by KJ Kalis
“Well,” Jess sighed, “When I did the analysis on Piper’s vehicle, I realized she’d been out to a remote area called Saguaro Pass a couple of times. Based on the maps I have access to, there’s nothing there. It’s just a little parking area off of a two-lane highway that wraps around the mountain. But that wasn’t what was really interesting. As I kept looking, I found out that she had been to Desert Springs a lot in the last thirty days, like ten times. At first, I thought she was going out there with girlfriends, but then I realized the frequency was too much. So, I pulled video surveillance from the local businesses and saw her.”
“And you did all of this just this morning?”
Jess nodded, a couple of them black spots forming in front of her eyes again. She took another sip of water and bite of the dusty granola bar, “Yeah. It didn’t take too long. This is the kind of stuff I do every single day. Anyway, I found Piper on the video surveillance. She was with a man.”
Jamison reached into his pocket and pulled out a notepad, “This Walker person, right?”
“Correct. I didn’t know who he was at first, so I did a screen grab, ran facial recognition and it came back as Landon Walker. That’s when Charlie called me.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, I used a few of NAII’s resources that I really didn’t need to this week. Charlie keeps a pretty close eye on who is accessing what kind of intelligence. So anyway, he called me just as I found out that Landon Walker was dishonorably discharged from the Army and now works for a company called Zeta Tactical Consulting. Charlie and I think Landon’s boss, Colonel Harrison Foster, is the one behind all of this.”
“Who’s Foster?”
“A retired Army Colonel. Someone that Walker used to work for. From what Charlie told me, Foster was someone the Army couldn’t dishonorably discharge, but they were happy to get rid of. Now he runs his own private security firm.”
Jamison scowled, “Why do they want the ABG?”
Jess realized that the conversation had led her right back to the spot Charlie had asked her to investigate — why Walker wanted the ABG in the first place. “That’s the part that’s confusing. This product, the ABG Chase has developed, Arterial Blood Glue, it’s designed to save lives, not hurt them. Why would private security contractors need access to it? And why would they go to the extent of abducting Abby, and now Piper, in order to get it? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Jess watched as Jamison stood up and started pacing, “So, what you’re telling me is that you were all targeted in order to get to Chase, in order for these private security contractors to get access to a classified product that is not on the market as of yet. Is that correct?”
Jess nodded, “That’s right. But what we don’t know is why.”
19
Landon was tired of staring at Abby and Piper. Paper had quieted down considerably after Landon held the knife to her neck. But who wouldn’t?
Landon twisted in his chair back towards the screens that Baker was monitoring. There was no movement on them, save for an occasional truck that passed by the building. Landon glanced over at Reinhardt, who had put away his sunflower seeds for the moment. He seemed to be picking at something with his nails. A glint off of one of the overhead lights told Landon it was his K-bar knife. There was a constant tick, tick of the knife against something hard. The noise felt like someone was drilling fillings out of Landon’s mouth. Before he could tell Reinhardt to stop, Baker interrupted, “Hey, boss?”
As Walker turned, he saw Baker pointing to one of the monitors that was displaying images from the surveillance cameras they’d installed in the parking area of Trident Labs. During their planning cycle, Landon had recommended they get someone in the building to tap into the surveillance already built into the labs where Chase worked, but Foster thought it was too risky. Organizations like Trident had a robust security presence. They settled on surveillance in the trees outside the building, placed by a crew pretending to be there to do landscaping.
“What’s going on?” Landon said, squinting at the screen.
Baker paused for a second, tilting his head a little bit, listening to the police scanner on the desk. “Sounds like a fire alarm was pulled at one of the buildings.”
Landon leaned back in one of the chairs in front of the command center, resting his elbows on the armrests and intertwining his fingers. This was an interesting development to be sure. He watched as the first fire truck rolled in and a small stream of people came out of one of the buildings. “Is that the same building Chase Montgomery works in?”
Baker pulled the binder across the surface of the desk and flipped it open, looking through a few papers that had been carefully placed in plastic sheet covers. “No. It doesn’t look like it is. He works in the main building. From the map we have here, it looks like this is a different building, Building B.”
“Any chance those buildings are connected? The last thing we need is to have Chase interrupted while he’s trying to get the ABG for us.” Landon frowned. Delays were unacceptable, especially on a mission is important as this.
“No, sir. They are close together, to be sure, but not connected.”
Another minute went by and then Baker pointed at the screen again, “Sir? Aren’t those our targets?”
Landon stood up, pushing the desk chair behind him, leaning forward on the edge of the wood, resting his weight on the palms of his hands. “Zoom in.”
Landon heard the mouse click a couple of times and saw as the surveillance camera zoomed in closer to the front door of the building where the fire alarm had been pulled. Two people, a man and a woman, were being escorted out of the building by what looked to be security personnel. Landon raised his eyebrows, “Is that them? They have some serious firepower power in that building. Did we know anything about that?”
Baker flipped a few more pages in the binder and then shook his head, “No. There’s nothing about that in here. I guess they didn’t do much research on that building since Chase doesn’t work there. Probably figured it was siloed.”
Landon tried to remain calm. Gaps in intelligence like this were the ones that could doom any operation in seconds. He stared at the screen, watching the security people walk across the street with Chase and Jess, a hand on each one of their arms, keeping them under control. “What did you do to get yourselves in trouble?” Landon muttered, staring at the screen.
He watched for another second, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of water from a bottle that was half empty. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, just a few firefighters dressed in their gear walking towards the front of the building. They didn’t seem to be in any hurry, which was a good sign, Landon thought. Probably a fire alarm malfunction, or something like that. To top it off, with it being Saturday, there was virtually no one in the building, so it wasn’t as though there were a ton of people to move out of the way while the fire department investigated. “Can you zoom in more? Get me a look at their faces?”
Landon heard the roll of a mouse on the surface of the desk and then saw the picture enlarge. Landon had only caught a glimpse of Jess that morning at the bank, just enough to confirm her identity before they put the hood on her, but the person who was standing with the guards was definitely her based on the images he’d seen. The same dark wavy hair, the same athletic figure. Her brother Chase was caught up in the same image. His hair looked rumpled, as though he’d spent the last few hours running his hands through it. The fact that he looked distressed was a good sign. Maybe they would get the ABG today after all.
Landon licked at the inside of his bottom lip, pulling at a little piece of dead tissue with his teeth, staring at the screen. “Is this real time, Baker?”
“Yes, sir. You’re seeing it as it happens. Did you need me to roll it back for you?”
“Nope. Keep it running.” Another minute went by. Landon watched as Jess searched the parking lot with her eyes, as if she was trying to figure out how to get away from the guards. Chase
didn’t do the same. He just stared at the ground, completely submissive, as if he was lost in his own world. That was good. Maybe Chase was thinking about Abby. Desperate people did desperate things. Hopefully Chase was desperate enough to give them the ABG.
Landon watched for another minute, taking in the scene. The psychological profile they’d done on the Montgomery family looked to be spot on. Jess seemed more assertive, while Chase seemed more inwardly focused and not as confident. Landon glanced over at Piper, who was still huddled in the corner of the cage with her arms around Abby.
Baker zoomed the view out, giving them a better look at what was going on in the parking lot. A mass of emergency vehicles had parked near the front entrance of the building, but nothing seemed to be happening very quickly. From behind one of the fire trucks, a man appeared, walking directly toward the crowd. He had on a pair of jeans and a shirt. He was aiming directly for Jess and Chase. Leaning a little forward on his chair, Landon saw the man had a pistol on his hip. “Son of a gun,” he muttered. Landon pointed to the monitor, “Is that a police officer?”
“No idea, sir.”
Landon stood up again, feeling a little bit of heat move through his body. If the police got involved in this case, it could potentially slow everything down to a snail’s pace. First, it would be the local police jurisdiction and then the FBI would get involved. Not that they weren’t already. He watched as the police officer walked over to the two guards. Within about thirty seconds, the guards had dropped their hands off Jess and Chase. Landon watched as Jess inched her way away from the guard that was holding her, moving closer to the police officer as if he was a safe harbor. Landon flicked the nail on his right thumb with his index finger, thinking. As part of the ransom demand, they’d told the Montgomery’s not to involve the police, that they’d kill Abby immediately if that was the case. But the Montgomery’s had no idea whether Landon and his crew knew about police involvement or not. Strategically, he would let this play out, at least for a little bit. Maybe Jess and Chase were just using the police officer as a way to get away from the guards that were holding them. That would be a smart play. That would be what Landon would do if he was in the same situation.
“Should we do something, sir?”
Landon shook his head slowly, “No. Let’s let this run for a little bit. See what happens. That guy is clearly a police officer, but I don’t want to act too quickly. Let’s see where this goes.”
Before Baker could ask any other questions, Landon’s cell phone rang. Foster. “Sir?”
“Calling for sit rep, Walker. What’s going on?”
Landon swallowed, “Well, currently, the two targets are in custody by some heavily armed private security guards in front of the Trident Labs building. I don’t know why that is. A police officer has just walked to intercept. We still have Abby and the wife in custody. They are both healthy and unharmed.” Landon almost told Foster about the cut to Piper’s neck but decided not to. It was inconsequential, really.
“Didn’t you tell them no police?”
“Of course, sir. That was already preloaded in the scripts the team put together. We just played them. We didn’t alter them at all. But you have to think with a bank robbery, there’s going to be all sorts of law enforcement working the case.”
“Any sign of the FBI?”
During their mission briefing, Foster seemed to be more worried about the FBI than the local law enforcement presence. That was for good reason. The federal agencies were much more well-funded and well-trained than the locals. “Not much, sir. From the surveillance cameras, we saw them arrive at both the house and the lab building, but they had no luck at either. By the time they arrived at the house, the family was already gone. Apparently, either the security staff at the lab building didn’t know Jess and Chase were upstairs, or they wouldn’t let them in.” Landon shook his head and furrowed his brow, pacing back and forth. “I do want to add one note, sir. The guards that have Jess and Chase right now, they are heavily armed. Rifles, pistols and full tactical gear, minus helmets. It’s kind of strange, if you ask me.”
“And these are the guards from Chase’s building?”
“No, sir. They appear to be from the building next door.” Landon realized there was noise behind Colonel Foster. “Sir, are you in the ops center?” The headquarters of Zeta Tactical Consulting looked like a simple office building from the outside, but the reality was there was an armory, ops center, and a couple of floors of analysts and mission planners available to the teams at all times, plus a medical bay and racks where the guys could get some sleep either before or after missions. It was like a mini military base that no one would ever suspect by the looks of the outside of the building.
“I’m headed back there now. Had a meeting to attend to. Listen, that’s not why I called. We’ve got a team rolling out for the Middle East at midnight tonight. I need that ABG. I need time to process it and get it ready to go with my guys for the buyer and our teams. Landon, you’re going to have to speed up the timeline. It’s four o’clock there now, correct?”
Landon looked at the time in the corner of the computer screen in front of him, “Just about, sir.”
“See if you can push up the timeline. Let’s get these people moving.”
“Sir, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get them to move any faster. We gave them a six o’clock deadline. That’s only a couple hours from now. That’s not fast enough?” Landon didn’t want to argue with Foster, but the timeline was already tight. Any variations on the delivery could change things dramatically. And not for the good.
“Walker, this is not a discussion. See if you can get these people moving a little faster. Do what you need to do. That’s an order.”
Foster hung up without saying goodbye. Landon stood for a second, staring at his phone, his mind racing. He just wasn’t sure how much quicker he could get Jess and Chase moving. If he was unable to get them moving, he knew what the consequences would be. Plenty of operatives had disappeared from Zeta Tactical Consulting. It was “the law of the wild,” as Foster called it. Landon had no inclination to get either he or his team caught up as a casualty because Chase Montgomery was inept. Landon stared back at Baker, “What’s going on with our police officer?”
“While you were on the phone with Foster, the police officer got them away from the guards. I saw them reenter Chase’s lab building. What’s going on inside of there, I have no idea.”
Landon glanced over at Piper. She was still sitting, huddled in a ball next to her daughter, her eyes closed. Landon stared at her for a second from where he was seated and then narrowed his eyes, pushing himself up out of the chair. Taking long strides, he went over to the cage, staying outside of it. “Piper,” he called.
She didn’t answer, keeping her eyes closed. Landon gave her until the count of three to answer. When she didn’t, he nodded to Reinhardt, who unlocked the padlock. With one smooth move, Landon charged into the cage and grabbed her by the back of her braid, yanking her up, tearing her away from Abby. Landon heard the jingle of the chain being reattached, hearing a low moan from her throat as Reinhardt secured the cage behind him. “When I speak to you, respond to me. Is that understood?”
Piper jutted her jaw out at Landon, her head at an unnatural angle with the grip he had on the back of her hair, “Sir, yes, sir,” she said sarcastically.
The fact that Piper had the nerve to be so mouthy infuriated Landon. He let go of her hair and slapped her across the face, her head spinning to the right as his palm connected with her cheek. Piper dropped to her knees, holding the side of her face with her hand. “It doesn’t pay to be difficult,” Landon said. He glanced at Reinhardt, “You and Alvarez take her out back.” Landon saw Baker watching him from the command center, “Baker, stay where you are and watch the feeds. Let me know if anything changes.” Baker gave a curt nod but didn’t say anything.
Reinhardt and Alvarez pulled Piper to her feet, half walking, half dragging her out of the warehous
e through the rear entrance. Landon turned back just in time to see Abby, who had stood up, her fingers entwined around the chain-link of the cage, her eyes wide, watching them as they took Piper away. At least she had the sense to stay silent, Landon thought. She was way smarter than her mom. Must take after her dad.
Landon followed Baker and Alvarez out the back doors of the warehouse. There wasn’t much there, just a three-sided concrete pad with buildings on either side of it, with access to the single loading dock the warehouse had. There was some litter against the edge of the building, some old fast-food wrappers that hadn’t made it into the single dumpster that was at the back of the building.
The afternoon had become hot and even more dry than usual. Just stepping out into the sun caused Landon to sweat, little beads of perspiration gathering on his head. But the heat didn’t bother him. It was nothing compared to Afghanistan. He was focused on Piper. Alvarez and Baker stood Piper up, turning her towards Landon as he emerged from the inside of the building. “Listen, our timeline has shortened. I need you to call your husband and tell him to get us what we need. I need it now. I can’t wait any longer.”
Piper didn’t look up at him, just staring at the ground. Landon could see the side of her face bright red from the sting of the slap. “No,” she whispered.
“Excuse me?” Landon growled. Rage built inside of him.
Piper lifted her head slowly, staring at him, “I said no,” she said slowly, spacing each word out.
Landon moved towards her, positioning his face just a few inches from hers, “Do you understand what’s at stake here? Do you want to be responsible for whether Abby lives or dies?”
“I’m not going to help you!” she screamed in his face. “You are a dirty, filthy liar! Let me out of here right now!”
Landon took a step back, surprised at her reaction. “You can scream all you want, but if you look around, you can see there’s no one here. No one is going to hear you. No one is going to come and help.” A smug smile spread over his face. These were the moments he lived for, when he knew he had the upper hand, the life and future of his captives up to him. “This is very simple, Piper. I’m going to dial your husband’s number. You are going to tell him to get the ABG for me now. And then, when he does, I will return you and your little wavy-haired daughter back to your precious little home so you can go about living your boring life.”