by William Mark
Curt withdrew a tire iron from the trunk and raised it high above his head.
“Answer me? Did you just pass him off like some kind of sex toy?”
He didn’t need a verbal answer. Curt had been in enough interviews with guilty suspects to see when someone answers with their eyes. Gregory’s eyes were saying, yes.
And with that, Curt swung the tire iron down with all his strength, powered by rage, and smashed the narrow metal pipe directly on his genitals. Gregory let out a guttural groan that managed to escape through the tightly sealed duct tape. He howled in agony as his manhood throbbed in impotence. Curt slammed the tire iron down a second time just as hard. Gregory’s eyes rolled back in his head as the howl was muffled by the duct tape.
Curt raised the tire iron up again, poised for a follow up blow that would make the impotence permanent. Gregory’s eyes bulged at the raised weapon, and he tried to recoil his legs to block another blow. He tried to squirm and kick, but Curt was too strong, and he pinned his upper torso down, keeping him in the position.
Just as Curt was about to send down the follow up strike to his genitalia, Gregory’s cell phone bleeped with a reply message from “Tobias.” He dropped the tire iron and stepped away to check the phone. He scooped Gregory’s legs up and tossed him back inside the trunk but not before giving him a piercing glare that conveyed the message, “I’m not through with you.”
Curt slammed the trunk shut and sat back in the driver’s seat of the Crown Vic. He gathered control of himself and turned his focus on continuing the plan. He was panting from the exertion. He had worked up a sweat and was getting hot from wearing the trench coat. The text from “Tobias” read, “Ready…where do you want to meet?”
Curt looked up and tried to think back through some of the text messages he read earlier. He needed to pick a place that they both had felt comfortable going to in the past so as not to spook him away. He shot a glance down the busy road and found the answer.
He responded with Taco Bell, a place they apparently had an affinity for or chose to appease their captive, Josh, by taking him there. He didn’t know where that came from because Curt didn’t remember Josh ever liking Taco Bell.
“k,” came a quick response.
Curt cranked up the Crown Vic and drove down the street to the Taco Bell to await “Tobias.”
***
It was the beginning of the dinner hour, and there were a fair amount of patrons starting to arrive at the fast food restaurant. Curt watched closely as the people parked and walked up. He kept a watchful eye for anyone who might look like “Tobias.” Before he left Gregory’s apartment, he snatched the framed picture he saw of Gregory, arm-in-arm with another man, and laid it on the seat next to him for a reference. He assumed that’s who it was since it was displayed in the living room as a central, focal point.
He thought back to the day when Josh went missing and the helpless feeling he had in his failure to stop the men from taking his son. He thought about Gregory and this “Tobias” person and how they were not formidable opponents who were ruthless and dangerous as he had imagined. Had Curt had the chance that night at the softball field, he would have easily fought off the men and kept them from taking Josh. They were devious and cunning to have taken him while he changed clothes.
A gold crossover SUV pulled into the parking lot from the highway and found a spot near the front entrance. Curt watched from his position in the back of the parking lot. From that distance, he couldn’t tell if it was “Tobias” or not, but it was a white male, same height and weight as him with light brown hair. Curt glanced back down at the picture on the seat and tried to hold a snapshot in his mind. He watched intently as the man stepped out of the small SUV and looked around. He looked irritated and pulled his phone from his pants pocket, checked it briefly, and put it back.
Curt quickly hit the send button making Glenn Gregory’s phone call “Tobias,” as he continued to watch. The man was still irritated and huffed around the crossover. Curt couldn’t see inside the vehicle because of the glare of the low-lying sun, so he kept a watchful eye on the driver. As the phone call connected and started to ring, he saw the man pull out his phone and answer it. He answered the phone just as Curt hit the end button confirming that was “Tobias.” Curt stepped out of the Crown Vic and started walking toward the restaurant.
As he walked, he noticed Tobias was getting furious with Gregory who was not answering his call. He started pacing around the SUV trying to call him back. Suddenly, the back door opened up while Tobias wasn’t paying attention and two small feet stepped out and away from the vehicle. The door remained open, blocking the view of the small passenger. Curt stepped up onto the sidewalk alongside the restaurant to get a better angle. He tried to see around the SUV door but couldn’t without walking through the restaurant.
Tobias addressed the small passenger impatiently and seemed to give in to whatever he was asking. Tobias shut the door and revealed who was with him.
Curt’s body went numb at the sight of his son, several yards across a parking lot, alive and healthy. He didn’t notice his legs had stopped moving, and he stood smiling at the vision before him, knowing it was not a mirage but a sweet reality. He reached his hand out slowly as if to touch his son.
Tobias saw him first. The man was standing on the sidewalk wearing a trench coat and in some kind of a daze. He’d seen him before and instinctively paused out of paranoia. He shot glances around the parking lot and over his shoulder. Josh sensed the hesitation and looked past Tobias to the cause. He saw the strange man standing on the sidewalk holding his hand out oddly and staring right at him. He looked very familiar. He studied his face for only a moment, and then the trench coat sparked a memory he thought was lost.
“Daddy!” he cried out. “Daddy!” Tobias grabbed the boy as he waited for Curt to react.
The sound of Josh’s cries broke Curt from his trance. He stepped forward and indexed his Glock as he watched Tobias hover over Josh. He grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to the gold SUV. Curt lunged forward but was suddenly blocked by the restaurant door opening up. A party of four adults exited the restaurant and kept Curt from passing. He left his gun in the holster and watched through the glass door. He pushed the unaware bystanders out of his way. He got a few rude comments just as one of the men in the group grabbed hold of Curt’s arms.
“Hey, buddy. You need to watch it.” The man’s grip pulled Curt back.
“No, let me go now!” he hissed back.
He kept his attention on Josh as Tobias pulled him back to the SUV and barely noticed the patron’s efforts to pull him back for a confrontation. He yelled something to Curt, trying to show dominance, but he was too focused on Josh to hear. He had to get to him. He was right there! So close and within reach! He stepped forward but was suddenly pulled backwards. Curt quickly whipped around and punched the man who had ahold of him square in the nose, knocking him down from the lightning strike.
“I said let go!” Curt sloughed off the distraction and turned back to see Tobias had shoved Josh in the back seat and started backing up the SUV. He took off at a sprinter’s pace for the vehicle and reached the rounded back of the crossover, trying to grab a hold on anything as he accelerated back out toward the exit. There was nothing tangible to grip, and Curt smashed his fist down on the back window, but that had no effect as it pulled away. Curt reached out to jump onto the SUV, but the quick acceleration kept it just out of his reach.
Curt gave chase on foot as Tobias paused at the exit for the traffic on the main highway. Josh’s face appeared in the back window of the SUV. He had jumped over the back seat and into the rear compartment and was yelling for his father, beating his small hands on the back window in a futile attempt to get free. Curt caught up to the SUV at the exit, and before Tobias could speed away, he reached out and touched the outside of the glass where Josh held his hand on the inside. They held it there for just a brief, beautiful moment. Tobias cruelly ripped it away as he
recklessly pulled out into traffic, causing other cars to swerve out of his way. Curt could hear the boy’s voice pleading for his father to do something. He could see the terror on his face. Curt reached for his Glock but let it remain holstered; any shots he made could harm Josh.
As he watched Tobias dive in and out of traffic, escaping with the boy, he thought, Was this brief moment the last he would be given to see his son one final time?
“No, NOOOOO!” Curt yelled out at the top of his lungs. He immediately took off running as fast as he could, chasing after the speeding vehicle. There was only slight traffic to help slow him down, but he couldn’t give up. He was so close that he could almost touch him. He’d never give up.
He watched the SUV accelerate, moving farther and farther away, as he ran as fast as he could. He disregarded the traffic, forcing cars to go around, honking as they passed completely unaware of the egregious felony that was in progress. Josh’s pitiful face looked back at his father in pursuit causing Curt’s heart to ache. He fought off the bitter feeling of helplessness that was coming back with every foot Tobias put between him and Curt.
Curt remained in pursuit and ignored the burn of lactic acid building up in his thighs and calves as he pounded the pavement. Fate gave him a favor at the red light ahead catching Tobias at about one hundred and fifty yards ahead. Curt pressed on running through the slowing vehicles trying to catch up.
His lungs started to burn in addition to his legs, but he pushed his body forward, holding the impressive speed and weaving between the stopped traffic. He gained and gained on the SUV and got close enough to see a smile break on Josh’s face in reaction to seeing his father chase after him; it was like he knew he was going to be saved. Curt reached out again just as the SUV lurched forward, nearly striking the car in front, and sped off under the fresh green light. Tobias gunned it, switched to the open lane, and pushed the SUV up to sixty miles an hour as Curt looked on helplessly. The smile on Josh’s face faded away, and he slipped back into the darkness.
Curt kept running, but the physical limits of his body fought against his will to continue. The SUV created such a distance from Curt that he could no longer see Josh’s face or the SUV. He was gone. Again.
Chapter 31
Tobias strained to keep an eye on his rearview mirror, searching for the lunatic in the trench coat. He ignored the cries of the boy and kept the gas pedal to the floor, finalizing the escape. That was close, he thought, too close.
The familiar sight of his condominium complex gave him a reprieve from the chase that nearly cost him everything. He pulled in and quickly parked the car in front of his condo, got the boy out, who was still hysterically crying, and carried him into the apartment.
“Shut up. Now!” he said, with a harsh, hiss-like tone. Josh knew to obey, no matter the circumstances, so he quieted himself on the outside but balled up on the floor crying while Tobias paced around the living room.
“How the hell did he find you?” Tobias asked of himself. He pulled out his cell phone and called Gregory. The phone continued to ring unanswered. Tobias grew angry.
“Where the hell are you, Glenn? Where the hell were you…?” Tobias continued to pace around the living room trying to think and trying to get a grasp of what was happening. He started to wonder if Glenn’s little trek back to Tallahassee with the boy had cost them everything. I told him not to go. It was too risky. Then it dawned on him.
“Of course!” he said out loud. The police were able to get something on Gregory, follow him back to Valdosta, and lead them straight to the boy. But they only sent one cop. That didn’t make sense.
“Why weren’t there more cops?” he asked himself again, confused. The boy’s sobbing, however quiet, drew his attention. He looked down at him in thought. Josh was holding his bent legs to his chest and rocking back and forth. Then it hit him. And the answer scared him.
He was too scared at the time to realize what the boy was saying as the man chased after them like a wild maniac. He replayed the memory searching through the hazy panic and remembered that he heard the word “Daddy.” It was the boy’s father, the cop from Tallahassee.
“Shit!” Tobias paced around the room more frantically. He kept trying Glenn’s number and getting no answer. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he felt like disappearing. He could pack a few things and be halfway across the country by sunrise tomorrow, but he’d be forced to take the boy. Or…he could dispose of him. Tobias thought about the options, but another idea came to him, an idea that was less complicated than the others. He picked up his cell phone and dialed out.
“I have to call—”
The explosion was so loud and unexpected, Tobias’s heart stopped and held its next beat for what seemed like an eternity. The front door to the apartment exploded out of its frame and off the hinges with such force that the entire door slammed to the floor. The wooden frame shattered into pieces and flew through the air like shrapnel. The orange glow of the setting sun followed the man in the trench coat through the door as he stormed in and found Tobias standing, frozen in shock. He was in the middle of the living room, holding his phone with an incredulous look on his face. Curt immediately zeroed in on Tobias and delivered a powerful kick straight to the middle of his chest. The kick sent him flying clear across the room. He landed hard in the corner and knocked his head on an end table rendering him unconscious.
Curt was breathing heavily from the exhaustive chase and couldn’t yet speak between breaths. He found the boy curled up on the floor holding his head down, tuning out the world around him, not noticing the arrival of his father. He stepped over to Josh while keeping Tobias in the corner of his eye and knelt down by his side.
He calmed his breathing as fast as he could and as soon as he could speak, he said with a father’s warm gentle calmness, “Josh, it’s me. It’s Daddy.”
His small head, with tousled uncombed brown hair that he inherited from his mother, moved slightly inside of his tightly clutched arms at the sound of Curt’s voice. He was still sobbing.
“It’s me buddy, it’s…it’s Daddy.” Curt gently reached out to touch the boy. His hand rested on the back of his head and neck, and he instinctively ran his fingers through his soft hair, something he did often from before. The connection in just that small touch was so powerful; Curt had forgotten the immeasurable amount of pain he suffered for the past three years, almost like it had never happened.
Josh looked up at his father with salty tears streaking his cherub-like face as he stopped crying and gave credence to the situation. He reached up and clamped his arms around Curt’s neck, squeezing him tight. Curt caught the boy and hugged him in a sweet embrace sheltering him from the rest of the darkness. Curt let loose his own cries. He had finally found his son.
***
After seeing the gold SUV disappear before his eyes with Josh inside, Curt just kept running, determined never to give up and especially not when he was so close. The Crown Vic was too far to go back and get without keeping an eye on the SUV, so he kept running despite the obvious advantage the quick SUV had over Curt’s own two feet. He prayed that since Tobias showed up at the Taco Bell rather quickly after sending the text message, he must live relatively close by. For three long years, the search parameters were far too vast to cover. Now, the area was narrowed down to no more than four square miles. Curt wouldn’t stop until he turned every inch upside down, but now that he’d seen Tobias’ face, he feared that Josh would be killed as a loose end.
As Curt kept running down the highway, he turned down the same neighborhood road the SUV veered onto in the distance. He continued down the road for over a mile, searching for the gold SUV and keeping a pace worthy of top marathon runners. He ignored the pain from the uncomfortable dress shoes he was wearing and pressed forward undeterred. After blindly running nearly two miles from the Taco Bell with sweat pouring down his face and body from running blindly, Curt saw a sign that instantly meant something. As Tobias made his escape, Curt’s cop instinc
ts took over, and he scanned the back of the car for identifiable marks along with the tag of the gold SUV. He recalled, as Tobias was pulling away from the Taco Bell, he’d seen a small, green sticker with white lettering in the corner of the rear window. It read: Camellia Gardens. It was a parking decal for the complex. Curt was sure of it; he’d seen many of them while working in Tallahassee with two major universities and nearly 100,000 students living in similar complexes. They were used to identify residents over visitors for compliance of the rules.
When he saw the apartment complex sign with the same lettering, colors, and name, he didn’t hesitate searching the area. It was luck that he wasn’t going to question. As he slowed his pace, searching the parking lot for the gold SUV, he found it parked in front of an end unit. Curt sped up his pace and charged the door at top speed. He didn’t care what opposed him on the other side of the door because he knew the one thing worth fighting for was behind the door, regardless of the danger.
***
The adrenaline pumping excitement of the chase started to wear off, and the stress and fatigue from the exhaustive three-year hunt was now over. Curt reveled in the triumph knowing the odds had been forever stacked against him. He now had his moment…the moments he’d watched nearly a hundred times before and wondered if or when his turn would come. That time was now.
Curt held his son tightly in his arms, vowing never to let him go. Josh pushed back and lifted his head up to say something, but before he spoke, he pulled his right arm from around his father’s neck and pulled it in front of him to display his wrist.
“I never forgot Daddy. I never gave up…I stayed Unconquered.”
He held his wrist up, proudly displaying the simple gray wristband Curt had gotten him at the baseball game several years before. Unbeknownst to Curt, the little rubber wrist band was his beacon of light in the hellish blizzard of a nightmare Josh had been living. He tried his best to block out the heinous cruelty and focus on the wristband and what his father had explained it meant. Curt looked down at the heart wrenching gesture that defined the boy’s innocence and just hugged him even tighter for the special boy he was.