Hostage!: A Hugh Ranier Novella (Hugh Ranier Short Series Book 2)

by Robert E. Crull

  “Right,” she said.

  “And there’s a potential for those weapons to be used at Hartsfield to disrupt the busiest airport in the world. Potentially causing billions or trillions of dollars to be lost across the globe. A major upset at a crucial economic time for many countries around the world as they try to cobble together lasting recession recovery,” I said.

  “Right.”

  “Plus the potential of bringing terror to America quicker if we act against this set of targets,” Don said.

  “So Laura, what do we do?” I asked.

  “This is so sloppy, so many people at stake, so few alternatives.”

  “You’re not wrong,” Don said.

  “Is there anyway to minimize the possible injuries,” she asked.

  “Short of evacuating a large area there isn’t,” Don said.

  “Is there any intel on where the HQ is?” I asked.

  “They’re in an industrial complex about five miles from the airport according to Koothrapoli,” he said.

  “What other industry is around them, do we know?” I asked.

  “Hold up Hugh, this is Laura’s gig, and we don’t have a decision from her yet,” he said. “Laura, what’s it going to be?”

  “So, we either take them out now or we wait until they attack directly. Does that sum it up?”

  “Pretty much, yeah,” I said.

  “So, take them out before they get too big and we can’t do anything about it,” she said.

  “Then we’re a go to help Koothrapoli?” Don asked.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “So Laura, tell us what’s next,” I said.

  She had a look of stress I’d never seen on her face before. I suppose the first day as a partner and getting hit with what we were giving her would’ve most likely stressed me out and I knew what was at stake. I thought the best way to move her past the indecision was to have her lead it. Baptism by fire if you will.

  “We need to get the bald guy over here so we can get as much intelligence out of him as possible. I’d like to know what other information we can get on his parent organization, what’d you call it, American Jihadists. It doesn’t ring true for me.”

  “Sounds like a good first step,” Don said.

  “Let’s see what we can do to get Trinda released, before we take care of the ‘targets’,” she said.

  “Man does she sound official or what?” I asked Don.

  “She sure does.”

  “What else is missing here?” she asked.

  “Nothing yet. Let Don and I make some calls and we’ll check back in with you in a couple hours.”

  “Cool, I’ll be at my desk,” she said as she rose to leave the office.

  “So what do you think is best bubba,” Don asked.

  “I don’t like the prospects of the airborne agents being released.”

  “Me either. Once we know the location should we go urban warfare and take them out one at a time in the building.”

  “You know that’s not a bad idea, but who would you bring into the mix for that. The two of us would likely not be enough, but who’s to say what enough is?”

  “Sounds like we need a three way with Koothrapoli then,” he said. “Let me get his number.”

  Don went to his office and while he was away I thought about the instant change in Laura, she’d turned a corner that could never be unturned. We knew a little about her but nothing substantial. She’d been with us for our entire business existence and was damn good at running the office. We knew of some of her friends and a little about some of her social preferences, but there wasn’t much more.

  I sat back in the chair waiting and thinking. Don came back in carrying a tablet.

  “Dial him up. Six seven eight five five five one nine six one.”

  I dialed the number and put the call on speaker.

  “Hello,” came a voice with a British accent.

  “Amir, this is Don and Hugh Ranier.”

  “Have you decided to save the woman?”

  “Yes we have,” I said.

  “Excellent. When can things begin.”

  “We’re going to need some more information from you before we get started but, I see no reason we can’t get started right now,” Don said.

  “This is acceptable,” Amir said.

  “We’re going to need to know the location of your headquarters as well as the HQ for the splinter group,” I said.

  “It would be best to meet somewhere to discuss this information in person, it would be much faster,” Don said.

  “Fine. There are several restaurants at two eighty-five and Airport Parkway,” he said.

  “Yes, we’re familiar with the area. Let’s meet in the parking lot for the grocery store there. We’ll be in a black Grand Cherokee and will be parked near the back of the parking lot in front of the store.”

  “I can be there in five minutes,” Amir said.

  “It’s going to take us close to an hour to get down there. It’s ten o’clock now we’ll see you at eleven thirty,” Don said.

  “Until then,” Amir said and ended the call.

  “Alright, you ready for a road trip?” Don asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Let’s go!”

  We left the office and stopped by Laura’s desk.

  “We’re going to run down and see Koothrapoli near the airport. We should be back in say three to four hours,” I said.

  “You’re not taking me?” she asked with a bit of a hurt tone in her voice.

  “Sorry Laura. We’re still trying to get used to this as well. Please join us if you’d like.”

  “Thank you. I will,” she said standing from the desk.

  “Alright. We ready?” Don asked as we started for the door.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  The drive to Airport Parkway was consumed with conversations about how to get the hostage released and not have her subjected to any abuse or torture. The possibilities didn’t seem likely we’d see her undamaged when we did see her, and that had Laura a little pissed off.

  “So this guy says he wants things to be peaceful and he’s only trying to stop future terrorism, then why does he take a hostage. Doesn’t seem peaceful to me! But I don’t understand people who kill other people because they don’t agree with something someone else believes in. Murder in the name of religion does not make it holy or right to me.”

  “Well at least we know how you feel about the last two thousand years of religion,” I said.

  “It may have gone on for the last two thousand years, but it doesn’t make it right.”

  She was right of course. And, that was the crux of the situation. We’re going to prevent a group of people from doing something they believe is right based on their religious views. Did it make us any better than them? I couldn’t answer the question then, and I’m pretty sure I can’t answer it now.

  I pulled the car into the parking lot on the right side of Airport Parkway heading away from the airport and found the grocery store Don had agreed to. I positioned it so we’d be easy to spot and Koothrapoli wouldn’t have to look long.

  And, we waited. We’d made pretty good time from the office to the shopping center. The tension in the car was a little on the high side. I’d never seen Laura as opinionated as she’d been. It wasn’t that it was a bad, it was up until then she’d been mostly on the overly agreeable side of the fence. It seemed like we didn’t know her as well as we thought we did.

  A car pulled up along side us and the window rolled down. I was expecting to see Koothrapoli and was surprised when I saw Stevens. He was one of core government contacts.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Watching you.”

  With that, the back door of the car opened and Koothrapoli stepped out.

  “What the hell?” Don asked and got out of the vehicle.

  “That’s a great question Stevens, what the hell?” I asked the driver.

  “Calm yourself Ranier,
Koothrapoli has been with us for well over five years. He’s the reason I know what kind of email you were getting.”

  “You’re still not telling me what the hell is going on!” I said.

  “Collectively we don’t want to see the splinter cell gain any more traction than they already have. We’d like you and Coyne to take care of it as discretely as possible,” he said. “Who’s the woman?” he asked as if he’d never met her before.

  “That’s Laura from our office. She’s accepted an offer to be our partner and this is her first case as such.”

  “Can she be trusted?”

  “You know what Stevens, as long as we’ve been doing business you surprise me at how little you understand the way we operate.”

  “Yeah, well fuck you Ranier. There are bad people out there and how do I know she’s not one of them?”

  “Because I say so is why,” I said.

  “Whatever.”

  Intelligent, I thought, but I’d grown accustomed to him being somewhat socially inept. The truth was before Don and I offered Laura a partnership we’d invested in a deep background check on her and used one of our most covert investigators to do the research to find out who her circle of influence was.

  The results didn’t bother us at all. We’d found there was some liberal leanings in certain social beliefs, but she was center line conservative beyond that. It was the same basic position Don and I held ourselves.

  “So let’s get this over with Stevens,” I said.

  “Let’s meet the two of them in front of your car.”

  “Fine,” I said opening the car door.

  “…So you see there is a certain urgency to all this,” Amir said.

  “Yes, I do see,” Don said.

  “Gentlemen,” Stevens said as he walked up. “Does Coyne understand the scope of the job?”

  “Yeah, I got it,” Don said as Laura walked up.

  “Where’s the hostage?” she asked.

  “Wait a minute Laura,” Don said.

  “For what, our own government has taken a U.S. citizen hostage and she needs to be released.”

  “Laura, it’s not what you think it is,” he said.

  “Allow me,” Amir said. “We have Cathy Brandt and she is in no harm from anyone either physically or emotionally.”

  “So what the hell is all this then?”

  “This is a covert mission to eliminate a terrorist cell on U.S. soil before it has a chance to become more powerful than it currently is,” Stevens added in.

  “So, why was the woman taken?”

  “Honestly, we needed something to get Ranier off his ass to take some action!”

  “Laura, these are the twisted little games the government plays with us to have us do something we may not agree with and, since I don’t know the new details of what is going on, then I don’t know if I agree or not.”

  “You’ll agree,” Don said.

  “Lay it out for me.”

  “These guys workin’ with Amir have been taking their cue from some radical organization in Syria. The group Amir belongs to has been on the side of tolerance and acceptance, but these guys believe strongly U.S. involvement in the Middle East has been to blame for keeping many of its Nations in poverty and war.”

  “So, the U.S. are the bad guys again. Pretty much sum it up,” I asked.

  “Yeah for the most part.”

  “So now we know who’s on who’s side and all other sorts of happy horse shit, we can all quit playin’ silly ass games,” Don said.

  “Give us some details about the groups movements and who’s who in their zoo so we can start planning,” I said.

  “Before ya’ll start high fivein’ each other over the testosterone fest, where’s the hostage?” Laura asked.

  “In the back seat. She’s been given a mild sedative and is sleeping it off,” Stevens said.

  “We’ll take her with us,” she said.

  “Fine.”

  “Stevens, since we both know it’s you behind all this we need to talk about our fee,” Don said.

  “Fee you ask? You’ve put eighteen million in the bank for the last gig and you want to talk about fee’s?”

  “Nothin’s easy and never free Stevens. You know that,” Don said.

  “We had wanted to stay out of this on the payment front. That’s why we asked Amir to handle it.”

  “So Amir,” I said. “What’s the fee for this?”

  “We expect the entire group to be taken out using their preferred method of execution,” he said.

  “Which is,” Laura asked.

  “Beheading,” Stevens replied.

  “Wait a minute,” Don said. “Beheadings don’t happen on American soil. We’ve never been known for it and we’ll not be the ones to start the media frenzy.”

  “How else do you see us placing the blame for this on some other extremist group than to use their own killing methods?” Stevens asked.

  “We’ll make ‘em disappear,” Don said. “One by one, they’ll all go away.”

  The approach worked well on the logistics front and allowed us to go long distance which kept us out of harms way, but it did have its own set of problems. Body recovery was always a challenge unless you did it one at a time, which added to the logistics.

  “So Amir,” Laura began, “What’s the fee?”

  “We feel ten million is a fair price for the assignment.”

  “Little light don’t you think?” I asked.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “How many people are there in this little ‘group’ of your’s,” Don asked.

  “No more than fifteen,” Amir said.

  “Does it all have to be done at once or can we stagger over time?”

  “All at once is our preference,” he said.

  “Single event, fifteen plus or minus, yeah I’d say you’re looking at close to ten, maybe a little more,” Don said. “Ok with you guys?”

  “Fine with me,” Laura said.

  “It works ,” I said.

  We spent the next fifteen minutes getting the run down for the main meeting area, and names of the members.

  We transferred Trinda to the Cherokee and strapped her in, then we all got in the car for the ride back to the office. We ran through the list of guys we had on contract and identified a few for a raid type situation. They each had fully automatic weapons with silencers. We figured we’d need no more than six additional guys to pull it off. We’d use Earl Hartley and Rob Jones to do the surveillance. We arrived at the office at about the same time Trinda was coming to.

  “Where am I,” she asked.

  “You’re safe Trinda,” Laura said.

  “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck!”

  “Yeah the sedative they gave you will cause a serious hangover,” I said. “Lets take you in the office, and get you a cup of coffee. Then we’ll call your husband and have him come pick you up.”

  “Who are you people?”

  “We’re a group of private investigators Rob contacted to help find you. Other than the hangover, are you ok? Have you been hurt?” Laura said.

  “No, I’m not hurt. It’s all so strange.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “I’d been doing an investigation here in Atlanta about an Islamic group who claims their interpretation of the Quran is one of peace and inclusion. They call themselves the American Jihadists. Have you heard of them?”

  “Yeah, we’ve heard of them,” Don said. “Not sure I buy what they’re sellin’.”

  “I had started looking into them a couple days ago, and this morning I woke up to a man staring at me while I slept. He’d gotten past the security in the house, and was standing there waiting for me to wake up.”

  “What did Rob do then?” asked.

  “There was a second man with a knife to his throat, there wasn’t much he could do. The man watching told Rob when they left with me to call Hugh Ranier. I didn’t know who it was but I’d heard Rob mention the name befo
re.”

  “So Trinda, I’m Hugh Ranier. These are my partners, Don Coyne and Laura Morgan. We run a little investigative firm here in Kennesaw.”

  “Oh so Rob did call you but, how did you find me so fast?”

  “The person watching you sleep was one Amir Koothrapoli, a high ranking official in the movement you mentioned.”

  “Yes, I remember the name from this morning. He told Rob to call you,” she said.

  “Do you remember anything else from this morning?” Don asked.

  “They allowed me to dress and took me to a car at the street. Once inside I felt a needle prick in my bicep and remember nothing until a few minutes ago.”

  “Alright, lets make you some coffee,” Laura said.

  “I need to call the police and report this,” she said.

  “Trinda, that’s not advisable,” Don said.

  “I’ve been kidnapped!”

  “Yes. You were and now you’re not. Let’s go inside and talk about this a little more before you make a call,” Don said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Laura and Don stood on either side of Trinda and helped her navigate from the car to the front door without falling over. We had a mess on our hands that was for sure. We didn’t want her calling the police because we didn’t want them and the government to get to know each other, especially when it meant they could well be charged with kidnapping.

  Inside we made our way to the conference room and took seats. Laura went to the kitchen to brew Trinda’s coffee.

  “Trinda,” I started, “the group which took you hostage is known to the Government. Amir specifically has been working with the feds for five years that we know of. He’s been trying to prevent the type operation a splinter cell would try to get started.”

  “Does their involvement with the government make it ok for them to kidnap people?” she asked.

  “No, it doesn’t make it right,” Laura said as she walked through the door.

  “I feel violated. My freedom was taken from me and I have no idea what has happened in the last 8 hours or so. Anything could have gone on while I was sedated.”

  “Are you in any pain? Is there any discomfort?” Don asked.

  “No nothing at this point. My head is killing me, but otherwise I think I’m ok.”

  “That’s good. Would you like something for the headache?” Laura asked.