by Bob Blink
Using the lock picks he'd come to be expert with, he made his way out onto the small flattened area where the shot had been taken. At the edge of the roof he stared into the distance where the courtyard he'd had a late breakfast in could be seen. A long way, but on a calm day clearly not too taxing for an expert shot.
He heard the door open behind him and knew that security had made their way to the roof in response to his opening the roof door. As he suspected, it had been alarmed, another hurdle for the man or men who had broken in to do their shooting. He'd seen all he needed for now. He'd get more details from Jim and Susan after he explained what was going to happen. There was no need for this to be on any record, so he simply backtracked to the point he'd been about to enter the building. This time, instead of entering, he simply walked past. If there was any monitoring video, it wouldn't show him ever entering the lobby.
Jake repeated the process at the building the snipers hadn't used. It didn't take long to see why it hadn't been chosen, even though it was marginally closer than the closest of the other two buildings. Access to the rooftop was much the same as the one Jake had just left, but in this case the layout was such that the courtyard was around a corner and just out of view. There was no shot available from here.
Satisfied, Jake Back-Tracked as before, carrying the information he had gained, but now never having entered the building on the adjusted timeline. He hailed a cab and rode back to his hotel where he considered what he had learned.
Chapter 4
Jake hadn't slept particularly well. Not only was his presence in Washington a constant reminder of what was scheduled to happen to his good friend Susan Carlson, but the time shift between East and West coasts worked against him. When his hotel room clock told him it was eleven PM, his body knew it was only eight. As a result, it was closer to two in the morning local time that he actually drifted off to sleep, and then when his alarm woke him at six AM, he had managed only four restless hours of sleep.
By the time he'd showered, room service arrived with the order he placed and left outside his door the night before. He ate, dressed, and by 7:30 AM was somewhat ready to begin the day. He knew that Susan would be on her way to FBI Headquarters, and picked up his phone to call her. He could have called her at home the night before, but wanted to keep his contact with her appearing as normal as possible in case she was being monitored too closely by whoever planned the killing in a couple of days. His presence in Washington was a change, and he didn't want that to cause the killers to rethink their plan.
The phone rang twice before Susan answered. He knew she would have it linked into her car system so she could talk and drive, and would know the number immediately. For that reason he was quick to speak before she could greet him normally.
"Agent Carlson, this is Bob Trask," he said the moment he heard the connection being made. Trask was the name he used when he 'consulted' with the FBI on those cases Susan requested his active involvement.
"Mr. Trask," Susan replied smoothly, indicating she was aware he was trying to be circumspect for some reason. "I'm surprised to hear from you. Are you in Washington?"
"I flew in last night," Jake said, which was off by a few hours but didn't matter. "I was hoping to speak with you at your office this morning if you are available. I have something that I think the FBI needs to be aware of."
"I'm on my way there now," she replied. "If you could meet me at nine this morning, I can make time. I have an early meeting with my boss before then. Would that be acceptable?"
"That would work out well," Jake replied.
"Good. I'll inform my partner Jim Laney and have him present as well."
"Perfect," Jake agreed. "I'll see you then."
As Jake hung up he knew that Susan would have a million questions, including wondering why he hadn't alerted her to his plan of flying into Washington. She probably believed his visit was somehow related to the kidnapping attempt that he'd warned her about, and which had failed to materialize. Well, in a sense it did.
"This is a surprise," Susan said once Jim Laney had escorted Jake through the security and escorted him to Susan's office where they could speak privately. Jake had been able to skirt the majority of the security in the lobby because he had his Bob Trask FBI consultant identification credentials, supported by Agent Laney's presence. Jake also had another set of credentials that Susan had provided for him. That set showed him to be an active FBI agent, but were not something to be shown around the FBI Headquarters. Technically his having them was a violation of any number of FBI statutes, and both he and Susan could have difficulties if it was learned he had them.
They spent a moment looking one another over. Jake hadn't seen Susan in over nine months. She looked good, he decided. Nearly a decade older than himself, her once brown hair was streaked with gray, but it didn't make her appear old. The fire in her eyes showed her to be as focused and energetic as always. Jim Laney was closer to Jake's age, and looked unchanged from when Jake had first met him. Maybe he'd put on a pound or two, a sign that his marriage to Clarissa was agreeing with him. Black, athletic, with intelligent eyes that were now examining Jake analytically, he held Jake's hand between both of his own.
"How are Karin and Janna?" Jim asked.
"Both are doing well," Jake said. "Janna has grown considerably since you were last there."
They sat in the comfortable chairs that surrounded a small glass coffee table. After a few moments to catch up on small talk, Susan shifted the direction of their conversation.
"I'd like to think this surprise visit was social in nature, but you would have brought Karin along if that were the case. Is this about my supposed kidnapping attempt, or something else?" she asked.
"Yes," Jake replied, which caused Susan to raise an eyebrow. "It's about another attempt, but I'm convinced it's related to the other matter that was never resolved."
"Another attempt?" Jim asked. "When?"
"This is a bit different," Jake said.
He hesitated. It wasn't easy to tell someone they had been targeted for killing, and that the attempt had been successful.
"Jim called me a couple of days from now" Jake started, knowing the two agents were comfortable with the odd combination of verb tenses. "Susan had been targeted by a sniper."
"Someone tried to shoot me?" Susan asked. "Jake . . ."
It was clear from her voice that she had some doubts, clearly a residual of the last warning he'd passed along that had come to nothing.
"They wanted to be certain," Jake continued, ignoring Susan interruption. "A pair of snipers were used, and both were successful. You were struck from considerable range by both rounds that were fired. Either would have been fatal. The pair made it certain."
"Susan was killed?" Jim asked aghast.
Susan paled somewhat at Jake's firm presentation of the fact, but she asked, "Tell us what happened."
Jake walked through the events as Jim had told him over the phone, complete with details of the weapons and the location of the sniper's shooting locations.
"I've never even been to this restaurant where you claim this is to happen," Susan objected.
"The meeting was called at the last minute by someone from the White House," Jake explained. "The choice of location was theirs."
"Who chose the location?" Jim asked.
Jake told them the name, but they both shook their heads indicating the name was unfamiliar.
"I assume you have no idea who the shooters were?" Susan asked, having regained her composure.
"The investigation hadn't progressed very far," Jake admitted. "Whoever they were, they were both excellent shots. The bullets were fired from just over five hundred and fifty yards in one case, and closer to seven hundred yards in the other. Both were center of mass hits. The shooters were professionals, and somehow able to coordinate their time of firing surprisingly close. Both hits happened within a second of one another."
"I take it you believe this event is related to the suppose
d kidnapping you warned me about, but which didn't happen?" Susan asked.
Jake nodded.
"Why do you think there is any more chance this will turn out to be real?" she asked.
It bothered Jake that Susan would ask such a question. In the past, she would have simply taken any warning from him as established fact.
"Can we afford to take any chance?" he asked.
Jake now actually had an idea what might have happened with the kidnapping, but it was so unexpected that he wasn't yet ready to reveal it, even to these close friends. He needed more evidence before voicing his belief, and this situation might be the means where he was able to gain confirmation.
"You want to go ahead with this?" Jim asked.
"I want us to let matters develop normally and see what happens," Jake confirmed. "We can carefully scout the shooting sites and have people in place so we can capture those making the attempt. When Susan gets the call to the lunch meeting, she should go as directed, at least as far as the restaurant, but never out into the courtyard where she would be vulnerable."
"Any presence around where the snipers are going to set up might serve to alert them we are aware of their plans," Susan warned.
"Your computer guru can probably find out if there is a place available in the buildings where we could place agents," Jake said. "Jim and I could discretely scout the buildings. Once we have had a look, I could Back-Track so we will never have been there to alert anyone."
"That's means only you will recall what we saw," Jim pointed out.
"True enough, but I can give you a detailed description of what we saw and decided," Jake said. He didn't tell them he'd already visited. For one thing, he wanted Jim's take on the positions. The agent sometimes saw things that Jake missed. Besides, telling them would mean informing them he'd come into town a full day earlier than they knew.
Susan considered. "I suppose your cover is to be here in a consulting position on something else?" she asked.
Jake nodded.
"I don't want my presence to shift anything until we make the arrests."
Susan reached down and unlocked a lower drawer of her desk, pulling out a .45 caliber Sig in a custom holster and handed it across to Jake.
"You're assigned to work for Jim. Enough people are used to you working in that role that there won't be any questions. If anyone asks, you're working on the Haley case."
"We need a small group to be in place the day of the attempt," Jake said.
"I'll take care of that. I'll also put Shaun to work running a check of the two buildings you claim will be used. You and Jim go and have an on-site look at both of them and the restaurant where the shooting will take place."
Shaun Hansen was a computer genius who had worked with Susan for a long time. Before Susan had known about Jake, he'd helped track Jake when the FBI thought him to be a serial killer.
Four days later they were waiting for events to solidify. Shaun had discovered there was an empty office available for rent in the office building. It was two floors down from the stairwell that led up to the roof the sniper would have to access, but it gave them a working location. Jim, Jake, one other agent, and a man named Hardy who Jake had never met before, were waiting in the building for someone to arrive. They had placed a hidden camera that could watch the stairwell, but hadn't attempted to access the roof itself for fear of alerting someone they had been there. For the same reason, they hadn't informed the management of the building of their activities. They had no idea who might be involved.
Another team was in place in the second building. They were waiting inside an empty apartment that had recently been vacated. When Shaun hacked into the apartments security database, he had discovered the note that indicated the owners had recently moved out. Hidden cameras were in place to watch the entrance to the roof there as well.
Susan was on her way to the fateful meeting. She would make no attempt to contact them, just in case she was being watched and her conversations somehow monitored. It would be up to Jim to contact her when it was safe, which would mean they had the suspects in hand.
"Movement," Agent Hardy warned.
Jake looked at the display screen. Sure enough, a dark-haired man was making his way quickly up the stairs to the door that would take him onto the roof. He was carrying a long case, large enough for the rifle but clearly disguised not to look anything like a weapons case.
"He's in," Jim said, surprised. "I'd like to know how he defeated the security alarm."
"They either hacked the building, or someone here has been paid to disable it," Jake guessed.
Jim had stepped aside and was talking with one of the agents in the other building.
"They just spotted someone getting into place at the other site," he told Jake. "It appears you were right this time."
Jake nodded. He expected nothing else, at least for now.
"Susan has arrived at the restaurant," the third agent of their team informed them. They had a spotter in place across the street to tell them when she went into the building.
"We go in five minutes," Laney said into the portable radio he was using to talk with the remote team. "That will give them time to settle in and focus on the courtyard."
They had worried there might be some kind of security team to protect the snipers and watch their backs, so the agents made their approach carefully. As it turned out, their caution was unnecessary. They made it to the closed door without encountering anyone. Jake confirmed the other team was in place and ready to move.
"Go," Jim said into the radio, and then followed after Jake and Agent Hardy, his .40 Glock out and ready. Jake carried his Sig, not approved FBI ordnance, but he had never been comfortable with Glocks despite how well they shot.
The sniper was caught completely by surprise. He tried to turn as the three men charged across the roof, guns leveled and ready. The sniper was at a severe disadvantage, being outnumbered, prone, and with only the large powerful rifle as a weapon. He stretched out his hands to indicate surrender, and Jim went over and rolled him onto his back. Jake wasn't surprised to see the dark eyes and a face he'd seen in some photos Jim no longer recalled having forwarded to Jake after the kidnappers had been apprehended.
"The other team has their man," Agent Hardy told them.
Jake took another long look at the man on the ground, his weapon placed and ready. While he would like to stay and learn far more about this man and who he worked for, Jake had planned his action after the takedown. If he was right, he had only a very short time to act. Therefore he did what he had planned.
He Back-Tracked.
The Back-Track took him back to the moments of his arrival in Washington a few days ago. He was just walking down the hallway after picking up his baggage and heading toward the car rental when the future memories settled in. As the memories flooded his mind, he shifted direction and headed up to the upper level where he had a flight already booked to take him back to California. He hoped he had time. Now he wished he had come to Washington even earlier.
Eight hours later he was in California, and a half hour after that he was nearing home. That was close enough and he made two successive Back-Tracks, each as large as he was capable of. Nearly a month before the shooting, the Jake of that time swallowed three aspirin and considered his situation. He hated living through all of this again, but it might be the only way.
Chapter 5
"This is a surprise," Susan said as Jim Laney escorted Jake into her inner office where he took one of the comfortable chairs that were available.
They spent a few minutes working through the dialogue that Jake recalled from the last time he'd worked through this scenario with them. At least he was getting close to the payoff point, when he'd learn whether his theory was likely or not. The long days of working through the same events had become more of a chore as the years passed. He used to take such things in stride, but now he found the whole thing frustrating.
"Someone shot me?" Susan asked when Jake fi
nished explaining why he had come to Washington.
"Two snipers, operating from different locations he said. He was making no attempt to follow the same dialogue they'd had the last time. If he was right in his suspicions, soon enough they would be diverging from the script anyway. Jim called me with the details a few days from now so I could bring the information back and place our people strategically and capture those involved."
"So you don't know who they are?" Susan asked.
"I know this sounds strange to you, but they are the same people who tried to kidnap you a few days ago," Jake said.
"That never happened," Laney said.
"Not for you, but it did for me. And I saw a couple of the people you arrested both times. The man you and I arrested before he could make the shot was one of the men you sent me pictures of from the kidnapping."
"I thought you said they were successful?" Susan asked. "When was this arrest made?"
"This isn't the first time I've gone through this," Jake explained. "After you were shot, I looped back and told you. We set up and were able to catch both sniper teams. That's when I had a chance to get a look at one of those involved."
"If we arrested him, you must know something about him," Jim insisted.
"Actually, I don't. I decided it was necessary that I Back-Tracked immediately afterwards. There was no time to gather any information."
"That doesn't make any sense," Susan said. "If you were successful in apprehended them, what reason could you have had for Back-Tracking then?"
"The events associated with the kidnapping you and Jim are half-convinced never happened and believe are something my mind erroneously made up."
"I don't understand," Jim admitted.
Jake grimaced.
"I made a second loop so we can attempt to capture the individuals this time around. We have all the same information, but if I'm right, they won't be there."