scar on his face and neck.

  “It’s curious that this never goes away, despite the accident that caused it having never happened. I’ve even still got a scar on my hand from when I was shot at after I killed Evans and the other doctors. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I know there are others out there like me and I’ll simply contact them again. In that sense, nothing’s really changed. Kovac may never have started his work on psychics and tried to use them as weapons but my mission is still clear. And I don’t need any help to finally finish you off, Max, and your friend, once and for all.”