Legal Ease (Sutton Capital Series) (20 page)

They climbed to the third floor and found the chain with a master lock on the stairwell door. The lock had been picked and the chain hung loose. They opened the door and could see drop cloths and saw horses from the construction cluttering the floor. It appeared that the construction was on hold as there wasn’t a sign of workmen or any sound coming from the apartments as they walked down the hall.

Jack and Chad walked quietly down the length of the hallway and listened for anything that might give them a clue as to the whereabouts of the women and the kidnappers.

As they approached apartment 307, Jack jerked his head toward the door to indicate to Chad that he heard something. They stopped and listened closely, then nodded at one another. They heard men. Several men in the apartment talking in hushed voices. Jack’s gut told him Kelly was also in there.

They stood stock-still and listened intently for several minutes and then looked at each other in silent communication as they backed out to the stairwell they had just come through.

Once there, Chad spoke in a hushed voice. “I count at least four in the room, maybe five. Since this floor should be empty, I can see if my friend at the FBI thinks this is enough to come in without a warrant. In reality, they have a complaint from the neighbor so they should have a basis for at least sending a black and white to check out the complaint. I can probably get the FBI to escort that black and white. Not totally legit, but they can probably get away with it.”

“I can’t leave her in there, Chad. What if they’re.…” Jack couldn’t voice his concern, but Chad knew what was running through his friend’s head.

“No, Jack. I know what you’re thinking but if they’re planning to sell the women, they’ll have a hands-off policy. They need them healthy and uninjured. The women should be safe for the immediate future. We also want to consider everyone’s safety before we go in with that many men inside. If we go in without anyone here but us, we could get the women hurt instead of helping them. I know you want in there, but we have to be smart about this, Cousin. We’ll wait here and make sure they don’t leave with the women while we wait for backup,” Chad reasoned.

Jack knew Chad was right but it took all of his restraint to wait. He listened as Chad called his friend and relayed what they had found. He doubted the FBI would normally act under these circumstances, but Chad’s influence was coming into play with his longtime friend who had come to rely on Chad’s instincts when they had served in the military together; those instincts were well-honed and reliable. His friend was going out on a limb, but was confident Chad and Jack would have FBI backup in minutes.

Chad hung up the phone and turned to Jack. “Eight minutes out. Let’s sit tight so we have a better chance to get the women out safely, Jack.”

Jack clenched his teeth and fists. It took all his control not to run down that hall and bust down the door to get to Kelly but he knew Chad was right. He knew they needed to be careful and smart to get Kelly out safely – and that meant waiting for the FBI in this instance.

***

Kelly sat on the floor with the other women, arms and legs bound, hoping that the water seeping through the floorboards to the ceiling of the apartment below would draw enough attention to their location to bring help or that Jack could somehow track her here before it was too late. It had been hours since the men took the pictures in the bedroom and the women hadn’t been moved. Several hours ago, Kelly had felt shooting pains in her legs but even those were gone now. She couldn’t feel anything in them any longer and she knew that even if she had the chance to run from her kidnappers, she wouldn’t be physically capable of moving much at this point.

The kidnappers had finally given the women bottled water to drink a few hours ago, but no food. They seemed to want them weak but unharmed so far. Kelly watched as the four men huddled around a computer and talked in hushed voices and then she held her breath when one of the men went back into the bedroom that Kelly had been held in earlier in the day.
Please, please, please. Don’t find the water leak.

Kelly breathed a silent sigh of relief as the kidnapper turned to leave the room without entering the bathroom, but that relief was cut short as he froze mid turn. Rather than walk to the door, he turned back toward the room and seemed to study the floor around the bathroom. That’s when Kelly saw it. The water was seeping out into the carpet around the bathroom doorway and had formed a darkened half-moon that gave away her secret.

The kidnapper threw open the door and saw the flooded bathroom. He stared at it for a few minutes and she heard him curse as he put it all together and realized what she’d done.

“You bitch,” he spit out as he flew out of the bedroom and hauled Kelly up by her bound wrists. He cracked her cheekbone with the back of his hand, sending pain shooting through her face and down her neck. Kelly fell backward onto the floor and crumpled in a heap as the pain throbbed in her cheek and tears sprang to her eyes.

The other three men whirled to face them and the largest one immediately stopped the fist that was poised to come down on her again.

“Stop that! We need her in good shape for the auction. No one will buy her if she’s battered and bruised up.”

As Kelly heard the words, her brain struggled to process them and she finally understood. The fear she had felt earlier was nothing compared to the gut-wrenching terror that washed through her and took hold now. She began to tremble uncontrollably as the other women all began to struggle as their fate dawned on all of them.

“Shut up!” The larger man yelled at all of them before turning to the man that had hit Kelly. “What the hell are you doing?”

“That fucking cunt flooded the fucking bathroom. It will have gone through to the apartment below by now. Someone will come to investigate soon and this floor is supposed to be empty. She fucking gave us up,” the first kidnapper hissed in a voice that dripped with poison and only made Kelly’s trembling worse.

The larger man appeared to be in charge. He began to bark orders to the other men as Kelly lay on the floor beneath them, frozen as she waited to see what they would do to her.

“You two, go get the van. We need to move the women now. Pull around to the back door and call up to us when you’re ready. We’ll get the women ready and when you let us know you’re there, we’ll bring them down one at a time.”

The men all began to move while Kelly processed what he had said.
They’re going to sell us.
With that Kelly felt the bile rise in her throat and it took all she could just to choke it back down. Kelly let tears fall down her face freely now as the terror of what could lay ahead filled her thoughts and she began to wonder if Jack would be able to find her in time.

Jack and Chad huddled in the stairwell of the third floor and watched the door to the apartment while they waited for the FBI to arrive. Without warning, they heard a door open in the hallway. Chad and Jack pressed their backs up against the wall. Chad leaned forward and peeked through the narrow glass window in the stairwell door and saw two men coming toward them. He held two fingers up to Jack who nodded and knelt down to cross under the window to the other side of the door. With Chad on one side of the door and Jack on the other, they could take the men down as soon as they entered the stairwell.

The door opened and Jack and Chad acted quickly. Each of them struck one of the two men. It was a quick, silent takedown and they had the men subdued in under a minute. Chad pulled zip ties out of his back pocket and they bound the men’s hands behind their backs. 

“Let’s get them downstairs before they wake up. I don’t have anything to cover their mouths and the last thing we need is for them to alert the others,” Chad said.

He and Jack hauled the men down the stairs by their shoulders, letting them thump, thump, thump down the stairs. Neither was careful with their cargo.

When they got to the bottom, they could see several unmarked cars rolling to a stop down the street and they watched as police officers and FBI agents crept silently toward the building and came to a stop outside the stairwell entrance.

Chad looked at Jack and grinned. “Cavalry’s here.”

Chad opened the door to the stairwell and waived the FBI in through the door.

“They’re in apartment 307. We were waiting in the stairwell and these two came out. They were both armed. I estimate two more inside but I can’t be sure there aren’t more.” Chad handed over the guns they had found when they disabled the two kidnappers and briefed the FBI agents on the layout of the building and location of the apartment.

Jack and Chad fell back and, grudgingly let the law enforcement officers take the lead – but Jack would be damned if he wasn’t going to be right behind them. He followed silently up the stairs after them, driven by the intense need to have Kelly back in his arms safe and sound.

With FBI in the lead, the group crept silently down the hall toward the apartment. Four FBI agents framed the doorway. Two held
flash grenades that would stun the kidnappers while two more agents poised, ready with a battering ram. Given the exigent circumstances, they could enter with force, without knocking.

The lead agent nodded his head to the agents holding the small but powerful battering ram and they swung the ram at the door and broke through with the first swing. The two agents to either side of the door quickly threw the flash grenades into the room and then the agents stormed through the chaos and took down the two additional kidnappers.

***

As she began to give up and let despair creep around the edges of her brain, Kelly heard a frighteningly loud crash and watched as the door splintered off its hinges and flew into the apartment. There was a blinding light and a sound that took Kelly’s hearing completely away. For what seemed like hours – but was likely only seconds – the whole apartment was in chaos.

Kelly’s sight came back before her hearing and through the spots that floated in front of her eyes, she saw agents. Blue vests. Guns.

Then Jack. Just Jack. Kelly broke and the tears fell in an unstoppable current as Jack’s arms encircled her
and she knew she was safe.

Then Jack lifted her and carried her, cradled in his arms, out of the chaos, down the stairs and out of the building. Kelly couldn’t hear Jack as she sobbed in his arms but she felt his lips as he buried his face against her neck, moving over and over as he spoke to her
and she let herself sink into his arms while he carried her away from danger. 

Kelly was checked into Yale-New Haven Hospital where she was cleaned up, the bruises on her face and the abrasions on her wrists and ankles were treated, and she was monitored in case she went into shock.

The FBI questioned her but Jack didn’t let that go on for too long before he insisted they postpone the rest of their questions for a day or so. Jack got his way.

As soon as the FBI left, Kelly’s family and Mrs. Poole swarmed the room, while Chad, Andrew, and Aunt Mabry waited out in the hall for their turn. Kelly began to sob again when her mother wrapped her arms around her in the hospital bed and Kelly was once again overwhelmed by the emotions running through her.

Kelly’s dad beamed with pride when he told Kelly how Jack had stopped at nothing to find her and how Jessica had recognized the water-flooding trick from the safety video and told them Kelly would be in that apartment. Kelly couldn’t explain the strength of the connection she felt to her sister in that moment when she knew that her actions had spoken to Jessica and brought her rescuers to her.

Eventually, Jack made everyone leave so Kelly could rest. She felt loved, protected, and safe with Jack as he watched over her. He climbed onto the bed with her and cradled her in his arms as she slept. It was a restless sleep with nurses coming to check her pulse and heart rate throughout the night, but Kelly didn’t care. All she wanted was Jack.

***

Jack held Kelly as she slept. He felt the love in his heart for her grow stronger and bigger with each moment that passed. He saw their future together as he watched her sleep. A home, children, grandchildren, together. To come so close to losing Kelly scared him to death.

As Jack watched, Kelly’s eyes fluttered open with the rising sun. Then she turned to him and smiled and that smile for him made him feel his heart would burst.

“Hi,” Jack said quietly to her.

“Hi,” Kelly said back and rested her head on his chest silently for a few minutes. Then, “I was so scared, Jack.”

“I know, sweetheart. I’ve got you now and I won’t let anyone hurt you again.” He held her tight and pressed his lips to her temple. “Kelly?”

“Yes, Jack?”

“Please don’t ever leave me. I love you Kelly. I love holding you. I love laughing with you and arguing with you and just plain being with you. I love the way you accept everything about me without trying to change me. I love making love to you and holding you when you sleep. And I don’t ever want to give that up. Not in a year, or two years, or ever. When I’m with you, I know that I finally found the kind of love that my parents had
– the kind of love that will last forever.”

Kelly gasped and raised her head to look at him with tear-filled eyes.

“Will you marry me, Kelly?” Jack asked. When Kelly laughed, Jack added, “For real, this time? Marry me?”