Todd handed over his phone and Summer followed suit.
“Thank you, and you’ll get these back when you leave this house.”
“Couldn’t you get more agents to guard us?” Summer said. “There’s only two at a time,”
“I know, but this house has an old bomb shelter in the basement that we’ve converted into a safe room. If there’s even a hint of trouble, the agents are instructed to lead you down there and lock up tight.”
“How long can we stay down there, is there food?”
“There’s food and water, and it also has its own ventilation and power systems, but you wouldn’t be down there for long. The agents have an emergency signal they can activate, and they have to call in at the top of every hour. If they’re even five minutes late, we send the cavalry. I’ll instruct them to give you a tour of the room.”
Summer relaxed.
“I can’t wait until this is over, and once Numerical is caught, Jerry Schneider says I’ll get a book deal, and maybe even my own talk show.”
Robyn’s glare was even more smoldering than Todd’s had been, as she stared at Summer.
“I’m so glad we could be of help.”
***
In Chicago’s Grant Park, Numerical walked over and stood beside a troubled woman.
Her name was Holly Mayrock, she was forty-eight, a native of Chicago, and had made front-page headlines twice by stalking Jerry Schneider. On the first occasion, Schneider woke in the middle of the night to find Mayrock climbing into his bed. Three months later, she joined him in the shower, causing a naked, terrified, and soapy Jerry Schneider to run screaming to his car and drive away.
Holly Mayrock was recently released from a psychiatric hospital after a fourteen-month stay, and had yet to reveal how she entered into Schneider’s home. The police said that there was never a sign of a break-in, and that the doors and windows were locked.
Meanwhile, Jerry Schneider has a live-in bodyguard/chauffeur, and rides around in an armored limo.
Numerical smiled. “Hello, Holly,”
Holly Mayrock turned her head so slowly that Numerical wondered if she had been drugged, but then he realized that she was probably on one or more antipsychotic drugs to help combat her schizophrenia.
“I don’t know you,” she said, once her eyes finally focused on him.
“I’m a friend, and I want to help you, but first, I need you to tell me exactly how you were able to get into Jerry Schneider’s home.”
Holly Mayrock stared at Numerical for so long with an unblinking gaze, that he had begun to think she’d fallen asleep with her eyes open, but then, she spoke.
“Are you a reporter?”
“No, as I said, I’m a friend.”
Numerical removed an envelope from the inside pocket of the suit he was wearing and discreetly showed Holly its contents. The envelope held money, a thick, green stack.
“Tell me how to get into Schneider’s house without being seen and this money is yours. It’s twenty-five grand, and I understand you have legal fees.”
Holly stared at nothing again and Numerical waited, he was getting used to her pace.
They were standing together near Buckingham Fountain, one of Chicago’s landmarks, and even Numerical could appreciate the beauty and artistry on display. He also gazed skyward in wonder, as a geyser of water flew high into the air.
He ran a hand over his shaved head. He actually liked not having hair, enjoyed the feeling of the misty breeze sliding over it, but knew that he would feel differently come winter, and had plans to head south soon.
As he waited for her to respond, he gazed at Holly, studying her, and although they were not similar physically in the slightest, Holly Mayrock reminded Numerical of his mother.
Joyce Rafford had also suffered from mental problems and was often in as somnolent a state as Holly was, due to the medications her doctors prescribed.
Numerical had few memories of his mother, and none were good, because the woman had always despised him and blamed his birth on the loss of her youth and beauty, and he had learned years after her death that she had tried to abort him by using a coat hanger on herself.
His mother died when he was only eight, she committed suicide by cutting her own throat after setting his father on fire as the man slept.
The fire spread, engulfing the house, and Numerical, as the young boy, Henry, escaped the blaze by jumping out a window, but was still marked by splotches of brown flesh on the backs of his calves, a reminder of the serious burns he received that night.
Eighty-three seconds passed, and then Holly spoke again.
“There’s a tunnel, my grandfather worked at that estate during prohibition, and they used to smuggle the booze in that way.”
Numerical handed her the envelope, and in her mind-numbing way, Holly told him exactly what he needed to know.
Days later, her body was discovered in the park by a groundskeeper.
CHAPTER 39
Alice had the day off after filling in for one of the other waitresses and working a double shift at the diner the day before.
After dropping Kimmy off at school, she went back home and climbed into bed for a nap. She had been asleep for less than an hour when a noise from outside woke her, and she looked out the window to see the Chandlers loading suitcases and boxes into the back of their pickup.
They looked to be in a hurry. Alice knew the Chandlers rented the house from a friend of her Aunt Dawn, and she had heard that they were months behind in paying.
The man named Drake was nowhere to be seen, and Alice wondered if he was out at the old fire watchtower. If so, perhaps they were about to do whatever it was they were doing out there, since they appeared to be leaving town and skipping out on the rent.
The Chandlers finished loading their truck and drove off, and Alice knew she would never get back to sleep. She had to go and look at that tower, and just to be safe, she would take a gun with her.
***
Robyn greeted Lawson with a kiss when he joined her on the set of The Jerry Schneider Show, as all around them, FBI agents were preparing for an attack by Numerical.
“Do you still think Numerical is coming here?” Lawson said.
“I don’t know, but Jessica does, she’s still saying that Summer’s taunts won’t go unanswered, she also said to be ready for anything. This isn’t the only studio in the complex and hundreds of people are in and out of here every day, so we’ve got our hands full.”
“I saw the fake stories you planted in the media. Is Jerry Schneider helping you with that?”
“He is; I’m not a fan of his show, but he’s been invaluable. I had to promise him an exclusive interview, but it’s a small price to pay if we finally catch Numerical.”
Lawson looked around the set.
“Where are Dr. White and her husband?”
“I sent them to the safe house. If I need her input I can call her, and there’s no point in putting them at risk.”
“Are you absolutely certain that there’s no way for Numerical to know where Summer Gray really is?”
“There’s no way, and even if he found out, the information wouldn’t do him any good. My agents would just move everyone down into the safe room and wait for help.”
“What happens if he doesn’t show? You can’t keep the Grays in a safe house forever.”
“We’ll keep an eye on them for a while, just in case, but eventually they’ll be on their own. No one told them to make themselves targets.”
***
Numerical moved stealthily among the trees at the rear of Jerry Schneider’s lakefront estate. This was his second time to the property. The first was a day earlier when he verified the information that Holly Mayrock had given him, and he was certain that he could get into Schneider’s home.
Schneider was inside. He had watched earlier as the limo returned, which was funny, because the man was supposed to be at his studio getting ready to interview Summer Gray again.
; Summer wasn’t at the studio, just like she hadn’t been staying in her hotel room all week, Numerical knew that, although, he had to admit that the double the FBI replaced her with was a good match, and the footage of her arriving at the studio was convincing. They even had the faux Summer hold up a copy of the morning paper with her picture on the front, so that no one could say that it had been filmed earlier.
But no, Summer Gray wasn’t at the studio, but Numerical guessed that Schneider could get in touch with her and learn her location, and once he got inside Schneider’s mansion, he’d make the man talk.
Numerical slid aside the flat, heavy piece of slate hidden beneath a clump of bushes, and dropped down into a dank, spider-infested, brick tunnel. After turning on a flashlight, he slid the slate back in place and headed for the home’s basement, where he would exit the tunnel through a hidden panel.
As Numerical maneuvered about in the cramped space, he felt his pulse quicken and his heart grow lighter. He was going to kill someone before the day was over, of that, he was certain, and as it always did, the thought made him smile.
***
Jessica’s husband was not smiling.
He had reluctantly left the studio at Robyn’s suggestion only because he knew it would bring Jessica peace of mind to know that they were out of the line of fire.
He had asked himself how he would solve the problem of killing Summer Gray when she was so well protected, and the answers he came up with all involved the deaths of many people.
The safe house was a better place for them to wait. It would keep Jessica safe, and that was always his prime concern, but he craved action, and had hoped to get a shot at Numerical.
Jessica came into the bedroom carrying a tray of coffee and let out a long sigh.
“Thank God we’re only staying here for the day. I can only take so much of Summer.”
“What did she do?”
“She asked me if I had liposuction, and when I told her I lost weight by swimming and watching what I ate, she sent me a dubious look.”
The sound of a vehicle could be heard approaching the home by its long gravel driveway, as the stones crunched and ricocheted off the car’s undercarriage. Inside, a bell rang once, as the exterior motion sensors were tripped.
The driveway was the only way in or out by car, and there was empty land surrounding the home on all sides, which was monitored with proximity detectors. The home had no neighbors nearby; as every home for blocks had been knocked down to make way for a combination townhouse and shopping center project.
The previous owner of the ranch-style building was an obstinate old lady who refused to sell her property, then died without a will or known relatives. The land developer later went bankrupt, and the federal government came in and took the property in lieu of back taxes.
He looked out the window as he spoke to Jessica.
“There’s a car coming and it looks like a Fed vehicle.”
“I heard one of the agents say that Agent Cashman was coming here to see Summer. I think he’s the one that insisted she be on the task force in the first place.”
“He’s a friend of the Grays?”
Jessica smirked. “Robyn thinks he’s Summer’s friend.”
“Why is he here? Not for that, not with her husband in the same house,”
“Summer must want something, and I guess Cashman can give it to her.”
***
“My phone? Why do you want my phone, Summer?”
Summer was seated beside Cashman in his car, after climbing inside the second he parked. Cashman waved to an agent standing in the doorway.
“I’ll only be here for a minute or two, and then I have to head back to the studio.”
The agent said nothing, but only nodded and went back inside.
“Robyn Dyer took my phone away for no good reason, that’s why I need yours,”
“I can’t give it to you. It’s a Bureau phone and they check every call made on it.”
“I’m not going to call a terrorist, Art.”
“I still say no.”
“All right, never mind that, how are you?”
Cashman reached over and ran a hand along her thigh.
“I miss you, that’s how I am.”
Summer touched his hand.
“Let’s go inside and inspect the safe room. It’s very private down there.”
“Are you serious? What about your husband?”
“He’s busy watching a ballgame, and we’ll make it a quickie.”
Cashman looked at the front door of the safe house, then, back at Summer, who had pulled the hem of her dress up to her crotch.
He turned off the car’s engine.
“I hope there are no cameras down there,”
***
Cashman and Summer went down the wooden basement steps and saw the open door of the safe room.
The door was two inches of steel that had an electronic lock embedded into it above the handle. The door would lock automatically once closed, and could only be opened by inputting the correct six-digit number.
Inside the large room was a sofa, two cots, and shelves filled with supplies such as canned food, blankets, sleeping bags, bottled water, and an electric heater.
Summer walked inside the safe room, leading Cashman by the hand, and then helped him take off his suit jacket.
Cashman gave the stairs a nervous glance.
“What if someone comes down here?”
Summer pushed him back onto the sofa.
“You worry too much.”
Nine minutes later, Cashman was driving away with a smile on his face, as Summer waved goodbye.
Todd came out of the house, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her back inside and into their room, where he shoved her onto the bed and spoke to her through gritted teeth.
“It’s one thing to use sex to get what you want, but do you have to do it when I’m around? Those other agents, they know what you and Cashman were doing down in that room, and it makes me look like a loser.”
“What do you care what they think, and anyway, I got it.”
“Let me see,” Todd said, and Summer reached into her bra and removed Cashman’s phone.
CHAPTER 40
Jerry Schneider rushed towards the thumping sound he heard coming from the kitchen, and found his bodyguard, Victor, lying face down in the doorway.
“Vic? What’s wrong?”
Schneider didn’t see the blood seeping out from under Victor until he had already knelt down beside him, and when he did spot it, he gasped, looked up, and noticed that past the kitchen table lay the body of his housekeeper. The matronly woman had been stabbed at the base of her neck.
Someone whispered into Schneider’s left ear.
“Is anyone else in the house?”
Schneider cried out loudly as he fell atop the hallway carpet, his scream was a gurgled cry, and when he looked up, he found Numerical glaring down at him
“Is anyone else in the house, Schneider? Tell me now, or so help me I’ll cut off your thumbs.”
Schneider shook his head wildly back and forth, as he stuttered an answer.
“No, no, no, no one, just me, Vic, and, and Mrs. Murphy.”
Numerical grabbed Schneider by his curly gray hair and yanked him to his feet.
“I need you to do something.”
***
Twenty minutes later, Schneider gazed over at Numerical with tears brimming in his eyes.
“Summer still isn’t answering her phone; all I get is voicemail.”
They were sitting across from each other in Schneider’s office. The walls were adorned with over a hundred photos of Schneider with various celebrities such as movie stars, comedians, and musicians. Numerical recognized only a few of them, but then, keeping up with pop culture was not a priority in his life.
He sat behind the desk, in Schneider’s thickly padded leather chair, while Schneider sat to his left on the floor, in the corner.
“Try again,�
�� Numerical said, “and you’d better pray she picks up.”
Schneider dialed Summer’s phone yet again, and again only reached her voicemail.
“It’s no good, she’s just not answering. It’s probably because the FBI won’t let her, you know? But hey, I could take you to the studio. I’m sure that’s where she is.”
Numerical laughed.
“Nice try, Jerry, but I’m not going anywhere near that studio without a tank, fortunately, I’ve got the next best thing.”
“Huh? I don’t understand?”
“You don’t have to, and if you can’t help me find out where Summer Gray is, I’ve no use for you. Goodbye, Jerry.”
Numerical raised his gun and aimed at Schneider’s chest.
***
Alice was on her way to the tower when she saw the Chandler’s pickup truck parked in the driveway of a secluded home, which had suffered fire damage years earlier. She drove past it, parked her car behind bushes down a narrow dirt track, and then went back to the home on foot.
It took her only a few minutes to realize that no one was around, either in the truck or the burnt hulk of the home.
Perplexed, she went back out to the street and gazed about, and that’s when she spotted the tramped down weeds across the road.
She followed the obvious signs of recent passage for only a short way and then saw the tire tracks. Someone had an ATV, an all-terrain vehicle, and since the Chandler’s shoeprints disappeared among the tire tracks, she assumed that they had either driven away themselves or been picked up by Drake.
She followed the tracks, and they were easy to follow, as the ground was soft after two days of rain. The tracks meandered around trees, shrubs, and fallen branches, but as she rounded a small hill, she could hear the sound of it, and could discern that it was still going away from her.
The small hill had actually been the entrance to an abandoned mine, whose signs warning of DANGER and imploring one to DO NOT TRESPASS, were laying aside the opening atop the muddy ground.
There were also shoeprints about, near the tire tracks, and the shoeprints continued into and out of the mine. Alice removed her gun from her purse while wishing she had also brought along a flashlight, because despite the clear blue sky, the mine looked as dark and dank as a basement.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4) Page 31