by Joy Ohagwu
Robert squatted close by and watched. It was going to be a very long night.
Ritz slid down from the top bunk bed and inched her feet to the ground. She shrugged on the loose jacket they gave her the day before. She wore a tan hoodie underneath and a black camisole under that. She’d taken off the shirt she’d been wearing since it was soiled from the ordeal she endured on the van floor. It hung off a jutting tip of the bunk bed by the right side.
The man who had kidnapped her hadn’t shown up again so she assumed he had left them, especially when someone else served their prior meal. She stepped across from the newest girl who huddled by the corner. The replacement guard had left her a stack of clothing to use as a bed, but she refused them and took the ground instead.
Ritz tapped her shoulder and felt her shivering. “Hey,” she whispered, “you don’t have to stay there, you know. Take my bunk for a while. I could stretch my legs for a few minutes. Okay?”
The girl was obviously trying hard to be tough, so Ritz softened her tone. “You have to be alive to fight. If you catch pneumonia from lying on the floor, where would you find the strength to escape if the chance comes? Get up.”
She lifted the girl by her shoulders. The girl slouched over but managed to rise. Ritz helped her up on the bed, and a few minutes after the girl stretched out, Ritz heard her soft snore.
She smiled inside, recalling how her dad snored and her mom always complained about his snore, but in a sweet way. She teased him with it, and they usually laughed it off. She missed her family and was eager to go home. Being stuck here was far from ideal, especially since she had no idea why she was taken and why Christiana was attacked.
Restless in her spirit, she inched to the far edge of the room where random equipment littered a desk just like the rest of the room. She pushed the dangling wires back and climbed onto the desk then leaned her back to it. The wall chilled her skin despite the layers she wore, but she didn’t mind. She had to endure. It was time to pray.
She wasn’t sure whether it was midnight yet, or what the time was. But either way, it was time to call on God to deliver her—just like her dad had shared with them that he did. He’d said he prayed nightly on his secret mission and that those prayers were critical to him returning home alive.
She closed her eyes, lacking the words to begin. Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will answer you. And show you great and mighty things which you do not know. The Scripture drew into her soul easily and ebbed away her fear.
She’d been so afraid the day before, so sure they would kill her before nightfall. The kidnapper had been rough with her, pushing and shoving her into two different vehicles before she arrived here, blindfolded the last time. After her eyes were uncovered, prior to entry into this room, confusion had clouded her mind.
She had no idea where she was. Save for the sound of the running engine, there had been no way to tell where they had brought her. She’d strained her ears all through the night to listen for trains, cars, or horn toots, but heard nothing. It was as though she was tossed into the middle of nowhere. Her frustration had known no bounds. She was alone, afraid, and the only company available was another scared girl.
Why would someone kidnap her? Her parents weren’t famous or anything. Her dad was a cop, her mom a business lady. She sighed and leaned back, the cold biting her back harder. Yet she endured, remaining seated on that table. The latest entrant into their captivity had obviously experienced a rougher transit than she had and was in serious need of the sleep she was catching on Ritz’s assigned bunk bed. Ritz felt sorry for her.
She drew up her legs and lowered her jaw to her knees. She missed her bedroom in her parents’ house, which seemed like a mansion compared to this space. Her Dora the Explorer pillow and her fancy slippers were her favorite accessories when at home. She gained a renewed appreciation for everything her parents had done to make life comfortable. She had a choice of where to sleep and rarely got a no from them. She was their baby, they would often say so, never mind that she was now sixteen.
“Leave me alone! Leave me!” The sleeping girl thrashed on the top bunk, drawing Ritz back from her thoughts. Ritz rushed to her and caught her before she slid off the bed completely.
“Shhh.” She patted the girl’s arm. “Shhh. It’s only a nightmare.”
The girl screamed louder, and the door swung open. The man guarding them flashed light into their faces. “Who is making all that noise at this time of the night?” So it was late at night, as Ritz had suspected.
Lori woke up and groggily swiped a hand across her face as the man flashed torchlight into her eyes and she blinked.
He spun to Ritz, but she simply stood there, praying in her heart.
He moved from her toward the bunk bed. “That’s it. I’ve had it with you.” He yanked the girl down from the top bunk, and her shoulder slammed the ground before her feet. She howled in pain.
He pointed his gun in her face, and she shrank back. “You better keep quiet or else.” He led her out of the room and locked the door behind him. Ritz leaned close to the door and listened. The girl’s scream ripped through Ritz’s heart, then came a thud like a blow, then…silence. Horrid. Deafening silence. Her heart pounded in an arrhythmical fashion.
Lord, please, get me out of here. From the man’s attitude, his patience was running thin. Whatever it was he and whomever he worked with wanted, he hadn’t gotten it and wouldn’t endure much more.
Lori clutched Ritz’s elbow, and the fear in her rounded eyes burned into Ritz. “I want to go home.”
Ritz smiled to ease the girl’s nerves, ignoring her own. “By God’s grace, we’re going to be all right. Trust in God, okay?”
The girl chose silence then looked away like she didn’t believe Ritz could be hopeful, given the circumstances. But Ritz had no choice but to hope. Giving in to despair was not an option. She could, however, understand the girl’s skepticism.
Telling someone in trouble that their way out was to trust God, whom they could not see, was hard, but He was their only way out if they were to make it out alive. Losing hope was not a viable alternative. After all, her mom always said that the spiritual controlled the physical. So, win in the spirit and the physical victory would doubtlessly follow, she’d taught her.
Ritz held out her hand to the trembling girl, knowing she herself was also shaking. “Pray along with me, please?” She wanted another human being to be in agreement with concerning this situation, and her fellow captive was as good as any.
The girl stared at her hand and, after a few moments, took it.
Ritz bowed her head. “Lord Jesus, thank You that we’re still alive. We are not dead,” on second thought, she added, “and we’re not unconscious. We come before You pleading for mercy. Forgive me my sins and please get us out of here. I miss Dad and Mom. I want to see them, please. They’re the best gifts You’ve given me, and I can’t wait to eat blueberry muffins with them and swim again at Aunt Eva’s.”
She sighed, feeling as though she was giving out intimate details around a stranger. Granted, Lori was also captive, but she didn’t really know her. “I can’t wait to pray to You in freedom, in my promised land, at home where there are no shackles or marked territory that I can’t cross. You got Israel out of bondage in Egypt. You are the same God. Please get me out of here and Lori too. In Jesus’ mighty name, I pray, amen.”
The other girl stayed silent but had grown calmer as Ritz prayed. She no longer trembled, and Ritz knew her own heart had calmed as well.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door…”- Colossians 4:3
“So there were no prints.” Robert glanced at Randolph as he packed up his equipment bag two hours later and lingered behind the tech team as they finished processing his office.
Randolph shook his head and halted at the door. “None. It’s weird that someone wouldn’t leave a trail. Those are clear signs that it had to be a pro who broke in. I
can’t see any other way this could happen.”
That had Robert even more worried. “But what on earth are they after? There’s nothing here anyone would want. At least, not enough to take such a huge risk. And it doesn’t appear as if they took something valuable. Our personnel files cabinet for the Special Investigative Unit, headed by Detective Mike, were untouched. That is the only place I would bet someone could aim for. So, what were they after and why?”
The questions kept increasing, as was his frustration over having no answers while time was running out. In twelve hours or less, they’d reach the deadline given by the kidnappers, and he was not handing over The New Rulebook.
He and President Jacobson had discussed it, and during the short call, his brother said the Defense Department confirmed that the holding site was secure and had encountered no breach. They had also agreed to deny the kidnappers access to The New Rulebook, leaving them with only one option—rescue Ritz before the forty-eight-hour deadline. But how can they rescue her when they had no clue where she was being held?
Randolph scratched his head and leaned against the doorjamb. “And I don’t presume anyone would be silly enough to think you would keep anything having to do with The New Rulebook in here. So, it’s anyone’s guess what they could have been after. Can you think of anything of material value, I mean, besides you and your wife’s monies, of course, that someone wants?”
Robert sat at the edge of the couch and clasped his hands, burying his head in his palms. When he lifted it, Randolph stood right in front of him. “Hey, man, take it easy. I know this must be hard, your daughter being out there, not knowing what’s going on, but you have to keep faith. I’ll do anything I can to help.”
But Robert was struggling to tie all the loose ends of facts together. Despite the team’s best efforts, they had made no headway in locating Ritz. No leads on who broke into his office. “My daughter’s kidnapping is top priority. Maybe this break-in was a distraction to keep me from searching for her. Maybe we’re close to a break in the case but don’t know it. If we are, I’d hate to give our opponents an upper hand in this fight.”
He stood and curved around to his desk, sidestepping the paper mess on the ground. “Thank you for your concern and your support, Randolph. Please keep working and let me know if you find anything. I hope it’s okay to come down to the lab if I figure something out up here that I need your help with. I would like to have them post a security guard outside my office temporarily. And if possible, have one of your boys bring up a teakettle and some disposable cups from the cabinets in the break room. I’m not leaving here till I find a clue as to where my daughter was taken to.”
Randolph nodded and headed out of the door. “Sounds good, sir. I’ll handle all that. I’m downstairs, and if you need my help, I’ll be up here in a minute.”
“Thank you.” Robert rolled up the arms of his sweater, bent slightly over his PC, slid on his glasses, and got to work.
The clock had barely struck twelve midnight when a brief knock tapped on Robert’s office door. He frowned, set down his glasses, and rose. Rounding his desk and avoiding the clutter still on the floor, he opened the door. Out there stood Charlie, Newton, Mike and four other officers dressed in full tactical gear.
He frowned and stepped aside to let them in, past the security guard posted outside his office as he’d requested. “Did I miss an e-mail or something?” His men stopped near the office couch and observed the ruin.
Charlie stepped forward as Robert rounded his desk again intent on avoiding distraction. “Captain, I slept for four hours and couldn’t sleep another wink. I got up because I couldn’t sleep while I knew you were here alone striving to get Ritz back. I called the others, and they said they felt the same way. So we geared up, and here we are, at your service. What do you need?”
If Robert ever had any doubts about his team’s loyalty, they were vanquished in that moment. He hugged each man and choked with gratitude, but he had to get the words out. “Thank you, guys. That means so much. I can’t think of a better team to face this challenge with besides you all. You are indeed an elite team of defense professionals, and tonight, I’m exceptionally proud of you. My wife and I are grateful.”
He marched back to his desk and flipped on some screens settling on one of them. The men gathered around him as he showed them. “I had a hunch and followed up. I think we may have something here.” He glanced up as his phone started ringing. The number looked familiar.
Charlie’s eyes widened. “It’s the kidnappers!”
At this hour?
They all filed out of Robert’s office and raced toward the secure elevator to the lowest floor. Reaching there, Robert slid his keycard through, and the doors unlocked. He’d counted the number of times the call must’ve rung, knowing they could not take the call in his office. For security reasons, the team had set up on the floor where only the core members of his team had access—the TNR-TNT team room.
The team surrounded the conference room table, having missed the call.
“They’ll call back,” Charlie assured.
The space had not been in use since the days of The New Rulebook Tactical Response Team (TNR-TRT). Despite the passing years, many of them still reeled in its memories. Sadness weighed Robert down when he recalled the times he’d spent here with the late captain—a remarkable leader by all standards.
Robert glanced at each of them as they waited for the phone to ring, seeing the missed call flashing on the desk phone. “Listen up. I can hardly express the extent of my gratitude to you all for being here. We didn’t know they would call, but God knew and brought you all. And I could certainly not have handled all of this alone. Moreover, it’s always better to work as a team and to hear something by yourself the first time it’s spoken.”
He paced the room, unable to be still. “If this call supplies us a new lead, we will proceed with action, so use this time to wake up your people in the flight team and the tech team members so they’re ready as soon as we need to move. I had expected them to call around eight a.m. tomorrow at the deadline, but whenever suits me just fine.”
Robert continued, “If we go after them, we are coming home with Ritz. I spoke with President Jacobson who confirmed that handing over The New Rulebook program is not an option. We are on a rescue mission if we trace this call and receive an indication about their location.”
“The tech team already recalibrated the system in anticipation of trying to pinpoint their location better this time,” Randolph, who had joined them after someone called him, added.
“Great,” Robert twisted and responded. He perched his hand on his hip as determination coursed through him. He firmed his jaw. “I’ve not lost one man out there in seventeen years. I won’t lose any of you now and certainly not my daughter.”
Charlie staggered his stance. “We’re here to ensure that losing Ritz doesn’t happen. Whatever you need, Captain, we will support you. Just give the order.”
Detective Mike adjusted his combat gear, after phoning his guys to report to duty and be ready for liftoff should the flight team become needed.
Robert patted Charlie’s shoulder. “I appreciate that.” A few minutes later, about five more of his men joined them, all geared up. As far as he was concerned, they were enough for a mission should one arise, though any others who arrived later could provide ground support.
At the half hour mark since they entered the area, after he had also changed into full tactical gear, Robert glanced at each of the men around him.
He focused on the younger members of the SSPD team they had begun training extensively since his return from Aqua, eight of them in the room. “Your leadership—Detectives Charlie Bailey, Newton Baldwell, and Mike Argan—have indicated that you’re the best they’ve trained. And having read your individual performance records in the past year, I’d say their judgments of your abilities are correct.”
He printed some sheets and handed a copy to each of them. “In order to ens
ure our success going forward, we require that you maintain alertness at all times and sign a nondisclosure agreement. During this mission, you might come to learn about some matters that are classified above your present clearance level. If such happens, your clearance will be upgraded after a successful background investigation—which I don’t see as a problem considering we already ran extensive background checks on everyone in our team. In the meantime, I need to protect such information from exposure.” They each accepted the sheets, signed, and handed them back. Robert passed the sheets to Charlie, who handed them to Randolph.
Robert pointed to the phone on the conference room table. “The minute that phone rings, if we get a location, then it’s go time. There will not be a minute to catch your breath or second guess. We move, as one unit, with one common goal. Which is?”
“Extract Miss Ritz Towers safely and return safely,” one of them chimed wearing a military haircut, his form set in a rigid posture, shoulders held high.
In that moment, Robert was proud of the incredible work the men he’d trained, his senior team, had done in training these youngsters, but the formal commendation would need to come at a later date. They all had work to do, including him, and he was glad when their tech team arrived. “Great. Now, let’s all get our heads in the game.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Right after I update the State police chief, then message my wife, on our status.”
A few smiled, and the gathering relaxed a little. Some engaged in conversations while others wound around to the inner room for a cup of coffee. Having spent the last thirty-something hours with minimal sleep, they were all exhausted. As for Robert, he hadn’t slept at all, and he knew the ache pounding his head was due to lack of sleep.
He also knew Ruby had not slept either, even though she was pregnant, a pregnancy they hadn’t had sufficient calm to celebrate properly, or thank God for, among their entire family and friends. He admired her doggedness and grit and made a mental note to surprise her with a weekend getaway as soon as God led Ritz home.