Survival Instinct

by Declan Conner

  “I’ll live, as you always say. Wow! What are the automatic rifles for?” Steve asked as he hesitated to get in.

  “Throw ‘em in the back, we may need them. I’ll explain on the way to the docks,” said Jamie and looked at his watch, “Six forty. Damn! I wish I knew how much time I had.”

  “What’s that about time dad?”

  “We need to get to the docks. We should get there before seven. I have a bad feeling Ellie’s there.” He relayed all the events of his evening to Steve who listened intently as they made their way through traffic. Rush hour traffic was building as they sped to the docks.

  “Dad, why don’t we phone the police? I can’t see what we can do on our own.”

  “I can’t. The message said they would kill them if I brought the police in, and I don’t trust them. The police still think I’m a murder suspect. I don’t mind them locking me up, but not until I’ve attempted to free Ellie, Mary and Stacy,” he said as they drove along West Dock road. Jamie stopped the car and pulled up next to a roadside cafe with the entrance to the dock in sight. “Go and buy two coffees to go, then we won’t look suspicious,” he said.

  Steve looked at his dad who appeared devoid of emotion as he watched the security gate. Steve thought he was staring at a stranger as he left the car to buy the coffees and returned.

  “What’s the plan dad?”

  “Getting in is easy, but not with the rifles. Wait, my travel bag! Listen, I want you to wait here. If I’m not back in half an hour, assume the worst and phone the police. But under no other circumstances use your phone, understood?” he ordered with a tone that told Steve they were in great danger.

  Jamie exited the car and emptied the clothing from his bag. Returning, he reached into the backseat, retrieved a rifle and quickly broke it down, putting it in the bag. Steve watched him in silence and thought, Whoa, who is this man? Pulling the handgun from his belt, Jamie opened the barrel, checked the contents and slipped it back in his belt. He was about to get out of the car when Steve grabbed him in a big hug.

  “Love you, dad, be careful,” he said fearful he wouldn’t return.

  “Love you too, Steve,” replied Jamie.

  Getting out of the car, Jamie started to walk towards the security gates. Steve watched and saw him put his arms through the handles of the carry case to sling it over his back.

  He looked like a hit man on a mission. God help him! Steve prayed.

  ***

  As Jamie turned, he saw a truck driving his way. He stepped just off the road and hid behind a signpost. He heard the truck’s gears downshift as the driver slowed on the approach to the security gate. Just as it passed, he swiftly grabbed a rope dangling from the truck and pulled himself up against the side opposite the guard. Hanging on tightly, he prayed the guard would signal it through, like the others he’d seen.

  “Papers,” he heard the guard call out. There was the hiss of the air brakes as the truck came to a halt. Jamie’s arms were aching, and he tried to put the pain from Stacy’s blow to his side out of his mind.

  “We’re running empty. Cargo to pick up on west dock.”

  Jamie was sure he heard a gun cocking behind the canvass of the truck.

  “Okay, everything seems to be in order. Just turn left,” he heard and the barrier lifted as the truck passed through. Jamie loosened his grip and his feet touched the ground running. With the cover of some distance, he slowed down to a stroll. He came to a halt at a sign map and located the direction of warehouse two nine five and headed for it.

  Jamie didn’t have far to go, when he located the warehouse. The truck he had hitched a ride on parked at the next warehouse and backed up to the entrance. He ducked behind a garbage bin. As Jamie watched, the driver climbed out of the cab and walked to the rear of his truck to open the canvass flap. Workers jumped out of the back and entered the warehouse. The last one out stopped and looked around. His shaven head and arms were covered in tattoos. Taking one last draw on his cigarette, the man stubbed it out with his shoe and entered the warehouse followed by the truck driver.

  Jamie looked around his surroundings. There was no one about other than a forklift driver passing by. The cover of night was replaced by sunlight on the horizon. Jamie knew there was no point in trying to hide, so he set off walking. Strolling toward the warehouse, he could see the huge steel doors were closed. He glanced quickly down the gap between the two buildings and saw a stairway leading to a door. At the bottom of the stairs, there were two workers who appeared to be playing dice.

  ***

  A figure on the roof of a warehouse scanned the scene. “Stooge in sight,” he said, peering at Jamie through binoculars. “I hope he gets through this. I owe him twenty dollars for a coffee he gave me when I met him in the park.”

  “Here hand me those,” said Eric Moody and he trained the binoculars on Jamie. “That’s my boy. I knew he’d come up trumps,” he said passing back the binoculars. A huge grin of satisfaction stretched across his face as he looked at his watch. “Seven-fifteen, we’re on target.” A helicopter overhead suddenly distracted him. “Give ‘em back.” He snatched the binoculars. He could see it was a police helicopter. “Damn that Hogan!” he snorted. He took out his cell phone and called, “Hogan, Eric Moody, get your friggin’ birds out of the sky. I thought you’d been told to call off the search?”

  “We did. We’re not looking for Jamie. We’re investigating something else now.”

  “Quite a coincidence, huh? Just get ‘em the hell out of here,” he screamed and hung up.

  ***

  Hogan allowed himself a smile and turned to Hammond.

  “Looks like you were right, Greg. Moody’s screaming for the helicopter we sent to the docks to be called back.”

  Hammond contacted the helicopter and had him divert back to base.

  “That was a bit sneaky.”

  “Yeah,” Hogan laughed. “Like you said, we’re investigating a kidnap.”

  Hammond’s phone rang.

  “Madge here, Agent Hammond. Is the Chief with you? His phone’s busy.”

  “Sure, I’ll put him on,” he said and passed him the phone. “Madge for you.”

  “Yeah, Madge, what is it?”

  “Jeff has phoned; he’s at Brakes Lodge. One of his team contacted him from Mary’s house. There was a smeared message on a mirror. Anyway, he’s sprayed it with some sort of spray, he said the name of the chemical, but I can’t pronounce it. ”

  “Madge, just give me the message. I don’t want to know what he had for breakfast.”

  “Here goes,” she said and relayed the message forensics had found on the mirror. “Oh, and there’s a message for Agent Hammond. One of his surveillance team said Jamie called the hospital again and shortly after that, his car moved. I sent a squad car to take a look but all they found was a street-bum pushing a shopping cart.”

  “Pull the car over, Greg.” Hogan passed the message. “Where the hell do we get his army number?”

  Hammond smiled and reached to the backseat of his car for Jamie`s army file.

  “Time to get tooled up, John, don’t you think? Let’s see what goodies I’ve got in the trunk. Pity we can’t call for backup.”

  Contents

  Two down, one to go

  Jamie walked toward the two workers, swinging his bag at his side. He noticed one of them look up from his dice with a sneer.

  “Interested in some duty free cigarettes guys?” he asked.

  As he approached, they stood up beside each other, and both their hands crept ominously inside their jackets. They hesitated and looked at each other quizzically. Jamie tossed his bag to one who instinctively put his arms out to catch it. The other guy pulled out a gun. Jamie used one forearm to strike the gun upward and thrust the hunting knife to the hilt in the softness of his belly. He wrenched the blade higher in his chest lifting the man off his feet for the kill. As he crumpled to the ground, Jamie turned to face the other, but he was too late.

  Jami
e could feel the cold steel of the gun pressed against his forehead. Years of training kicked in. He brushed the gun arm to one side with his forearm and followed through with his elbow, snapping the guy’s head back. Shaking his head, the big man was about to charge at Jamie when suddenly the guy was stopped in his tracks. An arm came out of nowhere from behind and wedged him in a chokehold. The other hand twisted his head violently to one side. As he was lowered to the ground, a hiss escaped his lips, signaling one fatal breath escaping his lungs.

  “Steve! How. . .err. . .I told you to wait in the car.”

  “Come on, dad, it’s my sister we’re talking about.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “I just joined in with a gang of workers, and they waved us through.”

  “Grab those guns,” Jamie said, pulling the knife from the corpse. He wiped it on the dead guy’s shirt and put it back in his belt. “Give me a hand, Steve,” he said, and they dragged the bodies under the stairwell.

  Steve doubled up. Holding the wall for support, he threw up.

  Jamie put his arm around his shoulder.

  “Sorry you had to see that, son.”

  “I never saw a dead guy before, Never mind me killing someone.” said Steve. “Look at all that blood.”

  “Just remember Ellie. Try and focus on that. Follow me, walk quietly and be careful. At least we know all that training at Church Hall wasn’t for nothing, but no heroics. I don’t want to rescue Ellie and lose you,” he said.

  “I’m okay, let’s go.”

  Grabbing the bag, he moved up the steel stairway with Steve following. At the top of the stairs, Jamie inched toward a window and took a quick peek.

  “An empty office,” he whispered. “Just a computer on a desk. Stay here while I take a look,” said Jamie.

  Jamie unzipped the bag and reassembled the automatic rifle. He clipped in the ammunition magazine and turned the door handle, slowly opening the door to peer inside. He darted along the gantry past the office and crouched down aiming his rifle in his line of sight, surveying the layout of the warehouse. His eyes fixed on two figures in the centre of the empty warehouse floor. They were tied to chairs, heads slumped, and they appeared lifeless. Jamie instantly recognized Mary and Stacy in the shafts of light from the skylights, but Ellie was nowhere in sight. Five feet in front of them, he could see a desk with a computer and a trail of wires. He continued to scan the area to look for any signs of ambush, but there was nowhere for anyone to hide. Jamie backed up and, still crouching, he reached up for the office door handle. He pushed it with force and entered. There was no one there. He returned to the door at the top of the stairs and called for help.

  “Steve, come and give me a hand to release Mary and Stacy. Here, give me those guns.” He checked they were loaded. Steve slipped one of the guns in his belt and followed his dad. Making their way past the office to the stairs leading down to the warehouse floor, Jamie signaled for Steve to stop. “Wait here while I check it out,” he said and passed him the rifle after checking the safety was off. He took the handgun from Steve. “Keep one eye on me and one on the door,” he said and slipped swiftly down the stairs.

  Heading toward the two hapless figures tied to the chairs, Jamie stopped at the desk. They were both wearing life jacket vests clipped with quick release fasteners at the front. Wires protruded from inside the jackets and led to two boxes under the chairs. Damn booby trap!

  Jamie looked around and saw a tiny red light shining above in the steel girders. He waved at Steve to join him.

  “Steve, do you have a lighter?”

  Steve pulled out a tin from his pocket and opened it. Jamie raised an eyebrow. The tin was obviously for rolling joints. Steve took out a lighter.

  “Sorry, dad.”

  Jamie put a forefinger to his lips, took the lighter and signaled him to crouch down. He moved to a workbench, returned with an oily rag and lit it. The smoke began to rise and Jamie wafted it towards Mary and Stacy. Steve looked on in stunned silence.

  “All clear,” whispered Jamie.

  “What the hell. . .what was that for?” Steve whispered back.

  “Checking for laser beams. They’re booby trapped. See the wires.” Jamie pointed toward the boxes underneath their chairs and the red light. “Must be some kind of electrical safety box. I thought it was maybe a beam emitter.”

  “Christ, dad, why are they doing all this?” he whispered.

  Mary lifted her head. Her mouth was sealed with duct tape. Her eyes looked at Jamie with shock and terror.

  “Stay calm, Mary, we’re going to get you out of this,” said Jamie. Moving slowly toward her, he removed the duct tape from her mouth. “No sudden movements, Mary,” he ordered. “What happened?”

  “Oh, Jamie, thank God you’re here! I thought we were dead for sure,” she said tears rolling down her cheek. “All I can remember is waking from a deep sleep. It all happened so fast, they must’ve forced tape over my mouth as I slept. The next thing I knew I was bundled down the stairs and into a van. They had a bag over my head, and my hands were fastened with handcuffs.”

  “Did they say anything?”

  “Yeah, but it was foreign.”

  “Have you seen Ellie?”

  “No. Can you tell me what’s going on?” Mary asked as Stacy stirred.

  “Stacy, it’s Jamie. Are you okay?” he asked and removed the duct tape.

  “Jamie, my shoulder,” she groaned, barely conscious.

  Jamie could see blood trickling down her arm, her hair matted with blood from a gash on her head.

  “Jamie, what’s this all about? Who is this woman?” Mary asked.

  “It would take all day to explain. Let’s get you out of here. I can explain later.”

  “Dad, take a look at this, quick.” Jamie turned to Steve, who was standing by the computer. “It was on screen save and when I touched the key, this appeared.”

  “For God’s sake don’t touch anything. You’ll have us blown sky high,” he said looking at the screen.

  “Jamie, you’ve got email,” it said.

  “Is this thing connected to the Internet?” asked Jamie.

  “It’s got a wireless connection.”

  “Good, sign into my email, the password is ‘crossword’. I’ll just take a look at these wires. “No wait, don’t do anything. Is it possible to check if the number the modem dials is authentic?”

  “Yeah, why?” asked Steve typing away on the keyboard.

  “Check that it’s authentic first and not a common cell phone number.”

  Steve opened the modem software, clicked on tools and determined the connection number was authentic.

  “It’s fine. What should I do?”

  “Connect to the Internet and pull up my emails.”

  Jamie looked at the wires leading back to the two shoeboxes. The lids were held in place with duct tape and an electronic timer was taped to the side. Shoeboxes? Do they think I’m stupid enough to take the lids off and trigger a pressure switch, wondered Jamie. He took the flashlight out of his jacket pocket. Lying down at the side of the shoebox under Mary’s chair, he took out the hunting knife and cut away at the hole in the cardboard where the wires passed through. Shining the flashlight inside Jamie sniggered.

  “Dad, you have two emails, one from Bill and one titled, ‘Congratulations,’ probably spam.”

  Jamie rolled away from the shoebox and moved to the computer screen. Don’t tell me this is where I find out why Bill’s involved? He opened Bill’s email.

  “Tried to phone, urgent news, on my way to see you. Regards, Bill.”

  “Holy shit! So he didn’t attack you guys?” Jamie was bewildered. “This was sent yesterday.”

  “I could’ve told you that. Ellie told me a guy with a mask attacked her. She said Uncle Bill jumped him and he stabbed Bill in his chest before he ran off.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before? When did she tell you this?”

  “In the hospital before they sedate
d us. I thought the police would’ve told you.”

  “Have you told the police?”

  “No, the doctor wouldn’t let them speak to us.”

  “That explains it. I thought he was involved in this mess somehow. Poor Bill. I owe him a bunch of grapes and some flowers if. . .when we get out of this,” he said and opened the second email.

  “You have until eight thirty to rescue your bitches. You can’t save Ellie. I’ll send you a video of her death attached to an email at eight fifteen. No clues yet. Guess who I am? All will be revealed at eight fifteen.” Jamie read from the screen.

  “Shit, dad, her death?” Steve read the note too.

  Jamie tried to stay calm and looked at his watch.

  “Seven forty,” he said and looked at Steve. “Eight thirty is a ruse. I think the bombs will go off as soon as we’ve seen the film at eight fifteen. The note is to make sure we’re here then. That gives us thirty-five minutes,” he said and glanced at Mary. “I think he’s watching us.”

  Jamie looked up to the red LED he’d seen before and pointed his flashlight at it.

  “I see it,” Steve said.

  “It’s a camera. They’re watching”

  “Dad, I have an idea. I just wish there were two computers.”

  “There’s one in the office upstairs, but I don’t know if it works.”

  Steve grabbed the modem. He opened some software in the computer and rushed up to the office.

  Jamie turned, to return his attention to the bombs.

  “What happens in thirty-five minutes?” Mary asked.

  Contents

  Back office

  Jamie could see the fear in Mary’s eyes, but he had to tell her the truth.

  “Mary, don’t move and try not to say anything. There’s a bomb under your chair.”

  “But I. . .” she started to speak but caught herself.

  “I’m just going to untie you, but you must stay still so I can concentrate.”

  Jamie fished in his pocket and pulled out the handcuff key. He put it in with a turn and the handcuffs snapped open. He turned to Stacy, unfastened her handcuffs and slit the duct tape to set them free.