Author : Eric Spery

27 December, 2033

A thin sunbeam streamed through a crack in the blinds. It lit John Kohl’s pregnant wife Angie as she snored quietly in bed.

He sat at his desk drinking coffee. Watching her.

His pack leaned against the door. Yet another business trip.

Steam rose in crazy ribbons from his cup as he sipped it and sighed. This was no kind of life for a married man. Soon enough a father.

He could see the green Temporal Manipulation Agency patch glinting on his jacket on the bedpost.

“More like Assassination Squad,” he muttered. “Almost always an assassination.”

“I’m tired,” he whispered.

Tired of killing. Tired of traveling into the past to change the future.

A copy of his resignation sat beside his final mission dossier.

They hadn’t been happy about it. Not happy at all. He’d been with the Agency since 2020. The same year he met Angie.

They tried to keep him, but he insisted. Finally, they gave him a transfer to the Department of Labor after this last mission.

He picked up the dossier, tore the seal and opened it.

Adjustment Target: Angelina Kohl – 2019

His eyes widened in horror and he looked up at the bed.

But, of course, it was empty.

Why was that strange? He couldn’t recall.

He looked down at the folder again and wondered who Angelina Johnson was.