“What happened next?” asked the consultant, arching his fingers and leaning forward.
“I told the kidnapper that I could deliver the cash anywhere he wanted, but that I needed to speak to my daughter first, to prove she was alive. He agreed and we arranged to speak again by telephone to organize the exchange. The call was supposed to be at five this morning, but it never came. And now they’ve both disappeared off the face of the Earth.”
“Did you recognize the kidnapper’s voice?”
“No, his voice was electronically altered.”
“Christina is in college. Columbia, I assume?” said Leopold, looking into Logan’s eyes.
“Yes, she’s a senior there. How did you know?” said the senator, his eyes flicking away back to the bottle of liquor on the nearby table.
“We know she lives in New York, and Columbia is the best the state has to offer, so naturally I took a shot. Can you tell me the names of any of her close friends at college? We’ll need to speak with them immediately.”
“Of course. Stark and his team have been kind enough to brief me fully on my daughter’s friends. I have to make sure she’s moving in the right circles, you understand.”
The senator rose from his chair, scribbled a few names on a piece of note paper, and handed it to the consultant, who folded it and placed it inside his jacket pocket.
“Thank you,” said Leopold. “We’ll get in touch when we know more.”
“That’s it?” said Logan. “You don’t need anything else?”
“I’ve seen plenty already, thank you,” replied Leopold, turning to leave. “We’d better get going.”
“Wait a minute. I insist you take Stark with you. If there’s some madman out there, you’ll need some protection. I’ll be traveling into Manhattan later this afternoon, so we can arrange to meet again later. I’ll be at my townhouse in Park Slopes,” said Logan.
“No need, I have my own security.” Leopold gestured toward Jerome. “We’ll call you when we have an update.”
He noticed the senator’s jaw clench. They each rose from their seats said goodbye to the senator, who insisted that Dolph escort them back outside. The blond security guard shut the heavy door behind them as they stepped out onto the gravel driveway and up to the ruined SUV that sat waiting for them.
“Nice ride,” said Mary. “Any chance you want to tell me what happened?”
“I’ll tell you on the way. Jump in,” said Leopold.
Mary got into the back seat. Leopold and Jerome sat in the front and shut the doors. The bodyguard started the engine and they rolled back in the direction of the main road.
“Did you get everything you needed?” asked Mary.
Leopold turned and nodded. “Enough to know he was lying through his teeth.”
Chapter 11
Colonel Jack Stark watched Dolph shut the heavy front door and brushed away the pang of anger that came over him. It wasn’t like the senator to have visitors without clearing it with him first. This was a definite security breach. He would have to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“Can you confirm our guests have left the perimeter?” said Stark, holding a finger up to the tiny speaker in his ear.
“Affirmative.” The voice over the earpiece was clear, as though the person speaking were standing close by.
Good. Stark was always uneasy when the senator had visitors; there was too much at stake to allow people into the house who hadn’t been through a full security sweep. That applied double to cops and trained bodyguards.
“Stark, Viktor. I need you to keep tabs on Blake and the others,” the senator’s voice echoed down the hallway as he approached.
“Yes, sir,” said Stark, turning to Viktor. “Get the comms team to keep the tracer running at all times. Report back every thirty minutes.”
Viktor nodded once and marched away upstairs and out of sight. Stark turned back to face the senator.
“We planted a tracker on their vehicle after they arrived,” explained Stark. “We can trace them wherever they go to within a couple of meters. If they get out of the car, we can follow them on foot. I’ll send a small team.”
“Very impressive,” said Logan.
“It’s standard protocol, sir,” replied Stark.
“Make sure you keep Blake in your sights at all time. I want regular updates, and inform me immediately if he sticks his nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
“Yes, sir. Just like we discussed.”
“Good. And don’t forget we have one more set of guests arriving before we head back to the city. I want you to make sure they don’t try anything stupid while they’re in my house. Understand?”
Stark nodded and watched the senator return upstairs. He called Dolph over from his position by the door.
“Take four men and keep a tail on Blake and the others. Take two cars in case they split up. Report in every thirty minutes, and once you get into the city, keep them in sight at all times. And get Vinnie down here. I need to brief him on our next set of visitors.”
Dolph confirmed his orders and stalked off, his huge stride taking him across the width of the atrium in just a few steps. Stark could already guess whom Dolph would pick to take with him. Dolph was a fierce soldier, but he was predictable and a little slow on the uptake. No matter; a blunt tool was more than sufficient for the job at hand.
Chapter 12
“Whoa, hold on a minute,” said Mary. “What do you mean, ‘lying’?”
They had barely begun their drive from the senator’s house back toward Manhattan before Mary let loose a torrent of questions. Leopold had yet to provide a satisfactory answer, and Mary wasn’t trying to hide her irritation.
“Spit it out then,” she pressed. “We can’t go round accusing senators of lying without any evidence!”
“I’m not going to accuse him of anything,” Leopold replied calmly, turning in his seat to face her. “I know he’s lying, which will help us figure this whole mess out. I’m not saying I know what the truth is. Yet.”
Jerome turned onto the main road back to the city and put his foot down. The SUV reached cruising speed quickly, the sound of the engine and the wind noise coming through from the gaps in the crumpled chassis forcing Mary to raise her voice.
“Fine. Then at least tell me why you’re so convinced he wasn’t being honest,” Mary demanded.
Leopold sighed. He had hoped that Mary would simply trust his judgment, but he supposed he was far too used to Jerome’s unquestioning loyalty.
“First of all,” he began, “picture what the senator was wearing.”
“Yes, I remember,” said Mary. “He had been up all night, still dressed in the same clothes he was wearing the day before.”
“That was the intended effect,” the consultant explained, “though his shirt was a creased mess, it was clean on that morning – I could smell the laundry detergent. A man doesn’t wear the same shirt for more than twenty-four hours and still smell like he’s just put on freshly washed clothes.”
Mary didn’t look convinced.
“Add to that,” Leopold continued, “his behavior throughout the visit. Take his drinking, for example. He poured himself a measure of scotch from a sealed bottle. Why wait until we’d arrived to start drinking? I didn’t see any empty bottles or used glasses in the other parts of the house, and the scotch was the only bottle in the cabinet.”
“So what?”
“So, he’s either running out of booze, or he simply wants to be seen to be drinking. As though that will give him the appearance of a desperate man.”
“I’m not buying it,” said Mary.
“Why else would he only start drinking when we arrived, except to be sure we would be there to see it?”
“It seems like reasonable behavior to me,” said Mary, “considering the circumstances.”
“By itself I wouldn’t have thought twice, but it was other things too. His bed was unmade, but he hadn’t slept last night? A sloppy mistake.”
“He’s just distracted, that’s all.”
Leopold leaned in closer to the police sergeant, his voice becoming more animated. “Do you remember what he asked us to do, Mary?”
“Of course,” she replied. “He asked us to find Christina.”
“Think carefully. The senator’s actual instructions to us were that we needed to find the kidnapper, not his daughter. He couldn’t even bring himself to mention Christina’s name. I’d bet my life Senator Logan knows exactly who the kidnapper is, but what I can’t figure out is why he wouldn’t tell us.”
“If he’s involved, why would he hire you?” asked Mary.
“He’ll want to be seen doing the right thing. It’s better to have someone like me – someone you’re paying – working for you, rather than getting the FBI involved,” said Leopold. “Unfortunately for him, he thinks I’m the kind of person who would allow himself to be controlled.”
“Say you’re right, and I’m not saying you are, but let’s pretend what you’re saying makes any sense – how do we get some answers? I’d like to avoid getting into any car chases, if I can help it.”
“Oh, that’s easy. We go find Christina and ask her a few questions,” said Leopold, pulling the folded piece of paper out of his jacket pocket. “These two names are a good place to start looking.”
“What if someone’s tracking us? Those guys that ran you off the road probably aren’t the only ones looking for you.”
“We can do a sweep for any tracking units once we get into the city,” said Leopold. “If we find anything, there shouldn’t be any issues removing it. Anyone wanting to follow us is going to have to use a more old fashioned approach.”
Chapter 13
Christina’s eyelids flickered, letting in some of the dim light. She was sitting upright, that much she could tell, and the chair was cold and hard. She tried to stand up, but found she couldn’t move. A quick glance confirmed she was tied to a chair with some kind of rope, unable to move her limbs or hands. The room where she was sat was warm and smelled of dust, as if it hadn’t been used in quite some time.
She blinked hard several times and the room shifted slowly into focus as her eyes tried to make out familiar shapes in the gloom. A gray shadow moved in the corner. There was something else in the room with her.
“Are we awake?” asked the shadow.
Christina tried to speak but couldn’t find the words. The shadow moved again, drawing nearer. She could make out a face now, and eyes flecked with silver, catching the little light available in the room.
“We’re going to have some fun with you,” said the shadow.
Christina felt a hand on her shoulder. The shadow caressed her bare skin with thick, rough palms, gently stroking her neck and arms. She wanted to be sick. Whatever drugs were in her system were playing tricks on her mind. This wasn’t happening.
Then Christina saw the knife and screamed.
Chapter 14
Jerome pulled the SUV over to the curb on West 114th and turned off the engine. After a cursory sweep of the vehicle’s exterior, the bodyguard located a small black box fixed to the inside of one of the wheel arches. He tossed the device into a nearby trash can and kneeled down to get a better view of the undercarriage. Satisfied, he gave the all clear and gestured the others out of the car.
Columbia University’s enormous Butler Library backed onto the street, which was lined with rows of brick-fronted apartment buildings owned by the University Trust. The street was adorned with flags, hanging haphazardly from the many bookstores and apartment blocks that loomed overhead, but the wind hadn’t yet picked up enough to rouse them. Jerome fed a handful of change into the parking meter, and the three of them made toward a set of tall black gates that opened onto the rear entrance path to the University’s Morningside campus.
It was only just midday and the sun was out in full, along with what seemed like the entire university student body. The path opened out onto an enormous courtyard, with Butler Library at the closest end and the Low Memorial Library at the farthest. In between the two buildings was an expansive grassy area signposted as South Lawn, which was intersected with pathways leading up to the steps of the library, where a crowd of students shuffled around looking for their parents following the graduation ceremony earlier in the day. Hundreds of others were either walking through the campus or were sitting on the grass reading, laughing, or playing Frisbee. Leopold led the way toward the Low Memorial Library steps at the far end of the lawns, where the University’s administrative departments were housed, weaving in and out of the crowd.
“I ran a search on Stark,” said Jerome, catching up to Leopold and holding out his cell phone. “There’s an entry on here from several years ago that caught my eye.”
“Ex-military?” asked the consultant.
“Yes, just like the senator said. Except this particular branch of the military only takes the best of the best. Stark was the leader of a black ops team stationed in the Middle East until five years ago.”
“What happened?”
“Stark was discharged for engaging the enemy during a ceasefire,” said Jerome. “Turns out nobody told him the war was over. His entire unit was rounded up and sent packing.”
“Great, just what we need,” said Leopold. “A team of super-soldiers with a grudge. Let’s hope Stark’s on our side.”
“We’d know if he held a grudge against us,” said Jerome, pointing to the screen. “Apparently, he flew into a rage after his commanding officer took the stand. Threatened to assault the man as he took his seat.”
“Not a fan of authority figures?”
Jerome nodded and kept walking. The Low Library building loomed overhead, casting a shadow over the steps as the sun crept slowly overhead. The entrance was sheltered by ten towering columns, over fifty feet tall and made from gleaming white marble. Inside, the domed ceiling rose one hundred feet above the main hall, and the walls were lined with busts of notable Greek and Roman philosophers, who glared menacingly at the crowd of students going about their business below. Leopold led Jerome and Mary through to the back of the hall, blinking hard as his eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light.
“To find Christina,” said Leopold, his voice echoing slightly, “we need to access the University’s student records and track down where these classmates of hers live, so we can ask them a few questions.”
“How can we get access?” said Mary.
“All I need to do is scan the area for the University’s wifi network,” said Leopold. “My cell phone can emit a radio frequency that will block all wireless transmissions within a fifty foot radius, cutting off access to anyone linked up to the network. Then, when we turn off the jammer, we can piggyback on another device as it tries to log back in.”
“I have no idea what you just said,” said Mary, “but I guess that means you can hack into the University’s files?”
“Yes. But you make it sound so simple,” said Leopold.
Mary smiled and shrugged. Leopold swiped the cell phone’s screen to unlock it and proceeded to activate the program. Less than a minute later, the software connected to the University network, and Leopold ran a quick search of the student records for the names that Senator Logan had provided.
“They’re not far,” said Jerome, “living in university-owned accommodation on the corner of 114th and Broadway.”
“Fantastic,” said Mary. “Looks like we parked in the right spot.”
Chapter 15
Stark was a patient man. He had completed tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and countless other places where he and his team of highly trained soldiers could be best put to use. If the government needed delicate work carried out with zero exposure, Stark and his team were the number one choice. On the forty-seven missions he had commanded, Stark had always achieved his objectives and he was not about to break his winning streak now. The colonel didn’t leave anything to chance and no detail, however small, ever escaped his attention. Dealing with high-profile clien
ts was no exception to this rule.
Following several unscheduled visits to the house, Stark had advised the senator to make sure that a member of his team was present during all meetings, to ensure any security risks were properly managed. The senator had eventually agreed, on the condition that the colonel himself be present and that anything said during the meetings be treated in the strictest confidence. Stark didn’t relish the idea of bugging every room in the house, so he had agreed and signed a nondisclosure form.
Today’s meeting was with the three businessmen from Washington, one of several meetings they had held in the last week that Stark had been forced to endure. Standing quietly at the back of the richly-decorated room, the soldier thought back with fondness to his days in combat. Hopefully, his chance would come again soon.
“Senator, I’m sure you can understand the situation we’re in here,” said one of the suits, a smug expression on his face.
“Why don’t you spell it out for me?” replied Logan, his impatience almost tangible.
“It’s the nature of politics, I’m afraid,” the second suit chimed in. “We have to see some kind of commitment from you before we can do the same. You know how it is.”
“If you mean financial commitment, I am working on a package right now. I had aimed to have a proposal for you by today, but I’m afraid we’ve run into an unforeseen roadblock. Nothing to worry about, I assure you. I’ll have something solid for you by tomorrow.”
“Good, good,” said suit number three, slapping his palm across the senator’s shoulder. “I’m glad we can stay friends.”
The colonel watched the old politician recoil as though something disgusting had brushed up against him, but the three suits didn’t seem to notice. Stark would have broken the man’s wrist. They would have noticed that.
“So, to confirm: When I provide the initial capital, your organization will provide the rest of the sum required?” asked the senator.
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