INSOMNIAC: ALAN SMITH #2 (Alan Smith series) (34 page)

‘But that’s what I was thinking’ said Alicia. ‘If they wanted money then why didn’t they ask for it in the first place? Why waste so many days?’

‘Yes. That’s my question too’ said Ryan.

‘Too lazy’

‘Right’

‘But why do they want the money’

‘How do I know?’

‘These guys are crazy.’

‘Totally crazy’

‘Okay Okay’ said Alan. ‘We don’t need to think if they’re crazy or not. First we should think about the boy and the money they are asking for’

‘Right’ Alicia agreed. ‘First we need to think do we really wanna give them the money?’

‘Nope’ said Ryan. ‘Should we?’

‘Why not?’ said Alicia.

‘There’s no guarantee that they would return the boy even after we pay them the money’ said Kevin. ‘So we will also lose the money and the boy too’

‘Exactly’ said Alicia. ‘That’s true. And I’m pretty sure they will not release the boy of course even after we pay the money’

‘But they will kill the boy, if we don’t’ said Ryan.

‘I know. But what can we do?’

‘You saw the video?’ said Ryan. ‘They’re asking for some money and ought to pay it’

‘No we ain’t going to pay it’ said Kevin. ‘We first want the boy, they give us the boy, we give them the money, hand to hand’

‘They’ll want the money first’

‘Yeah, that’s why I don’t wanna give them the money. They’ll take the money and then would change their minds about returning the boy’

‘What can we do now?’

‘Why don’t we let Mr. McRae decide about this’ said Alan after he saw that another debate was starting.

‘We should call him and ask him so’

‘Man he will go for the money’ said Kevin.

‘What do ya’ mean?’

‘I mean he would want to pay them the money. It’s obvious’

‘Okay let’s call him first and hear him out’ said Alan.

McRae was soon called in the room. He entered and looked red hot and scared. ‘What do you wanna know?’ he said.

‘Mr. McRae you saw the video’

‘Yes yes I did’

‘The main thing is that they want the money. So what do you say about this?’ asked Alan.

‘They will not leave Jake unless we give them the money right?’

‘Right’

‘Then we pay the ransom and they will let Jake go’

‘Uh, just like I said he would say’ Kevin chuckled. ‘Okay’ he came near McRae. ‘Think carefully Mr. McRae. They’re asking for the money right? But is there any guarantee that they will leave the boy even if we pay it. Is there?’

‘Why would they not?’

‘Because they are killers and kidnappers .You just can’t believe them'

‘Really?’

‘Of course’

‘Well then?’

‘Then we only have 3 hours’ said Alan. ‘It’s 1:30 now, and they want it at 5. So whatever you all wanna do, you will have to decide it now’

‘I don’t know what to do’ said McRae. ‘You tell us Mr. Smith, what is to be done now?’

‘We will have to find some other way, other than paying them’

‘That’s only possible if we can find out where they kept the child. So if we don’t find out the child inside the time zone, we lose the money’ said Ryan.

‘Then we will do that’

‘Do what?’

‘We find the child first’

‘How’s that possible’

‘We need to find a way to find the child first’

‘But we also have another problem’ said McRae. ‘If we need to pay them, then I don’t have so much money’

‘Then the options itself got narrowed. Only one option is left now. We will have to find the location of the child within these three hours’

‘Yes, that’s the only option’ said Alicia.

‘We didn’t find the child for so many hours, how do you think we would be able to find him within these few hours?’ said Ryan.

‘Anyway we will have to do that.’

‘I got an idea’ said Kevin who always gets some ideas and it doesn’t prove to be helpful later. ‘We take McRae to the Bronx and give him an empty suitcase. Then we will hide and wait. Then when the kidnappers come to take the money from Mr. McRae we catch them and make them say where the child is. It will be simple, right? After that we can go and save the child.’

‘Not that simple as you think’ said Alan.

‘Why not?’

‘It would have worked out fine but still there is a problem’

‘And what’s that?’

‘If you do that, I mean catch the abductors just like that, one of the abductors would give a call to the man who is in charge of the kid, and would advise him to kill the boy. Then we would not be able to catch them, they would threaten us first then they would kill the child if we arrest them or something, then they will escape and kill the child anyway’

Kevin frowned and turned away. He seemed like he understood the problem. It was all true.

‘It becomes more risky that way. We can’t just do that’

‘Of course not’ McRae supported.

Kevin then sat back in his chair and stared at the ceiling trying to form another logical solution, just like the last one. But he failed to come up with one, his face showed it.

‘But why would they keep the child alive for so many days?’ said Ryan. ‘I mean I don’t understand that. Maybe they’re some foolish jokers trying to make some fun , while in real they don’t have the guts to kill him’

‘Good idea’ Kevin stood up again. ‘If they don’t have the guts to kill him, then they will not kill him no matter if we pay them the money or not. So we will have more time finding the boy, how about that?’

‘If the kidnappers can kill Paul Brown then we can see that they’re not jokers, but real hired killers. So we can’t just rely on that and relax okay? We need to find some other ways’ said Alicia.

‘And if we do go with your plan’ said Alan. ‘And then the boy gets killed, then everyone will blame you for that. You ready to carry the burden Kevin?’

‘Man!’ he said understanding that they had more logic than him. ‘Shit is getting more serious’

‘But I think Mr. Connelly is right’ McRae backed Kevin. ‘His first solution was logical .We take an empty suitcase to the Bronx and when they come we just arrest them. I know it’s risky but what more can we do?’ McRae sounded like he was one of the cops.

‘Mr. McRae’ said Alan calmly. ‘Don’t rush the things. Think deeply. We still have two or three hours in our hands so we might also get a better plan’

‘My mind is not working’ said McRae tapping his head.

‘Come on’ said Kevin. ‘You see the boy’s father approves my theory. What’s more? Why should we wait?’

‘Because we have time’

‘I thought we didn’t have much time. I mean that’s about what we were worrying about all this time’

‘We have time but it’s short. Now drop the topic Kevin’ said Alicia firmly.

‘Huh,’ Kevin laughed at himself. ‘Donovan told you that he would inform you about the child himself, why don’t you call him and ask him what is going one now?’ he said to Alan.

‘Maybe he is involved’ said Ryan

‘Obviously he is. This thing, asking for money is also his plan, just marks my words’ Concluded Kevin. ‘He is the main culprit. He is controlling the gang, he asked Bob to abduct this kid for some reason and Bob just carried the work out. That’s it. And he just played with you Alan’

Alan didn’t argue or say anything about this. He knew that Kevin was right in some sense. He returned to his thoughts about the main case that was going on now. The atmosphere among them was light but still it was full of tension, their faces showed it. Even the other detectives and uniforms in this floor were now looking at them, hearing their theories and everything. When they understood the main problem, their faces became ghastly.

‘Think about something’ said Alan. ‘Take any decision, I won’t say a word.’

Alan sat down feeling immensely exhausted.  These two days that he was back in the NYPD, was full of work, which comprised of both mental and physical stress. It might affect his body, he knew he needed rest, some long sleep or, something like that, but he knows that he couldn’t afford it, not at this moment. He still thought about what was going on now. What could be done at this moment, or was there anything they could do? Only thing he could think of was that two men were dead and a child was abducted. But they could save none of them. No matter what they did, it would be too risky at this moment. And not to forget they were dealing with a criminal mastermind, so the things were about to become more tough. The killers wanted money, and they had no money to pay them. And why would they pay money to someone who killed two people? They should be shot dead right away, literally, let alone thinking about paying them money. That was totally absurd.

Then he thought something. They shouldn’t take all the decisions, hard decisions themselves.

‘We should talk with Henderson’ said Alan at last looking up.

‘Yeah we can do that’ said Ryan. ‘But what’s the use really, he’s just another foolish –- ’

‘You said something?’ Henderson was just standing behind, watching them.

Ryan instantly felt cold in his throat, and he was ashamed.  He looked away, but he couldn’t just ignore Henderson’s eyes on his back.

‘Umm...’ Ryan thought about saying something, as nobody was talking now, everyone was waiting for him to talk. He had been in this situation before too, but never in front of an outsider like McRae. He fumbled with his words. Then he at last managed to say ‘We got a problem here, Mr. Henderson’

‘I thought you would say something like that’ said Henderson. ‘So another problem. Nothing new. What is it this time?’

‘Yes...’

‘The problem, what is it?’

Alan knew Ryan would not talk. So he took the lead covering Ryan and he said about everything that was happening right now, or before. He said that the kidnappers now want money. He also described him the problems they might have to face if they don’t pay the ransom, and also the problems they might face even if they pay it.

Henderson lifted his face and listened carefully looking at no one in particular, this was serious, and he knew it. So definitely, he was in no mood to mock them or argue with them about anything. He would rather think carefully and find an easy way out of this mess. There was always a way. It is just a matter of time before you find it.

He shrugged and kept quite even after Alan finished explaining the things.

‘First I would like to see the video again’ he said. ‘If we are looking for clues that might help us then it will only be in that video’

‘Okay’ said Ryan .He went to the other room again as everyone followed him there. The screen was on, already so it didn’t take much time to open the file and start the video. Ryan turned to everyone about the confirmation, he saw Henderson give a nod, so he tapped the screen and the video started.

The video started with the same dialog of the kid speaking carefully, with the light on his face.

‘There at the first’ said Henderson pointing at the screen, although the video had ended. ‘At first it was dark, then a light directly fell on the boy’s face. It seems like a LED torch light’

‘That means we know wherever the kid it, he is in a dark place’ said Ryan.

‘Yes...but he may not be in a dark place. Maybe they just transferred him to a dark place, so that we can only see the boy and not what is in the background, in case we find out a clue out of it’

‘True’ said Alicia.

‘The room looks claustrophobic to me’ said McRae, ‘How is he gonna survive there?’

‘He is there for now a week’ said Alan. ‘Even if the place is dark, then also he is not afraid of the dark’

‘No one can survive in that dark place for so long’ said Henderson. ‘They will certainly go mental. So the only explanation left is that the kid is in a lighted place but they switched off the light maybe’

‘Yes they intentionally turned off the lights just before making the video’ said Alan. ‘Nice touch it was’

McRae nodded this time; he also thought that it was possible.

Henderson looked at Ryan. ‘Play again’

Ryan poked the screen and the boy came in the screen.

‘There I heard something, I think’ said Alan.

‘What?’

‘Scroll it back to the 20
th
second position’ said Alan.

Ryan did so and played it. The boy said ‘I’m okay here but I’m not --’ Then in the background they heard a noise, as if something just went by making that sound, although there was no disturbance in the video.

‘That one’ said Alan. ‘You heard that sound?’

‘What sound?’ said Ryan.

‘Yes yes’ said Henderson. ‘There was a sound. I heard that too. What was it?’

Ryan played video for the third time because not everyone had heard it. But this time everyone was alert so, all them heard it when that portion came.

‘Something went by’ said Alicia.