Page 18 of Marcellus: House of Drakos

It had been a long day and nothing had been accomplished.

Their engineers were working feverishly to get answers and their investigators were on the scene with the NTSB trying their best, despite governmental limitations, to investigate too.

Work was being done. But Marcellus was as dissatisfied as he had been when he first sat behind his desk hours ago.

And his children took the brunt of that dissatisfaction.

Especially Olivier and Freddy. Kalayna was still in the office, too, but she was on the phone with Logistics trying to coordinate how to get more of their own people on the ground.

Whenever there was a plane crash, the FAA was in charge.

But they needed far more of their own engineers and investigators there too.

“This is what’s going to happen,” Marcellus said to his two sons that stood in front of his desk.

“Within twenty-four hours I want to know the how, the why, and what we can do to change it and change it expeditiously. And I want names of anybody who may be sabotaging my planes. Because that’s what this is beginning to feel like. Do you understand me, Ollie?”

“Yes sir.”

“Do you understand me, Freddy?”

“Yes sir.”

“I did not leave the peaceful confines of my island to come here to listen to bullshit all day. The press wants us shut down, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen if we don’t have answers for the American people.

Congress wants me up on Capitol Hill and I have nothing to say because me, the owner of this entire fucking operation, don’t know shit to say! ”

“It’s just a witch hunt,” said Olivier.

“But it’s a bipartisan witch hunt. Which means no matter how you try to spin it, I’m screwed. So get your asses to work and do your jobs!” he bellowed out.

But before his sons could even turn to leave, the double doors opened and Scottie Drakos, the chief of security for all of Drakos Aeronautics and the only child Marcellus fathered around the same time he fathered another child: Olivier.

Although they were the exact same age, Olivier was the oldest by four hours.

But unlike Olivier, who was a man of few words and led with quiet strength and diplomacy, Scottie was a force of nature who led, as his father did, by brute force and might of will and anything else he could use to his advantage. He was no shrinking violet.

“We’ve got a problem, Pop,” he was saying as he walked into the office, caring not whom he was interrupting. “We’ve got ourselves a major-ass problem.”

Everybody paid attention to Scottie because he was not the kind of man who beat around the bush.

He said what he meant and meant what he said.

And if he said they had a major problem, they all knew they had something that went well beyond the monumental calamities they were already dealing with. Which unsettled all of them.

“I assume you don’t mean the disasters facing us right now,” said Marcellus as Scottie walked up to his desk, “or you would have said so. What is it?”

“It’s Niko.”

Marcellus frowned. “Again?”

“Don’t tell me that woman’s disturbing you too,” said Olivier.

Scottie was confused. What did he miss? Unlike his siblings, who all knew since childhood they were going to end up in the business world like their father, Scottie was a jock.

The quarterback and captain of his high school and college football teams, he had his sights set on the NFL.

The last person he wanted to be like was his father.

Until he blew out his knee and had to reevaluate his life.

His father, whom he loved despite their constant disagreements, threw him a lifeline and he took it.

But he never developed that business etiquette his siblings had.

He never learned diplomacy and tact. He looked like a bulldog and was a bulldog.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Olivier? What woman?”

“Forget her.” Marcellus was impatiently. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

Scottie let out a harsh exhale. Even he was showing signs of distress. “They have Niko, Pop.”

Another frown from Marcellus. “What do you mean they have him?”

“They have him. As in possession of him. They kidnapped him.”

Olivier and Freddy let out audible gasps.

Kalayna nearly dropped her phone. She immediately ended her call, as if plane crashes couldn’t compare to what her brother had just said to them.

And Marcellus, when he heard that K word he dreaded for all of his children all the days of their lives, his heart grew faint. “Are you certain they have him?” he asked in a voice filled with so much concern that his children hardly recognized it.

But Scottie nodded. “I confirmed it myself. I know how you are: I wasn’t coming to you without confirming it. They put him on a live feed with me. They have him.”

“But I don’t understand,” said Kalayna. “We were on a videocall with him earlier today. He said he was fine. How did he look when you saw him, Scottie?”

“He looked unharmed if that’s what you mean. When did you talk to him today?”

“Earlier today. Around three. He said he was fine. And he looked fine and sounded fine.”

“Which means he could have been abducted after you spoke with him,” said Olivier. “They may have just snatched him just after that.”

“Or they scared the shit out of him,” said Scottie, “and ordered him to say whatever the hell they wanted him to say to y’all. They could have had him ever since he got off the grid.”

“Which is probably the case,” said Freddy. “We’ve spoken to him, but he hasn’t been seen in person in weeks.”

“Which isn’t unusual,” said Olivier.

“What do they want?” asked Marcellus.

“They would only say that you needed to be prepared to pay a hefty price. And they emphasized hefty.”

“But they wouldn’t say how much?”

Scottie shook his head. “I asked, but they said stay tuned. They’d be in touch in a couple days.”

“A couple days?” asked Kalayna in a high-pitched voice. “Why would they have to wait that long just to say what they want?”

“Because they may not know what they want,” said Freddy. “This could be a spur of the moment snatch.”

“It could be, said Scottie. “But it didn’t feel like that. They had Niko looking and sounding like his regular self when he spoke to you guys. That says to me he know not to fuck with them. This doesn’t seem spur of the moment. This shit seems planned.”

“But how did it happen?” asked a baffled and deeply concerned Marcellus. “Didn’t I order you to have security on every one of my children, Scottie? Didn’t I order you to do that?”

“What the fuck you jumping down my throat for?” They all looked at Scottie. And just like that they had forgotten how he was the only sibling who was more than willing to go toe-to-toe with their old man. “I do have security on all of your children. Including myself. Every one of us have security!”

“Then where was his security? And don’t you dare talk to me like that!”

Scottie calmed back down. He was willing to go toe-to-toe with his old man alright, but he also knew he would get his ass kicked if it ever came to that.

“Niko, like every one of my siblings,” he said as he looked accusatorily at his siblings, “is a master at evading said security. He once again scrambled the GPS signals we had on his car and phone and he lost his detail. Like he’s been doing more often than not.

Like they all do more often than not,” he added, looking at his siblings again.

Then he exhaled again. “They lost Niko over two weeks ago. He gets off the grid when he wants to get off the grid, so it wasn’t as if it was unusual. He’s been off the grid ever since. We’ve tried to find his location every technical way we can, but nothing so far.”

“That’s probably why they chose his stupid ass to begin with,” said Olivier. “Because of his constant disappearing acts, which I’ve told him over and over again was never a good idea, they knew nobody would miss him right away.”

“Which we didn’t,” added Freddy.

“She said something was wrong.”

It was Kalayna. They all looked at their sister. “Who said something was wrong?” asked Scottie.

“Niko’s secretary. Or former secretary. Savannah Richardson.”

Marcellus had his hands clasped together, his elbows resting on the arm of his chair, and he was staring at Kalayna.

“She said Niko always returned her phone calls and text messages, but during this disappearance he never would, and she was calling him constantly. She knew something was wrong.”

“But he returned my calls,” said Olivier. “And yours too, Kalayna.”

“Which is all the more reason,” said Scottie, “that they had Niko even then. His secretary didn’t matter. But his family did. They needed his family to believe he was just fine.”

Marcellus could feel his heart squeeze. Between this news, the reemergence of Savannah, and the death of those souls because of one of his planes, he was emotionally spent.

“We need to get the FBI involved,” said Freddy.

“No way,” said Scottie. “They made it perfectly clear that if they even see a hint of law enforcement anywhere around this case, they would kill Niko. They wouldn’t call and give us a warning.

They wouldn’t delay it another second. As soon as they saw a whiff of FBI or even local police, it would be over for Niko.

And I’ve been at this for ten years. I believe them. ”

Kalayna had tears in her eyes. “What are we going to do, Daddy? They could kill Niko.”

Marcellus was momentarily thrown, but he knew he couldn’t show it in front of his children. They all were looking at him for answers. Even Scottie. But he had none.

“I'll call my contact at CPD," Olivier said.

But Freddy cut him off. “They said no police, Ollie, are you deaf? They'll kill Niko if we go to the cops. Now cut that shit out. We can’t contact anybody.”

“And I mean nobody,” added Scottie. “This stays inside this family. Period. We’ve got to contain this inside the family.”

“Then what are we going to do?” Kalayna asked.

Then Marcellus made up his mind. “That secretary,” he said as he stood to his feet. “The one that showed up here earlier.”

“Savannah Richardson. What about her?” asked Olivier.

“Scottie, I want you to run a deep background on her. If she clears, I want you to find her and take her to my house. Olivier you’ll personally escort her there.” Marcellus began buttoning his suit coat. “Bring her to me.”

“When? Tomorrow?”

“No, next month. What do you mean when? Now. This is urgent. Now!”

“But what do we need her for?” asked Olivier.

“Why do you think?” Marcellus yelled out. “Use your brain! She has intel that could be valuable to finding Niko. She’s been his secretary for over a decade. She may know something without realizing it.”

And there was another reason. Despite the fact that he still harbored some resentment toward her, he wanted her at his estate for her own protection too, just in case those kidnappers discover she had a wealth of information to provide as well.

Olivier hated when his father blew up at him for no good reason. But they were used to it. “Yes sir,” he said.

“I want everybody at my house asap,” Marcellus said as he walked toward the exit. “That includes you too, Scottie. I don’t want another one of you snatched because of our carelessness.”

Scottie didn’t like it. He felt he could take care of himself. But he knew there was no arguing with his father. He didn’t salute him with that compliant yes sir the way his siblings always did, but he didn’t come back at him either.

“What about our mothers, Pop?” asked Freddy. “They could go after them too.”

Everybody looked. Marcellus hesitated. He truly didn’t want that drama in his house which was always prevalent when those women got together, but he knew Freddy was right.

“Including your mothers,” he said, giving the okay.

“But make sure you tell them nothing until they get to the house, and confiscate their cell phones. And double check Natalia with her slick ass. She probably has two phones.”

Freddy and Kalayna glanced at each other. Natalia was their mother.

And then Marcellus left the office.

The siblings looked at each other.

“I'll send cars for our mothers," said Kalayna.

“I’ll run deep background on that secretary,” said Scottie, “and then get over there too.”

“She’s his former secretary,” said Olivier. “Remember that. She was fired a couple weeks ago.”

“He fired her? What reason?”

“She claimed there was no reason. And she said it was Alberto who fired her.”

“Niko’s fashion director?”

Olivier nodded. “That’s the one.”

“I can’t stand his ass,” said Freddy.

“Me neither,” said Scottie. “I’ll check him out while I’m at it too.

Make sure he’s not up to no good. And listen up brothers and sisters,” Scottie added, “I’m going to have heightened security on each one of you.

You’d better not try to evade them this time.

If something happens, Pop won’t blame your stupid asses, he’ll blame mine. And that’s not happening. Understood?”

They all were so drained from everything all at once that this news was threatening to tip them over. They didn’t have the emotional energy to oppose. “Understood,” they, to a man and lady, replied.