by Blink, Bob
Carlson hesitated. “I know you can easily slip back a week and bring this recent development to my attention and prevent the kidnapping, but . . .”
“Come on Carlson,” Jake said. “What’s going on.”
“Susan,” she said. “I think you’ve earned that right. Look Jake. The reason I wanted to know if you can now back-track is because what I’m going to suggest is contrary to department policy. Everything in this place is recorded. There’s nothing I can do about that. What I’m about to suggest could get me in a lot of trouble. More than my recent popularity could overcome. You’ve saved countless thousands, and one of the countries major cities. I understand what and why you’ve done what you have in the past. Others aren’t quite so forgiving. That includes the Director. The official policy is despite what you have done, you are still guilty of felony crimes by killing those men in the past. You should have come forward with what you knew, and not tried to handle it yourself. Once you are well, you will be appropriately tried and convicted. Certain reductions in sentence will be applied in consideration of your recent contributions, but nonetheless, you will go to jail.”
“Are you suggesting something?” Jake asked.
“Yeah. Is there any way you can go back before all of this started, pass what you have learned, and let us handle it? Maybe you can do it in a way so that Jake Waters never comes to our attention.”
Jake was silent while he thought back over the past couple of weeks. Then he nodded. “I think that might just be possible.”
Susan Carlson smiled. “I thought it might be.” She stood up. “It’s unfortunate that I won’t get to know you, but carry with you the knowledge that I’ve been very impressed by you. Be well.” She turned to leave.
“Susan,” Jake said.
She looked back.
“Thank you,” he said.
* * * *
He could tell she didn’t know where to start. “You admit to these crimes?” Agent Carlson asked surprised. “And you claim there are more? You claim you intend to turn yourself in tomorrow and will talk about them then?”
“I don’t consider them crimes, although technically I suppose they are. Yes, I’ll talk about all of them.” Then Jake hesitated as a new set of memories settled in. Then he knew where all of this would lead.
“No,” he said, changing what he had agreed to a moment before. “I think we need to do this differently.”
“You’ve suddenly gotten cold feet?”
“No, but it’ll make more sense once you understand something. Here’s what we need to do.”
Once again they played the game that involved his knowing future events. Carlson was reluctant, but she finally agreed to check the facts he’d supplied in response to her questions. She would be able to do that in the morning. Then he’d call her again.
“Susan, what I have to tell you is very important,” he said.
“Susan?” she asked. “What gives you the right to use my name?”
“You did,” he said.
She was subdued on the call the next day. She admitted that she had fully planned to have her line monitored, but after seeing the correctness to facts he couldn’t possibly had known, she had elected to hear him out first. He told her the whole story. What had happened, the iterations, how his ability worked. He also told her about the kidnapping and what it had revealed.
“You really expect me to believe this is all real?”
“You can test it easily enough. One thing though. Don’t try and short circuit it too much. Let events play out in order. Set up teams to take down the bombs in order. You have the information on how to disarm them and know where they will be. Trying to change the flow too much might totally disrupt the final result, which was positive. After you have both bombs, then go after the culprits. Do you understand?”
“I see what you are saying, but don’t pretend to understand all this.”
“Doing it my way will also provide all the evidence you need against the people responsible. If you act out of sequence, they may discover it, and change their plans. Then this won’t happen and another attempt might be made later. I’ve seen that kind of scenario play out.”
“What are you planning to do?” she asked.
“I’m going to fade into the woodwork,” Jake replied. “This way only you know what I can do, and you don’t know who I am. Mathews is just a name, and I’ll never go anywhere near it again. Everything that Mathews owns is forfeit. You can stop wasting resources watching the plane, for example. I will never go near it again.”
“I’d suggest you cease you vigilante activities in the future as well. Our older cases aren’t going anywhere, but if you keep it up, the task force will keep looking. Eventually you’ll make a mistake. From what you said, my future self told you what to expect from those within the bureau.”
“I’ll definitely give that some thought,” Jake said. “Is there anything else you need?”
Carlson hesitated. “I’ll follow up on this. I still think it’s an attempt to make me look foolish, but you provided some pretty convincing proof of what you can do. You also know things that only I could have told you.”
“Good luck then. Goodbye, Susan. It’s been a pleasure.”
“Good luck to you too Mathews, or whomever you are. Thanks for the input.”
Jake pressed the disconnect on the throw away phone, then stripped it and extracted the battery. He threw the pieces in various trashcans as he walked along the path around the museums. Then he pulled off the gloves and headed back to his hotel. As Jake Waters, he called Karin and told her he would be home that night. She was surprised, but he put off her questions. “I’ll explain tonight,” he said.
Epilogue
June was looking to be a spectacular month. The weather in Northern Nevada had been absolutely superb the past few weeks and showed every sign of continuing the trend for the foreseeable future. The nasty business in Atlanta was considerably more than a half year behind them, and during that time Jake had been careful not to do anything that would trigger any further investigations into his actions. He had taken Susan Carlson’s warning and advice to heart. The only actions he’d taken personally had been minor matters that he could resolve without violence or any indication he’d been involved. Twice he’d made calls to remote police departments alerting them to a potential crime. In one case the news indicated an arrest had been made and the massacre averted, whereas in the other nothing was changed by his warning. He had felt bad about that for weeks. He had toyed with the idea of calling Susan Carlson in the event of future events. She would know he was telling the truth. He worried that such contact might bring her mind back onto him, so hadn’t actually decided what he would do.
Now, however, he was feeling great. He and Karin were to be married in two weeks, and they were currently heavily involved in the preparations for the event. They were planning on disappearing to Australia for a month after the ceremony. The pictures and stories that Zack and Cheryl had brought back from their trip had been a major driver in the decision to go down under. Last night the two of them had gone to see the new Sam Logan movie that Bret Granger had surprised everyone by changing his mind and starring in.
The phone rang as he was walking from his study to the kitchen. Casually he picked it up.
“Hello?” he asked, half expecting it to be Karin with some question regarding their wedding reparations. She tended to call several times a day.
“Jake Waters?” asked a voice he hadn’t heard in some time and had hoped not to hear again. There was no question in his mind that he was speaking with Susan Carlson.
Jake didn’t spend any time wondering how she had figured out who he really was. There were many ways it might have been done. The question was, what did she want?
“Speaking,” he replied cautiously.
“I know this call must be upsetting for you. I can tell that you recognize my voice. This isn’t what you might expect. Jake, I really need your help on something.”
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Corrector
Bob Blink
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2013 by Robert Blink
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Proof Release: March 2013
First Release: March 2013
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Once again I need to thank Bill Maggiora and Doug Burr for their initial reading of the book and the ideas and technical expertise they passed to me to help with the story. As before, Jean Wilson and my wife Evelina spent long hours working through the draft to sort out the typos and grammatical errors. I'd be lost without these inputs. Many thanks. Hopefully I got them all without introducing more as I corrected the final draft.
Other books by the Author:
Timelines
The Second Compound
Wizard's Blood [Part One]
Wizard's Blood [Part Two]
Reversal
Split Creek
EndRun
