Chapter Six

Repercussions in Blood

Day Six
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Police Station – 9:00 am

“So you’re telling me that there is no way to trace the transmission that he sent us yesterday?” Ben said, running a hand over his smooth, bald head.

The technophile he’d brought in for the occasion looked up at him with a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry, sir; I’ve not seen something like this in a long time. He’s either got someone helping him or he knows a helluva lot about masking and bouncing…”

Ben waved at him. “Don’t get into the technobabble. Just put it in terms I can understand, kid.”

The blonde haired young man smiled a superior sort of smile that said more than words could ever say. “Okay, sir, it’s like this. He knows how to hide. If he was really in the military, it’s possible he learned these techniques from them, but without a file on what he’s been trained in, I’m just guessing here.”

Ben nodded. “So you’re saying that he knows how to make sure we can’t find him?” The younger man nodded. “Can you trace him at all, Simon?”

Simon smiled, again a superior smile. “Of course, it just takes a lot of time to trace this back to the source. I can’t tell you how long, boss, but I can try. And there may be unforeseen delays, too.”

Ben cocked an eyebrow at the scrawny kid. He was only nineteen and already knew more about this techno stuff than Ben would ever learn in the rest of his life. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say there are ways to cause me to trace the wrong direction, and if he used them, I’ll have to do things several times to find the right source of the signal.”

Ben nodded. “Do what you can, Simon.”

He left the t-shirt clad kid with the resources of the department at his hands, hoping that he could trace the signal back to where it came from. Until then, he’d have to rely on good old police work to make the difference. He headed to talk to Brandee Schneck, the head of their crime lab. He hoped she’d found something on the tape.

“Hi, Cap, what’s up?” asked Brandee as he walked into the room.

“Have you got anything for me?” he asked, stepping behind her where she was working on the video from the morning before.

She shook her head. “As you know, I went through this yesterday, and today I came back to it. I haven’t found much that I didn’t see yesterday. The place is some sort of basement or interior room because as you can see, there are no windows or areas of exterior light entering the room. It is obvious we’re dealing with something that’s going to be hard to find because of that. There are some unusual features of the room, however…” she said moving the images frame by frame.

Ben leaned closer, keeping his face clear of the bushel of red curls the woman had on her head. “What have you found?”

She turned and winked one green eye at him. “Look at this,” she said pointing to the back wall. “I don’t think this is a normal basement or building. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something different about this room. There are no traces of water, so it isn’t a leaky basement like so many around here are. Also, if it were interior of a building, it would be a wood construction. They’ve obviously left the constructed walls up, whatever they’re made of, and haven’t even bothered to paint over them. But it’s not easy to figure out what it is from just a video of the room.”

Ben sighed. “Do what you can,” he said, squeezing her shoulder gently.

He headed off into the conference room where Randy was waiting for him.
“Got anything, Ben?” he asked as he entered.

He shook his head. “Simon is working the trace and Brandee’s still at work on the video tape from yesterday. But so far neither one of them has had anything substantial to report.”

Randy nodded. “He’s good, Ben. He’s really good. And there’s no telling what he learned in lock up. He was never supposed to get out of there, no one is. But that’s the problem, because he was surrounded by some of the most notorious military offenders out there. I’ve been working on identifying who he was buddies with in there, but I’m not having much luck.”

Ben poured a cup of coffee slowly, dropping two spoons of sugar in and stirring slowly. “How’s Don doing?”

Randy snorted. “Not too well. We all are well aware of what kind of man we’re dealing with, and Don knows even better. He’s seen what he’ll do to a woman.”

Ben turned slowly. “What do you mean?”

“See, after Joe changed, but before he got our team mates killed, we were still taking our orders and doing what we were supposed to do, just like good little soldiers.” Randy’s face was suddenly devoid of all emotion. “Don was with him on a recon mission to an area that we were going to set up camp in for a few days. It was supposed to be clear of all civilians. But it wasn’t. Don heard screaming from one of the old houses, where Joe had gone into. Thinking the worst, he went running in, calling for help as he did. We headed in as quickly as we could.

“Don got there first, of course. He found Joe with this girl he’d found in the building. Apparently, she’d had a gun, and threatened him with it. He’d gotten the gun away from her, beating her pretty good in the process, and she was screaming because he was…” Randy stopped, sipping his coffee for a second. “He beat and raped her so badly that she bled to death before we even go there. Don, though, Don got there before he was finished with her. He would never say what he saw but he was white as a sheet when we got there, and Joe was done by then.”

Ben looked at him. “What was his reason for doing it?”

Randy swallowed hard. “He said she was going to kill him, so he did what he had to. He never offered any reason for why he’d taken advantage of her, just said she got what she deserved.”

Ben sighed. “The man’s a monster.”

Randy shook his head slowly, drinking what was left in his cup. “But the thing is, he wasn’t always like that. He changed, and when it happened, we never saw our friend again. He was someone that none of knew any longer.”

Hideout – 12:00 pm

“CJ, want to play a game?” Michael asked, sighing.

She snorted, turning over on the bed. “What do you mean? There’s nothing here we can play a game with, we haven’t even got playing cards.”

Michael sat up quickly. “Don’t need anything, my dear CJ.” He tapped his head. “All you need to have a game is up here.

“Oh, you’re talking about that whole role playing thing,” she said nodding. “You have to have books, dice and all sorts of stuff for that.”

Michael smiled. “I think we could come up with something to pass the time.”

The door opened just then, and Sheila came down with a tray of food. Some chicken nuggets, fries and corn on the cob. It smelled delicious.

“Sheila, you are an awesome cook,” Michael breathed as he came to the table.

She sort of blushed. “You really think so? This is all just zap it stuff, you know.”

“No, really Sheila. I know zap it stuff, and the stuff you fix at night is far from zap it stuff,” Michael said, smiling.

CJ nodded sitting down beside him. “Yeah, Sheila, you have a way with food.”

She smiled at them. “I’m glad you like it. Makes me feel good to know I’m doing something right after all.”

CJ and Michael exchanged glances. Sheila was sporting at least one new bruise today on her forearm. She was wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt, so they couldn’t see much else. It was becoming increasingly obvious, though that Joe was abusive to more than just his helpless prisoners.

“Sheila, can I ask you something?” CJ asked quietly, sipping the glass of grape soda she’d brought her.

She looked at the younger girl. “Well, I guess so,” she said. As the days had passed, both of them had noticed that Sheila had become increasingly quieter.

“He hits you, doesn’t he?” she asked.

Suddenly, Sheila’s eyes flared, and her face tightened. “That’s none of your damn business.”

Sheila turned and left, heading back upstairs, but both CJ and Michael knew the answer to the question. Over the past few days, they’d both noted the changes. Neither of them understood what exactly was going on. But then, neither of them had ever dealt with an abused woman like Sheila before.

Sheila closed the door behind her quietly. She breathed deeply and sighed. Why could she not admit it? The part of her mind that understood the fact that they were right screamed at her to just walk out the door, go to the police, and lead them back. That was the logical, easy part. But Sheila also knew what would happen if she did. The two of them would be lucky to survive the hours it took her to get there and get back with help. Despite herself, they were growing on her. So young and innocent compared to her now. They hadn’t seen the hard life she had, and now they were getting a taste of it. For nothing but Joe’s perverse pleasure.

She went to the stove and wiped it up and cleared all the cooking dishes away. Joe wasn’t there at the moment; he was off on one if his “recon” missions to make sure things were going the way he wanted them to go. She walked into the small living room of the house and stared out the window. Not another house in sight either direction. Where would she go even if she did leave? She had no idea where anywhere was.

She could see the small barn building where her car was hidden. She could take them and go, she thought slowly but then shook her head. No. He’d find her and kill her, and no one could stop them. It was best that she went along with his plan. She was having trouble swallowing his reasoning now, though. She was watching everything, and nothing made sense. Joe wasn’t quite the victim that he claimed to be, and these kids were the ones who were going to pay the price. He had no intention of letting them go. This was all a game to him. All of this was being played out according to his detailed plan. She glanced over to the table where his notebook was sitting. That was his planning book. One of the things she was forbidden from even touching. She picked it up slowly, ready to drop it the moment she heard his key in the door.

She opened it to the first page of notes. It was all scribbled plans for the kidnappings. Then several pages in, she found a neat, lined sheet with a timetable. The first four lines were crossed off, being already accomplished.

“Day 1 – Kidnapping the girl.
“Day 2 – Kidnapping the boy.
“Day 3 and 4 – Waiting.
“Day 5 – Ransoms
“Day 6 and 7 – Waiting
“Day 8 – check progress on money
“Day 9 or after – Have money wired to account.
“Make arrangements to be picked up by helicopter, dump corpses from the helicopter, jet to Cambodia.”

Sheila heard the engine to the van and she jumped, knocking the notebook to the floor. She quickly grabbed it to put it back on the coffee table.

“What are you doing?” he voice boomed from behind her. She turned around quickly.

“Nothing, Joe. I was resting and knocked it off the table when I put my feet down,” she said, pushing the notebook back onto the table.

Joe stared at her for a second. “I told you not to touch any of that.”

She sucked in a breath slowly. “I know, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

Joe didn’t say anything else. He didn’t need to. As usual, he let his fists speak for him. She spent the next twenty minutes in the bathroom, trying to not throw up everything she’d eaten for lunch. She pulled down the med-kit she had in the cabinet and studiously taped her ribs. From what she could tell, they were mostly bruised, but she was afraid one was broken. Well, there wasn’t much else she could do besides tape it for now. She reached into the box and dropped a couple pills in her palm. She didn’t need to be conscious for a few hours, at least not until dinner time. She added a valium to the pain pill and drank a glass of water with them. She made it to the bed before she passed out completely.

Kim Household – 4:00 pm

Mara answered the door almost mechanically. It had been another day with no news. She held out hope every time the phone or the doorbell rang that it was someone calling to say that they’d found them, and they were okay, nothing bad had happened. It had all be a nightmare, and it was over.

It was wishful thinking.

“Jeena,” she said, smiling at the friend of CJ’s that had seemed to have been there forever.

“Ms. Kim,” she said, bowing slightly. “I came to see if there had been any word yet?”

Mara smiled, ushering the girl in. She was the same age as CJ, and as long as they’d lived here, the two had been inseparable. Then again, there were few of Korean heritage in the town, so it made sense that they would become fast friends. They were of common roots, and there were not a lot of diverse individuals here. It had been a difficult adjustment for her.

“I’m sorry, Jeena, but there hasn’t been anything since yesterday.”

She nodded and walked to the kitchen. “Let me take care of the dishes for you, Ms. Kim. I know it’s tough right now.”

“You don’t have to…” she began.

“Nonsense, it’s the least I can do. And I can be here in case you get a call. I’ll fix dinner if you don’t mind my cooking.”

Mara started to argue, but then sighed. “It’s just fine, Jeena.”

She headed to the living room and sat down. It was quiet other than the clinking of dishes. Alex and Allie had been taken to the park by their dad. They had to get out of the house for a while; they were getting all wound up. So it was quiet, and that left Mara with nothing but her own thoughts, which could certainly be detrimental.

Hideout – 4:30 pm

“So you’re saying all we have to do is visualize these ‘characters’ and we interact with each other and ‘play’ things out vocally?” CJ said, sitting across the table from Michael.

He smiled. “Yeah, yeah, it’s like acting, kinda. All the action takes place in your head. You become the character that you’re playing, and I’ll run the game, so I’ll be everyone else.”

She thought about it. “You’ll be everyone else?”

“Yeah, everyone you meet. We’ll start out really simple, come up with a background story for your character based on the setting I’ll put you in. And the one I know the most about is this one called Scarred Lands. It’s really cool, and has a lot of cool things in it. They don’t publish it any more, though, which makes me kinda sad, but that’s how it goes, right?” he said, and CJ thought his face was going to split from the grin.

“Okay, okay, but it would be easier with some paper or something to write on,” she said.

Michael nodded. “Maybe Sheila could get us some.”

CJ arched a brow. “She was so helpful at lunch,” she said coyly.

“Well,” Michael began, but the door opened. Dinner time.

Neither one of them could avoid noticing the fact that Sheila’s face looked pale; she moved very carefully as she navigated the stairs with the tray. She sat it down on the table with a grimace on her face. She placed their plates in front of them. Looked like cheeseburger hamburger helper and mixed veggies. And it smelled great.

“Are you okay, Sheila?” CJ asked quietly.

She stood up, holding the tray against her stomach and smiled slowly. “I’m fine. Do you guys need anything?”

Michael took a bite of the veggies and smiled. “This is awesome, I don’t even like vegetables. But yeah, you think you could get us some paper and pens or something. We really don’t have anything to do. Or some board games, cards, dice, anything…a TV and some DVDs would be great as well.”

Sheila nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

She turned and walked away. CJ and Michael dove into their food, avoiding the subject that was foremost in their mind. She was in pain, and they both knew it. She was in a lot of pain, but it was more than physical pain. But what could they do about it? She was the one in power over them…

Jameson Houshold – 5:00 pm

Aleen picked at the food on her plate. Mr. Jameson didn’t say anything, in fact no one said anything. Aleen was spending the night with Kay. She thought that maybe it would take her mind off Michael, but instead, she found herself thinking about him more. Around her, the Jameson family started talking about other things, and Aleen barely noticed.

“Kay, how was school today?” her mother asked.

Kay smiled. “Great, since it’s the end of the year. Getting things wrapped up. Its weird though since Aleen isn’t in class, though.”

Kay’s brother, younger by six years piped up. “It’s funny to hear everyone talk about you, Aleen!”

“Hush, Eddie,” his mother chided.

Aleen smirked. “It’s okay, I’m used to it by now. You mind if I head up to Kay’s room, I’m not very hungry.”

“Go ahead, dear, if you get hungry later, there’s plenty in the pantry and fridge,” Kay’s mom said gently.

Eddie watched her leave and frowned at his mother. “But Moooom, you told me if I didn’t eat dinner, I couldn’t have no snacks.”

“Any snacks, Eddie, and yes I did. And that’s the rule in this house. Aleen is in a lot of pain right now,” his father said gently.

Eddie made a face. “She’s no hurt anywhere, why’s she so special?”

“Honey, it’s complicated. But her pain is on the inside. She misses her brother, and is afraid he won’t come back alive,” his mother said, pushing back her own plate.

Eddie nodded and looked at his mom, his face extremely serious. “Well, how else would he come back? The only way he can come back is alive…”

His mom took a breath to explain things but stopped, letting it out slowly, because he was of course right. If he wasn’t alive, he wouldn’t come back at all, and that’s what they all feared more than anything.