After the man hung up, a curious silence was taking place in the middle of the living room. It ended however by Diane talking.
"We need to give him that money. We have hidden cash in case of danger and we need to leave fast, I believe it's around what he asks for, I don't care that we give it to him, I just want my husband home and unscathed." Diane said in a hollow voice.
"I don't understand, I thought the kidnappers were taking their time to contact the family in order to ask for a ranson. He called us right away, why?" Mary asked.
"Usually that's how they work, it's design to make the family more anxious and so more malleable when they make contact but thanks to film and series, now the family contact the FBI instantly and so they had the time to prepare the family against that and the odds of getting caught raise when the family have the time to prepare. Calling an hour later after giving time to Amal to keep us posted was rather devious but not stupid. Giving us his name was stupid however and I'm going to use that against him." Nathaniel nodded, taking back his secure phone and dialing someone.
"Sir?" The cute voice of Lina answered on the other side, he could tell that there was caution in her voice.
"I'm going to send you an audio file, try to find out everything you can about the background noise and with his accented voice. Also, call your father, I want all of our security personnel in the Lyndon Tower in the next forty five minutes, even if they are not on call they have order to come. Is that clear?"
"Can I ask what is going on exactly?" She asked, she had sense the tone which Nathaniel was using and it was giving her the creep.
"Robert Lyndon has been kidnapped." Nathaniel said succinctly before hanging up and turning to Karine. His mind was working on a plan as he was speaking.
"Mom, I need you to find me a lawyer in Rome. Someone with influence and that already goes head to head against the police without cowering in the past."
"Of course Sweetie, you can count on me." Karine nodded, going to the laptop in the corner of the living room and starting typing on it. Nathaniel turns to Mary.
"Mom, you need to go back to the Lyndon Tower and keep an eye on the company. It's possible that kidnapping grandpa had a purpose beyond money. We need to change all of his passwords and make a search in the system to know if his logs have been used in the next hour. I will give you Lina for you to look into it."
Mary was startled to hear that. She was so focused on the loss of her father that she did not even think about other motives they could have besides money. She needed to go back to the office ASAP.
"Grandma, what we are going to do is going to be noticed by a lot of people and the investors are going to want an answer and grandpa is missing. If they learn about it, it could hurt our company badly. I need you to go to the office and act as a conciliator. Tell them that grandpa lost his phone or something and this is why we are changing every password or finding something better, I trust you." He smiled.
"I left the direction of the company five years ago." She said, almost absentmindedly. She was seemingly out of it right now and that was bad. Nathaniel needed her to be focused right now.
"Grandma!" Nathaniel shouted, making her and Mary almost jump out of their skins. "I will handle grandpa, trust me, I will bring him back to us, to you. I promise. I need you to be focus right now on the company!"
"Nathaniel, dear, please don't go. I can't lose both of you, I just can't. Please, stay here and let the people train for that kind of situation do their job." His grandmother almost begged, tears in her eyes.
Nathaniel hated seeing her in that state and his anger flare even brighter for the people responsible for that situation. Whoever they were and wherever they were, he will find them and make them pay.
"Mother, Nathaniel can do this. You should let him go. He's uniquely qualified for that kind of situation." Mary voiced her support. She knew the truth about her son and that if someone could do it, it would be him.
"He's barely seventeen!" She rebuked harshly.
"He's a genius and he's my son.." Mary answered simply with a hint of pride in her voice.
"Grandma, Mom, please I need silence, I need to make an important phone call." Nathaniel raises his hand, waiting for the line to connect.
"Who is this?" A gruff voice answered at the third ring.
"Nathaniel." He answered simply.
"Are you crazy!" The man shouted.
"This is a secure line."
Hearing that piece of information seems to mollify the man in question.
"What do you want? I'm busy so make it quick."
"I need to speak with William, now."
"Who do you think making those kinds of demands and calling him William in the first place?" The man said infuriated.
"This is important Tobias, I would not be calling otherwise." Nathaniel said, starting to lose patience.
"I don't care, he's in the middle of a security meeting in the Oval office! I can't disturb him right now! Call back later."
"Listen to me, you fu**ing moron! My grandfather was just kidnapped in Europe! Put me in relation with William now or I swear to god I'm going to take the next flight to DC and I'm going to shove your word so far up your ass you are going to taste your own bullshit in your tongue!" Nathaniel yell on the phone.
It was only after thirty second had passed that Tobias spoke again.
"Sorry. Please wait, I'm bringing him on the phone right now." Tobias said before putting Nathaniel on hold.