“Dr. Childers, if you’re right, this is visual proof that Monica was kidnapped by a man and woman driving a white van.”
A third person appeared on the screen, and Carol said, “We are joined by Duval County Sheriff Allen English, the officer in charge of heading up the search team. Sheriff English, you’ve had fifteen hundred people combing the area for four days. These satellite photos clearly show the kidnappers took Monica Childers a mere six hundred yards from the hotel room the Childers occupied last Tuesday. How is it possible you missed the van or any evidence of Monica?”
The sheriff gave a withering look and said, “Because the van and Monica were gone by the time we learned she’d been missing.”
“We now know the van turned left on a small path,” Carol said. “Any chance your people missed that particular spot?”
“None whatsoever. Our search began from the beach and moved inland to AIA, so we hit that area a few hours into the search.”
“I’m told that since these photos were released, you’ve had a forensic crew working at the site. Any new evidence yet?”
“Nothing I can report at this time,” he said.
“But you’re working on it?”
“We are,” he said.
“Thank you, sheriff ,” Carol said, and I muted the sound.
To Callie, I said, “I gave her a lethal injection. There’s no way she could have survived.”
“What did you use?”
“Botulinum toxin.”
Callie laughed. “Maybe she’s been pumped so full of Botox she’s become immune!”
“Maybe Victor had someone pick her up after we drove off , someone who gave her a dose of Heptavalent.”
“Is that some sort of anti-venom?”
“It’s an antitoxin, but yeah, it works the same way. Botulinum paralyzes the respiratory muscles, but its effects can be reversed with Heptavalent. It’s not a perfect science, and it takes weeks or even months.”
“Thanks,
“Has to be.”
“But why take that chance? You think he just wanted to watch the hit go down?”
“Maybe. He doesn’t have much of a life, so maybe that’s how he gets his kicks. It’s also possible he tapped into the satellite so his people could find her.”
“But he knew where she’d be. He even marked the path for us.”
“Yeah, but this was our first job for him. Suppose he wanted her alive? He couldn’t be certain we’d do it exactly the way he told us to. Also, what if someone had a flat on the side of the road near the trail? Or what if someone was camping out in the area and would have seen us make the turn? A dozen things could have gone wrong that would have caused us to kill her somewhere else. If he wanted her alive, he’d want to know exactly where she was.”
“So you think he had Monica kidnapped.”
“I do.”
“Why didn’t he just ask us to kidnap her?”
“Maybe he wanted her for himself and didn’t want us to know.”
“So the midget captures the trophy wife of the doctor who saved his life.”
“It’s just a theory.”
“Why would he want to punish her?” Callie asked.
“There’s probably a lot to the story about Victor and the doctor. A lot we don’t know.”
“Think we ought to have a chat with Victor?”
“Eventually, but I want to put Lou on it first.”
“Research his connection to Baxter?”
“Right. Lou finds the connection, he’ll have Victor’s real name. Then we fast-forward his life, learn his abilities, figure out his motivations.”
“And his friends,” Callie said. “Any guy who can hijack a topsecret spy satellite…”
“Yeah,” I said. “This is no circus midget.”
Suddenly, the television had my full attention. I turned up the sound. “Are you watching this?”
She was.
CNN news anchor Carol Teagess was showing a close up of Monica Childers from one of the satellite photos. “This just in,” she said. “FBI offcials working in conjunction with Homeland Security have released the following
