"You know, that warehouse is probably empty by now," Jennifer said. She was lying in bed after a fitful sleep with her husband’s arms around her. The couple was trying once again to sort things out. "Do you think it’s too dangerous to go there during the day?"
" Yes, they might arrest us for trespassing." They were silent for a while.
"You still haven’t given me my surprise."
"The fact you’re married to a great guy like me isn’t enough?"
"Modest guy too. Now come on, you promised."
" Ok, ok, look under your pillow."
"Hmm," she reached underneath and pulled out a small box. The inside contained a pair of small heart-shaped diamond and ruby earrings. "These are absolutely gorgeous! When did you get these?"
"Secret. You really like them?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"I’ll show you."
The couple was still in bed when Jonathan was called to a board meeting and hour and a half later. "Want me to come?" Jennifer asked.
"I’d love it, but you’d be really bored. We’re just trying to come up with a way to make this mess look better."
"Alright, I think I’ll call Carmen and see what she’s doing."
"I don’t think I have ever bought this much stuff in my life." Carmen said.
"Fun, isn’t it?" The two women had just sat down at a park bench. A street vendor came up and tried to sell some figurines to Carmen, she bought two of them after bargaining for them in perfect French. "I’m right," Jennifer thought, "she does know a lot more then she let’s on." It wasn’t just the fact she could speak French, it was also that she was right at home with the normal goings on in Paris. She acted as if she belonged to this city. "Carmen," Jennifer said, "you know a lot about me, but I know almost nothing about you."
"Oh, there really isn’t that much to know about."
"Well, where did you grow up?" She had switched in to reporter’s mode now. It was making Carmen uneasy.
"I moved around a lot." It was not a lie; Carmen had traveled the world in her life. Being familiar with her surroundings, almost wherever she went gave her an advantage in her line of work. "I need to check my messages, I’ll be right back."
"She’s awfully evasive," Jennifer said to herself.
Carmen found a phone where she could still keep watch of Jennifer.
"Mitchell Hayward."
"It’s Carmen. Any news?"
"Aldridge has decided that the Hart’s have become too expensive to him."
"I’ll take care for it."
"He wants them alive and relatively close by."
"That’s foolish."
"I know, but it’s what he wants."
"Alright, I’ll be in touch." Carmen paused before she made her next phone call. This was getting too disorderly for her. She didn’t like all this exposure. She liked things quick, and uncomplicated. She got things done before anyone knew she had her hand them. She made her call and rejoined Jennifer. "I need something to drink," she said, " how about you?"
"Sounds good." The bought iced tea at a small café. Jennifer noticed that Carmen kept looking for something thing in the crowd. "Something is wrong with her," Jennifer thought. Carmen could almost read Jennifer’s mind look on Jennifer’s face. She knew Jennifer thought she was acting suspicious. "Doesn’t matter," Carmen thought, as she took sip of her drink and made eye contact with a man in dark suit with a forest green car, "it’s too late for her to do anything about it anyway."
As the meeting broke for lunch Jonathan let out a sight of relief. All he could think about was hopefully catching Jennifer for lunch. As he stepped off of the elevator, his last thoughts were of Jennifer as his world went black.
"Carmen, is something wrong?"
"Jennifer, I am so sorry to do this…" Carmen reached in to her purse and pulled out a syringe. It took Jennifer a second to understand, but by then Carmen had plunged the needle in to her arm.
She was affected immediately. She tried to get up, but was too weak.
She felt sick to her stomach. Carmen’s associate came over to help, so did a waiter.
"Can I help you Madame?" he asked Carmen.
"My friend is sick and I’m taking her to a hospital."
"Help," Jennifer moaned. She was delirious at this point.
"Don’t worry Jennifer," Carmen said as she got in to the car, "everything will be just fine."
Three hours later the car pulled up to large house well beyond the city limits of Paris. A young girl ran out to greet Carmen as her accomplice carried Jennifer in to the house. "Has our other visitor arrived yet?" Carmen asked.
"Oui, Mama, He arrive a few minutes ago. He’s not bad looking."
"That’s his wife," Carmen said pointing to the door.
"What are we going to do with them?"
"Keep them from causing trouble."
"Alive?"
"Stop thinking like me. You’re too young. I don’t like this job, Gracie, I don’t have enough control over it, and Timothy Aldridge is unbalanced."
"He’s paying you a lot."
"We don’t need his money."
"I know."
"I could quit now and we’d still be financially well off for the rest of our lives."
" Marie would be happy if you quit."
"Maria doesn’t understand."
"She’s afraid for you, we both are sometimes," Grace, Carmen’s sixteen year old daughter said. Grace looked exactly like Carmen, so did four year old Maria, who came running out of the house.
"Mommy!"
"Hi sweetie," Carmen said as she scooped her up in her arms. "It is so far past your bed time young lady." The three entered the house and were met by the man in the dark suit. "Gracie, take Marie upstairs. I’ll be up later. I love you both. My office," she said to the men. She sat down behind a large desk that was almost overwhelming with her tiny figure. Her office was simply decorated, hanging on walls was artwork done by both her daughters, and several pictures of them were on her desk. "Where are they?"
"In the basement."
"I want them out of here by morning."
"That soon?"
"Keeping them here puts my children in danger."
"How, no one knows they’re here."
"I will just feel better once there out of the house. Are you sure that the safe house is secure?"
"There is no way the can escape."
"Good, sedate them again before you move them. I don’t want to take any chances."
"Yes Madame," he said as he exited. Left alone Carmen began to think about what she had said to Gracie. She could leave her work at anytime. It was reassuring, but she knew she wouldn’t. The feeling she got from it was exhilarating. She wouldn’t trade it for the world. She loved the power she had. She knew that the only thing that could make her give it up was if her children were in danger, and she was very careful not to let that happen. She thought about her current job, she certainly wasn’t getting that feeling now. Things were being done sloppily and Carmen had no control over the situation. She was most effective if she had complete control over everything. She was capable of almost anything; there would be a large price on her head if certain people found out exactly what she was the cause of. She got results, and she was careful. As she thought more on the subject, she decided that the Harts were becoming a liability to her, not Aldridge. "They’re smart," she said to herself, "however, they will not bring me down."
Jennifer was the first to wake up, in a nondescript bedroom with two doors. She had a splitting headache and was nauseous. It took her a few moments to realize her husband was lying next to her. She tried to wake him but she was too weak and drifted off to sleep again. When she woke again later, Jonathan was up." Morning Darling," She moaned," I have a huge headache." He leaned over and gave her a kiss.
"The feeling is mutual. How did we get here?"
"I was drugged," she said, her voice sounding as if it were painful for her to talk.
"I think I was hit over the back of the head."
"Ouch, Darling."
"I think Aldridge is behind all of this."
"We better find away out of here," she said. She tried to get up, but she was so tired that she almost immediately fell back asleep. An hour and half later Jonathan gave up on his search for an exit. Jennifer was still fast asleep. The drugs still hadn’t worn off of her and Jonathan was worried. The one door in the room that did open led to a small bathroom. He got her a glass of water and hoped it would help her. He finally got her to wake up, an hour later.
"Oh, Jonathan, I don’t feel well." He leaned over and kissed her forehead, she was burning up. He searched both rooms until he found a cloth he could wet to cool her off. It was the only thing he could think of to do for her. As he sat next to her on the bed, he could tell she was in a lot of pain.
"I want to go home," she moaned.
"I know, so do I." He realized she must have been having an allergic reaction to the sedative she’d been given. He knew she had felt fine when he left her yesterday.
Jennifer felt so bad that she couldn’t move. When she finally did it was to retch in the bathroom. She curled up on the bed with her husband’s arms around her and cried inconsolably. Jonathan knew he had to get his wife to the hospital.
"Jonathan," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "who knows we’re missing?"
"Max will figure…"
"Not for at least another week, his vacation remember?"
"Don’t worry about it, Darling."
"It’s just, if no one’s looking for us…"
"Do you really think they’d find us," he said.
"I’d feel better if I knew they were looking." She winced in pain.
"I wish I knew how to really make you feel better." She gave him her best attempt at a smile. "The board members!" he exclaimed.
"What?"
"I was supposed to go to lunch with Mitchell, and then we were going to reconvene for our meeting." The glimmer of hope he had quickly faded when he saw the pain look on her face. "What’s wrong? Mitchell will know something is up when I don’t show up for today’s meetings too."
"Darling, when I was abducted I was having lunch with Carmen."
"What?"
"She’s the one who drugged me."
"That means…"
"Mitchell Hayward is playing for the other team."
