The Airnapped Child

by Sandra Ryan

  “Okay. Okay,” Samuel bumbled, undoing his own seat belt. When he looked up his eyes widened in horror. “Watch out!” he shouted at Holly.

  She jumped off of the road just as a bike came crashing down the road. The person who was on the bike had a black hoodie on so they could not catch a glimpse of his face or what he looked like. Holly stood transfixed as the bike barreled down the road and then disappeared. Samuel ran down from the car and came down to the other side where Holly was. She was visibly shaken,

  “Are you alright?” He asked.

  She nodded.

  “Let’s go.”

  She had a resolute look on her face. Samuel knew it would be futile trying to convince her to change her mind. He just started walking behind her as they made their way to the building. The path was rusted in certain places and she wobbled as she walked on her heels, however Samuel did not offer to help her. He knew she would not have appreciated the help in any way. When they got to the building, they climbed the stairs gingerly, stopping on the third floor.

  The first thing that was amiss about the apartment was the fact that the door was open. It didn’t look as though it was opened gently. There were splinters that suggested that whoever had opened the door had done it forcefully. Samuel looked to Holly again, inquiring if they had to turn back on not. She ignored him and whipped out two pairs of gloves. She offered one to him and put on the other. Then she gently pulled the door open. There was a gentle creak as the door slowly swung open.

  As the door opened, a heady smell hit Samuel. He could not place what exactly the smell was but it almost made him want to vomit. They stepped into the interior of the room. It was shrouded in darkness. The positioning of the room, in addition to the fact that the curtains were draped shut made it such that there was no penetration of outside light from anywhere. Holly flipped on the switch on the wall and the room was bathed in an iridescent glow.

  The room was in disarray. It was a huge open place that looked like the kitchen. There were leftovers of food on the table and the room stank from the smell wafting off of the leftovers. The kitchen looked torn upside down. It looked like a huge volcano had torn through the place. Plates were smashed on the walls and tables and chairs lay tumbled on the floor. There was a door leading outside the kitchen. Holly motioned for Samuel to follow her. They stepped outside the door into a short hallway. The hallway had two doors leading to two rooms. Holly motioned Samuel to one and entered the other. It was a bedroom. It was in the same state as the kitchen.. The sparse furniture there had been ransacked. She saw somebody’s hair peeking from under the bed on the other side of the room. She ran across the room and stooped near the figure: it was Heather. She was looking battered, and blood was sputtering from her mouth. There was a bullet wound to the side of her neck ad she was struggling to breathe. Holly knew at that stage that there was nothing she could do for her. Before even the paramedics would get to them she would have died.

  The woman seemed to be struggling to say something. Holly brought her ears close to the woman’s lips.

  “Baby.” Was what she was struggling to say.

  “What about the baby?” Holly asked. ‘Where is he?” the dying woman lifted her hand and struggled to point towards a particular direction.

  Holly scampered to her feet and rushed towards the area she was pointing at. She found the baby’s crib. But it was empty. She felt a momentary relieve that whoever had murdered the woman did not include the slaughter of a baby

  “Holly! Over here!” Samuel shouted from the other room. Holly made the short trip to the room. It was in the same state as the other room. There was also another person lying on the dirt floor. This time, it was a man. Holly guessed that it must be Sheridan Cox. It had looked like he struggled. There were several bullet holes in his body.

  “Holly, look!” There was no mistaking the horror in Samuel’s voice. Holly lifted her eyes to the place where Samuel was pointing to. On the wall someone had scrawled, SAMUEL CLARK DID THIS.

  Holly looked from Samuel to the wall and dread began to build up in the pit of her stomach. The buildup reached a crescendo when a sound pierced the air; it was the unmistakable wail of a police siren.

  CHAPTER 10

  GUILTY AS CHARGED

  Holly froze as the sound of the siren got closer. For that one moment everything came crashing down at her feet. Before her was clear evidence of an attempt to frame Samuel for the kidnap of the baby, and it did appear that the person who did it spared no expenses, he or she was willing not only to have Samuel take the fall for the kidnap, but also to make him the fall guy for the murder too. For one single moment, she wondered where the baby was, and whether whoever had murdered Heather and Sheridan also murdered the baby too. From the look of things, they had gotten there just as the assassin finished his job. He obviously had been in a hurry to leave the premises and thus had almost knocked down Holly in his haste to leave.

  “We have to leave now,” she said to Samuel, tugging him by the sleeve of his shirt. He just stood there staring at the writing on the wall as though willing it to provide some answers.

  “We have to go!” Holly said again. This time she managed to get his attention. She grabbed him as they both raced out of the apartment. She could hear the police car pulling into the driveway they had just located. They paused at the hallway and she peered from a window looking downstairs. A lone policeman stepped out of his car. He was checking out their car, looking at it inquisitively. From what she could see, it appeared that they did not know exactly what had happened. Somebody most likely made a 911 call because of the gunshot sounds and the policeman was around to check it out.

  He went round their car a couple of times. It was as though he was trying to make up his mind whether to enter the building or call for back up. Then something must have spooked him because he reached into the police car and began speaking into the responder.

  “Crap!” Holly muttered. He most likely was calling for backup.

  “We need to find a way to leave this building without the police seeing us. I’m not sure he realizes that we are still in the building.”

  She turned her gaze from the window to look at Samuel. He had a dazed look in his eyes and his skin was pale. She knew he was in shock but she lacked the time to try to fix him. They had more pressing matters to take care of.

  “We can’t take your car right now. I don’t know, I may have to figure something out as we go along, but one thing that is sure is that we cannot take your car.”

  As she was speaking, two other patrol cars pulled into the driveway. The blaring of the siren was so loud in the afternoon heat; it was as though the afternoon suddenly came alive. Several police officers stepped out of the cars and gathered around the earlier policeman. Holly knew that it was only a matter of time before they stormed the building.

  She grabbed Samuel again and began racing down the stairs. She felt Samuel flinch at her touch but she held on to him. At the foot of the stairs she looked left and right and instinctively went left. She remembered that when they had been driving in there had been other run-down buildings around the building they were in.

  When they got to the building, the door was locked. Holly looked around desperately. Samuel walked up to the door and kicked it in. He did not utter a word as his foot kept making contact with the door. Due to the racket made by the police sirens, the police did not hear the pounding. After a couple of minutes, the door caved in. Samuel merely stepped aside and let Holly precede him into the building. They climbed the stairs and stepped into the first apartment they found. The interior was in better shape than the exterior. The apartment was empty. She went to the other rooms and confirmed that no one was in the apartment then she came back into the first room and positioned herself by the window in the room. She could see that the police men had gained entrance into the original building, and with the frantic way they were moving around, it was also obvious that they had found the dead bodies.

  The police vehic
le was soon joined by an ambulance. The bodies of Heather and Sheridan were brought out on a stretcher. She could not see the faces as they were covered. The rest of the policemen conducted interviews with the rest of the tenants in the building. They were six of them in total, including an old couple.

  As Holly stood by the window she silently prayed that the policemen would not decide to check out the rest of the buildings. Her decision to smuggle Samuel had been a split second decision and beyond that she had no immediate plans. If the police found them she was sure Samuel would be taken into custody. The evidence at the scene of the murder was all but damning. And what guarantee was there that they would even give him the benefit of the doubt or a fair trial? And who was to say that she would not be drawn into the mix too considering that she had been with Samuel the whole time?

  Once the dead bodies were removed, the policemen gathered together and a fierce argument ensued. From what she could see, it was as though some of the policemen were agitating for the rest of the perimeter to be searched while the rest wanted them to leave the area immediately. Holly offered a silent prayer. Eventually, the decision was made with the arrival of several news vans. Someone from the police must have leaked the details of the crime to the press because they swarmed the area. Holly watched as the police men drove everyone of them away and when they left, the police vans left with them. It was just one car that was left to keep watch.

  Holly sank to the floor exhausted. Samuel was huddled up to the other side of the room.

  “As soon as night falls we would find our way out of this place,” she said, not expecting a response. “I have an emergency stash in the car park of the train station. Every private investigator has one somewhere. Once we get to it, I will take you to some safe place where we would then try to figure this out.”

  Samuel did not behave as though he heard her.

  “I know you are scared. But we would get to the end of this. You just have to have a little more faith. Just keep holding on. Eventually, we would get to the bottom of this.”

  Even as she said that, there was no conviction in her tone.

  *****

  "I am fine, Judith, you really have to stop worrying," Holly said, tapping her feet impatiently. For the past thirty minutes, Judith had been on the phone, worried sick about her and Samuel.

  "But you wouldn't still tell me where you are?" Judith asked.

  "I told you it was for the best that you do not know."

  "What should I tell the police? They've been coming here for the past two days, asking me for your whereabouts, and also whether you are with Samuel. I don't think they would buy the story that you took a sick leave for a while longer."

  Holly sighed. Judith had the habit of fretting over even the simplest problems. It must come from having two daughters, and having to worry about them all the time.

  "Just keep telling them that I am on vacation. If the pressure gets too much you could close down the office for a few days."

  "Don't worry. I will find a way to keep stalling. I hope this blows over quickly so we could get back to our lives."

  "Goodbye, Judith," Holly said and hung up the phone.

  She stared at the walls for so long that she began seeing patterns on the otherwise clear surface. The house was hers. She had bought it at an auction one time on a whim. She had never been to the house. Perhaps a part of her had known that a day like this would come, a day she would be running from the law and need a place to hide The only contact she had with the house was the monthly bill for housekeeping that Judith dropped on her desk every month. Once they exited the house, they had hitched a ride to the train station where she had picked up the emergency stash she kept in a car there, and then they had taken a train to this location. It was their third day and Holly had not been able to figure out what she was going to do. Part of her exasperation at Judith had been because she felt helpless too.

  Her phone began ringing again. She peeked at it, it was Olga.

  "Hello,"

  "Don't you dare ask me how I am doing. I swear if anybody else asks me that again, I'll claw my eyes out."

  Olga gave a small chuckle.

  "Okay, I won't. Who asked you how you were doing though?"

  "Judith. I swear she calls me every day to ask me the same questions. I'm beginning to get the feeling that she feels she is my nanny."

  "Oh, her heart is in a good place."

  "I know," Holly answered.

  "How is Samuel? How is he taking all this?"

  Holly sighed.

  "I don't know. Really. He's barely said a word since we came here. He just sits in the living room all day staring at the television. I have to remind him to eat and to brush his teeth. He is pretty shook up by all this."

  "I can't even begin to imagine what he is going through right now," Olga said. "Who would go through all of these pains anyway? Who is so bent on covering his tracks that he is willing to destroy the life of another man? This doesn't seem to be about the baby anymore. What exactly are they trying to hide?"

  "I'll be damned if I know."Holly was silent for a while. "If I hadn't been with him the entire time I would have had a hard time believing that he wasn't involved with the murders in some way. But I was with him the whole time!"

  "Damn, this is so messed up," Olga said.

  "Have you listened to the recording of that call with Heather Kline?" Holly asked.

  "I have," Olga answered.

  "Something she said has stuck with me since then. She said that there were some big wigs who were involved in this incident. Olga, I might be well in over my head right now. How do I go up against this person who seems to have almost unlimited resources?"

  "I'm sure you’ll be fine. We have to take this one step at a time. It is a good thing you are with Samuel right now. The police has plastered his face all over the news. They are claiming that they have nabbed the kidnapper. Where are you right now?"

  "I really can't say."

  "You know I could easily run a trace on this call and find out where you are right now?" Olga asked cheekily.

  "I am hoping you would not do that." Holly replied with a laugh."In fact, I do need your help with something. I need you to mask this number. I do not need this to show up on any trace."

  "I could try. But you know this could only suffice for so long. It the police are sufficiently motivated, they would still find you."

  "I know. Hopefully I would have been able to figure everything out by then."

  "Let me know if you need anything else."

  "I would. Thank you."

  ******

  Holly gently padded into the room. The light was switched off. Holly did not need the light to know that Samuel would be lying on the couch. Each day he just moved from the bedroom to the couch where he would then turn on the television. He would only get up from that position to go to the bathroom or any time Holly managed to turn off the television. Even those times, he would look on straight ahead as though lost in thoughts. He would hardly respond to anything she said.

  She stood by the door and watched him. The television was turned on but the volume was turned down. As usual, they were having reruns of the scene of the crime. The police officer who had first responded to the 911 call had taken photos of the site and released it to the media. It was a gross violation of the ethics of the police force and he was fired because of it. However, he had become an internet sensation overnight. TV channels tripped over themselves to have him on their shows, where he would then be quizzed about his involvement in the whole saga.

  Holly was watching intently when a figure appeared on the screen.

  “Turn it up,” She called out to Samuel. She went to sit by him on the couch as the volume of the television got increased.

  “Mr. Benson, how are you taking this recent revelation about the whereabouts of your son? We have reliably gathered that although two individuals were murdered, your son was not found at the scene of the murder?”

  A reporter str
uck a microphone in front of Nathan Benson’s face. He was standing in front of his company headquarters, ready to enter his car and head home. Reporters were clustered around him. Holly was sure that that would also be the case at Samuel’s house.

  “My wife and I are deeply distressed by this recent development, especially as it has not led to the rescue of my baby. My wife is distraught, she can barely function as it is right now. So, forgive me, although my heart goes out to the families that lost their loved ones, my priorities right now is my son and making sure that the bastard who took him is put behind bars.”

  Nathan was staring at the camera, vehemence in his eyes. Holly felt Samuel flinch beside her.

  “Even with the recent development, there are still some speculations that Mr. Clark might eventually be innocent at the end. Do you not entertain that possibility?” Another reporter asked him.

  “At this stage in my life, I am done with speculations. I know for certain that Mr. Clark abducted my son and murdered his accomplices.”

  “So, you wouldn’t be interested in wanting to know why he did what he did?”

  “I do not care for his explanations. I just want him apprehended for this particular crime and put behind bars. Elements like him should not be left walking our streets.”

  He turned away from the camera and walked to his car. There was visible shock on the faces of the reporters. Holly had no doubt that that was the same emotion that was written on her face. There was no denying the amount of hate and venom behind every word Benson had spewed on national TV. he seemed like he was more interested in putting Samuel behind bars than actually finding out the truth of what happened or even finding his son.