The Return
Chapter 24
Arriving back at the house, the soaking wet man knocked and entered the room when told to do so. He found Kunis enjoying a cigar by the roaring fire in the massive stone fireplace and what looked like brandy in a sniffer.
Stopping just in front of his boss, the man said, "I follow young Peter; he went to the police just like you said he would."
Kunis smiled, swirled the reddish-brown liquor around in the glass and then looked up.
"It worked just as I thought. Peter Turnage fell right into my plan. Caine will come for his beauty and when he does - we'll be ready for him." Kunis chuckled wickedly before continuing, "We'll be rid of that infuriating lieutenant once and for all." Pausing for a moment as he took a sip of his drink, he admitted, "I have to admire the young man's courage given the threat I made to him and his family. Call Joe in Albany. Tell him to wait for my orders. Mr. Turnage just set in motion, the demise of his family. We'll take care of him after Caine."
Horatio stood as he watched the nervous young man try in vain to do something with his hands as his eyes darted around the large room as if someone were about to grab him. What on earth possessed him to get out in this storm and come here to see me? How did he know where to find me?
Deciding the best thing to do was to ask himself, Horatio walked to the open door dividing the smaller room from the open detective area full of desks. Some of which occupied by the night shift.
"Peter… what are you doing here?"
Now closer, Horatio noticed the man sweating excessively and then Peter began to stammer,
"I… I need to talk… to you, but not here. Can we go somewhere… else?"
As they stepped outside into the foggy night, they found that the rain had almost stopped so; Horatio suggested they walk to a diner down the street.
After sitting down at a table, the waitress took their orders for coffee, Horatio's curiosity peaked.
"What's so important that you came all the way to Portland to find me? Is it about the boat, or the crew?" Or perhaps, judging by how nervous you appear, are you about to confess to killing Ivanov?
Peter silently shook his head 'no', unable to look his captain in the eye, he kept focused on his shaking hand, turning a fork over and over, struggling over the fact that he might be sentencing his family to death if he tells what he knows.
"Peter, I don't have all night… you either need to tell me what's troubling you or, I need to get back to the police station. I want to be there if anything is discovered about my wife."
Finally, Peter realized he had to tell this grief-stricken man sitting before him where his wife was being held.
When Peter's eyes looked up and found intense eyes focused directly on him, it unnerved him, but he began explaining in a quivering voice,
"First, you need to promise me that you will get the police to protect me and my family."
Horatio's eyebrows came together in puzzlement at the man's statement.
"I'll do what I can if you'll tell me what's bothering you."
Peter pulled in a deep breath trying to steady his voice, leaning forward on his elbows to get closer as he said in a low voice so no one else could hear,
"I know where she is… your wife…"
Horatio blinked his eyes rapidly and stopped breathing momentarily. Anger instantly rose from deep in his core as he suddenly leapt to his feet, while simultaneously grabbing the front of the startled young man's shirt, hauling him up out of his chair, pulling him close. The only other two customers in the place were two men sitting at the counter and when they heard the sounds of a scuffle behind them, both turned around thinking there was about to be a fight.
Horatio growled low standing nose-to-nose with Peter, "YOU WHAT… you know where my wife is? Did you take her?"
Before Peter could answer, a large, burly man wearing an apron shouted from behind the counter, "HEY… take your fight outside guys… NO fighting in my place."
Horatio didn't let go of Peter, instead he slung him toward the door and threw a ten on the table for the coffees before angrily approaching the frightened man as he resumed shoving him out the door.
Horatio placed his hands firmly on his hips as he demanded angrily, "What do you know? Where is she?"
"I… I didn't take her Capt'n… you gotta believe me." Peter's body was trembling as he begged Horatio to understand. "A… a man by the name of Andrew Kunis paid some men to kidnap her."
Horatio was not surprised that Kunis was behind it. He felt from the beginning this was the work of Kunis.
"Where… are they holding her?" Horatio asked through clenched teeth, feeling his heart pounding against his chest from the adrenalin rushing through his system.
"They have her in a house… just west of Freeport. You gotta help me though… they are going to kill all of my family and me if they find out I've talked to anybody about this… PLEASE HELP ME…" Peter begged.
Horatio walked a few feet away, taking deep breaths to calm down. We've been looking for her for hours… everywhere but in the town where we live. All this time she was in Freeport.
Pulling out his cell phone from his coat pocket Horatio hastily began calling John.
The phone lying on the nightstand began to vibrate loudly as it danced on the wood, creating an irritating sound. Although John had long ago drifted into a deep sleep, being conditioned by his years in law enforcement, he woke easily at the sound of a ringing phone… or as in most cases now, a vibrating one to keep from waking his wife.
Horatio had walked back to Peter as the number was ringing and grabbed a fistful of the man's coat to keep him there, if he happened to change his mind and run.
"Rumo…" John answered with a groggy, scratchy voice as his mind slowly began to focus.
"John… I've found out where they're holding Calleigh."
John Rumo sat up in bed so quick it caused his wife Suzanne to partially wake and mumble, "What's… going on?"
Immediately, John turned toward her and softly said, "Go back to sleep Honey."
Returning his attention to his phone, he climbed out of bed and padded into the bathroom and closed the door.
"Did you say you know where she is?"
"I did. Peter Turnage from my crew is mixed up in her kidnapping." Peter pulled against the captain's firm grip and began to counter,
"I told you… I didn't do anything…."
Horatio ignored the young man, continuing to hold him, "He came to me and confessed that she's been in Freeport all this time and he's going to take me there. I need you to call someone at Portland's PD to let me have a car… I don't want an army of police going in, getting her killed."
"Bill… that's too dangerous. Believe it or not, we know how to handle hostage situations. Give me the address and I'll get enough men to surround the place, then we'll…"
Horatio silently shook his head and responded, "We're doing this my way… the less men you have involved the greater the chance the victim survives. I'm going in first… alone. I'll call you and give you the location."
John heard nothing but silence and shouted… "BILL… WAIT…" but Horatio had ended the call. "Damn stubborn man…." he muttered under his breath.
A sleepy Suzanne opened the door and asked, "Did that concern Emily… has someone found her?"
John glanced up at his wife answering, "Bill thinks he knows and is going there alone… I've got to make a call and get dressed."
"You can't let him do that," she added in a startled voice.
"I don't intend to if I can do anything about it."
John then quickly dialed Portland PD. The Desk Sargent answered and transferred him to the shift commander.
Horatio and Peter walked back to the police station and after Horatio explained about Peter knowing Calleigh's location, they waited outside of the shift commander's office for what seemed like an hour. Finally the office door opened and the Captain stepped out.
"This is going against my better judgment… but the car is waiting for you outside the front door. I will tell you though that I'm not letting you have it without a local law enforcement officer going with you. The commissioner will have my hide if this goes haywire… so don't let it, understand?"
Horatio smiled slyly, "I understand… believe me."
"We'll give you fifteen minutes. The state police and FBI will standby for that long, but will move in when that time is up."
"Fair enough," Horatio responded.
"God's speed Bill," the commander offered.
Horatio nodded his head and took Peter by the arm and walked out toward the front door.
After securing Peter in the back, behind the cage, Horatio slid in the front passenger seat before noticing the officer driving. It was John Rumo.
Horatio let out a huff before quietly asking, "What are you doing here?"
John took a minute to answer as he steered the moving car down street.
"They weren't going to give you a car unless someone went with you and that someone was going to be me." The deputy smiled as he glanced over at Horatio. Horatio let out a deep breath replying,
"This will be dangerous… no point in both of us getting killed."
"The most important thing I learned during my three tours in Iraq is that you don't let friends go into a lion's den alone."
Horatio smiled, "What branch?"
"Marines… what else is there?" John countered.
"Thought so."
Once a marine always a marine… just like Francis, Horatio thought.
"We're ready for our guest," Kunis said as he turned to the tall man next to him.
The man left and walked downstairs to the basement, flipping light switches as he went. Getting the man guarding the room to unlock the door, he stepped in and firmly announced,
"ON YOUR FEET… NOW!"
Calleigh was not asleep. She had been lying on the bed listening to her captors moving about upstairs and knew something must be happening.
She slowly rose to a sitting position, but not quick enough to escape the large hand that firmly wrapped itself around her arm swiftly hauling her up on her feet.
"Turn around!" The man barked.
The handcuffs bit into her tender wrists as he clamped them on tightly, then once again took her arm and roughly pushed her ahead of him toward the door.
"MOVE," he shouted then caught up with her using his hand to shove her along by pushing against her back almost causing her to fall face forward to the concrete floor.
As the man shoved her into a brightly lit room a couple of minutes later, Calleigh noticed the room was bare except for a single chair placed in the middle. The sight caused her blood to suddenly turn cold.
"Ahh… come in my dear. We've saved you a seat," Kunis mocked then laughed wickedly. He laughed even harder when Calleigh shot him a go to hell look.
The big man pushed her to the chair, unlocked her cuffs, turned her around and shoved her down into the chair before securing her arms with leather straps while another man was squatting down beside the chair securing her legs with the same thing.
Calleigh spoke for the first time and directed her ire toward Kunis.
"Horatio will hunt you down and kill you for this… he…"
"Oh I presume he'll be arriving any minute now my dear. I'll be greatly disappointed if he doesn't, but he'll be so busy, he won't have time to bother with me," he answered then grinned widely.
What does he mean by that? Calleigh wondered.
John knew the area and found a good, dark secluded place to park the car. Thank goodness it's an unmarked; he thought as he backed in, a patrol car would have stuck out like a neon sign.
"What's the plan?" John asked as they sat silently in the dark.
Peter was getting nervous. He could feel beads of sweat rolling down each side of his face, uncomfortable with being hemmed in a car this close to Kunis. It made him feel like a sitting duck.
Horatio turned to John and softly said, "This is a one man job my friend. You stay out here with Peter to make sure nothing happens to him."
"He's mixed up in this… I say let Kunis have him." John retorted, looking around at the man in the back seat.
After having sat and talked further with Peter at the station, Horatio believed he was telling the truth, but the man still had to face authorities and have his story checked out. While waiting for the car Horatio had requested that someone from Portland PD contact Albany, NY authorities, just in case.
"He's innocent. He's not one of them."
John returned his attention to Horatio, "I can't let you go alone."
"It's the only way. Give me fifteen minutes then bring the army in."
Horatio shook hands with his friend before quietly exiting the car.
Peter chimed up after a minute and said, "Kunis will eat him alive."
"Not if I can do anything about it," John huffed in return.
TBC….