Identity Crisis (Rocky Mountain Novella Series) (6 page)

     Julie was surprised when Jason pulled her back into the warehouse.  He didn’t say anything or even answer her question, but she hoped he had a change of heart. 

     Jason dragged Julie along as he searched the warehouse. 
Where is it?
  He knew Derek had brought it.  He didn’t see it out anywhere so he dug in Derek’s jacket pocket.  Jackpot!  Jason pulled out the small brown bottle and rag from Derek’s pocket. 

     When Julie saw what Jason had been searching for, she began to struggle.  She had already been chloroformed once.  She didn’t plan on letting it happen again.  But, as she struggled, she came up with a plan.  She only hoped it would work. 

     Before she knew it, Julie felt a rag cover her nose and mouth and began to feel faint.  She stopped struggling and went limp. 

     Satisfied that the chloroform had done its job, Jason carried Julie to his car and laid her across the backseat.  Within a few minutes, he was on the main road headed for the highway.  He half expected to see police cruisers with their blue lights lighting up the skies, but there were no road blocks or anything other than quiet solitude as he drove.  Knowing it would be a long drive, Jason turned on the radio and half listened to the soft rock music playing. 

     The plan wasn’t going at all as it was supposed to, and Jason didn’t know what his next move would be.  He was taking Julie to the shack he had planned to take Kristen to, mainly because he had nowhere else to go.  But, beyond that, he had to come up with his next move.  A small voice in his head was telling him to just kill the girl and cut his losses.  But, if he did that, he still had no money and nowhere to go.  Without money, it wouldn’t take long for the police to find him.  No…he would have to follow through on his ransom demands.  He was sure Kristen would pay a ransom for her Maid of Honor. 

     He felt better during the remainder of the hour and a half drive knowing that he finally had a plan back in place.  Between his deep thoughts, the music and the bumpy road, Jason didn’t notice the small movements from the back seat. 

     The first part of Julie’s plan worked, but just barely.  When she felt the chloroform drenched rag go over her mouth and nose, Julie held her breath and stopped struggling, in hopes that Jason would think she was already passed out.  She did get very light headed but, luckily for her, Jason removed the rag from her face just before she really passed out.

     As she lay across the seat of her captor’s car,
Julie waited until she heard the radio turn on before budging.  Even then, she started out by just opening her eyes.  It was very dark out and she was sure Jason couldn’t see her at all, but she wanted to go slow.  Once she was sure her slight movements had gone unnoticed, she lifted her head a little to get a better view.  She couldn’t see much, but they appeared to be on the highway.  As slowly and quietly as possible, Julie moved her hand towards the car door.  Her fingers shook as she flipped the lock into the unlock position.  She wasn’t sure when she would get a chance but, if it came, she wanted to be ready to open the door and get away. 

    
Kawoski sat at his precinct desk and feverishly tapped his fingers.  He was going crazy waiting.  Thoughts of Julie and what could be happening to her filled his head.  He cringed as he pictured someone grabbing her and throwing her in the back of an old van.  She must’ve been so scared.  His only solace was in his experience with kidnapping cases.  He knew from experience that most kidnapping victims were still alive after twenty-four hours.  But, the clock was ticking.  He would have to find her soon.  He didn’t even want to consider the possibility that they end up finding her too late. 

     He couldn’t sit around much longer.  It probably wouldn’t help, but Kawoski abruptly stood up and made his way back to dispatch.  He would personally talk to every officer on duty to see if they had spotted anything at all that could help locate Julie or the man that took her. 

     “Hey boss, we got a lead!” Ted, one of the newer officers in the precinct ran in and announced just before Kawoski was about let all hell loose. 

     Kawoski read the report the young officer handed him.  The van seen at the wedding reception venue had been spotted off of an old country road.  If it weren’t for the helicopter search team, it probably would’ve been weeks before anyone found it. 

     “What are we waiting for?  Let’s go!” Kawoski ordered.  He knew he shouldn’t be involved.  He was too close to the case, but there was no way he wasn’t going to be there to do anything and everything he could to make sure Julie was rescued. 

     The trip to the abandoned warehouse seemed to take forever.  Whenever anyone spoke to Kawoski, he found himself snapping at them.  That was unusual for him.  He was typically a very even tempered boss.  No one held his harsh attitude against him, though.  They could only imagine what he was going through.  It didn’t take long, though, for everyone to just go silent for fear that whatever they would say, no matter how well meant, would be taken wrong and inspire Kawoski’s wrath.

     When they pulled up to the warehouse, they had to remain where they were, a good two hundred yards from the actual building and van, and wait for the S.W.A.T. team to arrive and investigate.  Kawoski’s eyes went to the van where he saw it was the same vehicle that had been at the wedding reception.  The vanity plates matched exactly. 

     Luckily for everyone involved, the S.W.A.T. team arrived just seconds after Kawoski and his team.  Within minutes, they had the building surrounded and gave Kawoski the okay to proceed. 

     “We have you surrounded!” Kawoski announced into the car’s radio which sent the message booming out over a loud speaker.  “Come out with your hands up!”  It was cliché but he hoped Derek was inside, scared, and just looking for it all to be over with. 

     Everyone held their breath and waited anxiously.  As Kawoski waited and listened, not even so much as a cricket chirping could be heard. 

     He repeated his order and listened again for a reply or some sound that would at least let him know someone was inside of the warehouse.  Again, there was nothing.  With a heavy heart, he gave the S.W.A.T. team the signal to go in.  He only hoped he wasn’t putting Julie’s life at risk.

     The S.W.A.T. team swarmed into the old and abandoned warehouse as Kawoski nervously watched.  He had to prepare himself for the fact that Julie may be dead.  His heart was beating so hard he was sure it would burst.  It seemed like forever to him, but in reality it was only five minutes later when the S.W.A.T. team emerged.  “No girl!” one of them yelled. 

     Kawoski’s heart sank.  He was no closer to getting Julie back than he had been before.  He turned and rubbed his face, trying to clear his head and figure out their next step.  “We got Derek Moore,” one of his officers announced loudly.  “He’s unconscious, though.”

     It wasn’t what Kawoski was hoping for, but it was something.  He straightened up and tried re-focus.  “Get an ambulance here ASAP,” he ordered his men who replied that one was already on its way.  Under any other circumstances, Kawoski would’ve wished the kidnapper were dead, but that wouldn’t help him find Julie.  It seemed strange to wish that the man who had caused Julie harm would be alright, but they needed Derek to pull through.  Surely he knew something about her whereabouts….something he could tell them so they could find her. 

     By the time the ambulance arrived, Derek began to move.  He felt very woozy, probably from the blood loss, and had a splitting headache.  It took him a minute to realize where he was and what had happened.  The last thing he could remember was checking the rope on the woman’s hands.  That was it.  Everything went black after that. 

     Kawoski saw Derek’s eyes open and his head move and ran over to find out where Julie was.  “Where is she?!” he yelled, but the EMTs refused to let him anywhere near Derek until they checked him out. 

     “He’s lost a lot of blood.  We have to get him to the hospital, now!” the EMT announced as he helped load Derek into the back of the ambulance. 

     “Can we question him?” Kawoski asked, but seeing the EMT close the back door of the ambulance gave him his answer. 

     “No, not until we get him to the hospital and stable.”  Without waiting for Kawoski to reply or say anything further, the ambulance turned on its siren and headed for the hospital.

     Kawoski gave some orders to his men to check out the warehouse and let him know what they found before hopping in one of the police cruisers and following the ambulance.  He was going to be there the second the hospital gave the okay for Derek to talk.

     Kawoski arrived to the hospital just behind the ambulance and watched as they wheeled Derek through the ER.  As he waited to hear something from the doctors, it finally hit him how exhausted he was.  Up until that point, he had been running on adrenaline.  He was running out of steam, though.  “I’ll be right back,” Kawoski told the nurse’s desk in case Derek’s doctors came out looking for him.  “I’m just going to grab some coffee.”

     He had to go through a maze of hallways to locate a coffee vending machine, and purchased two cups to save time later and give him enough caffeine to kick-start his system.  After grabbing a few candy bars from the neighboring machine, he briskly walked back to the ER. 

     “Sergeant Kawoski?” one of the doctors asked when he rounded the corner. 

     “Yes.  Do you have news on Derek Moore?” Kawoski asked, hoping that he was finally about to receive some good news.  He sipped his coffee which was barely luke-warm as he listened to the doctor tell him about Derek’s condition.  He had lost a lot of blood, and had a concussion, but Kawoski would be able to question him, at least briefly. 

     By the time Kawoski had finished his second coffee, he was told he could see Derek.  “Try not to agitate him, and no longer than ten minutes,” the nurse warned.

     “I’m Sergeant Kawoski.  I’ll be asking you some questions about the woman you kidnapped.”

     “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Derek replied.  He wasn’t going to admit to anything until he had no other options, and maybe not even then.  It was possible that there was no real evidence against him and he wasn’t about to volunteer for another prison sentence. 

     “We can do this the hard or the easy way,” Kawoski said, trying hard to keep his frustration hidden.  He wanted to beat the answers out of Derek Moore, but that would just land him in jail, and he couldn’t help Julie from behind bars.  Whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to be nice to Derek.  He needed answers and needed them fast.  He just kept reminding himself that he was doing it for Julie.  “We already know you kidnapped her.  Security cameras caught it all.”

     Derek was having a hard time focusing at first because of the pain in his head, but the medication was beginning to work.  He listened to the police officer in his room and tried to figure out whether or not he was bluffing.  “So if you know everything already, why are you in here questioning me?” he asked. 

     “I need to know who hired you,” Kawoski answered, bluntly.  It was just a hunch, but all of the evidence pointed to Derek just being a lowly hired hand…someone to take the blame for everything. 

     Derek didn’t answer right away.  He needed to weigh his options.  If the police did actually have him on video surveillance, he was sure to go back to prison.  Maybe, by cooperating, though, he could strike a deal.  His mind flashed back to his last stint in prison.  Every day he saw someone get stabbed or turned out.  That wasn’t the life he wanted for himself.  “If I tell you what I know, can I get immunity?” he asked.

     Kawoski thought about agreeing to a deal, just to get Derek to divulge what he knew.  That wasn’t ethical though.  He didn’t have the authority to offer deals.  “You kidnapped a woman.  We can’t even begin to talk about deals until we get her back, unharmed,” Kawoski answered instead.  It was the truth, but he hoped it would scare Derek into confessing whatever he knew faster.  If whoever currently had Julie killed her, Derek would be looking at a much more serious charge.

     “I don’t know who has her,” Derek finally spoke after letting Kawoski’s words sink in.  Kawoski was ready to beat answers out of him, but Derek continued.  “I never got his name, but I can tell you what he looks like and how he got in touch with me.”

     Kawoski was a good judge of character and could tell when he was being lied to.  Derek was telling him the truth.  He quickly wrote down everything Derek said, hoping that it would give them a new lead.  He barely finished writing when the nurse came in and informed Kawoski that his time was up. 

     “One more thing,” Derek said as Kawoski exited the room.  “She wasn’t the woman he wanted.”

     Kawoski stopped mid-step and turned briskly.  “Who wasn’t the woman who wanted?” he asked.  He could see the annoyed look on the nurse’s face, but ignored it. 

     “The woman you’re looking for.  She wasn’t the right woman.  He wanted the bride.”

     Derek’s words raced around in Kawoski’s head. 
Kristen?  It was supposed to be Kristen?
  He didn’t have all of the pieces put together yet, but it was all starting to make more sense.

     Kawoski was going to have to interrupt his buddy’s honeymoon.  Steel needed to know about this.  He couldn’t put it off any longer.  He and Kristen could be in danger.