Time Leap (2 page)

“
Mr Cooper?” I
nodded. “Could you come with me sir?” I followed a tall, well–built
man with closely cropped grey hair and an airport security uniform
to a part of the airport I’d never seen before. He looked like an
ex–policeman, who still worked out to keep fit. He punched in a
security code, and we entered a brightly lit area. His manner was
friendly and genial, but very business–like. “Please take a seat.”
I sat opposite him across a wooden table. A woman brought me some
water. “I need to record this conversation. It’s standard procedure
in these situations.”

“
No
problem.”

“
You said you
had some information – about New York?”

I told him what I could
remember from thirteen years ago. At around 8.45am, an American
Airways passenger aircraft will fly into the North Tower of the
World Trade Center in New York City. Everyone will think it’s an
accident at first, but about fifteen minutes later a second
aircraft will hit the other tower from a different direction. Then
a third plane will take off from Washington airport, double–back
and crash in front of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. All three
planes (plus a fourth which will crash into a field after the
passengers try to overpower the hijackers), will be piloted by
terrorists – Islamic fundamentalists. The man wrote notes whilst I
talked. When I’d finished, he asked me what time the third plane
would crash into the Pentagon building.

“
I can’t
remember exactly…”

“
Remember?”

“
I mean, from
my source… I think about nine–thirty.”

The man finished writing
and looked at me. “You understand Mr Cooper that we take any
terrorist threats very seriously indeed. At the same time, before
we act on this sort of information, we must be sure that this is a
real threat and not a hoax…”

“
This is not a
hoax, believe me. People are going to die – thousands of people.
The towers will collapse – implode – people will jump from the
burning buildings… it will be horrible… you’ve got to stop it!” It
had now thoroughly dawned on me how real this was, and how I really
could stop a disaster – if this man would just listen to
me.

“
I’m not
saying that you yourself are knowingly perpetrating a hoax Mr
Cooper… can I call you Joe?” I nodded. “I’m sure you’re relaying
this information in good faith; but at this stage, how do I know
this is genuine and not misinformation that you have received. Do
you understand?” I nodded again. “I do have to warn you there are
heavy penalties for hoaxes – with up to five years in
prison.”

“
I know that
what I am telling you is the truth, and this
will
happen,” I said seriously and
confidently.

“
How
do you know?” the man asked. “What’s the source of
your information?” I glanced at the clock: 10.16am, London time.
Just two hours, thirty minutes before the first plane would hit the
Twin Towers. If I told him the truth, he wouldn’t believe a single
word.

“
I can’t
reveal my source,” I replied. “My life would be in danger.” I
didn’t know what else to say. “Look,” I said standing up, gripping
the table, “there’s not much time left – you’ve got to do
something
.”

“
We will do
everything necessary, Mr Cooper, that’s my job – but it’s no use
getting agitated. We have to follow procedures – and we’ll do that
as quickly as we can. Now, do you happen to know the flight numbers
of these aircraft?” he asked calmly. I sat down and took my mind
back to the news stories thirteen years ago.

“
The first one
was definitely American Airlines – flight number eleven I think. I
can’t remember the second, but I’m pretty sure it was a United
Airlines aircraft. And the one that hit the Pentagon was also
American Airlines.”

“
That
Hit
the
Pentagon?”

“
Will
hit it.”

“
Okay, thank
you Joe,” the man said rising from his chair, “that’s very helpful.
I’ll have to ask you to wait here whilst I check these out… what
time is your flight?” I told him my flight number and departure
time. “I’m sorry, but you might have to miss that one,” he said
leaving the room.

I sat and waited,
wondering what would happen next. Then my mobile rang.

“
Hi, this is
Niki… I have a break.”

“
Oh
great!”

“
Have you told
the authorities?”

“
I have – I’m
at airport security now. I’m not sure they believe me
though.”

“
I believe
you,” she said.

“
You do? Why?
It must sound completely crazy.”

“
Yeah, it does
in a way… but I’ve got a feeling that you’re telling the truth. I
don’t know why. Can they stop it happening?”

“
I suppose
they can ground the planes… but it’s a big ask. A lot of people
won’t be happy… the airlines could lose a lot of money.” A woman
brought me a cup of coffee, and I told Niki I’d get back to her
when I had anymore news. The woman said I’d have to wait another
ten or fifteen minutes. Everyone was polite and courteous – no
thumb screws yet. Twenty minutes later, the man (whose name was
Rodgers) returned – this time with another man. He was thinner and
shorter than Rodgers, with longish hair and round–rimmed
spectacles, and dressed casually, with a green role neck sweater
and blue jeans.

“
Well, the
flight details you gave us seem to check out,” said Rodgers.”
There’s an American Airlines flight eleven out of
Boston…

“
Yes, that’s
the one – it’s not bound for New York City, but the hijackers turn
it towards New York…”

“
I see. And
there’s a United Airlines flight 175 from New York… could that be
the one you mentioned – the one that will target the South
Tower?”

“
Yes, I’m sure
of it.”

Then the second man
spoke. “How did you sleep last night Mr Cooper?” This caught me off
my guard.

“
I slept
fine…”

“
Any dreams?”
I stopped for a moment, realizing where he was going with
this.

“
Oh, you mean
about aeroplanes flying into buildings?”

“
Something
like that.”

“
Look, this
is
real
; I haven’t
made it up…”

“
I’m not
saying you are,” the man said. “But the language you’ve used to
describe these events is that of an observer who has seen something
happen. You told Mr Rodgers that planes will crash into the twin
towers around 8.45am and 9am. Usually with inside information,
people tell us when an event will begin, but never finish. So
normally we would hear something like, ‘American Airlines Flight 11
will be hijacked and flown towards the World Trade Center in New
York City.’ No–one ever gives exact times because in a hijack
situation it’s impossible to say when the event will finish, only
when it was planned to start. And even the start time is only a
prediction. Who knows when the flight will actually take off – you
must have had your share of delayed flights. And no–one can predict
how long it will take the hijackers to gain control of an aeroplane
and change course. You’re describing something you’ve already seen
happen, rather than what is planned to happen.”

I was about to say, ‘this
is definitely not a dream, it’s real,’ when I realized that this
was the perfect explanation – and one they might believe. Many
people have dreams, visions or premonitions of something that’s
about to happen. And this man (whom I later discovered was a
psychologist called Dr Skinner) was not saying that I had made it
up; he was proposing it was some sort of precognition, which was
actually totally valid.

“
I thought
you’d think I was crazy,” I said at last. “I didn’t think you’d
take it seriously if I said I had a vivid dream.”

The psychologist smiled
and nodded at Rodgers, who said “Thank you for your time Joe. We’re
going to pass on all the details to Washington, and it’s up to them
what they do with it. Obviously, it’s very different from the usual
type of tip off, and I don’t know how they’ll respond. Many people
have dreams about disasters, but ninety–nine percent of them don’t
concern real events. Yours, though, has an unusual amount of
detail. We do need you to wait at the airport for a little while
longer, I’m afraid. Anything else you can remember will be
extremely valuable to us, and the FBI in Washington is likely to
want to talk to you – we’ll need your work, home and mobile phone
numbers, and a copy of your passport.”

“
Do you think
they’ll act on this?” I asked.

“
Well, the
last time we passed on such detailed information, they heavily
tightened up security and grounded every Eastern seaboard flight
for five hours. I would expect the same again.”

I said I was happy to
help, and gave Rodgers the details he wanted. When he saw my phone,
he was immediately very interested.

“
Is that a
mobile? I’ve never seen one like that before – what is it?” My
phone would not be on the market for another six years, so I had to
think quickly.

“
Oh, this…
it’s a ‘Smart phone’. Just a prototype from the Far East. My wife
works for a Taiwan company, and she got it for me.

“
Can I see
it?” asked Rodgers. I reluctantly handed the phone over and showed
him how it worked. Both he and the psychologist were stunned.
“Where can I get one?” Rodgers asked.

“
Umm... they
should be out sometime soon.” I quickly took the phone back and put
it away.

“
Oh, one more
thing,” Rodgers said as we left the security area, “we couldn’t
find your flight – no listing for that flight number. Did you mean
this one?” He showed me details of another flight to New York with
a similar number.

“
Yes, that’s
the one,” I lied.

“
We can
reschedule your flight for this afternoon, if that helps; but if
all East Coasts flights are grounded, you may want to reconsider
your flight plans.”

I thanked
Rogers for his help, and left quickly before he realised I wasn’t
booked on any flight in that decade. It seemed like there was
nothing more I could do to help, and went to get a coffee. If I
wasn’t meant to interfere in wheels of history, then nothing I said
or did would make any difference. But what if I
could
change history… what
then?

As I sat in
Starbucks stirring sugar into my Americano, with Jennifer Lopez
singing
‘I’m Real
’
on the café’s hi–fi, I contemplated the ability to travel back in
time at will. Was this just a one–off? Did it work just for 2001,
or could I return to other periods in history – or go forward into
the future?

I finished my coffee, and
changed the date on my phone back to September 11, 2014. Everything
wobbled again. Jennifer Lopez was still singing the same song, but
the décor in the café had changed. I ran to find the newsstand and
checked the date: I was back! I couldn’t wait to tell Niki all
about this – it was going to blow her mind.

***

Two

When I got back to the
present, the first thing I wanted to know was whether or not
history had been changed by my intervention. I was in for a big
surprise.

I’d called Niki just
after I’d returned from Heathrow and took her out for dinner – with
my iPad in tow. We ordered food, and I brought up present day
photographs of New York City on the screen from the
Internet.

“
Oh–my–god!
Just take a look at this Nik!” I couldn’t believe what I was
seeing. Niki looked casually at the screen.

“
It’s New York
City – so what?” she said.

“
Yes, it’s New
York City –
with
the
World Trade Centre twin
towers!
”

“
Are you okay
Joe?”

“
I’m fine –
I’m more than fine – I’m
wonderful
! Just hold on one second –
you are just
not
going to believe this…” I searched for the pictures of the
destruction of the World Trade Centre I’d downloaded from the
Internet ten years ago: the two planes flying into the twin towers,
people running from the buildings, and the final collapse. “That’s
strange…”

“
What is
it?”

“
My pictures –
they’ve all gone. I had some photographs showing the attack on the
World Trade Center in 2001, and now they’ve gone…” Suddenly
something clicked with Niki.

“
Joe, I’ve
just remembered something. I don’t think I’ve ever told you this,
but when I was at school in September 2001, I received a very
strange phone call from a man about a terrorist attack on the World
Trade Centre…”

It was unbelievable – the
call I’d made to Niki from the airport when she was at school was
now in present consciousness… it had become reality!

“
That was me!
I called you from Heathrow airport that day!”