Arthur looked at his phone and picked up just as he heard a gun go off. He put the phone down on Gideon's desk and put it on speaker phone, as he put his finger to his lips, indicating to Gideon to keep quiet.
"Anyone else want out of this operation? I still have a few bullets in my gun".
Jake took a step towards the bed and leaned over Julia.
She discreetly dragged the phone off the bed and on the floor between her knees, hoping no one would notice.
Still hanging over her, he turned his head and looked at the guys. "We're leaving".
Arthur heard feet shuffling and counted. There must have been about six men in the room and most probably another six, surveilling the area. The door closed.
Jake took out a plastic restraint from his pocket.
"What's the matter Jake? You're afraid I'm going to hit you back"?
Jake pulled her off the bed by the hand restraint and she gently pushed the phone, with her foot, underneath the bed.
"I'm sorry Julia, but I can't take any chances".
There was a momentary silence then he heard the fear in her voice.
"Jake! No! Please don't do this! Stop! No! No! Arthu…."… her voice trailed off before she could finish his name.
"Sleep tight Julia", he heard Jake say as he opened the door. "Get her in the car"!
The door closed again and not another sound or word was heard.
Arthur ended the call and looked at Gideon. "You still think that Cross isn't capable of doing something like this"?
Gideon was pale. "What do we do now"?
Arthur took out a few wires from his phone and hooked it up to Gideon's laptop.
"We're going to listen to that call again".
"Why? We're wasting valuable time Bishop. You've got to find her".
"Right now, I have nothing allowing me to do that Gideon".
He pushed on his phone and the conversation came back on.
"What are we listening for"? asked Gideon.
"Julia called me Gideon, she wanted me to find her".
Arthur closed his eyes, trying to focus on everything that was being said. Suddenly, just as he heard the shuffling of the feet as the men left the room, something made him open his eyes.
Gideon watched Arthur work his magic as he played around with the audio and sound controls and hit play again.
Gideon's eyes grew wide open as he heard his daughter's voice, as clear as if she had been talking normally. "Motel Del Rey, 15".
Arthur stood.
"Where are you going"?
"To the motel. Now I've got something to work with".
"But they're gone".
"Someone will have obviously seen something and you know I work solo. Right now, I don't trust any of the guys working for your security and you shouldn't either".
"Shouldn't you head for the airport or something"?
"It takes a lot of money to fly without a manifest or route. Cross doesn't have that kind of money. He's not going to go to the airport".
"Where is he going to take her"?
"That's exactly what I intend to find out".
"What if he contacts me"?
"I already have that covered. If he calls you, I'll know, if he video conferences with you, I'll be watching".
As Arthur headed out the door, Gideon called out to him. "Is he going to hurt her"?
Arthur wanted to lie, not just for Gideon but also for himself, because there was nothing that would hurt him more than Julia getting hurt, but he knew men like Cross, they would stop at nothing to get what they were after, even more if it was billions of dollars.
"Yes".
"How can you be so sure of such a horrible thing"?
"Because it's what I would do if I were in his shoes".
At that moment, Gideon realized, by simply looking into Arthur's eyes, what he felt for his daughter. "You know, this doesn't change anything in regards to how I feel about your relationship".
"I know. But as far as I'm concerned, billionaire or not, you have no say in how she decides to live her life".
Arthur walked out leaving Gideon more beaten down than he already was.
Arthur took out the gun from the glove compartment of the Mustang and walked over towards room 15. He shot a quick look through the door that was ajar and then walked inside, closing the door behind him. He looked around the room. He knelt and picked up a syringe from the floor. He brought it up to his nose and smelled.
"Propofol. Not taking any chances are you Cross".
He looked at the syringe again and made a quick calculation. Based on the potential dosage he had given her and Julia's approximate weight, she'd be out for three hours, give or take. That meant that wherever he was taking her, couldn't have been more than a two-hour drive from the hotel.
There were two ways of looking at it. Either Cross would choose somewhere populated, to blend in with the crowd or on the contrary somewhere retreated, where no one would bother his operation.
He looked at the bed and could clearly make out where Julia had been. He knelt down and with his hand searched for her mobile phone. He found it and grabbed it. He looked at it for a moment then removed the back panel and took out the battery. There was a microscopic chip that had nothing to do there and he finally understood why he couldn't trace Julia's phone. He placed the chip in his pocket and put the phone back together before grabbing Julia's backpack and placing it inside.
There was nothing else in the room that could help him locate Cross and he had to admit that for once he was at a dead-end.
He left the motel, knowing full well that this kind of place had no cameras and even if someone had seen something, they wouldn't be able to tell him anything he didn't know already.
He drove over to a loft a few streets away from the cantina. He keyed in the code and the door opened. When he closed the door, one by one, the lights turned on throughout the loft, revealing what he considered to be his headquarters. It was filled with weapons and ammunitions, computers and a big white wall to the side that had various pictures of Julia, from the months he followed her, way before he had gotten the job at La Rosa Negra.
He sat behind his computer and pulled up the intelligence file he had on Cross. There was nothing in his background that had led Arthur to believe he was capable of doing something like this. It was personal for Cross. He decided to backtrack as much of Cross' comings and goings, hopefully he had gotten sloppy and a hint as to his whereabouts. It was going to be a long night and no matter how hard he tried to stay focused on the task, his mind often drifted to Julia. There was a part of guilt inside of him. He couldn't help but think, that if he had been fully honest with her, she wouldn't have felt betrayed and never run off like she did, leaving Cross the perfect window of opportunity.