“Are you Jennings? Did you do this to her?” she snapped, unafraid of possible backlash for her anger.
The man laughed a humorless laugh. When he bent slightly at the waist, his leather jacket widened a bit exposing the butt of a handgun. She couldn’t make out what type of gun, however.
She moved in front of Maria as he ambled closer. Stacey notice his slight limp, registering any physical weaknesses she saw to capitalize on when the time arose.
“Who I am is not important!” he bit out. “You just sit there and be a good little girl and you’ll be fine. Unlike your friend here,” he snarled gesturing to Maria.
When Maria whimpered behind her again, Stacey fought the urge to look over her shoulder to check on the other woman. She didn’t want to take her eyes off this man who obviously had no problem physically hurting them or worse. She let out a shaky breath when he stood to his full height and slowly backed away. He gave one last glance over his shoulder before pivoting and closing the door behind him. Stacey was grateful he’d left the light on.
Turning to face Maria, she could see the extent of her bruising and injuries. The swelling around her left eye was so intense, her eye had nearly closed.
“Maria, was that Jennings? Was that the man who beat you?” she asked hurriedly, desperate for more information. Her heart sank when Maria shook her head.
“No,” she murmured weakly. “That’s the bastard he hired.”
“Okay, who is Jennings and why did he beat you? Why has he taken me?” Stacey asked, trying to keep the alarm and mounting fear out of her voice. The last thing she wanted to do was to frighten Maria anymore and cause her to clam up, but it was difficult to control her own emotions. She needed to think strategically to do her best to get them help and out of wherever they were. Her sister had drilled into her what do in case she were ever kidnapped. Stacey knew her sister had seen a lot in her life, and had tried her best to prepare her younger sister for potential danger.
“He beat me because I wouldn’t help him,” Maria said just above a whisper.
Stacey grew even more confused but remained quiet, sensing Maria had more to tell her.
“He wants Andre to give his company back. He wanted me to help him, but when he told me of his sick plan to kidnap you, I tried to warn Andre. He walked in on me leaving Andre a message and flew into a rage. I-I’m so sorry. I tried to stop this,” she began to cry.
Stacey was floored. She remembered back to a few conversations she’d had with Andre when he discussed business. She remembered the name Jennings. That name had come up a few times when he’d talked about having to go to Boston for business.
“This is about Andre?” she asked out loud to no one in particular.
****
Mistress Coco paced her office, wringing her trembling hands. For the second time in less than two years, one of her girls was in danger and it somehow had happened on her watch.
“First Dahlia, now Jasmine,” she muttered guiltily, feeling as if she was somehow partially responsible for Stacey’s kidnapping. Maybe if she’d had cameras around her property or tighter security, Stacey would be all right.
Raul’s men had spoken with her, warning her not alert the police just yet. She knew the police wouldn’t have much to go on anyway and it’d be another forty-eight hours before they could do anything anyway. Feeling completely helpless, she exited her office to head to the bar. She needed a drink. As she strolled towards the bar, she noticed a few patrons sitting at a few tables and at the bar, talking and laughing in their own little worlds. During the day, her club doubled as a hangout spot for business people to meet with clients, or patrons who just needed an afternoon or early evening respite from the stress of their life. Now that it was getting close to eight-thirty at night, the spot was filling up in preparation for tonight's performances. Halfway through the bar, she stopped in her tracks, noticing Sean with his camera crew. Instantly, an idea formed in her head. She knew it was a long shot, but it was all she had to go on.
“Excuse me! Young man! Can I speak with you?” she asked the one who held a portable camera. “Sean, does this man work with you?”
Sean nodded. “Yes, Mistress Coco. He does. Why, what’s up?” he asked a hint of concern in his voice.
“Young man, I was wondering if you were filming earlier today, say around six this evening right after Sean interviewed Jasmine?” she asked nonchalantly, not wanting to set off any alarms. She had been told to keep Stacey’s disappearance under wraps to avoid setting off anyone who might be around the club who may have had something to do with the kidnapping.
“Uh, actually yes. I did some inside and outside shots earlier in the evening, trying to finish up the last parts of this documentary,” the man with Sean explained.
“I’m going to need all the shots you have from today,” she ordered, not hesitating. She knew time was of the essence.
“Mistress Coco, what is this—”
“I don’t have time to explain. We are on a short time leash here, young man. I need that film. Now,” she sternly stated, interrupting Sean.
Seeing the serious intent in her eyes, Sean nodded to his cameraman, and he somewhat reluctantly handed the contents of the camera over to Mistress Coco.
“I’ll do my best to get this back to you in the state it was given, but there is a more pressing matter at hand,” she gave by way of explanation before turning and heading back to her office. Bursting through her office door, she frantically searched for her cell phone. Finally locating her phone under a stack of papers on her desk, she pressed the number of Iris Collins.
“Iris,” she nearly shouted as soon as Iris answered. “Tell that youngest boy of yours I’m on my way over to his place. I might have some information that could help us locate Jasmine.” She paused as she searched for her purse and keys, then scrambled to get out her office, taking the back exit. Luckily, she’d already commissioned one of her regular performers to act as emcee tonight.
She made her way to the parking lot towards her black Cadillac sedan. “I don’t have time to explain. Just meet me over there,” she hurriedly ordered before hanging up and making her way out of the parking lot.
****
Andre furrowed his brow as he hung up with his mother. He was confused by what she had just told him, but apparently both she and her friend Diane were on their way over to his place. Diane, better known as Mistress Coco, seemed to have come across some information that might help locate Stacey. He welcomed the information. As soon as he hung up the phone with his mother, he called downstairs to alert the attendant to immediately let the two women up to his condo when they arrived.
“Who was that?” Quincy, Stacey’s cousin asked. Stacey’s family had arrived thirty minutes ago and both Quincy and Jabari jumped right into action, working with Andre and Raul to try to find their beloved cousin.
“My mom and her friend are on their way. They might have some information for us to help find Stacey,” Andre informed everyone.
Seconds later, before Andre could address the questioning looks on everyone's’ faces around his living room, his elevator buzzed. His mother and Diane strolled hurriedly to his side.
“There was a camera crew at the club today,” Mistress Coco began hurriedly. “One of the cameraman got footage in and outside of the club around the time Jaz-uh, Stacey was there. Whoever took her might be on film.” She thrust the SD card and small camera that held the footage from earlier at Andre.
“Hand me my laptop,” Andre barked to no one in particular. He knew this could be the key they were waiting for to try and figure out who had taken Stacey. He didn’t have a second to spare as he connected the camera to his laptop. Raul stood behind Andre, and Quincy and Jabari were right beside him as they looked through the footage from that day. It took some time, as there were hours of footage on the camera. Once they finally reached that day’s footage at the Black Kitty, Andre slowed the video, and four pairs of eyes thoroughly examined all angles of the video
attempting to find some clues.
Andre’s heart lurched when a familiar male figure crossed the screen. “I know him!” he stated, staring at the screen. Rewinding the video back a few seconds, Andre looked over the man’s face and height.
“Are you sure?” Raul asked, seeing the look of concentration on Andre’s face.
“Yeah, this is the son of a bitch who came on to Stacey a few months back at the club.”
“The one you beat up?”
Andre frowned. “I didn’t beat him up, but I fucking should have.”
They watched over and over as the man entered the Black Kitty parking lot in a late model sedan. They were able to make out much of the license plate numbers.
“Matt, I need to find the owner or renter of this license plate number,” Raul spoke into his cell phone, calling his employee who was just as good finding information as he was with forensics.
“We only have a partial, but you’ve worked miracles with less. Eight, zero, three, six, and x are the first five digits. There’s a good chance it’s a rental, so make sure to do a search of rentals with that similar license plate.” Andre also relayed the make and model of the vehicle to Matt to make the search easier.
“I’m also going to call a few of the officers I work with to have them put the word out to be on the lookout for this license number, make, and model,” Raul informed Andre before strolling towards the other side of the room to consult with Lorenzo and his team.
Andre noticed them making their calls and he felt a small sense of relief knowing that they at least had a little bit of a lead. Still, he wouldn’t be satisfied until Stacey was back in his arms safe and sound. He wondered about the man on the video. Why was he clearly after Stacey? What was their connection, if any? Was he just a crazed fan who was stalking her and had now kidnapped her? All these questions swirled in Andre’s mind as he continued to look over the footage.
“How are you doing, son?” Andre felt the warmth of his mother’s hand on his shoulder and looked up at her. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. He was not doing fine, and he wouldn’t even lie about it. Besides, his mother would know if he were lying anyway.
“Not good. I can’t figure out why someone would take Stacey. Raul says he doesn’t think it’s a crazed fan, but who else could it be? She doesn’t have enemies. Heck, in my business I’ve made a lo—” Andre stopped short.
Is this about me?
Just as Andre was about to call Raul and Stacey’s cousins from the other side of the room to share with them his thoughts, his cell phone rang. Pulling it out, he checked the number, but didn’t recognize it. Knowing that an unrecognized number could be a call from the kidnappers, he motioned for his mother to call Raul, Jabari and Quincy over before pressing the answer button.
“Hello? Who is this?” he demanded.
Andre heard an eerie chuckle. “You seem a little agitated, Mr. Collins. Is everything all right?” A cold, male voice stated teasingly.
A chill ran down Andre’s spine. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it. What Andre was sure of was the voice on the other end definitely had something to do with Stacey’s kidnapping.
“Who is this?” he gritted out.
“What’s the matter, you don’t recognize the people you steal from? Tell me something, how’s it feel for the shoe to be on the other foot?”
Andre let out a sigh of frustration and ran his hand across his forehead. He knew going off on the man before he had the information he needed could further endanger Stacey. He had to muzzle his mounting anger to keep this man talking as long as possible. Within seconds, Raul was at Andre’s side, hooking up a call tracer device to his phone.
“So, you believe I stole something from you? What was it I stole? I’ll gladly return it for Stacey’s safety.” Andre attempted to sound calm and reasonable, but inside he was vibrating with anger. He was going to put his foot through this man’s face as soon as he caught whoever this was. There was no doubt about that.
“Oh, you’ll return everything you took from me. And, just maybe I’ll give your little girlfriend back in one piece. I’ll give you some time to think about who this is.”
Click.
The line went dead.
“Son of a bitch!” Andre yelled. He was not used to feeling powerless, in business or his personal life. He paced around the room trying to clear his mind. He knew he recognized that voice, he just had to remember where. The caller said he stole something. Andre knew he’d never stolen anything in his life. He’d acquired many businesses as part of building his company with Nikola. Sometimes not all those transactions went smoothly, but to insinuate he stole was an outright lie. He thought of all the business acquisitions he’d made in the last two years and out of the handful, one stood out.
“It’s Jennings,” he paused, looking to Raul and Stacey’s cousins.
“Who the hell is Jennings?” Quincy asked.
Everyone’s gaze shifted to Andre.
“We acquired his business a few months back. I spent the better part of a year on that acquisition.”
“Boston?” Raul asked.
Andre nodded. “We need to look up everything on Jennings. He was bitter about the acquisition, but I thought we came to an amicable deal. There was a reporter a few weeks back who said he got an anonymous tip, and I had to fire an employee who’d been bribed to spread lies about the company. Nik and I thought someone was pulling the strings behind that situation. Why the fuck would he be this upset? He didn’t even want the business when he had it?”
Andre was confused, but he was certain the voice on the end of the phone belonged to Jennings. He would bet his entire life.
“We need to get everything we can find on Jennings,” Quincy spoke up. Raul, Jabari and Lorenzo all huddled around Raul’s laptop.
Andre stood over them and gave them everything he knew about the man. Luckily, Raul had already begin developing a file on the man, per Andre’s request, a few weeks prior. Andre helped to fill in the names of the consultants they worked with throughout the acquisition process. He gave them all the personal information he knew about Jennings, which included knowledge of his tendencies towards excessive drinking and drugs.
“Okay, we know who it is and chances are he’s going to call back soon to work out some type of exchange,” Raul schooled Andre.
“Boss,” Lorenzo called, hanging up his phone and handing Raul a piece of paper. “This is the info for the car and the driver. Matt was able to identify him as Michael Hayes. He’s a local PI on the surface, but word around town is he can be hired for a less ‘above board’ job, for the right price.”
“Like stalking and kidnapping?” Andre directed his question at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo nodded.
“We have an address, and I called police to go over to his place, but if this guy is involved in Stacey’s kidnapping—”
“He is,” Andre quickly cut off Lorenzo.
“Right. But chances are he’s not dumb enough to keep her at his place. We’re looking up any properties he may own and possible aliases.”
“Good work.” Raul nodded towards Lorenzo. “Keep us updated.” He went back to looking up information he could find on Jennings.
Bring! Bring!
All eyes went to Andre again as his cell phone went off. He pressed answer as Raul pressed the button to trace the call.
“Jennings.” Andre’s voice was void of emotion.
“Ah, I see you remember me now. Funny how that works. Take what’s precious from a man and he suddenly remembers all the people he screwed over.”
Andre’s grip on his phone tightened. He couldn’t wait to meet this bastard face-to-face.
“Let’s make this easy for both of us, shall we? You tell me what you want to get Stacey back, and I’ll give it you.”
Jennings’ laugh was filled with maliciousness. It burned Andre up even more.
“I want what’s mine!” Jennings yelled
into the line. “I want the business my father built! And I want an additional ten million for my troubles,” he sneered.
Andre didn’t flinch. Jennings’ company and the ten million wasn’t half of what he’d give to have Stacey away from this dangerous lunatic. He didn’t even look up at Raul or anyone else in the room for their input.
“Done. Tell me when and where.”
There was a pause on the other end. Jennings was obviously stunned at Andre’s quick response.
“Uh, I will call back with the details.” Jennings abruptly hung up the phone.
Andre turned his gaze to the tracer to see how long he’d had Jennings on the line. Fifty-two seconds. Not long enough to get an accurate trace.
“He wants the business back and ten million. We need to find where Stacey’s being held before he calls back.” Andre said, a pensive expression on his face.
“What are you thinking?” Jabari asked.
“He may be out of his mind, but even in his delusional thinking, he must know even if I sign those papers giving him back his business, they would never hold up in legally.”
“Contracts signed under duress are easily thrown out in court,” Quincy finished. “We dealt with that a lot in the Bureau.”
“Right, so there’s no way he can think I sign the papers, he gives Stacey back and we all go on about our way. I’m thinking he’ll want the papers, will take the money and run and Stacey…” his voice trailed off, unable to finish his line of thinking.
“We need to find that address,” Raul growled to Lorenzo and his other employee, following Andre’s thought process.
“We’ll get her back.” Raul placed a reassuring hand on Andre’s shoulder.
“We sure the hell will, or else there is no stone I will leave unturned to find that son of a bitch and make him pay,” Andre promised, a steely look of violence in his eyes.
“We’ve got more info on Jennings,” Quincy spoke up, “Apparently, his father never wanted the business to be left to him. Even he knew his only son wasn’t responsible to run the company. The elder Jennings left his company, to his oldest nephew. The younger Jennings, fought a year-long court battle to become CEO. Sounds like this coupled, with losing the business to your acquisition, was his motive,” Quincy stated looking at Andre.
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