by Jamie Hill
Crystal: “Dave stole it from you, then?”
Unknown asshole, as Jack had started thinking of him: “Dave was a liar, a thief, and a junkie. How does it feel to know that about your old man, kid?”
Jack put a hand on Mark’s shoulder as they heard Devon say: “My dad had problems, but he was a nice dad.”
Crystal: “Yes, he was.”
Jack heard the pride in her voice. Devon was being so brave. How could she not realize how much she loved these kids?
She went on: “Take me and leave the boy. Please. You don’t need him. He’ll slow us down. Please.”
A muffled sound and man number two spoke again: “We’re ready to go.”
Crystal: “Please. Just take me.”
Jack’s heart was breaking. He wanted to punch a hole in something, and then he wanted a drink.
Unknown jerk: “We’re taking you both, for insurance. There were supposed to be three of you, and we’re going to catch enough hell for that. Now come on.”
More scuffling sounds, and then Crystal spoke softly: “I love you, Devon. It’s going to be okay. Jack will find the two of us.”
Devon’s timid voice: “I know he will. Jack’s the best, Crystal. I love you, too.”
Jack’s heart clutched and now he thought he really might be sick. How much more of this tape was there?
“Listen to this,” Marshall said and smiled again. They heard Devon speak.
“Is that Jack’s truck?” His voice sounded so hopeful.
Crystal: “No, but it looks just like it. Jack has an Explorer. This one is the same color but bigger. An Expedition, I think they call it.”
“Woo hoo!” Jack hollered, and several other people in the room cheered. “They’re driving a God damned black Ford Expedition!”
Unknown piece-of-crap with last remarks: “Would you shut the fuck up? Lie down in the seat. Put the kid on the floor. Tape his feet, and their mouths. That talkative bitch is driving me crazy already.” A door slammed and the tape went quiet.
Marshall clicked it off. “There’s nothing else. I listened until the end.” He grinned at Jack. “Not a bad piece of work, though.”
Jack grinned and swept Mark up into his arms. “You have one smart mom, young man. She’s given us something to work with, for sure.”
“Go, Mom!” Mark grinned back at Jack, and they hugged.
Marshall pointed at another detective. “Start tracing black Expeditions on the computer. I already filled in the guys at the scene. They’re going door to door as we speak. And I’ve got someone in my office researching the red dragon tattoo. That’s going to lead us somewhere, I know it is. Scum like this doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. We’re going to find the rock they crawled out from under.”
“Yes, we are,” Jack agreed and set Mark down. “Hey,” he remembered to ask Marshall, “did the vet get there?”
Marshall nodded. “She was optimistic. They’re operating on him right now. Someone will call you here when he’s out of surgery.”
“Thank you.” Jack nodded.
Mark looked up at him. “Did they hurt Zeus?”
“Yep, they shot him. But we’re holding good thoughts for him, right?”
“Right.” Mark nodded uncertainly, and clung to Jack’s hand.
The door opened and Melanie Curtis entered. “Hey Dunlevy, I just heard. I’m sorry. Hi Mark! How are you holding up, fella?”
Mark shrugged and Marshall said, “Mel, great. Maybe you could take Mark to go get a snack or something. Dunlevy and I need to go over this tape piece by piece.”
Jack winced at the idea of listening to the tape again, but knew Marshall was right. He had to listen for every possible sound. He squeezed Mark’s hand and said, “Good idea. Why don’t you go with Detective Curtis for a little bit—”
The boy started to protest and Jack continued, “You can stay right out there, and I’ll be in here. I won’t go anywhere without you, Mark, I promise.”
Mark finally relented and walked over to Curtis. Jack gave her a piercing look. “Take care of him.”
“Of course,” she replied earnestly, and Jack swallowed his disgust as she led the boy out.
Reeder told the last detective, “Stay with these guys and see if you can pick anything else off that tape.”
He nodded. Reeder and the stenographer left.
Jack ran his hands through his hair and dropped into a chair. “Damn, I don’t want to listen to this again.”
Marshall sat across from him. “She did real good for herself. Fast on her feet.”
Jack looked at him dryly. “Think she’ll be on her feet the whole time they have her?”
“No,” Marshall shook his head gravely, “and I think these guys are a couple of cold-blooded sons-of-bitches. But you can’t let yourself get distracted. We’re going to find her.”
“Yeah, we are.” Jack pushed rewind on the tape player. “We have to.”
They worked on the tape for another couple hours. Someone brought in pizza, and Jack made sure Mark ate. Curtis had the boy playing cards and he seemed content enough, so Jack stayed a little longer and tried to make sense of things.
“You need to eat.” Marshall dropped into the chair next to Jack’s desk.
Jack shook his head. “I can’t stand the thought of it. I still feel like I might get sick.”
“You’ll probably carry that feeling around with you for a while. It’s tough to lose a witness like this.”
Jack glanced at Marshall, then back down at his desk. “You know she’s a lot more than just a witness, Brady. I assume I can call you Brady.”
“Why sure, Jack.” Brady grinned and shoved Jack’s shoulder lightly. “And as far as Crystal being more than just a witness…I hate to break it to you, but even if I hadn’t known it before, one look at your face tells everybody.”
Jack rubbed his hands over his face. “I am so screwed,” he muttered.
“Nah, you haven’t broken any laws. She’s a fine-looking woman with a couple of cute kids. We just need to get them home so you can figure out what you’re going to do about it.”
Jack looked at him. “I know what I’m going to do about it. I just have to convince her to go along with me.”
Brady slapped his hand on the desk. “Well, all right, then. Let’s work on getting them back so you can put your plan into motion.”
* * * *
Jack slumped over his computer and yawned. It was only nine p.m., but it felt like midnight. He looked over to the plastic-cushioned sofa in the police department waiting area, where Mark slept. Someone had covered the child with a blanket, but he didn’t look very comfortable.
Jack let himself wonder where Crystal and Devon were sleeping tonight. He shook his head quickly and put that thought out of his mind. If he worried about them too much, he would lose it. He needed to keep his focus. He looked at Mark again. No, he needed to get the boy home and to bed.
The idea of returning home to an empty bed panicked Jack. But he had someone else to think of now, not just himself. He reluctantly shut down his computer and gathered his things. He shoved the pack of vending machine cigarettes in his pocket and thought about Crystal again. She'd be even more miserable and uncomfortable if she went through nicotine withdrawal. Maybe they’d give her a cigarette. He shuddered when he let himself think of what they could do to her.
“Hey, buddy.” Jack walked over to Mark and touched his shoulder. “Let’s go home. You need to get to bed.”
Mark look up at him sleepily. “Will Devon and Crystal be there?”
“Afraid not.” He wrapped the blanket around the boy’s shoulders. “But I sure wish they were. Come on.”
They started out the door slowly. “Did they call about Zeus?” Mark looked up into Jack’s face.
“Yeah. He made it through the surgery, but he’s very sick. They aren’t sure he’s going to make it.”
“We should go to him.”
“He’s asleep, Mark. If we can, we’ll try t
o see him tomorrow.”
“Okay.” They got into the Explorer and drove home quietly. There wasn’t much more to be said.
The house looked silent and peaceful. It felt anything but as they walked inside. Everything was more askew than it had been earlier, with the police having done a thorough search. The black powder they used to dust for fingerprints left a dirty layer on everything. Jack sighed and ignored it as he pushed Mark through to his bedroom.
He stopped for a moment to glance in his own room, and knew he didn’t want to sleep there. “I think if it’s okay with you,” he said slowly, “I’ll sleep in your room tonight.”
“That would be good,” Mark agreed, and went brush his teeth.
Jack reconsidered and grabbed a pillow off his bed. He inhaled the fragrant scent of Crystal, and fought back tears that he hadn’t been able to protect her. He prayed that when he finally got to her, it wouldn’t be too late.
Mark scooted under the covers and Jack tucked him in. He lay down fully clothed on top of the blanket, still holding the pillow that he couldn’t seem to put down. “I hope you can sleep, buddy,” Jack murmured. “Try to have happy dreams.”
“Not much chance of that,” the boy replied, sounding older than his eight years.
Jack chuckled. “I hear ya. I almost hate to fall asleep.”
“I feel so guilty, Jack,” Mark whispered in the dark.
“Guilty? Why?” Jack rolled on his side to look at him.
“I should have stayed with them. But I ran and hid like a baby.” Mark’s tears gushed forward and Jack reached for him and rocked him in his arms.
“You did the right thing, Mark. You did a very smart thing.”
“Then why does it feel so lousy?” Mark continued to sob.
“I understand, because I feel lousy, too. I promised Crystal I’d protect the three of you, and I failed miserably.”
“I’m older. I should have protected Devon. I failed miserably.”
“No Mark, you didn’t. This thing was bigger than you, and there was no way you could have done anything different to make a better outcome. As it is, you were able to give us some good information about the creeps who snatched Crys and Dev. That's important, extremely helpful. I’m very glad you were able to hide and get away, buddy, and I know Crys is too. She’ll feel better knowing at least you are safe.”
“But I hid like a baby!” Mark insisted.
“It wasn’t like a baby. A baby wouldn’t have any idea what to do. You did something important. You took action. Look at it this way—if you hadn’t, I’d be looking for all three of you now. I don’t know if I could handle that, Mark. I need you, buddy.”
“I need you, too, Jack. I was scared until I saw you, and then I wasn’t so scared anymore.”
“I was one-third less scared when I saw you, too,” Jack whispered and smiled in the dark, knowing it was true.
“I wish I would have told Crystal that I love her.”
“She knows, honey, and she loves you too. You and Devon are the two most important people in her life right now.”
“And you,” Mark added.
Jack smiled again. “I’d like to think so. I guess this is a good lesson not to put things off. If we feel that way about somebody, then we should tell them.”
Mark was quiet for a while and finally said, “I love you Jack.”
Jack hugged the child in his arms and sighed. “I love you, too, Mark.”
“I think maybe I’ll be able to sleep now,” the boy commented, but didn’t move away from the man who held him protectively.
“I hope so. Good night.”
“Good night, Jack.” Mark closed his eyes.
Jack held him securely as the clock ticked away. He closed his eyes, doubting he would sleep, and knowing if he did, his dreams would definitely not be happy.
* * * *
The ringing of the telephone startled him awake. Jack looked at his watch. It was one-thirty a.m. He stumbled to the nearest phone in his bedroom and grabbed it. “Dunlevy,” he croaked.
“Jack?” Crystal cried out, and then there was muffled sound.
“Crys! Are you all right? Crys!”
“She is fine,” a voice told him.
Jack tried to think. Was this male one of the voices on the tape? “Let me talk to her!” he demanded.
“You know that she's alive. That's your main concern at this point. Now, I believe we have a trade to discuss.”
“How can I trade you what I don’t have? You know I turned that money in, and it’s sitting in a police department safe right now.”
“That appears to be your problem. You need to figure out how to get the money without involving a lot of police. We will deal with you and you alone. This telephone call is our first request, what you might call a ‘freebie’. Tomorrow night you'll tell me you have the money, and we will discuss the exchange. If you don't, we will kill one of our guests. We have not decided which one yet, but probably the child. There are so many more…uses for the woman…if you follow my line of thinking.”
Jack bit back his first response and tried to remain calm. “If you harm a hair on her head—”
“Tomorrow night,” came the reply. Then the line went dead.
“I’ll kill you with my bare hands, you son-of-a-bitch!” Jack slammed down the phone and pounded his fist against the wall. He took a moment to compose himself, and then dialed a number. “This is Dunlevy. Were you able to complete a trace on that call?”
“I’m sorry, detective. He was calling from an untraceable line.”
Jack chuckled grimly. “Of course, he was. Tell me, Rodriguez, why is it that our technology is always one step behind that of the bad guys?”
“I’m no expert, sir, but I’d say it's money. They have so much more to blow than we do.”
“It always comes back to money, doesn’t it, Rod?”
“Yeah, I think it does. Rough day, detective.” It had been a rough day for everyone who knew the two dead cops, as well.
“Very rough,” Jack agreed. “I’m squeezing this phone receiver so hard, it’s probably going to break in another couple of minutes if I don’t cool off. Maybe if we just chat a bit, I can calm down before I explode.”
“You should try to get some sleep, sir.”
“Did you hear what he told me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you really think I can sleep after that?”
“No, sir.”
“So I was thinking, Rod, that I should have been a cowboy. Some asshole commits a crime, I catch him and shoot the fucker. Doesn’t that sound satisfying?”
“Actually, sir, it does. But there is that pesky matter of ‘catching’ the asshole.”
“Oh yeah, that. Well, Rod, it’s always something. Hey, I guess I’ll talk to you again tomorrow night, when my new friend calls to see if he can squeeze blood out of a turnip.”
“Get some rest, detective.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Jack hung up the phone and buried his face in his hands.
Chapter Twelve
In the basement of a house not so very far from where Jack sat, Crystal cried. She tried to stop the tears, but they just kept flowing. Her eyes were burning. She'd slept in her contacts one night already and now it appeared she would be sleeping in them another night…or two. She didn’t let herself think beyond that point.
Their captors had treated them decently so far. She had only seen the two men, which she'd begun mentally referring to as Tattoo guy and Angry guy. When they first got to this residence, Tattoo guy had untied her feet and then Devon’s. He'd proceeded to take them down to separate rooms in the basement. He left Crystal’s hands tied behind her and her mouth covered with duct tape. He shoved her onto a mattress on the cement floor, and retied her ankles with the tape.
She tried pleading with him before he left, but it was impossible with her mouth covered. She wanted Devon with her, and was sick with worry for the few hours she spent alone. Tattoo guy returned with a greasy
brown paper bag that apparently held some type of fast food, and tossed it on the mattress to her. She looked at him pointedly, and finally he laughed and cut her hands free.
She peeled the tape from her mouth gingerly and asked, “Where’s Devon?”
“He’s eating. He’s fine.”
She glared. “He can’t be fine! He’s a six-year-old being held prisoner. Please let him stay here with me. He’s got to be so frightened.”
“Those are not my instructions.”
“So you can’t make any decisions on your own, you have to wait for someone to give you instructions?”
“Don’t mess with me,” he told her.
“You people are the ones messing with us. We’re innocent bystanders in this nightmare! All I’m asking is that you show one shred of humanity, one miniscule bit of decency, and let me be with my child. I promise we won’t cause you any trouble if you do this small thing for us.”
He held a hunting knife with a thick serrated blade to her throat and smiled. “I don’t expect you to cause me any trouble, anyway.”
Crystal glared at him again and he backed down. He walked out and returned a moment later dragging Devon, who was still tied at the ankles. He tossed the child and the second bag of food on the mattress.
“Crystal!” Devon flew into her arms.
“Oh baby, thank God. Are you okay?” She kissed all over his face and head.
He nodded, trying to wipe his tears away. He whispered to her, “I wet my pants.”
She cradled his face in her hands. “It’s okay. I probably would have, too, if I was your age.” She gave Tattoo guy another dirty look and asserted, “He needs clean clothes. Surely you thought of that in this grand master plan of yours.”
The man waved his knife at her and replied, “There might be something upstairs. Eat, and use the john. When I come back, you’re getting tied up again.” He looked at her fiercely. “And if I find any surprises when I get back, indicating that you aren’t behaving yourselves, I’m going to separate you again—permanently, this time.”
She held Devon protectively and replied, “No surprises. Thank you.”