We were going to take them in the dark, wandering around on terrain we hadn’t scouted. “Might your friend have night vision goggles, or the kind of headphones that SWAT guys or SEALS wear?”
“No, but I know who does. You’ll have it by the time the phone equipment gets here. What else?”
This was like a candy store for warriors. “Three silenced handguns. 9 millimeter or bigger.”
Silence. Then: “This isn’t strictly a police operation, is it Johnny?”
“Nope.”
“Who was kidnapped?”
“Richard Morrison and his wife.”
“Richard Morrison, the fund manager?”
“That’s right.”
“Goddammit! They’re friends of mine. Guess where a big chunk of my money is invested. Shit. I know a guy who can get you what you need, I think. No records.”
“They’ve gotta be throwaways,” I said.
“They will be,” Barker said.
“Thanks for all of this.”
“Teach me to fight like you and we’ll call it even.”
“Deal,” I said. “One last favor?”
“Name it.”
“They might know where I live. Would it be okay if my girls and a protection detail stayed with you until this is over?”
“That’s not a favor. You and your girls are welcome here any time, you know that.”
“Thomas, they’ll have a 16 year-old girl with them. She’s still pretty innocent.”
“We’ll keep our clothes on.”
“You don’t have to do that, just keep her away from sex.”
“You got it. Bye.”
I hung up.
“Good friend to have,” said Meyer.
“Yes,” I said. Very.”
This had all happened in a very short period of time. The girls were still in the bedroom, giggling about something or other.
“I’ll have to tell them,” I said. “And you have to call Georgia.”
“She’s better off not knowing.”
“No, she’s not. If things go bad you might not be coming back to her, or you might wind up in jail.”
His eyes widened as he thought it through. This was perhaps the first time that Meyer had ever operated outside of the law.
“Shit just got real,” he said.
“Fuckin’ A,” I said.
While Meyer called Georgia I went up to my bedroom to talk to the girls. Dawn, Jay, and Mary Beth hadn’t made much progress; they were all still nude. The floor was littered with women’s clothing and Laura was twirling around amidst it, modeling one of Jay’s little black dresses. Dawn looked at me and the smile instantly left her face.
“What?” she said.
I sat them all down on the bed and told them. Their arms went around Laura as she reacted with shock to the news that her parents had been kidnapped. Meyer walked in and sat down.
“What are you going to do?” Mary Beth said. “Are you calling in the troops?”
“In a manner of speaking,” I said. “The kidnappers said they would know if the police were involved. And that’s possible. If that happens, and the kidnappers find out about it, they’ll kill Laura’s parents. So I’m not involving the police. Buddy, Meyer, and I are going to track them down. Thomas Barker is getting us the equipment to do it.”
“What are you going to do when you find them?” Jay said.
“Free Laura’s parents. Kill everyone else.”
“Good,” said Laura. There were tears streaming down her face. This was perhaps one of the most surreal moments of my life: my three beauties on our bed naked, hugging Laura, who was dressed to kill in a little black dress, while I talked about the possible death of her parents and what I planned to do to their kidnappers, as Meyer looked on.
“Get dressed,” I said. “I’m worried that they might know where I live. Jen’s coming over and taking you to Barker’s house. You’ll ride it out there until it’s over.”
My girls got up and one by one hugged me and kissed me, then went to Meyer and did the same. Nothing sexual, just an expression of love, and a last connection in case we didn’t come back to them. We’d done this too many times for my comfort level. Laura watched them, then stood up and came to me and threw her arms around me and kissed me on the lips.
“Thank you, Johnny,” she said. “Please bring my parents back to me.”
“You got it, kid,” I said. She went to kiss Meyer but he wrapped her in a bear hug and kissed her on the forehead instead. He wiped her tears away and rubbed her back.
“Johnny’s pretty good at this, kid,” he said. “You keep your chin up while we’re gone.”
Everyone was dressed and ready to move by the time Buddy and Jen showed up with Jen’s partner Robbie. Laura had been overwhelmed with the emotion of the situation and had run to the bathroom to throw up. Dawn was in there helping her.
I shook Robbie’s hand and thanked him for coming. “You know you can’t tell anyone about this,” I said.
“Tell anyone about what?”
“Good deal,” I said.
“But as payment, I get to have sex with you.”
I stared at him. He looked serious, and I knew from past experience that he was attracted to me. It was Jen who cracked up first, and that made Robbie start laughing too. A little joke at my expense.
“Fuck, Bro, you looked like you were gonna keel over,” Buddy said, laughing.
I recovered quickly. “Naw,” I said. “I was just evaluating the situation as a value proposition. Anal is out, Robbie, but I think a couple of blow jobs might be in order.”
His mouth hung open.
“I want to see that,” said Mary Beth.
“I meant from you,” I said. “Robbie can close his eyes and pretend you’re Brad Pitt.”
“Okay,” Mary Beth said.
“Crap, you really know how to turn a joke around,” said Robbie.
Dawn and Laura came in and we cut the sex banter. My girls hugged Robbie while Jen hugged Laura and told her that she could count on me, Buddy, and Meyer. Everybody was telling Laura that.
No pressure.
Because of the number of people involved I drove us in Jay’s limo to Barker’s house. The electronics guy was already there. So were the guns. I shook hands with Barker.
“That was fast,” I said.
“Leased jet to Van Nuys,” he said. “Helicopter to Santa Monica. It’s waiting for you there.”
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Get them,” he said.
“Count on it.”