by Steve Richer
The warehouse was just in front of her. There was nothing extraordinary about it, it didn’t even have signs. It didn’t stick out here in Flatbush. In hindsight, it was the perfect place to hide for criminals like them. No one would pay attention to people coming and going.
Once more, she drew her weapon and marched forward. Her eyes scanned the area. Could there be an ambush? It was always a possibility. She had been trained to continuously expect the unexpected.
There was a small parking lot but it was empty. The pavement was covered with a thin layer of snow and she could tell where cars had been parked since it was darker there. But it had snowed last night and most tracks had been erased.
That meant no one had been here in at least twelve hours.
Her heart sank. She had missed them. There would be no chance to catch them red-handed. But she had also been trained to expect that.
A new crime scene signified new evidence. That’s how you catch bad guys, an instructor had told her class. You rarely, if ever, catch a criminal in the process of doing something against the law as a federal agent. You had to put the pieces together afterwards and then you could pounce on them.
The absence of suspects made her relax a little. She went all the way to the building. There was a window to the right side of the door. It had been spray-painted black but they had missed a spot in the corner. Bailey lifted herself on the tip of her toes and peeked inside.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust but then she saw the layout. There were some desks with computers. An old couch. A chair had been knocked over. These people had abandoned this place in a hurry.
Good, she concluded. I’m getting too close for comfort and they know it.
She went back to her car to get a crowbar and then forced her way inside the warehouse. She found a switch and turned on the lights. Pistol aimed forward, she scanned the cavernous space.
She gingerly stepped around the work area with the computers, sweeping the interior to make sure there wasn’t someone about to jump her. Then she saw a closed door leading into the back.
Holding her breath, she headed that way, placing her index finger inside the trigger guard. She cautiously rotated the knob and opened the door. Light from the warehouse spilled into this small windowless room. It had once been an office, she guessed.
But now the contents intrigued her. Against one wall, on the floor, was a futon mattress and a blanket. There was a straight-backed chair too, but no table or desk. A few items on the ground were even more bizarre. What was that, a whoopee cushion?
Then she saw a length of rope. She crouched to inspect it and found that the ends had been cut. This room had kept someone hostage.
But who?
She hurried out of the room and went to the computers. She booted up the desktops one after the other but it didn’t take long to realize they had been wiped clean. They didn’t even have operating systems anymore. Maybe a forensics team would be able to get something off the hard drives, not to mention fingerprints, but it would have to wait.
If there was a hostage, time was running out.
She was considering calling Detective Munson, unable to think of any other solution, when she noticed a trashcan near the wall. This was often a great source of information because instinctively people believed that once they threw something out it was gone forever.
She dumped the rubbish on the floor. There were many cups of coffee from a national chain. She squinted, scrutinizing one in particular. There was red lipstick on the rim. At least a woman was involved.
Using the muzzle of her Glock to spread the trash around, she inventoried everything. Candy wrappers, old tissues. This would be a gold mine for the DNA. Well, if they ever caught these people.
Then she found a small piece of crumpled white paper. She flattened it out as best as she could without touching it directly. It was a parking receipt for Cape Liberty Cruise Port. Wasn’t that nearby? Yes, it was in Bayonne.
She understood everything at once. This was the final part of their plan. These people were about to leave the country by boat.
Chapter 34
The caller had hung up and Lawson sat down on the edge of the couch. His very first thought was that this was a bluff. He didn’t have a daughter, self-evidently. It was a stupid thing to threaten him with.
Except that neither of his parents looked surprised in the least.
“What the hell is he talking about, mom?”
She raised her head as if she was above all this. She slowly came closer but still didn’t say a word.
“Mother, what do you know?”
“What I did was for your own good. It was for the good of the family.”
“You mean it’s true? I have… I have a daughter?”
Elizabeth exchanged glances with her husband and he reluctantly nodded.
“Yes.”
“Oh God…”
Lawson looked left and right for some liquor. He had never needed a drink this bad. Jesus, he had to be an alcoholic after all. He stood up again and found his hands clammy. He wiped them nervously on his pants and still considered marching out to get himself a large glass of whiskey.
“No,” he said. “That’s impossible. I don’t have any kids, I never had any kids. Hell, I don’t want any kids.”
He licked his lips, picturing how the booze would taste. More than that, he craved its soothing feeling. It would calm his nerves and he was dying for anything that made this stress go away.
And that was why he couldn’t do it. He wanted to be normal, didn’t he? The first step was to act normal and this he could control. Besides, he needed to keep his head straight now more than ever.
“Tell me what’s going on, mom. It’s time to stop with all these damn lies.”
“You were at Harvard. It was right before the end of spring break your freshman year. Your girlfriend came to see me with this… problem she had.”
“Kelsey?”
“Yes.”
Meeting Kelsey Dahl had been the single best moment of his life. They had bumped into each other during the first week and for Lawson it had been love at first sight. For her part, Kelsey needed a little more convincing but it was fine with him.
He chased her for days, asking her out constantly until she finally agreed. By Thanksgiving, they were the very definition of soul mates. They were from completely different backgrounds and that was what Lawson liked the most. For the first time in his life he had been with someone normal.
She was an only child, an orphan since her parents had died when she was five, and she had studied night and day for scholarships allowing her to go to Harvard. His mother made no secret of the fact that she didn’t want her son to date her. She wasn’t from the right stock, she said.
And that only made Lawson love her even more.
They meshed so well together. As cheesy as it sounded, he knew that they completed each other. He was aloof and brash while she was studious and poised. He had already traveled the world but knew nothing about it while she longed to discover everything and had already studied it at length.
Before the end of Christmas break, Lawson wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“What happened, mom?” Lawson asked, unable to shake the sad ending to this story.
“You were irresponsible, as always. She was pregnant and came to me for advice. The solution was easy, of course. I made arrangements for a private clinic and gave her the money to take care of it. It was all planned. But she didn’t show. That afternoon, I flew down to Boston to see her. She said she wanted to have the baby.”
Lawson could barely breathe and once more he sat down. These memories, thinking about Kelsey after all these years, it was like being pummeled.
“And then?”
“This girl having your child was out of the question, obviously. Do you know what people would’ve said? Having children out of wedlock with this…”
“White trash? Is that the term you’re searching for?”
<
br /> “Gold digger.”
“She wasn’t like that,” he practically shouted at his mother.
Elizabeth bristled but didn’t directly respond. “Anyway, I gave her an option. If she wanted to keep the baby, then it would have to be elsewhere. I paid her. I gave her a million dollars to disappear and never contact you again.”
Lawson gasped, his eyes watering. “No…”
Shortly before the end of the school term, she had vanished. He had gone to her dorm and her roommate had said something about her having to leave for a family emergency. This in itself had been curious since she was an orphan. He had searched for her and waited days in vain.
“I hired a private detective to find her.”
“I know,” his mother replied. “I paid him off too so he wouldn’t tell you where she went.”
“How could you?”
“I did this to protect you, to protect the family.”
“You had no right!”
“Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do, Lawson. I protect his family, it’s my role. We were just coming off a scandal, finally recovering from one of your father’s indiscretions.”
“What?”
“Elizabeth…” David began, looking at his wife with pleading eyes.
“Oh please! Don’t try to hide this, not after all these years. You were never able to keep it in your pants. And who had to fix your mistakes all the time? Me. I had to deal with the consequences.”
Lawson had been aware of some rumors back then but he’d never paid much attention to his parents’ private lives. Most of it he chalked up to the tabloid industry or competitors stirring the pot.
Nevertheless, it was Kelsey he was interested about. For the year they had been together, they had talked about going to museums, discovering Europe together. Having kids. She was dying to have kids, a real family of her own.
If anyone would ever make him settle down it would be her, he knew. Even though he’d still been eighteen at the time, he had known that his one chance at a normal life would have been with her.
“Where’s Kelsey now, mom?”
All his problems vanished. He didn’t care about the murder charges, the blackmailing, his messed up family crumbling around him. Kelsey had been the only woman he’d ever loved and now hope surged through him.
“The last I heard, she died in childbirth.”
“No! No…”
“I’m sorry,” his mother said. “The child survived and I was assured she would be well taken care of by the system, especially with that money.”
His hope was extinguished once more. But there was one piece of Kelsey still alive. He had a daughter.
“This is the girl? Penny, she’s my daughter?”
“Yes.”
The phone rang and although the world around him felt like a dream, Lawson instantly answered.
“Did you have enough time to make the decision?” the killer asked. “Time is running out for your little girl.”
Lawson muted the call and looked at his parents. As much as he despised them both at the moment, he felt helpless.
“What do I do?”
“You hang up,” David said.
“What? Maybe I don’t know her but I need to save her… Penny.”
“You can’t pay a ransom, son. It’s only an invitation to get blackmailed over and over again.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Your father’s right. We’ll call the police and let them handle this.”
“The police that thinks I’m a murderer? That police?”
When you grow up as a billionaire, you learn at a young age the story of John Paul Getty and the abduction of his grandson in the ‘70s. The old man refused to pay the $17 million and the kidnappers sent the teenager’s ear to show they were serious. After that, Getty Sr. bargained the grandson down to $2.2 million which was the maximum amount that was tax deductible.
In wealthy circles, this story was a cautionary tale. But right now, Lawson was determined not to be this heartless.
“Hey buddy,” the caller said. “You have a decision to make. Transfer one billion dollars or I kill her. Is there really that much to think about?”
Lawson hit the Mute button again. “Okay, okay! I’ll do it. I just need to call my brokerage firm to liquidate everything.”
“Smart move. If you play your cards right, young Penny might get to see her twelfth birthday.”
Chapter 35
Getting a hold of his broker wasn’t easy, mostly because Lawson had never really dealt with him. Money had always been an abstract concept. It was there, in some fund or another, ready to be spent when he needed it.
Convincing the man to liquidate all his assets was even more difficult. The broker argued against this move. He cited tax issues, estate planning, anything he could think of. But Lawson held firm. All of his investments had to be sold right away.
“A billion, that’s everything you have and you’re taking losses.”
“I know, do it.”
Lawson didn’t say what would happen next because it was even crazier. He would wire that money to a madman. He would be flat broke.
While he waited for the trader to do his part, he called Bailey.
“Lawson, I think I found them!”
“Them?”
“Yes, it’s not just one guy,” she said with excitement. “There’s a whole team involved. It’s why they were able to pull this whole thing off. Anyway I was able to track one of them, probably the guy who blew up your friend John. I found where he lived and we…”
“What?”
“We had a fight. He’s dead.”
“Jesus.”
Lawson actually felt happiness at that. He had never been attracted to violence of any kind but to know that one of them was dead was sweet. It was justice.
“I found some information on this guy, Hyden. I think they’re getting ready to leave the country. They’re at Cape Liberty Cruise Port in New Jersey. I’m heading there now. They’re gonna take a boat and leave, I’m not sure why.”
“I do. The man in charge called me earlier. I know his endgame now. He wants everything I have, a cool billion.”
“Wow.”
“And apparently I have a daughter which he’s holding hostage. Long story.”
“So that’s what it was,” Bailey said softly, as if lost in thought.
“What do you mean?”
“I found their hideout in Brooklyn. There was a room set up for a hostage. I found rope, toys on the floor. They really do have someone.”
Lawson closed his eyes. That blackmailer wasn’t making this up after all. Maybe it wasn’t his daughter – he didn’t know what to trust anymore – but a child was in danger.
“How close are you to get to these fuckers?”
“I’m driving there now.”
“Can we call the police?”
Bailey sighed and told him about her call with Jasmine Needham at Homeland Security. No federal agencies would get involved, especially on such short notice, and their only recourse was the NYPD.
“The very people who think I’m guilty? Outstanding. If we get them involved, they’ll just think this is another ploy on my part.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” she said. “We’re on our own. You need to find a way to buy some time, Lawson.”
“How?”
“I don’t know but you have to. I have to get there before you transfer the money otherwise they’ll disappear and there’s no telling what they’ll do to the hostage.”
My daughter, Lawson thought. It was a strange notion. It was even stranger that he was holding her life in his hands.
“Hurry up, Bailey. Please.”
“You got it,” she said before terminating the call.
Lawson looked at his parents who were still in the living room with him. For the first time in his life they felt alien to him.
His mother had taken Kelsey away from him, had denied him happiness. And his father wasn’t much better, unable to hold
himself up to his wife. They were two zombies in a broken marriage putting up appearances for the sake of their precious reputation.
It made him sick but it also gave him an idea. Appearances, he thought. He could do something with that.
He checked his bank account and the money still hadn’t showed up. He wondered if it would take long. He had discussed the possibility of the investment bank advancing him the funds if the money couldn’t be liquidated within the hour but the broker would try everything to avoid doing that.
The killer called and Lawson let it ring a few times before picking up. This time he didn’t put it on speaker. He didn’t need to involve his parents anymore. They were useless.
“I’m waiting, buddy boy. I’m looking at my bank account and it’s lacking a billion of your dollars. What’s going on? You want to have a child’s death on the conscience?”
Lawson took a deep breath. It was time to make a move of his own.
“I don’t give a shit.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t care, I’m done playing along. I don’t know if you really have a hostage. Hell, I don’t even have a daughter. I don’t know this girl, if you have her. Makes no difference to me what happens next. As far as I’m concerned, that’s just extortion.”
“This is not extortion!” the man said, anger transpiring in his voice. “This is payback.”
“Payback? For what?”
There was silence on the other end of the line. The blackmailer was calming himself down, it seemed.
“This is a simple transaction. You send me money, I spare your daughter’s life. And if you don’t believe she’s yours, won’t you do it just to save a child? Can you imagine what people will say when they learn you could have saved her life but didn’t. The family name will be ruined for good.”
“Tough shit.”
“That’s manslaughter, Lawson. Do you want this added to your long list of charges? Let’s see if this does anything to change your mind.”
Lawson was about to ask what he meant when he received a message. It was a link and once he clicked it he was taken to a live video feed.
The shot was tight. The only thing visible was the upper torso and head of a girl. She was blond, about eleven. Her cheeks were streaked with tears as a black gun was pressed against her head. A man was behind although he was otherwise unseen aside from his hand.