learned more than we would like.” Carlson listed the names.
“My wife and friends are not the source of the problem,” Jake objected. “They have been aware of my ability for some time. Besides Zack was a potential victim of whoever was doing this, as was Karin. Nate came and helped me out. Without his help I might not know what we have learned. The problem is elsewhere.”
“I just want to be sure we understand everyone who knows,” Carlson replied consolingly.
Jake frowned, but nodded. “There were also a handful of local citizens who might have picked up on something odd going on. I tried to be careful, but I couldn’t be positive that none of them might have learned or overheard something they shouldn’t have. I have no idea who they are,” Jake said.
“We can check out all the others,” Carlson said, “but I’m not sure what to do about the members of the community. We have no idea who they might be.”
“I’ll try and recall the circumstances, and maybe we can put some names to them, but given what we are learning, I’m becoming convinced I’m going to have to go back and nip this in the bud. If we can find any leads that would be great, but if not, I might have to relive it again being especially alert to where the leak might be.”
“Don’t do anything yet,” Carlson cautioned. “Let me see what I can learn.”
“Don’t worry. I intend to see this through with Laney here. I want to see who those two heavies who killed Ray might be and who they work for.”
“Good. We’ll talk in the morning. I’ll initiate the call.”
Jake nodded, and then terminated the transmission. After shutting down the equipment that yielded the secure link, he stood, stretched, and headed into the other room. They’d go out for dinner, and he’d explain to Karin what he’d learned.
Chapter 18
Special Agent Jim Laney arrived at the front door of Jake’s home just after nine thirty that evening. Jake met him with a smile, and an informal greeting.
“Hi, Jim,” he said as the tired agent stepped into the lobby.
Laney picked up on the use of his first name. Despite he and Jake being friends of a sort, Jake always called him by his last name. The use of his first name was an alert. He looked at Jake, the question clear in his eyes.
Jake nodded and pointed toward the study door at the far end of the small hallway off the large great room. Jim left his suitcase in place and headed toward the door that Jake had indicated. Jake found it interesting that Laney was dressed almost exactly as he’d been when he visited from Washington four months from now when this had all started. The clothes he wore, the small rolling suitcase, were exactly the same.
“Bugged?” Laney asked once they were inside the study and Jake had discretely closed the door.
“Most of the lower level,” Jake acknowledged. “The upstairs and this room are exceptions, and your people left that thing which is supposed to block anything they might have missed.”
“So that’s how they might have learned much of what they know,” Laney surmised out loud. “Do you speak much of your ability around the house?”
“At times,” Jake admitted. “There was never a reason to be particularly careful. I’m certain we’ve talked about it in the kitchen and during meals. Those conversations would have been recorded. There was probably even more discussion in the bedroom, but they wouldn’t have been able to monitor those conversations unless they had other means of listening in.”
“Such techniques exist,” Laney warned.
“I understand, and during the summer months the windows might have been open. If we are correct as to when they discovered my existence, it would have been after summer, so perhaps they never had the opportunity.”
“How is your wife reacting to this?”
“As you might expect. The idea someone is listening makes her very uncomfortable.”
“You can ask Carlson to have the monitoring devices removed,” Laney reminded him.
“Not until this immediate situation is resolved. A change like that might alert them and modify events. I want this to go exactly as it did last time around. Almost certainly I’ll have to jump back, and the removal can happen at an earlier time so none of what they learned will happen. Simply finding those responsible isn’t going to clean this up to my satisfaction.”
“Did you talk with Carlson since this morning?” Laney asked.