Stolen Power

by Peter O'Mahoney

  “You didn’t raise the alarm?” Casey questioned.

  “What could I say? As a cop, I couldn’t be involved in a kidnapping. It would be the end of my career. Nobody in the department could know about this. I’d be finished.”

  “And what about me, Ben. I’m not a cop, you could have come clean to me, but instead you lied to my face. Why? I’m the one person you could have talked to.” I glared at him accusingly.

  “I thought I could do it myself. I’m a cop, a professional. Tracking down criminals is my job. I never thought I would become an accomplice. Now I’m the criminal, and I’ve let everyone down. I’m so sorry, Jack.”

  Well, I wasn’t going to disagree.

  “And now?” I drew the attention back to our current situation. “Why are you skulking about out here?”

  “I got a message from a different number, and they said they needed my help to get the money off Chase. Told me to meet them here at 11pm.”

  “Who is it?”

  “I have no idea. That’s why I’m scoping the place out first.” He popped his head over the hood of the car, and looked up to the building. “That’s the only light on in the whole industrial park. That’s where they want me to meet them.”

  I raised my gun again. “Then that’s where we’ve got to go. Together.”

  Chapter 26

  I quickly glanced at my watch.

  Two and a half hours until drop time.

  Chase would be getting nervous. He’d be getting worried. The fear would be building, the dread would be consuming his whole body. With time getting short, he would be playing out all the possible scenarios in his head. He’d be looking for an out. An excuse to avoid handing over the money. Any reason he could come up with to hang on to his beloved million dollars and not follow through as we’d agreed. If one thing had been clear from the very start it was this: Chase Martin was not a man who could be trusted, especially when it came to money.

  And now it was my turn to consider the options. Was it a greater risk leaving Chase to drop the money, than it would be to charge into the warehouse all guns blazing?

  If this went wrong, and it easily could, all would be lost.

  It was decision time.

  I looked at the looming warehouse, with its single light shining like a beacon to those who were adrift. In truth, I felt lost. Torn about which way to turn and what course of action to follow. But life is full of difficult decisions and sometimes you just have to flip a coin.

  It was dark enough to cover the run to the door, so long as there were no security lights. My eyes strained in the dark, and then I saw it, the pinpoint flash of red above the door. I nudged Casey and gestured towards it.

  I could see her studying the light sensor and our possible approach to the door, before she whispered her response.

  “If we stay wide until we hit the wall over there,” she pointed to the nearest corner of the building, “and then shadow the wall, we should avoid the sensor. I hope,” she added.

  I nodded as I weighed out the situation. I trusted Casey. No question. I trusted myself. I even trusted Ben, if not for his personal decisions, I trusted his police skills. He was a good cop, and I knew it.

  And finally, I trusted my gut.

  What I didn’t know was, could I trust Chase?

  If the kidnapper didn’t know who Chase was, I would’ve been the one placing the drop, but clearly they knew him. They would have known if I tried to replace him.

  If I backed out of raiding the warehouse now, we would have to go back to the original plan. The only other plan we had. And that meant I would have to trust Chase with the drop.

  And as much as I tried, I couldn’t place my faith in Chase.

  Not even with his own daughter’s life on the line. There was an arrogance to him, a feeling that he deserved every cent of that money. Not to mention that he ripped people off for the money in the first place, but he felt it was rightfully his. And sometimes people fight even harder to keep hold of what they’ve stolen than what they’ve earned through sweat and toil.

  It was the game he played.

  Money was everything to men like him. It was the validation that he sought, making him feel worthy, powerful and successful. In my eyes, he wasn’t successful. He was immoral. A fraudster. A cheat. A loser. No matter how much money he had in the bank. I couldn’t do what he did. I couldn’t live the life that he leads.

  And so, the decision was made.

  From right now, Chase was not my concern.

  It was the warehouse, who was in it, and how long we had until they left. The warehouse was a half hour drive to the drop, and that meant the kidnapper would be leaving soon. I had no doubt that the kidnapper would scope the drop first, looking for any unmarked cop cars, or for anything unusual.

  We had minutes, not hours, until the kidnapper made a move.

  Under my lead, Ben, Casey and I continued in the shadows until we reached the edge of the warehouse. Our guns were drawn, our heart rates high, and our determination unquestionable. Apart from the tall garage doors, there was one entrance, a metal door that led into the office, and one small window. With Ben and Casey behind me, we moved to our positions under the window. Easing out of my crouched position, I looked inside.

  There, on a couch, was Millie Martin.

  Relief flooded through me, but we certainly weren’t done yet.

  She was sleeping, wrapped up nicely in a blanket, her head resting on a pillow. She had been laid down with care—there wasn’t a scratch on her, not a mark. She was resting like the little angel she was.

  “She’s in there.” I leaned back down against the wall. “Millie is sleeping on a couch, only a few feet from the door. She looks unharmed, and peaceful.”

  We took a moment for this information to process.

  “Anyone else?” Ben checked his weapon. “No other activity?”

  I shook my head, “Not that I could see.”

  Ben slowly stood and looked in the window. “To the back of the room is another door.” He leaned back down. “There’s light coming from it. The kidnapper must be in the other room.”

  I nodded as Ben crouched back down next to Casey.

  “This is the plan.” I indicated to Casey and Ben. “I’m going to pick the lock, enter the room first, and keep my gun on that other door. The two of you are going to follow me inside, and carry Millie out of there. And I don’t want a sound coming from her mouth.”

  “I’ll carry her,” Casey said. “I can do it gently.”

  “And I’ll stick with you, Jack.”

  “No, Ben. I need you to cover Casey and Millie. Casey will have her hands full, so she won’t have her weapon drawn. I need you to cover her all the way back to the car. If things go wrong for me in there, then Casey and Millie will still have coverage.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to cover that door until the three of you are down the driveway, and then I’m going to put an end to this sordid business once and for all.”

  “But you don’t even know how many people are in there, Jack,” Casey stated. “You don’t know anything about what’s beyond that door.”

  She was right. I didn’t know. I didn’t know how many people were there, I didn’t know how many guns they had, and I didn’t know what I was walking into. I didn’t know if it was ten armed professionals, or one lonely soul.

  But I wasn’t going to risk Millie’s life. I was going to see this through to the end.

  Keeping low, I snuck to the door, tested it and found it was locked. It was easy to pick the old lock, and I was able to open it within a few seconds. Casey placed her weapon in the gun belt, clipped it, and then she and Ben crept over to the door.

  Ben got in position to open the door, and Casey waited behind me. It was time to rock and roll. To kick ass and take names.

  I counted down to three on my fingers.

  Three.

  Two.

  One.

  Quietly, Ben
turned the door open, and I stepped into the room without a sound, gun pointed forward. My footsteps were silent as I scanned the room.

  The room was sparse, just a couch, a television, and an old desk to the left.

  “Clear,” I whispered.

  Casey followed me in and I crossed the floor to the far end of the couch, putting myself between the kidnapper and Millie. Ben waited by the door, covering the exit.

  I kept my weapon focused on the back door, ready to fire the second the handle turned.

  Casey leaned down, tucked her hands underneath Millie, and gently raised her up. She kept the blanket around her, trying to keep the movements minimal. Millie stirred, but then leaned into Casey’s shoulder.

  Casey turned and walked out, and Ben eased the door closed behind them, his weapon still drawn.

  Out of the window of the office, I watched as Casey carried the still sleeping Millie safely out of harm’s way, with her head resting on Casey’s shoulder, under the coverage of Ben who still had his gun drawn. They moved to the side of the driveway, under the protection of the shadows. They passed the two cars, moving towards the end of the road. They were hurrying, but cautious not to attract the attention of any sensor lights. I watched the shadows closely, watching them move, and kept my hearing focused on any movement from the other side of the door. I could hear a murmur, but no movement.

  Once Casey, Millie and Ben were safely past the end of the driveway, I turned my focus back to the room I was in. There was very little I could do if this turned into a gun fight. If I had to, I could get behind the couch and it would provide some protection for a short while, not protection from bullets, they’d pass through it easy enough, but protection from view, perhaps long enough to get a few shots fired before I was spotted, but I didn’t know if that would be enough. It all depended on how many people were in that room and how hostile they were.

  I almost hoped the door would open, and bring the fight to me. Once I crossed the floor to it, I would be exposed and vulnerable.

  Whatever happened now, I had done my job, and that innocent child was on her way back to where she belonged.

  But for me, this wasn’t over yet.

  It was time to open that door.

  Chapter 27

  I stared at the door for a long moment, waiting for it to open. If it moved, I’d pump it full of bullets, retreat, reload and then come back to pump it full of more bullets. Technically this would be murder. I had no idea who was in there or whether they posed an immediate threat, so in a court of law I’d be convicted sure enough. But morally they deserved it. And that’s what mattered to me. Whoever was on the other side of that door was a criminal, a person who wanted to risk the life of a little girl for money. Thank goodness Millie was now safe, but that didn’t change who I was about to face when I entered the next room.

  A kidnapper.

  The worst sort. I had no idea what Millie had been through over the past few days. Was she frightened? Did the experience scare her or would it permanently scar her? Had her entire life been changed by the last five days?

  Those were questions that I didn’t know the answer to, but I was sure to find out. Whoever was on the other side of that door wanted money, and they were willing to do anything to get it.

  Money. I had contempt for what it led people to do. I only wanted as much as I needed. Beyond that was greed, and look what that led to. People like Chase. Situations like this. Evil. Endangering an innocent little girl’s life, for what?

  I took one last look around the dimly lit room I was standing in and took a deep breath—there was nothing to suggest that the person on the other side of the door was a killer. There wasn’t even a bit of trash on the floor. But that didn’t tell me who I was about to meet. They said Hitler was meticulously neat, just look at that moustache, that he loved animals and was a vegetarian, so appearances didn’t always tell the whole picture. I had to be prepared for anyone.

  There was a noise from the other side of the closed door, subdued and humming. A television show, perhaps.

  I crept forward and put my ear to the door. I thought maybe I heard a quiet chuckle, but maybe it was just the television. I didn’t want to get too relaxed, it could be an ambush waiting for me, guns blazing all around. But at least Millie was safe. Now it was just me and my future. I’d never been too sure about my fate. If this was it, then so be it.

  I eased my hand onto the cold metal door handle and carefully tested the door. It opened.

  I took a deep breath, and slowly, I pushed it further open.

  It opened silently into the workshop and I felt a rush of cool air on my face.

  My gun was drawn in front of my eyes, my steps soft as I moved towards the humming noise. As I stepped inside the workshop, I could see the light was coming from an old television across the other side of the room. There was a truck between me and the television, and I moved around it carefully.

  The warehouse was at least two floors tall and the lighting was almost non-existent. It was cold and the dank air smelled of diesel. Looking around the room, I saw a calendar of naked women over my left shoulder pinned up by the door next to a row of key hooks. On my right there was a pile of dirty work clothes next to a greasy looking sink. Plenty of work tools around, but all neatly placed on benches or hanging on the wall, so no danger of tripping at least.

  Being careful not to make a sound, I gently stepped forward. With my weapon focused ahead, I pointed it at where the light was coming from. My heart was pounding in my ears as I neared the corner of the truck, from where the kidnapper would be revealed.

  As I stepped around the truck, I saw the shadow of a person sitting on a chair, staring at the light coming from the television, watching an old show quietly. The person was sitting in an armchair, almost sinister enough to be the armchair of a Bond villain. The television was sitting on two milk crates, a makeshift table for viewing pleasure.

  I stepped closer, keeping near to the truck for cover.

  It was a male.

  The man was leaning back in the chair, relaxed, totally engrossed in the comedy show. The noise was down low and again I heard a low laugh, soft as though he was stifling it, probably so as not to wake Millie in the other room.

  I came within a few feet.

  My finger was poised on the trigger, every muscle in my body was tensed for action.

  I was ready to pump the person full of bullets with one false movement.

  I glanced around the workshop as I cleared the safety of the truck, but it was dark and still. We were alone, I was certain of that.

  I stepped closer.

  Then I sighed.

  The noise made the man snap his head around, his eyes focused directly on my gun.

  I could see the panic in his eyes as he flicked his gaze to the open office door. He was wondering about Millie, what had happened to her.

  His look was alarmed as he stared back at me and my gun.

  It took him a moment, and then he recognized me.

  “They must take school applications very seriously these days,” he quipped. “You’ve really done your research.”

  He closed his eyes with a sigh. Of what? Resignation. Perhaps even relief.

  The man looked old and tired, and ready for the end.

  “Damon Hardy, my name is Jack Valentine.” I kept my focus on him, my voice was cold. “And I’m a private investigator.”

  Chapter 28

  He didn’t move.

  Keeping his eyes closed, he spoke.

  “Where’s Millie?”

  Damon Hardy looked worn out.

  His eyes looked heavy, his skin looked dehydrated and his face looked sunken.

  Life and illness had taken its toll.

  “She’s safe, Damon.” I reassured him. “I made sure of that.”

  He looked at me with disgust.

  “She was always safe,” he replied, with a hard edge to his voice. “Do you really think I would have hurt her?”

  With hea
vy movements he turned back to the television, and stood to turn it off.

  “Don’t make any sudden moves.” I warned him.

  He stopped in his tracks. “I’m too old to make sudden movements,” he responded with a sad laugh, then he turned back to look at me. “I don’t have long left, you know?”

  He continued to the old television set and turned it off. He was past worrying about me and what I might do. He was a man at the end.

  He tried to smile, as he moved back to his chair and sat down with a sigh. “So that’s it then? Chase has got Millie back, and we all walk away, back to our normal lives.”

  I frowned and shook my head.

  “It’s not that simple.”

  Damon looked at me questioningly.

  “Isn’t it? I didn’t kidnap Millie. She’s my granddaughter. We’ve had a lovely time together. Far nicer than she has with that excuse for a father of hers. I didn’t harm a single hair on that girl’s head. She’s my angel, you know. I would do anything for my Millie. She’s so sweet, so lovely, and so, so beautiful.” He shook his head. “I wish I could be here to see her grow up. I wish I could see her live her life.”

  “You’ll have to do that from behind bars.”

  “Behind bars?” He smiled. “But I didn’t kidnap her.”

  “But you did try and take the ransom from Chase. That’s kidnapping. He’ll press charges. And he’ll win. You’ll spend the rest of your life in a federal facility.”

  He sighed once more and turned away from me.

  It was a few more moments before he continued. His breathing was arduous.

  “I’ll be dead before the trial even takes place. The doctor said I’ve got a few months, at most. And I can feel it, I can feel all the strength draining from me. I’m a shell of the man I used to be. I used to be strong and proud, and now I’m skinny and weak. I could barely pick Millie up. That’s not the man I want her to remember me as. I don’t want her to come to the hospital and look at her weak grandfather. I don’t want her to pity me and I don’t want that to be the lasting memory she has of me.” His head drooped. “I want that angel to remember me as a strong man who fought for his country, who worked hard, and as someone who fought for his family, no matter the cost.”