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type of crime would be difficult to pull off in technologically advanced countries such as America or England. Too many people have mobile phones, text messaging and Internet connections, allowing them to make contact with their friends and family through alternative means. But in Mexico, home phones are still the primary means of communication. And since the police force isn’t trusted, most victims would rather pay the ransom demand and guarantee the safety of their loved one than risk someone’s life by calling the kidnapper’s bluff – especially as abductions are so commonplace.
    The final category is known simply as a traditional kidnapping. It is a long-term crime that has been around for centuries, one that targets people from wealthy families or organizations that have the means and motive to pay a substantial ransom demand. Though not as common as flash kidnappings, they can be far more lucrative because of the sums involved in a single abduction. One million. Five million. Ten million. It all depends on who was taken and how much they’ll be missed. In Mexico City, most corporations hire bodyguards to accompany their executives around the clock, because it is cheaper to pay for protection than to pay ransoms.
    However, many foreign executives roll the dice when they come to Mexico. They figure they can slip in and out of the country without being noticed, especially if their business trips are planned at the last minute. They assume criminals won’t have the time, the manpower, or the knowledge to stage a traditional kidnapping without plenty of advanced warning. And even if they did have the ability to pull off the crime what are the odds that a criminal would target them? One in a hundred? One in a thousand? One in ten thousand?
    Most executives are willing to take those chances.
    Of course, some factors affect the odds. A person’s size, age and appearance can make all the difference in Mexico City. By considering risk versus reward, a young bodybuilder in a T-shirt is less likely to be abducted than an old man in a designer suit. Criminals are looking for the lowest amount of risk – someone who won’t fight back – with the biggest potential for reward – the most money. And on those rare occasions when they spot someone who is low-risk and high-reward, they pounce as quickly as possible.
    Hector Garcia was well aware of the statistics. In fact, he knew them better than anyone since he ran the kidnapping game in Mexico City. Although there were some independent crews floating around – mostly flash kidnappers desperate for quick scores – Hector’s organization was so established that several multinational corporations paid him a ‘protection fee’ to guarantee that their employees would not be kidnapped when they came to town for business.
    With this type of reputation, Hector couldn’t comprehend why he had been targeted, unless it was for revenge. He simply didn’t fit the profile of low-risk, high-reward. Other than the President of Mexico, there was no one in the city who was a higher risk than Hector. He had thousands of armed criminals working in his organization, yet someone had the cojones to abduct his children. Not only did they sneak into his mansion in the middle of the night – somehow getting past his world-class security system and a squad of military-trained guards – but the kidnappers had the audacity to taunt him during the initial call.
    They had threatened to rape his daughter.
    They had threatened to kill his son.
    Now they were playing games with him.
    The type of games
he
was used to playing.
    Every time the phone rang, his heart pounded so hard he could feel it in his feet. No longer the puppet master, he was forced to dance when
they
pulled his strings. Be here. Be there. Get this. Get that. Do whatever we say, or your kids will die. Despite their promises, it took him more than twenty-four hours to get a proof a life. And even then, they only let him talk to his