Chapter 1

Jinx Hunter found herself sitting in a cafe, alone, watching her target buy his third cup of coffee
for the day.
The FBI sent her here to follow Apollo Banks, a suspected terrorist, who was supposedly
planning a large scale attack on the U.S.
So far, Jinx hadn’t seen anything to indicate Apollo was mixed up with any kind of terrorist
agency but she had her orders and she was always one to follow her orders.
She’d been sent to Seattle alone because the threat level wasn’t high enough to warrant an entire
team. After a few days of observation, she agreed with the agency’s position on this target
because he was only interested in coffee and the library so far.
Jinx was a Special Agent by this point in her career which meant she was expected to take on
cases that held a certain level of serious potential danger. However, she’d been following Apollo
Banks for the past three days and he hadn’t done anything suspicious. In fact, he hadn’t even met
with another soul. Apollo was the epitome of a loner and that made it hard for her to stay focused
on him, as her target, because she was finding herself bored at each turn.

Jinx watched as Apollo picked up his coffee and left the shop. She stood and, stealthily, followed
him to his next destination.
She watched as he waltzed into a mom and pop bookstore making sure to enter after him. The
store was quaint and definitely one that would house the older titles a terrorist might reference
for a potential attack.
Apollo made his way to the gardening section of the store and Jinx was about to follow him
when she got distracted by a small section of first edition novels.
Jinx couldn’t believe she stopped following her target but he hadn’t done anything suspicious,
allowing her to feel confident in her choice to not stick as closely to him.
She zeroed in on a first edition of H. Rider Haggard’s The Treasure of the Lake. She’d never
seen that book in print but only eBook. Jinx couldn’t help herself as she picked it up and sat
down at a nearby table and began to read.
She’d never read this novel from beginning to end and she found herself enthralled in the story
but was careful to keep one eye trained on Apollo and his every movement.
Two hours after he’d walked in to the bookstore, he was checking out an armful of books. Jinx,
regretfully, closed her book and stood to follow him to his next location.
She had no idea when she put down that book what kind of consequences would follow…

Chapter 2

Jinx hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since she’d arrived in Seattle because she’d been sleeping in
her car while paying someone close by to wake her if Apollo went back on the move before
morning.
After the bookstore, Apollo went straight home and Jinx found herself unable to sleep in the car
one more night. She called into the local state FBI office to request someone to tail Apollo so she
could check into a hotel and get, at least, one good night’s rest.
Once she had a lower ranking agent secured, Jinx checked herself into the nearest hotel and went
straight up to her room. She turned her ringer on loud in case she was needed and then laid down
on her bed, falling into a deep sleep like she hadn’t done for days, maybe months.

The following morning, Jinx woke feeling more rested than she had in a year. She was ready to
catch her bad guy, no questions asked.
Once she was showered and dressed, she called the agent she’d had assigned to watch Apollo.
“Agent Sharpe,” she heard the voice answer on the other end of the phone.
“Sharpe, this is Agent Hunter,” Jinx introduced herself, “where is Apollo currently?” she asked,
her tone rushed, feeling behind because of her good night’s sleep.
Sharpe replied, “Apollo is currently meeting with a group at Volunteer Park. He’s been here for
the past twenty minutes,” he shared.
Jinx took in his words, “How many people is he meeting with?” she inquired as she pulled on her
boots to head to the location. Based on the intel she’d received before she started tailing Apollo,
his terrorist cell was likely a group of five to seven people so this meet could be the one she’d
been waiting for.
There was a pause before Sharpe replied, “He appears to be meeting with five people. They’ve
set up shop by the tower in the center of the park,” he added the specific location.
“Thank you,” Jinx replied as she ended the call and raced out of her hotel, into her car, and to the
location Agent Sharpe had specified to her.

Once she parked, Jinx found a walking trail at the entrance of the park and she decided to use it
as a cover until she got closer to the tower described by Agent Sharpe.
The tower came into sight after a mile on the trail and she moved off into the trees and the
bushes to disguise herself in case anyone, Apollo, or his friends, grew curious about their
surroundings.
She moved low behind a large bush right behind the tower and Apollo’s meeting when,
suddenly, she was tackled to the ground.
In the middle of her undercover op, Jinx found herself face to face with a man holding an old
school pistol between her eyes.
“What the hell are you doing? And, who are you?” Jinx whispered in an aggravated tone while
the man remained on top of her.
The stranger moved off of her body but kept his gun trained on her, “Who am I?” he repeated her
question back, aghast. “I am Allan Quartermain and you are the one acting very suspiciously. So,
I believe, the better question is who are you and what are you doing?”
Jinx suppressed her laughter as she answered the, clearly, delusional man, “I am Agent Jinx
Hunter, FBI, and I’m watching that man over there. Would it be alright if I got back to my
assignment without your gun in my face, Mr. Quartermain?” she added, half sarcastically.
He removed his gun and put it back into his holster, “You believe I am who I say I am? No one
has given me a second glance once I revealed my identity,” he revealed, visibly shaken.
Jinx paused before she replied to his query to check on her target and sighed as she saw Apollo
and his people had left. She raised a finger to “Allan” as she pulled out her phone and dialed
Sharpe.
“Agent Sharpe,” the friendly voice answered.
“Sharpe,” Jinx began, “Something unexpected came up at the park and I lost sight of Apollo and
his crew. Can you go back to tailing him until I get a handle on this? Please,” she added, with a
smile hoping he could hear it in her voice.
“Of course,” Sharpe replied, ‘I am at your disposal until you finish your assignment here in
Seattle. I’ll keep you posted on any movements or serious developments,” he agreed before
ending the call before she could say anything else.

Jinx ended the call and moved her attention back to “Allan Quartermain”. “So, where did you
come from?” she asked, bluntly.
“Allan” let out a frustrated sigh, “I was in Africa investigating a new case and then I was in a
bookstore down the street from here,” he explained, “No one in the store would help me so I left
and I’ve been approaching anyone I run into. That was until I saw you looking quite suspicious
and diverted my attention to stopping you,” he shared.
“You were in Africa and then you were in a bookstore in Seattle, WA?” Jinx questioned, “And,
you thought asking people on the street was the appropriate action to take? You’re on the wrong
continent and, if you are who you say you are, then you’re also in a very different time period.”
He shook his head, “I thought you might be able to offer me some guidance but you’re sarcasm
is worse than the complete lack of understanding I received from anyone else,” he stated as he
turned and began to walk away.
“Mr. Quatermain, wait,” Jinx yelled out since he’d gone quite a good bit of distance in a short
time. He paused and looked back at her so she continued, “I apologize for my attitude. It’s just
that, yesterday I was reading a book about you and today you’re here. This doesn’t make any
sense but I’d like to help you, if you’ll allow it,” her words lingered in the air as he remained
still, thinking over her offer.