A TANGLED WEB

CHAPTER 4- DESPERATION

Frank sat with his head in his hands. He and his father had just returned to their office from the police station. They were alone. After a lot of arguing and discussion, Laura Hardy, Callie and Vanessa had been taken to a safe-house by the police. It was not a popular option. Callie had cried out of worry, anger and frustration. His Mom had shouted. Vanessa had shouted a lot. They were strong, independent, capable women and had been furious at being treated like 'unwilling sheep', as Laura had put it. But it had to be- the risks were too great. No one could explain yet why Gilchrist had kept his word and let them go….. but it was no guarantee they wouldn't be targeted again. Frank and Fenton would have to deal with the inevitable fallout resulting from side-lining them afterwards…

Fenton and Frank had declined to go, refusing to do anything but focus on finding Joe. No one had pushed the suggestion- all concerned knew that their knowledge and input was vital to the search. But where to start? Frank focused briefly on his father, who was pacing around the room. Fenton had been on the phone to contacts in The Network non-stop since they got back, shouting obscenities at everyone unfortunate enough to have answered the phone to him. 'Are you going to tell me how the hell they got operatives to Bayport without it being picked up? What are your sources playing at and where was your surveillance!? You're incompetent idiots!'…. 'How the hell did Gilchrist even connect us to the investigation?'…'some bastard must have had access to our reports'…. Frank tried not to listen. He was trying to clear his head, to think.

His thoughts snapped back to the CCTV footage of Joe. That wave. It was almost like he was saying 'goodbye'. Frank felt his throat constrict and a sob escaped before he could stop it. 'No'. He caught himself. There would be time for emotion later. Joe would most likely be still alive. The note had said they were going to 'break him' before killing him. That gave them time. A lot of time, knowing his stubborn, fearless brother. He didn't let himself think about how they might be trying to 'break' Joe.

The police, now joined by Network agents, were doing their thing at the scenes of crime- the apartment, the alleyway, the industrial estate where the girls were dumped and the warehouse. Something might come from that, or Gilchrist's note. But Frank had a strong suspicion that the men they were dealing with were professional enough to be forensically aware. They would have been sure to leave no traces of evidence behind. Every available police vehicle was out searching for the vans involved. But Joe would probably have been moved quickly from the van he was taken in. Zeus would no doubt have access to any number of vehicles, boats, private planes and helicopters. So many ways for a big criminal organisation to get one young man far from those who loved him, fast. At least finding the vans would be a start.

Frank's gaze came to rest on a photograph of Joe on his father's desk. He had been getting some sports award and was smiling happily. Joe. Once upon a time he might have thought of his brother's actions as impulsive. But there was nothing impulsive about his decision. It was selfless and brave. Pride mixed with the feelings of terror and frustration doing battle in Frank's head. In the five minutes Joe was given, he had had the presence of mind to plant a tracker on himself, leave a hidden message and show them where it was. But they had been out-manoeuvred. They had lost him. They had failed him. Would Frank see his brother again? Where was he?

Fenton came off the phone and sat down beside Frank. He took a deep breath. 'It looks like there is a leak somewhere in the Network. The hits on the Zeus targets are going ahead but the raids are being brought forward and the strategies changed slightly. If Gilchrist has been fed the details of the hits, hopefully the mole won't have time to disseminate the new arrangements. Everyone involved in the raids is being kept in groups, under surveillance, to limit the possibility and to try to identify the bastard who's talking to Gilchrist.' There was venom in Fenton's voice. He went on. 'The general consensus is that Zeus would want to get Joe into their home territory so they could… work with him…. at their leisure. It could be Joe's being taken to one of their main properties, probably New Mexico or Colombia, so there's a chance he'll be found during tonight's raids. '

Frank shook his head. 'Dad, that makes no sense. Why would they take him somewhere they knew was going to be raided?'

Fenton hesitated. 'I know what you're saying, Frank, but we don't really know what information Gilchrist has. It looks like he knows there's an investigation and that we're involved. However, there's no clear indication that he knows raids are imminent, let alone tonight. The Network are just taking every precaution.'

Frank looked doubtful.

'Meantime', said Fenton, 'we wait for Gilchrist to make his next move. He'll contact us before too long, no doubt demanding we sabotage the investigation or even call the raids off, if he does have wind of them.' Fenton was trying to sound confident but uncertainly tainted his voice.

Frank didn't reply. That wasn't what Gilchrist's note had said and they both knew it.

...

The rest of the day was a blur of police interviews, Network briefings and phone calls. Frank snatched every second he could to try to find traces of Gilchrist amongst Zeus' routine internet traffic. He found nothing.

There was no communication from Gilchrist- no demand to stop the raids, nothing.

In the evening, Frank and his father watched the live feeds from the various raids on the Zeus empire, hoping against hope that the next shot would be of Joe, maybe tied up and knocked about, but alive. But it didn't happen.

If Gilchrist had been tipped off about the raids, it didn't seem to have impacted significantly on the success of the operations. Arms and cash recovered. Multiple high profile arrests. Even some trafficked youngsters freed from the Colombian property, their young faces shocked and haunted. No one else would hurt them now. In different circumstances the Hardys would have been over the moon. But there was no sign of Joe and no sign of Gilchrist.

Frank stopped watching around midnight. He spent another hour or so online, rooting around. It was enough time to see that Zeus' non-automated online activity had gone completely dead from the moment the raids began. What remained would be shut down by the enforcement agencies.

Around 2am, Frank left his father watching the last of the feed from the raids- all the properties had been searched but Fenton couldn't pull himself away. Frank left the office and started driving, hoping to see something- one of the vans perhaps. Anything. He saw nothing.

Eventually, exhausted and distraught, Frank found himself pulling up outside his parents' house- their childhood home. He let himself into the handsome old building. The silence was deafening. He felt himself walk up to Joe's old bedroom. It was still full of his brother's things, although the fact Joe no longer lived here was attested to by the neatness of the room. Frank lay on Joe's old bed looking up at the pictures on his wall. God he missed him. What was he going through? What had they done to him? Was he scared? All the questions Frank hadn't been letting himself think about flooded out into his tired mind. He put his arm over his face and sobbed.