The Forbidden Script (17 page)

The chart slowly began to lose its charge of light, so Jason turned the light on again and waited a few minutes before turning them off. He then took the book from Jackie and looked up at the star chart then at the book again. He continued doing this for a few times when suddenly he stopped.

“That’s it! I think I’ve solved it.” He said.

He looked at Jackie and Kate.

“What if the signs next to each of the names correspond to the location where Tony held his ritual for each one of these girls!”

Kate said, “so what you’re saying is, the star map is actually a chart showing where Tony has previously killed before?”

Jason placed the book on the table and showed them what he meant.

“Look, if we cross off each girls name and the star sign next to that name, we will be left with a few unmarked signs on the ceiling chart. The remaining star signs could be the location where he is taking Sally!”

They started crossing off names until they were left with five star signs, meaning there are five different places left where Tony could be.

Jason said, “now we have to calculate the location of these five places.”

Jackie wrote down the signs and calculated the positions and distances from each point. She managed to roughly work out the longitudes and latitudes. Kate found it interesting to how Jackie managed to calculate longitudes and latitudes when she knew that these coordinates are for maps of the earth. Latitude measures how far north or south of the equator a place is and longitude measures how far east and west a place is on the earth’s surface.

Jackie explains, “it’s quite simple really. My father studied star maps and passed it on to me. I never thought I would need this kind of information, but he persisted that I knew these things if I wanted to sail with him. There are imaginary lines of latitude and longitude in the sky as well, just like the earth has, but we substitute latitude with declination and longitude with right ascension. They then are measured in hours instead of degrees.”

Jason looked over at Kate, and both guessed Jackie knew her homework.

“Hey, if we had a GPS system we can pinpoint the exact locations of the remaining star signs,” said Jackie.

“What about a car’s GPS? Will that work?” Asked Jason.

“We can give it a try,” suggested Kate.

Jason climbed out the window and ran to his car, looking around to make sure that monster of a dog had not gotten out somehow. He reached the car and unplugged the GPS from its cradle. The screen remained on thanks to the backup battery it had.

Jackie gave him the first coordinates, and he punched them into the GPS. The first readings gave a location way too far for Tony to travel in just one night. He entered the remaining coordinates while Kate wrote down the locations. Out of the five remaining entries, only two were in the vicinity of the Miami area.

“I just hope we’re on the right track. We won’t get another shot at this. The ritual has to take place tonight, and Tony will be long gone after. I just hope Sally is still alive,” said Jason.

Kate came over to him taking his hand in hers.

“I’m sure we’re right about this. Sally’s a smart girl and she might find a way to contact us,” said Kate.

“Okay, let’s see how we can decide which one of these two locations is the best to take. The first one is up north and further away from the remaining location,” said Jason.

He took out his cell phone and dialed Chief Berks number.

“Matt! It’s me, Jason. We found some information to where Tony might be going. Write down these coordinates, and please send someone to check it out. I will be on my way to check out another place that is closer to where we are.”

Matt wrote down the coordinates and sent one of the agents to check it out.

“Jason, I will be sending a team of our men. I will contact inspector Andrews to assist them. Keep in contact and be careful, that man is crazy and has no limit of control.”

“Okay Matt, and thanks,” Jason said.

“Let’s get a move on before we’re too late,” said Jason.

They helped Jackie out of the window and hurried across the lawn. The Rottweiler can still be heard barking and snarling behind the front door. Jason closed the gate behind him.

He looked back saying, “we will come for you later. You’re heading for the dog’s home, you ugly mutt.”

The wind was picking causing sea swells to reach over a yard in height. Each wave soaked everyone on board to the bone. Water covered the boat deck and was slowly rising up to their ankles. Tony pushed on just the same. He was not going to turn around and miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. He reckoned they should reach land in ten minutes, maybe more if the weather continued to get worse. The cause of this sudden surge of weather was unknown, and Tony assumed it could be the effect of the moon, or just bad luck on this particular night. Travis was concerned about Sally with her hands bound together; she didn’t stand a chance if the boat capsized.

Tony turned around and shouted out to Travis. “Take out the life jackets from under the seat. Make sure everybody wears one, and for Christ’s sake, cut her hands loose, she won’t be going anywhere in this weather.”

Travis was relieved with Tony’s decision, so he cut the nylon zip-ties, and Sally thanked him with a smile. Stacy and Krissy started to come around as the effects of the drug began to wear off. The rough weather turned their dreamy look into a fearful one. Stacy came to first, realizing where she was for the first time.

She immediately began to panic.

“I can’t swim! We’re all going to drown!”

Krissy tried to calm her friend down, but Stacy lashed out, hysterical with fear. She stood up screaming, causing Tony to turn around, thinking someone might have fallen overboard.

Seeing the commotion, he again shouted out to Travis, “shut that bitch up before she overturns the damn boat!”

Travis understood what Tony wanted him to do, so he stood up and drove his fist into Stacy’s face. On impact, her eyes rolled up into her eye sockets as she slumped face first onto the deck of the boat.

Now it was Krissy’s turn to shout at Travis, “are you crazy? You’ve killed her you sick son of a bitch!”

Travis looked into Krissy’s eyes; she immediately got the message and sat back down. Sally was not an active swimmer, and she looked frightened as the boat dangerously passed over each wave.

She often went with friends for a day at the beach but never wandered into deep water. Travis saw the frightened expression on her face.

“It’s okay Sally. We should be there soon,” said Travis.

She turned to him, saying, “what’s the difference? I don’t stand a chance on land or in the sea. The ending will be the same either way.”

Travis turned away from her, knowing what she said was true. Sally thought of her father, and if she will ever see him again. Her thoughts wandered to her mother, hoping for a sign from her, convincing her everything is going to be alright, but none came. She was alone in this ordeal and had to get out of it fast. She knew her father would stop at nothing for her safe return, but she had to try and stay alive as long as she could. The bad weather was in her favor, delaying them from reaching land. She thought maybe this is how her mother is helping her by slowing the boat down, giving her father more time to find her.

Jason drove as fast as he could in the direction the GPS was showing. Kate felt the tension within him as she sat up front next to him. Jackie sat in the rear seat, checking her readings she had worked out from the sky chart. She was positive she had figured out the correct locations. Jackie thanked her father for pushing her, making sure she understood how to navigate on her own. The locations they were heading to were a few miles out from the shorelines of Miami. Jason calculated it to be about half an hours drive if they traveled at a reasonable speed. The only problem they had was that the exact coordinates that were showing on the screen were off the GPS chart. Jason decided he would go as far as he could, and see where they end up.

Kate asked Jackie for the notebook she found at Tony’s house. Then she took out Sarah Masters diary comparing names and information from the two books. Kate matched some of the names that dated back a few years. She presumed Tony had been abducting girls for some time now. She was amazed how he managed to get this far without causing suspicion. Sarah Masters diary only contained the names of three girls, while Tony’s notebook had nearly a dozen. Could it be that all these girls were still missing or maybe even dead? There was no way of telling. Tony was wise enough not to write down the girls surnames or ages making it difficult for anyone to find.

Jason checked the time again on his watch. He pushed down hard on the gas pedal reaching speeds of over eighty miles an hour. Jackie buckled up in the rear seat, and Kate held on tight. They were as worried as Jason was, but did not ask him to slow down. Time was against them on getting Sally back before the worse happens.

Rain began to pour down at an alarming rate, and Tony became concerned about reaching the island with the weather getting worse by the minute. He checked his course and seemed to be heading in the right direction. He then looked back at the others who were all shivering and soaked to the bone. He checked on Sally, who was his prime concern. Without her, all he planned would have been for nothing. Sally amazingly seemed to be taking all of this rather well. She even managed to keep herself partially dry from the rain as if it were avoiding her body. Tony knew she was being watched over by someone.

The waves were increasing in size, and every ten foot the boat moved forward, they were pushed back five. In the distance, he could make out the shape of an island. Tony increased his speed knowing they would soon arrive. Rosie was seasick and threw up in her lap not being able to make it to the boat’s side in time. Stacy was still unconscious with her body rolling back and forth. As for Krissy, she was mumbling to herself. Travis thought she must be praying or something.

Suddenly the boat started to slow down when one of the outboard motors stopped. Tony checked the fuel gauge for that engine that read empty. He calculated the amount of fuel needed to reach the island, but at full throttle and against the waves, the consumption was more than he expected.

Travis realizing what had happened, asked, “will we make it on one engine? Why didn’t you load more fuel?”

Tony turned towards Travis with an angry look on his face.

“Are you afraid Travis? Are you afraid of dying?”

The GPS began to flash as they approached their destination point. Kate noticed they still had a few more miles to travel, but the GPS was warning them they could not go any further. The coordinates they had entered were to their left, which was the open sea.

Jason hit his fists on the steering wheel.

“Shit! That bastard must be going across the sea. The closest land are the Bahama islands, and there are hundreds of them!” said Jason.

Kate asked Jackie, “are you sure this is right?”

Jackie checked her calculations again.

“Well, we could be off course by a couple of miles, but it’s not that easy to match star charts with land or sea charts. This is the first time I’ve done it, but I’m sure we’re in the right place.”

Jason carried on driving carefully along the coast road, making sure he didn’t miss anything. After about ten minutes, Jackie shouted out, “over there on the other side of the road!”

Jason slammed on the brakes. Showing from beneath the overhanging branches were the rear windows of a large van. They got out, approaching the vehicle with caution as Jason led the way with his firearm drawn.

“Keep behind me,” he said.

He walked over to the driver’s side, pulling the door open to an empty cabin. Next he went to the side door and opened it, again nothing inside.

“Empty! Not a sign of a struggle, nothing.”

He was about to reach for his cell phone to run the vans number plates through to the Miami police for the owners particulars, when Jackie called out.

“Jason! Here look, footprints.”

Jason knelt down to check.

“These are fresh prints, and look! Somebody was dragged on their heels across the road!”

Jackie was the first to reach the other side of the road.

“They start again here, but that’s it, they must have gone over the boundary wall,” she said.

Jason took a look over the three foot wall.

“Jackie! Kate! Over here, there’s a narrow path leading down to the sea.”

He sent Kate to his car for a larger, more powerful flashlight.

Kate said, “we don’t have time to go down and check, and there are no beaches down there, just large rocks.”

Jason took the flashlight and shone its bright light along the pathway and onto the rocks. They could not see anything, except for waves breaking against the large rocks.

“God damn it! A dead end. Tony must have had a boat waiting here,” said Jason.

Suddenly his cell phone started to ring.

“Hey, Jason where are you guys? Matt updated me on the situation,” said Danny.

“Great to hear your voice Danny. I don’t have time to give you all the details, but our location is about thirty miles south on the coast road. We need help fast. I think Tony is on his way to one of the Bahama islands in a boat. We need to get after him somehow!”

Danny remained silent for a few seconds, then said, “okay, Jason, I hear you! Leave it to me. Keep your hazard lights on so I know exactly where you are.”

Jason ran towards his car.

“Danny! Hurry please, time is running out!”

Kate and Jackie looked at Jason waiting for an explanation.

“Jason! What’s going on? What did Danny say? Does he have news about Sally?”

“He’s on his way here. Don’t ask me how? Just trust me okay! Danny is full of surprises, and he has never let me down yet. Give him twenty minutes you’ll see,” said Jason.

Time. Fifteen minutes to midnight and Jason knew Tony had at least a forty-five minute head start on them. His chances were getting slimmer in knowing his daughter’s whereabouts. Tony could be on any one of the many islands of the Bahamas.