Chapter Seventy-One
Sunday October 24, 2032
In spite of all the splendor surrounding them at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington D.C., it might as well have been a Budget Inn since the men were so distressed by what was happening. Wesley Williams had not slept for a single moment since the prior day because he was so frantic with worry, while Thomas Peterson had marshaled his abundant resources in response to the shocking news of the kidnapping.
As Wesley gazed nervously out the ninth-floor window, looking over the federal buildings and monuments beneath, Peterson was wrapping up a call with his assistant. He gestured for Wesley to come closer then spoke into the phone, “How long since he worked for her? And that was after being there for how long? All right. No, Dylan, that’s about all I need for now. Good work. I’ll be in touch.”
He hung up the phone and said to Wesley, “He worked for Dinah Cranston.”
Wesley’s face turned even more pale, and he said, “Who? This Kully person? He worked for Cranston? When? Doing what?”
“Some kind of aide or something,” said Peterson. “Dylan found out he was on her staff for a couple of years, but she let him go because of some kind of incident in her office. He’s been in trouble with the law a few times for stalking, online harassment. The guy sounds like a full-blown nutcase.”
Wesley sat down, staring blankly ahead and said quietly, “Jesus Christ, do you think she’s involved in this?”
“Look, it’s way too early to jump to conclusions. From what Dylan found out, this guy hasn’t been on her payroll for a year. Cranston even filed for a restraining order against the guy. It could be just a coincidence, but something just doesn’t add up here.”
Wesley Williams sat stiff necked holding his thousand-yard stare and said quietly, “It was him. He was the one. There’s no other explanation. He was the shooter.”
“You don’t know that for a certainty.”
“Yeah, I do, Thomas,” he answered, snapping out of his trance. “He said it plain as day - ‘I won’t miss this time’ - that can only mean one thing. He’s the one who killed Tobias, and now he’s got my family! We need to call the police!”
“I keep telling you, my men are going to get in there and take this guy out. Wes, you’ve got to believe me on this. If we get a bunch of local cops out there to try to find your family, it’s just too risky. Way out in the boondocks, those guys have probably never dealt with anything worse than some hippie growing an acre of weed. Colonel Miller and his team are the way to go, believe me.”
Wesley stood up and began pacing again. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m the reason they’re in trouble. If I hadn't left them behind, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Wesley, stop. Just stop. If you had been there, he would have probably shot you dead on the spot. Don’t you understand? This guy doesn’t want your family. He wants you. And my men are already on their way north to your cabin so they can get this guy. Thank God your girl is sharp enough to let us know who we’re dealing with. That gives us a huge leg up.”
The thought of Virginia being captured by some unknown maniac made Wesley think he might throw up again, so he moved a few steps closer to the bathroom door. He took a few deep breaths and said, “Look, I can’t take chances with this guy. Maybe the best thing to do is just to do what he said. I’ll just drop out. If I drop out, he’ll let them go. There’s no election that’s worth my family.”
Peterson walked over to Wiliams, and he looked at him with an intensity that Wesley had never seen before. The two men stood only a few inches from each other in total silence, then Peterson said with a steady, measured tone, “Wes, I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but I do know what it’s like to feel scared and to feel helpless, believe me, I know. My goal is exactly the same as yours. We’re going to get your family safe, and we’re going to get this guy behind bars. The wrong thing to do right now is to give up. You’re not going to quit. You’re not going to quit your race, and we’re not going to quit on your family. We’re going to get this bastard. Right?”
Williams felt a strange sense of shame come over him and he looked at the carpeted floor. After a few moments, he said quietly, “I can’t lose my family.”
“You’re not losing anybody, Wes,” said Peterson. “Rule number one is not to negotiate with terrorists. My guys are pros. This guy, Kully, he’s an amateur, and they’re going to nail his sorry ass to a tree.”
It was rare for Dinah Cranston to be in the Russell Building on a Sunday afternoon, and rarer still for any staff members to be with her, but the election was less than two weeks away and the Select Committee had consumed an inordinate amount of her precious time. As she was hunched over a stack of fresh polling data that one of her staff members was organizing, her phone vibrated from its charging stand.
Looking up at her work, the staffer asked, “You want me to grab that for you?”
Cranston glanced across the room to see if she could make out the caller on the screen, but it was too far away. As the phone kept buzzing, she stood up and got closer to see that the name ELIZABETH WILLIAMS was on the screen.
“Amy, do you have any idea who Elizabeth Williams is?” asked the Senator.
“Is that who’s calling? I think that’s your opponent’s wife!”
As the phone kept buzzing, Cranston said under her breath, “How did she manage to get………” Turning toward her staff member, she said, “Amy, could I get a minute?”
Standing up, her aide moved quickly out of the office and closed the solid wood door behind her. As the phone kept vibrating, Cranston was surprised at the caller’s patience as she picked it up and said, “Hello?”
“Dinah! How are you?” came a man’s voice on the other end.
Although she instantly recognized the man’s voice, she felt very confused. “Excuse me, do you have the correct number?”
“Come on, Dinah. It’s me! Robert! How are you?”
A shiver went through Cranston’s flesh, as the utter annoyance of hearing from this pest again was amplified by the fact he was someone spoofing the telephone of a candidate’s wife. “Bob, I asked you not to call me. Whose phone are you using?”
“Yeah, you blocked me, I know. I figured if I wanted to reach you, I had to try an alternative. Listen, I won’t take much of your time. I just wanted to give you some great news!”
“You found a new job?” asked Cranston, hopefully.
“No, even better. I’m virtually guaranteed to get my old one back! Listen, Dinah, I know the polls are looking kind of iffy right now, but I am calling you to tell you that you’re going to win this thing. Guaranteed. And guess who you’ll have to thank for it?”
Cranston silently promised herself not to answer any more calls until after the election, but she knew she couldn’t get away from this one, so she said, “I have no idea, Bob. You?”
“Right! Me! I know things didn’t work out at the park, but I’ve got it all figured out this time. You’ll see!”
Dinah Cranston’s eyes widened as she ruminated on the words she just heard. “Bob, what do you mean the park? What park? Are you talking about Golden Gate Park?”
“I know it’s probably a touchy subject, so forget about it. I just want you to promise me that if you win this thing, you’ll think of me, because I’m really going to bat for you this time. You know as well as I do that, we’ve got a special bond, and I want to get back into action for the next six years. Sound good?”
Dinah Cranston peeled the phone away from her face and pressed the End button. A moment later, she held down the power key long enough to turn off the phone altogether. For perhaps the first time in her life, Dinah Cranston had absolutely no idea what to do next.
Robert Kully sat in a portable lounge chair made of aluminum and nylon about fifty feet from where his three captives were tethered to trees. He had been spending most of his time scrolling through his phone, although he would occasionally have to untie one of his prisoners briefly so they could urinate or have a sip of water. It occurred to him that he didn’t have nearly enough food for the four of them, but if Wesley Williams would only agree to his demand, they could all get out of there.
Virginia Williams had tried her best to be brave through the ordeal, but the discomfort and fear overwhelmed her, and she began crying, trying hard not to be too loud since she had no idea how the man holding them hostage would react. Elizabeth, already wracked with guilt that they were in this horrible predicament, tried vainly to offer her some comfort.
“Honey, please don’t cry,” said her mother.
“I can’t help it,” replied Virginia through the tears. “I’m cold, my legs hurt, I’m hungry, and I’m scared.” Kully heard them talking and glanced up briefly, but after a few moments his eyes returned to his phone’s screen.
Her brother turned toward her and said with a smile, “Virginia, you shouldn’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“Shut up, Stewie. Leave me alone.”
“He’s only trying to help, honey,” said her mother.
Stewart seemed unfazed by his sister’s response. “You need to listen to me. I’ve seen this place before. I remember.”
“What are you talking about?” asked his sister testily.
“This forest. I remember all of this. Someone is coming to help us. You’ll see.”
His mother was touched by her son’s efforts to help, but she said, “Stewart, I think we had better just be quiet and stay calm. Shhhhhh.”
“You don’t believe me, but it’s true,” the boy replied. “We’re going to be all right. You’ll see.”
Her little brother’s voice had a confidence that surprised Virginia, and she was surprised that his ridiculous pronouncement seemed to give her some comfort. The tears stopped, and she looked over at him to see if he was just teasing her, but his face seemed sincere as he repeated, “We’re going to be all right, Virginia. You’ll see.”
In an instant, and for the first time all day, Virginia finally felt some hope.
As they quietly approached the cabin, Colonel Miller and his three men did not expect to find any occupants, since the location of their target was about seven miles away. Nonetheless, their weapons were drawn as they fanned out around the cabin, with only the sounds of the nearby Sacramento River and a few tree-dwelling birds.
As one of the men got close to a window, he saw something moving swiftly inside the house, so he trained his rifle on the apparent motion. As the occupant of the house leaped up and pressed his paws against the window, he was joined by two other canine companions, and all three of them were jumping and barking at the strangers outside as the relieved soldier lowered his weapon.
“Nothing but dogs inside, Colonel,” he said. Can you check the door?
Colonel Miller went to turn the knob, and after shoving on the door a couple of times, he was able to push it open, which immediately resulted in three dogs bolting past him, desperate for the nearest tree. After they relieved themselves, they began to scamper around the cabin, greeting and sniffing the men as the soldiers gave them friendly swats as they passed by or scratched their ears.
Miller pulled out his phone and called the number he had been given for Wesley Williams. After a couple of rings, Wesley picked up and said, ‘Colonel Miller?”
“Yes, sir. We’re at the cabin. There’s nothing unusual here. There are no apparent weapons or people. Nothing but an empty passenger vehicle and the three dogs you said might be here.”
“Are they OK?”
Miller couldn’t help but crack a small smile as he playfully grabbed the tail of the biggest dog and said, “They seem fine, sir. They were dying to get outdoors, but all three of them look to be in good shape.”
“All right, good,” said Wesley. “You should head over to the location we sent you. I haven’t been able to get an updated signal, but that’s the best information we’ve got. Please, Colonel, I’m begging, be careful. Be very, very careful.”
“That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about, Mr. Williams,” said Miller.
A tone emitted into Wesley Williams’ ear, and he glanced at the phone and saw there was a call incoming from his daughter again. He immediately pressed a button to accept the call, and he instinctively answered, “Honey?”
A man let out a quick guffaw on the other end of the line then said, “No, this isn’t honey, this is the man who has your family. I’m disappointed I haven’t seen any news about you withdrawing from the race. What’s the holdup? You do care about your family don’t you, Mr. Williams?”
Wesley’s face went red with a simmering rage, and he said, “If you hurt anyone in my family, I’m going to slice your throat from ear to ear. You hear me?”
“You’re not really in a position to be laying down threats, Mr. Williams. I’m the one with your wife and kids. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. So, what’s it going to be then, eh? Are you going to wise up and bow out?”
Wesley paused for a few moments and offered, “I’m thinking about it.”
“Well, don’t think too long,” said Kully. “You’ve got until the end of the day. After that, I’m going to do all your thinking for you.”
The President’s chief of staff, George Reid, was having lunch in his office and looking over a stack of reports when he heard a few knocks on his open door.
Looking up, he saw his boss and said, “Mr. President, this is a surprise! What can I do for you?”
George Wright closed the door behind him and sat in the chair in front of Reid’s desk. “I was wondering if you had any hard numbers from my speech Friday night. What’s the reaction been like?”
Pushing aside a couple of the stacks of paper on his desk, Reid answered, “That’s part of what I was doing today. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. There’s more bad than good, from what I can tell.”
Wright’s forehead crinkled and the President said, “How can that be? This is good news. We’re taking a potentially lethal situation here and are turning it into a political win for the country. What’s not to like?”
“You and I agree on that, sir, but a lot of the public just doesn’t seem to get it. The perception seems to be that we’re giving away a lot for very little in return. I think some better messaging could help bridge the gap.”
Wright leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. “I don’t know what the hell they think I’m supposed to do,” he said. “I feel like I’m fighting a multifront war here. I’ve got this damned committee in the Senate and then this Taiwan situation with China. Would the people in those reports of yours prefer we start a war?”
“Mr. President, these are just quick takes. Sometimes it takes a little while for the public to see the rationale behind an action, particularly a controversial one. My suggestion is we stay on message, tough it out and remain in close contact with our counterparts in China. Once we get this election past us, I think you’re going to feel a lot more at ease with the situation and the opportunity to speak your mind.”
“What difference will the election make, George?” asked Wright. “These problems are still going to be right in front of us, and I’ve got an ungrateful public that doesn’t appreciate how complex this situation is.”
“After the first week of November sir, the gloves can come off. It won’t be long.”
Wright stood up and started for the door. “And what happens when the gloves come off?”
“That’s a bridge we’ll have to cross when we get to it, Mr. President.”
Colonel Miller and his squad of four men had parked their vehicle half a mile from the last known location they had been given, and after carefully making their way through the pine forest toward their target, they saw what appeared to be a small campground with a smoldering fire. Miller lifted his binoculars to scan the scene, and he saw a woman and two young children tied to some large conifers near the fire pit.
Miller gestured to his men, indicating to each of them the positions he wanted them to take. The forest was crowded with large old-growth trees and an abundance of large boulders, any one of which provided excellent cover so the men could get close to the camp with little likelihood of being seen or heard.
The colonel looked at a broad sweep of the area with the binoculars again and saw an adult male figure squatting about a hundred feet from where the captives were tied up. For a moment, Miller thought the squatting man might be aiming a weapon at him, but he quickly realized he was, like the proverbial bear, taking a shit in the woods. There was little doubt that this was the Bob Kully that he and his men had been assigned to apprehend, so Miller quietly placed his binoculars and rifle on the ground, removed his gun holster, and quickly hustled his way over to the campsite.
As he drew close enough to be visible by the others, Elizabeth Willliams took on an alarmed expression, but Miller swiftly gestured with his index finger to his lips to be quiet. The mother and her children instinctively sensed that he was not there by accident, but to be on the safe side, Virginia looked over at her brother and silently mouthed the words, “Be Quiet” to which he whispered, “I told you he was coming.”
Miller pulled a large, serrated knife from its sheath and swiftly made his way behind each of the captives. As he was doing so, he quietly said, “The three of you need to stay calm. I’m going to cut this rope but keep your hands behind your backs and pretend you’re still tied up until I tell you to go to the other side of the tree. Understand?”
The three of them swiftly nodded their heads in agreement, and Miller shoved the knife back into its holder and turned around to the direction Kully would be approaching.
The rhythmic crunching of leaves in the distance indicated that the family’s captor had finished with his task, and Colonel Miller stood impassively, deliberately waiting to be noticed. Robert Kully was lazily staring at the forest floor as he plodded along, but when he walked past the large Igloo container, he happened to glance up and saw the intruder now at his campsite.
Kully instantly reached behind himself to snatch the handgun from his waistband, but there was nothing there, since he had put the weapon next to his kerosene lamp when he went off to relieve himself. Being unarmed at such a time made him instantly furious, and he shouted, “Who the fuck are you?”
Miller held both his hands up, surrendering to absolutely nothing, and said, “Hey, there, buddy, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just out for a hike and saw these poor people,” pointing to the trio tied to the trees. “What gives?”
“Get the hell out of here! This doesn’t concern you!” He took a broad, swift step and snatched up his gun, pivoting around and pointing it at Miller. “Go! Now!”
With his hands still in the air, Miller’s face took on a quizzical expression. “Wait a sec! I know you! From back in high school! Kully, right? Robert Kully? Oh my God, it’s been years! What are you doing out here, man? And why are those people tied up?”
Miller turned his head toward the three of them and said, “Behind the trees!” which instantly compelled Elizabeth, Virginia, and Stewart to rush to the other side of each of the massive trunks.
As he witnessed his three prisoners effectively vanish from sight, Kully’s face turned into a combination of fear and confusion. He extended his arms as straight as he could, rigidly holding the weapon out in front of him and aiming it steadily toward Miller’s head.
With a ragged voice, Kully screamed, "What the hell are you doing, man? You’re fucking everything up! Listen, you’ve got just three seconds to get out of here before I blow your face off. One…………two……….”
The sharpshooter’s bullet hit the muzzle of the handgun at a perfect perpendicular angle, and the weapon flew off into the woods as Kully yelled in pain. Gripping his hands together, he hunched over and screamed, “Fuck!” as the four soldiers instantly emerged from their positions and leveled their rifles at him.
As the four men were steadily marching toward Kully, Elizabeth Williams peered from behind the safety of her tree and saw he was disarmed. She instantly rushed toward him, grabbed his neck with her right hand, and slammed the back of his skull against the tree behind him. “They should blow your head off right here, you bastard!” she screamed at him through tears.
As his men were just a few feet away and the mother had Kully pinned hard against the cedar, Colonel Miller walked toward him with a smile and, lifting the man’s chin up with his hand so they could see eye to eye, said, “It’s a good thing you just took a shit in the woods, because otherwise I bet you’d have to changes your undies right about now.”