“Nothing much,” Paul answered, grinning, “nothing…except my pilot training.”
“No shit! That’s fantastic!” exclaimed Glenn. “So pretty soon you will be flying this bird, huh?”
“Well, not that soon. I still have a ton of flight hours to do before I can get my pilot’s license.”
“Hell, you’ll have those done in no time at all.”
“I hope so. Now, are you ready for your favorite drink?”
“More than you know…thanks.”
“Be back shortly.”
Opening the file folder his handler had given him, Glenn poured over the information in it. The Hare was telling him the truth about it containing nothing more than Glenn already knew—his mother was kidnapped in broad daylight even though the agency had her under surveillance.Fucking jack-offs! How hard can it be to protect one woman?
Glenn didn’t know who his mother was hiding from; she refused to tell him anything other than she didn’t want to ‘involve’ him concerning her problems. That was the only time he could remember having an argument with her. Reluctantly, he’d backed down, acquiescing to her wishes. Instead, he negotiated with the agency for herprotection in exchange for him not quitting; the only condition he insisted on was that his mother would never discover she was under the agency’s surveillance. As far as he was concerned, it was a perfect solution, giving him peace of mind.
Perfect…until now.Cursing at the turn of events, Glenn was at a loss.Where the hell do I start searching for her? I don’t even know who took her!Opening his laptop, he began compiling, then sorting the reports received over the years concerning his mother, hoping to find a pattern that would give him a clue.
“Here you go,” Paul said, “one very dry martini with a twist.”
Glancing up, Glenn grinned. Taking a sip, he groaned. “Damn, I swear, yours are the very best. Someday you’ll have to show me how you make it.”
“Uh-uh, a lady never tells,” Paul said, smiling.
“Don’t blame you,” replied Glenn. Taking another sip, he felt the smooth drink blaze a path through his body, relieving some of the tension that had tied him up in knots after reading his handler’s message.
“Also,” Paul said, “the pilot has informed me we’ll be taking off in five minutes, just as soon as he completes his pre-flight check. I’m going up front now, so give me a buzz if you need anything else.”
“Thanks,” Glenn said. Turning his attention back to assembling the data, he was so intent on finding a correlation between the many places his mother lived and her abduction, he never felt the plane leave the ground.
It wasn’t until Paul asked him if he was ready for dinner that Glenn realized how many hours had passed. Closing his laptop and sliding it back into his bag, he walked overto the dining table, ready to eat. As usual, the food was superb, but other than noting that, his mind was busy analyzing everything he’d found out. Glenn’s instincts told him the answer to his questions were in the data; so far, though, there was nothing amiss in the many reports sent to him about his mother’s life.There has to be something I’m overlooking.
After thanking Paul for bringing him an after-dinner cognac, Glenn went back to work, breaking down the reports into categories, scrutinizing every piece of information. Then sitting back, he studied the spreadsheets he’d made, his eyes searching them for a connection, an aberration, anything that could explain why his mother moved so many times but kept coming back to live in New York City.What’s so fuckin’ special about this place, Mom?
Frustrated with his inability to find answers he was sure were in front of him, Glenn rubbed his eyes; after being up for more than twenty-four hours, exhaustion was winning the battle. Closing his laptop, he made his way to one of the bedrooms located in the rear of the cabin where he stripped and slipped between the covers, asleep in seconds.
~/~/~/~/~
Entering Zane’s computer room, Jackson asked, “Any word on where the cab went?”
“Just got it now,” Zane said, pulling the documents from his printer. “According to the taxicab company records, the cab was found in Brooklyn…Brownsville, to be exact.”
“Found?” asked Jackson.
“Yeah,” Zane said, handing his brother his report. “It seems the cabbie was knocked out, tied up, gagged, anddumped in the trunk by a guy he had picked up. No one knew the cab and driver were missing until the next morning when the company received a call from the police.”
“What the hell? How’s that possible? Didn’t they notice their driver didn’t report in at the end of his shift?”
“Well, according to the police report, drivers sometimes take their cabs home, especially if they have another shift in the morning.”
“Fuck! So, we still don’t know where they took Willow.”
“Not yet, we don’t,” Zane said, holding up a finger. “However, the cab has a GPS tracker which records where it went. With any luck, it was working when Willow was taken. If that’s the case, all I have to do is link my laptop to it and download the information to find out where the cab went after she got in. I have a meeting set up with the fleet owner to get his permission to access it.”
“And you’re sure that’ll tell you where it stopped.”
“Hopefully, yes,” replied Zane. “But there isn’t a guarantee it’ll work. If the GPS malfunctioned, or was turned off, or if the kidnapper knew about it and disabled it…then the only option I have left is to go through hours of NYPD security video, hoping to find where it stopped. However, I’m counting on the fact that her abductors weren’t tech-savvy and didn’t know about the GPS. But the sooner we get to Brooklyn, the better chance we have of finding Willow’s location.”
