Taken

40

Jon Stone

Jon Stone sat quietly in a clean, bright interview room at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Station in Indio. He was handcuffed to the table, but the detectives who hooked him up left without explanation, and also without asking questions. Stone found this interesting, and wondered if they had been directed to do so, and by whom.

Jon sat there alone for almost an hour before a businesslike woman with short brown hair came in. He smiled when he saw her. She wore a wrinkled black suit, and Jon thought she looked tired.

“How’re you doing in here, Mr. Stone?”

“Fine, ma’am. How about you?”

Jon stood as best he could with the handcuffs, and she waved him down.

“Please sit. I’ve had better days, but I suspect you can say the same.”

“Some better, some worse. It goes with the job.”

She took the seat opposite him.

“And what would that job be?”

Jon gave her one of his brightest smiles.

“I’m a military consultant under contract to the United States government and certain multinational corporations approved by the United States to employ someone such as myself.”

She smiled back, and arched her eyebrows as if he was a moron.

“For real?”

“Doesn’t get realer.”

She laced her fingers, and introduced herself. Nancie Stendahl. ATF. Assistant Deputy Director, out of Washington. Jon was impressed. She was obviously behind the Pinetta arrest, and now here she was in the interview room. Alone. This was interesting.

She cleared her throat, and made it even more interesting.

“Do you know of and are you associated with a man named Elvis Cole?”

That one caught him out of left field, but he answered without hesitation.

“Rings a bell. He sing?”

“I’m trying to find him.”

“Wish I could help.”

“Mr. Haddad says you’re trying to find him, too.”

“I don’t know a Mr. Haddad.”

“Do you know a man named Joe Pike?”

Jon gave her the smile that made him look like a cruising tiger shark.

“I’d like my attorney if we’re going to talk. I asked the detectives to call him, but they said something rude.”

Her face tightened with irritation for the first time.

“You gave them a Washington phone number and told them to call the Deputy Director of the National Security Agency.”

“Yes, ma’am. He’ll take your call if you use my name. Boy has me on speed-dial.”

She completely ignored him, which impressed Jon even more. All that “right to an attorney” business went straight out the window.

“Mr. Haddad claims you and Mr. Pike murdered a man named Dennis Orlato and a Colombian citizen named Pedro Ruiz not far from here in the desert.”

Jon made the shark smile grow wider.

“Sounds far-fetched. Live Scan kick back anything on my prints?”

Jon’s fingerprints were digitally scanned when he was booked, and automatically submitted to the Department of Justice for a criminal history and identification check. Jon knew what his record would kick, and waited for her reaction.

“It did. You have no criminal history, and an interesting military record.”

“Did it say ‘interesting’?”

“It was blank except for a note instructing us to contact the Department of Defense for additional details.”

“Huh. They do that sometimes. For people with special jobs, if you catch my drift.”

Jon arched his eyebrows and smiled again.

“I know why they do it, Mr. Stone. Mr. Haddad also claims Mr. Pike shot Orlato in the head at point-blank range.”

“Another far-fetched lie. See those green teeth? Drug addict.”

“Where is Mr. Pike now?”

“No idea.”

“Mr. Haddad says Mr. Pike was with you in the Jeep, and fled only seconds before you were arrested.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. You believe one lie, you’ll believe them all.”

She glanced down at her laced fingers, and Jon realized her fingers were laced because she was holding herself together. She looked up, and wet her lips.

“This isn’t a lie. A woman named Nita Morales hired Mr. Cole to find her daughter, a girl named Krista Morales. She hired Mr. Cole because she thought Krista was eloping with a boy named Jack Berman. Jack Berman is my nephew.”

Jon nodded one time, and it took all his training and discipline not to show more.

“Mr. Pike and Mr. Cole work together, and now we find you driving Mr. Pike’s Jeep with a bound man and a fully automatic M4 battle rifle. Do you see how these things link together?”

Jon Stone smiled, but this time he didn’t look like a shark.

“Funny how lies can start to look like the truth, isn’t it?”

“So you understand, I’ve been trying to find Mr. Cole to offer my help, but he hasn’t returned my calls, and now he appears to be missing.”

Stone nodded, and wondered how much she knew about her nephew’s situation.

“It may be he can’t return your calls.”

“So you and Mr. Pike were trying to find him?”

“One of us still is.”

“Okay, now here’s something I need you to understand. My interest is in saving my nephew and any other people who have been abducted. I have the full force and authority of the United States government behind me. Help me use that power, Mr. Stone. Let me help you.”

“I’m in jail.”

“This is where you’re going to stay. I’m going to find my nephew, but I can’t have civilians riding around with illegal weapons, killing people.”

“I understand.”

“Will you help me?”

Stone knew she wouldn’t like his answer, but he believed it with all his heart.

“Your nephew’s best bet is already on the hunt. Let Mr. Pike do his thing.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Ms. Stendahl, you can’t stop him.”

Stone gave her his very best killer smile.

“Now do your nephew a favor, and please call my attorney. I’m trying to make your life easier.”

She left without a word. Jon watched her go, and knew she would be back.