Fate (Wilton's Gold #3) by Craig W. Turner Read Free Book Online

the cat was out of the bag, there would be no turning back. The situation that Dexter had described to him about the businessman murdering his competition in the 1930s was just the start. There would be more problems. And they would have much greater impact.
    That was also assuming that they – they being the “good guys,” whoever they were – would have any idea that anything was taking place. Dexter, Evelyn Peters and himself were all manifestations of the worst parts of his time travel hypotheses, in that they’d all experienced histories that no one else on the planet had. Each of them was up-front enough to share what had happened, something they were under no moral obligation to do. People intending from the outset to use time travel to do harm would not be so forthcoming.
    Jeff realized that, as he’d been thinking, he’d wandered across the room and was staring out the window. It was not late, but being December it was dark already. He tried to remember what time of year he’d actually left when all of this had started. He remembered laying in the forest in the snow and frost in Russia after fleeing from Ekaterina, but he also remembered the dewy spring grass as he lay sprawled on General Belochkin’s lawn after absorbing the force of his tackle. Tracing the path of his travels, he ended up remembering walking into Congresswoman Rosa Rivera’s office in Queens, his friend Dexter by his side, neither of them tainted yet by alternate realities, evil intentions, or government agendas. It was the fall. It was cool – there was a chill in the air. He longed to be back there.
    Remembering that he only had a limited amount of time to relax before being thrown back into a completely undesirable situation, he sat on the bed and slowly took off his shoes. A wave of relief went through his body, and he wanted nothing more than to just lie back on the mattress and forget everything. But he knew that if he did that, he’d fall immediately asleep, and more than anything, he wanted some time to think without being grilled by an FBI agent with whom he thought he’d had a good relationship. Sleep was less important.
    He imagined what he might have left to him, three years into the future. His parents had passed away years ago, but at the time he’d disappeared his sister had been living in North Jersey, close to him. Beyond her, family was relegated to cousins who he rarely talked to, and his circle of friends, due to the all-encompassing nature of his work, had been small. He thought of Abby and Emeka, the other members of his time travel team, and wondered where their lives without him had taken them. Assuming his phone was bugged or he was otherwise being monitored, he wasn’t in the position to let anyone know just yet that he was alive and well, but he imagined how those close to him would react to the news.
    He hadn’t been given the opportunity to ask about the other details of his life – his house, car, savings, etc. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if they’d treated his disappearance as though he’d died, or as if one day he was there, and the next he just simply wasn’t around. It was the U.S. government he was dealing with, so he didn’t put anything past them in terms of retribution or, probably worse, absolution. He thought of all the movies he’d seen about soldiers anonymously dying in classified operations, and wondered if he’d been categorized in the same manner.
    He’d been able to access his bank account from Russia, which astounded him now that he knew a little bit more about his state of affairs, so at least some remnant of his existence had been preserved. He wished he had access to a computer so he could do some research, but Abby’s tablet had been taken away from him. There was little hope they’d allow him that kind of access yet. They’d want him quarantined as long as they could keep him that way.
    There was definitely a cat-and-mouse game afoot, and because of it, he didn’t