:

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 the 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.

"Drug Cartel!" Camilla blurted out.

"Excellent Camilla." Nathaniel nodded in her direction with a smile. "And how do they do that?"

"They used modified powerboats who are not detectable by radar and can clock themselves from infrared vision." Hans answered.

"You want to buy a boat from the Cartel?" Na-Yung asked Nathaniel like he was crazy.

"Me? Are you insane? No, I have something else in mind. Lina, can you check with the DEA and Customs if they have seized a boat like that in their warehouse? We need something stored in the East coast."

Nodding, Lina starts tipping on her laptop, the others waiting patiently for her to do her magic.

"I have six powerboats with the description you mentioned and currently in the East coast, coming on the screen right now."

Like she said, six pictures of boats appear on the screen. Nathaniel looks at Hans.

"Hans, this is your department, it's your call." He nodded in his direction.

"Hum alright. Ok Lina, you can already delete number 2,4 and 5, they are simply too tiny or too old for our purpose. Can you give me some spec on the three others, please? Okay, great. Take the one in the middle away for starters, I don't know who put that boat together but I was doing a better job when I was eight!" Hans mock, Nathaniel hiding an amused smile, especially because he knew he was not boasting.

Hans took his time examining the two remaining boats on screen, he looked like he was not moving but his lips and finger were slightly moving like he was busy making extremely hard hand calculations, which he was probably doing.

"The one on the right, it's not perfect for our purpose but it's still the better of the two." Hans gives his verdict.

"Where is that boat Lina?" Scott asked.

"That particular boat is in Miami, Florida." She answered quickly, Scott and Nathaniel looking at each other.

"We can make it work." Scott said.

"We are going to make it work." Nathaniel nodded. "That's it for tonight, I booked this room and six others on this floor for you to use, the card key is near the door. Just rest everyone, we are leaving for Miami early tomorrow morning and before you ask, I already have my own room in another hotel, we will meet back at the airport tomorrow. Good night guys." Nathaniel said before letting them rest and exiting the room.