Page 18 of Bad Enough

The computer expert brushed his powerful hand over the top of his head, hunching his bulky frame over the laptop on the table. “Not exactly. But, literally about fifteen minutes ago, the computer tracked down the notice he punched his trident through. It’s for an international film festival at Cairo University. It was an ad for a showing of Taken.’’

Various expletives flew around the table.

The disembodied voice of God came over the speaker. “So, we know he was grabbed while in that warehouse, and he must have had his suspicions that this would occur if he had the foresight to pull down that poster.”

“So where does that leave us, then?” TB asked.

“Hellah, nowhere,” Midas admitted. “All we have now is confirmation that he’s missing by force, not by choice.”

“And now that we know she’s pregnant, we know there’s no way in hell that he’d voluntarily leave without them,” Steel added.

“We don’t know for sure if it's his kid. He could be just trying to help an old girlfriend.”

Steel shook his head. “Regardless, he wouldn’t leave any woman stranded.”

Ouch! That was a low blow.

The silence in the room weighed heavier than any elephant. All the men looked around at each other, with the exception of Waters, who refused to look at anyone.

God cleared his throat, breaking the tension. “So, what’s next?”

Midas shrugged. “I’ve got facial recognition running twenty-four-seven, but I’m out of monitor space for possible locations. And to be honest, it’s probably a waste of resources looking for him that way if he was captured.”

“Well, we know where he was hiding out initially, and we know about when he was there. Can we run what little CCTV footage we have on people who were in the area at the same time and see if we get a hit that way?” TB asked.

“We tried that. Backtracked a week. Didn’t even see hide nor hair of Ka-Bar himself, let alone anything truly suspicious,” Waters replied.

“Given his skill set, I’m thinking we’d be more likely to find someone that’s linked to the snatch and grab than it would be finding Ka-Bar himself,” TB pointed out. “It might be a good idea to rewatch those recordings and look for repeating non-repeaters.”

“Repeating non-repeaters?” Nemo asked.

TB turned his head to him. “Yeah. Repeat visitors.”

“The area Midas narrowed it down to is a frickin’ street market. Most everyone will be a repeater,” Nemo pointed out.

Sighing, TB asked, “When you two cased a museum, there were always people who came back regularly, yes?”

Both Nemo and Midas nodded.

“People are creatures of habit. They have favorites. They stick to places, people, and things they like and know. The same goes for their entertainment. Guards are trained to watch for people who repeat. The elderly woman who stops at the museum after church on Sunday. The family that always goes to the movies on Tuesdays and orders the same snacks. The mother who takes her baby to the park and meets with other mothers every Friday morning for a play date.”

Midas snapped his fingers. “The grocery store!”

TB smiled. “Now you’re catching on.”

“What are you blathering about?” Nemo asked in confusion.

“Think about it, bro. When you go to the grocery store, what path do you use?” Midas shook his head. “Never mind. I forgot. Unless you’re stalking a girl, you don’t go to the store.”

“None of us go to the store, jackass. Cherry places delivery orders.”

“You know what I mean,” Midas returned.

“I see where you’re going, Midas,” Waters jumped in. “People follow the same order of the store. They start almost automatically in whatever aisle is closest to the door.”

“Right. And the reason that the frozen aisles are closest to the checkout is because you don’t want your ice cream, or whatever, to be out of the cold any longer than it has to be. People don’t go to the ice cream aisle, then go shop for bread, soup, chips, etcetera.”

Waters made the connection. “So what we’re really looking for are repeaters who don’t repeat a pattern.”

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