Chapter 3: A ransom demand

July 16, 2010

The next morning, Sam's morning was interrupted by a phone call.

The call came as he was about to have his breakfast, and his wife almost went to answer it.

"I got it, dear." Sam said to his wife as he went to answer the phone.

"Hello?" He asked as he pick up the phone.

Pause.

"Oh, good morning, Mr. Blake." Sam said before taking note of the tone of urgency in George's voice. "What's the matter? You don't sound so good."

As he made the remark, his children, Scooby, Tom and Jerry entered the dining room.

"What?" Sam asked, his voice becoming alert. "My word!"

There was another pause before he said, "She wasn't in her bedroom when Jenkins went to check on her?"

During this time, Shaggy, Sugie, Scooby, Tom and Jerry looked at each other with stunned looks on their faces.

"Alright, George. I'll have men coming over to your mansion right away, and I'll be right over." Sam continued before hanging up.

"What's the matter, dear?" Wendy asked when she saw the troubled look on her husband's face.

Turning to her and their children, Sam replied, "Daphne is missing."


A few minutes later, there were several police cruisers parked in the Blake Mansion as Sam issued the alert to Major Crimes Division.

Sam himself soon arrived at the scene, where he greeted several of his investigators.

"Commander Rogers, sir!" One of the officers said as he arrived at the mansion.

Sam nodded before approaching one of his top investigators, newly-promoted Lieutenant Nelson McCormick, who was accompanied by his partner Sergeant Nathaniel Hughes and a detective of East Asian descent he didn't recognize.

"Nelson." He said as he greeted the lieutenant. "What have you got?"

"Well, from what we saw in the victim's bedroom, sir." McCormick explained. "There were signs of breaking in through the bedroom window."

"One thing for sure was that the bedroom window in the victim's bedroom was open during the night, sir." Hughes interjected. "Her parents must have kept it open to allow the night breeze to keep her room cooled down, which also provided whoever was responsible for the disappearance a way into the victim's bedroom and abduct her while she was sleeping."

Sam nodded. "What brought you gentlemen to this conclusion?"

"The outside of the bedroom window, sir." The new detective explained, and Sam thought he could detect a Cantonese accent in his voice. "On the edge of window, there were two, pipe-sized dents on the sharp corner, which could only be caused by one, or maybe two, heavy persons climbing on a ladder and break into house through victim's bedroom window."

"I see." Sam nodded just as the lieutenant turned to him.

"Forgive Detective Charlie Chan's English, sir." McCormick said. "He's transferred from China's National Police Agency six months ago, but his commanding officer highly recommended him and he was key in busting a major trans-Pacific drug trafficking ring last year."

Sam nodded understandingly before turning to Chan and said, "Well, I believe Captain Stephenson made the right decision in approving your transfer, Detective Chan. That was a good observation you did."

"Thank you, sir." Chan nodded just as the police commander saw George walking towards him.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Sam said to the detectives as he walked over to the millionaire, who had a worried look on his face.

"Sam." George said as Sam walked towards him.

"George." Sam nodded. "It's a shame we have to meet in such circumstances."

"Indeed." George agreed. "Has there been any sign of Daphne?"

"Unfortunately, no." Sam shook his head disappointedly. "We do know that someone has broken in and kidnapped her while she was asleep in her bedroom last night."

"Forgive me for asking, Mr. Blake." Hughes interjected. "But do you have any enemies? Perhaps someone who would wish you or your family harm?"

George thought for a while before shaking his head. "Not that I can think of, although it won't be a surprise if that crime lord Robert Oakley is behind this kidnapping."

"What about any former employees you or Mrs. Blake had fired?" Chan asked. "Maybe one of them decided to seek revenge by kidnapping your daughter."

George thought before replying, "Well, my wife and I did fire a group of employees several years ago when they were suspected of using our company as a front for a protection racket and counterfeiting ring. Not sure if it may be relevant to what had happened to Daphne last night."

"Well, if there was a connection, George, why did those former employees wait eight years to kidnap your daughter?" Sam asked. "Why didn't they do it, for the sake of argument, two weeks after you terminated their employments?"

George nodded just as the telephone rang.

Sam quickly turned to the investigators, all of whom had their phone-tapping equipment set up and ready to go, as a signal for them to get to work in tracing the phone call if it was a ransom demand.

George walked to the telephone and turned to Sam, who nodded at him encouragingly, which was also a signal for the investigators to start tracing the phone call as soon as George picked up the phone.

"Hello?" George asked as he answered the phone.

"Is this George Nadley Robert Blake?" The party on the other end asked.

"Yes, speaking." George replied.

"Excellent. I just want you and your wife to know that your daughter Daphne is in safe hands. However, if you want to see her alive again, you must do what I told you." The man said.

"What do you want?" George demanded.

"Pay me sixty million dollars and you'll see your daughter again." The man replied. "However, don't even think about going to the police. If you do, you'll never see your daughter again. Is that understood?"

George took a long time before sighing, "Yes."

"Good." The man said. "When you have the money ready, drop it off at the First National Bank parking garage over at Ruby and Silverman by twelve o'clock at noon."

"The Ruby and Silverman branch of the First National Bank?" George asked. "But that place's abandoned, and how do you suppose I can get that large sum of money in three hours? Just who do you think you are?!"

"Remember the address and what I said about the police, Mr. Blake." The man said, ignoring George's outburst. "One 911 call and you'll never see your Daphne again."

The line then went dead as George yelled, "Who is this? Where's my daughter?! Hello? Hello?!"

Sam turned to his investigators just as George slammed the phone down. "Got anything?"

"We've traced the origin of the call, sir." One of the investigators replied. "It came from a public phone booth. The kidnapper must've figured that we'll try to trace the phone call."

Sam nodded as he turned back to George, who was still huffing angrily about the phone call.

"That buffoon thinks he can blackmail me and Elizabeth into paying sixty million dollars and get away with it." He huffed. "If he gets caught, I'll make sure that he wouldn't get anywhere near this mansion and my family ever again."

"Don't worry, George." Sam replied. "My men and I will do our best in finding your daughter, but right now, we have to check out that abandoned First National Bank at the address he provided."

"If I can suggest something, sir." Chan said. "The kidnapper may be luring police into a trap. There could be a bomb at the location, given that the place is abandoned."

"Charlie's got a point, sir." Hughes agreed. "We must think of something."

"Well, I'm still sending men over to the address anyways." Sam said. "But, I'll be having the bomb disposal squad on stand by, along with a bomb disposal robot at the scene, and we'll send the robot in to access the area before sending the men in. Maybe there's no bomb at the scene, but the building's structure may be too weak and the kidnappers may have intended on having our men getting trapped in the building when it collapses."

"And chances are, the kidnappers may be in the area watching it happening as well." McCormick added.

"Right." Sam nodded before turning to Stephenson and ordered. "So have the bomb disposal squad and the undercover gang unit at the abandoned First National Bank by twelve hundred and when the area is deemed safe, have the men move in."

Stephenson nodded before the police get down to work.

During this time, Sam turned to George and added, "In the meantime, George, I'm having Daphne's room sealed up as a crime scene. Nobody will be allowed to enter until further notice."

"No problem." George nodded. "I only hope Daphne is okay and is at somewhere safe."


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