Time Leap (19 page)

This was to be a visit to
the offices of the wheelchair charity, ‘Motivation’. In 2015, the
Moscow office had closed, but we had the address from 1997, so it
was just a matter of getting there, jumping back in time, and
waiting for Diana and party to arrive. Motivation wasn’t far from
the old hospital, and it took us less than twenty minutes to get
there. After a quick bite to eat at a local café recommended by
Smirnoff, we found a quiet street nearby and made the
jump.

In our amended plan,
Smirnoff would smuggle us into a room in the Clinic, and then
somehow get Diana into the room to talk to us. He found a window
unlocked at the rear of building which he opened and climbed
through. He then unlocked a rear door and let us in. From that room
we had a good view of the corridor, at the end of which Diana would
enter. Smirnoff would meet the Princess of Wales there. He was
looking very official, with ID badges, ear-phone and the right sort
of clothes for his role.

After ten minutes, we
heard the front door open and the familiar sound of Diana’s voice.
As per our plan, Smirnoff was waiting for Diana. As she entered, we
noticed she was talking to a young boy in wheelchair in the
corridor. There was a minimum amount of security and the atmosphere
was warm and engaging. Smirnoff changed all that.

“
Your royal
highness, I need to speak with you urgently,” he said, suddenly
approaching the Princess directly.

“
What is it –
who are you?” Diana replied.

“
Vikor
Korikov, madam, head of Moscow security.” Smirnoff was wearing a
photo ID around his neck, with his name and ‘Moscow State Security’
displayed. It looked very authentic.

“
I don’t like
this ma’am,” her personal bodyguard said, “I haven’t been informed
about this.”

“
I’m sorry,
but your life is in danger, madam – you must come with me. Your man
can accompany you,” Smirnoff said, indicating the bodyguard, “and
the Police should guard the entrance.”

“
Oh very
well,” Diana replied a little flustered. “I won’t be long,” she
smiled at the young boy.

The Russian led Diana and
her bodyguard into our room – and with the speed of a viper he
injected the bodyguard with a syringe, holding his hand over the
man’s mouth so he couldn’t talk. The man slipped out of
consciousness within seconds. Diana gasped.

“
Just a
sedative,” he explained. “He’ll have a nasty headache when he wakes
up, but that’s all.” Diana was understandably alarmed by this
action, but Smirnoff reassured her. “We mean you no harm madam, and
your life really is in danger. Please take a seat.” Smirnoff
signalled to us, and we introduced ourselves to the Princess. We
had to be quick – we didn’t know how long the local police would
stay outside the building.

“
My name is
Joe Cooper and this is my wife Niki. We’re from London, and we have
some important information regarding an accident in Paris which you
need to see. Please take a look at these.” I tried to be as calm
and business–like as possible. I’d never talked to a princess
before.

We showed her everything
we’d brought with us. She watched with mesmerised confusion as she
scanned through all the pictures and newspaper articles. The fact
that she was looking at them on a device which was ten years ahead
of its time had passed her by.

“
I don’t
understand,” she said eventually, “is this some sort of
simulation
– a future
that could happen? Not a very nice one, I should add.”

“
Yes, you
could say that,” Niki replied.

“
But there
could be many different futures that become reality – hundreds, if
not thousands – why pick this one?”

“
Because,” I
stated bluntly, “if you go to Paris in 1997 and go down that
tunnel, this one will come true.”

“
I’m sorry, I
don’t have time for this bull–shit. People need me…” Diana got up
from her seat and headed for the door.

“
Joe,
do
something!” Niki
hissed.

As quickly as I could I
got out my phone, grabbed Diana’s arm and changed the date. Feeling
the wobble, and aware that something had just happened, Diana
turned round to find that Niki, Smirnoff and her bodyguard had
vanished. In their place was a doctor behind a desk talking with a
nurse.

“
Can I help
you?” the doctor asked in broken English.

“
Another time,
thanks,” I said quickly leading Diana out of the room.

The policemen and the
rest of Diana’s entourage had vanished.

“
Where is
everyone?” she said with surprise.

“
They’ll be
back in a couple of years... they’re still in 1995 just
now.”

“
Then where
are we?”

I looked at my phone.
“Moscow, September first 1997,” I replied. “Follow me.”

“
Where are we
going?” she asked as I almost pulled her along the street
outside.

“
Less talking
and more walking would be good, thanks.”

Naturally, this little
diversion was not planned. We hadn’t anticipated Diana walking out
like that, and when Niki shouted ‘Do something!’ I had to act
quickly. We’d previously convinced Smirnoff of our ability to
travel through time by example, so it seemed reasonable to do the
same for Diana. As we hurried through the streets of Moscow, I was
looking for a newspaper stand or bookstore selling the English
version of the Moscow Times with the information I needed. Then I
found a small bookshop not far from the Charity office we’d just
left.

“
I don’t
suppose you’ve got any roubles?” I asked the Princes of
Wales.

“
This is
utterly crazy,” she replied. “You’re going to get into so much
trouble for this.”

“
Ah, here’s
some,” I said, fishing some coins out of my pocket.

“
Why is
everyone staring like that – as if they’ve seen a ghost?” she
asked.

“
Well,
probably because of this...”

I showed her the Moscow
Times and she sunk to her knees. An assistant quickly got her a
chair. September 1, 1997 was the day after Diana’s car crash in
Paris, and the story was on the cover of just about every national
newspaper around the World. She read the whole article and looked
at the pictures. Eventually she said, “I don’t know what to say… am
I dreaming? It feels like a nightmare.”

“
It’s a chance
to change history,” I said.

“
I’d like to
have another look at the things you brought me – can you give them
to Trevor? He’ll take them to London. I’ll make sure you have them
back, of course.”

“
No problem.
We want to do whatever we can to avoid this,” I said pointing at
the paper. “We need to get back now… the others will be
worried.”

In a quiet corner of the
street outside, I set the date back to June 16, 1995, and we walked
back to the Charity office from the bookshop.

“
Why do you
have to hold my arm to do that?” Diana asked as we
walked.

“
Only people
or objects connected to the phone will be transported,” I
replied.

“
Transported?”

“
Through
time.” This was a mountain of unbelievability for a Princess to
take in – in fact for anyone – but she was doing pretty
well.

“
Is that
a
mobile phone?
”
she asked.

“
It is – but
don’t ask for one in the shops – they might think you’re
crazy.”

“
Oh, don’t
worry, I’m used to people thinking I’m crazy,” she
replied.

Niki was relieved to see
us back at the Clinic, as were Diana’s people. Whilst they were
quizzing her on what had happened, Nik and I talked
privately.

“
They’ve been
going mental here Joe… where did you take her?”

“
September,
1997.”

“
Did it
work?”

“
Seems to have
done. She wants to take another look at the documents and videos we
brought with us.”

“
Great!”

“
I said she
could take them with her.”

“
What! You
mean take my iPad to London…
1995
London?”

“
She’ll give
it back.”

“
Right – after
she’s changed the development of tablet technology!”

“
Could be a
good thing.”

“
We don’t know
that!”

“
Well, I don’t
think she’ll show it to anyone else – I trust her. And if things
don’t work out, we can always come back and change history again,”
I said.

Niki shook her head and
went over to talk to Smirnoff. He was checking on the bodyguard,
who was still out cold, whilst everyone else seemed to be in a
state of confusion. Diana prized herself away from her entourage
and came over to talk to me. I let her have the iPad and documents
I’d promised.

“
Thank you
Joe. I still don’t know how you’ve done all this, but it’s given me
a lot to think about.”

“
Don’t think
about it too long,” I said.

“
I won’t. How
can I get these back to you? Could you call at Kensington Palace
next week? I want to make sure you have them back as soon as
possible. And don’t worry about me showing anyone else. If ‘they’
see all this, they’ll have me committed – and I’m not ready for
that just now.”

I said we’d call
mid–week, and went to find Niki and Smirnoff. The bodyguard had
come round, and Nik and the Russian had left the building before
too many questions were asked. Outside, Niki was in the shade,
sheltering from the bright sunlight of a warm June day. She waved
when she saw me.

“
Smirnoff’s
gone to see his mother,” she said. “Did Diana take it
seriously?”

“
I think so…
she asked if we could call at the big house next week so she can
return the material. Whether or not anything changes is up to her
now – she knows as much as we do.”

Smirnoff stayed in 1995,
whilst we returned to our own time zone for the rest of the day. He
still intended to show us the sights of Moscow, and said he’d bring
his mother, if that was okay with us. We arranged to meet them both
in Red Square the following day.

***

Twenty–Eight

The next day, it was good
to relax and see the main tourist sights of Moscow, accompanied by
two people who knew the Capital of Russia far better than I know
the Capital of England. We did a lot of walking (far more
exhausting that time–travel), and in the evening had a nice dinner
with Smirnoff and his mother.

Mrs Smirnoff was very
good company, and despite knowing very little English we could see
the impact that Diana’s visit to the children’s hospital had had on
her. She hardly stopped talking about it. The day seemed to pass
quickly, and we were soon saying our goodbyes and returning to our
hotel. Smirnoff said he’d like to stay in 1995 Moscow with his
mother and other relatives for a few days – whilst he had the
chance. Meanwhile, we decided to travel to St. Petersburg – a city
that Niki had always wanted to visit. We arranged to meet Smirnoff
back in Moscow (in 1995), return him to 2015 and then travel back
to London together.

*

On the plane home, we’d
decided that no matter what the outcome of our trip to Moscow,
Diana’s fate was now entirely in her hands – and we would not
attempt to influence her choice or change history again. Unless of
course our intervention had caused something far worse than the
death of three individuals.

It was early Wednesday
afternoon when we finally arrived back at Gatwick airport. Smirnoff
left us at there, and we took the train to Central London. We were
quite tired – we’d been travelling across both space and time, and
doing both at once can be exhausting. (Anyone who’s travelled from
east to west on a plane for fifteen or more hours can tell you
that!). Despite the tiredness, we really wanted to retrieve the
iPad and documents loaned to the Princess of Wales as soon as
possible, so we called at Kensington Palace before going
home.

The Palace is
located in Kensington Gardens, adjacent to Hyde Park, Central
London, and we knew it well. Standing a short distance from the
house, we could see a very long queue of people waiting to enter
the former home of the Princess and take a nostalgic journey back
in time. Our own journey back in time would be to Wednesday June
21
^st
,
1995.

“
I hate
queuing,” I said to Niki with a smile, as I changed the date on the
phone. Suddenly, instead of the queues, there were two uniformed
guards on the door. We gave our names and told them we were
expected, prompting one of the guards to make a call on some sort
of outdated intercom. Niki had hoped to see Diana again, but we
learned she was away on business. The man who greeted us at the
door (whom we took to be her butler), thanked us for calling and
handed me a package. He said everything was there. We were just
about to leave, when he added, “Oh, I forgot to say… her royal
highness did ask if you wouldn’t mind leaving your contact details,
if that would be in order.”