His cell phone rang, exactly when they said, at 10:00 am. He answered at once and snarled,
"You bastards, do you know what I'll..."
"Just get on with it, or you know what happens to the kid!" he could tell the voice belonged to someone young; it was clumsily muffled by cloth. There was wind noise, traffic in the distance, train signals - a city.
He was dressed in blue stretch jeans, a white t-shirt with a black radiation trefoil symbol on it and thin moccasin style loafers. No socks. Jet-black "bed" hair tousled in the breeze and the silver grey sidelights above his ears made him appear to be older than 35. Most women assumed he was late 40's. If they were caught checking him out his vivacious blonde wife killed their lust with one glance from disconcerting grey eyes so pale, they appeared to be clear. She was no dumb blonde.
His hands shook and he gritted his teeth but let his frightened anger dissipate. Relaxed thought was vital in this crazy situation.
At some other time, or place he might have laughed at the audacity. Now he just wanted to choke some little bastard to death.
There was nothing for it but to comply.
He'd first seen the instructions that morning on a note under the windshield wiper of their Pontiac G8 GT, parked safely in the security lock-up of their split-level. Their home was across the road from the white sands of their private beach. He often left the roller door raised, while at home, to allow ventilation. He was trying to prevent the gathering of humidity, the rust spots infecting his red crouching pride and joy.
Whoever the brazen culprit, they had used the opportunity to sneak in and leave the note. They also left a cell phone on the leather driver's seat. The note was plain A4 paper, laser printer. One corner was dog-eared and the toner was close to empty, letters gradually fading.
He felt tempted to punch a wall, or kick a lamppost when he thought again of the inescapable typed commands in the note, that even now made his cheeks red with anger, and not a little embarrassment. How dare they! But he had no choice! They had taken his 18-year-old son on the way home from school.
Unless he did exactly as they said, the kid would die screaming. Yes he'd heard the boy talk into the kidnapper's phone. It was real. Forget the cops. It was obvious from the first few seconds when he stood reading the note that they knew his every move. When he lifted the cell phone out of the car it rang instantly. They were watching from another multi-story somewhere around the bay. For the moment he felt his son was safe, the young boy's voice was calm; he was okay.
Having just come home from Afghanistan, he didn't want police involvement anyway. Oh yes, he wanted to deal with this off the record, because if there were a way to catch these perpetrators, they would be dealt with in the same manner he lived his life... off the books.
Obeying each typed order had just been annoying, up until now. The next step made his hands jitter and heart pound. It was unknown. He was to walk across a municipal park and stand near a water feature and wait for another phone call.
There were some low shrubs behind the fountain, a garden bed that had been recently dug over by council maintenance workers. They weren't here today but there were other people walking along the meandering paths, some sitting nearby on park benches and one young couple, probably college students, lying on a blanket reading on the grass some distance away.
The cell phone was ringing again just as he approached the artificial circular lake. Some seagulls were perched on a statue in the middle of the water; the fountains over spray had wet the pavement in a ring around the memorial where people stood to throw in coins.
He couldn't' see any young person holding a cell phone anywhere and he turned, studying the distant edges of the park, looking for movement or someone sitting in a stationary car. There was no suspicious activity.
"Yes punk, you tell me again exactly why I should do anything for you, you low-life piece of scum?"
"You'd better listen carefully..."
He heard a blood curdling scream that rattled the iPhone speaker and then his son's voice crying and pleading with him to do whatever they wanted. Just please end the pain.
"I will say this only once. Are you listening now?" they didn't wait for him to confirm this time.
"You will strip naked. Right now. This is a security measure and you'll do it quickly or I'll kill your son, forget the whole thing and leave. The choice is yours Army Man."
His neck hair stood up as he heard this new bit of information. They knew he had been on deployment! They must know he was in the forces. Now they wanted him naked? Something prickled in his mind at this strange request, but they insisted he act quickly.
There was no time to think! This was ridiculous. He'd just have to go along with them, but at the first opportunity he'd bail and run. The perverted bastards! Why did some nutter have to pick on him and his family?