Surviving the King

The Gamble

-Mari-

I’d received a late visit during the night to remove my blindfold so I could move about the suite. This time my captor didn’t speak at all and his entire head was covered with a blackout mask.

“That’s not creepy,” I’d muttered to him sarcastically before he quickly left me alone for the remainder of the night. With as quietly as he’d come I didn’t sleep for s**t and just laid in the bed until sunrise. Effing creepster!

The room I was being held in was beautiful. It seemed odd that anyone that would want to do me harm would care that my surroundings be so exquisite. It almost felt like home…a thought that seemed even more crazy than the thought that I knew the person that had brought me here. A loud knocking on the bedroom door brought me back to the issue at hand.

“Food,” a gruff voice called as a tray was shoved into the room on an antique cart.

“Thanks!” I yelled angrily. The door slammed shut and the henchman’s footsteps thudded back down the hallway. That wasn't the guy with the mask, I thought. It took a while for the footfalls to become totally inaudible, so this house had to be palatial. Every instinct in me wanted to refuse any consumable thing given in a situation like this. I didn’t know if these people wanted me dead no matter what Mr. Robot had to say about it.

I eased from the bed and headed back to the adjoined bathroom. Almost like second nature I reached for the light switch then moved toward the sink. My recall is good, but this is eerily familiar in a way. I filled one of the heavy glasses by the sink with water and gulped down the entire thing to avoid my stomach being completely empty. Out of morbid curiosity I went to the tray and looked at the contents–I wasn’t missing anything by choosing to skip this meal. I cast the tray aside and moved toward a bureau in the corner of the room. Even the creaking of the old hinges seemed familiar.

“There’s no way,” I gasped as my eyes fell on the clothing inside. To the right were jeans, trousers, blouses and camisoles in my size and all of the items were new. On the left was an oddity that made my heart stop cold. All clothing for a little girl.

My mind raced through possibilities as I came back to the realization that my situation was dire. This wasn’t a vacation no matter how these people tried to accommodate me.

“See anything you like?”

I was flat with Mr. Robot. “I see concerning things, that’s all. Will I find out why I’m here and how I can leave?” I was irritated that I hadn’t heard him come in nor more than halfway into the room with me. That was terrifying, but I refused to let him see that it bothered me. His presence definitely carried a certain signature that registered with me. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d been the one who removed the blindfold.

“I’ve been so nice to you. The sarcasm is unwarranted.”

I gestured to the room incredulously. “And my kidnapping isn’t!?”

Though his face was covered I could sense that he wanted to laugh, but held it in masterfully. “I don’t agree with you being here, either.”

After mulling that over for a moment I jerked my head to the bureau, “Where’s the little girl?”

Seemingly unamused in that moment Mr. Robot turned abruptly and left. I couldn’t help but notice how powerfully built the man was. He too had a mild flicker of familiarity to him, though I wasn’t sure if it was just my survival instincts giving me false positives all morning.

I have to get out of here.

Convenience

“Why can’t anyone tell me where my daughter is!?”

Jada’s eyes widened behind her glasses as Mr. Galindo yelled from across the room. He wasn’t talking to her, but she had never even seen the man upset. Centurion’s head security personnel as well as a couple FBI agents sat opposite Mari’s father at a Centurion field office outside of D.C.

“Sir, I assure you we’re working to find her as quickly as possible,” Garrett Blake said in his best attempt to not seem worried. The man was over six feet tall and built like a diesel; seeing him inwardly wince at the anger of such a manicured, albeit also well built, man was slightly entertaining.

“This is a f*cking security firm. You’re hired by heads of state around the world, but there’s no reasonable protocol in place to protect your executives!?”

That was a reasonable point. “Mr. Galindo, it appears that Mari’s embedded GPS was disabled as soon as she entered the vehicle from the lobby,” Jada said holding one of two devices designed to track Mari’s person at all times.

David’s eyes bucked. “Are you talking about the personal GPS her mother and I had installed? There hasn’t been another one?”

“No,” Jada said. “Mari was against additional tracking measures, but she did have the unit upgraded with our Interstar beta software. We’d know if it was removed from her, so we think the signal was specifically blocked.”

“That would mean someone with intimate or internal knowledge got my only daughter,” David said through gritted teeth.

The FBI agents seemed bored having already been briefed on this information. “We have a dedicated remote system in our headquarters that is set to notify us the second the GPS device regains connection to the Interstar network.”

“Great, but what about her status. Her life! I want a file on everything you know so far by morning. Someone as high-profile as Marisca Galindo can’t go missing without drawing the attention of some disturbingly powerful people.”

Just then a monitor flashed a breaking news bulletin. There was a leaked video of a foreign crime organization taking responsibility for Mari’s disappearance. By the time someone turned up the volume the newscaster blared “--leaving high ranking American military officials worried about their intentions to compromise Ms. Galindo. U.S. Attorney General, Jim Thorne, is highly motivated to investigate the matter as his son, Mark, died yesterday of injuries sustained during Galindo’s capture. ”

Mari had high security clearances as a contractor and the possibilities of what various governments may do to keep her from being a breach risk made Jada’s blood run cold.

“We have to find her. Soon.”

-Corbin-

“Well, at least the government won’t be breathing down our necks for a while,” Dominic said as I turned the TV back off.

“All that means is we’re going to have ruthless bastards on our asses to eliminate her as a security risk,” I seethed. “We’re all targets because you two idiots don’t think.”

“The hell, Corbin? Weren’t you supposed to ‘fix’ everything?” TJ, my youngest brother, said sarcastically.

I was dangerously pissed off. "None of this would have happened if you had followed instructions!"

Before either of my bozo brothers could say anything I picked up my mask and stormed off to the east wing of the mansion. I knew the layout like the back of my hand and weaved into a hidden door that took me the back way into "nursery". I'd stashed a bag of toiletry items for Mari.

My heart sank as soon as I opened the door to her room and saw her standing as if she expected me. She looked livid so I held up the bag.

"When are you going to tell me what you want?!" she yelled. Mari didn't yell. She never had to force her way. People simply respected her enough to do things she asked.

Even with my face concealed I felt ashamed. "I brought you a few things."

"Am I supposed to be grateful?"

"No, you're supposed to be dead."

Her eyes widened and she changed her stance, ready to fight her way through me if necessary. I towered over her and wouldn't consider fighting her knowing she was basically ops trained. I liked how my face was configured.

"Excuse me, I meant that the plan was to make you dead to the outside world. Things are complicated when a person like you goes missing."

"You mean I'm an international security threat," Mari said crossing her arms. "This stunt has probably tanked my company. Who would want operatives from me now? Was that the plan!? Tank my stocks and get me killed?"

"No," my voice cracked and betrayed my emotional neutrality. Tired and less than rosy, she was still easily a gorgeous woman.

"God. You're probably not cut out to keep yourself alive in this situation, much less me. Do you understand what will happen?"

I get you underground and to myself.