Geneva Connection, The (35 page)

He followed the silver Nissan east onto a two-lane highway for a few minutes—the usual route. Then it diverted. Grendon looked at his passenger in his rearview mirror.

Emma wrinkled her nose. “This is a different way to school, isn’t it?”

Grendon thought about ramming into the Nissan to force it off the road, but Barbara kept flashing up in his mind. He was powerless to intervene. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill his wife.

He turned his body briefly and smiled. “It is, Emma. Unfortunately, there’s been an accident on the regular route, so we have to find an alternative.”

Although the thought made him sick, Grendon convinced himself the government would pay any ransom demand made by these gangsters, and Emma would soon be released unharmed. She was in no real danger. If he did what he was told, everyone would come out of this safely.

Ten minutes later, the cars left the highway and drove through a set of open steel gates. At the end of the quarter mile tarmac road was a private airstrip which looked as if it hadn’t been used in years.

“What’s happening, Mr. Grendon? What are we doing here?” asked Emma, panic in her voice. “Can I please use your phone to call Mom?” She looked down at the handset. “The phone’s broken.” She began to cry.

Grendon gripped the steering wheel hard and said nothing. What could he say in answer to Emma’s questions? He couldn’t even bring himself to look at her. He was about to trade a young girl’s life to save his wife.

The Nissan accelerated toward the only aircraft in sight, a private jet, and Grendon followed. As soon as the cars came to a halt, the man in the Nissan jumped out, ran to the Honda, and grabbed the girl.

Emma began to scream and kicked out at her abductor.

Grendon froze and stared at the jet as the man carried Emma toward it.

Scar-face appeared at the aircraft’s door then stepped off the plane and walked up to the Honda.

Rage boiling inside him, Grendon climbed out of the car. “What have you done to my wife? I’ll kill you if you’ve harmed her.”

Scar-face did not reply. He took out a pistol from his suit coat and shot Grendon in the head. Then he returned to the jet, where the girl was already under sedation and strapped into a seat. Five minutes later, they were in the air.

“Good work, gentlemen,” said Rios, who was on board and had watched the whole thing through his window. “Very good work.”

Chapter 53

I
T
W
AS
J
UST
A
FTER
T
EN
in the morning when Patti Merriman received the call every mother dreads. The school principal called to inquire why Emma was not in today.

Patti’s heart was in her throat. “What do you mean, Emma’s not there?”

“Oh.” The principal sounded as though she was caught off-guard. “She is coming in today?”

“She should have been there at least an hour and a half ago.”

“There’s probably a sensible explanation for this, Mrs. Merriman. The driver may be stuck in traffic. However, it’s our policy to inform the police as soon as possible in these circumstances.” There was a poorly disguised panic in the principal’s voice. “I’ll contact the police while you call the driver. Let’s talk again in a few minutes.”

Patti was shaking when she picked up the phone to call Grendon. The phone kept going to voice mail. When she called her husband on his cell phone, it also went to voice mail, so she contacted Gail, his PA, and asked her to track him down urgently.

Five minutes later, Merriman called back. “What’s wrong, Patti?”

“Emma didn’t arrive at school this morning.”

“What?”

“Bill picked her up as usual, but I heard from the school a few minutes ago, and they say they haven’t seen her.”

“Have you tried calling Bill’s cell?”

“Yes, several times, but I keep getting his damn voice mail.”

“I’m on my way home. Have you called the police?”

“Yes. The school is contacting them now. I’ll speak to the principal again now and let you know what’s happening as soon as you get here. Hurry, Mark, please.”

Immediately, Merriman sent Halloran to Bill Grendon’s house to speak with his wife to see if she’d heard anything from her husband. Then he asked Karen Camplejohn to contact the police to see if they’d heard anything. A call from the DEA’s office would command a swifter response and at the right level within the police. They’d know this was not just a call from some overly protective parent.

Merriman jumped into his car and put his foot down. On the drive home, he called Patti to see if she’d learned anything. She hadn’t, but she said she might have missed a call as she was continually dialing Grendon’s cell phone.

“Okay. Stay off the phone, Patti. People may be trying to contact us. I have someone going over to Bill’s house right now. I’m sure everything’s going to be all right.”

Fifteen minutes later, he arrived home.

“Where’s our little girl, Mark?” Patti said, running out to meet him at his car.

He hugged her. “I’m sure she’s okay.” He didn’t know what else to say to comfort his wife. It was always possible she was not okay. Too much time had passed since Emma had been collected by Grendon.

They went into the house, and Merriman’s phone rang. It was Halloran.

“Mark. It’s not good news.”

Merriman felt cold. “What is it, Frank?”

“I’ve just arrived here. I rang the bell several times, but there was no answer so I went round to the lounge window to see if anyone was in. It looks like Mrs. Grendon has been shot. The police are on their way.”

Merriman’s breath was knocked out of him. He gripped a chair for balance. “God, no!”
Emma’s been taken
. “Stay there, Frank. Find out what you can and keep me briefed. I want to know everything.”

“Of course.”

When Merriman told Patti, she went limp, and he had to grab her to prevent her falling to the floor.

She started to sob. “This can’t be happening, Mark. What’s happened to Emma? Where is our little girl?”

Merriman bit his lip; he knew full well what the events meant. Moments later, he took another call. This time it was from a police officer.

“This is Captain Ryan. We’ve found Mr. Grendon’s Honda SUV at Houghton Airfield. It’s bad, I’m afraid, sir.”

Merriman took a couple of paces away from Patti so she couldn’t overhear the conversation. “One of my team just phoned and told me about his wife.”

“It gets worse. The driver of the SUV has also been shot. He’s dead. We think it’s Mr. Grendon, but we’ve yet to confirm that.”

Merriman’s breathing was now shallow. “What about Emma?” he asked, bracing himself for a shock.

“There’s no sign of your daughter, sir. I’m sorry.”

“That means she’s been kidnapped. This has all the signs of a professional team.”

Across the room, Patti turned white and fell backward into the sofa.

“She must have been put on a plane from Houghton. We’re checking flight logs as we speak.”

After the call, Merriman was torn. His wife needed him right now, but he knew he’d be more useful working with the police back at his office. There, he’d have access to government security and intelligence systems to assist in the search for his daughter. So he called Patti’s sister, who lived thirty miles away, to ask if she’d come over and look after her. He didn’t want to leave Patti, but he understood how important quick action could be in these circumstances.

Merriman was in automatic pilot driving back to the office. He thought about who was likely to be behind his daughter’s disappearance. It had to be the work of the Caruana cartel. Although he’d made many enemies in his work, the coincidence of timing, right after the seizure of assets, the recent murder of his parents, and the professional nature of the morning’s events all pointed to the cartel.

If Safuentes touches one hair on her head, I’ll hunt him down and kill him.

When he arrived at work, most of his team were there waiting to help. Halloran came rushing in and gave a report on what he’d found inside the Grendons’ home. The police had allowed him access to the house, where he found Mrs. Grendon bound to a chair and gagged. She’d received a single pistol shot to the back of the head.

A police team joined Merriman’s meeting in one of the conference rooms. Captain Ryan briefed everyone on what they knew so far. It was clear the Grendons had been held hostage at home overnight. There was evidence to support this; neighbors had seen the Honda pull into the garage yesterday evening. It was likely that threats to Mrs. Grendon were used to coerce Mr. Grendon into going along with the abductors’ plans. Mr. Grendon was found dead next to his car at a small, local, private airstrip. He’d been shot once in the head at close range. Shortly after eight thirty a.m., according to witnesses, a private jet, had taken off and headed south. There was no record of a flight plan.

Merriman looked at his watch. “It’s just after one. They’ll be in Mexico by now.”

Ryan looked confused. “What do you mean, Mr. Merriman? Do you know who these people are?”

“I think we all know this is the work of the Caruana cartel. It’s payback,” Merriman said, looking round the room at his team. They nodded in agreement.

He spent the next hour briefing the police officers on the DEA’s investigations into the cartel and the recent substantial seizure of Caruana’s assets. They all agreed it was plenty motive enough for them to abduct his daughter.

When the meeting was over, Merriman walked back to his own office and shut the door. He slumped into his chair, rested his elbows on his desk, closed his eyes and massaged his forehead with his fingers. He exhaled loudly through his nose.

Not our little girl, please
.

Chapter 54

S
ITTING
A
LMOST
A
T
T
HE
T
IP
of Mexico’s one thousand mile long Baja California peninsula, is the burgeoning city of La Paz with a population of almost a quarter of a million. Supported by a successful tourist industry, land prices have rocketed in recent years.

Jivaro was one of the first to spot the city’s early growth prospects. He bought up huge tracts of land around the city years ago and, gradually, built up a chain of hotels and tourist attractions as part of his expanding real estate empire. Further out from the city, south along the coast, the landscape becomes more arid. It is characterized by undeveloped land, served only by a few dirt tracks, leading to some of the most spectacularly beautiful coastal views. Jivaro owned much of this too.

Accessible only by boat and set back about two hundred yards from the coast, was a derelict house on Jivaro’s land. Eight hours after the private jet took off from the Virginia airstrip, Rios and his two henchmen carried the sedated young girl from the speedboat, across the deserted beach, and into the house.

Once they had her locked away in a window-less back room, Rios made the call to his boss. “We’ve got her. Everything went according to plan, and there were no loose ends.”

“Fine work, Miguel,” replied Jivaro. “She is not to be let out of your sight.”

Jivaro left it a further twenty-four hours before making contact. Merriman hadn’t managed any sleep since Emma had been taken and, by the time the call came in on his direct line, he was expecting to hear the worst. Most ransom demands were made in the first twelve hours, so he was braced to hear his daughter had been found murdered.

He picked up the phone after three rings, delaying answering to give the police team time to start tracing the call, even though he knew this would be futile.

“I have her,” Jivaro said. “She’s beautiful. Looks just like your wife.”

“You do anything to harm her, and I’ll kill you.” Merriman didn’t care about the police team sitting around him.

“You’re in no position to issue threats. Just remember what I did to your parents.”

“Where is she? I want her back here today. You got that, you fucking animal?”

“You’ll have her back, but first you must return something of mine.”

Merriman knew full well what Safuentes wanted. “What do you want?”

“You have forty-eight hours to release my assets and to provide a legal waiver to any future claims over them.”

“I don’t have that kind of power.”

“
You
took the assets so you must find a way of returning them.”

“It’s just not that easy.”

“It’s your problem. Once my lawyer is satisfied with the waiver, you’ll have your daughter.”

Jivaro finished the call.

Merriman turned to the police. They shook their heads, confirming they hadn’t been able to trace the call.

“She’s alive,” said one of the officers. “At least, she’s alive.”