by Newbiel
Once everyone had nodded, even Lina who had lifted her head from her computer amidst her work to do so, Nathaniel continued.
"He wants to go against arms manufacturers, military contractors and mercenary companies like Blackwater to quote only them." Nathaniel announced.
Hearing that, the whole team was stunned and the silence in the room stretched for a few minutes.
"That's insanity." Camilla said.
"I agree, he wants to go against three of the top five people who buy the most political influence each year. It will never work." Scott added.
"I'm supporting him in that endeavor, believe me, I saw some really bad shit made by Blackwater when I was deployed but they are right. They enjoyed so much support from the government that they are basically untouchable." Jon added.
"That's a political suicide." Na-Yung adds, she wasn't very well versed in Washington politics but even she knew that much.
"He doesn't care and he knows he's at the best place to do that. He has huge support from the American people and he's in his second term. He has three years to make it happen and he's determined to do it." Nathaniel said.
"That's going to change when they are going to spend billions in negative ads and use their influence to force members of his own party to oppose him, not saying anything about the Democrats." Jon shook his head.
"The majority leader of the Congress is loyal to him and the minority leader in the Senate also is one of his men. Not mentioning the fact that the head of the RNC is one of his close friends. The President is confident that he can go ahead with this." Nathaniel added.
"If they can't block him politically, they are just going to kill him and put someone in their control in the White House." Scott said bitterly.
"He knows that." Nathaniel nodded.
"That's why he came to you before talking about it in front of the camera, he wants your support and our protection." Lucie quickly came to that conclusion.
"That's correct." Nathaniel said, honestly. "We all are Amercians in this room, we have a duty to protect the President."
"Was that your plan from the beginning?" Lucie asked with hostility. "Making Hans, Na-Yung and me American citizens to compel us into protecting your President?"
"No." Nathaniel answers coldly. "I wasn't aware of he's agenda before tonight, I don't even believe it was on the table before we came in and he saw how good we are. I also think that you knew I would never manipulate you like that, I was always open and honest with all of you about my plans and my motivation to create this team. I used my influence to make you citizens so that you could live and work here without having to worry about visas or border crossings." He adds, looking at Na-Yung, Hans and Lucie in the eyes.
"hum, guys? I'm ready." Lina's timid voice cut the conversation before it could further escalate.
"Alright, we will talk about it more when this case is over. Lina, lead the way." Nathaniel said with a wave of his hands in her direction.
"so... " Lina started to say before clearing her throat and displaying the information on screen. "Ten days ago, the two daughters of Senator John Livingston, Elisabeth and Madison Livingston, were kidnapped while spring breaking in Cancun. There's two bodyguard, two ex-green berets were found dead, their throats slit the morning after the girls were reported missing."
"How have they been reported missing so fast?" Camilla asked.
"The girls were supposed to check in with their uncle each night, when they did not, he tried to call them and their bodyguard. When he saw that no one was answering, he triggered the alert immediately. Mexican police made roadblocks and launched an alert to find the girls but they couldn't find them anywhere." Lina answered.
"Who is that uncle to make the Mexican Police move so fast?" Jon asked.
"Their uncle is a CIA case handler." Nathaniel answered.
"Well, that's explained from where the tracking software came from. Madison Livingston… Why does that name sound so familiar to me?" Na-Yung asked with furrowed eyebrows.
Nathaniel sighed, he knew it was going to come up at some point.
"Full disclosure here, I had a relationship of sorts with the youngest daughter of the Senator who is now missing." Nathaniel confesses.
Chapter 215: :
Looking at the surprised face around him, Nathaniel knew that they did not expect to hear something like that at all.
"I knew I heard that name before!" Na-Yung exclaimed. "She's the bitch who cheated on you just before your birthday!"
Taken aback by what Na-Yung just said, all eyes on the room instantly turn to Nathaniel who nodded.
"That's true." He said, simply.
"Is the girl stupid or what? Why would anyone cheat on you of all people?" Camilla exclaimed before adding quickly. "I mean outside of the fact that you are a show off and kind of ugly."
"Thanks for that." Nathaniel let out a laugh.
"Why did you even take the case? I mean, I don't really want to save her now that I know who she is." Na-Yung said with hostility.
Nathaniel had confided to her about what happened with Madison while she was away and at that time Na-Yung was clearly pissed off at the girl. Nathaniel thought that she would have calmed down but obviously it was not the case.
"Because there is a correlation between offense and punishment and in this case the punishment wouldn't be in accord with the offense. She doesn't deserve to die because of what she did to me, and it's good to consider her sister who doesn't have anything to do with it at all." I took the case because it was the right thing to do, my feelings or lack thereof to one of the victims don't have anything to do with it." Nathaniel answers patiently before nodding in Lina's direction.
Getting the message, Lina took over.
"Okayyyy… Forty eight hours after the girls were found missing, the Senator got a phone call to their house for someone calling himself 'Jorge' saying that he had the girls, he confirmed that by letting them talk to the couple before saying how much he wanted for the girls." Lina explained.
"He didn't give the name of an organisation or a Cartel?" Nathaniel asked with furrowed eyebrows.
���No, why? Is this significant?" Lina asked.
"Yes, being a part of a Cartel or other criminal organisation gives you power and protection. Especially in Mexico, if you want to operate in the street, you need to belong to the established order or you will be put down by them. I still have enough family members living in Mexico to know at least that much." Camilla said.
"She's right. Were the bodyguards harm before having their throat slit? Any sign of a self defending wound?" Nathaniel asked.
Looking quickly in the data that she had, Lina answered.
"Based on the coroner office, there was not."
"Hmm… You can go on Lina."
"Alright, the ransom was fixed to five millions dollars to get the girls back. Five days later, the Negotiator team met with the people who held the girls to make the exchange in the outskirts of the little city of Bacalar in the SouthEast of Mexico. Two days laters, the five man team were found dead with multiple gunshot wounds. Two days after that, they told the Livingston couple that the negotiator team attacked them and now they had three days to pay fifty millions dollars or they will get their daughters back in pieces by the mail and this is when we got involved."
"I understand now why you asked about wounds on the two bodyguard bodies. You believe this was done by more than a single individual." Lucie said, looking at him.
"Yes, kidnapping the two girls for a single person is possible, they are sisters, you just have to threaten one that you will shoot the others and they will comply. Blitz two ex Green Berets alone without giving them the time to defend themselves is another thing entirely. Killing the entire team of negotiators with experienced people was the last straw, that can't be done alone. They must be at least five but I would say a little more than ten considering everything they have done so far."
"It's still bothering me that he didn't identify
himself as a member of a gang. That's just don't square with what I know." Camilla wasn't satisfied.
"That's clever in a way, that makes finding him a lot more difficult, I imagine there is a lot of 'Jorge' living in Mexico. Too much for us to find him and the girls in time." Scott said.
"What if he didn't because he couldn't? What would the Cartel do if someone were usurping their name to kidnapped high profile people?" Nathaniel asked.
"That's easy, they would track the person down and kill his entire family." Camilla answered quickly.
"Maybe the person knew that the Cartel would find him fast because he used to be a member? That would explain how he managed to get out of Cancun before the Police place roadblocks and how he managed to carry the kidnapping out while dodging the Cartel in the city." Lucie guessed.
"Lina used the DEA database, we are looking for an ex sub leader or a lieutenant of a gang affiliated to the Cartels. He would have left the Cartel or the gang in question less than a year ago." Nathaniel ordered.
Doing as she was told, quickly more than thirty pictures appeared on screen.
"Lina, do we have a recording of the man who called the Senator home?" Lucie asked.
"Yes, we do." Lina said quickly.
"Play it please."
Soon after that, they could hear the conversation between the ravissor and the Senator. The man in question was talking in an accented spanish accent but it was still largely understandable.
"Okay, that's enough, thanks Lina." Lucie said. "Based on the way that he talks and the words that he used, I would say he's between late thirties and mid forties. Can you take off, everyone younger and older than that?"
Ten people immediately vanished from the screen leaving twenty three pictures on it.
"Take off everyone born in the USA or another english speaking country." She added.
Five more people disappear from the screen.
"Among them, how many were born in Mexico?" Camilla asked.
"Eleven." Lina answered quickly, highlighting them on the screen and making the others vanished.
"Someone named Jorge among them?" Scott asked.
Making a quick search, all eleven pictures on screen vanished, turning it completely black.
"Well, that was a nice attempt at least." Jon said dejectedly.
"Lina, can you put the city of Bacalar on screen please?" Nathaniel asked.
Not seeing where he was going with this, Lina put the city on the big screen. Seeing this, Nathaniel got to his feet and walked to the screen.
"Can you dezoom please? Again? One more time please? Thanks, that's great. You know, I'm persuaded that the first meeting was always scheduled to fail and whatever happened, they were going to kill the negotiator and take the money. Girls, if you were to have a date with a man you were sure will not be to your taste, will you meet him at your favorite coffee shop or at one on the other side of the city?" He asked with a playful smile.
"At the other side of the city of course, where are you going with this?" Lucie asked.
"In 2006, the UN put pressure on Mexico to secure their maritime borders to fight the Cartel way of bringing their drugs to North America. As a result, the Cartels start expanding to Central America to circumvent their protection. Lina, go back to the eighteen men we had previously, how many of them were born or have family in Belize?" Nathaniel said, putting his finger on the country south of the city of Bacalar.
Making a quick search, only four pictures stayed on screen.
"Does one of the four is name Jorge by any chance?"
A few keystrokes later, only one picture remained on screen.
"Jorge Perez, forty one years old. That's interesting, he was imprisoned for the last seven years at Rikers and got out two month ago. I don't understand, he was serving a fifteen years sentence for murder but still got released without saying why. He was born in San Pedro and still has family there."
"Can you put San Pedro on screen please?" Nathaniel asked.
The screen got back to the map earlier and started zooming on an Island in the South East of Mexico.
"Gotcha." Nathaniel said with a smile.
Chapter 216
Once it was done, Nathaniel took his time to walk back to his chair and sit back down. While he was walking, the screen turned back to Jorge Perez's picture along with his criminal record to the right of the screen. After sitting back, Nataniel kept silent, looking at the screen in deep thought. Around the table, Lucie, Scott and Jon were doing the same while the rest were looking at him with curious expression.
"What are you doing? Shouldn't we run outside and start getting over there instead of staying here?" Camilla asked.
"No. We have the 'Who' and 'Where', we still miss some important part of the puzzle. Like 'How' and 'Why'. Moreover, we also need more information about where they are on the island and how many people he has with him. Considering that it is he's home turf, it's highly probable that he has people loyal to him in law enforcement and legislature. That's not a thing like we get the girl and we go to the nearest embassy, we need an in and out strategy if we hope to come back alive. That island could turn into a death trap really fast if we are not well prepared." Nathaniel explained.
"You all need to look past the obvious and search for the truth, no matter how unlikely or farfetch it seems." Nathaniel adds, looking at Camilla, Na-Yung, Hans and Lina with a strict expression. "Na-Yung, look at he's rapshit, what do you see?"
"Well, I see assault, stealing property, attempt murder, murder, murder, murder. He's violent, brutal and doesn't hesitate to kill when it benefits him." Na-Yung answers with uncertainty.
"That's correct but what isn't in there?" Scott asked. "Think about the degree of preparation and organisation that needed to be done before even taking the girls, that man doesn't have the brain or the patience to pull that off, what does that mean?"
"Maybe his time in jail made him smarter?" Na-Yung guesses doubtfully.
"I don't think so, I believe he got help. Didn't you hear what Lina said? He was scheduled for fifteen years jail sentences and got out without any explanation after doing barely half of what he should have." Nathaniel added.
"The only reason why someone like him would be released before his time would be if he threw some other people under the bus." Camilla said.
"That could be it but considering our security clearance, we would know about it if that was the case. There are also other questions we need answers for. Were the daughters of the Senator the target all along or was it just happenstance? And in that case, how does he recognize them? Although he was serving his sentence in New York, he was coming from Texas originally and was incarcerated in another state to protect jail workers. The two girls even participate in campaign events with their father, they don't have social networks and they aren't well known from the public. We are still missing too much information to make an informed decision at this point." Nathaniel said.
"I believe you are looking too much into this Nathaniel." Jon said.
"You may be right Jon." Nathaniel nodded. "But still, I want more information about this. Lucie takes Jon with you and goes to ask some questions to the Senator and his wife. I'm trusting you to know what to ask. Jon asked if one of the girls needed medication, that could prove useful to narrow their position."
"What? You want us to go now? It's past one in the morning!" Jon shouted.
"Yeah and you expect with their daughters away that they will be sleeping right now?" Lucie said, raising to her feet and looking at Nathaniel. ��How do you want us to identify ourselves?"
"Stay vague, you can give first name but no last name. Say we are independent contractors and the President sends you. Be wary of the brother of the Senator, he's going to try to squeeze you for any information he can about who you are and what we do. They are staying in room 485, three floors above us" Nathaniel instructed.
"Got it. Jon, let's go." Lucie said.
After they leave the room, Nathaniel looks at t
he rest of the team.
"Now, we need to come up with a way to enter that island without warning them that we are here. So commercial ways like airplanes and ferries are off, pretty sure that we will be expected there, not even mentioning the fact that we wouldn't be able to take our gear by that means. Of course, we could take weapons on the ground but that would advertise our presence even more. So, ideas?"
"We could use a Coast Guard chopper to get close to International water and then drop from it and finish by swimming?" Scott offered a standard way from Delta to enter the country undetected and it was not surprising Nathaniel to hear it but it still made him laugh.
"It could be a good way but to be honest, who here is feeling optimistic about jumping from a helicopter hovering a few meters in the water, jump with all your gear and then swim to the coast?" Nathaniel laughed before seeing the look that everyone was giving him. "Yes, this time, we are all going, the whole team."
"Are you sure Nathaniel? We are going to trespass illegally on another country, I don't think they are ready for that. Not mentioning the fact that bringing Lina and Hans could cut a lot of our options." Scott answers while frowning.
"You are right but to be honest, a lot of these options are not available for us. We can't count on anyone to help us leave from the island, we can only count on the eight of us and that's it. So, if one of those options was to parachute from an airplane on the island, that still doesn't provide us an escape strategy so you can forget it."
The silence started stretching after Nathaniel just told them and they were all trying to find a way while Nathaniel just waited patiently for an answer.
"Why are you doing this? I know you already have a plan, you always have one." Na-Yung sighed.
"Because I want you to think on your own. I will not always be here and you need to think on your own feet, it could literally save your life in the future. Think, who despite special forces have huge experience entering and leaving coastal countries undetected?" Nathaniel asked.
