“Well, it’s Friday. She’s probably making some plans for the weekend with her friends.”
They heard the siren of a police car in the distance. When the police car with flashing blue lights stopped in front of their house, both Kevin and Diane stood up. They saw a large woman get out of the police car and stride towards their front door.
Diane walked quickly to the door with Kevin right behind her. She opened the door before the officer could knock.
“What is it?” Diane asked worriedly.
Kevin held his breath.
“Kevin and Diane Anderson?” she asked with a Dutch accent. The woman’s eyes showed concern.
“Yes?”
“I’m Detective Michelle Weber of the Wassenaar Police.”
“What is it?”
“I’m afraid your daughter has been kidnapped.”
CHAPTER 18
Kevin felt a wave of panic engulf him.
Diane let out a single scream; a primal burst from some painful place deep inside. Then, she burst into tears. Kevin felt like doing the same, but he knew first he should listen to the police, ask rational questions, and otherwise keep his wits about him.
He leaned against the wall near his front door, the breath taken out of him. All he could see was the beautiful smooth face of the daughter he loved so much. And then, he realized that he, too, was crying. He heard Diane say something in a voice that didn’t sound like hers. He took hold of her arm and together they led Detective Weber into the living room of their home that suddenly seemed very empty and quiet.
Kevin felt sick; a clammy, chilled feeling that made his stomach queasy. He was wracked with enormous guilt. Even without hearing the details, he knew it was all his fault. His work at the Tribunal had jeopardized his daughter’s life. Why had he done it? He wished so desperately to turn back the clock and have another chance to keep her safe.
Detective Weber, a large motherly-type woman with curly brown hair, seemed to be waiting for the stunned parents to compose themselves. She looked like a Dutch Oprah Winfrey before Oprah’s diet. “Take a deep breath,” she suggested. “We need to talk.”
“I’m sorry,” Kevin moaned, one hand now covering his face. His fingers were wet with tears. He pulled out his handkerchief and dabbed his face. He summoned up all the will he could to be strong.
“Please, detective, tell us – what happened,” he finally got out.
The detective looked at Kevin, then Diane. She spoke slowly and deliberately. “Your daughter was riding her bike home from school with her friend, Jennifer Morris. From what Jennifer told us, a white van drove up and cut in front of them in the bike lane. Ellen and Jennifer came to a complete stop. When they did, the side door of the van slid open, and two men burst out. They grabbed Ellen, pulled her off her bike, and carried her into the van. It was over in seconds. The van sped off toward the highway.”
Diane started sobbing again. Kevin put his arm around her shoulder. The information had focused him and given him a sense of purpose. He waited for more.
“We have officers all over the area looking for that van. We’re doing everything we can to find your daughter.”
Kevin immediately thought of the CIA and his last conversation with Pete Barnes. Barnes had warned him that something would happen next. Would the CIA really kidnap a little girl? Kevin’s hopes rose a little. They might kidnap her as a message to him, but surely they wouldn’t kill her. They could have their reports and tapes right now in a heartbeat. He didn’t care.
“I’d like to put a tracing and recording device on your phone,” Detective Weber continued. “If this is a kidnapping for ransom, the kidnappers will be calling here. Is that all right with you?”
Kevin nodded. “Please do everything you can,” he pleaded. “We’ll do anything to get our daughter back.”
The detective walked over to the phone and attached a suction cup device to the handset. One cord was connected to a tape recorder, another to a headset. “If the phone rings, we’ll be here to operate the equipment. Just listen carefully and watch our signals.”
The talk of contact from the kidnappers made Kevin feel somewhat hopeful. He needed to tell the police everything he knew. “I might have some information that could help,” he said.
In the time they had been talking, other uniformed police officers had arrived and entered the house. One of them, carrying a cellular telephone, came over and handed it to Detective Weber.
“Yes, I’m interviewing them,” she said into the phone. “No, not yet.”
She handed the phone back to the other officer.
“They found the van in Leiden. It was empty. They apparently had a switch car nearby.”
“What does that mean?” Diane asked.
“It means we’re probably dealing with professionals, not some child molester,” the detective said. “Someone planned to kidnap your daughter and make sure they got away.”
It made Kevin feel strangely better to think his daughter was in the hands of professional kidnappers. It also confirmed his suspicions about the CIA.
“I think the American CIA might be involved,” he said.
Detective Weber gave Kevin a surprised look. Kevin realized he would sound like some conspiracy nut, but plowed ahead anyway. “I’m a lawyer for a man on trial at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. I got my hands on some CIA reports that are very sensitive. Someone from the CIA has been trying to get them back. The last thing he said to me was something like he would not be responsible for what happened next.”
Detective Weber pulled out her notebook and sat down opposite Kevin. “Now, tell me this again, slowly please.”
Kevin started at the beginning, and this time telling the detective about the pictures of Ellen that Pete Barnes had shown him.
When Kevin was done, he felt relieved to have finally disclosed the secrets he’d been carrying around. At this point, with Ellen’s life at stake, he wasn’t going to play any games with anybody.
If Detective Weber was skeptical that the CIA would kidnap an eleven-year-old girl on the streets of Wassenaar, she didn’t show it. The woman seemed very professional.
“Were you aware of this?” she asked Diane.
“Some of it.” Looking sternly at Kevin, Diane added: “But I sure didn’t know about the CIA threatening Ellen.”
“I didn’t want you to worry,” he said lamely.
“You didn’t warn me, either. Now look what’s happened.”
Kevin nodded numbly. He knew Diane was right. He was to blame for this.
Detective Weber brought Kevin back to the conversation. “About this Pete Barnes – do you have a way of contacting him?”
“No,” Kevin answered. “I’ve only seen him two times. Both times he just showed up on my jogging route at 6 a.m.”
Diane started sobbing softly. “Why haven’t they called yet?”
“I don’t know,” the detective answered. “Each kidnapping is different. There’s no way to predict when or if they will call.”
Kevin got up and went to the bathroom. When he came out, he saw Ellen’s scooter leaning against the wall near the front door. As he pictured her happily riding the scooter in front of the house, tears streamed down his face.
“Tell her about those Yugoslavians who kept coming to the house,” Diane said to Kevin when he returned to the living room.
Kevin quickly composed himself. “It’s probably nothing. I went to the Serbian Embassy for help on my client’s case. A man named Zoran Vacinovic was supposedly helping me. He’s come around here a few times to talk about the case.”
“Who is this guy Vacinovic?” the detective asked.
“According to the prosecutor, he works for the Serbian secret police.”
“This story gets stranger and stranger,” the detective said.
Just then, the telephone rang.
Kevin jumped up off the couch.
Detective Weber raised her hand for Kevin to wait, then scurried over to the table where the phone sat. For a large woman, she was fast and agile. She pressed the “play” button and donned the headset.