Taken! Alphabet Series - 26 Original Taken! Tales (Donald Wells' Taken! Series Book 14) (8 page)

After cooing soothing words to Stitches, Jessica spoke to Chief Dent.

“Why is his face wet?”

The animal control officer answered.

“He was maced, that’s also what reddened his eyes, but I cleaned him up and he seems fine now.”

“How’s the little girl doing?”

Dent answered her.

“She’s good, but as you can imagine, it shook her up a little.”

He spoke to the chief.

“What exactly happened, Jack?”

Dent waved his hand in a “come along” gesture as he walked to the far edge of the yard and pointed at the base of a tree, where a pile of cigarette butts lay, a few of which were fresh.

“The little girl, Sophia, she said that ‘A big, scary man,’ grabbed her and covered her mouth with his hand. Just as the perp, who we now know is Herman Dawson, was about to carry her away, Stitches here charged the man and began biting him. That caused Dawson to let Sophia go, and then her screams alerted her mother.

“How far away was the mother?” Jessica asked.

“The mom was sitting right by the window looking out, but an overheated pot on the stove took her attention for a moment, and that’s when Dawson made his move.”

Jessica shivered as she looked at the pile of cigarettes.

“He must have been here on and off for days, just watching her, and waiting for the right moment to strike.”

The chief smiled.

“He didn’t count on your dog, but he was ready for trouble, and he spritzed him with the mace before taking off.”

Dent did the hand wave again and led them past a grouping of trees and into a field, where a dirt bike laid on its side.

“We think the dog reached him again just before he could ride away on that, and it forced him to run for it, which he did.”

They walked on and as they stepped past a group of tall bushes, they saw that the field ended at a steep hill.

“Watch your step, folks,” Dent said, and then they all peered down to the bottom, where the body of Herman Dawson was being loaded onto a stretcher, in preparation of the helicopter that would arrive to cart it away.

“He had a long record as a pedophile, and we found earlier pictures of Sophia on his phone.”

Jessica picked up the dog and kissed him.

“Mommy’s baby is a hero, yes you are.”

***

T
hat night, Stitches wagged his tail and gave a little bark of joy, as the pack leader filled his bowl with a treat from his own plate.

It was meat, and the meat was turkey. 

(Ever wonder what happened to the Russian that was locked in Lena's hall closet during
TAKEN!
7? I did.)

––––––––

A
lbert Rostovich awoke with a sore back and a head that ached fiercely.

His mouth was gagged and his wrists were bound together.

The last thing he remembered was searching a home for money with Pavel, when a tall American appeared from nowhere.

Albert looked around, as he was able to make out shadows, thanks to the thin bit of daylight coming in from beneath the door. He saw the garments hanging down around him, felt the wall close behind his back, and realized that he had been placed inside a closet.

How did one unarmed man best them both?

He pushed the question from his mind and went to work freeing himself.

The first thing he needed to do was to get to his feet, and he did so, as his head pounded with such pain that it nearly blinded him.

His hands were bound behind his back and so he had to turn around to try the doorknob, which was actually not a knob, but a lever.

The door wouldn’t open, but he could tell that it was being prevented from doing so by something pressed against it, rather than refusing to open because it was locked.

Albert took a deep breath and calmed the reflex to panic. He could get out of this, and he would, and once he did so, he would extract his revenge from the American.

He had no way to see the knot tied in the fabric that bound his wrists, but his fingertips could feel that it had been wrapped several times before being tightened.

With a great deal of patience, he finally managed to get the tip of the door lever between two layers of fabric, and moved his wrists back and forth until the entire thing was between the layers.

Afterwards, he leaned forward in an attempt to force the fabric wider. It worked, but marginally, and he could feel the binding loosen.

Nearly an hour later, he finally managed to free one hand and remove the gag, and after throwing his weight against the door several times, he was free of his prison.

Albert searched the house and discovered that Pavel and the American were nowhere to be found, but there was a small amount of blood on the floor near the sofa.

After relieving his bladder and downing pain reliever found in the medicine cabinet, Albert headed to
Oleg’s
restaurant to find his boss, Ivanov, and warn him about the American. He only hoped that he wasn’t too late.

***

H
e was too late.

The restaurant was a crime scene and the police were everywhere. However, it cheered Albert to see that Ivanov’s green
Escalade
was gone. That meant that Ivanov had escaped, and Albert knew just where to find him.

***

A
natolii Ivanov sat inside his Cadillac, which was parked on a bluff overlooking the funeral of his longtime enemy, Sergio Gallo.

In his hand was a trigger device that would detonate a powerful bomb hidden inside Gallo’s coffin, a bomb that would send the dead Capo’s family to join him in the great beyond, and pave the way for Ivanov to seize their territory.

Ivanov ran his finger over the trigger switch in eager anticipation, but just as he was about to detonate the bomb, he caught sight of Albert in the rear view mirror, walking towards him quickly.

Albert climbed into the passenger seat and wilted under Ivanov’s baleful stare.

He quickly explained what had happened to him, and Ivanov grunted in acceptance.

“The trouble at the restaurant, was that caused by the tall American as well?”

“Yes, but now be quiet. I want to savor what’s to come.”

Albert stared at the trigger device in Ivanov’s hand, as he unconsciously hunched his shoulders against the imminent blast, while pitying the children visible at the funeral.

An instant later, the bomb detonated, destroying the
Escalade
, Ivanov, Albert, and ironically, the trigger device that made the blast possible, and, aided by the fuel that was contained in the SUV’s gas tank, the fire burned the few human remains to ash, making identification impossible.

***

T
WO WEEKS LATER

––––––––

H
e entered Lena’s house with caution, and knew immediately by the lack of decomposition odor that the Russian had managed to free himself. This pleased him greatly, as he had not been looking forward to the clean-up duty involved in removing a corpse.

He then went to the closet and found the overturned chair, along with the discarded bonds.

After straightening things up, he got back in his car, drove away, and never gave the missing Russian another thought.

(This one takes place in the future, a
possible
future.)

––––––––

T
he old man entered the bank and watched the guard at the door frown while studying his security screen.

“The computer cleared you to enter, but there’s no info coming up on my panel.”

The old man looked at him without expression.

“What does that tell you?”

The guard looked the old man over. He was a tall man with a full head of white hair and an erect posture, who was likely eighty or more, despite the sharpness of his eyes, which looked young. The clothes he wore were of the old style, and his boots shined like new.

The lack of information showing on the screen only happened if someone was too important to have their details known, such as a politician, corporate bigwig, celebrity, or government operative. Old men like the one standing before him weren’t likely to rate such secrecy.

“It tells me that this machine needs to be serviced. Go right on in, but please be quick; the bank is closing in twenty minutes.”

The old man thanked him, walked down four steps, and moved towards the cubicles along the right side, where he would be able to access his safe deposit box.

Moments later, a disturbance occurred at the entrance, and he spun around just in time to see the security guard fall to the floor with gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen, as three men entered with weapons drawn. The fired shots occurred without even a whisper of sound, as the gun used was a silent model.

The men were clad in black from top to bottom, and their eyes were hidden behind mirrored lenses in their face masks, a precaution that stymied the security system’s attempts at facial recognition.

The monochrome of their black outfits was only disrupted by the single word stenciled on their chests in white. The words were ONE, TWO and THREE.

The old man studied the would-be thieves and saw that two of them were nearly his height, they were numbered TWO and THREE, while ONE, the man who shot the security guard, was shorter and of average stature.

Their garb completely covered them so that no skin showed, but when the shorter man, ONE, shouted instructions to the bank’s employees and customers, the old man detected a slight German accent.

“Everyone stay where you are and follow our orders.”

The man remained by the door after speaking, as the other two men came down into the room and began herding their hostages. Once they had everyone together in the center, the man numbered One spoke again.

“Who is the head bank employee?”

A beautiful young woman with blond hair raised her hand timidly.

“I am, sir, but this bank no longer handles cash, only credits.”

“I am aware of that. We only want the contents of the safe deposit boxes, one in particular actually, but we have no way of knowing which one it is, and so, we must open them all and take the contents.”

The woman blinked in surprise.

“We have over three-hundred boxes here of varying sizes; you’ll never be able to carry it all away.”

The man smiled. The old man couldn’t see his face behind the mask, of course, but he heard the smile in his voice nonetheless.

“We are well prepared. You will go with THREE and open the rear exit, where our cargo drones are hovering. Afterwards, you will give him the master access code that simultaneously opens every box. If you refuse to help us, or attempt to contact law enforcement, we will kill every person in here, and you’ll die first.”

The woman looked around. Other than herself and the old man, there was also a young mother with a frightened little girl, two middle-aged men, and three couples. When her eyes fell on the dead security guard lying in a puddle of blood, she covered her mouth and began to cry.

“I’ll... I’ll do whatever you ask, just please don’t hurt anyone else.”

“A wise choice,”

THREE yanked the woman towards a hallway and they disappeared from sight, as TWO spoke to his boss.

“Even with the cargo drones it will take a long time to load it all up. Let me have one of these stiffs to help speed things along.”

“The woman can help you load.”

“I know, but one more person would speed things up even more.”

ONE nodded in agreement, and then he searched for a candidate, when his eyes fell upon the old man, he pointed at him.

“Take the grandfather, he’s too old to give you any trouble and he looks healthy enough to work.”

TWO gestured at him with his gun.

“C’mon, gramps, we got work to do.”

The old man started walking, but slowed his normal pace, moving the way most old men moved, and not with his usual gliding stride.

The man told him to head down the same hallway that the bank manager had been led along, and after turning left, they entered a storage room.

There was a table along with several chairs, a coffeemaker, and a shelf that held supplies, such as rubber bands, staples, and paper.

There was also a metal door sitting open, and the old man watched as the last of three cargo drones drifted inside.

The drones were about the shape and size of a coffin, and their tops were already slid open for access. On the front of each drone was a navigation panel that, once programmed, could direct the drone to a destination within a fifty-mile range, although the distance would be affected by the amount of weight loaded aboard.

The first drone was the lead, and the other two followed behind it as THREE guided it across the hall with a slight pressure on its rear panel, to the room that contained the safe deposit boxes.

TWO placed his gun against the young woman’s head and demanded the access code.

After taking a deep breath to calm herself, she answered.

“It’s case sensitive, capital letters... enter LM1974.”

“That disables the cameras too, right?”

“Yes, yes sir.”

The gun was removed from her head as he input the code, and an instant later, every box sprang open at once, as the lights on the cameras went out.

“Aces!” shouted TWO, as THREE began filling the first drone.

TWO spoke to the old man.

“Start loading up that second drone, gramps, while I take a walk with the cutie here.”

THREE stopped loading and looked up.

“What the hell are you doing, TWO?”

TWO gestured at the woman, whose arm he gripped tightly above the right elbow.

“Look at this bitch; she’s hot as shit, you think I’m passing this up?”

“There’s no time, we’ve got to load everything and get the hell out of here.”

“That’s why I brought the old guy back here, and if you say anything to ONE about this, I’ll kill you.”

“It’s stupid, there’s no time. Hire a hooker later.”

TWO holstered his gun and grabbed the woman’s face.

“I want this one, she does something for me.”

The woman was crying, as she said, “Please, don’t, please?” in a small voice.