“It seems as if you were put through the equivalent of a college fraternity hazing ritual, which included humiliation, bondage, and sensory deprivation. Then your real brutal treatment was ended.”
“Yes, I was treated very poorly at first, but later in the week it seemed like they were backing off from that. They gave me comic books to read, a CD player to listen to, and better food. They even gave me soap and water to clean up with.”
“Yes,” agreed the doctor. “It’s like you had a guardian angel or some unknown protector. Almost a reverse ‘Stockholm Syndrome,’ where the kidnappers start bonding with their kidnap victim.”
Dr. Socorro continued, “Jason, I hope that this part of the conversation hasn’t been too upsetting for you. You had to endure a lot of pain and isolation these past five days and that has got to have taken a physical toll on your body. There has been a mental toll as well and it will help in your recovery if you understand that they were playing mind games with you.”
Shaking his head in agreement, Jason said, “I hated the things that they did to me. But I tried to never let my spirit get totally broken. I was even starting to spy on them a little by cheating on the blindfold at the end. I always kept my chucks on in case there was a chance to run away. I used whatever freedom they gave me to work out and keep fit. They could tie me up, gag me, isolate me in a dark basement, but I wasn’t going to let them break me. That’s how I got through that horrible week.”
“You have an indomitable spirit, Jason, and a great mental attitude. I’m very impressed with what you just told me. It shows real heart. Even so, don’t be surprised if you go through some ups and downs, peaks and valleys of emotional reactions, moments of depression or self-doubt. You have a great mind and the mind is a complicated entity. Is there anything else that is bothering you or causing you worry?”
“No, but thank you for trying to help me understand what has happened to me,” he replied.
“You’re welcome, Jason. It has been a pleasure to meet and talk with you. I think you are a very fine young man. If anything should come up that causes you mental anguish due to your ordeal, I would be pleased to talk to you again. Here is my card. It has my office and cell phone numbers on it.”
When Dr. Socorro opened the door to leave, Bill Hunter was waiting for them in the hall where there were a few chairs. After introducing herself, she told him, “Jason and I had a good discussion. I think he will do just fine recovering from this week’s experience, but be prepared for an occasional set back or two. That is very normal when someone has undergone what Jason had to endure. Mr. Hunter, you should be very proud of your son. Not only is he intelligent and handsome, but he has the heart of a lion, real courage and fortitude. I rarely see this in someone so young! Good luck, Jason. Call me if you need to talk some more. Otherwise, I will be just another, broken-hearted suitor waiting in the wings,” she said in a fluttering voice and batting her eyelashes as she turned and walked quickly down the hallway.
“She sure seems like quite a character, Son,” Bill Hunter told Jason. “It almost sounded like she was coming on to you.”
“I think that Dr. Socorro is very good at exploring and manipulating people’s minds,” Jason replied. “That is what she gets paid to do.”
* * *
Not long after Dr. Socorro left, Dr. Cartwright stopped by Jason’s room. “Real good news, Jason. Your blood sample showed you are free of any toxins or tranquillizers. Everything seems in order, so you are free to check out and go home.” He shook hands with Jason and Bill as he said, “Good luck, Jason. I hope you recover quickly and can enjoy the rest of the summer. Mr. Hunter, I have enjoyed meeting you and your family. I wish it had been under better circumstances.”
CHAPTER 22
THE HOMECOMING
(Saturday)
At last Jason heard the words he had wanted to hear since his rescue on Friday. It was now time to go home! After checking in his room for any personal belongings, Jason received a pleasant surprise. The security guard, who had been watching the area, came up to him and handed him a plastic bag. “This was sent over here from the police station. One of the officers found it in the room where you had been dropped off by the kidnappers.” Inside was Jason’s cell phone, wallet, keys and other personal belonging that he had had with him on Monday.
“I guess this is my lucky day,” he told his dad.
Just then an orderly came in with a wheelchair and took Jason to the checkout station. Bill quickly signed the paperwork and they were out the door. “I really am free!” Jason shouted. “Take me home, Dad.”
After they got into their Ford Explorer, it was just a short ride back to their house. When they got home, Jason got out of the car and burst through the front door shouting, “Mom! I’m home!”
Suddenly he stopped. As Jason looked around the front room and entryway, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There were all kinds of food dishes, flowers, candy boxes, even some balloons. “What is all this?” he asked.
His mom explained, “Ever since I got home from the hospital this morning, all of this stuff has been constantly arriving from your friends, our neighbors, your father’s office staff and friends and my friends and business acquaintances—it’s unbelievable. Plus, the telephone has been ringing off the hook. People want to stop by and say hello. I know they have missed you and been worried about you. But I don’t want to push you into anything.”
“Are you kidding?” Jason exclaimed. “I’ve been locked up in a basement all week and then kept in the hospital for another day. My life has been under a microscope for the past twenty-four hours and every part of me from my head to my chucks has been checked out, examined and evaluated. I’m ready for some small talk, some good friends, and some happy times with no life-threatening consequences.”
“Well, I figured you would be ready for some fun and companionship, dear, so I told everyone to start coming by this afternoon around 1:00 p.m. That will give you an hour and a half to just relax and do whatever.”
Jason went up to his mom and gave her a big hug. “Mom, it’s so good to be home. I never knew a tract house could look so good.”
“Just don’t overdo it, Jason. Let me know somehow if things start to overwhelm you in any way. I told everyone to keep their visits short this time. You know, keep things low-key.”
“Okay, Mom. I think I’ll go to my room for a while.”
A parade of visitors began arriving a few minutes past one. Their next-door neighbors were first, followed by some other neighbors from the block that Jason barely knew. Jason perked up when the first of his classmates at school started arriving. There was Richard Liu, who he first met in the fifth grade, when his family moved to this house, and Chauncey Jackson, probably one of the best athletes in the county, and already being scouted by colleges. He had known Chauncey since kindergarten. In their elementary school days, they had talked about sports with wide-eyed enthusiasm, and even played on a couple of youth league baseball and basketball teams together. These days they still talked about sports, but no one could keep up with Chauncey on the field. He was already an all-league running back, star pitcher, and fearsome on the basketball court as well.
“Jason, my man,” Chauncey said, “it’s good to see you again. I’ve missed our sports talks lately.” They went on to talk about the NBA playoffs and how the Giants and A’s were doing. Hanging with Chauncey was also good food-wise. He had unerring vision for what were the best things to eat on the table and he quickly focused on some tasty barbequed ribs and potato salad.
While they were eating and Chauncey saw that no one was paying direct attention, he told Jason, “I know we are supposed to be cool about what happened to you, but if you ever find out who did it, let me know. Me and some of my teammates would love to take some batting practice on those guys.”
“Thanks, Chauncey,” Jason replied. “It’s good to know that you are on my side.”
“Always have been and always will. You know that. Now
give me some knuckles.” As they were doing their knuckle taps, in walked Diana Miglione and Laura Friesen.
“Jason! We’re so happy to see you,” they said in unison. Each girl gave Jason a big hug. “Hi, Chauncey.” The girls looked stunning in their sun dresses, well tanned from spending a lot of time in and around Laura’s swimming pool.
“Well, I see these fine young ladies have their eyes on you, Jason, so I’m going to head on out. Don’t be a stranger. Let’s do some hoops soon,” Chauncey said as he left.
“Look, Jason,” Diana said lifting her foot. “In your honor we both got new Converses. It was our good luck charm to bring you back home.” Diana had on a pair of new neon pink low cuts, and Laura had on a new navy blue pair. “I guess it worked, huh,” she said.
“I’m so glad that you two were thinking of me. I sure have been thinking about you and how much fun we had at the last school mixer,” Jason said with a big grin.
“We have some good plans for you, Jason,” Diana said, “Laura is going to host a pool party for you, and we’ll just invite our closest friends from before. We’ll have a great time…you know,” she said with a wink. Diana took his hand and held it. “Come with us. My mom made you this scrumptious cake with custard and raspberries. You have to try some.”
Now this is the life, Jason thought, with two pretty young ladies leading me around and feeding me treats.
Mrs. Miglione was a fabulous baker, so he knew the cake would be great eating. And Diana and Laura were so sweet and friendly. Their presence was having a very soothing effect.
The afternoon went on like that for several hours. A lot of his parents’ friends came over, and quite a few of his classmates also, along with their parents who had also known Jason for many years. Jason kept thinking that it was like a graduation party, except that he hadn’t actually been graduated from anything other than captivity. It was great though.
Around four o’clock, Daniel and his parents arrived. Because of their accounting business, Gary and Melinda Holmes had had to work a good portion of the afternoon before coming.
Mr. and Mrs. Holmes each gave Jason a big hug, and Mrs. Holmes said. “It’s so great to see you here smiling again, Jason.”
“I think you have to give some of the credit to Daniel for that,” Jason replied. “I hope I didn’t get him into trouble.”
“I don’t think so,” Mr. Holmes said. “If I was in his shoes I’m sure I would have done exactly the same thing. There are a few communications issues we could work out, but not now, not today. Let’s just celebrate and put this last week behind us.”
“Come with me, Jason, and let’s get a couple of sodas. Mom? Dad?” Daniel said.
“No, you guys go on, we want to talk to Bill and Edith. We know exactly what they have been through lately.”
As they walked away, Daniel said in a low voice, “I just wanted to let you know that there are some reporters out in front of your house and it looks like a television crew also.”
“I thought they were going to leave us alone.”
“You probably will be, but I think they are trying to pump your friends and acquaintances for background and extra information they can find out. I’m pretty sure they want to talk to me.”
“What are you going to do, Daniel?”
“Basically, whatever you want me to do, my friend. You let me sit in on your account of the terror you went through while kidnapped, so I know everything that happened and how they kept going after your dignity and self-respect. It still upsets me to think about it. I would imagine that the last thing you want right now is to tune into the news and hear a report about how many times you were threatened, blindfolded, beaten, or bound and gagged.”
Jason agreed, “You’ve got that right. At the same time I don’t want the world to think that I was broken by those assholes and am afraid to tell the world what really happened.”
“Then let them wait. It’s enough for them to know you survived an ordeal and you are recovering from the shock of it. Jason, I can’t believe how strong you have been during this whole incident. After hearing what you went through, I know I’d be jelly at this point if it had happened to me.”
“The shrink lady I talked to this morning, Dr. Socorro, kept telling me that their plan was to humiliate me over and over again. I’m sure that was probably true, but I told her I had determined never to let them break me totally. They could control my body, but never my spirit. That’s what got me through. That and the thought of being able to kick your butt in the latest shooter or Madden football game again.”
“We still have a game session or two ahead of us. Unfortunately, it is a week late,” Daniel teased, getting back on familiar ground.
“Count on it! I’m ready for a normal day in our lives again.”
“Okay, Jason, I’ll give my best ‘no comment’ to any press today. Now tell me more of what Diana and Laura are planning.”
CHAPTER 23
JASON MAKES THE NEWS
(Saturday Evening)
By five o’clock, everyone had left or was leaving. A couple of Edith’s co-workers stayed behind to help clean up the remains of the food and the trash from so many visiting people. Outside the camera crew and reporters had left, so apparently they got what they came for. Daniel was relieved that they had left. Now, he and his parents didn’t have to sneak out to avoid being questioned about Jason’s ordeal.
Bill Hunter turned on the television to hear the local news broadcasts. He wanted to see how they had responded to the statements that he had worked out with Lt. Garcia. Channel 11 was one of two stations that had local news that early on Saturday. Jason was the third story in the broadcast. This is what was reported—
“Today police released more details about the daring kidnapping and release of a fourteen-year-old boy in City Park. The boy has been identified as Jason Hunter, who has lived all his life in our community with his parents, William and Edith. Evidently Jason was walking through the park Monday around noon when he was hit with a tranquillizer dart and then hustled into a waiting van. At the time of his capture, this wasn’t even known as no one was in the area, and no one in the nearby neighborhoods saw anything either. Jason was kept in captivity for five days in a basement cell. At times he was treated roughly by his captors, although few details have become available yet.
“The kidnappers made no contact with the family until Friday when they were able to get a ransom note to Mr. Hunter at his office. This part of the kidnapping went very smoothly because Jason was left off in the maintenance building at City Park later that day. The kidnappers used Jason’s cell phone to call one of his friends, who was told where to look for him. After an overnight stay at Silicon Valley Medical Center, Jason was given the green light to return home. This afternoon there was a happy reunion with his friends and neighbors. We have a taped report from Jennifer Cooke, who was at the scene and talked to a few of the people attending the party—”
Next, the picture went to a recording. This is what Jennifer Cooke reported—
“I’m here at the Hunter residence. A stream of well-wishers has been coming in and out all afternoon. With me are two of Jason’s friends from school, Diana Miglione and Laura Friesen. Diana, how is Jason doing?”
“Jason seems to be just fine, smiling and laughing with his friends. He has some cuts and bruises on his face, arms and legs that are healing. I still can’t understand why anyone would want to hurt him.”
“What was it like for you all week, Laura, when you heard Jason was missing?” Jennifer asked.
“It was very sad and depressing. Plus our parents are keeping a very close watch on us now. They don’t think it’s safe for us to be out anywhere alone.”
“I talked with a number of the parents attending today, and they had similar reactions. Everyone is keeping a real close watch on their children in this community because if Jason could be taken the way he was, in broad daylight, in a public park, they don’t feel that their children are safe either.
This is Jennifer Cooke reporting—”
The news anchor continued,
“So far the police have released no information about who they think the kidnappers were. If anyone has additional information about this case or saw anything pertinent in City Park on Monday or Friday, they are asked to contact the police hot line which you can see on your screen or on our website.—”
Stories on the other stations throughout the evening were similar. Not all had interviews, but they all repeated the same idea: “That because the kidnapping was so daring, no kids in the community were safe anymore.” So far the stories were being deferential to Jason, but it was clear from the reporting that they all wanted to know a lot more detail, especially since the police were giving them no information about the kidnappers.
Bill and Edith talked about what they saw. “So far so good, I guess, but I think that the media may go after Jason and Daniel if more information doesn’t come out soon,” Bill said.
Edith said, “I don’t think the police, as yet, have a clue as to what went on in this case. I know they have their methods and their pride, but so far all of their work has yielded a big zero.”
“Maybe we should have insisted on bringing in the FBI right away, but their team was out on the streets Monday night and there were no leads of any sort then. I don’t know if adding another level of investigation would have made a bit of difference in this case,” Bill added.
“I still worry that the coverage of this incident is going to turn into Jason having to tell everyone the grim details of his captivity before they will leave him alone. And there is still no guarantee that the perpetrators of this outrage will ever be caught.”
“Why us and why our son? That is the $50,000 question,” his father asked.
“That is what bothers me the most. All of that brutality to Jason, and then, ‘Oh, we’re sorry, we don’t have a grudge against you after all. Never mind!’ ” fumed Edith.
The Kidnapping Page 10