Leaving It All Behind

"And if I do, what insurance do I have you let us go?"

"None, but I will let you go if you give me what I want. If you don't, I guarantee this little girl will be dead, but not until I turn her into a woman."

"She's thirteen years old. You can't be that much of an animal."

"Test me and find out. Here, we're at your office building. Go up, get what you found and I'll forget all this. Just remember, call the cops, the little girl dies. You have exactly two minutes before I pull out of here."

Karin couldn't chance it. She went up the elevator, trying to think if she had any options. With so little time she couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't jeopardize Hanna's safety. "What the hell," she thought to herself; considering how Carson had killed Joseph, now John wanted to kill Carson, "if these assholes want to kill each other, I'm not going to stop them at the risk of losing Hanna." Karin picked up the report and returned to the car.

When Karin handed the report to Benetti, he opened it up, read through it quickly, then turned to Karin.

"You did good. Two other detective agencies never found the son of a bitch even though they took months. You did it in two weeks. One more thing. If anyone warns Carson that we know where he is, Hanna takes a second ride. No warnings, she just disappears one day. Do we understand each other?"

Karin answered by nodding while taking Hanna's hand and getting out of the car.

John Benetti had just made the biggest mistake of his sorry life.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A Little History

Fourteen years before this occurrence, Karin Roland was Karin Baker and working for the New York Police Department in the Intelligence Division. Karin interfaced with agents from other intelligence services, including a man we'll call Hank. There was a chemistry between the two, not only a deep respect for each other's aptitude for the job, both mental and physical, but over the course of five months working together, an attraction developed between them.

This attraction resulted in a love affair that lasted a few months; until they both realized the difficulties in continuing the affair. Both knew it was a temporary thing, Hank would leave soon for the Middle East and the affair never blossomed into more than friendship and great sex.

There was one more issue that needed to be resolved; Karin's diaphragm obviously failed its assignment -- Karin was pregnant. The pregnancy was confirmed a week before Hank was to leave for Afghanistan. They talked it over and made the decision that Hank would go ahead with his departure and would send Karin an appropriate amount each month for child support. They would talk it over again after Hank's return from overseas.

Karin was pleased with the arrangement. She wanted this baby and was happy the baby would have great genes. She did understand the difficulties she faced as a single mother, but at least she was financially secure.

Then something happened that changed everything. Karin was seven months pregnant and walking up the stairs of the subway station on the way to work when she tripped, nearly tumbling down the stairs, but her fall was caught by the man behind her. As she was helped up, she found herself in the arms of the largest man she ever knew.

"Thank you, I think you just saved me from a very nasty fall."

"You're welcome. Can't have a lady with a baby on board have that happen. Let me carry your briefcase; where are you heading?"

Karin told him and introduced herself.

"I'm Bill Roland. Are you in a hurry? Can I buy you a cup of coffee or something?"

Karin agreed to coffee, then dinner that weekend, then the theatre the following week. And so on until she even agreed to allow Bill to be her Lamaze partner; explaining to her sister why the change in coaches. Karin realized this was the one; but would he agree to raise a child that wasn't his? It isn't the way most men wanted their marriage to begin, raising another man's child.

As their relationship grew serious, Hanna was now two months old, Karin and Bill sat down and talked, Bill started with what was on his mind.

"Karin, I have two questions. First, how many children do you want?"

"I always hoped for two or three. Why?"

"Because I'd like to have a child of my own. I needed to know if Hanna was going to be your only child."

"Bill, I love Hanna with all my heart. But I'd like to have a child with my husband. Does that answer your first question?"

Bill smiled. That would have been a major stumbling block to their future.

"Second question. What happens when Hank comes back? You have a child with him. Fidelity is non-negotiable, I'm not sharing my wife with another man."

Karin answered truthfully, "And with me. Forsaking all others is a vow I intend to keep and want my husband to keep."

Bill's smile grew bigger; now it was Karin's turn.

"OK, you've asked and I've answered your two questions. Now I have two of my own. First, Hank and I have talked this through recently. He won't be back for any extended period for at least a couple years and to tell the truth, isn't really daddy material. Can you raise Hanna as your own? No favorites if we have a child or two of our own? Hank has already agreed to an adoption, although I think he wants to meet you first before it's official."

"I've given this a lot of thought Karin. Yes, if you want me to take the role of her father, I want that. You know I already love that little girl."

Now it was Karin's turn to smile.

"One more thing I need to know. Hank said he'd allow an adoption, but he'd like to assume the role of the 'uncle'. Can you handle having my former lover around here from time to time? Remember, I already gave you my word regarding fidelity."

Bill thought it over for a second before he replied. "As long as you don't start using Hank as a substitute sounding board when we have issues in the future. My brother Tony's wife had a 'friend' that turned into a lover when she and Tony started having a few problems. I say -- if you're having issues in your marriage, the husband and wife talk them over, not some unqualified third party; or worse, somebody whose real agenda may not be in the couple's best interests. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"With that settled," Bill pulled a ring out of his pocket, "Karin, would you marry me?"

Karin was shocked, not expecting this so soon after having 'the talk', but she kept her wits long enough to say "yes" and give Bill the most romantic kiss of his life.

So, Bill became 'dad' and Hank became 'Uncle Hank', they'd let Hanna know the details much later. A year after the wedding Anthony was born. Anthony was only two when Karin was shot, lost her leg and left the police department on disability. When Karin started her own detective agency she found it necessary to use Hank's knowledge and contacts now and then. By this time Bill and Hank were good friends, almost like brothers, both men understood the integrity of the other, Hank trusted Bill to protect and love Hanna; Bill trusted Hank to respect his marriage to Karin.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was the morning following Hanna's abduction and Karin took the day off from work; she needed to talk to Bill and knew he wouldn't be strong enough until after lunch. Bill knew something was up and waited for her to open up. He also knew she was waiting for him to appear strong before she would start any conversation. They finished a nice lunch and Bill did his best to look ready; he assumed it was another discussion about their finances.

"OK Karin, what do we need to talk about?"

Karin started to smile. "My god," she thought to herself as she looked at him, knowing he was still hurting inside from the cancer treatments, "this man is so in tune and knows me so well. How did I ever get so lucky? Please God, don't take him away from us; please let him beat this disease."

Karin thought she should give Bill the abridged version. "Bill, I fucked up. Without knowing the circumstances, I took a contract with a man who's connected to the mob. His name is John Benetti, he asked me to find a man hiding in Europe. Hank and I found him, I decided not to give the mobster the information because I'm certain he'll have this man killed. Benetti threatened Hanna yesterday, said if I didn't give him the information, Hanna would die. I gave him the report."

"Won't he leave Hanna alone now that he has it?"

"Maybe. What troubles me is this. He warned me that if the guy in Europe, his name's Carson; if Carson is warned, Hanna dies; but not before she's raped. So, what happens if the hitman they send fails for some reason. Benetti blames me and then..." Karin couldn't finish.

"What do you want to do about it? Call the police?"

"No, I want to tell Hank that this asshole has threatened Hanna, but I didn't want to do it without your permission. You're her father. You and I need to agree."

"And Hank can take care of this without it coming back on us? I don't want anything to happen to Hanna, but I also don't want her, Anthony or you killed by mobsters out for revenge."

"I'm fairly certain Hank can take care of it without anyone knowing it was connected to us."

"Then call Hank; have him come over."

Hank was at the house within two hours. Given the urgency of the call, his first thought was this might be regarding Bill's cancer. Hank wasn't a praying man, but he did take a moment while driving to ask any and all higher powers to save the life of his good friend who was a big part in raising his daughter to be a wonderful young lady. Now, as he sat in their living room, Hank wasn't prepared for the real reason for being called to the Roland home.

As Karin repeated Benetti's threats, Bill saw something in Hank's eyes that almost scared him. That look was almost immediately replaced by what can only be described as the look of wheels turning inside Hank's head. Hank got up from his chair and walked into the kitchen, turned on the faucet and drank straight from the tap, then returned to the chair.

"I'm going to need some computer support, but I can't use anyone from the agency or the company. I already have a link to John Benetti because of our original inquiries. If there's an additional inquiry, then this Benetti disappears, it will come right back to us. Even if we escape any official scrutiny, you never know where the mob is tied in.

"Remember that kid we helped a few years ago, he could send viruses and take over a computer? We don't need anything that dramatic, but we do need his expertise and he's not linked to us. What was that kid's name? Jeffery something."

"You're talking about Jeffery Parker, the kid from Philly. I know how to get a hold of him, unless his contact information has changed."

Hank replied, "I'll call him from a phone that can't be traced to any of us and set up a meeting. From now on none of you have anything to do with this. Karin, give me Parker's number and I'll take it from here."

Two days later Hank was sitting in a small Philadelphia restaurant after the lunch rush hour. There were only two wait staff and one other table occupied, far enough from his table with little chance of being overheard. Hank watched Jeffery Parker walk in the restaurant, look around, then head over to the table. Hank stood to greet the big man.

"Hello, Jeff. Thanks for meeting with me."

Jeff laughed. "How could I refuse. You and Karin helped save my marriage."

"Saved? I take it you two worked it out then."

"Better than I could have hoped. Emma had our first child last year. A son, Paul. Yea -- things couldn't be better. How's Karin?"

"Karin's good, her kids are good, but Bill, her husband, is fighting cancer."

"Oh, I'm sorry, how's he doing?"

"The doctors give us hope, but right now we have a more immediate problem and we could use your help."

Hank explained the situation, what he planned to do to 'neutralize' the threat to Hanna, and what Hank needed from Jeff to accomplish it.

Jeff sat back after Hank finished.

"I can do the technical shit, but I have one important question -- what are the chances this comes back on me? I don't want this endangering me or my family."

Hank answered Jeff as honestly as possible, "Jeff, I'm doing everything I can to distance this as far as I can from Karin and her family, the same goes for you and your family. There's only two ways you get outted. One, you talk, or two, I get caught, tortured and I talk. I don't think you're stupid enough to talk and I can give you million to one odds I won't. But I know this is outside your comfort zone. All I can say is, we need your help and you'll have a friend for life, a friend you can call if ever you need special assistance."

Jeff smiled at Hank's choice of euphemism before he reached across the table for Hank's hand. "Give me the name of this asshole and the other details. It should take me two, three days. How do I contact you when it's done?"

Hank gave him the number to call and what to say, shook Jeff's hand one more time and with all sincerity, thanked Jeff for his help.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Four thousand miles away, on the same day Hank was meeting with Jeff, John Davis (nee David Carson) and Lisa Howard are sitting in a small café having a nice lunch when she decided to tease him.

"Davis, don't look now, but I think that guy at the bar has the hots for you. He keeps looking over here, trying to pretend he's not, but he most definitely keeps looking your way. I'm totally jealous. How come the hot guys in this town are always trying to get you and not me in bed?"

David did his best to look over at the man without appearing to look. He instantly knew this wasn't what Lisa thought it was; he had seen the same guy yesterday at the market. This pissed him off; he really liked Lisa and this town. Now both would be things in the past. Just when he started to relax and think he made the old David Carson a ghost.

"Hey babe, let's get out of here and head down to Barcelona for a couple days. You head back to your room and pack a bag. I'll pick you up in two hours and we'll grab the train. Whattaya say?"

"What do you think? Of course." With that, Lisa stood up to walk out the café. Unfortunately, Lisa couldn't help herself; as David paid the check, Lisa stuck her tongue out at the stranger as she walked past him and said, "He's all mine."

David thought he lost the guy after spending a half-hour making certain he wasn't followed, but obviously the guy had been on to him longer than he realized because when David entered his apartment, here the guy was -- in his room, waiting.

"John Benetti wants you to know this came from him." The stranger held a large knife in his hand. It was an exact duplicate of the knife David had used to kill Joe Benetti.

What neither John Benetti or his hired help knew was for the past year David Carson had been taking self-defense classes. David knew this day would come and long ago decided that he wasn't someone to go down without a fight. The poor sap John sent to take David out didn't have a chance.

Since spotting the hitman David had the small canister of pepper spray ready. Before the would-be killer knew what happened, his eyes and mouth were filled with the stinging liquid. David grabbed the hitman's arm that held the knife, but unfortunately wasn't fast enough to avoid the blade entirely. Ignoring the pain, David forced the hitman to drop the knife, then placed him in a choke hold. Despite the hitman's best effort, within a minute he was dead.

David dressed his arm wound, it wouldn't need stitches. Then he dragged the lifeless body into the empty apartment across the hall, dumped it into the tub and went back to his room to pack. Hopefully, the body won't start stinking up the place until he was long gone.

David felt like a shithead; he knew Lisa would be waiting to be picked up for their trip to Barcelona. Instead, David grabbed the bag of clothes with some personal items and walked to the bus station, he needed to pick up his stash of cash in Rome before disappearing again. Latin America held possibilities.

John Benetti was growing impatient. Sal had called from Spain yesterday and said he found Carson. Sal would track Carson for a couple days to make certain nothing went wrong, but felt confident it wouldn't take more than four days tops. John knew better than to rush Sal, but it was difficult to keep from telling Sal how to do his job. Needing to blow off some steam, John decided to pop over to the Bronx and visit that whorehouse by the port. They had a fine assortment of young girls there and John's taste for young girls was whetted since grabbing that PI's young daughter. He almost wished that PI had tried to screw him over, just to have an excuse to pop that cherry.

John was thinking about the girl, "What was her name? Hanna! Yea, maybe I'll just grab her anyway." John's mind wandered as he approached his Mercedes, not noticing the man walking down the sidewalk. Before reaching the car door, John felt the prick of the needle in his neck and felt the world going black.

It took John four hours to wake up. By then he was hanging from a rope tied to his hands; the rope went up to a set of pulleys and down to a cleat where it was tied down. John's feet, thighs, and mouth were bound. John looked at the stranger in front of him. Wondering who it was, not anyone he could remember meeting before. His nose picked up the strange scent and he looked down at the large tub he was suspended above. The stranger smiled.

"Hello John. No, you don't know me. I'm Hanna's biological father. I understand you've been threatening my little girl. No, don't shake your head, too late now; Karin told me you were going to make Hanna a woman. That's going to be tough, you may not have the equipment to make that happen in another half hour or less.

"You may not have much else either. I'm not typically an evil man, I can honestly say I've never tortured a man before. But there's always a first time I guess. The tub under you is filled with caustic soda, sodium hydroxide. I see from your eyes you've heard of it. Some of your peers use it to get rid of bodies. Is that why they never found Jimmy Hoffa? I understand the bodies are usually dead before they're boiled down. Too bad I'm not in such a gracious, forgiving mood."

Hank released the rope from the cleat and lowered Benetti a few inches, his toes just above the tub now. John Benetti was frantically shaking his head.

"How long do you think it would take for you to rape my little girl? Five minutes? Ten minutes? How long would you make her suffer before you finally killed her and released her from the suffering? I know you can't answer me, but let's just say a half hour, just for the hell of it."

Hank looked at his watch. "It's three-thirty. Let's wait until four, then decide what's next."

Hank sat and read a book. John started to swing his legs, trying to move his body away from the tub.

"Stop that or I'll lower you in right now!" Hank shouted. John stopped at the threat; he was still hoping the man was bluffing. Hank went back to reading his book.

At four AM Hank looked up from his book. "Well John, have you learned your lesson? Do you promise to leave Hanna and her family alone?"

John couldn't believe his ears. He nodded violently, trying to silently assure this stranger he would agree to his demands. But in the back of his head, he was already contemplating the havoc he would wreak on this asshole, Karin, her family, and especially on little Hanna.

"You probably think I'm letting you go because I'm afraid of your mob buddies. But that's not the reason. I know about your offshore accounts, and I'm certain they do, too. But they would be asking themselves if you disappear, "Did we know about all of his accounts?" Doesn't matter if there were other accounts or not, you can't prove a negative. So, if I wanted you to disappear and I wanted the mob to think you betrayed them, I would leave a few clues here and there, just like breadcrumbs. Just enough to cause everyone to look the wrong way and follow the wrong trails. Make everyone think you took off on your own.