“Yes, Officer, I’m just going for a walk. Am I allowed to walk around this neighborhood?”
“You are allowed to walk through, but no going into people’s private yards and you must stay on the sidewalk.”
“Yes, sir.”
As I walked past the security building, I saw a panel of four televisions and several cameras that flipped through on the screens. It was entirely clear that the island was covered with cameras and I would probably not be able to get into anyone’s house without being seen on the camera.
“Sir, can I see your driver’s license, please?” the officer said after he had talked with his co-worker.
I felt my nerves as they became alert. I had handled much worse situations that a security guard wanting to see my identification. But I needed to say just the right things so he wasn’t suspicious of me. It was odd to me that he had waited until I passed him to ask for my ID. I had to think that there was something about me that he didn’t like – something about me that set off the alarm in his head and made him ask me for my idea.
“I’m sorry, Officer, I don’t have my wallet. That’s why I’m walking. I need to wait for my ride to come get me in a couple hours.”
“Your name?”
“Jackson Fluoric.”
“Okay, Mr. Fluoric. We can see wherever you walk. Please stay on the sidewalks or you will be arrested for trespassing.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said as I continued to walk.
I made my way around the circular street until I came across Stephano’s home. He did have a large wall and gate, but it looked easily scalable. I suspected that was also one of his ploys to lure his enemies into his home so he could shoot them.
My gut told me I was going to need a different way into Stephano’s house. One that wouldn’t end up getting me murdered. Currently, Stephano didn’t know me at all. He thought I was just a guy who Roxanne was shacking up with. If we could figure out a way for her to get into the house, then maybe I would have the time to find Ana and get her out of there.
One thing was for sure, I wasn’t getting Ana out of that house all by myself. It also wasn’t going to happen that day, either. I needed more time to plan. I needed to observe his house and figure out how many guards he had there at any one time. There was so much more I needed to find out before I was going to feel comfortable moving forward.
Roxanne was going to be pretty damn angry at me when I got back to the hotel room. After sneaking out, I thought I would be able to get a lot done on my own, and I certainly had done some good recon work, but I still wasn’t going to go back to the hotel with Ana safely in my custody.
Then, it dawned on me. If Stephano was going to sell Ana, maybe I could just buy her, instead of whatever person overseas had made plans to buy her. If money was the only objective, I was sure that Chase and Jordan would be happy to pay Stephano what he wanted to keep Ana safe.
As I made my way back to the hotel, I thought my plan to purchase Ana back from Stephano was actually pretty damn good. It would save us all from being put into danger’s way and money was easy enough to replace. I smiled at my own brilliant thought and I wished I had thought about it earlier.
I slid my key into my room door and looked ahead at the lights that were coming from Roxanne’s room. Something was off. As a Navy Seal and even in my profession as an investigator, I had learned to trust my gut, and right away I could tell something was wrong in our hotel rooms.
“Hey, Roxanne, I’m back,” I hollered.
I didn’t hear a response, so I made my way toward her room where I saw her sitting on the bed and looking seductive as usual. The problem was she was just sitting on her bed and not moving at all. That wasn’t how you sat when you were waiting for someone and that certainly wasn’t how Roxanne would sit. My gut was right – something was wrong.
“Hi, Jackson,” she said.
Then, I saw it. Her eyes darted to the left of the doorway and I knew someone was there. I didn’t know who he was or what he wanted, but I knew his intention was to attack me the second I walked closer to Roxanne.
“Hey, should I order some hamburgers like we had the other night?” I asked as I held up one finger and pointed to the side of the doorway she had motioned to.
“Maybe order two this time, I don’t want to split one.”
Oh, so there were two people waiting to attack me. That was good to know.
“Sure thing. Do you want all the fixings or just plain burgers?”
“Plain, I don’t like to get my hands dirty with extras.”
Okay, so they didn’t have guns, I thought. Or at least, they didn’t have guns out that she could see. But our little conversation was even starting to confuse me. It worked much better when you and your partner had time to work out code names for things.
I took a step forward and prepared for the men to attack me. My hands were up and as one man stepped forward and swung at me, I grabbed his hand and pulled it around behind him. Quickly, I turned him around and used him as a shield
as the other man came toward me and threw a punch.