CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The following morning
“GOOD MORNING, Marcus,” Jennifer said, cheerfully. She had just emerged from the house and appeared to be ready for some sort of aquatic activity. A sleeveless blue wet suit was complimented by a dry-jacket slung over her right shoulder. There was a slight breeze in the air and Jennifer presumed it might be a little cooler out on the water.
“You’re up early today.” Marcus replied. He was sitting at a table on the outdoor deck, enjoying his morning coffee.
Jennifer finished a sip of the same from a bright yellow travel mug. “I’m heading out to do some kayaking.”
“You certainly have a nice day for it. I’ll let your father know when he gets back.”
“I’ll send him a text,” Jennifer stated, as she hopped down several steps from the deck to the lawn below. She raised her right hand in the air, motioning to Marcus that she was also wearing her wrist phone.
Marcus glanced at his own new-fangled device. Another damn piece of gear to figure out, he lamented. He hoped its voice-activated applications were less complicated than his cell phone. After shaking his head, Jennifer became the object of his concern. “Stay close-by, will you? Where I can still see you.”
“Yes, Dad,” Jennifer replied, sarcastically. She continued walking towards the dock.
“Listen here, young lady,” Marcus yelled. “I’m already in enough trouble with your father over that swimsuit of yours.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jennifer mumbled.
Marcus still regretted the comments he made while shopping with Jennifer in Alexandria Bay. “All I said,” he shouted, “was that the flags were a nice choice.” With every word his tone descended as much in volume as it did in conviction.
After putting on her windbreaker, Jennifer pulled back her right sleeve in order to expose the phone on her wrist. Still walking, she began sending a verbal text to her father. “I’m just going for a paddle on the river, Dad,” she narrated into the rectangular device. She knew that Lionel had joined her father for his early morning run.
Simon continued jogging and raised his left hand toward his ear. Jennifer’s voice still resonated with sarcasm. “Don’t worry, Father Number Three has already asked me not to venture too far.”
Lionel smiled at Simon and seemed pleased by the close familial reference. He correctly presumed that he was number two.
Jennifer waved at Mrs. Shields. She was off to the left, near a massive weeping willow and a couple of tall spruce trees. She had already started her Friday routine by providing a couple hours of maintenance to the ground’s perimeter gardens.
Lionel and Simon continued jogging along the paved pathway that ran on the north side and parallel to the Thousand Islands Parkway. They were still heading east and would soon turn around at the two and a half kilometre mark, which Simon had previously noted. “I’ll be another fifteen to twenty before I get back,” Simon said, his voice echoing his stride.
Marcus went into the house and freshened up his coffee. He was casually dressed in sweat pants, a t-shirt, and a pair of white running shoes. When he saw the date squares on the counter that Mrs. Shields had brought over yesterday, he couldn’t help himself. He placed two on a plate and returned to the deck. He sat down and exchanged a wave with Jennifer. By this time, she was paddling away from the shore in her kayak.
Sections of the dock ran both parallel and perpendicular to the shoreline. Moored there were a thirty-three-and-a-half foot cabin cruiser and two rough water sea-doos. An additional shed, off to the right, stored much of the gear required for water sports.
Marcus’s attention was soon drawn to a bright yellow Sea-doo that approached Jennifer. It slowed and then came alongside. A protective father number three grabbed his binoculars and quickly realized that it was one of the young male neighbours he had seen in the last couple of days. He couldn’t blame the guy for wanting to show off. Even with her life-vest and ball cap, Jennifer’s smile beamed brightly. Marcus turned his attention back to his crumbly treat and eventually watched the young man zoom off.
Jennifer was testing the limits of compliance when Simon and his brother turned for home. Lionel appeared strangely energetic, even light on his feet. He managed to open up a little to Simon as they jogged back.
A reference to last night’s conversation with Marcus became the entry point to a path toward better understanding. Simon was eager to help, offer anything he could, after understanding why his brother’s stride seemed less burdened. They were half-way back to the house, however, when a car pulled over and kept pace with them. Like the pair of joggers, the late model Mustang convertible was heading in a westerly direction.
“Hey,” a female voice yelled, from the passenger seat. “Aren’t you that famous Halo guy?” The young woman enthusiastically leaned out of the car. Her neon-blue bikini top spoke as provocatively as her words. “Didn’t you save the world or something?”
Simon only waved, but the attractive young woman immediately caught Lionel’s eye. He then noticed the car’s driver; she was wearing a flattering bikini as well. The car slowed accordingly with Lionel’s desire to engage them in conversation. He grabbed his older brother’s arm. Simon slowed, then reluctantly stopped.
“I didn’t know you lived around here,” the blonde girl said.
“We’re just up the road, on the water side,” Lionel eagerly announced.
The driver offered a coy expression to the one more eager to play along. “Have you guys got a boat?”
The girl in the passenger seat noticed that he was smiling more than the other. “We were hoping to spend some time on the river today.”
“It’s up to you, Lionel,” Simon stated. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll keep going.”
Just then the girl in the passenger seat got out of the car. Lionel noticed her athletically toned body right away. “Aww, come on,” she pleaded, “can’t we get an autograph or something?”
But before the two female admirers could close the short distance between the road and the pathway, Simon’s wrist phone lit up. It was Sophia. “Simon,” she stated. Concern seemed evident in her tone. “Jennifer’s wrist phone has been underwater for too long. Its status is inactive. Can you confirm she’s ok?”
“Of course,” he replied, looking at his phone. In turn, he asked: “Jennifer, is everything alright?”
The four of them stood still, hearing no response.
“Jennifer?” Simon called, again.
Back at the house, Marcus heard a scream. He dropped his coffee mug into kitchen sink and then strained a look through the window above. The alarm seemed to be coming from somewhere off to the left.
His name resounded like never before. “Marcus!” Mrs. Shields screamed.
He bolted out onto the deck and saw her running toward the house. “My God, Marcus,” she wailed. “Someone is taking Jennifer!”
“Simon!” Marcus yelled into his wrist phone.
Simon’s eyes went wide. “What’s wrong?” he barked. His legs felt a surge of adrenaline.
Marcus honed in a boat alongside Jennifer’s kayak as the sound of two successive bullets whistled past Mrs. Shields. They splintered the house’s stone exterior before she finally found safety behind a large tree. Only ten metres lay between her and the safety of the house.
“Be careful, Marcus,” she pleaded, before watching him sprint toward the dock. By this time Jennifer was being dragged kicking and screaming over the boat’s starboard side.
“Get back here, Simon!” Marcus yelled at his wrist.
Mrs. Shields made a run for the house. The gun was turned on her again. Shots were fired, but she made it safely inside.
Simon and Lionel were already in flight, running as fast as possible. They were nearly half a kilometre away, but the distance began to close. With Lionel’s prosthetic leg preforming seamlessly in parallel with his other, he and Simon ran hard and paid little attention to the convertible they left behind.
Ag
ain, Marcus felt and heard the telltale signs of bullets being fired through a silencer. He needed to get to the boat, to launch a pursuit.
As all three men ran, Sophia announced: “I’ve accessed the local 911 system. I’ve also given the three of you an open com link. Simon, I’ve directed a call to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
“Who am I speaking with?” Simon asked, running hard.
“This is the RCMP. My name is Inspector Mark Hansen. I understand a member of your family is becoming a victim of a crime.”
“My daughter is being kidnapped!” Simon roared. “Marcus!” he yelled. “What’s happening?”
Just then a bullet ripped through Marcus’s right thigh. His leg gave out, and he careened into the grass. He was still twenty metres from the dock.
He grimaced in pain, but managed to look up at the boat. Its engines lit up, only Jennifer’s empty kayak remained. “457985,” he yelled. “457985,” he repeated. Those are the only numbers I could make out.” He staggered to his feet and began to drag his injured leg. “They’re heading east,” he hollered. “It’s a small cabin cruiser and they’re heading east,” he repeated, gasping.
With one hand on his bleeding wound, he hobbled forward. “I’m going after them.”
Marcus first went to the shed adjacent to the dock. He had to get the keys to one of the Sea-doos. Realizing he didn’t know the code to
activate the starting system on Simon’s powerful cruiser, he opted for one of the other watercrafts. After untying the first Sea-doo, he wrestled his bloody leg over the seat.
Simon, Lionel and Marcus each heard the same question coming from Inspector Hansen. “Did I hear that correctly … has this become a water pursuit?”
“It has now!” Marcus yelled, before taking off.
When Simon and Lionel burst through the entryway gate, Marcus was already speeding out over the water, going full-tilt in the direction the boat sped away. The pain in his leg caused him to grimace, but he stood upright as much as he could in order to scan the water ahead. Being the Friday before America’s July 4th weekend, the river was astonishingly busy. Marcus had to contend with crafts of all sizes, sail boats as well, even a freighter heading east up the seaway. He quickly surmised that such a large vessel might provide the necessary cover to evade detection from their side of the river.
“Marcus where are you?” Simon yelled. He keyed in his boat’s
ignition code.
Sophia quickly interjected with the appropriate GPS coordinates from Marcus’s phone. “He’s heading in an easterly direction,” she stated. “I’ve just downloaded a search pattern to yours and Lionel’s phones. Verbal instructions will enable you to keep your eyes on the water.”
With Simon’s dual engines roaring to life, Lionel helped to cast off its mooring ropes. “Have you got access to anything in the air, Inspector?” Simon asked, almost yelling.
“We should have something taking off shortly, Mr. Taylor.”
Simon’s pushed his helm’s accelerator fully forward. White water enveloped the dock as Lionel jumped onto the second Sea-doo.
Simon scanned the water unsure of what to look for. “Where’s the air assist coming out of and what’s its E.T.A to our position?” he asked.
Inspector Hansen got up from his desk and was now able to look at a large flat panel monitor. A satellite view of the local area was being formatted by another officer to fit the screen. “I’m located at our Kingston Detachment. A helo will be taking off from CFB (Canadian Forces Base) Trenton momentarily. It should be over the search area in less than twenty minutes.”
“What about jurisdictional issues, Inspector?” Simon asked. His voice fluctuated accordingly with the waves. “Is that going to become a problem?”
Simon knew the Canadian/American border made its way through the river, slinking in and around a multitude of large and small islands.
“You leave that to me, Mr. Taylor.” Inspector Hansen wore a blue-tooth type earpiece and stood in front of his map. With an erasable marker he was defining a search area that included both land and water.
“Sophia,” Simon yelled, as his boat careened over the waves. “Have you alerted the American authorities?”
“I have,” she responded. “I’ve also been scanning every database on both sides of the river that would list missing or stolen boats.” She also mined every website that might possibly list watercrafts for sale.
“And?” Simon asked, beckoning an answer.
“American authorities have a stolen cabin cruiser out of Alexandria Bay. Its registration begins with “457985. I’m downloading the full registration to you, Inspector Hansen.”
“I’ll have the FBI check out the address as soon as I have it. I’ve already sent out a crime in progress bulletin. We’re asking for boaters, marinas, and residents to look out for anything suspicious.”
“I’ve also uploaded the description given by Marcus to every social media account registered to the area,” Sophia stated.
As Simon and Lionel’s spirits were buoyed by their first lead, and continued following the search pattern set out for them by Sophia, time seemed to pass unnoticed. Everyone involved, especially Simon, allowed the task at hand to fully consume them. Had they been aware of how the minutes were quickly turning into a half hour and then an hour, concern for Jennifer’s safe return would have multiplied tenfold. These first few hours, they all agonized, would undoubtedly be the most crucial.
Marcus finally managed to circumnavigate the stern of the large freighter only to be disappointed by the lack of anything to report. He slowed right down and began drifting, bobbing up and down in the water. He was losing feeling in his leg and wondered how long he could keep up the search.
A large swell caused his Sea-doo to turn northward. Though his head bobbed with the waves, he looked up and saw something in the distance, on the eastern side of one of the islands. His heart leapt. “Simon,” he yelled into his phone. “I think I’ve got something!”
In order to hear Marcus’s voice more clearly, Simon instantly brought his boat to an idle. “What is it, Marcus?”
“I’m just coming up on a boat now. It looks like the one …”
Detective Hansen intervened. “Do not engage the suspect boat, Sir. I repeat, do not engage the suspects.”
“Marcus, what do you see?” Lionel asked. He too brought his craft to a full stop.
“It appears as though it’s drifting,” Marcus said, gasping in a lowered voice. “I don’t see anyone on board … 457985 … oh my God, this is it. This is the one.”
“Relaying Marcus’s coordinates,” Sophia announced.
Simon’s boat roared into action and came about. In an instant it was heading toward Marcus’s location. Lionel did the same. By the time he arrived at the drifting evidence, the true extent of the tragedy was beginning to sink in. Simon’s emotions had run the gamut and were poised to swirl into a dark abyss. He piloted his own boat close to the other and then made the jump. Simon disappeared below the covered forward section before quickly emerging. “There’s no one on board,” he yelled. He wanted desperately to investigate further, but when his call for help went unanswered, Simon’s eyes searched for Marcus. He was adrift. His head bobbed forward as though he was ready to slump over the front of his Sea-doo. Lionel arrived just in time.
“Lionel, help me get Marcus onto my boat,” he stated, jumping back onto his own cruiser. “We’ve got to get him to the hospital.”
“Isn’t there one in A (Alexandria) Bay?” Lionel asked.
“There is. Try to bump his unit with yours until he comes alongside.”
It wasn’t easy, but they managed to get Marcus on board. He was semi-conscious when they laid him down on the rear bench seating area. “Leave everything,” Simon ordered. “We’ll worry about it later.”
Little was said while Simon piloted his boat toward the riverside hospital. As Lionel held a nearly unconscious Marcus in his arms, a grim reality was becomin
g painfully clear. Sometime during their desperate attempt to locate her, Jennifer had been transferred to another boat. The second boat probably passed them by during the pursuit for the first.
What Simon and Lionel didn’t know was that the two women in the convertible had raced to the river’s edge and jumped into a boat, which lay in wait, only a couple of kilometres away, somewhere near Rockport.
During the rush to the first vessel, Simon and Lionel didn’t even notice the hooded, ball-capped pair piloting their boat right past them. They couldn’t have known Jennifer was below; that she had been bound, gagged, and shoved into the forward compartment of another cabin cruiser. The original kidnappers were holding her there.
Simon’s heart sank with the passing of every wave, with every thought of what his daughter might be going through. There will undoubtedly be a ransom, he thought, but that realization didn’t help much. The short journey to the hospital seemed so surreal, as if it unfolded in disjointed segments. Sophia had already called the hospital, and Lionel’s tourniquet was appreciated by the awaiting ER staff. Simon went through the motions of helping to get Marcus out of the boat and onto a stretcher. He followed the gurney right up to the operating room, watching as Marcus’s eyes periodically opened then closed. Simon and Lionel were stopped, however, at the entrance to the emergency operating room.
They paced the waiting area for some time before word finally arrived. “He’ll be fine,” the doctor announced. “He’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s going to be ok.”
“If there’s anything he needs, Doctor,” Simon suggested.
“He’ll be in recovery for a few hours. If you want to leave a contact number with one of the nurses, they’ll give you a call as soon as he’s able to see someone. I’m sorry, but that’s all I have for you at this point.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Simon said.
“My pleasure,” the physician said, before returning to his duties.
Lionel exhaled a large sigh, saying to Simon: “Why don’t you go home and organize things from there? I’ll stay here until they move him into recovery. He’ll want to know what’s going on as soon as he wakes up.”
Simon felt numb. “Father Number Three; that’s what she called him.” He remained motionless, staring down the empty hallway in which the doctor had just disappeared.
“I guess that makes him family, doesn’t it?” Lionel joked.
“Speaking of family. I’ve got to call Tanya.” The realization that he had to get a hold of Marcus’s wife was soon put into context, however. Lionel instantly recognized the look on his brother’s face. It had changed from helplessness to resolve. “Tell Marcus I’ll drop in to see him as soon as possible.”
Simon began to leave. “Sophia,” he stated, with a newly found conviction.
“Yes, Simon.”
“I want you to shut down everything that’s not essential to your safety.” Simon was already heading for the exit. “I’m going to need your undivided attention.”
“You have it,” Sophia responded.
“We’ll establish a command centre at the house,” Simon stated, nearing the hospital’s entrance. His confident stride caused him to burst through its front doors. “You have twelve hours, Sophia. I want Jennifer found by midnight!”