Chapter 9: Outside Akron, Monday Morning

Paul's maid was surveying the damage done to the house over the weekend. "I like Mr. Paul, he always cleans up after himself during the weekend. I know he was going to have guests this weekend, but the house, except the kitchen, is almost as clean as when I left it," she said to the empty room.

Rosa was a little present that Paul received with the house. He had never had a housekeeper in the past, but when Paul bought the house from Jerry, she was out of work. She was also in trouble with the INS. Paul got her green card back and was paying for classes to get an American citizenship. He was also helping Rosa get her family out of Central America. Rosa would have loved Paul even if he were a complete pig.

Rosa was a slightly built woman with shoulder length dark brown hair that she wore in a slight bubble. She stood 5' 4" and at 135 pounds she felt she was overweight, but whatever extra pounds she wore were distributed well about her hardened frame. Housework for the huge house, cooking, and complete access to the horses and swimming pool hindered the formation of any fat other than that necessary to soften the features of a very hard and well-tuned body.

Her perfectly smooth skin was bronzed with a healthy sparkle that had drawn the attention of Jerry, her original employer. He had been swept off his feet when the local priest had approached him about harboring an illegal immigrant.

She spoke better English than some of the kids in the local high schools, but she was not allowed to be an American citizen because she came from a Central American country whose government happened to be "friends" with the then President of the United States. Through no fault of her own, she was considered an enemy of that government. She had no skills, because she had been raised in a privileged family and had servants to do the chores. She had been raised to be the wife of a diplomat.

That fell apart when a military coup displaced the political party her father had been a part of. Her father and mother and all of her immediate family except her and her sister were killed by death squads set up to eliminate opposition to the military. Her sister was able to get out of the country because she had married an American. She was safe because she married a member of the party that supported the military.

At least she thought she was safe. A friend of her husband overheard a conversation between people whom he thought were members of the death squads. She was to be kidnapped and held to make sure her husband stayed the course and continued to support the military.

Rosa was taken to the local church and began an arduous journey that culminated in her being slipped into the United States. For 6 months, she hid in the basements of churches and was fed by Hispanic support groups. Jerry had expressed outrage to the local priest about the way Central American Refugees were treated by the government. So one day, the priest showed up at the big house with Rosa, and the rest went from there.

Rosa was still not out of the woods, because three months later, all of Jerry's land was placed under a tax lien, and Jerry couldn't support himself. He was in the process of going to jail when Paul Brown showed up and bought Jerry out of a potential jail sentence.

Rosa only stayed at Paul's house 5 days a week. On the weekends, she visited her sister in Cleveland. Paul had taught her how to drive and bought her a car so she no longer had to deal with catching busses and cabs. She was thinking of all the things this man had done for her and hers. He found her brother-in-law a job when the company he worked for folded. He paid the bills for her sister until they were back on their feet, and he was paying for the children's private schooling. The children loved Paul and called him Uncle Paul, so much to Paul's delight that he spoiled her sister's three daughters shamefully.

Paul did not like to be called Mr. 'anything', but Rosa found it uncomfortable to be too familiar with him. She loved this man, and could very easily fall in love with him if she did not keep the framework of their relationship formal. After all, she was still married. Mr. Paul was the compromise between Mr. Brown and Paul.

The phone pulled Rosa from her thoughts. "Hello, this is the Brown Residence. May I help you?"

As Rosa listened, she started shaking and her breathing became labored. "Why do you say such things? Miss Sally? You want what?" She became more and more agitated as the phone call went on. "Mr. Paul is not here. I do not know where he is. Yes! Yes, I will tell Mr. Paul."

Rosa carefully replaced the phone on the switch-hook and stood frozen in horror. With a deep breath she shook herself and ran to Sally's room. When she found nothing there, she ran to Paul's room, then to the other rooms. Finally she heard the noise of someone sleeping in one of the guestrooms.

"Miss Jamie! Miss Jamie! Wake up! Wake up!" The short pleasant woman was screaming in panic. Her perfect English became so heavily accented voice could normally be understood in normal conversations by anyone, but, now driven by fear, the more she screamed, the more difficult she became to understand

"I just got a phone call! They have my baby Sally!"

Jamie was coming out of a very short sleep after a very long night and was fighting off the effects of bodily abuse. However, the words 'they have my baby Sally" brought her out of the haze like a shot. "Who has Sally? What are you talking about? Calm down, Rosa. Take a deep breath and tell me what is going on!"

"I got a call from a man with a funny voice. A voice like in the Star Wars movie Sally has. He said that he took Sally and another woman while they were riding this morning. He told me not to go to the police or he would kill both of them. He also told me that if we did not give him ten million dollars that he would rape and kill them both. He used all kinds of nasty words, but that is what he said. He said he would call back and tell us how to get the money to him, but we had to have it in two days."

Jamie's training immediately took over. "Did you see if Sally is in her room?"

"I looked, but I saw her on the golf cart with Miss Theresa and some other woman going to Mr. Jerry's horse barn early this morning. I could not find Mr. Paul or anyone else."

"What's all the screaming about?" asked Jack.

"Someone has Sally!" Jamie said.

"Sally and Heather were going to go horseback ridding this morning. We sent Theresa with them for protection. She is armed. I don't think an army could get past that tomcat. Let's find Paul and we can go out looking for them. I'm sure they are out skinny dipping in the little lake."

Just then they heard the back door slam shut. "Cindy, see if you can find Jack. He needs to secure that trail until the police can get here. I'll call the police and get them out here now."

Rosa took off like a shot and ran to the balcony above the living room. "NO! Mr. Paul, don't call the police, they will kill our little Sally!"

"Rosa, what are you talking about?"

Jamie followed Rosa and explained what had happened as Rosa broke down and sobbed into her hands

"Well, at least we know what happened."

TC came in the door. "Come you guys. Let's get going. I want to make sure Theresa is OK."

"TC, they have kidnapped Sally and Heather. You take Theresa to Akron City and get her checked out," replied Paul. "Cindy, how are you holding up?"

"I'm mad as hell. I've got to do something or I'll go nuts. What do you want me to do?"

"Good. Here, take my phone and go with TC to the hospital. Try to keep Theresa from finding out about the girls until she gets a clean bill of health from the doctors. There is a battery charger in the glove compartment of the SUV. Don't let the battery get low. We may need you back at any time. I'll call you as soon as we know anything.

"Jim and his people should be here any time. Jack, you need to make sure no one goes in or out of the trails until the police get here. Jamie, call Jim and tell him to keep a low profile in case we are being watched, then see if you can calm down Rosa. We are going to need her. She's no help this way."

"What's going on here?" asked Bob as he came though the front door. "Jerry said something about an emergency. Is Sally OK?"

"Bob, sit down!" commanded Paul. "Someone has kidnapped Sally."

"Sally? Why? What for? How do you know?"

"Everyone, get to work!" As everyone ran to his or her assigned jobs, Paul continued, "Buttermilk returned to the barn this morning without Sally. Jerry called me, and we went out to look for them. We found TJ shot in the chest. Apparently, TC gave her his lucky silver dollar necklace as an engagement present, and that saved her life. TC and Cindy are taking her to Akron City for tests. She seems to be fine, but we need to make sure. She was unconscious for quite a while and we don't know what trauma her heart received.

"While we were out, Rosa got a call from some guy who wants ten million dollars for Sally and Heather. He is going to call us back with instructions. Jim and a team of investigators will be here at any time to go over the crime scene. That's all I know."

Akron

"Oh yeah, this is gonna work. Boy, did you scare that spic, Ratso! We gonna be rich."

"We're not there yet, Sleazy, but it sure sounds good, don't it?"

"The first thing I'm gonna do is get me a high class bitch like Hobo's got. She is a hot piece of cunt."

"Sleazy, didn't I just tell you we are not there yet?"

"OK, Ratso, I won't say anything else. There is that snotty bitch's store, slow down."

Ratso slowed the stolen car down and stopped in front of Jen's Shop. Sleazy jumped out of the car, lifted the wrapped fire extinguisher over his head, threw it through the plate glass window, and jumped back in the car. Ratso sped away.

Jackie was talking to a customer when she heard the breaking of the storefront windows. Before it completely registered, something hit the back of her head and knocked her to the floor. Jen came running out of her office to see Jackie lying on the floor covered with glass and blood. Jackie was still groggy as she tried to get up.

Jen pushed her back down to the floor. "Stay there for a moment. Let me take a look."

Blood was running out of Jackie's inch long black hair. Jen placed a piece of cloth over the wound and applied pressure. She moved Jackie's hand to the rag and said, "Hold that there until I tell you not to." She turned to the customer and shouted, "Call the paramedics!"

Jen looked through the rubble, and picked up the fire extinguisher. Tied to it were two sets of women's clothing. When she opened the clothes, a series of instant pictures fell out. Jen picked them up and started shaking. The photos were of Sally and Heather. Both were in the buff. They had been posed in a lurid manner with their leg's spread and overlapped. The adjacent arm of each girl placed on the breast of the other. A piece of paper fell from between the photos.

Written on it were the words, "Just to show you we got the two fucken bitches. If you don't have the ten million dollars in small bills by the time we tell you, we will kill the old one. If you then don't have the money 24 hours later, we will fuck the kid until she dies. We will call you with instructions. Remember, if you call the cops, both die."

Jen picked up the photos, the clothes and the note and quickly took them to her office. Before she left the room, she turned to the customer and asked, "Can you stay with Jackie until I call the police?"

"Yes, of course," replied the pretty blonde. "The paramedics are on the way. You do what you have to do. I don't dance until the late shift. TC says I that I should have been getting more of those shifts. He wants to make it up to me."

"Thanks, Serena, I owe you one. One more thing, don't mention that I took this stuff."

"Sure. I don't like cops either."

Jen quickly went to her office, but she did not call the police. She called Paul.

"Yes!" Paul's excited voice answered the phone.

Jen almost screamed at her brother, "What the fuck is going on over there? Someone just threw Heather's and Sally's clothes through the shop window. There were pictures of both of them without clothes, and a note that said that they want ten million dollars."

"Jen, try to calm down. Yes, Sally and Heather are both missing and Theresa is on the way to the Akron City Medical Center. Rosa got a call saying from some obscene asshole who claimed to have the girls. Now, take what you have and put it in a bag. Bring it to my place. Do me one other favor, call Mom and Mitchell and have them come to the house now. We need them. Call Shawn at 555-1212, and ask her to come over here too. Call Helen and ask her to keep Sissy for another day. Then get that stuff over here ASAP."

"Consider it done. What do you want me to tell the police about the window?"

"Vandals. Do not show them the stuff that came through the window with the fire extinguisher. We will go through Jim and Jamie on this. I don't want any of this to leak out."

Jen made the call to the police and returned to the front of the store. "Serena, I have to ask you to do me a great favor. There is a family emergency at my brother's house and I have to get there. The police have confirmed the paramedics are on the way to look after your sister. Do you know any carpenters?"

"Yes, I just danced at a bachelor party for one. I have his number in my purse. He is out of work right now, so I bet I can get him to fix your window."

"Great! Could you stay here until he gets here, and lock up the place? I will make you a new outfit for your show if you do."

"No need for that, but if you want to, wow!"

"Good. Here are the keys. I will come by the club tonight and pick them up. Here is my cell phone number. Call me if anything comes up."

Jen went back to her office, made the rest of the calls, and left the store as the paramedics got there.

Akron City Hospital

TC gently laid Theresa into the back of the SUV. "God, Baby, you scared the hell out of me. I am so mad that I wasn't there to help you."