Page 87 of Damaged

“Go check your fax,” Si said.

“Simon, can’t you just—” Nick began.

“Damn it, Nick, just go check it.”

We both stood. His friend remained on the line. I followed Nick to what I assumed was his father’s home office. Nick snatched the piece of paper off the machine and put it on the desk so we could both see it. There were slashes between many of the individual numbers.

“What are we looking at, Simon?” Nick asked.

“They’re international bank codes, Nick. Dozens of them from all over the world. Most are in countries that don’t monitor the movement of money.”

The information had Nick and me looking at each other, likely thinking the same thing. Why had Ivan made Silver memorize the numbers? It would have been just as easy to put them on a hard drive or some other kind of medium.

“Look at the first number,” Si explained. “The first two numbers are the country code. The routing and account numbers are next.”

“And the last set of numbers?” Nick asked.

“Probably a password of some kind. Owners usually set them up so only they can access the money. Not even the banks know the passcode.”

“Jesus,” I whispered. “Ivan kept burning the paper after he made Silver write the numbers down. Silver said Ivan was becoming more and more paranoid, but he didn’t know about the accounts.”

“The fucker turned my brother into his own personal thumb drive that no one could access,” Nick said.

“Judging by how many accounts there are, we’re probably talking about a shit ton of money. I’d need more time to hack the accounts and figure out how much is in each one.”

“Do it,” Nick said before hanging up.

“Ivan, the man who kept your brother all those years, started to get sick near the end. Dementia or something. Silver said he’d have lucid moments now and then but most times he didn’t remember things. When Silver saved my friend’s infant niece and got her to her uncle after Ivan murdered her mother, Ivan’s men showed up and Silver led them away. He told my friend that Ivan would never kill him,” I explained even as I began walking through the massive house, calling Silver’s name as I went.

“Ivan only trusted Silver by then. He kept saying his brother, Dmitri, couldn’t know about the numbers and that he was sure the men who worked for him were all secret spies for Dmitri. When Ronan’s men—that’s the friend I mentioned—killed Ivan and saved Silver, they brought him back to the US. There was no record of him leaving Germany and no record of him entering the States,” I explained in a rush. Fear for Silver kept going up a notch when he didn’t answer me.

“Do you know where he is?” I asked.

“No,” Nick said. The cool calm that he’d always seemed to be wearing as a mantle was gone. In its place was the protective older brother who was just beginning to understand that his little brother could be in danger. Very serious danger. “My folks had this charity lunch to go to at the country club, and Brady and Spence went to see our aunt and uncle to give them an update on Andrew and when they might be able to come over to see him. Everyone wants to see Andrew, but they also want to give him space.”

“What about Aggie?” I asked.

Nick reached for his cell phone at the same time I reached for mine. Neither Silver nor Aggie picked up.

“Fuck!” I snapped. How had I not seen this? Silver had mentioned that Ivan had wanted to make sure Dmitri never got his hands on the numbers Ivan had forced him to memorize, but I hadn’t made the connection.

“The koi pond,” Nick said and then we were both running in that direction. By the time we reached it, it was obvious that we were too late. One of the heavy wooden benches was overturned, there were at least half a dozen prints of what looked like the soles of boots, and there was a small puddle of blood near the path that led to the docks. My heart was in my throat as I followed the trail of blood along the path. A shiny object beneath the edge of a bush caught my attention.

“Silver’s locket,” I said grimly. “Ivan gave it to him when he was a kid and said the pictures inside were of his parents. He never took it off, not even after he was brought to the US.” I fumbled with the closure and then ripped the pictures off. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the tiny flashing light that had been hidden beneath one of the pictures. “A tracker,” I said in disbelief. “They’ve known where Silver has been this whole time.”

Nick snatched the locket from me.

“Fuck!” I shouted. “Okay, Dalton, fucking think,” I muttered as different scenarios kept running through my head. A loud bark interrupted my thoughts. “Sadie,” I said and then I was tearing over the uneven path that led to the dock. Sadie was standing in front of an empty boat slip. Blood covered her left shoulder and slid down her leg. She continued to bark even when I reached her. “They took one of your boats!” I called to Nick as soon as he caught up to me. I quickly checked Sadie’s wound to make sure it wasn’t life threatening. As soon as I assured myself it wasn’t, I turned to Nick. “Where would they take them?” I asked.

The question was directed at Nick, but I was thinking about it myself.

“Dmitri and his men had the patience to wait until Silver was unprotected. Once they saw all the firepower at my house, they backed off because they had the tracker to keep tabs on Silver. They’ve been waiting for a chance to grab him when he was unprotected,” I growled.

“Okay, they must have had cars, so why take one of the boats?” Nick asked.

It took me several long seconds to make the connection. “Claremont Airport,” I said without hesitation.

“Why that?—”

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