Hijacked - The Creation Story

by Mike Hartman

  “Mom! Where are you?”

  “I don’t know. I’m on a boat. I’m locked in the cabin below decks. Please help me!”

  The line went dead.

 

  Chapter 47

  January, year 5.

  Monica sat on her couch dialing her cell phone. It rang once, then twice. “Hello?” came the voice from the other end.

  “Mom?” Her voice was shaky.

  “Monica? Are you alright?”

  “I don’t know. I just wanted to call and tell you I love you.”

  “What’s the matter honey?” her mom pressed. “What’s going on?”

  It was times like this that Monica really felt the distance between California and New York. Her mother seemed so far away. “I’m okay mom. I just miss you. That’s all.”

  “I was born at night, young lady, but not last night! Now you tell me what’s going on.”

  “Things have become crazy around here. Gabe’s mother has been kidnapped. We are working on a big top-secret project at work and the kidnappers are demanding we turn over a prototype model to them.”

  Her mother said, “Do the police have any leads?”

  “We haven’t called the police.”

  “What!? Why not?”

  “It’s not that easy, mom. This project is very sensitive and nobody can even know it exists. It would be huge if word got out about it. Probably even a matter of national security.”

  Monica could tell her mom had covered the phone on her end. She could hear mumbling as her mom filled her dad in on the conversation. When her mom came back she said, “Your father and I are coming to see you. We will be on the next flight out.”

  “No, mom. You don’t need to come out here. That’s not going to…”

  Her mom cut her off, “No, it’s settled. I’ll call you and let you know what time we will arrive.” With that her mom ended the call.

  Monica sat back on the sofa in deep thought. She didn’t know what to think. On one hand she was glad to know her mom and dad were coming. It would make her feel better to have them here. On the other hand, there was absolutely nothing they could do. If anything, they would probably be in the way. Then a horrifying thought occurred to her. What if they were kidnapped too?

  **********

  Sally sat alone in her dark house. Lucy and Ethel lay on the floor beside her chair. They weren’t a bit worried. Sally wished she could say the same thing, but the truth was that she was worried sick!

  Such a huge burden of responsibility she had on her shoulders. She found herself wishing Dr. Bowles were here to talk to. She always wished that during times of crisis. He was the smartest man she had ever known. Surely he would know what to do. All she knew for sure was that she had absolutely no idea what to do.

  She had considered turning over the tick to meet the ransom demand. She owed it to Gabe to do that. On the other hand, she owed it to the world not to do that.

  Like so many issues in the world, things that were designed to be good, could be used for evil. Fertilizer was a good example. It was designed to grow crops to feed the world’s population, but evil people had found a way to use it to make bombs. The thought of Timothy McVeigh blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City gave her cold chills.

  Cold medicine was designed to relieve people from the stuffy noses and coughs that made them so miserable during cold and flu season, but bad people had figured out a way to use it to produce methamphetamine. Now thousands of people were frying their brains every day and destroying their lives.

  The nuclear bomb was designed to end the war with Japan. Innumerable American lives were saved because of it. Since that time it had been successfully used as a deterrent against attacks from other countries. If a terrorist organization was to get their hands on a nuke, however, it would turn into a very bad thing in the blink of an eye.

  So it was with the tick. In the beginning she hadn’t really thought about the moral implications of what they were designing. After Dr. Bowles was murdered, however, she was forced to examine her soul. She struggled with the concept and even considered pulling the plug on the project. There was just too much propensity for it to be used by people with bad intentions. Only after she discovered who the client was did she overcome these objections.

  She thought about calling the client now. Perhaps that was the right course of action. She just wasn’t sure. What she did know for sure was that she was in over her head. She picked up her cell phone and looked through the contacts. For security purposes, she had listed the number under ‘grandma’. She found the number and was about to hit send when her phone rang. “Hello?” she answered it.

  “Sally, its Dan. I’ve been thinking this over and I might have come up with a solution.”

  “I’m all ears,” she said.

  “Gabe’s mother said she is being kept on a boat, below decks. Remember our friend McCoskey was making a secret rendezvous on a yacht several times a week? It would make sense to me that they might be one and the same.”

  Sally perked up. Why hadn’t she thought of this? “What should we do?” she asked.

  “I’m going to call in some favors from some of my navy SEAL buddies. We need to swim out to that yacht to see what is going on out there. It sucks that I have this broken arm or I would do it myself. I think I can find someone willing to help though.”

  Sally was excited by the prospect. “Okay, let me know what you come up with.” She hung up and thought the situation over for a few minutes. In the end, she decided not to call the client just yet.

  **********

  Jamie and Jillian lay on the couch together. They had put a movie on, but neither of them had any interest in the movie. They were both thinking about the situation at work and the situation with Gabe’s mother.

  “What would you do if it was me that had been kidnapped?” she asked Jamie.

  “The thought scares me to death,” he said. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  She pressed. “Do you think we should hand over the tick?”

  “I just don’t know,” he said. “I’m starting to think we should call in the police. We’re in way over our heads! We’re kidding ourselves if we think we’re not.”

  Jillian thought about this for a minute. “Yeah, I tend to agree with you. We have no plan. We have no way of dealing with the kidnapper. I don’t really see where we have a choice. We either have to call the police or hand over the tick.”

  “The problem is,” said Jamie, “it’s not our decision to make. All we can hope to do is convince Sally and Gabe it’s the right thing to do.”

  “Well, we have to try. Let’s stick together tomorrow and we’ll try to talk them into it.”

  **********

  “Rocky, it’s Dan.”

  “Hey Dan, how are you doing? Are you putting together another reunion with our old SEAL team buddies again?”

  “No. I only wish I had something like that on my mind. I need to call in a favor.”

  “What’s up?”

  Dan told him all about the kidnapping, but left out the information about the tick. He told him about the private investigator and the photos of Ed McCoskey’s secret trips to the yacht in the harbor.

  “I broke my arm a few weeks ago and still have a plaster cast. I was hoping I could get you to run a little surveillance on the yacht for me.”

  “My son Red is coming home on leave the day after tomorrow. He could possibly do the mission with me.”

  “That sounds good. I’ll get together with you tomorrow and we’ll go over the details. The yacht is still in the same place, so finding it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s anchored about 200 yards off shore. Should be an easy swim.”

  **********

  Gabe and Tracy sat at the kitchen table looking despondent. Neither of them knew what to say or think. A thick sense of gloom had overshadowed their lives. They were both worrie
d sick about their mother. It was midnight, but neither of them felt like going to bed.

  They were surprised by a knock at the door. Gabe wondered who it could possibly be at this late hour. He looked out the window, but didn’t see anybody. He cautiously opened the front door, but there was nobody there.

  Looking down he saw an envelope lying on the porch. He came back inside and opened it.

  This is it. One chance and one chance only. So get it right the first time. Go to the lab. Put prototype tick number 4 into the wristwatch docking station and pack it inside a plastic zip-lock bag. Then package it up securely in a small box.

  You and Tracy are to come together. Bring a basket and 100 feet of rope with you. Park your car and walk out onto the Dumbarton Bridge from the west side. As you approach the center of the bridge you will find a large box in the walkway. Tracy is to sit on this box. It contains explosives and will be detonated if anything goes wrong. Once she sits down, a trigger will be set. If she gets back up before one hour elapses, the explosives will detonate. I can also detonate this remotely if anything does not go strictly as I tell you.

  You will keep walking 100 yards further until you see a yellow ribbon tied around the railing. At this point you will lower the packaged tick to the surface of the water below in the basket using the rope. A boat will pick up the package from below. At that time you can return to Tracy, but remember not to allow her to get up from the box she is sitting on until a complete hour passes. It would be a shame to lose your sister as well.

  If I even suspect you have told anyone else or involved the police, it will be all over. You have until two o’clock this morning to deliver. Don’t delay and don’t be stupid!

  Gabe and Tracy looked at each other in fear. Only two hours! They jumped into action.

 

  Chapter 48

  January, year 5.

  The Dumbarton Bridge was the southernmost highway bridge across the San Francisco Bay. It spanned 1.63 miles of the bay and provided passage to 81,000 vehicles a day. There were three lanes in either direction. Passage across the eastbound side was free, but a tollbooth was stationed on the westbound side freeing motorists of five dollars each time they used the bridge.

  The eastbound side contained a walled-off pedestrian and bicycle lane. It was now 1:20am as Gabe and Tracy began their walk out onto the bridge. During the day there was a lot of traffic, but this time of the morning the traffic was minimal. Every now and then a car would zoom by, but Gabe doubted they even noticed the two pedestrians.

  As they approached the center of the bridge, a box became visible up ahead. It was about two feet tall and was wrapped with brown wrapping paper. A cold breeze blew across the bay and Tracy shivered as she nervously sat down on the box and heard an audible click as the trigger set from her weight. The box was sturdy and supported her with no problem. She was terrified as Gabe kissed her on the forehead and continued on.

  One hundred yards further on, he found a yellow ribbon tied around the railing. Gabe tied the rope to the basket and lowered the package down to the dark surface 85 feet below.

  Now what? he thought. He looked to the north and saw the huge power lines that ran alongside the bridge, but no boats appeared to be coming toward him. He looked to the south and saw the old Dumbarton railroad bridge. It hadn’t been used since before he was born. He read somewhere that it was taken out of service in 1982. The western approach had collapsed when he was about ten years old, but the eastern span was still standing.

  Looking down he saw it. He couldn’t be sure because there were no lights onboard, but there was definitely a figure of a vessel down there. He heard the engine rev up and the figure disappeared from his view. Pulling the rope back up, he found the basket was empty.

  Running back to where Tracy was sitting, they huddled together in the cold night air until they were sure it had been well over an hour. Nervously Tracy stood up and was relieved when nothing happened. They were both exhausted as they drove home. And they both had the same thought racing through their head over and over…Okay, so how do we get mom back?

 

  Chapter 49

  January, year 5.

  “Has anyone seen Gabe?” Sally called from the lab. Her voice was filled with anger and anxiety at the same time. The alarm in her voice caught everyone’s attention and they all came to see what had happened.

  “Prototype number 4 is missing!” she said. “The data feed ended abruptly last night at about twelve forty-five. Where’s Gabe?”

  Everyone looked around at each other, shocked. It seemed the decision about whether or not to turn over the tick had been taken out of their hands. They all immediately realized the implications and nobody said a word.

  Sally took her phone out of her pocket and dialed Gabe’s cell. After about 30 seconds she closed the phone. “No answer.” She looked about the room in a fury, trying to collect her thoughts and figure out what to do.

  **********

  “Mom, dad, you really shouldn’t have come here.” Monica hugged them both as they cleared the security checkpoint at San Jose International.

  “Don’t be silly dear,” said her mother. “It’s obvious you are in some sort of trouble and we want to be here for you.”

  “I just don’t think there’s anything you can do to help. Come on, let’s get your bags.”

  Back at her house Monica’s dad finally spoke up. “You need to tell us what’s going on Monica. If we don’t know what’s going on, there’s no possible way we can help. Perhaps someone who is not close to the situation will have a different perspective. Maybe there’s something you haven’t thought of.”

  She was at the end of her mental rope and she just didn’t have much strength left. She thought for a moment and then exhaled in resignation. “Okay, I’ll tell you everything…”

  **********

  The two friends were sitting on Rocky’s patio. “There’s been a change to the situation,” said Dan. “The employee whose mother was kidnapped took it upon himself to meet the ransom demand during the night last night.”

  “Did he get his mother back?”

  “No. You know how these things work. The kidnappers seldom keep their end of the deal without complications. There’s been no word from the kidnappers since the transaction took place and no sign of his mother.”

  “Were does that leave us?” asked Rocky. “Red won’t be home until tomorrow. Do we need to call in someone else so we can carry out the mission today?”

  “It won’t do us any good. The yacht has been moved. As of this morning, it isn’t where it has been sitting for the past several weeks. We’re going to have to find it first.”

  Rocky asked, “Have you gridded out the search area?”

  “Yeah, I figure the best the yacht can do is about 20 knots. So by now it could be anywhere in the bay.” He pulled out a map and laid it on the table. He looked at his watch and then put the point of a compass at the mouth of the bay and drew an arc around the area outside the bay the yacht could have reached by now. “I figure this is our search area, but as you can imagine, it’s growing every hour.”

  “Do we have access to a plane?”

  “We will soon. Let me call Sally.”

 

  Chapter 50

  January, year 5.

  “Jones, Mitchell, Humphrey, Maxwell.” The men were gathered excitedly on the mess deck of the USS Henry M. Jackson. Each man listened expectantly for his name to be called in hopes that he would receive a letter or care package from home. Boomers seldom surfaced for any reason. On those rare occasions when they surfaced to receive personnel or transport personnel off the sub, the navy occasionally was able to coordinate having their mail delivered to the tug boat or other navy ship the sub was scheduled to rendezvous with.

  They were scheduled to be back in port next month, but after 60 days away from home, mail call was a very exciting time in the
se men’s lives.

  In the fourteen months Mickey had been onboard, he had never once received any mail. There was no reason for him to think anything would be different this time. He had long ago learned to avoid the mess decks at a time like this. It was disheartening to watch the joy of the men around him as they tore open letters from their girlfriends, wives, moms or dads. It was tough watching them show off newly received pictures of their women and their children. It filled him with emptiness when he watched them open care packages filled with magazines, games, cookies, and brownies. Sure, he was happy for them. But he dreaded the sorrow and loneliness that invaded his soul when he realized there was nothing for him.

  Mail call was a slimmed down version of what it was like when they pulled back into port after a 70 day cruise. To watch all the girlfriends, wives, and children waiting anxiously on the pier and to witness the joyful reunions taking place as the men saw their loved ones for the first time in months left an empty pit in Mickey’s stomach. There had never once been anyone waiting for him on the pier and he knew it was highly unlikely there ever would be anyone there for him.

  He had learned to volunteer for watch when they were pulling into port. If he was busy in the engine room, he totally missed the reunion experience. Things were better that way.

  In the same vein, he had learned to avoid the mess decks during mail call. He was in his rack reading a book and enjoying some quiet time to himself. The curtains pulled across the front provided a privacy screen. Every sailor came to appreciate their own little personal coffin. It was comfortable, private, a place to call their own.

  “Hey Mickey, you’ve got mail.” Franco said as he rustled the curtains on Mickey’s rack. “They called your name up on the mess deck.”

  Mickey wondered who might have sent him mail. Maybe his mother had sent a card. Maybe Red sent him a note. He climbed out of his rack and headed aft to the mess deck. They had finished handing out the mail and people were dispersing. Sitting on a table was a package addressed to him. He took it cautiously and wondered who it could possibly be from.