Warehouse

Warehouse
Mark sat at his desk in the squad room running his hands through his hair. He was having the same phone conversation with his brother that he’d been having every day for the last month. “Look Rob” he said exasperated, “For the hundredth time I don’t think whoever kidnapped dad was working for the Mafia I think it was just some shmuck that decided he wanted to take advantage of an old man.”
“Oh come on Mark do you really believe that and besides you have no leads” Rob exclaimed.
“Yes I do believe that” Mark said.
“The reason I called is, there is a warehouse I go by every day on my way to work that looks really suspicious and I think it might be connected to dad’s disappearance,” Rob said. “Its on highway 119”
“Ok but how is it connected?” Mark asked impatiently.
“I think that the Mafia owns the warehouse and that’s where they have dad”
“Oh! Not again how many times do we have to have this argument?” Mark cried. He thought for a while then said “Look Rob I’ll check out the warehouse if you want me to ok”
“Thanks Mark” Rob said.
“Bye Rob” Mark said.
Mark hung up the phone and went over to where his deputy John Richardson was sitting and said, “Richardson I am going out to check on a possible lead in my dad’s disappearance then I am going home, so you’re in charge”
“Yes sir” Richardson replied.
Mark put on his heavy leather coat, hat and gloves, walked out of the New York City police station, and headed in the direction of his car. He got in, took out the map, checked to see exactly where he was going, and started the car. He headed out toward the warehouse on highway 119 and after about half an hour it came into view. He put his blinker on and turned into the parking lot across the street. Mark shut the motor off and took out his binoculars. He watched the warehouse for a good hour and found nothing suspicious. He started his car back up, turned out of the parking lot, and drove home.
As he was driving home, Mark wondered to himself why he had agreed to go along with his brother’s cock-eyed kidnap theory. With a sigh he decided that tomorrow he would go to the station early and look into the possibility that for once his brother was telling the truth and not a wild story like usual.
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in Robert’s number. Mark was going to tell him he hadn’t found anything and tell him his decision. The phone was ringing as he pulled into the driveway of his two-story brick house.
“Hello”
Mark heard the familiar low gruff voice of his younger brother.
“Hi Rob,” Mark said with a sigh.
“Hi Mark” Rob said.
“I called to say that I just came from checking out the warehouse and I didn’t find anything and that I have decided to investigate your theory.” Mark said.
“Wow what led to this little change of heart” Rob said surprised.
“Well it’s been over a month and like you said earlier today, I have no leads.”
“So you decided that for once your little brother might not be telling stories huh”
Rob said with a hint of sarcasm.
“That’s not what I—oh! Never mind I really don’t have time to get into an argument about it right now.” Mark sputtered. He had just seen his wife out of the corner of his eye standing staring at him through the glass door. “Rob, Anna is watching me through the glass door so I better go before she starts to think something’s up”
“Ok bye Mark” Rob said stifling a laugh.
Mark opened the door, got out of the car, went in the house, and gave his wife a big hug and kiss. She pulled away from him for a moment and asked, “Who was on the phone?”
“Rob” Mark said. “I called and him and told him I would look into his theory” he said. With a stern expression on her face she said to her husband
“Mark! I’m surprised at you deciding to believe your brother’s fairy tale” He sighed, “Yeah I know but it’s been a month and I have no leads. Don’t worry I already warned him not to get his expectations up.”
“Ok” she said wearily.
Just then there was a commotion upstairs “give me back my diary right now Michael”
“No way this is too good I am going to post it on the internet!”
“No you aren’t you little brat!”
“I’m going to post it where Alex can read it”
“You better not or else I’m telling,” she yelled “mom, dad!” Anna looked at her husband “you’ve had a long day I’ll field this one.” Anna got up and went upstairs, Mark heard his wife say “Michael give your sister her diary back right now.”
He heard his son mumble back “Yes mom” he heard his wife say “thank you.” As she went back downstairs, she heard the phone ring and went to get it. “Hello” she answered
“I know where he is” said a male voice.
Before she could reply, the line went dead. She sat by the phone white and shaking. “M-Mark” she called quivering
“What’s wrong? What is it? Who was on the phone?” he asked
“I-I’m not sure all he said was I know where he is and hung up”
“Ok just take a deep breath,” he said trying to calm his wife down
“You don’t think he was talking about your dad do you?”
He looked at his wife with a concerned expression “That’s the only conclusion I can come up with. I am going to call Tom right now and tell him to trace the call. “You guys go ahead and eat and I’ll be there later.” Mark said
Mark picked up his cell phone, called Tom, and explained what happened
“I’ll call you back in a few when I’ve traced it.” Tom said
“Thanks Tom” Mark said, “I can’t believe I have two leads after a month of nothing”
Mark said to Tom “If anything else pops up on the radar screen call me right away”
“Oh dear” she quavered, “In all the commotion I forgot I had Lasagna in the oven”
“Just call and order pizza.” He called the kids down and Anna ordered pizza. Mark’s cell phone rang a few minutes later and Tom was on the other end.
“Your mysterious call was made from a hotel room in Soho.”
“Thanks do you have an I.D on the caller?” Mark asked,
“Yep got it right here, his name is Brian Whitman,” Tom said
“Can you get me an address for that hotel room?” Mark asked.
“Sure, he is staying at the North Soho Hotel” Tom said. Mark came back into the kitchen, drew Anna aside, and said in a low voice, “Tom traced the call to a hotel in Soho and to a guy named Brian Whitman. I think I will pay him a visit tomorrow and see what he knows.”
He looked at his watch and turned to his kids “right now you two need to be in bed.”
“Aww come on” they whined
“Nope no buts” he said. They went upstairs grumbling the entire way.
“I should probably be in bed too since I have to be at the station early.” Mark said. Anna smiled weakly and said “night hon” Mark went into the bedroom and was just getting undressed when the phone rang for the third time that night. Mark picked it up “Hello”
“Help--they have me in the--”
“Dad! Hello! Dad wait! don’t hang--” It was too late there was nothing but a dial tone .
Anna came in and called “Mark?”
“Damn it! That was dad but he got cut off” He slammed the phone down. “I wish I knew who was doing this?!” Then a thought occurred to him and all the color drained from his face, he looked at his wife and said, “Oh God”
“What is it?” she asked
“Do you remember when my dad spent the night here”
“Yes”
“And do you remember the briefcase he had with him?”
“Yes”
“Well I know what was in that briefcase and I think someone wanted what was in there. It was plans for a new type of fuel. He said that the high-ups in the company he worked for got wind of his idea and started nosing around his desk. You know looking at his notes and stuff. I told him to get as far away from that company as possible. He told me he would and he did but now it looks like they caught up with him.” Mark got up and started pacing around the room his mind going ninety miles an hour.
When Mark woke up the next day, he was exhausted yet determined to find a connection between the two mysterious calls he received, Brian Whitman and the company where his dad used to work. He showered, dressed, ate his breakfast and left the house quietly so as not to wake anyone else. When he got to the station he went straight back to Tom’s office. “Tom I received another phone call last and I am almost positive it was my dad but I got cut off before I could confirm my suspicion.” Mark said as Tom rolled around the room in his chair doing his work.
“Just tell me what time it came in and I can trace it,” Tom said
Mark tried to remember “about 10:30” he said.
“Got it” Tom said.
“Great I’ll be back in a few” Mark walked out of Tom’s office and back into the open precinct. “Richardson” he barked,
“Yes sir?” Richardson replied.
“I want you and Martin to go to InventCo and see if anyone there recognizes the name Brian Whitman; call me when you find something.”
“Yes sir” Richardson said and they left.
Mark shouted, “Tom did you finish the trace on that call?”
“Yeah boss I did. It came from a warehouse in the same area the other call came from.”
Mark looked up and asked “a warehouse?”
“Yes sir” Tom said.
“Damn! My brother was right,” he exclaimed.
“I’m off to Soho to talk to young Mr. Whitman and see what he’ll tell me.”
Mark said as he was walking out the door toward his police car. He arrived in Soho a half hour later and found the North Soho Hotel. He walked up to the front desk and flashed his badge. “I need to know which room Brian Whitman is in”
The concierge paled slightly when he saw the police badge.
“Room 129” The clerk said
“Thanks” Mark said as he got on the elevator, he went up to the room and knocked on the door. “This is the police open up” the door opened immediately. “My name is Mark Silver the chief of the New York City Police, are you Brian Whitman?” Mark asked
“Yeah” Brian said
“I need to ask you some questions,” Mark said
“First of all why did you quit working at InventCo a month ago?”
“I didn’t quit, I was told to say that so it wouldn’t raise suspicions but in reality I was sent to do a job.”
“Did that job maybe involve kidnapping?”
“No idea, I was replaced before I got the chance to find out. Someone else came in and did the job.”
“Any ideas who it was that replaced you?”
“Don’t know, I was never told his name”
“You get a look at him?”
“He was olive skinned, had dark hair”
Just then, his cell phone rang “Hello” “What did you find?”
“Some pretty interesting stuff. Turns out the owners of the company have some very powerful Mafia connections and guess who they were very interested in”
“My dad?”
“You got it”
“Thanks Richardson” he said as he hung up his cell phone and turned to looked at Brian
“Tell me why the Mafia was interested in my father?”
“I’m not real sure, I overheard them say something about a formula he had that could be worth a lot. I know they came to your dad and offered him money for the formula but he refused to give it to them. They said that either way they were going to get it.”
“That’s when the owners told you to “quit” right.” Mark said
“Yeah that’s right,” Brian said lazily
“You have any idea where they wanted you to take him?”
“No, like I said they changed their minds before I got any info. I guess they decided I was too much of a liability.”
“Anything else you can tell us about the guy who replaced you?”
“Yeah he had a strange mark on his cheek.”
“Thanks hey don’t go anywhere just in case we need to talk to you again and if you are contacted or remember something else don’t hesitate to call.” He handed Brian his card and walked out of the hotel room. Just then, his cell phone rang “what did you find out about the warehouse?”
“He’s there”
“This is it Richardson I am on my way there right now. Get back up and I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
After a month of searching and not finding anything, it was finally over. He drove as fast as he could toward the warehouse without breaking the speed limit. When he got there, he saw that his deputy had done what he was told and gathered back up. He got out of his car, drew his gun, and headed toward the warehouse. He heard someone yell “police!” through a bullhorn in the distance. He approached the warehouse carefully and once he was inside he grabbed the arm of a worker and showed him a picture of his dad and asked if he’d seen this man.
The worker nodded and pointed in the direction of the storage units. Mark sprinted in the direction the worker pointed and started rolling up doors and calling. He found the right one and ran toward his dad. “Son! Oh thank goodness I thought they were going to kill me,” George said. Just then, Mark’s radio came to life
“Boss we have the name of the guy that kidnapped your dad and we are heading out to pick him up right now.”
“Ok great. I have my dad and we are heading out of the warehouse now am I clear.”
“Yeah you’re clear”
Mark and his dad walked out of the warehouse toward Mark’s car. He picked up his cell phone, called Anna to tell her that he’d found him, and that they were coming home.