Samantha
Just as Raleigh requested, Samantha arrived with Chance Maxwell in tow at the jail just in time. They had requested the closed-circuit camera footage as well as any cameras near the jail, and Chance obtained the search warrants for the television stations. It had already been a long day, but when the pair arrived back at the old post office to begin reviewing the footage with Major Chambers, it felt like a breath of fresh air had swept them up and gave them a jolt of energy. Although that could’ve been the smell of hot coffee in the air, too.
“Did you get it all?” Matt Chambers shouted down the hallway, balancing three coffees in his hands.
Samantha shouted back. “Yeah, and we are in for a long night. We probably have at least seventy-five hours or more footage on just one hard drive.”
“How many hard drives we got?”
Chance interjected. “We got three from the jail and the new post office across the street, and we have four from the television stations.”
Matt entered their squad room, still balancing the coffees in his hands. Samantha jumped up and assisted, grabbing two of the cups and handing one to Chance.
Matt’s face showed signs of frustration, and his words solidified it. “Well, fuck. I hope we get something quick then, because skimming through hundreds of hours of footage is not my idea of a great Friday night.”
Chance echoed Matt’s sentiment as they all grabbed a hard drive and got to work. The minutes passed into hours, multiple pots of coffee, and bathroom breaks. They sat in utter silence for hours, reviewing footage mostly of guards walking back and forth and of various prisoners being brought back and forth. Matt sat leaned back in his chair half asleep, and Chance was already snoring when Samantha sprang from her chair and yelled, “Holy shit! No fucking way! It can’t be! He’s dead.”
“Who?” Chance rubbed his eyes with his fists at the same time Matt was picking himself up off the floor. Samantha’s shouting startled him and caused him to fall backward, dropping him onto the floor on his back.
“Saheed!” Samantha paused the video. “That’s fuckin’ Saheed. I’d know him anywhere. How? Raleigh shot him, and he fell overboard. How do you survive that?”
“With help,” Chance replied.
Samantha sat back in her chair, and a look of fear and anger overtook her. She grabbed her coffee cup and flung it against the wall behind Matt.
“Hey now! I’m not Saheed. Save that for when we catch him.” Matt and Chance watched the video as Saheed came into the frame, turned and looked directly into the camera, then swept one finger across his throat and proceeded to disappear down the hallway. Within a few minutes, Saheed walked back into the frame, looked back into the camera, smiling, then mouthed, “You’re next,” and disappeared again.
“What do you suppose he meant by ‘you’re next’?” Chance asked.
Samantha and Matt looked at each other and replied, “Means we gotta watch our backs.” Then Samantha added, “I should call Raleigh. He needs to know.”
“Sammie, it’s two a.m. Just call him in the morning. Hand me the hard drive. We need to lock it in the safe.”
“Yeah, you’re right, it’s late. We should get some sleep. I will call him tomorrow morning.” Samantha handed Matt the hard drive then they grabbed their bags and headed out the door.
“Watch your backsides, guys. I will see you in the morning.”
Matt stopped, waiting for Samantha to catch up with him. “Do you want me to follow you to the hotel?”
“Yeah, you better, that way when Raleigh asks you won’t have to lie to him. Just follow me till I get to the parking lot then I’ll be fine. Too many people around for anything bad to happen there.” Samantha laughed as she got into her truck and waited for Matt to bring his car around.
***
Pulling into the parking lot, Samantha flashed her lights to Matt as a sign that it was okay for him to go on and go ahead. Samantha watched his lights on the back of his car leave the lot and head down the street. Pulling into a space just a few spots from the front door, she gathered her phone and her bag in one place in the passenger seat.
Once she had it all in one place and her attention went to her surroundings, she started to get a feeling, the kind that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, then a cold shiver came over her. Her senses were in overload, but instead of heeding her own warning, she looked around the parking lot and when it appeared all clear, she grabbed the handle of the door and got out. Get it together, Sammie! You’re just freaked. There is no way Saheed even knows you’re in town. And besides, it’s only a couple hundred feet to the hotel entrance. Get it together. Get it together. Samantha continued to repeat the mantra to herself.
As she started toward the entrance, she realized she had forgotten her cell and bag in the truck. Looking around again, she quickly walked back to the truck, opened the door, and leaned inside. Then everything went black.
***
Matt
“Have you seen Sergeant O’Hara this morning?” Matt Chambers asked Chance as he sat down at his desk.
“Naw, not yet. But it’s only eight a.m. I’m sure she will be around soon. She probably stopped to get coffee for us. She’s handy like that.” Chance laughed.
Matt quickly replied, “I wouldn’t say that around her or Chief. Chief would be liable to teach you a lesson.”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask about that. What’s the deal between them? Are they a couple? Cuz if they ain’t, they should be.”
Matt laughed. “Yeah, they are. Good observation. They told the general the other day. It’s pretty serious, too.”
“I knew it. It’s the way they look at each other. They put on one hell of an act, though, and she never breaks protocol, but to me, it’s pretty obvious.”
“I thought so, too. They told me quite a while ago. I’m happy for them. Sammie is a good woman, and she keeps Raleigh in line. After his string of bad relationships, she is a real breath of fresh air, and as a bonus, she looks really good too.”
Then men laughed then started reviewing more video as they waited for Samantha to arrive.
***
Raleigh
The sound of Raleigh’s alarm raised him. As he sat up in bed, he reached for his cell phone to call Samantha. Besides missing the hell out of her, he wanted to find out if they found anything from the closed-circuit cameras. Dialing her number, he waited one ring, two, then three until the sixth ring, then it went to voicemail again.
Where the hell is that woman?
Searching through his contacts, he found Matt’s number then dialed him.
Matt answered on the second ring. “Hey what’s up, brother?”
“Hey, Matty. Is Sammie with you?”
“No, she hasn’t gotten to the office yet. Why, what’s up?” Matt asked.
“Well, I’ve called her twice, and it’s went to voicemail. That’s not like her,” Raleigh said, his voice now more urgent.
“Let me ask Chance. Hold one.”
Matt turned to Chance Maxwell. “You heard from O’Hara yet?”
Chance quickly replied, “No. Why, should we worry?”
“Hey, Chief. He hasn’t, either. You want us to go to the hotel to check on her?” Matt offered.
Now panic started to take over Raleigh, but he tried not to let it sound like it. “Yeah, go check and let me know. I am gonna call Jared’s momma and check on Jerold, then I am heading to the airport to get the first flight out. Let me know as soon as you get there. Okay?”
“Of course, Raleigh, no problem. Give us a few minutes, and I will call you once we get to the hotel.” Matt hung up the phone and looked at Chance. Without saying a word, the two men stood up, Matt grabbed his keys, and they ran out of the post office to Chance’s car then headed to the hotel.
***
Matt
When the pair arrived at the hotel parking lot, Matt saw Samantha’s truck and immediately noticed the driver’s side door stood wide open. Chance pulled his car in and parked directly behind Samantha’s truck. When they both got out, Matt walked to the driver’s side while Chance went to the passenger side.
Matt was the first to peer inside and gasped. “Do you see that, Chance? That’s Sammie’s bag and her cell phone. Run inside to the front desk and have them let you into her room.”
Chance ran inside and up to the front desk, explaining to the clerk that he needed a manager ASAP. After Chance pulled out his badge, the clerk finally complied. Within a few minutes, Chance and the hotel manager had gained entry to the room and found nothing—no Samantha. Chance called down to Matt.
“Best get on the horn and call the locals,” Chance said as he made his way outside with the hotel manager in tow. When he arrived, Matt was just getting Raleigh on the phone.
“Raleigh, man, you need to get on the next flight back. We got to the hotel, and Samantha isn’t here. When we arrived, her truck door was wide open, and her bag and cell phone were inside. The locals are on their way.”
***
Raleigh
As Raleigh heard the words, his heart sank and his pulse quickened. He wasn’t at all sure he wouldn’t pass out. But he shook out of it and finally replied, “Who? Why?”
“Have you talked to Samantha at all, Raleigh?”
“No, I told you I’ve been trying to reach her.” Raleigh snorted.
“Okay, brother, well you might want to sit down for this.”
“Why? Just fucking tell me, Matty!” Raleigh was fuming, and he knew he shouldn’t yell at Matt, but Samantha was missing, and to Raleigh, if he lost Sammie, he lost everything.
“Okay, ya know yesterday we were reviewing tapes much of the day and all the way till about two a.m. this morning. As we reviewed, Samantha found something, and well, you aren’t gonna be happy about it.”
“Out with it, damn it! The more time it takes you to explain to me, the longer it will take to get her back. Now fucking tell me!”
“He’s alive!”
“Who’s alive?”
“Saheed. Saheed. Is. Alive, Fitz.”
“What do you mean, he’s alive? Are you fucking kidding me? You’re gonna joke now?” Raleigh screamed.
“It’s not a joke, Raleigh. It’s true. We all saw him plain as day on closed circuit video from the jail. He looked right at the camera going in and leaving the night Jared and Semeana were killed.”
“Holy shit, you aren’t kidding. Then this is all Saheed. He has her. He must have her. Wait, why did you guys leave her alone after you found out he was still alive?”
“Well, Fitz, I tried, but Sammie wouldn’t have it.”
“That’s no fucking excuse! I don’t care if she wouldn’t have liked it. You should’ve stayed!” Raleigh screamed at his friend. “If she dies, it’s on both your heads. Yours and Maxwell’s. Find my fiancée, Matt, or I swear to the good Lord above, I will kill you both!”
“Fitz, I know you are upset, and I am sorry. I really am. As soon as the locals get here, we are gonna start combing through papers and the video footage and see if we can’t get a lead. I really am sorry. None of us could’ve imagined he would take her,” Matt replied, then before he could say any more, Chance Maxwell grabbed the phone.
“Fitz, I am sending my plane to pick you up at the airport. It will be there in an hour.” Raleigh thanked him and said his goodbyes.
***
Raleigh needed to call Nancy Thompson and find out how Jerold’s surgery went then gather up his bag and head to the airport. “Ms. Nancy, it’s Raleigh. Have they taken Jerold back to surgery yet?”
“They are just prepping him now, Raleigh. Are you going to swing by today?”
“Ms. Nancy, that’s why I called. Something with Samantha has come up. It’s serious, and I must get back ASAP. Can you call me as soon as the surgery is over? I will have Macalister jump on a plane as soon as physically possible to help with everything.”
“Is everything okay, Raleigh?”
“Well, Ms. Nancy, to be honest, I am scared. I can’t go into details right now, but it’s dangerous and I gotta get back.”
“Go, Raleigh. I will be fine. You go and take care of that girl. We will be fine until you get back.”
“Thank you, Ms. Nancy. I promise I will call you as soon as I touch down in Fayetteville.”
“That’s all right, Raleigh. I will let you know as soon as Jerold is out of surgery. Now go save your girl.”
Raleigh hung up the phone then started gathering up what little he had with him and tossed it all into his bag. As he tossed his lucky Alabama blanket into the bag, he thought of Samantha and how scared she must be, and his eyes started to well up. He wondered if Saheed had hurt her, and the thought of Saheed touching her made him want to kill him with his bare hands. Folding up the blanket, Raleigh wiped his eyes and resolved that this would be the last time he would ever deal with Saheed. If it was the last thing he ever did, he would kill Saheed Al-Balshera and rid the world of him and his organization. He only had a few minutes to get to the airport to meet the plane, so Raleigh tossed his bag over his shoulder, closed out his hotel bill, and headed out.