Double-Back (Jake Waters Book 3) Read Free

usually engaged in working through a problem, but this time he'd fix the matter at hand, then have to simply coast along until the time came to repeat the call to Susan on the matter they'd just resolved when he reached that point in the time sequence once again.  At least he knew it would go smoothly when the time came.
     
    "I'm to be kidnapped?" Susan asked when Jake explained the attack that was planned in a couple of days.  He was almost back to where things had started having completed his business and patiently waited until today so he could conclude the final details of the loop. 
    Jake explained what would happen just as he'd done the first time he'd warned the FBI agent of the planned attack.  Everything was the same, other than this time he'd known for some weeks what was coming, and he simply had to go through the motions to complete what they had done before.  Karin was probably right.  He should have done this all as part of one large loop rather than having to go through it all again.  He'd thought of nothing useful during the past couple of weeks as he'd waited for the time for his call to approach.
    "This should be straightforward enough," Jim agreed.  "We'll have a team in place here waiting."
    "Ten o'clock tomorrow night," Susan said, thinking to herself.  "I'll have to put some thought into which case might have triggered all of this.  There will be no need for you to make a trip here.  Jim and I will call you as soon as the situation is under control so you will know that no further action is required."
    They were working through the dialogue that Jake recalled from the last time.  Finally it was done, and he wrapped an arm around Karin, and they went up to bed.  Tomorrow night this would be over and he'd be back to a point where events were not a rerun for him.
     
    "No one showed," Susan said into the camera from her office in Washington the next morning.  "The team was in place all night, but there was nothing.  Are you certain the attack was to have been last night?  Could you be wrong on the day?"
    Jake was stunned.
    "There was no attempt?" he asked as he tried to wrap his thoughts around the situation.  "You didn't capture the four individuals?"
    "There was no kidnap attempt," Jim Laney said, underscoring Susan's earlier words. 
    Neither made any accusations.  They had worked with Jake long enough to understand his ability and not have any doubts about what he could do.  They sensed something unprecedented was at work here.
    "Jake, has this ever happened before?" Susan asked.  "You recall an event, go back to correct it, and it no longer takes place?"
    "Never," Jake said with certainty.  "In all the years I've been able to Back-Track, events always follow the same flow when I loop back."
    "And you are sure this was to happen last night?" Jim Laney asked.
    Jake looked at the calendar just to be certain.
    "Absolutely.  According to Jim when he called me, it took place on Friday night, last night," Jake replied.
    "What could be different?" Susan asked.  "Has anything else changed that might alter events?"
    Jake knew that everything should proceed as before, with only his actions causing any change to events.  He was, after all, the only person who was seeing all this for a second time.  This time around, however, he'd been aware of what was to happen in advance for a long time, which hadn't been the case when it had originally taken place, nor when he'd looped back and they'd caught the foursome.  But even though he'd known what was coming, he hadn't said anything, nor done anything, related to the situation.  He couldn't see how his awareness might have affected events.  It had never happened like this before.  Not in a decade and a half of Back-Tracking had he seen an anomaly like this.
    "We'll try again tonight," Susan said.  "Just in case the timing is off for some reason."
    Jake could tell Susan was uncomfortable with the situation.  He nodded numbly and said "okay,"