“Okay. Sandy Shipman’s place first and then we’ll know what to do,” Emily said, getting to her feet. “I’ll inform Kinsella. Meanwhile, is there anyone we need to inform?”
Rusty nodded. There was at least one member of her family that they needed to keep informed. “I’ll make the call.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
They decided to take the vehicle the Silver Shield team had driven up in. The black SUV was an armored vehicle, bulletproofed with reinforced suspension. It had also been custom fit with a heavy duty brake system and components as well as heavy duty tires. It was ready for anything and best of all, it was a Toyota Land Cruiser, meaning that it would not be conspicuous.
Just before they pulled out of Hope’s house, a jet black Maybach sped into the driveway, effectively blocking their path. Jared jumped out of the car, looking like he had dressed in a hurry.
“I’ll talk to him,” Rusty said, climbing out of the car.
“I came as soon as I could,” Jared said, looking agitated. “How did this happen? Do you have any idea where she is now?” He ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe this, I spoke with her just this morning.”
“She stepped out to answer your call, at least I think that was you calling. When I did not see her, I went after her and she was gone.” Rusty felt like a huge failure explaining Hope’s disappearance to the man who was effectively her family. “I’m really sorry about this, Jared,” he said sincerely.
Jared shook his head. “Not your fault. We need to find her.”
“We’re on it, but there’s something you should know.” Jared looked at him expectantly. “There was an insider working with the hacker all along.”
The other man stared at Rusty like he was crazy. “I don’t understand.”
“Someone sold Hope out.”
“You mean to tell me that…What you’re saying is…” He placed both hands on his waist and stared at Rusty, speechless. “Do you know who it is?”
Rusty nodded and mentioned the person he suspected.
“No, no, no, no, no! It’s not possible, man. Are you sure about this?”
“Ninety-nine percent sure.”
“Sonofabitch!” Jared’s hands dropped from his waist and formed into fists. “I’m going to kill someone.”
“We think they have Hope. We just need to find out where they are holding her. The last signal from her phone was in Bloomington.”
Jared bit his lip in agitation. “Bloomington?”
“Yeah.”
“I think I know where they are headed. They are probably heading towards Shawnee National Forest.”
“That’s about five hours’ drive from Chicago right?”
“Right. I have a log cabin out there and I loaned it to that person a year ago.”
“And you think they might be heading there?”
“Well, I don’t know for sure, but if they went through Bloomington then chances are they will most likely end up there,” he said with a shrug.
“Okay, thanks,” Rusty said.
“I really want to go with you guys, but Hope would want me at the office today of all days. News of our possible closing would have gotten to the staff and she would want me to be there to reassure them.”
“I promise to keep you updated,” Rusty said.
“I’ll appreciate that.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll bring her home safely.”
Jared met his gaze and held it. After a moment, he nodded. “I know you will.” With that, he turned and got into his car then drove off.
Rusty watched him leave. He understood how tortured the man must be feeling now. He felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and left to bleed on the ground. He could not bear the thought of anything happening to Hope. He was pretty sure it would kill him.
He took the few steps back to the car and got in.
“That was one sweet ride, baby,” Tamika said.
“Yeah. I wonder if Silver Shield would get us cars like that,” Ace added.
“Keep dreaming,” Emily said dryly as she navigated the car onto the street.
“So mean,” Tamika said with a pout, punching the coordinates Rusty had given her earlier.
“What are you complaining about? You can ask lover boy to get you one,” Ace said with a wicked smile.
“As if,” Tamika said, rolling her eyes.
Rusty sat quietly listening to them. He knew that beneath the easy banter and good-natured ribbing, they were all getting psyched up for the mission ahead.
“I brought some weapons along,” Emily said. “Rusty, check the armory.”
He pressed a button and the back seat went down, at the same time a panel slid up where the back seat used to be. There was an assortment of firearms. Even though he preferred his Lugar, he decided to pick up a backup firearm.
“I’m good,” Ace said, tapping his rifle. “I just wish we had Drew with us.”
Even though they were all skilled with a firearm, Drew had crazy-ass sniper skills, which would come in handy if they needed to take out the enemy from over a hundred feet.
“I’m hoping we can get in, get her and get out,” Rusty said.
“Yeah, ideally, but it doesn’t always work that way,” Emily said.
Rusty knew she was right.
They got to Sandy’s apartment and everything looked quiet. Too quiet.
“Do you think anyone’s home?” Tamika asked.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Emily stepped out of the car and the others followed suit. She signaled to Tamika and Ace to find other ways into the building while she and Rusty walked up the wooden steps. She withdrew her weapon and stood out of sight, then nodded to Rusty. If anyone glanced through the peep hole, they would only see Rusty standing there.
Rusty rang the doorbell and waited. After several minutes, he rang again. Then looking around to be sure they did not have company, he brought out a set of lock picks. It did not take long to get the door open.
He pulled out his Lugar and stepped into the apartment. It looked the same as it did the last time he was here with Hope. He took a deep breath and focused on what was ahead.
“Hello, anybody home?” he called out. “Sandy, are you here?”
“It doesn’t look like there’s anyone here,” Ace said as he and Tamika joined them.
“Search everywhere,” Emily ordered.
They spread out and began searching. It was not a very big apartment and before long, Ace shouted from the master bedroom. They all hurried there. Rusty burst in and came to an abrupt halt. There on the floor was the limp body of Sandy Shipman. Her eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling, even from where he was standing he could tell that the eyes were lifeless. There was a pool of blood around her and what appeared to be a bullet hole in her forehead.
Emily stepped forward and brought two fingers to her pulse. She looked up and shook her head. Rusty felt sick. Who would have done this to her?
“Who could have done this?” Tamika asked, echoing his thoughts.
“This is not good,” Ace said softly.
Rusty walked forward and stared intently at her right hand. It looked like she had tried to write something with her blood. It looked like the letter M right next to a circle and a stroke.
“Mom?”
“What?” The others looked at him curiously.
“I think she was trying to write something,” he said, pointing to the odd scribble.
The others huddled around it and looked closely at it.
“I think you’re right,” Tamika said, standing to her full height. “That looks pretty much like Mom to me.”
“You think her mother did this?” Ace asked.
“What kind of mother would shoot her own child?” Tamika asked in shock.
“One who is seriously insane,” Rusty concluded.
“This is not good,” Emily repeated.
Not good for Hope, was how Rusty interpreted it. If Marinette Shipman had actually shot her d
aughter, then she would not hesitate to do the same to Hope.
There was a sudden restriction in Rusty’s chest and he felt like he could barely breathe. He turned abruptly and walked out of the room. He got to the living room and took a deep breath, then let it out.
“She’s gonna be okay, dude.”
Rusty looked up and found Ace watching him. He shook his head, not sure what to say. He should never have let her step out of the house without him.
“Russ, she’s gonna be alright,” Ace repeated. “You need to get it together, okay?”
“If anything happens to her…” He could not go on.
“It’s like that, huh?” Ace said with a wry smile. “We’ve got this.” He patted Rusty on the back and walked towards the room.
Rusty ran a hand through his hair. He felt lost. Hope was in grave danger. What if they did not get to her on time? No, he couldn’t let that happen. He would not let that happen. He tightened his hold on his weapon and straightened up with fresh resolve. Ace was right. They got this.
As far as he knew, Sandy’s mother lived in Hawaii. Could she have come into town since the last time they saw the young woman? He decided to check the spare room to see if there was anything that could answer his questions.
The room looked like no one had been there in days. Still he checked the vanity, the chest of drawers and finally the drawers attached to the bedside table. It was there that he found pay dirt.
“What do you have there?” Tamika asked when he returned to the living room.
“Ticket stubs. Honolulu to Chicago. One way.”
“For Marinette’s mother?”
“Yup.”
“I’ve called Kinsella. He’ll pick up the body,” Emily said, striding into the living room. “C’mon, we need to get to Hope before it’s too late.”
“We’re dealing with some sick individuals,” Ace said as they walked out of Sandy’s apartment. “Makes them damn unpredictable.”
Rusty could not get the image of the lifeless body of Sandy Shipman. He could not believe that he had been with her barely twenty-four hours before. It seemed like such a long time ago. He did not want to believe that her own mother had shot her, but he did not know what else to think. The ticket stubs showed that she had been in that house the night before. She was missing and so was Hope, and her daughter was dead. It was a lot to take in.
They got into the SUV, with Emily and Tamika sitting up front.
“Enter the coordinates for the cabin,” Emily said to Tamika.
Rusty read out the text message that Jared had sent with the coordinates while Tamika fed it into the GPS.
“What’s the plan?” Ace asked.
“We’re going in blind. We have no idea how many people are with Mrs. Shipman or if they’re armed. Well, we’ll take it as a given that they are armed,” Emily said.
“We can’t just burst in, not with Hope’s life in danger,” Rusty put in.
“Yeah. So we’ll need to find a way to sneak up on the cabin without them seeing us, then find out how many people are in there and what the situation is,” Emily said
The others nodded in agreement.
“But that’s going to mean waiting till nightfall,” Rusty protested. Anything could happen to Hope before then. The thought that he might never see her again was slowly eating at him.
“She’ll be fine, Russ. You’ve got to trust that,” Tamika said, looking back at him. “You can’t stop believing,” she added softly.
“She’s right,” Emily said in a quiet tone.
For the first time, Rusty began to appreciate what Emily must have gone through all these years. Even after so much time had gone by, she never stopped believing that her daughter was out there, somewhere. What was it like to have such unwavering faith? He wanted to ask her how she did it…how she survived each time she followed a lead that turned out to be a dead end? But then his phone rang. It was Jared.
“What’s up?”
“I got a text message asking for a ransom,” Jared said without preamble.
Rusty turned to the others. “Jared just got a ransom message,” he said, then put the phone on speaker. “Jared, you’re on speaker now. What did the message say?”
“That if I want to see Hope alive again, I need to transfer a million dollars to an account that will be sent to me in the next hour.” Jared sounded like he was barely holding up. “I’m going to send the money, Rusty.”
“That would be a big mistake,” Rusty said quietly.
“Look, I understand that we don’t negotiate with terrorists and all that, but this is Hope we’re talking about. She is all I have…” His voice broke then. After a brief pause, he cleared his throat and went on, “If there’s even a slim chance of getting her back, I’m taking it.”
Rusty understood where he was coming from and if he didn’t know that paying the ransom was futile, he would have agreed to Jared’s plan. But he knew, so he could not agree.
“They don’t plan to let her go, Jared.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“We’re just coming from Sandy Shipman’s apartment. She’s dead.”
“You killed her?”
“Hell no. We found her dead.”
“Jesus. Does that mean they plan to kill Hope?”
Hearing the words spoken out loud was like pouring hot coals on his body. They hurt like hell. But he kept his voice calm when he replied, “We believe that is the case.”
“Jesus,” Jared said in a choked voice.
Rusty felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to find Ace looking at him with reassurance. He brought his emotions under control. He needed to be strong for Hope.
“Do you know the number the message came from?”
“No. The Caller ID didn’t show up.”
“Okay. Are you in the office?”
“Yeah.”
“Is Nora at work?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, give your phone to her and ask her to trace the location from where the message was sent.” If anyone at the office could track the location of the phone, it was Nora. And that way they would know if they were going on a wild goose chase or if the kidnappers were actually at Jared’s cabin.
“Sure.”
“Get back to us with any new info and if those bastards contact you again, let me know.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Hope sat in the back of the van, sandwiched between crazy Marinette and a beefy-looking man. They had stopped somewhere just before Bloomington and picked up the extra cargo. She cast a sideways glance at the man on her left, then swung her gaze to the one seated on the passenger seat in front. Both men looked like professional criminals, people who had been in and out of jail a number of times. They were obviously in this for the money, unlike the other two. Crazy Marinette, she could understand, but the man behind the wheel was the one who stumped her. Why would he compromise the good life he had? Was it the money? If she offered him enough, would he let her go?
The thought of offering her money to the ingrate pissed her off. But she was willing to hand over her entire part of the company to him, or what was left of it anyway, if that was what it took
She rested her head on the seat and shut her eyes. This was a disaster. She had no idea how it was going to end. If only she had gone back for Rusty. It was amazing how a single decision could turn one’s life upside down.
Thinking about Rusty made her chest tight. If she did not come out of this, that would be the one thing she would regret. She shook her head to dispel the gloomy thoughts. She was going to come out of this, one way or another.
“So, where are you guys taking me?” she decided to ask.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about that. What you should be worried about is what we’re going to do to you,” Marinette said.
Hope swung a side glance at the woman. Time had not been kind to her. She had aged and her skin had become leathery. She was what…Fifty? Fifty-two? She looked much o
lder.
“Okay then, so…what do you plan to do to me?” she asked dryly.
“First you’re going to make us rich,” the man in front said gleefully.
She felt anger rise in her and she turned to glare at the back of his head. Then she arranged her features to look bored.
“Wow…guess you’re not as smart as I gave you credit for. You go ahead and crash my company and you still think there’s anything left from that to make you rich?”
“You’re the stupid one, Hope. You couldn’t even see who to trust. Don’t worry about us, you will make us rich.”
“How are you going to make that happen?” Hope wanted to know.
“Stop talking to her. She’s a crafty one,” Marinette snapped.
“I didn’t say anything to her,” he protested.
Marinette turned to Hope. “You shut your trap. We’re the ones asking questions here and if you know what’s good for you, you will remain silent.”
“Wow, you are such a lovely person. No wonder your only child moved as far away from you as she could get.”
It was a shot in the dark and Hope did not think it would hit its mark, but it must have because without warning, she heard something hard hit the side of her head. Pain exploded in her skull and everything went momentarily dark, then tiny shooting lights appeared. She felt warm liquid trickle down her face.
“That is for being smart, bitch. Now any more mouth from you and you’ll end up exactly as Sandy,” Marinette said in a nasty tone.
How did Sandy end up? Had she decided to opt out of their nefarious plans?
Both of her hands were tied in front of her, but she managed to raise them to the side of her head. She carefully felt the area of impact. There was a cut there and she could feel it bleeding. The woman packed quite a punch. She opened her mouth to say that, then thought twice about it.
“That’s much better,” Marinette said.
“You are not going to get away with this, you know. Kidnapping is against the law in the United States of America.” In most countries she would guess.
“She’s a spunky one,” the man beside her said with a chuckle.
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