by Bob Blink
Tony's equipment had been perfect for alerting them, but they really wanted video that could be used to help identify the suspects. They might let names drop, but even if they did, there was no way to know if the names were real or something assumed for this crime. There had been no reasonable way to prepare for every location the suspects might act, but now that they knew where the encounter was to take place, it wouldn't be difficult to plant small cameras in Jim's apartment that would pass the video across Tony's link.
"I'm not certain I want to put Clarissa through this," Jim said unhappily.
"I doubt you could get her to go without you, and this might be our only chance," Jake reminded Jim. "Besides, when this is all over, none of this will have happened."
Jim looked unhappy, but finally nodded.
"I'm going to catch hell for this," he said.
"She'll never know," Susan said.
"Yes, she will, because I'll have to tell her afterwards. It's only fair."
"Okay, but we don't warn her in advance. That might give us away, and that could ruin our only shot at this."
That afternoon they installed the cameras and tested the video link. There was not much more to do besides wait. The two retired FBI agents, Lester and Solly who Susan had contacted for support, would be positioned near Jim's home so they could follow the kidnappers when they left, hoping to remain close enough to pick up any conversation. It wasn't anticipated a rescue would be required. Once Jake got some useful information, he would Back-Track and they would avoid this whole encounter entirely.
Jim carefully slid into the overstuffed chair. He'd have liked to sit next to Clarissa, but she was across the room, next to the one with a beard who was holding a copy of the Colt Government Model in his left hand. A south paw. Something to remember. He knew that Jake and Susan had to be looking at the video which was being fed into the mainframe realtime for analysis thanks to Shaun. Unfortunately, none of those present had made any personal references that were in any way useful.
There was more to see. The man with the small S&W revolver who he'd once thought might be a businessman was well groomed. Jim couldn't say why, but he would guess he was educated. Something in his speech and the way he moved. The woman hadn't said anything as yet, but her clothes also indicated she was well off. Jim would bet her blouse cost several hundred dollars alone, and the watch she wore sparkled with diamonds.
They contrasted markedly with the remaining two men. Both of them wore coarser, workmanlike clothing, and looked to be rougher and from their speech less educated. The bearded one that Jim recognized from the sketches carried a 9mm version of the familiar Colt, and the other a Beretta in the same caliber. Both were equipped with suppressors, which wouldn't really silence them, but would cut down the report to a level it was doubtful any of the neighbors would notice. Jim found it interesting that none of them had interchangeability in their reload capability. Somehow that suggested they hadn't worked together before, or if so, seldom were involved in an actual shooting fight.
"Jim, what do they want?" Clarissa pleaded softly.
Before Laney could reply, the man with the beard raised his weapon and pointed it at her.
"No talking," he said, his voice hard and uncompromising.
"Here's how this is going to work," the well dressed one with the revolver said. "We have some questions we need answered, and so we are going to take you somewhere to discuss the subjects of interest. It's dinnertime, and your neighbors are all inside eating or watching the news. I have just signaled one of our associates to bring our transportation into your driveway. We are going to walk outside, and get into the vehicle, and drive away quietly. Any trouble, anything at all, and Marty here will shoot Mrs. Laney. We really only need to talk with Mr. Laney, so the loss of the lady won't restrict our efforts overly much. Is that understood?"
"Where are we going?" Jim asked, knowing they wouldn't answer, but hoping to extend the conversation as long as possible while they were in range of the video cameras and hope that one of them would slip up and reveal something of importance.
The one in charge merely smiled and pointed toward the woman in the background. Although she sat quietly, she appeared tense to Jim. She looked to him as if she expected this whole situation to blow up on them at any time. Well, according to Jake that had happened twice before, so she had good reason to be worried.
"Is he ready for us?" he asked.
She nodded. In a cultured voice that supported Jim's assessment, she said, "He's in place. No one is outside where they will present a problem. We should go now while the opportunity presents itself."
"Let's go," the man said, indicating that Jim should stand. Clarissa was pulled to her feet by the thug who had been keeping an eye on her.
"Quiet, and no trouble," the man reminded them. "That way no one gets hurt."
They were led to the side door of the house, and after another check via the cell phones, led outside.
"A white van," Jim said. "How original." Actually he wanted Lester and Solly to know what kind of vehicle they were being taken away in. They should have an eye on the place, but it never hurt to be certain. The two retired agents should be able to stay close enough because of the tracker in Jim's belt to be able to hear everything said until something useful was learned.
The comment earned Jim a blow to the head from the barrel of the small revolver, opening a cut in his scalp. He heard Clarissa start to scream, but realized it was cut off. Her guard must have clamped a hand over her mouth. Jim turned toward the man who had struck him, but the man was in control, with the muzzle leveled at Jim.
"I'll shoot her, not you," he promised, and Jim knew he meant it.
"Now get in," he was told. "No more talking until we get where we are headed."
Moments later they were driving away, and Jim could only hope his friends were aware of the situation. He took comfort in the fact this all would never happen as Jake liked to say.
Natalie turned around in the front seat and stared at their two captives. She felt a little better, and if they got a few more miles without a problem she might actually be able to start to relax. No one had stopped them. She had expected the FBI to come charging in at any time just as they had when they arrested Paul the last two times. She'd been impossibly tense the entire time they had been inside the apartment. This time everything seemed to be going as they hoped.
"Paul," she said, but then stopped talking when he shook his head.
Damn! She realized she had used his name. She was silent as they drove, and then suddenly had an unexpected idea. She considered what she was about to attempt, then decided she was right, and with a look at her friends, she triggered a short Backslide to earlier in the day when they were preparing to separate as she watched Laney's car and the others went to his home to grab his wife. Her Backsliding would correct the slip up where she'd used Paul's name. She'd be more careful this time around.
Natalie shook her head, and realized suddenly what had just happened. Her future self had sent back a clear indication that all was going to work out.
"It's going to go well," she told Paul. "He'll be coming home alone tonight."
"And you know this how?" Paul asked.
"I just Backslid," she said. "My future self just sent me confirmation that all will go well this time. We'll grab the two of them, and be on our way to the cabin without a hitch. We were well away from the house when I sent my memories back."
Natalie was amused and far less stressed the second time they pulled off the kidnapping. Everything followed just as her memories said they would, and before long they were on their way out of town heading out of town. It would take almost an hour, but then they would hopefully get some answers.
"You were right!" Jeff said gleefully. "No one bothered us at all. Your ability is being wasted. I can see all kinds of ways it would be useful."
"Did you hear that?" Susan asked Jake. "He all but confirmed what you have suspected."
"It's nice
of them to do so, but I'd really like to have some names," Jake said. "So far we've gotten nothing that will help us identify who they are and we don't even know who exactly he was talking to. "
"And they are soon going to be out of range," Susan said. "I wonder where they are going?"
"How long to the cabin?" Natalie asked suddenly, almost as if she was aware of Susan's question.
"Just under an hour," Jeff replied. He named the small town it was close to.
"Shit!" Susan cursed. "That's too far. They are going to be well out of range, and with only one car following them, odds are we will lose them."
"We had hoped to have what we needed by now," Jake said unhappily. "What do you want to do? We can hang on until we lose them, or they reveal something useful."
"Can we redo this?" Susan asked. "I'd feel more confident if we placed Lester and Solly near that town, and you and I waited and trailed the van. That way if we get separated in traffic, we have a backup."
"You don't want to hang on and see what develops?"
"They aren't going to give anything away until they get to the cabin. They are being too careful. If we wait, it'll just mean that much more you have to live through again."
"Okay," Jake nodded reluctantly. "Since we haven't learned anything, I'm just going to do a tactical loop, just enough to get back to our planning session when we sent Lester and Solly off. We'll change where they are going, and move into their former position ourselves."
"That should work," Susan agreed.
Jim was about to leave for home.
"So it'll be you and Susan waiting around the block instead of Lester and Solly?" Jim asked.
Jake had told them what had happened and prompted his short Back-Track.
Susan nodded. "Give us about ten minutes head start. That way we'll be in place by the time you get home. We know what will happen. They'll put you and Clarissa in the white Ford van and head off toward this cabin of theirs. Lester and Solly are already well on their way down the highway, and will be waiting for them to arrive. We'll follow behind, and monitor the conversations, but if what we've seen so far holds, we aren't going to learn much."
"Save yourself some grief, and don't give the guy a chance to hit you with his gun," Jake advised. "You'll be of more use later if you don't have that throbbing headache."
"I'm still not happy with this," Jim admitted. "There should have been a way to keep Clarissa clear of these events."
He mumbled to himself as Susan and Jake left, hurrying toward the parking lot where Jake kept his rental car.
"Here's how this is going to work," the well dressed one with the revolver said. Jim had returned home to find the foursome waiting for him just as Jake had described. He'd been stripped of his weapon, and now they were about to leave.
"We are going to walk outside, and get into the vehicle, and drive away quietly. Any trouble, anything at all, and Marty here will shoot Mrs. Laney. We really only need to talk with Mr. Laney, so the loss of the lady won't restrict our efforts overly much. Is that understood?" the man asked.
"Go outside, get into the white van, and stay quiet," Laney said. "I understand. Where are we going?"
The one in charge merely smiled and pointed toward the woman who had sat silently in the background.
"Is he ready for us?" he asked her.
She nodded. In a cultured voice that supported Jim's assessment, she said, "He's in place. No one is outside where they will present a problem. We should go now while the opportunity presents itself."
"Let's go," the man said, indicating that Jim should stand. Clarissa was pulled to her feet by the thug who had been keeping an eye on her.
"Quiet, and no trouble," the man reminded them. "That way no one gets hurt."
They were led to the side door of the house, and after another check via the cell phones, led outside.
Jim said nothing as they emerged from the house and headed toward the vehicle. He knew what to expect from what Jake had told him about how this was to proceed. He hoped that Jake and Susan were listening in from around the corner, but there was no need to tell them what the van looked like. Jake knew that from the last time he'd looped through these events.
The woman was watching him oddly as they drove out of the driveway and headed away from the house. She looked around as if expecting trouble, then spoke suddenly, but she was addressing her friend, not Jim.
"Something's wrong," she said. "Things aren't the same as before."
"What do you mean?" the cultured one asked. "You said you went through this and everything went smoothly. I thought you looped back after we were miles away."
"I did, but things have changed. I've never seen a change before when I relived after a Backslide. I think they know about us."
"Different? What's different?" Jeff asked. "We got away clean."
Natalie shook her head.
"He mentioned the white van while we were in the house. I didn't think about it at the time because I recalled taking him to it the last loop. But how could he have known? You didn't mention what kind of vehicle. You were deliberately obtuse about it, just as we have been careful about names. Yet he knew exactly what kind of vehicle. When we approached the van, last time he made some kind of remark, and Paul smacked him with his gun. He was bleeding when he climbed into the vehicle and his wife was screaming. Do you see any blood? It didn't happen this time. It took me a minute to reason that things were slightly altered."
"Maybe the details shift a little?" Paul suggested.
Natalie shook her head.
"The details are very important, and they always track. You know, don't you?" she asked looking at Jim.
Jim shook his head as if confused, but his eyes were unable to hide the truth.
Natalie didn't hesitate, but immediately triggered a Backslide, going back three days to the time when Jeff had left her apartment and she and Paul had adjourned to the bedroom to make love. That wasn't going to happen now, another casualty of the twisted sequence of events.
Natalie turned toward Paul as he entered the room and closed the door. The full implications of what she had just learned blossomed in her brain, and she screamed. Her scream startled Paul, who had just started to unbutton his shirt.
"They know about us?" she screamed, her hands clenched tightly to her head, which was throbbing as a result of the Backslide.
"What are you yelling about?" Paul asked, now disturbed as well.
"I've got two sets of memories of what will happen when we go after this Laney guy," she said. "I made a loop while we were escaping with him and his wife captive. The two sets of memories are different. The only way I know of for the events to be different is if someone were to Blackslide and change them. I was being very careful not to disturb the flow as a result of my own loopback. Damn it! They have someone who can do what I can. They know what we are doing. For some reason they did a Backslide to change something, but Laney made a couple of slips as we worked through events again. If he hadn't mentioned the van and had taken the hit on the head, I wouldn't have realized what was happening."
"Natalie, this is ridiculous. You're just worried. No one else has your ability."
She shook off his soothing explanation.
"No. It makes sense now. How do you think they were able to be on hand for each of the attempts we made against Carlson? They didn't know in advance as we have been assuming. After the fact, they knew exactly what was going to happen, and whoever their Backslider is, looped back, and used the knowledge to set traps for us. They changed what originally happened. I'll bet we got Carlson, just as planned. But they didn't count on someone like me being able to unravel their correction. When things went bad, I did my own loopback, and prevented us from taking the action. As a result, they somehow knew something was going to happen, but had to be surprised when it didn't."
Paul shook his head. "I don't know or recall any of this."
"You wouldn't. Only the Backslider retains the memories from the previous loops."
"They know who we are?" Paul asked nervously as he considered what Natalie was telling him.
"I don't think so," she said. "Otherwise they would have acted more directly and arrested us. I think they were trying to find out who we are on this last event. They were using Laney as a trap for us to reveal ourselves. I don't know how much they have figured out. Clearly they know more than we thought. A lot depends on who their Backslider is, and what he saw or was told."
"What are we going to do?" Paul asked.
"I don't know," Natalie admitted. "But we have to proceed very carefully. They aren't going to stop looking for us."
Chapter 17
Monday Morning, May 9th
"I guess I still don't understand how this all works," Paul admitted.
He, Natalie, and Jeff were in his apartment in New York City. After Natalie had warned them of what she believed to be happening they had driven directly to the north. They had arrived very late, and once there, Jeff had gone to his own home, while Natalie and Paul had settled in for the night. Now it was morning, and Jeff had arrived a short time ago with fresh croissants he'd picked up from a local bakery, and they were sitting at the large table in the nook while discussing their situation.
"What don't you understand?" Natalie asked once she had finished chewing the overly large piece of croissant she'd taken a moment earlier.
"I don't understand why you have memories of all these things you say happened, while Jeff and I, who were with you all the time, don't have any of them. My memory says none of these things happened."
" I've explained this before, but with all the looping, maybe that time got erased. Only the person who Backslides retains the memories of how it was before the loopback," Natalie said. "For you and Jeff, that other reality never happened, which is why your memory says it never occurred."
She could see he didn't follow. She took the napkin and asked Jeff to get a pen or pencil. Then she spent a while carefully drawing lines to indicate timelines, with stars to indicate points where events took place, marking what various people knew at different times along the timeline. She used arcs to indicate where she had looped back, and what new knowledge she would have that the others didn't as time moved forward from where she intersected the main time flow. She also showed where the suspected FBI BackSlider might have taken action, and what it meant as he made small or large loops backward.
