• • •
Jack and Claire sat on the couch, the TV on mute as each read from their iPads. Trinity, first resting at Jack’s feet, once again rose up, all senses on alert. She stared at the front door and growled. Jack put a leash on the dog and walked out the front door, spying in all directions. All was tranquil. The tree branches and leaves swayed side to side, ever so slowly, gently persuaded by a light breeze.
“Anybody out here?” said Jack. No response. Then he returned with his canine escort and found his spot next to Claire on the couch. He picked up his iPad, and his attention reverted back to the Journal of Cardiology article he was reviewing.
“Trinity, you’re hearing things, girl,” said Jack, looking out the window. “There’s nobody out there.” He kissed Claire and sat down next to her. She sipped on a glass of wine. He raised his goblet and drank the Merlot. He put his drink down and picked up his iPad again. He strained to listen to any extraneous noises, but the house was submersed in peaceful silence, save for Claire’s deep breathing. She shrugged her shoulders, and her gaze returned to her novel.
• • •
Unnoticed, the dark figure in the night moved past one window, ducking down to avoid being detected by the home dweller. In silence, he stirred delicately, like a serpent in the shadows. He looked side to side behind him. Nobody in sight. Then he took another step toward his destiny. The trespasser was now underneath the third window from the left and gave it a soft yank. He smiled. Just as he knew it would, the unit slid up noiselessly. Like an evil ninja in the night, he stepped inside the house and into an unlit room. He shut the window and then put his ear to the door and listened. He strained to hear sounds from beyond the wood.
• • •
Restless, the dog whined again. She stared at the outside of the residence, as if her eyesight could penetrate the walls and doors.
Jack spoke patiently and softly. “Settle down, Trinity.” The words seemed to have tranquilized the dog, at least for now, and she sat back down at Jack’s feet.
A short moment later, Jack put his iPad down. Claire looked at him as he stood up.
“I think Trinity is trying to tell me something,” said Jack. “She’s unsettled about something. But I keep checking outside the house, and it’s all quiet.”
“Do you think she’s sensing something bad somewhere else?” said Claire.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. “I’m going to the bathroom.” He pointed at the floor, and Trinity put her ears and face down, happy to stay.
Jack walked toward the back of the house, some of the wooden boards under his feet creaking as he passed. Going by a window, Jack took the opportunity to look outside. All seemed quiet and calm. Jack closed the blinds and adjusted the curtains around the window and continued his journey to the toilet.
• • •
Susan picked up the glass on the table to take a sip of wine. The glass was empty. She made a face and got on her feet, taking the opportunity to stretch her aching muscles. She walked to the kitchen and placed the wine goblet in the sink. She filled a different glass with tap water and took a long sip. She walked out of the kitchen and noticed the bathroom’s door ajar. She placed the cup of water on a decorative table just outside the restroom. The door closed after she entered the small space.
The figure in the darkened room patiently awaited his opportunity to pounce on his prey. Hearing steps in his direction, he made final preparation for the ambush. He smiled, realizing that his target had entered the room next door. As the toilet flushed a few moments later, Mike took the occasion to open the door and silently tiptoe into the poorly illuminated hall. He stood in silence. The bathroom sink water was turned on. This may be the last time you wash your hands, he mused. Payback time! The door opened, dumping bright light into the area.
It was then that Susan realized her plight. Mike Ganz worked brilliantly fast, jumping out from the dark, rag of chloroform in hand, which he put to her nose and mouth. In the process, the glass of water perched on the nearby table fell on the wooden floor and shattered into pieces. She struggled with all her might, but her strength and resolve diminished rapidly as brain numbness overwhelmed her senses. A few breaths of the anesthetizing gas blanketed her into oblivion as she fell lifelessly into Ganz’s arms.
“All went well,” said Ganz into the cell phone. “All thanks to you, Shelley.” He stuck his phone in his pocket and prepared to carry Susan’s unconscious body to the car.
CHAPTER 59
The morning arrived, and Jack realized another night came and went without the dreaded nightmares that so often unsettled his sleep. His cell phone chimed. Blocked caller ID, he thought. This can’t be good. He answered the call.
“Hello, Dr. Jack Norris,” said a familiar voice. “Do you recognize me?”
The words gave Jack chills up his spine. “Ex-FBI agent Mike Ganz. I’ve been waiting for your call. Are you ready to return to your cage where you belong? I’ll be glad to give you a ride.”
“Very funny, Jack. Very funny. Let’s see if you’re still funny after looking at the web page I’m sending you right now.”
The phone suddenly went dead as did Jack’s grin, his eyes focused on the developing screen. His stomach revolted with a sick feeling and waves of nausea. The Internet address was www.SeeSusanDie.com. As the picture unfolded, Jack observed Susan on top of a large block, a rope and noose around her neck. Her wrists were tied up behind her back. Her ankles were bound, her feet resting on a wide platform atop a large cube. What is she standing on? thought Jack. Behind the large block on which Susan stood was a gallows. Susan seemed to be coming out of unconsciousness. She began to struggle to free herself with increasing awareness of her surroundings. Her tussle would remain futile. Jack’s trance of horror as he viewed his cell phone screen was briskly interrupted by an incoming call. This time, the caller ID indicated a phone number not on his database.
“So, funny man, are you still laughing?” said Ganz.
The horrific images garroted his voice for a long moment. “What have you done, Mike?” he asked when he could speak.
“You’re seeing Susan die. She’s standing on a block of ice. The ice is melting, and as it does, her noose will become tighter and tighter until—”
“Please stop this, Mike. What do you want from me?”
“You have my father, Simon Lagrange. Give him back. Even exchange.”
“I don’t have him, Mike,” uttered Jack.
“Well, get him. But work fast. It’s pretty hot. That block will be melting all the way down pretty soon. I’d say you have three or four hours at most.”
“OK. I’ll see what I can do. How do we do this?”
“You tell me where Simon is, and I tell you where Susan is. No police. Just between us.” Ganz spoke confidently. “You have my cell phone number on your caller ID. Don’t waste your time getting the police to triangulate my signal. You won’t be able to get to me before the cube melts down. Personally, I wouldn’t bother with the police. Believe me, they’ll just slow you down with their questions and procedures. And, Jack, time’s not on Susan’s side. Contact me when you have Simon’s location.”
“Wait, Mike. Wait!” yelled Jack into a disconnected call. As his mobile screen swapped back to the Internet mode, he again viewed his friend, panic and horror congesting her eyes as she squirmed about on the large ice cube. His gaze zeroed in on the noose around Susan’s neck.
“Shit, I don’t have much time.”
CHAPTER 60
Jack called Kate. He knew he had to work fast. It was a moderately warm morning. He wasn’t sure how long it would take until the platform on which Susan stood would be too short to support her weight, at which point she would be hanged. His actions had to be multipronged. He had to set up a swap between Simon Lagrange and Susan Quentin. But he reminded himself he was dealing with criminals. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that
it was a sure thing. Chances were good that Ganz wouldn’t keep his word. After all, he, like his father, was looking for revenge. Revenge on him but also revenge on Susan. Jack recalled how the two had been in love before the Rat Poison incident. A love Susan had severed when she personally arrested him as he fled the city by airplane.
“Simon Lagrange’s son, Mike Ganz, alias Michel Lagrange, abducted Detective Susan Quentin,” said Jack when Kate answered her cell phone.
“Mike Ganz is in prison,” said Kate.
“He escaped. He’s got Susan and will kill her if we don’t work fast to swap her for Lagrange. Does your cell phone give you Internet coverage?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sending you a web link. It’s www.SeeSusanDie.com,” said Jack.
“Wow,” said Kate after a few moments. “What’s she standing on?”
“It’s a block of ice. She won’t have enough rope for long. It’s a warm day and—”
“Let’s swap them,” said Kate. “Let’s do it quickly. How do we do it?”
“I’ll call Mike and tell him where you are. But I don’t want you to be there when he arrives. He’s a very dangerous man.”
“OK.”
Jack’s speech was pressured. “I want you to go get a bottle of champagne and some plastic flutes.”
“Did you say champagne and flutes?”
“Yes. If you can’t find champagne easily and quickly, any good wine or bubbly will do.”
“Why?”
“Tell Lagrange you and I are planning to celebrate putting him in prison. Don’t tell him about Ganz or the swap yet,” said Jack. “I don’t have time to explain now. Trust me. And hurry up.” He disconnected the call. Then he called Detective Mills and explained the whole situation. The police were already on maximal alert for the fugitive, but they would focus their efforts in the Evansville area. When Jack hung up with the detective, he dialed Claire’s cell phone. She was on her way to the hospital, but he needed her help much more than her paperwork needed finishing.
“Will you please call her husband, Dave?” Jack said once he explained the whole situation. “He’s been out of town, but he deserves to know what just happened.”
“Sure. What else can I do?” said Claire.
“Where does one get a huge block of ice?” posed Jack, intrigue all over his face.
“And how do you transport it, to use it as a platform of death?” asked Claire. “I’ll find out the answer to these questions.”
“Get back to me as soon as you can. I have to go steal some medications from the pharmacy at the hospital.”
Jack drove like a madman to Newton Memorial Hospital. There was no time to waste. He looked at his smartphone’s screen and glimpsed at the mounting horror in Susan’s face. The noose was still loose, but already he could perceive the hanging rope had less slack in it. The ice-block height was diminishing way too quickly. With much resolve, he drove on.
When he reached Newton Memorial, he sprinted to the hospital’s pharmacy and found the head pharmacist. “I need a huge favor.”
“Sure, Dr. Norris, anything,” agreed the pharmacist.
“I need Antabuse, and I need it quickly. Do you have some in stock?”
“We don’t use it much at all,” said Nelson, disappearing deep into the belly of the pharmacy. He returned a few minutes later, which seemed like an eternity. In his right hand, Nelson carried a small plastic bag containing a few tablets, which Jack whisked away in a heartbeat.
“Thanks,” yelled Jack, running away with it.
“Wait…”
But the doctor was gone.
Jack drove to the barn and entered the dilapidated building hurriedly. He beat Kate to the destiny.
“Simon Lagrange, we meet again,” said Jack, approaching the older man tied up to a chair. “I have good news for you. I convinced Kate to give you your medications.” Jack placed three tablets in the man’s mouth, and then he held a bottle of water to Lagrange’s mouth.
“Thanks for that,” said Lagrange.
Jack ascertained that the pills were swallowed. “You are entirely welcome.”
“I’m glad you convinced her to give me my meds even after what I tried to do to you,” said Simon.
“I also have some food for you in the car.”
Lagrange smiled. “I’m starved.”
Jack walked out the door and brought in the McDonalds bag. He fed Lagrange’s ravenous appetite. Meanwhile, Kate entered the building with a paper bag.
“I brought champagne,” she said. She perched the bottle and two flutes on a stack of hay. “We need to celebrate finally bringing this scumbag to justice.”
“I’m sorry, Kate,” said Jack. “I don’t drink alcohol. Makes me sick.”
Kate shrugged her shoulders. “More for me!”
“Besides, it’s bad luck to celebrate too early. Celebrate after we deliver him to the authorities.”
“It just so happens I have a bag of ice in the car.” She disappeared beyond the barn door and returned with a bucket of ice. She placed the champagne bottle in it and arranged the two flutes nearby.
Come on, Claire. It’s time for my call. You better—
Jack’s thought was interrupted by the chime of his cell phone. He walked off to answer. A long moment later, he reemerged, a concerned look on his face. “I just received a call from Mike Ganz.”
These words lit up Lagrange’s face, who remained silent.
“Yeah, I heard he was out of jail,” said Kate. “What does he want?”
“He has Detective Susan Quentin and will kill her if we don’t give him our prisoner.”
CHAPTER 61
The rope was starting to cause Susan some physical discomfort, adding to the psychological distress that had smacked her the second she regained consciousness.
She was alone in this gloomy, godforsaken place. Her feet and legs were becoming increasingly cold. She was wearing tube socks and sweat pants with a thin, flimsy Columbus Crew jersey Jack had given her for her birthday last year, together with tickets to one of the team’s soccer games. Her feet were tied together painfully, with little give. She had tried to move her feet, hoping to loosen up the rope that forcibly united her ankles. Under her feet was a large tray that separated her socks from the actual ice cube. Her wrists were tightly bound behind her back. Efforts to slacken the ties had been fruitless. She could still stand straight on the cold platform under her feet, but she realized the platform was lowering itself little by little as the ice cube melted. Around her neck was a noose attached to a rope.
The idea was plain to see. As the ice block underneath her shrunk due to the effects of the ambient temperature, the neck noose would cause her hanging. How much longer would she have? She pondered fearfully. Who was looking for her? Would she be rescued? The place was dim, but Susan was aware of what appeared to be a camera, maybe two, pointing at her. Were there microphones? Who was watching? Were they listening?
Suddenly, she felt her body fall toward the ground a few inches, causing the discomfort around her neck to intensify. With difficulty, Susan directed her gaze downward. Around the block of ice was an increasing pool of water. She swallowed some saliva that had accumulated in her mouth. Swallowing caused slight pain, but Susan realized this was going to become quite painful in the near future as the choker around her neck tightened.
Her thoughts shifted to David and Sean. How happy she had been since meeting her husband and giving birth to their first child. Would she be deprived of this happiness forevermore? Was this the end of her life? Who would raise Sean?
I have to think of something to get me out of this predicament. And soon!
CHAPTER 62
Cautiously, a car approached and parked, the driver carefully spying all around to make sure he wasn’t being set up. All remained quiet and still. Satisfied, Mike Ganz exite
d the vehicle, gun drawn, and entered the barn. The dilapidated building was hot, humid, and quiet. In the center, tied up to a chair, which was securely attached to a supporting pole, waited his father.
“Papa,” he said, enthusiastically, running to Lagrange’s side. He quickly freed him, and the two hugged. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. Let’s get out of here, Ganzo,” said Lagrange, rushing out toward the door, Mike in his wake.
Lagrange stopped. “Wait,” he told his son, noticing the champagne perched in the small ice bucket. “We’ll take this. We need to celebrate, and liquor stores are out of the question for us for a while.”
Both men smiled. Ganz confiscated the bottle and the two flutes. Soon the two fugitives started to speed away from the farm. They hadn’t gotten far when Ganz pulled out his cell phone and dialed Jack.
“You were smart to follow my instructions. See how easy that was?”
“You have your father,” said Jack. “Where’s Susan?”
“I do have my father, Jack,” said Ganz, his eyes on the road. “Thanks for taking such good care of him.”
“Where’s Susan?” repeated Jack.
“You really think I’m going to tell you?”
“You gave your word, Mike. Tell me where she is.”
“Bad guys don’t have to keep their word. Only good guys.” The call went silent.
• • •
“Where’s Susan?” yelled Jack into his cell phone even after he realized there was no one on the other end to listen to him. Frustrated, Jack hit the steering wheel with the palm of his right hand and then dialed another number. “Claire, what have you found out?”
“I got a lot of information, but I’m still processing it. I’ll tell you when you get here. Where’s Kate?”
“She’s driving her car right behind me,” said Jack. “Ganz has Lagrange. But he’s not telling where Susan is,” said Jack. “Surprise, surprise.”
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