Christmas Witness Conspiracy

by Maggie K. Black

  “Besides,” Seth added, “these guys pooled together and are offering me ten thousand dollars for letting them get the credit and video footage of your kidnapping. I mean, what’s the point of a mob if people aren’t vying to climb over others to rise to the top?” Seth raised his cell phone and aimed it at the masked men and away from Liam and Kelly. “Chop, chop. Hurry up. Otherwise I’ll stream this whole conversation on the dark web, and everyone will know you not only bribed me to get credit for my hostages, you don’t pay your debts.”

  For a moment, nobody moved. Then a masked man with a green eye patch tapped some buttons on his phone and Seth’s phone beeped. The hacker glanced at his screen and grinned like someone had painted a smile on his pale face. What are you doing, Seth? What is the game plan? Liam could feel Kelly’s pulse racing under his fingertips. Was I wrong to trust him?

  “Congratulations, gentlemen,” the hacker said. “Now everyone will know you mean business.”

  The Imposters moved in toward them on either side.

  “I mean, sure, I’ve got a pretty big target on my head, too.” Seth leaned forward and clasped Liam in an awkward hug as if wishing him luck. “But I’ve disappeared before. I can do it again. I’m just sorry you’re going to miss your candlelight vigil.”

  Then Kelly screamed in fury as masked Imposters yanked her from his grasp.

  * * *

  Imposters gagged her mouth and handcuffed her hands behind her back, then picked her up and tossed her into the huge trunk of one of the black and very expensive-looking cars. Her heart pounded in her chest. Panic welled up inside her, sending hot tears to the corners of her eyes. Then she heard the sounds of a struggle and saw the light disappear as Liam’s handcuffed body tumbled in beside her. The trunk slammed shut with a bang that seemed to shake the darkness around them. She felt the sound of the engine rumbling beneath them and cold air seeping in as the car began to drive. The fabric of the gag tasted stale in her mouth. The sickly smell of a freshly shampooed car interior filled her nostrils. Then she felt Liam’s strong form roll beside her. She leaned into him and, slowly, felt the warmth of his core. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t hold her and she couldn’t see his face in the darkness. And yet something about just knowing he was there seemed to push back against the panic threatening to overtake her.

  The road grew bumpy beneath them. The trunk rattled, rumbled and jolted. Liam rolled away from her and for a moment, she was all alone in the darkness. Then she heard him roll back, his legs bumped hers and she felt his breath on her face.

  “Don’t worry,” he said softly and she wondered how Liam had freed his mouth from the gag. “Pip will be okay. No matter what’s going on with Seth, I guarantee Mack and Iris won’t let anything happen to her. With what’s on the news, Mack won’t even let Seth near her. He’s the most protective man I know.”

  Fear pounded through her heart. How could he possibly know that? She’d told him that she didn’t trust Seth. He’d argued with her that the hacker should be trusted. And look where it had gotten her? Bound. Gagged. Tossed into the trunk of a car. Kidnapped by the same criminals who’d kidnapped her daughter, Hannah. She just prayed that Renner had managed to rescue Hannah and that someone would find them.

  “Hey,” Liam said softly. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. I promise.”

  And she wondered if he could somehow feel or sense her racing heartbeat.

  “Now, I need you to stay as still as you can,” Liam said. “I’m going to get your gag off and it might hurt a little bit. Now, don’t move. I’m fairly hopeful this will work.”

  She felt him lean closer, his mouth brushed just behind her ear, a shiver ran through her skin and then she felt a swift tug as the fabric tore. For a brief instant pain shot though her skull, then it stopped as she felt the gag fall from her face.

  She gasped a breath, thankful to feel air fill her lungs. “How did you get the gag off?”

  “My gag?” Liam asked. “Old trick. Clench your jaw when they put it on, then relax it when you’re alone. Gives you a tiny bit of wiggle room. Then use the friction of your shoulder to ease it off your mouth. Like I said, I’ve been doing this job a really long time.”

  Okay, but while this might not be the first time he’d been bound, gagged and thrown into the trunk of a car, something in his tone implied a silent but hovering in the darkness.

  “Then how did you get mine off?” she asked, suspecting she knew the answer.

  “Tore it off,” Liam said. “Well, bit and ripped. Just behind your ear so as not to hurt your face. You can rip most fabrics off your wrists that way if you know how to tear against the grain.”

  “Including gags?” she asked.

  “Apparently,” Liam said. “That was a first for me. Everything is a first with you.”

  For a moment they lay there side by side in the darkness.

  “I haven’t quite figured out how to get my arms free yet,” he admitted. “With rope, fabric, duct tape or even zip ties, your best option is to find something sharp to tear them off with. Although sometimes it takes a long time, it’s doable eventually. But handcuffs are trickier. Have you got anything in your pocket?”

  “No, I don’t,” she said and rolled from side to side to double-check. “Actually, no wait. I still have my burner cell.”

  Even in the darkness she could tell that Liam jolted.

  “They didn’t take it?” he asked.

  “They patted me down quickly,” she said. “But the phone’s tucked inside my jacket and I guess they didn’t feel it or find it.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Liam made a noncommittal sound. “That’s an interesting mistake for them to make.”

  “You think they did it on purpose?” she asked.

  “I think, I don’t know,” Liam said. “Maybe. Clearly they’re after Renner. Maybe they’re hoping he’ll call and they can use you as bait. But it’s also likely the person who patted you down was an amateur who’d never kidnapped anyone before. These new Imposters are basically an online mob, following whatever loud idea floats to the top of their message board.”

  “And maybe Seth’s one of them,” Kelly countered.

  “I doubt it,” Liam said.

  “Then why did he lead them to us?” she demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Liam said.

  “The news said he was the head of the Imposters.” She could hear the bitter and angry bite in her voice and didn’t try to hide it. “And don’t tell me the Imposters are a swarm without a leader, because those men clearly thought he was on their side. They didn’t shoot him or kidnap him. They bribed him. Why do you think that is?”

  “I don’t know,” Liam said again. His voice was oddly neutral in the darkness. She didn’t need neutral. Not now. She needed anger, or reassurance, or something. She needed emotion. “I don’t know what to think.”

  “How can you not know what to think?” Her voice rose.

  “I don’t have enough information!” Liam’s voice rose, too, but not like he was upset at her, more like he was trapped. “I don’t know why Seth did what he did. I know that he used to hack bad guys. He’d convinced himself he was doing the right thing and that the only way to do that was off-the-grid. He didn’t trust law enforcement. For a long time, Seth didn’t know if he could trust me. We bumped heads over his methods more times that I could count and our personalities never really clicked. But...” His voice trailed off and for a long moment he didn’t say anything. “But...oh, wow, I just realized he hugged me goodbye.”

  “So?” Kelly asked.

  “So neither Seth or I are huggy people,” Liam said. “Seth is the last person I’d expect to hug me like that. If I roll over, can you check my jacket? He might’ve slipped something in my pocket.”

  “Sure,” she said, even though it sounded like he was grasping at straws. But they shuffled and jostled, turning this way
and that in the shaking trunk, until finally her fingers brushed his jacket pocket.

  “Do you feel anything?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” she said. She felt around the corner of his pocket, then her fingers brushed something thin and plastic. “Wait, yes.” She pulled it out. “I think it’s a twist tie. You know, the kind you use to close a bag of bread?”

  Liam let out a long breath. “Okay, we got something. Let me take it from you and I’ll go to work.”

  She felt him pry it from her fingertips and roll away.

  “You think Seth slipped a twist tie into your jacket pocket?” she asked. “Because he knew you could use it to pick handcuffs that are behind your back?”

  “I don’t know,” Liam said again. “But I’m going to get your handcuffs off first. Now, please, lie as still as you can.”

  She did as he asked. His fingers moved against hers for a while, then there was a clink and her handcuffs fell from her wrists. Thank You, God!

  “Thank you,” she said. Her freed arms hugged his shoulders quickly. Then she pulled out her phone. No cell signal. “But I don’t know how to do the same for you.”

  “It’s okay.” Liam let out a long and weary breath. “I can do it. I just need to get my hands in front of me. Which if I was twenty years younger would be as simple as sliding my legs through my arms almost like a somersault. As it is, I’m going to have to dislocate my shoulder.”

  She gasped.

  “You don’t happen to remember how to put my shoulder back in its socket?” he asked.

  He’d dislocated it two decades ago while fighting for their lives when they’d been under attack from the men sent to kidnap her. They’d escaped together with her driving getaway and Liam’s shoulder still out of its socket. Then he’d talked her through popping it back in for him when they’d been safe and alone. It had been pretty emotionally intense for her, seeing how much pain he’d been in.

  It had been the first time they’d kissed.

  “I think I remember,” she said. “If not, I’m sure you can talk me through it.”

  She hated the thought of him being in that much pain again. But what choice did they have? They were still locked in a trunk, the car was still speeding somewhere to their unknown destination and they had no way to contact the outside world. She gave Liam’s shoulders another quick hug. Then she waited in the darkness and prayed, as she heard a pained shout leave Liam’s throat as he wrenched his shoulder from its socket and then maneuvered his hands around in front of him. Then carefully, deliberately and at his direction, she helped him pop his shoulder back into place.

  “It’s going to be okay.” Liam’s voice was ragged as he picked his own handcuffs, aided by the light of her cell phone. She couldn’t imagine the pain he was in. “Sometimes you’ve got to go old school. And this is pretty much as old school as it gets.”

  The handcuffs clinked.

  “You get them open?” she asked.

  But before Liam could answer, she felt the world yanked out from under her, as she found herself tossed hard against the hood of the trunk. Pain shot through her body. Then the world around her flipped again, gravity suddenly losing all meaning as she felt her body fly into the back of the trunk. The car was flipping, end over end, flying out of control.

  They were crashing.

  TEN

  The car was rolling and tumbling down an incline. How steep was the hill? How long would they fall? What would they hit at the bottom? She didn’t know. For a moment, all she could do was shield her head and pray as she was violently tossed around, terrified. Then she felt Liam throw his arms around her and clutch her to his chest, cradling her with his body, praying over her and keeping her safe, as they fell together into the darkness.

  Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the vehicle stopped rolling with a jolt and everything went still. Odd shapes of light seeped through the edges of the bent and smashed trunk hood, and it took her a moment to realize the car was upright again.

  “Still alive?” Liam asked, his voice low and deep in her ear.

  “Yeah.”

  “Injured?”

  “No...”

  “Hurt?” he persisted, and she almost smiled.

  “Probably,” she said. “But nothing major.”

  “Thank You, God,” he said. Then slowly he let her go, easing her from his arms as carefully and gently as if she was made of glass. Then he began to kick hard with both legs, repeatedly and rhythmically stomping against the dented trunk hood until it flew open. Winter sunlight streamed in.

  “One second,” he said. He climbed out and disappeared from view. Moments later he was back. He reached in for her hands—she let him take them and leaped out into knee-deep snow.

  “It’s just us,” he said. “They’re gone. I’m guessing they bailed out when the car spun out of control.”

  Blue sky stretched above snow-capped trees. A long steep hill was to her right, picturesque in unbroken snow, except for the harsh slashes, littered with broken glass and bumpers, where the car had tumbled down it. A road was empty above them. Then, finally, she steeled herself to look at the car they’d just escaped. It was a flattened wreck, like a child’s toy that someone had stomped on.

  “By the looks of things, the computer went haywire,” Liam added. “If I had to guess, somebody hacked the car’s computer. I’ve seen Seth do it before. But I don’t know if it was him. Or if whoever did it was trying to kill them or rescue us. All I know is they’re gone and we’re alone. This apparently wasn’t planned because nobody stuck around to film it.”

  A quick scan of the vehicle found nothing worth taking. They trudged up the hill, following the path of destruction.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know shouting ‘Detective Liam Bearsmith, RCMP’ isn’t going to be much help right now,” he said as they reached the road, and an unexpected giggle burst through her lips, thankfully breaking the tension in her chest. “But old-school detective work, like looking at tire tracks and footprints, tells me the car swerved out of control here.” He pointed at a mess of tire tracks. “The driver didn’t even have the opportunity to try and regain control. He and his passengers just leaped out...there.” He followed the path of their footprints. “A second car was traveling so close behind the first it had to swerve to avoid it. They all hopped in the back seat, turned around and kept driving. If I had to guess, none of them saw this coming, and when they saw how the car crashed they assumed we were dead. Again...”

  His words trailed off as his hands rose in frustration.

  “We’re dealing with a mob, not an organized group,” she concluded. “Setting aside for one moment whatever’s going on with Seth.”

  “Right,” Liam said. “Don’t ask me how we take them down, because I don’t know. They’re too big and unwieldy. We’d have to not only shut down the entire Imposters online operation, but track every single person who logged into their site. And who knows how many people that is? We’d need not only an entire online team, but then a full-scale operation to coordinate people on the ground to find and arrest these people.” Liam glanced back down the hill at the wrecked car and shook his head. “Gotta say, two presumed deaths in twenty-four hours is a couple more than I’m used to.”

  Kelly patted his arm. “Welcome to the club.”

  He chuckled. “Well,” he said, “we’re alive and we’ve got Renner’s phone, a twist tie and each other.”

  “I think this is where you tell me that you’ve survived worse,” she said.

  “I have,” he agreed. “And with much worse company.”

  His hands slid onto her shoulders and she stepped toward his chest, and as she tilted her face up to look at him he bent his down toward hers. Their lips almost met. But this time neither of them seemed willing to move that extra inch. She wasn’t quite sure why. But something inside her was holding her back and it seemed to be h
olding him back, too.

  “So what do we do now?” she asked.

  Liam’s features set into a picture of determination. He stepped back and as their bodies parted, he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “All right,” he said. “For now, we walk. We’ll follow the road and wherever possible head south because that’s usually the fastest way to find civilization in Ontario. I’m guessing there’s still no message from Renner, and the fact that Seth asked you not to use the phone is now giving me a weird feeling about it. We need allies, we need answers and Seth’s comment about attending my own memorial vigil keeps rattling around in my head. Judging by the sky, it’s somewhere between two and three. The candlelight vigil is in Ottawa, which is four hours from where the wedding was in Kilpatrick, and happens at seven. That gives us about five hours to figure out where we are and get there.” He sighed. “Old-school detective work takes a whole lot of thinking.”

  “Or hopefully,” she said, “Renner will call any moment to let us know Hannah is safe, he’ll come pick us up and we’ll go get Pip.”

  But her phone stayed stubbornly quiet as the afternoon spread out long, slow and empty, like all the afternoons they’d spent together back when they’d been on the run. They walked for over forty minutes and turned down several hitchhiking offers from people Liam apparently didn’t like the look of before Liam accepted a ride from a young man, who looked to be barely more than a teenager, with a beat-up car that had a car seat in the back that smelled like it had recently been wiped down with sanitizing wipes. Liam sat in the front, where he and the driver made small talk about the weather and didn’t exchange names. Then, when he dropped them off in a small town, Liam slipped him fifty dollars.

  “Why him?” Kelly asked as he drove away.

  “That’s a good kid with a criminal record, consisting of a minor offence or two,” Liam said, nodding at the departing car. “My hunch is minor drug possession or drunk driving. He’s no longer with his baby’s mother but is trying to do right by his kid. Didn’t get many breaks in life and doesn’t want trouble. Just wants to keep his head down.”