Taken! 7-12 (Donald Wells' Taken! Series)

by Donald Wells

  And yet, there were those eyes, those wolf eyes staring back at him with a predatory glint that made him doubt his abilities, and quite frankly, scared the crap out of him.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me, any problems?”

  “No, we’re cleaning up now.”

  “What about the husband?”

  “Same as the wife,”

  Rossetti’s chuckle carried over the phone.

  “Good, good, he’ll like that; the guy kicked his ass once,”

  “Listen, we don’t want to spend any more time here than we have to, so give us a call the next time you need a hand.”

  “I will, and good work,”

  Rossetti hung up and the line went dead.

  Carter looked over at the husband.

  “Now what?”

  “Now you get in the van and take the bodies with you. As soon as you can, kill Zubek,”

  “You’re really letting me go?”

  “We had a deal. I let you live, you kill Zubek.”

  “Why wouldn’t I just leave here and disappear?”

  The husband took out his phone, after a moment, he found what he wanted and began reading.

  “Scott Jason Carter, born September, 15, 1974, father, David, deceased, mother, Stephanie, sixty-two, two younger sisters, both teachers at Tallahassee Public—”

  “I get it. That’s some info, what are you, a spook?”

  “I’m Dr. Jessica White’s husband, and I will kill anyone who threatens her.”

  Carter swallowed.

  “I’ll take care of Zubek.”

  “Yes you will,”

  ***

  As Carter drove off with the bodies in the back of the van, Jessica walked outside and joined her husband.

  Both of their phones emitted a unique tone while flashing wildly, as unseen cameras tracked the van as it moved along and set off the hidden sensors strewn throughout their property, the same sensors that had warned them of Carter and his partners’ arrival.

  “He’ll do as you say?”

  “He will, and while he’s doing that we need to be somewhere that will give us an alibi, if we should ever need one. I called George earlier; he said that he and Lena look forward to seeing us again.”

  Jessica began crying.

  “How many died because I didn’t let you kill Gregory that day? I trusted the justice system and Dr. Harte and her family paid the price, and now, and now they’re about to let that monster back out onto the streets.”

  He took her in his arms.

  “Their deaths were not your fault, and since then, how many have we saved? Dozens? Scores? We do what we do because we’re good at it and because we know firsthand what doing nothing cost, but we can’t change the past, Jessica. Zubek did what he did, but today, today we made sure that he never hurts anyone again.”

  “Better late than never?”

  He brushed her hair from her face.

  “Better him than us,”

  ***

  “Gregory Zubek, a newly released mental patient was felled by a sniper’s bullet yesterday, as he left the competency hearing that set him free. The police are investigating but so far have no leads on the identity of his assassin. In other news, Wall Street was stunned today when—”

  Carter muted the TV in his kitchen and grabbed another beer from the fridge. The cops had no reason to suspect him of killing Zubek, and Rossetti hadn’t put two and two together, so he was in the clear.

  Speaking of Rossetti, Carter glanced over and saw a photo of the shyster on the TV; it was followed by a camera shot looking up at the roof of Rossetti’s office building. He put the sound back on.

  “Albert Rossetti, a successful and often controversial figure in the Massachusetts’ justice system, apparently committed suicide today by leaping from the roof of his office building, the police say that Rossetti—”

  The beer in Carter’s hand fell to the floor as he recalled the words spoken to him just days before.

  “I’m Dr. Jessica White’s husband, and I will kill anyone who threatens her.”

  Carter rushed to the bedroom and grabbed his gun from atop the bedside table.

  He never noticed Jessica's husband standing behind the closet door, and he never felt the bullet that killed him.

  TAKEN! 10 – THE TEMPTRESS

  They were in New York City, consulting on a case.

  Over the last five days, six men had been found dead in various hotel rooms across the city, the fourth man was the brother-in-law of a United States Senator, and it was his death that spurred the task force to creation.

  The dead men had all been drugged before having their throats cut, and their killer was a woman.

  In fact, they had footage of her from several different surveillance cameras. The woman was a brunette, tall, with a beautiful face and figure. They knew what she looked like, but little else.

  In several bars near the scenes of the murders, bartenders told investigators that the woman seemed to target married men, and that when they left the bar, the man always left first, perhaps to secure a room for a promised tryst. It fit the pattern; all six men had been found inside rooms that they themselves had paid for.

  Seated across from Jessica and her husband at the round conference table was an old acquaintance, FBI Agent, Theresa Ramos. Ramos had been one of the agents on duty years ago when Jessica’s father was targeted by a serial killer named Stiletto.

  Stiletto managed to out-maneuver the FBI and gained access to Jessica’s home, but was eventually stopped by the man who would become her husband.

  Ramos was in her mid-forties, attractive, with long dark hair and dark eyes. As the agent-in-charge of the taskforce, it was her responsibility to gather all available information and see that it was studied and evaluated for its worthiness in leading them towards the killer. There’s just one problem though, there is no information, their killer may as well be a ghost.

  “As much as I hate to point it out,” Jessica said. “We need more info, and unfortunately, that probably equates to more victims.”

  Seated beside her husband was the police department liaison, Lieutenant Thomas Delaney. Delaney was a big man with short black hair and a moustache. He nodded in agreement while pointing at the evidence board.

  “Dr. White is right; all we have to go on so far are assumptions. All six of these men were supposedly happily married, and yet, they met our killer in a hotel room. That tells us more about the victims than their killer. We need to know more about her.”

  “The murders are happening at a rapid rate, what does that tell us about her?” Ramos said to Jessica.

  “It tells us that she’s coming apart. She’s blatant in her actions. She makes no attempt to hide her face from hotel security cameras and the coroner report shows that she never hesitates while using the knife. Each man’s throat was opened by a single deep slash, and yet, if you look at the security film, when she leaves the room her clothing is clean. She must be taking precautions so that no blood gets on her, but if I had to guess why, I’d say that it was due more to distaste for the uncleanliness of it, rather than an attempt to evade detection.”

  “Okay, so she’s organized,” Ramos said, “But why do you say that she’s coming apart?”

  Jessica rose from the conference table and stood in front of a huge video monitor. The monitor’s screen was divided into six separate displays, each one showing the killer leaving a different crime scene. She pointed to the top left corner of the screen.

  "This film was taken after the first murder. To look at her, you would never know that anything was wrong. Her hair is arranged perfectly and she’s well dressed and groomed. Now, take a look at her after murder number three, look at her blouse, it’s untucked and the pendent on her lapel is upside down. After the fifth murder, we see that her hair isn’t even combed, she just has it pulled back in a ponytail and although it’s a little hard to tell just by looking at this tape, I think she’s stopped wearing make-up. And after
last night’s murder, I noticed this.”

  Jessica grabbed the remote and zoomed in on the area around the suspect’s feet.

  Ramos laughed.

  “Different shoes, she wearing two different shoes, wait, no, one’s a shoe and the other is a sneaker.”

  “She’s coming apart. This is no master criminal. This is a woman who has lost her mind and is acting out against those she holds to be guilty. When we find her, we’ll also find out that her husband or boyfriend cheated on her or left her for another woman. That’s her stressor, and it’s why she’s targeting cheaters.”

  Just then, Delaney’s phone rang. He answered it, and after talking for a few seconds, he looked around the conference room.

  “We got another one.”

  ***

  The newest victim’s name was Kenneth Stevens and he was in town on business from Boise. He was forty, married, and the father of three children.

  Dr. White and her husband rode along to the scene with Ramos and she and Jessica seemed to get along well. While stopped at a light, Ramos turned and looked at him, where he was seated in the back beside Jessica.

  “You know, I still tell people about how you caught Stiletto. That was nothing short of brilliant and it also showed that you had a lot of self-possession, and you were only seventeen, right?”

  “I got lucky; it was the first thing that came to my mind.”

  “That’s not luck, that’s natural ability, and look at you two now, still helping to catch the bad guys. Your father must be proud of you, Jessica.”

  “He is, but he also worries, he knows first-hand how dangerous chasing monsters can be.”

  “It is dangerous, but that’s why you can’t show any mercy. When you’re fighting monsters, you have to be as ruthless as they are, am I right?”

  Ramos was staring into his eyes as she said these words, and he knew by the intensity of her gaze that there was something more not being stated.

  A horn blew behind them, then two, then three, but Ramos kept staring.

  A moment later, she broke eye contact and sprinted the car back into the flow of traffic.

  “I think we’re almost there, hold on,”

  He turned his head to look at his wife and saw that Ramos behavior hadn’t gone unnoticed, but Jessica simply shrugged it off and then stared out the window.

  He also stared out the window, while making a mental note to find out more about Ramos.

  ***

  They arrived at the crime scene to find Delaney already on site. He was inside the hotel room, standing over the body while talking to a couple of Crime Scene Investigators. The room looked as if someone had sprayed it with blood and he wondered how anyone could remain unsoiled by such wanton bloodletting. It must be as his wife surmised, that the killer was organized. She must have brought protective coverings with her to each murder, so that she could escape being marked by the blood.

  Delaney met them in the hall.

  “We already checked their surveillance tapes, and yes, it’s the same woman. She doesn’t appear to give a damn about being caught, so unless we stop her she’s going to keep killing.”

  One of the lab techs tapped Delaney on his shoulder, and then he handed him something in a plastic bag, a business card, with numbers written on the back of it.

  Delaney studied the card for a moment and then let out a low whistle.

  “The old man is not going to like this.”

  “Old man?” Jessica said.

  Delaney smiled at the three of them.

  “How’d you like to meet a living legend?”

  ***

  The Caliber Detective Agency was housed on the top floor of a three-story building, while the bottom two floors were devoted to Caliber Investigations, a subsidiary.

  Dr. White and her husband rode up in the elevator with Ramos and Delaney, and when the doors opened, they were greeted by a beautiful redhead.

  “Hi Kelli, is the old man in?”

  “Sure, Lieutenant, but is something wrong; I’ve noticed that you brought along company.”

  Delaney made the introductions and then showed Kelli the business card.

  “Yes, that’s one of ours, and those numbers written on the back are a client number, if you give me a few moments I can get you the client’s name.”

  “All right, and while you’re doing that, we’ll go see the old man.”

  Kelli escorted them over to the door that led to an inner office; she gave a knock and then opened it to poke her head inside.

  “Mr. Caliber, Lieutenant Delaney is here to see you, with company.”

  “Send them in, doll,” came the reply from a gruff voice.

  The four of them entered the large inner office and he saw two men seated behind desks.

  The one by the window was the legendary Jake Caliber, the P.I. who, among many things, had once foiled a Presidential assassination by leaping in front of the would-be assassin’s bullet. On the left sat a man who must be Caliber's relation, because he resembled the older Caliber to a T. If not for the void of years between them, they might have passed for twins.

  The old man smiled at Delaney and then began taking in his other visitors one by one, and he noted that his eyes lingered on his wife in obvious admiration of her beauty, but then, the old man’s eyes fell upon him, and he watched as they filled with a mixture of confusion and hatred.

  The old man pointed at him.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  Delaney swiveled his head back and forth between them.

  “Uncle Jake, what’s wrong?”

  The old man came out from behind his desk and stood before him.

  “I said who the hell are you, mister?”

  He gave the old man his name and watched him get more aggravated.

  “That’s not your name; your name is Gant, isn’t it?”

  The old man’s certainty intrigued him.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you’re the spitting image of a man named William Gant, and I mean the spitting image. If I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d say that you were him, you got those same eyes, hell, you even sound like him.”

  “Sir, I know nothing about my father, if you think that this Gant could be him, then please, tell me where I can find him.”

  “Bill Gant is six feet under boy, I know, because I put him there.”

  ***

  They were gathered around the old man’s desk when Kelli returned with the information about the card. As she walked over to hand it to Delaney, her mouth dropped open when she saw the old man typing into the keyboard of a laptop.

  “Mr. Caliber? When did you learn how to work a computer?”

  “Velma, the first Velma taught me years ago, but don’t you tell Gail, it would ruin me in her eyes.”

  Kelli giggled. “Yes sir.”

  Jake Caliber and his daughter-in-law Gail Caliber had been feuding for years, a fact well known throughout the company. It was also well known that she thought him to be hopelessly old-fashioned.

  The old man found what he was looking for and brought the image up on the screen.

  “That photo was taken by a newspaperman in the fifties.”

  The black & white picture showed two men climbing the steps of a precinct house. The first man was dressed in a trench coat and wore a fedora, he was Jake Caliber, the second man wore a bloody T-shirt and a pair of dark slacks, and was being dragged along by the handcuffs on his wrists. He was also a dead-ringer for Dr. White’s husband.

  Jessica straightened as she stared from the picture to her husband, and then looked over at Jake Caliber the Fifth.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that this was a photo of you two.”

  “The resemblance is remarkable,” Ramos agreed.

  He stared at the old detective, and with a bit of hesitation, he asked a question.

  “Why was he being arrested?”

  “He had killed six women.”

  “He was a serial
killer?”

  “Well, we didn’t call it that back then, but technically I don’t think it would apply anyway. He had killed them all while working an extortion racket, but I still think he enjoyed doing it.”

  “Do you really think that he could be my father?”

  “When were you born?”

  He told the old man and watched him nod.

  “It’s possible, he was still alive back then, but it’s more likely that you’re his grandson.”

  “William Gant had a son?”

  “Possibly, about ten years ago I got a call from a cousin of mine who was a Texas Ranger, he said he was looking into a string of murders when the name Gant came up, he said that Gant was also known by the name, Billy Jr.”

  “Did your cousin ever find this man?”

  “If he did, it was the death of him, my cousin, Blue Steele, has been missing ever since.”

  He and Jessica exchanged glances.

  “Did you say that your cousin was named Blue Steele?” Jessica asked. “We recently met a Texas woman by that name, a bounty hunter.”

  The old man grinned.

  “Yeah, Little Blue’s a bounty hunter, and that would have made her father proud.”

  “So, it’s possible that my father could be in Texas?”

  “Actually, Blue said he found a relative of Gant’s living in California, a little coastal town way up north called Bel Rey, but he went missing before he could check it out.”

  “Bel Rey...,” he whispered.

  The old man stared up at him from the desk and shook his head.

  “Let it go, son. Maybe you just look like them, and even if you are a Gant, believe me, you want nothing to do with them. They were all killers and psychopaths from the word go.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “The Gants and the Calibers go back a long way. My granddaddy, the first Jake Caliber, he had run ins with them while he was a still a Texas lawman, even then they were known for killing women, almost like it was in their blood. If there’s such a thing as a serial killer gene, they had it, just thank God that they didn’t pass it on to you.”

  He glanced over at Jessica.