“Cole,” Rose tried to soften her voice as his eyes filled with tears. “Come here.” Gently, she pulled him to a nearby table in front of the pizza place. Once Cole settled into the metal chair, she took the one opposite him. “Talk to me. What’s the matter?”
“Excuse me,” a man in a jacket and tie said coming over to them. Rose spotted his sidearm strapped to his belt under his grey jacket. He held a cell phone in his hand. “Cole Duncan?”
Cole didn’t answer, but Rose reached over and took his hand. He was trembling as she responded for him. “How can I help you?”
The officer smiled. “I work with Officers Miller and Rossi. You’re her grandmother, right? She’s shown us pictures.” He took another chair from a nearby table and sat down without invitation. “My name is Officer Miranda. I’m actually off duty, but Ollie called in a few favors because Cole here is missing.”
Rose scrunched her face up as she tried to recall the name Miranda. She hadn’t met many of the officers that worked with her granddaughter, but Sam did mention them, and she knew she’d heard the name Miranda before. “Did your wife just have a baby?”
The Officer smiled. “Yes ma’am. A little girl named Francesca. But we should get you and the boy to the station.”
Rose frowned. “I can’t just take Cole home? I’ve got my car just over there.”
The officer rose. “Nobody’s there right now. There’s been some sort of break in the case. I was just told if we found the kid to take him right to his uncle at the police station. The whole family is there with the sheriff now.”
Cole’s eyes widened. “They know who hurt my mom? What happened?”
The officer held up his hands. “Whoa, I don’t know the details, kid. I’ve been out looking for you. But I can take you to your aunt and uncle. They’ll be happy to see you. C’mon.”
Cole hesitated a moment before getting up. Rose, however, still held his hand. “I feel like I should stay with Cole.”
He motioned towards the parking lot. “I promised I wouldn’t let the boy out of my sight, but you’re welcome to ride with us. I’ll bring you back for your car once the kid’s back with his family.”
Rose considered the offer. “Alright.”
Within a few moments, both Rose and Cole were tucked into the backseat of the officer’s Buick, Cole’s backpack on the seat between them as the officer climbed in the front. Pulling out of the parking lot, he turned off the main highway and onto a back road.
Cole glanced at the scenery through the window as the officer chatted with Rose about the baby, midnight feedings and sleepless nights. Cole wondered what the break in the case was. It had to be big if everyone was there and not looking for him. Uncle Drew told Cole, ‘if you run, I’ll find you, because you won’t be running from me.’
So why wasn’t his uncle looking for him?
A cold, sick feeling started to overcome Cole as he eyed the officer.
Cole reached for his backpack and edged it closer. Reaching inside, he felt around for the cellphone. Just as he pulled it out, the officer’s eyes narrowed and found Cole’s in the rearview mirror.
“Whatcha’ doing there, kid?”
Without answering, Cole hit the power button.
“Oh,” Rose said looking over. “Good, you’re going to call your uncle. They’ll be relieved to hear your—”
The officer slammed on the brakes causing Cole and Rose to crash forward into the front seats, before bouncing back. Cole dropped the phone as the car swung sharply off the road behind an old, abandoned warehouse. Screeching to a stop, the officer opened the door and came around to the side as Cole scrambled to find the phone. He had it in his hand as the door opened and the officer shoved a gun in his face.
“What are you doing?” Rose pulled Cole close to her.
The officer pointed his weapon at her and gave her a warning glare. He grabbed the phone from Cole. “Did you send a text?”
Cole didn’t answer, he just stared up defiantly.
The officer put the gun to Cole’s head. “Let me ask again. Did. You. Send. A text? ”
Rose cried and begged Cole to answer.
“No,” Cole said with a glare.
The officer glared back. “Now, why do I not believe you? What’s the code to the phone?”
Cole jutted his chin out, but remained silent.
With a sigh, the gun was pointed at Rose instead.
“Alright,” Cole yelled. “I’ll tell you, don’t hurt her.”
With a smug smile, the officer held the phone out and waited.
“It’s one-two-three-four,” Cole said.
With an eye roll, the officer keyed the code into the phone. He scanned the screen, saw the app for texts and opened it up. There were no new messages. Probably too stupid to know how, he decided.
Hitting the power button to turn the phone off, the cop glanced at Cole. “You’ve got a stupid password. One-two-three-four. What a joke,” he said as he shoved the phone into his jacket pocket.
Cole shrugged, refusing to make eye contact. “I’m only a kid.”
“He’s going to be alright,” Sam said as they quickly pushed past the shrubbery and brush. She swatted a bug that landed on her arm while Drew studied where the trail broke off into two different directions. “We’re going to find him and bring him home.”
Drew stayed quiet, continuing to move forward, and trying to stay calm. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but dampness clung on his back and under his arms as he tried to concentrate on the task at hand.
Broken twigs, branches, and small footprints told Drew they were on the right trail. There was one footprint in front of him, clearly indicating Cole had gone to the right, towards the main road. That was good. He had a trail to follow, but looking at the size four imprints on the ground, Drew was reminded how small Cole was. If he took after the Duncan side of the family, he’d probably shoot up within the next year, but for now he was such a little boy.
Did Kelli bring any pictures of Cole as a baby? Or a toddler? He hadn’t seen any yet. He’d gotten the impression the pair of them showed up without much more than the clothes on their backs.
Which meant Drew might never really be able to see how baby Cole looked.
“Drew,” Sam said. She wasn’t sure he was hearing her. “I promise you, we’ll find him. He’ll be okay.”
Drew stood up, but refused to face her. “If we don’t, it’s going to be my fault.”
“No, it’s not,” Sam assured him, taking his hand and placing herself directly in his line of sight. “Drew, you’ve done everything you could for Cole. And you’ll continue to once we find him.”
He jerked away, wanting to find something to pound on. “I haven’t figured out a way to get Cole to trust me. I haven’t made him feel safe in his own home.”
Drew started to move again, covering ground quickly. Eventually, they came out on Route Nine. They stood on the corner looking around, but didn’t see him. There was no side walk once you crossed going north and south, as they led to the intersections of the main highway. That left two other directions.
“He had to come out this way. Do you think he would have crossed the street?”
Sam looked at the busy highway. “I hope not. Let’s start asking people if they saw him. Shoot me his picture.”
They split up— one going west, the other east.
Most people only took a quick glance at the picture and shook their head, but a few took a moment and studied it, apologized and promised to keep a look out for the boy. Nobody recognized Cole, but sometimes Drew recognized the moment his face clicked in their memory, usually followed by a hasty retreat. Drew didn’t give a shit as long as they looked at the picture on his cell phone. He’d know if they’d seen Cole. He’d see it in their eyes.
And he did.
He was a tall black man who resembled a linebacker. Drew had to actually look up to see him. He had a shaved head and a neatly trimmed goatee, with biceps bigger than the dog Drew held
earlier. The man would make an intimidating figure if not for the fact that on his shoulders sat a little girl of five in a pink dress. Both father and daughter wore matching plastic tiaras as they had come out of Tea Room for Tots where they’d enjoyed some father-daughter time.
Careful to keep balance of his daughter, he studied the picture on the screen. The man narrowed his eyes, the glimmer of recognition flashing in them. “Yeah, I saw him. I was in there with Tamara,” he said with a rumbling, baritone voice, turning slightly to the right towards the playhouse. “We were having our tea and doing nails.”
Drew looked at the man’s fingertips which were covered in magenta nail polish sloppily applied.
“I heard cars screeching and horns blaring so I looked out,” the man continued.
Drew’s heart lodged in his throat.
“Relax,” the man said. “He wasn’t hit, but I got a look at his face when he turned cause the uh…” His eyes went up to his daughter for a moment. “When the A-S-S in the car that almost hit him began cursing him out.”
“That spells ass,” The little girl squealed, followed by a fit of laughter.
The man rolled his eyes. “Great. Anyway, the kid managed to get across the street. I went to check on him cause he didn’t look good, like he was going to be sick, but by the time I got someone in there to watch Tamara and got out here, he was gone.”
Drew nodded, wanted to curse himself but stayed mindful of the little girl within earshot. He quickly sent Sam a message that he found someone that saw Cole. “Do you have any idea which way he went?”
The big man sighed. “I can’t be sure. I thought I caught a glimpse of him over there.” With his huge chin, he gestured across the street to where four people stood together. They appeared to be a mother, father and their two children. All of them ignored each other as they stared at their phones.
“As soon as I saw him,” the man continued, “The bus came and blocked my view. When the bus pulled away, he was gone. Now I can’t swear on a stack of bibles that it was the same kid I saw cross the road, but if it was, he got on the bus.”
“Thank you so much,” Drew said and turned to look for Sam. She was running his way, having just crossed the street. “And thanks for trying to help.”
The man nodded. “Having a kid changes your world. I hope you find him. Can I ask what happened?”
Drew sighed. “His mom died recently, then our house was broken into and he got scared.”
The man gave the little girl a ride as he shook his head. “People are assholes. Good luck finding him. I’ve got to get this little munchkin home.”
The man walked away with the giggling little girl yelling out ‘Asshole’ as they went.
“You got something?” Sam said as she jogged up to him.
Drew quickly filled Sam in on what he’d learned. Sam sent a quick text to Ollie before they navigated their way across the street. They went to the bus stop to wait.
As Drew tried to remember what might be along the bus route, a white SUV pulled up. Ollie was in the driver’s seat, his tired eyes hidden behind sunglasses, and his normal, quirky smile noticeably absent from his face. Ashley occupied the passenger seat, her cheeks still glistening from freshly shed tears. Sam and Drew climbed into the back seat together. Drew gave them a detailed but succinct rundown.
Ollie put the car into park, hit the emergency lights and pulled his cell off the dash holder. “I’m going to call in and have someone find out who drove that bus, see if they can tell us where he got off.”
“Good,” Drew said as he leaned forward from the back. “I’m guessing he didn’t know where he was going, so let’s drive the route in the meanwhile. We can stop if we see anything that might have caught his eye. Or maybe he got out somewhere and is walking again.”
Ollie made his call as Drew turned to his sister. “We’re going to find him. He got scared and ran, but we’ll find him.”
Ashley, normally the hot head, had no spirit left in her. At first she sat with a vacant expression on her face, listening to Ollie sounding assertive as he gave instructions. Just as Ollie finished, she turned to Drew and took her brother’s hand. Her eyes were moist and her lip trembled. “What if we don’t?”
Before Drew could answer, his cell rang. It was McAlister Securities. He quickly hit the speaker phone. “Yes?”
“It’s Ari.” It was a name nobody except Drew knew, but everyone in the car was rapt with attention. “I have good news and bad news.” He spoke with a crisp tone flavored with a Middle Eastern accent, his voice was calm and professional as he spoke.
Ashley tensed as Ollie pulled his shades off. Sam simply moved closer. Everyone seemed to hold their breath.
“Talk to me,” Drew said.
“The phone turned on for about two to three minutes. We are working on a location.”
Drew exhaled. “Good, that’s real good. What’s the bad news?”
Ari paused. “Whoever keyed in the code, used the one marked as a dummy code. Any chance he might forget the proper code? I’ve got it as 5-3-5-5-4.”
Drew shook his head. “No, that spells Kelli, his mom’s name. You said it was turned off?”
“Yes, but, that code lit up our monitoring division like a Christmas tree. The phone will look like it’s off, but it really is not. As long as it has power, we should be able to track it to within five feet. We’re working on getting a link to it. We can listen in and even talk to him. I should even be able to patch it through to you once I’m in the sit-room. I’m headed there now. Give me two minutes or so.”
“Good,” Drew said. “Link up using stealth mode.”
“Very good,” Ari said. There was noise in the background as if he’d just walked into a room buzzing with activity. “Let me contact you back in two minutes so I can link you into the system.”
The called ended and Drew counted down the seconds.
“What’s stealth code?” Ollie said.
“When McAlister links up,” Drew said. “They’ll be able to hear what’s happening around him, but Cole won’t hear anything. They’ll link up with us too.”
“Why not just talk to him,” Ashley asked.
Sam leaned forward. “Maybe if Cole hears us, he’ll throw the phone away so we can’t track it.” She also knew that wasn’t the reason Drew ordered that code to be used.
True to his word, Ari called back at the two-minute mark. Drew answered. He could hear the background chatter. It sounded faster and more agitated than it had a moment ago.
“I am here.” Ari’s voice held a note of weariness and grief. “Everyone is working hard to assist you in bringing Cole home. Does anyone there have a smart phone or blackberry? I want to be able to link you in without losing the ability to talk to you. It will take me a few minutes, but I have Albert working on it himself.”
“Thank you,” Drew replied, quickly rattling off Sam’s number. “What can you tell us Ari?”
“We’ve been listening to the entire conversation from the moment that it came through,” Ari said. “You’re nephew is not alone. He is alive, but it would seem he is being held against his will.”
Ashley let out a cry and everyone in the car tensed, shifting in their seats.
“Is he alright?” Drew said. “What’s happening? Who has him?”
“From what we have heard a man identifying himself as a Detective Miranda has them,” Ari explained. “There is a woman with him who also appears to be held captive. They are in a vehicle of some kind, but we do not have an exact location yet. We should have GPS shortly.”
“Oh God,” Ashley said as she started to rock back and forth. “Not again.”
Drew told Ollie to drive as he tried to comfort his sister. Sitting directly behind the driver’s seat, he took her hand and told her not to give up. “We’ve handled situations like this at McAlister Securities before. You’ve got top of the line experts on our side.”
Ashley kept nodding, trying to force herself to believe her brother.
“Ari, this is Oliver Miller,” Ollie said as he navigated his way back into traffic, which thankfully was light. “I’m a police officer here in Ember Falls. I know Officer Miranda. His wife just had a kid and they left on Friday to go visit his parents in Syracuse. I’m going to give you a number, it’s for my mother who is the sheriff here in town. She’s aware of the situation and will help in any way possible.” Ollie waited a beat to give Ari a moment to prepare, then rattled off his mother’s cell number.
Ari was quiet as he noted it. “Drew?” The implied question was clear.
“Do it,” Drew answered. “Ollie is part of the family. I need a location.”
“Hold on,” Ari said. There were noises in the background. Ari gave orders while others replied. “We don’t have an exact location as they are moving, but we know they’re near a tower located on the corner of Lake Street and Excelsior Ave.”
Ollie applied more gas and they surged ahead. They weren’t far away and he’d get them closer so when they had an exact location, it wouldn’t take them long. “That’s the tower near the old saw mill. Not much out there. You have a trailer park, then a lot of farmland. Houses are pretty far apart.”
Ollie took a right turn fast enough to make the tires squeal and skillfully blew a red light, slowing just enough to verify there was nobody coming on the quiet intersection. It wouldn’t do to get them killed on the way to save Cole.
“Drew,” Ari’s voice came back on. “We’re almost ready to link up. We’ve also notified the General. He had their plane relocated to a small airport in town. He’s bringing backup, but he’s not there yet so you might be on your own. I’ve been listening to the feed. I think your nephew, what’s his name again? Cole?”
“Yeah,” Drew answered. “What about him?”
“Smart young man you’ve have there,” Ari said. “He must know we are listening. He’s feeding us details, but he continues to say things in a way that this Miranda, or whoever he is, doesn’t get that he’s feeding us intel.”
Torn Away (The Torn Series Book 1) Page 33
