PULL THE PIN

Chapter 5

The women continued to chat and snack as they waited for traffic to start moving again. Anita's phone chimed with a text notification. Wide-eyed after reading the text, she passed the phone to Cordelia.

'Cordelia, do not panic, but do as I say as quickly as possible. First, should anyone come to your vehicle and ask you to go with them: DO NOT GO WITH THEM. Stay in the vehicle with the doors locked and windows fully closed. Second: turn on your phone, save what you need to the cloud, then restore it to factory settings. Apparently, a tracking app has been installed on your phone. Going back to factory settings will disable that app. The disc you found is a tracker. Gordon is sending his security team to get you. I have already called the police and sent Silas and Logan to you. Do not open the vehicle door for anyone other than Silas or Logan. Silas should be there in less than 10 minutes. We will discuss everything later. Wait for Silas and Logan!'

Hands shaking in fear, she handed the phone back to Anita and grabbed her own phone from her purse. She never kept anything important on her phone, other than a few photos which she had already saved to her Cloud account. Turning on the phone, she waited for it to get to the point where she could work with it. Once the phone was powered up and ready to use, Cordelia went to her settings, and selected the 'restore to factory settings' option. Without hesitation, she did just that. When that task was completed, she checked to see the battery level was at 80%, then verified that the camera function was still a functioning feature.

As she was finishing up with her phone, she heard Anita hiss at her. "Cordie, a couple of men are approaching our vehicle. What do I do?"

"Well, first off. Don't panic. You read Grandpa's text. Help in on the way. Keep the doors locked and the windows up. Open a live-stream to Grandpa and Silas. We are going to record everything! Those two guys don't know that we know what they are up to. If they don't go away, or start to threaten us, blow the car horn to get attention from the people in the other vehicles. Hopefully, someone will be brave enough to help us. If not, we will just sit tight until Silas, Logan and the police get here."

The two men reached the Jeep and tried to open the door. Finding them locked, they started rapping on the driver's window. Both women had their phones recording the actions of the men.

"What do you want?" Anita asked loud enough they could hear her through the closed windows.

"We have come to escort Ms. Andrews to her family." The older of the two men tried to sound friendly, but it was clear he was determined to carry out the instructions of his boss.

Cordelia just looked at him and shook her head before responding. "I have no idea who you are. How do you even know who I am, or where I am? I'm not going with you, so you might as well leave."

The man gave an evil smirk. "Miss Andrews, you don't need to know how we found you. It would be in your best interest to come with us peacefully. You will not like the consequences if you refuse to do so. Our boss has given us discretion as to how we make you comply."

The two women looked at each other, eyes wide. Then Cordelia spoke up again. "I will say this again, I don't know who you are. You could just be a perv trying to take advantage of two women stuck in traffic. And who is this 'boss' you speak of? Another perv, just like you?"

The man was getting red-faced at being called a perv. "You know damn well who our boss is! Now get out of the f**king car, and do as you are told!"

"I have no idea who either you or your boss is, so I would suggest you bugger off and leave us alone." Cordelia's voice was loud, and her eyes followed the younger man that was now walking around the Jeep to the passenger side.

"Listen you little b***h. You know damn well Gordon Andrews is our boss. He sent us here to get you. Now get out of the vehicle, and walk with us across the road, and get in the boat we have docked. You are coming with us, one way or another." The older man was gritting his teeth as he cursed his instructions at Cordelia.

By now the younger man was tapping on the window beside Cordelia. She turned to face him and stared into his eyes, while lifting her phone to show she was recording his actions. His eyes flickered briefly when he realized she was recording a very clear image of his face. Anita did the same to the older man, and he had the brains to realize everything was being live-streamed.

"Anita, start blowing the car horn. We need to create a disturbance to draw attention to us. Otherwise, we may find these two guys breaking the windows to try to get to me!" Cordelia's voice was shaking. What was taking Silas so long to get here?

The Jeep's horn started blaring as Anita frantically pressed the horn button again and again. At first no one responded, but as the two men began to pound on the vehicle windows, a few occupants of the other vehicles stuck in traffic exited their vehicles to see what the ruckus was about. Both women started hollering for help. The more people showed up the better, as far as they were concerned. It meant more witnesses. Cordelia noticed a couple of women with their phones out recording the incident. She decided to take advantage of this and increased her cries for help. Declaring as loudly as she could that the two men were trying to kidnap her and Anita.

The two men in question started to back away, but were surrounded by a number of concerned citizens who prevented them from escaping. Both women were crying in earnest now, partly in fear and partly in relief. Within minutes, Silas, Logan, and a group of police officers appeared on the scene. The police immediately took the two men into custody, while Silas went to Anita's side of the vehicle, and Logan went to Cordelia's door. Seeing they were now safe, Anita used the central unlock button, allowing the doors to be opened. Silas grabbed his sister and hugged her close.

Logan wrenched Cordelia's door open and swept her into his arms and held her in a tight embrace. All the while whispering that she was safe, he had her, he would never let anyone hurt her. He continued to comfort her as she sobbed in his arms. Never had she been so frightened about her personal safety. Gordon and Margaret must be truly desperate if they were trying to have her kidnapped. Whatever had happened after she left the house in Bedford must have triggered these events.

By now, the police had questioned the occupants of the other vehicles, getting their account of what had transpired. The people who had taken videos forwarded them to an email provided by the senior officer on site. Silas requested they be forwarded to his email as well, and when the officer agreed, Silas' phone pinged several times with receipt of the videos.

By this time, traffic had started moving, and was being directed around the scene by several officers. The two men who had been sent by Gordon Andrews were placed in the back of separate police cruisers and driven off to holding cells at headquarters. Their mobile phones had been confiscated and held by the officers, so there was no way they could communicate with their boss.

Turning to the women, the senior officer asked them to meet him at headquarters to give their statement. Since the girls were still upset, Silas said he would drive and be with them the whole time. The girls quickly straightened up the vehicle, putting the uneaten snacks back in their containers, and placing them in the grocery bag. Logan helped Cordelia into the back seat, and got in beside her, keeping hold of her hand. Silas helped Anita into the passenger seat, and took his place behind the steering wheel. Ensuring everyone was seat belted, he then followed a police car to their headquarters building on Göttingen Street.

This was proving to be a very long, very stressful day for everyone involved.