Chapter 14 - The Spare

I saw Nord sit back down in the great room through the glass doors and heard the soccer game doors come back on. Soccer always puts me to sleep, much like golf. I suspect this would not be the case for my uninvited guest.

"How will we get out of here?" Asked Andrea.

I looked at her, actually stared at her blankly. I had no answers. I was trying to think of a way, but was drawing a blank.

"Randy?"
"Yes," I responded, breaking the trans.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"I'm thinking," I replied, somewhat agitated that she was breaking my thought. I should have been more kind, I was about to destroy her company - unintentionally.

I wondered if they looked through my file cabinet that contained spare parts. In that drawer among all the clutter of wires was my old Blackberry 7290. I hoped it still had a charge. I couldn't cancel the phone yet, there were still six months left on the contract. It sits in the drawer with an active sims card. I didn't bother to ask Andrea if she had her Berry on her since she clearly didn't have her purse. That's where she always kept her phone.

"Andy, turn around and watch for Nord."
"Who?" She replied.
"The Swede."
"His name's not Nord. It's Stephan, at least that's what Diego called him," she informed me.
"Watch for him."
"Okay," she complied with a bit of deflation from my demand.

I found the spare and discreetly turned it on, while hiding it in my lap. There was a charge but not much. I slid it between my thighs.

"Andy, you can turn around now." I was once again facing Stephan and he was clearly preoccupied with the soccer game. My boss did as I requested.

"What were you doing Randy?" asked Andrea.
"I found my old Berry. We need to decide who to email that would respond right away and could get help."

Andrea seemed deep in thought. "Jake in security," she replied quickly.
"Yes," I agreed. Jake was an ex-marine who served in Desert Storm. He was in charge of the office security and spent most of his day at his desk since there were rarely any security issues for our company. It was nonetheless a necessary position for a public company of our size. Jake was a one man squad who was very soft spoken. He didn't have to yell because his two hundred, twenty pound body of pure muscle spoke for itself. "What's Jake's last name?"

"Jenkins,"she replied immediately. Andrea seemed to know the first and last name of every employee in the company, all seven hundred of them. I lifted the Berry out from between my thighs but still contained it under the desk. I typed quickly to JJenkins.

"Jake,

Andrea and I are in trouble at my condo. You can find the address and map in your Outlook. There is a six foot, hundred ninety pound Swede, and a six foot four, two hundred fifty pound Hispanic guy that are holding us captive. They have guns and are experienced in precise targeting.

Please come alone and do not call the police. Andrea and I are in the study to the left of the front door.

The Hispanic is out right now, but will be back by the time you get here. The Swede is in the great room on a chair to the right of the foyer. Take your blackberry in case I have to provide more information.

Keep them alive but they need to be incapacitated. Please reply ASAP."

I pushed send.

"You ask him to come?" inquired Andrea.
"Yes. If he can leave right away it should take about two hours at this time of day," I replied.
"Do you think that's soon enough?"
"We have until the morning, but I suspect Stephan will want to see us start to write something, so we will must at least start the press release."
"What are you talking about Randy?"

Just then I got the reply email from Jake. It was simple. "10-4." No names, no signature, just the icon for "received the orders and will carry out." Jake was exactly what we needed.