BackTrek (18 page)

Jack headed to the precinct. At least he knew
that there he would not run into himself. As he drove, he went over
in his mind what he would need for the surveillance set up that
night. Though it had been years since he had participated in a
stake out, he was sure that he would do fine, especially when he
considered some of the latest technological advances that were at
his disposal. He had already called Bob Lemke, a friend that he had
gone through the academy with, who now worked night shift in the
equipment room. Lemke had not even hesitated when Jack told him
what he needed, nor had he asked any questions. He had said that he
would have everything ready when Jack got there. With the clock
running constantly, Jack appreciated anything that would save him
even a minute of time.

He pulled to a stop in front of the station,
parked and got out of the car. It was only after he was actually
inside that he remembered that the car that he had just left in
front of the police station was stolen. A smile came to his face as
he realized the irony of it, and that the least likely place for it
to stand out, would be there of all places. Within the next twenty
minutes, probably twenty officers in blue would walk right past
that car, and not the first one would even think about it being
stolen. Hidden in plain sight, he thought. At least he hoped so. He
hit the elevator button, the doors opened, and he walked inside. He
pushed the button for the second floor. The door hesitated. Jack
pushed the button again, any glimmer of the smile that he had just
worn, now gone. Again the door hesitated. He began to repeatedly
push the button until finally the doors began to close. He leaned
back against the rear wall, looked up, closed his eyes, and sighed.
This was going to be a long night.

The elevator dinged as it slowed and then
stopped on the second floor. As the doors opened, Jack came out at
full trot. He walked passed several doors before he came to the one
marked equipment room, and entered without knocking.

“Jack, good to see you, pal. How ya been?”
Lemke said as he stood behind the bullet-proof glass partition that
spread the width of the room.

“Doing good, how about you?” He asked, as he
threw his best fake smile in Lemke’s direction.

“Great Jack, just great. I think I’ve got
everything that you asked for. Do you want to check it over?”

“No time tonight, Bob. Just show me where to
sign.” He said as he walked towards the one window that could be
opened. Lemke heaved a box onto the counter on the opposite side of
the window, opened it, and slid a clipboard through. Jack glanced
at it briefly, ensured that a few key items were listed, then
signed it and passed it back. Lemke accepted it, sat it aside, and
then pushed the box through the open window.

“Try not to break anything, Jack. You know
how the guys upstairs are.” Lemke said, laughingly.

“Not to worry, Bob. I’ll treat everything
just like it was mine.” Jack said as he picked up the box and
headed for the door.

“That’s what I’m afraid of, Jack. Remember, I
know you.”

“Thanks, Bob.” Jack said as he left the
equipment room and headed back for the elevator. Another officer
waited, and when the elevator opened, held the door open for
Jack.

“Thanks.” Jack said, not recognizing the
officer.

“Stake out?”

“Yeah.”

“Bummer. The last one I was on lasted a week,
and we didn’t even get a lead, much less a collar.” He said as he
punched the button for the first floor. "I hope you have better
luck.” The officer said, with a slight smile on his face. The doors
slid shut.

“I know the perp is going to be there. Just
gotta catch him.” Jack said, as he already had begun to think about
how he would set up his equipment, and paid very little attention
to the conversation. Both men stood in the elevator. Its awkward
silence enveloped them as they stared up at the indicator which
finally clicked over to one. The doors slid open and the officer
held the door open as Jack made his way out of the elevator.

“Thanks.” Jack said over his shoulder as he
headed for the door. The officer said something in return but Jack
had already tuned him out. As he approached the door that exited
back to the street, two uniformed officers held the door open for
him. They recognized the box as equipment room property.

“Stakeout?” One of them asked, but Jack only
nodded in response as he walked towards his car. He set the box in
the front seat, and walked around to the driver’s side, got in, and
turned the key. The car responded with a series of clicks, but did
not rumble to life as he expected. Again he turned the key, and
again the car answered with clicks.

“Great!” He said, and slammed his hands down
on the dashboard. “Just fucking great!” Exhausted, frustrated, and
behind schedule, Jack popped the hood release lever, and got out of
the car. He walked to the front of the car, and began to look under
the hood. A mechanic he was not, but he had to make this thing run,
somehow. First he wiggled this wire, and then that hose. Even
thought that he had no idea what was wrong or how to fix it. Then
he touched the wire on the battery cable, and noticed that the red
wire was loose. He had no tools to work with, but managed to twist
the terminal attached to the battery far enough to bind the
connection. He ran back to the driver’s side, reached in, and
turned the ignition. The car sparked to life, and immediately began
to purr as the engine idled.

“Five thousand cars stolen a day, and I steal
a car with a damn battery problem.” He muttered under his breath as
he slammed the hood down and jumped back into the car. Without
hesitation, he pulled back out onto the main road. As he drove, he
glanced at his watch. It read three-fifty-five p.m. Jack looked at
his watch again in disbelief, and tapped on it as though that would
make it function properly. It was dark outside, and he knew that
his watch couldn’t be right. Then as he passed an intersection, he
saw the current time lit up on the sign of a local branch office of
one of the state’s largest banks. Eleven-forty P.M. it flashed. His
mind whirled again as the realization that he was looped in time
slammed into him. He crashed back into the reality that he was
running out of time. When he had come into this time line, it was
six-forty-five P.M. here, but it was only around eleven A.M. where
he had come from. The best that he had estimated, the murders had
occurred somewhere between twelve-thirty and one-fifteen A.M.,
meaning that sometime in the next fifty minutes, it would be too
late. He laid his foot on the accelerator and fumbled with his
watch to change it to the current time. He wished that he had
stolen a police car instead. He desperately wanted to use both the
emergency lights and sirens.

It didn’t take very long, but seemed like
forever before Jack finally came to a stop across the street from
Tracey’s house. He got out of the car and his heart skipped a beat
as he saw a car already parked behind the family car, then he
recognized it as Mike’s car, and relaxed. He walked to the
passenger side of his stolen car, and opened the door. He opened
the box on the seat. Jack pulled out a tripod, unfolded it and
stood it up on the floorboard of the passenger side. Next he pulled
out a device which resembled a telescope, and mounted it on top of
the tripod. It clicked into place, and he tightened the thumbscrew.
He removed another, smaller tripod with a small device attached to
the top, and placed it on the hood of the car. He opened the window
on the passenger side, and he ran a wire that extended from this
device inside the car. Finally, he removed a small flat screen
video monitor which he laid on the seat. He shoved the now empty
box into the back-seat. He readjusted the smaller tripod on the
hood of the car, aimed it across the street at the house, and
finally made his way back to the driver’s side and got back in the
car.

Jack plugged the wire that led from the
device into a jack on the side of the video monitor, and pressed
the on button. The monitor flickered. An odd greenish image
appeared of the house across the street. Jack knew that the night
optics of this small video device were some of the best available,
and by amplifying the small amounts of ambient light thousands of
times, the image appeared bright and detailed. As he moved the
joystick mounted to the side of the monitor, the scene also moved.
When he pushed a button next to the joystick, the image began to
zoom in. He scanned the front of the house, and attempted to look
into the living-room windows. The curtains blocked his view. He
could tell that inside, the TV was on, and that there was movement
in the house, but only by the shadows, and the flicker of
lights.

He sat the video monitor down, and looked
through a small sighting scope fixed to the top of the
telescope-like device that was standing on the floorboard. As he
aimed it towards the same living room window, he depressed a small
button at the base of the scope and a pinpoint invisible infrared
laser beam shot across the street. A small dot on the side of the
house next to the window illuminated within the scopes infrared
sensitive optics. He slowly adjusted the scope until the dot hit
the corner of the living-room window. He made another adjustment,
as he attempted to deflect the beam directly back at the scope’s
receiver. Suddenly a green light lit up inside the spotting scope,
and he released the button. Jack tightened down the scope in its
position. He reached into the back seat, pulled a set of headphones
from out of the box and inserted the dangling plug into a jack at
the base of the scope. He keyed a button, put the headphones on,
and suddenly heard Tracey telling Bella to finish her homework. He
could hear them, loud and clear. Laser bounce listening devices had
been around for years, but always had the visible red laser beam to
contend with. Not necessarily the best thing for a surveillance
operation. Jack was glad that the newer models were equipped with
infrared lasers that made them completely undetectable. The beam
would leave the scope, bounce off of the pane of glass, as it
picked up any small vibrations caused by sounds that emanated from
within the room. The vibrations were sent back to the receiver,
also located on the scope. The signal was amplified a few thousand
times, and the final output was as if the room was directly wired
for sound.

Jack listened quietly to sounds of the TV low
in the background, and an occasional giggle from Bella and Brandon.
Far from the living-room, probably in the kitchen Jack thought, he
could barely make out the voices of Tracey and Mike. For so long he
had admired the way that Mike could talk to people. It was a
natural gift, that to Jack, remained mysterious. He could listen to
a few sentences and know exactly someone’s viewpoint. How they
felt, and what they longed for. Though only two years older than
Jack, he had always seemed wise beyond his age. He was able to
bring reason in the most tedious of situations, and comfort to
those that hurt. That was why Jack had been so glad when Mike had
offered to talk to Tracey, but now it just added to his guilt. He
now knew that because of his request, his only brother had
died.

Little sleep from the night before had begun
to catch up with Jack, as he rested his eyes from time to time.
They burned and he wanted to close them, but he feared that he
would miss Smith, and lose his family once again. He shifted his
weight in the car seat and tried to get comfortable, only to find
that his eyelids had once again begun to feel heavy. He clicked the
radio on, and tuned to his favorite music station. The next song
started, and he unconsciously began to mouth the lyrics as the
music played. His eyes closed, and his lip-synching wavered, then
suddenly he opened his eyes. He shifted his weight again, as he
tried not to get too comfortable. Again he began to lip-synch to
the words, his voice almost a whisper. His eyes closed. His mouth
ceased to move. He was still, except for the rhythmic rise and fall
of his chest. His hand slipped from his lap to the car seat, and
rested there. The video monitor showed the flicker of light from
the living-room window, and two shadows that fell on the draperies
as they crossed in front of it. Jack did not see anything.

The young girl slowly opened the door of the
closet. The door creaked on its hinges. Thunder boomed and rolled
from outside, as she shakily peered into the dark recesses.
Background music reverberated that danger was near, yet she seemed
not be aware of what horrors lurked in the darkness. The tension
mounted. The haunting music became louder. She peered into the
closet and then suddenly retreated. Just as she frantically reached
to shut the door, as her fingers closed around the edge of the
door, another, larger hand, reached from behind the door and
covered her hand. She screamed in terror.

Mike eased his way up behind Bella and
Brandon as they sat in the middle of the living-room floor and
peeked at the horror movie between their fingers. He winked at
Tracey as he snuck up behind them, and for the first time that
night, a smile came to her face. As she nodded to him. He took long
slow deliberately exaggerated steps as he brought his finger to his
lips, for her to keep quiet. He loomed behind them, and as he
watched the screen, chose that instant to reach down and grab them
from the sides. He let out a blood curdling scream, and both
children jumped and began to scream in absolute terror. Their
screams joined the chorus of shrieks from the hapless young girl on
the TV screen. Bella launched the bowl of popcorn into the air. As
popcorn rained down everywhere. Mike howled in laughter, and Tracey
laughed so hard she could barely breathe. Brandon rolled on the
floor as he tried to get away. Bella ran out of the room. Her
screams still echoed from the hallway.