"How did you know he would ask us to come to that country for the exchange?" Mary asked.
"It was a fair assumption. He knows he is protected there, bribing a lot of officials in the country and even has ties to Saudi royal family. He never left the country so I did not expect him to leave at such a critical moment either. Moreover, he did the same thing with the previous people he kidnapped." He answers.
"And why are you here? He must know that you are here now if he is as connected as you say and he's going to hunt you!" Diane said worriedly.
"No, he does not. I don't think he expected us to come here and I took precautions to make sure our arrival remains lowkey." He did not forward any other information but that implied bribing or killing people who could talk.
"What do you want us to do with the man demands sweetie? We don't have the money after all." Mary says anxiously.
"Just send one of our security, preferably someone who is good in close quarter combat and who can shoot straight, talk about it with Jean second in command and he will find you what I need. Made him put phone books in the suitcase and then took the flight, make sure that the suitcase you take has a numerical lock on it though. I will handle everything on the ground when he arrives." He said with that emotionless voice that Mary didn't like at all.
"Sweetie, there is more. Your grandfather told us over the phone that his kidnappers were having fun preventing him from sleeping. Why are they doing that? Why are they torturing him like that?" Mary said angrily.
"It's pretty common actually. Sleep deprivation is commonly used in captivity. It causes memories issues, trouble your faculty to focus and can impact your mobility and balance, especially against old people. Globally it makes the one you have in custody more easy to control." Nathaniel explained in a cold voice.
"How the hell do you know that!?" Diane shouted frustratingly.
"I said that I will explain once I come home grandma, now stop shouting, it's annoying." He rebuked her icily.
"Sweetie, be careful, okay? I love you."
"I love you too mom." Nathaniel said, Mary hearing for the first time warm in her son's voice.
"I need to go now, I'm sorry. Please, take care guys."
"You take care sweetie, I hope you will come home soon. Bye."
"Bye mom, bye grandma." He finished, hanging up.
Putting his phone back in his pocket, Nathaniel turns on Amal and Scott.
"Guys, we have eighteen hours to finish what we are trying to do. We need to hurry." Nathaniel said.
"Sir, if we hurry, we could gather a lot of unwanted attention and in Saudi Arabia, it's many times more dangerous than Europe. We could end up dead and that if we are lucky." Amal warned.
"I know that Amal, but we don't have any choice, do we?" Nathaniel answered, making eye contact with him.
"No, we don't." He said bitterly. He knew very well what would happen to Robert if their mission was a failure today.
Their relationship improved a lot when they had to go together to the hospital, paying Jean a visit. Amal had the opportunity to see that truthful to his words, Nathaniel had indeed hired security for Jean and a good one at that based on what he could see. The thing that was even better was when they met with Jean doctor and he told them that Jean's condition was looking better and his prognostic vital was not in jeopardy anymore.
Jean was maybe a cheerful, overly talkative and annoying french guy but it was also Amal's friend and partner for more than fifteen years. A bond like that was not easily shakable, even for the stone faced Amal. Even if Jean's health was getting better, Nathaniel still insisted for the security to stay by his side while he was away and that was why Amal agreed to come with him here, in Saudi Arabia, to help. For Nathaniel, Amal's presence here was essential as Nathaniel did not know the language and did not have the time to learn where Amal was fluent in Arabic.
"Scott, do you have something on your mind that you want to share with the group?" Nathaniel asked.
"No sir. I didn't want to get old and finish my life in a nursing home anyway." He said sarcastically making the two others chuckle darkly.
"Come on, let's move. We have a lot of work to do." Nathaniel ordered, walking in the middle of the crowd, Scott and Amal a step behind and on each side of him.