The Trident Conspiracy: A Gripping Vigilante Thriller

by KJ Kalis

  A second later, the guard nodded, “Looks like he got here at about seven thirty this morning. Early start for a weekend. As far as I can tell he’s still here. Want me to walk you up?”

  “Yes, please,” Jess said, relief flooding through her chest. It was the first good news she’d had since making it out of the bank. “I’ve been trying to call him, but he isn’t answering his phone. Neither is his wife.”

  “Is everything okay?” the man said, furrowing his brows.

  “I don’t know…”

  * * *

  Jess didn’t say anything more to the security guard as they took the elevator to the second floor. The elevator doors opened with a whoosh onto a long hallway that ran from one side of the building to the next, dotted with doorways. Jess followed the man halfway down the hallway until he used his key card on a door on the right-hand side, “Chase?” the guard called, walking into the lab. “You have a visitor.”

  Jess pushed her way past the security guard who was holding the door, her eyes wild. Chase was standing at a stainless-steel table, hunched over what looked to be a microscope of some sort. “Jess? What are you doing here? Where’s Abby?”

  The security guard squinted at Chase and interrupted, “Okay for me to leave you two up here?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Chase said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. Chase was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, his dark brown hair, the same color as Abby’s, pushed away from his face.

  As a security guard walked away, Jess darted toward where Chase was standing, “I’m sorry, Chase. I’ve been trying to call you, but you didn’t answer. Abby and I, we were at the bank. We stopped there after breakfast and then there was a robbery…” The words came out in a tumble.

  Chase pressed his lips together, “Wait. Slow down. What’s happening? Where’s Abby?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Abby. She’s gone.”

  As Jess watched the words settle over Chase, she saw his color change, going from tan to gray. “Jess, start at the beginning.”

  Jess started to pace. “Well, you know I picked her up early to go to breakfast. That’s what we did. We had breakfast. Scrambled eggs for me and French toast for her…”

  “Get to the part about the bank, please?” The words came out in a rattle. Chase was getting impatient.

  “I had some papers to drop off at the bank. They said they had to be in by today. The branch is right across the street and they open early on Saturdays. Abby said it was okay. I thought we’d just run in and I’d sign and we’d leave. But then the robbery started. And now she’s gone. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you and Piper for the last half-hour, but neither of you answered.”

  Chase looked like he’d been frozen in time, all of his movements slowing to a crawl. He sat back on a metal lab stool in front of the bench he was working on and closed his eyes for a moment. “Wait, so what you’re telling me is that you and Abby went out to breakfast, everything was fine and then you stopped at the bank across the street and there was a robbery?”

  Jess nodded.

  “And when they let the hostages go, everyone was there except for Abby. Is that right?”

  Jess nodded again, the same wave of emotions she’d had after her parents died circling around her, “I’m so sorry, Chase. I don’t know what happened. The police, they don’t know what happened either. They thought I was crazy, but then I showed them this.” From out of her back pocket, Jess pulled Abby’s phone, feeling a slight shudder run through her body. “They made us give up all of our cell phones before they put tape on our mouths and hoods on our heads. I managed to go back into the bank with one of the detectives. They didn’t believe me that Abby was gone until I showed them her phone. See, I’m not crazy.” Just as the words came out of Jess’s mouth, her phone rang. It was an unknown number. Her heart started to pound in her chest, and she glanced at Chase before answering it, “Yes?”

  “Jess Montgomery?”

  “Yes. This is she.”

  “Jess, this is Detective Saunders from the Tucson Police Department. We met this morning at the robbery scene?”

  His voice sounded so calm. Jess felt curiosity rise in her. Was he always this way? “Yes.”

  “I was wondering if you could come down to the station so we can get your statement from the robbery this morning? Have you found your niece?”

  A wave of fury passed over Jess. “Thanks for reaching out, but I don’t have time now.” Jess ended the call without saying anything more.

  “Did you just hang up on the police department?” Chase asked.

  “Yes. They aren’t helping.”

  Chase got up from his stool and started pacing, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans. Jess watched him, knowing by his pacing and silence that the reality that his daughter was missing had settled in on him. He walked back and forth in front of the metal table. Jess glanced at his hands. They were shaking. Jess couldn’t imagine what he was thinking. “I’m so sorry, Chase. There was nothing I could do…”

  He wheeled around, “Nothing you could do? Why did you take her to the bank in the first place? Why couldn’t you just do your errands on your own time rather than taking my daughter there and endangering her?”

  Jess was startled by his reaction. “I had no intention of putting her in danger. I was just dropping off papers at the bank for God’s sake. I’m sure you’ve taken her to the bank before, haven’t you?”

  Chase put his hands up, “I’m sorry. I just, I just can’t understand what happened. Can you go through it again?”

  “Like I said, we went to breakfast then we went to the bank. A bunch of guys in tactical gear came in, taped our mouths with pieces of duct tape, put black hoods over our faces and I thought everything was okay. I thought Abby was right next to me when they walked us to the door,” Jess looked down, her eyes filling with tears. “But when they let us loose, she was nowhere to be found. I searched all the ambulances. I ran up and down the street. I couldn’t find her. That’s when I started calling you and Piper.”

  “And Piper didn’t answer?”

  “No.”

  “She’s probably at one of those blasted yoga classes she goes to.”

  “I even drove to your house. I pounded on the door. Roxie barked, but no one answered. When no one came to the door, I came straight here. I’ve been trying to call you ever since this happened. I’m so sorry.” Just as Jess finished her sentence, her phone rang again. It was Detective Saunders. Jess didn’t answer.

  “Why would they take Abby? Is that what you think happened?” Chase stared straight at Jess. “Are you sure she’s not at the hospital or something? Maybe you just got separated?”

  “I don’t know what happened. That’s why I’m here. Why would they take Abby? Why her?”

  Chase sat back down on the metal stool again, rubbing his face with his hands. “I don’t know. None of this makes any sense. You guys were just supposed to go out for breakfast and then we were going to go out for dinner tonight with some friends. That was it. That was how today was supposed to turn out. And now, this…”

  Jess could tell that Chase was having a hard time wrapping his brain around the fact that no one knew where Abby was. A pit formed in Jess’s stomach. She felt the same way. “I hate to ask this, but could it have anything to do with the work you’re doing? I mean, I don’t know what you’re up to here at the lab, but I do know a lot of it is classified. Jess got up and started to walk slowly past the worktables and equipment that peppered Chase’s lab. From the one other time she’d been in the building, she knew Chase had a small office toward the back, piled with papers and files.

  “My work? Now you’re blaming me? Last I checked, a lot of your work is classified, too!”

  “I know, but that’s not what I’m saying. Someone had to have a reason for taking Abby.”

  “If they took her. That’s a big if.”

  “What are you saying, Chase? That I manufactured losing Abby? That she’s
out in the parking lot sitting in my car waiting for us to come out so we can go get ice cream? That’s just not the case! She’s gone and I don’t know where she is. I’m as upset about this as you are.”

  “I highly doubt that. You’re not her father.”

  The words landed like a punch to the gut. She held her hands up in the air, “You’re right. You and Piper are Abby’s parents. What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know.”

  A quiet settled over the two of them, only the murmured beeping of some equipment toward the back of the lab making noise. A faint scent of disinfectant hung in the air, something like rubbing alcohol, but not as strong. Jess crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at the vials and tubes, autoclaves, microscopes and mass spectrometers that decorated the lab, cluttering nearly every inch of space. This was Chase’s life. Analysis and development. What he used all the equipment for, she didn’t know. Jess kept coming back to the fact that someone had to have a reason to take Abby. Her analytical brain kicked in, the same skills she used as an intelligence analyst for the North American Intelligence Institute, where her job was to deal with domestic threats. Only on paper, though. “Who had something to gain by taking Abby? No offense, but it’s not like you and Piper are billionaires, if you know what I mean.”

  “Other than the fact she’s a beautiful young girl? I have no idea. Oh my God…”

  “What are you thinking?” Jess scowled.

  “What if that’s why they took her? You know, I was just reading about so many young girls getting taken to be sex trafficked. What if she was targeted? What if they already have her on a plane or ship or something else, headed to some foreign country where she gets auctioned off to be someone’s slave?”

  “That doesn’t make sense, Chase. Why would they go to the trouble of robbing a bank just to nab Abby? I mean, they went to a lot of trouble. They had the whole place staked out. They were dressed in tactical gear, like they were military or something.”

  “That doesn’t explain why they took her.”

  “I know, but I wouldn’t guess it was so they could sex traffic her.” Jess started to pace again, chewing her lip. “Maybe it was just coincidental? Maybe they grabbed her when they saw she was a young girl and thought they could use her for collateral in case they had trouble getting away or something?”

  “Did anyone happen to tell you how much money the robbers got away with?”

  “No. I was so busy looking for Abby, I didn’t think to ask. It all happened so fast. I’m not sure they’d even know yet.” Jess’s phone rang again. It was Detective Saunders. She groaned. “Hello?”

  “Are you going to hang up on me again this time?”

  “Sorry about that,” Jess said, trying to sound apologetic. The last thing she wanted to do was get caught up with a detective and all of his questions. She knew Saunders was trying to help, but for some reason it didn’t seem that way. “I’m with my brother, Abby’s father. I was in the middle of telling him that she’s gone when you called. Bad timing.” The lie poured out of her mouth like honey.

  There was a pause for a second as if Detective Saunders was weighing whether what Jess said was true or not, “Okay, I’ll buy that for the moment.”

  Before Detective Saunders could say anything else, Jess saw Chase pointing at the phone, mouthing that Jess should ask him about Abby. “Any news on Abby? Did you find her?”

  “I wish I could say we had, Jess. But we haven’t. Have you received any ransom demands?”

  “Ransom demands?” Jess felt her mouth drop open, “What are you talking about?” The idea there would be a ransom had never occurred to her in her hurry to get to Chase and Piper.

  “Whoever these guys are, if they have her, they took her as a hostage. They must want something. The question is what? Is there a place we can meet to talk?”

  Jess mouthed the word “meet” to Chase. He nodded yes. “All right. I’m at the Trident Labs building, just off of Mesa Boulevard. It’s in the industrial complex. Do you know where that is?”

  “Yeah, I can be there in ten minutes.”

  “We’ll meet you in the parking lot.”

  For the next few minutes, Chase sat frozen on his stool. Jess tried to catch his eye, but he seemed focused on a single spot on the floor. Where his mind was, she wasn’t sure. It reminded her of when they were kids. Jess was always a little bit more outgoing than Chase was. Not that either of them were super extroverts, but compared to Chase’s bookishness, Jess was almost outgoing. In high school, Chase spent his freshman year trying to wrestle, thinking the technique around every move was something he could conquer with his mind. But he just didn’t have the physical quickness to make it happen. He and Jess ended up running cross-country together in high school, that was, before the fire. The fire changed everything.

  Thinking about running brought Jess back to the whole reason for the celebration earlier that morning – Abby’s victory in the time trials for her middle school soccer team. Abby had gotten her speed from her Dad, though she used it on the soccer field, not on a trail. Hopefully she could use it to get somewhere safe and call them.

  Five minutes passed and Jess tried to break Chase out of his sullen trance. “Come on. We gotta go downstairs and meet Saunders.”

  Chase didn’t say anything, but stood up, grabbing his cell phone, car keys, wallet and key card for the building. He opened the door to the lab, letting Jess out, flipping the light switch off. Jess followed him as he walked quickly to the elevator, pressing the button for the lobby. The elevator slid down to the floor below with not much more other than a quiet beep, the whoosh of the doors letting Jess know it was time to get off.

  Bright sunshine filtered through the two-story windows in the lobby. The security guard that had let Jess into the building was sitting behind a console, playing with his phone. “Everything all right?” he called behind Chase and Jess as they walked away.

  “Yeah, it’s all good, Sully,” Chase said.

  “It is at that,” Sully said in a gravelly voice, barely looking up.

  Outside, the sun had started to heat up the day. It was normal to see people go into work in the morning wearing goose down vests or snuggled up in jackets or windbreakers, just to have to strip them all off by the time lunchtime rolled around. The desert weather did that. The dry air was quick to bring in cold temperatures at night and hot ones during the day. The sun could be so hot that in just an hour or so someone could get sun poisoning. “Let’s go sit over there while we wait for Saunders,” Jess said, pointing Chase toward a picnic table that was under some palm trees decoratively planted in a landscaping bed just across from the main entrance. “I’m sure he’ll pull up here looking for us.”

  As Jess lowered herself down on the picnic table’s bench, a wave of exhaustion covered her. The morning wasn’t even half over, and she was more tired than she could imagine. It had to be the adrenaline from the robbery wearing off, she thought, picking at one of her fingernails. She sighed, then looked up, seeing a dark blue sedan with a spotlight attached to the driver’s side mirror pull up to the front entrance. As Saunders got out of the car, Jess called him, “Detective, we're over here.”

  In the chaos of the bank robbery, Jess hadn’t really taken the time to look at Detective Saunders, other than to note the fact that his head was shaved clean. He looked like a fitness buff, the muscles in his arms pressing against the shirt he wore tucked into his jeans, his badge attached to his belt. “Thanks for meeting with me. I can’t imagine how hard this is.”

  Jess jumped in before Chase had a chance to say something that might alienate the detective. Her gut told her they might need his help to get Abby back. “Thanks for coming the whole way out here. Detective, this is my brother Chase, Abby’s dad.”

  “Sorry to meet you under these circumstances, sir,” Saunders sighed, extending a hand to Chase.

  “I just can’t believe this is happening. Please tell me you found her.”

  “I
wish I had better news, Chase. If your sister hadn’t told us she couldn’t find Abby, it could’ve been hours before we even knew anyone was missing from the bank.”

  “Where did they take her? Who has her?” The questions tumbled out of Chase’s mouth. Jess couldn’t blame him. All of the same questions were rattling around in her mind. Was it just a coincidence they grabbed Abby? Maybe they took her as a hostage because she was young and not as strong as the rest of them?

  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Can you guys walk me through what happened this morning?” Saunders pulled a notebook out of his back jeans pocket and started writing.

  Chase cleared his throat, “Jess picked Abby up at about seven. It was early, but the diner they like to go to gets crowded and we had stuff to do later as a family. So, after Jess picked her up, they left. I saw my wife, Piper, for a second. She said she was going out. And then Jess shows up at the lab telling me that Abby’s gone.”

  “So, you had no idea about what happened this morning until Jess showed up at the lab?”

  “That’s right. I have to admit I’m not always good about checking my phone. I get started on a project up in the lab and time just flies by. It’s a good thing, I guess, except in situations like this.”

  Saunders nodded, “Jess, do you have Abby’s cell phone with you still?”

  Jess nodded and pulled the pink case with the Hello Kitty sticker on it and showed it to him. “Yeah, it’s right here.”

  “Chase, can you confirm that’s your daughter’s cell phone?”

  Chase nodded and coughed a little, looking away. Jess knew he was fighting back the reality that his daughter had been abducted. She swallowed hard.

  “I don’t understand why they took Abby,” Chase stammered at Detective Saunders.

  Saunders shook his head, “That part we don’t know yet, but please know that Tucson PD and the FBI are all over this. We will not stop until we find your daughter.” Saunders squinted at the lab, “Let me ask you this, what kind of work do you do for Trident Labs? You said you work on projects or something?”