by Ballan, Greg
“You obviously know the answer to your own question, sergeant.” Allison sighed heavily. “Colonel Ross wants to study that child for God only knows what purpose.”
“I don’t think he’s gonna get the chance. His papa knows she’s alive. I think it’s only a matter of time before this whole house of cards comes falling down around Colonel Ross. The colonel is afraid of this Erik Knight person. I just hope papa gets here before something bad happens to the little guy.”
Chapter 16, Birth Date +1, 0730 hrs
Wrath of a Titan
Erik Knight sat at a table for two in the Town Common Restaurant waiting for the reporter Eunice Kim to arrive.
He spotted the young reporter as she crossed the street and admired her appearance. Eunice Kim possessed exquisite exotic features that could turn any man’s head.
Eunice entered the restaurant, panned the seating area until she saw him, then rushed over to the table where he sat.
“Erik Knight, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I thought you were in Paris for six months.”
He nodded and motioned for her to sit. “I was and it was meant to be a six-month stay, but that’s a story for another time.” He noted how her eyes lit up at the possibility for another scoop.
A waiter dropped by; Eunice placed her order then he continued.
“I need to know everything that happened during Shanda’s accident,” he started. “I need a list of the witnesses, policemen on the scene, anybody who may have seen anything – particularly, the names of the people who recovered my wife’s body. I have a special interest there.”
Eunice tilted her head. “I have all that. The only problem is, no one could get to her burning car. It was incinerated. There was no body to recover, Erik. It was like a scene straight from hell. That car was literally engulfed in a great big ball of fire then exploded. The vehicle was literally shattered and melted when the fire department was finally able to put out the blaze. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth. I heard of the accident on my car scanner while I was just around the corner and I drove in on the scene shortly after the collision.”
Erik averted his eyes while sighing. “I know. That’s why I asked you here.”
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for, and we’ll just go from there.”
He released another deep sigh. “All right. Shanda didn’t die in that inferno.” Eunice’s jaw dropped at the news. “She’s alive … somewhere. I just can’t pinpoint her location right now.”
Still looking shocked, she asked, “Is it asking too much to ask how you know this?”
“She contacted me a few days ago.” He kept his answer vague. Eunice was getting ready to pepper him with questions. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
She clamped her lips shut, and he gave her a moment to digest the news while he went on, “Shanda told me she was going to a doctor’s appointment, but after the accident, I never bothered to look into it. I’ve already got a call into Franklin Primary Care to find out what she was there for. But what I’d like you to do for me, if you could, is to check out the police logs for that day. Also, can you see if there’s anything recorded from the time Shanda was at the doctor’s office. I’m assuming that she made her appointment and the collision happened afterwards. It’ll give me some place to start. I have another puzzle piece that should arrive on my door step within the next day or so. My instincts tell me that these puzzle pieces belong to the same messy jigsaw.”
She nodded. “I have a few friends on the Franklin PD who occasionally fix my parking tickets. I’m sure they’ll let me know if anything peculiar was reported at that time.
“Excellent.”
Eunice’s order arrived, and she began eating then lifted her head between mouthfuls. “Is there anything else you need?”
Erik thought for a moment. He had a local source that he would squeeze later today, but that had nothing to do with Eunice.
“No, thank you; that’ll about cover it. I’ve got a few things that I need to chase down so I’ll be mobile for most of this afternoon.” He wrote down a phone number on a napkin and handed it to her. Here’s my agency wireless number. As soon as you know something new, please call me.”
Eunice smiled, “Not a problem. I’ll have answers within a few hours. From her oversized purse she pulled out a copy of a Paris newspaper with his silver alter ego on the cover “In the meantime, tell me all about Paris.”
“Off the record,” he stated forcefully.
She gave him a curt nod. “It goes no further; you should know that by now.”
Erik began his disclosure of the Paris highlights, and once the tab was paid, he walked Eunice to her car, still narrating bits of his trip. As they reached her car he gave her a promise of a more detailed account later in the week.
Eunice shook his hand, got into her car and drove off. Erik walked back across the street and sat in his Monte Carlo SS. He made a mental list of what he already knew.
Fact 1. Shanda was alive out there, somewhere.
Fact 2. She wasn’t alone.
Fact 3. Their link was somehow blocked.
Fact 4. The order making Monique LaSalle a mark came from Washington DC.
Fact 5. The Arab mercenary squads and the Muslim quarter had no part in the order but someone went to a great deal of trouble to make it appear they had.
Fact 6. An OSA secretary committed espionage in order to deliver classified documents into his hands.
What could be so important that she would risk her career, her freedom and possibly her life? He had pulled those questions from a different mental list: Information he had to uncover.
Fact 4, 5 and 6 were three facts that should have no valid correlation with each other: His wife, Monique LaSalle and Nancy Bertoni. Yet, his gut told him they were part of something bigger – all slices of the same pie. The detective was frustrated that he couldn’t get his arms around the whole pie yet.
He needed more facts and more answers. Erik also wanted to know what his wife was doing at the doctor’s office on the day of her accident. His mind had been wrapped up in the case he was working on and Shanda had assured him that it was nothing to be concerned about. He never bothered to follow up with her before he left on his trip; he simply took what she said at face value. Erik also required information regarding the name he had gleaned from the assassin he killed in Paris.
One big blessing about being home early was he could keep all his promises to Brianna. He would be here for her sixteenth birthday, and to ensure that she wouldn’t irrevocably damage his car while learning to drive. Erik fired up his car and headed for the Hopedale gated community.
* * * *
Erik pulled up in front of the Pendelton home and, immediately, the sense of being out of his element surfaced. Richard’s house was of mammoth proportions like all of the other houses within the gated community. Erik approached the house along the meticulously manicured walkway and rang the front door chime. A stunned Brianna Knight opened the door.
“Daddy?” She gaped at him as if fearing bad news.
“Hey, munchkin, how are ya?”
At his cheerful tone, she exclaimed, “Daddy!” and leapt into his arms. “What are you doing home?”
Enjoying his daughter’s happy embrace, he eagerly held her close. His trip had barely been two weeks long, but it’d felt like a lifetime.
Brianna released him and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged and said, “I did all that I could do in Paris, and there are things that I need to take care of here. How was your big dance?”
“I had a great time!” she beamed, stepping back into the house and motioning her father inside.
“Mom!” Brianna screamed. “Dad’s here!”
Margaret came down the wide staircase. “Erik! When did you get back? I thought you were away for several months?”
“I got back early yesterday morning. I would have called, but there were some urgent matters I had to tie up.”
The telephone rang and, recognizing her ring, Brianna rushed upstairs to get her call. Margaret motioned Erik toward the kitchen, and they both sat down.
“Is everything okay? Dear Lord, that girl didn’t get hurt, did she?” Margaret asked.
“Monique is fine. I took the bullets that were meant for her. Her father wisely postponed her tour until the source of the threat against his daughter can be ferreted out.”
“You took the bullets!” his ex-wife repeated in shock, looking for any sign of him being hurt. “Good Lord! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” He grew serious. “But I had to change, Margaret. I had to become Esper in order to neutralize the threat; that’s when I felt … her.”
“Her? Felt who?”
“Shanda. She was calling to me, pleading to me for help, telling me she was alive.”
Margaret stared at her ex-husband then shook her head. “Forgive me for asking this, but are you sure?”
“Yes. It sounds unbelievable, but we share a telepathic link, a bond that was shattered when she supposedly died. That’s why I believed it, initially, but something inside me didn’t fully accept her passing. Then I felt her call to me – only for a few seconds. Whoever has her has found a way to neutralize, or at least minimize, her telepathic and empathic abilities.”
“Do you have any idea who could be responsible?”
“I have suspicions, but I can’t prove a damn thing just yet. I’ll find out though, and when I do.…” He briefly looked over at Margaret. “I’ll find her; I have to. I have a lead I need to chase down, and some people that need to answer some questions,” he said as he walked toward the front door.
“Leaving already?” she asked
He nodded gravely and added, “ I must, Margaret.”
She opened the door for him. “Be careful, Erik. You have that ‘I’m going to be a bull in a china shop’ look on your face and that won’t help you find what you’re looking for.”
He smirked. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll get the information I need. It’s only a matter of kicking over the right stones.” He walked down the driveway to his car.
“God help the poor soul who crosses his path,” he heard his ex-wife whisper as she closed the door.
* * * *
Erik walked into the receiving room of the Franklin Primary Care Medical Building and made his way toward the front desk. Three times he asked to see the doctor who’d treated his wife and he was making no headway with the over-protective receptionist. He didn’t waste any more time with pleasantries; he flashed his federal badge and ordered her to page his wife’s physician.
He knew by the terrified stare of the receptionist that along with his badge, she’d spotted at least one of his two .45 caliber handguns, tucked inside his shoulder holster. She quickly dialed the doctor’s extension and announced his presence then turned to him. “Dr. Mills will be with you momentarily, Agent Knight.”
“Thank you,” Erik replied, although he didn’t mean it.
A moment passed and a man in a white lab coat reported to the receptionist. She pointed toward Erik and he approached the man.
“Dr. Mills?” At the man’s nod, he introduced himself, “Special Agent Erik Knight.” He presented his credentials to the doctor.
“Agent Knight, what can I do for you?”
“My wife was a patient of yours. Her last appointment with you was a little over a month ago. I’d like to know what she was here for during that visit.”
The doctor looked confused, and then Erik sensed a new emotion in the man – panic.
“Let me check my patient rosters for last month. I’ll be right back.”
Erik watched as the doctor practically sprinted toward his office door. Whatever information the doctor came back with, Erik knew, would be a lie. His disappearing act was simply a ploy so the man could gather his composure and concoct a suitable cover story.
Several minutes passed before the doctor returned. He was carrying a computerized stencil, carefully reviewing some data on the LCD panel.
“Agent Knight, according to our records, your wife Shanda hasn’t been here since the blood test she took for her marriage license.” Mills did not bother to even look up from his LCD pad.
“Are you absolutely certain, doctor?”
“Yes.” Mills didn’t look up, his gaze still on the LCD panel.
“Doctor, are you aware of the penalties that can be imposed on you for lying to a Central Intelligence Officer?”
Mills finally looked up from his medical pad. “Are you accusing me of lying?”
The doctor wasn’t aware that he couldn’t hide a lie from him, however the doctor knew right off the agent before him wasn’t buying his story.
“I’m offering you sound advice, Dr. Mills and would strongly urge that you heed it.” Erik pinned him with a stare and beads of sweat formed on the physician’s brow.
“I have nothing further to say to you, Agent Knight. The next time you need information, please make an appointment like everybody else. I’m a very busy man.”
Mills was walking back toward his office when Erik began, “Dr. Mills?” The doctor froze in his tracks but didn’t turn around. Erik went on, “Remember that I gave you the chance to come clean. I don’t like being lied to Dr. Mills, and we both know you’re lying. I’ll find out on my own what I need but then, I’ll be back. When that time comes – and it will come – remember that I gave you the opportunity to do this pleasantly because the next time we meet, it might not be so pleasant.”
* * * *
As Erik walked toward his car his agency cell phone rang.
“Special Agent Knight,” he said into the unit.
It was Eunice Kim. She had new information that she wanted to discuss with him and a document to show him.
“I can meet you at Madame’s in thirty minutes,” Erik suggested.
Eunice agreed and Erik sped back home. The reporter sounded excited about something. His next errand could wait.
* * * *
Erik walked through the door of Madame’s. Eunice had beaten him there, and was already seated at his booth. He slid into his seat. “What have you got?”
“I spoke to one of my friends on the force. At first he was a little reluctant to share information about the day in question, but I convinced him it was a life-or-death situation. He told me that three calls came in to the dispatch office on the afternoon of Shanda’s appointment. All the calls were identical, a young woman being assaulted and abducted. Two calls came from cell phones, right outside the Franklin Primary Care parking lot.
“Interesting.” Erik said, sneering. “I just spoke with Dr. Mills. He claims he hasn’t seen Shanda since her blood test for our wedding over two years ago.”
“Bullshit. He’s lying and I can prove it!” Eunice went on. “The third call was placed from inside the Primary Care building. The caller stated that he believed he’d seen one of their patients being abducted.”
Eunice slid a manila folder full of papers toward him and Erik quickly leafed through the transcripts of the three reports. He glanced up at her. “Why wasn’t there a follow up on these calls?”
“The duty officer at the time was told by a fed to delete those calls from the official records and not to investigate them.” Eunice said in a dark tone.
“What the hell! What was a fed doing at a town precinct?”
“I don’t know.” She crossed her arms, a suspicious look on her face.
“We had an agreement, Eunice,” Erik whispered clenching his fist – referring to his arrangement with the government.
She averted her gaze, and told him what she’d discovered. “I called one of the phone numbers and spoke to a woman. She was reluctant to talk to me at first but after some coaxing she agreed to talk. I can only presume the feds either paid her a visit or gave her a phone call.
“This woman provided a description of the person abducted in the parking lot of the Primary Care Building. Young female b
etween twenty and thirty, long black hair with blue or purple highlights and wearing a leopard jacket.”
“Shanda.” Erik slumped back against the booth.
“This person claimed there were three men manhandling a young woman, forcing her into a long sleek black car, then one of them drove away in a small blue pickup truck.”
“My wife’s S-10 truck.”
Eunice also handed over several pages of handwritten notes. “These are my field notes that I took during the conversation. I don’t know if you’ll want to talk to her yourself or if you have what you need here in my transcripts.”
“Naw,” he answered. “This is perfect.”
Erik reached over and took her hand in his. “I can’t thank you enough; this would have taken me days, if not weeks to dig up on my own. Tell your source I owe him one.”
“We’re friends, Erik. You’ve been there for me more times than I can count. I hope you find Shanda and bring her home safely.”
“I will.”
“Good luck, and keep me informed. If you need anything, give me a call.” Eunice gathered her purse and headed out. Erik watched her leave, grateful that he had befriended the reporter. When this mess was over, he would show his appreciation, somehow.
The detective took a few moments to consider what he’d just read and what Eunice had told him. Based on evidence and transcripts, his wife had made her doctor’s appointment and was later abducted in plain sight.
This was definitely the work of federal agents. Only they would be so bold as to take a person in broad daylight, in front of witnesses and in such a public place. It had to be all prearranged. The presence of an agent at the police station to squelch any incoming calls was the most damning piece of evidence. Feds were behind Shanda’s kidnapping.
Why Shanda though? She had no real Esper powers. Her telepathy was strong, but that wouldn’t account for any particular interest. Something happened at the doctor’s office and that was the missing puzzle piece.
