by Alton Gansky
“I’ve made a call to an old friend. I don’t have many friends left, but this guy owes me. I saved his bacon once. Only he and I know what happened and that’s the way it’s going to stay. Anyway, he’s in Seattle. Not the world’s largest market, but it’s far from being the smallest and the station is a network affiliate. It would be a great next step.”
This was out of character. “I thought you wanted to keep the team together.”
“I do. At least until I retire, but you deserve a little help. So do me proud on this and I’ll make certain the right eyes see it.”
“I … I don’t know what to say. Is something going on that I should know about?”
“Be sure you take Cindy with you. She’s the best cameraperson we have.”
Dwayne walked away leaving Karen to wonder why he so adroitly evaded her question.
eight
Judith closed her cell phone, ending the call.
“Well?” Luke directed the Volvo along the right lane of Interstate 10. They had been driving the freeways, going in circles discussing what to do. As they drove, Judith sat in the passenger seat, Luke’s laptop resting on her legs. At times, the daylight glare made the screen difficult to read but Judith learned that she could shield parts of the monitor with her hand, the shadow making the image visible.
“Thirty minutes. The jet has to be fueled and the pilot needs to file a flight plan.”
“Any way to keep him from doing that? A flight plan is a map to our destination.”
“I think it’s an FAA requirement. I’d be asking him to do something illegal and that could cost him his livelihood. Besides, merely asking would raise all kinds of flags in his mind.”
“Asking to leave as soon as possible doesn’t?”
“Executive pilots are used to sudden requests for transportation. That’s what they get paid for.”
“Okay. I guess you’re right. So we have to kill about thirty minutes.”
“In this traffic, it might take you half an hour to turn around and travel back to the airport.”
“I hate wasting time.” Luke frowned and checked the rearview mirror for what must have been the hundredth time since they left Barnes & Noble.
“We could use the time to talk ourselves out of this nonsense.”
“It may be nonsense but it’s pretty serious nonsense.”
Judith knew what Luke meant. Whoever was orchestrating this had pictures of them from decades before and the dates of their secrets. She knew what she had done and had hoped that it would never come to the surface again. She had spent decades training her mind to avoid any hint of the event; now some stranger had her number and was using it to force her to do what she would never do under any other circumstances.
“I thought we were agreed.” Luke’s words had taken an edge. “We see this through until we find a way out, if there is a way out.”
Judith gazed out the window, a dim reflection of her face revealed the stress she felt. How could any of this happen? How could someone know what she did decades ago and then wave it in her face? And why such an odd request? Find and rescue a boy she’d never met. There had been no mention of blackmail money but the Puppeteer was blackmailing them all the same.
“I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Luke said. “Did I hurt your feelings?”
Judith looked at the handsome man behind the wheel, then smirked. “It will take more than that to hurt my feelings. I developed emotional calluses a long time ago.”
“Still, we’re stuck in this together. We probably would never have met if life continued on as it was, and here we are, chugging along the freeway at a breakneck speed of twenty miles an hour.”
“I’m thankful for the slower pace. You drive like a New York cabbie .”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I didn’t mean it as a compliment.”
“That’s okay. I’m an expert at adjusting reality to fit my needs.”
“I keep coming back to the ‘why us’ question. Why a day trader and a businesswoman?”
“There’s that word again — day trader. I hate that word.”
“Trading stocks yourself instead of using a broker is the definition of a day trader.”
He shook his head. “Listen, Ms. Businesswoman, I don’t use a broker because I’m smarter than they are, have better insights, know my chosen industry more completely than they do, and have better connections. Why should I pay a commission to someone to do what I can do myself?”
Judith closed the notebook. Reading in the car made her queasy. “Okay, I’ll yield the point but your protestation does nothing to shed light on the question.”
“Maybe it has nothing to do with what we do now but what we have done in the past. Clearly, we can be blackmailed. Maybe we’ve been chosen because we both have something to hide.”
“Makes sense, at least as much as any of this makes sense.” Once again, she thought of asking Luke to drop her by the office and dealing with the fallout the best she could. But then she thought of the missing boy — Abel Palek? She owed him nothing. He was no kin. Yet no matter how many times she told herself such things, the boy with the strange eyes invaded her thinking.
Judith wondered about the youngster. If he were truly abducted, if his life were in some danger, then wouldn’t someone know of it and call the police? The mystery man who had drafted them so easily with a threatening phone call and pictures he should not have had tracked them down and found a way to press them into service. He seemed a man of great resources and as such, wouldn’t he be the better one to track a missing child?
Judith’s head hurt from the unanswerable questions. She did not have enough information to make a reasonable guess at the machinations that put her in the car of a stranger.
“We’d better head for the airport.”
“We’re shooting in the dark.” Judith bit her lip. “What can we hope to find by flying to Fresno?”
“It’s the only hard fact we have. The document offered precious little.”
“And why is that, Luke? Did it contain so little information because the writer had no other facts or — ”
“Or are we being led like a dog on a leash? Yeah, I thought of that too. If that is true, we may learn the next thing we need to know in Fresno.”
The dog on a leash image upset Judith. It was not only possible but likely that they were being worked by the caller. Dubbing him the Puppeteer made even more sense. He pulled the strings and they danced.
Judith flipped open her cell phone.
“Who you calling?” Luke seemed concerned.
“Terri, my assistant. I want to make sure she got my car and to let her know that I won’t be in this afternoon.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?”
“I was only warned not to tell anyone what I was being pressed to do. I have appointments that need to be canceled.” She hit the speed dial and waited for the ring. Nothing happened. Odd. She closed the phone and repeated the previous steps. This time she heard a ring which ended a second later as a mechanical voice answered.
“I’m sorry but your call cannot be completed. Your account has been suspended. Please dial …”
“Unbelievable.” She snapped the phone shut.
“What?”
“My account has been cut off.” She looked at the phone in disbelief.
“Forgot to pay the bill?”
“Of course not. We spend thousands a year on cell phones for our execs and key personnel. Someone is going to get an earful from me.” She dialed the two digit number plus pound that would connect her to customer ser vice. The verbal battle began. When it was over, Judith felt more confused than before.
“From what I heard, that didn’t go the way you wanted.” Luke slowed the car as the traffic continued to coagulate around slow-moving big rigs.
“They said they haven’t been paid in three months. I know that’s not true. Our CFO oversees an experienced team of accountants. Such a thing can’t happen.
”
“Try my phone.”
“You didn’t want me to try the call in the first place. Why the change of heart?”
“Just do it.”
Judith took Luke’s phone. It was one of the newer hybrids combining a cell phone with a handheld PC. It took her a moment to figure out how to dial through a screen instead of with buttons. She raised the phone to her ear.
“I’m sorry but your call cannot be completed — ”
She switched the phone off. “Same thing. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t know it, but I suspected it. You don’t seem the kind of CEO that tolerates shoddy behavior from your employees. My guess is that our friendly Puppeteer has pulled a few more strings.”
“Can he do that?”
Luke cut a glance her way.
“Okay, okay, obviously he can. What I mean to ask is how can he do that?”
“No way to know that. Maybe he owns the cell phone company, maybe he owns someone in the company; he could have bought someone off or blackmailed a key person like he’s blackmailing us. We know the guy has some technical skill or people working for him who do; perhaps he hacked the system. Right now, all we have is guesswork.”
Judith gazed at the traffic. Hundreds of people surrounded her. Every day she passed thousands of people on the freeways, side streets, in buildings and restaurants, whom she did not know. Any one of them could be a saint and any one a killer. None wore signs that revealed their heart and intent. Everyone kept their thoughts, desires, and sins behind a mask of flesh. She knew this well. She did it every day.
“Do you think he’s watching us right now?”
“I’ve been trying to monitor the traffic. It’s why I’ve been spending so much time in the slow lane. Most California drivers are too impatient to stay in this lane. So far I haven’t been able to identify anyone on our trail. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Why not?”
“A professional could follow us and we’d never know it. This guy has resources. If he wanted us followed he’d use a team, not just one man or woman. They’d take turns keeping an eye on us.”
“It concerns me that you know this stuff.”
“I told you, I’m paranoid.”
“Any doubt of that is gone. You have paranoid down pat.”
His laugh was forced. “If you’re not paranoid, Judith, then you haven’t been paying attention. My biggest failing in life is that I haven’t been paranoid enough.”
The sense of discomfort welling up in Judith made her wonder if mistrust was contagious. After all that had happened this morning, paranoia was no longer an irrational fear. In fact, it might be the most rational emotion she could have.
Luke directed the Volvo from the freeway and aimed for the Ontario International Airport.
nine
Where is she?” Marlin Find entered the room like a runaway ship enters port.
Terri jumped. “You scared me.”
“I asked you a question, woman.” Terri could see the red of Marlin’s face creeping up his forehead. He was a hurricane in an expensive suit.
Terri stood. “I can only give you the same answer as before: I don’t know. And the name is Terri, not woman.”
The last statement took Marlin by surprise. Normally passive in personality, Terri never spoke harshly to those higher up the food chain than she.
“What’s my last name?” Marlin finally managed. The red of his face moved toward crimson.
“What?”
“My last name.”
Terri suspected a trick. “Find.”
A cold, threatening smirk crossed Marlin’s face. “As in Find, Inc.?”
“Yes, Mr. Find, as in Find, Inc.”
“If you value your job you’ll lose the attitude.”
Terri struggled to keep her mouth shut. Something was wrong and she knew it. Judith had left in a hurry, left her car at Hutch’s which Terri had to pick up, and now had been out of touch for a couple of hours. Marlin’s entrance and anger had thrown a new type of fear in the stew of emotions churning in her. The wise course would be to remain quiet and see what the oaf had to say. Instead …
“My boss is Judith. As it turns out, her last name is Find as well. Come to think of it, she’s your boss too, isn’t she?”
Marlin’s jaw tightened. “Have you or have you not been in contact with my stepmother?”
“I had a call about two hours ago. Nothing since. I tried calling her but couldn’t get through.”
“Do you know why you couldn’t get through? Because our cell phone account is in the tank. My cell phone doesn’t work and neither does anyone else’s. That’s a bit strange don’t you think?”
Terri didn’t answer. Of course it was strange. Worse, it wrung a large measure of fear from her. She retrieved her purse, snatched her company cell phone, and dialed her desk number. Instead of ringing she got a message that the call could not be completed. She closed the flip phone.
“Can you tell me what is going on?” Marlin crossed his arms.
“I don’t deal with the cell phones.”
“I mean about Judith. Where is she? Why can’t we reach her? Is there something going on I need to know about?”
Terri lowered her head and then shook it. “I don’t know anything, but I’m getting worried. Very worried.”
“If you ask me, it’s your boss who should be worried.”
Terri didn’t have the stomach to argue. Anything she said might encourage the leech to stay. “If she calls, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”
“And you had better call me right away. I want to know the moment she makes contact.”
Terri made no commitment. “Is there anything else, Mr. Find?”
“Just remember your place in this firm. Better yet, remember my place. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go fix this cell phone problem. Before this is all over, I may have to have all the books audited. No telling what other bills have gone unpaid.”
Terri felt relief as Marlin marched from the office. She was sure he felt that he had put her in her place, but all he had done was increased her resentment of him.
Judith had been gone a short time by most measures. A couple of hours was nothing in a full work day, but Judith never went anywhere without letting Terri know her destination, and when she was gone, she checked in frequently.
Terri had no facts for this, but she knew, just knew, that her boss, her friend, was in deep trouble and there was nothing she could do about it. She began to pray.
ten
The aircraft rested on the tarmac just outside the private rental hanger. The sleek, white-and-blue paint scheme never failed to impress Judith. She flew in the Cessna Citation Sovereign about three times a month. Other Find, Inc., execs used it as frequently to woo major distributors, wine and dine key clients, reward designers and suppliers. Nothing made an executive feel more important than being given a ride in a multimillion-dollar aircraft.
Luke parked in a small lot adjacent to the hangar, repacked his computer in its case, locked the car, and stared at it for a moment. Judith now knew enough of the man to know that he was worried that someone would tamper with his car. There was no way to keep an eye on the vehicle while flying at several hundred miles per hour. She thought she saw him sigh as he approached her and the two pilots who waited at the steps that led to the jet.
“Saying good-bye to your baby?” Judith asked.
“You know what I was doing.” He studied the aircraft then the two pilots.
“This is Captain Tim Nelson our pilot and Larry Takita his first officer.”
The pilot stood tall and trim. The gray tint in his hair spoke of a man of advancing years. Still he held himself with a military bearing. Larry Takita looked to be in his late twenties. He bore the attractive, smooth features of Japanese men. Both men nodded at Luke. Both wore white shirts and blue pants, uniforms of the modern pilot.
“It’s a pleasure to have you
aboard with us today, Mr. Becker.” The captain extended his hand and Luke took it and gave it a brief shake.
Luke looked at Judith and she answered before he could ask. “Many times. There are two crews for this flight. This crew is assigned to me, the CFO, CIO, and senior VPs.
“Is there a problem?” Nelson asked, eyeing Luke.
Judith gave her best smile. “No, Captain. Mr. Becker is a nervous flier.”
“I understand.” Nelson could have been a diplomat, Judith decided. “We expect no problems on the flight. The bird is fresh from a full ser vice and the weather is clear. We’ll have you up and back on the ground safely before you know it.”
“Did you know that most airline disasters occur after routine maintenance? Some mechanic forgets a screw for this or a bolt for that and the next thing you know the impellers break loose of the engine cowling and come ripping into the cabin.” Luke didn’t wait for the answer. He fast-stepped up the stairs.
The captain turned to Judith and raised an eyebrow. Judith just shrugged.
Fifteen minutes later they were in the air and banking in a wide arc to the north. Judith watched the ground recede. Below she could see the I-10 and I-15 freeways, the San Gabriel Mountains green with spring rains. Large buildings shrunk to tiny boxes. Wisps of clouds decorated the air.
The cabin could seat eight passengers in two groups of four. The seats were soft, with white and brown leather. A green, custom weave carpet covered the deck, and unlike the plain white interior of most aircraft, the bulkheads were covered in a blue and white vinyl decorative covering. Judith’s design tastes were not limited to homes and commercial buildings.
They remained silent as the craft climbed through the air. Some air turbulence over the mountains made the small jet bounce, but the rough ride ended a minute or two later.
Luke broke the silence. “Ever been to Fresno?”
Judith said, “No. I’ve flown over it a few times but have never had a reason to go there.”
“Me either.” He seemed distracted.
“What’s on your mind?”
Luke fidgeted and looked out the window.
