by Dale Mayer
“Cooper called in to say his prognosis is good. He’s in great shape physically. There’s no reason to think he won’t make a full recovery.” Markus pushed open the door and waited for them to walk through. “Bottom line is he’s getting the best care he can get right now, as is Sinja. We need to focus on the boys.”
As they got into the vehicle Chase heard his phone buzz. He checked the message. “That was Brett. He’s on his way home.”
“Good,” Markus said. “We need all the help we can get.”
Chapter 22
On the way back to Brett’s house Vanessa listened while Chase made call after call after call. She felt so helpless. There didn’t seem to be anything she could do. She wanted to phone the boys, but if their captors had no idea they had phones, she didn’t want to draw attention to the devices.
All in all she felt like the guys would like to stash her somewhere safe while they went on the hunt. That wasn’t going to work for her. Chase phoned the DA then he updated the commander before finally talking to Mason. In fact, Vanessa lost track of all the people he talked with, it just added to her sense of frustration that there wasn’t one single person she could call for help.
Finally, Chase turned to face the other two and said, “No update, no sign of the boys. There are seventy-two black vans currently registered in the city, two were stolen within the last week. Both were within a twenty mile radius of Amrit’s house.”
“Why steal two?” she asked.
It was Markus who said, “It could’ve been a coincidence. Or it could’ve been that by stealing two vehicles at the same time the kidnappers were trying to throw us off the track. If we split the manpower to chase down two vehicles then they have a better chance of getting away.”
“It doesn’t matter why,” Chase said. “It’s the police that are now tracking down the stolen vehicles. Shadow has triangulated one of the phones.”
Markus shot him a surprised look. “Already?”
Chase nodded. “It’s at the mall.”
“At the mall? I can’t see that,” she said thoughtfully. “Why would the kidnappers take him to the mall?”
“Where’s the second phone?” Markus asked.
“They haven’t got a lock on that one yet,” Chase said.
“I bet it’s Peter’s phone they found at the mall. He’s forever losing it. It’s going to be Amrit’s that gives us the location where the boys are.” She just knew that was the way it was going to be. Sinja had called her several times in the beginning because Peter had lost the phone. They’d always managed to retrace Peter’s steps and found the missing device but Vanessa knew one day it would be lost for good. And it made sense the phone would be in the mall as that was where Peter spent most of his time with his friends. He was actually hoping to get a job there in one of the gaming shops one day.
“We need to track it regardless while we get a lock on the other phone.” Markus turned to Chase. “Do you know of any ties a gang members may have to California?”
Chase shook his head. “I don’t know anybody anymore. Even if they had family here, I wouldn’t remember who or what or where.”
“So why is the trial here then?”
“Because he committed the crimes here they are holding the trial here. That doesn’t mean they won’t prosecute him in another state for more crimes. He’s currently out on bail with regulations restricting his movements. He must show up for his court appearance on Friday.”
“I am not versed on California’s laws, but I don’t understand why they aren’t adding more charges to his file,” she said. “Or have they? You can prove murder, can’t you?”
“I witnessed him gun down several people. But not in this state.” He stared off in the distance, his face hard, cold. “But it’s my word against his. I have no visual proof of any forensic evidence to that nature.”
Vanessa didn’t know how the courts worked but as long as they took him off the street while they took care of the legal stuff she was good. “I just hope we can find the boys before they become the next statistic on his rap sheet.”
“I’m pretty sure Gregory will have distanced himself from the kidnappings.” Markus peered out into the afternoon light. “He can’t afford to be associated with this in any way.”
“It’s Ronnie I’m worried about. I suspect this is his game play.” Chase frowned. “He’s out on bail so he’s still involved.”
“And you know this man. So what plan is he likely to be attempting?”
“The Ronnie I knew would never have used women and children to get things done.”
“That’s not true, Chase,” Vanessa said. “They used your mother against you all the time.”
Chase frowned. “I know that, but for some reason I feel like Ronnie would never have followed through. Although if Ronnie hadn’t, Gregory would have.”
“Back then maybe. I doubt if that’s true anymore,” Markus said. “Contact one of the guys and have them do a full rundown on Ronnie. See if we can get any more information on him.”
“Do you have a last name for him?” Vanessa asked. “For any of them?”
“Ronnie Haverness.” Chase made a surprise sound. “I actually remember his name as being Ronnie Haverness. I think its actually Ronald Haverness. His birthday is the same day as mine, only he’s nine years older.”
“Send that information to the guys. Maybe he has relatives here in California. At the very least we should a get a lot more information on Ronnie. If he’s spearheading this operation we need to know everything we can about him.”
*
Why the hell hadn’t he thought of that? It was as if all his memories of his past had been blocked out, as if he didn’t want to remember. But that was no excuse. Still kicking himself mentally, he quickly called Mason and gave him that information.
There was a curious silence, and then Mason said, in a quiet voice, “Do you know the names of any other men?”
Chase winced as he rattled off two more. “I don’t know if they are still in the gang or not. Gregory’s last name you can get at the DAs office. I don’t think I ever knew it. I only have their street names in my notes. These just came to me so I don’t know how good a lead they are.”
“We’ll get on this.” Mason waited a second. “How are you two doing?”
“We’re fine,” Chase said in a hard voice still hating that he’d been so slow to come up with a name. “Feeling frustrated that there is so little we can do to help the kids.”
“Staying safe is your primary objective.”
“Unless we allow ourselves to get caught.” Chase heard Mason suck back a surprised breath. He quickly rushed to explain. “The only way we may be able to locate the boys is if I’m actually taken to them.” He looked back toward Vanessa and added, “Let me make it very clear though. I don’t want Vanessa used as bait. It’s me they want. So I think they should take me.”
“I’ll think about it.” Mason hung up.
“Well, that went well.” Chase snorted. “Mason is going to think about the suggestion.”
Markus said, “It’s actually not that bad an idea. It’s just we can’t ensure your safety. These men are just as likely to shoot you full of holes before we can rescue you.”
Chase didn’t answer because he also knew that was the truth. These gang members were no longer the boys he ran with in the streets. They were hard cold killers.
And he had to remember that.
Chapter 23
Vanessa was relieved when they pulled into Brett’s driveway. It represented safety for the moment. Then she walked in to find it was being used as a central station.
In a humorous tone she asked, “What’s Brett going to think of this when he arrives home?”
“He’ll be fine with it. If it’s not his house it would be one of ours,” Markus said.
She shrugged, dropped her purse on the counter and reached for a cup of coffee. She leaned back against the counter and studied the table full of laptops and worki
ng men. “Anything new?”
Chase strolled to the kitchen with his laptop and plunked down beside the rest of them.
Nobody answered. She sighed and turned to stare out the window. “If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know?”
“We’re on it,” Hawk said. “If you can think of anything else that would help us track down these guys then let us know. Otherwise…” And he let his voice trail off.
As she stood hugging a cup of coffee she couldn’t help but think of poor Amrit and Peter. What they must think about their new life in America… Intuitively she understood they were hoping Chase was going to come to the rescue yet again. And he would. But would it be fast enough? That was the question she didn’t dare answer.
“Is it safe to go outside in the backyard?”
Chase looked up and frowned. He glanced around at the table full of men and said, “It looks like Cooper’s on guard duty.”
Just then her phone rang. She glanced down and exclaimed, “It’s from Amrit.”
Instantly, silence filled the room. Chase got up and walked over to her. “Hold it out so we can hear and try to speak normally. We’ll see if we can track it, but for that to happen we need you to keep him talking.”
She waited until Swede gave her the signal to answer and with the volume high she did so. “Amrit? Where are you?”
Silence.
“Hello. Hello? Amrit are you there?” Silence. She glanced over at the men trying to track the phone call and shrugged. She thought she could hear something in the background, but it wasn’t recognizable. She held the phone up to Chase’s ear to see if he could recognize the sound. But he shook his head. The phone was passed quickly from person-to-person to see if anybody could identify the odd machinery sound in the background. Not knowing what to do she laid the phone down on the table and waited in silence while the men tried to find where the caller was.
The phone went dead just as Shadow pumped his fist in the air and exclaimed, “Got it.”
“Where is he?”
With her heart in her throat she listened as he named off a street very close to Amrit’s home and to the school. She gasped in surprise. “He’s so close.”
“No,” Chase corrected. “He is close to where we were. We’re a good ten to fifteen minutes away from there now.”
Swede brought up a map and announced, “It’s a house in a decent residential area. An older part of town that has been wiped out and rebuilt with new monstrosities.”
The men were already heading for the door.
She grabbed Chase’s arm as he followed them. “What’s going on?”
“We are going after Amrit.”
“Can I come? He knows me. He might want to see a friendly face when you guys arrive.”
The men looked at each other and then looked back at her.
Chase shook his head. “They know me and Swede. We already rescued these boys once. They’re hoping for another rescue. We can’t fail them. But it’s best you stay here and stay safe. There’s no point in saving the boys if that means losing you to the kidnappers.”
He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Stay here. We will let you know as soon as we have the boys.” He tilted her chin up and smiled down at her. “I promise I will call as soon as I can.”
And she had to be happy with that.
She trailed behind them to the front door with her heart in her throat as they got into two vehicles and took off. She hated to be left behind. And she hated to be out of the loop. But she knew it was so much worse for the boys. She wandered back into the kitchen. They’d left laptops, paperwork and coffee cups everywhere.
She smiled. They might be dangerous men in their own way, but they were barely housebroken.
Still she didn’t like it when other people touched her stuff, so she didn’t want to touch theirs. She picked up her cup of coffee and made her way into the living room. Confused and frustrated but full of hope she wandered into the living room and plunked herself down on the couch. She was tired and worn out but she was too keyed up to sleep.
*
Chase hated to leave her behind. That it was a ploy to empty the house occurred to him, but as far as he knew their location had not been compromised. As long as she stayed hidden inside he was good. He could focus on saving the boys. They were only ten minutes away from the house.
The police had been informed but wouldn’t be able to mobilize in time. They’d be kept in the loop. Not his job to do that. Good thing. He was no good as a mediator, negotiator, and barely made the level of a police conversationalist when it came to authority.
Once in the neighborhood, they parked down the block and quickly took up their positions.
Chase waited for Mason’s signal.
Shadow and Hawk scoped out the perimeter. So far the house was shrouded in darkness. If the boys were in there, there was no visible sign. His unit went in both doors at the same time and quickly searched the house. Empty. They searched upstairs, downstairs and in the basement. But there was no sign of the boys. The boys had been there. There were bags of McDonald’s takeout lying around. In one room there was a small boy’s sweater and more fast food garbage.
He stood in the center of the room and could feel his world collapsing. He turned to Swede and asked, “How did they know we were coming?”
“They may not have.” He pointed to the table where Amrit’s phone sat. “Although if they found the phone and worried the last call had been traced it would explain why they moved them.”
“But moved them where?” Chase asked. “They could be anywhere.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find them. We’ve got the names of the owners of this house already…now we’re just looking for a connection to the gang. Any thread we find is more than we had. Stay focused.”
But he couldn’t help feeling they’d missed their chance. He stared at the phone in rage and that was when terror struck.
Shadow walked into the kitchen.
Chase turned to him. “If we used Vanessa’s phone to track Amrit,” he said in a hard voice, “is it possible they used Amrit’s phone to track Vanessa?”
Shadow gazed at the phone on the table then turned to stare at him in horror. He gave a short clipped nod and said, “Absolutely.”
Chase pulled his phone out to call Cooper who was on watch at the house.
“There’s no answer from Cooper’s phone.” He bolted to the truck. “Tell the others I’m heading back to Vanessa.”
“Don’t go alone,” Shadow shouted.
“He won’t, I’ve got him and Evan’s driving.”
Chase barely recognized that had come from Markus. Evan grabbed him and shoved him into the back of the truck then dove into the driver’s seat. “There’s no way you’re driving in the shape you’re in. Besides we’ll get there faster if I drive.”
It didn’t matter how fast they drove. Inside Chase knew they were already too late.
The assholes had Vanessa.
The phone call from a very sore and pissed off Cooper confirmed it.
Chapter 24
Who the hell was banging so loud? She could barely sleep for the noise pounding through her head. She tried to roll over and cried out. Shock waves of pain rippled down her body and her headache boomed.
She rolled onto her back and cried out again as she realized her hands were tied behind her back. She lay there in that position for a few minutes, gasping for breath as the greasy waves of pain slowly receded. She opened her eyes and studied what appeared to be a small bedroom. How the hell had she ended up here?
Was she still in the same house?
Or was she somewhere else altogether? She remembered sitting down on the couch and wishing she could take a nap but feeling like there was no way she’d sleep.
Had she dozed off and then been attacked? Had the house been gassed? Was that even possible? There was an odd smell in her mouth and her nose, but her wits were quickly pulling back together.
Had the men been l
ured away leaving her alone in the house? No, not alone. Cooper had been on watch outside. Poor Cooper. She hoped he was only knocked out. Not dead. That would be too horrible. She could feel a drop slowly dripping down her forehead that answered her question about the headache.
She couldn’t hear anything in the rest of the house. Was anyone downstairs? She rolled over, coming up onto her knees. Could she slip her arms under her butt to bring her tied hands to the front? Yes! With her arms now in front she realized the bindings were just rope. Nylon rope.
Her feet were tied the same way and now with her fingers available she managed to undo the knots around her feet. Feeling better with that accomplished she scrambled up and walked to the window where she could look out. It seemed to be a residential area but not one she recognized. She turned her attention to her wrists and using her teeth, she managed to untie the knot on her hands. Nylon might be strong but it was slippery and easy to undo.
Free, she now felt like she had a chance. She grabbed the two pieces of rope, shoved one into her pocket and wrapped the other one around her wrist. She didn’t think she had the strength to strangle somebody, but she’d sure give it a good try.
The window opened easily, but she was on the second floor and there was no fire exit, deck or small roof below to break her landing. If she hung out the window and stretched down she’d be able to minimize the fall, plus it was grass below. She had no idea if she’d break a leg with a drop like that. But as long as she could hobble to safety she’d be fine with the result.
On the other hand sitting and waiting here for someone to show up…that was the last thing she wanted to do.
She walked over to the door and very gently tried to turn the knob. And found it locked. Of course. The bedroom was locked from the outside. That just made her skin crawl. Had these assholes modified this house just to kidnap her? And if they had, did that mean the boys were here? From looking out the window she could see she was at the corner of the house so two of the walls were outside walls. The other two were therefore inside walls. One held the door.