Manhattan Miracle (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-five

A
fter Brad and I arrived late the next morning, Amber strode into my office making a point of studying the time on her watch. "Must have been some wild celebrating going on last night."

I smiled at her and nodded. "There was."

Amber set her hands on my desk and leaned forward. "How many orgasms?"

"Amber! That's personal."

"Suit yourself. Lew was possessed. Have I ever mentioned what a fantastic lay Lew is?"

"Only twenty or thirty times."

"Well smarty pants, last night Lew gave me nine climaxes—
nine!"

I
raised a single brow. "Hmm, nine climaxes. That was close to what I had."

Amber's expression turned incredulous. "You had more?"

"I told you, it's personal. Where were you and Lew, anyway?"

"At Lew's apartment. We'd never done it there so we thought we'd do it there one time before he
moves in with us. Now, show me that ring."

I extended my hand
for her to scrutinize the ring.

"Beautiful, just like mine. This is so exciting. Four months ago, I never thought I'd fall in love, let alone get married."

"Me either. Well since I came into the office three hours late, I'd better get to work."

Amber
let go of my hand and took a seat in one of the chairs that fronted my desk. "Ginger sweetie, there is something else I need to tell you."

"What's that?"

"You know that woman from Boca Raton, that I made a four o'clock appointment for you with her?"

"
Gale Becker? The one who called after reading the Fortune magazine article?"

"Ah-huh."

"What about her?"

Amber crossed her well turned legs.
"She sprained her ankle and would like to send her limousine to pick you up to bring you to her?"

My eyes thinned. "Where
's that?"

"She
's fabulously wealthy so she keeps a suite in the one of the high rise buildings overlooking Central Park." 

"Well, I'm certainly not going to meet a stranger by myself." I picked up the handset to my phone. "I'll see if Brad can
go with me."

Amber leaned forward and stayed my hand with hers. "No. She only trusts women and won’t deal with men."

"That's strange."

"I know, the resource I consulted about
her said she has a phobia about men. They called it 'androphobia'—fear of men."

I shrugged. "It happens. Probably was sexually abused as a child or brutally raped sometime in her life."

"I would guess. So will you be able to meet her? I need to let her know."

I
considered it and shook my head. "I can't go to meet someone alone. Even if it is a woman."

Amber looked downcast. "Yeah, a woman should never meet a stranger alone." She perked up. "
Would it help if I went with you?"

I thought about it. I did want to meet the filthy rich Gale Becker. What could she do, she
's only a woman? "Yeah, we could meet with her then go to dinner at Duke's.

Amber grinned. "It's a date."

~ * * ~

As expected a white Limousine pulled up
to the curb around ten minutes to four. The chauffeur a smallish man wearing sunglasses stepped out and opened the door for us and slid it closed after we stepped inside.

We weren't in the vehicle thirty seconds when I realized we'd made a
terrible mistake. First the door locks engaged and when I tried to talk to the driver, the intercom was turned off.

Amber beat on the glass panel
separating the driver from us. She also beat on the windows, waving and shouting to passing cars and pedestrians to no avail. No one could see us through the dark tinted windows.

I dug out my phone and called Brad.
Thank God he answered on the first ring.

~ * * ~

"Hello?"

"
Brad, I think I fucked up. Amber and I are trapped, locked in a white limo, driving south on Broadway."

"What?"

"This is no joke. We've been set up. I think we're being kidnapped. Call the police. Call Sergeant Smith. Oh shit."

"What?"

"There's a hissing sound. I smell something. I think…think…it's… nitrous…ox-i-i-d…"

"Baby, baby, are you there?"
Shit, I think she passed out.
What do I do?
Should I call 911?
She wanted me to call Willie Smith.

I dug the card
out of my wallet, he'd given me and dialed. "Sergeant Smith."

"Willie, this is Brad Fairchild. I just got a call from Ginger. She and Amber are trapped in a white limo heading south on Broadway. Willie
, this is no joke. She said they're being kidnapped."

"Is she still on the phone with you?"

"I don't know. She mentioned gas—nitrous oxide—and stopped talking. I think they passed out."

"Laughing Gas?
Are your phones still connected?"

"I think so. I hear horns and stuff, just no one talking."

"Give me her number so we can track it."

"212 – 555 – 6862."

"Okay Brad. I have to do some things, but I'm on it. I got to go for now, but I'll stay in touch." 

~ * * ~

I rushed over to Jimmy Evans desk.

"He
y Willie. What are you so bummed out about?"

"
Grab your portable computer with GPS reader, and plug this number in. 212 – 555 – 6862."

"What's up?"

"We have a kidnapping in progress. Let's get a car. I'll drive while you track them."

"Cool."

"This isn't cool, Jimmy. A couple of really nice ladies are in danger. Let's go!"

We grabbed the first available
unmarked car and headed out of the car pool.

We were on
6
th
Avenue heading south when Jimmy said, "Okay, I got a reading. They just turned onto 9
th
Avenue from Broadway, heading south."

They were a
pproximately three miles away on the other side of Central Park. "Good work." I tried to pick up speed as best as I could in the heavy rush hour traffic.

"Aren't you going to call for help?"

"Not yet. I don't want them to know we're on to them and other vehicles, especially marked patrol cars might spook them. Are they still on 9
th
Avenue?"

"Yeah, but they just edged over into a left lane. They may be…they did. They turned east on
42
nd
Street."

"Damn, they picked up ground on us. I'll bet they're heading for the tunnel."

"That would be my guess."

"
They're supposed to be in a white limo, can you get an image of them?"

"I'll try. It's not easy in the middle of
all these high rises."

"I know what you mean."

Jimmy jerked upward all of a sudden. "Shit! I lost them. They must be in the tunnel."

I punished the steering wheel with the pad of my right hand. "Damn
! If they're in the tunnel already we're losing ground." I turned on the flashing lights and traffic moved out of our way as best as they could but it was slow at best.

"We need help."
I picked and the handset of the radio and called dispatch. "Carla. I need an all points bulletin. We have a kidnapping in progress. Perpetrators unknown, suspected victims are two Caucasian women, Amber Lane and Ginger Allen. They are reportedly locked in white limousine traveling East on 42
nd
Street, south of Central Park. The women may be unconscious. If you see them, do not intercept, I repeat, do not intercept. Report their location to car 442 and follow from a distance. No lights, no sirens."

As I turned onto
42
nd
Street from 6
th
Avenue, Jimmy announced, "They're out." Which meant he picked them up again on the east side of the East River.

It also meant, since we were back to t
hree miles behind them, the flashing lights were allowing us to pick up ground.

"I don't think our guys will be able to spot them on an interstate."

The flashing lights allowed us to pass unchallenged through the toll booths. "You're right. I need to update dispatch." I picked up the handset of the radio and called dispatch again. "Carla?"

"Yeah
, Willie."

"I need to update you on our kidnappers."

"Go ahead."

"They passed through the East River Tunnel and are now heading east on Interstate 495."

"Thank you, I'll pass it on."

"And Carla, make sure the state troopers are on this."

"Of course!"

I hung up the handset. After a couple minutes, keeping an eye on the road, I turned to Jimmy. "Where are they?"

"They're still on the freeway."

"
I need to update Brad."

"Who's Brad?"

"He's the one who reported the kidnapping. He's the business partner of both women and the boyfriend of one."

"You don't think…"

I laughed. "Sorry, no. I don't think he has anything to do with it. I'm pretty sure I know who's behind it."

"Who?"

Before I could answer Jimmy, my phone rang.
"Sergeant Smith?

"Yeah."

This is State Trooper, Kevin Donnelly I have a white limousine, license plate TLC2417, heading east on Long Island expressway, in view."

"Great. Where are you?"

"We passed the 295 interchange about a mile ago."

I glanced at Jimmy. "295?"

He nodded

"That's our car alright.
We have it on GPS too. I suppose you're in a patrol car."

"Unfortunately. You want me to back off?"

"Sort of. I might want you wherever we end up. Why don't you pass them and pull onto the median four or five miles up and act like you're checking for speeders."

"Will do
. Are you aware your Limo has a car leading them?"

A chill ran up my back. "No, tell me more."

"A late model, black Beamer. One of the 600 series, I think. I'll get the license number when I pass them and get the details on the car while I playact with the radar gun."

"
Good thinking. Let me know what you find out. My radio frequency is eleven if you want to call me on that."

"You got it. I'm on sixteen if you want me."

After we'd traveled another mile o
r so, Jimmy said, "I wonder where they're going."

"Me too.
Long Island is a dead end. The only way off is fly or sail."

"So you think they have a boat or a plane stashed?"

"Ah-huh. Don't you?"

"I guess."

"Which is worst case for us?"

"Worst case for us and the ladies is a jet plane. A boat we could find. Coast Guard, helicopters, airplanes, but a fast plane could fly out over the ocean below the radar and never be heard from again. Darn
, I forgot. I was going to call Brad."

I pulled my phone and hit last call.

"Willie?"

"Yeah."

"What'd you find? What's happening?"

"We're about two miles behind the limo on the Long Island Expressway. Thanks to Ginger's cell phone we're trailing her GPS signal."

"That's great. What can I do? Can I come out there?"

"It's going to be dark pretty soon."

"I don't care."

"I'd prefer you didn't, but if you do, stay out of our way."

"Sergeant Smith, are you there?"

The phone signaled another call coming in.
"I gotta go. I'll keep you informed."

I ended my call with Brad and said,
"Yes. Smith here."

"They just passed me. When you pass me, I'm going to tag along about
four hundred yards behind you."

"That'd be fine and if you want to invite a couple State Trooper buddies that'd be fine too."

"I'll do that. Here's the scoop on the Beamer. It's a 2014 BMW 650 coupe. The registered owner is Milton Grimes."

"Bingo! I knew it. He's out on bail for the attempted murder of one of the kidnap victims. You've been a big help Kevin. Thanks."

"Just doing what I get paid for. I think you just passed by me. Are you in a dark green four door—"