The White Feather- A story of infinite worlds

There are some secrets

“Yeah yeah, don’t act smart. Look where your smart boss ended up. Sit!” Thomas said and put the gun on the table.

“You hide behind that wall of bitterness because you don’t want anyone to see your insecurities.” The girl said.

“I don’t think I ordered an astrologer. Just give me some information that I can use.” Thomas said, irritated.

“Look, you're not doing me a favor by extracting information. If you want me to listen to you, then you have to listen to me also.”

“How about I slit your throat and solve both our problems?”

“No one in this city is afraid to die.”

“Didn’t exactly look like it when you stepped out of the cupboard.”

“Whatever dude, I won’t explain myself to a drunkard.”

An awkward silence occupies the air for some time. Thomas drinks another two shots and the maid watches him in awe.

“I don’t think this is the proper time to speak to you. I’ll be here in the morning.” The girl finally said and left. Thomas wanted to stop her but he felt too sleepy to say anything.

The doorbell interrupted Thomas’ profound sleep. It took him some time to realize where he was. And when he did, he reached for his gun and slowly walked to the door.

“Who is it?” he asked without opening and instantly changed his position to dodge any sudden gunshots.

“It’s me. I hope you remember me.” the maid replied.

Thomas questioned her for a while to avoid any unpleasant surprises. After he was convinced that it was the maid, he slowly opened the door. He observed her up and down and his gaze stopped at her hips. When he continued to stare for a while, she became uneasy.

“This is not a very nice way to flirt.” She said nervously.

“Take out the gun and put it on the table.” Thomas said, still looking at her ass.

The maid was surprised and impressed at the same time. She took out the gun and went on to drop it at the ordered position.

“Slowly…” Thomas said cautiously.

“My name is Amanda by the way.” She said after completing the task.

“Whatever. Why do you have a gun on you?” Thomas said lightly.

“Everyone in this city has a gun. That’s why they don’t check you at the hotel door.” Amanda said, smiling.

Thomas didn’t reply. He went on to pour some water in a glass and sat down on the couch.

“You have something to tell me?” Thomas asked.

“What do I get in return?” Amanda asked.

“I won’t kill you right now.” Thomas said, c*****g his gun.

“Then I guess you will put me in your ‘time prison’.” Amanda said sarcastically.

“I only kill bad people. So as long as you aren’t one of them, you're safe. Now sit the f**k down because I don’t like to play games.” Thomas said, irritated.

Thomas was feeling these weird voices inside of him as soon as he entered this city. He wasn’t much of a drunkard but he was consuming more and more alcohol every day. Mood swings joined the party and he was a complete mess now. His instincts were screaming that something was wrong. But a major part of his training was deception; so Amanda didn’t know anything. She even had no idea that Thomas didn’t remember a thing about last night. But he knew that if he invited her, she is probably vital for the mission.

“So, as a part of our deal, you tell me who you are.” Amanda said, sitting on the couch.

“I am not allowed to disclose anything to you.” Thomas said proudly.

“Neither am I.” Amanda replied plainly.

This was followed by silence. Thomas was convinced that Amanda was a very tough nut to c***k. He gave it a thought and realized that he didn’t have much of a choice. Amanda held all the cards, and the only smart way was to speak little and listen more.

“What do you want to know?” Thomas said, clearing his throat.

“Everything.” Amanda said, her eyes shining.

“There isn’t much to tell. Ask me and I’ll answer.” Thomas said.

“Okay, but know this. I can always spot a lie. And if I know that you're lying, there is no chance in hell that you will kill him.”

Thomas didn’t answer. He simply poured vodka in his glass.

“Okay. So where are you from?” Amanda said.

“I don’t know.” Thomas said, sipping the poison in his glass.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Amanda said. This wasn’t exactly the answer she expected.

“They wipe our memory as soon as we sign up.”

“Who do you work for?”

Thomas hesitated, but poured down the question with a sip of alcohol. He leaned back and drew a long breath.

“About five years ago, the crime was in its golden age. Syndicates like the mafia and yakuza ruled the world. The governments were helpless because the syndicates had the police in their pockets and hence they got the wind before any special agency took them down. Just when the terrorists started to take over countries, a breakthrough discovery was made in the international fraternity of physicists. They found a way to manipulate time and treat it like an object instead of a dimension. They were smart enough to keep it a secret and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. The project was taken over by the governments and patriots were recruited to work in a special force. The aim of this force was to take out terrorist organizations and return power to the people. It took them two years to figure out to use time to their advantage. After all, time travel is very tricky and it is easy to get lost in the moment. They discovered that time travel is itself a form of teleportation. According to string theory, several parallel universes exist with our own, some of which are ahead of us in time, whereas some are lagging behind. Time travel is getting teleported to those worlds. Only limitation is that we can only travel to worlds with a time difference of some years and sometimes decades. The agency was named white feather, after the symbol of peace. I work for the white feather, from the time when there were just ten of us in the force to this day when there are a thousand to support us. We cleared the world and took out most of the gangs, except the underground ones. Some time ago, we had the news that a syndicate was forming right under our noses. So we had to look into it. Now that I’m here, I must say this is a very smooth organization, hence very dangerous for the integrity of this country. So I’m going to kill the leader and anyone who comes in my way.” Thomas said.

Amanda’s brain wasn’t able to absorb all this information and refused to respond. She just looked at Thomas, flabbergasted.

“An…and how did you manage to wipe all these gangs in such short amount of time.” she asked at last.

“Look at it this way- this is like a trade of favors between parallel worlds. We are living in 2023 right now, but one of the parallel earths is living in 2019, 2018 or maybe 1920s. Similarly, many of them would be living in 2029 or 2030s. Travelling to the earths which are close to our timeline is easy but to the ones which are very ahead or behind of us is not possible right now because of the limitations of our equipments. When one of the agents travels to another earth which is ten years behind of him and takes out a gang, this means that some agent on a planet ahead in time will travel and take down a gang in his world. It’s logical because the equipments of a syndicate in the past are no match for us. They are still using Thompsons and we have carbine rifles. Similarly, the agent coming from the future easily eradicates our gangs because their tech is way too advanced. They can’t just give their tech to us because then it can fall into the wrong hands. It’s all logical. Low risk, high returns. It’s a simple deal with different worlds. This means that with enough agents, we can take out all the gangs in the world in a single day.” Thomas tried to explain in as little words as possible.

“Interesting; how old are you?” Amanda asked.

“One hundred and seventy five years old. The funny thing is that when you travel to other worlds, your age in the normal world freezes until you get back. So in a way, I have more experience than any man who ever lived.”

“I hope the old man’s still got some fight left in him, huh?” Amanda said.

“You bet.” Thomas said proudly.

“Good, because you're going to need it.” Amanda smiled.

“Come on now, tell me everything about this shithole and the crook who rules it.” Thomas said.

“This place is not safe. The walls have cameras. Walk with me and I’ll tell you.” Amanda said. She realized something and quickly but cautiously unfolded her sleeves to hide the small Swastika sign on her left hand. Thomas was busy lighting a cigar so he didn’t notice her.

Amanda took a sickness leave and accompanied Thomas on a road trip across the city. The hotel had provided Thomas with a car to travel. He was very happy but Amanda was angry.

“Are you stupid or what? I told you we can’t trust the hotel. Nevertheless, you brought their car?” she said in sign language.

Thomas was an assassin, not a spy. He didn’t know sign language. So he just went with some random gestures before pulling out the middle finger. Amanda didn’t understand the sarcasm and tried to make something out of his gestures. It was only when Thomas stopped the car in the market when he told her that he didn’t know sign.

“What?! How could you possibly be good at your job then?” Amanda cried.

“My job is to kill people, not interrogate them.” Thomas made a quick reversal.

“A hundred and seventy five years of age and you don’t even know sign language. You're a f*****g moron, you know that?” Amanda said in disgust.

“I’ve heard that. Anyway, I’m not here to impress you. You better start throwing out some useful words from that mouth or you will need to use signs for the rest of your life in this shithole.” Thomas said cruelly.

Amanda knew that the time of playing games was over. If she didn’t tell him what he needs, he will surely do what he says. After all, no police can catch a time traveler.