Chapter 35
A PLAN
"He’s the night watchman at a warehouse called Superior Freight. The patrolman got Marie out of bed to tell him where Dexter is working. We’ll need the general layout of the outside; I’m sending the nearest squad right now to check it out."
"God, no!" Johner raised his head in alarm.
"It’s OK, Johner!" Jack put out a calming hand. "A squad goes by the place about once every hour and a half to two hours, and it’s about time for the usual check. He won’t think anything of it. Give us a little credit here, OK?" Johner nodded and slumped back over the table.
Jack was still listening on the CP hunched between his shoulder and his ear. "Put me through to the squad. For Chrissake, I don’t care about that, do it now! NOW! ----OK, who am I talking to? Red? Good, I’ll get some brains at work. What does the place look like, Red? You know, windows, doors---. Uh-huh. Good---that’s good." He looked up at John across the table. "Small show window directly to the left of the entrance. No window in the door; door not recessed. No cage over the show window, but there’s what he thinks is a burglar alarm warning on the window. Loading dock in front also, to the right of the door. Pretty narrow front, no other features. ---Uh-huh? OK, thanks." He looked up again. "Loading dock recessed in about four feet. That’s it for the front of the building."
Taking the phone from his ear, he added, "Pretty normal amount of security for the area. The break-in rate is relatively low. The warehouses in that district mostly deal in staples: flour, salt, pasta, dog food; low cost, high bulk items not worth stealing."
John
thought a minute. "We can’t take a chance on blowing the door in.
He might have her hidden where it will take us too long to find her; or
he could be with her, and kill her when he hears the explosion. ---No,
we’ve got to have a way to get him to come to the door and open it; then
we’ll know that she’s safe from him. Once we get our hands on him,
Johner will get her location out of him." John looked up at the others.
"Suggestions?"
Johner was silent. John thought he seemed to be holding himself together by sheer will until action was called for. He sat looking down at his hands, but in a moment he raised his head. "It doesn’t have to be complicated. He’s so stupid he seems nearly half-witted. He’s far gone in booze, probably has brain damage."
There was a silence while everyone thought about the problem; it was Carlie who offered a suggestion. "I could go to the door. If I bang on the door and ask to use the phone, he might let me in, ---if I sounded frightened and if I was being so noisy that he thought I could draw some attention."
"The area is deserted at night. He wouldn’t worry about a little noise." Jack shook his head.
It was Call, not Carlie, who answered him. "How about this? I do the helpless woman routine, holler and bang on the door; then I break the window. That will trip the alarm, if the patrolman saw the sign right. I think that’ll bring him if anything will. I keep crying and hollering; he’ll open the door to shut me up because he knows the police are on the way. When he gets close enough, I grab him. You guys can wait in the loading dock bay." She turned to Carlie. "It was your idea, Carlie, but I’m better equipped to handle this, believe me."
"That’s OK, Call! Whatever it takes to get Sarah out of there!"
John put his hand out to Carlie. "I’m afraid he’d recognize you anyway. He may have seen you at the office."
Jack stood up. "It’s decided, then. Call makes the first move. She goes to the door; when he opens it, she grabs him. I’ll tell you, once he opens that door, it’s all over. No one gets away from Call." Jack smiled at her quickly, then turned back to business. "Then we close in, and he tells us where Sarah is.
"Johner, I’m going to call in two squads to stay close but out of sight. I don’t think we need backup, but kidnapping is a federal offense, and I need to cover my ass. Don’t worry; I’ll get men I can trust to follow orders exactly. Now, Is everyone agreed? Then let’s go."
Johner was on his feet before anyone else, but he started for the living room, telling John, "I’ll be there. Get in the van, I gotta get something."
When he returned he was carrying
a blanket, and before he got into the van, he leaned down and slid a knife
into his boot.