Black: Day 01 - Chapter 10

schattenjaeger (71)in #fiction • 5 years ago (edited)

Los Angeles, California
Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 - 04:30 AM

St. Mark's Hospital

Standing in front of his wife, Adam stands frozen in place. The voice on the other end of the phone call is giving him instructions while threatening to kill her daughter.

Adam does his best to not show it to Susan. He keeps a neutral expression. For over a decade, Adam has gotten used to the risk of injury, even death, on the field.

Never before has he been more nervous. More scared.

"Adam, did you hear me? Smile at your wife, and pretend like nothing's wrong."

Adam looks around him. He has to be being watched.

"Yes, Adam, I see you. Do as you're told, or your daughter will pay the price."

Adam buys himself time, smiles at Susan, pretending nothing is wrong. Susan smiles back at him.

"I understand."
"Now head back towards the north exit."

Adam starts to take steps back, and comes up with an excuse for Susan.

"It's Mona. Sorry, the reception is really bad. I can barely hear anything."
"Oh, sure."

Adam gets further and further away from Susan, making his way towards the exit out of the hospital as instructed. He finally replies to voice on the phone when he's in a private place.

"What do you want me to do?"
"Keep going. To the parking hall."

The next set of instructions is given as Adam steps into the hall. He still looks around him for any sight of someone watching him. There's no one to be seen.

"On your left there's a blue Chevy."
"I see it."
"Get in."

The driver's door is open and Adam sits inside.

"In the glove compartment, you'll find a metal box. Open it."

Inside the box, Adam finds what looks like a small earpiece.

"Tuck it in your ear."

He does as instructed, placing the small object inside his ear.

"Now say something."
"If you even think about hurting a hair on my daughter's head, I promise you, I will kill you, you son of a bitch."
"Nice! That's a really clear, good signal. You won't be needing your phone anymore. Toss it out the window."

Adam tries to be sneaky and put the phone away to his side, but this doesn't go unnoticed.

"I said out the window, Adam!"

How is he watching, Adam thinks. Then he notices a car parked to his left. There are two men inside the car, and one of them is pointing at Adam with a small camera.

Adam then opens the window and tosses the phone out.

"Before I do anything, I need proof that my daughter is still alive."

There's a slight pause.

"Daddy?"
"Megan! Are you alright, did they hurt you?"
"No, they didn't hurt me, I don't know where I'm being held, but-"

Megan is then taken away.

"That's enough, Adam. Now, unless you want that to be the last time you ever hear your daughter's voice, I suggest you start doing as you're told. Understood?"

Never in his life has Adam been more seething. He wants to hit things. Destroy things. He wants to grab this man's head and squeeze it until it stops existing as anything but a bloody puddle.

But he can't.

He is no position to do anything other than what he is being told. Not with Megan's life at risk.

"I understand."
"Good."
"So where do you want me to go?"
"You're gonna stop by your office. There's some stuff we need you to do. The keys are in the ignition."

Adam starts the car and begins to make his way back to ATC.

Inside the hospital, Susan is starting to wonder what is taking Adam so long. She tries to call him, but the phone keeps ringing.

She is startled half to death as "Doug" - or rather, the man passing himself off as Doug Harris - comes from behind to talk to her.

"Susan?"
"Ah! Oh, Doug. Sorry. You startled me."
"Where's Adam?"
"He, uhh, he said he would take a phone call. He had a bad signal, so he went to look for better reception."
"Oh. Is he gonna be back?"
"That's what he said, yeah."
"I have some good news. Julie woke up. She thinks she knows where Megan is. She gave me this address."

Doug hands Susan a piece of paper.

"Oh, umm. She did? Did she tell you what happened?"
"Yeah, some boys got rough at the party, apparently. We should go pick Megan up right now."
"Wait, there really was a party?"
"Yeah. Apparently, Megan's fine. We just need to go pick her up."

Susan looks for Adam. And tries to call him again.

"Why isn't he answering his phone?"
"Maybe he had to some work stuff?"
"Yeah, but... He said he'd be here. He told me he would be here."
"I guess it was something urgent, then. I think we should get going."
"Well, what about Julie?"
"The doctors said she's not in any danger. She's resting. She'll be out for a couple of hours. We could pick Megan up and come back here. The three of us."

No sign of Adam.

"Well, okay... I guess we should... I just- Adam promised he wouldn't leave me."
"You can call from the car. Let's go."
"Okay, I can- I can just call from the car. You're right."

Susan then leaves with "Doug".

ATC Headquarters

At medical, Mona is finishing up with the murder victim case, going through data on the computer.

"Okay, that's our guy."

Upon dialing Adam's number, Mona gets the same voice message Susan got.

It's really not like Adam at all to not be reachable like this, which gets Mona confused.

"He's not answering his phone. Where the hell are you, Adam?"

She keeps trying, but to no avail. The phone keeps ringing in the hospital parking hall with no picking it up.

Mona then decides to reach out to Susan. Something she isn't thrilled to do, considering the history she, Adam, and Susan share. But obviously, this is more important than petty personal feelings, so she bites the bullet.

On the Way Out of Town

"Doug" is driving Susan out of town as Mona reaches her on her phone.

"Mona? Umm, hi."

The conversation is awkward for the both of them, but they do their best to pretend everything is okay.

"Susan, hey, umm. Where's Adam?"
"I don't know, he took a call at the hospital and just- disappeared. I thought the call was from you?"
"No, I haven't spoken to him in a while."
"Okay, well, that's very strange. I could have sworn Adam said it was you."
"No, I was trying to reach him. He's not answering his cell. Look, could you give him a message if you happen to reach him?"
"Yeah, sure."
"He asked me to identify a murder victim. Could you tell him we were able to do that? The victim's name is Douglas Harris."

Susan has a look on her face like she's seen a ghost. Being Adam's wife, and based on what Adam just told her at the hospital, she immediately pieces it together.

Her shock prevents her from replying right away. But she knows she can't give away the fact that she knows, not while sitting in a car next to this man posing himself off as Doug.

"Umm... could you repeat that?"
"Douglas Harris. An engineer from North Hollywood. I have no idea how he could be connected to anything that's happening today."

But Susan does. She knows exactly.

The man sitting next to him is not Julie's father, Doug. He must be part of the people behind Megan's kidnapping.

But Susan toughs it up and acts normal.

"Mmhm. Okay. I see."
"So, will you give this message to Adam?"
"Sure thing, yes."
"Okay. I hope Megan's all right."
"Me too."
"Okay, so bye."
"Bye, Mona."

"Doug" then asks who the caller was.

"So, what was that about?"
"Oh, uhh. Someone from Adam's work was wondering where he was."
"Oh, okay."

Susan is not sure what her play here should be, but she hopes to figure it out soon.

Unknown Location

Mia arrives on her bike seemingly to the middle of nowhere where a car is waiting for her.

She takes off her helmet, ditches the bike, and walks towards the car. It's a luxurious car. One that most working people couldn't dream of. There's plenty of space in the back where Mia sits next to a well-groomed man in a suit that looks like it cost almost as much as the car.

He speaks with a thick eastern European accent, but his English is very fluent.

"So I assume there were no complications?"
"None at all."
"I wish you hadn't fooled around with the money, Mia."
"I told you it was fine. Things are on schedule. Now it's up to Noah and the boys."

The man glances at his watch, equally as valuable as the suit and the car.

"Senator Miller and Adam Black need to be dead in two hours."
"I did my part. Like I promised. And made some extra on the side. Are you gonna stick around?"
"Yes. I want to see this happen. This is personal, after all."
"Gotcha, handsome."

The car starts and takes off.

Outside ATC

Adam arrives at the ATC parking lot and stops the car.

"What do you want me to do now?"
"There's something for you under the visor of the car."

Adam pulls out a key card.

"You're gonna replace the key card you have your people working on with that one."
"Because we were getting too close."
"Just do it, Adam."
"Well, that won't be easy. Not without attracting attention."
"I would strongly advise you didn't. Implicate yourself, and you stop being useful to us. And so does your daughter. You understand?"
"Yes."
"Good, now get on it."

Adam puts the card in his pocket and starts heading into the building.

"And remember, Adam: I can see, and hear, everything."

What does he mean by seeing everything? This must be what Richard was telling him about. There really is someone inside the agency working for these people. There has to be someone inside keeping an eye on things.

Adam can't risk getting caught trying to get help.

He enters through the door and is approached by Mona. Adam keeps walking and tries to shake her off.

"Adam! Where the hell have you been? I've trying to reach you."
"My cell phone battery died, sorry."

Adam keeps walking towards his office and Mona follows.

"Your battery died? It kept ringing, though."
"Oh, it must have been on silent by accident. Look, I'm a little busy right now."
"We ID'd the murder victim. His name is Douglas Harris. An engineer from North Hollywood. Seems... incredibly random. Are you sure he's connected to anything that's going on?"

Adam stops at his tracks.

"What did you say?"
"Douglas Harris. By all accounts, he seems like your average Joe, really."
"Excuse me."
"Uhh, Adam?"

Adam heads inside his office and shuts the door. Mona is left standing and looking confused.

Adam then lets Noah hear it.

"Doug Harris is dead. Who the hell is the man with my wife?"
"He's not an engineer from North Hollywood, that's for sure."
"You listen to me you, you son of a bitch. I don't know if you know who you're dealing with, but if anything happens to my wife or my daughter, I will-"
"You have the power to prevent that, Adam. Just do as you're told. I gave you very simple instructions. Replace the key card your people are working on with the one you got from the car."

Adam feels helpless as he gazes out the window of his office at Kevin's workstation where he is busy at work decrypting the data off of the key card.

The reality hits him. It hits him hard.

They are holding both his wife and his daughter. The two most precious things in his life. And there's nothing he can do about it.

On the Road Out of Town

Susan finally decides to make a play, and asks "Doug" to stop the car. They are in the middle of nothing. The road is surrounded by nothing but trees, without a soul in sight.

"Umm, could you stop the car for a minute?"
"What is it, Susan?"
"I think I feel a little sick."
"Oh, the place is just down the-"
"Please. Doug. I really need to get out for a minute."
"Well, okay."

"Doug" pulls over, and Susan rushes out of the car, pretending like she's running to the bushes to vomit.

"Doug" waits in the car, as Noah gives him a call.

"Patrick? It's me. ATC has identified Douglas Harris' body. Black's wife may know you're not him."
"Shit."

Patrick shuts off the call and gets out of the car to look for Susan.

"Susan? Susan!"

There's no sight of her. Patrick keeps looking, until Susan assaults him from behind with a rock, but Patrick overpowers her. They struggle, and the keys of the car end up flying away.

Susan finally manages to hit Patrick in the head with a rock, knocking him unconscious.

Susan looks for the keys, but can't find them anywhere. Shen then gets away from the unconscious Patrick to make a call.

First, she tries Adam's cell phone once again. It keeps ringing. And ringing. Until there's an answer.

"Hello?"
"Adam! You have got to-"
"Who is this?"
"Wait, who am I speaking with?"
"This is St. Mark's hospital. This phone was found lying on the ground."
"Did something happen in there? Did you see anyone?"
"No, just the phone. Look, is something wrong? I can call the police."
"No, no, no!"

Susan ends the call and calls ATC.

Amy Young picks up the call.

"ATC, Amy Price."
"This is Susan Black, Adam's wife. Is Adam there?"
"Uhh, no. I haven't seen him. What's wrong?"
"Our daughter Megan has been kidnapped!"
"Oh my God."
"And they tried to get me, too."
"Have you called the police?"
"No! I can't do what without risking our daughter's life. Can you send someone to pick me up?"
"Yes, yes of course. Where are you?"