“We have a nice breeze though, Muerto,” John replied, moving his hand around in the blasted windshield area. “I bet these are not Kaders.”
“I believe you’re right, my friend. That leaves only a couple of entities out there sending a squad for kids. They knew we were at the beach and knew better than to front us there. They staked out the kids in the hopes of grabbing them for a purpose to be determined. I’m wondering whether this is Fontaine’s work or Cameron’s. When we get to your place we’ll do a quick identification process with everything at our disposal. I’ll give Paul the news. He probably doesn’t want to speak to me anymore.”
“I think you are one of the few people he does speak to, Muerto.”
“He has a girlfriend now.”
“I wager he trusts you more.”
“Maybe. His girlfriend won’t kill for him. This is bad timing before my DC trip tomorrow. This will be a lot of work cleaning this damn van. Maybe we should have brought Cleaner Cala along with us.”
“We will hide it for now after we bag our guests. I will disconnect the battery so it cannot be tracked and strip all their electronic devices. Cleaner and I will ready the van for Jerry while you’re away in Washington, Muerto.”
“That would be nice,” Nick replied. “It will give us a chance to work this new problem once we find out who we’re dealing with. Thank God I gave the kids those communication units to practice with before their camping excursion. This is a rough stretch for us, Kabong.”
“It will be a much rougher stretch for those causing our bad patch.”
“Amen to that, brother.”
*
“I confirmed John’s initial identity searches and added quite a bit more in the data I just sent back to him. They’re all Omar Fontaine minions, Nick,” Paul said. “They’re all former Iranian paramilitary, secret police. Do you have a theory on why they would go after the kids other than the obvious kidnapping for blackmail purposes?”
“Would he put his minions at Senator Cameron’s disposal? I’ve wondered about the knowledge Fontaine has. If he’s been paying for inside information from Cameron, it would follow he would not like losing her as a source. She may have been tipped off about the contents of our coming confrontation with her. It would also mean she’s had me on her radar since the recent actions against Isis. I don’t think Phil tipped her off. His wife is another matter. We’ll keep forging along. I think we bought some time by stashing the kidnappers for the time being.”
“Clyde will be there bright and early. Do you need a team sent to take care of your people?”
“Gus and John will be here. I trust them implicitly. We all have safe-rooms, Fontaine or Cameron will be waiting to hear from the Iranian dead men. Maybe I can get Cameron’s exit from the Senate a done deal before the end of tomorrow. If I find out she had anything to do with the kidnapping attempt, I will have to make an adjustment in her future years.”
“Understood. I will have people I trust working on further connections between Cameron and Fontaine, especially involving the men you aced today. I’ll have them look for political enemies who suddenly shut up and were never heard from again. It appears I may not be able to trust our FBI and Homeland counterparts until we find out how and why on Fontaine’s dead minions.”
“Exactly. I have an idea to wake Princess Di to reality. She may be feeling a bit aloof from the fray. I’d like to make sure of her involvement in today’s kidnapping attempt. It will be a bit of an uncivilized slap in the face, especially if she’s innocent, but I don’t weep for misused traitors who think they’re untouchable.”
“I know you will, but be careful on the attitude adjustment end. I will stay on the leads we talked about. If I make any connections, I’ll message you right away. Thanks for all this, Nick. Without you, we’d be blind to what’s going on right under our noses.”
“Don’t worry about it. No one knows how deep into the congressional houses the money has creeped from cartels and quasi-terrorists like Fontaine. It’s nearly impossible to know who to trust. I imagine you’ll have my extra guy picked out for my stay and details about time of meeting for the face-off with Cameron. I imagine she’s not being very cooperative.”
“I have a man picked out you’ll like. Yes, she’s tried ducking it with every excuse in the book, but that’s in the past. The President phoned her and said make it happen or get ready for an investigation by the Justice Department. She was pissed.”