Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  "Disappear, take a room in a motel outside of the city and pay in cash. Cut your phones off and turn them on in twelve hours. At that time, I will not be far from you and I will bring back up. There is going to be hell to pay." Nathaniel said with a chilling tone that made the three womens in the room shiver.

  "Cutting off, now." Amal said before the line went dead.

  "How the hell do you know all that? You've never even been to Italy before!" His grandmother exploded once the call ended.

  She seemed mad and even if she was yelling at Nathaniel, he could see that he was not really the target of her grandmother ire. She was right of course, Nathaniel never traveled in Europe, He never even left the US before but Marc had and his knowledge was inestimable right now to save his grandfather's life.

  "This is not the time to have that conversation grandma, you need to listen. These guys are pro, they left Amal alive because they wanted him to tell us who were the one who did it. They are going to call you very soon for a ranson and if they do, it will be good news. At least, it means they are after money and not after something more nefarious. I believe we have an assurance for that?"

  "Yes, we do. I believe it's fifty million dollars in case of kidnapping in addition to a team of negotiators to talk with the kidnappers." Mary said.

  "Good, we would not use it but it's still nice to have something to fall back on." Nathaniel nodded.

  "What do you mean sweetie?"

  "We will not pay them even a penny. I'm going to Europe and I will bring grandpa home."

  "This is out of question! What if they took you too? It's too risky, I'm forbidding you to go and this is the end of this discussion!" His grandmother shouted angrily.

  "Grandma, there is so much you don't know and that I can't tell you right now but trust me on this, I can do this, I will do this and there is nothing you could say or do that can stop me. I mean what I say to Amal just now, we take care of our own. They attacked us, killed our employee and kidnapped grandpa. They will die and it's the end of this discussion." Nathaniel said in an emotionless voice.

  It was at that moment that Diane's phone started ringing. Picking it up from her purse, she made a strange sound when she read the caller ID.

  "It's Robert!" She shouted.

  She was going to answer the call when Nathaniel took the phone from her hand.

  "This is not grandpa, this is the kidnappers grandma. You need to prepare for that."

  "Maybe he escaped!" She shouted hopefully, trying unsuccessfully to take back the phone.

  "Grandma, grandpa have a lot of skills but overpowering armed men in close combat are not among them. They are going to make you hear grandpa's voice before taking the phone away and telling you what they want. Try to get a name and more delay to gather the money, this is essential." Nathaniel stressed, giving her the phone back.

  "Allo?" She said tentatively, putting the phone on speaker as Nathaniel put his own phone near it, recording the conversation..

  "Do not give them what they wan…." They could hear Robert shout before they heard the sound of him being punched in the stomach and then silence. Hearing him being hurt, all three womens were looking about to cry while Nathaniel's eyes got even colder.

  "Robert? Robert answer the phone please!" Diane pleaded on the phone.

  "Robert is not here anymore." A male voice said in heavily accented english.

  "Who are you?" Diane asks.

  "My name is not important, what is important is that I have your husband in my care. If he will survive that ordeal depends on you."

  Nathaniel mute the phone for a second.

  "Insist to have a name and don't fall for his trick, he just wants to make you accountable for his own actions and make you more manipulable for your future exchange. You have more power than what he wants you to believe." Nathaniel said, watching his grandmother nodded her understanding, he unmuted the phone.

  "If we are to deal with each other, I still want a name to address you." Diane insisted.

  "Suit yourself, you can call me Khalid but if you think that would help you in this case; you are gravely mistaken."

  Nathaniel nodded constantly and wrote that name down.

  "Alright Khalid, I want my husband back, what do you want?"

  "It's easy, I want thirty millions dollars in cash in two days. If I don't have the money in that time, I will send back pieces of your husband by mail until I get it or I run short of pieces to send." He said Nathaniel could almost hear a smirk in the man's voice and that made his anger flare again.

  "But two days is not enough time to gather that much money!" Diane exclaimed.

  "Listen lady, I do that for a living and I know how your banks work. You have three days starting now to get my money and send it to an address I will send you in two days. You will not have a second more. Stay by the phone." He said before hanging up.

  Chapter 124: :

  After the man hung up, a curious silence was taking place in the middle of the living room. It ended however by Diane talking.

  "We need to give him that money. We have hidden cash in case of danger and we need to leave fast, I believe it's around what he asks for, I don't care that we give it to him, I just want my husband home and unscathed." Diane said in a hollow voice.

  "I don't understand, I thought the kidnappers were taking their time to contact the family in order to ask for a ranson. He called us right away, why?" Mary asked.

  "Usually that's how they work, it's design to make the family more anxious and so more malleable when they make contact but thanks to film and series, now the family contact the FBI instantly and so they had the time to prepare the family against that and the odds of getting caught raise when the family have the time to prepare. Calling an hour later after giving time to Amal to keep us posted was rather devious but not stupid. Giving us his name was stupid however and I'm going to use that against him." Nathaniel nodded, taking back his secure phone and dialing someone.

  "Sir?" The cute voice of Lina answered on the other side, he could tell that there was caution in her voice.

  "I'm going to send you an audio file, try to find out everything you can about the background noise and with his accented voice. Also, call your father, I want all of our security personnel in the Lyndon Tower in the next forty five minutes, even if they are not on call they have order to come. Is that clear?"

  "Can I ask what is going on exactly?" She asked, she had sense the tone which Nathaniel was using and it was giving her the creep.

  "Robert Lyndon has been kidnapped." Nathaniel said succinctly before hanging up and turning to Karine. His mind was working on a plan as he was speaking.

  "Mom, I need you to find me a lawyer in Rome. Someone with influence and that already goes head to head against the police without cowering in the past."

  "Of course Sweetie, you can count on me." Karine nodded, going to the laptop in the corner of the living room and starting typing on it. Nathaniel turns to Mary.

  "Mom, you need to go back to the Lyndon Tower and keep an eye on the company. It's possible that kidnapping grandpa had a purpose beyond money. We need to change all of his passwords and make a search in the system to know if his logs have been used in the next hour. I will give you Lina for you to look into it."

  Mary was startled to hear that. She was so focused on the loss of her father that she did not even think about other motives they could have besides money. She needed to go back to the office ASAP.

  "Grandma, what we are going to do is going to be noticed by a lot of people and the investors are going to want an answer and grandpa is missing. If they learn about it, it could hurt our company badly. I need you to go to the office and act as a conciliator. Tell them that grandpa lost his phone or something and this is why we are changing every password or finding something better, I trust you." He smiled.

  "I left the direction of the company five years ago." She said, almost absentmindedly. She was seemingly out of it right now and that was bad. Nat
haniel needed her to be focused right now.

  "Grandma!" Nathaniel shouted, making her and Mary almost jump out of their skins. "I will handle grandpa, trust me, I will bring him back to us, to you. I promise. I need you to be focus right now on the company!"

  "Nathaniel, dear, please don't go. I can't lose both of you, I just can't. Please, stay here and let the people train for that kind of situation do their job." His grandmother almost begged, tears in her eyes.

  Nathaniel hated seeing her in that state and his anger flare even brighter for the people responsible for that situation. Whoever they were and wherever they were, he will find them and make them pay.

  "Mother, Nathaniel can do this. You should let him go. He's uniquely qualified for that kind of situation." Mary voiced her support. She knew the truth about her son and that if someone could do it, it would be him.

  "He's barely seventeen!" She rebuked harshly.

  "He's a genius and he's my son.." Mary answered simply with a hint of pride in her voice.

  "Grandma, Mom, please I need silence, I need to make an important phone call." Nathaniel raises his hand, waiting for the line to connect.

  "Who is this?" A gruff voice answered at the third ring.

  "Nathaniel." He answered simply.

  "Are you crazy!" The man shouted.

  "This is a secure line."

  Hearing that piece of information seems to mollify the man in question.

  "What do you want? I'm busy so make it quick."

  "I need to speak with William, now."

  "Who do you think making those kinds of demands and calling him William in the first place?" The man said infuriated.

  "This is important Tobias, I would not be calling otherwise." Nathaniel said, starting to lose patience.

  "I don't care, he's in the middle of a security meeting in the Oval office! I can't disturb him right now! Call back later."

  "Listen to me, you fu**ing moron! My grandfather was just kidnapped in Europe! Put me in relation with William now or I swear to god I'm going to take the next flight to DC and I'm going to shove your word so far up your ass you are going to taste your own bullshit in your tongue!" Nathaniel yell on the phone.

  It was only after thirty second had passed that Tobias spoke again.

  "Sorry. Please wait, I'm bringing him on the phone right now." Tobias said before putting Nathaniel on hold.

  Chapter 125: :

  In the Oval Office, President William Hayes was meeting with NSA director, Stanley Rodger, Secretary of Defense, Matthew Pills, Secretary of state, Carolynn Crown and lastly four stars General and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Josef Dunlord. They were sitting face to face on the couch except for the President who was on the chair.

  All of these important people were discussing the revolution in Yemen and what the US should do. Going in or still looking at a distance. It was a complex geopolitical situation as Saudi Arabia wanted the US support in dealing with the threat while the UN just wanted to help the civilians trapped in the crossfire while providing food and medicine. Yemen was also situated in a strategic position and so the US had a vested interest in going in to have a foothold near Iran.

  It was at that moment that the Head of the secret service knocked on the door and entered after being invited in by the President. William knew that only Tobias could knock on his door like that without being summoned and he would never do it without an extremely good reason knowing the important meeting was taking place now.

  "Mister President, member of cabinet, sorry to interrupt like that but we have a situation. Sir, there is an important phone call that you should take in private." Tobias said.

  Getting to his feet and sighing quietly, the President turned to his member of staff.

  "Take a break and drink a cup of coffee, I'm coming right back." The President said before turning back to Tobias. "Let's go to my private quarter."

  Walking first, Tobias opens the side door leading to the private quarter of the President family. Even if they were in the White House, Tobias was still on his guard and looked at attention in the room before walking in it. The intrusion of Nathaniel a month ago into the house had shown that no place was 100% secure and since the incident, his guys were more thorough and focused on their job even if he will never give Nathaniel tribute for it.

  "Okay, who is on the phone and what is going on?" The President asked once the door had closed and he made sure they were alone and could not be heard.

  "It's Nathaniel sir. For the rest, it's best if he explains it to you himself. It's a secured line." Tobias said, giving him the phone.

  "Nathaniel, I'm guessing you are not taking the risk of calling me directly if it was not important so start talking." The President ordered.

  "Sorry to disturb you Mister President but this is a serious matter. My grandfather, Robert Lyndon, was kidnapped in Italy a little more than an hour ago." Nathaniel said on the phone, hearing the sharp intake of breath the President did once he said the news to him.

  "I'm sorry to hear that Nathaniel, I really do. I always like your grandfather. What can I do to help?"

  "I need information, sir. The organisation that took him is named the 'Crooked Moon' and the man called himself 'Khalid'. I need every piece of intel you can give me. They asked for a thirty million dollar ransom in exchange for my grandfather's release."

  "You are lucky, I have an NSA director in the next room, I'm going to give you everything I can."

  "Thank you, sir. There is more. My grandfather's itinerary was not known by many people as he was meeting with Italian economic adviser. My people also told me that the Rome Police were complicit in the attack against my grandfather. It's possible that the Italian government is working with a terrorist cell, sir."

  "It's a very serious accusation Nathaniel." The President said seriously.

  "I know sir but this is the only explanation. The only people who knew about this trip were the Italian economic adviser and my grandfather's bodyguards and employees that he took with him. Among them, two are dead now, one have been shot and he's currently being operated on and the last one is running away from corrupt cops as we speak."

  'I see but if what you said is true, it's going to be even more difficult for you to get back your people in the country."

  "Don't worry about that sir, they are my people and so are my responsibilities, not yours. When can I expect to hear news from you?"

  "Give me an hour and I will have all the intels I can gather, Tobias will send them to you once I get them. I must go now, do not call me again like that." The President orders before hanging up and giving Tobias his phone back.

  Walking back to the Oval office, he could see that the important people in the room were curious as to why it was so important but nobody asked him a question. Being the President as it's perks after all.

  "Sorry to side track this meeting but new information has been brought to my attention and we need to do something about it. Robert Lyndon, CEO of Universal Lyndon Records, was kidnapped in Italy less than two hours ago." The President announced.

  Looking at the reaction around the couches, William could see that even NSA director did not know that and it seemed to infuriate him although he tried to hide it. William smiled to himself, glad to know something that the man did not change. Even the others had a reaction as they knew Robert Lyndon for decades, the man was a legend in the music industry and he even was in the top 30 of the most influential people in the world.

  "Can I ask how that information made its way through you, Mister President? To attest the validity of the intel" He tried to justify.

  "No, you can't but this is solid. The organisation who claimed to be responsible for the kidnapping is named the 'Crooked Moon'. Ever heard of it?" William asks, looking at the NSA director and the Secretary of Defense.

  Hearing that name, the two men in question exchanged a concerned look that did not escape the President's attention.

  "Yes, we know about that organisation Mi
ster President and if they are the one who took Robert Lyndon, this is bad." The Secretary of Defense said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Sir, last year they kidnapped the CEO of a huge construction company in Qatar, they managed to take 10 millions of dollars in exchange of giving him back. The man was released when they said they would but there were harsh consequences. For the following year, that organisation start building suicide vest and explosive devices used by terrorists in the Middle East. Our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan were hit the most with these devices and we lost at least a hundred men just on that account. Can I ask if you know how much they ask for the release of Robert Lyndon?" The director of the NSA asked.

  "Thirty millions."

  This time it was an alarmed look that the two men shared.

  "Sir, this is vital that this money do not find its way to this organisation or he could endanger our soldiers and our ally military personnel abroad. If they could hurt us this bad with ten million, I don't want to know what they can do with thirty." Stanley said worriedly.

  "Does the name 'Khalid' made sense to you related to this organisation?" William asked.

  "In fact it does. It's rumored that the man behind the Crooked Moon organisation is named Khalid Rahal but we could find no evidence supporting this intelligence."

  "And why has nothing been done against this organisation or that man in the past?" The President asked.

  "It's because we only have earsay, nothing more. We could find no hard evidence against the man in question. He always was good to cover his tracks. And the other reason is because Khalid Rahal is a Saudi Arabian citizen and never left the country sir."

  Hearing that piece of information made the President frown.

  Chapter 126: :

  "Mister President, we need now more than ever the Saudi Arabia support to resolve the crisis in Yemen, that's why our department forbids any black ops operation to be conducted on their soil. The consequence would be to dire for us if it were to happen." The Secretary of State, Carolynn Crown warns.