Missing

by L C Lang

  John went back to reading, trying to get his mind off his thoughts. Suddenly, he heard the key going in the lock. He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, the book still in his hand. Why was the man coming back? No one was supposed to pick up the plate and silverware until tomorrow morning. What is going on? Will he ever be able to see Julie again? With the book tightly in his hand, he stood up and was ready to meet his fate.

  Maggie slipped the key in the door. She twisted the doorknob and began pulling the door open. A light was on inside the room. Then she saw movement. She pulled her gun up, and then pulled the door all the way open. The man stood in front of a twin bed. His eyes were wide, focused on the gun pointed at him.

  The man stood straight. In his right hand, he held a very thick book. He was a distinguished looking man, standing about five foot ten, had dark brown hair with grey around his temples. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a blue chambray shirt. Maggie guessed his age at about fifty-five years. She glanced around the room. To the left was a small enclosed area. A bathroom? In front was a small table, a basin of water sitting on top, a towel and soap sitting next to the basin. Two gallon jugs of water were under the table. To her right, a small three-foot square wooden table and one chair, sat in the corner. A plate sat on top of the table, along with an empty Pepsi can. Then she saw it. Hanging on the back of the chair was the man’s jacket. She looked back at him again, dropping her gun hand down by her side.

  “What is your name?” Maggie asked in a lowered voice. The news reports never mentioned what the names of the flight crew was.

  He paused a moment, then nodded. “I am Captain John Murphy.”

  “From DAC flight 3351?”

  He nodded again. “Yes.”

  Maggie blew her breath out, thoughts racing through her mind.

  “My name is Detective Maggie Connor. I would really like to know how you got here, but there isn’t time.” She took out her badge and showed him, then looked back at the plate sitting on the table. “When did they last feed you?”

  “Two hours ago. The plate and silverware stays here until morning.”

  She let out a sigh of relief and nodded. “Good. Okay, let’s get you and your crew out of here. Come with me and be very quiet.”

  A look of relief came over John’s face as he followed Maggie out of the room. They quickly went down the hall to the next room. In the next room was another man, who stood up when the door opened. John introduced him as Peter Collins, his first officer. He looked to be in his early thirties, was about five foot eight and had short, curly, light brown hair. Maggie thought he looked scared.

  “It’s nice to meet you. Now, let’s get you out of here,” she whispered.

  Pete Collins narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s going on?”

  Maggie nodded. “I’ve come to get all of you out of here. But, we must be very quiet so they don’t hear us upstairs.”

  Peter Collins nodded and followed them out.

  They went down the hall and opened the doors of the backup pilot and first officer. Then Maggie opened the door of the first flight attendant, Megan Abernathy, who was petite with long honey blonde hair. Maggie turned to Pete Collins.

  “Take her out of here. When you get outside, go to your left and stay close to the side of the house. There are no windows, so you will be safe. We’ll be out in a minute.”

  Pete nodded and he and the young woman walked down the hallway. The next room held another young woman, Joanne Conroy, who was in her mid-twenties with short cropped dark brown hair. She looked frightened at first, but John helped allay her fears. Maggie had the two backup pilots go out with her.

  Then they went to the last room. Her name was Mary McGill, John told her. Mary was tall, was a slender five foot ten inches, had bright blue eyes, and shoulder length light blonde hair tied at the back of her head.

  “Can we take our bags?” Mary asked.

  Maggie shook her head. “Not now. We can get them out later. Right now, I just want to get all of you out of here safely. We need to go now. Please, be very quiet.” Mary nodded and moved out the door of her room.

  As Maggie, John and Mary walked back down the hallway; Maggie was relieved no one upstairs had heard them. She had no idea what they would do if they saw her taking their hostages out. They walked the length of the hallway and went up the stairs. The rest were now waiting on the south side of the house. While Maggie figured they were relieved to be out of their rooms, they still had a scared look on their faces. They knew it still wasn’t over.

  Maggie headed the group towards the trees to the south. They moved quickly and quietly behind her as she led them to where she knew they would be safe. Once she had taken them ten feet inside the dense trees, she turned to them.

  “I want you all to stay here for a little while. You will be safe. Just keep yourselves hidden. There is something I need to do inside the house.”

  John Murphy grabbed her arm. “We don’t know how many people are in the house. Inside the room, I couldn’t hear anything. Not even when they came to bring us food. Even then, there was only one man.”

  “What does he look like?”

  He thought a moment. “He is a bit on the heavy side, about my height, thin light brown hair. Forties. I have no idea what his name is, but every time he came he had a gun tucked into the front of his pants.”

  Maggie nodded. Now she knew who to watch for and it meant there was at least one gun in the house.

  “Okay.”

  “You can’t go in there alone.”

  “I know what I’m doing. I have to find out what is going on here. There is help coming, I promise.” At least she hoped they were coming. She paused a moment, then reached down and pulled out her cell phone, handing it to John. “If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, open the cell phone, and then hit send. That will dial the last number I called, which was the FBI. A man by the name of Special Agent Palmer will answer. Tell him your name. He knows you are here. If at any time you hear someone coming, go deeper into the woods. The hill will start going down about twenty-five feet in, so do not go any further than that. Just keep low. The darkness will keep you from being seen.”

  “Where are we?” John asked.

  “You are in Riverwoods, West Virginia.”

  “We are in West Virginia?” Mary gasped.

  Maggie nodded. “Yes. And, I am going to find out why. Just sit down, relax, and stay hidden. Make sure no one sees you. No matter what happens, do not come out until I specifically tell you to come out. Alright?” She looked at each of them. They all nodded. There was still a look of fear on their faces. “Okay. You will be getting back to your families soon. I promise.”

  Maggie turned and walked back towards the house. This time, she was going in the back door. What she would find inside, she had no idea. She knew she should leave it to the FBI, but who knows how much longer it was going to take them to get here. Something was going on in there and she had to find out what that is.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Maggie hesitated at the back door. She listened for a moment, but heard nothing. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it. It was unlocked. They sure must trust this area, she thought, as she slowly pulled the door open. Inside, she walked into a small mudroom that led into the kitchen. Slowly, she walked into the kitchen, with her gun up. The room was mostly dark, except for a light that was further inside the house, probably coming from another room. She also heard voices, but they weren’t close.

  The kitchen was old. Old appliances, cabinets painted white, tile countertops. It didn’t look like anyone had cooked in here for quite some time. A large garbage can that was sitting on the floor at the end of the cabinets was full of plastic plates and a dish drainer sitting on the counter had silverware inside. The silverware was the same kind she had seen on the table in John Murphy’s room. Two open cases of Pepsi also sat on the cabinet. To her right, was a walk-in pantry. Glancing inside, she knew it would make a go
od hiding place if she needed one. To the left of the pantry was another door. Maggie quietly opened the door and saw that it was the stairs going down to the basement.

  A heavy oak frame surrounded the opening that led to the living room. The living room was large, measuring about twenty feet wide by thirty feet long. The only furniture in the room was a worn couch, an old wooden coffee table and a couple of well-used cloth wing chairs. On the wall to her right was a fireplace. To her left, was a small dining area, minus a dining table and chairs. A lone old crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling marked the spot. Ahead, a small foyer was in front of the front door.

  To her right, on the other side of the living room, was another room. There was a light on inside. This had to be the room with the light on that she had seen when she was outside. The door to the room was partly open and she could see a couple of people inside. They were talking. She needed to get closer. It would be a risk, but it was the only way to find out what was going on.

  Then she noticed one more piece of furniture. Next to the door going into the room was a loveseat. Maybe that would make a good place to hide.

  Suddenly, the door opened and a man walked out. Maggie quickly backed up, then ducked inside the walk-in pantry and partly closed the door. A young man, in his mid-twenties, with grungy looking medium brown hair tucked behind his ears, walked into the kitchen and got into one of the cases of Pepsi sitting on the counter. He pulled out four cans, and then walked out of the kitchen, going back to the room. That was close, she thought, as she blew out her breath. Maggie waited a few moments and then opened the door and walked out. Slowly she walked to the doorframe again and peeked around the corner.

  The door of the room was now halfway open and they were back to talking again. She still wanted to get closer. She just hoped no one else came out. Pausing for a few seconds, and taking a deep breath, she quickly moved to her right, hugging the wall, going past the fireplace, until she got to the loveseat. Pulling the loveseat forward a bit, she laid down and squeezed in behind it. This would offer her cover and allow her to hear what was going on. Behind her, she noticed the stairs going upstairs. A light was on upstairs. Would someone be coming down soon? Maggie straightened the loveseat, wiggled as flat as she could against the wall, and then pulled the loveseat as close as she could. Then she settled in to listen to what was going on.

  “Okay, we’re all done,” a man said.

  “Everything is all set to go?” another older sounding man asked.

  “Yes, everything is all set. It will all start at two o’clock tomorrow morning, just like you requested,” the first man said.

  “How will I know what is going on?”

  “I set it all up on your computer. Come over here and I’ll show you.”

  Footsteps walked across the wooden floor. Maggie had caught a glimpse of a desk sitting in the middle of the room. She assumed that was where the man was going.

  “Okay, you will see here on the screen there are six smaller screens. I just started the countdown. There are clocks on each screen. When the clock hits zero, the sequences are set to begin. It will take about five minutes for each of the sequences to shut them down. The next thing you will see on that screen is a graphic of exactly what is happening. All you have to do is click on the screen and it will enlarge, allowing you to watch the area shut down. To go back to the six screens, just click the lower case bar in the middle, right up here.”

  “What does each of the screens represent?” the other man asked.

  “The top three screens and the left one on the bottom row show the power grids for four different companies. There is only a skeleton crew on at that time of the morning, so it will take them a while to figure out what is going on. Most people won’t realize something is going on until later in the morning when people start calling in. The next two screens show the nuclear plant and hydro plant. When their systems go down, the same thing will show on the screen, but they will show up sooner than the electric companies will. Bells and whistles will be going off.

  “It will take about five minutes to run the whole sequence, and then the system will shut down. Once that happens, the next one begins. In half an hour, it will be all over. Believe me; you are going to have fun watching it.”

  “Is this what you did when you shut down the Ohio power grid?”

  “No, I have perfected my technique since then.”

  “Okay. How will people know what is going on?”

  “At two o’clock in the morning, most people won’t know their power is off. Only police, fire, hospitals, and places like that will know. Everyone will think the power will only be off for a short time. Most of them have backup power anyway. However, they are going to be surprised. I have buried the shell codes so multileveled in their system it will take them several hours, if not days, to find them and fix it.”

  “What about hospitals?”

  “Hospitals have backup systems. They will be fine for a while. More than likely, they will cut down on their schedules, but they will survive. Although, I am quite sure they will call your department for aid. At some point, they will need backup generators. Before it all gets fixed, there will be a lot of places that will need backup generators.”

  “That’s not going to be a problem. We have a lot of them in each of the areas. Okay, what about the nuclear plant?”

  Maggie felt a cold shiver go down her spine. Oh, my god. What are they doing?

  “Well, when the nuclear plant shuts down, they will worry about nuclear waste products getting into the air. Yes, there will be a bit of a panic in the local communities until they fix the problem, but nothing drastic will happen to the reactors. The codes I put in will just put a big scare in them and everyone within two hundred miles of the nuclear plant.”

  “You guarantee that?”

  “Of course. I don’t ever go that far causing damage. I just like to watch them squirm. And that is what they will do.”

  “What about the hydro plant?”

  “Nothing major. The hydro-plant will shut down. There shouldn’t be too much of a build up of water. I heard they have been getting a bit of rain up north, so that might filter down into the river. It might overflow a bit, but even if it does, you will be able to go in and help prevent anything major. Right?”

  There was a pause. “Right.”

  There was now an even longer pause. Maggie wanted to look inside the room, but she didn’t dare. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Now she knew why James Fitzpatrick was here. He was going to go in and rescue everyone, give himself a good name, just like the report he did Sunday night. But, all she could think about was the repercussions of what they are going to do, the people who were going to be put in jeopardy.

  Suddenly, behind her, Maggie heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. There was more than one. She wanted to look and see, but didn’t dare. She held her breath as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

  The trio passed the loveseat and then sat something down on the floor outside the room. After they walked back inside, Maggie peeked around the loveseat and saw four rolling suitcases sitting on the floor next to the loveseat. They were getting ready to leave.

  “Did you get everything packed?” the younger man inside the room asked.

  “Yes,” a young woman’s voice said.

  Maggie had gotten a glimpse of each of the three. They all looked to be about her age. Two women and a man. There was a pause in the conversation.

  “Okay,” the older man said, “this looks good. Now, part of our deal was a copy of the codes you used to get in.”

  “You aren’t planning on throwing this back on us, are you?” The younger man had a tone of anger in his voice.

  “Of course not. You should know better than that. But, this is a major operation, for both of us. The contract we signed is for both of our protection. Mine so I know I can trust you, and you to show faith in me. We have never worked together before, but, if this turns out the way I hope, y
ou have my word that you will be protected.”

  There was a long pause. “Alright. I have put them on your computer. Look here. There are three links on the main screen. One is for the six screens. This next one is the file with the codes. The last one is for a system I set up. When you are ready to leave, just key in the code in the box and it will erase any indication that anything came from this location. Any computer that has logged onto the internet will show this location. Yours too. When you put in the code, it will erase both of us. It will not show any connection came from this house. Do I have your word that you will do this?”

  A short pause. “Of course. You are right; we do not want anyone to know we were here. What is the code?”

  “I have it written on this piece of paper.”

  “Okay. What about the other information I requested to be put on?”

  “You mean the one that will show who did this?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s in all of them. You gave me his e-mail address, so as far as anyone knows, he set this all up from his office.”

  Maggie sucked her breath in. Who was she dealing with here? She knew James Fitzpatrick’s boss was looking for him. He had disappeared after a tumultuous meeting with his boss. What had gone on in the meeting? Did it have anything to do with the trip Fitzpatrick took to Texas? She remembered hearing FEMA’s administrator saying everything he had been doing after the hurricane hit. But, because Fitzpatrick stressed all that the team had been doing, did this mean he was planning to retaliate against his boss? The report she had seen must have ticked off Fitzpatrick’s boss. But, what happened during the meeting to cause him to do something like this?

  Maggie wanted to get in there and stop everyone, but now wasn’t the time. There were too many people inside the room. And, she wasn’t sure how many guns were in there either. She knew about one, but what she didn’t know was how many more there were. No, she will have to wait and see what happens next. One thing was for sure, she needed to get that computer. And Fitzpatrick.