“Yes, he is.”
“Then as his employee, you should be showing more respect. I can assure you that I will make my husband aware of your accusations and will see to it that whatever payment you are expecting is not sent.”
“I am not making accusations up from my imagination, ma’am. If you’ll listen to me. I am concerned that your husband and your son are in danger.”
“My son is on a boat out on Lake Michigan, being well looked after by my husband’s employees, and my husband is quite busy working with his lawyers in Chicago.”
“Neither are where you believe they are, ma’am.”
Her voice, hesitating, suggested doubt. “And just how do you know that?”
Derek went on to explain everything that had happened from the time he met with Thomas in Grant Park to the last call he had with Ken O’Connell. He told Janet about what the police had found in Brian Lucietta’s office and how Ken told him that his resources had a good idea where to find Straus.
He told her about Stanley Mix and Michelle and how he had spoken with Michelle. He told her that he helped them remain hidden from her husband and how he would continue to keep them away from her husband for as long as he could.
He told her everything he knew as she listened in absolute silence.
Finally she spoke. “Ken was furious when that Michelle Mix told him what the doctors in Chicago had done. I was too, but I was more heartbroken than angry. Imagine, all these years I’ve been grieving for a son that was still alive. I should have known.”
“Janet, what those doctors did was horrible. There’s no excuse for their actions. But now, Alexander Black is out in the world somewhere, and there are six people dead because of it. I need you to help me.”
Janet paused before speaking. “What do you need me to do?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Really, Doctor Straus, I thought it would be much harder to see you face to face again. I have only been waiting for you here in your luxurious automobile for less than two hours. I was expecting a much, much longer wait.”
“Alexander,” Straus said, “Whatever it is that you want or need, I can help you. What those doctors did to you by lying about your death and smuggling you to me all those years ago was wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. But I did my best to keep you safe, didn’t I?”
“Indeed you did, Doctor Straus. Indeed you did. You kept me safe from having a family. You provided me the safety of never having a friend or, dare I say, a love interest. You kept me safe by reminding me that the world would never accept me. You locked me away, fed me, instructed me, and saved me from any resemblance of a normal life. And now, Doctor Straus, I am here to repay your kind acts. It’s you who needs safety now.”
“Is your father telling you what to do?” Straus asked, his hand finding the door handle. “If your father is behind all those murders and this whole scheme, I will defend you to the authorities.”
“My father reached out to you in good faith just a few days ago, but you rejected his offer of negotiation.”
“I saw what happened at my lodge. I saw you walk outside covered in blood, and I saw what you did to that man walking up the street. Your father didn’t want to negotiate, he wanted to kill me.”
“No, no, no, Doctor Straus. I was the one with the desire to kill you. It was I who killed Jacob Curtis and that pathetic Peter Adams. Though I cannot claim Mark Rinaldo’s and Henry Zudak’s demise, as you certainly should know, I can proudly say that I’ve dispensed of your entire team. Poor Brian Lucietta. He was so innocent, wasn’t he? Just a simple doctor, wishing to be left alone as he experimented with my body. So immune from guilt. Beyond reproach, I believe his journal stated.
“Oh yes, yes, yes, Doctor Straus. I read his journal. Each page, including those that referenced your Plan B should I ever become a public figure. How brave of you, Doctor Straus, to say that Doctor Lucietta was nothing but gallant in his quest to learn the secrets of my life. And what a martyr you were willing to be by proudly saying that you would defend his honor and ensure that he would suffer no repercussions as long as he followed your prescription. Tell me, Doctor Straus, did you extend that same, noble promise to Jacob Curtis? How about to Michelle? And speaking of her, I do miss her. Have you kept in touch with nurse Michelle?”
“Alexander, please. I’d like to speak with your father.”
“My father was more than willing to negotiate with you. You never showed up to your lodge to listen to his offer. But now, having learned that you saw the proceedings at the lodge that day, I am led to believe that you did arrive. Hide in the bushes, did you Doctor Straus?”
“Where is your father now, Alexander?” Straus asked loudly, hoping to catch the attention of any remaining police officers outside of the hospital. “I am willing to negotiate in good faith,” he spoke even more loudly.
“Detained. My father is detained. Shall we visit my old stomping grounds together Doctor Straus? If my memory serves, Ward C is but two floors above us. Shall we?”
Straus pulled hard on the door handle and launched himself out of the car. He yelled, hoping his voice would capture someone’s attention as he fell out into the darkness. He hit the cool, damp concrete floor hard, then quickly scrambled to his feet. Then, though he thought it impossible, the darkness around him turned even darker.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ken O’Connell could always sense when things were getting out of hand. He could spot ideas taking on a life of their own from miles away. In business, he knew when to pull the plug well before his partners, investors, and employees could even sense that a change was needed. In his life, he loved to follow possibilities and trends out to their expected ends. If the end looked positive, he would go forward, always being sure to design a way out should things begin turning in the wrong direction.
Arranging a meeting with Straus in order to extort money was, in Ken’s mind, a sound idea. He did all his due diligence before putting the plan into action. He verified the story that Michelle Mix told him. He got visual confirmation that Alexander Black was actually alive and was being held exactly where his sources suggested he would be. Ken made certain that Straus had enough savings and investments to make it worth his efforts. He then confirmed that Rinaldo, Zukak, Mix, Curtis, and Lucietta also had attractive portfolios, making them ripe for picking.
Once Ken was able to arrange a means of contacting and connecting with Alexander, his first test was to see if Alexander would make a willing and an appropriate associate. Ken was quickly impressed by his unknown son’s intellect as well as his personal desire to exact his own unique flavor of vengeance.
It took months of surveillance before one of Ken’s resources came up with a plan.
“Straus leaves the lodge every Tuesday morning and doesn’t return until late Thursday evening. During that time, the only people in the lodge are any guests, of which there are very few, and Alexander. He has a security system in place, complete with cameras and sensors on every door and window. However, the main door to the lodge is not monitored or alarmed. Straus probably didn’t want to make his guests feel like they are being watched.
“Alexander is held off of the main entrance way, down a short hallway which is accessible only by a pass code and key locking system. The code was easily stolen since his system uses a WiFi to control and monitor the entire system. I hacked the network and stole all access codes in under fifteen minutes.
“Picking the lock should take no more than five minutes, during which time Alexander will most likely be able to hear us in the hallway. He will be secured in his suite of rooms, which are, thankfully, very secure. However, should he want to alert someone, he does have access to a panic button that will set off a silent alarm which I believe will be sent directly to Straus.
“Assuming the panic button is not pressed by Alexander, you will be able to speak to him behind the safety of the hallway door that leads into his suite.
“Straus does have a hired gun within
an hour of the lodge. Worst case scenario is that Alexander presses the panic button, Straus dispatches his hired gun, and Alexander blows your whole plan out of the water.”
“And best case scenario is?” Ken asked.
“Alexander does not press the button, you are able to speak to him for as long as you like, and I will make modifications to the underside of Alexander’s bedroom. Once the trap door is completed, you will be able to deliver whatever necessary supplies to Alexander for his use and concealment. I will also leave behind a non-activated Smartphone that I’ve already connected to the lodge’s WiFi, using a masked IP address. I doubt that Straus would ever notice the device on his network, but, as a precaution, it won’t be registered as an active device.”
“Will it receive and send text messages?” Ken asked, pleased with how well the final steps of the plan were falling together.
“No. No text messages and no phone calls. Only email and only when it’s connected to WiFi. I’ve created a Gmail account for Alexander and have already pushed that email address to your contact list. He is listed as ‘AB Lodge.’”
“Assuming Alexander is willing to cooperate, how long do you suggest we wait until execution?” Ken said.
“No less than five weeks. I need that long to set up dummy bank accounts and off-shore accounts to quietly transfer whatever money you are able to secure from Straus and the others.”
“Five weeks will give me enough time to get to know my heartless son as well as giving you enough time to calculate the net worth of all the players.”
“Initial investigations estimate the total money in play to be over ten million.”
“Half of that sounds like a fair amount for my silence.”
“As long as Alexander plays nicely, and the doctors agree to pay you off rather than face public exposure, I think five million is a very fair amount.”
“What have you found out about Straus and his access to, how should I say, ‘nefarious people?’”
“Straus is not an idiot. Seems like he’s been planning something similar to our plan for the last few years. He has access to some muscle in Chicago through his contact here in Upstate New York. Not sure what his plans are exactly, but the files I pulled from his computer show an interest in extortion. I should also tell you, Mr. O’Connell, that part of Straus’s notes did include how to dispose of Alexander’s body.”
“And we need to have the same idea in place. What was Straus’s plan?”
“Sketchy at best. Seems Alexander is highly sensitive to electricity. Straus wrote about subduing Alexander with a stun gun, then dropping his body into Piseco Lake with enough weight so that he never floats to the surface.”
“Good enough of a plan for me,” Ken said. “I always believed that the best business plans are either stolen or borrowed from someone else. Make sure we have whatever we need when the time comes to dispose of Alexander.”
“Can I assume that you have decided that killing him is really your best option?”
“If you are thinking that killing my son is a horrible idea,” Ken replied, “then either I made a poor choice in hiring you or you have underestimated my resolve.”
The following Tuesday, Ken and his team of two hired “specialists” made easy entry into the lodge. As planned, the locking mechanism securing the door leading to a hallway was picked open, and the code stolen from the network breach released the latch. Once in the hallway, Ken turned to one member of his team and instructed them to “standby.”
“I want to have this conversation alone. You stay here just outside this door. If I need help, I’ll call for you. If Alexander is agreeable, I’ll give you a sign to proceed. Understood?”
“Understood.”
Ken, usually confident in his approaches to all things, found his steps measured and deliberate as he approached to heavy steel door on the right hand side of the hallway. The hallway was dimly lit and ran the thirty foot length of Alexander’s suite of rooms.
When he reached the door, Ken saw a winch and pulley system next to the door. He then noticed a small, thick glass window pane was cut into the steel door. A filtered light radiated through the window pane.
Ken paused before positioning himself where he could see through the window and into the suite. He drew a deep breath, checked over his shoulder to be certain his per diem employee was where he was instructed to be, then took two steps and faced the steel door.
“An unexpected and unknown visitor,” Alexander said. “How very unusual.”
“Alexander,” Ken said, his voice shaky with nerves, “my name is Kenneth O’Connell. I believe that I am your father.”
Alexander was standing in his reading room, as if he fully expected someone to grace his doorstep. Though the room was dimly lit, his pale, gray skin and pale blue eyes were easy for Ken to see.
Ken could see a change in Alexander’s eyes. A longing mixed with anger and fear. Alexander stepped closer to the door, his smooth, unblemished skin now no more than six inches from the window pane.
“I don’t see the resemblance,” he said, his body held perfectly still, and then he smiled.
It was the smile that charged Ken’s soul with terror. Toothless and vacant of any color. There was no laugh to accompany Alexander’s smile, but somehow, Ken felt that the smile was genuine.
“A joke,” Alexander said, sensing his father’s discomfort. “I am well aware of my appearance and how unsettling I make others. I must say, however, that I do see that we share a common hairline.”
Ken breathed deeply and ran his hand over his balding head.
“Looks like I haven’t given you any good genes,” he said.
“But I have to believe,” Alexander said, moving even closer to the window pane, “that your visit is a gift and that I am to expect additional benefits.”
“Alexander,” Ken continued, “I know what they’ve done to you, and I am going to make them pay. I came here to see if you would be willing to participate in a little plan I’ve been working on for the last several weeks.”
“Does this plan of yours involve me remaining in this comfortable prison?”
“No. It includes you being free and, hopefully, becoming part of my family.”
“You plan on making me a part of a family that I was born into?”
“Alexander, you have to understand that my wife and I had no idea what those doctors in Chicago did.”
“I do understand. And I know that you and Mom had absolutely no involvement or knowledge. My question was more geared to the fact that despite you wanting to include me in your family, you’ve yet to unlock this door.”
“I’ve read plenty of Straus’s reports about you, Alexander. They suggest that you may be very dangerous. I’m taking precautions which, if the roles were reversed, I’m certain you would take as well.”
“You read the reports of the man who has kept me as his lab rat for twenty-two years, who subjected me to countless tests all in the name of science, and you wonder why he may feel that I am dangerous?”
“If I unlock this door, Alexander, and you attempt to harm me or to escape, my men will put you down. Understood?”
“Why would I want to harm or escape from my own father?” Alexander said, again through his empty smile.
“I need time to get the key.”
“I have one,” Alexander said, holding a brass key up to the windowpane. “Straus keeps his key somewhere and gave me this one in case of emergency.”
Alexander bent down slowly and slid the key under the small gap of the door. The key sat inches from Ken O’Connell’s feet. He reached down, picked up the key, turned, and nodded to his armed assistant who was dutifully at his post.
“I am trusting you, Alexander and hope that you trust me as well.”
“You will not be disappointed… Dad.”
As Ken lifted his hand holding the key closer to the lock, Alexander moved a few steps away from the door.
“In case you change your mind and choose to cl
ose the door, my increased distance should afford you more time to do so,” Alexander whispered.
Ken slid the key into the lock, turned it quickly and heard the bolt slide into its home. Ken O’Connell was not a man who approached anything from a place of fear, but as he pushed the door open, he felt his legs grow weak.
“I will sit if that makes you more comfortable, dad.”
“No need,” Ken said, stepping into the room. “I think we understand each other just fine.”
Ken could easily remember how willing a partner Alexander agreed to be. How quickly he was to offer suggestions and make corrections when the information that Ken had regarding Straus was incorrect. He recalled how quickly Alexander learned how to use and to understand the Smartphone that he gave him. And how patient Alexander was when he told him the plan needed to be executed only when the timing was perfect.
Heartless: a Derek Cole Mystery Suspense Thriller (Derek Cole Suspense Thriller Book 1) Page 22