Chapter 3
Tom looked at the syringe on the tray. He'd eaten the food for what it was worth but all that was left was if he would take the hit. If he'd allow himself to be swallowed up by it and taken away. His stomach cramped painfully as his brain reasoned there was no other option.
He couldn't remember ever having such a strong calling before in his life. He needed the drug in that syringe, he needed to escape even if it was just in the vacuum of the drug. He needed like he needed air, the last vestige of what would have denied him dulled down. Greed stepped him as he snatched up the syringe and pulled off the cap.
He could ask for forgiveness another day, he'd do better, be stronger… all the compromises he told himself when even he knew he was lying. He'd always take the drug because he wasn't Tom Chandler anymore; he was nothing but a shell. A shell of man the world had forgotten. A world that didn't need him, a world that was better off with him trapped in this room.
Daniela pressed her lips together and looked at all the information Sasha, Kara Green A.K.A. the woman Danny Green would never betray. Daniela understood now why as Kara like all the women Daniela had encountered on the ship was tough and incredibly good looking.
Daniela was beginning to wonder how so many beautiful people could be on one ship together and stay abstinent. It seemed unnatural to her but explained the serious mood issues and crankiness she was being met with.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Kara said sympatheticall as she and Sasha had informed her that her father's empire was destroyed by a virus. That nearly everyone she'd known all her life including her father were dead. What they didn't realise was that she hated everyone in her father's empire, she relished every single one of their deaths including her father's.
"Whatever, I still have my money and properties right?" Daniela asked them. The two looked off put by her lack of grief. If only they knew the life she had lived. Sure it had perks but she had been her father's pawn. As soon as she was 18 and out of school he'd forced her marry Pablo, the man was a pig but he was her father's key to Europe.
Her father didn't care that she didn't love Pablo, or that Pablo used her like a punching bag as he got what he wanted out of the deal. When Daniela got tired of being Pablo's punching bag, she had gutted Pablo like a fish with a steak knife. Made her own way in life, she earned her tertiary education and built her own business. Legitimately run to cover up her underhanded dealings. Her father hadn't appreciated her undercutting his business but he was impressed but took back his business and then kept her under his thumb. But here she was with the last laugh as he was dead.
"Yes, your funds and properties as in the legitimately earned and owned are accessible to a certain extent." Sasha told her.
"Excuse me?" Daniela asked incredulously.
"Banks are having weekly withdraws limits to control the economy." Sasha said.
"Mm ok, as long as I'm still rich given it will make things a lot easier." Daniela said with a sigh of contentment as she was now calculating how she was going to find this Captain Tom Chandler so she could go make a life for herself. Well, at least a decent vacation and reunite with friends before rebuilding her networks and making money again. She definitely needed some time in the Mediterranean.
"Ok, well here are the other people MI5 have as your known associates that are still alive and operating in Europe." Kara said as she placed the file on the table before Daniela.
Daniela reached forward and picked up the file and leaned back looking through. She snorted a laugh and shook her head at how wrong they had their information. But she didn't correct them, as she flipped through she stopped at page and smile.
"Giorgio, he's the first man we need see." Daniela said as she lifted the page out.
"There isn't much on him." Sasha commented.
"Trust me, I just need to think of how to get back into the circle without them smelling all of you on me." Daniela told her.
"Have a seat, boy." The old man told him. Tom didn't have much of choice as he was in chains and too weak to put up a fight with the man who shoved him into a wooden chair. It was in front of a table where a chessboard sat.
Tom looked around the room, it was seemingly barren study that had seen better days. He looked out the windows seeing the sky for the first time in months. He had hoped to be able to discern where he was but all the view showed was grassy field leading to a cliff and just ocean. Nothing to tell him where he was. He wondered why he should even bother when he should just enjoy the view for as long as it lasted.
"Am I here to play chess?" Tom asked.
"I hear you're quite the strategist. Playing chess will prove to me how sharp your mind is." The old man said as he hobbled over to the arm chair opposite Tom.
"Why do you care? Why not just kill me?" Tom asked.
"Slow deaths are more satisfying. I shoot you, you're dead and that's it. This I get to watch you slowly fade and see the self hatred you have; eat you alive. It's far more satisfying this way." The old man told him.
"You're not supposed to eat in here." Wolf told Daniela as he came into the gym to work out only to find his sister eating yoghurt and fruit while staring at the guys exercising.
"I see no signs telling me I can't and my guard outside didn't tell me 'no' either." She said with a smile as she ate a spoonful of yoghurt eyeing Burk as he did pull ups. She had no shame as she clearly was enjoying the view.
"Shouldn't you be in the wardroom thinking of a plan to get Tom Chandler back?" Wolf asked in a low voice.
"I am, but I think better when there are beautiful people around especially half naked people." She said with a smile as she shamelessly ate her yoghurt.
"Daniela, you need to take this seriously." Wolf told her, she might be a bitch to him but she was his sister and he'd prefer she turn over a new leaf and try to be a better person.
"You are such a buzz kill," Daniela told him, he gave her a dark look that would've scared men but had no effect on her. "Anyway, I have been up for three hours working on tracking Giorgio down. So I think I deserve a little 'me' time given you owe me about 4 years of it." she said.
"You'll never let it go." Wolf said with a shake of his head.
"Why should I? I won't get back the 1.2 million dollars or 4 years of my life. Father was right, family is depreciative in value." Daniela remarked.
"Checkmate." The old man said with a gleeful grin. Tom wasn't at his best. They'd changed the drugs, it was a different cocktail. He knew because he could barely concentrate and while it angered him to lose a simple game of chess, part of him was relieved to feel nothing.
"How long have I been here?" he asked him.
"Long enough that you lost the starch out of your back." The old man told him, Tom couldn't argue as his posture was a nightmare.
"What happened to my family?" Tom asked, part of him wanting know and another part unable to bear knowing at all.
"Do you care?" the old man retorted.
"Of course, I do." Tom said tears running down his face, the old man was right. He didn't care it was just a social construct he'd held to when he was clean. He knew better now, love was a falsehood. The memories mixed with fantasy to the point he couldn't tell if his old life was real or a fiction he played in his head to make himself go crazy.
"They have moved on. No one is looking for you. They are happy you're gone. The world is safer, people are moving on with their lives. You're nothing to them, this last act we're in is purely for me." The old man told him.
"Why?" Tom asked.
"If you look close enough, listen harder, you'll know why." The older man told him.
"So what is your plan?" Mike asked as he stood in the wardroom; arms crossed against his chest. James, Sasha, Kara, Danny and Wolf stood around the table while Daniela lounged back in one of the chairs eating an apple without a care in the world.
Daniela had been on the ship for three days and so far she all she was doing was stirring trouble and eating like a glutton and sleeping like she was on holidays. He let the behaviour go as he knew from watching her that when she worked, she was fully switched on and dedicated.
"I have many plans." Daniela said looking him over. Mike ignored the innuendo as there was no way he was going there with her. He wasn't interested and he didn't feel all that special given Daniela looked at pretty much anything with a pulse as a potential lover.
"About this." He said pointing to evidence they had on the table.
"Mm, not much of a plan but a direction." Daniela admitted ignoring what was on the table.
"So another dead end, I told you; she is useless. She's only going to trail you along until she can escape." James said from his side of the table. Mike was beginning to understand why Wolf would want to deck him. Fletcher had turned into a real pain in his ass.
"If I were useless you wouldn't have used my face as a punching bag for 4 years. Unless that is how you show affection?" Daniela asked him snidely with a smile.
"Focus." Mike told them as he could see James wanted a fight.
"I can make some calls but I can't do that from a ship. I have to on the ground but not surrounded by buff American soldiers." Daniela told Mike with a wave of her hand and half roll of her eyes.
"We're Sailors." Mike corrected.
"I'm sure the differences are staggering. I need to go see some friends and that requires you all to be a little more flexible in our arrangement. Perhaps we could talk about this without that pendeja in the room." She said looking at James like he was shit stuck on her shoes.
"Fletcher, go." Mike ordered.
"What-" James started but Mike gave him a look of censure. So he tossed his hands up in the air. "Fine but know that when she turns on you that I told you so." James said before he left the room.
"Ok, talk." Mike said once the door was shut.
"There is an old family empire that are infamous in the criminal world for their grand black market auctions, during which they sell off highly valuable and illegal commodities, such as stolen art, radioactive materials, weapon components and even people of interest, to the highest bidder." Daniela said, Mike wondered how long she'd kept that information under her hat.
"You think Tom's been collected for an auction?" Mike asked sceptically. He'd never heard of such concept except for in sex slavery.
"Most likely sold by now, but yes." Daniela clarified for him.
"Why them?" He asked.
"Why not?" Daniela asked irreverently as she scratched the back of her neck. "They've been known to kidnap people. There was no ransom and he disappeared cleanly. It's a start, the people who buy at these auctions don't flash around their possessions. Sometimes they will get what you want if the price is high enough. It seems your friend was not very popular with my 'kind' of people." She said making air quotation marks before taking a bit of her apple.
"I agree with her. She also has a property that we can use as a base. Azima, Daniela and I go in ahead and make sure it's clear and then send a signal. Then a team can come up the cliff side undetected into the property." Sasha said to Mike.
"My oldest friend Giorgio, holds parties all the time according to MI5. So we'll go and I'll get him to reconnect me into my old network. He owes me, I'll lure Augustus Finch, he is one of the sons in the family who runs the auctions. I'll get him back to my house. Then it's in your hands to get him to talk. Easy Peasey." Daniela said cockily.
"It could work." Danny said though he was hesitant given how many ways the mission could go sideways as many of the variables were out of their control.
"What if he doesn't know anything?" Mike asked Daniela.
"Giorgio might know nothing. But Augustus and his brothers work for the father they organise the auction items. He'll know if Tom Chandler came through the Auction house. If not he'll be able to direct us to someone else who does know. Though be warned, he does enjoy pain." Daniela said with a salacious smile.
"Ok." Mike said feeling like it was too much information for him.
"Great, but you'll need to drop us off in Athens so we can drive down. We need a serious wardrobe change and as luck would have it. I have a apartment in the city there." Daniela told them all.
"If it's still there." Mike said.
"If not, we'll adapt our plans to suit." Daniela told him.