by Pinki Parks
“I’m telling you it’s a bad idea and you still have time to pack up and leave. I don’t say this lightly and I know the Hamilton family better than anybody. This might seem like your road to riches, but it is only going to make you miserable. Don’t be surprised if he tries to negotiate.” She hadn’t mentioned anything about Jackson and I was waiting patiently for the other shoe to drop.
“This might’ve been a sudden inspiration but your engagement announcement put this into motion. We’ve been watching and planning for quite some time. It’s not easy when he is always changing his routine never sticking to something of a habit. Grant Hamilton is paranoid, but I don’t think I’m telling you anything you don’t already know.” I was watching intently to see if Gillian was playing her part.
“Trust me, if there was any other way than to marry him I would have done it. I’ve seen a side of him that nobody has been able to. I want to help you find a way out of this. The best way is to forget about this and leave an anonymous message for where he can find me.” She was trying to sympathize with her captors. It was a tried and true method.
“I didn’t ask for your advice. It would be better for you to keep your mouth shut unless you want me to shut it for you. There’s no point in screaming and nobody is going to hear you. We will give you a modicum of your dignity by taking you to the bathroom when it’s necessary.” There was a bathroom downstairs with a toilet and sink that had seen better days.
“I can’t promise to be on my best behavior. I’m sure you already know of my navy seals training and duty to my country. I will look for every opportunity. You will have no peace. You’ll always be watching me, to see if I have something up my sleeve.” She was born with a stubborn streak and we had the same navy blood running through her veins.
“It’s refreshing to hear you be honest with your intentions. Let me be crystal clear. Those chains are reinforced and breaking free would take the strength of Hercules. Don’t get me wrong, I’m taking nothing for granted when it comes to you. You have a reputation to go above and beyond the call of duty.” They were having a spirited discussion while I was listening from the kitchen.
I could hear the sawdust from the attempted renovations scraping against the heels of my combat boots.
“Grant will do whatever is in his power and use whatever resource he has at hand to find me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had someone in his employ to follow me. You might think I’m kidding, but I’m not. He can be something of a bull moose when it comes to someone who takes what he believes is his.” It didn’t sound like there was any love for Grant in her tone of voice.
“I don’t care about your dysfunctional relationship with the Hamilton family. You are a victim of circumstance. Somehow your service record has fallen into our hands. We know how the fever of the military is something you can’t run from. I'm going to give you some slack to the chain. You will have enough to make it to the bathroom on your own.” Melanie was taking the precaution of not getting too close. It was probably better to keep her on a short leash.
She returned to the chair with her head held low like she was defeated. I knew better. She was trying to make us believe that her captors had the control. It was merely an illusion.
“I can’t say I like this, but I do see how it could be a lot worse. In other circumstances, I’m sure that we could be friends. We both have the same military mindset. We both know what happened to make us the hardened piece of steel that people see today.” I was tempted to go down there and reveal the true purpose for this subterfuge.
I had my hand on the doorknob and I wasn’t sure if I was going to go through with it. I didn’t have a chance to find out. Melanie was already standing at the top of the stairs looking at me with her arms crossed in a less than friendly way.
I backed up with my hands in the air surrendering to a force bigger than myself. She was never going to allow me to get close enough for her to hear my voice. I had mistakenly thought Jackson was the weak link in the chain of command. I was too close personally to make an unbiased decision.
Chapter 15
Gillian
I sat in the chair immobile and trying to cut out the noise of the pipes banging to hear what they were saying above me. It was muffled, but I got the impression they weren’t on the same page. I knew Jackson was a part of it. I thought I might be surprised, but he was always known to do what was good for him.
I had to wonder if his partners knew of our connection to one another. It was unlikely for Jackson to be using his real name to prevent anything from coming back to his doorstep.
I couldn’t even see outside and the windows were covered by dark drapes. I couldn’t even be sure what time it was. I had no idea how long it had been since I was knocked out.
They hadn’t mentioned anything about calling for the ransom. It was a little peculiar in my opinion. It would’ve been the first thing on my agenda had I been in their shoes. I didn’t want to believe it, but there had me something else going on.
The woman’s voice was scratching at my consciousness like we had crossed paths at some juncture in the past. She didn’t make it seem like we were familiar with one another.
It was Jackson’s turn. He made his way down the stairs, thinking over what he would say. She had seen his face.
“We both know you saw me and why you are staying quiet is beyond me.” Jackson’s voice was near, but I couldn’t see anything in front of my face.
“I’m trying to figure out all the pieces, but it’s not easy when you are a part of this. Do you have any idea of what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into this time? I only ask because you’re usually more selective about your partners. Not many can claim to have your undying loyalty and trust. I can count on my hands how many there are.” I had to make an assessment of whether or not he was the same man I knew in Guam.
“I know everything I need to know. This is my way of leaving my old life behind me. I hope you have enough good sense not to mention our connection to the others. I could make it easier by applying a more extreme measure to keep you quiet. I could make you more cooperative by giving you an injection with a cocktail of some unique ingredients.” He was always about dabbling with new and interesting ways to corrupt his mind.
“It won’t be necessary and I have no earthly reason to tell them anything about you. Five million dollars isn’t going to go very far with two other partners to cut in on the deal. I know you better than you know yourself. If you can find a way to cut out one of them from the money then you are going to do it.” He was going along like a good little soldier.
He was another cog in the machine of the military. It was the reason why he left to pursue other avenues of employment in the private sector. His tour of duty was done a couple of months before mine. We promised to stay in touch but never did.
“You worry about you and I will worry about me. I thought it best to have a chat with you before the ransom came in. It will make Melanie very happy to hear that you won’t be a problem. The girl can be a handful and I wouldn’t want to wish what she can do to another human being on anyone.” He hadn’t realized his slip of the tongue and his voice was lowered. That told me somebody was listening and he didn’t want to be overheard speaking with the enemy.
“I’m guessing the woman in your group was the one who took it upon herself to knock me out cold. I can see how you’re touching above your rib cage. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you were the one I struck down with the palm of my hand to your solar plexus.” Melanie wasn’t known to play well with others and sometimes it took some convincing to get her to go along with the consensus.
“She was a little forceful in my opinion, but I can’t talk to her. This could have been avoided.” It suddenly dawned on me there was no reason for a ransom. They were both swimming in the ill-gotten gains of another party. We swore never to mention them by name.
They had their cut and the statue of limitations for keeping th
e secret was coming to an end in two years. They probably had already lined up some kind of fence to get rid of the diamonds.
It was a cache of blood diamonds which we had stumbled upon during a transaction that left everybody dead and injured.
“It could have been avoided by not taking me for an example. I don’t know if you heard what I said to her, but I wasn’t kidding when I said Grant can’t be trusted as far as he can be thrown. The money is nothing more than an inconvenience for him. He will find the principle of you taking money out of his hands to be unforgivable.” I was looking at every angle. If they were involved together then Granger couldn’t be too far away.
He didn’t seem like the kind to be following the leader. He was always coming up with these get-rich-quick schemes until we fell into a lucrative retirement plan. He had plans of his own. It took all of us to make him see using the diamonds was a mistake.
He had to wait until the heat died down before even attempting to fence something that was radioactive. One whiff of the diamonds and those we had taken them from would come back looking to get them back.
“I have to leave before they catch me doing something I shouldn’t be. I thought this was a democracy, but apparently, I’m nothing more than a voice. What I say means nothing and it makes me wonder why I am even sticking around. I don’t need to be here. Loyalty is a mirage. Everybody has their own agenda. Don’t forget how we became invisible when we walked back the conquering hero. Some people couldn’t even bear to look at us. They are hypocrites and without us, there wouldn’t be any kind of freedom to defend. It would be far easier to wipe off the face of the planet the Muslim religion.” He was right wing and his views on mass execution were not something we shared.
I heard the basement door and somebody rushing down the stairs buckling up his pants on the way down. He stood glaring at Jackson, but he didn’t dare come any closer. He pointed and Jackson mumbled something derogatory underneath his breath. Acting like a petulant child, he stormed up the stairs slamming his feet on the wood floors in anger and frustration.
“There’s no reason to hide from me. I will gladly go along with whatever you have in mind to fleece my fiancé of five million dollars. He deserves more than that. Five million is probably what he spends on expensive cars in one year. It’s not even going to make a dent in his pocketbook. I still don’t think you have thought this through.” I could see his masculine form from across the room, but he wasn’t saying anything.
Behind my back, I was pulling at the chains, but there was no give. Not that I was expecting there was going to be any. After confirming who was involved it didn’t take much to understand how much more difficult it was going to be to get through to them. The only one I could psychologically conform to my way of thinking was Jackson.
He was always someone that could be easily shaped into whatever weapon was necessary for the occasion. His experimentation with drugs made him less likely to fight the influence of those with authority.
“Granger, I know it’s you and how you convinced them to work with you is something I will never understand. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the restraint you have had to go after something bigger. There are far better ways to make easy money. Grant isn’t just going to turn over and let you rub his belly into compliance. He has a lot more bite to his bark than you realize.” I was giving him a heads up, but he was still reluctant to show his true face.
His hands were behind his back and he was walking back and forth, pacing and looking like a caged animal. I thought he was the General, but Granger was always about getting rich. He had no delusions about whether or not he was going to live to fight another day.
“The four of us have always had each other’s back. What has changed in the last few months? We might have gone our separate ways, but we are brothers and sisters in arms. I know civilian life isn’t easy, but this isn’t the answer to all of your problems.” Granger followed orders reluctantly and he was never cut out to be in the back of the pack.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He had lowered his voice and by doing so made me begin to contemplate the idea Granger wasn’t the one behind all of this.
“Jackson and Melanie have never seen things the same way. They always need that mediator to buffer any kind of decisions being made.” Granger didn’t take me for being a lion tamer with a whip in one hand and an encouraging word in the other.
“I have to go.” This man was purposely trying to keep the conversation to the bare minimum. There had to be a reason for that.
Chapter 16
Dalton
I had gotten a little too close to the fire, but I felt like I had no choice when I found Jackson on the monitor. I had to find out what he had told her, but their voices were low enough to go unregistered by the audio component of the surveillance I had placed down in the basement.
“It’s none of your business what I talked to her about. Not everything is about you.” Jackson was being purposely stubborn and I was tempted to give Melanie a shot at him.
“I don’t want to make a big deal about this. Just tell me what you told her and then we can get on with the rest of our lives. I need to know if you revealed anything about us. It doesn’t matter if you feel it was insignificant. We need to show a bit of discretion. She said your name and Melanie’s.” I wanted to punch him repeatedly, but violence wasn’t the answer.
Any form of intimidation would make him shut down emotionally like a light switch going off. He was good at shutting off his emotions. It made him uniquely qualified to be interrogated for hours with only his rank and his serial number being revealed. A softer approach with a less threatening tone was necessary to show him there was no malice.
“I don’t know how many times I have to say this. I would never jeopardize our lives. It would be fair to say she knows I’m involved. I already knew she did and we deluded ourselves into thinking she didn’t. I will never live by the credo of denial. I don’t know how she found out about Melanie.” She did have the opportunity to tear the mask off of his face during her kidnapping.
“I can’t speak for Dalton, but going down there and confirming her suspicion was monumentally stupid. I can’t stress enough how important it was to keep her from learning the truth. I sometimes can’t even understand why we even bother.” She was one of us, but she had found something that was unattainable to the rest of us.
“She’s very smart and she’s already putting the pieces together. It’s just a matter of time before she figures out the rest of it. We are only fighting ourselves. It would be better for us to stay united. I just want to say I didn’t agree with kidnapping her.” Jackson was very vocal and had no problem filtering his thoughts by mumbling incoherently underneath his breath.
“The past has been awakened, but we don’t have to drag her into this. I would’ve been happy to live blissfully ignorant of what was happening. I had no choice but to take off the blinders when Melanie came knocking on my door.” I had already known for quite some time the promise to wait to cash in was ludicrous.
“I’m sorry this is an inconvenience for the both of you. I ran with some interesting characters. I didn’t have the luxury of picking and choosing what assignments I was going to take. Some of it was illegal, but the reward outweighed the risk. I came across how one of us had fallen and I couldn’t sit on it.” I knew she had debated on whether or not to contact me, but she needed a level head before going off half-cocked.
“I don’t blame you for reaching out. I thought being dead would allow me to find some peace. The only person who thought I was invincible was you. I could do no wrong in your eyes. I had some insane ideas and you followed them without hesitation.” I knew she wanted more, but I was in no frame of mind to even think about another game of mattress tag.
“I do regret getting you involved, but not for the obvious reasons. Your feelings for her and vice versa are an undeniable wrinkle in the plan. We don’t have a clear-cut course of action. This kid
napping wasn’t the first idea we came up with. I bet none of us have even thought about what her fiancé is going to do to get her back.” Jackson was only saying what all of us were thinking.
I hadn’t heard anything from those cultivated sources on the street.
I had gained favor with some of the local drug pushers in the area along with those that were invisible to the naked eye. Those carrying their feelings in a brown paper bag were easily paid off for their assistance in keeping their eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary. They had remained vigil, but there was absolutely nothing to report.
They had seen nothing and had heard very little from the authorities. Nobody was talking about the kidnapping and there wasn’t even a news report. I had to assume Grant and the Hamilton family was going to handle this in-house. It meant they would hire somebody with ransom experience to become the middleman between them and us.
“I think we have no choice but to follow this through to the end. It means we’re going to have to make the phone call. I hate to say this, but I won’t be able to make the initial contact. I’ve already been gone long enough, but I have taken the precaution of having a plausible excuse for my absence.” Melanie had her coat on and was depending on us to make the ransom call.
“You can’t act defiant and you need to put on the air of being afraid. Show how nervous you are to be questioned by pulling at your fingers and shifting in your seat. They will understand your reaction when you reveal you are an undocumented foreigner. Don’t be so quick to give it up. Let them feel triumphant when they finally get you to break.” I wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I think I can handle civilian contractors acting like soldiers.” It wasn’t like we could ride in on our metaphorical steeds to the rescue. We could see what was going on, but it was up to her to convince them of her sincerity.
