JAA Ch. 05: R E R U N

The next couple of days we were both too busy getting ready for the next jump to get together for dinner. My jump was scheduled for the next Monday. On Friday afternoon, we finished everything, including my briefing on what Lisa had found on whom or what might be behind the conspiracy that had thwarted my efforts in the past.

That evening Lisa was at my door with dinner. I smiled as I let her in. When the door closed, she was in my arms kissing me hard.

"I missed you the past couple of evenings John," she whispered.

"I missed you too, my darling girl," I whispered back.

Our lips met again for a short kiss. Then we ate. Dinner was very good and her company at my table pleasurable as always. After cleaning up the dinner dishes, Lisa grabbed my hand and literally dragged me to the bedroom.

"I missed you, I missed sleeping in your bed. I missed having you inside me."

I was flattered.

"I missed you too. I missed your soft skin next to mine. I missed the sparkle in your eyes as I slide into you. I missed the feel of you under me, wiggling and squirming."

I kissed her deeply all the while my hands were busy, undoing a button here or a zipper there. Soon we were both naked and falling into bed. We started very slow. The weekend was ours to enjoy. We both enjoyed it as long as we could.

Chapter 21

Monday, I was lying on the gel mattress as it rose into position. The lights started to flash and the hum rose in pitch beyond my ability to hear. Again, I woke between the thighs of Dee.

This time around, Lisa and I had devised a plan that might put me in a position to find out who was in charge of the conspiracy. All through college, I invested in the stock market, not to get rich now, but to be rich later. College was a breeze, having done this stuff two other times I almost had it memorized. Next, it was off to law school. I would need a legal degree for the next step in the process.

To most people, this might seem boring, but each time I had attended a different college, met different people and had different goals. This time I was in Harvard law school. What a bunch of crusty, snooty, arrogant young men. There were but a few I didn't want to punch in the nose. I made it though. I graduated second in my class.

I was hired right out of law school by a top-notch firm in Washington D.C. The arrogant asshole that was number one was also. We, unfortunately, shared an office. The jerk was such a bore, sitting there all day bragging about how he was going to be a partner within a year. I just ignored him and worked my ass off.

After six months, the firm made me a junior partner and moved me to a window office. The jerk whined the whole time I was packing my things. As I placed the last item in the box on my desk, I turned on him.

"As I move up the ladder to full partner, I am going to work hard at getting your ass fired. You are a bore and childish. Your attitude is reprehensible and you are an arrogant asshole. Now shut the fuck up before I put my foot up your lazy, no account ass."

I picked up my box and left the office. He just sat there staring at me. I was smiling all the way to my new office with a window.

The next couple of years were fantastic as I moved up the ladder in the firm. I started rubbing shoulders with the elite of Washington. Soon I was a full partner and then a senior partner. My investments started to be realized and I was richer than the founding partners of the firm. Shelly and Susie were now doctors and I flew in to see them. They were happy to be my doctor but, didn't understand why I would pick one so far from where I lived.

I again, under pen names, wrote articles about the vaccines for cancer, etc. and sat back to watch what happened in Washington. When news of the articles broke, several congressmen and Senators came to the firm for talks. I was called into the meetings because of my expertise in medical law and procedures. What I heard and what they asked in that meeting shocked the crap out of me. It would seem that this group wanted those cures and vaccines to go away. They didn't care how. My bosses, the founding partners agreed and the meeting ended.

I was not consulted again, by anyone. I tried to find out what was being done but, ran into stonewall after stonewall.

Chapter 22

I was in town to see Susie, she was currently my doctor, for a check-up. When she came into the room, she tossed a magazine on the desk. It was the one where I laid out the formula for the vaccine for cancer. She smiled at me, noticed what I was looking at.

"Isn't that wonderful news?"

"It is. I read about it on the plane."

"I have at least three patients that will benefit from that vaccine. I just wonder when it will be available for use."

"No telling, the article didn't say. It just laid out the formula and the steps for manufacture. Any pharmacist could whip it up in no time."

"No, it has to go through trials first."

"Why? Take a patient that's in stage four and inoculate. If they survive, there's your trial. If they don't, it's back to the drawing board. I bet on the cure being viable."

"How do you know so much about medicine?"

"You know I'm a lawyer, but I'm a lawyer who specializes in medical practices and procedures. You might say I'm also a doctor and I could be, all I have to do is pass the board exams and do a residency."

"Oh, you think so?"

"Yes. I know the law."

"What medical school did you attend?"

"None, self-taught," I couldn't tell her the one she went to.

She just stood there looking at the magazine and then me. She didn't say another word about the vaccine. She finished my check-up and said good-bye. I said good-bye and left.

A week later, I was scrolling through the news when an article caught my eye. The clinic where I went, had collapsed. There were two doctors, Susie and Shelly, killed. I was pissed. When I got home that night, I wrote a scathing article about the death of two such fine women and apologized to their families. I went on to name, names of those responsible for their death. I posted the article, via proxies and VPN connections, to a well-read bulletin board. It went viral within ten minutes of its posting.

The next day I was called into the founder's office conference room. They grilled me about the article, who I had talked to about the meeting and what I had been doing at the clinic the day prior to the collapse.

I told them I had talked to no one about the meeting. I told them the two doctors were my doctors and I had been there for a check-up. They asked the same questions repeatedly. I answered them the same each time. After about thirty minutes I was a little pissed and told them so. I turned and walked out of the conference room, went to my office and collected my private items. I gave my assistant an envelope that contained my resignation and told her good-bye. I just wish I could see the faces of the founders when they read that letter.

I walked four blocks to a hotel where I had a room under a different name and crashed for a couple of hours. When I woke and turned on the news, I saw that my home had burned down. How a brick and marble home burns was beyond me. So, John Abernathy was now dead. I became Kevin Steele as I sat in that hotel room.

Chapter 23

I was now dead, well almost, they still hadn't found a body in the rubble of my home. However, John Abernathy no longer existed nor would he ever be heard from again. I was now Kevin Steele. Kevin Steele had a law degree also, but he was also a mover and a shaker in the FBI. District Special Agent in Charge, which was just a fancy way of saying chief dog washer for the Director of the FBI.

My job at the law firm only took up a third of my time. I was a senior partner, rarely needed to go to court, only consulted on what I knew by a select few of Washington's elite professionals. The rest of my day, I spent at FBI headquarters. And now that my other persona was supposedly dead, I could spend more time there tracking down the scum that killed Shelly and Susie.

My first stop after lunch was the office of the honorable Senator Harry Heath democrat from Nebraska. As I was shown into his office, the look on his face was priceless. He had been at that meeting, just before Doctor's Wilcom and Reynolds had been killed. And from what I had heard, they were still looking for the writer of the article and not having much luck. Even though several more had been written and published.

"You, you're that partner that was brought in..."

"Senator, shut the fuck up before I just shoot you on general principle."

"Get out, get out of my office before I..."

"What have your pansy ass staff come in here and slap me to death?"

"What do you want?"

"I want to know why two American citizens were killed last week? I want to know why you want the cure for cancer suppressed? And I want to know who is in charge?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Senator, you will tell me before I leave here or you will be dead. Your choice Senator."

The senator sat there, I could tell he was pressing the button under his desk and soon two Secret Service agents would be coming, but that mattered not to me.

The door to the Senator's office burst open, two men, guns drawn, they approached me. Slowly I pulled my ID out of my pocket and displayed it to them. They took one look at my credentials and holstered their weapons. I told them to wait outside that the Senator and I had classified material to discuss. They left closing the door behind them.

"Who are you?" the Senator asked.

"A man you do not want to cross Senator. Now, are you in charge? Are you the one who directs the murder of civilian? Are you the person who directed the killing of two young women, doctors, just because they used the formula outlined in the article in the Western States Medical Journal?"

As I asked each question, the Senator became more emotional, more afraid, more distraught. By the time I finished, he was fit to be tied. I sat looking at him, face calm, eyes showing serenity, I hoped. Inside I was seething.

Chapter 24

"You don't know what you are talking about, sir."

"Senator, this is the first time I have reached this high in the organization," I was lying my ass off, "but not the first I have heard your name. I have been killed, along with Doctors Wilcom and Reynolds, on three other occasions. Each time I died, for trying to disseminate the cure for cancer, plus other vaccines to other diseases. So, you see I have nothing to lose. I die, I will be back and the next time you will have no knowledge of who I am, no recollection of me what so ever. Now tell me what I want to know or you die right there on your pompous ass."

"You wouldn't dare," he smirked.

I pulled the handgun from my pocket, tossing it on the desk in front of him. He jumped just a little as he watched me. I sat calmly and waited. He reached for the gun and picked it up. As he looked back up, I had mine out and pointed at him. His mouth dropped open as I pulled the hammer back.

"Now are you going to tell me what I want to know?"

The sneer across his face told me he was going to try to beat me. Everything slowed down. I saw him raise the pistol to aim. I saw his finger whiten as he pulled the trigger. The report of the gun echoed around the room as I watched the flames explode out of the barrel, pushing the bullet on its way. The second I saw the flash of his shot, I leaned to the left ten centimeters, pulling the trigger of my automatic three times.

As his bullet struck my right arm, my three hit him in the chest, neck, and face. As I fell over backward in the chair, I saw the two Secret Service men come charging into the room. I knew the Senator was dead and as two guns pointed down at me, I let my gun slip from my grip. I was still alive, for how long I didn't know. They placed me in cuffs and took me to the hospital where they operated on me to remove the bullet from my arm.

After they put me in a room, the interrogations started. Why was I there? Why did I shoot the Senator? Why this? Why that?

I answered the second question first, telling them the Senator shot at me first and that I was just responding as trained. The why I was there questioning him was a little harder to explain. When the Director came in to talk to me, I knew I would have to tell someone, so I told him, not everything, just the part about the meeting at Winehouse and Gabriel plus the death of the two doctors. I told him who was at the meeting and about what they talked. I then told him about the report I had written up and where it was. He nodded and said he would look into it and get back with me.

As he got up I felt the needle slide into my neck, then everything went black once more.

Chapter 25

I woke still in the center of the time device. I raised my hand and the bed was let down. Lisa was waiting for me and we proceeded to the conference room. I laid everything out for them, the who's, the what's and the wherefore's. Everyone then went off to research everything I had told them. Lisa walked with me to my apartment and told me she would see me tonight for dinner.

I went in and immediately went to work on the computer. I looked up Senator sneering face. I was astounded to find him in office and head of Homeland Armed Services Committee. I had to look up to see what they did and found they were in charge of domestic security and anti-insurgence. I thought to myself what a bunch of bullshit. Next time around Senator, next time around, you will get yours.

Lisa was right on time and dinner was wonderful. She didn't stay the night, which was okay with me as I had some more research to tend too. I browsed the net and found out all kinds of things. I found every single government parasite that was at that meeting. Now I was prepared for my next trip into the past.

The next morning I received a briefing by everyone on what changes had stuck and who was who in the world as it now stood. I nodded to Lisa and she cleared the room of everyone but her and me. I then told her what my plans were on my next trip. I was tired of being behind the curve, it was time to get ahead of it this time. She nodded and smiled.

"I thought you might when you didn't seem to mind my leaving last night."

"I hope I didn't disappoint you..."

"No, no, not at all, I really did have some work to do," she told me smiling.

"When am I scheduled to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. I'll see you at dinner," she told me smiling.

Chapter 26

Dinner was great and it was even greater Lisa stayed the night. The soft body next to me, warm and tender, the moans of passion and joy emitted by that wonderful woman as I snuggled up next to her. It was comforting.

The next morning I was once again lying on the gel mattress as it rose to the center of the device. Flashing lights, hum, Dee's thighs, all the same again. I was amazed that we were now consistently hitting the same place each time. Actually, it was starting to get boring, sorry Dee, not your fault.

This time I joined the Marines right out of high school. There was a war going on at the time, but I didn't care. I put in for scout-sniper school, was accepted and became a great sniper even if I do say so myself. My instructors had a small problem with my initial attitude, but a higher authority overruled them and they put me to work in Viet Nam. In the year and a half, I was there, I racked up an impressive kill rate, one hundred and fifty-three kills. Most over a thousand yards, some at just around two thousand yards. In the beginning, they gave me a modified M-14. It was a straight shooting rifle and I liked it very much. Then they switched me over to the M-24. It could shoot farther and was twice as accurate as the M-14.

When I came home, I endured protests and protestors. I hadn't gone over there on the GI bill, I had volunteered. I went over there to learn how to kill from a long distance. I had no qualms about what I did. I was now on my fifth lifetime. The first I had lived normally, the second, third and fourth I had lived to save lives. This time was for vengeance and me. This time I was going to avenge the deaths of all the people that had been killed the last three times.

The first on my list was Senator Heath, but I wanted some information from him before his time expired. While in the Marines, I had again invested in those stocks that would produce a fortune for me, when my enlistment ended. While the Marine Corps offered me a substantial bonus to stay in, I declined. My plans didn't include the military.

I found myself a place in DC and started a little detective agency. I hired ex-military, scout-snipers only. I gave them their assignments, follow and observe. They reported each week with their findings. Most of them found the work boring but enjoyed the paycheck. Some found that following high profile individuals was a little strange and came to me with their concerns. I switched them to other clients with a talk from me about their concerns. I assured them that I would look into the why's and wherefore's.

Once I had Senator Heath's schedule and daily life down, I took over following him. I needed to catch him alone somewhere, without his escorts. For three weeks, I followed, finding several places where, when the time came I would be able to exact my revenge. Then on the Tuesday of the fourth week, he set out without his Secret Service contingent. Smiling, I followed him at a safe distance.

Chapter 27

When he drove into the garage of a local hotel, I followed him. Up the ramps, he drove, with me a fair distance behind him. We came out at the top level. There were very few cars up here. He parked close to the elevator. I parked three spaces down from him. It took him a while to exit his car and we arrived at the elevator at the same time. I smiled at him as we stepped into the car. He pressed the fifth-floor button. I leaned forward to press a button and hit five smiling at him as I stood back up. When the doors opened at five, I followed him out. So far, neither of us had said a word.

Following him across the bridge to the fifth floor of the hotel, he pulled a key card from his pocket and slid it through the reader. Grabbing the handle, I opened the door letting him step through first. He thanked me and proceeded down the hall. I hesitated a second to let him feel comfortable that I wasn't really following him, then walked the same way about twenty feet behind him. He stepped up to a door with his key card and inserted it just as I passed him. When I heard him pushing the handle down to open the door I spun on my left foot and was behind him, pushing him into the room.

"What the fuck," Heath shouted.

"Is that you baby?" came a woman's voice from in the bathroom.

"Silence Heath," I told him quietly jamming my handgun in his stomach. "Get your girlfriend out here, now."

"Ginger, honey, come on out here dear," Heath yelled to the woman.

"In a minute, I'm not finished putting on my makeup for you dear."

I jammed the muzzle into his side, "Get her out here, now," I growled.

"Ginger, I need you out here now, I have to talk to you."

"Harry, whatever is the matter," Ginger was saying as she came out of the bathroom.

"Don't scream lady and I won't hurt you," I gestured for her to walk further into the room, "sit on the couch. Harry, you sit down next to her."

"If it's money you want..."

I hit him in the gut. "I don't want money, just answers."

The Senator collapsed onto the couch looking exasperated. His girlfriend grabbed his arm and clung to him with fear in her eyes. She was whimpering insistently.

"Tell your girlfriend to shut up," told him.

"She's not my girlfriend she's my wife," he yelled.