He walked behind the row of buildings on the upper-side of the town's main street. He could see the tarpaulin-covered Jeep from where the RV was parked. It looked just the way he had left it a few months before, except for the generous dusting of pine needles and small twigs on top of the tarpaulin.
After he removed the cover, he reached far under the seat and retrieved the keys, checking first to make certain there were no black widows or other creatures lurking underneath. He popped the hood, connected the battery, and jumped in the driver's seat. He had brought an extra battery just in case, but he hoped he wouldn't need it. He turned the key and the engine tried to turn over twice, then roared to life. He smiled. Everything was going according to plan.
He un-holstered his .38 revolver, which he carried in a shoulder sling, and checked the ammunition. It was good to be prepared when you were in the woods by yourself. You never knew who, or what, you might run into. He left the jeep running to warm up the engine and went back inside to get Sasha. He walked her out and put her in the passenger's seat, leaving her hands bound and putting on the seatbelt for her. He couldn't afford to leave her here alone - she was his ten million dollar ticket.
He climbed up in the driver's seat and put the Jeep in gear, driving up a mountainside road that looked like little more than a trail. He needed to make sure this old logging road hadn't been blocked by any fallen trees during his absence. It would be a shame to get stuck trying to remove a tree from across the road with ten million dollars in the back of his vehicle. He was under no illusions about what he was about to do. He knew Nick Bartonovich would come after him as soon as he knew his daughter was safe. Having a quick escape route available was essential.
He drove for about thirty minutes up the winding road before he had to stop and remove a small tree that had fallen across the pathway. Luckily for him, it had cracked in two when it hit the road, making it easy to roll out of the way and down the hill into the woods to the left of the road. He had a small chain saw in the back of the jeep in case he needed it, but rolling the broken parts of the tree downhill was even easier. He got back in the Jeep and drove for a few more minutes without encountering any obstacles, and decided he had come far enough. He turned the Jeep around and headed back to town.
Back at the RV, he let Sasha sit at the table inside while he cooked some hamburgers for them on the stove. He waited to remove the duct tape from her hands until they were ready to eat, just in case. She ate like a horse. Silas thought to himself that it must be the mountain air. He was hungrier than usual himself and cooked them both another hamburger.
"You eat pretty good for a girl," Silas said, putting down the second hamburger in front of Sasha.
"Thanks for the second hamburger," she said as she began eating. "Why are you doing this?" she said at last.
Silas looked up at her from his hamburger and smiled, "You mean, besides the money?"
"Yeah, I guess," she replied hesitantly.
"It's complicated. I gambled, I lost a lot of money on a crooked gambling site that your dad ran, I lost a good job, my wife left me, yada, yada, yada." He took another bite from his hamburger and washed it down with a swig of beer. Sasha didn't say anything, just waited.
"I guess at some point I decided that I deserved a better hand than the one I had been dealt. I was a cop, at one time, and I saw a lot of crooked guys get away with a lot of money while I was keeping the law and struggling to pay the mortgage." He shrugged his shoulders. "So I decided it was my turn to walk away with some of that money."
He looked at Sasha. "It's nothing against you, but whether you know it or not, Nick and J.T. Thornbacker didn't get rich because they were nice guys. This money they are paying me with was stolen from some other people."
Sasha's anger got the better of her and she said without thinking, "Nick is not a crook!"
Silas looked at her for a minute before he spoke. "Listen, Sasha, I don't expect you to agree with me. But enough about me, it's time for dessert."
Silas went to the refrigerator and took two ice cream bars out of the freezer, handing one to Sasha before sitting back down at the table. She took it from him and opened it up, thinking how strange it was for this man who had just kidnapped her to be giving her ice cream. They ate dessert together in silence.
After they were finished, Silas said, "O.k., time for you to go back in the chair. I can't have you running off now, can I? Go to the bathroom first, though; it may be a while before you get a chance to go again."
Sasha reluctantly got up to go to the tiny RV bathroom. Silas remained in his seat while she did. When she came out, Silas was still seated, finishing up his beer. She walked over in the direction of the captain's chair, resigned to being restrained with duct tape again. When she got close to the door and noticed Silas wasn't out of his seat yet, she suddenly saw an opportunity to escape. She lunged for the door, opened it up, and dashed outside before Silas could stop her.
Silas realized his mistake too late, jumping up and heading out the door, running after her. Sasha had a good head-start on him of about fifteen feet. Silas had never been much of a runner, and he knew he couldn't outrun her if all things were equal. Just as Sasha began opening up a bigger lead, she tripped on the exposed root system of a large oak tree and fell down. Silas didn't miss his opportunity, closing the distance between them before Sasha regained her traction.
He reached down and grabbed her arm. Sasha turned and bit him as hard as she could. Silas released her and let out a yell, but he shot out his leg and kicked her in the stomach before she could stand up. She buckled to the ground with a groan as Silas briefly looked at his bleeding hand to assess the damage. Silas' days as a cop subduing suspects on the streets of New York had been fine-tuned over the years. No uptown socialite teenager was going to get the better of him in a street brawl.
Sasha sat up on the ground, trying to breathe and stand up at the same time. Silas' anger got the better of him and he stepped forward and back-handed her hard across the face with the same hand she had just bitten. Sasha went down like a sack of potatoes, letting out a whimper as she hit the ground. Silas didn't wait for her to regain her footing or even sit up. He grabbed her by the forearm and began dragging her back to the RV.
"I told you that you would get hurt if you tried to get away, didn't I? Why did you have to go and do that?! Huh?!"
By the time they had reached the door of the RV, Sasha had still not regained her footing. Silas grabbed the top of her pants from behind with one hand and the back of her shirt with the other, lifting her up onto her feet and pushing her into the RV. Sasha collapsed onto her hands and knees on the floor.
Silas stepped into the RV and shouted at her, pointing to the captain's chair, "Get in the chair!"
Sasha practically crawled up in the chair. She was bleeding from her lip and her left eye had already started to swell up. Tears were coming down her face as Silas busied himself taping her hands and feet into position. When he was done taping her to the chair, Silas grabbed another beer from the refrigerator and stormed out of the RV.
Chapter Forty-Two
The airplane ride back to New York was filled with activity. After an awkward first greeting between Nick, James, and Laura, Nick began a briefing that covered everything he had told J.T. Once James and Laura were up to speed, Nick began making phone calls.
He first called Mia to make certain she had obtained the required ten million in one hundred dollar notes, as the kidnapper had specified. She confirmed that all was ready. The next call he placed was to someone that J.T. knew from personal experience - bad personal experience.
"Victor, I need your assistance on an important job?. Yes, we leave tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. This is not the usual job. It is a rescue of sorts. It seems some lunatic has decided to kidnap my daughter?. Yes, the usual fee, plus a bonus when she is returned unharmed. A six man team would be fine?. We don't know yet wher
e it will be. I suggest you have your plane fueled up and ready to go anywhere. Oh, and Victor, you remember that job a few years back in the Cayman Islands? Well, those three will be joining us?. Yes, life is strange sometimes. It's a long story and I don't have time to tell you now, but suffice it to say that this time we are all working together?. O.k., I'll call you at this number as soon as I have more details."
Nick disconnected the phone.
"You're still hiring that mercenary to do work for you?" J.T. asked.
"Yes, he's the best. As you know from personal experience, he gets the job done," Nick replied without his usual sly smile.
"I thought you said the kidnapper said no cops? How do you think he is going to react to a bunch of commandos armed to the teeth showing up on the scene?" J.T. queried.
"Probably not very well if he ever sees they are around, but I'm not prepared to depend solely on the promises of an unscrupulous kidnapper for Sasha's safe return. I'm planning on being prepared."
"I can't argue with that. Just make sure these guys stay out of sight unless we need them. We don't need the kidnapper or kidnappers to be spooked and do something crazy. By the way. Do we know anything more about him/her/them?"
"Nothing," Nick replied. "I received the message on Sasha's phone and the battery was taken out shortly thereafter, preventing us from tracing the call."
J.T. turned to James and Laura. "Thanks for coming, you two. I needed to have some familiar faces backing me up on this," he said.
"Don't mention it," James replied. "Business down at the shop was getting a bit slow anyway," he continued with a smile.
"Yeah, besides, it will be good to see if these fake IDs are as good as Nick said they were," Laura quipped.
The plane landed at the airport and everyone filed into an awaiting SUV once they had de-planed. James, Laura, and J.T. were relieved that they were able to avoid any scrutiny of their documents for the time being. They sped along the highway and into the city, arriving at the Bartonovich residence in early afternoon.
When they entered the house. Nick greeted Mia, who was busy packing the ten million dollars into an oversized cooler. with Marcus' help. Nick skipped the awkward introductions and instead offered everyone some lunch. Mia had ordered some gourmet sandwiches, which were already laid out on the dining room table.
J.T. noticed that both Nick and Mia checked their phones frequently. He assumed they were checking to see if the kidnapper had provided any additional instructions. Once the money was packed, the cooler full of cash was rolled in to a closet until it was needed.
After lunch, Nick showed J.T., Laura, and James to the downstairs guest bedrooms where they would be spending the night, and then everyone migrated up to the library. Drinks were served to everyone as they prepared to pass the anxious hours until the kidnapper sent further instructions.
"Nick," J.T. said, "I'd like to see Sasha's room, if that's o.k."
Nick looked up, as if he was caught off-guard by the request. He turned to look at Mia in order to ascertain what she felt about it.
"I'll take you up," Mia said in response.
J.T. walked slowly into the room, taking his time, looking around at everything and soaking it all in. There were traces left of the girl Sasha had been when she'd first moved in to the room. A plastic pony, some softball trophies, a few books that an eight-year-old girl might read intermixed with more recent teenage selections. He walked over to the desk that now held a laptop. He looked down at pictures of Sasha and her friends from school. There were freshly opened presents piled high in one corner of the room, remnants of the birthday party the day before she'd been kidnapped. He picked up a picture of Sasha from the table. He held it in both hands as he sat down on the bed and began to cry.
Mia was watching the whole scene from the doorway. When J.T. started to cry, she turned to walk away, intending to give him some privacy.
"No, wait," J.T. said as Mia turned to go. "I'd like you to stay. I want to know more about her?about Sasha."
Mia turned back around, taking a look around the room herself as if to conjure up in her mind memories from the day before, when Sasha had been in the room.
"Sasha is a very strong person. A free spirit. She loves to ride horses and take risks. She reminds me of you, in many ways."
J.T. looked up at Mia. "I wish you would have told me about her sooner," he said.
"We did what we thought was best," Mia replied.
"I guess my sins are catching up to me," J.T. continued. "All those years when I took from others things that were important to them. Now the most important person in the world to me has been temporarily taken away from me before I even got a chance to meet her, and I'll do anything to get her back."
Mia crossed the room and put a hand on J.T.'s shoulder. She looked him straight in the eyes with that determined, steely look that only Mia could deliver as she said, "We will get her back."
The remainder of the evening was uneventful as everyone stayed in the house in case the kidnapper contacted them. No one was very hungry after the late lunch they had consumed, so they ate a light dinner consisting of soup and crackers. After they had finished eating, Nick turned on the sports channel as he, Mia, and J.T. reclined in the game room. He and Mia continued to check their phones alternately every few minutes. Finally, Mia went to walk on the treadmill to burn off the nervous energy that was building up as they waited for the next communication, leaving J.T. and Nick to pretend to watch sports.
James and Laura wandered up to the library where James retrieved a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and picked up reading where he had left off a few days before. Laura retrieved her Kindle from her backpack and pulled up a new book she had just downloaded about stained glass. They curled up next to each other on the couch in the library as they read, just like they liked to do back home.
By 10 p.m., everyone was ready for bed. Nick promised he would wake J.T. as soon as further instructions were delivered, and everyone went off to their rooms for the night. J.T. lay awake for about an hour, thinking of the amazing fact that he had a daughter who was eighteen who he had never met. He prayed to God that she would be returned unharmed tomorrow before he finally drifted off to a fitful sleep.
Chapter Forty-Three
J.T., Nick, and Mia were all dressed for the day and assembled in the kitchen by 5:00 a.m. Both Nick and Mia's phones lay on the kitchen table. Marcus hung back in the corner, trying not to intrude. Nick made a pot of coffee for everyone while they waited anxiously for the message they were all expecting. James and Laura wandered groggily into the kitchen at 5:30 a.m., still in their p.j.s. Laura began nursing a cup of coffee like it was a spiritual experience. It was like a s?ance as they all took up places around the kitchen table and stared at the phones, willing the phones to communicate with them. No one was willing to speak out loud and break the silence.
At 5:50 a.m., James whispered into Laura's ear, "I'm going to go get dressed; things are probably going to hit the fan in a few minutes when the kidnappers call, and we should be ready to go." With that, he headed back downstairs as quietly as possible. Laura took the remainder of her coffee and chugged it, then made her exit as well.
A few minutes later, both phones buzzed almost simultaneously, indicating a message had been delivered. Nick and Mia both grabbed their respective phones and opened the text message that had just been delivered. J.T. quickly came around behind Nick as they all read the message simultaneously in silence.
Toakama, WV. 12 pm noon EST. Bring the cash in the cooler with wheels with the lid duct taped shut. Only j.t. crosses the bridge into town alone with the cash. He will walk down the main street to the end. Further instructions will be given to him then. Give him one of these phones. No tricks or else.
The message was followed by another picture of Sasha, with a copy of a Roanoke, West Virginia newspaper from the day before featured prominently so that the date coul
d be seen.
"Mia, find the nearest airport to Toakama and get the plane ready," Nick said urgently.
"I'm on it," Mia replied. She went over to the kitchen computer desk and sat down to search for the airport.
Nick speed-dialed Victor.
"Victor, the exchange is at 12 p.m. noon, Eastern Standard Time, in Toakama, West Virginia. We'll be flying in to the nearest airport at?" He looked over at Mia.
"Roanoke, West Virginia," Mia said.
"Roanoke, West Virginia. I'll call you once we are in the air to coordinate where to meet. I'll get us three SUVs to use. I'm forwarding you the message we received from the kidnapper right now. Don't be late, Victor, I'm counting on you."
Nick hit the disconnect icon on his phone.
"Meet at the car out front in five minutes," Nick said as he rose quickly from the table and left the room.
J.T. went down the stairs to the recreation room and repeated Nick's announcement to James and Laura in a loud voice, "Meet at the car out front in five minutes."
The trip to the airport seemed to take an eternity. Once they arrived, they quickly boarded the plane. Soon after, they were up in the air on their way to Roanoke, West Virginia.
Silas had reviewed the message carefully before hitting the send key. He waited to make certain the message was delivered before he shut the phone off and removed the battery. Cell coverage had come a long way since the early days. Still, he'd had to climb to the roof of one of the abandoned buildings to get even one bar in order to send the message.
He went back down to the RV and began to cut Sasha loose so that she could go to the bathroom and eat some breakfast. The swelling from where he had hit her on her face had mostly gone down. There was a bump on her lip and the cut had scabbed over during the night. Her eye had a bruise under it, too.