“Alexander, please. I’d like to speak with your father.”
“My father was more than willing to negotiate with you. You never showed up to your lodge to listen to his offer. But now, having learned that you saw the proceedings at the lodge that day, I am led to believe that you did arrive. Hide in the bushes, did you Doctor Straus?”
“Where is your father now, Alexander?” Straus asked loudly, hoping to catch the attention of any remaining police officers outside of the hospital. “I am willing to negotiate in good faith,” he spoke even more loudly.
“Detained. My father is detained. Shall we visit my old stomping grounds together Doctor Straus? If my memory serves, Ward C is but two floors above us. Shall we?”
Straus pulled hard on the door handle and launched himself out of the car. He yelled, hoping his voice would capture someone’s attention as he fell out into the darkness. He hit the cool, damp concrete floor hard, then quickly scrambled to his feet. Then, though he thought it impossible, the darkness around him turned even darker.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ken O’Connell could always sense when things were getting out of hand. He could spot ideas taking on a life of their own from miles away. In business, he knew when to pull the plug well before his partners, investors, and employees could even sense that a change was needed. In his life, he loved to follow possibilities and trends out to their expected ends. If the end looked positive, he would go forward, always being sure to design a way out should things begin turning in the wrong direction.
Arranging a meeting with Straus in order to extort money was, in Ken’s mind, a sound idea. He did all his due diligence before putting the plan into action. He verified the story that Michelle Mix told him. He got visual confirmation that Alexander Black was actually alive and was being held exactly where his sources suggested he would be. Ken made certain that Straus had enough savings and investments to make it worth his efforts. He then confirmed that Rinaldo, Zukak, Mix, Curtis, and Lucietta also had attractive portfolios, making them ripe for picking.
Once Ken was able to arrange a means of contacting and connecting with Alexander, his first test was to see if Alexander would make a willing and an appropriate associate. Ken was quickly impressed by his unknown son’s intellect as well as his personal desire to exact his own unique flavor of vengeance.
It took months of surveillance before one of Ken’s resources came up with a plan.
“Straus leaves the lodge every Tuesday morning and doesn’t return until late Thursday evening. During that time, the only people in the lodge are any guests, of which there are very few, and Alexander. He has a security system in place, complete with cameras and sensors on every door and window. However, the main door to the lodge is not monitored or alarmed. Straus probably didn’t want to make his guests feel like they are being watched.
“Alexander is held off of the main entrance way, down a short hallway which is accessible only by a pass code and key locking system. The code was easily stolen since his system uses a WiFi to control and monitor the entire system. I hacked the network and stole all access codes in under fifteen minutes.
“Picking the lock should take no more than five minutes, during which time Alexander will most likely be able to hear us in the hallway. He will be secured in his suite of rooms, which are, thankfully, very secure. However, should he want to alert someone, he does have access to a panic button that will set off a silent alarm which I believe will be sent directly to Straus.
“Assuming the panic button is not pressed by Alexander, you will be able to speak to him behind the safety of the hallway door that leads into his suite.
“Straus does have a hired gun within an hour of the lodge. Worst case scenario is that Alexander presses the panic button, Straus dispatches his hired gun, and Alexander blows your whole plan out of the water.”
“And best case scenario is?” Ken asked.
“Alexander does not press the button, you are able to speak to him for as long as you like, and I will make modifications to the underside of Alexander’s bedroom. Once the trap door is completed, you will be able to deliver whatever necessary supplies to Alexander for his use and concealment. I will also leave behind a non-activated Smartphone that I’ve already connected to the lodge’s WiFi, using a masked IP address. I doubt that Straus would ever notice the device on his network, but, as a precaution, it won’t be registered as an active device.”
“Will it receive and send text messages?” Ken asked, pleased with how well the final steps of the plan were falling together.
“No. No text messages and no phone calls. Only email and only when it’s connected to WiFi. I’ve created a Gmail account for Alexander and have already pushed that email address to your contact list. He is listed as ‘AB Lodge.’”
“Assuming Alexander is willing to cooperate, how long do you suggest we wait until execution?” Ken said.
“No less than five weeks. I need that long to set up dummy bank accounts and off-shore accounts to quietly transfer whatever money you are able to secure from Straus and the others.”
“Five weeks will give me enough time to get to know my heartless son as well as giving you enough time to calculate the net worth of all the players.”
“Initial investigations estimate the total money in play to be over ten million.”
“Half of that sounds like a fair amount for my silence.”
“As long as Alexander plays nicely, and the doctors agree to pay you off rather than face public exposure, I think five million is a very fair amount.”
“What have you found out about Straus and his access to, how should I say, ‘nefarious people?’”
“Straus is not an idiot. Seems like he’s been planning something similar to our plan for the last few years. He has access to some muscle in Chicago through his contact here in Upstate New York. Not sure what his plans are exactly, but the files I pulled from his computer show an interest in extortion. I should also tell you, Mr. O’Connell, that part of Straus’s notes did include how to dispose of Alexander’s body.”