Ex-Con Times Two

by Jay S. Wilder

  “You call,” Jake says. “She might be mad at me because of our conversation.”

  It doesn’t sound right to me. She did text him. But I give Katelynn a call anyway. Her voicemail picks up again.

  “We need to go over there,” Jake says.

  “I’m already on it.”

  He calls the shop and lets Tommy know we’re taking a detour. It’s great luck that Jared’s not the one to answer the phone. If it were him on the line, he might pull a John and try to talk us out of getting involved in anything dangerous.

  I also might listen to him. I’ve got two voices in my head right now. One is telling me to play it safe and the other is telling me to do whatever needs to be done to protect Katelynn. She might be turning her backs on us, but that doesn’t change my drive to keep her safe.

  I cut a right and take back roads to the assembly plant. Everything seems normal as we pull into the parking lot.

  “Her car,” Jake says. He points to where it is near the front. “The door.”

  It’s hanging wide open. I roll the truck to a stop. Jake jumps out and runs to Katelynn’s car. Putting my truck in park, I follow.

  Jake bends into the open door and roots around. He stands up with a face hard as stone. “Her things are all in here.”

  I look past him and see the keys in the ignition. Katelynn’s phone and purse are on the passenger seat. My heart squeezes up tighter than it ever has. It must be what a heart attack feels like. Jake snatches up her belongings from the car and we book it for the front door. I know her desk will be empty, but seeing it bare burns a hole in my stomach.

  Jake bangs on the door. “Hey!”

  I grit my teeth and look around the exterior wall. “There must be another way in.”

  He pounds the glass door again. A woman enters from a hall and notices us. She comes over to open the door and Jake doesn’t waste any time.

  “Have you seen Katelynn Rafferty?” he demands.

  Her eyebrows furrow together. “No. She should be at the front desk.”

  “Shit.” His hands tighten around the strap on her purse.

  The woman looks down at what he’s holding. “Can I help you with something?” she slowly asks, suspicion oozing from her voice.

  I step forward. “We need to speak to Brad.”

  “I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen him come in yet. Can I take a message?”

  “Will then. It’s important.” I gaze intently into her eyes, not giving her a chance to say no.

  “I… I don’t know. We’re not supposed to let just anyone in.”

  Jake pushes his way inside the building, nearly knocking the woman over as he goes.

  “We’ll be quick,” I tell her.

  She sputters something behind us but we’re already going past the front desk. My temples pound as we stalk down the hall.

  We pass offices and push through a set of double doors. It’s a vast space, with high walls. It’s not the part where the full airplanes are put together, but it looks like it’s close. There’s a conveyor belt that’s not in use and large pieces of equipment are set near the walls.

  Jake and I go around asking for Will.

  “He said he was going out for a smoke,” a lady tells me. “But that was a while ago. The door is over yonder.” She points at a side door leading outside.

  “Thanks.” I stomp toward for the door. Jake sees me going and follows.

  I toss the door open and step out into the side parking lot. The door hits the outer wall and a man standing nearby winces.

  “Will,” I say.

  He drops the cigarette in his hand and looks back and forth between me and Jake. The small pile of half-smoked cigs at his feet says he’s been out here chain smoking.

  “Where’s Katelynn?” Jake asks.

  Will’s eyes widen. “I don’t know. Isn’t she out front?”

  Jake lets out a growl that could come from a wolf. He takes a step towards Will and the other man shrinks back.

  I press my hand against Jake’s chest. “No,” I firmly tell him. I catch his eye and silently remind him that we need to watch ourselves.

  I turn back to Will. “I think you know she’s not up front. In fact, I know you know exactly what’s going on here.”

  “Who are you?” Will asks. He stands up straight and puffs out his chest.

  “We’re friends of Katelynn’s.”

  “And we know every fucking thing,” Jake shouts. “Don’t bother lying to us.”

  “Katelynn told us about the bookie,” I explain. “And that you and your dumbass boss owe a whole lot of money. Unfortunately, you’ve dragged Katelynn into this fucking disaster and now she’s the one paying for your mistake. Tell us what just happened here. Now.”

  I clamp my jaw and stare him down. Neither Jake or I can afford to punch a man right now, forget beating the shit out of him, but Will doesn’t know that.

  Will nervously swallows. “The men from the other day came. I think they were the ones that tried to kidnap Katelynn the afternoon she was getting Brad’s car. They took both her and Brad, and his car.”

  I narrow my eyes. “And why did they leave you behind?”

  “I was inside. I saw it all happen from the window. Katelynn had just gotten here and she and Brad were talking in the parking lot. Two men pulled up and pointed guns at them. They made them get in the back of a van and one of them took Brad’s car.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No, I couldn’t call the police. You have to understand that.”

  I can practically hear the fury crackling on Jake. He wants to pound this guy as much as I do. We need him, though. We need whatever small amount of information he may have.

  “Any idea where they went?” I ask.

  Will squirms under my gaze. “I heard that Bennie has some old warehouses outside of town. Off 287, between here and Washburn. That could be where they are.”

  “Why Katelynn?” Jake says. “Why take her?”

  “Collateral,” I explain.

  “Uh-huh.” Will eagerly nods. “I reckon they’re going to force Brad to withdraw all his money. Or maybe to do something else to get the cash, like rob somebody. God knows he doesn’t have seventy thousand dollars.”

  “Seventy thousand?” I say. “That’s not the amount we heard.”

  Will bounces nervously from foot to foot. “It’s more now. Brad’s owed that money for a while. His interest’s been building.”

  I lift my chin. “And what about you? Don’t you think they’ll be coming for you soon?”

  Will pulls a new cigarette from his carton and lights it up. “I’ve got a plan.”

  Jake folds his arms. “You’re going to run?”

  “Do you have another idea?”

  “You should probably make sure you can get away fast enough first. If anything happens to Katelynn, it won’t be just Bennie you’ll have to worry about”

  Will pales. “I… I need to get back to work.”

  He kills the cigarette under his shoe and scurries inside like the rat he is. The door bangs shut behind him. Jake and I turn to look at each other. For the first time in a long while, I see real fear in my friend’s face.

  “Jesus Christ, Hunter… What are we going to do?”

  33

  Jake

  My lungs are filling up with something that’s not air. It’s like concrete being poured down my throat. It suffocates me and weighs me down.

  My vision blurs. My hands shake.

  “We have to stay calm,” Hunter tells me. “We’ll end up doing something rash if we don’t.”

  I look at him like he’s crazy. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

  His eyes flash. “What do you suggest we do, Jake? Load ourselves with rifles and grenades and start storming every warehouse from here to Washburn? We might as well shoot ourselves in the feet.”

  “If that’s what it takes, then yes. I’m going to do whatever I need to do to get Katelynn back.”

  Hunter place
s his hands on my shoulders. “Fuck, Jake! Just listen to me. I’m not saying we forget about her. We need to wait and see what happens. Brad could be getting the money now.”

  “It’s more likely that he’s not. Where the fuck is he going to get seventy thousand from?”

  Hunter can’t answer that one.

  “Anything could be happening to Katelynn right now,” I spit out. Saying her name and not knowing where she is hurts like the devil.

  “But most likely she’s sitting in a room somewhere, all right? You know that. Now just take a deep breath.”

  His hands drop from my shoulders. He laces his fingers behind his head and starts making circles on the asphalt.

  “I’m going to scout out the area Will talked about.”

  Hunter drops his hands. “I’m coming with you.”

  “We can’t go with nothing on us.”

  “But we can’t take guns. What’s going to happen if the police show up and we’re still there? The men holding Katelynn are going to be armed. Plus, we don’t know how many of them there are. It could be more than two guys.” He has a point. I work on breathing deep and even while I rack my brain for some kind of solution.

  In my hand, Katelynn’s phone starts ringing. I lift it up and read the screen.

  “It’s her dad,” I announce.

  “Shit.”

  I keep on watching the phone, unsure of what to do.

  “What are you doing?” Hunter asks. “Put it away.”

  “He’s probably checking in to make sure she’s okay.”

  “And?”

  “If he keeps calling and she doesn’t answer, he’ll call the police.”

  Realization sweeps Hunter’s eyes. “Answer it.”

  I swipe the screen and put the phone on speaker. “Hello?”

  “Who is this?” Katelynn’s dad’s gruff voice asks.

  “This is Jake, Sir. We met this morning.”

  “Why do you have Katelynn’s phone? Where is she?”

  Hunter’s face tightens. I look to him for an answer but he doesn’t seem to have one.

  “Hello?” Katelynn’s dad says, more aggressively this time.

  “She’s at work. I stopped by there to drop something off and we accidentally switched phones.”

  I cringe at my God-awful lie. Katelynn’s cell phone case is girly. It has a damn peacock feather on it. I’d have to really have my head in the clouds to mistake it for mine.

  “Bullshit,” he barks. “Where is Katelynn?”

  “Uh...”

  He doesn’t give me the chance to come up with another story. “Let me talk to her right now or I’m calling the police.”

  “That’s not necessary. Listen, Katelynn will be just fine.”

  “Call the police,” he says to someone on his side of the line. His voice gets louder again. “I have a mind to call the cops right now. You should make this easy for yourself and just tell me where Katelynn is.”

  Quick as a whip, Hunter snatches the phone from me and hangs up. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  “We have to find her now, Hunter.”

  “Shit, I know, okay? Let me think for a second.”

  I take the phone back from him and power it down. Hopefully, with it off Katelynn’s parents won’t be able to track it with GPS.

  Hunter and I hurry to get into my truck.

  “They’ll be looking for us anyway,” Hunter says as we walk. “More than a few employees talked to and saw us. The police will be out looking for us.”

  My stomach rolls. “Then we need to find Katelynn quick. And we can’t let the cops find us.”

  We throw ourselves into the truck. Hunter peels it out of the parking lot.

  “I have an idea,” he says.

  I snap my head towards him. “One not involving guns?”

  “Nope. It’s completely legal. Well, not completely, but it’s better than chancing getting caught with firearms. It’s going to take some planning, though. And risk.”

  “That’s fine by me.”

  At this point, I’d risk anything for Katelynn. Including my life.

  34

  Katelynn

  The fluorescent lights above my head flicker. I glance up at the dead bugs stuck on the other side of the glass. They’re the lucky ones. Their fates were sealed long ago. They’re not waiting around to find out what’s going to happen to them. They’re not alive to witness each excruciating minute drag by.

  “I’m sorry I got you into this.”

  I glance over at Brad. He’s tied up in his own chair next to me. In front of us, the door leading from the room we’re in is cracked. I can still hear the voices of the men who put us here. They’re somewhere in the warehouse, but too far away for me to hear just what they’re talking about.

  “Katelynn?”

  I take a deep breath. My wrists burn where the rope cuts into them and I’m afraid enough that I might actually throw up.

  “I don’t have much to say, Brad.”

  His head hangs. His shirt is scuffed up and his face white. The men who took us haven’t laid a hand on us yet, except for tying us up. But that doesn’t mean they won’t.

  I have no clue what’s next. I’ve spent the whole time since those men pointed a gun at me in the plant’s parking lot praying that Hunter and Jake got my text and came to investigate. Maybe together he and Will can figure out where Brad and I are.

  If they don’t we really are doomed.

  “Why don’t you just give them what you do have?” I whisper. “They already took your car. Aren’t there other things you can cash in? Jewelry? Your boat?”

  “Miranda took the boat in the divorce,” he sadly says. “And all my savings.”

  I can’t really blame her. If I was half as smart as Brad’s ex-wife I would have run away myself ages ago. I would have found another job and deleted his number from my phone.

  Footsteps thud, each one getting louder. I tense and press my back against the hard chair.

  The door opens up and the two men who were at the warehouse when Brad and I were brought here come in. I don’t know where the SUV men are, but I can only imagine they’re keeping watch somewhere.

  The men go and stand next to the door and a third person walks in. The four people who kidnapped us are all big and brawny. This new man is the opposite. He’s short and pudgy and has small, black eyes.

  “Bennie,” Brad says. “Listen…”

  Everyone looks at Brad.

  “Please let Katelynn go,” he says.

  My mouth falls open. It wasn’t what I expected to hear. I thought he would attempt to smooth talk his way out of the situation. His pleading my case is a total surprise.

  “She’s only twenty-one,” Brad says. And she’s a good kid. She’s the best employee I have.”

  Bennie scrunches up his beady, black eyes. “Why do you bother, Brad?”

  His voice is deep and smooth. It would be perfect for a jazz singer. Hearing it now sends shivers down my back.

  “You know she’ll go to the police the second she’s out of here,” Bennie says.

  I should protest. I should tell Bennie I won’t do that, but I can’t get my mouth open. It’s sealed shut with fear.

  And he wouldn’t believe me anyway.

  Bennie’s cold eyes snake over to me. I stare back, determined not to reveal just how terrified I am.

  “I can get the money,” Brad says.

  My head whips in his direction.

  “I can,” he repeats. “I know where my friend keeps his savings stashed. He doesn’t trust banks and won’t put a dime in them. He has rolls of thousands of dollars hidden away.”

  “Where?” Bennie coolly asked.

  “At a house he leases. Right off of I-40.”

  It must be a lie. I just asked Brad two minutes ago if there wasn’t some way he could pay what he owes and he claimed there wasn’t.

  My heart pounds away while I wait for Bennie’s answer.

  “Go,” he says. “But I’m go
ing with you.”

  “Of course,” Brad eagerly says.

  Bennie looks at me again. This time I dart my eyes away. I can’t take any more of his cold, lizard-like pupils.

  “Come with us,” Bennie tells his two thugs. “The others will watch her.”

  One of the men skirts around me on his way to Brad’s chair. A handgun peeks out from under his black suit jacket. He unties Brad, who gets up and rubs at his wrists.

  The four of them leave, none of them giving me a second look.

  Including Brad.

  I slump back in my chair. Either Brad has a clever plan up his sleeve or he’s just thrown me under the bus.

  What’s going to happen if he doesn’t follow through with his promise to get money? Are they going to kill him?

  Are they going to kill me?

  And what if Brad does collect the thousands of dollars? Is Bennie really going to let the two of us go? Or would it be easier for him to dispose of us?

  I rub my wrists back and forth and look for some sort of wiggle room between my hands and the ropes. I’m tied tight to the chair by my torso and my arms are bound behind my back. The man who wound me up did a good job. I can’t slip free no matter what I do.

  Other than the two chairs, there’s nothing else in the room. Supposing I did get free of the ropes, I’d have to navigate my way out of the warehouse.

  The two men left to guard me are out there somewhere. They could be right in front of the room’s door.

  I drain my brain looking for ideas. Could there be something I can offer the men in exchange for my release? My family doesn’t have a lot of money—certainly not the seventy thousand Brad told me he now owes Bennie.

  I listen for sounds outside my door but hear nothing. Time drips on. What’s probably thirty minutes passes, and still I have no good plans.

  At least an hour goes by. I drop my head forward and give up thinking. It’s time to start praying.

  A noise pulls my head back up. It’s a booming sound, like a bomb. More noises come, each one on top of the other. Shouting. Running. Guns going off.

  New adrenaline pumps through me. Someone is here.