Chapter 424 - Fabricio Cajoles Mia

~ Seattle ~

It was half an hour after midnight when Max got a call from Hunter.

Max picked up the call right away because he was not sleeping.

When Max and Liz returned from the safe house, Max helped Liz settle in bed and he waited for her to fall asleep before sneaking out of the bed.

Max's plan was to go to the safe house and continue interrogations (and return in the morning before Liz wakes up). He was in the living room, on his way out, when Hunter called.

Max didn't know that Hunter went for Portland, and he assumed that Hunter found something important from the people they captured.

"Can this wait? I'm on my way.", Max told Hunter as soon as he picked up the call.

Hunter understood that Max thinks that he is in the safe house. "I am in Portland with Mia and her dad."

Hunter's words made Max pause. "What are you doing in Portland?"

"Can you sit?", Hunter asked.

"What is going on?", Max said impatiently.

Hunter was not sure how to say this, so he went to the point. "Someone put a hit order on Liz."

Max was confident that his ears malfunctioned. "What?"

"Let me talk…", Mia demanded, and Hunter gave her the phone. "Hi Max, someone called my dad with a job to kill Liz. They don't know who it is, other than it's a female. She used a burner phone, so it can't be tracked. There is a recording of the call, so you can listen for yourself. They didn't close the deal because she refused to reveal her identity, but she said that she will call again later."

Max felt that the room was spinning. Who could order a hit on Liz? Was it Irene? Or is it possible that some other woman wants his Liz dead? He took a deep breath to compose himself.

"When was the call made?", Max asked.

"Earlier this afternoon.", Mia responded. "I'm sending you the file. We listened to it three times, and Hunter thinks that it might be Irene, but he is not sure. Now we don't know if we suspect Irene because of what Mr. Bolton said earlier, or because it's really her. Maybe you can confirm. But more important would be to figure out from where the call came."

"OK.", Max said even though he had a strong hunch that it was Irene. Somehow, Max knew that he was right about this. Even if Irene was not the one to place the call, she was involved. The timing is too close to what happened at the Alpha group to be a coincidence. "Do you have any other information other than it's a female?"

"No.", Mia said dejectedly. "She used a burner phone and wanted to pay in cash. When the handler who answered the phone said that they need proof of her identity and to meet in person before they accept the deal, she got skittish and said that she will call later."

"Since we are talking about this, I can assume that your dad is not taking the job.", Max said stiffly and hoped that he was right about this.

Mia confirmed. "Correct. He knew that Liz is my friend and he wanted me to know about this. He will do his best to get his hands on the person who made the call, if she calls again. But there are no guarantees that she will call again, or that she will not use another way to eliminate Liz."

…

In Russo family's villa…

Mia ended her explanation to Max, and Hunter took the phone back.

"At this point, we are still processing the information. We will talk more with Fabricio about this, and I will let you know when we are coming back. Mia is sending you the audio now. Feel free to call if you have questions, and I will call as soon as we have something.", Hunter told Max and ended the call.

Fabricio watched Mia and Hunter with a small smile on his face.

"So? What do you think now? Is your father the leader of a bunch of bloodthirsty assassins? Or is there more to us?", Fabricio asked smugly.

Mia pressed her lips into a line and exhaled sharply through her nose. She knew that her father was rubbing it in, but this time he was right.

"I admit that I looked at all this through a narrow lens.", Mia said after some time. "Can you tell me more about how you conduct business and the types of jobs you handle?"

Fabricio's smile widened and he stood up. "Let me show you…"

Mia and Hunter followed Fabricio to the basement, and then he opened a secret passage that took them one more level down. Mia didn't know about this.

There was a massive vault door that Fabricio opened by punching in a combination of numbers and then scanning his palm before rotating a big wheel and pushing the heavy metal door.

Fabricio gestured for them to enter. Mia went in, but Hunter was hesitant.

"You should know about this also.", Fabricio told Hunter, gesturing to him to enter.

With tonight's events, Fabricio knew that Mia will take over the role of his successor, and Hunter will be her husband, so he is OK to know about the business as well. If Hunter is some pencil-pusher, Fabricio would not let him in, however, Hunter showed good skills and Fabricio is confident that Mia will do this with Hunter by her side.

They stepped into a large room whose walls were lined up with dark brown drawers that filled the space from the floor to the ceiling. Each drawer had a nametag. There were thousands of them!

Mia approached the drawers and observed them for a few minutes before asking: "What are these?"

"This is where we keep information on our customers."

Mia frowned slightly. "People you killed?"

Fabricio shook his head. "People who ordered our services."

"Can I?", Mia asked while pointing to one drawer.

Fabricio gestured with his hand for her to go ahead.

Mia opened the drawer and took the documents. There were personal files on "Jerald Keen", similar to the one she saw about Liz, but this one was much more detailed, it included what the person is doing, his business connections and romantic relationships, assets and how he acquired them, dates, and places he visited… and it had a slip with information:

"1-15-2004, Hit on Mathew Keen, file 1452342"

"5-23-2011, Hit on Samantha Lidl, file 1725001"

"11-08-2018, Kidnapping of Liam Lee, file 2005248"

"You killed two people for this person?", Mia asked, unsure how she feels about this.

Fabricio exhaled. "Mia, you were not listening. This is what Jerald Keen hired us to do. It does not mean we did it. If you want to know the details, you need to look at those files which are in the file room upstairs. The data on the customer and evidence related to him hiring us are kept separately."

Mia nodded in understanding and gestured toward the file in her hand. "This is what you have on Jerald Keen as leverage against him. Like this, you know that he won't turn you in."

Fabricio touched his nose and winked. "That is my smart girl. And other than that, if I need anything in Florida done without dealing with customs at the port, Jerald Keen is my man."

"Isn't that shameless?", Hunter asked. "The man hired you for a job. Or three. And he paid for your services, yet you are using that against him."

Fabricio shrugged. "Who is more shameless? Him who is asking me to handle the dirty work for him, or me taking advantage of that? Besides, if he feels that it's a bad deal, he would not be a repeat customer."

Fabricio turned to Mia. "You see, my dear, people come to us asking for services, but what they are doing is providing us with their services. The moment they reveal that they want someone gone or hurt, we have the power. Other than profiling our customers, we do a profile on our targets as well, and then we decide what is more beneficial for us as an organization. When you take over the lead position from me, it will be up to you to decide what you want to do with that power. Do you want to abuse it? Become a billionaire? Protect people who are dear to you? Or maybe all of it?"

Mia put the files on Jerald Keen back into the drawer and closed it before turning to Fabricio.

She scrutinized her father. "I know what you are doing. You are using this 'protect your dear ones' to cajole me into accepting to lead your organization."

"OUR organization.", Fabricio corrected Mia. "Don't neglect the fact that if not for my established business practices, your dear friend Elizabeth would be our next target." Fabricio made a dramatic pause and looked at Mia expectantly. "And? Is it working? Are you ready to accept the position that belongs to you?"

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