“Why, we’re doing as you asked, Mrs. Mendez. We’re taking you to your daughter. And if you’d like to see her before she’s sliced into a thousand pieces I strongly suggest you cooperate.”
Checkmate.
You win, Jack Monkey, Lisa thought. For now.
CHAPTER 24
Courting Disaster
Alex was at a steady jog by the time he reached the nursery. He’d lost count of how many people he’d bumped into or nearly knocked to the ground as he made his way to the hospital’s nursery wing. Two attempts to reach Danny on his cell phone had failed. He realized he simply wasn’t getting a signal in this part of the hospital.
Alex arrived at the nursery and saw two uniformed officers standing guard. One outside, a gray-haired older man. Alex didn’t recognize him. The one inside the nursery looked to be younger, though not nearly possessing the insecure rookie air about him that the previous guard seemed to have. He looked to be maybe Alex’s age, give or take a couple of years, strong, sturdy and tall—a couple inches taller than Alex.
Now in a full run, Alex raised his voice to the gray-haired cop with the belly paunch. “Where’s Captain Peterson? I want to see Captain Peterson now!”
Standing in the doorway, arms raised as if to motion Alex back, the uniformed officer never broke confidence. “Captain Peterson is not here, sir. Now if you’ll just kindly…”
“Now if you’ll kindly recognize I’m Alex Mendez we won’t have a problem here. Captain Peterson is supposed to be guarding my son!”
The officer’s expression changed to one of acknowledgement and respect. His eyes were huge. The urgency with which his mind worked was all too evident. He might not have recognized Alex Mendez on sight but he knew the name, perhaps the reputation. Or maybe he simply had his orders. Whatever the reason he no longer wished to impede Alex.
“Lt. Mendez,” the officer began. “I apologize. I did not recognize you. Captain Peterson told me to give you this message when you showed up.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handwritten note.
Alex, I had to go. It couldn’t be avoided. I’ll explain later. Don’t worry, you can trust these guys. I put the fear of Peterson in them. If I don’t hear from you within the hour, I’ll be in touch. Danny
The fear of Peterson; compared to the wrath of Mendez, the fear of Peterson is nothing, Alex told himself.
“How’s my son?” Alex asked the officer, whose name badge saidT Snyder.
“Sleepin’ like…” he stopped, softly chuckled to himself, “Like a baby.”
“And who’s the other uniform?”
“That’s Officer Bradley. Mike Bradley. I’m Terry Snyder.”
“How long ago did Captain Peterson leave?”
Snyder looked at his watch. “Couldn’t say for sure. Maybe a half hour ago. Wasn’t long, really. Said if you weren’t down within the hour to let him know.”
Alex was reaching for his cell phone when it rang.
“Mendez.”
“Alex, it’s Danny.”
“Where are you? You’re supposed to be watching my son!” He bent down, suddenly feeling dizzy and out of breath. A combination of running and tension with which the current situation had presented itself.
“I’m at your place, Alex. I think you’d better get here right away.”
“What’s wrong? Where’s Christina? Is she okay?”
Danny paused for a second. But it might as well have been a lifetime.
“Alex just hurry.”
“Danny, what is it? Tell me! What’s going on!?”
“They’re missing, Alex.”
“They?”
“Yes. They! Your mother. Alyson… .” He let out a hefty sigh.
“And Christina. They’re missing. We’ve got a lotta crap going on and...” Danny’s voice trembled. It cracked several times.
“What do you mean they’re missing?”
“Alex, I’ve got a serious problem here. Just get home okay? Now!”
With that Danny hung up the phone. Alex cursed but something in him understood the urgency with which Danny had addressed the matter. Cop was battling friend. He didn’t want to tell him the situation over the phone.
He shoved his phone back in his pocket.
“Look,” he said, meeting Officer Snyder’s eyes. “That was Captain Peterson. I have to go take care of something. I don’t know when your shift is over but you stay here until one of us gets back, you understand me?”
“Sir, they couldn’t drag me away from this door. My shift doesn’t end until you or Captain Peterson tell me it’s over. If I have to pee my pants, puke on the floor, eat my hat or drink the water in that plant over there I have my orders. Nobody’s gonna hurt your son today. Not on my watch.”
Running out of the hospital like an out of control idiot, Alex couldn’t help but let Officer Snyder’s words resonate. Though frightened, confused, and scared witless, a strange sense of calm told Alex that everything was okay on this end. Whoever Terry Snyder was, Alex was confident he meant what he said. Nobody’s going to hurt Joseph Mendez today.
Jogging by the huge window overlooking the nursery, Alex stopped briefly enough to look at his tiny son.
“Daddy loves you,” he said, then turned and bolted toward the exit.
He would figure out where he parked his car on the way.
***
Lisa had allowed her hands to be bound behind her back. Her mouth had been covered with duct tape and the ropes used to bind her arms had been wrapped in the same gray adhesive strips. Clearly these guys didn’t want her getting loose. The one benefit was the offer of shoes that, as it turned out, were exactly Lisa’s size. She couldn’t imagine that these people had robbed a shoe store just for her, so how they’d managed to find shoes of such perfect fit shocked her. Why they would bother had her confused. Criminals with their own stock of hostage clothes. Kind of like her own renegade Tommy Hilfiger.
Somehow, she didn’t think the orange jumpsuit look was going to be a fashion hit this runway season.
A burly man radiating of severe body odor wound some sort of scarf or bandana tightly around her eyes. Blinded, she felt the bag being placed over her head and secured loosely around her neck. Had they wanted to strangle her, she would have been hard pressed to fight them off. Having her arms stretched behind her back was putting tremendous stress on her abdomen and her side; but fighting to ignore the pain was proving more manageable than she had anticipated. She walked escorted by two sets of hands, each holding her securely by her shoulders, bracing her. Without the benefit of sight, battling sharp pains throughout her body, her equilibrium was terribly thrown off.
Two or three times they stopped. Lisa heard the faint sound of creaking. She guessed it to be a door opening. They would inevitably start moving again. At one point, they appeared to be walking down an incline. It felt very solid. Concrete? Cement? She couldn’t be sure.
Definitely not just some makeshift plywood ramp. This was a solid walkway. Walking down the ramp, she felt a warm breeze. A chirping bird suggested she was very likely outside. Had she not been gagged, she might have screamed, but then again, any attempted escape effort would not only prove futile but would also likely endanger Christina.
Mommy’s coming, Baby.
As she thought the words, Lisa wondered if the promise of her heart was strong enough to drown out the doubts coursing through her mind.
Mommy might be coming but what she’s gonna do when she gets there is anyone’s guess!
CHAPTER 25
Heroes and Friends
Despite a light, steady rain, Alex drove home with frantic urgency. Never one to truly speed—occasionally going 5 miles over the speed limit on a clear day with nothing but open road between him and his destination—his speed had topped 60 in some residential areas.
Reaching 90 on the interstate between the hospital and home. The twenty-five minute ride from Longview to Gilmer took Alex less than half that to complete.
If the ride home had been a frenzied one, the sight of police cars and unmarked cruisers lining the streets and filling his front yard was downright indescribable. Maddening. Confusing.
Inconceivable.
Cops get into scrapes. It comes with the territory. Even ex-cops get into situations from time to time, but what exactly did you call this?
This looked more like Armageddon had manifested on his front lawn.
He was opening his door even as he shifted the car into park. The car was still rolling when Alex stepped out.
The area had already been cordoned off. Crime scene tape was everywhere. Alex felt like he was watching an episode of Law and
Order. Surely this could not really be his home! Behind him, across the street, Alex noticed several police officers—at least he assumed they were police officers, as he didn’t recognize them—busily attending to a vehicle that was parked nearby. One was taking photographs. Another two or three were inside the vehicle itself. Still another was analyzing the contents of the trunk. He couldn’t be sure but Alex thought he saw another cop inspecting the underside of the vehicle. Across the way, a uniformed officer stood apparently interviewing the neighbors.
Turning his attention to his home, Alex noticed a number of detectives walking in and out of the front door.
Looking around he spotted Danny who was in a strong jog, heading towards Alex.
Agents Sutton and Parker were not far behind him, walking at a very brisk pace.
“Tell me what’s going on, Danny.”
“Alex it’s a madhouse right now. I had to leave when I got the call and I couldn’t find you. I didn’t want to call you on the phone when I didn’t know anything.”
“I should have been here, Danny! What is going on in there?
Where’s my daughter? I should have been here!”
“Stop kicking yourself, Alex. There’s nothing you could have done.”
“I’m not kicking myself! I’m resisting the urge to kick the snot out of you! You should have called me, Danny! I should have been here!
How in the heck are you gonna let me find out about this from some stranger? Jesus, Danny I should beat you where you stand!”
“Alex, will you calm down!” Danny screamed so loudly that
Agents Parker and Sutton both winced slightly. Police officers all across the yard turned suddenly in their direction.
“You freaking abandoned me!” Alex screamed. “After all we’ve been through, you idiot! How could you? How can you just shut me out? This ismyhome! It’s my family! And all you can say iscalm down?I should have freaking been here!”
“Well you weren’t were you?” Danny screamed, getting nearly nose-to-nose with Alex. “You weren’t here and neither was I. And what would you have done if you’d been here? I’m standing here right now, a cop for more years than you ever have and I still don’t know what to do! I might not be married to Lisa. I might not be responsible for Christina’s existence, but they’re just as much my family as they are yours, Alex. They might as well be the only family I have left!
You’re like my brother, so forgive me if I acted before I thought, Alex. My family was in danger too and I wanted to get here as soon as possible! I didn’t have time to play hide-and-seek with you!”
Alex wasn’t fully convinced Danny was right, but his words were nonetheless powerful. Danny and Alex had always been like brothers.
Trainer, mentor, sure. But Danny had been a friend when Alex had been a scared rookie. He had been a part of the Mendez family for as long as Alex had known him. And now he stood before Alex displaying the righteous anger one would expect from a brother of the heart if not the blood. He had as much right to be worried as Alex did.
And fighting about it wasn’t going to change the central fact that Lisa and his family were gone.
If there was ever a reason to stress it was now and it was this. But nothing was ever solved by freaking out. Cooler heads prevailed. That was the Luisa Mendez philosophy—a philosophy that had served him well as a father, husband and policeman.
Sighing, Alex backed away from Danny. “We need to get some things straight,” he said, calmly. “I don’t have a badge anymore, but
I’m the same Alex Mendez I was all those years. I’ve never been one for IOU’s but I’m calling this one out right now, Danny. You owe me the courtesy I earned after all those years on the force. Number one, I’ve put in my time. I might not have all your years but I put in my time and I earned my shield just like you did. Number two this is still my family missing. Mine in the sense of a name, if nothing else. It’s my blood on the line and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t forget that.”
Feeling himself again heading for angered territory, he took a moment, let his eyes wander, brushed a hand briskly through his hair.
He took a soothing deep breath and met Danny’s eyes again.
Pointing to his home Alex said, “That’s still my castle and there’s only one king. Badge or no badge you owe me that much. From here on, I expect it. Do we understand each other?”
Danny nodded, looking down at the ground then shifting a solemn look back to Alex.
“So,” Alex continued, “are you going to tell me exactly what we’re looking at?”
“A call came in to 911 from your number a couple of hours ago, but the operator said no one was there. The line wasn’t dead, mind you.
Just no one talking. No one was there. Background noise was very evident. Operator thought that the phone was knocked off of its base and 911 might have been speed dialed by mistake. Sounds crazy but it happens more than you might think. When it came in that it was your address though, the operator told her supervisor. The supervisor called the station. They notified me. When I couldn’t raise my men, I notified
Agent Sutton who told me his men had not checked in…”
“Wait, you said the operator said the call was logged but no one was there.”
“Yeah, and when we arrived… well, when I arrived, minutes after Sutton and Parker… I happened upon this scene,” Danny pointed to the car across the road. The one that was surrounded by investigating officers. “My men in there. Throats cut, bludgeoned, either before or after having their throats cut. It’ll take some time before we know what actually killed them. Fact is they’re dead. How they died doesn’t really matter.” Pointing to the other vehicle surrounded by a separate team of investigators, Danny continued “Agent Sutton’s men. In a nutshell, same deal.”
“Witnesses?” Alex asked, feeling for a moment blissfully disconnected from the personal side of the situation.
“No one’s come forth yet. We’ve had guys out canvassing the area but apparently nobody saw anything. Judging by the scene, it probably happened in the middle of the night. Alex, somebody hit this place and knew what they were doing when they did it. You don’t kill two cops, two Feds without so much as a struggle unless you’re just...you have to be real good.”
Suddenly, as if both of them shifted out of cop mode and back into worried family both Alex and Danny grew silent. Alex let his glance wander. When he looked at the Mendez family home, suddenly a light came on in his mind.
“So have you been in the house?” Alex asked.
“I have,” Danny confirmed. “One or two other officers have. But we haven’t really begun our investigation of the inside. Alex, the truth is Iwantedyou to be here when we do. Whether you believe me or not,
I do understand whose castle this is. And let’s face it. You know the lay of the land better than we do. You’ll notice things we won’t. You’re a cop but you’re a Mendez and this is your home. Your family...”
“Oh God! Brandy!”
Before Danny could move, speak or question him, Alex was gone.
Full speed, bolting harder than he had since his youth, harder than had been possible since the accident, Alex headed straight for the front door.
Throwing aside crime scene tape, pushing aside uniformed officer and detective alike, Alex charged into his hom
e with total reckless abandon. Though it registered as little more than an afterthought, Alex could hear Danny barking orders at the men to move and let Alex through.
The living room and foyer were crazy with chaos. There weren’t just signs of a struggle. These were signs of a battle. Somebody clearly did not want to be removed from this house. And somebody was equally determined that they be removed.
His stomach churned but Alex knew what he had to do. His mission was urgent—urgent and undeniable.
“Brandy?” Alex screamed. “Brandy where are you, girl?” He whistled for the four-legged Mendez, patted his leg so hard that it stung through his pants. He grew increasingly frightened and confused with each unheeded call. She’d been trained to come when called. Even as a retired service dog she had never lost the desire to please. He listened but heard nothing. The deeper he ventured into his home, his sacred castle, the more frightening the scene became. Potted plants were overturned; Lisa’s favorite fern would likely never be the same.
Furniture was broken, chairs knocked over, cushions thrown haphazardly out of place. Two legs on the end of the coffee table had broken off, causing the small table to tip over, spilling the scented candle and what few decorative adornments had once sat atop its darkly stained, ornamental wood surface.
The door to Christina’s room was slightly ajar, the only door in the hallway not closed off. On the floor in front of Christina’s room, on the door facing, on the door itself was the most sickening evidence of a struggle yet.
Blood.
Panting, out of breath, Danny stepped hurriedly to Alex’s side. His eyes beheld the ominous scene and panned to Alex.
A phone cord leading from the hallway disappeared through a one-inch gap between Christina’s door and the carpet beneath.
With one smooth motion, Danny reached for his ankle and removed a small pistol. Tossing it to Alex, he removed a 9mm from his shoulder holster and motioned Alex to one side of the doorway.
Silently, Danny began to signal two uniformed officers to converge on his position.
“We’re going in,” he whispered to the uniformed officers.
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