Chapter 4 - The Game Begins
Daniel stood in his private study on the top floor of the Whitmore Holdings tower in downtown Los Angeles. Below him, the morning traffic snaked through the concrete canyons of the city. Sunbeams cut through the smog, painting the steel and glass horizon in shades of orange and gold.
His phone buzzed on the mahogany desk. It was Marcus Vance.
"Sir," Marcus said, his voice clipped and urgent over the secure line. "We ran into a situation at the East LA address."
"I know," Daniel said, his eyes staring blankly out the window. "Vanessa has men watching the house. Did you engage?"
"No," Marcus replied. "We spotted two scouts in a blacked-out Yukon parked down the block. We set up a counter-surveillance perimeter. They don't know we're here. Sir, we can take them down quietly in thirty seconds."
"Negative," Daniel commanded sharply. "If her men miss a scheduled check-in, she has a kill order on Andrew in Mexico. We cannot move until we secure both targets simultaneously."
"Understood. What are your orders?"
"Keep eyes on Noah. Do not let those men enter that apartment building under any circumstances, but do not trigger a confrontation. I am deploying a secondary team to Baja immediately."
Daniel hung up, pulled a satellite phone from his desk drawer, and dialed a number he hadn't used in five years.
"Whitmore," a heavy, accented voice answered on the second ring. "I thought you were done with my kind of work."
"I need your team, Hector," Daniel said without warmth. "I need an extraction executed in Ensenada. Private medical facility. Highly sensitive target. High probability of armed guards."
Hector, a former commander in the Mexican Special Forces who now ran a elite private military contracting firm out of Tijuana, chuckled grimly. "When do we move?"
"As soon as I give the word," Daniel said. "I'm sending you the coordinates and facility blueprints now. I need the target brought across the border alive and unharmed. If a single hair on his head is touched, you don't get paid."
"Consider it done. Send the deposit."
Daniel ended the call and sat back in his chair. The game was set. Vanessa believed she held all the cards because she assumed Daniel was the same civilized, corporate executive he had always presented to the world. She thought his wealth had made him soft.
She didn't know about his past. Before his father's death forced him to take the helm of Whitmore Holdings, Daniel had spent three years managing corporate security and asset recovery in high-risk zones across South America and Eastern Europe. He knew how monsters operated because he had spent years hunting them.
The door to his office swung open. Harrison Hart, Vanessa’s father, walked in without knocking.
Harrison was sixty-two, with iron-gray hair, a tailored Savile Row suit, and the arrogant posture of a man who believed money bought immunity from morality. He smiled, setting a leather briefcase on Daniel’s desk.
"Daniel, my boy," Harrison said warmly, as if he hadn't spent the last six years embezzling millions and hiding a brain-damaged man in Mexico. "Vanessa told me about the incident at the house last night. Tragic about the housekeeper. Such a shame when staff turn to alcohol."
Daniel slowly stood up, looking at his future father-in-law. It took every ounce of his willpower not to reach across the desk and crush the man's windpipe.
"Yes," Daniel said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "A tragedy."
"Anyway," Harrison continued, opening his briefcase and pulling out a stack of acquisition documents. "We need to finalize the signatures for the Pacific Rim port expansion. My offshore entity is set to handle the logistics clearing. I need your signature on these board authorizations before noon."
Daniel looked down at the documents. This was the mechanism they used to steal from the company—padding logistics contracts through fake shell corporations in Panama.
"I'll review them," Daniel said flatly.
Harrison’s smile faltered slightly, his eyes narrowing. "Daniel, we discussed this last week. The board expects these signed today."
"And I said I'll review them, Harrison," Daniel repeated, stepping closer to the older man. The temperature in the room plummeted. "My fiancée gave me a very interesting perspective on family loyalty last night. It made me realize I need to look much closer at where my company's money is going."
May you like
Harrison stared at him, the cheerful facade dropping instantly. "Careful, Daniel. You have a wedding coming up. It would be a terrible shame if unexpected news ruined the festivities."
"A terrible shame indeed," Daniel whispered. "Now get out of my office."
