Garage Sale Diamonds (Garage Sale Mystery) (34 page)

“No,” said the voice behind the mask. “First we take the diamonds you brought tonight and you get the boy only when you produce the rest.”

“But then we’re right back to tonight. You’d have the diamonds while the boy and I have no protection and then you kill us.” In defiance, she raised her body as high as it would go. “No.”

The man spoke next in a condescending sing-song voice one might use with a toddler. “Well, then, I guess you must learn to trust us.”

Jennifer choked back a semi-hysterical laugh of derision welling in her throat but which would only enrage the man. She’d read that a woman’s public scorn equaled humiliation for a man in his culture, particularly with such ridicule delivered in the presence of his peers.

“We do not trust each other, but let’s make a plan in which we both win,” she said.

She heard the impatient snarl of one not used to having his desires questioned, but she must save Milo. “You trade me the boy for half the diamonds that I brought tonight. That’s fifty percent more than you had and you’re halfway to where you want to be. Tomorrow, I go to the bank to get the rest. I will put those diamonds anywhere you say and you can get them any time you want.”

“And if you decide not to get the diamonds at the bank? You have the boy but we don’t have all our diamonds. Or what if you tell police where you put them? They’d arrest the one who gets them.”

“Kidnapping Milo showed me you can harm my family. I get that. Why would I call police to risk it again?”

He conferred with the others. Several nodded.

“All right. We have half the diamonds. Take the boy and go. You still have the cell phone directing you here tonight. We will use it to tell you where to leave the diamonds tomorrow. Fortunate for us your family is large, offering many easy targets if you make a mistake.

He made a gesture. “Release the boy.”

No sooner than Milo began running toward her outstretched arms than the sharp report of three gunshots shattered the silence of the night.

84

Monday, 7:41 PM

In Adam’s night-vision goggles, Jennifer and Milo glowed green as they hugged each other near her car. Adam saw the kidnappers nearby—at least three balaclava-masked men. They had the advantage of numbers, he of surprise. He could take down one, maybe two by himself but three or more changed the odds. More important, the government always wanted them alive for interrogation.

He called for backup before racing out of the farmhouse but doubted a cruiser would reach the scene in time. The three men he could see moved toward their car and opened the doors. Adam couldn’t let them escape. “Shoot into the air now, Hannah,” he whispered into his cell phone.

The crack of three rifle shots broke the night as she responded. At the kidnap scene, all heads snapped toward the sound. When no follow-up came, the men jumped into the vehicle and roared toward the road.

Adam shot out two tires on the side of the car visible to him in the goggles and as the car squared off to leave, he disabled the other rear tire with more bullets. A car could ride on flat tires, but not fast. As their vehicle reached the road, Adam saw the scene flicker with blue cruiser lights. How could police cars dispatched for backup arrive that fast?

Running up behind their fleeing car, Adam held his pistol steady. Seeing police in the road, the kidnappers bailed from their vehicle and rushed into the field, away from the arriving cops and directly toward Adam.

“Police! Stop or I’ll shoot!”

A bullet zinged past him. He responded by shooting toward the legs of two of the men. When they screamed and fell, the third stopped, putting his hands in the air.

Alongside Jennifer, in the split second before one of the kidnappers raised his hands, he threw something at her. Reaching for it in the gloom, she realized he’d tossed back the bag of diamonds she’d brought tonight. “Now we know where to find them again,” he said. “If police take them, they are gone for good.”

Adam focused his weapon on the two men still standing when a surprising number of cops closed in from the road to overwhelm the kidnappers. Their cruiser headlights illuminated this corner of the dark field. With the three perps face down on the ground and cuffed, Adam called out to the uniforms, “Police officer here. Don’t shoot.” Hurrying over to the cops, he identified himself. “How the hell did you know about this crime scene?”

“911 traced the kid’s cell phone. Fixed him at a house in McLean, but when the perps brought him here we followed. Are they okay, the woman and the kid?”

“Let’s find out.” While several policemen wrestled the two injured men into an ambulance and the other into a cruiser, Adam and other cops strode over to Jennifer and Milo. “You and the boy okay, Ma’am?” asked one of them.

“Glad to be alive and not hurt. Thank you for saving us. Milo says they pushed him around and scared him. but I think he’s all right. He’s been through a lot for a four year old.”

“We’ll drive you home right now, Ma’am.”

”What about my car?”

“Give us your keys and one of our men will follow us there in it.”

“Adam, how did you get here?” Jennifer asked in amazement.

“OnStar gave me your vehicle location and—you won’t believe it—you’re standing on a piece of my farm property.”

“What?”

“They must have scouted an empty field away from residential scrutiny and picked mine. Hannah’s here, too. She’ll want to see you before you leave.”

The policemen helped Jennifer and Milo into their cruiser.

“Wow,” Milo marveled. “Are we going to wide home in this police caw?”

“We sure are, Son,” confirmed the driver. “Shall we use the siren?”

Milo’s smudged little face beamed. “Yes, yes!”

Hannah rushed up, gasping for breath. “Mom…I’ve been so worried. Are you and Milo…all right?” They exchanged reassurances all around.

“Tomorrow we’ll tell you Hannah’s role in saving you and Milo,” Adam said. Hannah beamed as his arm went around her shoulder.

“Thank you both for rescuing us. Love you so much.”

As the police car bumped across the farm road to the pavement, Jennifer hugged Milo close. The little tyke said, “It’s lucky you telled us about calling 911.”

Tears of relief sparkled in her eyes. “Yes,” she agreed, smoothing his hair, “…very lucky.”

When the cruiser reached the road, the policeman driving said, “Are you ready for the siren, Milo?”

He sat up, wiggling with excitement. “You bet I am.”

“Here goes.” The distinctive wail filled the air.

Jennifer marveled. They’d made it through alive and she still had the diamonds. But after the series of arrests, these people had even more reason to hate her. Would their ruthless companions add revenge to their previous zeal to get their diamonds?

She leaned her head back against the cruiser seat and closed her eyes. With tonight’s rescue, was her terror over or was this only round one of the fight yet to come?

85

Monday, 8:16 PM

Zayneb thought Ahmed did not look well tonight. He and Abdul, the man acting as driver since Mahmud’s absence, had closed themselves in the study, intently discussing business.

She sat in the dining room, allowing her mind to wander. Mahmud’s absence lifted a huge burden from her heart. She no longer feared his beatings, his looks of disgust, his loathing of her friends, his anger at her outside interests or his cutting indifference to Khadija.

Her family home was safe again now that he couldn’t legally take half from her. She needn’t anguish over the complications, expense and repercussions of divorce. While she still embraced Islam, she’d like to be called Phoebe once again.

Now she need only solve her money problems and wanted to find an independent solution different from asking Khadija to contribute from her salary. Maybe she could move Heba upstairs, finish the basement into an apartment and rent it out. Maybe she could get a job at the school where her hours dovetailed with Safia’s, earning money while continuing as a stay-at-home mother. Who could imagine so much good came from her spouse’s accidental death? According to the newspaper and TV detective programs, many people wished their spouse dead or tried to make it happen. In her case, Allah indeed worked his plan for each person’s fate in unusual ways. Life was looking up.

In her room, Khadija thought about Ahmed. How was it possible for a practical, rational person like herself to fall in love this fast? She couldn’t explain their instant attraction or how she seemed to know from the start that he’d play an important role in her destiny. And her genuine affection superseded smug retaliation against her father. Mamud’s departure on the extended trip clarified that for her. This relationship with Ahmed would last. She could tell. Life was looking up.

In the basement, Heba smiled. Her life had changed again with the last of the cruel, insensitive men in her life gone. Ironically, in the process she’d found a family and become an accepted member. Her admiration for Zayneb grew daily. She knew Mahmud didn’t go on a trip. She didn’t know how he died but she watched him buried. The day Mahmud left, something else had happened, something she practiced in her room, something new and wonderful. Life was looking up.

In the study, Ahmed and Abdul coped with their situation. Their greatest bafflement lay in Allah’s reason for subverting their heroic, selfless efforts to glorify Him. Why wouldn’t he smooth their way rather than destroy every effort? Questioning the Supreme Being amounted to blasphemy, but how could God’s will lead them to this inglorious end?

“Summarizing,” Ahmed said at last, “our cell of sleepers is reduced from ten to the two of us. Our funds are gone, we don’t know how to get them back and we haven’t manpower to implement our mission. Without our original cell’s unique skills and connections, the mission we envisioned is unworkable. Worse, the enemy captured all seven freedom fighters alive. What might they reveal during interrogation?”

“Thanks to the Great Leader’s wisdom, each of us knew only what you told us. In that respect, you are most valuable to the enemy, for you know the most about this mission, the connection with the Russians and the Great Leader himself. Have you told him our situation?” Abdul asked.

“Not yet, but I will tonight.”

“At the very least, the two of us can perish in glory. We can arm ourselves, hide our weapons and explosives beneath our coats, go to the shopping center and earn our path to Paradise in a glorious blaze of infidel deaths.”

“Yes, we can,” Ahmed agreed, but he seemed to have a dreamy, far-away expression.

“You said such spectacles will occur all over America, in every state on the same day at the same hour. So beyond our explosions here will flow a ripple of terror to frighten their whole nation.”

“To frighten them or unite them against us?”

Abdul stared aghast at his companion. “You are joking, right?”

Ahmed forced a smile. “Of course, I am joking.”

86

Monday, 10:33 PM

Jason felt old and weary as he extricated himself from his car in the garage. The three-hour drive in each direction plus hectic merger meetings in Delaware took their toll. Staying overnight made sense, but the diamond danger pressed him to hurry home instead—to protect his loved ones.

“Hi, Dad. Glad you’re home.” Becca greeted him as he poked his head into the family room where she watched TV.

“Anything exciting happen today, Becks?”

Becca gave him “the look.” She sighed.  “Where to begin, Dad. Mom’s asleep. She had several glasses of wine and took a pill besides, so I guess I’m the one to tell you.”

“I’ll get a glass of wine myself and then let’s talk. Would you like one?”

“Sure, a wee chardonnay before bed would taste good.”

He returned with two glasses. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

“Do you want the big news first or the little news?”

“Start me with the little news and work up.”

“Mom had lunch today with the psychic. Mom handed her a diamond from the ones in the doll, which burned the psychic’s hand—not a real burn but a mental burn, whatever that is. The psychic confirmed the diamonds are part of the danger. Well, duh! We knew that. But she impressed Mom enough to get invited to our Thanksgiving dinner.”

Jason felt nervous already. “So…ah, what’s the big news?”

As she described the break in, the bank and the kidnapping, Jason grew pale and clenched his fists. “That’s Part One,” Becca said. “Part Two is even better.”

“Before you finish, skip to the bottom line. Is everybody okay now?”

“Yes.”

Jason drained his glass. “Then pause a minute. I’m getting a refill.”

When he returned, he paced the floor with growing dismay as Becca described brushing off the police, arranging the cell-phone directions, Veronika’s alert, Milo’s 911call, Adam’s involvement and the final police rescue. “Dad, are you all right?”

“Of course I’m not all right. How could I be all right, knowing my wife and grandson were nearly murdered tonight? I… ‘overwhelmed’ hardly covers it. True, I’m always leery to ask about a day in your mother’s life, but this…” He sat on the edge of the couch, his head in his hands, cursing his absence when this family needed his protection.