Chapter 666: The weakness

The next evening, Michael received a call from one of the few people he still trusted enough to keep close to the investigation.

He was sitting inside the police station, with a folder resting on the small table in front of him. The room was quiet except for the occasional footsteps in the corridor outside.

"We need to speak about Dayo," one of his investigators.

Michael looked down at the folder already excepting what he wants to say. "What about him?"

"The releases have continued. You were right about the pattern. Someone is choosing what to release and when."

"I know."

"There is another problem."

Michael waited.

"We still haven’t found a way to stop it."

That was the part Michael already understood. The new information being released was not large enough to destroy everything at once, but each piece was closing another route. The people who might once have helped him with the issue on ground already were becoming cautious making the already thin connection smaller. Some had lawyers telling them to stay away. Others had their own problems and no longer wanted his name anywhere near them.

Michael ended the call after giving a few instructions and remained seated for several minutes.

He knew who was doing it.

He had suspected Dayo long before he had enough evidence to say the name aloud. The problem was that knowing the likely enemy and being able to reach him were two different things.

Michael picked up the phone again and called Silas.

The call was not unexpected.

Silas answered from the IRS facility after the line had been cleared for his use. "You called."

"We need to talk."

Silas was quiet for a moment. "About Dayo?"

"Yes."

"I was expecting this."

Michael looked toward the closed door of the room. "Then listen before you decide what you want to say."

Silas gave a tired laugh. "You still think I talk too much."

"You do."

"Go on." Silas said not arguing.

Michael told him about the latest release and the information his people had collected. Silas listened without interrupting. When Michael finished, Silas said that his own people had seen the same pattern.

"He is not releasing everything," Silas said. "That is the part I don’t like."

"I know."

"He keeps something back, waits, then releases another piece when we start dealing with the previous one."

Michael rested his hand on the table. "He’s removing our options."

"Exactly."

Neither man spoke for a few seconds.

They had spent years building systems that depended on having alternatives. If one company failed, another could take its place. If one account was frozen, another could carry money. If one person became unreliable, there were always others.

That system was disappearing.

Michael finally said, "We cannot attack him through his businesses."

Silas agreed. "We’ve tried."

"His security is too strong. His technical people are good, and we already know we cannot get into his systems properly."

"I know."

Michael looked at the folder again. "Then we stop looking at the businesses."

Silas made a pause but understood what he meant.

"What are you thinking?"

"His personal life."

The words changed the tone of the call.

Silas leaned back in his chair inside the IRS holding area. "We’ve had information on his personal life for years."

"I know. I’m not saying we need to find out who he is. We already know most of it."

"His family?"

"His family. Luna. His daughter. His security people. His movements. The information is already in our files."

Silas was silent again.

They had profiled Dayo for a long time. His rise had been too unusual for them to ignore, and the attacks connected to his businesses had forced them to understand the people around him. Luna was public. Dayo’s relationship with her was public. His family had appeared in photographs and reports. His security team had been observed at public events.

There was no need to start from nothing.

They only needed to decide which information mattered.

Silas asked, "What are you looking for?"

"A weakness."

"You think he has one?"

"Everyone has something they care about."

Silas did not disagree cause even he had one.

Michael continued, "Money doesn’t seem to be it. His companies can take losses and keep moving. His reputation has taken attacks before. He still came back. His technology is protected. If we try to hurt his business again, we are giving him another reason to come after us."

"And his family?"

There was a pause before the answer came.

"That’s what we need to look at."

Silas remained quiet long enough that Michael could hear the faint sound of movement somewhere beyond the line.

"You understand what you’re suggesting," Silas said.

"Yes."

"Going after his family would bring attention."

"So would doing nothing."

That answer ended the argument before it could begin.

Silas rubbed his face. "I’ll have my people review what we already have."

"So will I."

"Then we’ll compare it."

Michael agreed.

For the first time since their cooperation began, they were working on the same problem with the same objective.

Neither trusted the other.

That had not changed.

What had changed was that both men had finally accepted they needed every resource available to them.

Michael’s people began with the files they already had.

There were years of reports, photographs, public appearances, travel records, security observations and information gathered from people who had crossed paths with Dayo professionally.

Most of it was useless.

Dayo had been in the public eye for too long for his basic information to be difficult to find. His music career was well documented. JD Records had appeared in financial and entertainment reports. His technology company had attracted attention from investors and competitors. His restaurants were public businesses. His relationship with Luna was common knowledge.

None of that gave them what they wanted.

A intelligences staff opened the section covering Luna.

"She’s still appearing with him regularly," he said during a call with Michael’s people. "Nothing has changed there."

Another person reviewed the family records.

"His parents are still in U.S. His siblings are there as well."

"Any obvious pressure point?"

"Not one that won’t create problems for us."

The answer was passed to Michael.

He did not ask them to keep searching through random names.

"Focus on the child."

The researcher returned to the records.

Jennifer had been deliberately kept away from most public attention. There were a few photographs, some references to her birth and occasional family appearances, but nothing close to the amount of information available about Dayo’s career.

That made the file much thinner.

Michael received the report later that night.

He read it while sitting alone.

Jennifer.

Dayo and Luna’s daughter.

Only a few months old.

The information was enough to establish what mattered.

Michael called Silas again.

"Did your people finish their review?"

"Mostly."

"Anything useful?"

"Nothing that gives us direct access to him."

Michael looked at the report on the table.

"We found something."

Silas waited.

"Jennifer."

The line went quiet.

Michael explained what they had found, including how little public information existed about the child.

Silas listened carefully.

"How much security?"

"Some, but we don’t have the full picture."

"Then we don’t move yet."

"I wasn’t suggesting we do."

Silas picked up the file his own people had prepared. "I have information on Luna’s parents, Dayo’s parents, his siblings, Bella, Max and the people around the family. Most of it is old."

"Anything about the child’s routine?"

"Not enough."

Michael thought for a moment. "Then that’s what we need."

Neither man mentioned the kidnapping immediately.

The possibility was already sitting between them.

They both understood why Jennifer mattered.

****

The next morning, their people continued reviewing the old information.

Bella appeared frequently in the security reports.

She was one of Dayo’s bodyguards and had been around him during several important movements. Max appeared beside her often enough that the two were treated as part of the same security structure.

Their presence made one thing clear.

Dayo’s protection extended beyond public events.

His family was included.

One of Michael’s investigators brought the information to him.

"Getting close to Dayo himself is difficult. Bella and Max change positions often, and we don’t have a fixed pattern."

Michael looked through the photographs.

"What about Luna?"

"More predictable than Dayo, but still protected."

"And the child?"

"We don’t have enough information."

Michael closed the file.

"Find it."

The investigator hesitated. "Do you want us to approach someone?"

"No. Not yet. Keep reviewing what we already have. If we make contact with the wrong person, they’ll know we’re looking."

The instruction was passed along.

Michael understood that the first mistake could be fatal.

Dayo had already shown that he was willing to keep attacking without warning. If he realized they were studying his family, whatever remained between them could disappear immediately.

Silas received the same concern when his people reported their progress.

"We should assume Dayo has security around the child," one of them told him.

"Of course he does."

"Then getting close won’t be easy."

Silas looked at the information in front of him.

"No one said it would be."

He was not interested in hearing about impossible plans. If they were going to use Jennifer as leverage, they needed to know exactly what they were doing before anyone moved.

A failed attempt would not only expose them.

It would give Dayo another reason to destroy whatever remained of their lives.

Later that afternoon, Michael and Silas spoke again.

This time, the conversation lasted longer.

Michael had received more information about Dayo’s family arrangements. Silas had received additional details about Luna’s movements and the people who usually surrounded them.

None of it was new.

They were not discovering Dayo for the first time. They were taking years of information and looking at it differently.

Silas said, "We have spent too much time looking at what he owns."

Michael agreed. "Because that’s where we thought his power was."

"His power is still there."

"Yes, but that’s not what controls him."

Silas looked at the report in front of him.

"Luna does."

Michael did not answer immediately.

Their relationship had been public for a long time. They had seen enough footage to know that Dayo was protective of her, but Luna was too visible. Any attempt against her would attract immediate attention.

"She would be too difficult," Michael said. "And too visible."

Silas agreed. "The child isn’t."

That was the first time they said it directly.

Neither man tried to soften the meaning.

Michael’s voice became quieter. "Jennifer is the pressure point."

Silas did not disagree.

"If we take her," Michael continued, "Dayo will have to listen."

"You think he’ll negotiate?"

"He’ll have to consider it."

Silas looked toward the small window of the IRS holding area.

"We need to be careful. If he knows we’re behind it, he’ll come after us harder."

"He already is."

"That doesn’t mean we make it easier for him."

Michael understood.

They could not be connected directly to the kidnapping. Their names were already tied to too many investigations, and both men were in custody. Any obvious connection would give prosecutors another weapon.

"We use someone else," Michael said.

Silas answered after thinking about it. "An intermediary."

"Someone who doesn’t know the whole plan."

"Exactly."

Michael’s people had access to enough contacts to make that possible. The challenge was choosing someone who could follow instructions without knowing where those instructions came from.

They did not make the final decision that day.

Instead, they agreed on what needed to happen first.

They needed Jennifer’s routine.

They needed to know who stayed with her.

They needed to understand Bella and Max’s movements.

They needed to know when Dayo was away and when Luna was alone with the child.

Most of all, they needed to know whether there was a moment when the family could be reached without immediately triggering the entire security structure around them.

Silas told his people to continue.

Michael gave the same order.

The search had become specific now.

****

Across London, Dayo knew none of this.

His latest evidence release was already creating another round of problems for Michael and Silas. Felix had spent most of the afternoon checking reactions, watching financial movements and monitoring the people who were beginning to distance themselves from the two men.

Dayo sat in his office while Felix worked across from him.

"They are getting quieter," Felix said.

Dayo looked up from the report. "Quieter?"

"They’re still moving, but they’re not making as many visible attempts. Their people are communicating less. The security around both men is still tight."

Dayo considered that.

He had expected resistance.

Instead, Michael and Silas were becoming harder to see.

"Maybe they’re running out of options."

"Maybe."

Felix turned the laptop toward him. "I still think we should be careful."

"We are."

"You don’t know what they are doing."

Dayo looked at the reports.

"No," he said. "But whatever they’re doing, we keep pressure on them."

Felix did not argue.

The two men returned to the evidence they had prepared for the next release.

Dayo’s phone was beside his hand.

A message from Luna appeared on the screen.

She had sent him a photograph of Jennifer sleeping.

Dayo opened it and smiled before putting the phone down.

He had no idea that, at almost the same time, people working for Michael and Silas were looking at the same family from another direction.

For now, he believed the danger was coming through businesses, investigations and information.

He did not yet understand that Michael and Silas had decided to stop attacking the things he owned.

They were looking for the person he loved most.