know I’m not going to be able to sleep.” She crossed in front of Jack and re-entered the house.
Before Jack went in, he looked over to watch the basketball game sweep up and down the court. Although he’d been actively avoiding thinking about consequences, he suddenly found himself hoping beyond hope that JJ would be found soon and not be harmed so as to be able to grow up and experience the multitudinous joys of life.
Back upstairs, Jack looked for Laurie. With all the excitement suddenly over, he was worried how she was going to cope, just as he worried about himself. He was surprised not to find her in the kitchen. Neither of them had taken the time to eat anything, as Detective Bennett had kept them busy answering questions about JJ and his complicated medical history. Bennett had also quizzed them about the kinds of service people who regularly visited the house and if any had their own keys. Next he’d had them gather objects likely to contain JJ’s DNA, find current photos of the child, and even try to figure out what he had been wearing when he’d been abducted.
Jack paused when he heard voices coming from the family room. He’d almost forgotten that Lou and Warren were still there. He was doubly surprised to find two additional men in the room. Both were talking to Laurie, who was listening intently.
“Ah, Jack,” Lou said. “Please come in! There are some people I want you to meet.”
“Yes, dear,” Laurie said. “Come in!”
Everyone stood as Jack advanced into the room, making Jack wonder about the apparent formality. He looked at the two strangers, neither of whom he had seen until that moment. Both stood ramrod-straight with shoulders back, with closely cropped hair and dressed in snug, carefully tailored navy-blue suits, crisp white shirts, and regimental ties. They both were slightly taller than Jack’s six feet and looked to be in their early forties. Particularly because of their svelte figures and hard, taut faces, they appeared to be in superb physical shape. Jack’s impression was that they were military, possibly Special Forces in civvies.
“This is Grover Collins,” Lou said, pointing to the stockier of the two men.
Jack shook hands, peering questioningly into the individual’s glacially blue eyes. The grip was strong but not too strong, more confident than anything else.
“Terrific to meet you,” Grover said, with a hint of an English accent.
“And this is Colt Thomas,” Lou said, gesturing toward Grover’s African-American partner.
“My pleasure,” Colt said with a handshake the mirror image of Grover’s. Jack hardly thought of himself as an expert in accents, but if he’d been forced to guess, he would have described Colt’s as Texan.
“Now, first let me apologize,” Lou said to Jack. “I have taken it upon myself to invite Grover and Colt here tonight because I think you and Laurie ought to hire them.”
Jack’s eyes went from Laurie and then back to the guests. “Hired as what?” he asked.
“I think time is of the essence,” Lou continued, ignoring Jack’s question, “and these gentlemen happen to agree with me. Is that fair to say, gentlemen?”
“Indeed,” Grover confirmed without hesitation. Colt merely nodded.
“Please, sit down!” Jack said, realizing he was the de facto host at this impromptu meeting.
Everyone returned to their seats. Jack brought over a straight-backed chair and sat down himself.
“I had the pleasure of working with these gentlemen a few years ago,” Lou continued, “and I was very impressed, which is the reason I called them tonight. They’re a relatively new breed. They’re kidnap consultants.”
“‘Kidnap consultants’?” Jack questioned. “I didn’t even now there was such a thing.”
“Actually, there are now quite a few of us,” Grover said. “We refer to ourselves as risk managers as we prefer to stay more or less in the shadows.”
“I was not aware of them, either,” Lou admitted. “Not until I had the pleasure of working with them on a kidnapping case—for a very successful outcome, I must add.”
“We’ve been born by demand,” Grover explained. “Kidnapping flourishes in circumstances of disorder and confusion, which the world has seen rather enough of these days, such that there has been a serious uptick in incidence of kidnapping the world over, but mainly in the Americas and Russia.”
“I was not aware of it,” Jack said, “but it does make sense.”
“There are thousands of cases each year in hot spots like Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Brazil. We have about forty field operatives in our firm, CRT Risk Management. We’re active all around the world, and the only thing we handle is kidnapping. I’m just back from Rio, and Colt returned yesterday from Mexico City.”
“Are you ex-military?” Jack asked.
“How could you tell?” Grover smiled. “I’m ex-SAS, and Colt is ex-Navy SEAL. Returning to civilian life after military service has been difficult for us Special Forces fellows, and this kind of work seems to have been tailor- made. Sitting in a La-Z-Boy smoking a pipe and watching reruns of game shows is not a possibility for any of us. We love our work.”
“Tell them what you told me,” Lou said. “Why you could particularly help in their situation.”
“Having been briefed about your case, several things jump out at us. First of all, the NYPD, like all police departments in the USA, have had limited experience running a kidnapping. It’s just the opposite with us. It’s all we do, and as kidnapping has grown worldwide, it’s become more sophisticated, both in terms of how the abductors work and how we professionals respond.
“Second of all, our motivation is different from that of the authorities. The authorities actually have conflicting goals. They, of course, want to rescue your child, but that’s only one of their objectives. They also want to catch the perpetrators, and I say ‘perpetrators’ specifically, because modern kidnapping is a team sport, and often they want to catch the perpetrators with about equal zeal as they want to free the abductee. In other words, there are political ramifications for the police and the FBI. Also, what else is occasionally troubling is that the authorities often are competitive with each other, which is hardly the kind of situation that is the most successful.
“None of that is applicable to us. Bringing your child home safe is our one and only goal and concern. We don’t care about the perpetrators. We don’t care if they get arrested; we don’t care if they get convicted. If they do, all the better, but it is not our goal, whereas with the police or FBI it most certainly is. As far as your son is concerned, we then have a step on the police or FBI. We don’t worry about warrants for searches or listening devices; we don’t concern ourselves with Miranda rights, and we can and are, on occasion, heavy-handed with suspects. When we need information, we get it. Let’s put it that way.”
“Do you consider yourselves vigilantes of sorts?” Laurie asked.
“Not in the slightest,” Collins said. “Our sole goal is the safe recovery of your child as soon as possible. That’s the mission. If an abductor gets hurt, that’s their problem, not ours, but we’re not about to punish anyone.”
“You’re only talking in generalities, Grover,” Lou complained. “Tell them what you told me about specifics. Tell them why you would be good for this case in particular.”
“Detective Soldano has been very open with us,” Grover continued, “and he has shared with us the file from the Real Time Crime Center. He’s also let us read the threatening letter which you had received and ignored.”
“There were reasons,” Laurie said, embarrassed anew.
“I can understand why you might have ignored it,” Grover said. “So don’t be hard on yourself. It only mentioned you, not your son. But the combination of your son’s abduction and the letter tells us that this case needs to move forward quickly to minimize the threat to your child, and that’s the way we will approach the case if you decide to employ us. Knowing the police and how they work, my strong sense is they will be conservative and wait for the abductors to communicate here and begin a negotiation, as they already have done. The passive approach, which is a tried-and-true method, isn’t appropriate in this situation. We believe the approach should be more proactive by anticipating consequences. Although it’s generally difficult to discover where a victim is being held, the opposite is true in this case for a number of reasons. We think these kidnappers are not experienced. The snatch was poorly planned and executed. Experienced kidnappers don’t start the game off with a homicide, as Lou can tell you.”
“It’s true,” Lou offered. “On the last and only kidnapping case I was involved in, the snatch was the most carefully planned part of the whole deal.”
“Second,” Grover continued, “there was no apparent research as to the extent of personal wealth. If I’m not mistaken, there is no huge payday here, like a huge family fortune that can be tapped.”
“Hardly,” Jack responded. “All of our savings are tied up in this renovated house.
“Let me tell you, in a kidnap-for-ransom case these days, it is extraordinarily rare for the perpetrator not to have done extensive research into the victim’s finances. It suggests that the kidnapping was done not for monetary
