Presently, Anderson finished loading a 10-round magazine into the Sig Sauer P226 that Ward had given him. He tapped the clip forcefully into place with the heel of his palm and racked the slide to seat a round in the firing chamber.
Anderson grabbed the stacked bundles of $20-dollar-bills, 25 in all, that were sitting on the table and stuffed them into the duffel bag that Ward gave him. He laid the Sig Sauer in the bag on top of the money.
Anderson started to do up his shirt, and the truss-like homemade-looking bullet-proof vest didn’t look nearly so visible or cumbersome once he finished with the last button. He pulled himself into a leather jacket, grabbed the duffel bag and exited the room into the dark of the night.
Derek was backlit by the glow of a flashlight as he squatted down next to the bound, blindfolded and gagged Jeannie who was stuffed sideways in the cement channel of an old trench drain in the floor of this pitch-black abandoned warehouse.
Jeannie was completely immobilized except for one unconstrained finger which extended up near her head where Derek had laid a pre-paid cell phone.
The cell phone answer key was visible and accessible but the rest of the buttons, including the numeric keypad and handset display had been sealed off by a small fashioned steel plate that was secured in place by duct tape. Derek was awfully proud of his ingenuity.
Jeannie whimpered but it was the tearless moan of someone so exhausted and distraught that sobs could no longer be summoned. She’d wet her pants several times. Derek had used a sports bottle to squirt some sustaining water and soda in her mouth a couple of times. He did pull her pants down at one point tying her up. He patted her vagina and told her she had a “nice pussy.” He also yanked her bra up and squeezed her breasts. She thrashed about at all of it, and it made the prospect of using her later as a sex slave for a couple of days after the ransom pickup that much more rousing to Derek. That is if everything went as planned. In any event, he just couldn’t resist getting a preview. He didn’t worry that if it got to Anderson asking Jeannie if she was “all right and did he (Derek) hurt you in any way?” that it might ruin the deal before he got the money, these gropes were indignities she would brush aside and leave unmentioned for the time being, overridden by her desire to just be rescued.
Derek quickly double-checked a small combination of components that he’d set up in the trench channel beside her head. It was crude to be sure but its most obvious workings consisted of a 9-volt battery-operated alarm clock, some wiring, a relay, fuses, a condom filled with lighter fluid and another condom full of gasoline.
“If your boyfriend plays his cards right and does as he’s told…” Derek spoke aloud as he looked over his homemade incendiary device. “…he’ll get you out of here in time. If not, well…”
Derek didn’t finish that thought, but did complete his inspection. He left out one important fact, though: he didn’t tell her he was lying.
Derek edged over and took off her blindfold.
Jeannie gasped, tried to keep her wits as she stared into Derek’s grinning, shadow-streaked face.
“All right, mama, lookin’ good.” Derek sighed, happy to be done with the main work portion of his evil deed. “You know this isn’t your phone…” Derek snarled, indicating the cell phone next to her head (which was obviously smaller than the phone Anderson bought for her: which Derek had destroyed anyway in order to not risk their being located by the phone’s emitted pings). “…now fuckin’ listen to me, I’ve tried this number so I know it works but don’t go tapping the answer button because the only number on there is the number for this phone…” Derek held out his other pre-paid phone. “…and if you fuckin’ call me before I get my ransom money I just might get pissed and not let you talk to your boyfriend. Got it?”
Jeannie nodded, wide-eyed with terror.
“I left you enough power to basically get a call or two.” Derek went on. “So don’t try to use it for light. Don’t try to call nobody! Don’t use it for nothing except to fuckin’ answer it when it rings! Got it?!!”
Jeannie nodded again.
Derek untied the gag, pulled it out of her mouth and tossed it aside.
“Now don’t fuckin’ scream…” Derek warned her. “…because, for one, you’re just gonna fuckin’ wear yourself out. And two, there’s no one to fuckin’ hear you. You got that?!!”
She was really frightened now and didn’t think she could get any more terrified.
Derek stood up, sneering, enjoying her fear. He leaned over, grabbed the edge of a large piece of plywood and stood it up, positioning it over the cavity in the floor where she was laid out.
Jeannie knew what was coming next, and uncontrollably, convulsively her head began to shake. “Oh, please, please…” She pleaded.
Derek was right about her begging. And he was right about advising her not to scream. There was no one to hear her here. Drug addicts and the homeless used to inhabit this space from time to time but, since all the windows were broken out, it was now far too open to the elements. Too decrepit and unsafe. Too filled with birdshit. It was also highly unlikely in the short span Derek needed to procure the ransom and finish his business with Anderson that anyone sober or sane enough would wander by and be able to rescue her. Unless someone actually walked in there and stood directly over the spot where she was located, they wouldn’t hear her, not with all the ambient noise of the city.
Also, Derek had stuffed old insulation and debris in the trench channel leading away from Jeannie’s position in both directions. This further baffled any noise she would make with the trench grates reinserted and the plywood over her. It also kept rodents out for the time being, but they would soon eat through or find a way around the rock and slag wool wadding of the insulation: that’s if it didn’t rain hard in the next half-hour, where then the runoff would probably drown her, or if…
“Relax, don’t use up all your air.” Derek grinned and issued these final instructions as he slid the plywood a few more inches, squaring it up over her. “Watch your fuckin’ head!”
And with that he released the edge of the plywood he was holding, letting it drop into place:
“No-o-o-o-o!!!” Jeannie’s blood-curdling scream was momentarily heard as the plywood slammed down like a heavy lid on a coffin, and then there was… silence.
CHAPTER 44
The open lot next to the Chicago River that Derek designated as their meeting place was near the infamous Bubbly Creek, a part of the inland waterway still toxic due to the mass disposal of animal organs and waste from the stockyards a hundred years earlier.
Derek drove the Impala into the large tract of crumbling concrete and swung around to the end of the expanse where the Ford Expedition sat waiting. He was there a little early. It was not quite ten o’clock. And if this was Anderson’s car, he expected him to be there ahead of time, too.
Derek rolled to a stop and idled the Impala opposite the Expedition, keeping about a hundred feet between the two cars. Was this Anderson? Could be some gangbangers, or mobsters or a security guard. But there wasn’t much to guard here. He chose this place because it was such an open stretch. There was no place to hide. Some overgrown weeds. That was it. He flashed his brights.
The Ford Expedition’s engine started and its high beams went on and stayed on.
Derek shielded his eyes from the glare, flashed his brights again to signal Anderson to shut his car lights off. But they remained illuminated.
Derek angrily opened his car door and stepped out… where he was immediately met from behind by Anderson who stuck the nozzle of the Sig Sauer’s gun barrel in the nape of Derek’s neck.
“Hold it right there!” Anderson hissed as he cocked back the hammer.
Derek immediately stiffened, and then sagged, putting his hands in the air. He didn’t know what Anderson was trying to pull by mounting this ambush but Derek wasn’t worried. Anderson had obviously decided to hit him hard and hit him fast, too, but Derek was sure he was still holding the high card, in what
would prove to be the winning hand.
“This ain’t gonna help you, man.” Derek sighed, careful not to shake his head too vigorously in his remonstration to Anderson’s actions: lest Anderson had an itchy trigger finger and popped off a pill preemptively.
Anderson dug the gun nozzle in deeper on Derek’s neck, patted about Derek’s midsection and removed the Browning semi-automatic from Derek’s waistband where it was hidden. Anderson took one step back and threw the Browning into the river where the sound of the splash made Derek groan.
The river, or rather its bank, was where Anderson hid waiting for Derek’s arrival. Fortunately, Roman had a remote starter installed in the Expedition and also had the high beam lights wired to turn on when the car was warming up so that he would have illumination walking out to his auto on those cold, dark icy winter mornings and evenings when he left his home or construction office. When Derek rolled up, Anderson immediately ran out of the shadows and moved right in behind the Impala and used the keychain remote on the Expedition to create the needed diversion.
“Turn the car off.” Anderson instructed Derek who carefully leaned into the Impala and turned the key in the ignition, killing the engine. “Take the keys out.” Anderson ordered him.
And Derek complied.
“Now open the trunk. Let’s go.” Anderson pressed the Sig Sauer fast again against Derek’s neck, and pushed him towards the rear of the Impala.
“She’s not here, man.” Derek moaned, irritated. “You think I’m stupid?”
“Yeah, I do.” Anderson answered matter-of-factly as he walked Derek to the trunk. “Open it.”
Derek inserted the key in the lock cylinder and opened the trunk.
Anderson’s hope soared and sank as the trunk lid lifted and the interior light went on but then it was clear that Jeannie was not there. The rear assembly leading to the back seat was dismantled. There were some random bolts around and a dirty blanket lying askew as if someone had possibly been in there awhile. But that was all.
“Where is she?!!” Anderson demanded as he pressed the tip of the gun barrel in hard on Derek making Derek’s whole neck and head go down.
“I told you, you’ll find out where she’s at after you give me the money.” Derek countered evenly.
“You tell me now!!!” Anderson exploded.
Derek was silent.
Anderson was also silent, for a moment, then he brought up the duffel bag which Derek hadn’t noticed yet but which was in Anderson’s other hand. Anderson used the bag to slam down the trunk lid.
Anderson allowed Derek to straighten and dropped the duffel bag on the trunk.
“Go ahead. Money’s inside.” Anderson motioned, keeping the gun pressed against Derek’s head.
Derek opened the bag and gazed hungrily at its contents. He dug into the bundles and brought several up to inspect, fanning through the bills with rapidly escalating excitement. There’s something about cash that gets people crazy. Especially people like Derek. His eyes glowed like a kid at Christmas.
“Now tell me!” Anderson commanded him, pushing the gun in firmly on Derek again.
“You know the deal…” Derek explained, dropping the bundles back in the bag. “…you can talk to her, but I’m not saying where she is until after I get away.”
Derek picked the duffel bag up possessively in one hand and raised his other hand non-threateningly as he looked benignly back at Anderson out of the corner of his eye.
Anderson had no intention of letting Derek walk away without leading him to Jeannie’s location, but he did want to confirm she was still alive, as quickly as possible.
“Call her!” Anderson spat, seething.
“Phone’s in the car.” Derek informed him and, keeping his hands up, let Anderson walk him back to his open car door where he flipped the duffel bag in on the front seat and extracted the cell phone from atop the dashboard.
Derek held the phone up and hit the call button, handed the phone back to Anderson who grabbed it urgently from his grip.
It was pitch black. Then the cell phone rang next to Jeannie’s head. The limited light that radiated from underneath the steel plate on the backlit handset keypad display was like a heaven-sent glow of deliverance. Jeannie, her cheeks tear-stained, tapped the answer key with her lone free finger, shaking with fear.
“Hello?!! Hello?!!” Jeannie answered frantically, a flurry of fiberglass insulation particles flying about her face, whipped up by her heavy breathing in the cramped tomblike space.
“Jeannie!” Anderson shouted into the phone, unsure at first if it was even her due to the raggedness of her tone. “Jeannie! Is that you?!!!”
“Oh, Noel, please help me!” Jeannie exclaimed, sighing with relief at the sound of his voice.
“Are you okay? Where are you?” Anderson asked quickly.
“I don’t know! He buried me someplace!” Jeannie breathlessly spoke into the mouthpiece of the phone, letting the words tumble out in a torrent. “I don’t know where I am! I can’t call for help! God, please come get me, please, please…”
“Jeannie! Just calm down!” Anderson carefully instructed her, modulating his voice reassuringly. “Calm down. You’re going to be all right, just stay calm. I’m going to come get you, but right now you have to do something, you have to hang up with me and call 9-1-1 on the phone you have there. The police will be able to-”
Derek sighed and shook his head scornfully while Anderson was saying this, expecting it.
“Noel, I can’t!” Jeannie cut Anderson off. “He taped up the phone, I can only answer it! I can’t call out!”
“What?” Anderson asked.
“I can’t call out on this phone!” Jeannie hysterically reiterated. “I can only answer! I can’t-”
“Jeannie, listen to me!” Anderson stopped her, thinking as fast as he could. “I’m going to hang up and call 9-1-1 myself. I’m going to give the police the number of the phone where you’re at. They’re going to find you. It might take a little longer-”
“Like fuckin’ forever!” Derek butted in, chuckling. “For her.”
Anderson stopped.
“You’re wasting all kinds of fucking time…” Derek complained, adding ominously. “…and she doesn’t have a whole lotta time.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?!!” Anderson confronted Derek, reminding him who was in control as he flicked the gun nozzle up higher against the back of Derek’s skull.
“You can call and give the cops her number and they’re gonna find her, in about an hour.” Derek commented, then revealed. “But I set a timer on a firebomb where your girlfriend is buried.”
Anderson’s expression turned horror-filled at this disclosure. Anderson knew, from his Army training, anyone with a modicum of skill could assemble a cheap detonator. He had feared Derek might have a clever way to make his plan failsafe in order to acquire the ransom. Did he underestimate him?
“It cost me twenty bucks for the alarm clock and other materials, but I’m not gonna charge you for that.” Derek continued. “Yeah, a guy I was locked up with a long time ago, he used to rob liquor stores downstate. You know, farm country shit. He’d blow up somethin’ on one side of town and when the cops responded there, he’d go do a hold up on the other side of town. It gave him a real nice head start to-”
“When did you set the timer for?!!” Anderson shouted after the shock of Derek’s revelation wore off.
“Let’s see…” Derek coolly laid out the details. “…it’s probably a little after ten now. She’s about a mile from here. I set the timer to go off for twenty minutes after ten. That gives you about five minutes to get there and five minutes to find her after you give me a five minutes head start to get away, so you’re cuttin’ it real fuckin’ close-”
“You’re going to tell me where she is or you’re going to go away for the rest of your fucking life!” Anderson dug the nozzle of the gun in further on Derek’s scalp.
“That scares me!” Derek mockingly respon
ded, unwavering.
“I’m going to kill you!” Anderson raged.
“Then stop talking about it and do it!” Derek countered.
Anderson quickly knew he was out of moves to get Derek to relent.
“Jeannie?” Anderson spoke urgently again into the mouthpiece of the phone.
“Yes?” Jeannie answered lifelessly.
“Did he get the engagement ring I got you?” Anderson asked keenly.
Derek’s eyes grew wide as he stiffened in reaction to this bit of information.
Anderson gave him another tap of the gun nozzle on his skull to let Derek know he wasn’t forgetting about him while he spoke to Jeannie.
“Noel, are you-” Jeannie whimpered into the phone, confused.
“The engagement ring…” Anderson continued deliberately. “…did he take it?”
“Engagement ring?” Jeannie asked, wondering if this were a cruelest joke ever played. “What are you…”
“Just calm down!” Anderson shouted into the phone, asking her again. “Did he get the ring?”
“Noel, what are you-” Jeannie cried.
“He didn’t?” Anderson cut her off. “You put it in your pocket when you went to work?” Anderson confirmed, knowing she always wore jeans to her job at Rave. “…The little pocket. So you still have it with you.”
“Noel, please!” Jeannie wept now in frustration. “What are-”
“Good girl!” Anderson shouted with relief as he brought the cell phone down and hit the button to end the call.
Jeannie heard the phone disconnect but she screamed into the mouthpiece in case her mind was playing tricks on her. “Hello!!!?? Hello!!!??” It was soon clear it was no figment of her imagination. She was all alone again.
“Here’s the deal…” Anderson hurriedly laid out his new proposal to Derek. “…you’ll get the hundred thousand dollars you wanted. That ring cost me fifty grand. You take me to her right now and you can have it all, the money, the ring, I’ll even throw in my car.”
Violence Page 33
