Nick slid his phone into his pocket and unhooked cuffs from his waistband. Tony’s eyes opened wider as Nick moved toward him. Nick grabbed Tony’s right wrist and slapped the cuffs on it. He pulled Tony’s left wrist behind his back and cinched the cuffs tight. “Antonio Scalla, you are under arrest for the kidnapping and attempted murder of Sharon Perez.”
Hospital staff near the crowded hall stepped back a few steps and stared at Tony in shock. His head jerked as he searched their faces. He raised his voice and pleaded to the crowd, “This is madness!”
Nick whispered in Tony’s ear. “We found Sharon’s purse downstairs.”
Tony’s shoulders rolled forward and his chin dropped to his chest. The purse. He hadn’t disposed of the bag! He hadn’t had time to even leave the hospital today. There had to be a way out of this.
Tony turned his head enough to look Nick in the eyes. “You will not survive this.”
“I almost said that to you.”
Nick instructed two patrol officers to escort Tony to the special D.A. holding block of the jail. “Be sure to let Assistant D.A. Jones know he’s there. She’s quite anxious to meet him.”
Agent Phillips moved from the edge of the crowd to stand next to Nick and Detective Graham. He scanned the faces of the people watching and asked Detective Graham, “Where’s her father, Dr. Sanford?”
Detective Graham looked around, “He was here a while ago. Said he needed fresh air.”
Phillips cell rang, it was Kevin. Nick watched as Phillips jotted something down. “Are you sure it was Sanford?” Phillips raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Nick. He said thanks and ended the call. Phillips called his team and ordered a GPS trace on Sanford’s car. This was a turn of events he didn’t need.
Phillips motioned for Nick to move away from the crowd. He and Nick stood across from the elevator. Phillips said, “That was the reporter, Kevin. He and Darla, a friend of Dolly, followed Sanford to J.T. Barrimore’s nightclub. Kevin says it looked like some muscle men kidnapped Sanford. Kevin followed them until his car ran out of gas.” Phillips glanced at the coroner’s staff positioning Heather’s body bag on a gurney. He glanced back at Nick and said, “We need to get Sanford. We have to shut down this program…fast. I have a field team chasing down the GPS signal on Sanford’s car now.”
Nick was more interested in talking to J.T. Barrimore. Sanford going to J.T.’s place at this particular moment of crisis meant J.T. was in this hip deep. “J.T.’s place? Where’s that?”
“I told you about this as a courtesy. Since J.T. seems to have taken a liking to you recently I thought you’d like to know. He’s my case Stryker. Stay out of it. You’ve got enough going on here.”
Nick nodded. “So I do. Well, thanks for the heads-up.” Nick started to walk away. He and Jen would do their interview with Sharon and then he would pay a visit to J.T. at the nightclub.
Phillips touched Nick’s shoulder to stop him and frowned. “I mean it. This software shit is worse than you think.”
“I owe J.T. a thank you for the painting.” Nick smiled. “I’ll let you know if anything interesting happens.”
Nick stepped into the elevator and pushed the down button.
He heard Phillips yell, “Damn it, Nick” to his back.
As soon as the doors closed Nick dialed Kevin. “Sharon is safe. I’ll tell you where you can go see her in trade for the address of that nightclub Sanford went to.”
Kevin quickly gave the address of J.T.’s nightclub to Nick. “Can I go see her now?”
“Yeah. She’s got a patrol officer guarding her. She’s at Memorial Hospital Emergency. Jen and I are heading there now. You can talk to her when we’re done.”
Kevin was so excited he could hardly think straight. “She’s okay, right? Sharon? They didn’t hurt her?”
Nick thought about how lucky they had all been. It had been close. Too close.
“She looked okay and said she was fine. The doctor needs to check her out. Like I said, we’ll be there shortly. She isn’t out of danger yet.”
******
Agent Phillips went back to where Gill Mackey stood. Phillips slipped his card into Gill’s pocket. “I’m having you transported to my field office. You’ll be allowed to call your attorney. Have him call me. I think we can help each other out.”
Gill looked confused.
Phillips said, “I think you’ve been hypnotized.”
“How?”
“Did you just learn to speak Mandarin from an on-line program?”
Gill nodded. “Yes.”
Phillips patted his shoulder. “We’ll work this out. Stay calm.”
Phillips made arrangements to have Gill Mackey brought to the local FBI field office. He’d do a cursory interview with him now and then turn him over to the legal team. Phillips was going to need the advice of their legal team on how to proceed. Obviously, Mackey had shot Heather Sanford and killed her. Was he responsible if he was acting under the influence of hypnosis?
Phillips entered the elevator and called the financial forensic team leader. “Anything from Sanford’s bank records yet?” Phillips wanted the proof that J.T. had paid for the program before he talked to him.
A nurse entered the elevator at the last moment before the door closed. Phillips lowered his voice and took out a pen and small notebook. “Spell that.”
He ended the call. The nurse smiled at him as she left the elevator. Phillips headed for his car. This didn’t add up. Who the hell was Lucas Costellano?
******
Kevin hung up from his call with Nick and leaned his head back on the car’s headrest. “Thank God. Oh, thank God.”
Darla wiped the last of her Twinkie from the corners of her mouth. “What? What happened?”
Kevin’s face lit up with a toothy smile. “The cops have Sharon. She’s okay!” Kevin pulled his wallet from his pants. “We’re gassing up and going to Memorial Hospital. Stryker said I can see her.” He jumped from the car and began filling the tank with gas. She could see Kevin’s face through the window all excited and smiling. The hospital was only a few blocks away. She couldn’t wait to hear Sharon’s story. This reporter stuff was a blast!
She looked in the Twinkie box, there was only one left. Suddenly she felt guilty. She would have to buy Kevin’s grandma a new box or she would forever have nightmares that the old lady died in a blizzard without any food. She opened the glove box of the car and wrote down her address from the registration papers.
******
Jen and Nick raced toward Memorial Hospital to interview Sharon. Jen was unusually quiet.
Nick asked, “What’s on your mind?”
Jen was driving and kept her eyes forward as she answered, “How close Sharon Perez came to a surgeon’s knife. If you hadn’t noticed that grey van in traffic this morning…”
Nick said, “We can thank the guy that let me take his bike.” Nick groaned. “Remind me to call him.”
Jen chuckled for the first time in hours. “You did manage to trash it pretty bad. Notice I’ve been driving more lately?” She quickly turned to Nick and smiled.
Nick’s cell rang, he didn’t recognize the number, “Stryker.”
“Nick? This is Dr. Reynolds.” Nick mouthed ‘cop-shrink’ to Jen.
Dr. Reynolds continued, “I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time?”
“This is fine, Doc. I’m still working but between locations. What do you need?”
“I might have found something helpful for you on that hypnotizing question you had this morning.”
Nick had almost forgotten he had asked Dr. Reynolds to look into it. “Great. What did you find?”
“Well, much more than I expected. Our government spent quite a bit of research time and money on this subject. They actually used a scientist here in Chicago for some research but eventually dismissed him. I suspect they took issue with some of his theories. He’s sort of a radical.”
“Dr. Derrick Sanford?”
Dr. Reynolds
stuttered, “Well, yes. How in the world did you find that out already?”
“It’s a long story, Doc. I just left a homicide scene where the shooter was probably acting under hypnosis.”
Dr. Reynolds paused and then said, “Oh, dear. I was calling to tell you that it was a virtual impossibility that a dissociative episode could be triggered to facilitate action based on hypnotic suggestion.”
Nick asked, “Well, you’re wrong. Where did you get your information?”
“I have a friend, retired FBI analyst that worked on the project. They thought Sanford’s theories were bunk but they discovered other things he was doing. I think he’s been on the FBI radar for a while. Nick, Sanford’s software company has some very bad customers according to my friend.”
“I’m finding that out. I appreciate you checking into this, Doc. I’m thinking the D.A. will be contacting you about using hypnosis as a criminal defense. Our shooter in this homicide is a lawyer.”
“Oh great.”
CHAPTER 22
Sharon sat on the edge of the hospital bed. She could see the back of the patrol officer’s head through the small glass window of the door. For the first time in hours she felt safe. Suddenly the officer’s head moved and the door to the hall opened.
Jen walked over to Sharon, smiled and said, “We meet again.”
Sharon remembered Jen and Nick from the Happy Burger parking lot. “Did you catch the ambulance driver? The other guys?”
Nick stepped next to Jen. “We got the driver and one of the other guys. Sharon, we need to video our interview with you. Is that okay?”
Sharon nodded. “Of course.” She rubbed at a small bandage on the underside of her arm. “Can you tell me where I’ve been? Why I was kidnapped?”
Jen walked over to lean against the wall of the small room and held her phone up to video. She nodded to Nick.
“We’ll tell you everything we can but we have to take your statement. For the purpose of documentation, I need you to state and spell your name and tell us everything you can remember.” Nick didn’t want to scare Sharon with too many details of the case. There was plenty of time for her to hear how close she had come to death after they had finished the investigation.
Sharon’s eyes started to tear up. “I was so excited! Kevin was going to let me report a story with him. He gave me the address of where to meet him but I must have done something wrong. I ended up on a wrong exit…”
******
Kevin and Darla sat in the waiting room at Memorial Hospital Emergency. Nick was still interviewing Sharon. Darla glanced around the room and then whispered to Kevin, “You’d think Chicago thugs would take Monday night off. That’s the fifth gunshot wound they’ve brought in since we’ve been here.”
Kevin was finding it impossible to focus on anything she was saying. He couldn’t wait to see Sharon.
Darla pulled out her cell phone and called Dolly. “Girl, you won’t believe everything Kevin and I have done tonight! We started off with the FBI arresting us, then we watched a kidnapping, and now we’re at the hospital to see Sharon!”
Kevin noticed that several people sitting across from them were listening intently to Darla’s conversation and he nudged her knee. Darla looked over. “What?”
Kevin rolled his eyes toward the row of gaping listeners.
Darla smiled, “Call you back later.” She ended the call abruptly just as Nick and Jen walked into the waiting room from behind two large, steel swinging doors.
Nick walked over to them. “Jen is going to stay with Sharon tonight until we can get a security team put together. I don’t think she should go home; she’s still in danger.”
Kevin offered, “Peter has an extra room at his place. Would that work? We could all guard her, too.”
Jen tossed the car keys to Nick. “I’ll work something out on this end and call you.” Jen added, “Be careful, Nick.”
“Always.”
Jen watched as Nick left the building. She felt her gut tighten. Nick was going after J.T. alone. She had to secure Sharon quickly and join him.
******
Kevin and Darla followed Jen through the maze of treatment rooms to the one Sharon was in. Sharon jumped from the side of the bed and gave Kevin a big hug. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” Sharon’s eyes moved to Darla. “I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. You must be Kevin’s girlfriend.”
Darla reared her head back. “You still on drugs? I ain’t his girlfriend, you are!”
Kevin sputtered something unintelligible at Darla and Sharon asked, “Kevin?”
Kevin regained his composure. “Sharon, this is Darla, a new friend of mine. She’s been helping me all day to try and find you. I’ve been worried sick!”
Sharon kissed Kevin’s cheek and snuggled in as Kevin embraced her in a hug. “I’m so sorry I messed up your big story. Some reporter I turned out to be.”
Kevin gently pushed her from him. “Are you kidding me? This is the biggest story ever. You’re going to write the story of a lifetime! I’ll help you put it together but you are going to be famous.” Kevin lowered his voice. “You know why they kidnapped you, don’t you?”
Sharon glanced at Jen talking to the patrol officer in the hall. She lowered her voice. “All the police told me was that I was a victim of a carjacking kidnap team. They didn’t really tell me all that much.”
Kevin whispered, “They were going to take all of your organs and sell them!”
Sharon fainted.
Kevin held her up by her arm pits and he and Darla plopped her back on the bed.
Darla glanced at Kevin. “You might have worded that a little better.”
******
Nick pulled up to the front entrance of J.T.’s nightclub and parked. He saw two security men at either corner of the building and one standing at the main door. He walked up to the door, flashed his badge and asked, “J.T. here?”
The man responded, “You can’t take weapons in the building.”
Nick raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I can. Is J.T. inside?”
The man puffed his chest out and squared up to Nick. “I have to call him.”
Nick side stepped him, pushed open the door and said, “You do that.”
The man grabbed Nick’s shoulder to stop him. Nick spun and landed a chop to the side of the man’s neck with his right hand. He pulled the pistol from the guard’s waistband with his left hand as the man fell to the pavement. Nick shoved the guard’s pistol in his own waistband and walked into the building. A quick glance of the surroundings and he spotted J.T.’s special glassed-in booth. J.T. was there, watching him.
Nick heard boots charging up behind him and spun around. All three guards from outside rushed in. Patrons and staff scattered as the three men charged Nick. In seconds, Nick had all three of them on the floor moaning. He looked at J.T.’s booth and shrugged. J.T. waved him over.
One of the men on the floor answered his cell phone and gestured the other men to back off. Nick climbed the short staircase to J.T.’s booth and sat across from him in the deep leather cushion.
“Nice joint.”
J.T. smiled. “Detective Stryker. It’s been at least a year since our last meeting. It seems you brutalized some of my men back then, too. I’m surprised to see you at this kind of club. Did you come to check out the ladies? I thought you were engaged to that beautiful brunette… Lacey Star?”
Nick’s skin crawled hearing J.T. mention Lacey’s name. It was a power play. A not-so-veiled threat that J.T. knew Nick’s loved ones and could cause them harm.
“I came to thank you for the painting. You shouldn’t have.” Nick could tell that J.T. had kept himself in good form. He was a skilled fighter by reputation. He and Nick had yet to come to blows.
J.T. smiled, “So you know about the painting? You’re quicker than I expected.”
“Why send it to me? Why have three people come to the precinct and confess to murdering me? You knew I’d finger you sooner or later.
”
J.T. swirled the straw in his drink. “Well, I wasn’t sure. What tipped you off?”
Nick leaned forward. “I’ll ask the questions for a while. How did you meet up with Sanford?”
“He called me. Wanted me to buy some software program that could control minds. He needed the money for some surgery or something.”
Nick was surprised at J.T.’s candor. “So you bought it?”
J.T. smiled. “I’m not stupid. The program won’t work. It can’t be done as far as I could find out. I designed a couple of beta tests with Sanford that involved you. They were harmless exercises that would expose the program’s flaws but maybe get your interest peaked. I assumed that once you figured out the program existed, you could get it off the streets. Sounded dangerous in the wrong hands. Just doing my civic duty.” J.T. finished off his drink and pushed the glass to the center of the table. “Do you want a drink?”
“No, thanks.” Nick wasn’t buying J.T.’s sudden urge toward civic duty, but he also watched carefully as J.T. spoke. His body language and demeanor suggested that he wasn’t worried or feeling guilty.
Nick asked, “How did Sanford find you?”
J.T. paused before answering, “He said my number had been given to him by a business associate. Lucas Costellano.”
“How do you know Costellano?” Nick noticed a quick twitch of J.T.’s upper lip.
“Only by reputation. I dare say he’s probably not one of my fans…which was another reason not to get involved with Sanford.”
Nick saw Agent Phillips enter the building and flash his badge at the doorman. J.T. saw him too. “Well, well. Seems I’m popular tonight with the law.”
The doorman pointed to J.T.’s booth. Phillips looked up and frowned. He walked up the stairs and stood in the doorway glaring at Nick. “Have you thanked the man for his present?”
Nick stood and made a gesture for Phillips to take the seat he was vacating. “I did. It seems Mr. Barrimore was simply concerned Sanford’s program could end up in the wrong hands. He was warning me.”
Phillips looked at J.T. and smiled. “That’s a load of bullshit and we all know it.” Phillips remained standing. “I want the last three hours’ camera feed on this joint, including the parking lot.”