Delta, page 4
“What happened after that?”
“I moped at home for a day as two. The next thing I knew, I woke up here. I went to sleep in my bed and woke up here, as a prisoner.”
“Have you seen anybody?”
“Just the guard. He likes to act as if he’s the boss, but I don’t think he is.”
“But he brought you in here and let you walk in on your own?” she asked, trying to keep her suspicion at bay.
He nodded. “Yes, but he has a gun. And, even if I were to come in here under duress, what good would it do us?” he asked, with a shrug of his shoulders. “I want to get out of here just as much as you do, so the best way for us to do that is to cooperate.”
“And yet cooperate how? You’ve been here for four days. Have you seen anybody else or have they talked to you about why you’re here? What do they want from us? If they’re hoping for ransom, I sure don’t have any money or, for that matter, know anybody who would pay to get me back.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not ransom.” He hesitated and then shared, “Honestly, I’m afraid it has something to do with the company.”
Her heart sank, as she stared at him. “I wondered the same thing,” she muttered.
“Did you …” He hesitated. “Did you ever see anything that made you suspicious of the company?”
She grimaced. “Not so much anything that I saw, just something I was questioning.”
“Yeah? I think questioning is the reason we’re being held.”
“And yet that makes no sense.”
He looked at her with raised eyebrows, and his lips twitched. “Remember the talk about a big buyout?”
“Oh,” she muttered and then frowned. “Do you think this is to keep us quiet until the sale is done?”
“I have no idea,” he admitted, “but, if that’s the case, what’s to stop us from saying something afterward? And why would they keep us alive at all, if they would be worried about that?”
She stared off in the distance. “Kidnapping and murder are two very different things,” she murmured. “Maybe they’re just hoping we’ll stay quiet afterward? I don’t know.” No way she was sure of that. Now this worry nagged at her.
“You’re right,” Benjamin agreed. “No need to keep us alive now if they think we could harm them later. But killing us?” He shook his head. “I’m not sure of that either.”
When the door opened suddenly beside him, she watched a grimace cross his face, that sense of dread, and she realized that he really was telling the truth about being a captive here. He slowly straightened and repeated to her, “As I shared, cooperate and you’ll be fine.” Without another word, he walked toward the guard and stepped out of the room.
After a pointed look in her direction, still not saying anything, the guard closed the door on her. Just like that, he too was gone.
Rebecca sank back in a stupor, trying to sort this out. If this had something to do with the buyout, it would mean that the kidnappers didn’t want either of them making any waves, meaning the waves would be big enough to stop the sale. She frowned. What could she possibly know to stop a commercial sale from happening?
The company was huge. Rebecca could imagine what it was worth. Taking a moment, she tried to calculate what was going on at the place and thought that, with the research they were doing and maybe some of the patents they had recently developed on their inventions, the company could be worth hundreds of millions. As she thought about that, she realized how much jeopardy she and Benjamin might be in, if they were deemed to have blown that buyout.
She groaned, then sat back and muttered, “They could have just asked.”
Then she heard a man in the shadows laugh and say, “As if that would have worked.”
Her captor had this room bugged.
Delta grabbed a room at the one and only motel in town, which did happen to be near Rebecca’s home. He would rather have stayed in her place, just to get an idea and a feel of what the neighborhood was like. It looked safe, but that didn’t mean it was safe. So he left his motel room and drove back there. As he walked around her neighborhood that evening, a man came out, eyed him suspiciously, and asked him what he was doing here.
Delta smiled and replied, “Thank you for keeping a watch on the neighborhood. I’m here because Rebecca’s gone missing.” Then he pointed out her unit. “She went missing last night, and nobody’s seen her at all. Have you?”
The man frowned and repeated, “Rebecca’s missing?”
Delta nodded. “I was supposed to meet her earlier today, but she was a no-show at work, and, since then, the deputies have come to believe she’s been kidnapped.”
The other man’s face paled, as he turned toward his own place. “Good God, what the hell is this neighborhood coming to?”
“That’s one of the reasons I’m here now, to see what the neighborhood is like. Is it quiet? Does she have many visitors? Are there any disturbances? Do you have drug problems or that sort of thing around here?” Delta shrugged. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, but nothing like that,” the older man stated, raising a hand. “It’s mostly families, with young kids. Down the road, we’ve got a preschool and an elementary school. Rebecca is one of the few in this area without children. She was always really friendly and nice when I was around her. I’ve never had any problems here, with her or not, and there was certainly no need for the sheriff to be called to her place, as she was never any upset at all.”
“Boyfriends?”
The older man stared at him and slowly shook his head. “No, not that I ever saw. She kept to herself. She’s the kind who delivers cookies with little pumpkins on them to the schools at Halloween and then later drops off Christmas cookies in the shape of reindeer,” he shared, his tone dropping in pain. “My God. Why would anybody kidnap her?” Then his gaze narrowed. “Unless it’s connected to that damn company.”
Delta raised one eyebrow. “Has she complained about her job before?”
“No, she never complains about anything. She’s seriously sunshine and roses,” he murmured. “It just makes it all the more horrible that somebody would treat her like that. But I know that she was looking a little more troubled recently. I did ask her about it, but she just smiled and said it was a work thing. I know she was trying to get one of the dogs from the office to stay with her. She’d fallen in love with her. Some dog named …”
“Gracie?”
“Yeah. I don’t think I ever saw it, but Rebecca told me that Gracie was an injured War Dog. Then she mentioned something odd. Something about it being unnecessarily injured.”
Delta stared at him and asked, “She didn’t explain that?”
“No, I just figured it had to do with the fact that the dog had served time in the war and had done multiple tours and …” He shrugged. “Rebecca didn’t really talk about her job much at all. We got the impression that she was there because she loved it, but maybe she loved it less as time went on.”
“Some jobs are like that,” Delta noted, turning to look around. “So, you haven’t seen anybody lurking around the place? You didn’t happen to see anybody carry her out of her townhome?”
The neighbor shook his head. “Good God, no,” he said in a nervous fit. “She told me that her security lights had been smashed a couple nights ago. I offered to help her fix them this weekend.” He stared at Delta, frozen for a moment. “Do you think that was done by whoever kidnapped her?”
“Seems to be pretty convenient timing, doesn’t it?” Delta murmured. “Her vehicle’s still out back.”
“Yes, it’s always there when she’s not at work. Her place has more trees than mine,” he added, “so, if somebody did carry her out, I wouldn’t necessarily have seen it.”
“Do you have security cameras?”
“Oh, yes, I sure do,” he replied, then shook his head. “Why didn’t I think of that? Still not sure you’ll see much, but come on in. My wife has the kids at the playground anyway,” he added, as he ushered Delta inside. “I wouldn’t want her or them to hear about this.”
“Maybe not, but still we don’t know if this was some random attack either, so you do need to warn her,” Delta reminded him.
“I will,” he stated, “but I would rather do it when the kids are in bed.”
The other man walked into a small room obviously set up as an office. “I work from home,” he explained, motioning around the room. “I have ever since that virus ripped through the world. I lost both my parents to that damn thing. … Something like that really reminds you what’s important. So, I made the decision to stay at home and to be here for my kids, while I work. I have breakfast and lunch with them and coffee breaks.” He smiled. “The kids love it too. Soon enough they’ll be in school, and I’ll lose that connection with them.”
Because that was all too possible, Delta didn’t say anything. He didn’t have any children. In fact, no one in his family had any children, but there was always hope that one day such a thing would happen. His parents were hoping, but, then again, they were aging and not in the best of health. For them to enjoy grandkids, this event would need to be sooner rather than later.
“I am Mike, by the way.” He went to play the footage on his laptop.
“And I’m Delta.” He closed in, as Mike played the recording. “Stop.”
Mike hit the Stop button and rewound it a few seconds. They both leaned closer. “You’re right,” Mike whispered in amazement. “You can hardly see him for the trees, but a man is on the other side.”
“As long as we can be sure it’s not her,” Delta replied, leaning forward and studying it with a critical eye.
“No, that tree is pretty damn tall,” Mike stated animatedly. “She wouldn’t stand over it like that.”
Delta nodded and added, “Look at the way his arms are, the way his neck is straining forward. He’s carrying a weight he’s not used to.”
“That could be her,” Mike said in a worried tone. “She’s not very heavy. What is she? Maybe five two and 110 pounds soaking wet, but, when it’s a dead weight, it’s an unwieldy load.”
“That it is,” Delta murmured quietly, as he studied the screen. “Do we have any other cameras around this neighborhood? Do you know if anyone around here has cameras facing Rebecca’s unit from the back?”
Mike thought about it and nodded. “The guy on the next street over might have one on his back side. He had a couple bikes stolen a few years ago, and he beefed up his system then.”
“Are you up for coming with me? We can check with him.”
“Absolutely,” Mike declared, as he hopped up. He pulled out his phone and added, “Let me give Joe a call. That’ll make it easier.”
As they walked toward the neighbor named Joe, Delta listened in on the conversation, while Mike gave Joe a rundown of what was going on. Joe’s excited words jumped through the phone at them.
“Come on over then. We’ll check the cameras here. I’ll meet you inside.” Then he ended the call.
At that, Mike smiled at Delta and shared, “Joe’s nothing if not excitable.”
“Oh, excitable works, as long as it’s on our side.”
“No, I hear you. At least this guy’s got something that might help. Doesn’t mean we’ll get lucky though.” Mike grimaced.
“Anything is a help,” Delta noted. “If we can confirm that she was taken from here, we don’t have to wonder where else she might have been kidnapped from.”
“Right. I hadn’t thought of that,” Mike muttered, “and that’s important to know, isn’t it?”
“It absolutely is. Were they casing the house? How did they know she was even at home? Did they follow her home from work? Did they know which car was hers? We need to figure out the answers to those questions. To figure out what the kidnapper wants, we have to know who the kidnapper is, then try to figure out why he would be interested in her.”
Mike shot him a sideways glance. “Well, there could be many reasons. She’s petite, brilliant, kind, and quite beautiful.” Then he stopped and shook his head. “No, beautiful isn’t the word, but she’s really pretty cute. That sweet grin, curls. Just a real sweetheart, you know? My kids absolutely adore her. She always finds a way to make them feel special.”
At Joe’s house, Mike just walked right in and called out, “Hello?”
“I’m upstairs,” Joe replied, his voice a bit muffled. “Come see this.”
They raced up the stairs to see Joe sitting at his security system, much more advanced and elaborate than what Mike had. Delta was delighted to see that.
He pulled up behind the man sitting at the computer array, gave him a smile, and said, “I’m Delta.”
“Got it.” Joe eyed him and grinned. “Like one of those Alpha, Beta, Delta kind of Romeo titles?”
“Used to be,” Delta admitted. “At one time but not for quite a while.”
“Ah,” Joe replied, with a nod. “That’s what happens in life.”
“It is.” As Delta went to sit down, there was a pop, and he swore. Both men look at him. He shrugged and admitted, “I have a prosthetic. The ankle joint keeps going in and out on me.” He pulled a little screwdriver from his pocket and bent down to adjust it. Both men were fascinated. As Delta straightened, he grinned. “You get good at doing things like this on the fly.”
“Man, the stories you could tell,” Joe replied enviously.
“Yep, I sure could,” Delta agreed, “but not a one of them is nice.”
At that, Joe winced. “Good point.”
Delta turned to the camera. “Look at this vehicle. Does anybody know whose it is?” he asked, as he stared at the small Toyota pickup.
“No, I’ve never seen it before,” Mike said. “You, Joe?”
“No, I haven’t seen this one at all,” Joe muttered, then sighed. “If I had checked my damn camera, we would have known earlier maybe, but honestly, I hadn’t gotten to it today. I upgraded a while back and have been trying to review it daily, looking for trouble, but I’ve gotten kind of lax. You just get into that mode where Okay, nothing’s happened for a while, so it’s all good. And then zap, that’s when they come and get you.”
“What was it you had stolen?” Delta asked, as he studied the camera. Hearing Mike’s reply, Delta tapped the screen. “Look. He’s coming out of the house now.”
And, sure enough, not only was he coming out but he was carrying something that looked like a bundled-up sleeping bag.
“Well, hell.”
The three men pulled back and stared at it. “Do you really think Rebecca is in there?” Mike asked.
“I sure do,” Delta stated grimly, as he stared at it. “Can we get a close-up on the guy’s face at all?”
Joe fiddled with the controls. “He’s not looking our way,” he noted. “I don’t have a really high-end camera,” he muttered. “And right now I’m really regretting that I didn’t put up the money for a bigger system.”
“Well, you at least have something,” Mike said. “All I’ve got is trees.”
Joe looked over at him. “Right, you got that big tree bank in front of you, don’t you? You couldn’t see this from there.” He turned back to his screen. “I’m trying to get a picture of that plate, but he’s just not at the right angle.”
“Maybe when he pulls away,” Delta suggested, watching the kidnapper as he dropped his load in the bed of the truck. The poor woman must have landed with a hard thump, as the whole vehicle just shook.
“Jeez,” Joe noted beside him. “That wasn’t very gentle.”
“No, and I don’t get the feeling that he cares much about his victim,” Delta replied, “and that’s a concern too.”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” Mike agreed. “That would mean he didn’t care whether she lived or died.”
“But, if that were the case, why go to all the trouble to get her out of there?” Delta asked.
Joe nodded. “Right, it would have been far easier to just pop her in there and be done with it, than to try and get her out. She’s not a big woman, but she is still a full-grown person and one hell of a risk to pack out like that,” he explained, turning to look at both men.
“I’ll need a copy of this video for the sheriff. Can you do that for me?” Delta asked Joe.
“Sure can,” Joe replied, perking up at the idea of doing something along this line.
“It would be better if you can send a copy to your email, then forward it to me.” Delta handed his card with this email address to Joe.
“That’s a good idea,” Joe said.
“I was with Deputy Halvorson earlier at her place. He’s gone to look at the video cameras from the company’s parking lot.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, checking to see whether she had any issues in the parking lot or even inside at work even …”
“I also want to know who clocked in later with her key card,” Delta muttered, as he straightened up. Both men turned to look at him with rapt attention, and he realized he probably shouldn’t have mentioned that out loud. He just smiled at them. “You guys have been a huge help. Thank you.”
Both men nodded. “Wish we could do more,” Mike replied regretfully. “She’s good people.”
“She is, indeed,” Delta confirmed. “I was coming here to see her about one of the dogs she’s been working with.”
“Ha.” Joe added, “The only dog she ever talks about is Gracie.”
“That’s the one that I came to see,” Delta confirmed.
“Well, if you were to take that dog away from her, I know she would be devastated.”
Delta looked at the two men, and they both nodded.
“She loves that dog,” Joe shared. “She was even petitioning the company to keep her.”
“Well, I’m certainly not trying to take the dog away from Rebecca,” Delta stated. “As long as Gracie is in good hands, I’m happy to leave her where she is. But we need to find Gracie first.”
“What does that mean?” Mike asked, frowning at Delta. “What are you here for?”
He quickly explained about Gracie and how she had been kidnapped or disappeared from the facility and how Rebecca had contacted him and the war department. He told the guys how he was here to see if he could find the missing War Dog.
