by James Hunt
“Stay away from me,” Edwin demanded.
Phillip ran in front of him, stopping as he pulled his sunglasses off. Edwin halted as Phillip’s steely eyes stared him down. “Listen to me. I get it, okay. You and I, we’re not too different. I’m just a little more discreet.”
Edwin’s expression changed from resistant to curious. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about getting you what you need. At a very reasonable price. And all I’ll need is your van for the day.”
Edwin stood in place, uncertain and conflicted. He looked ready to push past Edwin, but his weaknesses got the best of him. “What happened to your face?”
Phillip smiled and put his sunglasses back on. “I’d be happy to tell you all about it, if you’ll sit down and have a cup of coffee with me.” He signaled to the coffee place two shops ahead of them on the busy street.
Edwin looked around, trying to make up his mind.
“Last chance,” Phillip said. “This is an opportunity you don’t want to miss out on.”
Edwin nodded in agreement and followed Phillip to the coffee shop. The nervous look hadn’t left his face since storming out of SeXtasy.
The duo entered the small, bohemian coffee shop and found a booth in the back where Phillip proceeded to lay everything out. He needed a van, Edwin’s van. Phillip had a pickup to make. Highly sensitive products. Exactly the kind of thing Edwin was looking for.
In exchange, Phillip would lend Edwin his car. Edwin remained skeptical, but after a second doughnut, and the prospect of receiving a copious amount of illegal child pornography costing next to nothing, the exchange was impossible to resist. The deal was made after only a little convincing on Phillip’s part. He would get Edwin what he desired. All he needed was his van for two hours tops.
Sarah Bynes was at the top of Phillip’s list of potential candidates. Not only was her father a congressman, but he also had money. But as one of the wealthiest representatives in congress, Jacob Bynes surprisingly took little precaution in providing security for his young daughter. This surprised Phillip the most.
After days of tracking the family’s routine, Phillip learned that Sarah was dropped off daily at a posh private school. On the day of the planned kidnapping, Phillip swapped vehicles with Edwin, as they had agreed.
“Two hours tops, right?” Edwin asked, standing nervous and sweaty in his driveway with the keys in hand.
Phillip looked up, thinking. “Actually, it’s going to take a little longer.”
“Ah, come on!” Edwin said, placing his hands on his hips. “I have to go to work soon. They’re gonna get suspicious if they see me pull up in a different car.” Edwin worked the afternoon shift as a gas station attendant.
“Don’t worry,” Phillip said. “Trust me. It’ll all be worth it in the end.”
Edwin shuffled and then reluctantly handed the keys over. Phillip left in a hurry, promising a great reward when he returned. Edwin seemed content enough. Still worried but content.
Within the next hour, Phillip sat in a parking lot across the street from La Petite Academy, Sarah’s junior high school, where she attended sixth grade. The experience reminded him of one of his last victims, Jenny Dawson—the girl Miriam had rescued. He’d never let something like that happen again.
Early that morning, Phillip had watched Sarah’s mother drop her off in a shiny black Lexus, checking to see if anyone in the strip parking lot was watching him. He was checking to see what Sarah was wearing, and making sure she was there. He was driving his own car then, making sure to stay out of view of any cameras, and only stayed a few minutes.
Normally, at the end of the day, Sarah waited five to ten minutes for her mom, never longer. There were other children around, but Sarah seemed to be a bit of a loner, an outsider, and often sat on the steps by herself waiting. Phillip was confident he could coax her into the van, despite the huge risk he was taking.
That particular day, he saw Sarah much sooner than he had expected. He looked into his binoculars just to make sure. There was no mistaking who it was. He adjusted his wig of curly blond hair in the mirror and examined the thin latex mask he wore to conceal the burns on his face. He resembled a living mannequin—eerie but not nearly as bad looking as his real face.
As he started the engine, Phillip started to feel like his old self again. He pulled out of the parking lot and crossed the road and pulled into the school driveway, past the unmanned gate. The guard was nowhere to be seen. Everything was working out in his favor.
He pulled into the pick-up loop, wasting no time, and slowed to halt, idling close to Sarah. She looked upset. Her arms were crossed and her head down.
“Sarah?” Phillip said, in his most delicate female tone.
She looked up, suspicious.
“Your mom sent me to pick you up. Said you weren’t feeling well.” It was the luckiest break he had in a long time.
For a moment, Sarah just stood in place, looking around with uncertainty. Phillip promised her ice cream. He promised her new clothes. He promised her whatever he could to get her into the van. When she looked her most hesitant, Phillip told her that she must either come with him or go back to class. She reluctantly pulled the squeaky van door open and got in. He didn’t even have to use the chloroform.
He tore out of the parking lot with Sarah in tow and the license plate missing from the rear of the van. He was keenly aware of the abundance of security cameras in the area and didn’t want to set Edwin up—not yet, anyway. What Phillip would bring him would keep Edwin happy enough to keep his mouth shut. As they passed Sarah’s block, she immediately grew more distrustful, examining Phillip’s face with doubt and intense fear. But he was already pulling into the driveway of a closed fast-food restaurant, unzipping a bag containing the chloroformed rag and ready to strike.
***
Miriam dialed Ana’s number on Phillip’s archaic flip-top phone as Philip checked the timer on his watch. Two minutes was all he was prepared to give. There was a heavy static on the line and she could barely even hear it ringing.
Please, please, pick up, she said to herself.
Once Ana answered, she hoped for a police trace on the line—anything that might give her a chance. She had been isolated for so long that she didn’t know what to think. The four concrete walls surrounding her were all she knew.
Phillip continued to look at his watch, and Miriam was losing precious seconds. Finally, someone picked up—the faint voice of a little girl, unmistakably Ana. Miriam could feel the instant rush of water works, ready to consume her.
“Hello? Who’s there?” Ana said with both sadness and anxiety in her voice.
“Ana, honey…” Miriam paused, holding the phone close and turning from Phillip to the corner of the room. The static increased but even the faint sound of Ana’s voice was better than nothing. “It’s Mom.”
There was a great silence, and Miriam pictured her daughter, standing there, somewhere, unable for a moment to speak. “Mom? Mom? Oh my God. Where are you?” she shouted.
Miriam sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m okay. Honey, listen to me.”
Ana began crying. It was all too much for her. To have her mother disappear for weeks and hear nothing, and then without warning to hear her voice. Miriam knew it was going to be difficult to reassure her in just two minutes.
Phillip shouted out from the other side of the room, “That’s thirty seconds!”
She tried her best to ignore him and continue with Ana.
“What happened to you?” Ana asked between sobs. “Why aren’t you home?”
“I’m okay. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay,” Miriam said.
“You disappeared! How can that be okay? I want you home!” The anguish in Ana’s voice was almost too much for Miriam to bear.
“I need you to listen very carefully. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes…” Ana said, weeping.
“Where are you staying?”
“Tina’s house. I’ve been here since you never came home.”
Miriam couldn’t believe it. She would have to thank the family later. That was, if things turned out in her favor. And thanks would never be enough. “Where are the police?”
“They were at the house. They’re looking everywhere for you. They wanted me to stay with Grandma and Grandpa, but I can’t leave. Not with you gone.”
“I’ll see you soon, I promise,” Miriam said. She tugged at her chain again, wanting to believe her own promise more than anything.
“One minute!” Phillip shouted, reminding her.
More static came through as Ana’s voice faded in and out, demanding to know where her mother was.
“I’m being held somewhere. On a secret mission. I’m so sorry for not telling you.”
“What?” Ana shouted, incredulous.
“But I’ll be home soon. I just don’t want you to worry anymore.”
“No!” Ana cried. “I want you to come home now! Why are you doing this to me?” Her sobs became uncontrollable.
Miriam rubbed her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. Everything will be okay. I promise.”
“Why do you keep saying that?” Ana shouted.
“I love you,” Miriam said.
“Thirty seconds left!” Phillip yelled, approaching her.
Miriam hurried to the corner in a panic. “Tell them I’m with the man who has Sarah. Tell them to look underground. We’re underground—”
Phillip’s arm came out of nowhere and grabbed the phone from Miriam’s hand. He yanked it away and then struck Miriam with all the force he could muster with a backhand, sending her spiraling against the wall as her chain rattled and clicked.
“What the fuck were you saying to her?” he asked, staring down at her, wild-eyed.
Miriam fell to her knees, covering her face with her hands as every bone in her head throbbed in pain.
“Don’t screw with me now, Miriam. You’re not going to like it.”
His decimated nostrils flared with anger as his eyes narrowed with all the evil and malice she knew him to be capable of. She backed against the wall, holding her knees and preparing for another blow.
He walked closer to her, phone in hand, and leaned down as his robe folded itself in layers. “For any of this to work, I have to be able to trust you.” He held two gloved fingers an inch apart. “Even if just this much. You try something like that again, I’ll keep you down here another a couple of weeks. Maybe a few months. Hell, we could try for a year.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping a thin trail of blood from her nose.
Phillip shook his head. “I don’t know if you’re ready yet. I can’t have the old Miriam coming back now. That’s just not going to work.”
She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. “I’ll be good. I promise. Now release Sarah.”
Phillip remained kneeling down, eyeing Miriam, not saying anything and filling her with fear. He then rose, knees cracking, and began walking away. Halfway across the room, he suddenly stopped and turned around, facing Miriam.
“I’ll bring her in here. You say goodbye. The girl leaves. I come back with the money, then you come with me wherever I go. Got it?”
Miriam nodded.
“Because if you do one thing to piss me off…” He stopped and shook his head, smiling. “You’ll never see the light of day again. And as you rot down here, I’ll find your daughter and add her to my collection. Then I’ll bring her little head down here in a bucket, just for you to see.”
The very thought twisted Miriam’s stomach into knots. She leaned over, gagging, and started to dry heave. Phillip recoiled in disgust and then nudged the waste bucket toward her with his foot.
“Don’t go dirtying up the floor.”
Miriam fell back against the wall, exhausted and out of breath. By the time she opened her eyes, Phillip was gone again.
She immediately rose from the ground as though nothing was wrong with her and went right to the bed, lifting up the mattress, where the food from days ago still lay in a mushy, spoiled pile.
Next to the mess lay the chipped kitchen knife. Phillip, in all his carefulness, had never noticed its absence. She grabbed the knife and went to work on the chain plate, pressing against it and pushing the long screws farther out nudge by tiny nudge. She only had so much time. If Phillip got the ransom pickup, he would be back later that evening, ready to go. She didn’t know what lay in store for her after that. The best thing she could do was to play the part.
In the midst of her rushed chiseling, she heard the door bolt unlock. And by then, she knew the drill. She rushed to the mattress, hid the knife, and fell back to the floor, holding her knees against her chest in submissive desperation. The door opened like a rusty iron drawbridge, revealing Phillip leading a young girl inside with a burlap sack tied over her head.
“Right this way, Sarah,” he said with a friendly tone. “I want you to meet someone.”
Miriam’s heart skipped a beat. Sarah was alive. Her clothes were torn and dirty, and she walked with a noticeable limp as Phillip carefully led her along, but she was alive.
Miriam stayed on the floor, fighting her instincts to try to rush Phillip, strangle him and somehow storm out of the room with the girl in her arms. But that was impossible. They got within ten feet before Phillip jerked Sarah’s arm, pulling her back. Then he lifted the bag off her head, and for a moment, all that Miriam could see was a mess of long, stringy hair.
When she lifted her head, her face looked bruised. She was pale and dirty. Her round blue eyes had deep shadows underneath. She stared ahead, quiet and dazed like a zombie. Miriam felt an instant connection with Sarah but wasn’t sure what horrors had been inflicted upon her during her own captivity.
Phillip touched the Sarah’s shoulder and pointed to Miriam. “Her name is Miriam, and she agreed to take your place. Can you say, thank you, Miriam?”
Sarah slowly nodded as Miriam gave her a reassuring smile.
“It’s okay, Sarah,” Miriam said, trying to smile naturally. “You just get home and be happy.”
The girl mouthed the words, thank you, but nothing came out. In an instant, Phillip brought the bag over her head again, pulled it down, and tightened the laces at her neck. Sarah’s cries were muffled and soft.
He then glared at Miriam, daring her to say something. Submission was the key. Phillip was testing every instinct she had. When he seemed satisfied, he turned and pushed Sarah toward the door. From the door, he stopped to offer Miriam some food for thought.
“That’s what I like to see. You play along, everything is going to be just fine. No more playing hero or super mom. You’re all mine now. And when I return in an hour with the money, we’re going to start a new life together, free of all this noise.”
She stared ahead, unresponsive. Catatonic was the best state to be in around him.
“Understand?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said softly and appeared as defeated as possible.
He left the room with Sarah, and before he closed the door, she noticed the bottom of a staircase, confirming that she was being held in some underground cellar. He slammed the door and locked it. She waited for a moment, relieved that Sarah was being released. But if Phillip thought that Miriam was simply going to play along with his plans, he had another think coming.
***
The instructions were clear. The money, one million dollars in cash, was supposed to be dropped at a location disclosed by a series of notes, like a scavenger hunt, or in this case, Phillip’s treasure hunt. Congressman Bynes was directed to pick up the notes, leading him from one part of town to the next.
Phillip sat in his car in a largely barren field near a recently vacated golf and country club whose owners could not keep up with the expenses of maintenance and keeping the greens watered, especially during the last county water shortage and the corresponding rise in prices.
He expected to see
the congressman alone and waving a white shirt from his car within the hour. He was not to be followed. He was not to tell anyone where he was going. He was not to have a phone on him. Those were the conditions if he ever expected to find his daughter alive.
Phillip felt confident as he waited with Sarah, bound at the wrists in the backseat. The hood was no longer necessary, he thought. The girl was confused enough. Half the time she saw him, he wore the wig and mask she had become accustomed to.
Besides, Phillip Anderson was presumed dead. And by the time the authorities put anything together, he would be long gone with Miriam at his side. He couldn’t understand his feelings for her. It was strange. Perhaps the suffering they had both endured throughout their lives brought them closer to each other. That’s what he thought, but maybe he was just insane. He smiled. Either way, he was determined to make it happen.
A silver, four-door Lincoln Town and Country minivan approached from a distance, driving down the dirt road with its headlights flickering in the night air. Phillip had his pistol at his side. Politicians were a dishonest bunch, and he believed Bynes to be no different from the others. Money and power were all they cared about. Phillip could relate, and he often wondered why he’d never thought to pursue a career in politics. The minivan approached slowly.
Phillip brought his binoculars to his eyes and noticed a white T-shirt flapping in the air from the driver’s side. He then turned around to place the bag over Sarah’s head. She made little movement, as if she were conditioned to the routine.
The van slowed about fifty feet away as Phillip flashed his headlights, a signal to stop. He opened his door and stepped out into the dust as the driver of the van did the same.
“Place the money ten feet from my car and go back to your van,” Phillip said loudly, his voice muffled by the latex mask.
The congressman, disheveled and exhausted with his sleeves rolled up and red tie flapping in the wind, leaned against his door and cupped his mouth. “Where’s my daughter?”
“Just do what I say!” Phillip said. “She’s right here. I’ve got no use for her once I get the money.”