Deadline (16 page)

He broke the surface, pulling the
young woman after him and trying to keep her head above water.
Harrison swam towards the yacht that was bobbing nearby.

He climbed up into the boat and
managed to drag the woman in after him. She wasn’t breathing. Her
face had a bluish tinge.

He checked for pulse and found a weak
one. He started mouth to mouth, trying to squeeze air into her
lungs. He turned her slightly to the side trying to clear her mouth
of water.

Things don’t look good. I need help,
he thought.

Harrison left her momentarily to go
over to his knapsack on the floor of the sailboat. He retrieved his
cell phone and called 911. He quickly related his circumstances to
the female dispatcher who said she would immediately contact Lake
Rescue.

The 911 dispatcher instructed Harrison
to continue resuscitation efforts until the rescue team could reach
him. It could take 10-15 minutes, she said.

“
Well, tell them to hurry.
I think she’s in bad shape,” he said.

Harrison, a banker on vacation,
thought that his office CPR training was coming in to good use
right now. But he wasn’t sure it was going to be enough to save
this young woman.

He returned to his resuscitation
efforts, praying that the rescue team would get there
soon.

He wasn’t sure they would be in time
to save her.

Chapter 45

The Wolfman’s Lair Thursday
4:45 PM

KATIE CANNON shivered. She was alone
and afraid.

The Wolfman had driven to a house in
the Mississauga suburbs. Cannon had waited patiently for an
opportunity to escape, but none came.

He drove straight through without
stopping.

When they arrived at the house,
McDonald took her out of the Explorer with a knife jammed against
her ribs. He threatened to cut her throat if she attempted
anything. They entered the house – what he referred to as his
lair.

She moved down to the basement and was
astonished by what she saw. It was a wide area with a long
workbench and pine cupboards. There were three purplish-colored
fluorescent lights on the ceiling, which gave the room a strange
hue. At the far end of the room was what appeared to be a small
jail cell.

Iron bars formed a small room within
the room. Inside were a cot, a small wooden chair and a bucket in
one corner.

McDonald ushered her into the room. He
closed and locked the cell door.

“
Make yourself at home,
Katie. And don’t bother trying to scream for help. The place is
soundproofed. It’s just you and I and I don’t know about you, but I
am certainly going to enjoy this experience.”

Cannon desperately needed to pee.
“Look, Ian I need a washroom right away, please.”

McDonald smiled and pointed to the
bucket.

“
You’ve got to be
kidding,” she said.

“
No. Do what you need to
do and I’ll dump it regularly.”

He continued to just stand there and
smile with that silly leer.

“
Well, how about some
privacy then.”

McDonald just stood there and the grin
widened. Katie felt as if her bladder was going to burst. It didn’t
appear this sicko was going to move.

She just shrugged, dropped her pants
and squatted over the bucket. As she tinkled, he continued to watch
and smile.

“
I hope you’re getting
your jollies, you sick pervert.”

“
No,” he replied. “That
will come later when we party. Now rest up, Katie. I’ll bring you
some food later.” He turned and left the room.

Even though it was summer, Katie felt
it cool in the basement lair.

She shivered and felt
helpless.

Here she was alone in the Wolfman’s
lair. No one had any idea he had her or where she was
located.

It was obviously going to be up to her
to get herself out of this situation. But how?

Chapter 46

Daily Express Newsroom 5:00
PM

BRADEN YOUNG and Andrew Chase looked
shocked at the news from Donna-Marie Pierce.

They relayed the information about
Katie’s car to Detective Peter Moon who was on his way to the
newspaper.

“
My God, Braden, don’t
tell me that animal has Katie,” said Chase.

“
Let’s not jump to
conclusions just yet,” replied Young. “Perhaps she found her car
disabled and caught a cab.”

“
But she would have been
at the police station by now,” said Chase. “And two flat tires.
That seems incredible. It must have been sabotage. The police seem
to think that killer is one of our employees. I fear he has been in
waiting for Katie.”

Young had never seen Andrew Chase look
so distraught.

He could understand his concern for
Katie Cannon’s welfare. Young also was concerned. But Chase’s
response seemed to indicate a more personal interest.

Was there more to this than meets the
eye? How well does he know Katie?

He was about to respond when his
intercom buzzed.

“
Mr. Young, an urgent
overseas call for you on line 1 from that correspondent Trevor
Trevanian,” said Denise Taylor, his administrative assistant. “He’s
in Pakistan and in serious trouble.”

“
Right, Mrs. Taylor, I’ll
take it right away.” He moved over to the phone. “Please inform my
editors that we’re postponing the line-up meeting for an hour or
so. Have them stand by.”

“
Yes, sir.” Taylor
promptly left the office and went into the newsroom.

“
Trevor my man, what’s
up?” inquired Young. “And what the hell are you doing in
Pakistan?”

“
Listen, Braden. I’m in
serious trouble. I need help and I need it right away. I have the
interview of the century for you. But I need you to spring me
loose.”

Trevanian relayed the details of his
situation. He explained about his kidnapping and the subject of his
unexpected interview. When he mentioned the name of Osama bin
Laden, he could hear the audible gasp from his editor. That was
followed by a prolonged silence.

“
That’s incredible,
Trevor. You have the scoop of a lifetime there. We need that story
as soon as possible. I’d like to get it tonight for tomorrow’s
edition. You’ll be top line page one.”

“
Well, first I need to get
out of this hospital and the clutches of Pakistani Intelligence.
They think I’m a terrorist and have threatened torture to get me to
talk.”

“
Don’t worry, Trevor, hang
tough. I’ll get the wheels rolling right away.”

Young ended the call. He told Chase
the news. “That son of a bitch has the interview of the century
with Osama bin Laden, but we’ve got to get him sprung loose from
the clutches of Pakistani Intelligence.”

“
I have some contacts high
up in Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister’s office,” said Chase.
“I could make some calls.”

“
No, we haven’t got time
to go through those diplomatic assholes in Foreign Affairs. The
Prime Minister doesn’t have enough clout to get fast enough action.
It could take weeks to get him released. I need Trevanian free
tonight to file that story. I know exactly who to call on his
private line. He knows the Pakistani President personally and he
owes me a big favor.” Young started punching numbers.

“
Who are you
calling?”

“
The White House. I’m
going right to the top. To the big man himself. POTUS -- The
President of the United States.”

Chapter 47

The Wolfman’s Lair 5: 15
PM

KATIE CANNON immediately
thought of the lyrics from Helen Reddy’s song,
I am Woman
.

Cannon felt that if she had to, she
could do anything. She needed to find a way out of this
fix.

She was a resourceful reporter. She
needed to think. She was entirely alone. No one at the paper knew
she had been abducted, let alone who had taken her and where.
Prospects of the cavalry coming to her rescue were
non-existent.

Ian McDonald -- the Wolfman -- was
obviously mad as a hatter. He possessed a deep hatred for women,
especially successful professional women. Katie had no intention of
meekly becoming his latest victim.

She looked around her new
surroundings, hoping to see if anything could be useful. There was
nothing in her cell that could be used. Surely there must be
something on that workbench or in those cupboards if she could get
access to them.

Katie realized that continuing to
confront McDonald and to insult him was not getting her anywhere.
It only enraged him further.

She needed to play to his fantasies.
She must acquiesce and perhaps gain his confidence until she could
get the upper hand. It was worth a try.

The door to the room opened. McDonald
entered carrying a tray of food.

“
I imagine you must be
getting hungry. You need to keep up your strength, Katie. I have an
interesting evening planned for us.”

McDonald walked over to the bars of
the cell. There was about a one-foot space below the bars and he
slipped the tray underneath. It contained a ham sandwich, a glass
of milk and an apple.

“
Well, at least I’m eating
healthy,” quipped Katie. “Thank you, Ian. That is most considerate
of you. You know you’re not a bad looking guy. You shouldn’t need
to go out kidnapping women. You could have just asked me for a
date.”

McDonald seemed taken aback by Katie’s
friendly attitude. He was wary.

“
Girls like you don’t go
out with blue collar guys like me. Why are you suddenly being so
nice? Do I look like I just fell off a turnip truck?”

“
I’ve always been nice to
you at the paper,” said Katie. “It’s such a shock to find out
you’re the Wolfman. I don’t understand it, Ian. You must realize
you are seriously mentally ill and need help. I can get you that
help, Ian, if you’ll only let me go.”

“
When pigs fly,” he
replied, an icy, steely look in his eyes. “All those bitches
deserved what they got and you’re going to join my little
collection after I’ve finished with you.”

“
What
collection?”

Ian turned and walked over to the
cupboards over top of the workbench. He opened one of the doors and
took down what appeared to be a large wooden box, about the size of
a photo album.

He brought it over to the cell. He
smiled eerily and opened the lid for Katie to see inside. “These
are a few souvenirs of my conquests.”

Inside the box, neatly laid out in a
single line, each with its own nametag, were eight severed
tongues.

Chapter 48

The Daily Express Newsroom
5:25 PM

BRADEN YOUNG got the ball
rolling.

His conversation with the President
went well. He called in some favors the President owed when Young
worked in the States. He got the President’s promise that pressure
would be applied to the Pakistani government to have this Canadian
journalist released immediately. The President would personally
take care of it.

Now he was ready to turn his attention
back to the welfare of another of his reporters – Katie Cannon.
Detective Sergeant Peter Moon had arrived and joined him and Andrew
Chase in Young’s office.

“
There’s still no word
from Katie,” said Moon. “I think we have to assume she has been
abducted by the Wolfman. Don’t you have security cameras in your
parking garage? The tape might show us who abducted
her.”

Braden looked at Andrew who cast his
eyes down almost sheepishly at his feet. “I’m afraid not, Sergeant.
They were requested quite a while ago. But I’m afraid the cost has
been an issue for the newspaper. The installation has been
delayed.”

“
That’s too bad,” replied
Moon. “It might have made identification of our Wolfman a lot
simpler. The price for better security may be steep, but I think it
is essential for the welfare and overall safety of all your
employees.”

“
I’m afraid I must accept
responsibility for that, Sergeant Moon.” Andrew looked Moon
straight in the eyes. “Money has been tight lately and we haven’t
had any problems in the garage until now. But I’ll have security
cameras installed as soon as possible. Unfortunately that’s not
going to help Katie right now. What else can we do to
help?

“
Well, we need to try to
narrow down who among your many employees could be the Wolfman. Is
there any way of getting a list of those employees who finished
about the time Katie left to come to the police
station?”

“
That could be difficult,”
said Braden. “Our reporters come and go at all hours depending upon
what stories they’re working on and covering various events. Our
office and administrative staff have more regular hours – 9 to 5,
but I believe Katie left about 3 p.m. I believe some of our day
security and cleaning staff get off around then. I’ll call Human
Resources to get a list, shouldn’t take long.”