Leverage

by C. M. Sutter

  “I believe they wear khaki shorts and green polo shirts with the company name embroidered on the chest area.”

  Val grinned at the rest of us listening in. “Very good. Thanks so much for the information.”

  I had already found the name of the company and their location on my cell phone. It looked as though their main office was fifteen minutes west of the condo.

  “I’d like to interview the people who run that business. I can have Joe send a still shot of those guys to my cell phone. We need to verify if those two men are employees or not, but my gut says they aren’t.”

  Spelling stood. “I’ll go with you,”

  Maria walked through the open door and took a seat. “Forensics has dozens of prints to put into the system so they can run a comparison on any known felons. They said they did find prints at the back wall behind J.T.’s parking space. They’ll check those first.”

  “Good to hear,” I said.

  “What about more cameras?” Spelling asked.

  Impatience was written on Maria’s face. “The officers are still out, sir, and I haven’t heard any updates.”

  “All right. Why don’t the rest of you head back to the office? It sounds like Forensics will be leaving soon, and there’s no reason to stick around here. I guess we’ll have to lock this place up for now.”

  “Sir?”

  “Yep?” Spelling turned to Cam.

  Cam tipped his head toward the sliders. “What about Ralph?”

  “Shit, I forgot about the dog.”

  “I’ll take him home until J.T. gets back. He’ll be the household entertainment for a while. Kaden and Liza will love him.”

  Spelling slapped Cam’s back. “You’re a good agent, Cam, and a good friend. I just hope you don’t have the dog for too long. Go ahead and pack up Ralph and his gear and take him home. Get back to the office as soon as you can, though. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

  Chapter 10

  “Move to the back wall, sit down, and put your legs straight out.”

  J.T. spat his anguish. “Where’s my sister?”

  Anthony smirked. “She’s the least of your worries, Fed. Now do what I said unless you want a few broken ribs.” He looked to the right and chuckled. “Guess your pal isn’t hungry.”

  “He’s unconscious, moron. He’s lost a lot of blood and needs a doctor.”

  Anthony laughed. “Like that’s going to happen.”

  “So, you and that other thug are the hired guns for that coward who hides in the shadows, right? Who is he?”

  Anthony remained silent.

  “How am I supposed to eat when my hands are cuffed behind my back?”

  “Figure it out, genius. Dogs can eat without using their paws.”

  “That was almost funny. You really got me back on that one. Did my genius comment hurt your feelings this morning, big guy?”

  “I told you to sit down by the wall.” Anthony placed the tray on the floor, cracked his knuckles in his balled-up fist, and waited.

  J.T. took a seat at the wall.

  “Put your legs straight out like I said before.”

  “Why? Are you afraid of me?”

  “I have a hundred pounds on you and both of your guns. I think I’ll be fine.” Anthony unlocked the gate and slid the tray inside. Then he closed the gate and snapped the padlock over the latch. He clicked it and gave it a tug.

  “I need to piss.”

  “Sucks for you.” Anthony turned around and left the room.

  J.T. yelled, “I want to see my sister!”

  It took a few minutes to get his legs back under him in order to stand. J.T. got up, crossed the enclosure to the tray of food, and knelt next to it. He had to eat to keep up his strength. If there was any chance of escape, he’d need all the energy he could muster. He leaned over the tray and ate.

  Chapter 11

  Spelling pulled into the single-story, stand-alone building that housed Green Space Landscape Services. With the cruiser parked, we crossed the lot to the side fence and peeked over the railing. Work trucks in all sizes—some equipped with plastic barrels containing liquid fertilizer—filled the space behind the six-foot-high security fence, along with self-propelled and riding lawn mowers and cabinets of trimming equipment.

  After a scan of the area, we headed to the front door. Inside the building and just beyond three mismatched chairs pushed against the chair rail, a counter spread out in front of us. A sign hanging from two hooks on the back wall described the services Green Space offered along with the daily rates for renting equipment.

  The man behind the counter looked up from his computer screen and lowered his glasses. “Can I help you folks?”

  I gave him a thoughtful smile. “I sure hope so.” I pulled out my badge and showed it to the man. “We have a few questions for the manager.”

  “You’re looking at him, ma’am.”

  “Great, that was easy. So, to begin, I understand your company does the landscape services at Summerset Commons Condominiums. Is that correct?”

  “We sure do. Was there a problem with our work that needed the FBI’s assistance?” He shot me a quick grin.

  I chuckled. “I wouldn’t know that specifically, but what I do need to know is if your crew rotates their locations, or do the same people always work at the same places?”

  “Each crew is assigned their locations, and that’s where they work throughout the season. That way they know what needs to be done and what equipment to take with them.”

  Spelling spoke up. “Who usually works at Summerset Commons?”

  “Give me a second to check the schedule.” He stuck out his hand. “By the way, I’m Rick Dobbs.”

  We shook his hand, then he went back to tapping the computer’s keyboard.

  “Here we go. Manny Gomez, Lance Johnson, and Phil Hardy work on that side of town. Actually, they’re scheduled to do Summerset Commons right after lunch tomorrow. They have two of the larger complexes on Thursdays. In the morning it’s Blueberry Woods, and the afternoon is Summerset Commons.”

  I pulled out my cell phone from my pants pocket. “Would you mind taking a look at this picture and tell me if you know these men?”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  I brought up the picture from the text Joe had sent me, enlarged it on the screen, then turned my phone toward Rick. “Do these men work for you?”

  “Do you mind?” He reached for my phone.

  “Go ahead. Give it a long look, please.”

  Rick spread the picture with his fingers. “Well first off, if these are supposed to be workers from our company, they’re dressed completely wrong. Our guys don’t wear coveralls. They’re too hot, especially in summer. Maybe in fall during yard cleanup, but that would be the only time.” He enlarged the picture as wide as he could and stared at the men’s faces. “Hard to identify them from the side, but they don’t look like anybody I know.”

  Spelling took his turn. “And your crew never goes to Summerset Commons first, and never on Wednesdays?”

  “No, sir, they have a regular schedule they stick to.”

  Spelling pulled out his card and slid it across the counter. We shook Rick’s hand, thanked him for his time, and left.

  Back in the cruiser, Spelling asked me to call the day care center. We needed to search through their videos, going back several days.

  “Ask the young lady you spoke with if she’ll forward the footage to you from the camera that faces the condo. We need to go back a week.”

  “Not a problem. Those men had to be watching Julie and J.T. for a while to know what time they leave for work. I’m guessing those landscaping coveralls were just a ruse so they wouldn’t attract attention.”

  Spelling switched lanes and merged onto the freeway. “Call Joe too and see if he can capture facial recognition of those men with the image he has. If not, we’ll have a week of tapes to go through in hopes of getting those men to look directly at the camera.”

  I called Dee
Dee, told her what we needed, and gave her my email address. She said I should see the footage in my in-box by the time we got back to our office. Joe said he would let us know whether he had any luck getting a match with the FBI’s facial recognition software.

  Spelling pulled into the back parking lot of our office, and we exited the car. Inside the building, our group of agents were hard at work trying to come up with reasons Julie or J.T. might have been kidnapped. Val spoke with Adam Beres, Julie’s boss, and asked whether any disgruntled patients or staff members had a reason to be angry with Julie. According to Val, Mr. Beres said everyone loved Julie, and no complaint had been filed against her from the hospital staff or radiology patients.

  We took our seats in the conference room, and Spelling led the meeting.

  “J.T. has to be the target. We just have to figure out why. An FBI agent is far more likely to have enemies than a radiology technician. If it was about Julie, then why take J.T. too?”

  I sighed. “Okay, then let’s focus our energy on anybody who’s had a beef with J.T. The question is how far back do we go? Our current branch has only been in operation for a year. Prior to that, all of you were located at the downtown headquarters. J.T. was in the violent crimes division, wasn’t he?”

  Spelling leaned back in his chair and sucked in a deep breath. “Do you have any idea how many cases he worked on in the five years he was in that department?”

  “Boss?”

  “Go ahead, Jade. You’ve got the floor.”

  “Apparently these men, or somebody they work for, wants J.T. but took Julie along too for leverage. That says J.T. either knows, or has, something they want and they’ll get it through Julie. She’s in as much danger or even more than J.T. is.”

  Cam spoke up. “J.T. has been in our current division for a year, so what has changed, and why now?”

  Spelling rubbed his chin with a deep groan. “Okay, guys, let’s focus on one thing at a time. We have plenty of video footage to go through.” He jerked his chin toward me. “Jade, you want to see if the videos have arrived?”

  “Sure thing. I’ll be right back.”

  I took a right out the door and entered the second office on the left. Our division branch held only four offices for agents and the conference room. The remainder of the building consisted of common areas used by everyone. I turned in to the office that I shared with J.T. and stared at his empty desk.

  Where are you, partner? I hope to God we get you and Julie home safely.

  I jiggled the mouse and woke my computer. The newest email in my in-box was from Dee Dee. I opened it and saw a week of videos, each in its own Media Player folder.

  Thank you, Dee Dee. That’s exactly how we needed them sent.

  I forwarded a folder to each agent, starting with the first folder from last Wednesday morning. We’d have seven tapes to go through, and hopefully we’d see these men again on the footage, sooner rather than later.

  I tapped the print button and headed to the next room to retrieve copies of the still shots of the men in question. When I returned to the conference room, I passed a copy to each agent. “These are the men to watch for on the videos. I just sent a video link to each of your in-boxes.”

  Spelling pushed back his chair and rounded the conference table. “Okay, people, we have work to do. Once we find out who these thugs are in the green coveralls, we’ll be able to start putting the puzzle pieces together.” He smacked the doorframe and crossed the hallway to his office.

  Chapter 12

  “Nothing has popped up on the facial recognition of those guys, Jade. I’m not saying they aren’t in the database, but the software can’t hit enough markers to make an ID.”

  “Because of the side view?” I tapped my pen against my desk calendar.

  “That’s exactly why. You said you have a week of footage to go through?”

  “Yeah, we’re all working on that now. If any of us get a hit, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Okay, good luck. If you need anything else, let me know.”

  I clicked off the call with Joe and glanced at the time on the bottom corner of my computer monitor. J.T. and Julie had been missing for more than eight hours. I couldn’t let my mind go to that dark place. I had to focus on the video in front of me. Each of us started our tapes at the same time—daybreak—which was five thirty. We had been reviewing the footage for over an hour, and nobody had mentioned seeing those men yet.

  I leaned in when I noticed a gold Mercedes drive by the complex slower than most of the other traffic. I was sure I had seen it earlier, near the beginning of the tape. I jotted down the time that the vehicle passed the condo then moved the scrubber bar to the far left and started over. I hit Pause when I saw the same car at the forty-seven-minute mark. The black-tinted windows made it impossible to see anybody inside. I rose from my desk and went to inform my colleagues. Maria and Val were stationed in the office next to mine.

  I walked in. “See those thugs yet?”

  They both shook their heads.

  “I might have something, and I think we should all watch for it.” I turned and saw Cam behind me.

  He pointed over his shoulder as he walked in. “My office door was open. What do you have?”

  “Not sure if it’s related or not, but a gold Mercedes passed by the condo several times on the tape I’m viewing. It drove by slowly both times.”

  “Could you see the occupants?” Cam asked.

  “Blackout windows, so I couldn’t see a damn thing. I couldn’t pull the plates, either, since it was too far away. I wanted to give everyone a heads-up in case it comes across on your tapes.”

  Spelling walked in. “What day are you looking at?”

  “I have last Friday.”

  “That would give them plenty of time to case the complex. Let’s have a look at that vehicle so everyone knows what to watch for.”

  We entered my office and crowded around my computer. I hit the play button, and the Mercedes passed by in front of us. I pointed at the screen and paused the video. “That’s it right there. It passed at the forty-seven-minute mark and again a half hour later.”

  “Okay, people, we’re looking for two men with dark hair and large frames, both exceeding two hundred fifty pounds and well over six foot. They could be of Italian or Spanish descent. I’m leaning toward Italians, only because they’re normally taller than Mexicans. There’s a suspicious champagne-colored four-door Mercedes sedan, possibly an E-Class, trolling the neighborhood. Jade, go back to the video from this morning and see if that vehicle enters the footage at any time before Julie’s abduction. The rest of you watch for that car and keep searching for those two men.”

  Everyone returned to their offices to dig in, and I went back to my in-box. I scrolled down to the earlier email I had sent myself from the day care center and opened the video attachment again. I began the footage at daybreak, just like the others we had been watching. At six forty-seven, I hit the pause button and jumped from my chair. I yelled out into the hallway, “I have it. I’ve got that Mercedes on today’s video!”

  Spelling was the first one through the door. “Show me.”

  Everyone joined in and peered over my shoulder. “See, there it is again. It can’t be a coincidence, but we also can’t see where it went or if it parked.”

  Cam spoke up. “What happened to looking for more cameras? If anyone got out of that vehicle farther up the street and doubled back, we’re missing the west half of the complex. The camera from the day care center doesn’t reach that far.”

  “I’ll check with Carson,” Maria said. She walked out into the hallway to make the call.

  “The complex has a main front entrance, the garage overhead, and a back door at the center of the building that lines up with the front door. The back door only opens from the inside,” Spelling said.

  “That’s correct, sir. If one of those men sneaked in through the garage door before the overhead went down, he could have opened the back door f
or his partner.”

  “Did anyone from the police station test the overhead to see how long it stays open after a car pulls out?” Spelling asked.

  “They sure did. It stays open for seven seconds once the car passes the electronic eye. That would give anyone ample time to slip inside,” Cam said. “Oh, and a quick side note, the officers who went through the dumpsters said they didn’t find anything inside them except trash.”

  Spelling groaned. “Back to square one.”

  Moments later, Maria returned to my office. “Carson just got word that a three-story office building two blocks to the rear of the condo has security cameras around the perimeter of their entire structure. They’re reviewing the video from this morning and will call you as soon as they know something.”

  “Okay, good.” Spelling slapped his hands together. “Maybe we’ll get something after all. Let’s get back to work. I want these thugs identified before the sun goes down.”

  We continued reviewing the videos. By four thirty, we had come up with two more sightings of that Mercedes. Val had the best image of the blurry license plate and sent it over to Joe. With any luck, he’d be able to sharpen it and get us a legible number.

  At five o’clock, we broke for fifteen minutes to revive ourselves. I rose from my desk, rolled my neck, and stretched. My eyes burned from staring at the computer screen so intently. Tonight’s dinner would consist of a cellophane-wrapped sandwich from the vending machine, a bag of chips, and strong coffee. I started a fresh twelve-cup pot, knowing we would all be drinking it. While the coffee brewed, I made a quick call to my sister, Amber. She was probably on her way home.

  Amber picked up immediately. “Hey, Jade. Will you be home for dinner?”

  Her question reminded me that I hadn’t informed her of J.T. and Julie’s disappearance. The day had been so hectic and nonstop, it hadn’t even occurred to me to let her know.

  “I’m so sorry I didn’t text you, Amber. We’ve barely taken a breath today.”

  “That sounds ominous. What happened?”

  “It’s bad. J.T. and his sister, Julie, are missing. Kidnapped, actually, and we’ve been on this all day with no substantial leads.”