by Don Easton
chapter thirty-one
Jack gripped his phone and listened intently as JimBo spoke.
“If it is Carlos, he’s untouchable,” said Jim-Bo. “So will Ray be, if he makes it back to Colombia.”
“We’ve got activity,” said Laura, looking through the binoculars. “The warehouse door is opening.”
Jack looked up and saw a van pull out of the warehouse. “Gotta go, Jim-Bo,” he yelled into the phone before grabbing the binoculars from Laura.
Seconds later, Jack knew they were at the right place. “That’s the same van that was at the motel the other night,” he said.
“This place is it!” said Laura, excitedly. “Vicki and Katie ... they’ve got to be inside that warehouse!”
They watched as the van screeched to a stop beside the pickup, then the driver of the pickup ran over and got in the van. Moments later, the van raced away.
“Maybe I can figure out a way to peek inside that place,” suggested Laura. “Pretend I’m lost or something.”
“They took the lookout,” said Jack. “Something’s not right.”
“Maybe he wasn’t a lookout.”
“Maybe. We can always come back later. Follow the van. They might lead us to some other place.”
It was dusk when the van turned off the Lougheed Highway onto Pitt River Road. Laura was stuck in traffic and Jack said, “It’s crossing the Red Bridge.”
Laura found an opening and quickly started to cross the bridge spanning the Coquitlam River, then abruptly slowed down.
“Watch it!” said Jack.
“Too late,” said Laura, “we’re on the bridge. Going to have to pass them.”
Laura watched the van in her rear-view mirror as she drove past. “They’re turning off,” she said. “Small parking area by the bridge.”
Laura drove for a moment before parking on the side of the highway. “What do you figure? Meeting someone?”
“Yeah, maybe someone with a British accent,” said Jack tersely. “Come on, we’ll go on foot.”
Damien sat on the floor, resting his elbows on his knees and holding his face in his hands. You can tell me which one. The words echoed in his brain. Taggart’s partner’s wife ... she had the same option. This isn’t just an idle threat!
Three-quarters of an hour passed before Damien got to his feet and spoke quietly with Whiskey Jake and Lance. Lance went outside as Damien looked at Rellik and said, “Untie him!” while gesturing to Ray. “Give him back his clothes. Wallet, passport — everything!”
“What about Leisure Suit Larry?” asked Rellik.
The hope in Leitch’s eyes disappeared when Damien said, “Leave him as is.”
Ray quickly dressed and Damien handed him the cellphone. “When your brother calls, tell him I’m setting you free. You can just walk out of here.”
Damien saw Lance return and said, “You tell the boys outside to let him go?”
“I told them,” said Lance. “You want me to call a cab too?”
Damien nodded and said, “Tell them to be here in half an hour.”
“Yellow or City?”
“I don’t give a fuck! There’s a phone book in the office. Use it!”
Damien looked at Ray and said, “Nobody will follow you. When you know you’re safe, call your brother and let him know. Your Mercedes is still at Stanley Park. I’ll give you your keys back.”
Ray’s dark eyes gleamed. He was back in control again. There was one thing he was certain. He knew his brother ... and what would happen when he was freed. Damien would pay dearly for this intrusion. He would never see his wife and daughter again. In a few years, when Damien thought he was safe, he would also die. But what choice does Damien really have? Not to release me will mean that both his wife and daughter will die. Of course, they will anyway. But how can you live with never knowing for sure?
Ray stared at Damien, who returned his stare briefly before looking down. Damien was beaten. He knew what was about to happen and there was nothing he could do about it — but beg. Something he was likely willing to do right now.
The Carlos cartel was no stranger to kidnappings. Ray knew that his brother looked at it as entertainment. It instilled terror and maintained the position that Carlos had hacked out for himself. Damien will suffer the fate of many others. He will listen to his loved ones die...
“Hola!” answered Ray when Carlos called.
Ray spoke with Carlos in Spanish, then looked at Damien and asked, “I may leave now?”
Damien peered out from the tarp covering the front window, then replied, “The cab just arrived. Go. Leave the phone so that your brother can call me. When you know that you are safe, use a payphone to call your brother. He can then call me on this phone.”
“I can’t believe you’re letting him go!” shouted Lance. “This is not the way to do this!”
“It is not your family!” yelled Damien. “You are not in charge! I am!”
Ray paused as Lance mumbled an apology. Carlos heard the angry exchange of words and laughed. He then gave Ray instructions: “Make sure you are truly free,” he said in Spanish, “then call. The men are waiting at a place to dispose of two packages but should not wait long. Leave quickly! Do not go home. Do not get your car. Go to the airport!”
Ray hung up and handed the phone back to Damien. He almost felt sorry for him but glanced at Leitch and thought of the indignity he had suffered himself. Almost sorry ... but not quite.
Moments later, Ray gave the taxi driver one hundred dollars to ensure that they were not being followed. He earned his money. His expertise as a city cab driver was evident as he followed orders and whisked down back alleys and ran red lights.
Ray watched carefully to ensure that they were truly not being followed before instructing the driver to pull over by a payphone where he would make two calls.
His first call would be to Carlos. His second call would be to order a taxi from a different company. Even if they were watching the airport, he knew he would be safe once inside. He glanced at his watch and wondered how many hours it would be before he arrived at the Aragon International Airport in Cali. Once in Cali, it was less than an hour’s drive to his home turf of Buga.
Vicki did not have any religious beliefs, but now she prayed that her ride in the van was to their freedom. Her hands were still bound in tape behind her back and her ankles were also bound. Pain radiated up her arm from her severed finger and she wondered how long it would be before the infection killed her ... if she lived that long.
More tape covered her eyes and mouth. She knew that Katie had been bound in the same manner. Both had been bound that way shortly after their arrival at the warehouse. Neither had received any food, water, or bathroom breaks in the last eighty-four hours. Vicki had lost control of her bladder. From the smell, she knew that Katie had defecated. Their only comfort had been to lie back to back on the burlap sacks and touch each other’s fingers.
The van stopped and they waited for a while. She could hear the men speaking to each other. Eventually she was dragged out of the van. She felt men’s arms reach through her own arms and drag her over the ground, scraping her knees as she went. She could hear the sound of water and wondered if she was going to be drowned. She moaned when her knee came in contact with a protruding stone in the path. Other men grunted behind her and she knew that Katie was also being dragged along.
A few minutes later, Vicki was placed sitting on her knees. She heard the sound of a cellphone being dialled, then a man spoke in Spanish. Fingernails scratched her face and the tape was ripped from her eyes. She blinked as flashes of light and shadows mixed. She saw that she was kneeling in front of a river. Seconds later, the band of tape was ripped from her mouth.
“Numbers! What numbers?” a man said, then slapped her across the face.
She blinked her eyes and saw the man holding a cellphone toward her face.
“Your hombre! What numbers?”
Vicki tried to speak, but her throat was swollen an
d no words came out.
The man cursed in Spanish and was about to slap her again when someone else intervened, grabbing her by the back of her head and shoving her face into the river.
They’re going to drown me now ... my poor Katie...The water suffocated her and she started to choke as her head was brought out, then repeatedly dunked again. Finally she found the words and pleaded, “No, please. Don’t kill us! She’s just a child. I —”
She was brought back to her kneeling position and the man with the cell demanded, “Your hombre. His phone. Talk to me the numbers!”
Vicki then understood what was being asked and quickly gave Damien’s cell number. As the man dialled, the other man spoke in Spanish on another phone.
It was good that Vicki did not understand Spanish as the man verified his instructions from Carlos. He was to slash Katie’s throat as Vicki spoke with her husband. Vicki would then receive the same treatment.
Vicki looked at Katie as she knelt beside her. The tape had been torn from her eyes but she was still gagged and bound. Vicki saw the bewildered look in her eyes as she looked around. The look of bewilderment turned to pleading when she looked at her mother. Vicki had thought the two of them had used up their well of tears in the last few days as their brains slowly went numb. She was wrong.
chapter thirty-two
Jack slapped at a mosquito on his face as he and Laura made their way along a narrow path leading through dense bushes and trees that followed parallel to the river and would eventually lead them to the Red Bridge.
“Dusk ... prime time for these little vampires,” whispered Laura, slapping her own neck.
“There it is,” said Jack, pointing to the upper structure of the bridge as they neared.
“Wait here in the bush. The parking lot should be close. I’m going to take a look and see if they’ve got company.”
Laura waited a moment and then Jack returned.
“Didn’t see any other vehicles except theirs,” said Jack.
“Maybe that’s why they’re waiting,” suggested Laura.
“Using themselves for mosquito bait? Let’s sneak a little closer and see if we can get an eye on what they’re up to.”
A minute later, they heard men’s voices and crouched behind some scrub brush and peeked out. The bridge had numerous large cylindrical cement pillars in a cluster on each side to support the bridge. The pillars themselves were in the ground on each side of the river. The sandy recourse went out from the pillars and then dropped off sharply in a small bank down to the river. The men were standing in a group close to the river but some of them were blocked from view by the pillars. The bush had been mostly cleared around the base of the bridge and Jack and Laura could not get any closer without being seen.
Damien’s hand shook as his fingers stumbled over the button to answer the cellphone.
“So, Damien, my brother is free,” gloated Carlos.
“Let my family go,” said Damien. “Please ... I beg you. Let me speak to them.”
“You telled your man that you were in charge. You are not in charge. I want to hear you say I am boss.”
“Please, your brother is —”
“Now! Then your woman can talk at you!”
“Carlos is in charge!” yelled Damien to his men. “He is the boss!”
Carlos laughed, then said, “Bueno! Now I will tell my man to let your woman speak at you on your own phone. Keep this phone close so we can still talk.”
Seconds later, Damien’s personal cellphone rang and he raised it to his other ear.
“Damien,” gasped Vicki.
“I’m sorry,” cried Damien. “I’m giving them everything they want. Are you ... is Katie?”
“I’ve been told to tell you,” said Vicki, “we are tied up. Katie ... me ... we are on our knees.”
Damien heard Carlos shout a command in Spanish, and Vicki’s voice became a gurgle.
“Now,” said Carlos, “you will pay for what you have done. Your woman can tell you how you pay!”
Vicki gasped and coughed, then said, “I don’t know why he did that. He choked me. I ... Damien! He has a knife! He’s cutting Katie’s neck...”
Damien listened as Vicki screamed. His other ear picked up the sound of Carlos laughing and cheering.
“Your girl is die, Damien! Now your puta! Listen to her...”
Jack heard the sound of a woman’s voice and then saw one of the men yank Vicki into view by her hair and drag her to the top of the bank where she kneeled on the ground. At the same time, another man yanked Katie into view and placed her beside her mother.
“It’s Vicki and Katie!” whispered Jack. “One guy is holding a cellphone up to Vicki’s face. They both look like their hands are tied behind their backs. Ankles bound too.”
“We’re too far away to get the drop on them ... there’s four of them,” said Laura.
“I’ll call for backup,” said Jack. “We can just sit tight until —” Vicki’s scream interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up in horror as he saw one of the men yank Katie’s head back by her hair. A flash of light reflected off the blade of a knife on Katie’s throat. Vicki screamed.
“Police! Drop it!” screamed Jack, leaping to his feet. The men looked up in surprise as Jack sent a bullet zinging above their heads and into the river bank on the opposite side.
Two of the men reacted by pulling out their own pistols as Jack and Laura ran towards them, trying to use some of the bridge pillars as cover. The men fired a volley of bullets that thunked into trees and ricocheted off the cement pillars. The distance was too great for a handgun to be really accurate, but fear instinctively drove the Colombians to fire rapidly.
A couple of the men crouched behind the pillars as Jack and Laura came closer.
“Die, you bastards!” screamed Jack, as he and Laura let loose with their own volley of shots. Shots that quickly improved in accuracy as the gap narrowed.
Jack stumbled over an old firepit, skinning his hand, but then regained his footing and raced ahead to catch up with Laura as she crossed the final few steps of the clearing.
One of the men yelled something at them in Spanish, then turned and pointed his gun at Vicki while looking back at Jack and Laura for a response. His meaning was clear. The response wasn’t what he expected. Instead of backing off, Jack stopped, took aim, and fired. The man leapt backwards as the bullet zinged past his ear.
“Vamoose or you will die!” screamed Jack. “Run and we let you go!”
“Locos!” yelled one of the other men to the others.
That’s right, I probably am crazy, thought Jack.
One of the men yelled at a colleague in Spanish. They violently shoved Vicki and Katie, causing them to scream as they tumbled down the bank and into the river where their screams coldly stopped. The four men bolted through the pillars to the far side of the bridge toward a path that would lead them back to their van.
For Jack and Laura, the choice was obvious. If they pursued the men, Vicki and Katie would drown.
Damien heard the scream and then the sound of shots as both phones went dead. “No!” he cried in anguish. “No!” he yelled again, and then he kicked Leitch hard in the ribcage. Leitch choked and gasped in pain.
Lance was quick to shout instructions into his own cellphone. Seconds later, the striker left his taxi and moved into position. Ray was just calling another taxi to take him to the airport as Rellik’s crew arrived.
Twenty minutes passed before Ray, blinded, bound, and gagged with duct tape, was dragged back into the car wash. Perhaps knowing what was in store for him, he risked being shot and put up a fight when he was approached. It did little to delay his capture but did result in a blow from a steel pipe that broke his arm.
Ray, again stripped naked, was being tied face-down to the railing when Damien knelt in front of him and ripped the tape off his eyes and mouth.
“You couldn’t do it, could you?” said Damien. “Let my wife and my daughter live. You could hav
e just walked away and released them. But no, you had to kill them!”
“It wasn’t me,” pleaded Ray. “My brother ... he is sick. I would not have hurt them. Please. You must believe that!”
“And was it your brother who cut off my wife’s finger?” yelled Damien.
“His idea. Yes! It was all Carlos!”
“But Carlos wasn’t here, was he?” screamed Damien. “It was you who did it!”
“No. It was men who work for Carlos. Not —”
“And who do you work for?” snarled Damien, picking up the roll of duct tape.
Ray’s eyes bulged as Damien wrapped the duct tape around his mouth. He then shut his eyes tight as Damien ground his foot into his broken arm. The resulting scream could be heard through the tape.
Damien looked at Leitch and said, “And who do you suppose gave Carlos that idea?”
Leitch mumbled through his gag and vehemently shook his head from side to side. Two of his ribs were broken and breathing was painful.
Damien’s cellphone rang. He paused, then looked at his men. “Carlos ... wanting to gloat. He can fucking wait!” he roared, while walking back and kicking Leitch in the face. Blood splattered from Leitch’s broken nose onto Damien’s shoe.
“Wrong phone,” said Lance, as the ringing persisted.
“What do you mean?” yelled Damien, while stooping to use Leitch’s shirt as a rag to wipe the end of his shoe.
“It’s not the phone Carlos sent you. It’s your private one!”
Surprise registered on Damien’s face and he quickly took the phone from his pocket, then held it in the palm of his hand and stared at it as it continued to ring. For a moment, he was afraid to answer. Afraid of what he would hear ... but he had to know.
It was Vicki. She was hysterical and crying but said that she and Katie were alive. Then she cried, “They were going to kill us! We were saved by —”
The phone went dead and Damien stood in a stunned silence for a moment, then turned to his men and said, “That was Vicki. They’re alive!”