Nothing Is Negotiable (35 page)

“I’ll kill her,” he said and started backing toward the door, pulling Rosemary and Olivia with him.

The gunmen didn’t have a clear shot but they held their weapons on them as Sonny backed into the door. As it opened he glanced behind him. Rita was stopped in front of the church with the back door of the minivan open. He tried to push Rosemary to the side, but she grabbed his arm.

“Sonny, wait,” Rosemary wailed, pulling him closer. He tried to jerk away, but she held tight, pulling him around. As he backed further, the men in fatigues emerged from the church doors.

Olivia was his only chance.

He grabbed Olivia with one hand and tried to pull her away from Rosemary, but her vise-like grip was too tight. Yanking harder, he saw the determination in Rosemary’s eyes. She wasn’t going to let go. He turned his gun on her and fired once into the middle of her forehead.

Her head flew back as a red cloud of atomized blood filled the space between them. Sonny grabbed Olivia as Rosemary’s arms fell away. As the men raised their rifles toward Sonny, he put his pistol back to Olivia’s temple.

“I’ll kill her,” he promised as he backed toward the open door of the minivan. “Drop your guns.”

The SWAT team held their position; no one lowered their weapons. As Sonny fell back inside the open door of the minivan, Rita hit the gas. As the van lurched forward and Sonny saw police cruisers emerging from side streets half a block in front of them. Two units stopped their vehicles blocking the street. He looked out the back window and saw the same thing behind them. From blocks away he saw a dozen more units converging with flashing lights. An army of cops in body armor and with automatic weapons ran in from the side streets.

He and Rita were trapped in the middle of the block.

“What do I do?” Rita screeched as she slammed on the brakes.

Sonny looked around and saw the parking lot behind the church. From it there was another exit there to a side street. It was their only chance.

“That way. Over the curb!”

Rita turned the steering wheel and mashed the gas pedal to the floor. The van bounced over the curb and tore across the lawn. Shots rang out and immediately both tires on the right side of the car went flat.

Rita shot Sonny a panicked look.

“Don’t stop,” he screamed over Olivia’s wailing.

The van continued to roll on flat tires as it reached the asphalt parking lot and passed the preacher’s car behind the church. Rita turned toward the exit between two buildings only to find it already blocked by two police cars and a dozen more cops in combat position. She turned and circled around, the rims of her flat tires grinding into the pavement. More shots rang out and the other two tires went flat.

Rita continued on the rims, making a complete circle before more shots were fired into the engine. The motor fell silent and smoke billowed out from under the hood. Now the only sound anyone could hear was Olivia’s waling cries from inside the van.

From behind the SWAT team, the squadron commander pulled up a portable microphone. “Throw out your weapons and get out of the vehicle. Lay face down on the pavement, arms away from your body.”

Everyone waited but there was no movement from the van.

“Do you have a clear shot?” the commander said to the officer, whose rifle rested on the roof of the police cruiser across the lot.

“Negative, sir,” he said, his eye pressed tightly against the scope. “The dark tint of the van’s windows makes it impossible to isolate the perp. I see the hostage, but she is in constant motion. I can’t get a clear shot.”

Seconds ticked by until the silence was broken when the driver’s door opened.

“Don’t shoot me,” Rita yelled as she stepped out, holding her hands high. “Don’t shoot me.” She lowered herself to the pavement and stretched out her arms.

Everyone waited as Olivia’s screams seem to diminish. Then the officer spoke to the commander.

“I have a clear shot. Less than twenty percent risk to hostage.”

“Fire when ready,” the commander ordered.

As his finger tightened on the trigger, the back door of the van slid open. The commander said, “Wait.”

Every police and SWAT officer realigned their aim.

“I’m coming out,” Sonny shouted through the open door.

“Fire if he raises his weapon,” the commander said.

A second later, Sonny stepped out holding the limp child in front of him, his pistol lowered at his side.

“Drop your weapon,” demanded the SWAT commander.

His demand went unanswered as Sonny’s eyes drifted around the parking lot, looking at the array of weapons positioned to end his life.

Every officer now had a clear head shot. The SWAT sharpshooter said, “Sir?”

Olivia was obviously exhausted. Her cries had become choking sobs. Sonny could take no more. He bent and lowered Olivia to the ground where she stood unmoving, huge tears streaming down her face.

After lowering his head, Sonny tossed his pistol to the pavement. Slowly he went to his knees, and lowered himself to his belly. As he stretched out his arms half a dozen officers moved in and surrounded him, their guns aimed at his head.

From behind one of the police cruisers, Bonnie broke through the row of police in dark uniforms and ran to the frightened child. When Olivia saw her, she stretched out her arms. Bonnie picked her up, pulling her tear-soaked cheeks tightly against her own.

The EMT pushed a gurney up beside Bonnie and when she tried to hand Olivia over, Olivia would have no part of it. She held tight and Bonnie didn’t want to let her go.

“She’s scared to death,” Bonnie said taking her back. “Let me go along and I’ll hold her.”

“I understand but she’s required to be on a gurney,” the young man said as he opened the back door of the ambulance. Then added, “Aw, what the hell, just hold on to her real tight. It’s a short ride.”

Less than ten minutes later they were at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and Olivia was already drifting off to sleep. The drugs in her system were too much to fight. The back doors of the ambulance opened and Bonnie saw two nurses and a tall, slender man wearing surgical scrubs and a stethoscope around his neck. As the nurses took Olivia, the man went to Bonnie.

“I’m Dr. Montgomery from Nephrology. We’ve spoken with Mrs. Townsend and she’s having all of the records sent over. We’ll take Olivia from here.”

“Can I go with her?”

“Sure,” the doctor said.

As they started inside she heard a voice behind her.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Wakefield.” She turned to see two men in dark suits. “We’re detectives Jackson and Burnet from Calgary Police Service. We need you to come down to the command center and answer some questions.”

“But, I’d really like to stay with Olivia.”

“Ma’am, the doctors will take good care of her. Your husband and Miss Gray are downtown answering questions now. As soon as we’re finished, you can come back.”

***

The officers took Bonnie downtown where she was led into an interrogation room where they were met by another man in a dark suit. He introduced himself as the real Sergeant Ames, Chief of Major Crimes.

“Mrs. Wakefield, you are not under arrest, nor are you charged with any crimes at this time. But, I’d like for you to start at the beginning. Tell us everything you can remember, from the time you got to Montana and all events leading up to the kidnapping and eventual rescue of Olivia Townsend.”

Bonnie started with the day she received a phone call asking her to speak at the photography workshop. The detectives fired dozens of questions and had her repeat various parts of her story. But, in the end, were impressed by the courage and ingenuity that they used to help capture the kidnappers while keeping Olivia safe.

“That’s enough for today, but I’m sure we’ll have many more questions for you later,” Detective Burnet said.

She found Luke and Lauren in the waiting area with the short gray-haired man she’d seen in the choir loft earlier at the church. As she approached, they stood up. The man held his gray cowboy hat in one hand and extended the other hand as Luke introduced him.

“Bonnie this is Ernest Oliveras. He’s in charge of the RCMP in Cardston.”

“I was telling Luke that for the past two hours my office has been looking into your missing persons file. It looks like Paul Simpson, the officer who was in charge of your case kept feeding me bad information. Everything I saw made it look like you had slipped away from Luke and gone back to Texas.”

“What do you mean?”

“The first thing he told me was that a bus driver identified you as a passenger on his bus from Cardston to Calgary. We contacted that driver this morning and he said Paul had not contacted him. Paul also said he found charges on your credit card for airline tickets from Calgary to Austin, Texas. And he said the airline showed you as a passenger on that flight. Neither of those is true, either.”

“I would have never done that,” Bonnie said, looking from Luke to Ernest.

“That’s what Luke kept saying, but I had to go with the evidence I had. Paul had been an ideal officer before all this happened.”

As they moved toward the door Ernest said, “Oh yeah, I’ve got something for you.” Ernest pulled something out of his shirt pocket and held it out for Bonnie. She opened her hand and he dropped two gold earrings into her palm.

“Thank you,” she said, but looked at Luke, confused.

Ernest said to Luke, “After you called, I went over and roused Willy Standalone. Following your advice, I asked him about that earring he was wearing. He said he found it on Little John’s dresser. We woke up Little John and asked him where he got it. Little John confessed to everything. You know, Sonny Diamond was one of the best quarterbacks to come out of Alberta. Many kids, including Little John Standalone idolized him.”

“Little John seems like a good kid. Why would he get mixed up in something like this?” Bonnie asked.

“For about a decade we’ve had an unsolved murder on the books in Cardston. The rumor around town was that Willy did it. Little John said Sonny told him he had evidence that would convict his father, sending him to prison for life. And he would turn it over to the RCMP unless he helped him. So he did. But, the sad part is that Willy had a solid alibi the night of the murder, and I’ve always known that. Because at the time he was serving a six month sentence for drunk driving in Missoula. He never told his family and everyone thought he was hiding from the law.”

“Will Little John go to prison?” Bonnie asked.

“It’s too early to tell. I think all depends on the charges filed against him. But I’m afraid his football scholarship is history.”

“I’ll do what I can to help Little John. He treated me with respect and I can appreciate the fact that he was doing it for his father,” Bonnie said.

Ernest nodded and turned to Luke. “And I want to say I’m sorry for the way I treated you in Cardston.”

Humbled, Luke said, “If I’d have been in your shoes, I would have done the same thing.”

“Paul kept finding this evidence, and it all pointed to you. Never in a million years would I have suspected him to be on the wrong side of the law.”

A question nagged at Bonnie. “We came up here because I was asked to fill in at the photography workshop for a man who was killed in a freak accident. Could they have had anything to do with that?”

“They could have, but from what I understand, the house blew up and everything burned. I don’t think there was enough of it left to collect any evidence. Unless Sonny confesses to it, I don’t think we’ll ever know.”

Detective Burnet stepped into the room followed by a stocky man in a black suit. The detective said, “Olivia is doing fine. Mrs. Townsend is at the hospital and would like you to come by when you can.”

“We’d like that,” Bonnie said.

Luke and Lauren nodded.

“A limo is out front. This is DeWayne, he’ll take you over,” he said, gesturing to the man in the black suit.

As they rode to the hospital, Bonnie held Luke’s hand. She was nervous about meeting Kim. Even though they saved Olivia, it was Bonnie who put her in danger by kidnapping her.

The limo stopped at the entrance to the hospital and DeWayne said, “Olivia is on the third floor, room 3066.”

They all went inside and found the elevator across from a waiting room. Bonnie pressed the button and the elevator opened immediately. As they stepped on and turned around they saw a television mounted on the wall where a news program was just beginning. A bespectacled anchor started his lead story. “The kidnapping of Olivia Townsend ended today in a dramatic rescue here in Calgary. The daughter of billionaire Kim Townsend was kidnapped two days ago and—”

The elevator door closed and began its ascent. Bonnie’s stomach began to tighten and when the elevator stopped at the third floor, she took a deep breath. The door opened they stepped out and started down the long corridor.

When they came to room 3066, Luke knocked softly and stepped back. The door was opened by Kim and her expression was difficult to read. She looked into the eyes of each of them, one by one, settling on Bonnie. Bonnie tried to smile, but the muscles in her face wouldn’t work right. The only thought in her mind was that she kidnapped this woman’s child. Her chin began to tremble and though she tried to keep a stiff lip, tears began to flow.

“I’m sorry,” was all she could get out as she stood in front of the woman. A warm, sympathetic smile spread across her face and she opened her arms wide. Bonnie went to her and Kim held her in a tight embrace. Through her sobs, Bonnie tried to continue. “I didn’t want to but—”

“I know,” Kim said, her voice also breaking. “You did what you had to do. It was the right thing. You saved my daughter’s life and that’s what’s important.”

Tears streamed down Bonnie’s cheeks and she was afraid to let go. Finally, Kim stepped back and Bonnie wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. She sniffled and said, “This is my husband, Luke.”

Luke extended his hand, but Kim ignored it and embraced him warmly, too.

“And you’re Lauren,” she said and hugged her, too.

Their attention turned to the sleeping child in the hospital bed. She looked so small as she lay sleeping soundly. Her pretty blonde hair now clean and combed, hung perfectly across her shoulders.

“The doctor said the kidnappers gave her a sedative to make her sleep, and with everything that’s happened today, she probably won’t wake up for a while,” Kim told them. “But she’s going to be okay.”

They heard a knock on the door and Kim stepped over and opened it. Bonnie could see a woman in a dress standing outside. They spoke in whispers and the woman left.

Kim returned and said to Bonnie, “Would you come with me?”

Kim took her hand and they stepped out of the room into the hallway.

“There’s someone I want you to meet,” Kim said as they walked.

Deep in Bonnie’s soul she knew who it was. Her heart started pounding so hard she felt it might burst. When they stopped at the door labeled
Conference Room
, Kim tapped twice before pushing the door open. Inside a woman with shoulder length red hair stood with her back to them. She was talking to someone sitting on the sofa.

“Tammy?” Kim said in a soft voice.

The woman turned to Kim then to Bonnie.

For the next moment neither woman moved. They searched the other’s face like it was an old friend they hadn’t seen for years. They stepped closer and for Bonnie it seemed like time stood still. She marveled at the same emerald green eyes she had seen in the mirror her entire life. Tammy had the same auburn hair and the same little, turned up nose. And now, seeing her up close, in person, Bonnie knew they were identical twins.

Tammy wiped a tear from her eye, then slowly reached down and took Bonnie’s hands in hers. Both women stood in amazement, trying to grasp the reality of the moment.

“Bonnie,” Tammy said in a shaky voice. “I’m glad to meet you.”

“Me too,” was all she could get out as she fought to keep her voice from breaking.

“I want you to meet,” Tammy said, as she turned and watched the woman on the sofa stand up, “our mother, Anita Owens.”

She was thin, like them, and beautiful like her father had always said. Her hair was red, flecked with gray and cut just above her collar. Bonnie saw where she and Tammy got their upturned noses. Anita Owens came around the sofa and took Bonnie’s hands in hers and stared deeply into her eyes. Her smile was warm but Bonnie could tell she was nervous. For a few seconds, neither of them spoke. Then she dropped one hand and took one of Tammy’s. She looked from one to the other before taking a deep breath.

Their mother glanced toward the heavens, then said, “For years I prayed for this day, but I thought it would never come.”

Bonnie wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what. She waited as this woman, her mother, tried to find her voice.

After a long breath, she spoke with trembling lips. “I know you have a million questions and I’ll answer them all. But first I want to tell you a story that will answer a lot of them. Is that okay?”

“Yes,” Bonnie said in a small voice. She glanced at Tammy who was also nodding.

She motioned toward the sofa. “Do you want to sit down?”

“No, I’m too nervous to sit.”

“Me, too,” Tammy said. The twins stood facing their mother as she started to speak.

“In 1970, I was a junior at the University of Georgia and engaged to the most wonderful man in the world. The war in Vietnam was raging and my fiancé, Nathan, unfortunately drew a low number in the military draft.” She glanced at Tammy who gave a slight nod. “He loved his country and was honored to serve it, so he left college and joined the Army. They told him after boot camp he would be left for Vietnam. I was devastated. Of course, I didn’t want him to go, but he assured me everything would be okay. I told him I didn’t know what I would do without him. So, before he left he said his roommate would be there if I needed anything.

“I didn’t know his roommate very well, but after Nathan left, his roommate would call every week or two to check on me, like he promised Nathan he’d do. Sometimes, if I was lonely or worried, we’d go get a burger or go to a movie. I liked him, and before long we became good friends. We began to spend more and more time together. It didn’t take long before we were inseparable.”

She paused and looked at Bonnie. “I never meant for it to happen, but Kurt and I fell in love.”

Bonnie’s heart skipped a beat at the name. “My father?”

“Yes,” she admitted, nodding her head. She paused and collected her thoughts. “I decided to tell Nathan it was over, that I was in love with Kurt. He came home a week before he shipped out to Vietnam. And it was just like he’d never been gone. Nathan was home for five days and the time we spent together was glorious. I realized I was still deeply in love with him.

“When his leave was over, Nathan went off to Vietnam. I never did tell him about Kurt and me because I was still in love with him. But I was in love with Kurt, too. And he was hurt and confused and couldn’t understand. I didn’t know what to do because I couldn’t choose between them. I told Kurt I needed some time alone to try to figure things out. Six weeks later, I found out I was pregnant.

“When I told Kurt, he was ecstatic and wanted to get married immediately. But the due date was close enough that Nathan could be the father, too. There was no way to be sure.

“When I told Nathan he was on cloud nine. He couldn’t wait to come home and get married. But Kurt wasn’t about to give up. He begged and pleaded for me to marry him right up to the minute they took me into the delivery room.