Chapter 54

Chapter 54—Jack prepares to rescue Kate

6:52 p.m., Thursday, December 29

Reginald left the meeting and drove directly to meet Jack at a predetermined location—an all night diner less than fifteen minutes from Jerry’s cottage.
As he drove up, Reginald quickly spotted Jack sitting in his vehicle waiting for him. Reginald parked three cars away, and walked over to the black SUV. He got in the passenger side, and closed the door.  Jack pulled out of the parking lot, and headed toward Brooklyn. The two rode together for a couple miles before a word was spoken.
“Want to fill me in on your plan?” Reginald finally asked.
“This is what I have in mind,” Jack replied. “Roger is positioned outside the hotel. By Penn Station. And you and I are headed to Brooklyn. That’s where we think they are holding Kate.” Jack paused for a moment, then asked, “You are armed?”
“I’m good,” Reginald said. “Let’s roll.”
Roger had determined on the basis of triangulation of cell phone signals that Kate was being held in that borough.
“Roger has some specialized electronics with him,” Jack said. “He also has my cell right now. So, when the kidnapper calls, the call will first hit my cell that Roger has in Midtown Manhattan, and his equipment will patch the call to this one,” Jack said, holding up a new cell phone for Reginald to see. “If the kidnappers have equipment sophisticated enough to trace cell activity, and we have to assume they do, then it will appear to them that my response is coming from Midtown Manhattan, because that’s where my cell actually will be. My response will be routed through my cell downtown. … This will give us a small window of opportunity to rescue Kate. We miss this chance, they will most certainly kill her.”
“I understand,” Reginald said. “How will we determine the location?”
 “With this little device that Roger loaned me,” Jack said, pointing at a metal carrying case lying on the console between them. It was about the size of a thin briefcase.
“Actually,” Jack continued, “Roger will pinpoint the source of the kidnapper’s call, while I try to keep them talking for as long as I can. Once Roger has determined the co-ordinates, he will feed that info through to this device.”
Jack then flipped open the latches on the metal case, exposing a brightly illuminated screen. “Roger’s feed will come up on this GPS map. All we have to do is follow it and it will take us to the house where they are holding Kate. … I tested it, and it is simple to operate.”
“Can we do a dry run?” Reginald asked.
“No time,” Jack replied. “But trust me, if we can get a fix on the location, it will lock in, and we can’t miss it … to within inches. Roger is controlling the whole thing from his end. He will be monitoring it, and feeding our GPS the co-ordinates. … It’s all going to come down to our reacting quickly, and decisively. We’re up to it. I won’t fail Kate.”
“We can’t fail Kate,” Reginald quickly interjected. “I got her into this, and I am with you all the way. We will get her out, my friend.”