The woman looked around. Other than herself and the old man, there was also a young mother with a frightened little girl, two middle-aged men, and three couples. When her eyes fell on the dead security guard lying in a puddle of blood, she covered her mouth and began to cry.
“I’ll... I’ll do whatever you ask, just please don’t hurt anyone else.”
“A wise choice,”
THREE yanked the woman towards a hallway and they disappeared from sight, as TWO spoke to his boss.
“Even with the cargo drones it will take a long time to load it all up. Let me have one of these stiffs to help speed things along.”
“The woman can help you load.”
“I know, but one more person would speed things up even more.”
ONE nodded in agreement, and then he searched for a candidate, when his eyes fell upon the old man, he pointed at him.
“Take the grandfather, he’s too old to give you any trouble and he looks healthy enough to work.”
TWO gestured at him with his gun.
“C’mon, gramps, we got work to do.”
The old man started walking, but slowed his normal pace, moving the way most old men moved, and not with his usual gliding stride.
The man told him to head down the same hallway that the bank manager had been led along, and after turning left, they entered a storage room.
There was a table along with several chairs, a coffeemaker, and a shelf that held supplies, such as rubber bands, staples, and paper.
There was also a metal door sitting open, and the old man watched as the last of three cargo drones drifted inside.
The drones were about the shape and size of a coffin, and their tops were already slid open for access. On the front of each drone was a navigation panel that, once programmed, could direct the drone to a destination within a fifty-mile range, although the distance would be affected by the amount of weight loaded aboard.
The first drone was the lead, and the other two followed behind it as THREE guided it across the hall with a slight pressure on its rear panel, to the room that contained the safe deposit boxes.
TWO placed his gun against the young woman’s head and demanded the access code.
After taking a deep breath to calm herself, she answered.
“It’s case sensitive, capital letters... enter LM1974.”
“That disables the cameras too, right?”
“Yes, yes sir.”
The gun was removed from her head as he input the code, and an instant later, every box sprang open at once, as the lights on the cameras went out.
“Aces!” shouted TWO, as THREE began filling the first drone.
TWO spoke to the old man.
“Start loading up that second drone, gramps, while I take a walk with the cutie here.”
THREE stopped loading and looked up.
“What the hell are you doing, TWO?”
TWO gestured at the woman, whose arm he gripped tightly above the right elbow.
“Look at this bitch; she’s hot as shit, you think I’m passing this up?”
“There’s no time, we’ve got to load everything and get the hell out of here.”
“That’s why I brought the old guy back here, and if you say anything to ONE about this, I’ll kill you.”
“It’s stupid, there’s no time. Hire a hooker later.”
TWO holstered his gun and grabbed the woman’s face.
“I want this one, she does something for me.”
The woman was crying, as she said, “Please, don’t, please?” in a small voice.
TWO laughed, covered her mouth with his hand, and dragged her across the hall and back into the other room.
“Hey, pops!”
The old man turned and looked at THREE.
“Forget the woman and start loading.”
The old man gave him what he hoped was a timid look and shuffled closer. Before THREE could react, he struck him in the throat twice with the side of his hand, while slamming the heel of his boot atop the man’s left instep.
THREE fell to his knees, even as he reached for his gun, and the old man yanked it from his hand and bashed him across the side of the head with it, causing one of the mirrored lenses in the mask to pop free and display dark skin, along with an eye that looked unfocused.
A second hard blow from the gun, and the eye closed.
The old man guided the lead drone down to floor level and then, with slight difficulty owed to his age, he lifted the man up and dropped him in.
After locking the top of the drone, he strode across the hall.
As he entered the other room, he saw TWO’s bare white buttocks. The man had taken off the black coveralls, along with his underwear, but still wore the mask. TWO’s gun was shoved inside the woman’s mouth, while his other hand was busy ripping off her panties in preparation for rape.
The woman’s eyes widened even more than they already were as she watched the old man slam THREE’s gun across the back of TWO’s head. TWO collapsed to the floor, naked, save for his mask, and the old man kicked him further into unconsciousness.
The woman was weeping as she covered herself by slipping back into her dress, and then rushed into the old man’s arms.
“Thank you, oh God, thank you,”
“You’re welcome, but there’s still one more left to deal with.”
The woman picked up the gun that had been shoved in her mouth.
“Oh damn, it has a biometric feature so that only he can fire it.”
The old man smiled as he reached down and freed the knife from his boot.
“I can work around that.”
***
ONE raised his gun as he heard the footsteps coming down the hall. He then lowered his weapon as he saw TWO walking back with the woman.
“How much longer?”
The old man spoke from behind the mirrored mask, even as he fired his weapon.
“We’re almost done.”
The shots were silent, but the impact of their bullets doubled ONE over, while making him drop his weapon. The old man’s gun had a severed finger attached to its trigger by rubber bands, a crude, but effective way to outsmart the weapon’s biometric defense.
The old man walked over, ripped off ONE’s mask, and stared down into a face growing pallid from blood loss. When he removed his own mask, ONE blinked in astonishment.
“You?”
“Me.”
ONE cursed in German, closed his eyes, and died.
***
The old woman greeted him with a kiss, as the old man climbed inside their vehicle. At the center of the control panel was a video screen with the sound muted. It was showing a news report about the sixtieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The old woman smiled at him. Her hair was a lustrous snowy white, and her large eyes sparkled.
“You had fun without me?”
“Just a few young punks, but they made me late.”
“I called the kids and told them we’d be delayed.”
“Will all the kids be there?”
“Yes, and the grandbabies too,”
“Blue.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s go be with our family.”
TAKEN! Q – THE CHAUFFEUR
(The events in TAKEN! Q take place weeks after the events in TAKEN! 16)
Billy Ortiz watched the little girl walk towards him and thought that she looked as much like an angel as his own little Maria did.
He knew that she had recently lost her parents, and that was why she was now living with her grandparents, and he had gained a new respect for Brendan Ryan when he saw how hard he was trying to make the child feel at home.
The old man approached him now, as he guided Samantha by the hand towards the limo.
“Samantha, dear, this gentleman is William Ortiz, he will be your driver as you travel to and from school.”
When the little girl looked up at him with a searching gaze, Billy sent her a bright smile, as he spok
e in a friendly tone.
“Hi, Samantha, I’m Billy.”
Samantha said nothing, but simply climbed into the rear of the limo.
Brendan Ryan gave his granddaughter a kiss on the cheek and then she and Billy were off.
Billy looked at her in the rear view mirror.
“First day of school, are you nervous?”
“No.”
“That’s good, and I bet you’ll have fun too.”
“It’s not the first day; Grandfather and I were there yesterday.”
“Oh yeah, but, honey, that was just orientation; you’ll be staying today until the afternoon.”
Billy pulled up in front of the school and went around to open the door for Samantha, but when she exited the limo, she just stood there, watching the other children.
Billy followed her gaze and saw that she wasn’t staring at the children, but at their hands, and then he understood.
All the little girls and boys had shiny lunchboxes decorated with their favorite cartoon or video game characters, while in Samantha’s hands, she held the brown paper bag that the cook had packed her lunch inside.
Samantha stuffed the bag inside her backpack and then hurried from the limo without a word of goodbye.
“I’ll be right here when you get out,” Billy called, and was rewarded with a nod of her head, indicating that she had heard him.
He stood watching her, as he thought it best not to leave until she was safely inside, and as she neared the entrance, he saw her reach inside the backpack, remove her brown bag lunch, and toss it into a garbage can.
***
Samantha had spent the morning studying her fellow students and knew that she had made the right decision to throw away the brown bag, especially after witnessing another girl being teased simply because her lunchbox was a lusterless hand-me down from an older sibling.
Samantha was a student of games, and the game in school was to fit in; she had instinctively known that, and was pleased that she had not allowed anyone to see the brown paper sack. What pleased her much less was the fact that she was hungry and had no lunch.
When the bell sounded for mealtime, the teacher instructed everyone to gather their lunches and sit at the small round tables near the windows.
Samantha was headed for the tables when the teacher tapped her on the shoulder.
“Here’s your lunch, sweetie.”
Samantha gave the teacher a confused look, as she saw she was holding a brightly colored lunchbox with a popular cartoon character on it.
“That’s not mine.”
“Sure it is, honey, the man who drives you to school dropped it off for you. He said you forgot it this morning.”
“Billy?”
“Yes, that was his name.”
At the table, Samantha opened the lunchbox to find that Billy had filled it with a tuna sandwich, iced tea, an apple, and enough candy for the entire class.
When Samantha shared the candy, she instantly grew popular with the other students.
***
After school, Samantha walked over to Billy and stared up at him.
“Why did you buy me this lunch box?”
Billy shrugged.
“I remember what school was like, and I wanted you to fit in.”
“Billy.”
“Yeah?”
“I like you.”
“Thanks, kid, now let’s get you home.”
***
Samantha arrived home, and after changing in her room, she went downstairs to find that her grandfather had visitors.
It was the two women doctors who had spoken with her at the police station, Dr. Hamden and Dr. White.
Samantha smiled.
They were wasting their time if they were there to try and trap her again, and her grandfather had no idea who and what she was.
She strolled out the door in the kitchen and walked towards the front of the massive house, and that’s where she spotted the man she had seen at the police station, the man who did know what she was.
When she was within ten feet of the man, Samantha stopped walking and stared at him.
“You’re Dr. White’s husband. I’ve seen you before.”
“Yes.”
Samantha kept staring, studying him as if he were a puzzle to be solved.
“You’re like me, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
Samantha moved just a bit closer.
“You know.”
“Let’s pretend that I don’t. How are we alike?”
“You like to play games; that’s what I mean.”
“And what sort of games do you play?”
Samantha smiled and this time she walked right over to him.
“The game doesn’t matter, all that matters is winning.”
And when the man smiled back at her, it made her happier than she’d ever been.
TAKEN! R – THE ASSUMPTION
(The events in TAKEN! R took place before the events in TAKEN!)
They were in Chicago, and Jessica was slated to give testimony in the trial of Anthony Gelb Jr., the only son of crime boss, Anthony “Tony the Trigger” Gelb Sr.
Gelb Jr. was accused of being the serial killer behind the murders of sixteen young women over a two-year period.
While investigating the case, Jessica became an eyewitness to the murder of victim sixteen, and it was only the sound of her husband’s approach that dissuaded Gelb from attacking her as well.
A restaurant owner who was closing up for the night then spotted Gelb fleeing the scene. That man, John Ketchum, saw the blood-spattered Gelb steal a car and drive off.
When Jessica and Ketchum later picked him out of a line-up, Gelb was placed under arrest, and after fourteen months of legal wrangling by his father’s attorneys, Gelb was about to face a jury of his peers.
***
On the morning she was set to give testimony, Jessica awoke to find her husband gone, which was not unexpected, as he had mentioned the night before that he would go running in the morning.
What was unexpected, were the shouts, and the persistent pounding at the suite’s entrance.
Jessica threw on a robe, glanced through the peephole, and opened the door.
“Detective Waters, what’s going on?”
“Is your husband here?”
“No. He’s out running, why? What’s happened?”
“The other witness, Mr. Ketchum, three armed men broke into his home a short time ago and abducted his wife. They then warned him that he would never see her again if he didn’t change his testimony. Has anyone contacted you?”
“Oh my God, no, but hold on. I need to call my husband.”
There was no answer and the phone went to voicemail. After leaving a frantic message, Jessica sat on the side of the bed and fought back tears of worry.
***
A SHORT TIME EARLIER
He had run five miles in and around Millennium Park and was stretching his calves on the stairs, when he spotted the three men hurrying towards him.
He had his back to them, but could see their reflection in the stainless steel, Cloud Gate sculpture. He stopped stretching, jogged under the massive sculpture, and then rushed around it to come up from behind the men, who were slowing in their pursuit as they pondered where he had suddenly disappeared to.
As his left arm snaked around the throat of the man on the right, his hand reached to the man’s hip and freed the Beretta Nano from its holster.
“What the...?” the man on the left said, as the one in the middle, the tallest of the three, reached for his gun.
“Don’t!” he said, and watched as the man froze, with his hand still on his gun.
“There’s three of us, dude,” said the one on the left.
He answered the man by tightening his grip about the first man’s throat until his struggles ceased and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Now there are just two of you.”
The tall man began backing away.
“Let’s just go,”
The other man pulled him back.
“Do you know what will happen if we go back to Tony without him?”
The bigger man took his hand off his gun and gestured about.
“Look around, I count five people on their phones, and I bet every one of them is calling the cops.”
The other man’s hand began creeping towards his weapon.
“We can’t go back without him. If we do, the boss’s kid is screwed.”
“So what? The freak killed those women, let him fry for it for all I care, and us going to jail won’t help.”
A moment passed, and then the other man let out a deep sigh, as he let his hands drop.
“You’re right, let’s go.”
They had both turned to walk back under the sculpture, when he racked the slide on the Beretta and chambered a round. The sound made them stop and turn back to look at him.
He smiled.
“I never said you could leave.”
TAKEN! S – THE CRUSH
(The following took place during the events of TAKEN! 50)
1:02 a.m.
During the early morning hours after her mother-in-law’s funeral, Jessica entered the kitchen and was surprised to find that one of her houseguests was still up and about.
“Hi Blue, what’s wrong, couldn’t sleep?”
“No, actually, I was up late reading your book; the case studies were fascinating, if frightening.”
“I’m glad it kept your interest, but you could probably write a book yourself. I’m sure the life of a bounty hunter is an exciting one.”
“It can be.”
Jessica put the kettle on for tea, and after it was ready, she sat with Blue at the kitchen table.
“Those twins of yours are gorgeous, Jessica.”
“Thank you,” Jessica said, and then she continued to stare at Blue Steele.
“Is something on your mind?” Blue asked.
“My husband told me that the two of you shared a hotel room together when we were having the... difficulty with our relationship.”
“Yes, but nothing happened, and you did ask me to go find him,”
Taken! Alphabet Series - 26 Original Taken! Tales (Donald Wells' Taken! Series Book 14) Page 7