“Maybe he panicked after you fired a round off and knew it wouldn’t be long before I got there,” her partner reasoned. “Although, this guy has got some balls.”
“Why’s that?” Reagan asked.
“When I got to the passageway it was like he was taunting me. He just stood there, looking at me, before stepping into the stairwell.” He looked at the lieutenant. “If I had fired without asking him to identify himself he’d be in a body bag now, sir.”
“And if you’d fired first we might be putting your partner in a body bag,” the superior officer informed him. “You did the right thing.”
His usually immaculate appearance had gone. He had his shirt sleeves rolled up and his jacket and tie had been discarded. The dark circles around his eyes were a tell-tale sign that he had been in the office for a long time. He eyed the female detective pressing the ice pack against her cheek, then looked at her partner holding his injured shoulder and shook his head.
“Going on the condition you two are in, I would normally take both of you off the case. But the truth is, I have nobody to replace you.” He pushed himself up off the desk and moved around to sit behind it. “Andy is missing—”
“I’m sure it was him in the back of Sinclair’s pickup, sir,” Travis interrupted.
“But Sinclair is dead; is that right, Hernandez?” He looked at her for confirmation.
“Yes, sir.” She nodded. “I checked his pulse before rolling him over. At first I thought it was Miller, what with it being in his office.”
“Okay, run me through what happened again. What can you remember?” he asked.
“I walked in and saw a body on the floor.” She shook her head and sat upright, groaning as the change of position sent waves of pain through her head. “I must have missed an area when I swept the room because when I stood up I saw the wolf mask in the reflection of the widow. Before I could turn around he had my wrist so I couldn’t take aim, and he head butted me. That’s when I fired a round off. That’s the last thing I remember until Travis was talking to me.” She pressed harder with the ice pack. “Has anybody got any Tylenol?”
“Where was Andy when this was going off?” Regan rummaged around in his desk drawer as he spoke. He pulled out a bottle of Tylenol and passed it to the male detective, who gallantly attempted to get around the childproof lid, with no success.
“He’d gotten there before us,” she told him, while scowling at her partner and signaling to give her the bottle of pain relief tablets. “He must have been looking around on the lower levels when the perp ran down the stairwell.”
“That’s when I heard two shots and what sounded like a struggle,” Travis interrupted, and passed the unopened bottle to her. She flipped it open with ease, drawing a disbelieving look from him. “He must have subdued Andy, then carried him to the pickup,” he continued, turning his attention back to the ranking officer.
“So, who are we looking for?” the lieutenant asked.
“Chris Cooper, sir,” the male detective informed him. “The woman at the van rental place positively identified him as the one who hired the van.”
“You are fucking kidding me! Chris Cooper is in on this?” Regan shouted. “Why are you only telling me this now?”
“It was information we received earlier sir,” he informed him. “That’s why we were heading to AppTech.”
“I know this case is pretty fucked up, but, Chris?” He shook his head, leading the detectives to think he was finding it difficult to believe what he was being told.
“Or Martin Miller!” Maria sternly said, as she looked around the office for some water to wash down the painkillers. Spotting a half-full bottle on the desk, she held her hand out and wiggled her fingers at it. Regan tossed it to her partner, who again tried to be chivalrous, but struggled to open the bottle.
“But the woman at the van rental place—” her partner started, but was cut short.
“I know what she said, but the guy who took me out had a heavy Southern accent. Just like Miller’s.” She snatched the bottle from him and looked at the lieutenant. “He said ‘I’ve been waiting for you,’ just before he punched me.” She glanced back at Travis and held the bottle up, emphasizing how easy it was to open. “As far as Chris is concerned, we don’t know his full involvement yet, sir. He could be part of it, or, he could have been forced into cooperating.”
“Okay.” The lieutenant sat forward. “Sinclair is dead, Andy and Jennifer are missing, Chris could be involved but we don’t know to what extent.” He paused for a moment. “Are we naming Miller as the main suspect?
Maria launched the tablets into the back of her throat and washed them down with a mouthful of water, wincing as she swallowed hard. “He’s on the top of my list, sir.” She looked him straight in the eye. “I came so close to nailing him.”
“All right. We’ve put an APB out on Sinclair’s pickup truck and I’ve had the rest of the Cooper family brought in for their own protection.” Regan looked at the female detective. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cover all the bases here.” He picked up his phone and tapped on a number. “This is Lieutenant Regan. I want warrants issued for the arrest of Christopher Cooper and Martin Miller immediately in connection with the abduction of Detective Andrew Cooper and his daughter, Jennifer Cooper. Make sure all units take this as a priority and call anything in ASAP.” He put the phone down and shrugged. “That’s about all we can do at the moment.” He looked at the detectives. “Unless you have any ideas?”
“Have we got anything? Any sightings? Anything at all to go on?” Maria was exasperated.
“Nothing at all. They’ve disappeared.” He sat back, twiddling a pen between his fingers. “I’ve got all our tech guys in going over the personal computers of Sinclair and Miller.” Regan paused. “I’d better add Chris’s name to that list, too.”
“Something isn’t right here; I just can’t accept that Chris is involved in this,” Maria said, as she rolled her head around her shoulders to loosen up. The pain relief was really starting to kick in now, making her feel much better. “He must have been blackmailed, had a threat made against him. Or he just hired the van for something, then forgot about it.” She stood up and started stretching and moving her body, trying to wake her tired and aching muscles.
“Where would you go if you potentially had three hostages?” Regan asked her out of the blue.
She stopped moving and thought about the question. “Somewhere isolated.”
“Why isolated?” Regan pointed at her.
“Because, if I know Andy, he’ll be putting up a hell of a struggle if he’s conscious, and even more so because of Jen.” She stopped. “If he’s incapacitated, carrying an unconscious body around is going to draw a lot of attention.” She thought again. “Then there’s moving Jen and possibly Chris around as well.”
“That’s a good point.” Travis looked at her. “So, are we looking for abandoned warehouses?”
“This fucker has been too methodical.” Maria shook her head. “Abandoned warehouses leave too much to chance.” She took a moment to rethink. “Get the tech guys to see if Miller has taken out any leases on isolated properties since moving to Florida.
“They’re already going over all his finances. It’s going to take time though,” the lieutenant told her. The phone rang on his desk and he literally banged the speaker button, allowing everyone in the office to hear the call. “Regan.”
“Lieutenant, it’s Palmer. We’ve had a ping from Detective Cooper’s phone,” he said with some urgency.
“What’s the location?” the ranking officer shouted. Both detectives suddenly sprang nearer to the desk in an attempt to hear exactly what was being relayed.
“It briefly showed up on a triangulation on, or around, Old Neptune Road,” the forensics officer informed him. “Looks like the edge of the swamp.”
“That’s where he’s going to dump the bodies,” the male detective interjected.
Maria shook her head. “Th
at makes no sense.” She put both hands on the desk to steady herself. Although her faculties were returning quickly, she still felt a little disorientated. “If he wanted them dead, then why not kill them at AppTech and leave the bodies there?”
Regan raised his hand. “Maybe he didn’t have time.”
“He has a ritual,” Travis muttered. “That’s it. He has a ritual.” He looked wide-eyed at the others. “He takes them, does whatever he does, kills them, and dumps the bodies in the swamp.”
The horror of what her partner had just said sent a shockwave rippling through her body. “That’s where the kids are.” She glared open-mouthed at the lieutenant. “He’s dumping the bodies in the swamp.” She turned to the map on the wall and rushed over to it, looking for the location of Old Neptune Road. She found it and slammed her finger on the spot. “There!”
The other officers joined her at the map and examined the area.
“Palmer!” Regan shouted.
“Sir,” he responded.
“Narrow your search to this area for properties leased out by Miller,” he ordered.
“Check out if there are any leased out to AppTech,” Maria added.
“Do it now, and get back to me!” the lieutenant barked.
“Yes, sir.” The line went dead.
All three continued to scour the map for anything that would indicate where they should be searching for the missing detective and his daughter.
“Hmm.” She looked at her superior. “Did you say you brought the rest of the Cooper family in?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I thought it was for the best.”
She looked back at the map. “Let me go talk to them. It’s possible Amber might know if Chris has got any property in that area.”
“It’s worth a try,” He agreed. “I’m going to breathe down Palmer’s neck, just so he stays on his toes.”
“Okay, I’ll call you if we get anything from the family.” She signaled for her partner to follow.
***
Kim rushed to them as they entered the conference room. “Maria. Please tell me what’s happening. Where are Jen and Andy?” she asked between sobs.
“I don’t know is the honest answer.” The detective looked around at the women. “But I’m hoping you ladies may be able to give me some information.” Not fully knowing how to deal with this situation, she quickly decided that the no-nonsense approach was going to be the best way forward. “Do any of you know of any buildings that AppTech owns or leases around the Old Neptune Road area?” she asked, looking directly at Amber.
Chris’s wife looked bemused. Her usual exquisitely turned out appearance had been forgotten, possibly through the rush to get to the station and not having time to go through her two-hour beauty routine, a thing she did every morning before getting to the breakfast table. Her hair was disheveled, there were no signs of any makeup on and she was reduced to wearing sweatpants and a hoodie.
“I don’t know. I don’t get involved with Chris’s business, and he never talks about things like that.” Her eyes were red and puffy, an indication that she had shed her own fair share of tears recently.
Cathleen stepped forward. “Is that near the swamp?”
“Yes, has Chris mentioned anything to you?” the detective asked.
“No, but Coop owned a fishing lodge out on the swamp,” the matriarch informed her.
Maria looked at Travis, then back to the elder woman. “Do you have an exact location?”
“I’ve only been a couple of times, but I think I could give you directions,” Cathleen added.
Maria turned to Travis. “Get hold of Regan. Tell him to assemble a SWAT team. I’ll meet you downstairs.” He nodded, and rushed out of the conference room. She turned back towards her, putting her hands on her shoulders. “Okay, Cathleen, where is it?”
The Genesis Chamber
Chapter 40
Jen sat on the floor in the pitch-black room, with her knees tucked under her chin and her arms wrapped round her shins, pulling her lower legs in as tightly as possible to offer some comfort to the frightening situation she was in. She had taken to rocking back and forth slightly while humming random tunes in her head to distract her thoughts from her mounting anxiety.
She had been so engrossed in her self-imposed meditation the she hadn’t heard the clinking of keys unlocking the door, and was only brought into the moment by the shaft of light that partially lit the room.
Startled, she looked up at the blinding light and scrambled backwards to the nearest wall, squinting as hard as possible to stop her eyes from hurting. She hit the wall harder than she wanted to and scrambled to the left into the outstretched arms of the other person held captive.
Once in the relative safety of the embrace, she quickly glanced around the room, noticing that the walls were covered with old bed mattresses, providing makeshift soundproofing. The brilliant light flooding the room was suddenly dimmed by the appearance of a seemingly impossibly large figure standing in the doorway.
She raised one hand to shield her eyes from the lights in an attempt to make out who it was standing there, silently looking at them. She concentrated on the face, but from what she could make out it was disfigured. What was wrong with it? Why couldn’t her mind comprehend what her eyes were seeing? Her sight focused a little more. The face wasn’t disfigured; it was a mask. He was wearing a wolf mask. Then she noticed the gun in his hand, pointing towards the floor. A wave of fright flashed through her body, causing her to press herself against her fellow captor.
The wolf silently raised the weapon until it was pointing directly at her. “You!” He barked in his Southern drawl, making her jump. “Come with me.”
It was only then that the person offering her comfort spoke.
“Leave her be,” he said, and shuffled forward enough to move in front of her, putting himself in the line of fire. “Take me instead.”
The wolf pulled back the hammer on the firearm. “I will not be repeating myself again. She either comes with me, or I shoot you and she comes with me anyway.” He slowly moved his aim between the two hostages. “Which is it going to be?”
“Don’t shoot!” Jen pleaded. “I’ll come with you.” She stood up and tentatively walked towards the door.
The wolf stepped aside, allowing her to pass, his gun trained on the figure still in the room. “I will be back for you real soon.”
Jen looked back at the lonely figure on the floor. “Don’t worry; I’ll be okay, Uncle Chris,” she said, as the wolf closed the door and locked it.
***
As soon as the door had locked, Chris got up and felt his way along the wall until he reached the door, putting an ear up against it to see if he could hear anything. For a few seconds all he could hear was his own breathing, then he could make out shuffling, then the muffled Southern accent of their abductor. But he couldn’t make out what was being said.
Think, think, think, he told himself. Do something.
Carefully he edged his way around the room as best he could, feeling for something, anything, that might help him get out of this situation. He fumbled around in the darkness for a few minutes but found nothing. His search was cut short by the sound of the lock on the door being opened. He scrambled back to his position on the floor and was settled into place by the time it opened. The light flooded the room once again, causing Chris to squint to let his eyes adjust. The wolf stepped in, pointing his gun at Chris.
“Come with me,” he ordered.
“Where is Jen?” the captive asked.
“Do not test me, Christopher.” The Southern drawl was thicker than before. “Now get up and come with me.”
“Miller? Is that you, Miller?” Chris scowled. “What the fuck is this all about?”
“You’ll find out soon enough, now come with me!” he snapped.
“No! I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where Jen is, Miller.” He folded his arms in a childlike act of defiance.
“I’m taking you to Jen,�
�� Genesis snarled. “You defy me one more time and I’ll put a bullet in your head, then I’ll go put one in that pretty little niece of yours.”
Chris slowly got to his feet, maintaining eye contact with his captor the entire time. He moved slowly towards the door, shooting a quick glance at the weapon. A thought shot through his mind; could he disarm this guy? Surely he could overpower Miller. What if he didn’t, though? Surely that would mean the end for him and Jen. His mind was racing. Should I make a move or not? Then, as if he was reading his mind, the wolf spoke.
“Don’t even think about it,” he calmly said. “I will not hesitate to shoot you.”
As Chris got closer, the wolf stepped back out of the room and to one side to allow him to pass.
“Stop!” the kidnapper ordered, and held the weapon against Chris’s temple. He closed the door to the soundproof room. “Over there!”
Chris looked around. The only light in the room was coming from a small spotlight, illuminating a hanger that had a neatly pressed beige jacket, beige trousers, beige shirt and a red baseball cap resting on the hook above the garments. There was a single metal frame chair beneath the light, with a pig mask resting on the seat and pair of brown loafers neatly placed on the floor.
“Get changed.” The wolf removed the gun from his temple and shoved him towards the clothing.
That was when he noticed that the garments matched the wolf’s attire. Everything was identical. He hesitantly pulled the jacket off of the hanger.
“Why are you doing this, Miller? Is it money you want? I can give you money if that’s what it is,” Chris pleaded, while looking at the jacket.
“Enough with the questions.” He waved the weapon, signaling he wanted him to hurry. “Just get changed and maybe, just maybe, you and your precious niece will make it out of here alive tonight.” The accent slipped.
This made Chris think. He noticed something else, the way he moved his arm. “Wait, you’re not Miller, are you?” He peered at his kidnapper. “Who are you?” he asked.
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