Deadly Deception

by Gilbert, Morris

  The elevator seemed to move slowly, and there was no way Dani could estimate how many floors it rose. It’s not a passenger elevator, she decided. More like one that’s used to move freight.

  Then the floor stopped with a sudden lurch, and the door opened. Dani felt herself led down a hall, and heard a door opening. One of her captors firmly pushed her inside, and she felt Pat come bumping into her legs. “Don’t try to take the tape off your eyes until the door closes,” the man warned. “You know why, I guess.”

  It gave Dani some relief. “Yes. We won’t try to see your faces.” Unseen hands turned her around and ripped the tape from her wrists. She rubbed them and caught at Pat, who was trying to get closer to her. The door closed at once, and she reached up and tore the tape from her eyes.

  She took one look around, noting that they were in a room no more than twelve feet wide and fifteen feet long and that there was one small window. Then she knelt and pulled the tape from Pat’s hands and eyes. He grabbed at her, and she held him tightly, rocking him and making comforting noises.

  As she held him to her breast, she studied the room more closely. On one wall, there were two cots with blankets and pillows, a table, and two chairs; this made up the total of furnishings, except for what she knew to be a Porta-Potti, the type of commode used by campers, and a green, five-gallon water container with the Gott brand on the side.

  She gave Pat a squeeze, saying, “Let’s see what’s outside.” Walking to the window, which was no more than two feet square, she paused and studied it. It lacked glass, but was barred with what looked like rough steel bars, the sort used in building foundations. It was five feet from the floor, and when she dragged a chair over and looked out, she saw that the building they were in was on the Mississippi River. There was no mistaking the largest river in America.

  An old warehouse on the river, she knew at once. Probably been vacant a long time. This was not uncommon, she knew, and even as she looked she saw a tug pushing a string of low-lying barges downstream. The river was broad, and looking down, she could see no nearer signs of life. The entrance was on the other side of the building from where their room was, and she groaned at that. Maybe I could have dropped a note—or signaled a car, if this room looked out on that side. Looking out across the water, she knew that no boat would ever come close enough for her to call, and she could never drop a message. Who would pick it up?

  Pat said, “Hold me up, Dani. I want to see.” She did as he asked, and he studied the scene. When she put him down, he looked at her and questioned in a small voice, “Dani, how long do you think it will be before God gets us out of here?”

  Dani gave him the best smile she could manage. “Why, it might seem like a long time to you and me, Pat. But God won’t let us down. We just have to be patient. Now, let’s see what our little house is like.”

  As they explored the small room, Dani shared Pat’s thought: How long will it be before God gets us out of here?

  16

  Waiting

  * * *

  Savage, Dani and Pat have been kidnapped!”

  Ben had been summoned to Frank’s office by Frenchy, and the private eye had known as soon as he walked in the door that it was bad news. Frank’s face was pasty white as his father cast one agonized look at Savage. Dom seemed shrunken, almost like a mummy, too stricken even to speak.

  “I got worried when they were late for supper,” Frank went on, speaking woodenly. “They never made it to the dentist’s office.”

  “You call the police yet?” Ben asked tensely.

  “No!”

  “It’ll come to that sooner or later.” Savage knew at once that notifying the police was not going to be an acceptable idea to either man. He shrugged, choosing rather to let it come when it came. “Get the call yet?”

  “The call?” Frank asked almost stupidly. He was a quick-minded man, sharp in his responses, but Pat’s loss had numbed him. “Oh, from the kidnappers. No, not yet.”

  “We don’t need a call,” Dom whispered. He raised his eyes, and sick as he was, a fire burned in them. “Who else but Martino? I should not have believed the scum!”

  “Let’s wait,” Savage advised quickly. “I think you’re right, but there’s an outside chance it might be someone else.” He shook his head in anger. “I thought I had Joe scared enough to do anything!”

  “Let me make a couple of calls—not the police,” he added as Frank started to protest. “Maybe she went by her parent’s place or the office.” He dialed the numbers and made up a story that covered the calls. “Nothing doing,” he said, putting down the receiver. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to speak slowly. “How many know about it?” he asked.

  “Just the three of us,” Frank informed him. “I’ve got to tell Rosemary.”

  “Maybe you should wait, Frank,” Dom suggested. “If Dani and Pat come walking in, it would mean you’d put Rosemary through a terrible time for nothing.”

  “They’re not going to come walking in, Pop,” Frank stated flatly. Anger was beginning to override the fear that had numbed his mind, and he suddenly exploded. “Faye’s been right all the time! We should have wiped up on that crowd long ago! And it’s not too late!”

  He half turned, but Savage disagreed, “Yes, it’s too late now.” His hard tone caught Lanza, who turned and stared at him. Savage went on calmly, “What good would it do to hit some of Martino’s bunch—or Joe himself for that matter? Dani won’t be at his house. She’ll be far away, and there’ll be a phone there. If you start blasting, Dani and Pat will go up in smoke.”

  Frank stared at him, then his shoulders sagged. “Sure, Ben,” he agreed heavily. “I wasn’t thinking. But I still think we ought to tell Rosemary. I’ll stall until Matt and Rachel are in bed, though.”

  Dom asked suddenly, “Ben, have you ever been involved in a kidnapping case?”

  Savage nodded. “Three times, all in the Denver area.” He saw that strong as they were in many ways, both men felt racked by helplessness. He declared, “It’s a dirty business. Most of the time, no matter what the family of the victims does, it doesn’t help.”

  “You mean they’ll kill Dani and Pat, no matter what we do?” Dom asked.

  “We’ve got a chance,” Savage insisted evenly. “But only if we keep our heads. They have all the good cards, and they know it. Get this straight right now: They’ll try to break us down. They know we’re hurting, and they’ll try to make it worse. For instance, they’ll try to scare you into moving fast.”

  “I’m pretty scared right now,” Frank confessed dully. “What else can they do?”

  “They can tell you that they’re going to send you one of Pat’s fingers by UPS if you don’t move fast.” He saw the shock rake across Frank Lanza’s face, and Dom stared at him, his face frozen. “Oh, they’ll say worse than that, I’d guess. It’s always the same. Time is against them, and they know it. So they have to get what they want and get out quick. That’s why I think we ought to call the law right now. They can do things we can’t.”

  “No law!” Dom Lanza spoke emphatically and shook his head defiantly. “We have enough manpower to handle it. I can call in a hundred men by tomorrow.”

  Savage felt sorry for the old man, but there was no gentleness in him as he spoke. “Dom, this isn’t a gang war. A thousand gunmen wouldn’t help a bit. Get those ideas out of your head!” He went over and sat down and looked at the two men. “No sense looking at the phone. It won’t ring for a day or two.”

  “What! Why not?” Frank cried.

  “Look at you,” Savage pointed out. “You’re falling to pieces right now, and it’s only been a few hours. You think they don’t know that? They use it, Frank. The longer they let you stew, the easier you’ll be for them to manipulate. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be helpless.”

  Dom asked, “Isn’t there anything we can do, Ben?”

  “Sure! But none of it’s going to help your nerves,” Savage warned. “You’ve got to understand one thi
ng—it’s all a game of nerves. The first guy who blinks gets the ax. I know it’s rough, but I’m telling you it’s the only way to get Pat and Dani back!”

  A silence ran around the room. Frank took a deep breath, expelled it, then slowly nodded. “All right, Ben. You’re the man. What can we do besides wait?”

  “Get an electronics man here quick,” Ben suggested. “I recommend Vance Hill. He’s the best.”

  “Get him!” Frank ordered. “What does he do?”

  “Gets the phones ready for the call. There’ll be more than one, and we want everything on tape. They’ll threaten to kill Pat if you do it, but they’ll have no way of knowing. Most kidnappers know that’s going to be done anyway, so they take their precautions about the calls they make.”

  “Can’t we trace the calls?” Frank demanded.

  “You’ve been seeing too many movies! It takes a long time and a bunch of special equipment for that. Chances are they’ll use a different phone each time. But even if they didn’t, as long as they keep the calls short, there’s no chance of tracing it.”

  “Call that man,” Frank insisted. “Tell him to name his price.”

  “It’ll be the same as if he did it for Ross Investigations,” Savage said. He made a call, spoke with Hill, and put down the receiver. “Now, nobody elected me to run this show, but let me at least fill you in on what will probably happen. You need to be ready for it. And you might as well sit down. We’re not going anywhere.”

  As Frank obeyed, Ben went over and looked in the cooler. Picking out a Coke, he poured it in a glass, added ice, and took a sip. He was a hard, tough shape as he stood there, and both men suddenly felt glad they were not alone.

  “The call will come, probably tomorrow,” he guessed. “It will be rough. They make the demand: how much money. Then they’ll tell you to get it, and they’ll give you some rough threats. Finally they’ll hang up.” He took another sip and stared at the floor, thinking hard. “The second call will come maybe ten hours or so later. This time they’ll give you specific instructions—and more threats. They’ll want the money right away, and that’s your chance to stall them. Tell them you’re having trouble raising it. Stall all you can.” He lifted his head and fixed Frank’s gaze. “And right then is where you make your demand, Frank!”

  “My demand?”

  “Yeah. You say that Dani and Pat are probably dead already. Tell them you’re not paying a dime until you talk to both of them. They’ll try to break you down, but you can’t back up. Don’t try to push them around. Just keep saying you’ve got to know they’re okay.”

  “What if they kill them rather than do that?” Dom asked intently.

  “They won’t.” Savage shook his head and smiled grimly. “What could they use for leverage then? No, they’ll scream, but in the end they’ll have to do it. And that’s our only hope.”

  “I don’t understand,” Dom complained. “Aside from letting us know they’re alive, how will it help?”

  Savage took several sips of the Coke, then stared at the glass. “I hate these things!” he muttered. Then he looked up, his face hard, but a light shone in his hazel eyes. “What do you think Dani is doing right now?”

  “Why—I don’t know,” Frank stammered. “What can she do, Ben?”

  “She’s thinking, that’s what.” Savage nodded emphatically. “That woman is a thinking machine! Never saw anything like it. When we were stuck in that silo, waiting for that nut to bump us off, she went around fixing food and preaching to all of us, but she was thinking all the time. Never stopped! And she thought us out of there!”

  “She told me that you were responsible for the escape,” Dom objected.

  “I climbed a rope, but she was the one who thought it out. I’m just a hard-nosed cop, but that lady is something else. I don’t know where she is, but right now she knows that sooner or later she’s going to get to say something to us over the phone.”

  “How can she know that?” Dom asked in a puzzled tone.

  “Because she knows me.” Savage nodded again. “She picked my brain dry a long time ago. I’ve told her about every case I was ever on, and she never forgets a thing. So she’s figuring out how to tell us where they’ve got her and Pat or something else that will give us a handle on the thing. That’s why we need the phone system. She’ll only have a chance to say a few words, and they’ll have to get by whoever’s holding her. She’ll have to make it sound as if it means nothing, or they won’t play.” He thought for a minute. “It just came to me, she’ll probably give Pat something to say that will help. Those guys won’t suspect a kid of doing a thing like that!”

  Frank studied Ben’s face, then asked, “You know Dani pretty well, don’t you?”

  Savage looked at him with a stolid expression. “I work for her,” he commented evenly.

  The phone rang sooner than any of them thought. Vance Hill had gotten there and set up the system by midnight. He had made himself a small command post in a room next to the den, where he sat with a pair of head-phones on, ready with his finger on a switch. “No way they’ll know I’m there,” he had assured Ben and the Lanzas. “But I’ll get it all.”

  Frank had left at eight, to tell Rosemary, and when he came back just before ten o’clock, Dom asked, “How did she take it?”

  Frank shook his head. “Better than you and me, Pop.” He sat down slowly, a perplexed look on his haggard face. “I thought she’d go to pieces and reach for a bottle, but she didn’t. She cried a little, but then she looked at me and said, ‘It will be all right.’ Why, she sounded so blasted sure! I don’t get it!”

  Savage grinned. “I do. You left her with Dani too much, Frank. She’s hit the glory trail.”

  “Religion?” Frank stared at Savage. “I don’t believe it!”

  “I do,” Dom chimed in. He had refused to leave the room and was lying on the couch. Thomas Rossi had come and sat on a straight chair, watching the old man. He had made Dom comfortable, but could not make him take a sleeping pill. Now he looked carefully at Dom, as did Frank. “She’s been working on me,” Dom admitted with a smile.

  “Aw, come on, Pop!” Frank exclaimed.

  “You think it’s pretty hopeless, a man like me finding God?” his father inquired. “Well, I think so too—but that woman will not give up!’

  “Ain’t she a caution?” Savage laughed deep in his throat. “She’s been at me from the time we met, and no matter how rotten I act, she just goes right on telling me how God loves me.” He sobered and shook his head. “You know something? I’m beginning to believe it.”

  Dom nodded. “Rosemary is different, Frank. You will see. It’s a thing I can’t understand, but she’s like a new woman. Maybe this kind of faith is not for me or you, but it works for her.”

  “It worked for Vince,” Savage put in suddenly. “He went out with a smile on his face. I think—”

  The sudden sound of the phone made all of them jump, and Frank leaped at it.

  “Slow and easy!” Savage warned. When Frank picked up the phone, he announced, “This is Frank Lanza!” He blinked and pulled the phone away from his ear, and the others could hear the frantic voice of a man. “It’s Joe Martino,” Frank told the others and listened to the tirade coming over the receiver. Finally he cried, “I don’t believe you, Joe.” Another burst of words and Dom finally came over and suggested, “Let me talk to him, Frank.”

  He took the phone, put his lips near the receiver, and rapped out, “Shut your mouth, Joe.” He waited and added, “You’re trying to say that you had nothing to do with the kidnapping. Maybe that is so. But to prove it, you will have to come here alone and talk to me. No muscle with you, understand. Be here in one hour. Otherwise, my friend who called on you in the night will be back for a second visit. One hour!” He put the receiver back and smiled at the two men. “You know, I think he’ll come. And he’d only do that if he really had nothing to do with it.”

  “He said it was all Ring’s idea, Pop.” Frank nodded. “S
aid Ring won’t even tell him where he’s got Dani and Pat.”

  “I think he’s telling the truth,” Dom noted slowly. “Ring is ambitious. I’ve always known that one day he would get rid of Joe. Old Sal was too tough for him, but he knows he can take Joe. I think this is it. He’ll get what he wants from us, and somehow he’ll take over the Martino organization. He’ll either scare Joe into retiring or kill him.”

  Vance Hill stuck his head in the door. “System works good. You want to hear it, Mr. Lanza?”

  “No, just be ready,” Frank ordered. Then he sat down and said, “Well, let’s wait some more.”

  And they did—for twelve hours. It was 11:00 A.M. when the call came, and it lasted less than a minute. Frank answered and, after giving his name, had no chance to speak. As soon as the call was over, he yelled, “Vance! Can you give that back to us?”

  Hill had rigged a speaker in the den, and in a few seconds, they heard a high-pitched voice that Dom instantly identified “Johnny Ring!”

  “Now listen, Lanza,” the voice said. “You know we have the kid and the dame. What you’ll do is this, get two million in cash—old money, no new stuff! This afternoon you’ll receive a Federal Express package. It’ll have legal papers, contracts, and stuff like that. You sign them on the lines where your initials are. I’ll call again and tell you where the drop will be. If you don’t get the cash and the contracts to us, we’ll send you the kid’s head in a sack by mail. The woman’s, too, but only after we have a little fun with her!”