Reaching the vans, the sliding door of the white one was thrown open, and Laurie was pulled inside as if devoured. She tried to struggle, but the four men crushed her under them, making it hard for her to breathe. She felt her legs being bound with duct tape, then her arms. She still tried to struggle, and she screamed when the hand over her mouth had been removed. But her shouting didn't persist for long, as she was gagged with an oily rag held in by several turns of the duct tape.
23
Jack cringed from a new stab of pain from his freshly traumatized knee, as he'd forgotten where he was while reaching for the glass of water on his bedside table. Although the general, background pain hadn't gone away, the blissful narcotic had changed the pain's character such that Jack could easily ignore it. Jack had an intravenous setup with which he could control how much pain medicine he got. In that way, he was certain to get less, which was his goal. He knew that all the strong pain meds had a price to pay down the road, even if it was something seemingly simple like constipation.
From about noon on, Jack had been multitasking, meaning watching TV and flipping through magazines simultaneously. He'd brought some more serious reading, but he had a sneaking suspicion he might not get around to it until the following day, or the day after that, or maybe never. He liked just relaxing now that the big stress was over. The operation was history, and Dr. Anderson had popped in around eleven and reported that it had gone exceedingly smoothly There was only one problem: Laurie had said she'd be by around noontime, and so far there had been no Laurie and no call.
By one, Jack had called the OCME, as he assumed she'd gotten held up, perhaps by there being so many autopsies such that she had to pitch in. But he learned the day had not been overwhelming. Speaking with Riva, Jack was told Laurie was in her office around seven that morning but that no one had seen her since. Thinking that she might have gone home, Jack had tried her there. When he didn't catch her, he left a message for her to call. With no other ideas of where she might be, Jack could only wait. Now that it was after two, he began to get seriously concerned.
After drinking his water, Jack was about to go back to his magazine and the TV when Lou Soldano walked in. He was doubly solicitous when he saw the contraption Jack's operated leg was Velcroed into. It was constantly flexing and extending the knee, which Lou envisioned as being constantly painful. After assuring the detective that it wasn't bothering him, Jack asked if he'd seen or heard from Laurie.
"That's why I'm here," Lou said in a very serious tone. He pulled over an upholstered chair.
"I think you'd better tell me what's going on."
"There was a very bizarre shooting this morning while you were under the knife," Lou said. "It was right below your window, in fact. The victim was a man we knew little about since he was carrying false identification."
Jack nodded. He had no idea how Laurie possibly could be in any way involved.
"As you know, New Yorkers are rather high on the hard-hearted scale, and when this shooting went down, not too many stopped, although we are hearing from more people as the day progresses. Of those who stopped, we haven't gotten consistent reports. Be that as it may, the individual had been chasing a woman out from behind the hospital."
"So the woman shot this guy?"
"No, not the woman but some passerby who had leaped from a van with three other people. This guy shot the man who was about to shoot the woman, at least according to a couple of witnesses, but to corroborate the story, the shooting victim was carrying a silenced automatic nine-millimeter pistol rolled up in a towel."
"Is the victim dead?"
"No! He's critical but not dead."
"Have you been able to talk to him?"
"Nope. He had to undergo emergency surgery down the street at Beth Israel."
"What about the woman? Have you talked to her?"
"Nope again. The woman was whisked off in a white van by the four men who had, of all things, pretended to be plainclothes police. I'm telling you, this is one weird case."
"So how does this relate to Laurie?" Jack asked, although he was unsure if he wanted to hear.
"The descriptions of the woman, although they're not terribly consistent, could be describing Laurie, with some more so than others."
Jack stared at Lou. His anesthesia-addled mind was struggling to process the information Lou was providing. Jack didn't like what he was hearing but wanted to remain hopeful. "Let me get this straight," he said. "You don't have any specific association of this apparently abducted woman with Laurie?"
Lou nodded. "Nothing specific, just the suggestive descriptions. That and the fact that no one knows where Laurie is at the moment. I mean, no one at the OCME, and certainly not you."
"Good God!" Jack murmured. "And me a total invalid with a totally bum knee."
Lou stood up and replaced the chair. He came back to the bed, where the flexing and extending machine was making a constant, low-pitched grinding noise. He reached out and gave Jack's arm a squeeze. "I just want you to know that I've got a thousand people, including myself, working on this and will be twenty-four-seven. We've been stopping white vans all over the city."
Jack nodded. Although his knee felt reasonably well, he was now sick with fear.
24
By a little after eight, it was finally dark enough to suit Angelo for the quick ride over to the marina. That morning after they made the snatch, they'd driven south to a parking garage where Franco was known. With ease, they'd transferred a terrified Laurie from the white van to the blue one. At that point, Richie and Freddie had driven the white one back to Queens, where it disappeared into the motor pool.
Meanwhile, Angelo and Franco had driven the blue van with Laurie in it out to New Jersey, where they'd found a run-down motel of questionable morals with rooms rentable by the hour. What was most significant to Angelo was that the entrance to the units was up and around the back of the grubby office. Angelo had wanted privacy for escorting Laurie inside, and he had had it in spades. At that time of the morning, the motel had all but been deserted.
Richie and Freddie had returned just before noon, bringing with them takeout from Johnny's and a couple six-packs. The four men then had spent the early afternoon playing cards, eating subs, and generally enjoying themselves.
It had been after the card game that Angelo had finally attended to Laurie. After getting her to promise not to make a scene, he'd removed the duct tape from across her mouth and allowed her to spit out the gag. He'd then asked if she were thirsty, and when she'd admitted she was, he held a glass he'd prepared for her. Laurie had taken it despite its taste, and from then on, she'd been easy to take care of. Angelo had spiked the drink with one of his small, white date-rape pills. Later in the afternoon, they'd added another to make the switch from the van to the boat a piece of cake.