ACER final

by Hargrove, A.

  “I will.”

  I searched for my Uber app and ordered my ride, then walked toward the parking lot. My ride was supposed to be here in three minutes, so I didn’t have long to wait.

  A car pulled up and I figured it was my driver so I walked toward the car, but then I recalled that the car was supposed to be a Toyota coupe and this was an SUV. I turned to back away when two guys jumped out.

  I took off. I’d always been fast. As a kid, I usually won all the neighborhood races. Even my parents told me I ran everywhere. Tonight, I kicked it into high gear and my feet tore up the pavement, then the grass as I sprinted away from my pursuers.

  The problem was, even though I was vaguely familiar with the campus, it wasn’t like I knew it well. I didn’t know the safe places to go. The library seemed to be the best option, only I got twisted up and ended somewhere else. That somewhere else was a trap. I was surrounded by a brick wall and a fence. On the opposite end, the two men closed in.

  “If you don’t want to die, I suggest you stop,” one of them said.

  I still carried my gun, so I pulled it out and said, “I’ll shoot.”

  “Fine, but you’ll only hit one of us. That’ll leave two people dead, one of which will be you.”

  “What do you want?”

  “You, Mr. Kent. Isn’t that obvious?”

  “I don’t know anything.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. But the way I see it, you’re not in the position to argue.”

  They advanced toward me so I took aim and fired. I hit one in the knee, which was the wrong thing to do. My instructor had said, if you’re ever in a position where your life is at risk, you aim to kill, not maim. I watched as the guy went down, but was rushed by the other. He knocked me to the ground and a fight commenced. He went for my gun and so did I. It fired and missed us both. I fought dirty, a trick I’d learned being the youngest of four boys. He fought back viciously.

  My undoing was when the other guy crawled to us and something stung the back of my neck. Everything went blurry, then I faded out.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ISLA

  “What do you mean he’s not there?” I shouted into the phone. Acer didn’t show up at the house so I called Art, told him about George, and he sent a car out to the campus to look for him.

  “The guys fanned out and searched the campus. The Uber driver said he pulled up and there was a grey SUV parked there, but nothing. He waited for ten minutes, texted Acer, then left when he never showed.”

  “Did he get a make and model on the SUV?” I asked Art.

  “Nope. He only said it was a big one so I’m assuming it was government.”

  “Can’t be. It wasn’t black.”

  “Right.”

  “Art, get your guys to go over every inch of that school. There has to be something.”

  “Calm down, Isla, we’re already on it.”

  “I’m going over there.”

  “No! You stay there in case he comes home.”

  I huffed and wanted to wring his neck. “He’s not coming home. They have him.”

  “Who has him?”

  “Fuck, Art, I don’t know. If I did, this damn thing would be solved.”

  “We’re all working on this together.”

  “Are we?” I wanted to jump through the phone and grab him around the neck.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It’s obvious to me. I’m surprised it isn’t to you.”

  “Isla, are you going to explain yourself, or do I have to come over there?”

  “You’d better come over.”

  By the time he showed up, my jaws ached from grinding my molars.

  “So, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “Let’s take a walk.”

  “It’s freezing out there.”

  I didn’t say a word, but grabbed his arm and marched him outside. “We can have this conversation in your car or take a walk, but we are not discussing this in my house.”

  “What the hell has gotten into you?”

  He was clearly baffled by my behavior. If he wasn’t, he was a damn good actor.

  We climbed into his car, which was still warm from his drive over. He still turned on the heat. Funny thing, I didn’t even notice the cold. Adrenaline will do all sorts of weird things to your body and mine was currently surging like a tidal wave.

  “I’m waiting, Isla.”

  “Someone inside is dirty.”

  “Who?”

  “Wish I knew, but I don’t yet.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  I explained myself, going over every detail. “Which leads me to… why would they even want Acer? He knows nothing. The only possible conclusion is to get to me.”

  “You’re pretty sure it’s one of my guys.”

  “Yeah, I am.” That was the last thing I wanted to admit, but it was the truth. “Art, just take a look at everything I have. There are more walls than you can imagine and missing things that should be there. Obvious information that shouldn’t be missing.”

  “Okay, and you don’t think it has to do with the undercover op?”

  “No! I’m asking you to take a look at this.” I handed him a flash drive. “If you go online, be careful and check it out under my login. I’m already compromised. There’s no need in compromising yourself too.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  Shaking my head, I said, “I wanted to be as sure as possible. This isn’t something you go running your mouth over.”

  His head bobbed up and down and he rubbed his face. “Goddamnit. This just complicated everything. I’ll check into it.”

  I grabbed his arm. “You have to promise to keep it on the DL. People could die if you don’t.”

  “I wish I had my computer with me. I’d look at this right now.”

  If I went back inside to grab mine, it would alert the man inside to something. I relayed that to Art.

  “Just tell him I need to look up information about the campus.”

  “You’re the boss.” I ran inside and went straight to my bedroom where I snatched the laptop and ran back out. Our guy was in the kitchen and not a word was exchanged as I sprinted by.

  Once I settled back in the car, I handed the computer off to Art.

  “Login, please.” I shared that information and he opened it up, then popped in the flash drive. When the files came up, we went through each one.

  “Jesus, you’re right. All of this leads us to nowhere. What happened to everything? There’s so much data missing.”

  “Look.” I pointed to a search I ran on two prominent people we’d been watching for years because we suspected they had mob dealings. “Nothing other than names and last known addresses. Everything was wiped clean. I’ve run searches on both of them before and they each had records a mile long.”

  “Those were just two.” He opened several other names I had listed with the same results. “This is crazy. I pulled this one up about six months ago. We thought he had something to do with that bank robbery. Remember?”

  “Yes, and now a clean slate.”

  “I even entered notes and nothing is there. Could this be a system error?” he asked.

  “At the beginning, that’s what I thought too. But I pulled up random names, and not everyone is gone. So my answer would be no.”

  Art scrolled through the files and checked out a few more. Then he shut the thing down. “I’m not sure what to do. Who’s involved in this and who isn’t? I could take this to the wrong person and both of us might end up dead.”

  “Exactly, which is why I’ve kept my mouth shut until I had as much information as possible. But Acer’s disappearance tells me whoever is in on this knows I know about it.”

  Art grabbed my arm. “We need to make a list of everyone you’ve been in contact with since this all began and go from there.”

  I pointed to the thumb drive. “I have and it’s in there so don’t lose
that or let anyone have it.”

  “Right. I’ll go through it and see if there’s anyone to add.”

  “So, back to Acer.”

  “Fine. Let’s go check out the campus. Maybe your boy has turned up.”

  “What if he hasn’t, Art? What if he’s lying in a shallow grave somewhere?”

  “Hey, you said it yourself. You think they took him to get to you. If he serves a purpose, they won’t kill him.”

  “Yet,” I added. Once that purpose was over, they won’t have any reason to keep him alive. “We have to find him. He’s naive and won’t know how to save himself.”

  “Quit trying to shield him. He’s a grown man. Besides, even the best agents don’t know what to do when they’re abducted. It might save him in the long run.”

  I had a really bad feeling about this and couldn’t shake it. When we got to campus, the team met us and relayed the news.

  “No sign of him anywhere, other than this.” The agent held up a cell phone. “But I have other bad news. We found George. He was shot in the back of the head.”

  “Where is he?” Art asked.

  “In the back of one of the buildings by the dumpsters. Forensics is over there now.”

  “This just keeps getting worse. That’s Acer’s phone,” I said.

  “The last thing he did was order the Uber. After that, nothing.”

  I inspected the surrounding area. “He ran. The Uber driver was supposed to pick him up outside the building where his last class was. He must’ve seen them coming and ran here.”

  “It was a bad choice because he blocked himself in with no way to escape,” the agent said.

  There were buildings on two sides and the third had a fence. He probably didn’t know about the fence and if they were right on his tail, he wouldn’t have had the time to climb it.

  “Shit. Where did they take him and who are they?” I mumbled.

  The agent said, “We’ll find him, don’t worry.”

  Art and I shared a glance and I wondered if that were even possible now. The Uber driver wasn’t much help when I spoke with him. All he could remember was the car make and model. He didn’t get a plate number but said they were Georgia tags. Running that through the DMV would be a joke.

  As I was about to give up all hope, one of the agents called Art on his cell phone. When he finished with the call, he came over and said, “You may not want to hear this but they found an empty syringe at the place where we believe Acer was abducted.”

  “What?”

  “We’re pretty sure it wasn’t left there on purpose.”

  “Did they bag it?”

  Art looked at me like I was an idiot and it was a stupid question. “They’re taking it to the lab.”

  “Stop them.”

  “Why?”

  Now it was my turn to return that look. “You know why.”

  “Right.” He jumped on his phone and made the call. Luckily, they were still at the crime scene so we headed directly over there.

  When we arrived, Art went to the group and asked for the evidence bag. “It’s right here.” The agent handed it to him and laughed. “You don’t trust me?”

  “Uh, it’s not that. Isla has a vested interest in this.”

  He snapped his fingers. “That’s right. It’s all yours now.”

  We walked back to the car. “Let’s go.”

  He turned to look at me.

  “Do you want this to go in tonight or tomorrow?”

  “That’s an odd question.”

  “Isla, if it goes in tonight, you won’t be there. Tomorrow, you can sit there with it while they test it.”

  “True, but I don’t trust it outside of the lab. I can’t keep it at my house.”

  “Let’s go. I’ll lock it up in the safe in my office.”

  We went back to the field office and I watched him do it. “Who else has this combination?”

  “No one, other than the top brass in case something happens to me.”

  “Good. I didn’t want anyone in here.”

  Then he grinned. “We do have security cameras in this place. But I also have one installed that’s not on the main system. I put it in myself. If anyone comes in here, I’ll know it.”

  That was comforting. On the way back to my house the idea of being watched hit me.

  “Hey Art, have you ever been in a situation like this before? Where you feel like you’re walking on eggshells?”

  “One time. It was before I came down here. I was working in Chicago and we thought one of the agents was dirty. Turned out he was being blackmailed.”

  “Dang, that must’ve been awful.”

  “Yeah. His family had been threatened so he was afraid to come forward. But it all worked out okay. The unhidden dangers of this job.”

  “So true.”

  My brain was on overdrive with thoughts of what was happening to Acer. And what had they drugged him with? Did he put up a good fight? What about his gun? Had he fired it or worse, had he gotten shot? There’d be no sleep for me tonight.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ACER

  The pounding in my head was enough to make me scream. Only I didn’t. As I tried to rub my head, I realized it was impossible. Excruciating pain tore at my shoulders when I made any attempt at moving. What was going on? My belly rolled with nausea as I went to sit up. That was a no-go too. I swallowed the bile that nearly came up and focused on remembering what happened.

  I had to get my shoulders to stop aching, so I tried to roll over and that’s when I figured it out. My wrists were bound behind my back. Any movement at all sent knives stabbing through my joints.

  I had been at school waiting for my Uber to arrive. The SUV came and I ran. But they’d cornered me and I remembered the sting in my neck. It must’ve been some sort of sedative and that’s why my head was banging like a fucking drum.

  Who were these people and were they the same ones that took Paulie? What did they want with me as I had no information? Fear raced up my spine as they weren’t playing for fun. With the way I was trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey, I knew something terrible was about to happen.

  Remaining calm so I could think was my goal. If I could devise a feasible escape plan, that’s what I’d do. But first off, I’d need to get my hands free.

  I wiggled them both to figure out how much room there was. In no time I discovered there was very little, if any. I couldn’t move my arms at all. When I tugged my hands apart, the binding sliced into my skin. The warmth of the blood let me know about that. If I thought I had a chance in hell of getting it off, I’d take it, but it wasn’t budging a bit. Dizziness washed over me, so I lay there as motionless as possible to keep my head from spinning. As I looked up at the ceiling, it spun like a top.

  Don’t let me throw up. That became my mantra. If I retched, I’m not sure my shoulders would survive it. It finally passed, thank God.

  My mouth was dry as cotton. A glass of ice water sounded perfectly wonderful. I doubted that was in my future though. Isla. Was she searching for me? Where had they taken me? Then I glanced over at the wall, turning my head slowly. It was dark and dismal here, and the wall appeared to be dark, but it was hard to tell what it was made of. I was still fucked up from the drug they’d given me, so I wasn’t sure. Maybe I was in a basement somewhere. I sniffed and it smelled musty, dank. There was one small window that was filthy and barely let any light in at all. At night, I bet this place was dark as coal. A shudder ran through me at the thought.

  A door opened and closed, and I heard footsteps.

  “He’s awake.”

  A foot nudged my side.

  “Where am I?” My voice didn’t even sound like my own.

  “That’s not important.” I didn’t recognize the voice. It wasn’t either of the men from last night. He wore a ski mask so I couldn’t see his face. A gloved hand grabbed my shirt and jerked me into a sitting position. Then he shoved a bottle of water against my lips. I drank greedily, but he pulled
the bottle away.

  “Too fast. You’ll puke if you keep that up.”

  My gut churned again, but I was so thirsty, I didn’t much care.

  He put the bottle to my lips again and said, “Slower this time.”

  I listened and did little more than sip. The water was amazing and I wanted to drain the bottle dry.

  “Don’t worry. You can finish. Boss doesn’t want you dead. You’re of no use to him that way.”

  “Who is he?” I asked between sips. I wondered if he’d tell me.

  “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Any chance you can loosen my hands.”

  “Not in a million years.”

  “Look, I won’t do anything. My shoulders are killing me.”

  “Not to worry. I’m here to give you a little something for that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He slipped a black hood over my head, plunging me into complete darkness. And after that was when I felt the sting of the needle in my arm this time. I couldn’t struggle because moving was out of the question. Soon, a cloud settled over me, cocooning me in its comfort. This wasn’t too bad. And then I fell asleep.

  When I woke up, I wished I hadn’t. They had moved me. I was in an oblong room of sorts, seated on a wooden chair. My neck had an iron or steel collar on it with a chain hooked to it. I was still under the influence of being drugged, so I did my best at logging it into my brain. My hands were free this time, but what good did that do me when my neck was bound? At this point, I was no better than a slave. That’s when I noticed one of those bands was around my right ankle as well. The chain was attached to it and a steel loop in the wall. The dim interior made it difficult to inspect the place, but there seemed to be dark stains on the floor beneath me. Blood? I couldn’t really tell.

  My arms and legs felt like lead. Were those drugs deteriorating my body? Whatever they were, I didn’t want any more. I must’ve fallen back asleep because I was alerted when the door clanged open. I jerked awake and squinted because the lights came on and my eyes weren’t used to the brightness.

  “Hello, Mr. Kent. You have caused a lot of trouble since you butted into my business. Why did you feel the need to do that?” A middle-aged man with dark hair spoke. His features were ordinary, but then again, my head was still fuzzy. I detected an accent but didn’t know from where.