Chapter 13: Kidnap

Dave’s phone rang in his pocket. He wasn’t expecting a call, but knew that the ring came from Alice. This was unusual. They were both executives and rarely called each other at work unless it was important.

Despite the ongoing meeting, he pulled the phone to his ear and answered, “Yes. Dave here,” in a loud whisper.

“They kidnapped Nikky. It’s going down right now in the parking lot at the ice cream story near South Side School. Police are responding. Shots fired. I think we’re all okay though. Hurry. Dev called me. All hell broke loose. He said an ambulance was on the way, too.”

Dave jolted to a standing position. “Ladies and gentlemen, I have an emergency. This meeting is over.” He bolted from the room directly to his car, and squealed out of the parking lot as he took the corners nearly on two wheels. Several watched his departure with utmost curiosity.

Despite the early rush hour, Dave ran several stoplights, and got to the Paradise Plaza parking lot in ten minutes, a record, especially for that time of day.

At the far end of the parking lot, he could see Dev’s black Land Rover blocking a midnight blue sedan, both at crazy angles to each other and the normal flow of traffic. Julie’s silver Mercedes was behind the same car at another angle blocking it from backing up. Two police cars were there with lights blinking, and a third pulled in behind him giving him a toot with its siren. Several people hustled away from the scene. He pulled aside.

Dave parked and ran towards the gathering crowd. As he neared the scene, he could see that the windshield on the blue car had the starbursts of two bullet shots in it. Two men were leaning against the car with their arms and legs outstretched. A police officer with a drawn pistol in his hand stood behind the pair. A third man sat on the ground with no shirt on holding a gauze pad against his right shoulder. His upper body was covered in blood, but he seemed awake.

Karen saw Dave and broke away from the police officer she was talking to. She came into his arms sobbing wildly. “Oh, God! They did it. They actually did it. The bastards.”

“Where’s Nikky?”

Karen pointed. “Nikky had just knelt beside the man that seemed to have been shot and started talking to him as one of the police offices stood close by listening to the exchange.”

“You’re all right?” Dave asked.

In a shaky voice, Karen said, “Yes. This is all happening so fast.” Tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Dale came up, “Glad you’re here. Please help Karen. I’m trying to explain the situation to the two detectives that just arrived. Those three are under arrest. They were armed, but not any longer. Either Dev or I shot that guy. We both fired at the same time through the windshield. We weren’t trying to kill him, but if he hadn’t stopped his car, he’d be dead. I don’t usually take a lot of shots at a threat.”

Dave nodded, held Karen, and led her back to the police officer she been talking to. As she talked, he picked up what had happened.

Karen told the story in a very rapid and nervous tone of voice as one of the police officers listened. “We’d just finished our ice cream cones, and were walking to my car. That blue one pulled up and two men jumped out and grabbed Nikky. They pushed her into their car and I saw her get pushed onto the floor in the back. The man in the red shirt held me from running to the car. The man in the car was really rough with her. The third man got in to drive as the other walked around to get in the passenger seat. The driver was the one that got shot as he was going to drive away.

“Before I could do anything, my friend Devlin Connor pulled his car in front of their blue one, blocking their exit. I quickly got in my car and backed out of my parking space, blocking them from backing up and escaping that way. I then took my car keys and ran back into the ice cream store. I’d been told to leave the scene if there was trouble. This was trouble. I heard the shots over my shoulder and the blue car’s engine race as though he were going to ram one of the cars blocking him.”

“Why were you expecting trouble?” the cop asked.

“My parents in Ohio had threatened to take the children away. They’d sent someone before, but I have no intention to give them up. My husband and I are moving to Florida to get away from the two of them. They’ve been terrible grandparents to the children.”

The cop looked at her driver’s license that she must have given him before Dave arrived. “Is this your current address?”

“Yes. I just got the Florida license since I live here now. That’s actually his house – he’s my brother-in-law, and I’m living there temporarily until we get set with a more permanent place.”

The cop turned to Dave, “And you are?”

“I’m David Prentiss, her brother-in-law, as she said. Her sister should be here any moment, too. Karen and her children have been living with us since her parents first threatened her about three or four weeks ago. The other woman that was with her, Nicolette Thomas works where I do and was helping out.”

The cop said suspiciously, “Tell me about helping out?” The touch of sarcasm in his voice showed that he felt that everybody had seriously overstepped their boundaries in this situation.

Karen spoke, “Because of a telephone call from my parents, we expected some kind of hostile act to abduct my two younger children back to Ohio. When several of us met Nikky we saw the potential to defuse the situation by having the potential kidnappers follow her instead of my ten-year-old daughter. My youngest daughter is home safe and sound, with a bodyguard, and my twelve-year-old son is with them with his bodyguard. Fortunately, neither was touched by this situation. They escaped this trauma.”

As Karen had spoken of things that Dave knew about, he tuned to one of the detectives talking to Dale. There was more to be said.

Dale told the detective; “About five days ago, school days that is, we noticed the blue car watching the playground during the middle of the day. We were doing routine protection detail on Christiana – Karen’s youngest daughter, particularly when we knew she would have recess and be outside. Most of the time there was only one or two men in the car; never three, like today.

“We also watched that car following Karen at the end of each school day as she picked up her daughter’s look-alike and drove her home. We still weren’t entirely sure they were a threat or even connected with this, versus being some other parent. Separately, as I told you a minute ago, Christiana waited an extra quarter-hour in the school and drove home with a couple of her bodyguards. Karen’s son was also double covered at the middle school, and driven home.

“Today, we again saw the car following Karen and Nikky, but it was only a minute or two before this incident that we realized there were three men in the car. I barely had time to warn Karen and Nikky.”

The detective asked, “Did you know any of these men? Does Mrs. Simon?”

“No, Sir. I don’t. I don’t believe she does either.”

The detective passed Dale and Dev’s concealed weapon permits back to them as they stood around. This was not the first interaction between Harnett Security and Investigations and the police. From what Dave could discern, the earlier interactions must have ended favorably because everyone seemed friendly about the situation.

An ambulance had arrived, and the paramedics started working on the man shot in the shoulder. Eventually, they transported him to Sarasota Memorial Hospital with a police officer going along for the ride and to hold the wounded man in a security room pending charges and further action. Dave noted he was in leg irons that limited his walking ability to six-inch steps.

The two other men had been handcuffed and put into the back of separate police cars. They’d been read their Miranda rights and after a further assessment of the scene were driven off for a minimum of overnight in the county jail. A tow truck showed up and took the blue car away to a secure police lot.

Dave told one of the detectives, “The taller man with the dark hair came to our gated community with another man about three weeks ago. He asked for custody of the two minor children because of a legal filing in Ohio, but was turned down. I told him he needed to have a Florida warrant being served by a county sheriff in order for any action to take place. Should he have persisted, it was our intent to fight any extradition order. My sister-in-law did get a restraining order against her parents or their representatives.”

“Thanks, that’s good to know. This crew will be arraigned tomorrow morning starting at nine a.m. in the county courthouse. It’s convenient, because it’s the same building as the jail. This isn’t the way to enforce an out-of-state court order, if there even is one.”

“I think several of us will show up to see what happens and how they plea.”

The detective shook his head, “Based on what we’ve heard, I doubt the judge will allow bail. All three of them are from Ohio, and are hence flight risks. As you saw, the car is registered in Ohio as well. All that, plus kidnapping is not a minor offense, even when it’s wrapped around a domestic situation.”

“Is Dale or Dev in any jeopardy because of the shooting?”

He shook his head. “No. They acted properly and neither intended to kill, only injure. Both men are sharp shooters, and have extensive firearm backgrounds. They knew what they were doing and took steps to stop Nikky’s abduction. There’s no telling what they would have done if your friends weren’t around to stop the abduction and then they discovered that a switcheroo had been pulled on them and that they had an eighteen-year-old girl instead of a fourth grader with them.”

“Thanks.”

Dave went back to Karen. “Give Dale your car keys and he’ll drive your car home. Nikky and Karen, come with me. We’re going home. You have a lot of friends who want to hear the complete story, plus you need to love Sean and Christiana.”

Both women got into Dave’s car, and they drove sedately back to the Circle. Despite Dave’s attempt to talk with them, neither woman said a word. News had already gone out about the incident, and over fifty people were gathered on the patio when they arrived. Dev and Dale were right behind them.

Karen found her two kids and held on to them dearly. They were slightly mystified by why their mother had gotten so clingy and teary all of a sudden. Karen waved everyone off while she went and called Daryl and Candy to tell them what had happened. They were driving two cars towards Florida, and at that moment she discovered they had just pulled into a motel in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the night.

Karen reported that Daryl swore a blue streak about her parents and wanted to plot some kind of revenge. Dave was already thinking about what could be done, however, he wanted to talk to Jason and Robyn Riggs about doing something through legal channels that would feel like a punch in the gut to the older couple.

Dave wandered off and called the detective he’d talked to earlier, wondering why he hadn’t thought of some of the questions to raise with him when they’d been talking but his attention had been on Karen and Nikky, as well as the men, and not on motives and who had paid them to make the abduction. The detective appreciated the call and promised to follow-up that evening.

The rest of cocktail time and dinner was spent with Karen talking about the ordeal with side contributions from Dale and Dev. Alice stayed with her sister and gave her comfort.

Dave singled out Nikky, and brought her along with him. She was very quiet almost to the point of being speechless. She barely ate anything at dinner. She seemed nervous and on edge.

Dave turned to her as they had some after-dinner coffee. “Nikky, I think you should stay here tonight rather than go home and be alone. You need friends around you right now – people that love you. Also, at the risk of being patronizing, you need to let all this go. You did Karen and Christiana a huge service, one they’ll never be able to thank you enough for, and you were wonderful. Now, let it all hang out.”

Nikky looked up at Dave. She looked unusually vulnerable. Suddenly, her face scrunched up and she broke into uncontrollable sobs. Dave gathered her to his chest and held her close as she cried for almost an hour. She’d been scared shitless, and now all the emotions caught up with her. Occasionally, she’d get a few words out about how scared she was, how traumatic it was being grabbed and thrown into a car, the driver being shot right next to her, and how everything that happened was worse than her worst fears. Dave just patted and held her, even pulling her over into his lap so he could hug her.

Cricket came by and tried to sooth Nikky as well, and then Alice and Pam. Dale stopped by, but shook his head. He didn’t see he could do much for her that wasn’t being done or said to her. The situation was over.

Eventually, Nikky cried herself to sleep in Dave’s lap.

Dave picked her up and carried her into his house. He got her situated on his living room sofa with a pillow and blanket over her exhausted and emotionally drained body, and then he sat in the dim light in an easy chair right next to her and within reach, and went to sleep himself.

The next morning, a small group of Circle members plus Karen and Nikky went to the arraignment hearing for the three men. Jason Riggs also came to the hearing, although ahead of time he told the group to not expect much interesting to happen. The third man had been patched up and then also taken to the county jail.