by R. G. Ryan
“Oooh, I’ll bet that hurt. I should warn you that any sudden movement you attempt is guaranteed to produce similar results. It’s one of the unpleasant little side effects of the stuff we gave to you.” His eyes devoured her inert form. “You see, Cassie my dear, there are some things worse than me touching you. Although Eddie and I both remember a time when you didn’t mind either one of us touching you, right Eddie?”
Cassie had recovered from the pain and gingerly turned her head back in his direction.
She said, “As I recall you had me nearly as drugged then as you do now. What’s the matter, Paulie? Can’t get laid unless the unfortunate girl is drugged first?”
Anticipating another blow, Cassie closed her eyes and turned away.
Instead he simply said, “Come, come now. Do you actually believe I’d do something as boorish as striking you? Why, I am crushed that you would think so little of my character and self-control.”
“If your character is so impeccable, then let me go.”
“Oh, I’ll let you go, when a certain person has paid for his crimes in full.”
She laughed, which triggered the white-hot pain in her head, but she didn’t care.
“You did this so my uncle would come after me? You’re even dumber than I imagined…and that is really saying something.”
He stood up suddenly and turned to Eddie.
“I’ve got to go out for a little bit and see about some food. While I’m away, get her cleaned up. The zip ties should keep her from trying anything funny.”
He turned back to Cassie, his eyes black with evil.
“I wish I could stay and help, but perhaps another time, hmmm? Bye for now.”
He left the room quickly, locking the door behind him.
Eddie approached the bed cautiously, obviously embarrassed.
“Cassie, I’m so sorry about hitting you. It was just a natural reflex. I never meant to hurt you.”
“It’s okay, Eddie, I’ll live. And I’m sorry about biting your finger. I did bite your finger didn’t I? Everything is pretty fuzzy.”
Eddie unwound the towel. The bleeding had slowed, but the wound was still oozing blood. On closer examination she found that the bite had gone clear to the bone, a discovery that left her so woozy that she sat down heavily on the bed.
“Oh wow! I don’t feel so good,” she said, swaying slightly.
“Let me see your finger,” Cassie replied as she raised her head up slowly.
Eddie scooted over a little closer to Cassie and held the injured finger up in front of her eyes.
“I did that, huh?”
“I don’t think you knew what you were doing. You couldn’t help what you did any more than I could help how I reacted. It was just reflex.”
“You’re probably right. Listen, any chance you can cut these off and help me stand up. I have cramps everywhere from laying like this for so long.”
“Oh, sure. I have to get you cleaned up anyway. Might as well get started.”
Eddie rummaged around in a bag left at the foot of the bed and eventually found a pair of scissors. After cutting the zip ties, she managed to get Cassie into an upright position with minimal struggle.
“Let me know when you feel like standing,” she said with genuine concern.
Cassie’s head was swimming so badly she had to lean against Eddie for support.
“Wow! What did he give me anyway?” she asked incredulously.
“I don’t know for sure, but I know it was enough to knock you out and keep you out for most of one day. He said something about getting a tranquilizer from a vet. Something to do with horses.”
Turning her head slowly from side to side Cassie remarked, “A vet? Well, it definitely feels like I’ve been kicked by a horse. And my neck is killing me!”
“Do you think you’re able to stand yet?”
In answer, Cassie leaned forward and gathered her feet under her. She made a valiant attempt to stand, but fell back onto the bed dragging Eddie with her. Somehow in the process Eddie’s finger got trapped under them both causing her to cry out.
“My finger!” Eddie said through tears, clutching it tightly to her chest. “After you bit it, Paul got real mad at me for hitting you and he twisted it backwards. I think it may be broken.”
“Can you bend it at all?”
Eddie made a feeble attempt but the pain was too intense.
“No way! It’s broken for sure.”
Cassie laughed humorlessly.
“We’re quite a pair huh?”
Through her pain and dizziness, Cassie was remembering how much she used to like this girl. She had seemed at the time like a little sister to her—a little sister who had a weird crush on her, but a little sister nonetheless.
“All right, let’s try this again.”
After two tries she made it to a standing position.
Eddie put her arm around Cassie’s shoulders.
“Now, let’s try to get you washed up and out of those smelly clothes. I’ve got some clean ones for you over in the suitcase.”
“All the way over to the bathroom, huh?” Cassie said.
“Oh, you can make it. Come on, lean on me, we’ll get through this together.” She looked into Cassie’s eyes. “I mean that, Cassie. I, uh, still love you, you know.”
Cassie looked back, and then slowly nodded her head, saying, “Yes, I’m sure you do. But let’s talk about that later.” Looking more closely at her surroundings she commented, “Whoever built this shack was really into roughing it.”
“That’s for sure. Like, there’s water, but you have to pump it. Paul brought along a couple of gas generators. He uses one to pump water out of the well and the other for the lights. Then to get hot water you have to heat it on the wood stove, kind of like the old days, I guess.”
“Listen, the way I’m feeling, that sounds way too complicated. Let’s just go with whatever is there.” It was at that point that Cassie noticed that she had some form of collar around her neck. “By the way, any chance of getting this collar off, it really hurts my neck.”
“You know I would if I could, but it’s locked in place and guess who has the only key.”
One step at a time they inched their way to the bathroom. Having only cold water to work with was a challenge, but it actually worked to Cassie’s advantage as it invigorated rather than relaxed her, which was exactly what she needed. Over the next hour, while Eddie helped Cassie wash, they talked about what had transpired in their individual lives during the preceding seven years. It was while Cassie was drying off and stepping into her clean clothes that Eddie changed the subject back to the present situation.
“Cassie, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I’ve come to a decision.”
Buttoning her blouse Cassie asked, “And what would that be?”
“I’m going to get you out of here.”
Cassie stopped and stared at her.
“Listen, Eddie, I appreciate the thought, but I don’t think you’re any match for Paul. I’ve seen him in action and the guy is demonically devious. I know getting out of here may seem like an easy thing to do. By the way, where is ‘here?’”
“Well, I think we’re somewhere outside of Las Vegas. I don’t know exactly where because he made me blindfold myself while we were driving in. But we were driving North on I-15 and before the blindfold went on I could see lights in the distance. Wherever we are I don’t think we’re close to anything ‘cause I never hear cars driving by or any other sounds like what you’d expect to hear if you were close to other houses. Also, the road we were on right before we got here was really rough…like a dirt road, or something.”
“Well, I give the man high marks for being thorough.”
Just then they heard the sound of a car driving up and shortly after that the sound of the front door opening and closing. They were coming out of the bathroom when the door to the bedroom was unlocked and opened. Paul stood t
here holding some bottled water and a grocery bag. He smiled when he saw her.
“Wow! You look great. And that collar, boy does that bring back memories.”
Cassie slowly made her way over to the bed, as there was nowhere else to sit in the room.
“All right, ladies, eat up,” Morgan said. “I need to get things ready for our broadcast.”
“What are you talking about?” Cassie asked weakly.
“Didn’t Eddie tell you? We’re going to have a little web-cast tonight. Let your precious uncle see that you’re all in one piece and chat him up a little bit.”
“What if I refuse to take part in it?” Cassie said defiantly.
“Now why would you want to go and do a thing like that? Aren’t we being nice to you? Don’t you want to get out of here and back to your life?”
Cassie was looking at Paul suspiciously, knowing that she couldn’t believe anything he said.
“So, let’s say I cooperate. What’s in it for me? How about you keep those restraints off? I mean it isn’t like I’m going to get far since I don’t know where we are and it appears we’re somewhere in the desert. “
“I’ll think it over and get back to you. For now, eat this food. I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”
He dropped the bag and the water on the bed and left the room, once again locking the door behind him.
Eddie knelt down in front of Cassie and whispered, “Cassie, I know what he’s up to. This isn’t about letting your uncle see that you’re okay.”
“What do you mean?”
Eddie could barely get the words out.
“He plans to do things to you while Jake watches. Things like…you know…like he used to do.”
Cassie nodded her head silently as images flooded her mind.
“So, he plans to resume his usual, charming ways.”
Eddie sobbed, “He told me that he wants to hurt you…to hurt you like your uncle hurt him.”
“Yeah, well, good luck with that. I’m not exactly the emaciated, weak little girl he remembers from before.”
Eddie laughed and then covered her mouth.
“I’m pretty sure he got that message. Thus, the shock collar.”
Cassie fingered the stiff leather that nearly choked her when she turned her head a certain way.
“So that’s what this is?”
“Yeah. He said if you tried any funny business, he’d light you up like the 4th of July.”
Cassie stared blankly at the floor as a knot formed in the pit of her stomach.
Then she looked at Eddie and said, “So let’s hear about this plan of yours.”
Chapter Seven
“What now?” Michael asked as we finished eating a quick, late lunch.
“I’m going to call Zack Hastings.”
“Your FBI contact, right?”
“Yeah, but not just any contact. Zack is the Assistant Director In Charge of the FBI in the Western United States. If I can get their resources activated we have a much better chance of tracking the movement of that white van.”
Vanessa asked, “But, what if it was only a decoy? What if they dropped it somewhere and transferred Cassie to another vehicle?”
“Then we at least can track it to where the switch happened.”
Muriel stood, drawing herself up to her full 5’11” height, and said, “This isn’t based on anything but my experience with Paul Morgan, but I think I know what he’s up to.”
“All right,” I replied. “Let’s hear it.”
“First of all, he’s not that smart. But he’s damned clever.”
“And clever can beat smart much of the time,” Aaron added.
She began to pace slowly.
“He isn’t doing this for money. He’s doing it for revenge—for taking me and Cassie from him and for the beating you gave him.” She paused before adding, “And whatever he does to Cassie, he’s going to want you to see it.”
A notion that sent a shiver through my soul.
I said, “Which means that he will have to be somewhere with Internet connection so he can send me images, or maybe even video of what he does.”
“Not necessarily,” Aaron replied. “Way things are these days with all the cellular technology, he could be only about anywhere and still be connected. ‘Specially if the boy has a satellite phone.”
“You’re right. Damn! So much for narrowing down the places he could be heading. I’m gonna call Zack.”
I walked into the den and dialed his number. It went straight to voicemail.
“This is Zack. I know this is probably an emergency, but I’m, as Kenny Chesney said, ‘on the coast of somewhere beautiful’ with my family and this cell phone is in my home office in Los Angeles. Please refer all communication to Gerald Redfern in San Diego.”
Disappointing, but I didn’t have time to fret about it. So I called Gerald Redfern’s number. He and I had worked together a few times over the years, most recently when Yves Barreau had kidnapped Simone Ducharme. It had been a harrowing, profoundly dangerous experience. I felt lucky to have gotten out alive. Seriously lucky!
He answered on the third ring.
“Jake Moriarity,” he said jauntily. “To what do I owe the honor of receiving a call from the FBI’s most successful missing person’s consultant in history?”
“Well, Gerry, I wish it was a casual call to catch up on our lives, but…well, Cassie has been kidnapped.”
He was suddenly all business.
“Okay. Fill me in.”
I blew out a long breath.
“It’s very complicated, but the bottom line is…years ago when Cassie and Muriel were being trafficked up in Seattle, the piece of shit doing the trafficking was a guy named Paul Morgan. He ran a smarmy little escort service out of his apartment. At the time Cassie was eighteen, and Muriel was sixteen.”
“Damn!” he replied, drawing the word out. “And, may I assume that you are the reason he’s no longer in business…or is he still in business?”
“Yes, I am the reason.”
“So this is, what, revenge?”
“That’s the assumption we’re working with.”
“Well,” he said. “It makes sense. Where did she disappear from and when?”
“Last night, from her condominium complex in Carlsbad. We only got through watching security footage at her condominium complex, and—“
“You have the incident on video?”
“Oh, yeah,” I replied. “The bastard wanted to make sure that I knew it was him. Anyway, the timestamp on the video shows that it happened around midnight last night.”
“So, it’s about 1:45 p.m. right now, which means she’s been missing for nearly fourteen hours. What do you need from me?”
“Well, for starters, I need you to search all available CCTV feeds for a white, windowless, late model van. No license number that we could see. I’m going to text you a screen shot I was able to pull. Secondly, I need help. I’m so emotionally invested in this—and, honestly, so…well…distraught—that I fear my objectivity is going to be fragile at best.”
“Done! And Jake…we’re with you on this, brother. Anything you need.”
“I appreciate that, Gerry. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”
“Text me that image and we’ll start the search.”
“Thank-you!”
And with that, I disconnected the call and pulled up the image. It was black and white with virtually no definition, but at least it would give them something to work with.
I returned to the kitchen and announced, “Okay, the FBI are officially on the case.”
“What a relief,” Michael replied.
Vanessa asked, “What does that mean, exactly?”
I said, “Well, it means that one of the largest and best funded law enforcement organizations in the world is committing their vast resources to finding Cassie. They have amazingly sophisticated technologie
s and highly trained agents. From my perspective, no one is better suited to find missing persons.”
She smiled.
“If they’re so good…why do they always have to call you in?”
That was a pretty great question.
“Well, Vanessa…”
Aaron cleared his throat.
“Let me. The reason they call Jake in to help is that he’s got this ‘Spidey Sense’ thing going on that sort of transcends technology.”
“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” I explained. “But I have been known to solve some unsolvable cases.”
My phone started vibrating.
It was Gerald Redfern.
“That was fast.”
“Yeah, we caught a break. We have a van matching that description passing a traffic camera on Carlsbad Village Drive. We picked it up again entering the northbound I-5 freeway and then exiting onto Hwy 78 eastbound.”
“Wow! That is a break.”
“Yeah…hang on…”
I could hear him talking to someone in the background.
“Okay, Jake, we have the same van merging onto northbound Interstate 15 in Escondido.”
“Which means he could be heading only about anywhere.”
“But at least we have a fairly positive ID and have a general direction to focus the search.”
“Thanks, Gerry.”
After I relayed the information to the others, Muriel seemed deep in thought.
“What’s up, Mur?”
“I don’t know if this is anything, but Paul was obsessed with Las Vegas. He gambled. Did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yeah, he was really into it. Like obsessively so. We used to speculate that the only reason he was running hookers was to support his gambling habit.”
Aaron asked, “Are you thinking he might be headed for Vegas?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It’s just a thought.”
I said, “If he’s on I-15 northbound, that would make perfect sense.”
I called Gerald Redfern back.
“Yeah, Jake. What’s up?”