Chapter 16

Dalton

I had gotten a little too close to the fire, but I felt like I had no choice when I found Jackson on the monitor. I had to find out what he had told her, but their voices were low enough to go unregistered by the audio component of the surveillance I had placed down in the basement.

“It’s none of your business what I talked to her about. Not everything is about you.” Jackson was being purposely stubborn and I was tempted to give Melanie a shot at him.

“I don’t want to make a big deal about this. Just tell me what you told her and then we can get on with the rest of our lives. I need to know if you revealed anything about us. It doesn’t matter if you feel it was insignificant. We need to show a bit of discretion. She said your name and Melanie’s.” I wanted to punch him repeatedly, but violence wasn’t the answer.

Any form of intimidation would make him shut down emotionally like a light switch going off. He was good at shutting off his emotions. It made him uniquely qualified to be interrogated for hours with only his rank and his serial number being revealed. A softer approach with a less threatening tone was necessary to show him there was no malice.

“I don’t know how many times I have to say this. I would never jeopardize our lives. It would be fair to say she knows I’m involved. I already knew she did and we deluded ourselves into thinking she didn’t. I will never live by the credo of denial. I don’t know how she found out about Melanie.” She did have the opportunity to tear the mask off of his face during her kidnapping.

“I can’t speak for Dalton, but going down there and confirming her suspicion was monumentally stupid. I can’t stress enough how important it was to keep her from learning the truth. I sometimes can’t even understand why we even bother.” She was one of us, but she had found something that was unattainable to the rest of us.

“She’s very smart and she’s already putting the pieces together. It’s just a matter of time before she figures out the rest of it. We are only fighting ourselves. It would be better for us to stay united. I just want to say I didn’t agree with kidnapping her.” Jackson was very vocal and had no problem filtering his thoughts by mumbling incoherently underneath his breath.

“The past has been awakened, but we don’t have to drag her into this. I would’ve been happy to live blissfully ignorant of what was happening. I had no choice but to take off the blinders when Melanie came knocking on my door.” I had already known for quite some time the promise to wait to cash in was ludicrous.

“I’m sorry this is an inconvenience for the both of you. I ran with some interesting characters. I didn’t have the luxury of picking and choosing what assignments I was going to take. Some of it was illegal, but the reward outweighed the risk. I came across how one of us had fallen and I couldn’t sit on it.” I knew she had debated on whether or not to contact me, but she needed a level head before going off half-cocked.

“I don’t blame you for reaching out. I thought being dead would allow me to find some peace. The only person who thought I was invincible was you. I could do no wrong in your eyes. I had some insane ideas and you followed them without hesitation.” I knew she wanted more, but I was in no frame of mind to even think about another game of mattress tag.

“I do regret getting you involved, but not for the obvious reasons. Your feelings for her and vice versa are an undeniable wrinkle in the plan. We don’t have a clear-cut course of action. This kidnapping wasn’t the first idea we came up with. I bet none of us have even thought about what her fiancé is going to do to get her back.” Jackson was only saying what all of us were thinking.

I hadn’t heard anything from those cultivated sources on the street.

I had gained favor with some of the local drug pushers in the area along with those that were invisible to the naked eye. Those carrying their feelings in a brown paper bag were easily paid off for their assistance in keeping their eyes and ears open for anything out of the ordinary. They had remained vigil, but there was absolutely nothing to report.

They had seen nothing and had heard very little from the authorities. Nobody was talking about the kidnapping and there wasn’t even a news report. I had to assume Grant and the Hamilton family was going to handle this in-house. It meant they would hire somebody with ransom experience to become the middleman between them and us.

“I think we have no choice but to follow this through to the end. It means we’re going to have to make the phone call. I hate to say this, but I won’t be able to make the initial contact. I’ve already been gone long enough, but I have taken the precaution of having a plausible excuse for my absence.” Melanie had her coat on and was depending on us to make the ransom call.

“You can’t act defiant and you need to put on the air of being afraid. Show how nervous you are to be questioned by pulling at your fingers and shifting in your seat. They will understand your reaction when you reveal you are an undocumented foreigner. Don’t be so quick to give it up. Let them feel triumphant when they finally get you to break.” I wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know.

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I think I can handle civilian contractors acting like soldiers.” It wasn’t like we could ride in on our metaphorical steeds to the rescue. We could see what was going on, but it was up to her to convince them of her sincerity.

“I look back at when there was a clear way of recognizing the chain of command. We survived because we had the lives of others depending on us. We knew our respective roles and we never questioned those who made the tough decisions. It’s a little different when the shoe is on the other foot. We all want to be in command of our own destinies.” It was the reason why we were butting heads and made it possible for everything to unravel before our eyes.

She left through the back door and into the path in the woods which would lead to a vehicle in the park. It was fortuitous that this location made it possible to go in and out unseen. I was consciously aware of strange vehicles on the road at any hour of the day and night.

There was the slim chance of being ambushed, but I didn’t see it happening with all of us on high alert. I took a breath and dialed the Hamilton residence. I wasn’t expecting to get Grant on the telephone. I was a little startled by the voice that greeted me. I should’ve known he would be in the thick of things.

“I know you’re there and we’re here for the same thing. I’ve been hired to bring Gillian back safe and sound. I’m going to negotiate in good faith.” It had to be a figment of my imagination, but the voice didn’t lie.

I gave Jackson a look and then I took him by the elbow to a sitting position in front of the phone. He wasn’t expecting me to force him into playing the lead role. It was like asking a stand in to immerse themselves in the lines they had barely memorized.

“We want five million dollars. I will get back to you with a location and confirm the money is in escrow. This will be a digital transfer of funds made at the scene. If we see any police she will die. Don’t test me.” I was mildly impressed by how easily the words came to him.

“Don’t bother trying to track this transmission. It’s being bounced around different satellites. I will call you back in 24 hours. If you don’t pick up after the second ring, her death will be on your conscience.” He was clear and concise not like the Jackson I used to know.

The dial tone was sudden, but there was no reason to talk any further. Jackson didn’t give him a chance to negotiate and to come up with a number that would please both parties. He wasn’t getting caught up in making this personal.

He would have recognized my voice the moment he heard it. He would have called me by name. Anyone listening in would know we had come to the rescue of Gillian in a different way.

“Jackson, it’s not nice to keep a lady waiting.” Gillian had somehow gotten loose and we had taken our eye off the ball.