Chapter 9 Contact
"Damn it Hanson, where are you?" Doug muttered as he dialed his friend's number once again. Tom was supposed to pick him up this morning at 8 o'clock and hadn't shown up. Doug checked his watch. It was now a quarter past nine and Doug was really beginning to worry about his friend. Tom wasn't the type of person who was late for anything. It just wasn't in his nature. After about the tenth ring, Doug slammed the phone down and grabbed his coat and keys. He decided that the police station would be the best place to start his search for his partner.
"Hey Doug, how's it going?" Ethan asked as he entered the police station.
"Not good." Doug stated. "Have you seen Hanson this morning?"
Ethan shook his head. "I thought you guys were going to drive in together?"
The sinking feeling in Doug's stomach deepened. "He was supposed to pick me up at 8 this morning, but he never showed up. There's no answer at his apartment either."
"Let's go check out his apartment." Ethan said, picking up his keys.
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Doug walked up to his friend's apartment door and knocked loudly. "Hey Hanson, you in there?" He knocked once more and then said, "Come on Hanson, open up." He reached out and tried the doorknob, only to find it locked. He searched above the doorframe until he came across a key. He put the key into the keyhole and turned it until the door opened. He and Ethan made their way inside and began to search the apartment for any clues to Hanson's whereabouts.
"Well, there's no sign of foul play." Ethan stated when they had finished their search. "No clues to where he is either."
Doug sat down on the couch and tried to make sense of this situation. "Where the hell could he be?" he said in frustration. He nearly jumped off the couch when the phone rang. It rang twice more before he picked up the handset.
"Hello?" he said into the mouthpiece. There was silence on the other end. "Hello? Who is this? I can hear you breathing damn it."
"D-Doug?"
"Tom? Hanson, where the hell are you?" Doug almost screamed into the phone. He heard some noise on the other end and then his partner's voice could be heard once again.
"D…Don't do what he says…Doug." Tom stuttered.
"Hanson, who? What are you talking about?" Doug asked. He heard what sounded like a struggle on the phone before he heard his partner cry out in pain. "Hanson? Tom, talk to me!"
"Officer Penhall, if you want to see your partner alive and well again, you need to do exactly as I tell you." The voice said.
"Who the hell is this and what have you done to my partner?" Doug demanded.
"Oh, think hard Douglas. We've crossed paths before. A few years ago exactly, down at Jump Street."
"Thompson." Doug said, the realization of whom he was talking to set in. "What do you want?"
"Well Douglas, I had a very nice conversation with Vinnie last night about his two newest employees. See, it took me a while, but I knew that I had seen you two before. I thought Vinnie needed to know exactly who was working for him." Mark said.
"What have you done to Tom?" Doug asked.
"Oh, for the time being he's just a little banged up. But all that can change, I promise you." Mark said, a laugh escaping as he did so. "Our Tommy boy has one heck of a headache right now, but I could think of a few worse things for him to endure."
"You son of a bitch…if you hurt him I'll make sure you pay!" Doug yelled.
A cruel laugh was heard on the other end of the phone. "You're wasting precious time Douglas." Thompson stated. "Now, will you do as I say or is Officer Hanson going to pay for your disobedience."
"What do you want Thompson?" Doug asked, his anger beginning to boil.
"I want you and your partners to bring me all the evidence you have against me, Vinnie and the mayor…and I mean everything. Then you are going to get the Seattle PD to drop the case against us. Do I make myself clear?" Thompson asked.
"And just how the hell do you expect me to get them to drop the case?" Doug asked, his patience wearing thin.
"Oh, I think you'll find a way…otherwise, Hanson won't live to see the light of day." Thompson said with a laugh. "You've got 48 hours Officer Penhall. The clock is ticking. I'll be in touch." With that the line went dead and Doug slammed the phone into the receiver.
"What the hell was that all about?" Ethan asked.
"Thompson. He has Hanson." Doug said. He then explained the situation and Thompson's demands. Doug stood up and grabbed his coat.
"Where are you going?" Ethan asked.
"I've got to go find Tommy." Doug said. He was terrified of what was happening to his best friend at this very moment. "I just can't sit around and wait for Thompson to call."
Ethan nodded. "Okay, I'll go back to the precinct and see what we can do from there." He noticed the worried look on Doug's face. Walking up to him and putting his hand on his shoulder, he said, "Don't worry Doug, we'll get him back."
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Tom Hanson was in a dark cold room. He wasn't exactly sure where or how he had gotten there, but what he did know was that his entire body hurt like hell. His head was pounding like a jackhammer from the blows before. Every movement sent wave after wave of vertigo coursing through him. After his short conversation with Doug, Thompson had handcuffed him to a chair in the center of the room that he was now in. Then he disappeared and from what Tom could figure, he had been gone for around an hour now. Tom found himself fighting the fatigue that plagued him and was beginning to succumb to the beckoning sleep when a bright light flooded the room. He quickly closed his eyes in response.
"Well, well, well. Officer Thomas Hanson."
Tom opened his eyes, blinking quickly to get them to adjust to the bright light. "Vinnie, nice to see you again." Tom said with a smirk on his face. "I love what you've done with the place. It's got that whole rustic feel to it."
Vinnie looked over at Thompson and let out a laugh. Then he walked up to Tom and bent over to look him straight in the eyes. "I see you haven't lost your sense of humor Officer Hanson." He then pulled out a familiar looking object. Tom took a deep breath and sat up straight in his chair. "Ah, you're familiar with these I take it. Wonderful things, these tazers. I hear they shoot 50,000 volts of electricity throughout your body, leaving you completely immobilized."
"Come on Vinnie, I thought you had a better sense of humor than that." Tom said nervously as he eyed the police issued tazer in the mobster's hand.
"Oh, I have a great sense of humor Hanson. In fact, why don't I show you exactly what kind of sense of humor I have?" He held the tazer up and pointed at the young officer handcuffed to the chair. "We'll see how many jokes you can crack after I'm through with you." With that he pulled the trigger on the tazer and watched as the two probes shot out and sank into Tom's bare chest. A pleased look crossed his face as he watched the officer's body begin to twitch and writhe in pain from the voltage coursing throughout his body.
Okay, so how's the action so far? Poor Tom, he just doesn't stand a chance when I write him into a story!