Vanishing Act (21 page)

At 11:24, Stevie decided he had waited long enough. He dialed Dowling, who picked up on the first ring.

“Mr. Dowling, I think you need to get over here right away,” Stevie said. “Susan Carol went up to the apartment and she hasn't come back. I think she's being held by the kidnappers.”

There was silence for a moment. “She
what
?!” Dowling finally said. “What the hell is she playing at?”

“Can I explain later?” Stevie said. “You said imminent danger. I think she may be in imminent danger right now.”

“Dammit,” he heard Dowling say. “Where are you?”

“Right outside the building,” he said. “Twenty-five East Tenth.”

“Don't move. Do
not
go inside. You kids had better have a good explanation for this when we get there. We'll be there in ten minutes.”

Stevie wasn't sure who “we” were, but he was glad to hear that Dowling was coming and bringing help. Who knew how many kidnappers there were inside the apartment?

He paced up and down the sidewalk, ignoring the looks from passersby, until he saw a police car and another car, both with sirens going, turning off of Fifth Avenue onto East 10th Street. Dowling got out of the unmarked car with another man in a suit. Two policemen jumped out of the police car.

“No time for introductions,” Dowling said. “Let's go.”

“Here's the code to the front door,” Stevie said, handing it over.

“When we get up there,” Dowling said to Stevie, “you stay back away from the door. You got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

They rode in silence up the elevator. There were only three apartments on the L-shaped floor. Dowling ordered Stevie to stand at the corner of the hallway, well back from the door to 4B. Stevie peered around and saw Dowling ring the doorbell. There was a pause and then he heard Dowling say, “This is the FBI. Open the door.”

Another pause. “You should know that holding a minor against her will is a federal offense that can put you in jail for life.”

And then: “We don't need a warrant when you're holding a minor. If you open the door right now, you have my word I will only charge you with holding Mr. Gibson. You've got no chance to get out of there. We know everything. Don't make this any worse for yourselves.”

Another pause. “You've got thirty seconds.”

Stevie held his breath. This could be very good or very bad…. He waited. And waited.

Finally, he saw the door open—a crack. Dowling pushed it open and Stevie saw all four officers pour into the apartment. He ran to the door, then hesitated, hearing a voice shout, “Down on the floor, get down!” He peered in and saw two men lying on their stomachs being handcuffed. Dowling was untying and ungagging Brendan Gibson. Susan Carol, her hands tied in front of her but not gagged, was being released by Dowling's partner.

“Are you okay?” Stevie said, stepping around the two men on the floor to get to her.

“Fine,” she said.

“Stevie, go out in the kitchen and get Mr. Gibson some water,” Dowling said.

Stevie nodded and turned into the small kitchen. He found a glass in a cabinet and filled it at the sink. He walked back into the living room, just as the cops were standing the two kidnappers up. When he saw their faces, he gasped and dropped the glass of water, which didn't break but clattered loudly on the floor, spilling water everywhere.

“The subway guys!” he shouted. “These are the guys who beat me up!”

The two men said nothing.

Dowling walked up close to them. “You two better be willing to talk,” he said. “Or you're going away for a very long time.”

One of them shrugged. “Nothing to talk about. We're just the hired help. We get a call, we get paid. We got nothing to tell you.”

“We'll see about that,” Dowling said.

He turned to his partner. “Bob, you've got their cell phones? Start checking the numbers right away.”

Bob nodded. Dowling turned to Brendan Gibson, who was now drinking a new glass of water that Stevie had brought him.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Scared—still,” Gibson said. “But okay. When does the match start? Someone call Evelyn.”

Stevie pulled out his phone and started to dial.

Susan Carol sat next to her uncle on the couch, holding on to him—clearly not wanting to let him go. “Uncle Brendan, I am so sorry for doubting you,” she said.

“Me too,” Stevie said, then broke off as Evelyn answered.

“Don't worry about it,” Gibson said to Susan Carol. “I know why you doubted me. I haven't behaved perfectly this week myself. But you're here now. I can't believe you put yourself in such danger.”

“Yes, we'll be discussing that, Ms. Anderson,” Dowling said. “Mr. Gibson, I assume you know who had you kidnapped?”

“Oh yeah,” Gibson said. “Can I tell you the whole story on the way out to Queens? I really want to see Evelyn and be sure she's okay.”

“You think you can walk?” Dowling asked.

Gibson stood up very slowly and wobbled a bit. Susan Carol helped steady him. “I'm okay,” he said. “I'm not ready to do any sprinting, but I can walk.”

“Mr. Gibson,” Stevie broke in. “Evelyn wants to hear your voice.” He held out the phone.

“Evelyn, it's me. I'm fine,” said Gibson. He listened for a minute and then said, “I'll tell you everything later. You just need to get ready to play. You need to beat the pants off that girl.”

21:
MATCH POINT

THEY PILED
into Pete Dowling's car—Stevie, Susan Carol, and Brendan Gibson in the backseat, and Dowling's partner, who he finally introduced as Bob Ades, up front. The two police officers had taken the two kidnappers away in their squad car, with orders from Dowling to take them to the FBI's Manhattan field office, along with the cell phones and the guns they had found on them.

Before Brendan Gibson could tell his story, Dowling demanded that Stevie and Susan Carol explain how Susan Carol had ended up in the apartment. He kept shaking his head over and over as Susan Carol told him. “Do you understand how stupid that was?” he said. “What if they had decided to turn you into a hostage?”

“But they didn't,” Susan Carol said. “They were counting on not having to hurt anyone. That's what I was counting on too.”

“You were
very
lucky,” Dowling said. “And I will give you a long lecture when this is over. Okay, Mr. Gibson, tell us what happened.”

They were in the Midtown Tunnel, which was now familiar territory to Stevie.

“I'll try to give you the short version in the interest of time,” Gibson said. “For me, this started on Monday night—the night you heard me in the apartment with the Makarovs, Stevie.

“Before that, over dinner, they told me they thought that Symanova's kidnapping was a fake—a setup. Mr. Makarov's brother is high up in the SVR. He said there was no way they would pull a move like that—if only because it would ultimately fail. He believed the Symanovs and SMG were trying to pin it on the SVR to make it look real.”

“And you believed him right away?” Susan Carol said.

“Not exactly. I knew they were angry at SMG, and I knew how much they hated the Symanovs. But the next day, I saw Norwood walking around with that movie producer.”

“O'Donahue,” Susan Carol said.

“I cornered Norwood. I told him I knew the kidnapping was a fake—even though I didn't—and I took a flyer and said, ‘You're already planning the movie, Hughes. I'm going to blow the whistle on you.'

“He tried the you-have-no-proof speech for a while—which was true, of course. I didn't. But eventually he asked me what I was looking for. Which shook me up a little—I hadn't really thought about it until then. So I told him I would think about it.”

“Why, Uncle Brendan?” Susan Carol asked. “Why didn't you just go to the police right
then
?”

Gibson shook his head. “I should have,” he said. “But I really
didn't
have proof at that point. I decided to see where the trail would lead. I went back to Norwood and said if I got a cut of the movie deal
and
if he promised not to make any move on Evelyn, I'd keep quiet. He agreed. That's why I was in that meeting at the U.S. Open Club.”

“So who actually kidnapped Nadia?” Stevie asked.

“No one kidnapped her,” Gibson said. “I'm guessing those two guys you just arrested were in on it and a couple more guys. I think there were four in all. But they were hired by SMG. All they did was hide her out in SMG's offices on the East Side until it was time for her to make her triumphant return.”

“By which time the whole world wanted a piece of her incredible story,” Susan Carol said.

“Exactly,” Gibson said. “This was probably a hundred-million-dollar kidnapping. Symanova will be endorsing everything—for millions—within a month. She's going to be on the cover of
Time
and
Newsweek,
not to mention all the glamour magazines. The bidding for her shoe deal was at eighteen million a year on Thursday—and climbing. Rolex wants to sign her and so does Cartier. Those are massive deals. Some British publishing house is offering ten million for her life story. The movie deal will be worth at least thirty million. Lots more if it does well in the theaters. O'Donahue claims he'll get Britney Spears to play Nadia.”

“She's not tall enough,” Susan Carol said.

“Yeah, but she's famous enough,” Gibson said.

“You realize, Mr. Gibson, you're subject to an accessory charge for not turning them in,” Dowling said.

“I understand,” Gibson said. “Like I said back in the apartment, I know I screwed up.”

“Odds are your helping us now and what just happened to you will be seen as mitigating circumstances.”

“I'll help any way I can,” Gibson said.

“So where did it fall apart?” Dowling asked. They were passing Shea Stadium now. Getting close.

“After Evelyn's second-round match,” Gibson said. “They got a good look at how much she had improved and got scared. Norwood told me the whole deal could fall apart unless Evelyn lost to Nadia today. I told him that was out of my control, that even if I
tried
to get Evelyn to throw the match, she wouldn't do it. He said I needed to get control somehow, because if Evelyn won, the movie deal would go down the tubes. Nadia can't lose so early in the tournament to a nobody. She needs to at least make it to the quarters.”

“What about Serena Williams in the fourth round?” Susan Carol asked.

“Serena's hurt. Plus, she's a power player. Power players don't scare them. They think she can beat Serena
and
Makarova, and they're even convinced she would beat Davenport or Venus Williams or Sharapova. There are only three players in the draw who make them nervous: the two Belgians—Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne, who she can't play before the final—and Evelyn. Because those girls play with finesse; they'd run her around, tire her out.

“If she loses to one of the Belgians in the final, it's okay. But if she loses to Evelyn today, everything could go away. In fact, a lot of the deals might swing to Evelyn.”

“But Symanova's a star. She's a beautiful kidnap victim…. Are these people that fickle?” Susan Carol asked.

“You bet,” Gibson said. “As long as Symanova keeps winning, the stakes go up. But if she loses…”

“She could have lost to Kim on Friday,” Stevie said.

“Yes, she could have. I think that match is what panicked them. Kim plays finesse tennis but not nearly as well as Evelyn. That's when I got the call saying they needed to meet with me that afternoon. At first I told them there was nothing to meet about, but they upped the ante.”

“How?” they all asked.

“They threatened Evelyn. That's why I went to the apartment. As soon as I walked in, expecting Norwood and the Symanovs, the two guys jumped me. You know the rest. Susan Carol, I don't know how to thank you. What you did was unbelievably brave.”

“And stupid,” Dowling said.

He pulled the car off the Grand Central Parkway and flashed his badge at the guards in front of the entrance to the players' parking lot. The guards looked baffled but waved them through.

They parked and got out of the car. Dowling told Ades to head for the security office and round up several police officers. “It's a crowded place and we've got a bunch of people to arrest,” he said. “We'll meet up inside and figure out how best to proceed.

“Now,” Dowling said, “let's go find Evelyn.”

They had just walked inside the gate when Susan Carol's cell phone rang. She opened it, smiled, and said, “It's her.”

Stevie could hear Evelyn's excited voice coming through the phone as they walked. “We're walking inside right now,” she said. “Where should we meet you?…Okay. Be there in about three minutes.”

She closed the phone. “She was on a practice court,” she reported. “She'll meet us outside the junior women's locker room.”

As they headed for the junior locker room, Stevie noticed people lined up to get into the stadium—even though the start of the match was more than an hour away. Dowling noticed too.

“Gonna be a lot of disappointed people,” he said.

“Why?” Stevie asked.

“Won't be much of a match with Symanova under arrest,” he answered.

Stevie and Susan Carol both stopped in their tracks. Stevie could tell that, like him, Susan Carol hadn't thought through the implications yet. Dowling read their body language.

“You guys understand that Symanova has to be arrested, don't you?” he said. “Clearly, she knew what was going on the whole time.”

“I'm afraid he's right,” Gibson said. “She knew
exactly
what was happening.”

Stevie
had
realized that but hadn't focused on the idea of Symanova not playing the match.

“I'd have liked to see Evelyn beat her,” he said.

“Me too,” Susan Carol said.

“Me three,” said Gibson.

They walked quietly down the halls and found Evelyn waiting for them. As soon as she saw Brendan Gibson, she ran into his arms. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said.

“Thank Stevie and Susan Carol,” he said. “And Agent Dowling.”

Evelyn shook hands with Pete Dowling, hugged Susan Carol, and then kissed Stevie—quite firmly—on the lips. Stevie felt his legs get a little bit weak. He thought—maybe he imagined it—that Susan Carol looked miffed.

“Thank you all for everything,” she said. “God, Brendan, you had us scared to death.”

“I had me pretty scared too,” he said, smiling. “But it's all over now.”

Evelyn took a deep breath. “I know. Well, I better pull myself together. I've got a match to play in about an hour.”

They all looked at one another. It was Dowling who finally said something.

“Ms. Rubin, you understand that Nadia Symanova was involved in Mr. Gibson's abduction, among other things….”

Evelyn's face clouded. “Oh no! You're not going to arrest her
now
?!”

“We have no choice. We have to arrest everyone involved.”

Evelyn looked as if she was going to cry. Bob Ades rounded the corner. “Everyone's waiting at the far end of the hall,” he told Dowling in a low voice. “I talked to that Kantarian guy and he said the parents and the agent are in the players' lounge waiting for the match to start. And we believe Symanova is in the locker room here. Kantarian wanted to talk to you before we do anything. He's not very happy.”

Brendan Gibson put an arm around Evelyn. “Agent Dowling, let me ask you a question,” he said. “As long as you know where everyone is going to be, is there any reason why you can't make the arrests after the match is over?”

Dowling didn't answer. “Agent Dowling,
please,
” Evelyn said. “It isn't as if anyone is going to make a run for it. Please let me play this match. I know I can beat her. It won't mean anything if I win by default.”

“As long as I stay out of sight, no one will have any idea things aren't going according to plan,” Gibson said.

Dowling looked at Ades. “Any thoughts?”

Ades smiled. “It's not exactly our normal procedure,” he said. “But they're right. No one is going to bolt, especially with the match going on.” He looked at Evelyn. “She hasn't done anything wrong. Why deny her this moment?”

“I forgot you're a tennis fan,” Dowling said, smiling. “Okay. Let's go meet with Kantarian. We need a safe place to hide Mr. Gibson, and we need to make sure the agent and the parents are being closely watched throughout.”

Evelyn, who was apparently in a hugging mood, threw her arms around Dowling. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you, thank you.”

Dowling shook his head. “My life today is being run by teenage girls.
Please
don't tell anyone about this.”

Evelyn went into the locker room after they all had wished her good luck and cautioned her to stay as far away from Symanova as possible in there. They all went back down the hall, and Ades took Dowling in to see Arlen Kantarian while Stevie, Susan Carol, and Gibson hovered in the hallway. The FBI men weren't gone for long. When they came back, a police officer was with them. “Officer Olmstead is going to take us to Mr. Kantarian's box to watch the match,” Dowling explained. “Mr. Gibson, here's a hat for you—try to be inconspicuous. Once it's over, Olmstead will have people where they need to be. Mr. Kantarian's only request was that the arrests be made out of sight of the public. They want as little commotion as possible.”