Sergeant! Ch. 02

If you haven't done so yet, please read Sergeant Ch. 1. No jerk material in this chapter, just chills and thrills!

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I was on my way to Georgetown University to check out a high security lab that might have been used to conduct research by a certain bright biochemist. Unfortunately, she was kidnapped and was being held hostage by former government, now renegade agents. Their public demands were for money; a huge pile of it. $50 million to be exact. And being that she was the daughter of the prime minister of Canada, they were probably going to get it. However the revelation of her contribution towards the development of agricultural vaccines, one of which turned into a deadly nerve agent under certain conditions, changed the nature of the ballgame completely.

It was very likely that the goal for the renegade agents wasn't simply the ransom money. Although a tidy sum, just think of what they could get by selling the nerve agent to unfriendly nations or to terrorist groups. The $50 million that they asked for could look like chump change compared to what others might be willing to pay for something like this. Especially if no one has had the time to properly evaluate it and develop counter agents for it.

If this were the case then the effort to find Annalisa Somer should be moved up several notches. But we needed more information as soon as possible. I called David Betno, my control;

"David, this is Tim. Anything new for me?"

"Yeah, the lab at Georgetown's been trashed. Campus Security went in to check it this morning after I called and it's been gone over by someone already. Ask for a George Hatcher at the main entrance security shack. He has instructions to let you into the lab and to cooperate with you fully."

"Understand. What should I be looking for? I have no idea of what's important or what's not as far as biochemistry is concerned."

"Me neither. The head spooks will be sending a team down later this morning so let them take care of the technical stuff. Just nose around and see if anything doesn't look right to you."

"Ok."

We rang off and I was at the security shack sooner than I thought. Hatcher turned out to be retired Army. Initially he was all formality and stuff. But we got along really well after he saw my military ID and learned of me being a Ranger. He jumped into my vehicle as we left the security shack at the entrance to the campus.

"Ok Tim. The lab is over beyond these admin buildings. You can park in the back of the building." George said as he guided me around the campus.

We parked and George keyed us into the building. As we entered the lab, I asked;

"Are we in any danger of breathing in any lethal stuff?"

"Don't think so. No air scrubbers on this building so I doubt that anything volatile was worked on here."

George went through a series of computer lock security doors.

"George, do you have records of who comes and goes through these doors?"

"Yep. Computer monitors all card activity. We'll have a report generated for you for the last week before you leave."

"What about video?"

"Only on the entrance and exit doors. No one thought that there were any high security needs for the lab. I'll have copies of that made for you too."

George let me into Annalisa's lab and it looked as if someone had gone through it with a vengeance. In contrast to her apartment, furniture was thrown around the room. Papers were strewn everywhere. A computer monitor had been thrown against the wall and a computer lay in pieces. As I picked through it I realized that its hard drive was missing.

A White Board had been recently wiped clean. A slight odor of the chemical agent used to do so lingered near the board; probably from the eraser that was used. And the erasing had been done recently. Someone didn't want us or someone else to see what was on the board.

CD's and DVD's were strewn all over the lab. Most were unmarked but some had cryptic labels on them. Heck if I knew what they were for. Figured I'd let the techno spooks look into them.

Ok, I thought to myself, if I wanted to keep something secure, where would I keep it? It could be data, it could be test results, it could be anything! Man this was not my cup of tea, that's for sure!

As I scanned the room, I saw a column of lockers that employees would normally use to store handbags, backpacks, jackets, and that sort of stuff. A couple of them used to have locks on them, but the doors had been forcibly removed from them. Whoever it was that was here had probably ripped the doors off with something. But one open, unlocked locker on the bottom was not touched.

I swung it wide open out of curiosity and looked in. At first glance it seemed empty. But something in that locker didn't look right. As I stared at the empty space in the locker, it finally dawned on me that the left hand wall of the locker was a little thicker than the right. I checked out the other lockers on top and their left hand walls matched the right. Hmmmm. Interesting.

I got down on my hands and knees and felt the left wall of the bottom locker. It was plastic, painted to look like the locker. Very good resemblance. Don't know what caught me eye but whatever it was, I'm glad it did.

As I felt along the edges of the plastic piece, I must have pushed something because the piece suddenly fell away revealing a mini-DVD. I retrieved it and figured that it had to be important to be hidden away like this. There wasn't anything else in the small hidden space. I stuck the DVD into my jacket pocket for safekeeping for now.

I went to the middle of the room and slowly scanned it, looking for anything that might look strange or out of place. And there it was. A box of cereal. Now, ok, people snack on all sorts of stuff, cereal included. But in a lab?

As I picked it up I could feel the heaviness of the box. Strange. Cereal boxes are usually full of air. Normally light. I opened it and there was the missing hard drive! Ok! Something important is in here! Annalisa must have realized that someone was after her so had ejected the hard drive and dumped it into the cereal box. Ok cereal box, you're coming with me!

Scanning the room once again my eye was drawn to a hand held recorder that people use to dictate. The record button was still depressed. Annalisa must have left it in record mode when her assailants came in! Normally these things only have a one or two hour capacity. And they tend to be voice activated so it should hopefully give us a hint as to who was in the lab last. I turned it off and slipped it into my pocket also.

Finishing up my room scan, I saw a handbag laying on the floor; its contents dumped on the floor. I took a quick look and found a wallet with Annalisa's ID, some charge cards, and a little cash in it. There were a couple of other items in it including a claim check for some dry cleaning, a membership card to a gym, and a key. The key didn't look like a spare house key or car key. It was too small. It looked as if it might fit a lock or a locker. I took it thinking that it might come in handy later.

Other contents of her handbag included a set of her keys, a container of breath mints, a small note book, and some other personal things. The small note book looked as if Annalisa used it to write notes to herself. I saw reminders to buy stuff, notes to call people, and some other stuff. Didn't know if anything was of significance so I left it.

"George, do you know if Ms. Somer brought other people to the lab?" I asked Hatcher.

"Nope. Usually just her and her bodyguards. What was she working on that she needed bodyguards anyway?"

"Sorry George, can't tell you." I replied. "But let me know if anyone turns up that doesn't look like they belong, ok?"

"Can do."

With that, I gave George the phone number for David Betno. "This number is for my contact so just relay the message through him."

I placed the DVD, the hard drive and the voice recorder in plastic bag that I found in the lab, and stored the stuff in the spare wheel well in the back of the SUV. Hopefully they'll survive without too much damage.

Dropped George off back at the security shack on the way out, "Hey George, thanks for the assist. The techy guys will be by later this morning."

"Yeah, your Betno fella told me to expect them also."

As I pulled out of the campus, I got Betno back on the phone; "David, Tim here. Picked up a couple items that we should have someone you trust take a look at."

"What do you have?"

"Got a DVD, a hard drive, and a voice recorder."

"Ok, let me see who I can dig up. You got them in a safe place for now?"

"Yep." At least the spare wheel well was better than being my pocket!

"Good, wouldn't want anything to happen to them until we can take a hard look at them."

"Hey, anything turn up on the Jeff guy?"

"Zippo. The phone number turns out to be one of those prepaid cell phones. I'm having the phone call record pulled on it but I was told that there wasn't much on it. Looks like it may be a dead end."

"Pros huh?"

"Yep."

"Any other updates for me?"

"Yeah, the ransom demand just got pushed up a couple of notches. Now they want the other two scientists."

"Ok, cards are on the table."

"Yeah."

"Any hole cards?"

"Don't know."

"Shit."

"My sentiments exactly."

"Now no one's gonna want to play ball with these guys. Too much at stake."

"Yeah. That's the gist of it. The two techy guys are probably in deep underground by now."

"So what happens next?" I asked.

"Like I told you earlier, the prime minister's a personal friend of the president. We're on the case until she's back safely. National security case or not. Her safe return is our top priority."

"So next step?"

"I'll get back to you regarding where we need to take the DVD, hard drive and voice recorder."

"Ok. I'll try to interview a couple of her friends in the meantime."

"Sounds good. I'll get back to you shortly."

With that we rung off.

I pulled out the list of acquaintances and thanked my fairy godmother that it was a short list! Figured that the top of the list was as good a place to start as any. So off I went to check on a Betty Kremski.

From the notes on the list, Betty was a member of the gym that Annalisa frequented. Apparently that's where they met. Betty's address was noted on the list. Not too far away from the campus, it looked as if it might be the address of an apartment or condo.

I pulled up about a block away from the apartment complex in about 15 minutes. Tried the visitor parking lot however that was full of cars. I walked over to her unit complex and found the call button for her apartment. Wasn't sure if she would be in but figured that I wouldn't know if I didn't try. So I pushed the button and stepped back. No response. So I pressed it again and waited.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" a soft voice replied to my buzz.

"Hi. Are you Betty Kremski?" I asked.

"Who's asking?" she replied.

"Uh, my name's Tim and Annalisa told me to see you?"

"Who?"

"Annalisa."

"Annalisa? What's her last name?"

"I don't know. She's in one of my classes and she told me to see you about some books she left at your place?" I replied not knowing how much to say or not to say.

"Sorry, I don't know any Annalisa." She replied, yet I could hear a strain in her voice. She's not telling me the whole truth.

"Hey, sorry I bothered you." I told her.

Just as I turned around to leave, an older guy walked up with his key and let himself in. Well, why not? Did it once, I'll try it again. So I trailed in after him. He gave me a glance but decided that I didn't look like a mugger so didn't care less.

So I took the elevator up to Betty Kremski's floor and walked quietly to her door. As I stood in the hallway, I could hear voices in her apartment, 'so what did he want?'

'I don't know' I could hear her reply; her voice was trembling. Her fright very clear to any listener.

'Who was he?'

'I don't know!' she was getting really shaken up by the entire ordeal!

I heard a new voice jump in, 'ok, you're coming with us.'

'No! Please no!' she was crying!

Ok, at least two assailants of unknown status. I figured if I let them open the door and I slammed it open, maybe I could take at least one of them down initially and hold the other one at bay with my handgun. These doors opened into the room and it would be a simple matter to just kick it in once someone started opening it.

And that's exactly what happened. Bad guy number one started opening the door and I kicked it in! My adrenalin must have been pumping cause my kick was forceful enough to send the door crashing back into his face which busted his nose! Ugh! Bloody.

Bad guy number two had Betty by the arm but was so surprised by my entrance that Betty was able to wrench her arm away from him. I launched my foot into the middle of his chest which knocked the air out of him! He was down! Bad guy number two looked very familiar! Yeah! From the night before at Sheila's place! Shit! If I made him, then he probably made me. I need to get to Sheila too! Right away!

"Come on!" I yelled at Betty! She was absolutely bug-eyed and ready to scream when I grabbed her hand and pulled her from her apartment! "Come on before they get up!" I yelled at her again! That seemed to wake her up out of her stupor!

I opened the door to the stair well and pushed Betty in and pointed to the stairs going up! "Hustle!" as we ran up the stairs to the next floor above.

As soon as we reached the floor above, we left the stair well and ran into the hallway. Running the length of the building, we found another stair well on the other side. I pushed it open and listened for anyone else that might be using the stair well also. Hearing none, I pushed Betty through and held her just behind the door which I kept cracked open just a bit.

Betty's eyes were wide open as she tried to catch her breath! "You ok?" I asked her?

All she could do was nod her head

"Who were they?" I asked her.

"I don't know." She said with a whimper, "I don't know. They wouldn't say!"

We waited a few minutes in the stair well but no one came up the elevator nor the stair well. But you can be sure that they were probably waiting for us outside the building. Time for the calvary. I pulled out my phone and hoped that it would work considering where we were in the middle of all that concrete and steel. Luckily I was able to get a weak signal. Enough to get through to David.

"David, Tim again. Need your help."

"What's up?" he asked.

"Went to see Betty Kremski and the goons from hell were there trying to take her."

"Shit."

"Yeah, but I was able to persuade them not to."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, one's got a busted nose and the other was sucking air the last I saw."

"Ha! Good for you."

"Yeah, well, they were the same guys that were at Sheila's place."

At the mention of Sheila's name, Betty's eyes got big. Ok, looks like she knows Sheila also.

"Ok, if you recognized them, then they probably recognized you."

"Yeah, my thoughts also. We need a safe place for Betty and Sheila."

"Ok, let me arrange for it and get back to you. You know how to get in touch with Sheila?"

"I think so. I'll take care of her. Any word on what to do with the other stuff?"

"Not yet. Having a hard time finding a facility that's bug proof. Keep the stuff for now."

"No problem."

"Call you later."

"Wait! Almost forgot. We're still in Betty's building hiding out from the goons. We need a diversion to get out of here. Any ideas?"

"Hmmmm.........How about an ambulance? I can have one over there in ...... let's say 5 minutes. We put Betty in the stretcher and I'll have an EMT jacket and cap for you to wear."

"Hey! That sounds good to me!"

"Yeah! I surprise myself sometimes!"

"Hey don't get too swell headed over this!" I teased David!

"Never do. Been screwed too many times in the past!"

"Know what you mean!"

"Ok, let me put it in motion. What floor should they meet you at?"

I looked at the stair well door and it said "7". "David, let's make it the 8th floor."

"8 it is. Five minutes."

As I hung up Betty was staring at me, probably wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"You ok?" I asked her.

"What's going on?" She was a lot calmer now that she had a chance to catch her breath.

"What's going on is that we're getting out of here before the bad guys come back." I replied. "We need to go up to the 8th floor." I took her hand and we took the stairs up to the next floor.

As we got to the landing, I eased the door open just a bit, and put my ear to the crack to see if I could hear any movement on the floor. Hearing none, I opened it slowly and peered out. The hallway was empty. We stayed in the stair well landing so we could go either out to the hallway or down the stair well. I could hear the wail of a siren off in the distance, getting louder as it got nearer.

"That's for us." I told Betty. "We're getting out of here via that ambulance that you hear. When it gets here, jump on the stretcher and we're going to wheel you out of here."

She was still unsure of what was happening to her. "What's going on?" she repeated her question.

"You know Annalisa Somer?"

She nodded her head.

"She's been kidnapped."

Betty's eyes got big. "Oh."

"Yeah. We're trying to get her back safely."

"Oh!" Her eyes were still big.

"You're in danger."

"Oh!"

"Yeah. I'll try to keep you safe."

"Oh!"

"You're not saying much." I teased her.

"I don't know what to say."

"Know what you mean."

She stared at me and I couldn't figure out if she was going to laugh or break down and cry. I took one of her hands and gave it squeeze. She held onto my hand and wouldn't let me go. Under better circumstances I would have really enjoyed holding hands with Betty, however she was holding my hand so tightly that I thought she would squeeze the life out of my fingers!

"Easy Betty. I'll need my fingers after this."

"Oh, sorry." She said as she quickly released my hands.

"Hey, everything will be ok."

She looked at me and tried to smile but I could see the stress and worry behind her half hearted smile.

Right at that moment I heard the ding of the elevator as the doors opened and out came two EMT's and a stretcher. They looked right then left before I stepped out into the hallway. Spotting me, one threw me a jacket from the stretcher while the other unwrapped a blanket from the stretcher.

I helped Betty into the stretcher, trying to reassure her that she was going to be ok. I donned the jacket and a cap that the other EMT passed over to me. With the brim of the cap pulled down low, it would be difficult to tell who I was.

They handed a wig to Betty to place on her head. Then an oxygen mask went over Betty's face and that made it difficult to tell who she was also. Then a blanket over everything and off we went, down the elevator and into the waiting ambulance! Quick and neat! I'm sure that the bad guys would figure it out sooner or later but by then we'd be gone!

Once inside, one of the EMT's let Betty sit up then handed me a phone, "David needs to talk with you" was all he said.

"Yo! David! Slick job!" I complimented him.

"Hey, thank me later!" he replied. "The boys are taking you to a hospital so we can work the cover a bit more. Then we'll transfer you and Betty to a safe house."

"Sounds good David, except I need to get back and retrieve my trusty chariot and go find Betty before the bad guys do."

"Yeah. Ok. You need to do that. Have the boys drop you where ever it's convenient."

"Will do. Have you found a safe lab yet to check into the stuff I got from the Georgetown lab?"

"I'm having a couple of the boys checking into a possible clean lab for us to use. Haven't found the right one yet."