Her Mortal Mate

Chapter Six: The First Recording

Sargent Moore

It was a lot of evidence all at once.

Usually, we had the opposite problem. Normally, we didn't have this many leads or this much evidence to sift through. We weren't even twenty four hours in, and we were looking up rentals within the area, along with places where quads were sold. Once the shops opened up, we would be looking for a corresponding name or address on the paperwork between the two.

The job seemed daunting, but I knew my team would be able to handle it.

Then there was all of the video footage.

And now the recordings.

I kind of wished Jadea could be here all of the time to help me with cases. Her and her band of misfits would make my job a whole lot easier and far more productive. Hell! We might even be able to catch the real perps within days instead of months if her and her pack suddenly decided to come work in law enforcement.

But I knew it was all wishful thinking on my part.

I was finishing up my group of surveillance videos before shifting my focus to the recordings. I was down to my last video. It had been the one at the edge of the apartment complex, facing a street that was rarely used. And that's when I saw it. The large, out of place, black Cadillac Escalade. The windows were heavily tinted. The driver and passenger could be seen vaguely, but they had sunglasses on and baseball caps to help hide their faces.

This had to be our vehicle. These guys looked shady as s**t. I'd bet money these were our perps!

I paused the video and took note of the time when the vehicle first arrived. I also was able to decipher the first four digits of the license plate from the rather grainy video. The others couldn't be seen because of the way the sun hit the license plate. The glare obscured the last three digits. But that wouldn't be too much of an issue. A partial plate was better than nothing.

Besides, I still had a chance to catch it when they left. Fast forwarding the video, I saw the same vehicle leave. I took note of the time. They had only been there for a half an hour. The license plate was no better on the way out. Quickly pulling up google, I searched the make and model and got a rough year range based off of the similarities.

"I've got a vehicle!" I called out. I announced the time. The street they had entered the complex from. I told them the way the vehicle left and the direction they took. I was able to give the partial license plate, make, model, color and year range. There were some shouts and rearranging of videos as we sorted through the surveillance videos we had collected. I'd had them organized by the street names and accesses going into the complex to make it a little easier.

Lana, the one who was working on finding all of the rental places and quad dealerships, took the information and ran with it.

I made sure the relevant videos were divvied out before turning my attention to the recordings.

Briar and Derrick weren't back yet, but I doubted they would return so soon. I was hoping to be done with at least one of the recordings, if not two, by the time they returned.

I pulled out my headphones, plugged them into the computer and took a deep breath. This was going to take some time, and I was honestly a little nervous about what I would, or wouldn't find. I hoped for Jadea's and Adam's sake there was something useful on one, or more of these.

Opening the first one, I closed my eyes and listened.

At first there was only background noise. It sounded like road noise along with the shifting crinkle of a plastic tarp. Could this be from when Adam was taken? Could they have placed him in the back of the Escalade and covered him up with a tarp?

I jotted down a note for Lana when she found the Escalade in question and went to collect it. I would have her look specifically in the trunk area for any DNA evidence of Adam's.

It was hard to hear over the noise, but I was able to pick up on some conversation going on. Adjusting and tweaking the recording, I was able to amplify the voices:

"We've got the first package," someone announced. There was a pause. "We are on our way back to the hotel. Did Oliver get the quad?"

Silence.

"Good! Make sure to buy a couple large gas cans and fill them up too. We want to make sure we can make it at least halfway down to SoCal without stopping. We'll see you at the hotel in a bit."

From what I understood the conversation was over. I jotted more notes down. Mainly a reminder to check the time when the vehicle stopped at the hotel so we could get a radius based off of the drive time it took to get from Adam's apartment to the hotel. Then, in the recording, a phone rang.

"Yeah?" Pause. "Yeah, boss I've got the first package."

Silence.

"I want to wait for the cover of night before we strike the second house."

Silence.

"Why?" the speaker sounded animated, irate even. Like someone had dared questioned him. Perhaps he was the alpha? "Because the old coon won't see us coming. If we go now, she might spot us. Her son's a wolf. And I know she's got silver ammo. If we wait to strike we will have a higher likelihood of success. She won't be able to shoot accurately in the dark. They'll be sitting ducks."

Silence.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever!" the speaker sounded annoyed. "We'll get the job done and then we will meet you down in SoCal." Another pause. "We made sure to clean the place spotless when we left. Jadea and her mutts won't have anything to analyze."

Pause.

"It'll be the same way at Mrs. Lindsay's."

Pause.

"You don't say!" the speaker sounded sarcastic. "Yes, I know it's going to be more risky. Yes, we will take our time making sure nothing is left!" Pause. "Well, maybe you should wait until we have dealt with them before calling her? That way we aren't rushed?"

Pause.

"We'll make sure it looks like some random robbery gone wrong."

My blood ran cold at that statement. Had they initially planned on killing Mrs. Lindsay and Adam's children? And Adam had to hear all of this!? f**k! What a nightmare! My heart went out to him.

There was some movement and excited sniggering from other passengers in the car. "Jadea is going to be beside herself. She'll be so blinded by rage, she'll rush into it. She'll be clumsy. She won't know what's going to hit her." The speaker sounded excited.

Pause.

"Yes. I believe she'll take the bait. She's a hunter. She won't be able to stop herself from trying to save him."

Pause.

"And we will be ready for her," he agreed to whatever the person on the other line said.

Shoot! They were planning some kind of trap.

I ripped my headset off and reached for my phone. Calling her, I prayed she would answer. But it went straight to voicemail.

Damn it!

I was going to have to wait for Briar and Derrick to get back so they could reach her. They had some weird, freaky telepathic way of communicating I was sure of it.

I just hoped to hell they would get to her in time.

Refocusing, I settled myself back down in my chair, deciding to keep listening to the recordings until Briar and Derrick arrived, hoping I would uncover something more. Taking a deep breath, I made a few more notes before continuing the recording.

The conversation ended shortly after without any other significant pieces of information. And then the car turned off. I jotted down the time and, as I continued listening to the recording, I opened up a specific system that would allow me to plug in Adam's apartment address and input a drive time. I plugged in a 'rough' speed to finish the computation and the system gave me a rough radius of the area we needed to look into for hotels. We knew the vehicle they were driving and one name. It wasn't much to go off of, but perhaps someone would recognize the vehicle.

Instead of yelling out the information again, I grouped everyone into a chat group and listed off the relevant information with a specific set of instructions for each member. Most hotels were open, or at least received calls late into the night and early morning. We could start calling around now and maybe within the hour we would get lucky and have more surveillance videos that would give us a better view of who was behind all of this.

As I finished that, I started the next recording:

"Do you think we should take him out?" a different voice asked.

"No. Leave him. I don't want to draw any more attention than we have to. Besides, he's tied down and won't be able to sit up." The ringleader said.

"It's hot. And it'll get even hotter in the car. The boss wants him alive. Not dead."

"Meh! Who cares! Jadea doesn't have to know he's a vegetable, right? Just that he's 'alive' and in our custody."

"Just roll down the widows and park under the tree in the shade. He can't make any sound to alert anyone. And we will keep the room's door open and the curtain pulled back so we can easily see the vehicle." The car started again.

Moments later, the vehicle shut off and bodies filed out. Based on the amount of shuffling I heard, there were several individuals in the vehicle.

From what I had looked up, those SUV's had the capability to have third row seating. So there was the possibility of eight passengers total. We were looking for a large group. I sent another message to the chat. A large group would need either a suite or more than one room.

As I continued listening to the recording, I heard Adam shifting around. I heard his quiet sobs and attempts to break free. He kept at it for a while before he gave up. But then I heard the sound of numbers being dialed. There were three short beeps and then a longer one.

My heart beat picked up speed. Had he called the police?

I heard the phone ring.

Smart man!

The operator picked up and Adam instantly started making noise. Moving the tarp. Making muffled noises even though he had been gagged.

I couldn't quite pick up on what the operator was saying but, after a short period of time, she hung up.

Adam called again. And again. And again.

After the fifth time, he gave up. And shortly after that, the recording ended.

As I was looking up the number for the nearest call center, I had to wonder if Adam's cell company only gave the information of the nearest cell tower instead of the nearest physical address. I was sure if it was the latter, an officer would have been dispatched to look into the mysterious calls.

Just one more lead to look into.

At least we weren't scrambling and left high and dry, like Dracula's case had been.