Author's Note: Crazy times, my friends. Crazy times. We'll see how our characters do when the stress level ratchets up.
* * *
On the way to the airport, between frantic phone calls and texts with Jess and Gloria, I read up on the recent rash of kidnappings that had occurred in and around Cancun. Even though it was a tourist-heavy area, some of the cartels had made bold -- some would call them stupid -- moves. There had been the shootout near the Hyatt Ziva Resort and several other incidents involving tourists being kidnapped. It appeared that, in most of these situations, the kidnappers just wanted a ransom. I prayed that was the case here.
It had been a while since I had been on a commercial flight. The waiting drove me nuts -- for security, for others to board, for taxi and takeoff. I tried meditating. I had too much anxiety, which was compounded because the wifi didn't work during the flight. I was in a bubble. Fortunately, the flight to Cancun was only two hours. When I landed, I caught up on the flurry of information that Jess had for me.
They had contacted the U.S. Embassy and been in touch with the consulate in Cancun. They had received a $50,000 ransom demand. Jess said the consulate and local authorities said this was pretty typical and a good sign because kidnappers in these types of ransom cases didn't want to keep the victim for more than 48-72 hours. I had planned as best I could for this contingency by withdrawing as much cash from the ATM as I could. Jess, smartly, had done the same. We almost had the $50,000 ready.
When I got to their hotel, Jess and Gloria looked wrecked. Their eyes were puffy and red from crying. Everyone else on the trip had returned to Houston, the players smartly clearing out to avoid any whiff of this trouble. If they hadn't, it could have put the entire agency at risk. Jess nearly melted into my arms when she saw me. I hugged her tightly. Gloria did the same. I was relieved to be with them, to take off some of the burden from them, and eager to get this resolved.
Kat had been missing for 16 hours by the time I arrived. The ransom was due to be paid first thing the following morning. The girls brought me up to speed on what had happened.
"Everything was going so well," Jess said. "We were partying and having fun."
"For real," Gloria added. "It was like the perfect trip. Partying, everyone got along, lots of sexy fun."
"But last night, Kat got, I don't know, kind of dark and confrontational," Jess said. "I'd never, ever seen her like this. At all. Like a total 180 from her normal personality."
"Kat did?" I said with genuine surprise. She never got mad.
"I think it was the primos," Jess said. "She wasn't doing any coke or anything else. Just smoking blunts. They were putting a lot of coke in them. One I saw she licked the paper and just rolled it in coke."
"I think she hit that coke paranoia stage," Gloria said. "It was like a switch flipped, and she just got mean."
That would explain it, I thought.
"Anyway, David and his wife were wanting some private time," Jess said. "But Kat kept trying to get between them. They both played it cool, asking Kat to respect them, and she just threw a tantrum and left."
"We figured she had gone back to her room," Gloria said, "but I went to check on her a while later because, let's face it, the girl was acting weird. And she wasn't there."
"We checked everywhere at the resort, and talked to the front desk," Jess added. "They asked for a description of her, and that's when we found out she had gone for a walk and been kidnapped. Someone had seen it and reported it to the hotel, and they called the police."
"And here we are," I said and took a long, slow breath.
It was a long, restless night. I slept between Jess and Gloria, feeling comfort in having them close to me. I woke up before dawn. The kidnapping had been unsophisticated. From the details we had, it sounded like a couple guys in a car had just put Kat inside, gotten Jess's phone number from her, and made the ransom demand.
My mind raced, charting out possible worst case scenarios. Had they raped her? Would they get spooked and kill her? It wasn't unheard of, even in these types of tourist scenarios. Would they hold out for more money? Once the first gray light of dawn had appeared, I had thoroughly convinced myself this wouldn't go smoothly and braced myself for the worst.
And three hours later? Kat sat on my lap as a hotel car sped us to the airport. The ransom and release seemed suspicious to me. Either it was all so run-of-the-mill that the cops and kidnappers ran it like a carnival game, or the cops were in on it. We made the cash drop at the appointed time in a public market, and ten minutes later Kat was being whisked to the resort in a police car. That was it. It was surreal and terrifying.
I had arranged for a private jet to fly us home, damn the cost. Kat shook and sobbed, from fear and relief and total emotional and physical exhaustion. We were quiet on the ride to the airport. I held Kat close, pressing my ear to her back to listen to the soothing thump of her heartbeat. Jess held her hand. Gloria leaned on us both.
It's difficult to describe the feelings that pass over people when they've suffered trauma. We were wheels up in no time, and my heart ached watching Kat sit alone, legs tucked up to her chin, staring out the window as we ascended. She had said she was fine, untouched by her captors. The way she framed it, it sounded like a business transaction for them. Somehow, that made me even more angry. This was just a way of doing business.
"So, maybe we don't go back to Mexico anytime soon?" I offered once the plane had leveled off.
That eased the tension in the cabin, eliciting a much-needed laugh from all of us. Jess and Gloria fell asleep. Kat joined me on the couch and nestled her head against my chest.
"Having just a moment where I thought it was possible that I'd lose you," I whispered to her, "was completely devastating."
"I'm so sorry, John," Kat said.
"You have nothing to be sorry about," I said. "You're the victim here."
"I am," she said, "but I put myself in that position because I was out of control. I'm sure they told you."
"They did," I said.
"I'm so embarrassed to tell you this," she said.
"You can tell me anything," I said, stroking her hair. It was sticky and matted. We hadn't even stayed long enough for her to shower. We just wanted to get home.
"I don't even remember anything from when I left the hotel until I woke up in this dingey room tied to a chair," she said. "They gave me water and said it'd all be over if you paid the ransom. But, John, I was so fucked up. I wasn't myself. I wasn't in control. I felt like an addict, and it scared me."
"Let's not think about it right now," I said, flashing my remarkable compartmentalizing skills. "The only thing that matters is that you're safe, and we're going home."
* * *
An incident as serious as that had to have fallout, and it did. Kat wasn't allowed at the football parties again, and Jess had to use a great deal of her ample charm -- and dangle free appointments -- to keep the players from walking away from the arrangement.
Kat began intensive therapy to deal with the PTSD of having been abducted. She had night terrors, which added a new challenge. To preserve her sleep, Jess moved to another bedroom for the time being. The one upshot was that, because Kat had been blacked out, she wasn't having specific fears. It was more theoretical. She stayed sober for two weeks, and I joined her in solidarity, and made astonishing progress in overcoming the trauma.
