by Scott Blade
There was no sound except for Raggie’s breathing, which was more like whimpering. It was low and muffled like she was trying to be tough and fight back. And then at the ten-second mark on the little bar at the bottom of the video, words began to scroll up in front of her face. The text was short—six words, two exclamation points, and all caps.
KILL THE PRESIDENT! OR SHE DIES!
Chapter 28
THE TEXT MOVED UP AND OVER HER FACE. It held its position for five long seconds and then vanished. The video played for another five seconds, and there was more of her whimpering. Then a single sound boomed in the silence. It was unmistakable, but just in case a completely deaf person was watching the video, there was a visual image as well. A switchblade appeared in front of the camera, and the blade fired out of the handle with a loud snick sound.
The effect’s intent was achieved because both Raggie and Li jumped at the image. Li grabbed Cameron’s arm, digging her nails through the fabric of his shirt and into his bicep. It was painful, but he didn’t resist or make a sound.
He watched as the image faded to black. Then more text rolled across the screen. It read, “24 HOURS.” And then, “TELL NO ONE! WE’RE WATCHING!”
And that was all.
Cameron looked at Li and then back at Cord. He said, “You need to call the FBI.”
Cord said, “We can’t. Don’t you see that? We can’t tell anyone. They want Rowley to kill the president. If he’s not dead, then they’ll kill Raggie. If we tell anyone—she’s dead. If Rowley tells the president or anyone on his staff, they’ll strip him of his position immediately, and then he won’t have access. If anything changes, we’re convinced they’ll kill her.”
Cameron said, “How do you know John Lane is involved?”
“We know because he called us. He called Rowley personally. He wanted us to know. It was a short conversation. He wanted Rowley to know who was doing this.”
“When was she taken?”
“Two nights ago. None of us have slept yet.”
“When did they post the video? How much time do we have left?”
“Last night. Maybe ten hours. Lane told Rowley that he wanted him to murder the president when he lands because the president is going to do a Q and A with the press corps.”
Cameron said, “What is the Q and A about?”
Cord said, “You don’t watch a lot of news do you?”
“Not my area of expertise. I tend to stick with issues that involve my own life.”
Cord said, “It’s about an African thing.”
“What exactly?”
“What difference does it make?”
“I don’t know. Maybe something. Maybe nothing.”
“It’s been replayed all over the news. Some African president was killed on TV.”
“That sounds exactly the same to me.”
“We already figured that.”
“So why act like you didn’t?”
“I just wanted to see if you were any good at investigations.”
“Well, that one is pretty obvious. Any half-brain with the IQ of a goldfish could’ve put that together.”
Cord nodded and said, “At least we know you’re better than a goldfish.”
Li finally spoke. She said, “We don’t have a lot of time. Shouldn’t Cameron get started?”
Cord said, “Get started?”
“Yeah. Don’t you want him to find Raggie? Isn’t that why he’s here?”
Cord looked at Lucas and then back at Cameron.
He said, “No, that’s not why he’s here.”
“So why the hell is he here?”
She recoiled a little after realizing how she probably sounded to her boss, but Cord didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to show a glimmer of respect for her sudden backbone.
Cameron said, “I’m here because Lane wants Jack as a part of the deal. He doesn’t just want the president killed on TV. He wants Jack as a bonus.”
Cord said, “Not exactly. He isn’t the one who mentioned Jack.”
“Did Rowley mention him as a swap?” Cameron asked.
“Not exactly. We haven’t heard from Lane except for the one time. We’re hoping to use you as a bargaining chip. Like maybe we can appeal to Lane’s sense of revenge for his brother’s death. Maybe he’ll trade Raggie for the man who killed his brother. We know he’s been looking for him. He’s been in London.
“We have records on your father. We’ve seen some of the things he’s done. Like your mother, we’ve put together quite an impressive file on him. Plus, he’s helped us before.”
Cameron said, “Before? You mean that thing with the ex-vice president?”
Cord said, “I never met him personally. I wasn’t a part of the service then, but we have the details. At least what was in the files.”
“So what? You guys figured he’d agree to this stupidity? That he’d roll over and turn himself over to the bad guys?”
Cord said, “We hoped that he’d do the right thing. Perhaps his willingness to turn himself over to Lane could buy the girl more time to live. Or even better, maybe Lane would give her up as a swap. Maybe he’d give up his terrorism to get the man who killed his brother. That’s what we were hoping.”
Cameron said, “He’d go out and do real police work to find her. He’d never go along with a harebrained scheme to give himself over to a man who wants to kill him. What good would that do to save the girl? Or the president?”
“We’re desperate.”
Lucas reached into his coat pocket—right inner—and pulled out a wallet. It was a thick brown leather wallet. The leather was worn and creased with age. It could’ve been two years old or twenty. Neither would’ve surprised Cameron. Lucas opened it and pulled a picture out of one of those old, milky plastic picture cases for family photos. He held it out and showed it to Cameron.
He said, “See, she’s only a little girl.”
Cameron looked at it. The photo had been preserved perfectly, sealed and protected like a collector’s item. In it, he saw Lucas as a younger man. He was still fat and had the same eyes, but next to him, hugging him close, was Raggie when she was a young girl, maybe ten or eleven. She still had both of her hands. The background looked like a school auditorium of some sort. She wore a clean dress and carefully placed makeup. She might’ve been in a dance recital or a school play, or maybe even some kind of graduation. Did middle schools have graduation ceremonies?
Cameron looked back at Lucas. He saw a hard face with unbreakable features. But right there in that moment, he realized that Lucas cared a lot more about Raggie than the others. In fact, her safety was more important to him than his own life. Cameron’s father would’ve had a hard time saying no to Lucas if he’d asked him to help get her back.
Cameron stayed quiet, and Lucas pulled the picture back. He glanced down at it a last time and placed it back into his wallet and returned his wallet to the inner pocket of his jacket.
Cord said, “We’ll do whatever it takes to get her back. We’re Secret Service and ex-special ops. We aren’t helpless. We can get her back.”
Cameron looked at Li, and then he said, “When was she taken? What time exactly?”
“We think she was abducted two nights ago at around nine o’clock. Maybe ten.”
“How’s it that she’s still alive? That’s more than twenty-four hours ago.”
Cord said, “The video message wasn’t uploaded until last night. We didn’t hear anything for twenty-four hours.”
Cameron said, “They wanted you to be afraid. They wanted you to be terrified. They wanted her parents to think the worst as most parents do when their children go missing.”
Lucas said, “Well, it worked. We’re terrified.”
Cameron said, “How much time do we have left? Exactly.”
“Air Force One lands at 6:30 pm. After it lands, the president will disembark and face the press corps. That’ll be our last chance. If John Lane sees that the cameras have gone off and the pres
ident is still alive, then Raggie is dead.”
“How do you know he’s serious?”
Cord said, “We know him. Believe me, he’s serious.”
Cameron said, “I don’t mean about killing her. Obviously, he can do that. I mean how do you know that he’ll return her unharmed if we do as he asks?”
Cord looked at Li. He said, “You should leave.”
Li said, “Why?”
Cord stepped back onto the patio, his shoes scuffing the concrete and making a low echo that bounced between the walls and the privacy fence and the neighbor’s houses.
He said, “Because you’ve heard too much already.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Silence. She looked at her boss and then at Cameron.
Cameron said, “He’s right. You should go home now. Forget about this whole thing.”
Li’s face turned pale. She said, “What the hell? What do you mean? I’m not good enough to help?”
Cord said, “No. That’s not it at all.”
Cameron said, “He means that you have your whole career ahead of you. After this thing is over, there will be hearings and investigations and trials. You’ll be called in front of Congress and probably be on the news. He means that your career will be over.”
Li thought for a moment and understood.
Cameron said, “Whatever the hell happens, this thing will be over by tonight. I can call you after.”
Li said, “Cameron,” and signaled for him to follow her off to the side. She walked onto the grass. It was dry, and the dirt underneath was hard. She walked far enough away to be out of earshot from Cord and Lucas. She pulled Cameron by the arm and then stopped in the middle of the yard. She looked around, and then she said, “I’m going to go home, but I don’t think you should be involved, either. They don’t want you for your powers of investigation. It sounds like they want you as bait, and bait gets eaten. Obviously, they know cops and have friends they trust in the bureau. Plus, there’s Graine, who’s a cop. They could call any number of people to search for this girl. They didn’t need to call the obscure son of some guy that maybe can help them.”
Cameron said, “I don’t think that they have much of a choice. If Graine was good enough, then they’d have him out there investigating and not babysitting the mother. And if they could use any of their friends, then they would have. You can’t just call up anyone and say, ‘Hey. I need you to investigate a missing girl. Oh, and by the way, she’s the daughter of the director of the United States Secret Service. Plus, the maniac who took her wants us to kill the president.’”
Li raised her voice. “This isn’t kid stuff.” Then she lowered it and said, “This is really serious. They wanted your father. He was an Army cop. How’re you supposed to help them other than standing in for him? You’re like a crash test dummy—you’re just going to get in the front seat and wait to be killed.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Cameron, they don’t care about you.”
“I know. They want this little girl back alive. I get it. That’s all they care about. But what am I supposed to do? Walk away? I want her back, too.”
Li said, “This isn’t your fight. Walk away.”
“Not my style.”
“You don’t even know this girl.”
Cameron said, “I know her enough. She’s fourteen years old. She’s a surfer, and she’s been taken. She’s out there somewhere, and she’s scared that she’s gonna die. And you know what? She’s right. She’s gonna die. Look at these guys. They’re so desperate that they called up the son of a hobo to help them. They’re hoping I have the magic bullet that will help them save a little girl’s life.” Cameron looked over Li’s head at the edge of the privacy fence and then back into her eyes. He said, “I don’t know what the hell these guys did to piss off this guy, Lane. I don’t know if they’re telling the truth about that or not. I do know that Jack killed this guy’s brother, and if giving myself over to him will buy this girl some time, then it’s worth it.
“I’ve lost people before. I’ve lost friends and people who depended on me. And I lost them because of my own arrogance. But you know what? I’ve been walking around for months blaming myself for their deaths. I blamed myself because I thought I acted like a know-it-all, an arrogant prick. But when I doubt myself, we lose. People die. I know things because my father is this homeless crusader with great genes. And I know things because my mother trained me every day like I was about to be shipped off to war. Maybe I even just know things like great musicians know how to play music.”
Li said, “This isn’t music.”
“I know that. But this is the kinda thing I’m good at. I’m good at fighting and investigations. And I’m good at winning. That’s what Jack gave me.”
Li stayed quiet for a long moment, and then she said, “Whatever you think you’ve experienced in some small town in Mississippi is nothing compared to this. You’ll get killed, and they don’t care.”
Cameron said, “I’ll be fine. I can help them. I’m sure that their harebrained plan was to trade Jack for Raggie. This Lane guy probably won’t go for it anyway, but that doesn’t matter. I have to try to save this girl.”
“Why, because Jack would?”
“I’m not Jack. And I don’t care about what he’d do. I only care about doing what’s right. So go home. I’ll come by later. Don’t worry—one way or the other, this will be over. And I’ll be fine. But you should go.”
Li said, “Why should I go if you’re going to stay?”
“You have a career and a future.” He paused. “One difference between Jack and me is that he’s a guy who had a past. I’m a guy with no past and no future. I have nothing to lose.”
Li reached up and kissed him. A long kiss.
She said, “You have a future.”
Cord and Lucas stared at them.
Lucas said, “What is that?”
“Looks like Li is saying goodbye,” said Cord.
“Do you think the kid will live through this?”
Cord paused a moment and then said, “There’s no question Lane will kill Raggie if Rowley doesn’t kill the president.”
Lucas said, “I meant this kid. Cameron.”
“Lane will kill him. No question.”
Chapter 29
CAMERON WALKED THROUGH THE ROWLEY HOUSE one last time before following Cord, Li, and Lucas out.
They said goodbye to Graine and Mrs. Rowley, who looked like she was in the kind of shock that wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. She kept her composure, but she barely spoke. Even though she hadn’t seen the video of Raggie, she’d still had the life scared out of her. Cameron wondered if it was a good idea to keep the video from her. A parent’s imagination could be much worse than reality.
Cameron had no experience with kidnappings that involved ransoms, but he’d had some experience with abductions—Faye Matlind, a little Mexican boy, and others from his small town life. There had been more than one occasion when a child from Carter Crossing went missing, and more often than not, it turned out that one of the parents had kidnapped the child from the custody of the other parent.
They stopped in the driveway, and Cameron told Li to wait for him in the car. She did, and he turned to Cord and Lucas and said, “So what’s the plan? You want me to turn myself over to Lane in hopes that maybe it’ll buy some time? You know he’s going to know I’m not Jack. So what’s really the play here?”
Cord said, “We expect he’ll still want you. Better than nothing. We’ll go with you, and Rowley will call Lane. He’ll tell him that we have Jack’s son and want to make a trade for Raggie. Of course, he won’t go for that, but he’ll be very interested.”
Cameron said, “So what’s the endgame here? You hope he’ll extend the deadline if you hand me over?”
“That’s exactly what we’re hoping for.”
“It’s a stupid plan.”
Cord asked, “You got a better one?”
“You guys are ex-Special Forces and now Secret Service. Tell me the truth.”
“Obviously, we don’t plan to just give you up. One dead man isn’t going to stop Raggie from being killed as soon as Rowley doesn’t follow through and kill the president.”
Cameron nodded and said, “I figured that. So what’s the real plan?”
“A rescue attempt.”
“How?”
Cord said, “Simple plan. We put a tracking device on you. Then we send in the cavalry.”
Cameron said, “That doesn’t sound reassuring.”
“I know. But it’s all we got.”
Cameron stayed quiet.
Cord said, “Then I guess that’s our best option. We sit tight until Lane calls Rowley back and then we get on the move.”
Chapter 30
JOHN LANE WAS IN VIRGINIA, not far from Cameron and the Rowley residence. Of course, he was even closer to Raggie. She was in a room with one hand handcuffed to a steel pipe from the plumbing. She wasn’t far from a sink, but it was too far for her to reach with her feet because she’d tried to kick at it—at the bottom. She was doubtless that leaking water would attract attention from any of the neighbors, but it was at least a small glimmer of hope. Better that she kept her mind occupied rather than worrying about what the men who had kidnapped her were going to do to her.
She remembered seeing the man that she knew, but that was about all she remembered. She had been awake for a while but wasn’t quite sure how long she’d been there or how long she’d been restrained. She had looked around the room several times, but it did no good. She wasn’t in complete darkness, but the room she was in had no natural light, and the lights were turned off. She was handcuffed to a pipe near an old farmer’s sink. There was a metal hose hanging over it like a restaurant dish room would have, but Raggie was sure she wasn’t in a restaurant. She thought she was in an animal hospital because she heard lots of barking. And the barking was coming from the next room. It was either an animal hospital or an animal shelter.
In the next room, on the other side of the barking dogs, John Lane sat at an office desk and stared at his phone. He had just acted surprised to get a call he’d actually been expecting.