Chapter 11
Somewhere across South Dade County…
Travis woke in a large comfortable bed in an unfamiliar room.
It looked like a young boy’s room from the appearance of his surroundings, but he knew it wasn’t his room.
For one, he had a twin bed with a spiderman comforter.
And for another, there was a bookcase sitting at the end of this bed with model cars, boats, and planes of different sizes on the top two shelves.
On the third shelf were books, many books of different thickness and sizes.
The bottom two shelves were empty. His room at home didn’t have this.
Two plaid curtained windows let sunshine filter in telling him it was late in the day and not morning.
Travis sat up and looked around the room.
There were three doors. One he suspected led to the hallway.
The other looked like it was a closet door, and he hoped the third one was to a bathroom because he had to go really bad.
He quietly slipped from under the sheet and hurried toward that door, opening it to find it was the bathroom.
However, all he saw was a long counter with a sink on one wall with a mirror and another door on the opposite wall.
He didn’t hesitate, but rushed to that door, opening it to find the prize and a tub as well.
After he peed, he found a towel and a washcloth on the long counter and went back inside to take a shower.
His tummy rumbled as he bathed, and he knew he hadn’t eaten since before he left for Zoo Miami.
But was that still this morning? He didn’t think it was.
He felt like he had been asleep for a very long time because his head felt fuzzy inside.
Pushing the curtain back, he got out of the tub, dried off, and wrapped the towel around his waist, not able to find his clothes he’d pulled off and left lying on the floor.
He wanted to cry because he was in a strange place, and he didn’t understand how his clothes could suddenly vanish when he noticed the smell of food.
His tummy rumbled again, and the aroma drew him back to the bedroom where he found a table and chair had been set up with a plate of food and a glass of milk for him to drink.
Clean clothes were laid out on the bed for him to put on and he quickly dressed before he ate the meal.
When he finished, he yawned and went back to bed, crawling between the sheets and immediately fell back asleep.
Carlton watched the live feed of Travis on a burner phone from his private investigator’s office across town.
He was pleased to see that things were progressing smoothly and that his hired staff was taking care of the boy as instructed.
Having to keep the child drugged was not how he wanted to do it, but the Reyes were paying the bill, and he had to go along with their demands.
If they wanted the child to be kept quiet and out of sight until it was safe, then that’s what they were paying him to do.
He put the phone in the top desk drawer and closed it, going back to work until he could go and check on the child himself later that night.
Now that the Amber Alerts had started letting the public know that Travis was missing he had to be extra careful going to the house where they were keeping him.
But now he had the trouble of Wizard and Slick.
The Amber Alert had shown their pictures, identifying them as men who’d been seen with Travis.
Wizard had already been questioning the story he’d told to get them to grab the child at the zoo and now…
well, he didn’t even want to think what they might be doing.
Had they gone to the police and turned themselves in?
Surely they wouldn’t be that stupid.
He’d hired them because they were the perfect patsy, but still…
He wouldn’t go down alone. There was no way.
As soon as the sun was setting, the food trucks began rolling into the business neighborhood and firing up their grills. The foot traffic kept the trucks in plenty of business in the evenings. Carlton closed up and slipped away, keeping an eye out for trouble as he headed for his car.
“I hope we haven’t waited too late,” Wizard said as they coasted down the hill on their bikes.
“You know Carlton always stays in his office working at night. That’s why we ran into him at the food trucks getting dinner,” Slick said.
“He better make this right for us,” Wizard said. “I’m not going down for that kid. We should have realized that Operation Child Recovery wasn’t a real thing. It was probably something he made up to get us to do this job for him.”
“I’m sure once he talks to the police on our behalf he can clear things up,” Slick assured him.
“And what if he won’t?” Wizard asked, stopping his bike at the corner. He walked it the rest of the way over to Carlton’s office. Slick did the same.
“We’ll cross that bridge if we get there,” Slick finally said.
Wizard tried the door, but it was locked. “He’s not here. I don’t like this. What if he’s seen those Amber Alerts and skipped town?”
“Damn.” Slick put down the kickstand and walked over to the nearest food truck. “Hey man, have you seen Carlton tonight?”
“You just missed him. He picked up a to go order and said he was headed home,” the guy said.
“Thanks,” Slick replied, turning back to Wizard. “Carlton grabbed his dinner and went home. He hasn’t left town. So why don’t we get grub and head back ourselves.”
“Okay. Okay,” Wizard said, putting down the kickstand and followed Slick to the food truck.
They ordered enough food for tonight and extra for later and headed back to their hide out. Once they were finished eating, Wizard said, “I’ve been thinking. I know we wanted to talk to Carlton, but the longer we wait the worse it’s going to be for us. We need to turn ourselves in.”
Slick spewed out his root beer. “Are you flippin’ crazy?”
“Maybe, but hear me out,” Wizard said. “I’ve been giving this some thought. That Amber Alert said we were men of interest. Not that we were wanted in the abduction of that kid.”
“So?” Slick grabbed a wad of napkins and cleaned up his face. “What’s your point?”
“It would be better for us if we go to the police and tell our side of things than if they were to find us on their own,” Wizard said.
Slick shook his head, fishing in his pocket for his vape pen. He uncapped it, pushed the button, and took a few drags off before he spoke. “I don’t know. It all seems risky to me.”
“It’s riskier trying to stay ahead of the police,” Wizard said, grabbing the pen from him and taking a drag before handing it back.
“Okay, say that we go and they don’t believe us and throw us in jail, then what?” Slick asked.
Wizard shrugged. “We call Carlton.”
“Why would he come bail us out? Especially if we just ratted him out to the police?” Slick countered.
“In your scenario they didn’t believe us, so why would they believe he was involved either?” Wizard said, accepting the pen again for another hit. “Dude, this stuff is primo. Better than the usual stuff we smoke.”
“Costs more too,” Slick said. “Let’s wait until tomorrow. I think we should stay here and enjoy this fine weed.”
Wizard took another drag off the pen and smiled wide. “Sweet.”
As Jillian got ready for bed that night, she said a little prayer for Travis wherever he was and that he was safe.
“Hang on my dear boy,” she whispered into the night and touched her fingertips to her lips, recalling how gently Nick had brushed his kiss there earlier that afternoon.
She felt a smile form and her heart swelled at the thought of the man who was becoming dearer to her with each passing day.
Never in a million years would she have dreamt that a tragedy like this would bring her joy in the form of Nick Bardou.
It didn’t seem right, and she didn’t want to accept it while Travis was still missing. And yet…it was happening.
It was times like these that she wished she had a close friend to confide in, but other than Mrs. Hudson, she realized now she had focused on taking care of Travis and letting her connections with friends dwindle.
Spending her free time finishing her master’s degree instead of going out and having fun.
Did that make her boring or was she goal oriented?
But what if she never got to teach? Would her degree be for nothing and all this effort a waste of time?
Travis had said he never wanted her to leave, but that was now, he’d surely change his mind in a few years as he got older.
When he no longer wanted a nanny hanging around caring for him.
And then where would she be if she didn’t have her degree to fall back on? She wasn’t getting any younger.
She washed her face and brushed her teeth before turning out the bathroom light and hobbling to the bed so she could take off the boot and get into bed. She thought about Travis again as she lay down and a tear rolled down her cheek. Wherever he was she hoped he was safe.
“Dude, what time is it?” Slick asked, sitting up off the floor with one shoe on and the other off. His legs hit the small pile of discarded pizza boxes from the night before. He rubbed his face and yawned before his stomach growled.
“Late afternoon,” Wizard said through half closed eyelids, holding up his arm to see his watch then he grabbed his head. “Oh man, I have a killer headache.”
Slick crawled to the pizza boxes and sifted through them until he found a leftover piece. “Yes!”
“Sh-h-h! Wizard hissed. “Is there anymore?”
“Last one, dude, you lose,” Slick said.
Wizard flipped him off. “I know we were going to do something today, but I can’t remember what.”
“Get more weed,” Slick yawned. “And more pizza.”
“Sweet!”
They laughed until it hurt. Then after agreeing to try a new kind of pizza, they fell asleep.
Not far from their location Carlton sat in his office watching the daily video feed of Travis to make sure everything was going right. His other burner phone rang, and he answered. “Delvecchio.”
“How’s the kid,” a man’s voice said.
“He’s fine. He just ate and he’s getting back in bed to go to sleep again. How long do you plan on keeping this up? Keeping the kid drugged can’t be good for him.”
“You let me worry about that,” the man said. “Let’s meet tonight. Your place. I’ll be there at ten with the rest of your money. And then your part of this will be finished.”
“Why so late?” Carlton asked. “I do have a life.”
“You want to get paid or not?”
“Of course I do,” Carlton said. “I’ll leave the back door open. Park in the alley so no one will see you.”
He worked for a few more hours until the sun went down and the food trucks arrived then he took a dinner break and a walk to enjoy the neighborhood, mingling with the other business owners who worked late in the area.
He had time to kill until the man arrived and paid him.
Even if he didn’t like how they were treating the kid what could he do about it?
They were paying him, and it was a job, plain and simple.
He returned to his office at half past nine and found the man dressed in an expensive suit sitting there, waiting for him and he didn’t look happy. “You’re early,” Carlton accused.
“I don’t like to be kept waiting,” the man said, getting to his feet. “Did anyone follow you?”
“You said ten. I only stepped out to take a walk around the square,” Carlton reported. “You should have called. I’d have come right away.”
“I didn’t bring my phone. Couldn’t chance being traced,” the man said. “That damn Amber Alert has everything all screwed up. Let’s get this business over with.”
“It was bound to have happened,” Carlton said, walking to his desk and motioning for the man to take his seat again. “Child abductions always triggers those alerts.”
“We didn’t account for that when we made our plans,” the man said. “Did you think of it?”
“Not really,” Carlton admitted, noticing for the first time that the man was wearing leather driving gloves. In the summer? The rich were eccentric, but he thought this was going a little too far.
“That’s why we need to limit the number of people who know about this,” the man said reaching into his suit breast pocket and pulled out a Smith & Wesson M&P 22 with a suppressor and pointed it at him.
“I’m sorry our business arrangement has to end this way, but I can’t take the risk of you going to the police and identifying us for being behind Travis’ abduction. ”
“Wait! You don’t have to kill me,” Carlton said, his voice cracking and sweat beaded across his brow. His dinner threating to come up as he stared at the gun. “I–I won’t say a word. Honest. If I talked about the people I did business with I wouldn’t be in my line of work very long.”
“That very well may be, but I can’t take that chance,” the man said, standing and taking a step toward the desk.
Carlton put his hands up, palms out as if that would prevent the bullet from hitting him, but it didn’t.
The gun fired and hit him point blank, in the center of the chest, sending his office chair skittering back away from the desk into the wall.
His head banged against it with a thud, and he gasped his last breath, falling to the floor.