Utopian Day (14 page)

Do NOT attempt to rescue us without the assistance
of the FBI, as it will put us all in danger. Please go to the U.S.
Consular office here in George Town and have them contact the FBI
to let them know where we are and what our situation is.

Thank you for your help,

J.T. Thornbacker

When he was done, J.T. put the completed note back
under his mattress. He felt a twinge of guilt about what he was
planning to do, but he believed it was the right thing. Now that he
had help from the outside and could possibly get the FBI involved
in rescuing them, he had to take that chance. If he consulted with
James and Laura beforehand, they might actually alert Nick to his
plan in order to try and secure the money that Nick had promised
them. A million dollars was a big temptation. He just couldn’t take
that risk. That night, as he fell asleep, he felt that they finally
had a fighting chance.

Chapter Twenty-Three

J.T. finished putting on his tie as he faced the
mirror in his cabin. James and Laura were still up at breakfast per
what had quickly become the daily routine, while J.T. and Nick had
excused themselves to dress for their bank excursion. J.T. walked
over to his bunk and retrieved the note he had written, placing it
in his pocket before he exited the room. When he arrived on deck,
he was surprised to find Mia joining them as they prepared to board
the cigarette boat for the island.

Mia, who looked like a runway model, was Nick’s
enforcer. J.T. had once seen her take down three college football
players in a bar fight in college when Nick had gotten drunk and
insulted one of the player’s girlfriends. The three had come to
rough up Nick, but Mia intervened before they could get within two
yards of him. Mia came out without a scratch, while the other three
went to the infirmary. One of the players had to sit out the entire
season because of his injuries. Needless to say, she was not an
errand girl, and her presence on the boat back to the island was
not a good sign.

“
Why are you joining us today,
Mia?” J.T. tried to ask in as unassuming a way as possible, so as
not to betray his concern.

“
Oh, just a bit of business I need
her to take care of while we go to the bank,” Nick replied. He
smiled amiably at J.T., who didn’t feel any better after getting
the answer to his question.

Once on the mainland, Mia did not ride with them to
the bank, but instead headed off on foot in the opposite direction.
J.T. tried to retrieve the note with as little movement as
possible, attempting to disguise the maneuver in the process of
exiting the vehicle. He was relieved as they headed into the bank
without anyone appearing to have noticed.

Once they were in the bank, the two guards took up
their normal standing positions, flanking the leather couch. Nick
nodded at the receptionist – who by now knew that was her cue to
call Mr. Takata. J.T. tried to sit down on the couch in as casual a
manner as possible, and slipped the note between the cushion and
the arm rest as instructed. Mr. Takata arrived shortly, and they
completed their practiced transaction with a minimum of delay,
leaving the bank with their daily trove of cash and heading back to
the yacht – or so J.T. thought.

Once his blindfold was removed for the return trip,
he immediately noticed that Nick was not in the vehicle.

“
Where’s Nick?” he asked the
guards.

“
That does not concern you,” the
lead guard replied.

The guards were not big on conversation, J.T. had
discovered, and he was not likely to get anymore information from
either of them, so he contented himself with not knowing the answer
to his question as they boarded the boat. He had expected Mia to
join them, but the guards did not wait for her, and began the
journey back to the yacht without her.

Silas had watched J.T. and Nick enter the bank, then
exit again and drive away with their guards. Once they were safely
out of sight, he entered the bank, walked across the atrium which
served as the lobby, and sat down on the leather couch where J.T.
had placed the note. He slid his hand between the cushion and the
armrest, retrieving the expected note and putting it in his pocket.
He looked around to see if anyone was observing him, waited a few
more moments, and then stood up and walked back out of the bank. He
headed down the block and around the corner, where he had parked
the van out of sight of the bank entrance. The last thing he
remembered before blacking out was reaching for the driver’s side
door handle and feeling a hard blow to the back of his head.

When he woke up, the first thing he noticed besides
the sharp pain in the back of his head was that he was duct-taped
to a chair. Arms, legs, torso, and mouth were all duct-taped. After
struggling in vain for a few moments on the off chance that he
might be able to break free, he stopped and looked around. From his
surroundings, he surmised that he was in a basement. The chair, it
seemed, was bolted to the floor. About ten feet away, to Silas
dismay, lay an electric stun baton on a table. Silas began to
struggle against his bonds with renewed vigor, attempting to find a
weakness in his bonds.

He heard footsteps coming down the wooden staircase
located in the far corner of the room. When Nick Bartonovich came
into view, followed by the Asian woman he had seen in Nick’s home
just days before, Silas felt the blood drain from his face and he
began to sweat. This was definitely a worst-case scenario.

Nick had removed his coat and tie, and was carrying
what looked like a bottle of scotch and a glass with ice in it. He
crossed the room and pulled out a chair at the table, setting down
his glass and slowly pouring himself a drink. Mia stood in front of
Silas and stared at him with those same cold, steely eyes that he
remembered from the office visit – emotionless, penetrating, deadly
looking eyes.

Nick took a long, slow sip of scotch and put the
glass down on the table. He stared at Silas for some moments as if
considering what he was going to do next. At last, he spoke.

“
You know, Silas, I don’t like
disgruntled employees who try to take advantage of my generosity. I
cancelled a ten-thousand dollar debt of yours in exchange for a bit
of detective work on your part, and now here you are putting your
nose where it doesn’t belong, and attempting to spoil my
plans.”

“
I liked your little note, by the
way, very concise. A bit limited in the vocabulary, but that’s
understandable coming from someone with your educational
disadvantages. Now, I’m going to keep this simple for you. I want
you to go over every detail, starting from when you picked up the
banking contract from Mr. Takata to the point when you arrived here
today. If I don’t like your answers, then Mia here is going to help
persuade you to provide a better answer.”

He turned and nodded to Mia, who stepped forward and
unceremoniously tore the duct tape off of Silas’ mouth. Silas
quickly considered what his options were. If he told the complete
truth, Nick would know that he had acted on his own and likely had
no backup. He also needed to protect Marty if he could, and provide
some incentive for Nick to keep him alive. He decided to lie.

“
I saw J.T. Thornbacker’s name in
the bank contract you had me track down. When I heard he had
escaped from prison, it didn’t take a genius to figure out he would
be coming here to get the money. I contacted the police here in
George Town. After I told them what I thought was going on, I
arranged for them to let me work the case with them. I watched the
bank until I saw J.T. come in and I followed you afterwards. That’s
where I saw the blindfold and figured you were using him to get the
money.

“
Look,” he continued, “they’re
onto you. Tomorrow, they are going to pick you up and send you and
your little sweetheart here back to the States in nice little
orange jumpsuits. If you let me go and come in with me now, I’ll
speak to the judge to see if we can get you a reduced sentence for
the kidnapping charge.”

Nick sat back, slowly poured himself another drink,
and drank it down to the bottom.

“
What is the name of the detective
you are working with on the local police force?”

Silas felt sick to his stomach. He had no clue what
any of the local police officers’ names were, so he made one
up.

“
Detective Jameson.”

“
First name, please,” Nick
prompted.

“
Detective Andrew Jameson,” Silas
replied.

Nick took out his cell phone and dialed a number. He
nodded to Mia as he did. She deftly replaced the duct tape over
Silas’ mouth.

“
Hello, I need to know some
information. Do you have a Detective Andrew Jameson on the force
here in George Town? Hmmm. Thank you very much.” He smiled as he
disconnected the call.

“
Silas, I don’t think I like your
answer very much. You see, there is no Detective Jameson on the
local police force.”

Mia walked over to the table and picked up the
electric stun baton.

“
I’m afraid this is going to be a
very long afternoon for you,” Nick said, right before the electric
stun baton touched Silas and he felt a searing pain shoot through
his body.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The boat arrived at the yacht as usual, and one of
the commandos, along with J.T., disembarked. The remaining commando
immediately set off again in the cigarette boat, presumably toward
the island to pick up Nick and Mia. J.T. had an increasingly uneasy
feeling about the change in schedule, but as there was nothing he
could do about it at the moment, he went below to change out of his
suit and into something more comfortable for lunch.

At lunch, Laura and James asked about Mia and Nick.
J.T. told them what he knew, which wasn’t much, and they all
continued to wonder what errand they might be on. Laura went to
work on her tan after the meal, while James asked J.T. if he wanted
to do some fishing. J.T. and James made their way to the far end of
the yacht where the fishing equipment was kept.

The guards typically stood farther away whenever
they were fishing, so as not to get impaled with a fishhook during
casting. James was counting on them keeping a respectful distance
so he could talk to J.T. privately.

“
O.k., I heard what you said
during lunch, but now that we have a bit more privacy, is there
anything else out of the ordinary that happened on your trip
today?” James asked in a whisper.

J.T. hated to lie to James. He was trying to live
more honestly since embracing the program at Utopia, but he had
decided he wouldn’t reveal anything about the offer of help from
the anonymous do-gooder until he had to. He couldn’t risk either
James or Laura saying something that might compromise their only
shot at rescue.

“
Everything went as smooth as
possible at the bank – same as the other days,” J.T. replied
half-heartedly. He put some bait on one of the hooks and cast a
line into the water.

James baited his own hook and proceeded to cast his
line. They continued to fish for another half an hour before the
sound of another boat could be heard approaching the yacht. Both
James and J.T. looked off in the direction of the oncoming boat to
see if their hosts were returning. The familiar cigarette boat came
into view and docked at the side of the yacht.

When Nick got off the boat, he addressed the lead
commando.

“
Victor, bring everyone to the
upper deck.”

Victor spoke into his radio headset and the guards
began herding J.T., James, and Laura to the upper deck. Once
everyone was assembled on the upper deck, Nick turned to face the
three captives.

“
I have some rather unfortunate
news. It seems that J.T. here has decided to try and organize a
little rescue.”

Laura turned to J.T., her eyes glaring.

“
You said you wouldn’t do that,
you bastard!”

“
What have you done, J.T.?” James
added, his face reflecting the fear he was feeling as the possible
repercussions raced through his mind.

Nick addressed Victor, “Tie their hands to the
railing.”

“
Nick, they didn’t know anything
about what I did. It’s not their fault! I’m the one you should be
taking it out on, not them!” J.T. petitioned.

James thought about his chances as he saw the
commandos approaching and noted that one of them had his Taser
drawn. Laura saw the Taser as well.

“
We can do this the easy way or
the hard way,” the commando stated.

J.T. didn’t fight as they used the plastic
restraints to lash his hands to the upper rail that ran around the
side of the ship. James and Laura submitted as well, deciding that
resistance was futile against the six well-armed commandos.

“
What are you going to do to us?”
J.T. asked.

“
You see, old boy, I think it will
be much more effective if I punish… her, instead,” Nick
replied.

“
No!” James shouted, “You stay
away from her!”

“
Mia?” Nick said. Mia came from
the back of the group, carrying a telescoping electric stun baton
at the ready.

“
No!” Laura shouted. “Please, God,
no!”

“
Leave her alone! Punish me, not
her! She had nothing to do with it!” J.T. protested.

Mia touched the end of the baton to Laura’s bare
thigh and she let out a scream, then started crying. James
struggled against his restraints, willing to take his chances with
the guards if he could get one good swing at Mia first, but they
wouldn’t budge.