The Kidnapping

by Aiden Vaughan

  “Well in order for the police to become involved, we would need some pretty strong and convincing evidence. That’s what I see our job being at this point—finding that evidence. Let’s get started by outlining everything that we know happened for sure during that week”

  The two boys spent the next couple of hours outlining on the white board a complete list of events that occurred during the previous week. For Jason, this was a little surreal at times, looking at the board and seeing all the violent acts committed against him written out like an outline.

  Stepping back, Jason put his marker pen down on the metal rim of the white board and said, “I have a proposal for our sessions.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Daniel asked.

  “I think that we should periodically take breaks from this kind of intense activity and go shoot some baskets or do some other kind of physical activity. I saw this movie once about a law school professor working with a team of graduate students on some sort of investigation. They would meet at the professor’s house and then regularly go outside and shoot baskets. Sometimes it would help clear the air if they were arguing about case law points. Also, it provided a break from sitting around all day.”

  “That’s a really good idea, Jason. I take it that you would like one of those breaks right now.”

  On Daniel’s block, there was a little cul-de-sac where one of the neighbors had put up a portable basketball hoop at the edge of his driveway. All the kids on the block were encouraged to go and shoot baskets there. Daniel got a basketball from the closet downstairs and the two headed for the hoop.

  First, they did some shooting practice and then a little one-on-one play. After about a half hour, invigorated by the exercise, they then returned to Daniel’s room.

  “Jason, I have a good idea. I was thinking it would be beneficial for us as we start our investigation to have a fresh pair of eyes look at everything with us. We have been very close to all of the events that happened, certainly you more than anyone, and maybe we are missing something obvious.”

  “The police sort of fall into that category, and they couldn’t find anything,” Jason said.

  Daniel countered, “But they were inside the incident from the first day, too. I’m talking about someone completely from the outside.

  “When we first moved out here, my father, just like me, wanted to make some new friends and acquaintances. So he joined the local Rotary Club and started attending their lunch meetings. One day he was seated by a man named Joseph Connor, who had just retired from running an army-navy surplus store. The two hit it off and shortly after that Dad invited him over for dinner. He is a really nice person, friendly, and we got to talking because he was wearing chucks and noticed that I had on black high-tops. Over dinner, he told some very exciting stories about when he was a member of an intelligence unit back when he was younger. Evidently he had spent a lot of time in Latin America and sometimes his assignments were to work on kidnapping cases where business executives, or one of their family members, would be held for ransom. I think it might be useful to talk with him and see what he thinks about what happened to you. Should I call him up and set up a meeting?”

  “Yes, you are full of interesting ideas about what we should do. I think I’ll continue to follow your lead for a while.”

  The two boys continued to talk about how to pursue the investigation. They agreed to meet every day for the time being. Monday through Friday they would meet around one in the afternoon. On the weekends they would be flexible, in case there were family plans to work around. They also agreed to call each other day or night, if either of them came up with a new idea, actual evidence, or theory about the sequence of events and why it happened the way it did.

  It was now getting close to 5:00 p.m. and Jason had to go home. As he got up to leave, Jason felt a surge of emotions welling up inside him. All the events of the past few days pounded on him as they passed through his memory. His eyes welled up with tears.

  When Daniel looked at him to say goodbye, he could see that something was going on. “Jason, are you all right?”

  Automatically, Jason nodded his head yes but explained, “Every day, lately, has been overwhelming for me. And today is no exception, especially when I look at the board and see the things I went through outlined in black and white.”

  “I think I understand what you are saying,” Daniel replied. “I’m sure there will be these moments for you from time to time because of everything that has happened these past weeks. Remember what my dad told me: ‘Don’t bottle up your emotions all the time. Sometimes you have to release them. Nobody will think less of you for doing that.’ ”

  Daniel put his arm around Jason’s shoulder and started walking him to the door. “Jason, you will have to draw on your inner strength to do what we are about to do. You will have to control your emotions to be able to focus that strength on the task at hand. I want you to remember one other thing. My reason for doing this whole investigation is one simple goal: I want you to be truly free again. Okay, my friend?”

  “Got it,” Jason replied. “See you tomorrow.”

  Part III: The Solution

  CHAPTER 30

  A FRESH SET OF EYES

  (Thursday)

  The next day Jason arrived at Daniel’s house about one o’clock. After Daniel opened the front door and the two friends went up to his room, he asked Jason, “How are you feeling today? Any better than yesterday?”

  “Much better. I slept a lot more soundly last night. Now that a plan of action has been decided on, I think my mind is more relaxed and for a change I spent the morning drawing some doodles and messing around in my room. Then I did some fitness exercises. I thought that it would be a good idea to continue working out to stay in top shape. Also, Laura called last night. She wanted to know if I would like to go to a concert with her in a couple of weeks.”

  “That’s great that you are feeling better. It sounds like Laura wants to get a little more serious with you, Jason. Are you ready?”

  “I don’t think I’m ready right now for a serious relationship because of this investigation, and I don’t want to risk putting her in any kind of danger. I don’t mind going out on dates like the concert. Laura is fun to be with.”

  “She sure put on a nice party the other night and I could see that she was starting to make a play for you, Jason.”

  “Life can’t be all work and no play, Daniel.”

  “You’ve got that right, Jason. But right now we do have some work to accomplish. I talked to Mr. Connor and he is willing to meet us at 2:00 p.m. He lives right near the Westfield Mall. I told Mom we wanted to go to the mall for a few hours to check out new games and clothes, to get our minds off of the past week. She said it is okay for us to bike over there.”

  Mr. Connor lived in a condominium complex that was only a block away from the mall. Daniel and Jason found a place to park and lock up their bikes, and were knocking on Mr. Connor’s door a little after 2:00 p.m.

  “Hi, Daniel, how are you. Good to see you again! And this must be Jason.” He shook hands and invited them inside. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.” Mr. Connor was about six feet tall, with white hair, a well-trimmed moustache and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, khaki trousers and a pair of white high-top chucks. He motioned the boys to seats in the living room.

  “I see your friend Jason shares our taste in footwear. I think it is great to see new generations of kids wearing chucks. One of the things I enjoyed about running the surplus store was that we sold Chuck Taylor shoes. I always liked seeing the smiles on kid’s faces when they would lace up a pair for the first time. As you can see, I’m still a kid when it comes to wearing them.”

  “I think that is one of the things that makes you so cool, Mr. Connor. I like seeing adults wearing chucks too,” Daniel replied with a smile.

  “Please, call me Joe if we are going to be friends. We may have a big age difference, but I like being informal, at least here in my own home.”<
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  Joe then looked over at Jason and said, “Tell me how you got to be friends with Daniel?”

  “We met in school homeroom. I guess it was because of that ‘chucks club’ thing you described. Daniel had just moved here from back east. One day he passed by me and said, ‘Hey, those are cool chucks you have on,’ and that started us talking. We found out that we had a lot of similar interests and then started to hang out a lot together.”

  “Yes, Daniel is very observant. There is some real substance behind that rock star look. Pardon me for saying this, Jason, but aren’t you the kid who was in the news recently?”

  “Yes, that was me. My one claim to fame and I can’t say I’m real proud of it.”

  “Good God, no, Jason! That was a horrible thing to have happen to you. How are you dealing with the fallout—the emotional, mental and physical distress? Being kidnapped is one of the most difficult things a person can experience.”

  “I have sure found that out the hard way. Despite all of the pain and suffering I’ve been through, I have also found that I have wonderful support from the people who care about me—my family and friends. Their outpouring of love and friendship has been overwhelming.”

  “Daniel told me over the phone about how insightful you are and what a nice person you are. You seem really well-adjusted for someone who was just released a few days ago.”

  “Thank you,” Jason replied. “I think it is partly because everyone has been so great to me since my release.”

  Joe looked at Daniel and then with an assessing look at Jason asked, “So why exactly did you want to have this meeting? Two young guys like you should be out playing sports or going to the beach on a beautiful summer afternoon like this, not sitting around with an old retiree.”

  Daniel answered, “Well, Mr. Connor, er, Joe, what we really need right now is a fresh pair of eyes. You just mentioned in passing about all of the fallout that Jason is dealing with due to his experience with the kidnappers. Ever since he was taken, no one has been able to figure out who did it or why it was done. All of our friends and their parents are worried that this could happen to them too. And we are really angry that someone could grab a kid, and in this case a really nice kid, brutalize him, and then disappear with no consequences. So, Jason and I have made a pact to not stop looking until we can find the solution. I remembered, from when you came over to dinner at our house a while ago, that you had had some experience in these matters. I thought it would be useful for our investigation to have someone from the outside look at everything with us again. Maybe you could spot some things that we missed.”

  “Let me get this straight. You two have decided to become detectives to solve a crime that the police can’t solve and you are asking me to help you with the investigation. I need to explain a couple of things to you, first. When I retired from the special services, I signed an agreement with them as a condition of my release. One of those conditions was that I was never to engage in any kind of detective or police work again—anything that might draw attention to me.”

  “Understood, Joe. But we are not asking you to do legwork for us, or even leave your home on our behalf. All we want you to do is hear the story of what we know happened and use your expertise to maybe suggest how you would handle the investigation if you were in charge. In other words, a fresh pair of eyes looking at the same evidence that continues to baffle us and the police.”

  “Okay, I get it. I’m an armchair detective, like Sherlock Holmes or should I say Daniel Holmes.”

  “That’s it!” Daniel exclaimed. “Is that too much to ask?”

  “I guess I should be flattered that two young teens are even interested in my opinions!”

  “We really would like your help, Joe,” Jason said. “Please.”

  “All right, my friends. But we need to agree on some ground rules before we begin. I need to hear everything that happened, no matter how painful it may be. Can you handle that, Jason?”

  “Yes.”

  “This entire discussion must remain confidential between us. Do your parents know that you are here?”

  “We told them that we were going to the Westfield Mall. We didn’t mention stopping off here.”

  “Looks like you thought of everything...everything except drinks, that is. I have a fresh pitcher of iced tea. We need to get started as we have a lot of talking to do and I’m sure we will need some refreshment.” Joe went into the kitchen and came back with a tray, glasses with ice, lemon slices, a sugar bowl, long spoons, and the iced tea pitcher. He poured each of them a glass and told his guests to help themselves if they needed refills.

  Joe then began by saying, “Let’s get started then. Jason, I want you to tell me the entire experience of your kidnapping from start to finish, as best you can remember.”

  Jason began telling his story from that Monday morning when he had gone to the park with his cousins. Having gone through the police debriefing Friday and completed the outline on the white board yesterday, he was able to tell the story very precisely and in about twenty minutes. He ended with his stay at the hospital, his police debriefing and what the counselor said about the mental games that the kidnappers had played on him.

  Daniel followed by telling his part of the story, starting with Jason’s phone message and then how he and Mrs. Hunter eventually determined that Jason was missing. He described how he and his friends were depressed all week, and then what happened when he received the call from Jason’s cell phone from the kidnappers to go find him. He talked about his elation on finding Jason, his shock at Jason’s condition, and how he and Mr. Hunter had been debriefed together at the police station. Also, he included what he remembered Mr. Hunter having said regarding what he had to do in order to ransom Jason.

  Joe then asked Jason, “Is there was any other information that you learned about the kidnapping later?”

  Jason then told him about the talk he had had with his father regarding the ransom and ransom note. He then described what was in the note and on the picture sent to his father in the package.

  “Boys, is that everything that you know about the case?” When they nodded yes, Joe went on, “This is the most amazing kidnapping story I have ever heard! If I hadn’t heard it from you personally, I would have probably been laughing hysterically by now. Don’t take this wrong, Jason. I know from your description that you suffered real pain and torture at the hands of these people. That part was real and I have to say that it was very unfortunate and unnecessary. But nothing else about this whole story makes any sense at all.”

  “What do you mean?” both Daniel and Jason asked in astonishment.

  “Well, the whole premise of this kidnapping is ridiculous. First of all, we don’t have gangs of kidnappers run by godfather-types who target middle-class kids for small ransoms. The hue and cry would be just too great. Ever since the Lindberg kidnapping, back in the 1930s, we have had very strong laws that make it an unprofitable venture for any organized crime group to be involved in. The only kidnappings they might perpetrate are for extortion, personal vendetta, or to put the squeeze on somebody they are trying to control. Almost always they are internal kidnappings within their own organizations or areas of influence. They never harm children. The last thing an organized crime group in this country would want to do is be known as kidnappers of innocent children from average families. Even their own underlings wouldn’t stand for it, much less angry citizens with guns and rifles. Why would your kidnappers go to all of this trouble and take the risk of life-sentences in prison for a payday of $50,000?

  “When I was with the Special Forces in Latin America, I did observe and participate in rescue efforts involving kidnappings for ransom. The kidnappers were usually part of a rebel group looking to get money and publicity for their cause. They could exist because the governments didn’t have control of large areas of their own territory so the kidnappers could move around with some freedom. The target families were always wealthy and the ransom demands were always very large,
and sometimes had to be negotiated down. This kind of kidnapping is just not possible in this country on any kind of regular basis, because there are very few places to hide and too many law enforcement organizations here that could shut them down.”

  “Then why was I kidnapped?” Jason asked with concern in his voice.

  “That is the $50,000 question, isn’t it?” Joe replied. “I hate to say it again, because of what you have suffered, Jason, but I think the whole kidnapping ordeal you were put through is just a MacGuffin.”

  “What’s a MacGuffin?” Daniel asked.

  “It’s a term that came from early mysteries and films—especially those by Alfred Hitchcock. It is a plot device that gets a story going, but in the long run has very little to do with the main story. I believe this whole kidnapping incident was the MacGuffin, a kidnapping that was staged to divert everyone’s attention away from the real crime, which still is unknown to the authorities. I would imagine that the criminals most likely are now long gone.

  “Let’s look some more at the timeline of your kidnapping. Correct me if I am wrong, but on Friday, when you were going to be returned to your family, didn’t you start out rather early on the journey back. They gave you breakfast, had you take a shower, they gave you your clothes back, and then what did the kidnapper say to you?”

  Jason responded, “He said, ‘Your ransom is being paid, who can we call among your friends to pick you up, and we have a long way to travel.’ ”

  “Yes, the key thing that he said was that the ransom was being paid. Now backtrack the time from when you were actually found by Daniel.”

  “Daniel said he found me at City Park between 12:45 and 1:00 Friday afternoon. I believe I had been left there about an hour earlier. Prior to that they took me for about an hour’s drive in their van.”