by KJ Kalis
“I’m accessing the files right now.”
“How? He said this is all classified.”
“You have a classified clearance, don’t you?”
Jess blinked for a second. For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to her that the same classified clearance she had for the work she did with NAII could get her information on the things that Chase was working on. “Wait. My clearance would’ve gotten me information on ABG?”
“Not exactly. Let’s just say I have access to some other databases for projects the government is working on that the rest of the team doesn’t. Anyway, I’m just scanning this right now. I’ll need some time to digest it, but you guys can’t give the ABG to the kidnappers. No matter what. Can you take the phone to Chase? I want to talk to the two of you.”
“Okay.” Jess walked across the hallway with the cell phone in her hand, tapping the screen to put it on speaker mode. Pushing the door to the lab open, she saw Chase was still hunched over his laptop in the same position she left him twenty minutes before, a scowl on his face. A machine had taken up a violent whirring in the back corner of the lab. “Chase? My boss, Charlie Burns, is on the phone. He wants to talk to the two of us.”
“All right.”
“Chase, it’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. I’m the Executive Director of NAII. Jess has filled me in a little bit on what’s going on.”
Jess watched Chase as the words came through the cell phone. A look that started as confusion on Chase’s face became anger. He glared at Jess, “I told you not to tell anyone! You’re going to get Abby killed!”
Before Jess could say anything, Charlie interrupted, “Chase, calm down for just a second. First of all, I already have access to all the data from your projects. I always have. Your name came up on Jess’ background check and we work for some of the same people. I can’t give you their names, but you’ll have to trust me on that one.” Charlie paused for a second. Jess could hear more typing in the background, “I have a high level, top-secret clearance from the work that we do with the government. Mine is a couple steps above Jess’s, and to be honest, it’s above your clearance as well.”
“How did you know about what happened this morning?”
“Well, that didn’t come from any good espionage work, that’s for sure. Jess is supposed to be home working on a major presentation for the Navy brass on Monday, but when she blew me off this morning, I knew there was something going on. I just called her bluff and that’s how we ended up on the phone right now. Can you tell me what happened so far?”
For the next minute or so, Chase ran through the details — the shock he felt when Jess told him Abby was gone, the initial contact from the kidnappers demanding the ABG, and the second contact from them when they sent the picture of Piper and Abby together. Hearing Chase walk through the information again sent chills up Jess’s spine. She still couldn’t believe it was happening. Any of it. Her mind was reeling. The robbery, running through the crush of ambulances and police cars after it was over trying to find Abby, the fear and frustration at not being able to find Chase or Piper — the day had gone very wrong. Very wrong.
“Hold on for one second. I need to check something.” Charlie said.
Jess stared at Chase for a second while they were waiting for Charlie. She mouthed the words, “I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”
“How could you?” Chase said, staring back at her.
Jess’s stomach turned into a tiny knot. The look on his face was the same look he’d had the day of the fire. His expression – one of disgust and betrayal mixed together – was burned in her memory. The weight of it on top of everything else was nearly unthinkable. Jess felt heat well up in her face and tears sting her eyes. She looked away for a second as Charlie spoke again. “Chase, I’m gonna tell you the same thing I told Jess. Under no circumstances are you to give that ABG to the kidnappers. I don’t care if you bottle orange juice and give it to them as a substitute, but we can’t give away the ABG. Through the research that Jess is done, this group that has Abby, we’ve been looking at them for a long time. This is our shot to get them. Now listen, I’m gonna rope some other people in, some tactical people who can help us get this done…”
Charlie didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. Jess interrupted him, “Charlie, we can’t! We can’t rope in anyone else or any other agencies. They will kill Abby. They already told us that. And by the looks of the plans they’ve made and how detailed they are, they are serious. We can’t take that chance.”
Chase scowled, “You guys are talking a foreign language,” he said. “What group are we talking about? Have you guys figured out who the kidnappers are?”
Jess took a second and quickly filled in Chase on the research she’d done. She swallowed as she asked him to follow her back to the conference room where she still had the pictures of Landon Walker and Piper together on her computer. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt her brother even more, but he needed to know the truth. Glancing at the phone, she said to Charlie, “Give me a second. I just want to catch Chase up on what I found.” Charlie mumbled something in the background, something about he’d be waiting for them and would hold on.
“Chase, I started doing a little digging around about where you and Piper have been in the last thirty days or so. I figured these guys are so well-prepared they probably were surveilling you and you had absolutely no idea. Everything about your scans came back clear. I could easily figure out where you were going to and from, but Piper’s were a different story.” Jess bit her lip, her heart pounding in her chest. Why was she always the bearer of bad news for Chase? “I found out that Piper has made a bunch of trips out to Desert Springs. That confused me because there’s not a lot out there. I thought maybe she’d gone out there with girlfriends, but it was too many trips in too short of a time, like almost a dozen over the last thirty days. So, I started pulling up the video surveillance from the banks and stores on the street and this is what I found.”
As Jess tapped the play button on the video of Piper and Landon walking hand in hand in front of the hotel, she watched his face. A frown turned into a scowl and then she saw him wince, like a shot of pain ran through his body. “And you think this is the man that took Abby?”
Jess nodded. “At first, I wasn’t sure it was connected, but then I did a little digging. His name is Landon Walker. He was in the military, dishonorably discharged. He now works for a civilian operator group called Zeta Tactical Consulting. Given the precision with which they ran the operation this morning, the fact that they have surveillance photos of Piper and Abby together, and probably ones of you and me as well, it wouldn’t surprise me if this is who’s behind the kidnapping.” As the words came out of Jess’s mouth, she felt bad. She sounded more like she was delivering points in a briefing or presentation than she did breaking the news to her brother that his wife had been cheating on him with the man that had probably kidnapped his daughter. She swallowed, trying to chase the lump of guilt back down into her stomach.
Charlie cleared his throat, “As I said, we’ve been looking at Zeta Tactical Consulting for a while, but haven’t been able to pin anything on them.”
Jess frowned, “Since when does NAII go after criminal targets, Charlie?”
“We always have, Jess. It’s just not something that’s been part of your purview. As I said, this group is a team of really bad dudes. The whole company is a front led by a retired Army colonel, Harrison Foster. He was honorably discharged, but just barely. He’s got a lot of black marks on his record and the Army was more than glad to retire him and get rid of him. I’m betting that if we did a little bit more research, we’d see that Landon Walker and Harrison Foster worked together at some point during their time overseas. Anyway, Foster’s guys work under the guise of being a security group offering executive protection to Americans traveling abroad, but in reality, based on the research we have, we know they do a lot more than that.”
“Like what?” Chase said, leaning over the conference room table.
“Like assassinations, kidnappings, theft of sensitive material both from the US, our allies and our enemies. They get a job and then sell whatever they’re able to find to the highest bidder. It doesn’t matter who it goes to — the Chinese, the Russians, the British. These guys have somehow lost their moral compass along the way.”
“Which is why they had no issue taking Abby…” Jess said, standing up and walking toward the window, staring out.
“That’s right,” Charlie said.
Chase stood up, throwing his hands open, the palms of his hands slapping on his thighs as they dropped to his side, “Okay, that’s all well and good, but what are we supposed to do now? These kidnappers, this Landon Walker, or whoever it is, they have my daughter and I want her back. What am I supposed to do? I’m here. My wife is waiting at home. Those are all the cards we have to play!”
“As I said, Chase, you can’t give them the ABG.”
“Well, we can’t go to the police either. They will kill Abby.”
“Given who we are dealing with, there is a high probability that would be exactly the case,” Charlie said.
“So, I’m going to ask exactly the same question again — what do we do now?”
Charlie cleared his throat, “Keep doing what you’re doing. Try to fabricate something that’s close to ABG, but not quite it. Maybe it works long enough for them to test it, but it degrades as soon as they hand Abby back to you. I don’t know. If you’re half as brilliant as your sister, you’ll think of something. I’m certain of that. In the meantime, I’m going to do some more research on my end and see what we can come up with that doesn’t involve the police. Jess, I’d suggest you keep doing what you are good at — research. Put the pieces together. Try to figure out what they’re going to do with the ABG and why they want it so badly. Think about it, this is a pretty radical step in order to get something that’s only meant to save lives. There has to be another reason.” He paused for a second. “Before I hang up with you guys, let me ask you a couple questions. Can you tell me a little bit more about Abby? Her description, what she was wearing, anything like that?”
“As best I can remember, she had on a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and a jacket. It was still a little cool when I picked her up this morning,” Jess said, her gut clenching. From her work she knew that details mattered. She just wasn’t thinking they’d matter as much in her own life.
“Yeah, I told her to grab it when she was walking out the door,” Chase said. “She had on tennis shoes, too. She hates pretty much any other kind of footwear.”
“Was she wearing anything else? Did she have a cell phone with her, or a Fitbit? Anything like that at all?”
Chase shook his head, “I know she had her cell phone with her, but we haven’t gotten her a Fitbit yet.”
“How old is she exactly?”
Chase cleared his throat. Jess could tell he was getting emotional, “She’s twelve, Charlie. She’s about five foot two, dark wavy hair. She’s an athlete. Plays soccer. Loves to run. She just did her forty-yard dash time for soccer tryouts and was the fastest one on the team.”
“Okay, that gives me a little bit more to work with. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know anything more. And if the kidnappers reach out to you guys, let me know right away. Jess, you can use our secure communication channels for that. That way they won’t know we’ve been in contact. I’ll be in touch.”
As the call ended, Jess’s phone gave a little beep. She stared at Chase, who had flopped down in one of the conference room chairs. He ran his hand through his hair, pushing it away from his face, “I can’t believe this. First Abby’s gone then I find out Piper’s been running around on me with the guy that likely has my daughter. This is a nightmare. How are we ever going to get out of this?”
“One step at a time. That’s how we're going to get out of this.” For some reason, talking to Charlie had poured a reserve of strength into Jess. “Listen, Charlie Burns is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. Do what he says. Go back into that lab and focus like Abby’s life depends on it. Find a way to give the kidnappers the ABG but render it useless. How, I have no idea. But Chase, get it done. I think that’s the only way.”
Chase stood up, staring at Jess, “And Abby’s life does depend on it.”
“That’s exactly right.”
13
Detective Saunders spun in the chair in front of his desk a little bit, not full circles, but quarter arcs he could make without moving his feet. It was something his coworkers knew he did when he was frustrated by a case. And frustration didn’t begin to describe the feelings he was having around the robbery that morning.
“Anything new on the robbery case this morning?” The voice over his shoulder belonged to Lieutenant Ferguson, his boss.
For second, Jamison wanted to tell the lieutenant everything he knew, everything including the part about how a ransom demand had been given to the Montgomery’s, how they’d refused his help and basically kicked him out of the house. How frustrated he was by it and how he knew that a young girl’s life was in danger. Wasn’t that what the city was paying him to do, to solve cases just like these? “Nothing,” he mumbled. “The FBI has pretty much taken over the entire case.” Something about Jess and Chase’s desperation to keep everything quiet left him wondering if he should too. With any luck he’d be able to get them to cooperate without telling Ferguson, but Jamison knew time was ticking. If Ferguson found out Jamison didn’t pass on all the information, he could get himself in hot water. The fallout, especially if they didn’t find Abby in time, could cost him his job. He needed a little more time, he told himself. Just a little more.
Ferguson grunted and tugged the back of his pants a little higher on his waist, “That figures. Bank robberies are their jurisdiction. Any news on the girl?”
“Another nothing. I went over to the mom and dad’s house to check into things. They haven’t heard anything yet. They are checking with her friends. Think she may have gotten frightened during the robbery and ran off afterward.” It was a bald-faced lie, but for some reason, Jamison wasn’t ready to tell Ferguson that Jess and Chase had pretty much kicked him out of Chase’s house, telling him they didn’t want his help.
As Ferguson lumbered off, Jamison stared back at his computer, the blank report form on the screen staring back at him. He’d never had a case during his tenure with the Tucson Police Department where a family had refused his help. Even the ones that were the most scared and the most upset seemed to settle down when he arrived on scene. Lots of people got worked up when the police arrived, but those were just the bad ones, the people that were headed to jail. For people that truly needed help, Jamison had seen over and over again through his career how his presence and the presence of the other officers calmed the people around him.
But not so in this case.
Jess Montgomery and her brother had gone off the reservation. Something about Abby’s disappearance caused Chase to shut down, preventing Jamison from doing his job. He stared at the ceiling for a second, and then looked down. His gut told him it was more than the fact Abby had been taken. Something the kidnappers had communicated to Chase had spooked him. It apparently was enough that Jess went along with the program, agreeing enough that she’d done nothing to keep Jamison in the loop. He shifted in his seat and logged into his computer, running quick searches on Jess, Chase and Chase’s wife, Piper. Not much came up that he didn’t already know. Jess worked as an analyst for the North American Intelligence Institute, Chase worked as a researcher at Trident Labs and from what he could tell, Piper was a stay-at-home mom. The cursory search didn’t reveal anything that would explain why kidnappers would target Abby and go to the lengths they did to acquire a property near the bank, access the sewers and then spend what had to be at least a week chipping away at the concrete in the block between the void in the buildings and the vault to build the escape tunnel. The execution
of the kidnapper’s plan was brilliant. Too much so for it to have just been a robbery. Not that there actually was a robbery, Jamison thought, rolling his head from side to side, trying to get his neck to crack. Nothing had been taken from South Ridge Bank. Not a dime. That only left Jamison with one possibility — the Montgomery family had been targeted. But why?
Jamison pulled up the video surveillance the bank had sent over. He knew the FBI would take the lead on the case, but there was something about it he couldn’t let go. He tapped on his keyboard, enlarging the video to full screen and then hitting play. He ran through it a couple of times seeing the robbers come in the front door, the chain they put around the door handles, the way they quickly got control of the people in the bank. Another minute or so went by and he saw them hand out tape and hoods to everyone who was seated against the teller’s counter.
A voice came over his shoulder startling him, “What you watchin’?” It was Ferguson again.
“The bank just emailed me the video surveillance from the robbery for our records. I was just watching it to see if I could spot anything they might have missed.”
“Run it. I’d like to see this. Heard these clowns didn’t even bother to take any cash. Who does that? Let’s see what happens with the girl.” Ferguson slid a chair up next to Jamison so they could watch on the same screen. Jamison tapped the keyboard again, starting it from the beginning.
They sat in silence, watching as the video ran through. About two minutes into the video, Jamison increased the speed to two times so they could get through it more quickly. They passed the spot where the kidnappers had handed out the tape and the hoods and then watched as the kidnappers grabbed the bank manager and dragged him to the back. Jamison paused the video for a second, “I’m thinking this is the point at which they take the bank manager to open the vault.”
“Makes sense to me,” Ferguson grunted.
Jamison tapped the screen again, restarting the video. About a minute and a half later, the bank manager reappeared, nearly falling as they put him back in line against the teller’s counter with the rest of the hostages. Jamison stopped the video again, “See there?” he pointed. “That looks like Jess Montgomery and her niece, Abby, right there.”
