Snatched, page 12
He followed the route that they had decided must have been how Dion had been taken out of the park. All he could see was children having fun, without a care in the world. For them, it was just another great day out on the rides. For Blayze, it was just another day that a child might go missing.
He kept walking, heading to Dungeon Falls, the ride used as the exit route for Dion’s kidnapping. Instead of going straight in, he watched the park’s hustle and bustle, with the ride’s water pouring down behind him. Right now, he understood that no matter if Dion had screamed, it would have just blended in to the background, as that was all he could hear.
As he looked into the distance, he spotted what seemed to be a staff member with a camera. He couldn’t quite make out a face —— they were too far away and wearing a cap. He pulled out his phone and hit the camera app. Aiming now in the direction he had been looking, he zoomed in for a closer look. Blayze knew this was odd as when he had arrived, the park’s head of security had told him that because of the recent abductions, and to make sightings of the perpetrator easier, they had removed all caps from the park uniform.
Because of the distance Blayze was from where the man was standing, his camera phone was at full zoom, but the image was too blurred. Blayze wanted to see what the man was taking pictures of, as this was not a normal thing for staff members to be doing.
He panned his camera towards the direction the man was facing and could just make out what looked like a young woman with a little girl by her side. Quickly Blayze realized that the man he was after seemed to be right there, within catching distance.
Noticing that he was standing next to a burger truck, Blayze lowered his phone and headed towards his location. This meant weaving around more rides while still trying to keep a visual on him. Blayze came around the last ride and saw the man taking another picture of the little girl. Now that he was within touching distance, Blayze had no alternative. “FBI, stay where you are!”
The man looked up from his camera, hearing Blayze’s voice, and ran, darting left, around the back of the burger truck. Blayze was now on the chase. This was an area of the park Blayze hadn’t been to and was not familiar with. All he could do was run and hope he could catch him.
The guy was fast and clearly did not want to get caught. Blayze chased him around ride after ride. He noticed the man turn right and head around the side of the tallest ride the theme park had, The Hammer. Blayze followed and picked up the pace, gaining on the man as they passed the long queue of people waiting to get on the ride.
The man looked over his shoulder and saw Blayze gaining on him. He started grabbing people out of the queue and throwing them to the floor. Blayze had no option but to jump over them while shouting “Watch out!” and “Stay down!”
Instead of people trying to help Blayze and stop the man, they just grabbed hold of their families and tried to move out of the way. As Blayze jumped over the last person who had been thrown to the floor, he caught his foot and tripped.
Quickly getting back up, his eyes searched for where he needed to be heading. There in front of him, he saw the main entrance. The man was on his way out. At the top of his lungs, and with the remaining breath he had in him, Blayze screamed, “Security! Stop that man!”
Thankfully for Blayze, they heard his screams. When he got to the gate just a few seconds later, the man had been stopped and was being held by two security guards. Instead of speaking to the man he had just chased, he asked the security guards if either of them knew him. They both said ‘no’, shaking their heads.
Taking out his cuffs, Blayze spun the guy around to face the wall. “You’re under arrest.”
BLAYZE HAD JUST PULLED into the parking lot and was getting his new suspect out of the car when he noticed Rebecca coming out of the elevator. He spotted some more agents making their way inside and asked them to take the guy upstairs and throw him in Interview Room One.
“Hey, Rebecca, where are you going? I’ve just caught a guy taking pictures of a young girl back at Elf City.”
“Good for you, Blayze, but I’m heading home,” she replied, saddened and disinterested.
“Don’t you want to be in there with me when I question him?”
“I can’t, Blayze. Stone has kicked me off the case. I’ve been suspended.”
Blayze walked with her towards her car. “But she can’t do that. You’ve been on this case for over three years. You can’t stop right now.”
“I’ve no choice, Blayze. They need a scapegoat for the latest missing child and, because I arrested the wrong guy, that’s me.”
Bullshit. I’m heading up now to speak to her. She can’t do this, not when we are so close.”
Blayze walked away, angry and frustrated. He headed towards the elevator and heard an engine start. Realizing that Rebecca had already given up fighting, it was Blayze’s turn.
Blayze reached the top floor and stormed his way into Stone’s office, interrupting a meeting she was having.
“What the hell do you think you are doing, Blayze? I’m in the middle of something here. Can’t you see?”
“That will have to wait.” He looked over at the other agent in the room and gestured towards the door. “Do you mind?”
The agent looked at Stone, who reluctantly nodded. As he walked past Blayze, he didn’t say anything, just shook his head and left her office.
Stone hadn’t waited for the door to be closed before she glared at Blayze, wanting answers. “Now, what’s this all about, storming in here like that?”
“How the hell can you kick Agent Scott off the case after she has worked her ass off for over three years building this case?”
“She admitted to leaking it to the press. Because of her actions, another child got taken.”
“Because of her actions? Really? Don’t you mean yours and Senator Baily’s actions? If it wasn’t for you reopening the parks, this would never have happened. If anyone is to blame here, it’s you two.” Blayze, in his frustration and anger, had got louder and louder and was now standing closer to Stone’s desk, almost leaning over her. “And don’t give me no bullshit about following orders. I asked you to keep the parks shut, and you didn’t.” He pointed his finger directly in Stone’s face. “Lynsey’s disappearance is on your head, not Rebecca’s.”
“Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here and raising your voice at me?” She stood up, slamming both hands on her desk. “Do you want to be suspended, too?”
Blayze knew that this was an empty threat, as without him, the case would remain open for years and more and more children would keep going missing. She needed him more than the other way around.
He headed towards the door. “Just try it and see what happens.” With a slam of her office door, he left without waiting for a reply.
AFTER AN HOUR OF INTERROGATION, Blayze had left his suspect facing charges, but not the charges he had wanted to give. The man he had chased around the park was not ‘The Holiday Snatcher’, but just a father who had recently been given a restraining order. In a desperate attempt to see his daughter, he thought that dressing up like an employee would be a good idea and that he wouldn’t be seen. This had backfired, not just for the man, but for Blayze, too. That made it two suspects and two failures.
He headed back into the situation room where Agents Shannon, Wright and Davis had been waiting for his big result. “Not our man,” he said.
Their faces went from anticipation to disappointment, almost harmoniously, like a choir with no voice.
Agent Wright stood up from behind her computer and walked over to Blayze with a notepad in hand. “I’ve done a thorough search on the Sloan-Ironwood family, like you asked.”
“Okay, go on,” Blayze said, resting against the desk.
“Well. It looks like when the Ironwood family started out, back in 1995, they didn’t do too well. They had various problems with their two parks, from safety issues on some rides, to accusations of misconduct from staff. After Mr Ironwood married into the Sloan family, there don’t seem to be any reports at all. Not one fault. The Sloan-Ironwood family, as they are now known, has gone from strength to strength, and now they dominate the theme park industry, and not just here in Orlando, either.”
Agent Wright walked over to the map on the wall nearby. “They have parks as far north as Charleston, South Carolina, and around to Houston, Texas, dominating the south-east coast,” she said, swiping her hand from right to left.
Blayze turned to Agent Shannon. “It was Texas that the Senator is from, correct?”
“Sure is.” Agent Shannon started putting on his best Texan accent. “Born and bred.”
“So, what’s the deal with him? Do we know?”
Agent Shannon stood up and joined Agent Wright next to the map. “He is from a large, wealthy family who owns quite a lot of land in Texas. His campaign to become senator was one of the smoothest, according to a newspaper report. It was also reported that huge donations to the campaign were made by the Ironwood family who had just opened their first theme park in Texas.”
“In the same year as his campaign, his cousin married into the Ironwood family,” Agent Davis added, joining his teammates.
They all stood together, facing Blayze. He looked at them, all dressed in their black suits, white shirts and black ties, and was reminded of the poster for Men in Black International. All they were missing were sunglasses and large alien-blasting guns.
“Rebranding, and adding both names to the parks, the family grew in popularity,” Agent Davis continued. “The Ironwoods now had their foot in the door, so to speak, and nothing was going to stop them. Within the space of four years after Senator Baily was elected, three more theme parks in Texas had opened, all owned by the Sloan-Ironwoods.”
Blayze paced around the room, listening to the history lesson of the families. “Okay, so all this proves is that the Sloan-Ironwoods have power and can be seen to get what they want. How does this help us with catching our man?”
“Well, there is one thing,” Agent Shannon added.
“Spit it out, then.”
“I found articles relating to missing children over in Texas that span over twenty years.”
“Were any of the children ever found?” Blayze asked.
“None.”
Chapter 15
There was paperwork all over Blayze’s apartment. On his desk, the floor, and some stuck to the walls. He was trying to sift through the years and years of newspaper articles he had printed out —— anything that had missing children involved. His phone rang.
He had seen the words ‘Brother Home’ on his screen. “Hey, Matty, did you get home okay?” Blayze said.
“It’s me, Leah,” came the reply, which shocked Blayze. He hadn’t spoken to her in a long time.
“Oh, sorry Leah, is everything okay? I only spoke to Matty the other day.”
“That’s why I’m calling,” she replied. Blayze could hear that she was worried.
“Is he okay? What’s he done now?”
“I don’t know. I’ve not heard from him now for two days, which isn’t normal. Every time he is away for work, he calls every night to see how the kids are. I’m starting to get worried. What did he say to you, Blayze?”
“Not that much, to be honest, apart from he wanted me to go to Vegas, there and then.”
“Vegas? Why Vegas?” she questioned. “He is supposed to be in Los Angeles for work.”
“Honestly, Leah, I don’t know. I just told him I was in the middle of an important case and didn’t have the time to up and leave for a bit of fun.”
“Vegas can only mean one thing.”
Blayze noticed that her voice had gone from worried to annoyed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, almost two years ago, we had discovered that Matty had a gambling addiction. It pushed us almost to breaking point, and we nearly called it a day.”
“I’m so sorry. I knew nothing.”
“He hid it well. I didn’t know anything either until we started getting letters from debt collection agencies, as he hadn’t paid his bills. I had to use up all of my savings just to bail him out, which meant we had to cancel the vacations for the kids. They weren’t pleased at all and they could tell by our constant arguing that there was a problem. For a little while, the kids stopped talking to him, as they hated him for making me upset.”
“Did everything get sorted out?”
“I got him some help and everything seemed to go well. We decided we had to move forward and the next minute I was pregnant with Joshua. After his birth, Matty’s job began going really well, and he was in line for a promotion. It meant he had to travel a lot more for business meetings, but it was worth it, as the promotion would mean a company car and a big bonus every year.”
“So you think he’s gambling again, do you?”
“If you’re telling me he’s in Vegas when he should be at work, then it’s that, or he’s cheating on me.”
“Hey now, listen. He would never cheat on you. He loves you and the kids to bits. There has to be a reason.”
“If he is gambling again, he’s not taking me down with him this time. We can’t do it all over again.” Her voice was getting louder with every word she said. “I can’t do it again.”
Blayze didn’t want her to get any angrier. “Listen. I’ll get in touch with him and see what’s going on. Just leave it with me and you look after the kids, okay?”
“When you do speak to him, tell him to call me right away, won’t you?”
“Of course I will. Like I said, leave it with me.”
“Thanks, Blayze.”
He hung up and immediately called his brother. The phone rang and rang, but there was no answer. He tried again, but still, nothing. He sent him a message asking him to call him as soon as possible. That was all he could do. He would have to wait.
ONCE AGAIN, BLAYZE had pulled another all-nighter, sifting through the mountain of paperwork, searching for clues. Back in the office, he handed piles of papers to each agent, grouped by date and area. The biggest problem they had was that there were thousands of cases of missing children spanning the twenty years Blayze had asked them to go through. This was going to be an endless day and with the theme parks closing in just over a week, they had to be quick.
Each agent, including Blayze, didn’t speak a word for almost four hours. The only sounds in the room were from papers being turned over and the typing of keys on the laptops while they made notes.
“I think I’ve got something here,” Agent Davis mumbled.
“What is it?” Blayze asked, still looking at his own paperwork.
“I've spotted a potential pattern here, look.”
Blayze got up from his seat and stood behind Agent Davis. Agents Wright and Shannon both looked over to see what was about to be said.
“You haven’t got time to stop searching, you two,” Blayze said as he noticed their eyes upon him. Looking back down at Agent Davis, he said, “What have you found?”
“There seem to be several children who went missing between 1997 and 2000, all from the same city. And then here, from the years 2007 to 2010, a similar amount of children went missing in another city. None of them have been found and are still reported missing.”
“Which cities are we looking at here?” Blayze pulled up a seat next to Agent Davis. “Tell me more.”
“Well, in the four years running up to 2000, nine children went missing in Garland, near Dallas. Then in the four years running up to 2010, another nine children went missing in Sugar Land, near Houston. It seems to follow a similar pattern to ours. Three in the first year and then two in each following year. That can’t be coincidence, can it?”
Blayze clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, to process what he had just been told. Agents Wright and Shannon had stopped searching once again, as they had overheard what Agent Davis had said and just waited for Blayze to say something.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Agent Davis asked.
“I think so, yes. A ten-year pattern. Could this be our man? If so, then we are looking for someone, I reckon, between the age of thirty-five and fifty. Someone pass me that CCTV picture of our man, quickly!”
Agent Wright jumped out of her seat and grabbed it off the wall, handing it directly to Blayze, who was waiting with his palm open.
Blayze sat there for a few moments, studying the picture while the three agents in front of him sat in silence and watched on. “This guy definitely fits that profile.” He stared at the man’s face, but the image was too grainy to tell exactly who it could be. “Who are you?” he asked the picture.
Blayze stood up and headed over to the map on the wall across the other side of the room. He turned and faced his team. “Do me a favor, everyone. Search those areas that Agent Davis here has just mentioned, along with the years, and tell me what else happened then. I want police reports, suspects, the lot.”
Everyone quickly got to work while Blayze paced the room. He knew they were on to something. Keys were being tapped so quickly it sounded like the intro to Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ was on super-speed mode.
“I’ve got something about the Garland area,” Agent Shannon said, raising his hand.
“Hit me,” replied Blayze, still pacing around, while the other agents continued searching.
“In the July of 1996, building work began on a new theme park.”
“Don’t tell me —— owned by the Sloan-Ironwood family? What date did its gates first open?”
“Um, it says here that it opened on November first, 1997.”
“And when did the first child go missing from that year?”
“November twelfth.”
Agent Wright’s hand suddenly shot up.
“What have you got for me?” Blayze asked.
