Jake was back in San Jose. From what he had heard on the radio during his drive back, little progress had been made in finding who was behind the killing and where the drones had been launched from beyond the fact they appeared to have come from a boat out in the harbor. Surprisingly, no one had come forth to take credit, something that many expected to see given the predominant theory was that one of the Mid East terrorists groups was at fault. Various reports had made a number of suggestions, but none had anything solid to support the theory that suggested them. All investigators agreed that the Senator was the target, and that Mark LoBue, who almost certainly was an unfortunate bystander, had been meeting with the Senator who was looking for financial support for the election coming later in the year.
Jake walked into his empty house. There was no point in unloading the car. When he back-tracked this reality would cease to exist, and the earlier version of himself would progress forward until this date and time. Nothing he did now would remain. He had come to dislike the reliving of his life, knowing what was to happen for the next several days and trying not to reveal what he knew, nor to do anything that might change the progression of things other than the one incident that had brought him back. When he was busy trying to resolve a problem, at least he was busy. This time he would be a bystander. He would contact Susan at the FBI, tell her what was going to happen, and she would handle it from there. At least he would get to spend time with his friends, even if it was a rerun of what he’d just completed. They would probably guess what he was doing. They knew about his ability and would catch him up in something that would reveal he’d passed through the days once already.
Before making his move, he went into the computer room and spent an hour looking up everything he could find on the incident, as well as the Ritz-Carlton hotel. He looked at a lot of pictures and videos, and he knew exactly what path the drones had taken as they approached the hotel. He even had found blueprints and knew how to access most areas of the hotel. Old habits died hard, and even though he wouldn’t be taking any action, he felt compelled to understand the layout.
It didn’t take long to convince himself he knew as much as he was going to. Short of waiting another week or two, little more information was likely to come available. He toyed with the idea of calling Carlson to see if she had anything he should take back, but then decided against it. If she had, she probably would have called him by now. He wanted this behind him so he could go and meet his wife. If he went to her now, he was certain he would no sooner get there than he’d be summoned to Washington.
He hesitated somewhat when he considered what date he wanted to back-track to. Finally he decided he’d go back to the morning he’d dropped Karin at the airport. That would give the FBI a full day to make preparations. It would only take a warning to ensure the Senator wasn’t even in the hotel the morning of the attack. They might even be able to locate the source of the drones knowing what he could tell them.
Jake didn’t want to go back any farther than that morning. To do so would mean going back before the wonderful night of passion he’d shared with Karin before she left. He knew it wouldn’t be repeated if he did so. By now his wife was adept at detecting when he’d lived through a time before, and that would spoil the mood for her, and as a consequence, for him. She hated it when he knew exactly what was going to happen. Especially if it involved their sex life. He’d hold that in reserve, and only surrender that time under the most unusual circumstances. Satisfied with his choice, Jake sat in his chair and closed his eyes.
The memories struck hard as Jake stepped out of his car after returning home from dropping Karin at the airport. He was still tired from the night before and was halfway toward the door when he staggered with the knowledge that blossomed in his brain