Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  "Killing people, sir. In the twenty four last hours, more than twenty cops have been found dead in the street of Rome, their bodies showing signs of interrogation and this morning the head of the Rome Police died of a heart attack, the time frame of that particular death is really suspicious sir." Tobias said, knitting his eyebrow.

  "More than twenty? But he's alone there! I get that this kid is impossibly skilled but everyone should have a limit."

  "To be fair, is not really alone. He did go to Italy with ex Delta Force Scott McCornaig and on the ground linked up with Amal Rockea, ex Mossad."

  "What a nice trio. But still three against more than twenty, it's unbelievable."

  "Yes. Sir, we need to order Nathaniel to stand down. The body count is too high already, we can't risk having a diplomatic incident with the Italian right now, or the EU in general over this."

  "What is the take of the Italian over this situation? If they were suspecting one of our people, their prime minister would have called me already." The President affirmed.

  "This is true, so far, they think it is coming from the Casa Nostra, the Italian mafia to retaliate against the arrest of several of their top members but things don't add up. The taking and dumping of the bodies were done in broad daylight and nobody noticed anything, that took some skill and the Cosa Nostra does not fit that description. Italian intelligence doesn't buy that lead and the CIA cell in Rome doesn't either. The person in question has done a report in that sense already to Langley."

  "I see but you know better than trying to stop Nathaniel in his tracks, not when his grandfather is still away. I told you how ruthless the Lyndon are when their family is threatened. To be honest, I'm starting to pity the Crooked Moon organization. They had no idea what it's coming their way and I don't believe they will survive the encounter." The President shook his head.

  "So, we are just going to let him do what he wants?" Tobias made a grimace.

  "For now, yes. Once the situation is resolved, we will summon him quietly and you will have the chance to give him a piece of your mine but in the meantime, let him be." The President ordered.

  "At your command, sir." Tobias obeyed respectfully.

  Chapter 137: :

  New York. Lyndon tower; 10/12/2012. 08:25.

  "That opportunistic little shit!" Diane shouted angrily.

  The mother and daughter pair were meeting in the office of Robert, Mary telling her what happened last night after her meeting with Bryan Bones ended.

  "You should have called me the second it happened Mary!" Diane said disapprovingly at her daughter.

  "I had it handled so no, I should not have. You needed to rest mom." She said, frowning, not liking the tone of her mother.

  "You mean you got the hacker girl to handle it." She corrected.

  "Yes, Nathaniel put her under my command while he is away, I'm glad he did it by the way." She said, a hint of pride in her voice.

  "Do you have news of him by the way?" She asked, concerned.

  "No but it did warn me it would happen, if anyone can bring back dad, it's him." She said confidently.

  "You're still hell bent on not telling me how he had a direct line to the President of the United States or how he knew things that he shouldn't and can do things that he should not be able to do?" She sighed.

  "Mom, we talked about this. This is not my place to say, he told you he will explain once he is back with dad, you just have to wait."

  "I hate waiting, you should know that by now." She grumbled.

  "Oh trust me, I know." Mary answered, making a grimace.

  At that moment, the cellphone of Diane starts ringing. Looking at the caller ID, she paled visibly.

  "What is going on mom?" Mary asked.

  "This is them." Diane said, accepting the call. "Hello?"

  "Ah Madam Lyndon, glad you answered so quickly to the phone." A man said with a heavy accented english.

  "Khalid, I want to talk with my husband!" Diane shouted.

  "Look at you making demands like that. Do I need to remind you who holds the power here? Maybe beating your husband up while you can hear him would satisfy you?" He said in a dark tone.

  "No! Please, no! Don't hurt him please!" Diane almost begged on the phone.

  "I like that attitude better." He said with a self satisfied tone that left Diane wanting to smash his head open. "I'm going to pass him the phone. Be nice and do not talk about anything that would make me angry or you know what is going to happen." He threatened.

  After hearing movement on the phone, she heard the voice of her husband and put him on speaker so that both of them could hear him.

  "Hello dear." The voice of Robert said, Diane and Mary could tell that he was tired.

  "Dad, are you alright?" Mary asks with worry in her voice.

  "Ah, Mary." He said, hearing a smile on his face. "Yes, I'm just tired, they get their rocks off from preventing me from sleeping. Don't know why they're doing it however." He said.

  "Don't worry dear, we are going to get you back, we miss you, I miss you." She said with emotion.

  "I miss you too, even that annoying grandson of mine." He said with a tired laugh. "What is he doing right now by the way?"

  Exchanging a look, Mary answered.

  "He's busy with homework right now but I know he's thinking about you a lot."

  "If that ain't cute." Khalid said on the voice with sarcasm. "Now that you know he's alright, we can go to the next phase. You have my money right?" He asked.

  Looking at each other again, Mary nodded. They did not have the money as Nathaniel refused to even consider it but he had told her to lie when Khalid was going to ask her about it before leaving.

  "Yes, we got it." Diane answered with conflicted emotions on her face.

  "Good. In three hours a flight is going to take off from JFK to Riyadh, the flight number is BG 2168. One of our people will take the money and put it in a yellow suitcase and take that flight. Once arrived, I will make sure the suitcase is not inspected by security and my mens will pick him up and lead him to me. After that, we will trade the money with your husband and everybody goes their separate ways. Do you understand Madam Lyndon?"

  "Yes, I understand. We will do as you say." Diane said, sounding defeated.

  "Good." He said, hanging up.

  Once the man had hung up, Mary did not lose time and dialed Nathaniel's number.

  "Yes mom?" He said in an emotionless voice that made her skin crawl.

  "Sweetie, they called us."

  "Oh good, what did he say?"

  "He wants one of our people to take the next flight with the money to Riyadh. After that, his people would take our men to him and Robert and then made the trade. What are you going to do sweetie? We don't have the money."

  "Don't worry mom, I will handle everything." He said, reassuringly.

  "Nathaniel! I want my husband back!" Cried Diane over the phone. "Just let me give the money to them, please. I'm not cut out for that kind of thing, I don't even know where Riyadh is located!"

  "Riyadh is Saudi Arabia Capital grandma."

  "And how do you even know that?" She shouted irritatedly.

  "Because I'm there right now." He answered, making the two womens in the room gaped.

  Chapter 138: :

  "How did you know he would ask us to come to that country for the exchange?" Mary asked.

  "It was a fair assumption. He knows he is protected there, bribing a lot of officials in the country and even has ties to Saudi royal family. He never left the country so I did not expect him to leave at such a critical moment either. Moreover, he did the same thing with the previous people he kidnapped." He answers.

  "And why are you here? He must know that you are here now if he is as connected as you say and he's going to hunt you!" Diane said worriedly.

  "No, he does not. I don't think he expected us to come here and I took precautions to make sure our arrival remains lowkey." He did not forward any other information but that impli
ed bribing or killing people who could talk.

  "What do you want us to do with the man demands sweetie? We don't have the money after all." Mary says anxiously.

  "Just send one of our security, preferably someone who is good in close quarter combat and who can shoot straight, talk about it with Jean second in command and he will find you what I need. Made him put phone books in the suitcase and then took the flight, make sure that the suitcase you take has a numerical lock on it though. I will handle everything on the ground when he arrives." He said with that emotionless voice that Mary didn't like at all.

  "Sweetie, there is more. Your grandfather told us over the phone that his kidnappers were having fun preventing him from sleeping. Why are they doing that? Why are they torturing him like that?" Mary said angrily.

  "It's pretty common actually. Sleep deprivation is commonly used in captivity. It causes memories issues, trouble your faculty to focus and can impact your mobility and balance, especially against old people. Globally it makes the one you have in custody more easy to control." Nathaniel explained in a cold voice.

  "How the hell do you know that!?" Diane shouted frustratingly.

  "I said that I will explain once I come home grandma, now stop shouting, it's annoying." He rebuked her icily.

  "Sweetie, be careful, okay? I love you."

  "I love you too mom." Nathaniel said, Mary hearing for the first time warm in her son's voice.

  "I need to go now, I'm sorry. Please, take care guys."

  "You take care sweetie, I hope you will come home soon. Bye."

  "Bye mom, bye grandma." He finished, hanging up.

  Putting his phone back in his pocket, Nathaniel turns on Amal and Scott.

  "Guys, we have eighteen hours to finish what we are trying to do. We need to hurry." Nathaniel said.

  "Sir, if we hurry, we could gather a lot of unwanted attention and in Saudi Arabia, it's many times more dangerous than Europe. We could end up dead and that if we are lucky." Amal warned.

  "I know that Amal, but we don't have any choice, do we?" Nathaniel answered, making eye contact with him.

  "No, we don't." He said bitterly. He knew very well what would happen to Robert if their mission was a failure today.

  Their relationship improved a lot when they had to go together to the hospital, paying Jean a visit. Amal had the opportunity to see that truthful to his words, Nathaniel had indeed hired security for Jean and a good one at that based on what he could see. The thing that was even better was when they met with Jean doctor and he told them that Jean's condition was looking better and his prognostic vital was not in jeopardy anymore.

  Jean was maybe a cheerful, overly talkative and annoying french guy but it was also Amal's friend and partner for more than fifteen years. A bond like that was not easily shakable, even for the stone faced Amal. Even if Jean's health was getting better, Nathaniel still insisted for the security to stay by his side while he was away and that was why Amal agreed to come with him here, in Saudi Arabia, to help. For Nathaniel, Amal's presence here was essential as Nathaniel did not know the language and did not have the time to learn where Amal was fluent in Arabic.

  "Scott, do you have something on your mind that you want to share with the group?" Nathaniel asked.

  "No sir. I didn't want to get old and finish my life in a nursing home anyway." He said sarcastically making the two others chuckle darkly.

  "Come on, let's move. We have a lot of work to do." Nathaniel ordered, walking in the middle of the crowd, Scott and Amal a step behind and on each side of him.

  Chapter 139: :

  Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. 11/12/2012. 10:00.

  Walking out of the arrivals terminal of the airport , A young blond man could be seen with a yellow suitcase in his hands. Among the crowd of dark/brown hair and arabic looking people walking here, this young occidental was gathering a fair amount of attention and yet no cops or airport security stopped even once to control him or the suitcase. It seems that whatever Khalid Rahal had done, it was effective.

  Walking in the direction of the exit with a carefree gait, Nathaniel could sense someone was following him and two others posted near the exit were examining him with a little too much attention to be normal. He just kept walking, looking like he was obvious to everything happening around him. It was paramount that these people look down on him for the next step.

  So far, everything happened like he had planned it would with Amal and Scott yesterday. They had managed to get the security guard sent by Jean second in command right after he passed the security check and made the swap here. After that, Amal and the man call Jordan left using the service corridor while Nathaniel took the man's place and suitcase.

  Nathaniel was passing the door of the exit when the two men by the door got in his way and stopped him.

  "Lyndon people?" The biggest of the two ask with an atrocious english accent.

  "Yes." Nathaniel answered simply.

  "Come with us and do not make a fuss." He said, the one guy who was following him earlier putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him away.

  A car park in front of the exit while they walk out and the three people ushered Nathaniel inside, one taking position in the front passenger seat and the two others on each side of him., curiously they let him keep the suitcase without making a move for it knowing what was inside or more like thinking they knew what was inside.

  The car then starts to speed away from the airport and starts to dash into multiple back alleys as if they had practiced the move a thousand times to avoid being tail. Making a clueless face, he asked.

  "Why are you driving so fast? We are going to have an accident if you continue like this!" He shouted worriedly.

  "Shut up kid!" The man who talked previously said in contempt and then added something in arabic that made the other people in the car laugh mockingly. Nathaniel did not know what he said but he could easily guess that he was insulted. He let it slide and continued looking at the road with a fearful expression, his hands locked around the suitcase as though it was a life buoy.

  Past the fake stupor on his face, Nathaniel could see that they were going away from downtown in the direction of the outskirts of the city. Nathaniel was okay with that as an isolated place meant more freedom to do what they wanted. Ten minutes of furious drive later the car finally stopped in front of a two stories warehouse.

  His escort started to get out of the car and Nathaniel was asked firmly to follow them. Escorted to the door, Nathaniel spotted three men with machine guns on the roof of the building plus one more by the back door where Nathaniel was going with his escort. Entering the warehouse, Nathaniel could see one more person with a handgun by the door. Walking past him, Nathaniel was led to the only office in the building.

  Knocking once at the door, the only one who Nathaniel talked to, waited until the man inside said something in arabic and then opened the door. Nathaniel had of course seen the picture of Khalid Rahal in the file he was given by Tobias but it was the first time seeing him in the flesh.

  Black, short hair and around 5"8", he had a vicious looking face and a thin scar running from his left eye to his cheek. His file said he was 44 years old but he was looking older than that. He had a hard life which was not surprising considering he lived on the street until fifteen years old when he started killing tourists coming in Saudi Arabia and taking their belongings.

  Nathaniel was not the only one looking attentively at the other as the man was wearing a frown as he looked attentively at Nathaniel's face, convinced he had seen him before. He took him a full minute before he remembered where he had seen this face and an expression of surprise painted itself on his face followed by raucous laughter.

  "I was expecting the usual forty something negotiator that you people seem to like sending to their death but lo and behold we have a celebrity here. The own grandson of the man I hold captive here." He said, smirking. He then adds something in arabic and the other people in the room start to laugh. Nathaniel
realized that from the four mens who took him here, the biggest was beside Khalid while the three others were behind him, preventing him from leaving the office.

  "I wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay and sometimes it's better to do the job yourself if you want it done well." He said politely.

  "Ah ah!" He laughed menacingly. "I don't know if you are stupid or if you have gigantic balls but you being there, it's crazy. You know when I did my research to prepare the kidnapping of your grandfather I read many articles praising your intelligence, it's a pity seeing that was all bullshit." He shook his head with greed in his eyes. Nathaniel could almost see the wheels spinning in his head.

  "Whatever, I bring the money." Nathaniel said seemingly unbothered by what Khalid said, putting the suitcase on the desk.

  Laughing again, Khalid made a move to open the suitcase until he realized that it was protected by a four number password. Frowning, he looked at Nathaniel.

  "What is the code?"

  "I will give you the code when I will see that my grandfather is alright." Nathaniel said.

  Khalid was going to rebuke that pretentious kid for talking back to him in his own place when he realized he did not matter. He was already planning to keep the kid and then ask eighty million for their release. That stupid kid just made him a rich man with his reckless actions, humoring him a little longer to get that code did not cost him anything. Ordering his right hand beside him to get the old man, Khalid answered.

  "You are going to see your grandfather right now." Khalid smirk, the moment he gets that code he will make that arrogant kid pay and suffer.

  It did not take long until the man came back to the office, almost carrying Robert Lyndon into the room and dropping him on a chair. Nathaniel could see that his grandfather was ragged, exhausted and tied down with rope but did not appear to have any injury sustained from a beating. He also realized that he was quite smelly, the people here not offering him the basic necessity it seems. Nathaniel could feel a blinding white rage seeing his grandfather in this state and he took everything that he got to control himself. It was not the time to kill everyone here but soon, soon, he told himself.