Nemesis: A Jordan Quest FBI Thriller Page 2

  “No!” he screamed. He dropped to his knees. “Oh God, Maddy! No!”

  3

  MARISSA DeSOLA GATHERED the children’s plates from the dinner table.

  “Thank you, Marissa,” Jordan said. She smiled. “Another culinary masterpiece.”

  Jordan’s partner, FBI Special Agent Chris Hanover, complimented the live-in housekeeper on the meal. “The roast was amazing, Marissa. And the potatoes and veggies were spectacular.” He winked at Jordan. “Now you know why I try to score a dinner invitation as often as possible.”

  Jordan laughed. “Anytime, Chris.”

  “You’re both welcome,” Marissa said. To the children she asked, “Who’s helping me clean up?”

  Aiden and Emma cleared the table. “I’m washing,” Aiden said.

  Emma objected. “You washed last time. It’s my turn!”

  “That’s enough, you two,” Jordan said. “Marissa will decide who’s washing and drying.”

  Lucy, the family’s golden retriever, had taken up a strategic position under the table at Chris’ feet. The puppy looked up, sniffed the air, pawed at his pant leg, then whimpered.

  Chris glanced down at the dog. “Not a chance, fur ball. You’re not getting me into trouble for feeding you at the table… again.”

  The dog objected with a loud chuff, followed by a sneeze.

  “Nope,” Chris said. “You can snort all you want. Not gonna happen. Tricks won’t work either. I’m on to you now.”

  Lucy stood up, chased her tail, then let out a loud “arooop.”

  Chris crossed his arms and engaged in a staring competition with the dog. “Don’t think for a second I don’t know what you’re doing. This is doggy psychology 101; chase tail, turn on sad eyes. You’re trying to guilt me into submission, aren’t you? Well, this time it won’t work.”

  Lucy rolled onto her back, pawed playfully at the air, yawned.

  “Oh sure,” Chris laughed. “Play the belly rub card.”

  Lucy thumped her tail against the ground, panted, smiled, waited.

  Chris turned to Jordan. “I can’t help it, J. She’s breaking me down.” He pointed to the dog. “How am I supposed to say no to that?”

  Jordan laughed. She picked up a tiny scrap of gravy-coated roast beef from her plate. “It’s okay. I’ll save you. Come, Lucy! Come here, girl.”

  At the sound of her name, the dog jumped to her feet, ran to Jordan, and immediately devoured the meaty treat.

  “There,” Jordan said. “Happy?”

  Lucy licked her chops, chuffed, then looked up as if to ask, ‘What, no more?’

  Jordan laughed. “That’s all, baby. Off you go. Find Aiden and Emma.”

  Lucy barked, then tore off in search of the children.

  Chris and Jordan watched as the dog raced down the hall and scampered around the corner, no doubt headed for the kitchen in search of another serving of the delicious roast.

  “Looks like someone’s made herself right at home,” Chris said.

  Jordan nodded. “She certainly has. The kid’s love her to death. She never let’s them out of her sight. She’s super protective of them, which I like. Lucy might still be just a pup, but she won’t be for much longer. She’s getting bigger and stronger every day. It makes me feel good knowing that when I’m away, she’s keeping an eye on everyone.”

  Jordan’s cell phone rang. The display read MADDY. She smiled as she answered the call. “Hey, ‘cous! How’s everything go--”

  The voice on the line was not the one she had expected to hear. She listened to the caller. Finally, she spoke.

  “Calm down, Spencer,” she said. “Take a breath. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Chris noticed the sudden change in Jordan’s demeanor. He set down his wineglass and focused on the one-sided conversation.

  “What do you mean, Maddy’s been kidnapped?” Jordan asked.

  Chris heard the excitement in the muffled voice on the other end of the line. He removed a notepad and pen from his blazer pocket. On a slip of paper, he wrote SPEAKER, then presented the note to Jordan.

  Jordan nodded. She pressed the iPhone’s speaker icon, opening the line and enabling Chris to listen in on the call. “When did this happen?” she asked.

  Spencer blurted out his reply. “Five minutes ago, ten, thirty… I don’t know. Her car window is smashed in. I found her cell phone on the floor. She’s gone, Jordan! Oh, Jesus!”

  “Have you called the police?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I- I think Maddy wanted me to call you first.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jordan replied. “What makes you say that?”

  “I found a picture stuffed into the pocket of my jeans when I searched the place looking for her. It was of the two of you, taken on our wedding day. She wrote a note on the back of it.”

  “What does it say?”

  Spencer steeled himself. “‘If anything happens to me, call Jordan.’ I was afraid something like this was going to happen. We both were.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Spencer explained. “Last week, Farrow Security insisted Maddy clear her schedule and attend a meeting on executive protection protocol.” He paused. “You don’t suppose they’d received a threat, do you? That that was the reason they needed to meet with her so urgently?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jordan replied. “If Farrow Security had reason to believe Maddy was in danger, they would have assigned a protection detail to her immediately. No one would have been able to get close to her. Did she mention if they’d done that?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  “Then they had no advanced intel. Where are you now?”

  “At home.”

  “Are you safe?”

  “I… I think so.”

  “Listen to me carefully, Spencer. Lock your front door and balcony doors right now. Do it while I wait.”

  “Okay.”

  Spencer secured the condominium. “They’re locked,” he said.

  “All right. I’m on my way. After you hang up with me, call DARPA. Ask for Colonel Quentin Hallier. Tell him what has happened, and that I told you to call. He’ll send a team to you right away. I’ll find out what I can about the project Maddy was working on. My guess is that’s the reason she was targeted.”

  Spencers’s voice cracked. “Just hearing that word, targeted, scares me to death. You don’t suppose who ever took her…”

  Jordan cut him off. “Don’t even go there, Spencer. Maddy is my first cousin and one of my dearest friends. She’s out there somewhere. I promise I’ll find her.”

  “Thank you, Jordan,” Spencer said.

  “One more thing,” Jordan said.

  “Yes?”

  “The picture with the note. Don’t let anyone touch it until I’ve had the chance to examine it. That includes DARPA. Understood?”

  “I won’t.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

  Jordan hung up the phone. To Chris, she said, “We need to leave right now.”

  Chris nodded, rose from the table. “I’ll get the car.”

  4

  MADDY FOUGHT HARD to pull herself out of her drug-induced state, but the Midazolam was as equally determined to keep her under its pharmacological effect.

  Although she had little recollection of the kidnapping itself, her abductors had not been gentle when forcing her into the trunk of the car after injecting her with the anesthetic. The concussive pain she felt at the back of her head was evidence of that. Warm blood trickled down the side of her face and traced a path across her cheek. She lay on her side, hands and feet bound, eyes covered, mouth gagged. The thump, thump, thump of the bass beat emanating from the rear-mounted speakers above her head, coupled with the movement of the vehicle, amplified the pain in her head and threatened car sickness. She felt weak, dizzy, disoriented. Her throat was parched, and she found herself swallowing repeatedly. Her scientific mind informed her these were a
ll side effects related to the drug. She began doing mental exercises to calm her mind, lower her respiration, and reduce her panic-elevated heart rate. She began to count down from ten.

  Nine...

  The dinner Spencer had arranged to celebrate their anniversary…

  Eight…

  Their recent discussion about starting a family…

  Seven…

  Their perfect honeymoon in Barbados…

  Six…

  After a minute of focused control, Maddy’s state of mind improved. Her thoughts turned to the security meeting she had attended at Farrow Industries less than a week ago and the instructions she had received. She thought about the acronym they had used, K&R, and the reality of her situation set in.

  Kidnap and ransom.

  As the K&R expert had referred to it, the car was the ‘point of attack,’ which meant they had plans to transport her. But to where?

  The screenshots from the expert’s presentation flashed through her mind: Lesson 1: If bound, do not struggle. Lesson 2: Avoid physical injury. Lesson 3: Remain calm. Lesson 4: Cooperate with your captor. Lesson 5: Do not attempt to escape. Escape can lead to death. The only goal is survival.

  He had further recommended committing to memory as many sensorial details as possible, anything that might help her identify her location.

  Maddy noted the sounds of the car. The vehicle did not bump or shake. It rolled smoothly over the pavement. The quiet hum of its tires suggested they were traveling at speed, likely over a freeway or interstate, not a municipal road. In the silence of the pregap between songs, she heard cars passing close by.

  The cargo area of the vehicle offered little room to move, and her disorientation with the space did not permit her to know if she was facing the back seat or the trunk lid. She felt with her bound feet, pushing here, tapping there, trying to find the brake light cover panel. If she could locate it and somehow knock it free, she might be able to kick out the assembly, push her foot through the opening, and draw the attention of passing motorists. Maddy tried to turn over onto her back, which would allow her to orient her position in the trunk. The exercise proved futile. Her muscles and joints ached as she struggled against her bindings. The duct tape around her wrists chafed her skin, but she managed to stretch the material just enough to allow for a minimal amount of flexibility. She fisted her hands and began twisting them in the opposite direction of one another, as though folding and unfolding a thin piece of metal to weaken it. After countless attempts, the binding finally loosened enough for her to slip her hand free of the now ropey gooey mess.

  She thought of Lesson 1: If bound, do not struggle.

  Fuck that.

  Hands free at last, she tossed aside the duct tape, removed the gag, pulled down the cloth wrap covering her eyes and concentrated on freeing her feet. She cursed the tight space which prevented her from bending her knees high enough to grab her ankles. She needed a tool, something she could use to cut the tape.

  Unable to see in the sealed trunk, Maddy traced her fingers blindly over the surfaces above and beside her. Most were vacuum formed moldings. However, the innermost section of the compartment featured two long rods which ran the width of the trunk, as well as two lengths of flexible cable. Maddy surmised the purpose of the rods was to enable the raising and lowering of the trunk lid. At each end of the cable, she felt hard plastic knobs and rationalized their purpose. These were the rear seat releases. When pulled, they would permit the seat to be pushed forward and down to facilitate the pass through of larger items from the trunk space into the passenger cabin. She dared not pull either of the knobs. Should she release the seat by accident, and it fell forward, her captors would likely see it and know she had freed herself. She didn’t want to think what the ramifications of that might be. If they injected her with the same drug twice within a short time, she could go into respiratory failure, or her blood pressure and heart rate would drop dangerously low. Worse case scenario, she would go into cardiac arrest. She had come too far now to let that happen. There had to be a way to free her feet. She just had to find it.

  Her belt.

  Yes, that could work.

  In the cramped space, Maddy arched her back, unbuckled her belt, then slipped it free of the loops in her jeans. Holding the end of the belt in one hand, she opened her legs as wide as the limited space would allow and tossed the free end over the duct tape that bound her feet. Using the heels of her running shoes to grip the belt, she worked it toward the center of the truck floor until it was firmly in her grasp, then went to work, holding one end of the belt in each hand and pulling up and down in a sawing motion, all the while pushing her heels apart to break the tape.

  The duct tape soon lost its battle against friction. Having reached its point of failure, it tore apart.

  A brief second of panic struck Maddy, followed by elation. She had managed to free herself. Next, she needed to summon help.

  Able at last to move freely inside the confined space, Maddy felt for the plastic cowling covering the taillight assembly. She removed the oversized plastic screw that held it in place and tossed it aside.

  Headlights from a car following closely behind brightened the trunk space and gave her an idea.

  Maddy turned on her side. She shoved the toe of her running shoe into the small space, then pushed as hard as she could.

  The taillight bulb shattered.

  Suddenly, the car made an abrupt turn. Maddy rolled violently from side to side inside the trunk.

  The vehicle began to decelerate.

  The headlights behind her fell dark.

  That was when she realized what had happened.

  They had left the highway.

  The new road felt rough, bumpy, not well traveled.

  Desolate.

  Dangerous.

  5

  JORDAN KNOCKED ON the condominium door, called out. “Spencer, it’s Jordan. Open up.”

  Spencer opened the door. “Jordan. Thank god you’re here.”

  “This is my partner, Special Agent Chris Hanover,” Jordan said as she entered the suite. “Chris, this is my cousin Maddy’s husband, Spencer Coltraine.”

  The men shook hands. “Sorry to be meeting you under these circumstances,” Chris said.

  Spencer nodded. “Likewise, Agent Hanover.”

  Jordan wasted no time. “Tell me exactly what you know so far, Spencer. Leave nothing out.”

  “Only what I told you on the phone. I got worried when I couldn’t find Maddy anywhere in the condo, so I checked the parking garage and saw that her car window had been shattered. I ran back upstairs to call the police. That’s when I found this in the bedroom.” Spencer handed Jordan the crumpled photograph. “It was sticking out of my pants pocket. As soon as I read it, I called you.”

  Jordan read the note on the back of the photograph. “Give me a minute alone.”

  “Of course,” Spencer said.

  “Go ahead, Jordan,” Chris said. “I’ve got this.”

  Jordan left Chris to begin his preliminary interview with Spencer. She walked into the couple’s bedroom, found the empty picture frame laying on the bed. She held the photograph in her hands, closed her eyes, and read Madelaine’s latent energy signature.

  Looking down from the condominium window at the street below…

  Two figures approaching quickly…

  Panic in the moment…

  Something not right…

  As fast as the psychic impressions flashed through Jordan’s mind, they stopped.

  Madelaine was right. Two individuals had come for her, taken her. But why?

  Jordan returned to the room. Chris and Spencer were seated on the couch. Chris was taking notes as Spencer explained what he had discovered.

  “You said her car window had been broken,” Jordan said.

  Spencer nodded. “I found her phone in the driver’s footwell.” He removed his wife’s cellphone from his back pocket, handed it to Jordan.

  “What’s th
e passcode?”

  “The date we were married.” Spencer gave Jordan the code.

  “Today is your anniversary?” Chris asked.

  Spencer nodded. “Our fifth.”

  Jordan entered the passcode, then began searching through Madelaine’s phone, checking first her calendar and emails, next her calls and text messages. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Work calls to Farrow Industries in the last few days. Love-you-see-you-later text exchanges with Spencer. A few communications with friends.

  “Do you know if Maddy had met anyone new lately?” Jordan asked. “Someone with whom you’re not acquainted?”

  Spencer shook his head. “I don’t think so. We’ve both been buried in work recently. There hasn’t been time for socializing, what with the demands of the project she’s working on.”

  “How much do you know about that?” Jordan asked.

  Spencer shrugged. “Nothing, other than that it’s DARPA funded and top secret.”

  “Were you able to reach Colonel Hallier?”

  Spencer nodded. “He said he was sending a team.”

  From the street, Jordan heard the muffled sound of car doors slamming shut. She walked to the window, looked down. The DARPA agents had arrived. “They’re here.”

  Jordan watched as a dark green government town car pulled in behind the six Hummer’s which had arrived on scene. Hallier stepped out, spoke briefly to his men, then headed for the front door of the building. “Give me a minute,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

  Jordan left the condominium, took the elevator to the first floor, and met the DARPA colonel in the lobby.

  Hallier recognized Jordan as she crossed the lobby to greet him. “Agent Quest,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

  Jordan smiled, shook his hand. “Good to see you again, Colonel. Madelaine Coltraine is my cousin. Her husband Spencer called me the minute he suspected something had happened to her. I told him to call you.”

  “I’m glad you did.”