by Bob Blink
It was enough. The young man looked her way, and after a moment's hesitation came over to check.
"My god, what happened to you?" he asked, seeing the blood on the ground and the amount that had soaked her clothes.
"Shot," she said. "Something happening in the park.
As if to validate her claim, the sharp crack of another weapon being fired echoed from beyond the trees.
"I need a hospital," Natalie cried. "Please."
The man looked in the direction of the gunshot, then hurriedly bent down and wrapping his arms around her, lifted her and carried her toward his vehicle. Once there he helped her stand while he unlocked the door.
"Wait a moment," he directed, while he retrieved a blanket from the trunk, which he spread over the seat. Then he helped her inside. She hissed in pain, and cried out more than once before she was inside the car. Moments later they were on the way, the dangerous park receding behind them.
She had escaped, Natalie realized. Assuming she hadn't been seen, her enemies wouldn't know anything of the car she was in. Now she simply had to survive and recover, and hopefully all of this could be made to go away.
"Don't worry," her savior was saying. "There is a small hospital just a few blocks away."
Natalie knew that a hospital wasn't the answer. Under normal conditions she might be arrested and held until her situation could be understood, which would have been okay because once she had recovered enough she would have used her Backslide ability to escape. But those after her would be certain to check all of the hospitals, especially anything close. She needed a different kind of help. There was only one person who could offer what she required. And this young man was going to have to get her there.
She reached into the side pocket of her slacks for the tiny semiautomatic pistol that Paul had given her. Checking to be certain the small safety was disengaged, she pointed it toward the driver.
"No hospital," she said. "We are going someplace different."
Something in her voice caused the young man to look her way. His face visibly paled when he saw the small gun in her hand.
"What are you doing?" he asked in a voice that revealed his fear. "I'm helping you."
"I appreciate that, but I can't go to the hospital. There are people after me, and they'd find me there. You are going to take me where I tell you. Understand?"
Eyes wide, the jogger nodded.
"Sure. Whatever you say. Just be careful with that thing."
Natalie fought against the pain and the growing lightheadedness as she directed the driver through the city to the estate she and Paul last visited this coming Wednesday. After what seemed like an impossibly long drive, she spotted the familiar gate ahead of them.
"Pull in there," she directed.
Bringing the car to a stop in front of the gate, the young man honked his horn to get attention, not that it was necessary. Two of the guards were already coming out to check on the car.
"What do you want?" the bigger of the two guards asked, then stared at the blood and the woman with the gun pointed at the driver. He started to reach for his own weapon, then hesitated, not sure if such an action might cause the woman to shoot.
"Tell Carlos that Natalie Rineri is out here. I'm Paul Martin's girlfriend. I've been shot and need help. Hurry!" she commanded.
The guard took another look, spotting the blood and seeing the situation.
"Wait," he said, and turned back toward the gatehouse.
It seemed like an hour to Natalie before the gate was opened, and the guard directed the driver to drive to the side of the house. People would be waiting there for them.
When they arrived, more men with guns were waiting, and while Natalie was helped out of the car, relieved of her weapon, and directed into the house, while the unfortunate young man was held at gunpoint until Carlos decided what was to be done with him. Inside, Natalie was taken down the stairs to a large room equipped to handle such problems. It seemed that Uncle Carlos must sometimes have help that needed the same kind of care.
One of the maids came and helped strip off the blouse, and began cleaning up the wound, pressing a large gauze pad against the wound to help stop the flow of blood. She also gave Natalie a shot of something. While this was going on, Uncle Carlos stepped into the room, unconcerned that Natalie was half undressed.
"What happened?" he asked as the maid who was playing nurse continued to work on the wound.
"We were ambushed," Natalie said, her voice weak as she fought to stay conscious. "Paul, Jeff, and several others. Paul wanted to kill someone who was preventing us from dealing with the FBI agent named Carlson. But they were there waiting."
"Where's Paul?" Carlos asked.
"Dead," Natalie said, even though she wasn't certain, but suspected that was the case. They had shot her outright and probably had done the same to the others. "My brother Jeff also."
Carlos cursed loudly in Italian.
"I warned him this wasn't something for him to become involved in," Carlos said. "Do you know what that boy meant to me? My own son was killed more than ten years ago. Paul was like my own son. I was grooming him to be my replacement, and now you got him killed."
Natalie could sense the hostility in Carlos.
"I can fix it," she said. "I just need time to get strong. Then it will be alright."
"You can fix death? I don't think so," Carlos said, holding his hand out to one of his men.
"Time," Natalie said. "I just need a little time."
"You've just run out of time," Carlos said.
Chapter 47
Monday, May 16
The hospital room where Jake rested was clearly well above the norm. He had been in more than one hospital room over the years, and this one was large enough for several people and had amenities that he had never seen in a sick room before. Clearly he was being given special treatment, and being kept in an area where no one might overhear anything that was discussed in the room. He was thinking about this when Susan Carlson and Jim Laney made their way into the room that morning. Jim was on crutches, but Jake knew from the brief discussions he'd had with Susan the evening before that his wound had been patched up and he'd been released the evening before.
"Natalie?" Jake asked. He'd been wondering about the young woman who he believed was his counterpart since Susan had informed him she didn't appear to be dead as initially thought. The night before she had disappeared, yet surprisingly nothing had happened to change the events of the previous afternoon. Even if they were wrong and she wasn't the Back-Tracker, someone else had to be, and they should have acted once they learned of the shootout. Jake was certain none of the others killed during the firefight was the person they sought.
"She's dead," Susan said bluntly.
"They found her and a young man shot to death in a car down by the river," Jim Laney explained. "It looks like a good Samaritan tried to help her out, and ended up getting killed for his trouble."
That would explain why there had been no Back-Tracking by the other side Jake realized.
"Who killed them?" he asked.
"That's a good question, for which we don't have any answers just yet," Susan said. "My guess is that the Mob had her killed after discovering Paul had been killed and she might have been the reason. We still don't know what her full role in all this really is."
"I think you can safely conclude that she is the reason all of this got started in the first place," Jake said.
Susan looked at him sharply.
"You know something?" she asked.
Jake nodded.
"You'd be discovering the link in another day or two. I didn't want to distract our efforts with the information prematurely, but now it doesn't matter. Natalie worked at a place called East Coast Pharmaceuticals."
Susan made the connection immediately.
"I have an old friend who works there. She called me with a request to see her about some irregularity with one of the employees. That was Natalie, wasn't it?"
/> Jake nodded.
"I need to warn you. Anne was killed in an auto accident a few days ago. It's almost certain that Natalie and her friends were responsible. Shaun discovered Natalie's employment there, and when he told you, you went to visit. We never found out what the problem was, although you would have dispatched Lester and Solly to Natalie's old hometown to investigate. That is something that still needs to be done. Hopefully some answers can be found now that we know some of the connections."
Susan had paled at the information.
"Anne's dead?" she asked uncertainly.
Jake nodded.
"Our plan was to determine who their Back-Tracker was, then I'd go back and deal with that person, and at the same time prevent the accident that killed her. It made no sense to take action until we knew, because that would alert them of what we knew, and they'd just find another way to attack her."
"And now?" Susan asked.
"I don't know," Jake replied honestly. "I can't Back-Track at the moment. I have no sense of my former self. It could be weeks before this clears up, and it may never come back. If it doesn't come back soon enough, the event will be out of my reach. I'm not certain how safe it would be to make a long jump back so soon after such a major trauma."
"Is it wise even if you could?" Jim asked. He'd heard what Paul had said before he died. "They said they beat us. If you go back, Natalie Rineri would still be alive. This could start over, and from what we've seen, the outcome is somewhat uncertain."
"There would certainly be risks," Jake admitted. "Hopefully we could move before Miss Rineri was expecting any trouble. But it's all academic until I regain my ability."
"What did the doctor tell you?" Susan asked. "Did he have anything new this morning when he checked on you?"
"He says I have a concussion, but near as he can tell no internal bleeding. At least not yet. I got smacked pretty hard, and he wants to watch me for a day or two. He can see no serious damage or swelling based on the MRIs. Of course he doesn't know about my Back-Tracking, so he can't comment on that."
"So we might be in a situation where none of this can be cleaned up any?" Susan asked.
"I suspect that is going to be the case," Jake agreed. "Where are Norm and Tony?" he asked, something he wanted to question the moment she'd come into the room. There had been no sign of Tony the evening before, and so far his name hadn't come up.
"Norm's dealing with the two prisoners we took the other day," she explained. "They have refused to say anything, and given the extent of the warfare from yesterday, the news has been taking a strong interest in what might have happened. Tony contacted me last night. He dealt with the two men he went after, then decided it was best he disappeared. The rest of us were official FBI, but in his line of work, the less exposure the better. Once he was certain there was nothing he could do, he slipped away."
"That's good," Jake said relieved.
"We still have a bit of a mess on our hands," Jim said. "There are approaching a dozen dead as a result of the ambush we set up. The NYPD is not at all happy we didn't inform them of what we were doing."
"The Director is not particularly pleased about the publicity the Bureau is getting on this. The methods used were not standard procedure."
"Sorry," Jake said. "I was supposed to be able to loop back so none of this happened. I guess we might be stuck with a somewhat unorthodox operation."
"The things that were done that no longer have happened make our ambush hard to justify, but the number of deaths we are accumulating that will be attributed to the Mob will help put some of the questions to rest," Susan said. "If we can find out what motivated Miss Rineri to start this it will probably help as well."
"What are your immediate plans?" Jake asked.
"Norm and I are going back to Washington today. I got permission for Jim to stay here in New York until you are discharged. Once you are better, we'll see where we stand. Do you want me to contact Karin for you?"
"I'll take care of that once I'm out," Jake replied. "For now, see if Solly and Lester can follow up on Natalie. I think what they find might help a lot."
"Okay then," Susan said as she stood. "The NYPD might come with questions, but refer them to your badge, and have them contact the Director. I've made certain you won't have any trouble with them. And Jake, thanks. It's good not to have to be looking over my shoulder all the time."
Chapter 48
Saturday, May 21
Livoron, Italy
Jake scrambled to make his way aboard the ship before it sailed. He had arrived late, barely before the ship was scheduled to sail, and he'd had some trouble convincing the officer to allow him to board, as it was unusual for someone to join the passengers this late in the week-long trip. The ship would be leaving in a few minutes for its next port of call in Nice, France. Now he was finally aboard, and he was making his way toward the cabin where Karin and Janna were assigned. Next door would be their German cousins who were spending the week with them on the Disney Cruise ship. Karin had brought them to Germany to hide out while Jake was occupied with Susan and Jim in Washington, and they had booked this trip with the cousins. After a couple of mistaken turns down passageways resulting in his asking directions of the crew he encountered scattered around the deck, Jake was finally closing on his destination.
There! He spotted the sought-after number on the stateroom door. Smiling in anticipation, he stepped up and knocked on the door. He heard a familiar voice inside, and then the door opened to a sight he'd missed so long.
"Jake," Karin said excitedly as she recognized him.
Jake took a moment to savor the beautiful face and long blond hair of his wife. He was always amazed that he'd been so lucky to have married her.
"Daddy," squealed a young bundle of energy, who flew across the room to wrap herself around his legs.
Jake picked his daughter up and hugged her fiercely.
"Hi, princess," he said as she hugged him back happily.
"Are you coming with us?" Janna asked hopefully.
"I am," Jake agreed.
Satisfied her father would be staying around, Janna indicated she wanted to be set down, and then scurried back into the room to fetch some new toy that she wanted to share with him.
"What happened?" Karin asked, spotting the small bandage that still covered the slash along the side of his head. He also had a bandage around his rib where the bullet chipped the bone before bouncing off.
"Close call," Jake admitted. He learned a long time ago not to lie to Karin. "A bullet nearly caught me."
"Jake!" Karin exclaimed. "You could have been killed. You couldn't change what happened? Is everyone alright?"
Jake could see no reason to reveal the suspicion he had about what had happened, but fortunately reversed.
"I can't Back-Track at the moment," he told her. "I had a mild concussion, and like before when I was hit on the head, my Back-Tracking ability is gone."
"Will it return?" she asked.
"The doctor says physically I'm fine. He can see no lasting damage, but who knows. Maybe it will, and maybe it won't. Time will tell."
"What if it doesn't return?"
"Would that be so bad?" Jake asked. He'd done a lot of thinking about the close calls he'd had the past couple of years and what Paul Martin had said before he died, and Jake wasn't so certain he cared. He'd been foolishly overconfident this time out. Tony had been right about the risks.
Karin simply shook her head.
"Come, Janna has something to share. I'll tell you all about what happened when she's asleep."
The End
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2016 by Robert Blink
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reprodu
ced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Proof Release: April
First Edition Release: May 2016
Books by the Author:
Timelines
Split Creek
EndRun
Dirty Money
Crossover
Battle for Earth
The Second Compound
Reversal
Wizard's Blood Series
Wizard's Blood [Part One]
Wizard's Blood [Part Two]
Ancient Magic Saga
Ancient Magic
Into The Ruins
The Baldari
KalaBhoot [Limited Release]
Jake Waters Series
Corrector
Back-Tracker
Double-Back
The Protector Saga
The Barbarian/The Protector
The Sor'ee
Acknowledgements
Bill Maggiora and Doug Burr once again were in the front lines, reading and sending back comments as the chapters first saw light of day. A number of useful suggestions were incorporated into the initial draft as a result of their early review. Among the helpful proofreaders of the completed manuscript I have to thank are my wife Evelina, Connie Goshgarian, Jim Spiva, Norm Hardy, and Dianna Hunter.