CHAPTER THREE: AN EXERCISE IN DANGER
Within minutes, police cars were descending on the spot. Jack was well known and liked at the local police precinct and most of the teens in the area had been baby sat by Anne when they were younger. Calls went in to 911 as soon as it was apparent something was amiss. The three thugs were soon taken into custody, though it would take a bit longer until the van could be towed to an impound yard. Jason stayed until the three men were safely cuffed and in the back seats of the squad cars. “I can give you a lift home, Drea,” he said.
“Alicia and Lana!” Drea exclaimed.
“They’re fine,” Sharon said. “Alicia called after she slipped loose from the ropes.”
“If they hadn’t, you still be in that van, and me with you.” Anne said.
“I’m okay, but I’ll stay here overnight,” Drea said. “That’s if you don’t mind, Sharon.”
“Not in the least,” Sharon said.
“I’ll have to call Alicia.”
“Sure, let’s go inside.”
The two went inside and the squad cars left. Anne stood on the front lawn with Jason. There was an awkward silence as both groped for what to say. Finally, Anne said. “It sure was an eventful night.”
Jason chuckled and said. “Well, I didn’t exactly plan it this way.”
Though she was not fully conscious of it, Anne was facing Jason with her hands clasped in his at about waist level. She looked into the eyes and saw that rakish quality in them that she liked. It was a quality that some women would reject, but she was willing to accept Jason as he was—chiefly because he was willing to accept her as she was. “Did the Navy teach you how to fight like that?”
“High school,” he replied.
“Look, I’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”
“I know. Part of the job.”
They inched closer and their lips met. They held the kiss for about a minute.
“Good night Anne.”
“Good night, Jason.”
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Her finger was only inches from the light switch when the phone rang. She picked it up and heard the voice on the other end. “You’ve been arrested?” she asked, only moderately irritated.
She also didn’t like the implication she would bail the three out. “To fail is one thing,” she said sharply. “But to get arrested as a result of the failure is something completely different. You can stay in jail for all I care.”
After she hung up, the woman took a deep breath and punched up a number. “Sorry if I had to wake you Lisa,” she said and waited for an answer. “Oh you’re still awake. Good. Yeah, we’ll have to get your team together for tomorrow. You’ll be ready? Good. Listen carefully, if you think there’s a danger of arrest, get out and try some other time.”
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At breakfast the next morning, Drea and Anne gave out the plans for the day. First a stop at Drea’s for a change of clothes, then the health club, then conversations with the six people who knew of where Anne would be the previous night. Somewhere in there they would manage to get in a visit with Jack at the hospital. It wouldn’t be much of a day at the office. Anne made sure she had a gym bag with her when she and Drea piled into Anne’s blue Jeep Wrangler.
Alicia and Lana were well aware Drea was safe and well, but they needed to see her in the flesh to be sure. “Remember, you’ll have to identify the men,” Anne reminded them.
“Don’t worry,” Alicia said. “I want to make sure these guys don’t do it again.”
“Same with me,” Lana said.
Drea changed clothes and collected her gym attire. She and Anne then made their way to the Venus Health Club nearest the office. It had been the original, so Drea thought of it as her own. They hurried to the locker room and changed into their workout clothes: T-shirts, and running shorts with, of course, the appropriate gym shoes.
It was early, so there weren’t many women in the place. Aerobic classes, the most popular exercise there, didn’t begin until later. Drea often wondered why people bothered with aerobics. You could get the same benefits with swimming, which was easier on the knees.
Drea and Anne were first introduced to weight training on their high school swim team. Although both stopped competitive swimming after college, they both kept up weight training, partly to maintain muscle tone and partly because of the physical demands of the job. They ignored the bench press, which was being used anyway, and went to a machine across the aisle that the user could exercise both the legs and upper body, though not at the same time.
“You go first,” Anne said.
As Drea settled in, the woman using the bench press got up and gave the two sleuths a nod of acknowledgement. The woman had short blonde hair and huge muscles, which were accentuated by the skimpy two-piece exercise outfit that exposed a pierced navel. Her right bicep had a very crude tattoo, as if it were home made. Her two companions/spotters were similarly attired.
“Where did she get those muscles?” Drea wondered after the women were gone.
“Probably the same place she got that tattoo,” Anne observed.
“You’re right. It’s a crude job, like the ones done in prison. She’s done time. Funny though, that’s a pretty costly label on her outfit. On all of their outfits, to be exact.”
The two completed their exercises on the weight machine then went over to the juice bar, where each had an orange juice. “Judy, who’s that woman who left a little while ago? The one who looks like Schwartzenegger’s little sister?”
“Her name’s Lisa, Lisa Sand,” Judy replied. “She joined up about a month ago. Why did you ask?”
“There’s something odd about her.”
“What do you mean?”
“For starters, she’s wearing a designer exercise outfit and a prison tattoo,” Anne said.
“And second, she looked at us intently, as if she was trying to check us out,” Drea said.
“Can’t help you there,” Judy said. “She is kinda butch, though.”
“So I noticed,” Anne said.
Drea and Anne finished off their drinks and headed for the locker room. They used lockers that were close to the showers, but far from the locker room entrance. After they showered, Drea noticed another new face handing out towels. “Isn’t Friday normally Shelly’s day to hand out towels?” Shelly definitely did not have red hair or blue eyes.
“Yes, but she asked me to take over while she was in the john,” the woman replied. “I’ve only been here a couple weeks, I’ve seen you two, but we’ve never really met. I’m Heather Hunter.”
Drea and Anne introduced themselves and took the towels from Heather. The arrangement was on the style of the old-fashioned Dutch doors, where the upper half could open while the lower remained closed. As such, Shelly Jenkins remained out of view at Heather’s feet. Shelly’s wrists were bound in front of her and connected to her bound ankles with a piece of rope. A strip of towel of was crammed into her mouth and held in place with another strip.
Once dried off, the two sleuths brushed out their hair, re-did their ponytails and dressed. They both wore long sleeved blouses, miniskirts and stockings. They each carried a large purse against the right hip, but on a long strap over the left shoulder. Their gym bags were carried casually in their left hands. As they started for the door, they noticed somebody blocking their way. She wore white duck pants and a tight-fitting red tank top that revealed a crude tattoo. That and the short blonde hair identified the woman as Lisa Sand. Her two companions wore jeans and sleeveless tops. In the case of the one with long blonde hair, a tube top and in the case of the one with raven hair, a halter top.
“You know Drea, we just may be the only women left in the world who think wearing sleeveless tops with full length pants looks tacky,” Anne said. Her hand started moving for her purse, but Lisa grabbed the hand.
“Cop or P.I., I know a gun purse when I see one.” Lisa said. “Paula, stuff a gag into her pie hole.”
Long Blonde pulled a strip of towel from her pocket. It had been knotted in the center enough times to make a good-sized ball. Drea was pinned between Raven Hair and, unbelievably Heather. Lisa, Meanwhile, had managed to pin Anne to the wall. She’s only one woman and she’s no taller than I am, Anne thought as the gag was being secured, Yet I can’t break free of her grip. Drea was also gagged with a towel with a huge knot in the center and their wrists were bound.
“Paula, you and Sylvia take ’em out to the van, then tie their ankles and blindfold ’em,” Lisa ordered. “Leave their bags. If they give you any trouble, zap ’em with the tazer. I’ll tie up and gag Heather to make it look good.”
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Raelene pulled up to the club and saw Anne’s Jeep parked there. She went inside, but didn’t see Anne or Drea in the weight area. She went to the juice bar and asked Judy where the two were. Like Drea and Anne, Raelene was a member of the club, but unlike the two private detectives, she refused free membership, on the ground it was against department policy.
“They finished their workout, so they’re probably still in the locker room,” Judy said. “I haven’t seen them come back out.”
Raelene entered the locker room with Judy close behind. They happened to see a woman securing the ankles of one of the Venus Club’s staff. She recognized Shelly Jenkins, also bound and gagged, as were six club members, all in what ever they happened to be wearing at the time of capture, whether it was underwear, exercise outfits or street clothes. Apparently, none were seized in the shower.
The woman ran for the back exit, which would not take her out to the main floor.
“Judy call 911!” Raelene ordered as she started after the woman.
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Drea and Anne were less than docile captives. As easy as it was for Lisa to order Paula and Sylvia to use the tazer, actually implementing it was another matter entirely. Any attempt to reach for the device resulted in a kick from Anne or Drea.
“Forget them, that cop’s after me!” Lisa exclaimed as she showed up. Sylvia and Paula piled into the van, with Lisa close by. They sped away, leaving three confused woman behind.
“Good thing I called Sharon to ask what you were doing today, Raelene said as she removed the gags, “Otherwise they would have been out of here by now.”
“Something weird is going on,” Anne said. “A bunch of goons tried to grab us both last night,”
“What for?”
“They didn’t exactly tell us,” Drea said.
“The have an insider here,” Anne said. “Her name’s Heather Hunter.”
Once inside, they discovered all the captives were free and the police were on their way, though Heather was nowhere to be found. “That doesn’t surprise me,” Drea observed. “She probably slipped away at the first opportunity.”
When the police arrived, they quickly got their information. As one of the would-be kidnappers was a member of the club and the other was an employee, both were easily identifiable. The other two names were unknown. “Members are allowed to bring up to two guests at any one time,” the manager explained.
Drea was able to give a partial plate number on the van and Anne described its color. That was the extent of the useful information, besides Lisa’s address, which was gleaned from the club’s files.
After all the questions from the police, it was Anne’s turn to ask a question: “Why did you come to see us?” Anne asked.
“You are aware of my problem,” Raelene replied. “I’m going to need your help.”
Anne thought for a great while, uncertain about what to say. Raelene was a friend and had a definite problem, but the two private detectives were in the middle of case for a paying client. What made the situation more of a dilemma was the fact Raelene had provided information for Jack and his Associates and help cut through red tape. Also, that morning wasn’t the first time Raelene had extracted Drea and/or Anne from a difficult situation.
Drea saw the look on Anne’s face and said. “Hospitalized or not, Jack’s still the boss. Let’s take this little problem to him.”
At first, Jack was happy to receive all three visitors at once, but he quickly noticed there was a downcast look about them, especially Anne. Always concerned about his niece’s well being, sometimes overly so, Jack asked what was wrong and Anne updated him on the situation and told him about Raelene’s request. Jack acknowledged the statement without comment.
“Are you sure what happened to you last night and today are not related to our current case?” Jack asked.
“Surely a coincidence,” Anne said.
“I’m not big on coincidence.”
“Wait a minute,” Drea said. “Lisa, the woman in charge mentioned using a tazer gun on us, and when she came out of the club, she knew Raelene was a cop.”
“But that only puts her in with what happened to Raelene,” Anne objected. “Whoever wants to ruin her obviously knows her very well and would know who we are and that we could clear her. We don’t know if it ties in with our case.”
“Remember, the guys who went after us last night knew you and Jason would be seeing that movie. Wait a minute. Those three guys are in jail right now. Suppose whoever’s behind this had two teams. The boys’ team were supposed to take care of us and the girls’ team’s job was to take care of Raelene.”
“It’s certainly worth looking into,” Raelene said.
“Do it,” Jack said sharply. “Keep your guard up and see what you can get on these people. If I’m reading this right, this bunch wanted Drea and Anne dead.”
“What do you mean?” Drea asked.
“You said they tied up the one who worked at the health club to make it look good.”
“That’s right.”
“If you were meant to survive the incident, she wouldn’t have taken off when she was released.”
END OF CHAPTER THREE
Chapter Four