~~~
In her earbud, Arya heard what the 911 operator said but didn’t think she could answer directly without tipping Harris off to what was going on. She pondered a moment…
Harris was startled when the Seba’s girlfriend suddenly spoke. “Kaem, I think this’s a good idea. Let’s accept his offer.”
Seba looked startled. “No,” he began.
Before Seba could say more, the girl turned toward the back seat. Speaking pleasantly, she said “Mr. Harris, it’s really difficult to talk about this while you’re pointing a gun at us. Would you mind putting it away?”
Though she’d spoken as if putting the gun down was a completely reasonable thing to do, the idea made Harris fretful. He swung the gun to one side, setting it on the seat next to him but keeping his hand on it. “I’ll stop pointing it at you,” he said, feeling like he’d been as reasonable as he could be in return.
~~~
Sylvia looked up at her supervisor. “Gun!”
Her supervisor said, “I’ll let the cars know. You try to give our victim advice.”
Sylvia nodded and pressed her mic button. “Okay, it sounds like you’re being kidnapped. We have police responding. Try to keep your kidnapper calm.”
~~~
The girl turned and looked Harris in the eye. She said, “Thank you. That makes me feel a lot better. Can you tell us where you’re taking us?”
“No,” he said truculently, immediately regretting his tone after she’d sounded so easy-going.
She tilted her head curiously, “Aren’t you worried that forcing us at gunpoint to go somewhere against our will is going to make us less likely to agree to work with you?”
“No!” he tried to calm himself. “No. Once you understand what I’m proposing, you’re going to be overwhelmed by the deal I’m giving you!” I’m being too emphatic, he thought.
“Okay,” she said pleasantly, “do you have a contract you can pass forward for us to read over? Something that outlines your plans for our new company and outlines your contributions?”
~~~
Sylvia pressed a button and notified everyone following this incident that the kidnapper was “passing papers forward” suggesting he was in the backseat and his victims were in the front.
~~~
Harris gave the girl a suspicious look. He’d expected he’d have to engage in a lot more argument before he could bring them to the point of reading through the contract. She smiled back pleasantly. He forced himself to smile and said, “As a matter of fact I do.” Using his left hand, he unlatched and fumbled in the briefcase he’d brought with him. Finding one of the folders with copies of the contract he’d drawn up, he passed it up to Seba. “Here. Have a look. We’ve got a little time before we get to where we’re going. You should have enough time to get some idea of what I’m offering.”
Affably, the girl asked, “Do you have a copy I can look at? Kaem and I are partners, so I’d need to approve it as well.”
Harris sent his left hand back into the briefcase and produced another folder.
When he passed it up, she took it, thanking him. “Do you have a couple of pencils we can use to mark-up sections we’re concerned about?”
He found some pencils in the briefcase and passed them up front as well.
She asked the car to turn on the seat lights so they could read.
Harris found himself nervously wanting to talk. “I’m sorry about what I’ve had to do to get your attention. But I just had to offer my services. This contract’s a really great deal for you guys,” he said. “You’d be gaining my experience and access to the network of professionals I already have business contacts with. We’d be able to help you market your material widely; then evaluate, compare, and contrast competing bids. I’d be bringing a wealth of business expertise to contract negotiations—”
“That’s a good point, Mr. Harris,” the girl said. “Shouldn’t we have someone evaluate this contract for us? I mean, besides ourselves? You’re pointing out, and rightly so, that you’d be the one to help us evaluate outside contracts if you joined our company, but who do we have evaluate the contract we’d be signing with you?”
Harris felt a tightness in his stomach. He tried not to growl, but knew his tension was coming through as he said, “You don’t need to have anyone evaluate this contract. I wrote it in the best interests of both Mr. Seba and myself. If you’re part of the package with Mr. Seba, we can just add you to that side of the agreement.”
~~~
Sylvia said, “Go easier on him. You shouldn’t antagonize an angry man with a gun.”
~~~
Though Harris worried that he’d been overly emphatic in his claims, the girl cheerfully said, “Oh, okay. Can you give us a little while to read through this?”
“Sure,” Harris said. He tried to calm himself so he could wait quietly.
Despite his resolution to remain silent, a few moments later he found himself asking, “Any questions? I’ll be happy to explain anything that’s not clear.”
“No, I just need time to read it,” the girl said.
“How about you Mr. Seba?” Harris asked.
“Um, yeah,” he said, “just need some time to read.”
The girl had been writing on the contract with her pencil. Now she leaned toward Seba and said, “Did you notice this?” She was tapping on the contract with her pencil.
Harris leaned forward to see which paragraph she was concerned about. She was tapping on a paragraph right next to where she’d written in the margin. However, when he leaned forward, she straightened up, pulling her copy of the contract back over to her side of the vehicle.
She said, “Although, that does seem like a pretty good deal for us, don’t you think?” She flipped the pencil over and started to erase what she’d written.
Suddenly suspicious, Harris leaned forward. Reaching out, he said, “Let me see that!”
“It was nothing,” the girl said, continuing to erase.
Harris found his right hand bringing the gun around. He pointed it at the girl. “I said, ‘Let me see that!’”
Timidly, the girl said, “You’re pointing your gun at me again? I thought we were—”
“Yes, I’m pointing my goddamned gun! And you’d better be glad that’s all I’m doing! Give me that contract now!”
~~~
Sylvia said, “Stay calm. Speak placatingly. Your car’s almost arrived at the address he gave it when he got in. We have the police waiting there and more arriving soon. If you can talk him into getting out of the car that would be ideal.”
~~~
The girl gave Harris the contract she’d been working on and he held it up to the light. He couldn’t read most of what she’d erased, but he could make out the word “psychotic.” He grabbed at her hair. It was so short he didn’t get a grip on his first attempt. Grabbing again and twisting for a tighter grip, he jerked her head back and leaned up close to her face. “You think I’m crazy?!”
Unbelievably, she said calmly, “Oh, no. You must be misreading something I wrote.”
The car had been slowing. Now it said, “We’ve arrived at your destination.”
Feeling overwhelmed, Harris found himself shouting. “You wrote something about ‘psychotic’!”
“That’s not what I wrote,” she said soothingly. “If you’ll give it to me I’ll try to figure out what I might have written that looks like that.”
In a brittle tone, Harris said, “You’re even talking to me like you think I’m crazy!”
“My goodness,” the girl said cheerfully, ignoring the way he’d twisted her neck, “I think we’ve arrived at our destination. Should we get out?”
“No!” Harris shouted. Calming himself, he said, “Climb over into the right seat with Seba. I’ve got to drive us a little farther on manual.”
For the first time, the girl sounded upset. “You want me to sit in his lap?”
“Yes!” Harris said, wondering why she’d object to sitting i
n her boyfriend’s lap.
“I can drive a car on manual,” she said grimly. Then, sounding calm again, “Wouldn’t that be better for you? You could stay in the back seat and cover us with your gun. Keep us from doing anything foolish.” She turned forward and took the wheel, “Just tell me where you want to go.”
Harris felt like she was tricking him, but more distressingly he felt like he was losing control of the situation. There was too much going on! He took a deep breath. It would be a lot easier if she drove, he thought. But, before they drove the rest of the way to the hunting cabin, he knew he needed to disengage the AI and tell it to stop recording their location. Abruptly, he said, “Okay. You’ll drive… Car AI.”
The feminine voice of the car’s AI said, “Yes? How may I help?”
“Disengage yourself to allow manual driving.”
“Disengaged,” the AI said.
“Shut yourself down and stop recording our GPS location.”
The AI said, “I’m unable to do that.”
“Goddammit!” Harris said, seething with frustration. He knew there were commands that would do what he wanted. Hell, people insisted on the availability of manual driving without GPS recording so they could have affairs. But the damned car’s AI wasn’t smart enough to take commands that didn’t fit its menu of choices. He tried again, “Disconnect AI and GPS.”
Again, the damned AI said, “I’m unable to do that.”
Frustrated, Harris punched the seat in front of him. Suddenly, the girl said, “AI, stop recording GPS.”
The AI said, “GPS recording discontinued.”
The girl said, “AI shut down.”
“Shutting down,” the AI said.
Feeling quite discombobulated by her cooperation in spite of the fact she thought he was crazy, Harris said, “Thanks. Now drive on down to the next crossing road and turn right.
~~~
Sylvia tried to sound soothing, “It’s okay. Our guys will follow. He’s probably going to get you out of the vehicle. If and when that happens, and if you can do it without getting him excited, put some distance between yourself and your captor.”
Arya felt a shiver run over her as she realized the 911 operator was asking her to give the police a shot at Harris.
~~~
Officer Melnick and his rookie partner Rose had watched the SUV pull up and stop near the mailbox for the old farmhouse across the road. The lights were on in both front seats, revealing the two people there. They weren’t brightly lit enough to tell much, but Melnick had the impression they were young. From what Sylvia had told him the perp had been passing papers forward, presumably to the two people up front. The shadowy figure in the second row of seats had to be the kidnapper.
No one got out. Melnick had his AI connect him to Sylvia at emergency dispatch. “What’s going on?”
“He’s having the girl drive the car somewhere on manual with GPS recording disconnected.”
“Crap!” Melnick said. There were probably some legitimate reasons to do such a thing, but he couldn’t imagine any innocent reasons for doing it in this situation. “Do you have any idea how far? I’m trying to figure whether we should get out and follow on foot or should we follow in the car?”
“No idea Joe, sorry.”
Melnick spoke to the police car’s AI and, after making sure it would leave all lights off, told it to follow the other car at a distance of 200 feet. That was about as far back as it could reliably distance check another vehicle with its bumper radar.
~~~
As she eased the SUV back onto the road, Arya wondered whether she could wreck it somehow, thus bringing it to a stop. After all, even though she had quite a bit of experience with manual driving, most people didn’t. It wouldn’t be too remarkable if someone wrecked a car doing it. But the frenetic way Harris had been acting made her reluctant to do anything that might set him off.
She glanced up into the rearview mirror, wondering whether the police that the 911 operator said were waiting at that address were following or not. She didn’t see any lights. If they’re following on foot, I hope Harris isn’t going to make me drive very far.
~~~
Harris rubbed at his temple, feeling like his head was about to explode. “Why’re you going so slow?” he asked suspiciously.
“I’m pretty sure it’s safer,” the girl said. “Driving on manual’s supposed to be dangerous, right?”
Harris desperately wanted to get off the road and down to the hunting cabin. Nobody knows where we are, he reminded himself. Then he made a counterargument with himself. But once we get to the cabin, nobody’ll even be able to find us. Trying to distract himself, he asked Seba, “What’d you think of the contract?”
The damned girl answered, “I don’t think I should be trying to read it while I’m driving, should I?”
“No! No. I wasn’t asking you. I was asking Mr. Seba what he thought of the contract. What about it, Mr. Seba; do you understand the benefits?”
For long moments Seba said nothing. Harris was afraid he wasn’t going to answer, but then the girl gave him a nod and he spoke. “I don’t really understand it very well. Maybe you could give Arya some time to explain it to me?”
What?! Is he some kind of idiot?! Harris wondered. How in the world could he have invented that stuff?! He took a deep breath and let it out. “We’re almost there. You can have her explain it to your heart's content once we’re in the cabin.” Despite his attempt to speak calmly, he knew he still sounded brittle and irritated. “Slow down. Turn in on that dirt road on your left.”
“Is it very far?” the girl asked as she turned the vehicle. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”
Oh my God! Harris thought. Will this petty crap never end?! “It’s only a few hundred yards! You’ll just have to hold it.”
~~~
Sylvia was zooming in on the map of the area. The dirt road she thought the SUV had turned off onto—basing it on the directions the perp was giving since they’d turned the GPS off—entered a large wooded piece of private property. She wasn’t confident that the dirt road was properly drawn on her mapping software, but there was only one building on the property—something that looked like a small cabin.
She pressed her “all hands” button and apprised her team of the situation.
~~~
At first, Arya drove nearly as fast on the bumpy dirt road as she’d been going on the pavement. Her thought was that a hard shaking was to her and Kaem’s advantage. Then she considered the fact that she had a crazed man sitting behind her with his finger on a trigger. She slowed, saying, “I guess I’ve been going too fast. Sorry. Just not used to this manual driving.”
The rough dirt road came out of the trees and pulled up to a small cabin. Arya braked to a stop and, speaking as if she felt frantic, said, “I’ve gotta go! Gotta go! Can I get out? Is the cabin locked?”
Harris barked, “Wait just a damned minute! I’m getting out first.”
Arya glanced down with just her eyes, looking for the rocker switch that would lock all the doors. Placing her finger on it she hoped against hope that Harris would close his door before opening hers so she could lock him out.
Her wish was denied. With his door still wide open, he jerked hers open as well, “Get out,” he said roughly. Then he barked, “Not you, Seba, you stay in the car!”
Arya got out, moving slowly. Now she regretted rushing down the dirt road, realizing it might’ve left the police behind, especially if, as she expected, they were trying to follow the dirt lane with their lights out in dim moonlight. Realizing that the police vehicle’s tires might make popping noises going over rocks on the dirt road, she started loudly begging in hopes of covering any sounds. “Hurry, please! I don’t want to pee my pants. I’ve gotta go! I’ve gotta go.” At the same time, she started rapidly shuffling away toward the cabin.
Harris lunged after her. His right hand encumbered by the gun, he used his free left hand to grab the back of her right elbow and j
erk her back, saying, “Shut up! Get a ho—!”
Surprised to be jerked back, Arya made a split-second decision to use the motion Harris had initiated to attack the man.
The hard pull on her elbow started her body rotating. She lowered her center of gravity and increased the speed of the turn to make it a whirl.
She swayed further to his left, avoiding the gun in his right hand.
Then, still pivoting, she exploded up and out, driving a palm-strike into the middle of his face. She felt his nasal bones crunch as the blow cut him off mid-word.
His gun went off.
He staggered back.
As Harris fell, the gun flailed toward her—Arya thought the motion was unintentional. She swore at herself, I should’ve moved with him to stay inside the swing of that weapon!
She started to dodge.
The gun went off again.
Arya felt a hard smack against her chest.
The driver’s window on the SUV shattered.
She dropped to the ground, wondering if he was still fighting or had simply fired the gun in reaction to getting hit in the face. Do I play possum? Or can I attack? she wondered as she waited for the pain of the bullet that had hit her chest.
~~~
Kaem had been watching from the passenger seat. It’d looked like Harris was going to leave Kaem in the SUV while he walked Arya in to the bathroom. Kaem was dithering about whether he should get out and run into the woods. Or stay to try to help Arya. Hating the weakness that made him useless in a fight, he thought, Get free yourself, then see if you can help Arya.
Thus, when he saw Arya move ahead, then whirl back toward Harris, his hand was already on the door, waiting to open it and try to hustle out into the trees.
A gun went off.
The driver’s-side window burst in toward him.
Shit! Kaem thought, throwing the door open and rolling out into the night. His last glimpse of Arya had shown her falling to the ground. On hands and knees, he scrambled around the front of the SUV and peeked under the bumper toward Arya.
She lay still!
Harris lay sprawled supine just beyond her.
Keeping a wary eye on Harris, Kaem scrambled crab-wise over to Arya. As he did so, he saw men running up from the road with their extended hands locked together in front of them.
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