Page 53 of A Pawn for Malice
There, less than six inches to her right, wasa crevice between the boulder she fell against and another oneright beside it. It was big enough for just that purpose. When sheraised the lantern in all directions, the shadows reflecting offthe boulders, hid the crevice even better. She was rather pleasedwith herself and huffed with satisfaction, as she slid both itemsinside.
She lifted her hand to her cheek. It was,extremely tender to the touch, and there was a pretty good sizebump developing. She shimmied away from the boulder and slowly lether eyes scan her surroundings. She sighed with disbelief. Shecouldn’t believe, where she was right now.
The chamber she was in, was massive. When shelooked up, she couldn’t see the roof of the cave at all. The wallsshimmered, where the beam from the lantern managed to reach.Despite the eeriness, being held captive down here entailed, shefound herself rather awe-struck by its natural beauty.
She didn’t know much about caves. What shehad learned and read about, was that some were formed when waterseeped down through the cracks in limestone rock over millions ofyears. Others, simply were mountainsides worn away by the crashingocean waves over time.
It was hard to tell, from where she wassitting, if the glimmering reflections she was seeing, were fromcrystals on the walls. The other formations, she was looking at,were rather hard to describe. Still, they were uniquely beautiful.They were swirled, and rippled, spiked, and textured, massivepieces the colors of an earth-tone pallet. The enormity of thechamber was not threatening, but she knew that silence for too longof time, would prove oppressive.
She drew her knees to her chest, managed tofold her bounded wrists over them, and rested her undamaged cheekon her knees. The thought of her Aunt Florence came to mind. Asmuch as she would love nothing more, than to have her there by herside, she wouldn’t wish this situation she now found herself in onanyone, not even her worst enemy. Well … one bastard did come tomind.
If Florence had the chance to get a messageto her, Jessica knew, that her Aunt would tell her to stay strong,not to crack, keep a smart head on her shoulders, and work everysituation to her advantage.
That wasn’t going to be easy in this case …at all.
Her stomach growled again, and she thoughtabout her protein bar. She tried to ignore the sound of starvation.Morris would be returning soon. She had to conserve it for later,just in case Corbat decided to be a prick and starve her.
She would wait for Morris, as thesatisfaction in knowing, that she made a friend in him, kept hercompany, until he did.
OceanofPDF.com
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Bryan left word with his staff, that if SylasCorbat called for him, to direct him to his cell phone. He justcouldn’t sit around in his office waiting for that derelict tocall. The clock was ticking. He had worked enough kidnap cases toknow that the first twenty-four hours were crucial. It wasn’t a lotof time for him and Ayden to turn over every stone possible, andinvestigate every lead. They zoned in on the ones that were mostlikely.
The one thing in their favor … they knew whothe assailant was. Protocol was, to call in the Feds in situationslike this. He wanted it contained. He wanted to run this case. Hewanted to be the one to find her, and he would.
Ayden pulled up in front of the LOB and Bryanquickly jumped into the passenger side.
“Thanks for doing this. I just can’t sitaround.”
“Good to have you back, partner,” Aydenwinked.
Bryan sent him that ‘how did you know’ look,and Ayden’s stomach rolled with laughter.
“I know you, man. It’s pretty god damnobvious. You found the one.”
Bryan’s look was more serious, as he repliedpainfully.
“We’ve got to get her back.”
Ayden punched at his forearm, nodding andreplied sympathetically.
“We will, Bry. We will.” He hesitated onlybriefly. “This prick, Corbat, lives in a decent neighborhood up inEsperance. There’s four to his apartment house. I checked aroundand scuttlebutt is, no one has seen him in days.
One of the guys in his building knew what hewas driving. It’s an old 64 Chevy Corvair Greenbrier van, two-tonelight blue in color. The thing is a classic, so it stands out. Morethan likely, it’s what he used to transport her in. It’s possiblehe’s living out of it too, because back then, they weremanufactured as mini-campers on wheels.
I ran footage from the security camerasoutside your building, and we got a hit. One was seen exiting theback entrance of the Capitol around the time Jessica was missing,heading west on State Street. Looks like he’s got an accomplicetoo. A traffic camera picked up two male occupants, and one ofthem, was definitely Corbat. They’re running a facial on the otherone. They were last scene, heading North on the Interstate, wherewe lost them.”
“At least we’ve got something solid to goon,” Bryan replied. “I called my contact at the DA’s office. Theyhad info. on next of kin. Looks like Luther’s brother had beenworking at Howes Caverns as an all-round handyman for years, whichbacks up his story. If he’s been fired though, he won’t have accessany more. I still think it’s worth checking out.”
Ayden nodded in agreement.
“Just because he’s fired, doesn’t mean hestill hasn’t got a way inside, especially after all those yearshe’s been there. Sounds like a great hideout to me.”
Bryan keyed in the address on the dashboardGPS system.
“This is a sweet ride. What is it a 15’?”
