Chapter 226 - :

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 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 South East 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 order.

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 person immediately vanished from the screen leaving twenty three picture on it.

"Take off everyone born in the USA or another english speaking country." She add.

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 circ.u.mvent 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.