Short Story Fiction
A French Connection

Image Source/Pixabay

Paris, 1888.

Johnathan Peters sat at a small outdoor table at a streetside cafe. It was early morning and the city of Paris was beginning to wake up. Horse drawn wagons were busy hauling freight to and from nearby businesses. Men dressed in top hats and tails drove their small horse drawn buggies to and fro while riders on horseback did their best to stay out of the way. It was a bustling neighborhood. Johnathan was content to sit in the long rays of the morning sun and sip on a cup of strong espresso as he watched the daily activities of a city coming to life.

It was mid June. The Spring blooms had long withered from the cherry trees and lilac bushes surrounding the area. The green of new leaves filled out their branches giving a comforting bit of shade to those who cared to enjoy it.

From his seat in front of the cafe, the newly erected Eiffel Tower loomed large. It was a wrought-iron and lattice structure. A new focal point for a growing city. Johnathan was not an architect but he smiled just the same, knowing he had provided the blueprints for the project.

Johnathan was in Paris for a meeting, but he was in no hurry. He had never been to Paris and he was enjoying the fresh morning air and the bustling atmosphere of a city on the verge of a new dawn. It was a huge change of venue from where he had come from. The stress, the smog, the short tempers of people with too little time to waste on pleasantries like a simple smile. Please and thank you were, as they say in Paris, passé.

His business contact would be along shortly. He would be picking up some important information procured through the clandestine business operation he ran back in America.

His Paris client was well connected to the French banking system. The information would be put to good use in the banks investment strategy portfolio. It would guarantee them a multi-billion dollar profit within a few short years.

Over the past several years, Jonathan had worked diligently to build a small network of well placed contacts around the world. He peddled information. Whatever his clients wanted, he would get it for them. The price was steep, but no one had ever balked. The information was as good as gold. It was worth every penny no matter what the price. They all knew it.

Jonathan’s business started with a discovery. He was working in his private lab on an experiment having to do with quantum physics. It was a theory he had been working on concerning certain aspects of time travel. If he could work them out, he would be well on his way to making the theory a reality.

As his due diligence and a little luck would have it, he was able to figure it out.

Traveling faster than the speed of light was now possible. In fact, manipulating time in whatever way you like was a relatively easy procedure.

He never shared the information. He was the only one in the world who knew how to do this. In fact, he was the only person who knew it was even remotely possible. Even his clients didn’t know how he came into possession of the information he brought them.

Jonathan used his new knowledge to amass a fortune by selling “future” information to his clients in the past.

The client finally showed. Johnathan was a little disappointed. He was enjoying his relaxing morning.

They stepped into his clients horse drawn carriage where a small strongbox filled with the gold coins he had asked for. They were exchanged for the information. The value of the coins were worth a small fortune. Once they were transported to the present day, The coins would be more valuable than gold. Coin collectors would pay millions for them.

As soon as the exchange was made, Jonathan stepped from the coach and disappeared into the crowd. When he found a secluded spot, he once again disappeared in time.

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