The Noah Reid Series: Books 1-3: The Noah Reid Action Thriller Series Boxset

by Wesley Robert Lowe

  A concerned Queenie confronts Olivia and Abby as they step back inside the boardroom. “What are you doing? What’s happening with Noah? This makes no sense. You could have died.”

  Olivia and Abby really haven’t a clue what is going on. All they did was what Noah told them to do.

  Olivia shakes her head. “Noah didn’t explain anything. All he did was tell me to act like we were in a big fight. You know the rest.”

  He didn’t tell her! Queenie ponders her next move. Actually, there’s not much thinking to do. Noah has forced her hand.

  “I suggest you get Noah back here.”

  “Why? There’s no point. I don’t know what’s happened, but the deal is dead,” says Olivia. She shakes her head in regret. “It seems pretty obvious that he’s not going to put any money into the Center ... I hate to think he was so petty, but it seems like it’s because of me. His male ego can’t take that we broke up.”

  “Call him, Olivia. Get him back.”

  She shakes her head. “I told you. There is no point.”

  Queenie speaks slowly and softly. “He’ll come. Tell him if he doesn’t, I will kill you. He is going to deposit $100,000,000 into my account, then I’ll tie all of you up and knock you out for 24 hours, after which I’ll text him your location because I’ll be long gone.”

  Sharp gasps of horrified surprise.

  “What? You mean you’ve been playing us?” says Olivia.

  “I wouldn’t call it that. Noah killed my brother King and just about killed my father Chin Chee Fok. More than family, we did business and those funds need to be replaced. Call it payback with interest.”

  “Your father was Chin Chee Fok?” asks a disbelieving Olivia.

  “And he survived?” says an even more incredulous Abby. “We saw him burning like a candle.”

  “My father is a survivor. I don’t care one bit about him, but I have absolute respect for him. And don’t bother looking for similarities. I’ve had enough plastic surgery to destroy any resemblance.”

  “How do we know you won’t kill us anyway?” asks Abby.

  “That’s the chance you’ll have to take.”

  “That’s not much assurance,” says Olivia.

  Queenie smiles. “I don’t kill you until I get my money. He doesn’t give me the money until I hand you over to him. Now who do you think has the upper hand?”

  ***

  Wangdan and Noah look up to the floor where they jumped from, scouring for any opportunities. “I was captured by some Russians who had taken some young girls … they helped me escape and I’m worried about them, Noah.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “In the Presidential Suite at the Seventh.”

  “I think we have other things to worry about now, Wangdan.”

  Wangdan points to the Skyscape floor. “They didn’t close the window.”

  Sam pipes up, “Yeah and look. The floor underneath is like hollow. There’s no wall right there. All you got to do is jump up and get the girls. Boom! Done.”

  Noah looks at Wangdan. “That’s a plan.”

  DING! Wangdan and Noah get simultaneous texts with identical messages from Olivia’s cell.

  Come back now. Your friends are allergic to death. Q

  Another cell phone ding. This time a picture of Olivia and Abby with Queenie holding a pecker at Olivia’s throat.

  Be prepared to wire transfer $100,000,000. Otherwise, don’t bother coming.

  Noah is conflicted. The policy of the foundation is not to capitulate to threats for ransom. Otherwise, everyone that had a pocketknife would grab a foundation board member and demand payment. Noah had been threatened before and as much as the staff wanted to pay up, rules were rules and somehow Noah had managed to escape.

  That’s what should apply here ... but this is Olivia and Abby. Noah and Wangdan look at each other.

  Trying to add a little levity to the grim reality, in a funny Chinese accent trying to sound black, Wangdan asks, “So what da plan, rubber band?”

  “We go big or we go home, but one thing we definitely don’t do is wave the white flag.”

  Sam and Walrus’ eyes light up—this is going to be better than any computer game around. Yes!

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “$100,000,000 is a lot of money. What about the rest of us?” asks Byron.

  “All the cards are now out in the open, so if I’m going to risk myself, I’m going to make it worth all of our whiles,” says Queenie, glaring at Olivia. “You guys are now in for a mil, Byron.”

  “Noah won’t do it. When your father kidnapped me, Noah told my father never to capitulate to terrorists. He knew that Chin would never let me live whether Garret gave him the ransom or not. Situation’s the same.” says Olivia calmly, lying through her teeth.

  “I’m not my father.” Queenie turns cold. “You know how stupid it was for Noah to leave?” says Queenie. “He could have gotten away with $25,000,000 and we could have all gone home. But no, he has to play Mr. Tough Guy Hero. Where is Tom Cruise when you need him?”

  Speak of the devil.

  “Probably saving the galaxy in Mission Impossible 943.” All turn to the door and see Noah standing there. “Hello.”

  “I’m glad you came to your senses, Noah,” says Queenie. “You can have her back in time for a nightcap if you wire the funds now. Then you can see how grateful she is.”

  “You can’t give in, Noah,” whimpers Olivia, only half meaning it.

  Noah looks at her sadly. “I’m not going to let you die, Olivia.”

  Noah turns to Queenie. “But you are not going to get 100,000,000. You’re not even going to get 2,000,000.” Noah says firmly, “The Chad Huang Foundation will pay you one dollar for the New Amsterdam.”

  “Jonny, take care of Abby, will you?” says Queenie.

  Noah stands still while Jonny takes out a knife and moves toward Abby.

  “Do something, Noah,” screams Olivia.

  Noah smirks. “What do you expect me to do? Kill myself?”

  ***

  “Kill myself?” is the cue Wangdan and Sam are waiting for. Both of them have cell phones on in conference call mode.

  Outside the boardroom window hidden in part by the building wall is Wangdan. When they entered the Vector again, Wangdan, Noah, Walrus and Sam quickly dispatched the security guards with two tosses of short daggers into the guards’ legs. Sam proudly displayed a twisting straight-arm martial arts punch on one guard and Walrus clobbered the other guard on the head with the heel of his father’s 9mm Service Pistol.

  Noah and Wangdan took the elevator to the fourteenth floor. As Sam pointed out, the open space to the outside made it easy for Wangdan to climb to the fifteenth floor and hide behind a pillar beside the open boardroom window while Noah took the elevator to the fifteen floor.

  Sam and Walrus are in the electrical room of the Vector Building where the Security Guard has taken them. The Security Guard was not terribly excited to do so but overcame his unwillingness as Walrus continued to play gunslinger, twirling his dad’s Glock, then aiming it at the guard’s head. Sam’s staring at the labyrinth of wires trying to figure out which are the right wires to cut.

  Hearing Noah’s cue, Sam throws his hands up.

  “I give up.” Sam cuts every wire in sight.

  ***

  Upstairs in Skyscape’s board room, the lights go out, bathing the room and the entire floor in darkness.

  There is mass confusion in the darkness

  “Get this off us. Get a generator. Get candles. Use your cell-phone flashlights,” screams Queenie.

  Turning on her cell phone light, Queenie discovers she has a canvas drop sheet covering her. She pulls it off to see that Jonny and Byron are doing the same. Even in the semi-darkness, you can see the blood drain from Queenie’s face.

  Noah, Olivia and Abby are no longer in the room.

  “Find them. Block the stairways,” hollers Queenie.

  Jonny and Byron run to the stairw
ay. Jonny opens the door but there is no sign of activity. They are not there.

  Queenie tries the elevator. With the power gone, the elevator is not moving.

  Bathrooms are checked—nobody.

  Nobody’s in the reception area.

  The trio go to Studio 5. The huge glass windows help illuminate some of the objects but nothing is moving. Piano, music stands, drums, microphones are all intact. No one is in any of the three isolation booths.

  There is one last place to check. Byron, Queenie and Jonny go to the equipment storage room.

  They open the door.

  Olivia and Abby are not there but something even better is – Jeff and Leonard are there with half a dozen members of the children’s choir. The ten-year-old choristers had quietly hidden when everybody else was leaving because they wanted to bask a little longer in the glow of the recording session. When the junior members of the phony Manhattan Investors Syndicate were excluded from the board room meeting, they explored the studio and equipment room and found the kids there. When Queenie, Byron and Jonny walked in, they were playing interactive games on their cell phones.

  Noah may not want to give up a ransom for any board members of the foundation but sacrificing six fourth graders who came to Skyscape for their first recording session? That’s one heck of a bargaining chip for Queenie.

  ***

  The moment the lights went out in the electrical room, the security guard swung in the direction of Walrus. Hand hit flesh and the guard heard a happy sound of metal hitting concrete—Walrus dropped the gun.

  The guard then grabbed Walrus around the neck. “Okay boys. There’s a new sheriff in town now. Turn on your cell phone lights.”

  Walrus turns his on but there’s no sign of Sam.

  “I will kill your buddy if you don’t come out,” says the guard.

  The guard does not see that Sam has snuck up behind him. Walrus sees him though. Sam points at the cell phone and motions for him to click it off, then makes another motion to attack.

  “Hey ugly,” says Sam.

  The guard tries to whip around but Walrus turns the cell phone light off and bashes the guard with it.

  The two boys jump on the guard and begin pummeling him, but the guard is ex-military and two young kids are not normally much of a match. Except Sam’s been mentored by Noah and gone to hell with him, chased by snakes. He’s dealt with situations a lot tougher than this and come out victorious.

  It is a free-for-all in midnight dark madness. Groans, yells, fists flying blindly ...

  “Back off, Walrus,” yells Sam.

  “Are you crazy man? This guy’ll kill you.”

  “Just do as I say,” says Sam. “Back off. Save yourself.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s your funeral.”

  Soon the fourteen-year-old one hundred and fifteen pound Sam is getting pounded by the king-sized security guard.

  Suddenly, “OOOW! OOOW!” The guard is screaming in incredible pain.

  “Your turn!” yells Sam.

  More yelling and screaming from the guard, diminishing to pained whimpering.

  Walrus and Sam flip on their cell phone flashlights to see the semi-conscious guard bleeding from his nose, his cheek and his hands. Sam still had the snippers he used to cut the electrical wires. The guard has also got contusions all over his body where Walrus’ dad’s Glock had bashed him.

  The two boys high-five it then jump on the guard and pound on him until he loses consciousness.

  “Let’s take off his clothes,” says Walrus.

  “Why?” asks Sam.

  “Because if the dude’s completely buck naked, I don’t think he’s going to be chasing anybody around, even if he’s good to go.”

  “You’re wicked, man,” laughs Sam.

  The boys remove all the guard’s clothes, then secure his arms behind his back with the guard’s own belt.

  Just before they leave, Sam says, “Another few more souvenirs.”

  Sam takes the snippers and snips a whole slew of random little cuts on the bottoms of the guard’s feet. There is not a lot of blood but when he tries to walk, it will be extremely painful for him to move.

  ***

  Wangdan, Noah, Olivia and Abby are on the fourteenth floor. When darkness struck, Wangdan leaped into the boardroom and threw the canvas drop sheets over Queenie, Byron and Jonny. He and Noah quietly and quickly guided Olivia and Abby through the open window and onto the ledge.

  Wangdan jumped to the ledge of the fourteenth floor and Noah lowered the girls to Wangdan’s awaiting arms. After Olivia and Abby were safe, Noah leapt down and all entered the fourteenth floor open area. The entire operation took under twelve seconds, just enough time to do everything before Queenie and her group could pull the canvas sheet off themselves and turn on their cell phones.

  Noah turns to Olivia. “Still liking New York?”

  “No other place in the world like it. But you gotta admit the idea of the New Amsterdam is a good one.”

  “It is fabulous. One way or another we’ve got to do it, not just here but everywhere,” agrees Noah.

  The door to the stairs opens. In walk Sam and Walrus holding their cell phones up with the flashlights on, carrying the security guard’s uniform.

  “I thought I told you to stay downstairs,” growls Noah.

  Sam rolls his eyes in exasperation “After all we did for you? No way Walrus and me are gonna miss the action.”

  “Just listen to me for once. Take the girls back downstairs. Wangdan and I’ll stay behind as a foil for any attack. Stick close to each other,” says Noah.

  “Killjoy,” mutters Sam.

  DING! Goes Noah’s cell phone.

  There is an embedded video and a text message.

  SEE THIS BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY RASH DECISIONS.

  Noah hits play.

  In the video, Queenie is with the six kids in the darkened recording studio. They stand against the window so there is enough light to make out their frightened faces.

  One of the little girls opens her mouth. She is so scared the words can barely stammer out. “This is a message for Noah. You had your chance and lost. The price has gone up to five hundred million. If you aren’t up here within half an hour, prepared to transfer the funds, I have to pick which one of my little friends gets killed first.”

  The camera zooms to Queenie. “See you soon.”

  ***

  After a moment of stunned silence, Noah speaks first. “Olivia, Abby, take Sam and Walrus downstairs. Wangdan, I need you. Will you stay?”

  “Of course,” says Wangdan firmly. He makes the Shaolin hand sign. “You need warriors.”

  “And I’m not leaving, Noah. I got us into this mess,” says Olivia.

  “Neither am I,” says Abby. “They’ve got the kids, so nobody’s going to go after Sam and Walrus.”

  “Hey man, I ain’t going anywhere, Noah,” says Walrus.

  “You need us, Noah,” says Sam. “Anyway, I got a plan, Noah. I’m the only one thin and small enough to get into the air ducts. I’m gonna sneak in and karate chop them to death.”

  “That attitude is what I’m afraid of, Sam. This isn’t PlayStation or X-Box.” Noah shakes his head grimly. “And no, I’m not jeopardizing any of you. No, I’m going to give the money to them. Those innocent kids shouldn’t have to suffer because of my stupidity.”

  “No, you’re not going to do that, Noah,” says Olivia vehemently. “They aren’t going to keep alive kids who can ID them. And what’s worse? Giving them money only makes them stronger. You think Queenie’s the type to stop, retire to a desert island and paint her toenails? No way. She will use the dough to expand, to destroy more lives.”

  Noah takes a breath. He knows she’s right.

  Half an hour. If they tell anybody, the kids are dead. They make a mistake, the kids are dead. They don’t wire the money, the kids are dead.

  Suddenly, a black policeman of about forty walks in out of
the shadows of darkness. “Hello, I’m Gaylord’s father. I found him here with my GPS tracker.

  The policeman takes the 9mm pistol out of Walrus’ hand and addresses Noah. “I heard everything and I think your problems are bigger than the whoopin’ I want to give my son ...

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “Your name is Gaylord?” howls Sam with laughter.

  “You’re not supposed to tell anybody my real name,” cries Walrus.

  “I like it. That’s why I gave it to you.”

  The cop offers his hand. “Willie Mays Potter.”

  “Say hey,” says Noah. He too tries to suppress laughter at discovering Walrus’ real name.

  “I like you. You’re a baseball fan,” beams the cop.

  ‘Say hey’ was a signature expression of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. The policeman turns serious. “I am here unofficially if you get my drift.”

  Noah nods. What Willie is saying is that he’s not tied to the restrictions that police officers on duty are hamstrung by. “Everything here is strictly off the record.”

  DING! A text message on Noah’s cell.

  WE ARE WAITING. TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES TO GO BEFORE ...

  “What do we do with that?” asks Wangdan.

  “Nothing,” says Noah. “We let them squirm.”

  “But they might hurt one of the kids,” says Abby.

  “Noah’s right,” says Willie Mays. “They gave you thirty minutes. Don’t be too anxious. You lose all leverage.”

  “Are you a hostage negotiator?” asks Olivia.

  “No. Traffic cop. But I watched the movie five times.”

  Just great.

  ***