Abducted: A Jake Badger Mystery Thriller (21 page)

Chapter 42

Tuesday Afternoon

The first name on my list was
William
Brimmer
. His office was on South
Doheny
. Nice building. Old. Three stories.
Brimmer's
office was on the third floor. Since my tan
corduroy sport coat had a bullet hold in the shoulder, I was wearing my gray
Herringbone jacket over a light blue Oxford button-down. My Levis
were
broken in enough to be just the right color to go well
with the gray herringbone. Snazzy. The receptionist was a good-looking
forty-something, tan with blond hair, a perfect nose and perfect teeth, which
she showed me when she smiled and asked if she could help me.

“I hope so,” I said, giving
her my best smile in return. I took out my phone and brought up the photo of
the
Durrain’s
Bel
Air home.
I held it out so she could see.

“I saw this house the other
day. It's in
Bel
Air.
Very nice.
Just what I'm looking for.
I heard that the architect
who designed it was in Beverly Hills, but I didn’t get his name. So I'm
literally going door to door trying to find him. I want him to design one like
it for me.”

She looked at the picture of
the house. Shaking her head, she said, “No, Mr.
Brimmer
didn't design that one. I'm sure of it. Mostly he does office buildings. But
the few homes he has designed have all been single story modern style homes. He
doesn't do traditional and certainly not Tudor.”

“I see. Any idea
who
might have done this one.”

She thought for a moment. “I'm
not familiar enough with the work of other local architects to be able to say.
I'm sorry.”

“That's fine. No problem.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.”

The next office was on up the
street a ways on North
Doheny
. The office complex was
a
one story
affair. Each office suite had a separate
entrance off the parking lot. Ralph Henderson's office was suite eleven.
Henderson's receptionist was an annoyed, middle-aged woman who squirmed around
in her chair like she might have been suffering with hemorrhoids.

I went through the same
routine as I had in
Brimmer's
office.

“No. Mr. Henderson's specialty
is luxury apartment complexes. He doesn't do single family residences. And if
he did, he certainly wouldn't do anything like that.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure I
understand. Is there something wrong with English Tudor?”

“Not if you live in England,”
she said, haughtily. “But in Southern California? Please. That’s just new money
trying to look like old money. It’s tacky.”

What an obnoxious ass.
“Really,” I said. “You work for a guy who has his office in the low rent
district of Beverly Hills, sandwiched between an insurance agency and a tanning
salon, and you have the nerve to look down your nose at people who appreciate
classic architecture? Tell me, is Mr. Henderson a jackass too, or does he just
hire jackasses?”

I could feel the daggers in
my back as I walked out. I knew my response to her had been something of a
childish indulgence, but what's life without a few indulgences? Besides, I
thought the
Durrani
house was nice. I liked it. And
the receptionist's obnoxious arrogance had pissed me off. Of course, given my
frame of mind, pissing me off wasn't that hard to do.

Fortunately, receptionists
three and four were nice ladies. However, their bosses had not designed the
Durrani
house. Before I got to the fifth office, Alex
called.

“Got it,” he said, when I
answered. “Arnold Newman. On Wilshire Boulevard. They even had a picture of it
on the wall. It won some kind of an award.”

“Okay. Let's go back and get
started on the next step.”

I had stopped by Mildred's
and picked up Wilson. Alex was waiting for us when we arrived. It was a few
minutes after five when I opened the front door of my office.

“So who do we know,” I asked,
as Alex got Wilson a cookie, “who can hack into Newman's system and download
the plans?”

“I've got a young woman in
tech support who can do it,” Alex said. “
Kodi
Graham.
Little body, big brain.” He was finding her in his contacts list as he spoke. “Knows
more about computers than anyone I've ever seen.”

“
Kodi
,
it's Alex.
You still at work?
... Okay, good. I need
you to do something for me. It has to do with the Nolan kidnapping ... Well,
it's a little out of the ordinary, but time is of the essence here and we don't
have time to go through normal channels ... I need you to hack into a system
and download a set of architectural plans ...
Yes ...”

Alex gave her Arnold Newman's
website URL, reading it off a business card he'd picked up while in Newman's
office. He told her the plans were for a house belonging to a family named
Durrani
. He gave her the address of the house, and told her
it was a red brick, two-story Tudor style home. Then he gave her my email and
told her to email the plans to me when she had them.

When he ended the call, I
asked, “What if the file doesn't have the owner's name or address as part of
the file name?”

“Then she'll get back to me
and we'll have to come up with a plan B.”

We didn't need a plan B. In
twenty minutes
Kodi
called Alex and said she had just
sent the plans.

“Thanks,
Kodi
.
I really appreciate it. You know this never happened, right?”

Alex smiled at whatever she
said. “Thank you.”

I had been pacing back and
forth across my office, thinking about different aspects of the rescue. I sat
down at my computer. The email had come through. I had just recently upgraded
my computer system and had a new iMac with a nice big monitor. I opened the
email. The plans filled the screen.

Alex came to look over my
shoulder. “Be easier to work with,” he said, “if we could print it.”

He was right.

“There's an office supply
store not far down Ventura Boulevard. They've got a printer that can handle
large paper. I'll send it to them and we can go pick it up.”

I called the store and told
them what I was sending. They said it would be ready in fifteen minutes.

“Let's pick up the plans,”
Alex said, “get some Chinese take out, and put a plan together while we eat.”

Chapter 43

Tuesday Evening

“Looks like a pretty good
alarm system,” Alex said, pointing to several different possible entry points.
The plans were spread out on my desk. “We'll have to disable it.”

“There's no external access,”
I said. “How do we access it?”

Alex took out his phone and
made a call.

“
Kodi
,”
he said. “Alex again ... Yeah, got them. Perfect. Thank
you ...
”
He smiled. “I need another favor ... The plans you sent, you didn't happen to
save a copy did you? ... Excellent. Ms. Nolan is being held inside that house.
I need you to access the security system of the house and disable it ... Around
midnight ... Really? I hadn't thought of that. So, what are the options? ...
You can do that? ... I don't know. Thirty minutes ... Wow. You're even better
than I thought you
were ...
”Alex smiled again. “Okay.
Call me around eleven thirty.”

I swallowed the bite of Chow
Mien I'd been working on and said, “Let me guess, she can hack into the system
and disarm it.”

“Not only can she hack into
the system and disarm it,” Alex said, “
she
can also
hack the security company that provides the armed response service and shut
them down so they can't see that the
Durrani
system
is offline.”

“Impressive. That way we
don't have to worry about someone unexpected showing up.”

“Exactly.”

“And she's gonna do that at
midnight?”

“I figured that'd give us
time to get ready and get in place. Let the
Durranis
get to sleep before we go in.”

I nodded. “Hard part's gonna
be figuring out where they're holding her.”

He poured himself another cup
of coffee and came back to look at the plans. “What are their options?” he
asked.

“Well, there're seven bedrooms,”
I said. “They could have her in one of the bedrooms. But there's a guesthouse
out beyond the pool, and Mr.
Durrani
mentioned a safe
room.”

“That's a lot of places to
check.”

“We'll start with the guesthouse.
If she's there, we don't even need to go into the main house. That'd be the easiest
scenario.”

“And if she's not in the guesthouse?”

“Then we go in,” I said.

“Start with the bedrooms?”
Alex asked.

“That'd be risky. No way
of
knowing which ones are occupied. Their help may live on
the premises.”

“True. So, once we get inside
we go the safe room?”

“Problem is,” I said, “the
entrance to the safe room is in the room where Mr.
Durrani
is, through the walk-in closet.”

“That complicates it a
little,” Alex said.

“Alex Watson,” I said,
“master of understatement.”

“I wonder, though,”
Alex
said, “we both got the feeling that Mr.
Durrani
didn't know about Monica. But if she's in the safe
room off his bedroom, how'd they get her in there without him knowing?”

“Good question,” I said. “Maybe
he's a heavy sleeper and Mrs.
Durrani
put her in
there while he was asleep.”

“Maybe. Still a complication,
though.”

“How do we keep him quiet
without hurting him?” I asked.

“We could reason with him,”
Alex said, “and ask him not to alert the household.”

“Reason with him.” There were
times when I couldn’t tell whether Alex was being serious or just kidding.

“He seemed like a reasonable
man,” Alex said.

“Did he?”

“How about this,” Alex said, “I'll
focus on keeping Mr.
Durrani
quiet without hurting
him, leaving you free to get into the safe room.”

“And that's the next problem.
Safe rooms are made to keep people out. How do we get in?”

Alex bent over, taking a
closer look at the plans for the safe room. After a moment, he said, “Bet the
locking mechanism is tied into the security system.”

He took out his phone again
and called
Kodi
.

“There's a safe room,” he
explained when she answered. “We think Ms. Nolan may be in it. Can you hack in
and look around before doing what you're going to do later on? ... Perfect.
Call me as soon as you know.”

“All right,” Alex said. “Let's
say
Kodi
can open the safe room. Then what?”

“Then we take Monica and go.”

“You really think it's going
to be that simple?”

“No. Nothing's ever that
simple.”

“So what do we do?” he asked.

“We make it up as we go.
Adapt and overcome,” I said.

“Marines?”

“
Oorah
,”
I said. I hadn’t said that in a long time and as I did I felt a surge of
emotion. The simple fact was that we were getting ready to go into battle.

“Okay,” Alex said, “so we
adapt and overcome. I'll follow your lead.
But what about our
vehicle?
We can't leave a strange vehicle on the road in a
Bel
Air neighborhood. They've got patrols. They'll stop and
investigate.”

I thought for a moment. “We
need a driver.”

“Any ideas?”

“Yeah. We'll get Heidi to
drive us. She wants to help. This will be the perfect way for her to make a
contribution.”

“Heidi?” He sounded concerned.
Going into a possible gunfight didn't bother him a bit. But being in close
proximity to an attractive woman who was interested in him unnerved him.

“Sure. It'll be fine. I'll do
most of the talking. Less chance of you embarrassing yourself that way.”

“Oh, that’s hilarious. You're
a riot. Mr. Suave around the ladies. Like you're so much more confident than I
am.”

“You're right. I'm not. But
then, I don't need to be. I've got Monica. I'm all set.”

“Yeah, you are,” he said,
serious now. “She's a good woman. And you're a lucky man.”

“Yes,” I said, reflectively. “I
am.”

“So let's go get her.”

Chapter 44

Tuesday Night

We left Alex's car at my
office and drove to my apartment. It was seven thirty. I didn't know if Heidi
was home or working. If she
was
working, I’d go see
her and ask if she could get off early. Fortunately, she had worked the day
shift and was home.

“Hi, Jake,” she said, when
she answered the door.

“Hi, Heidi. Do you have a few
minutes? Alex and I need some help with something and thought maybe you might
like to help us. It has to do with rescuing Monica.”

“Of course, Jake. Anything.”

She came with me back to my
apartment. Alex smiled and greeted Heidi, but I could see that he was a little
uneasy. We sat down around my table.

“We're pretty sure we know
where Monica is, and we're going in tonight to get her.”

“Where is she?” Heidi asked.

“A home in
Bel
Air.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“We need a driver,” Alex
said.

He surprised me by jumping in
like that.

Heidi looked at him and
nodded. “I can drive you.”

“Okay,” I said, “here's what
we need. We'll leave about eleven and drive to
Bel
Air. We'll drive through the neighborhood to get a feel for things. We'll point
out the house. Then we'll go look for a place for you to drive to after dropping
us off at midnight. It needs to be a place nearby, so you can get back to us
quickly. After you drop us off, you drive to that place and wait. When I call
you, you come back and pick us up.”

“Sounds simple enough,” she
said. “What if something goes wrong?”

“Depends on how wrong it
goes,” I said. “If it's small wrong, we adjust. If it's big wrong, well,
Mildred gets Wilson. The rest, I don't really care about.”

“Jake, don't talk like that.
That's not what I meant. Don’t say stuff like that. I meant like if you need
help but can't call. What do I do then?”

“If the situation is such
that neither Alex nor I can call you, then there'd be nothing you could do
anyway.”

“And speaking of calling you,”
Alex said, “I need to put your cell number in my phone.”

She looked at him. “You mean
you didn't put it in there yesterday when I gave it to you?”

“Well, I ah, I actually, um, ah,
I have it.”

I thought he was going to wet
himself.

“I just haven't had time yet
to put it into my phone … yet. We've been kind of busy.”

She smiled. “Alex, I'm just
kidding. Relax.” She put her hand on his forearm and gave it a little squeeze.

He smiled nervously. “I'll
put it in now,” he said. “What is it?”

She told him and he entered
it.

“So what's the answer to my
question?” she asked.

This was a side of Heidi I
had not seen before: serious, thoughtful,
assertive
. I
liked it.

“If you haven't heard from
either of us after thirty minutes,” I said, “drive by and take a look. Don't
stop. Don't try to investigate. Just drive by and see if anything appears to be
out of order.”

“And if it does?”

I looked at Alex.

“I'll give you a number to
call,” he said.

“FBI?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He gave her the
number.

“Why are just the two of you
going in?” she asked. “Why not
have a whole team
of
FBI people surround the place?”

“Couple of reasons,” I said. “First,
the people who took Monica want me. So I need to go. Second, if they detect anyone
coming after them, they might kill Monica. The more people involved, the
greater the likelihood the operation will be detected. A small two-man team can
function more covertly than a larger group.”

She considered what I said
and nodded.

“What should I wear?” she
asked.

“Normal clothes,” I said. “You
need to look inconspicuous. So dress like you would if you were going out to
the store or for a late night snack.”

“Okay,” she said. “Should I
have a gun ... just in case?”

“No,” Alex and I said at the
same time. “You won't need a gun,” I said.

She looked a little
disappointed.

“Okay, so I should be ready
at ten forty-five?”

“That'd be good,” I said.

She nodded. “I want you guys
to promise me something.” She paused to look at both of us. We waited for her
to explain. “I want you to promise me that you’ll be careful. No unnecessary
risks.”

“We never take unnecessary
risks,” Alex said.

“Good,” she said. “Because
you owe me a date and I'm going to hold you to it.” She stood, leaned over and
kissed Alex on the mouth. Looked like a pretty good kiss. Then she walked to
the door and said, “I'll be back at ten forty-five.”

As soon as Heidi closed the
door, before I could comment on the kiss, Alex asked, “I didn't want to say
anything in front of Heidi, but her question about the possibility of something
going wrong is a good one. Has it occurred to you that we may be walking into a
trap?”

I decided not to comment on
the kiss. “Yes. In fact, Mrs.
Durriani
would be a
fool if she
wasn't
expecting us, given that she's been
providing clues meant to lead me in. Even if they have been subtle, her
intention all along has been to lead me in.”

“And so we're walking into a
trap.”

“If you know it's a trap,” I
said, “it's not a trap.”

“Countermeasures?”

“Countermeasures.”

“Such as?”

“Eliminating the security
system,” I said. Before I could elaborate further, Alex's phone rang.

It was
Kodi
.
Alex listened. “Excellent,
Kodi
. Thank you ... Yes,
midnight ... Yes, call me when everything is offline and the safe room door can
be opened.”

Alex ended the call and said,
“
Kodi
can disable the locking mechanism. You'll be
able to slide the door open.”

“After this is over,” I said,
“I want to meet that young lady.”

Alex smiled. “I'll set it up.”
He got up and got the coffee maker going. Then he said, “Before she called, we
were discussing countermeasures.”

“Right,” I said. “Having all
the electronics disabled is a countermeasure.”

“What else?”

“The element of surprise.”

“Are we sure they're going to
be surprised?”

“Not at all.”

“How is a surprise that might
not be a surprise a countermeasure?”

“I guess we have to make sure
there’s a surprise,” I said.

“How do we do that?”