Kidnapped (19 page)

Jesus, I want so badly to hope. Either I'm going to be free and see my family soon, or something has gone wrong and I'll soon be dead. Get me out of this alive.

Chapter Twenty-One

L
uke put the gym bag of cash on the passenger side floorboard and then started his car, letting it idle with the air-conditioning on. He would need as cool a car as he could get to handle the tense sweating hour coming up. The bulletproof vest was already hot and annoying. The thing inevitably gave him a rash and left a patch of raw skin on his side.

The chase van with the tracking gear was idling in the drive, the side door open, Jackie and Caroline sitting on the riding board watching the cops sorting out the route they would follow.

Luke figured he'd head that way to say good-bye before long, but hopefully when he could manage at least a bit of privacy. He walked to the porch instead to have a final word with Mark. His cousin shifted the crutches he was using to stay upright.

Luke met Mark's gaze. “I'm ready.”

Mark held out his hand. “Godspeed.”

Luke held it a long time. “If something happens . . .”

Mark nodded. “I'll take care of them, buddy.”

Luke knelt to be at Benjamin's eye level. “I'm going to go get your mom.”

“Are you wearing your gun?”

Luke moved back his jacket to show Benjamin his sidearm. “I don't think I'll need to use it today.”

“The vest looks hot.”

Luke laughed. “It is. Be brave today, Benjamin. I'll be back as soon as I can. Just be prepared that it might take a while after I drop off the money before we know anything about your mom. Sometimes they tell us where to go get her, and sometimes they decide just to let her out on a road and give her quarters to call home.”

“I'll try to be patient.”

Luke straightened Benjamin's tie. He had insisted on dressing up for his mom coming home. “I think you look extra sharp. Is your aunt watching me?”

“Pretending not to, but she's watching you.”

“Good. I think I'll go say good-bye to her now.”

“Are you going to get mushy again?”

Luke quirked an eyebrow at him. “Again?”

“You were leaning against the kitchen counter last night twirling that flower while she did dishes just so you could give it to her when she got done.”

“True, but she's wearing it this morning, isn't she?”

Benjamin looked. “Yes.”

“Now I get to go mention how she looks like a pretty flower and kind of ease into saying good-bye that way.” Luke nudged the junior agent badge on Benjamin's pocket straight. “If anything happens today that's kind of bad, if I get hurt, you'll give Caroline one of your super hugs for me?”

Benjamin held his gaze and nodded.

“Good man.” Luke held out his hand. “You did an awesome job running when your mom said run. Do an awesome job now taking care of your dad for me.”

Benjamin's hand disappeared into his. “I will.”

Luke stood, and after a final nod to his cousin, he walked down to the van to say good-bye to Caroline. The odds that something bad would happen—trouble happened. And a smart man didn't leave things unsaid.

“How are we doing, Jackie?”

“I've got everyone dialed in. We'll plan to stay about two miles back most of the time with others paralleling you.”

“Sounds fine.” He knew Jackie; there was no way she would lose him. Luke looked at Caroline. “Think you'll be comfortable with Jackie?”

“As long as I don't accidentally touch anything.”

“It does get to be like a can of sardines in there.” He offered his hands and took both of hers, tugging her a few steps away from the others. “Come to dinner with me when this is over.”

She blinked at him, and then a small smile appeared as she relaxed. “I could work on a list of ten reasons I should say yes to dinner while I watch you run around with this bag of cash.”

He grinned. Get her comfortable enough and her sense of humor started to peek out. “I'm thinking I would love to get another one of your lists.” He wanted to kiss her but now wasn't the time to cross that line. If he were blessed to come back, fine, he had plenty of time, but if this day went bad, he would rather leave this parting on a light note. “I've gotta go.”

“Be careful.”

Luke nodded. “And I'm bringing Sharon home.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

L
uke slipped on his sunglasses, picked up the gym bag, and got out of the car. He walked across the parking lot and into the state visitor's center to the display of maps, the cell phone in his hand pressed tight to his ear to hear the distorted words directing him. “I'm here.”

“Pick up the next to last trifold for the Savannah Home festival.”

Luke retrieved it and opened it. A small white piece of paper with four numbers on it slid out. “Go to locker seventeen at the bus station. Tell me when you're there.”

Luke tightened his jaw to eat the words he wanted to say. This idiot had been taking him in circles for almost an hour. This was getting very old. He walked back outside to his car and put the cash on the passenger side floorboard, the sunglasses on the dashboard, and the car in gear. The bus station. Where was that?

He picked up the map and drove to the bus station. Only four cars were in the lot. Luke parked by the front door, walked inside, and saw a wall of lockers. Number seventeen was near the floor by the exit. He knelt and wrestled with the rusted lock. The door opened and he pulled out a copy of today's newspaper. “I'm here,” he told the guy on the phone. He hadn't placed an age to the voice yet, but it wasn't particularly old or young.

“Page six, the circled ad. Go to the new Sandy Hill mall, the food court. Buy two; I'm hungry. Let me know when you're there.”

Luke yanked open the paper to page six and saw an ad for steak sandwiches circled. Luke stood, kicked the locker, and headed back to his car. This guy was going to make him buy him lunch out of his own pocket before he'd say where to put the ten million. Luke understood driving odd places in order to figure out how many chase vehicles were around, but this was childish. And he was getting mad.

The new mall was miles in the other direction. Luke put the bag of money back in the car again and headed to the interstate. He pushed his speed to the edge of what traffic was flowing.
Hold on, Sharon. I will deliver this and get you back, even if I have to strangle this twit through the phone.

Labor Day shopping traffic was heavy around the mall. Luke finally found a parking place four rows down from the department store. He checked the bag to make sure it was fully closed; the last thing he needed was some curious shopper realizing he was carrying a bag of money. He slid on his sunglasses and headed into the mall. He stopped at the mall map to check directions to the food court.

“Go right and up to the second floor. The food court is by Nordstrom,” Jackie commented in his earpiece. “They have a wonderful shoe sale going on.”

Luke headed to the escalators. Jackie was riding in an air-conditioned van drinking a cold soda and listening in while he baked in this vest. He reached the food court, found the Steak and Co. counter, and pulled out his wallet to buy two steak sandwiches.

He stepped away from the crowded counter. “I'm at the food court and I have your sandwiches. Where now?”

“The Employee Only door between Steak and Co. and Taco Bell—walk through it, turn right. Open the third door on the left marked Utilities and step inside.”

Luke's adrenaline spiked. The trade was going down here. He shifted the phone, took a grip on the gym bag, and tried to move the sack with the sandwiches to the same hand in order to keep his gun hand free—only he couldn't juggle the three items. No wonder he'd been told to buy the sandwiches.

He walked through the employee door and found a concrete floor and tile hallway. He turned right, smashed the sandwich sack in his hand with the gym bag and phone, and reached for his gun. Putting his hand on the doorknob for the third door, he turned it, pushed the door open with his foot, and as the door swung open he tracked with his gun.

It was a service utility room. A conveyor belt ran by with blue plastic bins snapped into lock points on the belt, each bin labeled for its destination restaurant. He saw a sixty-pound bag of frozen french fries flow by. The supply lift was bringing goods from the freezers and refrigerators to the various food bar storefronts. The room was empty. “I'm here.”

“The bin for Potatoes and Co. Put in the gym bag and close the lid. Don't forget to include the steak sandwiches.”

“Where is Sharon?”

“Money first. I open the bin and get the bag, then I tell you where she is.”

Luke watched the conveyor belt for the proper bin, put in the bag and the sandwiches, and slammed the lid closed. The bin disappeared along the conveyer belt under felt strips that kept temperatures between rooms steady.

“Nice doing business with you. Open the other phone.”

Luke pulled it from his shirt pocket and flipped it open. The phone switched to a radio frequency and automatically connected.

“Thank You, God,” Sharon's soft voice echoed clearly on the line. “Who's there? Who am I talking to?”

Luke had to stretch out a hand to brace himself against the wall, feeling like he was having a heart attack. “It's Luke, Sharon. And I am very relieved to hear your voice.” He slammed through the hallway. “Where are you?”

“Benton, I think. My own car trunk. Hurry please; it's getting hot. Is Benjamin okay?”

“He's great, Sharon. He's just great. Keep talking.” He tore across the food court and took the stairs down two at a time. “How about you, are you doing okay?”

“Just tired.”

She sounded pretty weak, and he could hear her crying. Relief tears, those were good.

“They were planning to kidnap my son.”

“He ran just like you told him; he did great. Your own car, Sharon? You're sure?”

“It's my own junk—four old tulip bulbs I forgot to plant, Benjamin's baseball glove, the black shoes I meant to give Caroline . . .”

“Is there a safety trunk lock? To keep kids from getting locked inside? Can you spring it yourself?”

“Someone damaged it. I've been trying to pry through the backseat padding.”

“Have you been in the trunk all this time? It's Tuesday, about noon.”

“A small room first. I couldn't stand up in it, but they had a bed, TV, these bins filled with stuff to keep Benjamin entertained, a tiny bathroom. They moved me several hours ago.” She started coughing, the sound painful to hear.

“Easy.”

“I've screamed and pounded for attention but no one comes. I heard owls last night, and I think water is nearby, a stream maybe. It got pretty cold. I think I'm outdoors but I can't see sunshine through the cracks around the trunk.”

He cleared the doors to the mall and headed toward his car. “It's sunny out right now,” Luke confirmed for her. “I'm in Sandy Hill heading toward you. It may be the Benton sheriff who reaches you first.”

Jackie's voice came tense over his earpiece. “Luke, she's not in Benton like she thinks; she's well south. Head back on I-20. I'll try to get you the closest exit.”

“We're tracing your call right now, Sharon. We'll get a fix on your location.”

“The phone batteries are running down.”

“We'll just talk as long as the batteries last. We've already started to home in on you.”

“I've got notes for Mark and Benjamin and Caroline. I wrote them the first two days and kept them folded in my pocket so I would have them with me.”

“I know they will love to read them. Do you have any idea who did this, Sharon?”

“One man drove my car, two men in the van, and I think I heard a different fourth voice when they were arguing as they moved me from the room to the car. They always wore ski masks.”

“It's good that they were careful. The ransom exchange is easier.”

“How much?”

“Mark thought you were worth more.”

“That's sweet. How much?”

“Ten million. If they can run far enough to try to spend it.”

Luke signaled for the interstate merge, got into the flow of traffic, and hit the police lights, dropping his foot down on the gas to jump the car through seventy and eighty before finding a cruise speed just under ninety-five. “Sharon?” She'd gotten too quiet.

“He really put that kind of cash together?”

“Trust me, he would have come up with a whole lot more.” Luke debated telling her what had happened but thought on the whole she'd be better with all the truth. “Mark had a car accident Friday, serious enough that they airlifted him to Atlanta. He's already home in Benton waiting for you with Benjamin. We think they called him to say they had you just before the accident happened. His car ended up in a pond.”

“It's never been smart to distract him while he's driving.”

Luke laughed. “I hear you.”

Jackie's voice broke in again on his earpiece. “Exit 161 and head toward the state park. She's somewhere south of Billmar Road and west of Highland.” Luke eased off the gas to scan the map. That was still a huge swatch of land, not much of it developed. Cell and radio towers would be a long distance apart, making her location hard to pinpoint.

“How's Caroline coping?” Sharon asked.

“Like a trouper.”

“I'm glad. I have a—” The phone cut out briefly on her words. “Tell . . . I love them.”

“I will. If we lose this call, know we're coming.” He heard only static. “Sharon? Can you hear me, Sharon?”

The call was gone.

“Jackie?”

“The best we can do is about a two-mile grid,” Jackie said, and Luke heard unexpected tears in her voice. “We're about three miles south of you, triangulating the call.”