Page 59 of Dark Horizon New Dawn

"Do you want the good news first or the bad?"

"Makes no difference to me." Kian sat down and took a sip from his coffee, which had cooled down in the time he was outside enjoying the sunrise.

"So, I know where they were taken, but the guy was smart and avoided the cameras. I don't know how they loaded them onto the yacht, but I saw him boarding it with his luggage, so I assume they were either brought there before or after, but it's not on camera."

Kian groaned. "All we have is circumstantial evidence. We have no solid proof that Margo and Jasmine were taken from the hotel, loaded into the SUV, and then transferred onto the yacht."

"We don't need proof," Onegus said. "It's enough that we suspect they are there. Even if we are wrong about them being on the yacht, we need to get the boyfriend and interrogate him about Margo and Jasmine and what he did with them, so in either case, we are storming that boat."

“I think we can be sure they’re on the yacht,” Roni said. “I checked in with Frankie and got Margo’s phone number. I was able to track the phone to the harbor, but that was as far as it went. He probably dumped both of the phones there."

Turner nodded. "He probably took their purses with him and either brought them to the yacht or dumped them as well."

"As far as storming the boat is concerned, there is one problem," Roni said. "It sailed a little over three hours ago, and it's heading south at a very leisurely pace. It's not in a rush to go anywhere. The good news is that it has a helipad, so if we can get a chopper, we can land it on the boat."

"I can get us one," Turner said.

Leaning back in his chair, Roni crossed his arms over his chest. "We might not need to avail ourselves of your services because I think I know where we can find the helicopter that goes with that boat. The question is whether it will still be there when we get our forces to the mansion of the cartel boss who owns that yacht and the chopper."

43

NEGAL

Turner was quiet for a moment. "Where is the cartel boss's mansion located?" he asked.

"He has many properties." The hacker didn't lift his head from his laptop. "The one I'm talking about is about thirty miles south of Puerto Vallarta, and it has a private bay with a dock for his enormous yacht, so that's where he's taking her."

"Then we are in luck," Kian said. "We are less than an hour away from there." He pulled out his phone. "I'd better tell the captain about our change of plans. We need to stop the ship."

"Don't." Turner lifted his hand. "You can tell him to slow down, but don't tell him to stop. We need to keep up appearances, remember?"

"Right." Kian put his phone down. "So, what do we do? Do we send Guardians in lifeboats to take over the cartel boss's compound and wait for the yacht to arrive? Or do we keep going and intercept it?"

"Give me a moment to think." Turner tapped his pen on his yellow pad. "We know where the yacht is and at what speed it's going." He turned to Roni. "Can you calculate how long it will take it to reach Puerto Vallarta?"

The hacker didn't seem to need time to calculate, answering right away. "About twelve hours if it continues at its current speed."

"We can't wait that long," Negal said. "Fates only know what those thugs are doing to Margo while we wait."

Kian shook his head. "If we want to intercept the yacht instead of going to Puerto Vallarta, we can do that in about six hours at the current speed or faster if we increase it."

Turner leaned back in his chair. "And then what? The yacht is probably crawling with cartel thugs, and it might even have Doomers on board. Not that I think it's very likely that the Doomers are involved in the kidnapping given what we saw, but we need to be prepared for the possibility that they are."

Kalugal raised his hand. "Compeller here. With a megaphone in hand, I can take care of anyone on that yacht."

"True," Turner admitted, "but then we will have the cartel chasing after us in addition to the Doomers."

"What do you suggest we do?" Kian asked.

Negal was losing his patience. Turner obviously had come up with a plan and was dragging it out instead of just spitting it out, so everyone would appreciate how smart he was, and in the meantime, Margo was suffering.

"We kill several birds with one stone," Turner said.

When the strategist was done explaining his plan, Kian nodded. "We need Andrew to access information about the cartel boss. I'm sure the US government has collected information about him, and Andrew can access it." He looked at Roni. "What's his name?"

"Julio Modana. His brother Carlos is his second in command," the hacker said. "They manage to put up a legitimate front, but everyone knows what they are really about."

Negal wondered whether Roni had found all of that just now or was that cartel boss so well known that he'd heard about him before. If Modana was such a big name, would Turner's simple plan work against what could be a large force?

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