Double-Back (Jake Waters Book 3) Read Free Page A

but he wasn't really paying attention as he tried to think what might have happened.  Something wasn't right.
    Two days later they dropped the effort.  No one had made any attempt on Susan, and they had no idea who the foursome Jake had warned them about might have been, or if they had ever existed.  Jake was starting to doubt his recall, and had tried to think of any kind of an experiment he could run to verify his Back-Tracking memories were still sound, because he knew what had happened simply wasn't possible.

Chapter 2
     
    "It always works as it used to?" Karin asked.  "No matter what you try?"
    Jake nodded unhappily.  He'd spent the last couple of days trying every combination of Back-Tracking he could think of, trying to find a scenario where the strange event in Washington would repeat itself.
    "Nothing gives me an unusual result.  I'm always seeing exactly what I have come to expect.  That's the way it's supposed to work.  The past events should follow the same path, except where I interfere and force a change."
    "You're certain you've tried everything?" Karin insisted.  She knew how much this was bothering Jake, and had tried making suggestions that might help resolve the matter.  He'd been grumpy since the anomaly had happened, to the point even Janna was a little uncomfortable around him.
    "I've tried everything I can think of other than make another long jump back, like the one I made before this occurred."
    Jake really didn't want to make another such jump.  For one thing, he didn't believe that was the problem, and the thought of reliving those same weeks yet again appalled him, not to mention he'd felt thick-headed for a few days after making the loopback.  There was no reason he could think of that the length of a Back-Track should affect the normal order of things.  He also didn't believe that dealing with two independent events had any influence either.  The two matters couldn't have been more removed from one another, and they were separated by nearly a month in time.
    He knew that Susan and Jim had a somewhat different take on the situation.  Susan had delicately hinted at the matter.  It was clear they were befuddled, and concerned about Jake.  It was also pretty clear that they didn't have much belief that the kidnapping had ever happened.  Over the years they had learned how things worked with Jake's ability, and his claim this time failed to follow the proper pattern.  Since from their perspective the kidnapping hadn't happened and no one had made an attempt, there was no evidence that it had ever been planned.  Despite Jake's verbal description of the culprits, a bit generic he had to admit, none of the supposed individuals were recognizable to either of the agents.
    Susan's concern was based in the magnitude of the Back-Track that Jake had used prior to informing the agents of the planned abduction.  A couple of years ago he'd demonstrated a severe vulnerability to multi-jump Back-Tracking, to the point he'd nearly lost the ability to Back-Track at all.  For a while, Karin had even feared for his life.  Since that time, Jake had avoided longer jumps backward.  This was the first time since that revealing episode that he'd gone anywhere near as far back.  Susan was concerned that the longer jump may have had another, previously unseen, effect on his brain.  While he didn't exhibit the swelling and loss of ability this time, perhaps the effect was more subtle, causing him to mistakenly believe some event that hadn't really happened. 
    "I'd rather you didn't do that again," Karin said.
    There were times she wished he'd never had the Back-Tracking ability.  She hadn't been comfortable with him making the jump, and was still feeling guilty it had been because of her he'd made it in the first place.  She had been in on the conversation with Susan, and knew what she feared.  Karin couldn't say that she didn't have some similar worries about possible side effects of Jake having