Hollow Point

by Mike Ryan

  “Anything we need to be concerned about?” Jones asked, since he knew Vincent usually didn’t call just to shoot the breeze.

  “No. I think he just wanted to make sure I wasn’t in jail.”

  “Huh?”

  “From last night. Meeting the detective. I think he just wanted to make sure I wasn’t setup,” Recker said.

  “Oh. Well how nice of him to be concerned about your welfare.”

  “Yeah. Enough about him. Let’s get back to business.”

  6

  It was eleven o’clock, and Recker and Haley were getting ready to leave. Before they left, they all went over the information and plan one more time with Jones. There were three men they knew were involved. All of whom had criminal records. Recker was almost positive there would be more, though. The three men they were aware of had all worked together previously. They weren’t known to work with anyone else, but something was gnawing at him that there had to be more. He figured if they were to pull something like this off, they had to at least have six or eight people working it. Of course, he hoped he was wrong, and there was only the three. The fewer people he had to deal with, the better he liked it. As Recker and Haley were about to leave the office, Jones had some last-minute advice for them.

  “Can we please avoid a firefight in the middle of the park?” Jones politely asked.

  “What? You wanna take away all our fun?” Recker replied.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  When Recker and Haley got to the park, they spread out as they planned. Recker started walking to the vicinity of Judge Rocco’s house, while Haley meandered through the park, looking for signs of anything that might look peculiar. As Recker walked along the street, he also kept his eyes peeled for any signs of trouble. Since he knew there might be someone already watching the Rocco house, Recker made sure he kept moving. He didn’t want it to look like he was also watching the house in case he was spotted too.

  Being alert as he usually was, Recker didn’t see anything that looked suspicious. He walked around the block then stopped at the end of the street and leaned up against the side of a building. He was curious if Haley saw anything yet.

  “Chris, you got anything on your end?”

  “No. Not that I can see anyway. I don’t even know what I’m looking for, though.”

  “Well, you see the three guys we’re looking for?”

  “No. But I kind of doubt they’re just gonna walk past me either,” Haley said.

  “Never know. Remember, they don’t know we’re here. So, they’re not looking for us like we are for them.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Would be easier if we knew what they were gonna do.”

  “At least we have the time it’s gonna go down,” Recker said. “Other than that, we’re just gonna have to wing it.”

  “You’re right, it could be worse if we didn’t know what time it was happening. Around the clock surveillance would be rough.”

  “Just keep your eyes peeled.”

  Recker looked at the time. It was twelve-thirty. A half hour until the nanny took the Rocco child for her afternoon walk in the stroller. Recker anxiously watched every person who walked by, every car that drove by, hoping he’d spot one of the men he was looking for. He didn’t, though. At least not yet. Once one o’clock hit, he looked down at the Rocco house and noticed the front door swing open. He noticed the nanny coming out with the baby in her arms.

  Recker let Haley know. “Chris, they’re coming out of the house now.”

  “Roger that.”

  Recker got ready to move and started walking toward the park. He was walking slow enough that, eventually, the nanny and baby would walk past him. He thought it would look much more natural than if he tailed them the entire way there. He periodically stopped and looked at the scenery, pretending to take pictures of the nature around him to give them a chance to catch up to him.

  “Anything yet on your end?” Haley asked.

  “All clear so far.”

  Recker looked back to make sure he didn’t see anyone else tailing the nanny. He didn’t notice anything suspicious though. But it didn’t mean they weren’t there. He kept walking to the park then pretended he had a phone call. He stopped and made some hand gestures as he blurted some words out to keep up the ruse in case anyone was watching him. After a few more minutes, the nanny walked past him. Recker gave her a smile as she did, still pretending to be on the phone. He gave her a head start on him before he started walking behind her. The entire way to the park, Recker was waiting for the sound of screeching tires against the asphalt, or frantic screams of someone about to make the child heist, something chaotic that would indicate what was about to happen. A warning. But there was none. As they got to the park entry, Recker let his partner know where they were.

  “We’re making our way into the park now,” Recker said. “Where you at?”

  “I’m right smack in the middle.”

  “OK. We’re coming in by 19th street. Come this way and then we’ll switch off.”

  “On my way.”

  Recker followed the nanny into the park, keeping a safe distance between them. After a few minutes, he saw Haley walking in their direction. Once Recker saw him, he peeled off and took a different path. He still stayed in the area and kept an eye on their subject as Haley moved in closer. Once the nanny took a seat on one of the benches, Haley did the same, not too far from her position. After a few minutes, another young woman came along, also with a stroller. As far as Recker and Haley knew, she wasn’t supposed to be meeting anyone. Recker quickly contacted Jones to see if he had an idea of what was going on.

  “David, the nanny’s meeting another woman,” Recker said. “You know who it is?”

  “Hold on, I’m checking.”

  Haley stealthily took a picture of the two women and sent it to Jones. “David, just sent you a picture of them.”

  Jones looked at his phone as soon as it alerted him of the message. He quickly looked at the photo as he started comparing it to people he had on his screen.

  “Anything yet?” Recker asked, getting impatient.

  “I’m still checking,” Jones replied.

  “Soon would be nice. I guess it’s not necessary, though, it’s not like we’re trying to prevent a kidnapping or anything.”

  “Sarcasm will get you nowhere, Michael, and it won’t help me get the information faster either.”

  “I know, I know.”

  Jones was typing away speedily, swiveling his chair between two computers. On one, he was comparing pictures of who he suspected the woman might be, as well as checking phone records on the other computer. He was trying to go as fast as he could, knowing what was at stake. Recker knew Jones was trying to get the information as quickly as possible and it wasn’t so easy to get it within a few minutes.

  “They’re talking and laughing,” Recker said. “I see a lot of smiles so maybe they already know each other.”

  As they waited for Jones to give them something, Recker’s eyes scanned the area, though he still didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The park seemed like it was hustling with people and Recker just couldn’t see how they were going to kidnap the child with all these people around. Of course, then he thought maybe that’s what the kidnappers were counting on. Maybe they were going to use the crowd to blend in to disguise their movements. After five more minutes, Jones finally came up with something.

  “I’ve got her,” Jones said.

  “Who is she?” Recker asked.

  “Her name is Jordan. Her and the nanny are good friends it appears. Seems they meet at the park three or four days a week. I hacked into their text messages. They plan these outings in advance, agreeing to meet each other the night before or that morning.”

  “She have a criminal record? Maybe she’s just setting her up.”

  “No. Seems as though they went to college together. Nothing in her background would suggest she would be mixed up in something like this either.”


  “Are they both nannies?”

  “No, the baby Jordan has is actually hers. It’s an eight-month-old boy,” Jones said.

  “All right, thanks. We’ll keep our eyes open.”

  Recker and Haley did just that for the next hour as the two women sat on the bench and talked with their babies in their strollers. The girls did get up and walk around for a bit, followed closely by Haley. Recker took an alternate path and tried to get out ahead of them. They walked around the park until two-thirty, eventually saying goodbye and going their separate ways. The nanny immediately started walking back to the Rocco house, with Recker and Haley still on her tail. They staggered their positions, so they weren’t seen walking together.

  The two Silencers were on high alert, expecting something to happen. It didn’t happen in the park, so they figured it would happen on the way back. Every car that drove by, every person they passed, Recker was ready to pounce and unleash his fury on the kidnappers. They were slightly surprised that once the nanny got back to the house, nothing had happened. Since Recker walked by the house earlier, he didn’t want to do it again and get made. This time, Haley walked past the home to see if he could make out something Recker couldn’t. But just like his partner, Haley didn’t find anything unusual either. After Haley walked around the block, he met back up with Recker near the park entrance to figure out their next move. Before they did anything, Recker let Jones know everything seemed clear.

  “David, the nanny’s back in the house with the baby. Nobody made a move toward them.”

  “Well, we did say that we did not know the date that this was supposed to happen,” Jones replied. “Perhaps tomorrow will be the day.”

  “Yeah, maybe. We’re gonna stay here for a little while and see if we spot anything.”

  “You don’t think the kidnappers are there, do you?”

  “I dunno. Probably not. But you never know. Maybe they were here watching too, trying to make sure their plan was good,” Recker said.

  Once Recker hung up, he and Haley walked back into the park, with a careful eye out on spotting any of the men they saw in the photos.

  “You really think they might be here?” Haley asked.

  Recker shrugged. “I don’t know. Usually something like this needs precision planning, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, you gotta go out and scout the location and predict any issues that might pop up. Can’t do that behind a computer screen or in a dark, dingy room. Gotta go to the spot it’s gonna go down and get your eyes on everything directly. If you were kidnapping somebody here, what would you do?”

  “I’d probably spend a week or two in the spot it was going to happen and observe everything, try to pick up on any patterns,” Haley answered.

  “Same as I would do.”

  “You don’t think maybe we got spotted, do you? Maybe today was the day and they made us, and it spooked them.”

  Recker made a face and shook his head, not sure he could really answer his question. “Tough to say. On one hand, I kind of hope that’s the case. Maybe that would mean they change tactics and leave the child out of this.”

  “But it could also mean they do something completely different or out of left field,” Haley said. “Something we don’t see coming.”

  Recker sighed, readily acknowledging it as the truth. “I know.”

  They walked through the park for another hour, trying to find any of their potential suspects, or see if anything seemed odd to them. Still nothing seemed unusual. Then they walked along the perimeter of the park, observing buildings across the street to see if one of them could be used in the caper. They also looked for cars, specifically vans or trucks that could be used for a getaway. Recker assumed the kidnappers would not use a car that could be easily identifiable and would choose an unmarked van so the inside couldn’t be seen through a back window.

  After they spent a considerable amount of time walking around the area, they concluded there was nothing else they could do there. They weren’t frustrated, but they were a little dismayed they didn’t see or hear anything that would get them closer to figuring out the kidnapping plan. Though they didn’t feel like they wasted their day, they sure didn’t feel like it was productive either.

  “Let’s head back to the office and see if we can find something else out on this,” Recker said, tapping Haley on the arm.

  They went back to the office, hoping Jones had found something else, anything at all, that would help them. Recker would settle for the tiniest of details right then. When they walked in, Jones didn’t bother to turn around and greet them. Instead, he was hard at work trying to come up with the little nugget they needed to get ahead of the situation.

  “Please tell me you’ve come up with something,” Recker said, walking past the desk on his way to the refrigerator. He grabbed two twenty-ounce soda bottles and tossed one of them over to Haley.

  The look on Jones’ face, along with his sigh and the shaking of his head, basically answered his question for him. Jones was trying to find that small kernel of information they could use, but it just wasn’t happening. Nothing he did or tried provided anything more than they already knew.

  “What about these guys’ addresses?” Haley asked. “Why don’t we just find where they live and go take them out?”

  “That would certainly be one way to do it if I was able to find out that piece of information,” Jones replied.

  “You can’t locate them?” Recker asked, taking a sip of his soda.

  “I cannot. Wherever they are, they are not using credit cards, so I can’t tell if they’re in a hotel or what.”

  “What about using their phones to get a trace?” Haley asked.

  “I’ve tried. The signals bounce around several locations.”

  “So, they’re either using some type of blocker or maybe they’re moving around a lot,” Recker said.

  “What’s even more disturbing is that I haven’t gotten any trace on their phones since late last night.”

  “What’s so disturbing about that?”

  “I’ve gone through their phone records for the past month and they communicate with each other quite often. Daily. Now, just before they’re supposed to do a big job, they’ve suddenly gone silent?”

  Recker nodded, trying to wrap his head around it. “Usually it’s the reverse. Usually you start talking more as the job gets closer, wanting to make sure all the details are accounted for, making sure there’s no slip-ups.”

  “So maybe they’re not as close to pulling the job as we thought they were,” Haley said.

  Jones threw his hands up, exasperated. “I just don’t know. All indications from the conversations I saw and heard was that the job was going to be done soon.”

  “There’s another possibility,” Recker said.

  “Which is?” Jones asked.

  “That they switched phones.”

  Jones titled his head and raised his eyebrows, intrigued by the suggestion, realizing that he may have been on to something. “Yes, I guess that is possible.”

  “Most crews wouldn’t go to that level, but some might. Especially those who are concerned about their communications being tapped or that they’re being followed. They either switch to another line of communication or they might have just swapped phones entirely.”

  “If they did, then that would likely mean that the job is in fact imminent.”

  “Probably,” Recker said. “Any way you can tell if they got new phones?”

  The painful expression on Jones’ face indicated that it would be unlikely. “I very seriously doubt it. If they’re smart enough to know to switch phones, they’re equally likely to be smart enough to know to get burner phones that they’ll pay for with cash.”

  “And avoid cameras,” Haley said.

  “That too. It is also likely that as soon as the job is over that they would toss those new phones away somewhere.”

  “I guess the only thing we can do is keep showing up at the park an
d hope we nail them.”

  Recker sighed, knowing that was the only thing they could do. “Yep, that’s about it. There’s always tomorrow.”

  7

  The rest of the threesome’s day was spent working on the kidnapping case, trying to get any type of lead, since all they had for sure was the place and time. But at least it was better than nothing. They couldn’t find any other information on the group than they already had. They had names, pictures, phone numbers, but they didn’t have their current location. And their phones had been silent for much of the day except for two or three incoming phone calls from outside sources that went unanswered. They were coming up on seven o’clock and were close to calling it a day.

  “We’re pretty sure the Jordan girl isn’t involved somehow?” Recker asked.

  “I would stake my five-hundred-thousand-dollar pension on it,” Jones remarked, getting an unusual stare from both Recker and Haley, knowing full well he didn’t have any such pension.

  “Always nice to bet with something you don’t have.”

  Jones almost chuckled, but instead just gave a wry smile. “Indeed. No, but really, there’s nothing that I can tell that she is even remotely involved.”

  “Check her phone records?” Haley asked.

  “I have. Hasn’t matched up to any of the kidnappers.”

  “You check into our police problem at all?” Recker said.

  “I’ve dipped my toes into the water, so to speak.”

  “And?”

  “It’s still very early, but no promising leads to start with,” Jones said. “But as I mentioned this morning, we don’t have much to work with.”

  “Well, we know the type of bullet for all four shootings,” Haley said. “That’s something.”

  “Yes, it’s something. But not much. From the reports I’ve seen, markings on the bullets indicate they were all fired from the same weapon. But connecting that to anybody right now is going to be tricky.”

  “We’re gonna have to figure out how the four victims all knew each other. There has to be a connection between them,” Recker said.