Time Leap (15 page)

“
Excuse me, Mr
Richter – I wonder if you have time for a few words with one of
your countrymen?”

The man was a little
startled at first. He stopped and looked closely at Niki and then
at Smirnoff. “And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?” he
smiled courteously at Niki.

“
My name is
Niki Ling, sir, and this is Mr Smirnoff from Russia.”

The short man kissed
Niki’s hand, and shook Smirnoff’s hand warmly. Then he spoke to
Smirnoff in Russian:

“
It’s a
pleasure to meet you, comrade.”

“
The pleasure is all mine,
sir.”

“
And what brings you to
London?”

“
I am here with my good English
friends. They asked for my help, and I never refuse to help friends
who need me.”

“
That is wonderful. I hope that you
and I can help to make the World a better place for all honest,
hard–working people. Enjoy your stay in London.”

“
You too.”

Smirnoff
watched the other Russian disappear out of the museum, and then
turned to us with a thoughtful expression.

“
Well?” I
said. “What did you think of Mr Richter?” Smirnoff turned and
walked towards the exit with us trailing behind.

“
Richter? I
don’t know anyone called Richter,” he replied. Then he stopped and
turned to face us. “But I do know Vladimir Ilyich Lenin when I see
him.”

Twenty–One

After
returning Smirnoff to the twenty–first century, we told him we’d be
in touch and said our goodbyes. We continued on to a local tea
shop, where we stopped to discuss our potential
assassin.

“
Well?” I
said, once we’d settled ourselves close to a window, far enough out
of earshot of anyone else.

“
Well
what?”

“
Is he what
you’re looking for?”

“
He seemed
really nice,” she replied.

“
Nice? He’s a
professional killer! He’d knock off your grandmother if you paid
him enough.”

“
I don’t think
you know people, Joe. You’re not really a good judge of
character.”

“
Oh really?
Well, perhaps I made a mistake with you then? Maybe I should have
been more picky?”

“
You’ll find
out, one day,” she smiled over her cup of Earl Gray.

“
Okay,
seriously, about Smirnoff… I have to admit he’s easy to get along
with – and that’s very important if we’re going to have an
‘arrangement’ with him. Also, he seems very professional and I
think he’ll do a good job,” I said.

“
Do you think
we can trust him?” Niki asked.

“
Yes, I think we can. It’s a business deal for
him;
if he lets us down, it’s not
good for his ‘career’… if killing can be regarded as a
career.”

“
Your cousin
seems to think so,” Niki responded.

Cousin Jim had
– surprisingly – joined the army. During a conversation over a few
beers a few months ago, he told me he quite enjoyed the idea of
killing bad guys as a career, and was thinking about a bit of
mercenary work when he leaves the forces – helping to overthrow
some tin–pot dictator in Africa, or something like that. It seemed
quite appealing to him. So I suppose, in one sense, the difference
between Smirnoff and Jim was essentially… not much.

“
There’s also
the fact that he has to be wary of us,” I pointed out. “For all he
knows, we could be working for the Special Branch or Interpol – not
his best friends, I would think. He has to be very careful about
who he works for.”

“
He was highly recommended by Uncle Ding,”
Niki
reminded
me.

“
Ah yes, Uncle
Ding,” I said, thinking back to our trip to Shanghai last Chinese
New Year. I remember feeling for Ding when his work partner was
attacked and raped in Guangzhou. She was in hospital for a long
time after that, and never went back to work. Her assailant was
caught on CCTV cameras, but the Police could never track him down.
Then, about six months after the attack, he was found mysteriously
hanging from a tree in a park in neighbouring Shenzhen – dead.
Everyone concluded it was suicide at the time, but the evidence was
never conclusive. I only recently found out from Niki that this was
Smirnoff’s handiwork.

“
So what do
you think Joe?”

“
Think about
what?” I’d gone off on a day–dream about China and men hanging from
trees for a moment.

“
Should we go
with Smirnoff?”

“
Yes – he’s
got my vote. If anyone’s going to do it, he’s the man.”

*

The next
evening, Niki got in contact with our hit–man and arranged a
meeting on Hampstead Heath. It was almost dark when we got to the
park, and at first we didn’t recognize the jogger who ran past us.
He was wearing a dark–coloured hoodie, black tracksuit bottoms and
white trainers. He indicated a place to stop and talk, and we
followed him over to a spot next to a large tree.

“
I have to be
honest, until you showed up tonight I thought I’d been dreaming
everything that happened yesterday. But here you are! Which means,
I guess, that we really did go back in time yesterday… and I met Mr
Lenin.

“
Time travel,”
I said.

“
This is the
man we need you to deal with.” After talking with Mike and Yoyo
about how, where and when we should bump off the Korean dictator,
Niki had done a lot of preparation. She forthrightly handed over a
folder containing photographs, maps and detailed information
regarding the time and place of the planned
assassination.

“
No no no!”
exclaimed Smirnoff refusing the folder, “not like this! Maybe you
got the idea from the movies – but that is not real life. If I even
touch that paper, it’s got my fingerprints on it – so I’m dead. And
if I take it, and someone finds me with it, I’m also dead. So just
tell me – I’m a good listener, and I have an eidetic
memory.”

Niki went over
our plan with Smirnoff, who listened intently. When she finished,
he said, “Okay, I’ve got the picture. Now, the first thing is this:
I do not take out such high profile people – it’s suicide. The
government will hunt me down and never stop until they find me – I
cannot do this, I’m sorry.” Niki looked understandably crestfallen
at this point. But Smirnoff continued.

“
So what I
suggest is this: forget about the president of North Korea. You
want to prevent the son from becoming the next crazy Adolf Hitler –
am I right?” We nodded. “Well first of all, there is no guarantee
that taking out the son, the father or the Holy Ghost will make any
difference whatsoever. There will always be another son, and
another president, and who knows which one will be crazy enough to
press the button – right?” We had to agree.

“
Now, from what you tell me, World War three happens because
North Korea launches a missile at the USA, and the Americans
respond – am I right again?” I confirmed that he was. “Good. Then
what we have to find out is
why
. I don’t care how crazy this
future president is, he is not going to begin a war with the USA.
Think about Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi… none of them started a
war with the Americans – or the British – right?”

“
Right again,”
I said.

“
So, what we
need to find out is why the leader of North Korea, in forty–two
years’ time, attacks America.”

Niki and I
looked at each other and nodded.

“
Okay, we’ll
do that… and we’ll get back to you tomorrow,” I said. “Same place
and time?”

“
No… never the same place or the same time – you need to learn
this. Nikita can call me when you have the
information.
Ciao
.”

Smirnoff
disappeared into the night, and we looked at each other.

“
Nikita?” I
said.

“
Movie and TV
series about a female killer.”

“
He’s smarter
than we are,” I observed.

“
Speak for
yourself,” replied Niki, walking off down the hill.

***

Twenty–Two

Yoyo and Mike
had been staying with us whilst we looked for an assassin. By
contacting Smirnoff, we had already affected their future in some
way. To me, this was one of the most interesting things about what
we did. Anything we did out of the ordinary would create a new
future, and thereby change things for Mike and Yoyo when they
returned. The next step was to fill them in on our meetings with
the Russian.

“
He sounds
cool!” observed Yoyo.

“
You’d better
believe it!” replied Niki.

“
Okay okay… don’t forget what he is,” I said, “a
paid killer
.” A part of
me couldn’t bear the two girls drooling over the
Russian.

“
Sounds like
just what we need,” added Mike. “And the meeting with Lenin was a
great idea!”

“
Do you recall
that Mike? I mean do you have Smirnoff in your conscious memory
now?” We all stopped for a moment to look at Mike. Were we creating
history in front of his eyes? I’d witnessed the way memories could
be created or modified by changing the past. Niki still had
difficulty coming to terms with the fact that the World Trade
Center towers were destroyed in 2001 – in one version of reality -
though her experiences since then had left her in no doubt that we
can change the past, and therefore the future. Mike looked
confused.

“
I… I… don’t
know! It’s strange. On one hand, I have recollections of everything
I did in the past – and therefore what you are doing now. But some
things – like your conversations with Smirnoff – are totally new to
me.”

“
It’s the same
for me,” added Yoyo. “I should know what Smirnoff looks like
without you telling us, but I just can’t picture him.”

It was as if
being in our time–frame meant that Yoyo and Mike experienced things
as we saw them, not as a memory in their own time period. This made
sense to me. I thought about the attack on the New York twin towers
again. I had kept the pictures in my mind of the attacks, the
airplanes flying into the buildings, the collapse and the aftermath
– but Niki (who remained in her own time) lost all that as soon as
I managed to stop it happening.

“
You’ll have
to let us know whether or not you retain your memories of World War
Three when you get back home,” I said, “…assuming we’re able to
stop it happening.”

“
No problem,”
replied Mike, “I’ll send you a text.”

“
Now there’s
an interesting idea.”

“
We should
discuss Smirnoff’s question now,” Niki said bluntly.

“
What question
was that?” Yoyo asked.

I relayed what
Smirnoff had said the previous night, and the question he left us
with: why would the leader of North Korea in forty–odd years’ time
attack America?

“
That’s a good
question,” Mike replied. “We should have talked in detail about
this before.” He took a sip of coffee, and then continued. “Kim had
been building up his weapons stock – short and long range missiles,
tanks, fighter jets and bombers – plus nuclear warheads – and this
made the Americans very concerned. The Yanks increased their
presence in the North Pacific, and set up a base in South Korea.
This was totally unacceptable to Kim, and he warned the US of the
consequences if they didn’t remove the Korean base immediately. The
Americans wouldn’t back down, and so two missiles were sent towards
the USA. They weren’t nuclear weapons, but they were certainly a
warning. The retaliation by the USA was seen to be over the top,
particularly by Russia, as I said. I think the US President wanted
to repeat what America did in Japan to end World War II – only this
time they miscalculated the reactions of both the Russians and the
Chinese. Relationships with those countries had not been good in
the previous ten years, and with the rapid development of China,
the USA was no longer the number one Economic power. Also,
relations with Russia had become strained for several reasons – one
being the situation in the Middle East. The Americans knew this, of
course, but they miscalculated.”

“
Who gave the
order to launch the nuclear attack on North Korea?” I asked. “The
President?”

“
Yes… but I
guess you’ve no idea who the President is in 2056,
right?”

Both Niki and
I shook our heads.

“
Johnny
Clinton,” stated Yoyo.

“
Johnny
Clinton
?” I repeated.

“
Isn’t he Bill
Clinton’s Grandson?” Niki said.

“
Yes,” replied
Yoyo, “John William Clinton.”

We were all
quiet for a moment. I knew what the others were thinking. “We
can’t,” I said.

“
I think we
have to,” replied Mike. Just remember why we’re doing this – to
prevent a third World War. Our idea was to assassinate Kim, but now
we’re all talking about it, I’m seeing it differently. We have to
deal with Johnny.”