Third Degree

by J. D. Dudycha

  Niki nodded and said, “You know it!”

  She watched him slide out of the van and was about to follow the three girls next to her when Rory grabbed her arm. Niki spun around. His face was frail and lacked color. “What is it?” she said.

  “Be careful.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “With numb-nuts’s party.” He nodded to the seat where the upperclassman was.

  “Why’s that?”

  He leaned in, over the seat, so only she could hear. “Because I’ve heard his parties get a little rough.”

  Niki tilted her head, annoyed. “Let me guess, you’ve never been invited, have you?”

  “Well no, but . . .”

  “Thanks for the warning, but I can take care of myself.”

  She stopped the conversation and scooted the remainder of the way out, not hearing him say, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  WALTER DROVE BEYOND the entrance of the field house, but not far. He needed to keep eyes on Niki. He had no idea where she would go, and if he lost her, it’d be near impossible to track her down on such a huge campus. He parked across the street and stared through the driver-side window. The team entered the field house. He could see through the glass corridor as they walked in a group; then Niki and two others split off and continued on a different path. They reached another lengthy corridor, which was attached to the field house. This corridor allowed students to stay indoors as they made their way to an adjoining building. This type of structure was all over campus, intentionally designed for the brutal Minnesota winters.

  Walter took his eyes off Niki for a moment and realized he would lose visual contact soon. Oh no you don’t. You can’t get away from me that easy. Walter opened his door and sprinted into the darkness toward the building Niki was about to enter.

  When he approached a door, he peered through a slim vertical window next to it and saw Niki’s back as she and the others walked ahead. They were headed toward another hallway that spanned right. When they turned the corner, Walter reached for the handle and yanked the door open. He hurried down the hallway, not knowing where it would lead. When he reached the right angle, he leaned forward and peered down the hallway. The women were waiting for an elevator to arrive. He waited awkwardly, occasionally peeking again around the corner.

  When the elevator reached the lower level and the doors closed after the girls stepped in, Walter turned down the hallway and walked fast. What he didn’t realize is he would be walking himself into an open area where several students congregated around a television, ping-pong table, and large computer docking station.

  He stopped in his tracks. A few students noticed him standing there, out of place, and he did something he rarely ever did: he let himself be seen.

  “Are you lost?” a student asked.

  Walter didn’t move, not even a muscle to nod.

  “You’re in the athletic dorms,” the same student said.

  Without speaking, Walter returned down the hallway, jogging now, seeking the solace of his van. He didn’t stop running until he was safely inside.

  “Damnit, Walter.” He pounded the steering wheel. “Stupid. You never let yourself be seen. Mr. Ritter is going to kill me.” Walter was frightened in that moment, but he did not deviate from his task. He would see it through. Now all he could do was wait for Niki to show herself. Even if it took all night, he wouldn’t move, not for anyone but her.

  13

  NIKI LEANED ON THE edge of the porcelain sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror as she applied lipstick to her full-pouting lips. When she rose, she tilted her head to the side, then twisted her body to look herself over. Her black formfitting dress hugged her curves perfectly. As she continued to observe her outfit, she realized the dress was out of character, something she borrowed from one of the softball players she roomed with. For some reason, though, she loved how feminine and powerful she felt while wearing it.

  As she walked out of the dorm bathroom, she caught the edge of her heel and fell to her left. Not used to wearing this type of shoe, Niki adjusted immediately and pressed her dress back down.

  Niki, it’s okay, you can do this. Just act natural. This was her best attempt to talk herself into the confidence she usually had.

  At the elevator, she waited for the ding. As she waited, another student joined her. She glanced to her side and saw Poppy. Her eye moved to her leg, which was wrapped in ice, even at the late hour.

  “How’s the hamstring?” Niki said.

  “As if you care.” She glared at Niki. “I heard about the meet today, how you destroyed our previous record.”

  Niki felt defensive, but she remained kind in that moment. “We won. That’s all that matters.”

  “Bullshit. You may have taken my spot because I pulled my hamstring, but when I get back to hundred percent, just know I’ll be taking it right back.”

  “Look, I never intended to take your spot. Coach made us race, I didn’t ask for this.”

  “Then why did you transfer here?”

  Niki was about to speak, then swallowed her words.

  “That’s right, I know you transferred here so you could break records, gain more fame for your accomplishments. But then I looked into you.”

  Now Niki was confused. “I don’t know what you think you know about me, but . . .” Niki trailed off.

  “I looked you up on the internet.”

  “You looked me up?” A pit grew in Niki’s stomach.

  “That’s right. I searched your name against all track and field events.”

  Oh shit. “What? Why?”

  “That’s right! And guess what I found?”

  Before Niki could open her mouth, the elevator bell rang and the doors opened. She looked to the open area and thought about disappearing, running away, but that wasn’t who she was; she never ran from a fight.

  “I assume nothing.” Niki turned to face her.

  “That’s right, nothing. Tell me, how does someone with your athletic ability, who is supposed to be ‘destined for the Olympics’”—she used air quotes—“have no record on the internet?”

  Niki was stuck, and the elevator doors closed in front of her, cutting off her escape. “Look, Poppy, I . . .”

  “Save it, Chase. I know you’re a fraud. I don’t know that Coach does, but if he doesn’t, then he’s a moron, but once I bring this information to him, it’s him you’ll have to answer to, not me.” Poppy turned and hobbled away, keeping her leg as straight as she could. After a few steps, she stopped and turned around. “Oh, and by the way, I don’t know what type of attention you’re trying to draw with a dress like that, but I assure you it’s probably not the right kind.”

  Niki watched as she disappeared.

  Damnit, Collar. Niki blamed her for not linking information on the internet about her athletic background and connecting the name Chase Crane to it all. She opened her black clutch, one that matched both the dress and her shoes, and pulled out the burner cell phone. She pushed the elevator button again. Instantly, the doors swung open and she entered. When she looked at the phone once inside the elevator, there was no signal. Figures! She’d have to wait until she reached the lobby.

  In the lobby, Niki pressed the send button to call Collar. Straight to voice mail. “Collar, it’s me. We have a problem. Call me back.”

  She dumped the phone back into her purse, and as she walked through the lobby, she received a catcall. On any other day, she would’ve stopped in her tracks, walked over to the source, and kicked the man square in the nuts. But this time she was already feeling flustered, and his call hardly registered.

  The click of her heels echoed in the empty hallway as she walked through the corridor and back toward the field house. Niki had called Rory before her shower and asked if he’d be willing to give her a ride to the house party. Of course, he obliged, but Niki miscalculated her timing. She got ready faster than she anticipated, but once she felt the vibration on her arm from the phone in her pur
se, she was glad to have the extra time to take a phone call.

  She stopped walking just as she turned the corner, near the very same door Walter had entered only a couple hours prior. She worried about collapsing again in her high heels if she kept walking.

  “Collar,” Niki said, not even a hello. “You screwed up.”

  “Excuse me? Is that the way you want to start this conversation?” Collar said.

  Niki’s blood pressure lowered as she forced herself to stay calm. “No, I guess not.”

  “Now, why don’t we start again. Hey, Collar. Things went well today, we won the meet,” Collar said sarcastically.

  “You heard about that?”

  “Of course I heard about that. I also heard you won in dominant fashion.”

  “Is there another fashion to be had?” Niki grinned.

  “No, I guess there isn’t.”

  “So why the phone call at . . .” Collar stalled. “Almost one a.m. my time?”

  “Sorry about that, I didn’t even realize it was that late.”

  “It is. But now that you have me, what couldn’t wait until morning?”

  “It’s just a girl, some chick on the team, did some research on the name Chase Crane.”

  “Let me guess, she didn’t find anything.”

  “No.”

  “Damnit. I didn’t think it would come to that, that’s my mistake. Let me rectify it in the morning. I’ll have one of my analysts get on it, make up some phony stats, and fix this.”

  “You think that will work?”

  “Why not?”

  “I suppose so,” Niki said.

  “Any other sign of that white van you saw the other day?”

  “No. Not at all.” Just then Niki spun around and peered through the window. She could see a parked vehicle across the street. “Wait. Is that?” Niki brought her face closer to the glass. “It is.”

  “Niki, what? What is it?” Collar begged for more information.

  Before Niki could reply, a door was forced open and the rush of cold air blew inside the hallway. Niki turned to her left, waiting for students to enter. Her line of sight was cut off behind the door, and she couldn’t make out who’d opened it. She moved slowly toward it, shivering as the icy air brushed against the skin of her arms and legs.

  “Collar,” she whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “There’s a white van parked outside.”

  “The same one you saw before?”

  “Can’t tell, but . . .” Niki was close now. The door was only feet away.

  “But what?”

  Collar wouldn’t get her answer. Instead, all she received was a reverberating scream that echoed in her ears as Niki’s burner phone fell to the floor.

  A man grabbed Niki’s arm and pulled her into the cold. In a panic, she flailed wildly, punching and kicking, but Walter was too strong, too big, wrapping his bear claws around her and pulling her tight to his chest. She’d taken on large men before, but never as strong as this one.

  “Shh. Shh. It’s okay,” Walter said close to her ear.

  She screamed once, but in the cold night her scream fell void. No one was walking by at that time of night, no one.

  When he dipped closer to her ear, it allowed Niki a moment of escape. She lifted her heel and shoved the spike deep into the tissue of Walter’s foot. He gritted his teeth and spun her around. She looked into his cold dark eyes and only saw rage there. Rearing up his left hand, he lifted high and brought a slap down across Niki’s face. One shot and she was out cold. She fell limp into the snow, lying unconscious beneath him. Walter bent down, lifted her from the snowbank, and walked across the street to his van, where he opened the back doors and laid her inside.

  He scanned the area for witnesses, but there were none around. After closing the back door, he moved to the side of the van and entered. In doing so, he handcuffed her to the brackets that were welded into the floor and covered her face with the mask he’d picked up from the barn at his house, then moved to the driver’s seat and drove away from the scene like it was just another night.

  14

  Miami, Florida

  “NIKI! NIKI!” COLLAR pulled the phone away from her ear and looked down at the screen. The call wasn’t disconnected, but all she heard after the scream was silence, which could only mean one thing. Niki had been taken. Collar ended the call and immediately scrolled for her contact in the FBI. Pete Risen. She pressed his name. He picked up after the first ring.

  “Agent Collar? It’s late.”

  “I know, Pete, and I’m sorry, but this couldn’t wait. One of my operatives, the one I inserted in Minneapolis, has gone missing.”

  “You dispatched an agent? Why didn’t you alert us of that?”

  “I was going to, but I wanted her to gather more intelligence first. She’s only been in play for a few days. And now—” Collar swallowed her words.

  “Now she’s gone, isn’t she?”

  “Yes.”

  “How can you be certain?”

  “I was just on the phone with her. She asked me to hold on a minute because she saw a white van, the same white van she saw a few days ago. It was prowling around campus. She couldn’t ID anyone on that day but noticed the van again tonight parked across the street from her dorm. When she went to investigate, all I heard was a scream, and then nothing. It’s like she vanished.”

  “I see.” Risen paused for a moment.

  Collar couldn’t wait, she needed results fast. Someone needed to figure out where Niki had gone. “What are you thinking?”

  “You’re talking about that Chase Crane woman, aren’t you?”

  “You put that together?”

  “Ah, yeah, I mean, I figured as much.”

  “Yes. I had to fake her identity . . .”

  “Why?”

  “To lure them in.”

  “By ‘them’ I assume you mean the same men who took your niece and the other three women?”

  Collar waited, then said, “That’s right.”

  “Does this operative know you used her as bait?”

  “Of course.”

  “And she was okay with it?”

  “She was.”

  “After what we’ve just witnessed in Boston, she must have a death wish.”

  “No death wish. But I assure you, she can take care of herself. And maybe the others.”

  “That’s why you did this, isn’t it? You thought she could bring down the entire organization from the inside.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Bold move.”

  “If you only knew what she’s capable of . . .”

  “Fine. Why don’t you tell me what her exact location was? If we’re lucky, the school has cameras set up on campus, especially in the dorms.”

  “And if we aren’t lucky?”

  “Then I’m afraid Chase Crane is on her own. At least until we can get another angle.”

  Collar dropped her chin and rubbed her forehead. She pinned this on herself. She thought they’d have more time to gather intelligence; she never figured they would make their move this soon. She gave Niki’s location and dorm information to Pete.

  “Let me know what you find out. I’ll be on the first flight out,” Collar said.

  “Will do. I’ll head over there right now, and I’ll send someone to pick you up in the morning. Just let me know what time you land.”

  “Thank you, Pete. I owe you one.”

  “I owe you far more, Collar, but who’s counting.” He chuckled.

  “You find my niece and my operative alive, and consider us even.”

  “Copy that.”

  Collar removed the phone from her ear, then flipped open her laptop and searched for the first flight out of Miami. Since she was on furlough from ZULU, and this was technically off the books, she couldn’t use ZULU’s resources. The private jet was off-limits, and she would have to fly commercial. A flight left the following morning at 7:15 a.m., and she would do anything possible
to be on it.

  MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

  Niki shook awake. Her body ached as she lay on the hard steel floor of the van. She stretched her jaw and felt pain there. She lifted her hands to touch her face, but they were stuck. Instantly she realized they were locked in handcuffs. She opened and closed her eyes, blinking slowly, but everything was dark, blacked out. As Niki breathed in through her nose, the mask over her face closed in on her nostrils. The hood, or mask, whatever covered her face, smelled rank. Animal feces and hay from Walter’s family barn lingered on the cloth.

  Lying on the cold steel, she shivered. There was no heat blowing near when she flitted her head searching for warmth. She moved around to see if she could decipher anything through the edges of the hood. Nothing. Was this the same man who was connected to the kidnappings Collar and the FBI knew about? Or was this something else, some other creep?

  Niki felt the vehicle make multiple turns, but then it came to an abrupt stop. Why’s he stopping? A stoplight? Is this it? His hideout? She felt the vehicle rock forward, as if it was just put into park, either on an incline or a decline of some sort.

  Once again, she moved her head around trying to see through the black curtain covering her face. She shuddered when she heard a door slam, then again when two more doors were forced open behind her, allowing in a rush of cold wind. She breathed heavily, doing her best to gather her wits. She shook her head no, waiting for an unwanted touch. She felt the man’s presence, but he wasn’t saying or doing anything.

  “I know you’re there, you son of a bitch. Don’t touch me, or I’ll kill you.” She displayed confidence even in her vulnerable state, but she figured this man had heard that very same statement many times over. And no one had made good on that promise.

  Handcuffed to the floor, she was alone . . . cold . . . and helpless. He could’ve done anything he wanted. But in that moment, all he did was reach under Niki’s hood. At his touch, she screamed and kicked madly, but he was nowhere near her feet, and no one heard her cries. She yanked on the chains that bound her. The pain in her wrists was almost unbearable as she tried to rip them free. He lifted the hood slightly, just above her mouth and nose, placing a rag there and pushing it in hard. She shook her head from side to side. The smell was sweet, a scent she’d never experienced before. His grip was firm, and he kept the rag over her mouth for what seemed to be an eternity. But Niki didn’t stop fighting, not until everything went dark.