6.
~ In the living room, alone, Arthur waited.
He kept his mind totally blank and free to wonder about things he hadn't thought of in years.
He thought about learning how to ride a bike when he was little. How his father hadn't been around for that, but his grandfather had told him he must have ridden a mile or more.
It had taken a long time before Arthur realized the old man must have lied to him as a means of encouragement.
He thought about good memories mostly. The way the summer sun made the grass feel on bare feet. He thought about simple pleasures and never once let his mind go to that dark place where he knew fear would hold him, and make him a victim.
If he let himself worry after Ariadne just now, he wouldn't be able to help her. He would stay in a mind set of anger and hostility and would think and act irrationally.
The object was to stay calm and relaxed. He wouldn't achieve his goals if he was already morning her.
His cell phone went off in his hand and he saw the unknown caller.
'Let it ring two more times.' he told himself.
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
The phone rang again.
'You will answer it when you're ready. Not before. You are in control. Not him.' he thought.
The phone rang again and the Point Man answered. His voice cold and detached.
"Hello."
"Was beginning to think you were avoiding my call." came a robot like voice. The voice modulator once again masking the identity of the kidnapper.
"We spoke before." Arthur said by means of an answer.
"Yes." the robot voice said.
"Ariadne is dead." Arthur said bluntly. His head hurt from saying those awful words, but he had to get the kidnapper to reveal himself. Show some kind of weakness.
"Not yet." the robot said.
"I saw the struggle. You killed her and now you're trying to buy yourself time." Arthur said. He felt divorced from emotion and almost like a robot himself.
"She's alive."
"I don't believe you."
"I can mail you a thumb if you like. It will be full of her fresh blood if that will convince you."
Arthur felt his blood grow ice cold.
He could do it. The kidnapper could do just that. The kidnapper had more practice at being a machine and not a man. He was experienced at evil.
"Why are you doing this?" Arthur said.
"I see you're easily beaten, secret service." the robot voice said. There was a tint of humor in it's voice. "Don't worry, there is no need to be alarmed for the senator's daughter just yet."
"The senator's daughter." Arthur repeated. "Is the senator the reason you're doing this? Some kind of revenge? The senator's dead. You can't hurt a dead man."
"No, but I can hurt you, secret service." the robot voice said.
"If you want to hurt me…" Arthur stood up and looked out the windows. The street outside was empty. Everyone was at work or school this morning. "Why don't you just come over? We can have it out right now like men. It's not very sporting to bring a girl into it. Come over and lets settle this."
"I never agreed to play fair. Why would I start now?" the menacing voice laughed.
"What is it you want?" Arthur demanded. "Money?"
The robot voice laughed.
"You have nothing I want, secret service." it said.
"Then why do this?"
"I grow tired of these games. I'll be in touch. Make sure agent Lake doesn't catch wise to you. Wouldn't want the game to end too soon."
"You know agent Lake?" Arthur asked.
He was trying to buy time. Trying to get the man to keep talking, but there was a click, and he was gone.
Arthur hugged his phone to his ear for a long time. He should have asked for proof of life. Should have asked to talk to Ariadne. He still had no reason to believe she was still alive.
The Point Man sat back down.
'He's evil. He's in control. He might have done this before. He's not rash or skittish. He's calm. He said it was a game. He called me secret service. He must have known that I used to work for the secret service. Not everyone knows that. Not the people at work at least. That information is always classified, but if he can hack a bomb into a museum, he can find my file. Agent Lake. He knows agent Lake's name.'
Arthur felt the clouds in his head part.
"He was there." the Point Man muttered.
'The kidnapper was at the museum. Sometime after he took Ariadne he must have seen me talking to Agent Lake.' he thought. 'It's a lot to pull off in a short amount of time. Take a girl, drive up to a crime scene with her… where would she have been?'
He didn't like the idea of Ariadne being stuffed into a trunk but that was the only logical place the kidnapper would have had to put her.
'Wait.' the Point Man stopped. 'He had an accomplice. It's too risky to break into a house, take a girl, re-set the alarm, and then drive the scene of another crime where there are police and FBI…'
"Agent Lake." Arthur said aloud. The solution was staring him in the face. It was agent Lake all along.
~ The Point Man left the house. He didn't care about locking the front door this time. There was nothing left for anyone to take.
His car was a nondescript Honda, a favorite for government employees who wanted to blend in. No one ever noticed his car and that was how he liked it.
The hospital was nearby and thankfully, no one was at the reception desk. The Point Man thought it was interesting that the main lobby had a bank of computers for people to go online with. He had made a mental note of it, even mentioning to Ariadne once.
'Why bother?' she had laughed. 'Everyone has a smart phone these days. It must have been months since I used a real computer.'
'It's unusual.' he had said. 'I guess it's for older people who don't have a cell phone.'
'I guess.' she shrugged. 'Facebook updates are very important. Even when you're in the hospital.'
Arthur settled himself in front of the painfully obvious public computer, did a quick check on a local movie theater and created a fake email account.
I made him slightly nostalgic to create an email account. He hadn't done this in at least ten years.
He pulled out agent Lance's card and found the government email.
Subject: Museum
Arthur had to choose his words carefully.
'I know, that you know. Come to the Broken Horse theater. Noon showing of "Time Cop". Come alone.'
The Point Man sent the email and checked the time.
Only an hour for Agent Lake to respond. Only an hour for Arthur to get to the theater.
The Point Man hoped Lake would come. Hoped that once a Arthur's 22 glock was pressed deep into agent Lake's spine in a dark theater, the bastard would tell him where Ariadne was.