Double Barrel

by Mike Ryan

  It was Jones’ turn to look at Recker now. He looked on at him sympathetically, his eyes beginning to tear up at the thought of more pain befalling his friend. He also whispered. “If something happens to Mia, hell will rain down. On everyone. No one will be safe. Including him.”

  Jones continued typing, and within a couple of minutes, both of their eyes lit up at what they were seeing on the screen.

  “Oh jeez,” Haley said. “Justin Sadko.”

  Jones zoomed in on the photo of Mia and Sadko leaving the hospital entrance. “There they are leaving together.”

  Jones leaned back and snapped his fingers to try to get Recker’s attention. Recker immediately knew Jones had found something and quickly wrapped up his conversation with Malloy and rushed over to the desk.

  “What’d you find?”

  Jones pointed at the screen. “There it is. In full color.”

  “Sadko.”

  “Leading Mia out of the hospital as if nothing is wrong. No one is the wiser.”

  “I’m gonna kill him.”

  “Channel your energy and hatred into something positive at first,” Jones said. “Don’t let that hatred get in the way of thinking clearly. Let’s find her first. Worry about everything else after that.”

  “I’m gonna kill him.”

  Jones put his hand on his friend’s arm to help calm him down, though he knew that would be a difficult task. “Mike, I’m not trying to talk you down off the ledge or anything, but don’t let thinking about the second step interfere with the first one. The first one, the most important one, is finding Mia before anything bad happens to her.”

  “Already has.”

  “I know, but if we can find her quickly, we can prevent a worse fate from falling upon her. Let’s work to that end. You can get your revenge later. Let’s just find her first.”

  Recker glared at his friend and partner before finally sighing and nodding. “OK.”

  “Let’s think of the words she used carefully to see if there're any messages in there.”

  “There are. I taught her that if she was ever in trouble, to figure out how to slip in cues to an ordinary conversation so as other people wouldn’t understand what she was saying.”

  “What about Malloy?” Haley asked. “What’d he say?”

  “His guys just got there now.”

  “Didn’t he have a guy in security? He might’ve seen what happened.”

  “Wasn’t working today. I asked.”

  “Let’s decipher Mia’s message,” Jones said.

  “She said to take the baby up to the good room. That means wherever she was going, it’s a nice place.”

  “That rules out the usual abandoned buildings and warehouses,” Haley said.

  “Up to the good room. That means there’s more than one floor.”

  “A nice place that has more than one floor,” Jones said, thinking of the possibilities.

  “A hotel.”

  Jones nodded. “Possible. What other possibilities are there?”

  “Maybe a nice office type building,” Haley replied.

  “Seems like a weird place to take her,” Recker said. “A hotel would fit more.”

  “What else?” Jones asked.

  “She said the number nine,” Haley answered.

  “Could be an address.”

  “Or a room number,” Recker said.

  “Or it could be a floor number,” Haley said. “That would fit with going up to a room.”

  Recker nodded. “Could be. Could be any of those.”

  Jones swiveled his chair around and started typing again, drawing a look from his partners, who weren’t sure if they had missed something.

  “What are you doing?” Recker asked.

  “Getting to work,” Jones answered.

  “But what are you working on?”

  Jones stopped typing and looked at him. “The answer’s not going to come to us. We have to go find it. So let’s use the information we have up to this point and start digging.”

  “What information is that?”

  “Our initial thoughts would indicate she may have been taken to a hotel, possibly the ninth floor. So let’s get into all the local hotel’s records and see if anyone recently checked into a ninth floor room in the last day or two. They most likely would not have had the room for much longer than that.”

  “You know how long that’s gonna take?” Recker asked.

  “I do.” Jones then pointed to the other computers on the desk. “That’s why it will go a lot faster if you two start helping.”

  Haley immediately sat down and started digging in. Recker, though, seemed a little more resistant.

  “And what if we’re wrong?” Recker asked. “What if they didn’t take her there? What if they took her somewhere else, and we analyzed the clues wrong?”

  “Then we’ll move on to something else,” Jones replied. “We can only start with what we have. We’ll exhaust those possibilities first. If it’s not there, then we’ll move on to the next thing. That’s what we do.”

  “You know how many hotels there are in this city? Let alone just outside of the city?”

  “We can start off by ignoring those without nine floors. That will make it go a little faster.”

  “Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with a ninth floor.”

  “Maybe it doesn’t. But like I said, it’s a start. So let’s start with it.”

  Recker took a deep breath, then sat down on one of the chairs. “There are thousands of hotel rooms in this city.”

  “I’m putting into the database to only spit out hotels with at least nine floors,” Jones said. “That should only take a minute or two. Once we get that, we can filter it to people who’ve checked in within the past three days. I doubt Sadko would have checked in before that. If we filter it further to checking the ninth floors first, it won’t be as daunting as it initially appears.”

  “Assuming he even used his real name.”

  “Even if he didn’t, once we start investigating, we’ll find that out pretty quick.”

  “We can also check out cameras in the lobbies,” Haley said. “Some of the bigger ones have them.”

  “Yeah, once we have it narrowed down to some possibilities then I can dig into security footage too.”

  Within a couple of minutes, hundreds of hotels in the Greater Philadelphia area popped up as having ninth floors. Recker sighed, knowing this was going to take a while. It was time that Mia might not have had. Nonetheless, as Jones rightly pointed out, it was the best and only lead they really had at the moment. They just had to plow through it as quickly as possible.

  An hour went by and they didn’t seem to be any closer to finding Mia. They were able to check off several hotels that didn’t have anyone check in on a ninth floor within the previous few days, but there were plenty more that did, and the background had to be checked on all of them.

  “Wait a minute,” Jones said.

  “You got something?” Recker asked.

  “No, I just have an idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.”

  “What?”

  “A picture of Mia. I have one in the computer here.”

  “So?”

  “So I can put her picture through the facial recognition software and match it up against all the security footage that I can pull out from the different hotel chains.”

  “Do it,” Recker hurriedly said.

  “What if they took her to one of the ones that don’t have the cameras?” Haley said.

  “Then we’ll go back to Plan A,” Jones replied. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this initially. I completely forgot that I had her picture in here to match it up.”

  “Why do you?” Recker asked.

  “I have pictures of all of us in here. You, me, Chris, Mia, Tyrell, even Vincent and Malloy.”

  “Why?”

  “For precisely this very reason. In the event any one of us ever went missing, we could run the picture thro
ugh the facial rec software so we can locate the one of us that’s missing.”

  Recker looked at Jones’ screen, desperately hoping that a match would soon appear. “How long’s this gonna take?”

  “Shouldn’t take long.”

  “Long to you or long to me?”

  “The longer process is getting into the hotel’s security footage. From there it’s easy. Running her picture through only takes a few minutes. It’s getting the footage that takes longer.”

  Recker couldn’t just sit there and watch the process unfold in front of him. He got up and started pacing around the room. In most cases his pacing bothered Jones, but in this instance, it didn’t bother him at all. He figured the pacing would help to calm Recker down. Even if it was just a little. As Recker paced and waited, his phone rang. It was Malloy again.

  “Just wanted to see how you were making out?”

  “Still looking,” Recker replied. “It was Sadko, though.”

  “Sadko? You sure?”

  “Positive. Got a picture from the hospital of them leaving together.”

  Malloy seethed into the phone. “Bastard. Haven’t found anything else?”

  “Checking hotel camera footage.”

  “Hotels? You think he took her there?”

  “She left me a coded message. That’s kind of what we’re assuming. Not a hundred percent sure on it, but that’s what we’re going with right now.”

  “OK, well, I’m not gonna keep you. I’ll let you get back to it. But if you need us, I got a few guys, plus me, waiting on standby. If you find her and need backup, just give me the word and we’ll be there in a second.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  Haley saw Recker put the phone back in his pocket. “Who was that?”

  “Malloy. Wanted to see how it was going. Also said if we need him then he’ll be there. Just have to give him the word.”

  “That’s good. We might.”

  “Assuming we find her,” Recker said.

  Jones felt it was his responsibility to keep his friend’s spirits up. He wasn’t going to let Recker get too down or give up hope. “We’ll find her. We’ll find her.”

  20

  Jones stopped the feed from continuing, seeing exactly what he hoped to see. What he needed to see. There it was on the screen. A picture of Mia and Sadko going through the front hotel entrance. Jones leaned back in his chair, satisfied with his efforts so far.

  “I’ve got them.”

  Recker rushed over to him while Haley just pushed his chair over.

  “That’s them,” Recker said. “Where are they?”

  “This picture was from The Lingford Hotel. Taken approximately two hours ago.”

  “She’s there. Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Jones said. “Just wait.”

  “For what?”

  “Let’s have a plan first before you go charging in half-cocked.”

  “Ain’t no half-cocked about it. I’m going in full blast.”

  “I know.”

  “Let me pull up information on the hotel so we know what room you’re charging into.”

  “It’s about twenty-five minutes to get there. Tell me on the way. Mia’s not waiting extra time.”

  Recker rushed over to the gun cabinet and removed a couple of weapons. Haley did the same. After quickly getting themselves ready, they ran toward the door.

  “Call me when you have something,” Recker said as the two of them exited the office.

  Jones continued working for the next few minutes, not taking long to find out what they needed. He immediately called Recker to let him know.

  “What’s up?” Recker asked.

  “The room they are staying in is number nine-one-two.”

  “You sure?”

  “Pretty sure. The room is registered to a Randall Moore.”

  “Moore. Isn’t that the same name that Jerrick used the other day when I met with him?”

  “It is. And they used the same address associated with that name.”

  As they drove to the hotel, Recker and Haley tried to come up with a plan. Well, it was mostly Haley trying to come up with one. Recker only had one plan in mind. Charge in, find Mia, and kill whoever got in their way.

  “Should we try like we did it last time?” Haley asked. “Me finding a nearby building and covering you from there?”

  “Don’t think we have that kind of time to wait.”

  “Yeah, plus it’s the middle of the day so every building’s going to be occupied.”

  “And I think it’ll be better if we go in together. Who knows what we’ll run into when we go in, so I think it’ll be better if we’re side by side.”

  Haley double checked his gun. “Sounds good.”

  “Sure you wanna do this? We know this is a trap to lure me in. Who knows what we’ll be walking into?”

  “Is that even a question? You and Mia are like family. If we go down, we go down together.”

  Recker nodded, then pushed his foot further down on the gas pedal. They arrived at the hotel in just over twenty minutes. They stood just outside the hotel. They put their earpieces in and Recker called Jones.

  “David, we’re here.”

  “I’ll try to support you however I can from here.”

  “We might need help getting in that room.”

  “I’ve already checked and this hotel only has the electronic keycards for entering rooms, so they don’t even have knobs with keyholes in them.”

  “Can you get us in?”

  “I should be able to remotely unlock it, but you’ll have to let me know when you’re there so I don’t unlock it too early.”

  “OK. We’ll let you know.”

  Recker looked to his partner. “Be on the lookout to see if they have any guards in the lobby.”

  “Right.”

  They calmly walked into the hotel. Calm on the outside. On the inside, Recker was a burning and simmering rage of anger that was about to blow. They took a quick look around the lobby, but didn’t see anyone that matched up with being one of Jerrick’s men. Recker memorized a few of their faces from the last encounter he had with them. With no trouble looming from the lobby, and nobody to alert Sadko on the ninth floor of their presence, the two of them went to the stairs. Recker stopped, thinking better of them going up together.

  “Maybe we should split up. Just in case they’re waiting.”

  Haley agreed. “I’ll take the elevator. We’ll get there from different angles.”

  “I’ll let you know when I get in position.”

  Recker started ascending the steps as Haley hurried over to the elevator. He had to wait about thirty seconds for the doors to open. He was the only one to get on.

  “Chris, can you hear me?” Jones asked.

  “I hear you.”

  “I switched over to a private line so Mike can’t hear.”

  “Why?”

  “You’ll need to be the voice of reason when you get into that room.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You have to be prepared for the possibility that… that you may not find Mia in the way that you’re used to.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “In the event that they have… I don’t even want to say the words. But in the event that they’ve decided she’s outlived her usefulness…”

  “Don’t even think it.”

  “I don’t want to think it. But we have to understand the realities of who we are dealing with. And if that ungodly horror becomes reality, and he sees that, then you are going to have to walk him off the ledge.”

  “Do you know something that you’re not telling?”

  “No. And I hope to god that I’m wrong for even thinking it. But it is something we have to consider the possibilities of. And if the unthinkable becomes true, he is going to need help.”

  “If that scenario becomes true, I don’t think it’s him that’s gonna need the help. And I don’t think I could stop him.”

  “I
’m praying that we won’t have to.”

  Haley watched the number above the doors hit the red nine. “This is my stop. Gotta go.”

  Recker was just hitting the floor at the same time. It was a big hotel, so it wasn’t a straight hallway, and the floors wrapped around. He went down the first hallway, then turned to his left, passing a bunch of rooms. He came to the edge of the next hallway, then peeked down and saw Haley walking his way. Recker became more relaxed as he saw his friend coming closer.

  “This place is bigger than I thought,” Recker said.

  “Which way?”

  Recker pointed behind him. “Well I just came from back there. I think the room’s that way.” He pointed to their right.

  They walked down the hallway, eventually finding the door they were looking for at the far end of it, on the right-hand side.

  “Surprised there are no guards,” Haley said.

  “Guess they don’t want to advertise something’s going on in there.”

  “Yeah.”

  “David, we’re at the door.”

  “Give me a moment,” Jones replied. “Should have it within a few seconds.”

  Recker and Haley both put their hands on their weapons, not yet withdrawing them in case someone happened to walk by. They each took a deep breath.

  “You know, I just thought, if this goes on for more than a few minutes, police are going to be called,” Haley said.

  “No doubt.”

  “If we can’t escape quickly, we might not be able to get out.”

  “I know. Still wanna do this?”

  Haley nodded. “Let’s do it.”

  They then heard the clicking sound of the door being unlocked. Recker put his hand on the door and turned the handle, quickly opening it and thrusting it open as the two of them jumped inside the room. Recker threw himself to the floor, pointing his gun and ready to fire at the first target, while Haley ducked to the right, dropping to one knee, ready to do the same. But there was no one in the room. There was no one to fight. And no one to fight back.

  Recker motioned to his partner to start checking out the other rooms, while he took the kitchen. Haley went into the first bedroom, emerging only a minute later. After Recker cleared the kitchen area, he then took the second bedroom, while Haley took the bathroom. They met back up in the short hallway separating the rooms.