by S. L. Jones
Her mother jumped at the sudden sound of her voice.
“Are you sure, honey?” Matilde Soller asked.
“Yeah, it’s one of those crazy apartment complexes,” she said, not wanting her mother to follow the instructions given by the car’s built-in GPS. “It’s like a maze. We can go this way and won’t have to hunt for a parking spot. It’s the way Etzy and I went there.”
Mentioning his name increased the sense of urgency. Maria directed her mother through a few short zigzags until they came to a dead end flanked by two empty parking spots.
“See.” Maria pointed across a short grassy field. “That’s where she’s staying. Their parking lot is always full. This way is much easier.”
The narrow clearing offered a perfect view of the bottom-floor apartment. Its sliding glass door opened up into the connecting field.
“Is that her sitting on the couch?” Matilde asked.
A sense of relief began to run through Maria as she exhaled. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Honey, it looks like she’s fine. Let me go and check on her to make sure. She should come with us until we get this all sorted out.”
“Are you crazy?” Maria said nervously. “She’ll freak out if some random old lady comes knocking on her door. I’ll go. Just keep a lookout, okay? It’s really dark and this is kind of creepy.”
Matilde Soller shook her head as if to wipe away the comment. “Maybe we should both—”
“No, Mom,” Maria said. “I don’t want you to scare her.”
“Okay, honey, whatever you say.” Matilde raised an insistent eyebrow and said, “But I want you to turn around immediately if anything doesn’t look right. Okay?”
“Sure thing, Mom.”
Maria made her way out the door and jogged across the field. She wrapped her knuckle softly on the glass door, but the television was on too loud for Melody Millar to hear her. The second time was louder, and the young woman looked up in surprise before hopping to her feet and walking to the door.
Melody slid the door open, the regret in her eyes apparent. “Hey, I’m sorry about Max,” she said.
Maria fought back tears, and the two embraced for a moment.
“What are you doing here? I mean, with all that’s going on…”
She pulled out her iPhone and showed her the message from Etzy without saying a word.
Melody looked up at Maria with tears welling in her eyes.
“I’m fine, but…” Maria started, and then breathed in deep. “Come with me, Melody. My mom is waiting for us in the car.” She pointed to the other side of the field.
“I can’t,” she said starting to panic. “What if he tries to call me? I don’t have a cell phone.”
Bright lights from the parking lot forced Maria to shade her eyes with her hand. She wasn’t sure what she should do. “Let me go talk to my mom. I’ll be right back.”
She turned and ran out into the dark field. Her eyes hadn’t yet adjusted from the bright lights when she found herself sprawled out on the ground.
“Shh,” she heard as she tried to see through the remnant spots of light to get her bearings.
“What are you doing, Mom?” Maria said, realizing they had just run into each other.
“Shh. Turn around and look,” she said quietly.
Maria was scared. She’d never seen her mother like this. She turned around and saw five men exit three black SUVs and converge on Melody’s apartment. “Holy shit…”
Maria got up and remained crouched down next to her mother watching in disbelief. The men quickly slid the glass door open and flashed some sort of identification as they surrounded the teenager. Two men had entered through the front door and were searching the rest of the apartment. They watched in horror as the men directed the young woman out the glass door and marched her to the waiting SUVs.
“That was too close, honey,” her mother said. “Why didn’t you bring her with you?”
“She didn’t want to leave, in case Etzy tried to call. She doesn’t have a cell phone, so…” she said with a disappointed look on her face.
“Poor thing.”
“Oh my God, what do we do now, Mom? We’ve got to do something.”
Chapter 33
Adams Morgan, Washington, DC
ETZY MILLAR WAS still reeling as he sat in the cab next to the assassin who had killed his friend. His mood had descended to beyond grim. His sister was the most important person in his life, although his girlfriend, Maria Soller, was becoming a close second. He couldn’t believe the online account he used to try to get help was some sort of a setup. He couldn’t think of any other way the man would have been able to find him. These were desperate times for the hacker.
Millar flinched when the killer’s arm moved. He watched closely as the man wrapped his knuckles on the Plexiglas that separated them from the driver’s compartment and said, “Take a right up here on Columbia and let us out in front of the park. It’s three blocks up on the right.”
The cabbie followed his instruction and pulled over. Millar read the sign: “Kalorama Recreational Center.” There was a small building with a driveway.
The cabdriver turned his head toward the back of the cab and said, “That’ll be eight dollars and ninety-three cents.”
The killer flipped a ten-dollar bill through the hole in the divider. He glanced out the back window and clamped his hand firmly around Millar’s arm. The hacker opened the passenger door and felt himself being ushered out.
“Remember, if you do anything stupid, your sister is dead,” the killer scoffed as he guided him slowly down the narrow driveway.
Millar was scared and confused. The physical threat bearing down on him was minimized by the concern he had for his sister. He could feel a weapon violating the small of his back and had already resigned himself to expect the worst. He’d soon be joining his friend.
He could sense that the assassin was on edge. The cab had stopped three times on the short drive to this place, and he was certain something was about to happen. He felt like he was walking the plank in the dark trying to anticipate the moment he would fall.
His only consolation was that the killer hadn’t searched him. His cell phone was still tucked into his back pocket, and it gave him a tiny glimmer of hope. He guessed he had sent the text message to Maria about fifteen minutes ago, thirty at the most, and he had no idea how she would react. He forced himself to consider the reality of what was happening. How Maria took the news didn’t really matter. This was the man who killed Max, which to him meant he’d never see her again.
Their pace slowed as a small building appeared on the right. He noticed the killer’s steps forward seemed more deliberate. He struggled to see into the dark of night, knowing they had reached their destination.
Chapter 34
HE WAS ON full alert. Trent Turner now knew the man who had hit his car was somehow connected to his brother’s death, but the thing he couldn’t work out was why the man had taken a cab. The vehicle moved slowly and had stopped a couple of times along the way. He was certain there was something more to this as he watched the cab pull over once again, this time to let the two passengers out. He had the feeling he had been invited to an impromptu meeting that he wasn’t expected to leave.
Turner exited the cab and silently darted through a playground toward Etzy Millar and the man who had grabbed him as they entered the park. The operative zeroed in on the man who was manhandling the hacker. Despite his doubts about the situation, Turner knew this was his only chance to pick up Etzy Millar alive. He thought about why the suspect might leave himself so vulnerable and understood the killer’s thinking. The assassin knew Turner would want to extract information.
The operative hopped a low fence and landed onto the narrow road. He changed gears to a full sprint and, as he approached his target, he could see the assassin holding a weapon against the hacker’s waist. It was dark, and things were moving too fast to get a clear view, so he’d have to take a chance and go
for it.
Turner lined up his shots, first knocking the weapon loose and then delivering a stabbing blow to the captor’s rib cage. The assassin crumpled to the ground.
Etzy Millar clutched his laptop and ran toward the small building. The hacker fumbled with the doorknob, and when he found it was locked, his face turned to a mask of fear.
Turner looked down at the man on the ground as he struggled to straighten himself from the ball of pain he’d curled into. The operative smiled. This would be his first chance to use a new toy.
He took a step toward Millar and then saw someone emerge from the shadows of the building. He immediately recognized the man with the thin frame and Washington Nationals cap cocked to the side. It confirmed what he already knew. This was a setup.
The newcomer leveled his Beretta at Turner’s head and said, “You’re a fuckin’ dead man now.”
Turner knew instantly the man wasn’t a pro. A professional would have taken him out from the shadows and skipped the Hollywood theatrics. The man looked scared and seemed to be waiting for further instructions.
The silence was broken by an agonizing groan from his friend on the ground. Turner had no doubt he was a man who would have already pulled the trigger.
“What the fuck are you waiting for? Kill him,” Millar’s captor coughed as he slowly regained his feet.
Trent Turner’s eyes darted over to the assassin and then back to the gunman. He knew this was about to get ugly. He noticed a telltale squint followed by a slight lift of the gun’s barrel.
Chapter 35
ETZY MILLAR’S HEART was pounding as the events unfolded in front of him. The pain from his ribs was washed away by the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He’d only seen one person killed before, and that was just yesterday. Millar was paralyzed by a potent combination of fear and confusion. He had no idea what was going on. He was having trouble wrapping his mind around this, but from the looks of it, things would soon turn deadly.
He had tunnel vision, and the constant throbbing of his heart intensified as the blood pulsed through his veins. He saw the killer bark out a command to the man in the baseball cap and then turn his attention back to the man who had come from out of nowhere.
A few moments went by before the assassin began to walk toward the spot where his weapon had landed. It was the loud groan the assassin let loose that brought Millar out of his trance. He watched the killer fall flat on his face and start to convulse. The next thing that invaded his senses was the sound of metal skidding across the ground. He looked down and saw the pistol in front of him at his feet. His sensory overload leveled off, and he instinctively traded his laptop for the gun. He looked over at the killer. He had stopped convulsing.
“Sizzle, sizzle,” the stranger said with a smile.
The killer had a pissed-off look on his face. Millar was still confused, but the situation was becoming clear. He already liked the new guy.
“Okay,” Millar said in a shaky voice. “Nobody move, or I’m just going to start shooting.”
His hands were trembling, his eyes full of a crazed fear of what might happen if he blinked. He cycled the gun from one person to the next as he tried to figure out what to do next.
“Be careful, or your sister is dead,” the killer coughed as he stood back up.
“Don’t move,” Millar said. He was visibly more nervous.
“Calm down, calm down. I’m just getting my phone. I’ll move slowly. Just take it easy.” The killer spat a mix of blood and saliva onto the ground and slowly took out his cell phone. “I have to make a call.” He punched a number into his phone and raised the device to his ear.
“Who are you calling?” Millar asked, shifting his weight nervously.
He shot a cold stare at Millar. “If this conversation ends without me, kill the girl,” he said into the phone.
A new wave of fear washed over Etzy Millar. It started at the back of his head and worked its way forward. “What are you doing?” he insisted.
The assassin pointed out the stranger. “Kill that man now, or your sister is dead,” he said.
Millar’s hands went from a tremble to a shake as he redirected the weapon, aiming at the man.
“You don’t want to do that,” the man said. “I’m here to help. He doesn’t have your sister.”
His voice was confident, and the expression on Millar’s face turned to a deeper shade of confusion.
“Come see. You can speak with her,” the killer said as he held out his phone.
He started to move toward Millar, and the stranger sent him a quick jolt that stopped him in his tracks, almost dropping the phone.
“Sizzle, sizzle,” the stranger repeated.
Millar gave the stranger a questioning look.
“nsEP,” he said with a wink. “A Nano-Second Electrical Pulse. Not something you’d want to attach to your balls.” He looked to the killer as though he had a second thought. “Well, at least for most of us.”
The killer tried to reach for the Taser leads in his back, but he zapped him again.
“Ah ah ah,” the stranger said as he shook an angry finger back and forth. He turned to Millar and said, “Don’t let him get near you. He’ll take that gun away and snap your neck before you can blink.”
The hacker turned the gun on the assassin and slowly reached into his back pocket to pull out his cell phone. “Stay there,” he said nervously, and then rattled off a number for them to call.
The assassin shook his head in disgust and then spoke quietly into the phone as he stared down the hacker.
“I can’t hear you. What are you saying?” Millar said, his voice panicked.
“Ease up. I gave him the number,” the killer barked.
A few seconds later Millar’s phone began to vibrate. He angled it toward his face to view the caller’s number. It was bogus, all sixes.
“You’d better answer that, or they’ll kill her,” the killer said.
Millar fumbled to answer the phone. “Hello? Melody?”
“Kill him or she’s dead,” the caller said.
The words caused Millar’s stomach to crawl.
“Do it now, or it’s all over,” the assassin ordered in a dark tone.
“I want to talk to my sister,” Millar said, sounding desperate.
“You don’t make the demands here,” the caller told him.
The man’s tone was patronizing, and his foreign accent made him sound even more sinister. He clamped the phone between his shoulder and ear and turned the gun toward the stranger with both hands. He squinted as he tried to squeeze the trigger.
“I heard that Etzy was looking for some help on the boards,” the stranger said coolly. “It’ll be tough to help you out if you put a bullet in my head.”
Millar released the pressure on the trigger, unsure of what to do next.
“Kill him or she dies,” the voice on the phone barked with a sense of finality.
It had been a long time since Etzy Millar’s father had taken him to the range to shoot a gun like this. That was in happier times, before his father had turned into an alcoholic.
Nothing had happened the last time he tried to squeeze the trigger. He nervously turned the side of the weapon toward him and flicked off the safety. Millar would do anything to save his little sister. He took a deep breath as he prepared himself to go through with the deed.
Chapter 36
Somewhere in Poolesville, MD
“LOOK OUT, MOM!” Maria Soller yelled.
Her mother swerved, narrowly missing a group of men in dark clothing. The two women sped out of the apartment complex, trying to make it to the exit in time to link up with the vehicles that had taken Melody Millar. They had barely made it.
Maria pointed to the right and said, “Look, they’re over there.”
“I see them, I see them,” Matilde Soller confirmed. She stepped on the gas to close the distance.
Nerves augmented the frantic twists and turns in the road as they tried to k
eep pace with the SUVs at a distance. It wasn’t long before they reached the Washington, DC suburb of Germantown and then the lightly traveled roads in the small community of Poolesville, Maryland. Both of them had been mostly silent as they concentrated on the trio of vehicles.
“Mom, turn off your headlights,” Maria said. “You know, like they do in the movies.”
Matilde glanced at her daughter and then back to the road. The farther they got from the city, the more deserted and rural the roads became. She doused the headlights, and a few turns later the three SUVs pulled into a long driveway.
“Pull over, Mom, or they’ll see us,” Maria said.
Matilde carefully pulled the car onto the grass on the side of the road and turned off the engine.
“Don’t do that, Mom,” Maria said nervously.
Matilde shot her daughter a quizzical look. “What?”
“Turn off the engine.” Her voice was a panicked whisper.
“Why not, honey?”
“What if it won’t start? Please turn it back on before they get out and can hear it start.”
“Okay, honey. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
Matilde turned the key, and the engine came quietly to life.
Maria breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m not so sure, Mom. Did you see what just happened?”
“It’s okay,” she said firmly. “Calm down. I’ll go have a look.”
“Are you crazy?” Maria locked her fearful eyes with her mother’s. She had sensed the doubt in her mother. “You’re not fast enough to get out of there if they see you. I’ll go. Just keep the car running, okay?”
Matilde’s expression left no room for negotiation. “Absolutely not.”
“Look, Mom, I’ll call you and keep my cell phone on speaker. That way you can hear what’s going on. Just don’t say anything, or they’ll hear you.”
“No. Honey, we need to call my friend. This is already out of control. We can tell him where Etzy’s sister is and let him work out how to get her out of there.”