When Desperation Meets Opportunity Chapters 22 and 23 — A #NaNoWriMo 2015 Story

Chapter 22 — Maggie

“Soon baby, I’ll be seeing you soon. Okay. I’m going to give you a great big hug, and we’ll get some McDonalds okay?” Hold it together Maggie, be strong for Brayden.

Brayden pipes back, “Yay Mommy! I miss you. Love you.”

“Love you too!” and with that, he is gone again. I feel so close to him now. Then, all of a sudden, Jim bursts into the bedroom.

“We have a problem. They saw me.” He pants frantically. “On the news. They have security camera footage. I’m in it. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that!” He is freaking out now, and so am I. If he gets caught, he can’t complete his tasks and I won’t have the chance to turn him into Lance.

“What are we going to do?! Do you have a plan?” I practically scream at him, still emotional over talking to Brayden. This certainly didn’t help to calm me down.

“Do you really think I have any idea what to do? Hide in a hole? Run away? They didn’t seem to know my name yet but they will soon. My friend Jake will be over any minute now and he can help.” Jim seems confident in his friend, so at this point I have no choice but to trust that. My hope is that getting him involved doesn’t screw things up.

The tension is the room is thick. Jim is completely uncertain to our next step, which is a bit of a surprise. He always knew his decisions and stuck with them, never seeming to waver. Even if it meant abandoning a pregnant girlfriend. This moment is paused when Jim’s phone starts ringing.

“It’s him” he says and answers it. “Hello.” Nothing I hate worse than only hearing one side of a conversation. However, I’m too concerned now to leave the room. I’ll just have to wait it out.

“Why should I do this? If I’m being chased by the police and hunted down, the money is no good to me. They have my face. They will know it is me!” he shouts.

“Then what do I do when I get there?”

“Fine. I’ll be leaving soon. And how will I get the last of my money? It probably isn’t safe to have it sent to my apartment.”

“That will work.” Jim appears to end the call. “Okay Maggie, we are going to need to get on the road soon. Just as soon as Jake gets here. And one more thing — he said he would send my money to your place. I’m going to need to get away for a while.” It kills me to know what I know right now. I just want to tell Jim right now what the plan is. But I can’t. I can’t risk any changes that might stop me from getting Brayden back safely. Not until I can think of something better.

“Okay Jim. I can drive if you can navigate. This traffic is crazy. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I don’t think I ever want to come back to this city.” I don’t really have things to pack, but we both head out of the room and sit on the couch to wait for Jake. The news is still on, but it doesn’t appear what Jim did is top billing it. However, it might be as soon as they have a name. Hopefully his friend doesn’t take too long.

“Maggie, do you think that, maybe, spending some time with you up in Stetford might give us a chance to try again? I don’t deserve that, but I’m asking if you would consider it.” It hurts to lie, even though it shouldn’t to this man.

“You’ve hurt me, but we can both agree that this would be what is best for Brayden. In time, perhaps we could figure it out. We’d have a lot of work to do, but I’m willing to try.” With that, he smiles, and stands up in front of where I sit on the couch. He leans over for a hug, and I embrace him back. It feels nice to be close. It actually feels better than when I was hugging Rodger. I’m not sure how long we were locked together when we hear a knock at the door. Jim pulls away slowly, staring intently in my eyes, and into my mind. The mind that is figuring out how to betray his trust.

He opens the door to reveal another young, gangly looking guy. This must be Jake. Jim walks him over to the computer, and introduces him along the way.

“Maggie, this is Jake, and Jake, that is Maggie.”

“Hey Maggie!” Jake says, way too excitedly, giving Jim a funny look and twitching his eyebrows to insinuate that something is going on between us. If he only knew the half of it.

“Hi Jake.”

“Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way. Jake — ” He stops himself, and double checks to make sure our cellphones are all still in the bedroom. They are. “Jake, we now know this guy’s name. It is Lance Jacobs. Do you think that will help in solving the binary?”

Jake is practically jumping. “This is huge, man! If there are any entries in there that list him, we’ll find it. That will give us something we can use. It could give us evidence of any illegal activities and potentially reveal an address. I’ll get right to work.” He begins performing some kind of surgery to Jim’s laptop at this point. Not sure how that is supposed to help, but I assume he is the computer expert.

Jim and I take turns using the bathroom. After I go, and Jim is indisposed, I walk over to Jake and whisper to him.

“Jake, I need you to trust me with something. Can you do that.” He nods, his face full of speculation of what I might say. “Give me your phone number. When the time comes, I’m going to send you an address with the make, model, and license plate of a vehicle. You will need to call the police immediately when I do this. Can you make this happen?” This might be the only play I have to get Jim back safely and Brayden.

“But, what is this about? I can’t just call the police if I don’t have any proof. Can you give me any more details?”

“No. I’m sorry. You have to trust me. For Jim’s sake. If you don’t have any proof by the time you get this message, then we both know what that means” It doesn’t look like he does, but when Jim emerges from the bathroom, ready to roll, Jake keeps his mouth quiet.

“You two have fun now, but not too much!” We wave and head out the door. I have a feeling that this may be the last time I step foot in this apartment.

Chapter 23 — Jim

I would prefer to be driving right now, but Maggie was adamant about being in control of her own car. Plus, she made a compelling case that if we get stopped by police, I probably shouldn’t be in the driver’s seat, in case they figure out my identity soon. That was the most compelling point and what led me to concede any of my concerns. That being said, helping her navigate out of downtown Chicago is quite an experience. I’ve never felt so close to getting into an accident in my life. Of course, that is something we can’t risk, which goes back to the argument about who would drive. In any case, we’re just about out of town now. Thankfully, we’ve avoided the major morning rush.

“So now that we’ve survived that ordeal, can you direct me to where I’m supposed to drive?” Maggie asks, relieved to be on the expressway, but still looking nervous. I can’t imagine she’s seen too many cars flying past her like this up in Wisconsin. In fact, since I don’t even have a car down here, it isn’t something I’d be all that comfortable with either.

“I plugged the directions in my phone. We are headed to Buffalo Grove on the way to Vernon Hills. I’ll let the phone do the talking.” It shouldn’t be more than a half hour to our first destination, and the final spot is just a touch up the road from there. I’m nervous for what I might be doing, but also relieved to be finished. The only thing hanging over my head now is the fact that soon, the police will know my name and be looking for me. Hopefully Jake has the presence of mind to not get himself in trouble while he is in my apartment.

“What is the plan Jim? I mean really, you are a wanted criminal now. What do you plan to do?” She asks a great question. I haven’t thought much about this yet. It just seems like seconds ago that I saw my shadowy figure on the news. Of course, I knew it was me. But it might take a long time for others. How much though, I have no idea.

“You raise a great point, Maggie. I suppose I can’t really claim innocence. If they can prove that is me, I’m pretty much screwed. Essentially, and maybe this is because I’ve watched too many movies, I think I’d have to leave the country.” It seems so simplistic and too much like a movie to think about leaving the country. But, the more I think about what I just said, the more I realize that might be the only way to avoid capture. “What do you think, Maggie? We can run off with Brayden, take our two million dollars, and try and forge a new life. What do you say?”

She just stares straight ahead. I can tell she’s thinking about this, but cannot tell which direction she’s leaning. “Jim, you are asking an awful lot of me, an awful lot of Brayden, and are expecting me to give you the kind of trust you destroyed four years ago.” That isn’t a great start. “But, we don’t have a lot of options. I’d be happy to run away from all of this. Nothing but horrible memories await me back in Stetford. It’d be better to run off with you than alone.” I’ll take it.

“So it is a plan. After you finish up your fifth task, we can make sure we get paid up, and take off. By the way, I noticed Mr. Man”, I will use that name since we both have our phones on us, “called you last night. Any chance you can tell me what that is about? Has he given you your fifth task yet?”

“No, just an update on Brayden since it had been a while since we had last spoken. Thankfully, he’s been good about that. I’ve been able to talk to my son almost every day. It is only one percent as good as being with Brayden, but given the circumstances, I will take it.” Fair enough. I wonder if she isn’t hiding something from me. After all, she has clearly stated that she doesn’t yet trust me. But with both of us in the same boat, I’d have to imagine she’d keep me up to date on any changes, so I’ll just assume her task is coming soon. It will be a challenge to lay low until then in this area, but perhaps it is coming soon.

We arrive upon our destination. I pop out of the car and search the nearest mailboxes. As expected, inside the mailbox for the address 730 Pekara Drive, I find a small device in the shape of a box. On the outside is a simple key ignition. On the back is some adhesive. It looks like I would simply stick this on the power box, turn the key, and run. He mentioned while I was on the phone that I’d have a little bit of time to get out of the way. The device is a small explosive, but the greater damage is caused by a micro electromagnetic pulse that will wipe out the electronics on about an acre of land. We don’t have to get too far away, but if we don’t move fast, our car will be as dead as the building.

I check my email for the address that Lance sent. It isn’t too far to the plant. Less than 15 minutes. I put in the new directions, and Maggie keeps driving.

“What is that thing?”

“Some sort of bomb. Don’t worry — it isn’t a big boom type of bomb. It will take down the electronics at the place we are headed next. Then, the business that Mr. Man was trying to take down will be, for all intents and purposes, down. Not sure what else he will ask of you.”

“We’ll see” she responds. “All I care about it that whatever he asks results in getting my son back.”

“Agreed. I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.” I mean it too. Maybe I’ve grown up over the past four years, or maybe it is because of the situation, but I want to be there for Maggie and Brayden. I really think we could make this work.

It isn’t long, and we are arriving at the plant. This will be dicey. We park on the road, and it looks like nearly fifty yards to the building. Add on the fact that I will need to walk around the building to find the electrical box makes this even trickier. If only I could have waited until. But, the longer I wait, the better chance the police have of identifying me in that security cam footage, and then we are absolutely out of time.

“Keep the car running and in drive. This will be a fast getaway.” Maggie nods and looks around nervously.

I jump out, box in hand, and casually walk up the sidewalk to the building. This complex is pretty large, with the building itself being fairly non-descript with few windows. That is to my advantage. As I get up near the front entrance, I slowly vear to the left, and crouch, keeping myself low in case there are any windows. I creep around the left side of the building and turn the corner. There it is — the power supply box. One shot is all I get with this, so I need to make this count. I’m not sure how much time I have before this thing goes off, but I’m ready to sprint as soon as I turn the key.

I saunter up to the box, take off the protective backing on the adhesive, and place the charge right on the electrical box.