Taken

Chapter 41

TYLER

December 15, 2013 3:00 p.m.

It had been three months and nine days since Tyler had seen his kids. He had delivered three ransom payments, and Tyler thought that it was about time for him to deliver his fourth payment.

Tyler was sitting in his living room reading the sports section of the newspaper. He was reading a preview of the Huskies/Flames game that was going to take place that evening in Minnesota.

Troy Nelson is having a really good season so far, but Blair Castro has been good, too, Tyler thought to himself. I wonder if the Huskies can pull off a win tonight. Maybe I should get tickets to the game. I know Rikki would definitely want to go to the game if she was here. Tyler put down his newspaper and called to get two tickets for the game that evening, one for him and one for Gina. As soon as he hung up the phone, it rang.

"Okay, where do you want me to drop it off?" Tyler sighed. He knew exactly who it was.

"Leave it on the bench outside of the plaza by the Huskies' stadium at five before you head to the game," said a voice that wasn't familiar to Tyler. This voice was not as harsh as the voice Tyler was used to, and the voice sounded like it belonged to a young man.

"How did you know that I was going to the game tonight? Are you tapping into my phone calls?" interrogated Tyler.

"Don't ask questions, just bring the payment," said the voice. Then the person on the other end of the line hung up.

Tyler was shocked. First the kidnappers were spying on his wife, the other kidnapped children's parents, and his daughters' friends, and now the kidnappers were listening to his phone calls. This was getting plain old creepy.

When Tyler snapped out of his shocked state, he went to his safe to get the money ready for that evening. When Gina came home from work, he told her what was going to happen that evening.

"But, Tyler," Gina protested. "Wouldn't it be safer to drop off the money and then just not go to the game?"

"Yeah, it would be, but I really want to go to the game tonight," Tyler admitted. "The Castro/Nelson rivalry is too good to miss."

"Our kids' lives are at stake and all you care about is a stupid game? Oh, Tyler," Gina sighed.

"Gina, our kids' lives are not at stake if I drop of the money," Tyler protested. "I can drop off the money at five and then we can make it to the seven o' clock game with no issues. Gina, it'll be fine. Besides, if we showed up to the Huskies' stadium and didn't go to the game, wouldn't it look a little strange?"

"Okay fine," Gina said, finally giving in. "We can go to the game, just don't forget to bring the money!"

"I won't, honey. Don't worry."

***

"Honey, hurry up!" yelled Gina. It was almost five o' clock, and Tyler had decided that he needed to change right at the last minute.

"I'm ready," Tyler said as he walked down the stairs. "If we leave right now, we can make it to the stadium with five minutes to spare."

"Let's get going then! Our kids' lives are at stake!" screamed Gina as she ran to the Corvette.

After three run red lights, two near car crashes, and getting flipped off at least five times, the Roberts finally arrived at the Huskies' stadium with six minutes to spare. The Roberts headed to the Huskies' plaza outside of their stadium. The plaza was absolutely deserted since the game wouldn't start for another two hours.

Tyler held the bag of money tightly in his hands as he walked up to the bench in the plaza. The bench was the only one in the entire plaza, so Tyler was sure that this was the right spot for the dropoff. Tyler set the bag of money onto the bench and then ran back to where Gina was waiting. The two had agreed to hide behind a statue of a former Husky player to see if they could find out who the kidnapper was.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, a tall, slim man ran up to the bench, grabbed the bag of money, and looked directly at Tyler and Gina. Tyler and Gina both got a good look at the man's face before he ran off. Tyler was ready to start chasing the man, but before he even had the chance, he realized that the man was at least two times faster than him. 

"Sorry, Gina, I would've chased him, but he looked like he was way faster than me," said Tyler.

"It's okay. Say, did you see that man's face? He looked so familiar, but I couldn't put a name on him," Gina replied.

"Yeah, I saw him, but I can't name him either. He looked really, really familiar, though. Maybe we'll come up with his name later," suggested Tyler.

"Yeah, maybe. Do you want to go eat now?" asked Gina. "We still have a good two hours before the game will start."

"Sure, where do you want to eat?" asked Tyler.

"I don't-" Gina started, but before she could finish, a man in a V-neck sweater and jeans walked up to the couple.

"Hey, aren't you Tyler Roberts, the CEO of Samba Cola?" The man asked as he pointed at Tyler. "And aren't you Gina Roberts, the U.S. representative?"

"Yes, we are," replied Tyler. "Wait, a second, I think I know you."

"Yeah, I'm Blair Castro," the man replied. "It's nice to meet you both," he said as he shook the couples' hands.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Blair," said Tyler. "I'm a big fan, and my daughter is, too."

"Yeah, I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I hope the police find your kids and catch those kidnappers. It really is a terrible thing," Blair said remorsefully.

"Thanks for your support," said Gina.

"Yeah, no problem. It's actually really funny that I ran into you guys," said Blair. "As soon as I heard about your kids' kidnappings, I wrote their names on my basketball shoes. That way, everyone can remember them when they see me play."

"Well, thank you for that. That's really nice of you," said Tyler with a smile.

"I guess I'd better get going, it's almost time for the team and me to start warming up," said Blair. "Well, it was nice meeting you. Hopefully, I'll be able to meet your daughter sometime in the future."

"See you later, Blair," said Tyler and with that, Blair Castro walked into the Huskies' stadium.

"Did we really just meet our daughter's idol?" asked Gina in a daze.

"Yeah, we also just met my idol!" Tyler practically squealed. "So anyway, do you want to eat anywhere?"

"Nah, let's just wait and eat at the stadium," replied Gina.

"Okay, whatever you want, dear."

An hour later, the couple sat down in their courtside seats with a couple of hotdogs in their hands.

"This really is a nice view," said Gina. "I just love sitting here. It was a good idea to come to the game, Tyler."

"Yeah, I know. I love sitting here, too, but honestly, I wouldn't mind sitting in the nosebleed seats as long as the Huskies are playing," Tyler replied with a laugh.

"You and your sports," said Gina with an eyeroll.

Then it was time for the teams to run onto the court for warm-ups. The Flames ran in first, with Troy Nelson leading the team. As soon as Gina saw him, she almost choked on her hot dog. "TYLER IT'S HIM!" she screamed.

"WHO!" yelled Tyler in response.

"THE KIDNAPPER!" yelled Gina.

Tyler looked at Troy Nelson and his face went pale. "Oh my gosh, Troy Nelson kidnapped our kids," Tyler said in shock.

"What are we supposed to do?" squealed Gina.

"I'm calling the police right now," said Tyler.

Twenty minutes later, a security guard walked up to Troy and asked him to go with him. Troy left the court and didn't come back. Nobody in the entire stadium knew what was going on. Nobody except Tyler and Gina, that is.