WHEN THE HEART STOPS BEATING - PART TWO
Chapter 3 - Buried
Jules eyes flickered, and then she opened them slowly. It took five full seconds for her brain to engage and remember what had happened. Brian Coulson had told her Sam had been shot; he told her he would pick her up and take her to the hospital and then he punched her in the jaw. Her fingers gingerly touching her swollen face and then remembered she had hit her head on the window. She felt her head and could feel her hair, it was wet and sticky from the blood and she could feel slivers of glass still in her hair. The wound had stopped bleeding; a minor head wound she thought, a few stitches and she would be as good as new.
Jules looked around. It was dark, very dark; she could not see anything at all. She tried to sit up but her head hit something hard.
"Shit" Jules said as she rubbed her already sore head. Realization flooded her brain seconds later.
"No, God, please no, not this".
"You bastard, Coulson, you fucking bastard" Jules screamed.
Jules tried to control her breathing as terror was taking over. Brian Coulson had buried her alive.
Jules started to run her hands over every inch of her prison feeling for cracks or handles or something. She felt something. It was metal and as she ran her fingers over it she knew it was a hinge. This must be the hatch. She traced its outline; it was small, probably no bigger than thirty inches. Jules tried pushing the door with her hands but it wasn't moving.
"Help; can anyone hear me?" Jules was screaming now as the panic was making her heart race so much she felt she would vomit.
Jules gave up screaming after a few minutes. Her throat was sore and she was using up valuable air. She told herself to stay calm. The team would find her she had to have faith. She knew Sam would not give up until he had her back. She would stay calm, preserve her air and wait to be found. As Jules lay in her dark, very small tomb, she started to sob; "Sam, find me please".
Spike had left a program running which was looking for the color, make and model of Coulson's car. Wordy was then looking at each of the searches to see if any was Coulson.
Spike was working on Coulson's laptop. If he had anything hidden on the laptop Spike knew he could find it. There wasn't a program he couldn't hack into or a firewall he couldn't breach.
It took Spike less than ten minutes to infiltrate Coulson's computer. "Boss, I think you need to take a look at this".
Greg headed over to Spike "What am I looking at Spike?"
Spike pointed to the screen "These are all deleted emails; they have either been sent to or received from Jason DeShawn. Some of these emails go back to last year".
"The same Jason DeShawn that Otis Sanders and the Johnson Brothers were linked to?" Greg asked. Everything was now falling into place.
"Good work Spike, stay on it, you too Wordy, keep looking for Coulson's car. Ed, Sam you're with me; we are going to pay Mr. DeShawn a visit."
Sam was pleased; finally he had something to do. He hated sitting around doing nothing. At least it was a lead.
The three officers headed for the door of Jason DeShawn's house. "Can you hear that Boss?" Ed asked. They listened; there was music playing and women laughing. "I think Mr DeShawn has company" Greg said.
Ed banged on the door "SRU Open up".
A girl opened the door dressed only in a bikini. She looked young, possibly no older than 18.
"Miss, this is the SRU, we are here to see Jason DeShawn" Greg told the young girl.
A tall well-built man, in his late thirties, appeared at the door. A large moustache dressed his top lip and he was smoking a Cuban cigar.
"What do you want SRU?"
"Jason DeShawn, we would like to speak to you in connection with Brian Coulson" Ed spoke firmly. He was already pissed and any shit from Jason DeShawn would just exacerbate his already bad mood.
"Who? Sorry don't know a Coulson" Jason DeShawn said as he started to close the door.
Ed's foot stopped the door from closing.
"I know my rights, you can't come in here without a warrant" Jason DeShawn said and again he tried to close the door.
"Miss" Ed called to the young girl who had opened the door "I need to take a look at your ID."
The young girl looked scared. "I aint got ID"
"You have no ID or you just haven't got it with you?
"I aint got ID I said" the girl repeated.
"Well that is just so damn unlucky for Mr. DeShawn. I have reason to believe you are under the legal age of consent and as you cannot prove otherwise, Mr. DeShawn would be arrested on suspicion of sexual molestation of a minor and, therefore, no warrant necessary. " Ed said looking smug.
"I'm 18" the girl protested but Ed was ignoring her and was now focusing all his attention onto Jason DeShawn.
Jason DeShawn wasn't sure if the cop was telling the truth or if he was being played. There was no way however, that he was going to risk it. To be arrested on a trumped up pedophile charge would have his ass beaten the crap out of before he made bail. Coulson didn't deserve that kind of loyalty.
DeShawn opened the door and all three officers walked through. Sam was content to let Greg and Ed handle the situation. He had too much on his mind and it was taking all his resolve not to beat the crap out of Jason DeShawn just for knowing Brian Coulson.
Ed continued where he had left off.
"So, Mr DeShawn, would you like to tell us how you know Brian Coulson?
"He's a friend" DeShawn replied.
"In what capacity; work friend, social friend?" Ed Continued.
"Sort of both, we do favors for each other, you know scratch each other's backs"
"Have you seen or heard from him recently?" Greg asked.
"As a matter of fact, he called me earlier, asked me if I could lend him some money". Jason DeShawn said.
"Did he talk about anything else, for instance the kidnapping of an SRU Officer?" Ed asked.
"No he just wanted to lend some money."
Greg knew from the look of his face that Jason DeShawn knew nothing about Jules.
How much money was he asking for?" Ed asked.
"$25,000" DeShawn replied.
"And did you give it to him?" Ed said trying to remain calm.
"No man, I told him I didn't have that sort of cash lying around, but I said he could have five grand. He said he would be by to pick it up but it didn't show" Jason DeShawn explained.
Ed took out a set of handcuffs. "You are under arrest Jason DeShawn; put your hands behind your back"
"I thought you weren't gonna arrest me if I told you what I knew about Coulson" Jason DeShawn protested.
"I lied" Ed said as he was leading the man out to the waiting uniformed officers.
Just as they were leaving, Sam's cell phone began to ring. He didn't recognize the number.
"Good afternoon Sam, how has your day been so far?"
"Where is Jules, what have you done with her?" Sam loud voice caught Greg attention. He immediately knew Sam was on the phone with Coulson and called Spike and told him to trace the call. Greg turned to Sam and motioned to him to keep calm. The calmer he was the longer he would be able to keep Coulson talking.
Spike immediately set to work. Tracing calls was a lot quicker than the old days, but about a minute of talk time was still required in order to get a fix on a location. Spike guessed Coulson was using a disposable cell or an old phone with no GPS so tracing it would take longer.
"Jules is safe for now Sam, but she will shortly be running out of air. Listen carefully, to get her back in one piece you have to pay me $250,000. I will call you again with the when and where. Don't pay and she dies" Coulson ended the call.
"Could not get a trace Boss, the call only lasted 35 seconds - perhaps we will have better luck when he calls again" Spike said.
Sam was beginning to panic - what did he mean Jules would be running out of air. Where the hell is he holding her?
Jules was slight in build, but strong and mentally as tough as nails. She would be able to cope until her team found her. But they would need to make it soon; the air in the box was running out. She guessed she had 45 minutes, an hour at the most before she suffocated.
She needed to think of nicer things. She would think about Sam and how happy he had made her. Jules had never been one for soppy sentiments, but she knew Sam was her soul mate, her one true love. She knew he would be panicking if they were unable to find her soon. He panics when she is late home from shopping. He plays the part of an ex-special force badass really well but she knew the real Sam; the kind and gentle Sam who would walk on hot coals for her if she asked him to.
"We've found Coulson's car" Spike said as Greg, Ed and Sam walked back into the SRU HQ.
"We have been tracking his movements and we have him at your house Sam at around 11.35 a.m."
They looked at the footage from the traffic camera; it was Coulson's car, and it was parked outside Jules and Sam's house. Spike continued to follow the car using the traffic cameras. They continued to follow it down Warner Avenue and then the image disappeared.
"Where's it gone, Spike?" Sam asked.
"There are some traffic cameras not working at this junction, but he could have only gone four ways. I'll just keep looking until I pick him up again. I will find out where he has taken her, I promise you Sam".
Sam's cell rang again: It was a different number. This time Spike was ready. "Try and keep him talking Sam, about anything, just don't let him hang up until I tell you".
"Good Afternoon Sam. Still having a not so good day?"
"What do you think?" Sam replied.
"Jules isn't doing so well, I think I may have miscalculated the amount of air she would need. She has about 45 minutes of air left, an hour tops. This isn't going to be a problem, provided, of course, that you have my money. "Coulson said his voice drenched in sarcasm.
"We have your money" Sam lied. As a general rule Sam didn't lie, but this situation was different. The situation warranted a little deception and he had no trouble whatsoever lying to the scumbag on the other end of the phone; Sam needed to keep Coulson talking. "Where and when do you want it dropped off?"
Coulson didn't reply. Sam knew he had unsettled Coulson. He was not expecting Sam to be so direct. Sam continued. "Well, Coulson, where do you want the drop to take place.?"
"I know you're lying Sammy boy - SRU wouldn't agree to ransoms"
"They didn't - I got the money from my father" Sam said hoping and praying Coulson would believe him.
"I'll phone again with the details". Coulson said and then the call was ended.
Sam looked at Spike "Please tell me you managed to trace it".
Spike nodded "I'm sorry Sam; Coulson ended the call too soon". "But it might not matter, Spike then said looking at the computer. Uniformed officers have just stopped Coulson's car.
"Have they got Coulson? " Sam asked
"Don't know yet. They are taking him out of the car now" Spike replied.
Spike's face said it all. Something was wrong.
"What's going on Spike?" Greg asked.
"Just heard from the uniformed officers who had stopped Coulson's car; it wasn't Coulson. Coulson had apparently asked a friend to swap cars with him. He knew Coulson was police so his friend agreed." Spike said and then added "they are bringing in the driver; he should be here in 10 minutes or so - if he is a friend he could know something about Coulson".
It had felt like someone had stabbed Sam in his heart. It was all over. The bastard had won. He came close to killing Sam and now he has Jules somewhere. She would be counting on Sam and the team to save her. She would know they wouldn't give up on her, but where could they look now? Coulson was in the wind. He had played them all right from the beginning.
Greg spoke to Coulson's friend. He story sounded genuine; he was not a close friend of Coulson's but thought it was police business so had agreed to swap cars and drive around just as Coulson had asked. As soon as they had the details of the driver's car, they began a search for it. It was located 15 minutes later, parked down the street 50 yards from Coulson's house.
Sam said he wanted to go back to Coulson's house to see if he could find anything which might have been missed in the search.
Greg knew Sam needed to keep busy and told him he could go.
"Time to talk to Jason DeShawn again "Ed said firmly. Ed was not giving up. DeShawn might know if Coulson had a garage, lock up or storage unit. Anywhere he could hide Jules.
Ed spoke to DeShawn who was not being very cooperative and Ed was losing his already limited patience with the criminal.
"We know you ordered the shooting of your girlfriend, Sonya Winters: Just because Otis Sanders was too scared to testify against you, doesn't mean we don't know what you did. The drugs, prostitution and the gangs: We know about it all and it's not going to be long before we get enough evidence to put you away for a very long time. But, if you help us now then perhaps the police would lay off you a little. You stay out of trouble and who knows, you could stay out of prison. We just want to know if Coulson had ever mentioned to you a storage unit or garage that he rented or owned."
"He said he had a place where he kept his stuff but he never told me where man" Jason DeShawn said.
"Stuff, what stuff?" Ed asked.
"You know, man, his money and guns and things". Jason DeShawn replied.
"And when you say things, do you mean drugs?"
"Yeah, you know cocaine and shit". Jason DeShawn said. And that was all he knew, just that there was a place, where that place was no one except Coulson knew. Ed knew now Coulson had never intended to collect the ransom. Had never intended to tell anyone where Jules was. She was just a pawn in his plan to give him time to get away.
Jules had tried to sleep to conserve her air, but she couldn't. Jules wondered why Coulson would be so cruel and end her life this way. Death could have been quick - a bullet to the head - over in seconds. She remembered back to January when she had seen Sam lying on the snow. She thought he was already dead. He wasn't; they had eight more months together. If that was all she could have then so be it. She would choose eight months with Sam over a lifetime without him. It was getting harder for her to breathe; her chest felt heavy - she knew she would be sleeping soon. It would be all over shortly. She was crying, where are you Sam?