by John Charles
Hank put a hand on Aaron's back and whispered, "Kristoff will receive as much help as he needs to get both his body and mind back in order. As for Ethan, I have no idea. Akerheart is updating the police right now."
Aaron looked to Hank, nodded, and said, "I'll be okay. It was just the shock of seeing him like that. Hank, I've never seen anything like that before, I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about. As I said, I'd be wondering what was wrong with you if you didn't react that way. But you need to keep it together in front of Kristoff. Can you do that?" asked Hank in his fatherly voice.
Aaron said he could, and followed Hank into hospital. They found Natalie sitting in a folding chair outside Kristoff's room. She stood when Hank and Aaron approached. "Doctors said he was really beaten. They were able to repair most of his internal injuries, but stressed that he would have died if we hadn't found him when we did."
"Is he awake yet?" asked Hank.
"Not yet. A duty nurse is in there with him. I came out a minute ago to catch my breath. Who would do that to someone just to deliver a message, Hank?"
He shook his head as if to say he didn't know. The door opened and the duty nurse exited the room. "Is he awake yet," asked Hank.
"He is just coming around. He is groggy and will not remember much for a little while. I am going to get some water and ice for him. You can go in, but remember he has been through a lot."
The three of them entered the room to find Kristoff's left arm and right leg in casts. He had bandages on his face and head. A sheet covered his body. Hank walked to the bed, lifted the sheet and looked at Kristoff's chest. There were several large pads taped to the area where he was branded.
Just as he was replacing the sheet, the nurse walked in. "He will need quite a lot of plastic surgery to repair that and the other wounds he received. He's in for a long haul," she said as she placed a container of water, bowl of ice, spoon and straw on the bedside table. "Let him have small spoons of ice to moisten his mouth. If he can swallow, you can give him a sip of water, but be careful, only small sips," she said looking directly at Aaron as if she knew he would be the one taking care of Kristoff. "I'll be at my station. Please ring the call button when he begins to stir." She looked at her watch and said, "Which should be in short order. He won't be in too much pain considering the meds he has in his system. That will also make him seem like he is drunk, so please understand he may not be able to answer many of your questions."
Kristoff continued to stir and moan in his sleep. About a half hour later, he began to awaken. Aaron pressed the call button to let the nurse know Kristoff was beginning to awaken. The nurse took his vitals and moved away from the bed saying, "be gentle with him."
Kristoff tried to open his eyes, but they were badly bruised. He did manage to open one enough to see Aaron by his side. Aaron moved in to give his friend some ice chips to moisten his throat. When Aaron gave him the spoon of ice, a small smile showed on Kristoff's face, only to be interrupted by a groan of pain. "Take it easy. You've been through a lot and the doctors say you need to rest." Aaron spooned another small portion of ice chips into Kristoff's mouth.
A few minutes later, Kristoff realized Hank and Natalie were in the room with him. "Ethan?" he whispered, in an extremely raspy voice, while looking at Hank.
Hank moved closer and said in as gentle a voice as possible, "He is nowhere to be found. Can you give us something to work with?"
Kristoff closed his eyes and shuddered as if he were crying. When he opened his one eye again he whispered, "They hit the car with something large. The windscreen shattered. I swerved not knowing what happened. There were several trucks blocking the road so I couldn't escape." He coughed, winced at the pain, and sought Aaron for more ice.
"I tried to keep them away from Ethan, but the top was down. Two thugs reached in, unbuckled his seat belt and literally picked him out of the car, while two others held me down. Being in the car really stopped me cold."
Hank looked from Kristoff to Natalie then back to Kristoff again. "What can you tell us about the men?"
Kristoff whispered they wore ski masks to cover their faces, and didn't talk at all. "There were four guys by the car and two more driving the trucks. Hank, this wasn't a coincidence. They knew our route and knew where on the road to stop us."
Hank shook his head in agreement, knowing that the traffic cameras were not live in that area. A few miles closer to London center and they would have it all on video. "Aaron found that when he tracked the car. What happened to your phone?"
Kristoff looked to Aaron as if to say good job, then answered, "Once they had Ethan in one truck, they pulled me out of the car and dragged me to the other truck. I tried to overpower them, but now all four guys were on me. They hog tied me, gagged me, and cut off my clothes. They put a blind fold over my face and placed some type of headphones over my head, too. The last thing I heard was Ethan screaming for help." Kristoff shuddered again as he remembered the scene. "I could only hear a soft hissing sound. I knew we were driving, but had no idea where we were going. From the time I'd say we traveled about forty miles."
Aaron had his laptop out and was pulling up area maps. He drew circles around the spot where they found Kristoff's car at what he felt would be the right driving distance. He showed the screen to Hank and Natalie, then to Kristoff. I doubt they went south, so that leaves this region," he said pointing to the north quadrant on the screen."
Kristoff was showing both pain and exhaustion. Hank had one more question to ask. "Did they say why they were beating you?"
Kristoff closed his eyes and said, "They chained my arms and legs. Then pulled the chains on my arms up and fastened my legs to the floor. I couldn't move. Then one guy started asking questions about the Tamerons, mostly about Robert. When I didn't answer the others hit me. I was still blindfolded so I had no idea what they were using, nor when another blow would come." Kristoff stopped talking and openly cried. Tears flowed from his eyes and his body shuddered as if he was reliving the torture.
"Then they started burning me. I don't know what they used on my chest, but they would not let up." Kristoff turned his face away from everyone. "I could smell my skin as they burned me. They continued to ask questions about the Tamerons." He looked directly at Hank and said, "I didn't know what to do. I told them that I had no answers for their questions. I really didn't, but that didn't stop them. I have no idea how long I was strung up. They beat me with something hard, like baseball bats or pipes. I blacked out. The next thing I remember was waking up in this room and seeing Aaron."
Hank started to move from the bed when Kristoff opened his eyes again. "Hank, this has something to do with Robert. That much I am sure of, but I have no idea what they want."
The nurse said they should let Kristoff get some rest. "You can come back later if necessary."
Natalie looked from Kristoff to Hank and said, "I can stay if you want."
"I arranged for round the clock guards. One of our team should be outside by now." As they exited Kristoff's room, they saw an Andrews' security guard standing next to the door. He looked to Hank and asked, "Anything in particular you want me to do while I'm here, sir?"
"Yeah, keep everyone who doesn’t need to be in that room out. Whenever someone enters, you go with him, no matter what they say. Keep him quiet and don't let anyone ask him questions," answered Hank. The guard nodded his understanding.
Hank turned from the guard to find Aaron sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around his legs. His head lay on his bent knees and it was obvious he was severely distressed. When he saw how this affected Aaron, Hank went to his side. "I know this is difficult Aaron. You held it together in the room and were an asset to the team. I am proud of you. Do you think you can stand?" he said placing his arms around Aaron to help him up.
Aaron and Natalie walked with Hank to the car in silence.
Once in the car Hank said, "Aaron I want everything you can give me on those moving tracking chips. And I want you to
hack Ethan's phone. Find out what he was doing from the time he arrived here until now."
He then looked at Natalie. "Contact our support staff and arrange for the best psychological help possible for Kristoff. He is going to need it. I want people on this case immediately. Oh and Natalie, I want everything you can find on Robert, too."
Chapter 7
"Robert!" yelled Hank into the phone. "This was no coincidence. The thugs interrogated Kristoff about you as if they knew you or something serious about you. I dare say Ethan will be in for quite a bit of trouble if we don't figure this out." He listened as Robert spoke, but became irritated again. "I want you and Gabi in my office. If you really care for Ethan, you will help us find the connection." He listened to Robert's response then closed the call. Turning his chair to face the window, he put his fingers together and whispered, "We'll find you Ethan. Just hang on."
Aaron had followed each of the GPS tracking chips for several hours. It seemed as if they remained close to where they were originally found, but were in continuous movement. "What are you planning?" asked Aaron as he finished plotting each chip on a map he handed to Robins, per Hank's request.
"We have a team of men ready to investigate each one of them. Each team has an Andrews' guy and a cop. They will find out who has the clothing and how they got it. If they spot anything off kilter, they'll call for backup." Robins left with his police partner to find the chip assigned to him.
Aaron pulled maps of the areas within forty miles from where they found Kristoff's car but had no idea what to look for. Maps in hand, he marched to the conference room to meet with Hank and Natalie. He was surprised to see Akerheart sitting in the room. "I figured you'd be out on chip detail too."
"Hank wants me here, just in case something happens. Frankly, I'd rather be out there doing something productive. I hate sitting around waiting for the other shoe to fall." When Hank walked in, they knew he was angry.
"In all the years I spent with MI5, I've never seen a case this screwed up. Robert says he has no idea why anyone would want to kidnap his son. Gabi is a mess and can't even think, never mind come up with anything to help." He looked from one to the next person sitting at the table. "What have you found out, Natalie?"
She had researched Robert's background from his teens until now. Using the data she gathered, she developed a timeline chart with many of the details. With the chart spread out on the conference table, she started telling Robert's story.
Though Robert was born to relatively wealthy parents, he was not spoiled. He had part time jobs while in high school and college. His family lived in a modest colonial near Denver, Colorado. He loved to ski and often made his school holidays into skiing vacations.
In college, Robert studied geology. His father had always encouraged his sister and him to study what they felt important. In his junior year in college, Robert stumbled onto a technique for injecting water into dry oil wells to float the remaining oil to the surface. The practice was well known and often used to pull the last amounts of oil from existing wells.
Hydraulic Fracturing, known as Fracking was in its infancy at that time, and even then was very controversial. When Fracking a well, water was forced into the well under extreme pressure. A ram was used to "Pound" the pressurized water, which would fracture the surrounding rock. That fractured rock released more oil. The practice is used today to increase the productivity of natural gas wells.
But the practice has been proven to increase the risk of earthquakes from the fractured rock. Robert had the idea to use highly pressurized steam in lieu of water. The steam would naturally seep into the surrounding rock and float the oil out without the need for fracturing the rock.
He wrote the experiment up and his father funded research to prove his theory. When the research showed the concept had merit, he applied for a patent. By the time he graduated, Robert had a working system and orders from over a dozen oil companies. "He was a millionaire by twenty one and his company was earning billions of dollars a year by the time he turned twenty five." Natalie looked to each of her teammates as she sat down.
"So who hates him enough to do this?" asked Akerheart.
"That's just it," said Natalie. "I've not found any negative reports on him nor on his company. He is loved wherever he goes. People think his process is wonderful since it gets more oil and gas from wells without causing problems."
Hank looked at the clock near the door and said, "Listen, its midnight and we are all tired. Robert said he and Gabi would be here first thing in the morning. So let's get some rest and pick this up at six thirty. I probably won't get much sleep but I need to see my wife and kids."
Everyone was grateful for his suggestion and quietly left the room. As Aaron was near the door, Akerheart said, "I have to pass near your home anyway, so let me drive you. You'll be in bed before the late train arrives." Aaron was in no mood to argue so he readily agreed.
Morning came too fast for all of them. Aaron was at his desk by 6:30 as was Natalie and Akerheart. Hank was in before 6. He asked the team to meet in the conference room and pick up where they left off. Just as they sat, Hank's mobile rang. Looking at the caller ID, he saw it was Robert.
"I was hoping you and Gabi would be here by now," he said when he answered the call. As he listened, everyone saw the change in his face and wondered if something had happened to Ethan during the night. "Okay, I want you here now. Don't do anything to your phone, and don't erase the voicemail. One of my team will drive you here, don't drive yourself. Understand?"
Everyone waited for Hank to answer the unvoiced question. "Robert's mobile rang while he was in the shower. Gabi tried to answer but it switched to voice mail before she could. The voice mail: well you'll hear it in a few minutes."
Natalie finished her presentation while they waited. Robert traveled around the world supervising his oil release process. He lived for months at a time in camps or towns near oil wells. His longest stint was for three years in Saudi Arabia under the hospitality of the Saudi government. His company had been hired to release oil from over a dozen wells. "Apparently OPEC thinks they need the money from more oil," she said.
His company was so successful that it was purchased two years ago by British Petroleum, thus his move to London. Ethan lived with his sister to finish out his senior year at high school. He arrived here 45 days ago. "I don't see any reason why Ethan or Robert is being targeted," said Natalie as she finished her presentation.
"Aaron, were you able to hack Ethan's phone?" asked Hank, but was interrupted as Robert and Gabi came into the room. Robert was distressed and Gabi was near hysterical. Natalie rushed to help Gabi sit near her.
Without discussion, Hank told Robert to play the voice mail on speaker. It was short, only 23 words but clear in direction.
Be on the lookout for an email from scorned and abandoned at gmail dot com. Be sure you follow the instructions it contains.
"Aaron," said Hank, "I want to know where that call came from."
"If this were a land line we'd have to track it live, but it's a cell phone so there are systems in place for this exact purpose. Robert may I have your phone for a few minutes, please." Robert gave Aaron his phone and watched as Aaron left the room.
"What can he do now? How can he trace the caller?" asked Gabi through tears.
"He is quite good at his job, so give him a chance," said Hank. "Have you two eaten anything this morning?" he asked Robert and Gabi. When both shook their heads no, he said, "Natalie would you please take them to the lunch room and find them something to eat. I bet they haven't had any decent food since this started."
Natalie knew Hank was stalling. He didn't want a confrontation with either of them and didn't want their questions either. "Come on; let's get you something to eat and maybe some tea as well." She led them out of the conference room without argument.
A few minutes later, Aaron appeared with Robert's phone. "The call came from a phone booth in Cairo," he said as he passed Robert's phone to Hank.
"But that's not the important thing right now."
Hank and Akerheart looked at him for more. "The email just arrived. Robert's phone beeped as I was working with the mobile carrier."
Hank called the lunchroom and asked Natalie to bring Robert and Gabi back immediately. When they arrived Hank said, "The email just arrived. Robert, give Aaron the details to your account so he can open the email here."
Robert and Aaron worked for a few minutes. The screen on the wall lighted with the email. "It only has a link in it," said Robert. "What does that mean?"
Without waiting for instructions, Aaron clicked the link. The screen changed to a video frame. There was Ethan. He was naked, feet spread wide and chained to hooks in the floor. His arms spread just as wide and suspended by chains coming from above his head. Aaron clicked the play button.
Everyone could hear a voice to Ethan's side, "Tell your daddy what we talked about. Tell him!" shouted the man.
"Daddy," Ethan whispered. He was scared and appeared to be hyperventilating. The off screen voice told him to continue. "Daddy, he said he has plans for me. I don't know what they are, but he says there is nothing you can do to stop him."
"And what else?" yelled the voice. Suddenly a hand slapped Ethan in the face hard enough for him to bounce in his restraints.
Ethan was now crying and definitely hyperventilating. He looked into the camera and said, "Dad, he said if you bring in the police he will kill me and post the video on the net."
"How will you die boy?" asked the off camera voice.
"He said if you think Kristoff was bad, you won't want to see what happens to me. He said it will be a very slow, painful death."
The video ended and the screen went black.
Chapter 8
The video went black and Gabi fainted. Natalie and Aaron were at her side immediately. Akerheart called dispatch and asked if any of their EMTs were in the building. Within a minute two trained EMTs ran into the conference room with their kits.
