Jake enters Parkland Memorial Hospital and is treated by Malcolm Perry, the same doctor who will treat both President Kennedy and Lee Harvey after each is shot. Jake's most significant wound is a brain injury that causes him significant memory loss. He is in recovery at an assisted living center. For more than a month, Jake struggles to remember important details. Sadie knows enough about Jake’s mission to save the President that she is aware the time to act is coming fast. She encourages Jake to remember the name of the would-be assassin.

The more Jake struggles with his memories, the more he worries that his amnesia is the past trying to stop him from changing things. A week before the President is due in Dallas, Sadie takes Jake for a ride around Dallas, hoping that the scenery will help. Unbeknownst to her, the trip helps Jake recall that Al left him a notebook after he sees a church sign with missing letters that reads: “THE WORD OF AL” (883).

Jake remembers that Al’s notebook is in a bank safe deposit box, and his keys help him identify the bank. Jake waits until Sadie returns to Jodie for work before going to the bank.