Downtown Danger

Ohio Brown and Detective Jesse Sanders have been kidnapped!

Chapter 4

 

Friday, 10:30pm

 

        When Jesse came to, she quickly realized that she tied to a chair in some sort of warehouse.  She moaned wishing she could rub the sore spot on her head where someone had hit her.  Her head was still throbbing, which made her wish she was unconscious still.

       “You’re awake,” Ohio said. 

        Jesse turned, trying to see him tied up in a chair behind her.  She couldn’t see much but his shoulder and arm, but it was a comfort to know that she wasn’t alone.  “Unfortunately,” she replied. “Where are we anyway? What happened?”

        “I was at a basketball game until about 9pm.  I got in my car to drive home and someone hit me from behind.  Best guess they kidnapped me and tied me up here with you.  Oh man, my parents are going to kill me for leaving the car all the way in Silverton�"assuming it is still there.”

        “Don’t you think they’d be more worried about you being kidnapped and tied to a chair?”

         “Only if you tell them!”

         Jesse was silent for a moment, and then she sniffed the air.  “Is that cologne you are wearing?”

        “Yes, Preferred Stock to be exact.”

        “What did you have a date or something tonight?”

        “Yes, I met up with this girl at the basketball game.  I’d planned to meet her at Pizza Hut after the game, but I don’t think I will be making it.”

         “Well, maybe if we can find a way to get untied and get out of here you can still make it.”

          Ohio wriggled around and said, “These knots are pretty tight.  Maybe you can reach the pocket knife in my left pocket and cut us out.”

          Jesse flexed her wrist and worked toward Ohio’s pocket.  She couldn’t reach it, but she kept straining, trying to press further than the ropes would let her go.  “Lean closer if you can,” she said in frustration.

         Ohio pushed back toward her, but she simply wasn’t able to reach into his pocket.  The two of them kept trying to push closer together until finally the old wooden chair Jesse was tied to finally broke.   With a thud, Jesse landed on the floor and pulled Ohio’s old metal office chair down with her.  Ohio let out a cry of surprise as he hit the floor.  Neither one of them were hurt and the change in position was enough for them to loosen the knots and slip out of the ropes.

         Once free, they stood up looked around to see what their next step was.  In the dim light coming in from a window, they could see that they were surrounded by Christmas decorations and left over parts of floats and other city castoffs.  All of the items were stored along the walls of the wooden building.  Some of the shelves were several feet tall and looked sturdy enough to climb.

          Jesse led Ohio through the dusty and dirty aisles to the section of shelf she thought would be best to climb.   Jesse went first, pulling herself up to an upper section of shelving that was empty.  There she could push open a dirty window that already ajar.  As she steadied herself and climbed out the window, Ohio joined her on the empty shelving.  Jesse placed her foot out onto a section of roof and then half slid to the cement wall butting up against the roof.  Cautiously, Ohio followed her, amazed at her confidence and agility. 

        Ohio and Jesse stood on the cement wall, realizing that they were by the old abandoned mill tower by the railroad tracks in downtown Gamble’s Mill.  They weren’t far from home at all.  Unfortunately, their captors were close by too.  A red jeep was parked in the ally between the grain tower and the tracks. 

        Panicking, Jesse quietly urged Ohio to take a leap across the wall and make his way to the ladder of the grain tower.  She thought it was their best bet to remain hidden and think of what their next move was.  Ohio saw the car and decided to follow Jesse’s urging.  Ohio leaped across the dark emptiness and made it safely to the platform where the ladder was.  Jesse followed him and they quickly climbed up the tower.  They were part way up the twenty-foot ladder enclosed in a safety cage when their captors spotted them. 

         A man jumped out of the jeep and leaped over the pit to get to the ladder.  He started climbing after them in the dark.  Once Ohio and Jesse reached the small wooden platform at the top they felt the wind howl around them.  It shook the old tower and raddled the metal around them. 

        Jesse looked out around the glittering lights of Gamble’s Mill and back at Ohio Brown beside her.  “There is nowhere to go! Now what?” Jesse asked clutching the metal railing to steady herself.  Her knees felt weak and she was afraid she was going to fall at any minute.

        “I guess we take our chances battling goon number one,” he shrugged.

        “If we must,” Jesse said as the man found his way onto the shaky wooden platform. 

        The man wasn’t anyone they recognized, but spoke as if he knew them.  “Now, how did the two of you get out of there, huh?”

        “It doesn’t matter,” Ohio said.  “But we are going to get down now.”  He tried to push past the man to get back to the ladder, but didn’t succeed.  The man was knocked into Jesse, who lost her grip and slipped and fell.  Ohio instinctively fell to his knees and reached out his hand to help Jesse.

        Jesse was dangling perilously from the rusty metal frame of the tower.  She lost her drip and fell down to a lower support beam.  Ohio couldn’t reach her once she’d caught herself on the support beam.  He thought quickly and took the scarf from around his neck.  He doubled it up and lowered it down.  It was just enough longer that Jesse could reach it.  She let go of the beam with one hand and reached up to grab the scarf.  Once she had a tight hold with one hand, she let go of the beam with the other hand.  She latched onto the scarf with her other hand hoping Ohio was strong enough to pull her up and that the scarf wouldn’t tear before he got her safely back onto the platform. 

        Ohio braced himself against the metal railing support and pulled with all his might.  Jesse used her feet to push up off support beam and between the both of them, she made it.   Jesse managed to grab a hold of the railing and pull herself up the rest of the way.  She collapsed on the wooden platform breathlessly, her heart beating a mile a minute.  Ohio let out a long sigh of relief.   “That was a close one.”

        “Too close,” Jesse said glancing down at the gravel below her.  It was then she noticed that the hired goon had climbed down the tower and was standing at the foot of the ladder. 

          The goon smiled and yelled up at them, “We can wait all night if we have to.  You’ll have to come down some time!”

          “Great,” Jesse exclaimed as she pulled herself into a sitting position.  “Now we are stuck here.”

          “Maybe,” Ohio said pointing to cop car pulling into the ally. 

        The squad car pulled along side the red jeep and rolled down its window.  The police man inside spoke to the goon and his side kick.  Then the jeep roared to life and slowly drove away from the tower, its tires crunching the gravel beneath.  Amazingly, the cops didn’t bother to peer upward at the two scared people atop the tower.  Instead, they sat below the tower for a few moments, most likely watching the jeep disappear behind them.  A short time later they rolled on to the street and pulled out onto Whitney Avenue. 

       “That was close,” Jesse said as the squad car continued on its way obliviously. 

       “Let’s get down and get home,” Ohio suggested edging toward the ladder.  Warily, he climbed down the ladder.

        Jesse followed nervously.  Once they reached the bottom, they had to jump onto a stairway that led down to the parking lot below.  Together, they casually walked through the lot toward the sidewalk.  Weeds poked up through cracks in the cement.  “This place is dangerous,” Jesse commented, “and looks like it hasn’t been used in at least twenty years.  Maybe one day they will tear it down.”

        “Maybe.  You never know,” Ohio said sticking his hands in the pockets of his leather bomber jacket.  “So now what?” he asked as they made their way up the steep incline ahead of them. 

         “I was thinking perhaps we could do a search of who owns the forest land around the town and cross reference that with a back ground check on this J.D. fellow.  We might be able to figure out where the Golden Heart might be hidden.”

        “Sounds good, but what makes you think it is in the woods somewhere rather than locked away in someone’s safe?”

         “Well, the legend said it was buried underneath a star stone, maybe some sort of meteorite.  It was in a magical wood in the story.  If I were going to hide it, I’d probably follow the legend to make sure it was really safe.  I would guess if the Golden Heart was locked in a safe somewhere then there is the possibility for death to rule the Earth like it did in the tale.”

         “So you are a believer now?”

          Jesse laughed, “No, but I have to think like one. It is obvious J.D. and his goons believe the hype�"other wise they wouldn’t be trying to scare us away.”

         “I was thinking it wasn’t J.D. trying to scare us away, but his rival�"whoever the heck that is.”

         Jesse’s eyes lit up, “Yes! I think you are exactly right about that.”

         They stopped at the corner and waited for the light to change before they crossed.  When the light changed, they strolled across the street and continued down Whitney.  They passed a couple of churches and a bunch of houses before they came to Third Avenue.  They walked down Third Avenue a ways before they came to Jesse’s apartment.  It was a half a double�"really more like one fourth a double�"but it was cheap. 

         The door was unlocked and her apartment turned upside down.  Things were broken and tossed around carelessly.  Obviously, whoever had kidnapped her had been looking for something in addition to her.  At least the phone was still working.  Ohio called his parents and made up some story about his car breaking down.  Jesse grabbed some snacks for them from the cupboard and offered to drive him the rest of the way home. 

        Ohio sighed and said, “Sure.” 

        When he got in the door his father was hopping mad.  Apparently his furious date had called the house a number of times wondering where he was.  In addition to that a girl had hired Jesse in the first place, Caroline, had called about five times wondering if Ohio was okay.  She was very worried about him.  Ohio apologized to his dad for the hassle and asked if he could go upstairs to bed.  His frustrated father went ahead and let his exhausted son retire for the night.  Ohio wondered if his father would be more or less angry if he’d heard the truth about the reason he was late coming home without the car. Not sure of the answer to that, Ohio changed into his pajamas and slipped safely into his bed.  He fell asleep afraid of what the next day held for him.

        Jesse was too wired to sleep once she got home, so she spent a good bit of time cleaning up the mess that was left behind for her.  As far as she could tell nothing was missing�"not even her uneaten Wendy’s food or her library books. What in the heck had they been looking for she wondered?  Was it possible that they destroyed the place just for fun? It sure seemed like it. She got on her computer and did the background check on J.D. at midnight that night.  She printed out the report and finally turned in for the night.