The Merger – 27

 

Josh took a quick look at Mike, mouthing, "Ready?" Mike nodded, pulling the ski mask down to cover his face. Josh did the same before gripping his Taser in one hand. Wrapping his other hand around the door handle, he turned it slowly and silently until the he felt the latch give. A swift kick sent the door slamming open, hitting the cinder-block wall.

Nowell and the second man in the room sprang to their feet.

"You even twitch and you'll regret it," Mike said, his stun gun pointed at one of them.

"Same goes for you," Josh told the other man. "Take out your weapons with two fingers, drop them on the floor then kick them away."

"Like hell!" the man Josh had a bead on replied, reaching behind his back.

"I knew they wouldn't listen," Mike said as he and Josh fired simultaneously. The Taser probes hit their targets, sending twelve-hundred volts of electricity into their bodies with the expected results. The men went down, incapacitated but not dead.

Mike tossed Josh his Taser then strode across the room to a bed in one corner. Bethany was curled up on it, unconscious, her hands and ankles bound with rope, duct tape covering her mouth. After carefully cutting the ropes then picking her up, Mike walked to the door. Josh followed after removing the probes from the men's bodies, rewinding the weapons' electrode wires as he did. When Mike stopped, just short of the door, nodding to it, Josh stepped around him, unclipping the second Taser from his waistband. He slid quickly into the hallway, pressing against the wall as he listened for any signs that there could be someone else in the warehouse who might, or might not, know they were there.

"All clear," Josh said, barely above a whisper, before returning to the door at end of the hallway then going into the room leading to the parking lot. When he got to the exit, he inched it open just enough to peer outside. He turned, giving Mike a thumbs-up.

Moments later, Mike had put Bethany into the back seat of Josh's car then eased in next to her. Josh slid into the driver's seat, turned the key in the ignition, then, after taking off his ski mask and the latex gloves, pulled out of the lot—without headlights. 

Now that they had Bethany, Mike decided it was safe to call 9-1-1—using the burner phone he always carried with him on a job for such emergencies—to report there had been a kidnapping and that the kidnappers could be found at the warehouse, along with evidence of the crime. Then he told Josh, "That's the best we can do, so let's hope the cops get there before the bastards wake up. We'll leave my car where it is and come back for it later." He got a nod of agreement from Josh.

Josh drove two blocks before turning on the headlights.

By that time, Mike had removed his ski mask and gloves, reaching over the seat to drop them on top of Josh's case. He carefully removed the duct tape covering Bethany's mouth. "She looks okay," he said. He took a penlight from his pocket, clicked it on then lifted one of the girl's eyelids. "Drugged, but her breathing is normal. No visible bruises."

"Of course not," Josh replied dryly. "When you ask for what Nowell did for her safe return, you don't want to damage the goods."

"At Comstock's orders," Mike stated. "You know Nowell is just the middle man."

They were halfway to their destination when a small moan alerted them that Bethany was regaining consciousness.

"It's okay, Bethany," Mike said, lifting her into his lap. "You're safe now."

She opened her eyes, looking up at him. "I want my Mommy."

"I know, sweetie. We're taking you home." He stroked her tangled hair.

"Promise?" she asked, her eyes closing again.

"I promise."

Ten minutes later Josh stopped the car across the street from a large house in an upscale neighborhood on the city's west side. Taking out his phone, he called Mr. Osborne. When it was answered, he said, "We have her. We're right outside."

An upstairs window in the house lit up seconds later. He could follow the progression of Osborne and his wife, he was certain, as more lights shown through the windows on their way down to the front door. By then, Mike had gathered up the little girl after getting out of the car. He carried her to the front door with Josh right behind him, arriving at the same time as her parents. When the door swung open, he put Bethany into the waiting arms of her mother.

"We can't thank you enough," Rupert Osborne said with heartfelt appreciation, his arm around his wife's shoulders.

"We were more than happy to help," Josh replied.

"We owe you a debt of gratitude we can't repay," Linda Osborne said, her arms wrapped protectively around Bethany, who was clinging tightly to her.

"Just keep her safe so this doesn't happen again."

"We will." Osborne paused. "The man responsible for kidnapping her?"

"May or may not be under arrest by now. We'll talk about that in the morning," Mike replied, "either at the bank or our agency."

"Now that it's safe to, I'll come by your office. Is nine too early?"

"No. I have a client coming in at eleven. I'm free until then," Mike said, glancing at Josh, who told him he'd be available as well.

"Then I'll see you in the morning. Again, thank you so much for rescuing Bethany."

With a nod, Mike returned to the car. "It's times like this I'm glad we do what we do," he said, getting into the passenger seat.

Josh leaned over to kiss him. "Me, too," he replied. "Now let's get your car so we can both go home. I, for one, could sleep for a year."

Mike grinned. "As long as you're at work by nine tomorrow morning, have at it."

 

The Merger – 26

 

"From what I could tell," Mike told Josh via his mic, "either he's a real heavy eater or he bought food for more than himself."

"If we're lucky," Josh replied, "he's heading to where they're keeping the girl."

Nowell made one more stop, at a liquor store, coming out with a six-pack of beer. After that, he drove halfway across the city to an area of older homes, small shops, and warehouses, some of them obviously abandoned. When Nowell entered an alley, Mike doused the lights on his car then drove slowly past it, just in time to see Nowell veer into what looked like a narrow parking lot behind a warehouse. Mike continued on, found a lot a block farther up and parked, telling Josh where he was. Moments later, Josh pulled up beside him.

"I come bearing food," Mike said, getting into Josh's car then handing him the bag. "Before you dig in, let's find a place to watch the warehouse where Nowell ended up."

"Which would be?"

"You drive. I'll show you. At this point we're better off using one car," Mike replied. He directed Josh back to the alley, suggesting they go down it in hopes there would be a place to set-up a stakeout. Luck was with them. What had appeared to be a small lot behind the warehouse turned out to be larger than Mike had thought. "Probably to accommodate delivery trucks," he said, gesturing to the loading dock.

Nowell's car was parked to the right of the dock, beside a door leading into the building. A second car was parked in the corner. Josh backed in beside it, leaving the car idling. He had already doused the headlights before entering the alley. Mike got out, walking around Nowell's car to the side next to the loading dock. Kneeling, he took a folding knife from his pocket, using it to slash the car's rear tire. Then he did the same to the other car before rejoining Josh.

"This makes me wonder if one of the men holding Bethany works here," Josh commented. "It doesn't look abandoned."

"Probably, although, obviously, they haven't let anyone else know they have her here, so the warehouse might belong to Comstock. Then they could tell people they had his permission to use the room where they're hiding her."

"Good point. Okay, now, can we eat?" Josh asked, getting a nod and an amused smile from Mike. They did, while keeping an eye on the warehouse.

"Back door or in through the front?" Mike asked when they finished.

"Back. That's the way he went in." Josh reached over the seat to retrieve his case. Opening it, he took out three Tasers, handing one to Mike. "We use these," he said adamantly. "This is not negotiable."

For a moment, Mike debated arguing with him. Then, he nodded. "As long as you realize I am carrying and will use my gun if it looks like things will go bad."

Mike expected Josh to protest.

Instead, he said, "The chances are, we'll be facing two, maybe three men, at the most. I don't see them having more than that to watch one little girl, who is probably bound and gagged to begin with. If I'm wrong, then I guess having your gun as backup is all right."

It was obvious from his expression that he didn't like the idea, but Mike had to give him points for accepting it might be necessary.

Josh took some tools from the case, putting them in his pockets. He clipped one of the Tasers to his belt, then, before getting out of the car, he took two ski masks and two pairs of latex gloves from the case, handing a set to Mike. They put on the gloves then the masks but didn't pull the masks down…yet. Going to the warehouse door, Josh used a jammer to disable any wireless security within fifty feet of it. Using an electric lock pick, he had the door unlocked moments later. Next, he checked to make certain the alarm box had been disabled, as there was a possibility it was connected to a phone line. It was off.

They found themselves in a small room that was obviously used by warehouse employees to accept deliveries. There were two doors. One was partially ajar. A quick check showed it led to the receiving area behind the loading dock. The second one was closed but not locked. It opened onto a short hallway with three doors along one side. Josh used an electronic eavesdropper to determine that there were people in the third room.

The Merger – 25

 

"Here's what we have so far," Mike said when Josh came into his office half an hour after they had returned to the office. "It's not good."

Josh studied the information Mike had found on Frank Nowell and the building from which he'd placed the call to Osborne. "Who is this Charles Comstock that he works for?"

"A reputed gangster with his fingers in a lot of pies—drugs, prostitution, you name it."

"Reputed?"

"Nothing has ever been proven against him, which doesn't mean a damned thing." Mike rapped his fingers on the desk. "Why the hell would he delve into tiger kidnapping?"

"Obviously to force Osborne to give him access to a great deal of cash, plus whatever's in the safety deposit boxes."

"Maybe…" Mike nodded. "Maybe there's something in one of the boxes that Comstock wants and the rest are just added goodies."

"Possible," Josh agreed. "Not that we'll find out. Our job is to rescue the girl."

"And that means finding Nowell and hoping he leads us to where they're hiding her."

"Finding him will be the easy part," Josh replied, tapping the laptop screen. "This is where he lives."

"Now all he has to do is go home while we're staking it out. Or we can track his movements via his phone."

"That's a no-go. I checked when we got back here. He must have shut it off right after calling Osborne, afraid it could be used to track him if Osborne had gone against his orders and brought in the police. He's probably already dumped it in a trash bin somewhere. The address he was at when he called turned out to be a vacant lot, so it's not where he's got Bethany."

"Well, shit. Okay, let's pay a visit to his apartment building and hope he shows up there." Mike printed out the mug shot he'd found for Nowell then they took off after Josh picked up the carrying case that held his tools from his office.

*****

"Got him," Mike said over the wireless microphone when he saw Frank Nowell leaving the apartment building. He was stationed at the back of the building while Josh watched the front. "He's driving a dark blue, two-door 2012 Honda with a dented rear fender."

"On it," Josh replied.

Mike waited until Nowell started down the driveway to the street before getting into his car, which was parked in the far corner of the lot. He took the alley to the side street, asking Josh which way the man had gone.

"He turned right, toward Parker Avenue. I'm two cars behind him. He's taking another right, onto Parker."

"I'll stay one street over," Mike replied. "We'll switch off in four blocks, unless he turns again before then."

Nowell stayed on Parker Avenue for ten blocks before pulling into a deli parking lot then going inside.

"Of course," Josh grumbled through their communication system. "I'm starving and he gets to eat."

"I'll go in and pick something up for us."

"Mike, don't. I was kidding."

"But I'm not," Mike replied. "I want to see if he's meeting someone. There's no reason for him to know me, but just in case, I've got the ubiquitous baseball cap." He put it on, pulling the bill down to shadow his eyes, then went inside.

The place was busy enough that it took him a moment to locate Nowell at the take-out counter. Mike waited until the man had placed his order and moved to the pick-up line. Then, Mike ordered two pastrami-on-rye sandwiches, figuring they wouldn't take long to make, before going over to one of the cases to study the selection of breads and rolls. He used the case as a mirror to keep his eye on Nowell. When Nowell paid and left, carrying a large bag of food, Mike said quietly into his mic, "Follow him. I'll catch up." His order came up a minute later. He paid then returned to his car in time to see Nowell's vehicle half a block away and Josh pulling out of the lot. 

The Merger – 24

 

Mike returned to the bank with Josh at three thirty, as promised. He had already called to ask Osborne to send his secretary on an errand before they arrived. "The less people who know we're going to be there and talking with you, the better." Osborne had agreed.

Josh set up what was needed to trace and record the kidnapper's call, which came exactly at four.

The kidnapper ordered that, the following night, Osborne was to stay after the bank had closed and all the employees had gone home, and he was not to arm the security. He cautioned Osborne that he knew exactly how many employees worked there and if "he and his friends"—as he put it—didn't see all of them leave, the deal was off. He also reiterated what he'd told Osborne at the beginning of the call—that Osborne was to disable the rest of the bank's security—adding that Osborne was to let him inside through the back door once that was done.

When Josh asked, after the call ended, if there were night security guards, Osborne told him that he preferred to rely on the excellent security system that was in place, as humans were both fallible and possibly open to bribery if the price were right. Nodding, Josh agreed with him.

"Something occurred to me after we talked earlier this afternoon, Mr. Harte," Osborne said. "I'll have to notify the security company that I'm going to turn everything off or they'll send someone to check it out. The problem is, I can't think of any excuse for doing that."

"We'll deal with the problem tomorrow, if necessary," Mike replied. "If things go the way we hope and Josh can trace the call, we should be able to get your daughter back tonight."

"Got it," Josh said, several minutes later. "Name and location, although the latter will change as the man moves around."

"Who is he?" Mike asked.

"One Frank Nowell. The call was made from an address on Juniper Street."

"I don't recognize the name. Do you think that's where he lives…or works?" Osborne asked, his expression lighting with hope. "Or even where he's holding Bethany?"

"That's what we intend to find out," Mike replied as Josh packed up. "I'll be in touch with you as soon as we know anything." He nodded when Josh made a writing sign with one finger. "One more thing, which I should have done the first time I was here, Mr. Osborne." He took a contract and an information form from his bag, setting them on Osborne's desk. Osborne read them over, filled in the pertinent information on both forms, then signed. Lastly, he wrote out a check for the retainer, handing it to Mike.

"We'll be in touch," Mike told Osborne, putting the forms and the check into his bag. "With any luck at all, we'll have your daughter back to you before the night is over."

The Merger – 23

 

"Mr. Harte," Rupert Osborne said, standing as soon as his secretary had ushered Mike into his office then retreated, closing the door behind her. He appeared to be both distraught and afraid.

Mike shook Osborne's proffered hand before taking a seat across the large oak desk from him. He set his bag on the floor by his feet, looking inquiringly at Osborne.

"Sometime between eight forty five and nine this morning, as my daughter was on her way to school, she was kidnapped," Osborne began without preamble. "At nine fifteen, my wife received a call from Bethany's school, asking if she was sick as she wasn't in class. My wife panicked, of course, and immediately called me. I was trying to calm her down when I received another call on my personal phone from an unlisted number. A man told me he had Bethany and would be in touch with me again to arrange the terms of her release. He warned me I was not to go to the police or to act any differently than normal if I didn't want her dead body dropped on my doorstep."

"I presume he got in touch again," Mike said.

Osborne nodded. "The first thing I did after telling my wife about the call was to convince her to let the school know that Bethany had shown up at home, just after the school had called her, saying she wasn't feeling well." Osborne clenched his hands together. "Twenty minutes later, I received a second call from the kidnapper."

"What does he want in exchange for her release?"

"Access to the bank's vault and the safety deposit boxes tomorrow night—after we're closed and I've disarmed all the security."

"A tiger kidnapping," Mike said. When Osborne asked what he meant, he explained it was a type of kidnapping where a family member is taken with the promise they'd be returned, unharmed, when the individual did something for the kidnapper—in Osborne's case giving him access to what the man wanted in the bank. "I presume, as the president, you can do that."

"I can," Osborne replied succinctly. "Of course, I have no way to open the safety deposit boxes themselves without the owners' keys. In the event an owner loses their key, the bank has to drill the lock in order for them to access the box."

"Which the kidnapper and his associates undoubtedly plan to do. Did he say why tomorrow night rather than tonight?" Mike asked. "It seems to me the less time he has to keep your daughter hidden somewhere, the better for him."

"He didn't say. I can only presume he knows, or suspects, that there will be a larger amount of cash in the vault than normal tomorrow night because Thursday is the middle of the month. That's when many companies pay their employees, who will then either cash their checks or deposit them but take some cash as well."

Mike nodded. "He also might have taken your daughter today to up your tension so that you will do exactly as he asks. I presume he wants you to disable all the security on the premises before he and his associates arrive and while they're here."

"He didn't say so, specifically. He only said he would be in touch again this afternoon at four with the details of what I'm to do."

"Obviously, you haven't contacted the police since I'm here. May I ask why you want to hire me, rather than using whoever handles security for the bank?"

"A friend of mine used your services about six months ago and had nothing but praise for your abilities. He said you took a very personal interest in solving his problem, which is what I want. Personal and, obviously, without letting anyone else know that you are working for me."

"I try my best to do that with all my clients," Mike replied with a brief smile. He checked the time then said. "It's two o'clock. He told you he'd call you at four and you said that his phone number showed up as unlisted."

"Actually, as Unknown."

"All right. Any number can be tracked with the right equipment, which my partner has. With your permission, I want to bring him in on this."

"That's fine with me."

"Thank you. We'll be back at three thirty so he can set up whatever he needs to locate where the call is coming from and who owns the phone. Once we know that, we're one step closer to finding your daughter."