:

Hearing that, Nathaniel's mind went blank for a second. When he came to, he realized he was gripping his phone so hard that he heard it crack.

"I'm putting you on speaker, can you please repeat that?" Nathaniel asks, releasing the pressure of his hand.

"Robert Lyndon got kidnapped." He repeated.

Hearing these words, Diane and Mary face turn white as paper and Nathaniel could see his grandmother gripping the chair so strongly that her hand turns white too. Nathaniel put his hand on her shoulder for support.

"What happened?" He asked.

"We were ambushed, sir. We were on our way to meet the Italian economic adviser when we got asked to pull over by two police officers. They made us park in a side street and start shooting at us right away, they turned out to be fake cops. We dispatched them but after that a dozen of arabic men appeared and shooted at us, we got swarmed, there was nothing we could have done."

"What about our losses?"

"We lost our driver and our translator. Sir, Jean is badly wounded. He took one shot in the chest and one in the gut. I brought him to the hospital but he's prognosis is not good." Amal said with more emotion in his voice that Nathaniel ever heard.

"You did not escape, did you?" Nathaniel asked, he was starting to understand what had happened.

"No, I could not leave Robert's side. When Jean got shot, they took Robert and I was forced to surrender. They took him away in a car while four of them were keeping watch over us while I was trying to keep Jean alive. One hour later, they left so I stole a car and brought Jean to the closest hospital I could find."

"Before they left, they said something, right?"

"Yes, they said they belonged to the Crooked Moon and I needed to remember that name."

Nathaniel made a sign to his mother, understanding quickly, Karine picked a notepad and a pen from her purse and gave it to him. Writing down the name of the organisation, Nathaniel put on paper a few guesses that he had.

"Describe everything these fake cops were wearing or said when they make you pull over and describe the other mens with them, every detail counts Amal so be as thorough as you can, even if something seems to not matter, tell me anyway."

Hearing the description that Amal gave him, his expression turned even more grave and he kept writing furiously.

"You need to get out of that hospital, now." Nathaniel ordered.

"Sir, Jean is…" Amal started to say with fire in his voice when Nathaniel abruptly cut him off.

"Listen to me, these cops, they were not fake. Italian Police is the more corrupt law enforcement force in western Europe. You need to get out of that place now before they arrive to arrest you and if they do, they will kill you to make sure you can't testify. Stole every personal item belonging to Jean to make it difficult for them to ID him and leave. Jean must be in an operation room and after that will not be easily accessible to cops and at that point I will make sure he is safe, trust me on this. We take care of our own." Nathaniel promised.

"Very well sir. What do you want me to do after that?" He ask, Nathaniel to hear in his tone that he was still not happy to have to leave his friend behind but had accepted his explanation.

"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.