Things went very much according to Brice’s plan. As Laura turned onto the access road, Derrick got a good shot on her right front tire, which caused her car to swerve in the road. Panicked, Laura pulled over to the curb as best she could.
Within twenty seconds, Brice had pulled up behind her. He got out and went over to the driver’s side of Laura’s car. “I saw what happened,” he said in a cheerful voice. “I think you hit a road hazard. Come around to the side and I will show you.”
Without waiting for a response, Brice went over to where the right front tire had been blown out. Unsuspecting, and unsure what else to do, Laura got out of her car and went over to where Brice was kneeling down on the ground.
“You must have hit a piece of metal, or some other sharp debris,” Brice explained. He was down on all fours looking under the wheel well. “You’re lucky this didn’t happen to you on the freeway. Here, take a look for yourself.”
Not really knowing what to look for, but not wanting to look stupid or foolish for not knowing anything about tires, Laura knelt down on her knees. She was casually dressed in an embroidered peasant blouse, tight fitting blue jeans, and a pair of light purple low cut Chuck Taylor sneakers.
“In order to see it, you have to look beyond the frame of the car,” Brice continued.
Laura got down on all fours and moved forward. “What exactly am I looking for?” she asked still uncertain.
“See that big hole in the side of the tire?” Brice said.
“Oh, yeah,” Laura replied, a little relieved. “Now what?”
At that moment Derrick had walked up and now held his silenced pistol at Laura’s head. “Freeze!” he ordered in a low mean voice. “Don’t move or make a sound. Do exactly as you are told or I will blow your head off!”
Laura turned her head a little in response. “I said freeze,” Derrick continued, cocking the gun with an ominous sounding click.
“You had better do what he says,” Brice added. “You won’t be hurt if you do everything you are told. Otherwise you will be dead! The choice is yours. Do you understand? Shake your head ‘yes’ if you do!”
Stunned and suddenly very afraid, Laura nodded her head up and down. “Good decision,” Brice told her. “Now slowly and carefully get up.” While Laura was getting up, Brice went over to his car and opened the door to the back seat.
“Get in the back and lie face down on the floor,” Brice ordered. With Derrick holding a gun at her back, Laura had no choice but to comply.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Laura said in a wavering voice as she got in the car.
“I told you that you wouldn’t be hurt if you immediately did everything you were told to do. Now lie face down and put your hands behind your back!” While Laura did that, Brice told Derrick, “Get her purse and the keys out of her car. Make sure you have her cell phone. Then lock the car up so it looks like she went for help, in case anyone notices the flat tire right away.”
While Derrick was locking Laura’s car, Brice took out a pair of handcuffs and secured Laura’s wrists behind her back. “Now turn and look at me,” he ordered.
When Laura did, he tore off a strip of duct tape from a roll he had in the car and taped her mouth with it. “Now lie face down again. Don’t move or make a sound and you will be unhurt. Try to resist or escape and your pretty face will become bloodied and bruised!”
Brice then closed the back door, and hurried around to the driver’s seat. A few seconds later, he was joined in the front seat by Derrick. “Keep an eye on her,” Brice ordered. “If she moves at all, you know what to do!” Although there really was nothing that Derrick could do from the front seat while they were driving on public roads in broad daylight, he said that mainly to scare Laura into total submission.
Brice’s threats were working. Laura continued to lie on the floor in the back of his car, petrified with fear, and restrained with handcuffs and tape gag. Brice drove the three of them to his hideaway in the abandoned business park at the end of San Anselmo Avenue. The first stage of his plan was a success.
Chapter 20
The Exchange
(Saturday Afternoon)
Brice turned onto San Anselmo Avenue and slowly drove down it at twenty miles per hour. He was careful not to draw any attention to himself or his older, black Dodge sedan. After driving through the residential part of San Anselmo Avenue, Brice pulled into the abandoned business park and pulled into a narrow driveway on the side of the old water company processing station. Brice and Derrick got out of the front seat and surveyed the area. Nobody was around. Parked between buildings, they couldn’t be seen by anyone outside the business park area, even if somebody was looking directly into the entrance at the end of San Anselmo Avenue.
Taking no chances, Laura was taken out of the car and brought inside the processing station. Once inside she was taken into a small storage room and made to sit in a chair. Laura’s handcuffs were readjusted so that they were now attached to the chair as well as her wrists behind her back.
“We have some things to do,” Brice told her as she glared back at him. “You will stay in here for the time being, and then we will come back and see about getting you released. If you try to struggle, you will hurt yourself. If you try to escape, we will hurt you.” Brice went up to Laura, put his right hand under her chin, and forced her to look up at him eye to eye. “Do you understand what I just told you?”
With her mouth still taped shut, Laura could only nod her head, although as soon as she did, she shook her head out of Brice’s grip. “I see you have some fight in you,” he said with a laugh. “Just don’t do anything stupid that will prevent you from being released shortly.” Brice then walked out of the room, shut the door, and padlocked it with a combination lock and hardware that he had installed just for this moment. Inside the storage room, tears welled up in Laura’s eyes as she realized how helpless she was to do anything about her situation.
Derrick and Brice now went to the next item in their list of things to do which was to lay out a false trail for the authorities to follow. Once they had Jason, they would take him to the underground cistern. To do that, all they had to do was walk out of the processing station, continue down a dozen yards to the dirt trail alongside the now abandoned culvert, and then proceed about fifty feet to the cement wall. When they reached the wall bordering the abandoned business park, they would climb over it, lift their prisoner Jason over it, and then walk along the outside of the wall to get to the hatch entrance to the cistern. At the same time, they wanted authorities to think that they had walked in the opposite direction with Jason under their control, and had taken off from there in a vehicle.
The day before, Brice and Derrick had walked along the false trail to scope it out and find a logical exit point. About a half mile down the trail, there was a trail that led up another residential street just before the culvert went underground again. So now there was one recent set of footprints. But Brice wanted to make sure there were fresh footprints, including a set that the authorities would think were Jason’s footprints.
To create the illusion, Brice had purchased a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers like Jason always wore. He now took off his boots and laced up the pair of sneakers. Derrick and he then walked the same trail. Brice made a point of walking through muddy areas, and places on the trail where there was a lot of dirt, so that there were plenty of distinctive footprints from his pair of Converse All Stars. He had Derrick hold onto him like he was a prisoner during the walk so that his footsteps would indicate tentative walking behavior. When they arrived at the residential street, Brice pulled off the sneakers, and put his boots on again, that he had brought along laced together around his neck.
Derrick had parked his car on the street near the exit placed. The two got inside and drove back to the processing station. Everything was now in place to set up the next step in their plot, getting Jason to exchange himself for Laura.
When Brice and Derrick arrived back at the processing pl
ant building, Brice immediately went to the storeroom and unlocked the padlock to check on Laura. She was still seated in the chair, where he had left her handcuffed. It did appear that she had struggled some, but had made no progress.
Brice walked over to Laura and pulled the strip of tape off her mouth. “You won’t need that gag anymore. It’s time to arrange for your release.” Brice left the storage room and got Laura’s cell phone. He turned on the power, searched for Jason’s cell phone number and dialed it.
Jason was in his room at home doing some work on the website for Daniel’s band when the phone rang. He was alone in the house, as his father was at his import/export store, and his mother was out shopping. “Hello, Babe,” Jason said with a smile when he picked up his cell phone and saw who was calling.
“Jason Hunter, listen and obey instantly what you are told to do if you ever want to see Laura alive again!” a low mean voice ordered. “You have exactly fifteen minutes from now to get to the carpool parking area for the West Valley freeway at the Blossom Ridge exit. Do not call anyone, especially the police, and come alone. If we see anyone else with you or nearby or hear of any police activity Laura will be killed!”
Shocked by what he was hearing, Jason still had the presence of mind to demand, “If you have Laura, I want to talk to her!”
“Understood. Here she is!” the voice replied. Brice held Laura’s cell phone up to her face and ear. “Talk to Jason!” he ordered.
“Jason, I have been kidnapped by these two men. Please do what it takes to get me released.”
“Are you hurt at all, Babe?” Jason quickly asked.
“No, I am okay so far,” Laura answered. Then the cell phone was taken away. Brice walked out of the storage room.
“Okay, you have talked to Laura. If you ever want to talk to her again, be where you are supposed to in exactly 13 minutes!” Brice then disconnected the call.
Jason knew he had to hurry, and he knew that he needed some backup, but he didn’t know how to arrange this and still meet the deadline imposed by Laura’s kidnappers. Quickly he grabbed the keys to his green Explorer and hurried to his car with his cell phone. He still could call and leave messages, even while he was driving to the carpool parking lot by the freeway. He knew his driving would be erratic and distracted but he had no choice. He fired up his SUV and headed toward the freeway.
His first call was to Daniel. There was no answer as most likely Daniel and Eric were at the Y for their normal Saturday morning workout. “Laura’s in real trouble. Someone has kidnapped her, and I have only a few minutes to get to the carpool lot at the West Valley Freeway and Blossom Ridge Road. If I have a chance to call you again I will. But I have a bad feeling about this. If I am taken by them also, get the network going and contact the police. I will call Captain Garcia next.”
Jason put a call into Captain Garcia. Again his call went to message. “Captain Garcia, this is Jason Hunter. Laura has been kidnapped, and I am under a severe deadline to rescue her. I couldn’t call the police directly, out of fear of any immediate police action being monitored. Right now I am directed to the carpool lot at the West Valley Freeway and Blossom Ridge Road, but that is all I know. If I don’t show up on time the kidnappers say they will kill her. Please follow up on this, but don’t interfere right now! I know you will do what is best.”
Jason’s third and final call was to his parents. He decided to call his home number so that he could tell both of them without hearing an argument to not go after Laura. “Mom and Dad,” his message began. “I am in the middle of a terrible nightmare. Kidnappers have grabbed Laura, and I only have a few minutes to get to a meeting place to rescue her. I will do everything in my power to bring her back home. I have already called Captain Garcia. If for some reason I am unable to return home to you, I want you both to know that I love you very much, and yeah I am doing another stupid thing, but I love Laura too, and feel I have no choice.”
Jason was on the West Valley Freeway and up ahead ¼ mile was the Blossom Ridge exit. If there were no further delays, he would just make it to the parking lot on time.
The traffic signal at the end of the exit seemed like an eternity, but finally it changed and Jason pulled into the car pool parking lot. A second after he pulled in, his cell phone rang.
“Cutting it pretty close, I see,” the same voice as Jason had heard earlier spoke. “I hope you didn’t do anything foolish like call 911. I am monitoring the police radio right now. If I hear any unusual activity I will put a bullet through Laura’s pretty face.”
“Don’t do anything foolish yourself,” Jason answered with determination in his voice. “If you touch a hair on her, I will commit all the resources of my entire foundation to tracking you down and doing the same to you! Now what is next?”
On his end of the conversation, Brice was almost baited into a response. Then he remembered that he didn’t want to reveal his real purpose in kidnapping Laura until he had Jason in his sights. So he replied, “You now have two minutes to get to the corner of Sacramento Boulevard and San Rafael Drive. Go across Blossom Ridge to get to Sacramento Boulevard.”
Jason and Brice went through two more stops and cell phone calls until Jason was directed onto San Anselmo Avenue and told to drive all the way to the end of the street and into the entrance to the abandoned industrial park. Although Jason was told to pull up into the little driveway by the abandoned water processing plant, he refused to do so, parking his Explorer in the middle of San Anselmo Avenue.
Jason’s cell phone rang again. “I told you to park in the driveway,” Brice told him.
“No way,” was Jason’s reply. “I want to see that Laura is safe and free to leave before I do another thing you ask!”
The cell phone call ended. Another twenty seconds or so went by until the door to the processing center opened and Laura came outside, flanked by Brice. Her wrists were still handcuffed, but in front of her. Jason got out of the Explorer but stayed on the driver’s side.
“Now you can see that Laura is perfectly safe,” Brice said.
“What do you want?” Jason asked. “I didn’t have time to get any ransom money.”
“It’s really quite simple,” Brice replied. “I just want a simple exchange, you for Laura. No money is required at all.”
“What do you want with me?” Jason asked. “I don’t know who you are.”
“Let’s just say I want to have a conversation with you, Jason. Now you have two minutes to make up your mind before I shoot Laura! What it is going to be?”
Jason thought about things for a minute and then replied, “Remove her handcuffs. Then I will know that you are setting her free.”
Brice removed the handcuffs and then ordered Jason, “Walk this way. For every step Laura takes toward you, you take one toward me. Any deviation from that and I start shooting!” He then pushed Laura in the direction of Jason. “Start walking!”
Laura began to walk toward Jason, while Jason began walking to her.
When the two met half way in between, Jason told Laura: “Get out of here as fast as you can and then get help from Captain Garcia and Daniel. The keys and my cell phone are in the Explorer, Laura. Don’t think about anything else but your own safety until you are out of here and back home. I love you, Babe!”
Laura got into the Explorer and followed Jason’s directions, but tears were streaming down her face as she realized the terrible implications of what had just happened. She floored the accelerator of the SUV and drove away.
Jason looked over at Brice who now had an automatic weapon aimed directly at him. He had no choice but to continue walking into danger. Just as he was getting close to the front door of the processing plant, Derrick, who had been watching and following Jason in Brice’s black Dodge sedan since he pulled into the carpool lot, snuck up behind Jason and slugged him with a baseball bat. Jason blacked out and fell to the ground unconscious.
Laura continued driving furiously and aimlessly. After she had traveled a mile, s
he realized that she was now safe from her kidnappers. She pulled over to the side of the road and put in a 911 call using Jason’s cell phone. She explained her situation, asked for Captain Garcia, and within a minute she was talking to him.
Captain Garcia was just in the process of assembling a SWAT team at the Blossom Ridge carpool lot that Jason had mentioned in his telephone message. Captain Garcia had gotten the message about fifteen minutes ago and had just arrived at the parking lot. He told Laura to drive there, and gave her directions since she was still somewhat disoriented as to her location.
When Laura arrived, Captain Garcia questioned her about where she had just come from. Although driving distractedly, she had made a point of noticing that the first street she had driven on was called San Anselmo Avenue. Garcia asked her to describe the car that the kidnappers used to bring her to San Anselmo Avenue. With the help of map tracking on his police car computer, he quickly figured out that the place where she was held had to have been the abandoned industrial park.
Garcia quickly put out a bulletin to the Highway Patrol about the black sedan, and had local police man the major intersections near San Anselmo Avenue. His greatest fear was that Jason and Laura’s kidnappers had already left the area. He sent the SWAT team into the industrial park and they quickly discovered the abandoned water processing plant building was the staging area the kidnappers used. There was no sign of anyone in the building. The back door was ajar, and eventually the SWAT team discovered the trail that Brice and Derrick had planted. But that was a dead end, of course, leading to nowhere.
Jason's Network Page 12
