by Bob Blink
"It appears you and this other person made a number of loops backward," Paul noted.
"I don't think we can be certain how many," Natalie admitted. "I can think of how it might have worked, but perhaps a larger number of loops were exercised before we settled on the current reality."
Jeff shook his head. He hadn't really followed what his sister was trying to explain.
"I wish you could make a really large loop and go back before all of this started, and before this other person knew you existed? Then we could solve this before it became so complicated. Then you could go back and kill this woman in your company before she can make her phone call."
"That's what I should have done in the beginning," Natalie admitted. "I was concerned what a mysterious death of someone in the company might result in, and I had no way of knowing that there would be someone else with my ability. That is the big surprise, and the reason this hasn't worked out simply for us."
"And now that option is out of reach?" Paul said sadly.
Natalie nodded. "That time is out of reach," she agreed. "I just looped back nearly as far as I can reach, and that was after at least one other loop I know of. There might have been more. The effect is somewhat cumulative. I've tried to sense myself in the past, and I can't do so. That's often the case after a large loop, and tells me I couldn't make another loop just now no matter how hard I tried. In a day or so, I'll sense myself, and would be able to Backslide again, but it will only be back to about this time."
"What about this other Backslider?" Paul asked. "Is he restricted the same as you?"
"I wish I knew," Natalie admitted. "I assume the same sort of restrictions apply to whoever it is, but I've never known another person with the ability so can only assume what restrictions they must face. I do believe whoever it is has more experience with this than I do."
"Why do you say that?" her brother asked.
"It's too much of a reach to believe the FBI came up with someone with this ability at the same time I presented them with a case where it is needed. This person must be someone the FBI has known about, and has worked with before."
Paul was shaking his head.
"We have a few resources inside the Bureau, and I think we would have learned about such a person. It would be a difficult thing to keep secret."
"Perhaps it is not widely known, and only a few within the Bureau know about it," Natalie mused. "Maybe this Carlson has the ability, or knows someone with it, and uses it secretly. You said she has a reputation at solving some of the more difficult cases the FBI has had."
"The latter is more likely," but she must be very good at keeping secrets. It's got to be someone around her."
"But not necessarily someone within the Bureau," Natalie warned. "It could be a friend, or a relative, of almost anyone that she could contact for help if she needed it. We need to figure out who it is, because any action we take with this person out there, will only be undone, and each time we act we risk revealing who we are. Once they figure that out, then they will be on us immediately."
"Just what is our situation?" Paul asked.
"I don't know," Natalie admitted. "That's why we fled Washington. They certainly know we exist, but what details have survived their Backsliding is difficult to say. They know one of us has the ability to Backslide, of that I'm certain, so they will plan accordingly. If no one has raided my apartment, then I think it's safe to assume they don't know our identities just yet."
"You said they had Paul and me in custody for some time after the kidnapping before you made one of these loops," Jeff pointed out. "Could they have taken pictures of us? If so, they could be searching through their databases even now."
"Their Backslider couldn't have brought any photographs back with him," Natalie pointed out. "Only memories, but if he was one of those who saw you while you were in custody, then he might recall what you look like. That wouldn't be good."
"And if this Backslider is someone outside of the group of agents involved?" Paul asked.
"Then at most he might have been given a verbal description to carry back. That would be far less useful."
"Look, I hate to say this, but maybe we should just walk away from this," Paul suggested. "If they haven't figured out who we are, then it's unlikely they will if we just disappear and drop the whole thing. Soon enough we'll reach a time where their Backslider can't loop back, and we will fade into the background."
"I wish it were that easy," Natalie said.
"Why won't Paul's idea work?" Jeff asked.
"Because of Anne," Natalie reminded them. "Carlson apparently hasn't followed up with her as yet, probably because of our actions keeping her distracted, but sooner or later she will remember and call Anne, or Anne will call her once again. While there is no solid link to suggest that is the source of her problems, it will certainly mean I am likely to come under investigation which I was trying to avoid from the start. There is also the chance they have learned enough that a link can be made to you two."
"You may have to just give up your job there and go into hiding," Jeff said.
"I've worked too hard to simply throw it all away," Natalie objected. "We are close, and the serum we are working on will make me rich, and highly respected in my field. You want me to walk away from that and live the rest of my days as a fugitive?"
"Maybe they won't be able to make a case," Paul suggested. "With your Backsliding, you can wait them out, and if turns bad, loop back a few days and disappear before they act."
"Nope," Natalie replied, shaking her head. "Not with this other Backslider still out there. They would have him simply loop back and nail me at the earlier time."
"This whole thing is nuts," Jeff objected. "What else can we do then?"
"What if we make this simple as it should have been in the beginning?" Paul asked. "What if we simply eliminate this woman who can bring the FBI down on you?"
"I already explained that," Natalie said impatiently. "That will get their interest, especially now with all of this mystery for them. Anything like a surprise death they will look at for possible connection."
"They haven't been paying your CFO much attention of late," Paul countered. "What if she had an accident, something that didn't look like a murder."
"They would still investigate, and depending on what she told Carlson, it could still come back on me. Besides, they could Backslide and prevent her death. We would have done nothing beyond focusing their attention on her."
"Could, but might not," Paul pointed out. "Now suppose that her death isn't all that happened. What if, about the same time, a series of attacks were unleashed against Carlson, this Laney fellow, and anyone else we can learn is associated with their investigation. They will be so involved in trying to sort that out, they might miss the fact your CFO died at all. You said they were old friends, but not current friends in constant contact. If we can get past a few days, maybe a week, they won't be able to go back and save her. Their ability to question her will be gone. It's the best chance we have."
"If we run more attacks against them, we risk revealing ourselves," Natalie warned.
"It wouldn't be us," Paul explained. "There are ways to hire hits that can't be traced back to the source. They might know someone is targeting them, but we'd do it in such a way they can't link it to us, even with their Backsliding ability. Maybe we can find some background on Carlson that can be leaked to suggest a reason for the attempts on her. Maybe someone recently died in prison, and a family member is seeking revenge. I don't know. I haven't thought out the details. At the very least, it should be set up with what look to be viable leads, that ultimately take them nowhere, but use up time."
"Even if Anne's death could be made to look like a legitimate accident, Carlson might still attempt to investigate the company," Natalie worried out loud.
"Why?" Paul asked. "Unless Anne has already told her of her suspicions, she wouldn't know what she was trying to look for. Meanwhile, she would have a major threat to her and
her associates to try to resolve. We could make sure the pressure stayed in place for some time, with additional attacks later. In time, we pull back, and it all fades away. By then, your CFO will be old news, and Carlson will have other matters to worry about. People like her are always overworked. I think it's our best chance of walking away from this thing. Carlson lives, but you don't really have an issue with her anyway."
"How would you make Anne's death look like an accident?" Natalie asked.
"I don't know yet. You need to tell me everything you know about her, and I'd need to get someone I know of to have a close look at her house while she's at work. Most people have habits that are potentially risky. We just need to find hers."
"Maybe over time we could figure out who their Backslider is and deal with him also," Jeff suggested.
Paul shook his head.
"If we know, we file it away for an emergency, but once clear I wouldn't risk mixing it up with him anymore. We could end up with him on our trail again, and we might not have an out like this time."
"I think it's that Laney guy," Jeff said. "He was right there and able to decide when he should make one of these loops."
"It's not Laney," Paul said. "He would have initiated one of these Backslides as soon as he saw his wife was in danger. I know his type. He's brave enough when it's just himself at risk, but wouldn't want her involved."
"Are you positive?" Natalie said. "They were trying to catch us, and he would have known he could make it all go away later. I agree if things were normal, but if he had the ability, he might have held on."
"Can you do all of this?" Natalie asked.
"I might need my uncle's help," Paul admitted. "This involves too many people and he's going to hear that something is up anyway."
"Would you have to tell him about me?" Natalie asked.
"Not your ability. That would make him wonder about me, but I'd have to explain that my girlfriend is in danger. I might also have to reveal your medical discovery might be at risk. Money talks. He might want a cut of the action from the profits you stand to make. It's a lot of money, and he's ultimately a businessman."
Natalie made a face, but said after a moment's pause. "I stand to lose it all if we don't solve this. Splitting it is better than nothing. Let's see what you can set up, and we'll decide if we want to go forward."
In the back of her mind, Natalie reserved the thought that if the resulting plan didn't look promising or if the uncle became a problem, she could always Backslide to this moment and squash the plan to involve Paul's family. She looked at her watch to fix the time and date, and noted that she still had a week of the vacation she'd taken from her job. With all the Backsliding, she had sort of lost track. She hoped a week would be enough to finish this off.
"What do you think they are doing now?" Jeff asked.
"Probably preparing for the move against Laney," Natalie said. "They won't know yet that we won't show up again, which gives Paul a couple of days to prepare our alternative while their mind is focused on something that won't turn out to matter."
"It would be good to move quickly against your CFO," Paul noted. "This is the kind of distraction I was talking about. If we hit her now, they are unlikely to be aware, and once the move against Laney doesn't happen, we should hit them with the alternate attacks to keep them worried about that."
Chapter 18
Wednesday, May 11
The day when Laney returned home, expecting to find Clarissa in the hands of the four kidnappers, he found her reading through a stack of briefs for the case she was working.
"You look worried," she said. "What happened today?"
"I'll explain later," he said. "I've got to call Jake."
Jake hadn't told them until today what was supposed to happen this evening, not wanting Jim to have to hide his feelings from Clarissa for several days. Now, it appeared, the past few hours of worry were for nothing. Those they sought had apparently discovered that their plan had been discovered, and had elected not to proceed. He pulled out his cell, and immediately called Jake and Susan, who were sitting in Jake's rental a couple of blocks away.
"You might as well come over," he said. "There's no one here."
"We wondered why you didn't activate the link," Jake said. "We were starting to worry."
"What went wrong?" Susan asked. She and Jake were using the speakerphone function on his cell.
"I have to assume they learned about us somehow. Whoever it is in their group who can Back-Track must have done so, and had them call off the attempt."
"How much do you think they know?" Jim asked.
"That depends on how smart they are," Jake said. "They certainly know that once again we were in place in advance of one of their ops. That will tell them something. Somehow I think they may have learned more. I'd be willing to bet they now suspect that we know about them, and have the same ability as their Back-Tracker."
"That's going to make things complicated," Susan said.
"You have no idea," Jake said. "At least there is some good news."
"What would that be?" Susan asked sarcastically.
"We are still here. That suggests for some reason they haven't been able to go back far enough to clear our memories of these events. They have some limitations on their actions. We'll have to think through what it might mean."
The next morning they gathered in Susan's office to discuss how to proceed.
"I think they learned more than we did," Jake groused. "We are back to where we only have the two sketches, their move against us a bust, and they must almost certainly realize they can't move against us without things going wrong. I'd bet by now their Back-Tracker is aware, or at least suspects that we have someone just like him," Jake said, repeating the comment he'd made to Susan the night before.
"They are going to think it's one of us," Jim said. "They'll be busy trying to decide who, and how to take that person out. Until they can remove our Back-Tracker, they can't hope to end this."
"Maybe," Susan said. "We don't know how much they know about us. You and me have both been targets, but we are known to be partners. Are they even aware of Jake at this point? How they view our situation, assuming they have concluded we have someone with the ability to Back-Track might depend on how they operate. If their Back-Tracker is integral to their team, then they might believe we operate the same, but if he stays in the background, perhaps well removed from their actual activities, they might think whoever we have is someone hidden away."
"They might attempt to simply eliminate the lot of us and see if that works," Jim warned. "They might even wonder if it could be Clarissa and target her as well. Given the abort, and if we accept Jake's explanation how this works, they probably made the attempt, have met Clarissa and me face to face, or at least their Back-Tracker has, so they might wonder."
"It's probably a reasonable move to have Clarissa take that trip to her friend's place out of the area," Jake agreed. "We can't know who they might target."
"I think we need to start being more careful ourselves," Susan said. "Norm will be back this afternoon, and I think I'll be staying with him. That keeps me away from my place and with another agent."
"Jake can stay with me," Jim said. "Clarissa will be gone, and we can back one another up."
Susan shook her head. "Your place is a normal home, and is not really very secure against a determined attack. I don't think you should stay there, nor should Jake. In fact, the more I think about this, the more I think Jake should move out of Washington."
"How can I help if I'm not here?" Jake said.
"Think about it," Carlson said. "You are our best protection. If anything happens, you can Back-Track, warn us, and undo what happened. You've already done that twice in my defense in the past couple weeks. We can hope they haven't stumbled onto you, but even if they have, if they can't find you, Jim and I are far safer. We can set up a secure link so you can continue to stay in touch, and review whatever Shaun turns up. Until we find out who these peop
le are, I think that might be our best move."
"It makes no sense for me to return to California," Jake said. "If they know about me, they could have discovered where I live, but more importantly, being that far away makes it cumbersome if I need to Back-Track. I'd have to spend a lot of time on planes. If I move, it should be somewhere in the area, at a location that takes no more than an hour to get where I'm in Back-Track range."
Susan nodded.
"I agree with that. And, I think I know just the solution to our problem. You and Tony have worked together in the past. I think I need to pair you two up again. He will have locations that the rest of us aren't aware of where you can hide relatively close. Between him and Shaun they can provide a secure link so you can examine any hits the computer spits out."
"What about Jim?" Jake asked.
"Jim needs to be here with me, otherwise those behind this will know for certain we have something in the works. If they haven't tumbled onto you, they won't even realize you are missing. If they have, they might believe you were here for another reason. I think Jim needs to stay with Norm and me. Norm's place is in a secure building, and by that I mean one that takes security seriously. It's not the kind of place that these people would find susceptible to a kidnapping or attack."
"You are going to have to explain all of this to Norm," Jake said.
"Norm isn't part of this," Susan said firmly. "If he is, then I'm the world's worst investigator. If he is, and we tell him, your secret will be out and that will be a giveaway. You can Back-Track and we'll deal with it."
"I was thinking more that this will be a shock to him, and I won't be there to help make him see it's true. He's going to have issues about why he wasn't told before."