Chapter 17 – The Hunt for Gabriel
Chapter 17 – The Hunt for Gabriel
The Escalante family jet lifted off for Switzerland less than two hours later.
No reporters knew.
No public statements were made.
Only six people were on board.
Mariana.
Alejandro.
Rebecca Collins.
Two FBI liaison officers.
And Andrew Whitmore.
When Rebecca had asked whether Andrew should come, Mariana had hesitated.
Then she remembered something Daniel Mercer had once said:
"The game was never about Whitmore Holdings."
If Blackwood had manipulated Andrew for years, he might also be one of the few people who understood how Blackwood thought.
She nodded.
"He comes."
The cabin remained silent throughout the flight.
Alejandro stared out the window.
For the first time, Mariana saw fear in her father's eyes.
Not fear of losing money.
Fear of losing his son.
Andrew finally broke the silence.
"I never met Gabriel."
Mariana looked at him.
"My brother refused to attend our wedding."
Andrew frowned.
"Why?"
"He didn't trust powerful people."
A faint smile crossed her face.
"He told me once..."
'Anyone who wants your fortune before they know your heart isn't worth keeping.'
She looked away.
"I thought he was being overprotective."
Andrew lowered his head.
"He was trying to protect you."
Ten hours later...
The plane landed in Geneva.
Swiss federal police escorted them directly from the airport.
Chief Inspector Lucas Meier greeted them.
"We've secured the crime scene."
"What do we know?" Rebecca asked.
Lucas handed over a tablet.
"Mr. Escalante's convoy consisted of three armored vehicles."
"The lead SUV was disabled by an electronic jammer."
"The second vehicle was forced off the road."
"The third escaped."
"Were there any casualties?"
"Two security officers were injured."
"No fatalities."
Mariana exhaled.
"And Gabriel?"
Lucas looked at her.
"He disappeared."
The convoy route wound through a forested highway outside the city.
Mariana stepped out of the vehicle.
Broken glass glittered across the asphalt.
Bulletproof SUVs stood abandoned.
One door remained open.
Rebecca crouched beside the tire tracks.
"No blood."
Lucas nodded.
"Very little."
"That suggests he wasn't seriously injured."
Andrew walked farther down the road.
Something caught his eye.
A silver cufflink lay near the guardrail.
He picked it up.
"Mariana."
She turned.
He handed it to her.
She immediately recognized the family crest engraved into the metal.
"It belongs to Gabriel."
Rebecca frowned.
"It could have fallen during the struggle."
Mariana slowly turned it over.
Something had been scratched into the back.
Three tiny letters.
N.W.D.
Back at the temporary command center...
Swiss analysts searched every database.
Nothing matched.
"N.W.D. means nothing," one officer said.
Mariana wasn't convinced.
Gabriel never did anything without a reason.
"If he left this..."
"He wanted us to find it."
Meanwhile...
In an abandoned monastery high in the Swiss Alps...
Gabriel Escalante slowly opened his eyes.
His wrists were tied.
A dull ache pulsed through the side of his head.
Across the room, a familiar voice spoke.
"I was beginning to wonder when you'd wake up."
Gabriel looked up.
Jonathan Blackwood stood near a stone fireplace.
Perfectly composed.
Perfectly dressed.
As though this were a business meeting rather than a kidnapping.
Gabriel smiled despite the ropes around his wrists.
"I expected someone taller."
Blackwood laughed.
"So your sister inherited the diplomacy."
Gabriel shrugged.
"And you inherited bad manners."
Blackwood pulled up a chair.
"You know why you're here."
"I assume it's because you're lonely."
Blackwood ignored the joke.
"I need something."
"You kidnapped the wrong Escalante."
"No."
"I kidnapped the correct one."
He placed an old leather folder on the table.
Inside were faded documents.
Some over thirty years old.
"Do you recognize these?"
Gabriel's expression changed.
He did.
Very well.
Back in Geneva...
Rebecca received an encrypted message from Washington.
She read it once.
Then again.
"What is it?" Mariana asked.
Rebecca looked troubled.
"We finally identified the initials."
"N.W.D.?"
She nodded.
"It isn't a place."
"It isn't a person."
"It's a project."
She handed Mariana the report.
Across the top were three words.
New World Development.
Mariana frowned.
"I've never heard of it."
Alejandro took the folder.
The color drained from his face.
"I have."
Everyone turned toward him.
He whispered,
"It was the first company I ever built."
Silence filled the room.
Alejandro slowly sat down.
"I closed it thirty-two years ago."
Rebecca frowned.
"Why?"
Alejandro looked at his daughter.
"Because someone tried to steal it."
He took a deep breath.
"I thought it ended back then."
Mariana stared at him.
"You've never told me this."
"I wanted to protect you."
Rebecca asked the obvious question.
"Who tried to steal it?"
Alejandro answered in a voice barely above a whisper.
"A young investment banker."
"He failed."
"So he disappeared."
Mariana's heart began to race.
"What was his name?"
Alejandro closed his eyes.
When he spoke...
The room became completely silent.
"Jonathan Blackwood."
Everything suddenly aligned.
The hostile takeovers.
The shell companies.
Whitmore Holdings.
The years of manipulation.
It had never been about one corporation.
It had been a thirty-year vendetta.
Blackwood hadn't forgotten his defeat.
He had simply waited until the next generation inherited the battlefield.
High in the mountains...
Blackwood poured himself a glass of wine.
Gabriel watched calmly.
"You've spent thirty years chasing revenge."
Blackwood smiled.
"No."
"I've spent thirty years preparing justice."
Gabriel laughed.
"You really believe that?"
Blackwood walked toward the window.
"Your father destroyed everything I built."
"So now..."
"I'll make sure his children watch everything they love disappear."
Gabriel remained silent.
Then he noticed something.
On the stone floor near his chair...
A tiny metal screw.
Barely visible.
Probably dropped by one of the guards while securing the restraints.
Slowly...
Without changing his expression...
He pressed the sharp edge against the plastic zip tie around his wrist.
Not enough to break it.
Just enough to begin cutting.
Back in Geneva...
Mariana's secure phone vibrated.
An unknown encrypted signal.
Rebecca immediately intercepted it.
"It's a GPS ping."
"From where?"
She enlarged the map.
The signal lasted only three seconds before disappearing.
But it was enough.
A location flashed onto the screen.
An abandoned monastery...
Deep in the Swiss Alps.
Mariana's heart pounded.
"That's him."
Rebecca nodded.
"I think Gabriel just found a way to tell us where he is."
Outside, helicopters were already preparing for takeoff.
The rescue mission had begun.
But none of them knew...
May you like
Blackwood had been expecting them all along.
End of Chapter 17
