Dan shaded his eyes as they adjusted to the sunlight and he tried to fathom what he saw. There, on the far side of the courtyard was Duardo kicking a soccer ball as only a three-year old could to an unshaven man. But this was no playground. Dan looked up at the high walls surrounding the courtyard. The razor wire that capped the walls and the three cameras confirmed that his first impression was wrong. Wherever he was, he wasn't leaving.

Where was he? He questioned again his memory of the car ride that brought him to this place. His headache reminded him that he had been drugged. But there was Duardo and he had to get closer...

The grasp stopped him in his tracks. As he resisted, he was dragged away from the image of Duardo. As he tried to call out, the hand muzzled his mouth. He was turned around by the two men when he was a few feet from the door.

As Todd watched the screens on either side of the Ambassador, the camera focused on Espi began to scan the room. He saw two men dragging another toward a chair about five feet from where Espi was strapped. The man, slumped over, seemed too tired to struggle as he was strapped and shackled in the chair and gagged. When his head rolled back, Todd realized that it was Dan.

His fist clenched,Todd took one step toward the Ambassador but thought better of it and stepped back.

The Ambassador seemed to be enjoying the scene on the screen and turned to Todd. “As you can see, you won't be needing that airplane ticket. It was all only a car-ride away. Also, assuming that you were somehow complicit in Roberta’s plan, you know that her accomplices are all meeting the same fate as she as we speak. As far as we could tell, Jerry knew nothing, but we had to be sure and it will look like a car accident.”

“You can see that your plans for the safety of your wife and son were not as secure as you thought. The happy family that you made your brother a part of was always under surveillance. We also watched you for all those years while you were working for all sides. You thought you had it covered and everyone was safe. You were wrong. No-one was safe. But things were under control until Somalia. And, by the way, El Guapo played soccer before becoming a bull-fighter. We thought Duardo could use a few pointers so El Guapo is in the yard playing with your son. Although it is not usually what El Guapo does, he is expert in inflicting pain on animals and others, he will do anything we say.”

“Now that I have your attention Todd, let’s talk about the shipment that was intended for my country. And please, don’t waste our time talking about the Somali pirates....”