Redemption: Supernatural Time-Traveling Romance with Sci-fi and Metaphysics

by Jacklyn A. Lo

  ~

  “Not long now before takeoff.”

  Helen looks up at the man who has addressed her. Another Gestapo offer, she thinks, noting his black uniform with the usual insignia. This plane must be full of them!

  “I hope not,” she says, turning back to peer out of the window at the runway. She only boarded the plane a few minutes earlier, but already she feels much of the anxiety and pressure of her life in Kharkov slipping away as the aircraft slowly fills up with the passengers for its flight to Berlin. So far the extraction plan has worked perfectly. Helen’s hair is once again its usual blond, though cut much shorter than before, and her restaurant clothes have been replaced with the uniform of the SS-Helferinnen—black coat, skirt, cap and boots. Her U.S. contacts managed to smuggle her a set of papers to go with her disguise, and when she came to board the plane as Liesel Schneider the guards ushered her straight on. This flight to Berlin, however, is only the first leg. Once she has landed, she is to board a plane to Stockholm and then another to Egypt, which is now allied territory. From there, the United States Air Force will get her safely back home to Phoenix, Arizona.

  Helen glances back at the man who addressed her, but he is in conversation with another officer. Looking over the heads of those seated in front of her, she counts merely twenty people. She is just over a third of the way down the aircraft, so she reckons there are around fifty people in all and only a few stragglers making their way on board. Barely half full, she thinks. And every one of them officers of the Wehrmacht or the Gestapo. What a gathering!

  The sound of laughter catches her attention and she sees a group of men talking in cheerful tones, clearly pleased to be returning to Germany and their friends and families. I know how they feel! I can’t wait to see mine. How long has it been since I last saw them? Two years at least.

  She leans back in her seat, gazing, unseeing, out of the window as she imagines the look on her mom and dad’s faces when they see her again, and how wonderful it will be to talk with her grandmother about the adventures she’s had here in the old woman’s homeland.

  They had been the only ones who were allowed to know she was coming out here, and even they did not know the details of her mission. My poor mom, she thinks, remembering her reaction to the news. She really didn’t want me to come. Even my dad seemed close to tears! They’re going to be happy to have me back home again. Grandma will make one of her famous apple pies. And no doubt mom will cook up that Korean stuffed duck she knows I love, with dad plying me with rum and cokes, his special mix! She smiles at this thought, while a wave of excitement mixed with homesickness washes over her, and pats her belly, enjoying again the thrill of how much it has grown in the past few weeks. Here’s one surprise they certainly won’t be expecting! A grandson for my parents, great grandson for my granny. And, although she can’t explain why, Helen is certain that the baby is a boy. So certain, in fact, that she has already settled on naming him Konstantin—the best name in the world—after his heroic father and the great Rokossovsky. I hope you look like your dad. Those light brown eyes, that dark hair, those soft Slavic features, a daily reminder of the man I came to love. Helen sighs, saddened again at the thought of her nightmare and the death of Konstantin. But it was just a dream, she thinks, hope flickering in her chest. He may not be dead at all. Maybe one day we will see each other again.

  Feeling the tears welling up in her eyes, Helen quickly thinks about her journey home to distract her from the grief that threatens to overwhelm her. Come on, girl! This is no time to for self-pity. There’s too much at stake. She goes through the details of the extraction plan in her head, the agent she is to meet in Berlin, who is taking over her role in Russia, and to whom she needs to pass on vital information; the contact in Stockholm, who will furnish her with a new passport and disguise. Not long now and this whole nightmare will be a thing of the past!

  With a smile once again spreading across her face, Helen peers back out of the window just in time to see a black car pulling up on the runway outside. As she watches, a number of men, all in the uniform of the Gestapo, emerge from the vehicle and she glances at them briefly without really looking. But even as she turns away, Elena’s blood seems to freeze in her veins and her breath catches in her throat.

  It can’t be, she thinks desperately, as she looks back at one of the men. Hans! He’s not supposed to be here!

  The men disappear from view, but soon reappear, making their way onto the plane. As they begin to head down the aisle, she sees the look of despair on Hans’s face together with the angry, purple bruise on his cheek. His hands are held behind him a curious, unnatural fashion. He’s been handcuffed, she thinks, her panic growing. Fixing her gaze straight ahead, she works out for few seconds what is going on. And no matter how she looks at it, she always comes to the same conclusion: Hans has failed! He’s been broken… And now these men have come for me.

  During their time working together, Hans explained some of the methods the Gestapo employ to extract information from people.

  “They always break in the end,” he had told her. “Whatever you do, don’t let yourself be caught by the Gestapo, that’s for sure. It’s better to take your own life!”

  It’s better to take your own life. These words keep going round and round in Elena’s head. There’s too much at stake, too many contacts that could be exposed, too much information that she could be forced to divulge. As could I, when the Gestapo discover my role in Kharkov and my Russian and U.S. networks, which they inevitably will.

  She runs her hand across her belly once again, but not feeling the bulge of the baby this time. Instead her hand moves higher to another bulge, one that will bring death rather than life. Ever since she was a young schoolgirl, Helen has always made sure she is prepared for every eventuality, and though she hoped the bomb hidden beneath her thick coat was an unnecessary precaution, she suddenly realizes that this has just become the only option. In only a few moments the future that stretched out before her has been snatched away, snuffed out by that one brief glimpse of Hans’ bruised face. Her hand slips into the coat, carefully drawing out a trigger switch. Concealing the device in her palm, she rests her hand on her belly and takes a deep breath. Beneath her fingers, Elena feels the push of tiny legs as her baby moves inside her. She smiles sadly and turns to peer over her shoulder. There, several rows back, between his two Gestapo guards, Hans looks wretched and afraid. For a moment their eyes meet. Then, knowing it is the right thing to do, she opens her hand and presses the trigger.

  Chicago, U.S.A. 2045

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Ann’s eyes snapped open. She was breathing heavily and staring at the ceiling in confusion. Lifting her arm from the couch, she ran her hand across her belly, feeling for the child that seemed to be there only moments before.

  “What?” She struggles to collect her thoughts. “Where am I?”

  “It’s okay, my dear,” said a voice nearby. Ann couldn’t immediately place it, but it sounded old and somehow familiar. “You’ll feel unsettled for a few minutes, but that’s okay. You’ve been out for three hours now.”

  “What do you mean three hours?” She turned her head to see an old lady striking a match and holding the flame to a strange-looking candle, which immediately began producing great plumes of dark smoke.

  The psychic smiled across at her. “Just that, three hours. Your longest session yet… and your last. Your friend, Nina has been waiting for you.”

  “Nina?” Ann racked her brains, trying to make sense of this and, as she breathed in the candle fumes, her mind began to clear at last. “Nina! She’s here?”

  “I certainly am, sweetie.” Ann’s friend swept into the room on her high heels. “Gods, I’ve been waiting in that damned room forever. I notice you ignored my advice to get in some decent entertainment for your guests.” She cast an accusing glare at the psychic. “I’ve spent the last thirty minutes boring myself to death with a magazine on pig rearing. Anyway, darling,” she sa
id, perching on the arm of Ann’s couch and addressing her. “I just had to come and see you, so here I am.”

  “How did you know I’d be here?” asked Ann, shuffling backwards so she could sit up.

  “Well, Rob told me of course. But that’s not important. A little bird told me you’ve got another guy fighting for your attention. A certain Japanese man?”

  “How the hell do you…” Ann stopped, a frown creasing her forehead as she turned to look at the psychic. “Sorry, did you say this was our last session?”

  “That’s right,” said the old woman. “You have seen all that I can show you, my dear. And all that you needed to see.”

  “So that’s it? There are no more past lives to revisit?”

  “No more that you need to revisit, no.”

  “So, what am I supposed to do now?” said Ann, still looking confused. “I still don’t have any concrete answer about what I’m doing or where I’m going!”

  “Ah.” The psychic smiled at her, showing off her lack of teeth. “That, my dear, is the beauty of life!”

  “She’s a funny old stick, isn’t she?” said Nina, as she and Ann made their way along the alleyway towards their cars. “So what were you this time? An astronaut? Or the guy who discovered America?”

  “You mean Christopher Columbus?”

  “That’s the guy, yeah.”

  “I wasn’t him. I was a young woman in Russia during the Second World War. In the end I blew myself up and destroyed a plane full of Nazis.”

  “Wow!” Nina raised her eyebrows in astonishment and flicked her hair out of her face. “You sure get plenty of excitement, don’t you!”

  “But it’s all so sad,” said Ann, stopping as she reached her car and turning to look at her friend. “In every one of these past lives I’ve died young, in my prime. Have you heard of Natasha Rostova?”

  “No. It sounds Russian, though. Is that who you were in the Second World War?”

  Ann shakes her head. “Hardly. She’s the heroine in War and Peace, my favorite novel back when I was… in that life. Why couldn’t I be more like her? She was thin and beautiful in her youth, attracting the greatest men in Russian high society. But she wasn’t cut off in her prime. She went on to have a family of four children, though she also ended up losing her figure, becoming fat and a bit of a whiny old hen.”

  “That’s the way of the world, darling. We all have to sacrifice for our dreams in the end.”

  “But I sacrificed myself when I was still young. I never had the chance to grow old and have my own happy family life.”

  “So you had no kids in that past life?”

  “Oh, Nina,” she said, her face mirroring her misery and the tears welling up in her eyes. “I… I was going to have a child. A boy. But I was still pregnant when I died. I never even got to hold him in my arms.”

  “Ann, my love,” said Nina, throwing her arms around her friend. “There’s still time in this life. You have years ahead of you! You can have a child if you want to.”

  Ann pulled away slightly. “I don’t know, Nina. Who with?”

  “Well, by the sound of it, you’ve got a choice. There’s Michael, your glacier-like archaeologist, or Tomo, your Japanese admirer. I’m sure either of them would leap at the chance to do their part in the whole baby-making process!”

  “I don’t know,” said Ann, still looking dejected. “Maybe I have to figure out what’s going on with Michael.”

  Nina stepped back, placing her hands on Ann’s shoulders and looking into her eyes. “Yes, that’s right, sweetie. You’ve got men fighting over you. And there’s plenty more when they came from. If you want to get what you want, all you have to do is make the right choice. It’s all in your hands, darling!”

  “Is it?”

  “Of course it is.” Nina let go of Ann and glanced down at her watch. “Anyway, I’ve got to dash off and see Roger now, but I just wanted to catch you and ask if you’d like to meet up later for a drink at the Tower. Just me and you, and we can forget about all our cares for the evening. Eight o’clock work for you, sweetie?”

  “Sure,” said Ann, opening the car door and stepping inside. “Sounds good. Thank you, Nina.”

  “Where to, my lady?” asked Rob, his face appearing on the E-A device, a blue flower tucked behind one ear. “It’s not too late to get to the shops if you still want to.”

  Ann looked at him a moment as she pulled away from the sidewalk. “Sure,” she said. “Let’s go shopping. Doing something normal might help clear my head.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I think so,” said Ann, a wistful note in her voice. “Or at least I’m trying to be. You know what really bugs me, though, having experienced life on the front line?

  “What’s that, my lady?”

  “How come monsters like Stalin and Hitler appear throughout history, when fate is controlled by our Creator? What’s that all about?”

  “It’s a fair question, my lady, and one that has plagued many over the years. And it’s a difficult one to answer. Do you remember what happened to the two monsters you mentioned?”

  “They ended up tearing each other apart.”

  “Exactly! And in the end one evil destroyed the other.”

  Ann considered this as she turned the car round, heading back into the city. “That’s true,” she said. “But they weren’t the only ones caught up in that fight. Thousands upon thousands of people were killed in that war, not just soldiers, but civilians too, even children! Over and over again, monsters rise up and innocent people die.”

  “Innocent?” said Rob, raising an eyebrow at this claim. “But it’s these so-called innocent people who create these monsters. They only rose to power because people allowed them to, because people raised them up and gave them that authority!”

  “I suppose so. But it seems such a waste of life. What possible purpose could such tragedy serve?”

  Rob shrugged in his screen and said, “We can only hope that it will provide a lesson for humanity and stop people from giving power to such monsters.”

  “Huh,” said Ann, unconvinced. “We’re not so good at learning from history!”

  “What about you, my lady? Can you learn from history?”

  “Well, sure, I guess,” said Ann, taken aback by the directness of the question. “But I’m only one person, Rob. What difference can I make?”

  “What difference can anyone make? Every choice, every action, every decision, no matter how small, makes a difference for better or for worse. It’s true of monsters. It’s true of saints. And it’s true of you, my dear Ann.”

  “I guess. Though I’m still not sure every choice makes a difference.”

  “Well, here’s an opportunity to put it to the test,” said Rob, smiling once again. “You’ve just got a message from Michael asking you to meet him in the Japanese Botanical Gardens.”

  Ann blinked in surprise. “Oh! When?”

  “Now. He says he’ll be waiting in the Japanese garden.” Rob paused, allowing this to sink in, the blue flower behind his eye slowly morphing into the pink blossom of a cherry tree. “So what’s it going to be? The choice is yours.”

  Why does Michael want to meet me suddenly? Ann wondered. He’s lovely, charming and everything, but I still have no idea what this guy actually wants from me. Could he really be from a competitor company looking to steal our ideas? Or does he want to buy me out for his own business? Or… something else?

  “If only it was easier to know which choice is the right one,” she said. “But I must see him, if only to try and find out what’s going on between us. Plot me a route to the Botanical Gardens, Rob. I’ll never get my shopping done at this rate!”

  ~

  The parking lot was almost deserted as Ann pulled into a space next to Michael’s distinctive car. She switched off her E-A device and slipped it into her bag, hurrying off to get into the Japanese Garden. After several minutes, much of which was spent wandering in completely the wrong direction, she foun
d it and, sure enough, there, sitting on a bench beneath a maple tree, was Michael. Dressed in a white shirt with rolled up sleeves and casual dark blue pants, his tanned face a picture of peace, he didn’t look at all dangerous. He turned to gaze at her as she approached, a smile spreading easily across his face.

  “Ann,” he said, getting to his feet and holding out his hands to her. “Thank you for coming to see me. You made the right choice.”

  She stopped, her eyes widening in surprise at this mention of choice. Does he know what I’ve been talking about? she wondered. Has he been spying on me this whole time?

  “Come,” he said, stepping forward to take her hand. “I have some people I want you to meet.”

  People? What people? A shiver of anxiety shot through her as Michael began to lead her away through the trees. Who could he want me to meet? His parents? His work colleagues? She looked around, but couldn’t make out any other figures in the garden. “Where are they?” she asked.

  “They’re not right here, exactly, Ann,” said Michael, turning to give her a reassuring smile. “We have to travel a little to meet them, but it will be short trip. Trust me.”

  Trust you? How can I trust you, when I don’t really know who you are? If this is some attempt to get me to sell out A.I.I.’s innovations or something, I can’t get involved. I can’t betray my team, my guys, and everything we’ve worked for. These thoughts flashed through Ann’s mind, but she kept on walking and all she said was, “A short trip where?”

  “You’ll see,” said Michael, stopping outside what appeared to be a small cabin, which Ann assumed was used by the gardeners. He turned the handle and opened the door, gesturing for her to enter. “Everything will be fine, my dear.”

  Finding herself unable to refuse him, Ann forced a smile as she stepped nervously into the darkness of the cabin. Michael followed her and pulled the door closed behind him.

  “What’s going on?” asked Ann, feeling her panic rising. “What is this place?”