by Saxon Andrew
Candice started the car and moved out of the airport to the interstate. She drove for an hour in heavy traffic and saw Jimmy was regaining his composure. When they turned toward their garage, Jimmy turned to her, “I saw devastation everywhere under the plane. Somewhere around Kansas or Missouri or perhaps just north of there, I saw a giant crater that appeared to be more than eight-hundred miles wide and miles deep.”
Candice felt a cold wind blow over her soul. “What are you saying, Jimmy?”
Jimmy looked out of the windshield and said, “It looked like an asteroid, comet, or something hit Earth in the center of the United States.”
“When…”
“This felt like a long-distance dream, Mom.”
“Are you sure?” Jimmy shrugged. Candice stared at him and finally said, “Some of your dreams have not come to pass.” Jimmy shrugged and then nodded. Candice said softly, “Perhaps this was just a nightmare.”
Jimmy snorted, “If it was, it was a doozy.” He paused and sighed, “I guess…some dreams are nightmares. This one felt so real.”
“Let’s go home and get our act together.”
Jimmy smiled and said, “There’s no place like home.”
• • •
Two weeks passed and the calls and letters kept pouring in. Candice looked at Jimmy over dinner and said, “Are you ready to visit MIT? We can just drive into Boston and look around. You don’t even have to tell the recruiters you’re there unless you want.”
Jimmy nodded, I’ll call Dalton in the morning and let them know that I’m not going to be there.”
Candice nodded and was thankful Jimmy was no longer talking about the dream. She hoped the next day would further remove it from his mind.
• • •
The drive to Boston was wonderful. It was a clear day, seventy-eight degrees, with white puffy clouds moving East high overhead. It was day that was good to be alive. They arrived at MIT and Candice drove around the campus, “It’s beautiful here, don’t you think, Jimmy?”
“It is today but the winters can be brutal.”
“Come on, Jimmy. You’re accustomed to the weather in the North-east.”
Jimmy looked at her and smiled, “I know.” Suddenly, his smile disappeared and his mouth fell wide open. “Stop the car!” Candice looked at him shaking her head and Jimmy said louder, “STOP THE CAR, NOW!” Candice brought the car to a stop and stuck her arm out of her window to wave the cars behind her around. She looked at Jimmy but he was out of the car and dodging traffic as he ran across the street. She heard him yell, “Meet me at that building!”
It took fifteen minutes of driving around the block before a parked car pulled off and Candice moved into the spot instantly. She jumped out and crossed the street and headed in the direction she saw Jimmy was sprinting. She walked across the common and saw him sitting on the steps in front of a beautiful building. She walked up and saw him staring at her. She sat down on the steps beside him and he nodded over his shoulder, “This is the building I saw in my dream when I was five years old.”
Candice’s eyes flew wide open, “Are you sure!?!”
Jimmy exhaled slowly and said, “I can still see the ten columns in front of it and the white dome on top of it clearly in my mind. This is the building.”
Candice shook her head, “But that was so long ago; you might be wrong.”
Jimmy lowered his eyes and said, “Look toward where the path on the left comes around the corner of that building.” Candice looked and squinted. It was a good way off. “Four students are going to come around that corner shortly. There will be one male student wearing a green colored windbreaker. There will be three co-eds walking with him and all three will be wearing the same Tee-Shirt. On the front of their shirts will be written, ‘Save a Life, Donate Blood Today’. One of them will be an incredibly beautiful blonde woman.”
Candice and Jimmy sat on the steps and after thirty minutes passed, she looked at him. Jimmy pointed in the direction of the distant building. Candice looked back and saw four people come around the corner. They were too far away to see any details but it was clear three of them were wearing white shirts. As they came closer, her fear grew in equal measure. They turned and walked directly in front of them and disappeared to the left. Candice saw the co-ed in the center of the three girls was stunningly beautiful and she looked at her, nodded slightly, and totally ignored Jimmy. Jimmy said after they passed, “The blonde with the pony tail really made an impression on me when I was five years old.”
Candice forced her heart to slow down, fearing the unavoidable was wasted effort. “What does this mean, my love?”
Jimmy sighed heavily and looked at her, “There has only been one dream that hasn’t come true, Mom.” He nodded over his shoulder, “It was the one with this building in it.”
“So the dream you had on the trip back from California is really going to happen?” Jimmy nodded. “Is there anything we can do?” Candice asked.
“The dream I had when I was five took thirteen years to happen. I think we have at least that long before the other takes place.” Jimmy looked at his mother, “How much money do we have?”
“A little less than two billion dollars. Why do you ask?”
“Because we’re going to need a lot more than that.”
Candice tilted her head, “Why?”
Jimmy smiled, “Now you sound like I used to when I was just a kid.”
“You’re still just a kid, Jimmy.”
Jimmy shook his head, “I don’t have time to be a kid anymore, Mom.”
“Why do we need more money. We have more than we can ever spend.”
Jimmy smiled, “One of the things you told me before I entered Dalton had a huge impact on me.”
“What was that?” Candice asked softly.
“You told me that I am responsible for defending my empire. That I had to learn how to use my body and the weapons it provided to survive.” Jimmy looked at her, “My empire has grown since then.” Candice stared at him and he put his arm over her shoulder, “You are in it. Juan is in it. And many other friends I’ve made over the years. We are going to survive what’s coming.”
“How are we going to do that, Jimmy?”
“Well, first of all, you are going to learn how to trade stocks and not be caught making large gains while doing it? I’ve thought about you doing this in the past and now there’s a good reason to start.”
“I know nothing about trading stocks!”
“Then get a tutor and learn. You’re the smartest person I know and you can learn how to do it. You have the funds to hire the very best to teach you.”
“Learning which stocks to buy is a mystery to even the best brokers…”
“That won’t be an issue. I’ve had dreams of the stocks when I’ve seen the large stock exchange board on TV. The first thing you’re going to do is purchase stock from a company named Apple.” Candice’s eyes narrowed and Jimmy smiled, “There is a new product they’re coming out with called an IPod. You need to get moving and be ready before October of this year.”
“Is this insider trading?”
“Only if someone in that company gave me the information. You not only need to learn how to buy the stocks but also how to prevent anyone from knowing about it.”
“Won’t buying huge numbers cause suspicion?”
“Find a tutor you can trust who will teach you how to prevent that happening. You have to do that quickly!”
“What are we going to do with this money?”
Jimmy looked up at the sky, “I’m going to have to find a place for us to survive what’s coming. I am going to take the summer off and take a look around our planet and see if I come up with any place that fills the bill.”
“And then?”
Jimmy smiled, “I’m going to enter MIT and learn the things needed to make the plan work. This building tells me that my destiny lies here. We’ll need to build a sanctuary against the time my dream happens.”
C
andice shrugged, “Well…at least the phone calls will stop.” Jimmy laughed out loud and hugged her.
• • •
Jimmy graduated with honors in May of 2001. He accepted his diploma and had a flight booked for the next day. He knew his mother needed to move fast, the IPod would be announced in a few more months. She had finally found a stock broker she convinced to come to work for her. Thomas Heller was a whiz at the stock market but the owners of the company he worked for kept him reined in. It was a perfect time for him and Candice to find each other. He smiled remembering when Thomas came over and was interviewed in their apartment.
He arrived at their door and said as Candice opened it, “I came to meet you because I couldn’t contact you to cancel the meeting my secretary set up.”
“I deliberately didn’t take your calls because I knew you would try to cancel,” Candice had responded.
Thomas’ head went back, “Is that so?”
“It is and canceling would have been the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in your life.” Candice stepped aside and smiled, “Please come in. This is my son, Jimmy.” Thomas hesitated but decided he was there so he might as well see what was going on. Candice sat down at the dining room table and said, “Please join us.” Tom sat down across from her and Candice said, “You come highly recommended.”
“By whom?”
“I hired a high-priced detective to provide me a list of the best stock brokers in the business. He asked around on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and tells me that your name appeared on everyone’s top five lists of the best.”
“Oh?”
“I then had him investigate you and he says you’re pretty much unattached and frustrated with your current job.”
Tom’s eyes narrowed, “Now you’re meddling into my affairs. Who told him that?”
Candice smiled, “Mr. Heller, you’ve not had any affairs. Your love is the stock game and according to my sources, you’re possibly the best at it.”
Tom stared at Candice and almost walked out. But he had to ask, “What exactly do you want me to do?”
“I want to hire you to handle my stock portfolios and do it in such a way that what I do goes unnoticed.” The corner of Tom’s mouth went up and Candice said, “I understand that your company hides huge funds made off stocks for several Senators, Representatives, and foreign businessmen. You are the one that makes that happen. It’s your doing that which prevents you moving up in your current company. They don’t want to lose your skills in hiding money.”
Tom began shaking his head, “How did you possibly learn about that? No one is allowed to even mention it outside the board room?”
Candice smiled, “Any information can be acquired for a price.”
Tom smiled, “You’re assuming you are going to make money in the stock market. If I leave my current company, I’ll lose access to important information on what to buy.”
Candice smiled, “You won’t have to tell me what to purchase. You just need to hide that I’m doing it.”
“You know insider trading can get you arrested and sent to prison.”
“I do.”
“What else do you want?” Tom asked.
“I need your troth that you will keep all we’re doing a secret.”
Tom’s face turned red and his anger was clear, “Where did you learn that word?!”
Candice smiled, “I learned that it means a sacred promise given before God and that the one that makes it will vow to never break it. It is often used in weddings by couples getting married but many of them don’t take the promise seriously enough to keep it.”
“How do you know that I will?”
“Your father taught you what the word means and, unlike many, you will never break a troth.”
Tom started shaking his head and lowered his eyes, “Before my father died, I asked him why he never remarried after mom died from breast cancer at a young age.” Tom sighed and continued, “Dad told me that at his wedding he gave his troth to be faithful for eternity, not for just as long as they lived. He loved her so very much.”
“Why haven’t you ever married, Mr. Heller?”
Tom looked into Candice’s eyes and said very deliberately, “Because I’ve never found anyone I would be willing to make that promise.”
Candice smiled, “Let’s cut to the chase. I will pay you fifty-million dollars a year to give me a troth of silence and do what you can to prevent my trades from being discovered.”
Tom’s eyes flew wide open. He tried to speak but couldn’t. Candice passed a cashier check across the table and Tom saw it was for fifty-million dollars in his name. He stood up shaking his head and Candice looked him in the eyes, “There’s much I want to tell you about what’s going on but I can’t unless you make a troth with me.” Tom looked at the check on the table in front of him and Jimmy said, “That’s the first money you can take and hide.”
Tom looked at Jimmy and then turned to Candice, “Will you also take a troth that you will not deliberately do anything that would put me in jail?”
“I’ll make a troth that I will do everything possible to defend you against all outside forces intent on doing you harm.”
“Outside forces?”
“Those in this room will never harm you, Tom.”
Thom nodded slowly and after a minute he sat back down and said, “I will make a troth to never reveal anything that deals with what you or I are doing.”
Candice nodded and said, “Tom, we have a lot to talk about.”
• • •
Tom left the meeting half-believing the woman and her son were absolutely insane and psychotic in the worse possible way. But the last thing that young man had said to him before he left had him wondering. “Tom, you are not going to want to believe what we’ve told you because you are a rational man and this defies rational thought. However, you are going to take a taxi from here and try to take the bridge back to Brooklyn. It will fail. You’ll try multiple ways to avoid taking the train but will eventually be forced to take it anyway. When you get on the train, you will go two stops and a young woman with black and purple hair will get on and decide to come and stand beside you. She’ll say that she hates to ride the train and you look like someone that wouldn’t bother her.”
“How do you know what train I’ll take?”
“I don’t. But I know you will encounter that woman whichever one you choose.”
“One of these dreams, huh?”
The young man had nodded and Tom left. He hailed a taxi and headed toward the bridge and saw a tractor trailer jack-knife trying to avoid a rear-end collision with a stopped car. The taxi drive cursed and said, “We need to go another way.”
The driver drove around for an hour and finally dropped Tom off at a train station. He started shaking his head and he decided to go to long island instead of Brooklyn. Immediately, the board showed he line to Long Island was closed. What about the Ferry? He made a quick call and was told the last Ferry was leaving. His heart started beating furiously and he said to himself, “Pull it together.” He knew the woman was incredibly wealthy but making all of this take place was impossible. He thought about it and smiled. He knew how to show them he was no one to trifle with. He bought a ticket and went down to the subway. He allowed three trains to pass and got on the fourth. It arrived at the first stop and he got off. Yes, now let them see who’s right.” He waited for three more trains to pass and he got on the fourth again. At the next stop, he saw a train come rolling in and a woman jump off it and run toward his car. She barely made it on board and her hair was black and purple. She was also quite pretty and he said, “You hate riding trains and you came to stand beside me because you don’t think I’m the type to cause you issues.” The woman’s eyes went wide open and she ran away.
Tom knew how to read other people. He made a career out of learning how to do it. That woman was shocked and he knew in his heart she knew nothing about what was going on. Once that realization made it through his
consciousness, his heart started beating faster. God help us if the rest of it is true.
Chapter Five
Jimmy sat on the plane and flew from New York to Los Angeles. He sat in his window seat and closed his eyes. He found it remarkable that whenever he went to a place where he had a dream, he could close his eyes and see it again. He thought he was ready for what was coming but the shock of the devastation was still too much. He opened his eyes and decided keep them open until he arrived at his first connecting flight. He had taken a cheap-flight and he had two connecting flights between New York and LA. He arrived in Houston and closed his eyes during the jet’s approach. This time the dream didn’t just show devastation. He saw the actual event unfolding and the shockwave moving out of the north blew over Houston at close to the speed of sound and blew the city away. The shock wave had to be at least a mile high as it passed leaving nothing but huge fires and scorched earth behind it as it moved out into the Gulf of Mexico. Phoenix was his next stop and it was also pulverized but it was landing in Los Angeles that was the biggest nightmare so far. On the approach to LAX he looked out over the ocean and saw a wave moving toward the City of Angels more than a mile high. Tidal waves are the fastest moving natural events that happen in nature and he watched Los Angeles disappeared far below the top of the wave. An asteroid or some other giant object from space had to have hit in the Pacific Ocean. The one in the center of the United States was not the only one going to hit and they were going to impact close to the same time. He saw that Los Angeles was in ruins before the wave hit and there were massive cracks and fissures in the land under the jet. It was clear massive earthquakes had hit before the wave arrived.