A palpable tension filled the air. Nikos. Always the elephant in the room. Hakan and Rif would undoubtedly argue to keep him in the dark—for many reasons. But Christos was his father too, and no matter how troubled their relationship, her brother deserved to know what was going on.
“What about Helena? She’s relatively new to Christos’s life and has access to his schedule,” Rif said.
Thea shot him a look. “Not a fan?”
He shrugged. “They haven’t been together long. Maybe her sweet exterior hides a rotten core. She has a billion-dollar motive. It’d be crazy not to consider her.”
“Everyone is under scrutiny,” Hakan said, tapping his pen against his thigh. “As we know, Christos was about to sign the deal of his career in Africa, making Paris Industries the largest oil provider in the world. Wouldn’t the Chinese have the most to gain by making him disappear?”
“Maybe, but maybe not. I just introduced myself to the brother and sister who head up the Chinese negotiations team. Kanzi could postpone the negotiations altogether if one of the major players was missing, and that wouldn’t help the Chinese. Every oil company, both national and private, wants to get its hands on Kanzi’s resources.” The initial field of competitors had included many more than the final two bidders.
“Oil is a geopolitical labyrinth,” Hakan said. “We need to look at all the players, national oil companies as well as the private ones.”
The NOCs had the financial backing of their governments, access to political favors, and countless other advantages. Paris Industries was a private oil company, and that meant it had to fund all its own exploration. It’d been Christos’s probing that had led to the discovery of massive quantities of oil in Kanzi. But the bulk of the oil was in an area that Papa hadn’t negotiated rights to yet, opening the discovery to other bidders. But oil was only one potential motivation for the kidnapper.
“We also can’t discount the guerrillas and politicians who exploit the oil wealth in their countries. And that list should include General Ita Jemwa and Prime Minister Kimweri.” Her stomach twisted at the thought of Papa at the mercy of a Kanzi militia, possibly cold, wet, beaten, locked in a cage somewhere. A wave of dizziness caught her off guard. She reached into her purse and grabbed an energy bar.
“Anyone want one?”
“No thanks,” Hakan said.
Rif narrowed his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe she was thinking of eating at a time like this. Only three people knew about her diabetes—Papa, Nikos, and her doctor—but Rif was observant, intuitive. Was it possible he knew? Her hands trembled. She peeled back the wrapper and dove in.
“If Paris Industries bows out of the Kanzi deal, who gets in?”
“Russia’s oil company, Rosneft, was a close third, given its geographical location. I’ll ask Ahmed for the Paris Industries research on it,” Hakan said.
“They’d certainly know people capable of a professional kidnap,” Thea conceded. “Still, we can’t point fingers without proof. What about Ares and some of the other prominent kidnap groups? We need to look at every angle. Sometimes the most obvious explanation isn’t the correct one. Someone smart taught me that,” she said.
Hakan frowned. “That someone doesn’t feel very smart today. All these emotions are a distraction,”
“Agreed. You know what the experts say—a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. So, should we really be handling this case?” she asked, knowing there wasn’t an alternative. One more bite of the bar, and the room righted, the sheen of sweat cooled on her skin, and her focus returned.
“No one cares more than we do; no one has as much insider information—information Christos would never want revealed to others. Besides, I could never forgive myself if I outsourced this and something went sideways.”
Her phone buzzed with an incoming text from one of their analysts. “The Latin message on Papa’s phone was sent from a burner cell purchased in Athens. Untraceable.”
“No surprise. I’m going to check in with Freddy, see if he’s come up with anything,” Hakan said.
She glanced at her watch. “I’m meeting Peter Kennedy in ten. I’d better go. Do you mind feeding Aegis?” She handed Hakan one of her room keys.
“Two ravenous bachelors having room service. Sounds like a plan.”
“Thanks.” She strode across the room.
Rif joined her at the door. She turned to Hakan. “Is this really necessary?”
“I need your mind focused on figuring out who took Christos, not protecting yourself. If something happened to you, your father would never forgive me,” Hakan said.
Chapter Ten
Rif escorted Thea down the cobblestone path outside the hotel. Shadows from the olive trees wavered in the brisk breeze, playing tricks on his eyes as he scanned ahead. Nothing would happen to Thea on his watch. Not that she couldn’t look after herself; she was correct about that. But right now she was vulnerable, maybe more than she realized. Christos had been snatched while she watched, unable to help, an eerie parallel to when Nikos had been taken twenty years ago.