Chapter 14
“We’re here,” Jane Carter said dreadfully. She and her family sat staring at the phone
in the hotel room. Bob paced the room
hand always a second away from the phone.
Jane thumbed through her bank book, they had over 2 million dollars in
their account ready to be wired directly to them. She wanted to get this over with.
The phone rang and everyone jumped. Bob grabbed it off its cradle, “Hello?”
“Bobby Carter,” the garbled voice spoke.
“Yes, that’s me,” Bob said through clenched teeth.
“You have obeyed instruction nicely. What I want from you, if you want to see
your son alive, is 2 million dollars. I
want no bills over 100, and no change.
They must be unmarked. I want
you to walk to the deli at the corner from the hotel you are staying, and go to
the mens room. Above the toilet there
is a loose tile. I want you to remove
that tile, and in the ceiling there will be a key. Take the key and leave the deli.
Then you are to walk to the local pool which is located inside the park
which is right beside the deli. You are
to go to the pool locker room. The key
is to a locker. Read the number and use it to get into the locker. In the
locker you will find a plain brown bag and a change of clothes. In that bag you are to put the money, and
you are to change into the clothes. You will also find a telephone. The phone will ring and you are to follow
instructions from there. We will be
watching. We will call back to tell you
when to begin your actions...” The line disconnected.
“Ok, ok,” Bob sighed as he clicked off the tape
recorder he had been holding to the phone.
“What? What did they say?” Jane was on him in an
instant.
“They gave me instructions on how to make the drop
off. I think there’s going to be an
exchange. I give them money, they give
me Nicky.”
Jane ran her hands through her hair nervously, “Only
you can go?”
Bob nodded, “They say they’ll be watching my every
move.”
“I wonder if anyone has received this call.”
“Two million dollars? But we don’t have two million
dollars! What else can we do?” Harold Littrell almost yelled into the phone,
his breath coming quicker.
He heard the voice on the other end sigh, “One
million.”
“But...”
“One million,” the voice said in a final sounding
tone. The line disconnected.
“They want a million dollars...” Harold turned to
tell his wife, who sobbed, “How in the world are we supposed to get that?”
“We’re going to have to call the FBI,” Jackie said,
“We’re going to have to ask for their help, again.”
“NO!”
“How else are we gonna get the money Harry?!” Jackie
demanded.
“We can.... We’ll just....”
“Rob a bank Dad?” Harold III asked testily, “Call the
FBI, and apologize Dad. Maybe they’ll have mercy on us, and give us some
cash... or access to some of Brian’s.”
Harold closed his eyes and pressed his hands to his
temples, “I wonder if anyone else got this call.”
“They want a million dollars,” Hoke said with a sigh,
“I didn’t expect anything less, either.”
Paula nodded, “So are we calling the FBI, or what?”
Hoke cringed, “I don’t want to, but if we want Howie
back we have to.”
Pollyanna nodded, “Should I call, or are you going to
call?”
“Lets call the other parents first,” Hoke said
rubbing the bridge of his nose, “see what they’re doing.”
Paula nodded, “I have the room numbers.”
Ann Richardson hung up the phone, “Harold wants to
call the FBI back.”
“After that scene he made about not wanting them?”
Tim asked incredulously, “Yeah right!”
Ann sighed, “We don’t know what else to do... I don’t
have the money.....”
“I think we should get everybody together,” Jerald
said, “Maybe we can come up with a plan that way. I can get the room numbers.”
Ann nodded, “I’ll call Harold back right now.”
“The only way I see us solving this money problem, is
to call back the FBI,” Jackie Littrell was saying as Bob and Jane Carter
entered the room. They looked somewhat
relieved. They took seats beside the
Doroughs.
“But what if...”
“It’s the only way we’ll be able to ge into the kids’
accounts!” Ann Richardson said taking a firm stand beside her sister- in- law,
“The ransom is ridiculous. Who in their
right mind would even assume that we had that much money! Our kids are the superstars. What, do they think we mooch of our children
for cash? What kind of people do they
think we are?!”
“Excuse us, hello Jane, hello Bob. I assume you have also have received calls,
and heard the ransom...”
“Yes, 2 million dollars,” Jane said quietly.
“Two million dollars! They asked you for two million dollars?!” Paula Dorough’s eyes
had nearly popped out of their sockets, all of the parents looked to the
Carters in sympathy, “We were only asked for one million... Why would they want
more for Nick?”
Bob and Jane shook their heads.
“We were just discussing how we were going to go
about paying the ransom...”
“Are you not going to pay?” asked Jane staring at
them strangely.
“We can’t pay... not now. We’ve all decided to call the FBI.... We know it will be a rather
humiliating experience, but at least we’ll get the money, and our children.
What else can we do?”
“You don’t have access to the accounts at all?” Bob
asked.
“No,” Harold said flatly, then he suddenly glanced up
sharply at Bob and Jane Carter, “Do you?”
Both parents looked guiltily, but they nodded, “We’ve
already had the two million wired to us, anymore money would take longer to get
to us.”
“How...? Why?
I mean, sure Kevin’s offered me money, but I’ve never really accepted
much.. Not that much anyway! Two million dollars at your disposal, just like
that?” Ann looked disgusted.
“What’s wrong with it?” Jane immediately took defense
she stood with her fist clenched, “My son is worth 60 million dollars Ann, so
is yours. Why should it come as a big
surprise that he would give us money? He’s 20 years old, what is he going to do
with 60 million dollars?! Tell me Ann!
How is Nick being kind and loving, and grateful to his family, harmful
to anyone?”
Ann was shaking her head in disgust.
“It’s just not right,” Hoke said in a low tone, “It’s
his money, that he earned. I never
accept more than what I need, and I don’t need much.”
Bob shrugged, “What’s done is done. We can meet the ransom, and when they call
back we’re going through with the procedure, and we can even call the bank. We
can have them wire in some more money right away to give to you...”
“No!” Harold said, “I will not take your child’s
money.”
“Harry this is Brian we are talking about!”
“When they get out Brian can pay Nick back,” Jane
said.
“NO!” Harold said stubbornly, “We’ll get the money
our own way...”
Jane and Bob gazed around the table to see if
everyone felt the same way. They were
met with wicked looks or downcast eyes, “Fine. If you change your minds about
wanting our help...”
“We don’t want,” Ann began, “that kind of help from
you. We will not steal from your child
and then tell our children to pay him back... We instead ask you to wait.”
“Wait?” Jane’s face flushed with anger, “I will not
wait on my son’s life. I...”
“Wait, until we can get the FBI here. We’ll take care of this all together, and we
get the Boys back all together,” Ann finished calmly, “Can you do that for us?”
“How do you know they’ll comply with your plan? When they call with the instructions they’re
going to want their money...” Bob began.
“If everyone of us tell them we can’t get the money right
away but we will have it in a few days, then they will have to listen. They want this money too badly to let it get
away. If we say we’ll have money in a few days, they’ll wait...”
“And if they don’t?” Bob asked.
“Then I guess you’ll know what to do,” said Ann
sitting back in her chair, “and the rest of us will have to... to...” she
trailed off, losing her earlier air of perfect confidence. She began to cry, “Please do it...”
Tim reached out and grabbed his mother’s hand. Denise McLean sighed loudly, “Well? Are you
with us?” She looked directly at the
Carters.
The Carters looked to be in deep thought. After a few seconds Bob responded, he nodded
slowly, “We’ll help you... but if you won’t accept our money, and can’t get any
money of your own within the extended time period they may give us... We’re
sorry, but we’re getting our son.”
There were brief nods around the table.
“Thanks,” was spoken from a subdued Ann Richardson.