Time Leap (18 page)

“
What about
her?” said Niki.

“
We could save
her too.”

“
Joe, she was
old – she died of old age! If you’ve found the key to eternal
youth, please tell me. I’m sure Ma will be very
interested!”

“
Excuse me for
breathing.”

“
Okay, I’ll
tell you what I think: yes, we could actually go back twenty years
in time, pick up Smirnoff’s mama and transport her to the present
day. Then they’d be two Mrs Smirnoffs – one old, one young. So when
one dies, the other can live on and keep Smirnoff happy. She’ll be
the same age as his sister, but never mind.”

“
It does sound
a little crazy,” I admitted. Niki smiled back with that false one
she does when she’s in no mood for smiling.

I got out my laptop and
continued researching the events leading up to Diana’s death.
Smirnoff was right about her visiting Tushinskaya Children’s
Hospital in Moscow – and the date was June 16. In fact, the
Princess also visited Moscow one year later as a patron of the
hospital. His mother passed away on September 2, 1997 – just two
days after Diana died.

It wasn’t long before
Smirnoff got back in touch regarding our previous discussions. He
asked if we could meet in our house – and we agreed. We didn’t
think the neighbours would recognise the contract killer, and we
knew it would be a one–off (though you can never tell with
Smirnoff).

It was a pleasant
September afternoon, and we sat outside enjoying the air in Niki’s
Chinese garden.

“
It’s an
interesting case,” said Smirnoff with a smile. He’d refused the
brandy I offered him – he never drinks on business – and sipped the
strong black coffee Niki gave him instead.

“
We thought
you’d like it,” I smiled. Although I was 99.9 percent certain that
no–one could possibly overhear our conversation in our obscenely
large garden, we still had to be careful. Niki and I sat close
together and spoke in hushed tones. Smirnoff, on the other hand,
was unusually animated and it was hard to keep him
quiet.

“
The first
thing is to prevent the driver from taking that route through the
tunnel. This part is key.

“
That’s why we
need you Mr Smirnoff,” Niki said with smile.

“
Okay, to
business then,” Smirnoff said. “It seems to me there are two
‘issues’: the driver and the paparazzi. Option number one, I become
Diana’s bodyguard cum driver. I’ve done this type of work before –
and I like it. No-one gets between me and my client, and I’m a
great driver. Take me back to 1997 and I’ll live in that time.
Things weren’t so bad then.”

“
It does mean
there’ll be two of you living in 1997…” Niki observed.

“
Great! We can
do the job twice as well then! I’ll say he’s my kid
brother.”

“
And option
two?” I asked.

“
We talk to
Diana. We give her videos, newspapers, magazines… anything to show
her where her life is going and what’s going to happen in that
tunnel. We should go back to a time before the divorce. After that,
maybe it’s too late – maybe she won’t listen.

Niki was smiling. “I like
the second idea,” she said.

“
Yeah, but
we’ve tried it before,” I pointed out, “and it didn’t
work.”

We explained our failed
attempt to prevent the rise of Hitler and the Second World War by
taking evidence of the atrocities, the holocaust, and D–Day to a
government minister. Smirnoff was clearly interested.

“
Hey, you
should have given me that job!”

“
What job?” I
asked.

“
Taking out
the Fuhrer… wow! I wouldn’t have bungled it like those guys
did.”

“
If anyone can
do it, you’re the man,” I agreed. “But there’d probably be another
Hitler to take his place.”

Smirnoff nodded
sagely.

“
I think the
Diana situation is very different, Joe,” Niki said. “With the rise
of Germany, there were too many people involved. We were dealing
with governments with their own agendas that time. With Diana, it’s
more personal – it’s really in her own hands. That’s my
feeling.”

I had to say that Niki
was right. And the fact we’d done something similar before meant we
were better equipped to do it again – and better this time. So we
sanctioned Smirnoff’s second option. We would prepare the
materials, and he would accompany us to make sure we got to talk
with Diana. As a hit–man, he could find his way into just about
anywhere unseen.

***

Twenty–Seven

Having decided how we
were going to intervene in the death of Princess Diana, the next
thing to decide was exactly where and when.

Niki had
researched Charles and Diana’s relationship on the internet, and
the key dates were their separation in December 1992 and subsequent
divorce at the end of August, 1996. Then there was Diana’s
revealing and candid BBC interview in November 1995, which pretty
much put a nail in her relationship with Charles. So it seemed that
meeting the Princess of Wales during her visit to Moscow on
16
^th
June, 1995 would be a good idea – a suitable time to talk to
Diana, and a chance for Smirnoff to see his mother. And Moscow
would not be freezing cold at that time of year, as Niki pointed
out.

The next step was to
collect the documents we needed to show Diana – old newspapers and
magazines, videos, photographs of the crash – that sort of thing.
We were busy downloading all this stuff, when Niki had a
thought.

“
Joe, what are
we going to say when Diana asks where we got all this?”

“
Just tell her
the truth.”

“
That we’re
from the future?”

“
Sure – why
not? If none of this works, we can always try Plan B.”

“
The one where
Smirnoff signs up as her bodyguard?”

“
Yeah, that’s
the one.”

“
Okay.”

Unlike some other jumps,
we didn’t need to make radical changes to our clothing for this
trip – maybe just pick up some old clothes from Oxfam if need be.
We did think it would be useful to take an iPad though – for
showing any videos and pictures. There was nothing like that on the
market in 1995, but Apple had launched a ‘Message Pad’ a couple of
years earlier, so our device wouldn’t blow her mind too much. And
if it did, it would show we must be from the future,
right?

Niki suggested
we synchronise the days of the week in 1995 with our present time.
We needed to arrive in Moscow on Thursday,
15
^th
August, 1995, so we made sure we flew out on a Thursday.
Otherwise, the day changes would do my head in (it’s bad enough
when we fly to China and lose seven or eight hours in time
difference).

Smirnoff’s role was to
facilitate our operation – in whatever way necessary. Again, he
wanted to travel alone, so Niki booked two business class seats for
our four–hour Virgin Atlantic flight to Moscow. We suspected
Smirnoff would take the Aeroflot flight the same day. Seeing as he
let us have the last hit for free, we made sure he was paid for
this job upfront. Fortunately, he didn’t need cash, so I made a
transfer of 50,000 pounds to his bank account before we left. He
even gave me an invoice! This was for building work on our new
extension… well, the one we might have one day. Yes, Smirnoff had
set up a small business in the UK, and even paid tax! A good cover
for his other occupation.

Once everything was
ready, we made our way to Gatwick Airport for our flight. These
days, we only flew business or first class, which usually gave us
access to the VIP lounges. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, as my
mother would say.

I’d never been to Moscow
before, but Niki had stopped off there one time when her flight to
Shanghai was grounded. It was January, and she and her parents were
off to visit relatives for Chinese New Year – and Moscow was
freezing. The airline put them up in a hotel at the airport for the
night, but they weren’t allowed to go into the city. Our plan this
trip was to arrive in Moscow the day before Diana’s visit, book
into a hotel, and make the final preparations for our meeting with
the Princess. I was glad we were leaving the most difficult part of
this to Smirnoff. Given the tight security she must be under, and
the fact that we couldn’t speak the local language, it would be
impossible to talk to her in private without getting
arrested.

We’d arranged to meet
Smirnoff at Moscow Domodedovo airport at 5pm after arriving from
London. He had a big grin all over his face when he greeted us at
the arrival gate.

“
Welcome to
Russia!” He hugged us both, and grabbed Niki’s suitcase. He was
clearly not worried about being seen with us in his home country.
“How was your trip?” he asked.

“
Oh, you know…
not bad… not as good as Aeroflot though,” I jested.

“
Aeroflot?
That’s Russian rubbish. I always fly British Airways.”

If Smirnoff was
Pinocchio, his nose would be two feet long by now; he never
‘always’ did anything.

He had arranged for a
private car to take us to our hotel, the downtown Marriott Royal
Aurora, where he’d booked a room for us. Smirnoff wanted us to
enjoy our stay in Moscow and see the sights whilst conducting our
‘business’. He didn’t stop talking all the way to the hotel – it
was clearly a big thing for him to be back home, and he was
certainly looking forward to seeing his mother again.

The Russian dropped us at
his hotel and we arranged to meet at the Children’s Hospital at
10am the next morning. As we were waving him away, Niki said, “Are
you sure Smirnoff knows where the hospital is Joe? We didn’t give
him the address.”

“
Of course he
knows – this is his home town! He told me he knew it well… his
mother went there with his niece, remember?” Niki always wants to
make sure things are organised properly – she doesn’t like leaving
anything to chance. It’s a good trait of hers, but I was sure about
the hospital.

That evening, we went for
a slow walk in the vicinity of the hotel. Smirnoff said he wanted
to show us Red Square and the main sights of the city once the job
was over, so we didn’t go far. After returning to the hotel, we
made our final preparations, and had an early night.

*

The next day after
breakfast, we made our way to Tushinskaya Children’s Hospital,
which was located in the western part of the city, close to the
MKAD ring–road. A receptionist at the hotel had written the address
in Russian for us, so we had no problem getting there in the taxi.
However, we did have a problem when we arrived: no Smirnoff. I
tried calling him on his mobile, but the message said it was
powered off. We waited until 10.20am, and then I went inside in
case he was waiting for us in the large foyer. But no Smirnoff. I
waited another ten minutes, and then rejoined Niki
outside.

“
He’s never
late, something’s wrong,” I said whilst Niki stared at the
building. “What are you looking at?” I asked.

“
Joe, how old
do you think this hospital is?”

“
Oh, I dunno…
eight or nine years maybe – no more than that.” Then the penny
dropped. This hospital could not have been there in 1995. To
double–check, we jumped back nineteen years – and found ourselves
on a building plot. We quickly jumped back to the present and
entered the hospital. Niki found someone who spoke Chinese (yes, it
was actually easier to find a Chinese speaker than an English one!)
and discovered that the original hospital building was downtown,
but no longer in use. She got the address and we grabbed a taxi. It
was well after eleven by this time, and with the heavy traffic we
didn’t arrive at the old hospital until midday. There was Smirnoff,
leaning against the building, casually smoking one of his
cigarettes.

“
So, you think
you’re still on British time, my friends?”

“
Very funny.
Why is your phone switched off?” I was rather irritated by this
time. Partly because Smirnoff had his phone switched off, but
mainly because I had ignored Niki’s thoughts about checking the
address our Russian friend had.

“
My phone was
not switched off. But maybe you had forgotten that I would be using
my Russian mobile? And maybe I could not call you because your
phone cannot be used outside of the UK?”

“
Tian
a!
Is that true Joe?” Oh boy, was I in
trouble.

“
Okay okay –
I’ve messed up – sorry. Can’t we just jump to 1995 and move
on?”

“
Well, we
can,” replied Niki, “but we can’t be sure Diana will still be
there. It’s nearly 12.30pm now.”

One thing we
realised early on about time–trips was that we could only change
the date, not the time. This meant we would always have to arrive
at whatever time it was when we left. So if we jumped to
16
^th
June, 1995 from the present, it would still be 12.30pm. But as
Diana had only scheduled a morning at Tushinskaya and had another
appointment in the afternoon, the likelihood was that she had now
left. This gave us two options: either we wait until 10am the next
day (Saturday) and then jump back to 10am
16
^th
June, 1995. Or, we catch her at her next engagement. We opted
for the latter.