Chills & Thrills: Three Novel Box Set by A. K. Alexander

Noah’s gifts for that matter. And, whether or not I was believing any of it right now, was not the point. The point was if this theory had anything to do with saving Hope, then I had to be all “ears.”
    “It takes a very unique soul to be able to transfer between time and space. There aren’t many who are capable of doing this type of transference. In fact, I have never known of any, thus proving the existence of these theories has never been easy. Until Hope.”
    “She can go between the universes?” I said.
    He nodded. “Grant Simms was involved, and Orlenda received information that this child had this unique specialty. I oversaw pieces of this project along with two other colleagues. They’re both dead now.” He cleared his throat.
    “Why? Why would she want the scientists who are involved in something like this dead?” I asked.
    Graves looked at me again. “Ethics. The doctors I worked with...Claire Freeman and Jess Stone had ethics, and so do I. She wants me gone now, too. The child is unaware of the complexity of her capabilities, but she has been hooked up to monitors associated with video and audio, and we have been able to take her back twenty years.”
    “Wait...what?” Ayden said. I could see that like me he was having a hard time wrapping his brain around this.
    “I know it sounds unbelievable but it is true—and can you imagine the consequences of what this all could mean?”
    I was so confused that I didn’t think I could imagine the consequences.
    “If this little girl is controlled by Orlenda, brain washed, manipulated, whatever you want to call it, she can have this child change the course of history. Change the here and now, and change the future, just through gathering information, and providing the wrong information, or for that matter the right information. Wars could be altered. Financial districts could fail. This is all vague, I realize, but as we’ve determined there isn’t much time. You have to trust me, though. Orlenda plans to use this girl as a weapon...as a tool...for her own purposes. Because, as ludicrous as it may sound, the woman wants to run the world with a superior race of super humans with gifts such as yourself. But more than that, she wants to control that race. It would be a massive destruction of decency, of true spirit and human connectedness. This world would become flush with human robots, with Orlenda at the helm. And the rest of us, well, the rest of us will all be dead, of course. If someone had access to these other dimensions, they could, theoretically, destroy them as well.”
    “You’re talking about the complete destruction of the universe?” said Ayden.
    “Even bigger, my friend,” said Dr. Graves sadly. “They could destroy the multiverse and everything within it.”
    I sat there for several seconds. Neither Ayden nor I had a response to any of this. It took me nearly a moment to finally say, “Dr. Graves, the driver will take you to where your physical appearance will be transformed, and from there to a private plane, where you will head to your new life. I may not see you again in this one, but I hope to in another life.” I stood and looked at Ayden, “If this is all real, then we better find this little girl. Now.”
     
     
     
    Chapter Twenty-three
     
     
    With Dr. Graves gone, the three of us sat together on the gently rocking boat.
    As evening approached, I had a majestic view of the harbor, which might house some of the world’s finest collection of yachts and other fine crafts, all ablaze with lights and many issuing music. The harbor was, for all intents and purposes, one big party. As was typical with my job, I rarely, if ever, got to enjoy the local flavor. And I almost never vacationed.
    “Please tell me Graves is insane,” said Noah.
    “Maybe,” said Ayden. “But I have a feeling—and you should really trust my feeling—that he’s on the up-and-up.”
    “I have the same feeling,” I said. “I suspect we all do.