Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  "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.

  Chapter 216: :

  "Is the President serious right now? Why did he have to acknowledge that friggin kid among all people?" John shouted with hostility.

  Looking at the TV broadcasting the news and covering this year's Correspondent's Dinner, Marcus shrugged.

  "He's just trying to boost his approval rating with young people."

  "You think I don't know that?" John said scatingly, looking at his brother. "I'm asking why it has to be him? He's the reason why our daughters have been kidnapped!"

  "Listen brother, I hate that smart a** kid as much as you do but he's not responsible for this, the kidnappers are and he has no link with them."

  "How can you be sure? Despite all your energy and influence, you still don't know who they are!"

  "Because I kept an eye on him, he's too smart for his own good. Do I need to remind you that he knows what I really do?" Marcus said.

  "Yes, you were careless and he got the better of you."

  "Can you two please stop!" Victoria Livingston shouted, exasperated. "I talk with Diane after what happens and we agree to put that on kids being kids, just leave this kid alone for god's sake. We have more important matters to care about right now!"

  Surprised by the outburst, the two brothers look at Victoria with apprehension.

  "When did you talk to her? You never said anything about it!" John said.

  "I was protecting you, like I ever do. Do I need to remind you that Robert Lyndon is donating to your campaign?" Victoria answered.

  "He's a minor donor, I could still win without his money." John did not appear very concerned about the issue.

  "Do I need to remind you how protective the Lyndon are with their family? You heard the rumors as well as I did. You are also under the false assumption that him pulling away his support would be the worth he could do, he could very well put his influence and money to support your opponent for the Senate. Just stop, we don't need that, especially right now! I just want my babies back!"

  "You are right, Dear." John finally nodded before straightening himself suddenly. "Wait, did you hear that?"

  "I did." Marcus said. "Stay here, I'm going to check if everything is alright in the hallway.

  Walking quickly to the door, Marcus pulled a 9mm from his back and turned the safety off before opening the door. Expecting to see the two security guards that he posted on the hallway, Marcus was surprised to see the two of them on the floor, unconscious. Lifting his gun, he aimed it at the two unknown people in the hallway who were looking at him impassively.

  "Freeze! Hand in the air, Now!" Marcus shouted.

  To his surprise, none of the two people even flinched when they saw him pull a gun at him. Marcus' eyes fell on the taller of the two first. He was a tall male around forty years old with short brown hair and a muscular stature.

  'Military type, no doubt about it." Marcus thought before focusing his eyes on the second person.

  She was twenty years something and a knock out by almost every male standart. Long flowing blond hair framing a comely face. Even if he looked at her for a second, Marcus did not linger on her attractive face as he had other things on his mind right now.

  "Who are you?" He asked.

  "The President sent us, we are here to help you bring your nieces back home." The man said.

  "I want to see your badges."

  "We don't have badges, we are not government officials. You can call us concerned citizens if you want." The girl answered impassively.

  Hearing her response, Marcus frowned and his jaw tightened on the edges. He knew it was a load of crap and as much as he wanted to shoot them, if there was even one chance they were telling the truth and that they were indeed here to find his nieces, he was going to try it. He was that desperate. Making his decision, he lowered his gun for the little effect it had on them.

  "If you are here to help, why did you knock out our security?" Marcus asked, still annoyed.

  "Don't look at me, I wasn't the one who did it." The man said, lifting his hand in the air before tilting his head in the direction of the girl near him.

  "They deserved it. We told them that we were expected and it was important. The two just laugh in our faces before telling us to get out. What determined their fate was when the one who is currently to your right tried to grope me. At least he's still alive, I was pretty lenient on this I think." The girl said.

  "I'm not sure he's going to have children though, that last blow was just vicious." Jon grumbles under his breath, which earns him a glare from Lucy while Marcus didn't seem to hear it.

  "Alright, come inside then." Marcus said, shaking his head.

  Making way for the two of them to enter the room, Marcus then closed the door, leaving the two security agents outside still knocked out. Seeing two people entering their hotel room, John and Victoria rise from the couch and direct a curious look in the direction of Marcus who starts to explain.

  "They claimed the President sent them to bring back Elisabeth and Madison. I'm not sure they said the truth though, they refused to give me an ID so I can even introduce them to you."

  "I'm Lucie and he's Jon." Lucie said. "We are sorry to come this late and without giving you time to prepare but as you are very aware, we are pressed for time. Please sit back down."

  "Yes, we don't care about the time, we just want our daughters back. We will give you everything that you need." Victoria instantly answers before resuming her sitting position.

  "If you are telling the truth, why are you starting only now? We sent those files more than five hours ago! That's inacceptable! My daughters' lives are at stake here!" John said angrily.

  "I understand you are under
huge stress Senator but we are not your subordinate nor we answer to you in any way. So you are going to calm down or I'm going to smash your skull and then ask our questions to your wife. Now, to answer your question, if you just look by the window, you can see that there is a storm outside that delayed our way here. The principal reason why we are only here now is because we lose more than two hours of our time thanks to the CIA moron to your right who put a spy software in the file that you sent to us." Lucie lashed out.

  Taken aback by this answer, John wanted to rebuke the girl in front of him for talking to him that way but something stopped him before he was going to. Even if she was pretty enough to be a supermodel easily, they were something dangerous in her posture and in her brown eyes that made him unsettled deep down. That's when all of what she said registered in his mind. She knew her brother was CIA and they were good enough to spot and dispose of CIA software, that wasn't something that could be done without a ridiculous amount of skill, training and means.

  "What did you do?" John turned to his brother angrily before there was a loud whistle that made him turn back to the girl named Lucie.

  "Listen, we don't care about your family drama, you can sort that later when we are not here. To be honest, you are lucky my boss still accepts the job and that your brother can keep his life, I wouldn't be so generous." Lucie threatens.

  Seeing the conversation was not going the right way, Jon quickly intervened.

  "Still, despite the time that we lost, we manage to find who was in charge of the kidnapping and in which city they are currently hiding. We came here tonight for information that could help us narrow their position more precisely."

  Hearing that last bit of information, the Livingston couple look at each other with something they lacked for some times now. Hope.

  "Are you honest with us right now? Did you really manage to find our babies so soon?" Victoria asked.

  "Please, don't give us false hope now." John added.

  "That is the truth, I have no reason to lie to you and it would be really detrimental for our purpose to do so. I have a question, does one of your daughters need medications? It could help us track them down more quickly." Jon asked with a reassuring smile.

  "Hum, Elisabeth has some chronic migraine and needs to take painkillers often but nothing that can't be found at the nearest bodega. Other than that, they are both in perfect health." John answers.

  "Alright." Jon said, taking note of it in his mind.

  "Do you have enemies Senator? People would want you to hurt you?" Lucie asked before explaining. "We got evidence that implies the kidnapper could have received outside help coming from someone with influence."

  "You could throw a rock in that city and it would hit someone who wants to kill me, I'm a republican Senator after all." John sighed tiredly. "But someone like you describe, who would hurt my daughters to make me pay? I don't think so. Still, my office keeps a list of everyone who threatens me by call or letter, I can give you the files right now if you want."

  "Please." Lucie said.

  Nodding, John got to his feets and walked to their chambers before coming back with a fille at least three inches thick. Taking the files in hand, Lucie starts to peruse it.

  "That's a lot of names." She said.

  "Like I said, Twenty fives years as a government official. I made a lot of enemies."

  "I see that. Thank you for the information, we will be going now, we have still a lot of work to be done. We will keep you posted. Goodnight." Lucie said.

  After that, they did not wait to be escorted out and just leave without turning back. Outside, Lucie steps on one of the two mens who were still knocked out outside and starts walking to the stairs while Jon hides an amused smile.

  "Well, that could have gone better." He said.

  "Yeah, sorry about that. I get cranky when I'm dirty and hungry. Once I showered and I ate something, I would be back to normal." Lucie lied, she had a lot on her mind lately and she had unloaded on them.

  "Got it." Jon accepts the explanation, not giving it much thought.

  They didn't talk again for the rest of the way to their rooms.

  Chapter 217: :

  Walking outside of his hotel room, Nathaniel slid his go bag to his shoulder and looked at Amal who was positioned outside of the next room, the room where his grandfather was currently still sleeping. Even if Robert could be considered an early riser, it was still night time outside and so it was not surprising to Nathaniel that his grandfather was sleeping.

  "Amal, what are you doing here? I know full well that you are not supposed to be on guard duty right now." Nathaniel asked.

  "I heard what happened last night." He answers concisely.

  Nathaniel sighed even if he wasn't surprised. His grandfather had been really vocal last night when he came back and told him he was going on a dangerous mission in Central America the next day. His grandfather was the one in the family who hated the most what Nathaniel was doing and he wasn't hiding it. Last night was just a tired grandfather trying to impose his will on his grandson and that same grandson pushing hard against that.

  "Yeah." Nathaniel sighed tiredly.

  "You know he's like that only because he loves you, right?"

  "I know but it's still grating. We are just too much alike."

  A ghost of a smile seemed to appear on Amal's face but was quickly replaced with his usual stone and neutral expression.

  "You really are."

  "Yes, don't I know about it. Just keep him safe while I'm away alright?"

  "I always do, you shouldn't worry about that, after all you are the one who is leaving on an operation without support or back up."

  "I don't need back up, I have my team, it's enough for me. Now, I need to get going, have fun with my grandfather when he's going to wake up." Nathaniel said with a smile and a wave.

  Amal just shook his head, he knew exactly in which state of mind his friend was going to be when he woke up and found his grandson wasn't here anymore. Well, he was used to his character by now and he wasn't going to change now.

  Walking outside of the Hotel, Nathaniel was going to hail a cab when he spotted someone sitting in a car with a nice view of the Hotel and seemed especially interested when he saw Nathaniel walking out. That's when he recognized where he met that man before and an idea came to his mind. Crossing the street Nathaniel walked to the East, looking like he didn't realize that he was being spied on. When he arrived near the car where the man was looking at him, Nathaniel abruptly stopped and knocked on the glass.

  Startled, the man quickly recovered and seeing that he was found out, opened the window.

  "Yes?"

  "I know you right? You were one of the bodyguards of the girl last night? Brunhilde right?" Nathaniel asked.

  "What right do you have to call her by that name!? Do you know who she is? If you knew, you would be terr..." The man starts to say in anger when Nathaniel stopped him.

  "Don't know and don't care so keep your outrage to yourself. Now, why are you stalking me?"

  "I have been given orders to wait for you to wake up and then invite you to see the Duchess. She wants to meet with you."

  "The Duchess heh?" Nathaniel smiles before getting serious again. "I have bad news for you, I'm leaving right now for work so I can't meet her. Sorry, maybe next time." Nathaniel shrugged, turning away before stopping and looking at him. "Don't follow me anymore or I'm going to get angry." Nathaniel warned him codly.

  "You can threaten me, it's not going to work. I have orders and I'm going to uphold them even if you do break my legs. Even then, I don't think you want to make an enemy out of me or the Duchess." He said confidently.

  "That is indeed true, you are quite perceptive for a bodyguard, what's your name?" Nathaniel asked while walking to the other side of the car.

  "I'm Herman, what are you doing?" He asked when he saw Nathaniel open the passenger door, sit beside him and put his bag on the backseat.

  "Well, you said i
t yourself, you are going to follow me whatever I do to you so since we are going to the same place, we should at least be eco responsible about the whole thing. Herman, start driving, we are going to the Airport."

  Herman just looked at him like he was crazy until he let a long laugh out and turn the engine on. The car started rolling a few moments later.

  *****

  Inside the Hotel room, a sword was busy cutting the air, each movement more sharp than the others. Wearing only short shorts and a beige top, Brunhilde was breathing evenly. She was training her swordsmanship for the next two hours and even if she was sweaty, her breathing wasn't even perturbed.

  Feeling something approaching, she suddenly turned before angling her sword at fifteen degrees. She stopped the first throwing knife that was coming for her heart with the tip of her blade, the second was deviated from his path the same way and the third one dodge by angling her body backward at an impossible angle.

  Even then, she failed to stop the fourth one in time, the blade leaving a shallow cut to the back of her right calf. Blocking the little pain coming from the wound, she made a roll to the left and using her momento launched herself five feet into the air, her sword coming into an arc, the last knife knocked away from her with so much force that it embedded itself into the wall.

  "Enough." She ordered once her two feet were on the ground again.

  "Are you alright Duchess?" Her protector asked anxiously, seeing the blood on her leg.

  "It's fine, it will heal." She said, stoically before seeing that her second protector was back. "Herman, did you pass my message?"

  "I did Duchess." He answers, lowering his head.

  "Is he going to come?" She asked, taking a towel to clean herself.

  "No, he's not Duchess."

  For a moment, there was only silence inside the room, the two protectors waiting with apprehension to know what her reaction would be like.

  "Why?" She asked coldly.

  "He claimed he had work and didn't have the time to meet with you. He took a flight to Miami half an hour ago." He answers succinctly.