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Kostya chuckled. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, Gideon. I’ve seen Drakos’ test scores, and he even beats you out on the stuff that requires straight memorization.” Kostya walked away from the window where he had been leaning against the sill, and picked up a notepad from the desk, and handed it to Jase. “Do you need to write it down, or can you just throw it all up verbally?”
“It’d be easiest if I typed into Gideon’s tablet before I lost anything, then read it out to y’all. Ryker can fill you in on the rest, especially his takes on Dermott Carlisle and Damla Akbas.” Gideon, whose tablet was practically surgically attached to his flesh, put the device down on the desk for Jase to start inputting his notes.
“I’m worried that Carlisle could be a problem if left alone,” Ryker started. “But the CEO realizes that he doesn’t have a lot to offer without Jase. I think he’ll shut down the meeting after dinner tonight, and pick it up tomorrow morning when Jase is doing better.”
“So it’s just that he doesn’t know about petroleum?” Gideon asked.
“No, he’s trying to come off like he knows shit. He is asking questions that make him look more stupid. After Jase is done, I want to know if Carlisle will be stupid enough to ask questions about the embedded information Akbas-Bey inserted, thinking it is about RTP Enerji, instead of the kidnapping.”
“He is. He totally is that stupid,” Jase said without looking up from where he was typing.
“Fuck,” Kostya snarled.
“There is one silver lining,” Ryker said before Kostya could really work up a head of steam.
“What’s that?”
“When we left, Akbas-Bey was being a mousy secretary and getting everybody to move along to dinner. Then she made it a point to say that she would type up any necessary notes for Jase so he would have them for tomorrow. That tells me she’s going to provide us with even more information. But she was also guiding her boss toward ending the meeting early, and he was going for it. She might seem all timid, but my guess is, she rules that office.”
“Yay for our side.”
“I’m done,” Jase called out.
“Whatcha got?” Kostya asked.
Jase turned around to face Ryker, Kostya, Gideon, Landon, and Nolan.
“Should I wait for Linc?” Jase asked.
Kostya lowered his eyebrow, and Jase cleared his throat and began talking. “We’re not talking terrorists who have the three men, nor has it been sanctioned by the Turkish mafia, but according to Akbas-Bey’s information, it was perpetrated by members of the Turkish mafia who’ve gone off the rails. Apparently, we’re not the only ones looking for these kids. But if the Turkish mafia finds them first, they’ll kill the kids and the mafia members who weren’t sanctioned.”
Ryker looked around at the others. Everybody looked like they’d just entered an elevator where someone had farted. Even Leila was leaning forward in her chair. Yep, this was not good news.
“What else?” Kostya asked.
“She doesn’t have it confirmed, but the rumor is that the rogue mafia members are brothers of a mafia leader with the initials KP.”
“She put all that in the briefing? Straight up like that?” Ryker asked.
“No, she was a little more oblique, but her references were clear. You could tell that she has been speaking and writing English for at least a decade. For example, she said that ‘normal expected cells not an issue, instead rogue members from Turkish godfathers.’”
“Yep, that would definitely tell us it wasn’t terrorist cells, and that we were dealing with rogue members of the Turkish mafia, all right,” Kostya said. “What else? Also, are you figuring out who KP is, Gideon?”
Gideon was concentrating madly on his phone and just nodded.
“The brothers are normally in charge of weapons sales, and work out of an autobody shop, outside of the city.”
“Well, that narrows it down,” Ryker said sarcastically.
“If we can sort out who KP is, that should help,” Jase said. “You can tell she didn’t want to type any names into her document because those would be noticed if someone tried to read over the English briefing.”
“Makes sense,” Kostya nodded.
“I also think she will have more intelligence for us tomorrow when she delivers the notes.”
“We don’t have that long,” Nolan said as he looked at his watch. We’re at thirty-four hours and twenty-five minutes.”
“I found K.P.” Gideon stood up. “Kaan Polat. He has a stranglehold on Eastern Turkey. Gambling, prostitution, sex trafficking, arms dealing, you name it, he does it. He took over for his father, Emre Polat five years ago, and he has some angry brothers, four of them. If Damla Akbas says it’s only two, I’d believe her. I’ve been checking up on her. She’s as stellar as Commander Clark’s counterpart says. Now, I’ve got a couple of people stateside doing some searching for me on Kaan’s brother’s to see who might be tied to an autobody shop. We need to move fast as soon as we get information.”