Page 17 of Billion-Dollar Ransom
Nicky stared at the cassette, wondering if it offered any clues beyond the message encoded in ferric oxide powder on magnetic plastic. The brand was Maxell and the tape could record sixty minutes of material. The cassette itself was clear with no fancy design elements, very unlike the garish Day-Glo Memorex cassette that kid in grade school had given her.
Nicky idly wondered if she still had that mix tape somewhere in storage at her parents’ house. The songs had actually been pretty good, she recalled.
But this wasn’t a third-grader with a crush. These were kidnappers who had pulled off an audacious and meticulously timed series of abductions in three different locations. Why deliver your first message with a piece of decades-old technology?
Ah, but that was the point, wasn’t it? Turn back the clock to when tracking people was a lot more complicated. Before traceable IP addresses. Before high-definition cameras recording in every conceivable location. But what did it ultimately mean? Was it merely about staying under the FBI’s radar, or were they making a larger point?
Nicky was lost in some theories when Hope Alonso gave three quick knocks on the door frame.
“They’re ready for you, Agent Gordon.”
CHAPTER 19
“NO ONE HAS listened to this tape yet?” the mayor asked from the 4K screen.
Nicky said, “We’re all about to hear it for the first time.”
“So how do we know it’s legit?” asked Jeff Penney, the SWAT leader. “This could be somebody’s idea of a sick joke.”
Mike Hardy laughed. “You’re right. This is all just an elaborate prank on you, Penney.”
“Don’t do that, Hardy,” Jeff said. “This could easily be some jerk trying to cash in on a bad situation.”
“Except that nobody outside this building knows what happened a few hours ago,” Mike said. Then, with a smirk, he added: “Unlessyou’retalking to the press.”
Nicky had to bite her lower lip to stop from smiling as the LAPD’s SWAT team leader’s face turned a furious shade of red. Mike loved to push things to the edge and see what happened. And what had happened now was that Jeff looked like a tick about to pop.
“The kidnappings happenedtwo hours ago,” Jeff said. “Shit, I was hearing rumors before I set foot in this building. Word spreads like greased lightning in this town!”
“Enough of that, Captain Penney,” said the mayor. “Agent Gordon? Let us hear the tape.”
Nicky pressed play. The first thing she noticed was the ambient hiss on the tape. This message, whatever it might be, had been recorded on a device with a primitive microphone.
But the voice itself sounded as if it had been digitally distorted. Either that or the speaker was underwater.
“We have the Schraeders,” the mysterious voice said, so garbled it was almost unintelligible.
Nicky flinched. Deep in her bones, she knew this was the real deal. This was not someone playing a joke. This person meant every word.
“Elizabeth, aka Boo, thirty-four years old, last seen wearing a pale blue L’Agence blouse and white jeans. Calvin, aka Cal, nine years old, last seen wearing a red Burberry polo shirt and dark trousers. Finnegan, aka Finney, eight years old, last seen wearing a light top and a plaid Dolce and Gabbana skirt. Tyler, forty-eight years old, and Cassandra Bart, twenty-six years old, were both unclothed at the time of the abduction. All five were taken at three fifteen p.m. Pacific daylight time.”
“Shit,” Jeff said. “Nobody except the kidnappers could possibly know all that detail.”
Mike didn’t give him so much as anI told you soglance. Like Nicky, he was troubled by what he was hearing. Not the details so much as the tone.
The voice continued:
“We removed the Schraeders from their ordinary lives with great care. If you want them safely returned to their ordinary lives, you must act with equal care.”
Here it comes.Nicky braced herself for the follow-up punch. She’d been in these situations dozens of times. The ransom demands varied in terms of price, but they all featured the same elements: The personal details no one except the kidnappers could possibly know. The threat that unless the authorities followed the kidnappers’ instructions to the letter, the victims would be killed.
Next would come a series of complicated directions that would push the task force to the edge of its capabilities and then, finally, the ransom demand itself.
But the tape contained nothing but hiss.
After ten seconds, Jeff cleared his throat. “Is that it?”
“Shhh,” the mayor said from the screen.
