41. A Fate-ful revelation
After more than a week of being restricted, to the inside of this palatial home, Payne had become alittle testy. Dycke was sure someone would find his head somewhere in the building, after he played a practical joke on her that she did not quite appreciate. She verbally tore his head off one afternoon, and then she ran up to her room crying. She bolted both doors and stayed there. She would not speak anyone, not even her parents, who tried to console her.
Dycke felt that this was the best time to speak to Marti about what was on his mind. He went to her and waited for her to acknowledge his presence, while she was on her computer. He stood there for a few minutes, and while he was waiting. He wondered if this was such a great idea. He started to turn and leave, when Marti said to him, "Hello, Dycke. We should go outside for a walk and you can tell me what has been worrying you for the past week."
Dycke looked at her, as if she had two heads. He wondered where she had hidden her crystal ball, because she always seemed to know what was going on everywhere and in everyone's mind. He said Marti, "Okay, but it is not going to be a thirteen mile walk."
Marti took him out through the tunnel and out the back of the garage to a gazebo that was located by a man-made lake, in the center of the property. Once they sat down, Marti said, "What has been on your mind, Dycke? Almost everyone has noticed."
"By everyone, do you mean, Fiona, also?"
"Yes Dycke, even Fiona has taken notice of your change of attitude. What is going on that you had to come to me, rather than speak to Fiona, who treats you like her younger brother, rather than a client?"
"Marti, what I am about to tell you, cannot go past you. This is a private conversation between us."
"Okay Dycke, it stays with me."
"The day prior to Payne having her face unmasked, I had this terrible premonition. I have had the same feeling, several times more, during the past week. I knew deep down in my soul, that Payne was going to be the most beautiful woman I had ever known. I also knew, in that same instant, that she was going to leave me. It will not happen now, but it has already started.
Today, it was because of a practical joke, which she normally loves. She will start school soon and when her schoolmates see her and the shock wears off, they will flock to her like bees to pollen. Those she selects to be her friends will idolize her. Those she chooses to alienate will become depressed because of what they did to her. She will stay with me to show off what she has, and what she can have because of her attachment to me. She will be the envy of everyone in school.
I am afraid that when she gets to Duke, that is when everything will fall apart, for us. She will no longer be the big fish in a small pond. There will be girls there almost as beautiful as she is, and she will not be as secure as she was in high school. The people at Duke will be better looking and many upper classmen are going to be attracted to her.
Even though we will be living together in a house, off campus, my worst fear is she will meet someone else, that she will start coming in late, hiding things from me, and eventually want to break up with me. She will not tell me the real reason for breaking up with me, the spare my feelings. From that moment on, however, I would not want to see her, again. I will be devastated. I will not know in what direction I should point my life. I will be nineteen years old, and feel like my life is over. This is why I asked talk to you, instead of Fiona. I would be crying now, if she was here, and she would be holding me, as my mother would be. I need advice from someone more detached from me, to give me a more dispassionate point of view. Payne will not tell me the real reason for breaking up with me, to spare my feelings. However, from that moment, I will not want to see her, again. I will be devastated. I will not know in what direction I should point my life. I will be nineteen years old, and feel like my life is over. This is why I asked to talk to you, instead of Fiona. I would be crying now, if she was here, and she would be holding me, as my mother would be. I needed advice from someone more detached from me, to give me a more dispassionate point of view. Please, Marti, help me, if you can."
Marti sat there for amoment, digesting everything Dycke had just told her. He had no evidence of infidelity. Everything he told her was from a gut feeling; could she prepare him for such a loss? Payne and he had met on under ridiculous circumstances and fallen in love, at first sight. They had taken each other's "virginity," and as Dycke told her, if there was anything that was a 'first', they had done it together.
"Dycke, you have presented me with a very tall order and I'm going to give you the first thing that has come into my mind. ' Do not attend Duke.' Tell Payne that the track coach from UNC contacted you and begged you to reconsider your decision to go to Duke and join his team at UNC. He understands your relationship with Payne. However, your majors are different. Your schedules will be different, and you will start training for track competition, during the summer. He said that he could make sure that your academic schedule was more flexible than Duke would make for you. You will be able to spend more time with her, between the adjustments of the schedule and your training regiments. Marti continued with her plan and it sounded better to Dycke every moment she continued."
When she stopped, there was deadness in the air that called for someone to say something.
Finally, Dycke said something that was unintelligible.
Marti asked him to say it again.
Dycke said, "No!"
Marti demanded, "Say it out loud."
"Fuck her. I will do it!"
Marti said, "Good! Now you have to remember:
First. She has done nothing wrong, yet.
Second. You must not change the way you speak, act, or treat her.
Third. You must continue to love her, as intensely as you do now.
Fourth. You must treat her parents the same way you have been treating them.
Fifth. Finally, if you screw up any of these, she may stay with you for all the wrong reasons. Then, you will wind up in a marriage, where you will both wind up hating each other. If this is going to happen, as you feel it is, let it happen before you get married, and before you have children. Do not let them be caught in a loveless marriage or worse in a single parent home."
42. The Threat is real
An FBI agent, dressed as a cable technician, entered the main house on Tuesday afternoon. Marti and Fiona were expecting him, so there was no uproar when he walked in. Everyone sat down at the dining room table to hear what he had to say. He introduced himself as George Smith, and immediately, all who had assembled at the table, started laughing. He looked at them and said, "No, really, my name is George Smith. Only the CIA plays those name games." After the chuckling quieted down, Marti asked him what he had found out for them.
George said, "You have attracted a very elite group. All they do is kidnap for money. We have been able to track fifteen kidnappings to them, and we suspect them for six more, all in Europe and Asia. This is their first foray, into the United States. In total, they have collected over three hundred million dollars in ransom. If it were I, I would have retired. However, in the last three years, they have picked up their pace, and are averaging three successful kidnappings a year. They always go after high-value targets, and they always ask for twenty million dollars or more. They get it, because they have not hurt any person they have kidnapped, when the ransom is paid, promptly. The two that were not paid were never found and believed dead."
"Do you have any clue as to who they are?" Marti asked.
"We do now, because they are going after your boy. However, before that, they will like ghosts. Now we know that they are Russian expatriates, living in Switzerland. That is how they are able to hide all that cash. We found out that they were coming after Dycke, only after the fact. When we were invited into this case, we were able to backtrack it through the FAA systems, and then through your business systems in Antwerp. As soon as we got into the European Union, Interpol got involved, and they were able to ferret out bugs in the underground cables serving some of Mr. Schneider's businesses. The bugs gave us computer addresses that led us to their team's computer whiz. He is now under twenty four/seven surveillance. He cannot burp, without us hearing it, and he cannot shit, without us seeing it. They bugged his computer and all the computers at an Internet café, a few blocks from his apartment. If he tries to use it to send coded transmissions, we have it covered."
Marti interrupted him, saying, "This is all very interesting stuff, George. However, when are they going to try and nab Dycke?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I often find myself telling the story of how we wind up catching the bad guys. They are, already, in place. They are waiting for you to get bored here and return home. They will find out when your plane takes off and the approximate time of landing at Charleston. They will attack you, as soon as the aircraft is in the hangar, and the engines are shut down. They know your aircraft is in Burlington. They know you are here. There is a tracking device on, at least, one of the vehicles and on the aircraft itself. Do not try to remove it. We are going to try to use that against them. One of your people may have a tracking device on them, also, without knowing it. Check on it but do not turn off. The helicopter worried them, for a moment, until all three of your units joined up, in the same place, at the same time."
