Chapter 21
Tank sat next to Rain, watching and listening to the speech therapist. Rain was determined to regain her speech. She never grew frustrated, encouraging the therapist into more work. But the woman was allotted only 45 minutes a day with Rain, so Tank continued working with her after the therapist left.
"Don yo need wok?" Rain slurred.
"You are my work. I'm enjoying working with you."
"Why?" The question was clear.
Tank smiled, "Because you are my heart, my love. I hope you feel the same closeness and, hopefully, it will become love for me."
Rain's mind was working well. It was expressing herself that was difficult. She had so many ideas and concerns floating around inside but could not discuss them with Tank. All she could do was squeeze his hand, offering him hope. "Da boh." Rain has used the term several times Tank knew she was talking about Cowboy.
"I miss him too, but Ella and Luis, plus the rest of Rangeman, are taking care of him. Plus, we see him and talk to him at night on the computer."
"Oool" Rain slurred again.
"School is back in session. Getting back to a routine will help him. He said last night he was excited to be back in school."
What would have happened to her son if they had not found Tank? Well, she would still be in the Army for one. And if she had died, he would be in the children's home in New York. She had to admit, Pierre was much better off with Tank's company men and Ella. As to the future, she would leave it to the Lord's hands.
-0-
Stephanie had been stewing about Ranger's declaration of her being rude to Rain. She grew more upset, plus the usual Plum holiday disaster with her mother insisting she marry Morelli, Stephanie was growing terse. Storming into Rangeman, she was ready for a confrontation.
"Ranger, I don't think you are right about me being rude at the hospital when Lula shot up the place."
Ranger said nothing but indicated she should continue.
"What Lula said and did is on Lula, not me. How was I to know she was going draw her weapon?"
"Did you carry a weapon into the hospital?"
"You know I don't carry a gun. Your men were armed."
"Not all of them. They are allowed to carry when they are performing a security function. Only two were armed. The rest left their weapons in the trucks."
"Oh."
"You know Lula carries an unlicensed weapon, but yet, you didn't tell her to remove it before entering. She does not have a concealed carry permit. You failed to act to lessen the confrontation."
"It wasn't my job.
"Babe, a failure to act definition is when a person or party has a duty to perform a specific act but does not end up doing so.
A duty to act within the scope of personal injury law or tort cases generally refers to one of two things. People have a duty to act in a manner as not to cause direct harm to others. Should an individual fail to do so, then they may be liable for negligence.
"You are not necessarily obligated to act. There is a difference. So legally, you might be able to skip-free. Don't you ask yourself if, maybe, you should have done something to keep a person from being shot?"
"I didn't know she was going to shoot her."
"How many times has she drawn her weapon when upset or pushed? How many times has she fired her weapon in anger?"
"She was distraught."
"Was she? Lula and Tank have been broken up for months. Didn't she pull this same shit before in the hotel? This time Lula escalated by threatening to shoot someone. She discharged her illegal weapon in a hospital, wounding another person. When you saw her winding up, you had a duty to defuse the event, even if it meant telling one of my guys she was carrying a concealed weapon."
"Arent' they also responsible for not acting?"
"Yes, they are. I've talked to them. They were waiting for you to act since you are Lula's friend."
"So, how was I rude?"
"You dismissed the mother as a nothing."
"I didn't mean it the way it sounded. I was trying to convey the woman did not qualify for the level of abuse Lula was giving her. I understand, but I don't think I'm to blame."
"Your screaming 'gun' ultimately saved the woman and her son. A shot to the back would have gone through both of them. So legally, you might be absolved, but could you have lived with yourself if Lula had shot killed the mother and son?"
"Geez."
"Actions or lack of actions have consequences. Each time you say 'it was not my fault,' is that always true? Your backup partner is a liability, but you put friendship ahead of safety. Remember, everything you utter in a tense situation has to be perfect; otherwise, the whole situation can go FUBAR quickly."
Stephanie went to her cubicle to think. Yes, she knew Lula's gun was unregistered and maybe even stolen. She did not insist she leave it in the car. She had allowed her own emotions about Tank to cloud her judgment. Will she ever learn?
-0-
Luis drove Cowboy to school in Princeton each morning. In the afternoon, one of five Rangemen picked him up. The school insisted they have a list of approved guardians. There was no soccer practice in January, but gymnastics and catechism classes continued. Ella went with him to the catechism class on Wednesday. Hector or Bobby took him to gymnastics on Saturday in Tank's absence.
"Hijito," Ella called, "Don't forget your hat and gloves. It is cold this morning."
Like most children, Cowboy's thermostat operated at a different level than older adults. Hats and gloves were useless since he only had to go from the car to the building in the morning. Even gym class was indoors. Still the dutiful boy, he pulled his cap down low, all but obscuring his face, and donned the gloves though they made carrying his backpack difficult.
The ride from downtown Trenton to the private boy's school in south Princeton took 25 minutes. Today it would take longer. The roads were icy. Luis had left enough time to account for the challenging roads. Rangemen Ram and Cal would join them on the journey at Brunswick Street Circle just out of downtown. They were called to a late-night/early-morning break-in in the area and were now off.
Luis was crossing Olden street when a large SUV ran a red light. The vehicle appeared to be going way too fast for the road conditions and couldn't stop. Plowing into the driver's side of the Rangeman SUV, the collision spin the Rangeman SUV out of control. When it stopped, the passenger side window shattered, and a hand reached in, opened the door, and pulled Cowboy out. Though stunned, Luis reached into his pocket and pulled a compact revolver, but his eyesight was blurry. He dare not fire for hitting Cowboy. The abductor jumped into a waiting van's side door and continued down Olden. Before reaching Highway 1, the van pulled into a business and drove around back. LeRoy began removing Cowboy's shoes, jacket, hat, and gloves. He also released his jeans, leaving him in his socks, underwear. The van door opened, and the woman driver grabbed the clothes and backpack throwing them into a trash bin while the man picked up the boy and carried him to a waiting sedan.
"I hope they got no trackers in his underwear," the getaway driver said.
Cowboy was not an easy captive. Fighting for all he was worth, he kicked and bit his abductor. "Yeow! He bit me," the abductor cried out.
The abductor was amazed at how strong the boy was. Finally, out of desperation, the abductor pulled out a stun gun and zapped the young boy.
"Son of a bitch!" The driver screamed from the front. "Did yo' kill him?"
Looking at his bleeding hand, "I don' really much care. He had it coming. Look at my hand!"
After carrying the dazed, undressed Cowboy to a waiting sedan, all three continued south, crossing the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. LeRoy taped the boy's arms behind him and pulled his legs up, hog-tieing the child by running more tape between the boy's hands and feet. "He ain't gonna kick me no more," the abductor said.
Ram and Cal immediately turned south to intercept Luis's SUV at the accident scene but were too late to see the abduction. Luis gave Cal a description of the fleeing van as paramedics tried to extricate him from the wreckage. Immediately Rangeman flooded Highway 1 both north and south, looking for the fleeing van. Hector began reviewing highway camera recordings. Rangeman Central called Ram, telling him Cowboy's trackers were close. Driving down the street, they began a systemic search of back parking lots, looking for the van. They zeroed in on the trackers but found them in the trash bins. The van was there but empty. The boy was untrackable in an unknown vehicle.
The abductors continued south on Highway 1 across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. Immediately leaving the highway, they pulled behind an abandoned building and again traded cars. This time they got into an SUV and resumed their journey westward until they reached I-295, turned north, and recrossed the Delaware River into New Jersey on the far west side of Trenton. They then turned northwest and proceeded to Pennington.
"This be a 'hole lot drivin', LeRoy. Is yo' sure we'd not be better hiding on Stark Street?"
"Bitch, that's the first place they'd look. We got to disguise our trail to give us time to put space between us."
"How's the boy?"
"He's awake and breathing normal, but he's pissed his-self."
"Yo lucky he don shit in them, what with givin' him a zap. He's only a boy."
The SUV proved it's worth as the driver switched into 4-wheel drive and slowly drove down a road that had been plowed free of snow but was still slippery. "Weze lucky this road was plowed otherwise, we'd never have made it."
The vehicle stopped in front of a rustic cabin. "Come on, we gotta get a fire started 'for it gets colder, Bitch," LeRoy smiled.
"Oh, I loved when you call me the B-word, big man," the dark skin woman cooed.
"Come on, boy," LeRoy said after he cut Cowboy's leg wraps free. "We got to get you settled. Your Papa is going to pay big money to get you back."
Taking Cowboy into the cabin, LeRoy exchanged the duct tape for several plastic ties around Cowboy's left wrist. The ties attached to a cable bolted in the wall. The boy could reach his bed and a nearby camp toilet, but not the window. "If you gotta shit or pee, use this. There ain't no toilet for you." Setting several bottles of water on the floor, LeRoy left.
The room was cold. Half-dressed Cowboy rolled over, wrapping himself in the blanket, and started to weep against the wall. He knew his mother and father couldn't come to rescue him. He hoped Hector, Bink, or even Ranger would come.
Luis was in the hospital with two broken ribs and a severely concussed left leg. The impact was significant enough to have caused internal injuries as Luis was not a young man. Major arteries hardened with age and are more prone to tearing with impact. He would remain hospitalized for 48 hours for observation.
Rangeman and TPD were frustrated they had no leads. Not knowing if the unknown vehicle turned south onto the Trenton Freeway towards Pennsylvania or it moved north to Mulberry. Once on Mulberry, it could access the northbound entrance to the freeway. Going north made no sense. If they wanted to get to Newark or even New York, they had numerous streets or highways to negotiate to get to the New Jersey turnpike. Bets were the kidnappers were heading south down the west bank of the Delaware river towards Philadelphia. The question was, in what type of vehicle. Hector watched the bridge cameras for one, possibly two dark skin people driving an unknown car. Unfortunately, every other car seemed to have a dark skin driver. Car license plates were run for possible stolen vehicles. One popped up four hours later, a white Taurus.
A backup Amber Alert was posted with the white Taurus license plate four hours after the initial alert went out. At hour five, a sheriff's deputy found the white Taurus behind a building. There were no cameras in the area to determine what the new getaway vehicle was.
Soon after the kidnapping, a call went to Albuquerque. Tank had just walked into Rain's room when his phone murmured. Seeing Ranger's name on the screen, he answered immediately. "Yo," he began in the typical Rangeman greeting.
Ranger hated making the call but knew he dare not delay. "I've got bad news. Luis was broadsided. Cowboy is missing. Kidnapped."
"Shit," was all Tank dare say. He wanted to blow up, but Rain was next to him, and he didn't want to disturb her. "Continue."
"Clothing and backpack were in a trash bin. Somebody knew about trackers. They switched get-away vehicles. There was blood and urine in the back of the van used in the kidnapping. Hal is running tests on them now."
"Has there been any contact?" Tank dare not say ransom in front of Rain.
"Not yet. Know we are doing all we can to get your son back."
"I need to be there," Tank replied.
Ranger wasn't surprised. "Is it appropriate?"
"I have to. He's my son."
"I've already called the jet. It is in Atlanta. It can be there in three hours. Flight time to Trenton is less than four hours. There's nothing commercial that will get you here any faster."
"Have the pilot call me when he is an hour out."
"Will do. Let us know if you get a ransom call," Ranger said and then ended the call.
Rain had awakened looking at Tank, "Probeb?"
How was he going to tell Rain? In five days, she would be flying to Trenton on MedJet. Her concussion was no longer a concern. Now he would have to leave her. He needed to contact Rain's doctor and MedJet. "That was Ranger. There was a hijacking on the way to Cowboy's school. He's been kidnapped."
Rain scrunched up her eyes and began hyperventilating. Tank took her face into his massive hands and brought his face close to hers. "Breathe with me, mon Cher." Tank's exaggerated breaths encouraged Rain to follow along. When she did, he began regulating his breathing to slow hers down, much as he did weeks ago during their sexual encounter. As her breathing became controlled, tears leaked from her eyes.
"Go, fin him," she whispered.
"Are you sure? I don't want to leave you alone. Ranger and the men can find him."
"Need Pa," was all she could say.