by David Archer
He had just gotten back to his office when his phone rang, and he saw that it was Marco calling.
“Yes?” he said as he answered.
“This job is way too damned easy,” Marco said. “How soon can you be ready to keep somebody contained?”
“I’m all set here. You’ve already got someone?”
“No, but I figured out a way to do it. I just called them all up and told them they each won a weekend cruise, and that they were entered into the contest as a thank you for signing up to be organ donors. I told them they could use their tickets anytime they want to in the next six months, and they all got excited. I’m picking them up for dinner around six o’clock, all of them.”
“How did you get them to agree to that?” Noah asked.
“Oh, that was the easy part,” Marco said. “I told these poor idiots that they were going to get their tickets in front of TV cameras. They think I’m taking them to a studio in Houston, so they can be on TV and get their fifteen minutes of fame.”
“All right,” Noah said. “I’ll be your backup. Swing by here and pick me up before you go after them, and we can catch them all by surprise once we get them all.”
“You got it,” Marco said. “I’ll be by to pick you up around five.”
Noah went to the lockup room and double checked everything. He had put sheets, blankets and pillows on the beds, but they were merely stacked there. Each of them would have to make their own bed if they wanted to be comfortable. The water cooler was set up and plugged in, and had a full jar of water on top. He decided to run to a nearby grocery store and stock up some microwavable food items for the refrigerator.
He also picked up a pair of costume glasses and some cheap, brush-in hair dye. With those in place, he was ready by the time Marco pulled in and quickly slid into the passenger seat.
FIFTEEN
The victims they were told to pick up lived in Texas City and La Marque, only a short distance across Galveston Bay onto the mainland. At twenty minutes to six, Marco pulled the big SUV up in front of the first address on his list. Noah got out and went to the door to knock, introduced himself as Bob Townsend from Donor Registry Services, and said that he would be the one to present the prizes when they got to the TV studio.
The young man from the list smiled as he climbed into the back seat of the SUV, and they were off to the next address. This time it was the young woman, who told them her name was Angelina, and she was delighted to slide in beside the first man in the back row. Within fifteen minutes, they had picked up the other two and Marco turned the vehicle and headed toward Galveston once again.
It was the last man they picked up, whose name was John, who first noticed they were going the wrong way.
“Hey,” he said nervously, “aren’t we going to Houston?”
The other three looked out the windows and suddenly, they all appeared nervous. Noah turned around and smiled at them, but then the large Glock pistol in his hand caught their attention.
“I’m afraid there’s been a slight change in plans,” he said. “Please be quiet and hand me your cell phones. Don’t anybody try to be heroic. I really don’t want to hurt anyone tonight.”
Despite their fear, all four of them managed not to panic as Noah took their cell phones and then made them turn out their pockets. He collected the men’s wallets, a couple of pocketknives and other small items, and even a small amount of money. Angelina reluctantly surrendered her purse and the SUV made its way to and through Galveston. Noah kept the gun down between the two front seats, where it couldn’t be seen from outside, but all four of the passengers kept their eyes locked on it. When they got close to the transport office, Noah told Marco to drive around to the back. He held the gun on their captives while Marco opened the overhead door and then drove the SUV inside.
Once the door was closed and locked again, Marco took out his own pistol and opened the rear driver side door.
“Okay, come on,” he said. “Out.”
The captives climbed through the door and then Noah exited the vehicle. He opened the door to the holding room and waved his gun to tell them all to go inside.
“With any luck,” he said, “you won’t be here very long. Just make yourselves as comfortable as possible.”
Two of the men looked like they were going to try putting up a fight, but Marco put his gun against Angelina’s head and they quickly backed down. They led the way inside and Noah closed and locked the door when they were all safely tucked away.
He turned to Marco. “They can’t get out,” he said, “and nobody’s going to hear anything out of them. I’ll notify Conley that they are ready, and hopefully they’ll send the chopper for them early in the morning.”
He took out his phone and called Conley, who seemed surprised to hear from him. “Robert? Is something wrong?”
“No, sir,” Noah said. “I just wanted to let you know that Jim picked up those supplies you folks ordered. If you could let Bill know, I’d like to get them delivered as soon as possible.”
There was silence on the line for a couple of seconds. “Are you saying you picked up those special items?” Conley asked slowly.
“Yes,” Noah said. “I’ve got them at my office, they are ready whenever Bill wants to pick them up.”
“Why, Robert, I—I’m not sure what to say. Good job, I guess. Excellent job, in fact. I’ll call him now and see when he can arrange pickup, and then I’ll let you know.”
“Yes, sir,” Noah said. “I’ll keep everything safe until then.”
He ended the call and looked at Marco. “I should be hearing from Mayweather any time. You can go on home, I’ll wait here. I don’t think they can escape, but I’d rather not leave them completely alone.”
Marco looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. “Nothing special going on at home,” he said. “I can wait here with you.”
Noah returned his gaze for a second, then picked up his phone and called Sarah. “Hey, honey,” he said.
“Noah? Is everything okay?” Sarah asked. “You’ve both been off subcom the last couple hours.”
“Yes, we had some things to do that I didn’t want everybody listening in on. I’ll tell you about it later, but right now I’m afraid it would cause too much distraction. I just want to let you know that I may be stuck here for a while. Marco wants to hang out with me, so let Renée know.”
“She’s here,” Sarah said. She quickly relayed the message to Renée. “We’re both just glad you guys are safe. You don’t know when you’ll be home?”
“Not yet. As soon as I do, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, babe,” Sarah said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Noah said. “I’ll call you when I know something more.”
They said goodbye and Noah ended the call. He looked up at Marco, who was staring at him.
“What’s on your mind?” Noah asked.
“I’m thinking about those people in that room back there,” Marco said. “They got to be scared to death. I was thinking, maybe, we could tell them what’s going on. Let them know that we are going to be working on rescuing them if it is possible.”
Noah shook his head. “No,” he said. “Unfortunately, we can’t do that. First off, we can’t be certain we’ll be able to rescue them, but even more important than that is the fact that they could blow our entire operation. I understand your concern, and I realize they probably are terrified, but this is necessary to the success of our mission.”
Marco’s face became a grimace. “Yeah, I knew you’d say that,” he said. “It was just a thought. I just can’t imagine what it would be like to be in their position.”
Noah didn’t say anything. They sat quietly for a couple more minutes, and then Noah’s phone rang.
“Townsend,” he said.
“Rob? It’s Bill Mayweather. Harold called and said you’ve already picked up the special order?” He sounded amazed.
“Yes,” Noah said. “I went along with Jim and we got i
t all done pretty easily. I set up a spot in my warehouse to keep everything, but I’d hate to let them sit very long. Any idea when you can come pick it up?”
“Well, unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do tonight. I can get a chopper set up tomorrow morning, pretty early. How about six a.m.? Would that work?”
“That would be perfect,” Noah said. “I’ll have everything ready for you.”
“Well, all right,” Mayweather said. “This may work out pretty well. I’ll have the chopper there bright and early.”
The call ended and Noah looked at Marco. “Six o’clock in the morning,” he said. “You go on home, and I’ll stay here.”
“Bump that,” Marco said. “One of us ought to be back there and keep an eye on the door. I’ll take first watch, and you can relieve me at midnight. Go on home and get some sleep, boss.”
Noah looked at him for another moment, then nodded. “Turn on your subcom,” he said. “Tell me instantly if there’s any problem.”
“I will. You go get some sleep and come back around midnight.”
“I’ll see you then. Subcom on.” He walked out of the office, got into the Charger and headed toward the apartments. As he left the parking lot, he said, “Noah to Neil. Are you there?”
“Hell, yes,” Neil said. “Where have you been, boss?”
“Marco and I had some things to take care of and I didn’t need distraction. If I can give you a precise time when the helicopter will be leaving my facility, would you be able to track it?”
“Um, maybe. There’s an NSA satellite that I can access, and the resolution is good enough that my computer can zoom in pretty tight. The only problem would be the refresh rate on the imagery, I can’t be sure that I could follow the helicopter if I’m zoomed in too tight. It could outrun my ability to keep my computer focused on it.”
“Well, it’s worth a try. The chopper will be leaving there somewhere around six o’clock tomorrow morning, so I’ll need you watching it then. If we can determine where that yacht is at that time, then you can keep a watch on it so we can find it later. It could save a lot of lives.”
“I’ll be on it. I’m setting up the parameters now, so I should be able to watch when it arrives and do my best to follow it when it leaves.”
“Good job. Noah to Sarah.”
“I’m here, baby.”
“I’m coming home. Marco is going to be stuck at the office for a while, but I’ll relieve him at midnight. Throw me together something to eat, and I want to get in to bed as soon as possible.”
“Okay, is pork chop sandwiches okay? I made pork chops for dinner, but the rest of us have already eaten.”
“That will be fine. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll have it ready.”
Renée, Neil and Jenny had already left by the time he arrived, so he and Sarah sat at the table while he ate a couple of sandwiches. Sarah waited until he was sitting down, then asked about why he went off-line.
“I can tell you now, and I’m sure everybody else is listening. We got orders today to round up some new victims. There was only one woman in the group, and she was Hispanic. We couldn’t have substituted Jenny for her, so we were forced to go ahead and collect them. I notified Conley, and they’ll be sending the helicopter to pick them up at six o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Sarah stared at him. “Those poor people,” she said. “Do you think you’ll be able to do anything before they…”
Noah shrugged. “I have no idea. Right now, we’re waiting for Conley and company to tell me where the other collection facilities are, and we still need to figure out who is running the whole show. As much as I’d like to save these people, we save a lot more lives if we shut the whole operation down. If we rescue this current local group, even if we take out Conley and the people we can identify here, whoever is running it all will simply set up somewhere else. We need to be able to eliminate them all at once, or many more people will die.”
“So these people have to be sacrificial pawns. That’s so terrible, but there’s really nothing you can do about it, is there?”
Noah shook his head. “Not at this point,” he said. “It’s necessary to bring down the whole operation at once. That’s the actual mission, and rescuing any living victims is secondary.”
They heard Renée ask Marco to switch to another channel, and Noah was sure that Neil and Jenny had overheard as well. He finished eating and then Sarah followed him into the bedroom. They lay down together and Sarah held him for a few minutes as he let himself relax into sleep.
Noah’s alarm went off at eleven thirty and he shut it off quickly. Sarah woke briefly, but rolled over to go back to sleep as he took a quick shower, then got dressed and went to his car.
“Noah to Marco,” he said once he was moving, “I’m on the way. Any problems?”
“A lot of yelling and a fair amount of crying,” Marco said, “but everything has quieted down now. I don’t think they’re asleep, I think they just got tired of making so much racket.”
“Yeah, probably. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes or so.”
Noah parked in his regular spot in front of the building, then used his keys to open the front door and walk inside. He locked it behind himself, then went through the building to find Marco sitting in a folding chair in the garage.
“You can go on home,” Noah said. He walked over and pushed the button to open the overhead door while Marco started up the SUV and backed out. Once he was outside, Marco waved at him and then turned the car and drove away.
The sound of the door had excited the captives, and all four of their voices were shouting for help. Noah walked to the door and hit it twice, then shouted, “Keep it down. We’re just waiting for your ride to get here.”
“Come on, man,” said one of the men. “I don’t know what’s going on, but this is ridiculous. What do you want, money? You let us out of here and I’ll give you fifty grand. All you gotta do is take me to the bank, I’ve got the money.”
“Shut up,” Noah said. “I’m not the one you have to worry about.”
He sat in the chair Marco had vacated and listened to all of them as they continued to shout. He could hear Angelina and one of the men crying, and for a brief moment he wondered what it would feel like to experience sympathy for their plight.
Intellectually, he understood that what was happening to these people was wrong, but there was no emotion within him. Noah couldn’t understand the fear they must be feeling, nor could he feel any remorse over the fact that they might soon die. They were factors in his mission, and while he would have preferred not to put them in this position, the mission had to come first. From his coldly logical viewpoint, stopping these people from killing dozens or hundreds more justified allowing his captives to walk into the jaws of death.
The hours passed and the first hint of dawn began to lift the darkness outside. At twenty minutes to six, Noah heard, “Neil to Noah. I’m on the job, watching by satellite. I’m zoomed in just enough to see your car, so I shouldn’t have any trouble spotting a helicopter.”
“Good. It should be coming anytime now.”
“This sucks, Noah,” Neil said. “I wish there was some other way, other than letting those people get chopped up.”
“So do I,” Noah said. “Unfortunately, we have to stay in cover, and that means doing the jobs they hired us for. I’m hoping this will be enough to get me more information, and then maybe we can save these people before it’s too late.”
“Damn, I hope so. I don’t have a problem with killing bad guys, but letting innocent people die really eats at me.”
Noah said nothing. He cocked his head, because a rumbling sound had caught his attention. A moment later, he was certain he was hearing the approach of the helicopter once again.
“Heads up,” he said. “Chopper coming in now.”
“I’m watching. Soon as it leaves, I’ll keep you posted.”
Noah opened the overhead door,
then stepped outside. The helicopter came in for a landing a couple minutes later, settling into the empty lot beside the building as it had done the day before. Two men climbed out and jogged toward him, and he saw that each of them was carrying Ruger MP9 submachine guns.
“Mr. Townsend?” one of them asked. “I understand you have a package for us?”
“Yep,” Noah said. “Follow me.”
He led them inside the building and then opened the heavy padlock that secured the door. He then inserted the key into the doorknob lock and hit the door hard with his fists.
“Listen up,” he shouted. “It’s time for you to go. There are two men standing here with machine guns, and they will blow you away if you try to offer any resistance. Understood?”
All three of the men shouted expletives and Angelina could be heard crying. Noah looked at the two armed men, who nodded, and then he turned the key and threw open the door. One of the men—John—rushed out, but Noah struck him in the throat with the edge of his palm. He went down gasping for air, and the two men with the guns made it clear that no further resistance would be tolerated.
One of them handed Noah a bundle of zip strips, and he quickly secured John’s hands behind his back. He left John lying on the floor and ordered out another man, and then the third, securing their hands the same way.
Angelina was cowering against the wall at the back of the room and Noah had to go in after her. She screamed when he jerked her to her feet and cried loudly as he secured her wrists behind her. He marched her out of the room, then reached down to help John get to his feet. When all four of them were standing, the men with the guns ordered them to start moving.
Noah walked along, holding onto Angelina and John. He put John into the helicopter first, and then Angelina, then turned to help the other two men climb in before he got inside himself and secured their safety belts. All three of the men were cursing him the whole time, but he ignored them.