BackTrek

by Kelvin Kelley

Jack headed to the precinct. At least he knew that there he would not run into himself. As he drove, he went over in his mind what he would need for the surveillance set up that night. Though it had been years since he had participated in a stake out, he was sure that he would do fine, especially when he considered some of the latest technological advances that were at his disposal. He had already called Bob Lemke, a friend that he had gone through the academy with, who now worked night shift in the equipment room. Lemke had not even hesitated when Jack told him what he needed, nor had he asked any questions. He had said that he would have everything ready when Jack got there. With the clock running constantly, Jack appreciated anything that would save him even a minute of time.

  He pulled to a stop in front of the station, parked and got out of the car. It was only after he was actually inside that he remembered that the car that he had just left in front of the police station was stolen. A smile came to his face as he realized the irony of it, and that the least likely place for it to stand out, would be there of all places. Within the next twenty minutes, probably twenty officers in blue would walk right past that car, and not the first one would even think about it being stolen. Hidden in plain sight, he thought. At least he hoped so. He hit the elevator button, the doors opened, and he walked inside. He pushed the button for the second floor. The door hesitated. Jack pushed the button again, any glimmer of the smile that he had just worn, now gone. Again the door hesitated. He began to repeatedly push the button until finally the doors began to close. He leaned back against the rear wall, looked up, closed his eyes, and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

  The elevator dinged as it slowed and then stopped on the second floor. As the doors opened, Jack came out at full trot. He walked passed several doors before he came to the one marked equipment room, and entered without knocking.

  “Jack, good to see you, pal. How ya been?” Lemke said as he stood behind the bullet-proof glass partition that spread the width of the room.

  “Doing good, how about you?” He asked, as he threw his best fake smile in Lemke’s direction.

  “Great Jack, just great. I think I’ve got everything that you asked for. Do you want to check it over?”

  “No time tonight, Bob. Just show me where to sign.” He said as he walked towards the one window that could be opened. Lemke heaved a box onto the counter on the opposite side of the window, opened it, and slid a clipboard through. Jack glanced at it briefly, ensured that a few key items were listed, then signed it and passed it back. Lemke accepted it, sat it aside, and then pushed the box through the open window.

  “Try not to break anything, Jack. You know how the guys upstairs are.” Lemke said, laughingly.

  “Not to worry, Bob. I’ll treat everything just like it was mine.” Jack said as he picked up the box and headed for the door.

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, Jack. Remember, I know you.”

  “Thanks, Bob.” Jack said as he left the equipment room and headed back for the elevator. Another officer waited, and when the elevator opened, held the door open for Jack.

  “Thanks.” Jack said, not recognizing the officer.

  “Stake out?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Bummer. The last one I was on lasted a week, and we didn’t even get a lead, much less a collar.” He said as he punched the button for the first floor. "I hope you have better luck.” The officer said, with a slight smile on his face. The doors slid shut.

  “I know the perp is going to be there. Just gotta catch him.” Jack said, as he already had begun to think about how he would set up his equipment, and paid very little attention to the conversation. Both men stood in the elevator. Its awkward silence enveloped them as they stared up at the indicator which finally clicked over to one. The doors slid open and the officer held the door open as Jack made his way out of the elevator.

  “Thanks.” Jack said over his shoulder as he headed for the door. The officer said something in return but Jack had already tuned him out. As he approached the door that exited back to the street, two uniformed officers held the door open for him. They recognized the box as equipment room property.

  “Stakeout?” One of them asked, but Jack only nodded in response as he walked towards his car. He set the box in the front seat, and walked around to the driver’s side, got in, and turned the key. The car responded with a series of clicks, but did not rumble to life as he expected. Again he turned the key, and again the car answered with clicks.

  “Great!” He said, and slammed his hands down on the dashboard. “Just fucking great!” Exhausted, frustrated, and behind schedule, Jack popped the hood release lever, and got out of the car. He walked to the front of the car, and began to look under the hood. A mechanic he was not, but he had to make this thing run, somehow. First he wiggled this wire, and then that hose. Even thought that he had no idea what was wrong or how to fix it. Then he touched the wire on the battery cable, and noticed that the red wire was loose. He had no tools to work with, but managed to twist the terminal attached to the battery far enough to bind the connection. He ran back to the driver’s side, reached in, and turned the ignition. The car sparked to life, and immediately began to purr as the engine idled.

  “Five thousand cars stolen a day, and I steal a car with a damn battery problem.” He muttered under his breath as he slammed the hood down and jumped back into the car. Without hesitation, he pulled back out onto the main road. As he drove, he glanced at his watch. It read three-fifty-five p.m. Jack looked at his watch again in disbelief, and tapped on it as though that would make it function properly. It was dark outside, and he knew that his watch couldn’t be right. Then as he passed an intersection, he saw the current time lit up on the sign of a local branch office of one of the state’s largest banks. Eleven-forty P.M. it flashed. His mind whirled again as the realization that he was looped in time slammed into him. He crashed back into the reality that he was running out of time. When he had come into this time line, it was six-forty-five P.M. here, but it was only around eleven A.M. where he had come from. The best that he had estimated, the murders had occurred somewhere between twelve-thirty and one-fifteen A.M., meaning that sometime in the next fifty minutes, it would be too late. He laid his foot on the accelerator and fumbled with his watch to change it to the current time. He wished that he had stolen a police car instead. He desperately wanted to use both the emergency lights and sirens.

  It didn’t take very long, but seemed like forever before Jack finally came to a stop across the street from Tracey’s house. He got out of the car and his heart skipped a beat as he saw a car already parked behind the family car, then he recognized it as Mike’s car, and relaxed. He walked to the passenger side of his stolen car, and opened the door. He opened the box on the seat. Jack pulled out a tripod, unfolded it and stood it up on the floorboard of the passenger side. Next he pulled out a device which resembled a telescope, and mounted it on top of the tripod. It clicked into place, and he tightened the thumbscrew. He removed another, smaller tripod with a small device attached to the top, and placed it on the hood of the car. He opened the window on the passenger side, and he ran a wire that extended from this device inside the car. Finally, he removed a small flat screen video monitor which he laid on the seat. He shoved the now empty box into the back-seat. He readjusted the smaller tripod on the hood of the car, aimed it across the street at the house, and finally made his way back to the driver’s side and got back in the car.

  Jack plugged the wire that led from the device into a jack on the side of the video monitor, and pressed the on button. The monitor flickered. An odd greenish image appeared of the house across the street. Jack knew that the night optics of this small video device were some of the best available, and by amplifying the small amounts of ambient light thousands of times, the image appeared bright and detailed. As he moved the joystick mounted to the side of the monitor, the scene also moved. Wh
en he pushed a button next to the joystick, the image began to zoom in. He scanned the front of the house, and attempted to look into the living-room windows. The curtains blocked his view. He could tell that inside, the TV was on, and that there was movement in the house, but only by the shadows, and the flicker of lights.

  He sat the video monitor down, and looked through a small sighting scope fixed to the top of the telescope-like device that was standing on the floorboard. As he aimed it towards the same living room window, he depressed a small button at the base of the scope and a pinpoint invisible infrared laser beam shot across the street. A small dot on the side of the house next to the window illuminated within the scopes infrared sensitive optics. He slowly adjusted the scope until the dot hit the corner of the living-room window. He made another adjustment, as he attempted to deflect the beam directly back at the scope’s receiver. Suddenly a green light lit up inside the spotting scope, and he released the button. Jack tightened down the scope in its position. He reached into the back seat, pulled a set of headphones from out of the box and inserted the dangling plug into a jack at the base of the scope. He keyed a button, put the headphones on, and suddenly heard Tracey telling Bella to finish her homework. He could hear them, loud and clear. Laser bounce listening devices had been around for years, but always had the visible red laser beam to contend with. Not necessarily the best thing for a surveillance operation. Jack was glad that the newer models were equipped with infrared lasers that made them completely undetectable. The beam would leave the scope, bounce off of the pane of glass, as it picked up any small vibrations caused by sounds that emanated from within the room. The vibrations were sent back to the receiver, also located on the scope. The signal was amplified a few thousand times, and the final output was as if the room was directly wired for sound.

  Jack listened quietly to sounds of the TV low in the background, and an occasional giggle from Bella and Brandon. Far from the living-room, probably in the kitchen Jack thought, he could barely make out the voices of Tracey and Mike. For so long he had admired the way that Mike could talk to people. It was a natural gift, that to Jack, remained mysterious. He could listen to a few sentences and know exactly someone’s viewpoint. How they felt, and what they longed for. Though only two years older than Jack, he had always seemed wise beyond his age. He was able to bring reason in the most tedious of situations, and comfort to those that hurt. That was why Jack had been so glad when Mike had offered to talk to Tracey, but now it just added to his guilt. He now knew that because of his request, his only brother had died.

  Little sleep from the night before had begun to catch up with Jack, as he rested his eyes from time to time. They burned and he wanted to close them, but he feared that he would miss Smith, and lose his family once again. He shifted his weight in the car seat and tried to get comfortable, only to find that his eyelids had once again begun to feel heavy. He clicked the radio on, and tuned to his favorite music station. The next song started, and he unconsciously began to mouth the lyrics as the music played. His eyes closed, and his lip-synching wavered, then suddenly he opened his eyes. He shifted his weight again, as he tried not to get too comfortable. Again he began to lip-synch to the words, his voice almost a whisper. His eyes closed. His mouth ceased to move. He was still, except for the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. His hand slipped from his lap to the car seat, and rested there. The video monitor showed the flicker of light from the living-room window, and two shadows that fell on the draperies as they crossed in front of it. Jack did not see anything.

  Chapter 25