Thanks again for all of the reviews! Here's chapter 13. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 13: The Plan
Tony paced the room as he formulated a plan. His gut instinct was to grab his gun and head straight for Abby's address. He would get his son back and he didn't care if he had to kill Abby in the process. Tony quickly pushed that irrational thought aside. Such a move could put Conner in danger and he would never intentionally do that. He picked up his phone and to call Lt. Landsman.
"Landsman," the lieutenant said as he picked up the phone.
"Lieutenant, this is Tony Almeida. I just got some information regarding my son's whereabouts. I think I know who abducted him."
"You do? Who do you think has him, Mr. Almeida?"
Tony quickly recapped his previous relationship with Abby Clark and their conversation. He continued by telling Landsman about Abby's recent purchases and the fact that the lease on her house was about to run out.
"The evidence was circumstantial," Tony admitted, "but put together with a motive and you have a fairly strong case to search her house."
Landsman was silent for a moment while he considered what Tony was suggesting. "Abby Clark had been a respected member of the law enforcement community for years. She has a flawless record. I can't search her house just because she's made some purchases at "Toys R Us" and a kennel. I can't get a judge to issue a search warrant on that kind of circumstantial evidence."
"You have a motive, Lieutenant," Tony stressed.
"Mr. Almeida, I'm not sure that a broken engagement three years ago can be considered a motive for kidnapping. In that period of time has she ever stalked or harassed you or your wife?"
"No, she hasn't," Tony answered his voice somewhat deflated. "I know this sounds weak, Lieutenant, but I wish you would humor me and just put a watch on her."
"I can't justify putting a tail on an FBI agent who's received more than one commendation over the last couple of years for her outstanding work. When you think this through, Mr. Almeida, you'll understand where I'm coming from."
In a matter of a few minutes it had become clear to him that Landsman thought he was simply a hysterical father of a missing child. And for a second or two Tony thought he might be right. "You're right, Lieutenant. I'm overreacting. I'm sorry to have disturbed you."
Tony hung up feeling utterly defeated. The police weren't even willing to listen to his concerns let alone act upon them. Tony was on his own now. If he wanted proof that Abby was the kidnapper, he was going to have to get it himself. The other problem was that Abby was smart. If she got even a hint that Tony was on to her, she would be gone and no one would ever find her again. He suspected that she had already secured a new identity for Conner and she may have one for herself as well. Tony had to be careful.
He decided that his first move was to see where Abby was living and watch her comings and goings for a while. There was no way he could do that without explaining to Michelle where he was going. No, he would need help for this; he needed Jack's help. Within a minute he had Jack on the phone.
"Tony, how are you two holding up? Is there any word on Conner?" Jack asked.
"The police don't have anything yet, Jack, but I'm floating my own theory," Tony told him.
"You are?"
"Yeah, I think Abby has him."
Tony's statement was met with silence. "Abby? Abby Clark? Why would you think Abby has Conner?"
Tony explained that Abby was sent in by the FBI as a profiler and gave Jack the details of their conversation earlier today. "I never told her that the child who saw Conner with the dog and the woman was a girl and yet she assumed that. She also assumed that black sedan that was seen leaving the scene was a Toyota. She drives a black Toyota Camry, Jack. I had Chloe check the registration. On top of that, she recently bought a car seat and stroller and wrote a $575 check to a kennel that specializes in breeding terriers. The lease on the place she's renting expires in a couple of days. I'm afraid that she's in the process of moving. If she moves, we'll never find Conner. The two of them will disappear forever, Jack. I need you to help me get Conner back."
"Have you called the police?"
"Yeah, they said the evidence was circumstantial, the motive was weak and they weren't willing to put a tail on a well respected member of the law enforcement community. I've got to get proof before they're going to do anything."
"Ok," Jack agreed. "How do you want to proceed?"
"I don't want to tell Michelle about any of this. I don't want to get her hopes up and then find out that I'm wrong. I've got Abby's current address. I was hoping you could stake the place out for me and see if you can get any proof that she has Conner. If you can, then I'll go to the police with it."
"And if I can't get you any proof?"
"I'm going into the house myself to take a look," Tony told him.
"You can't do that alone, Tony. You know she's armed," Jack warned him.
"Yeah right, Jack," Tony scoffed. "So were the Drazens and I seem to remember that you were willing to go in alone to get Kim. They had a lot more weapons at their disposal than Abby has at hers."
"Yeah, and I was damn near killed. First of all, you're not going in at all unless it's a last resort. And if you have to go in, I'll be right beside you. Now, give me the address and I'll see what I can find out."
Jack took down the address and said goodbye. Fortunately, Audrey was spending the day with her father at a fundraiser for the National Zoo. She had taken their three year old twin daughters, Susan and Margaret, with her. They would be gone until early evening. That gave Jack a nice block of time to keep an eye on Abby's address without having to explain his whereabouts.
Jack drove the 15 miles from his Virginia home to the address Tony had given him. It was an unusual place for a single woman with no children to live. The house was large for one person. It was secluded, having been situated well back from the road and surrounded by trees. Jack almost considered it creepy. He drove past once and took note of the "For Rent" sign in the front yard and also looked for a place where he would have a good view of the house without being seen. He drove past a second time and decided that he would have to get out of his car. There was a park about a mile away. He would leave his car there and walk back to the house. He could easily hide among the trees and watch the house.
Tony waited impatiently for Jack to call back. In the meantime, he was trying to act as natural as possible. He doubted that anyone would notice his heightened level of anxiety. Everyone was so on edge that his behavior was as normal as anyone else's. Tony was just about to call Jack when his phone rang. The caller ID let him know that it was Jack on the line.
"Hello," Tony said. He had to be careful not to let his end of the conversation give anything away.
"Tony, I'm on site," Jack told him falling back into old CTU jargon.
"Thanks for calling Jack," Tony said nonchalantly.
"You can't talk, can you?"
"No," Tony answered. "The police don't have anything new."
"Okay, I understand," Jack said. "Just listen to me. I'm at the house. It's a two story colonial. It's way too big for one person. A black Toyota Camry is parked in the driveway. It has Virginia tags number 'F' as in Frank, 'S' as in Sam, 'K' as in kite 4-7-3. Is that the license plate Chloe gave you?"
"Yeah, it is," Tony answered.
"Then she must be here but there's a second car in the driveway. It's an old yellow Grand Am with a black vinyl roof. It's got a Virginia tag; the number is 'A' as in apple, 'N' as in Nancy, 'E' as in eagle 5-3-3. See if Chloe can run the plates and get a registration."
"Okay."
"I'll keep an eye on the house. The blinds are drawn and I can see movement, but I haven't seen any people. The garage door is open and there are stacks of boxes. So Abby must be getting ready for her move. Tony, if we have to get in the house at some point, we need a floor plan. A sign in front of the house lists 'Reed and Anderson' as the realty company that's handling the rental on the house. According to the sign, there's a virtual tour at the agency's website. See what you can get from that."
"Sure, Jack. Thanks I appreciate your concern. I'll talk to you later." Tony hung up and turned toward Michelle. "Jack just wanted to see if we had any new information. He said if we need anything, he and Audrey will be happy to help."
Michelle nodded. She had no reason to question what seemed to be an innocuous conversation between Tony and his best friend. She turned her attention back to Chelsea who was nursing again. She remembered Conner's complaint from yesterday that Chelsea was always hungry and smiled. You might just be right, little guy, she thought as tears filled her eyes.
While Michelle was paying attention to Chelsea, Tony went upstairs to the den where he placed a call to Chloe. She agreed to find the registration for the unidentified vehicle in Abby's driveway and to get back to Tony as soon as possible. Tony hung up and logged onto the computer. It took him less than a minute to find Reed and Anderson's website. He clicked on "rental properties" and typed in the street address. Bingo! He had definitely struck pay dirt. In addition to a virtual tour, the listing included a detailed floor plan and told Tony that the house had a security system. That would complicate things if he and Jack had to go inside, but they could work their way around it. Tony printed out the floor plan, folded it and put it in his pocket. All he could do now was wait until he heard from Jack and Chloe.
Chloe called back first. "Tony, I got the information you wanted but I'm not sure it helps. The car is registered to a woman named Elsa Sanchez in Charlottesville, Virginia. The problem is, she's a Mexican who was here on a student visa. Her visa expired a year ago not long after she graduated from the University of Virginia and from what I can see, she retuned to Mexico. I'm looking at INS records and she's no longer in the US. I also tracked her credit cards and all of her recent purchases are in Mexico. I don't know who is currently driving the car. The registration doesn't expire for another six months."
Tony thanked Chloe again and disconnected. He wasn't sure what to make of the information either but at least they knew for sure that the second car didn't belong to Abby. It was likely that there was at least one other adult in the house with her.
Jack had always hated stake outs and this one was no different. At least he wasn't stuck in the car. The dense stand of trees not far from the house provided good cover and it allowed him to walk from the front of the house to the back undetected. Not long after he talked to Tony, Jack spotted Abby carrying some boxes from the house out into the garage to add to the pile. He hoped at some point that Conner would follow her out and he would get a visual on him, but so far he wasn't having any such luck. After spending time watching the front of the house, he decided to check out the back. Conner was an active little boy who loved to be outside. Maybe he would beg to go outside until he wore down Abby's resolve. Jack had been standing hidden in the trees behind the house for about a half hour when his phone vibrated against his side telling him that someone was calling.
"Yeah," he said quietly knowing that Tony was on the other end. "What've you got?"
"Chloe ran the plates on the second vehicle," Tony told him. "It is registered to a Mexican woman here on a student visa, but the visa expired a year ago. As far as Chloe can tell, the woman went back to Mexico. We don't know who's driving the car or how that person got the car. So the driver either stole it and for some reason the owner never reported it missing or the owner sold it and the new owner never changed the registration."
"I guess either is possible, but it doesn't give us much to go on. Did you have any luck with the floor plan?"
"Yeah, I found it and printed it out. I haven't had a chance to look it over well and formulate any kind of plan."
"Okay, I haven't seen anything yet but I'll keep watching. I have to be home by 7:30. Audrey and the girls will be home by then and if I'm not home she's going to ask questions."
"I understand," Tony told him. "Do what you can and stay in touch."
Jack continued to watch the house. He could feel his heart rate increase when a back door that led out onto the deck opened. He held field glasses to his face hoping to spot his Godson. But it wasn't Conner who stepped out onto the deck, nor was it Abby. It was a Hispanic woman. Jack was too far away to get a good look at her. He could tell that she was a big woman, probably five feet, nine or ten inches tall. She wasn't fat but she had a big frame and he guessed that she weighed close to 200 pounds. When she opened the door a small white dog ran out. He trotted down the several steps from the deck to the back yard and began to sniff. Jack grew a little concerned that the dog would smell him and come to investigate, but it soon became clear that the dog was just looking for the perfect spot to relieve himself. Once he did that, he looked around as if interested in exploring, but the woman called him.
"Scooter," she said with a lilting accent. "Come on, fella. Time to go in." The dog was well trained and immediately went back to her and into the house.
Jack maintained his cover in the trees until a little after six o'clock. If he was going to make it home on time he would have to start back to his car. Nothing was happening and the sun had become low in the sky throwing the house into dark shadows. Jack reached the end of the tree stand. In order to get back to his car, there was about a 25 foot distance where he had to be completely out in the open. He checked the road and made sure there were no cars. That part was easy. At this time of day any vehicles in the area would need headlights against the rapidly descending dusk. So cars announced themselves ahead of time. He was more concerned about being seen from the house. He held up his field glasses wishing they were fitted with night vision and carefully checked each window that could provide a vantage point to the clear area he had to cross. They were all clear until he reached the last upstairs window on the corner of the house. There was a light on in the room and it silhouetted the figures in the room against a sheer curtain. Jack couldn't see faces but could easily make out the silhouette of the tall Hispanic woman. He watched her bend over and pick up a child. She tossed the child into the air and caught him and then set him down again. It was clearly a game that the child enjoyed and they repeated it eight or nine times. Finally the woman tossed him into the air, caught him and spun around a couple of times. That seemed to signal the end of the game and she carried the child away from the window. Jack couldn't see the child's face but he was sure that it was Conner or sure enough, at least, to agree to a late night covert raid on the house with Tony.
Jack scanned the windows again and made his way across the open space to the tree cover on the other side. From there he could walk within the tree line and stay out of site all the way back to his car. As he walked, he looked for a place where he and Tony could stash a car. He didn't want to park as far away as he had today and walk all the way to the house. He also had to figure out what he was going to tell Audrey. He couldn't exactly say he was going into the office in the middle of the night. He was afraid that he would have to tell her the truth and make her promise not to tell Michelle. Before he could make that decision he was back at the car. He started it and put it into gear and got back on the road. Once he was moving, he pulled out his phone and called Tony.
"Tony, I think I've got something," he said as Tony answered. "You need to go somewhere where you can talk call me back."
Tony put his free hand up to his other ear as if he couldn't hear. "Hello," he said again. "Don, you're in a bad cell. Call back when you're in a better cell."
"Got it," Jack said. "I'll call you back in five minutes."
"Who was that?" Michelle asked.
"Don Martini from work. I guess he was just checking on how things were going but he was in a bad cell." Tony had been playing with Chelsea on the sofa. He picked her up and handed her to Michelle. "Honey, can you take her. I need to run upstairs for a minute."
Michelle knew that "run upstairs for a minute" was Tony's polite was of saying he was going to the bathroom. She took the baby unquestioningly and watched as Tony left the room. He was edgier than he had been yesterday but, then again, so was she. She knew he was as tired and scared as she was and he had a right to act the way he was.
Tony made his way to the bathroom attached to the master bedroom. He turned on the exhaust fan to cover the sound of him talking on the phone. The two minutes until Jack called back were about the longest two minutes of his life. He answered the phone the second it began to ring.
"Yeah, what have you got?" he asked anxiously.
"There's a child in the house. I couldn't see a face, but I'm pretty sure that it's Conner. The size and shape were right. There's also a small white dog, probably a terrier. I can identify at least one other adult in the house. It's a Hispanic woman. I couldn't see her face, but she's tall and large framed with short brown or black hair. I don't know if there are any other adults in the house besides the Hispanic woman and Abby."
"Okay," Tony said, "I'm going in there tonight, Jack. If Conner is in that house I'm going to get him back."
"Listen, Tony, calm down. I agree and I'll be right there with you. Have you looked at the floor plan?"
"Yeah, pull it up on the website when you get home. The place has a home security system but I think we can avoid it if the interior motion detectors are turned off for the night."
Jack agreed. He knew that most people with kids and a dog have to turn motion detectors off at night to avoid them being triggered by a child going to the bathroom or the dog running through the house.
Tony continued. "It looks like there's a sliding glass door on the deck. Those are usually a weak spot in home security systems. They put a contact monitor on the sliding door but ignore the stationary window panel. All we have to do is remove the four screws holding that in place and we're in."
"I'll take a look at the floor plan, but that sounds reasonable. How do you plan to neutralize the dog?"
"I was going to feed him a couple of caramels. That should tie him up long enough for us to find Conner and subdue any adults in the house."
"Fine, that should work," Jack answered. "There's a park about a mile east of Abby's house. Let's meet there at midnight. We can take one car from there. I found a place a couple hundred yards from the house where we can leave the car."
"Midnight's too early, Jack," Tony told him. "Abby's a night owl. She always reads until at least midnight. If we want to make sure that she's asleep when we enter the house, we can't go in before one or one-thirty."
"Okay, let's meet at one o'clock," Jack agreed.
"I'll see you then," Tony responded before disconnecting.
Now he had to come up with a way to get out of the house around 12:30 without arousing suspicion. He decided that he needed to come clean with his parents and Michelle's mother and brother, but he still didn't want to tell Michelle. He knew that she was exhausted; she hadn't slept in two days. He had to convince her that she needed to go to bed and then get her to take a medication to help her sleep. Once she was asleep he knew that she would sleep for several hours. That would give him enough time.
"Tony, it's time for dinner." His mother's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Tony walked down the steps knowing how hard it was going to be to sit calmly through dinner. He went into the kitchen and put his arm around his mother.
"Thanks, Mom," he said as he kissed her forehead, "but I just don't feel like eating."
"None of us feels like eating, Tony," she said honestly. "You need to eat. If you don't eat you're going to end up sick."
Tony rolled his eyes. Boy, there's a "mom line" if I've ever heard one, Tony thought.
"I'm serious, Tony," his mother said with some exasperation in her voice. "I heard you tell Michelle the same thing this morning. It applies to you, too."
"I didn't tell Michelle that she would get sick. I reminded her that she's still nursing Chelsea and she needs to eat for Chelsea's sake."
"Whatever the reason," his mother continued. "Chelsea's counting on both of you and Conner needs you to be strong and healthy when he comes home."
Convoluted mom logic, Tony thought. But he also knew it wasn't worth fighting about. He would find a way to eat a few bites. He sat down at the dinner table next to Michelle who protested as her own mother put a large slice of ham on her plate followed by a large spoonful of scalloped potatoes.
"Mom, I'm not hungry," she said.
"I've been here since 9:30 this morning and I haven't seen you eat a single bite, Michelle. You need to eat." Michelle, too, knew that is wasn't worth protesting and silently picked up a fork.
Despite the fact that six people were seated around Tony and Michelle's dinner table, the room was amazingly quiet and little food was consumed. Conner's empty booster seat sat on the floor cruelly reminding everyone that he wasn't there. The police had provided them with updates every two hours today, but for the most part, all Lt. Landsman had said when he updated them was that they had no new leads. He admitted during the six o'clock update that the trail had grown very cold. He reviewed Abby's report with Tony and Michelle which, as promised, profiled the kidnapper as a Hispanic woman. He assured them that they were getting the coroner's reports on any Hispanic boys who had died at about Conner's age or who would be his age now if they had lived. They had obtained the information from several nearby states and officers were currently tracking down the mothers in all of the cases. He acted hopeful that this was the right course of action and commented that he was grateful that a profiler of Abby's status would have consulted in the case.
Tony finally ate enough ham and potatoes and green beans to satisfy his mother. He felt just like he had when he was ten and was forced to eat dinner before he could go back outside and play baseball with his friends. Tony left the table and went back upstairs to the den. He made a quick list of things he would need tonight. He would collect everything after Michelle was asleep.
The night dragged on at an unbearably slow pace for Tony. He paced through the house deep in thought. Michelle was too deep in her own thoughts to notice the change in Tony, but it wasn't lost on Erica Almeida. She knew her son too well; this was not how her son dealt with a crisis. He was being too passive. He wasn't questioning the police like he had earlier; he was simply accepting everything they said and thanking them politely. She feared that he had already given up.
At eleven o'clock Tony decided that it was time to convince Michelle to go to bed. He found her sitting on the sofa in the family room nursing Chelsea.
"Sweetheart, when she's finished eating, why don't you put her in the bassinette in our room and then you can go to sleep."
Michelle shook her head as tears filled her eyes. "I can't sleep, Tony. Every time I close my eyes all I can see is Conner sliding down the sliding board at the playground. He was so proud of himself, Tony." He put his arm around her and let her cry.
"Sweetheart, you have to get some sleep. You're exhausted and that's not good for you. You told me earlier that it was starting to effect your milk supply. Chelsea needs to eat, Honey. You're the only one who can feed her. Right now you have to do this for her sake. I have those pills the doctor gave me when I hurt my back a couple of months ago. Why don't you take one of those? It'll make you sleepy and help you get through the night."
"If I take one of those I won't be awake enough to feed Chelsea during the night. She'll want to eat again by three o'clock."
"You keep some frozen breast milk in the freezer. I'll move some to the refrigerator to thaw. Then I'll warm up a bottle and feed her when she wakes up."
"She hates drinking from a bottle," Michelle reminded him.
"I'll deal with it. I've done it before. I want you to get some sleep. Please, Sweetheart," he said kissing her forehead for emphasis, "do this for me."
Michelle reluctantly agreed. When Chelsea finished eating Tony carried the sleepy infant to their room and settled her down in the bassinette next to their bed. Michelle got ready for bed and Tony found the medicine he wanted her to take. She swallowed the pill with a couple of ounces of water.
"You need some sleep, too, Tony," Michelle told him. "Come to bed with me," she requested.
"I was going to try and read for a while," he lied.
"Come to bed, Tony, please. I just want you to hold me."
Tony could see no way out of this so he quickly got ready for bed and slipped in beside Michelle. She immediately curled up in his arms and pillowed her head on his chest. This had always been the position she assumed when she wanted to feel secure. She had slept in this position for the first time several years ago after they first made love. He didn't realize it at the time, but now he guessed that she had felt a little insecure that night and needed to sleep in his arms for reassurance. She did it again when he first came home from prison. For the first few weeks, before things started to fall apart, she fell asleep every night in this same position. Now she was doing it again. He held her and offered her whatever security he could while he wished that she would just go to sleep so he could get out of bed and put his plan into motion.
As Tony suspected, it wasn't long before Michelle was in a deep sleep. He carefully slipped himself out from under her tucking an extra pillow under her head. She barely moved. Tony sighed as he watched her sleep. He hated lying to her. The only other time he had lied to her was when he was involved in the operation to buy the Cordilla virus and he had never seen her so angry as she was when she found out. He pushed the thought from his mind. She wouldn't be angry when he came home with Conner and he was sure that was the only possible result of this late night raid.
Tony stepped into a pair of old black jeans and a black turtleneck. He loaded his gun and put it in a holster then put an old black CTU jacket on to cover it and put gloves in his pockets. He made his way down the stairs to the family room where his parents and Michelle's family was sitting.
"I thought you were going to bed, Tony," his mother-in-law said.
"What are you wearing, Son?" asked his father. "You look like you're dressed for a commando raid," Roberto Almeida noted.
Tony smiled the same guilty smile that he had when he was 17 and his father caught him putting condoms in his pocket before going out with his girlfriend. "That's what I'm doing," Tony said. His voice was firm and matter of fact. "I'm going to get my son back."
"Tony, what are you talking about?" his mother asked with growing concern.
"I know where Conner is or, at least, I'm pretty sure that I know. Jack Bauer and I are going to get him."
"Have you called the police?" Roberto asked.
"Yeah, they ignored me," Tony explained. "I think Abby has Conner. I don't have any hard evidence. The police are refusing to question her or even follow her. My information tells me that she's going to leave the area within the next 48 hours. Once she does that, she'll disappear into thin air and take Conner with her. We won't have any hope of seeing him again if she does that."
"Why would you ever believe that Abby has Conner?" Erica asked him.
Tony quickly explained his reasons. "So," he said as he finished, "Jack and I are going into her house to take Conner back."
"What if Conner isn't there? What if you're wrong?" his mother asked her tone becoming more and more anxious.
"We'll go in and find Conner first. If we can't find him, we leave. In the morning Abby will find evidence of a break in and she may even call the police. Jack and I are smart enough not to leave any evidence behind." Tony pulled gloves from his pockets as proof.
"This sounds dangerous," Leslie Dessler said. "Does Michelle know that you're doing this?"
"No and we have to keep it that way. She's sound asleep. Chelsea is going to want to eat around 2:30 or 3 o'clock. Get her out of the room as soon as she starts crying so she doesn't wake Michelle. There's bottled breast milk in the refrigerator. Just warm it up a little. She doesn't like to drink from a bottle, but she'll do it if she's hungry enough."
"Tony," his mother said in a worried voice, "even if you're right and Abby has Conner, you and Jack are still breaking into her house. That's a crime. You could be arrested. You'll go back to prison. You've been down that road before and I don't want to see you there again." Erica was crying now.
"Mom," Tony said gently as he put his hand on her shoulder, "if Jack and I get Conner back the police and the FBI are going to be too embarrassed to charge us with anything. If they try to charge us, we'll make sure that the story is released to the media. Can you see those headlines? As long as they don't charge us, Jack and I will be willing to let them take the credit for solving the case. I guarantee that the FBI is going to want this story to get as little publicity as possible." Tony stopped for a moment and sighed. "The truth is that the last time I went to prison, I did it for saving Michelle's life. I am more than willing to pay the same price for saving Conner and bringing him back to Michelle."
