Page 28 of Waiting for Him
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While Kat showered and got ready for bed, Boomer joined his teammates in the entertainment room, but not before taming the hard-on she’d given him. A glass of Jack Daniels awaited him, and he thanked Devon for his foresight. “Anything from Egghead?”
“No, but he’s running the sequence through every code-breaking program he has. And a few you don’t even want to know he has access to.” The geek was one of the most talented hackers in the business, and if the FBI, CIA, and NSA couldn’t have him as one of their own, they were just grateful he was on their side of the law.
Marco was occupying one of the recliners and had the TV tuned to a baseball game with the volume on low. Boomer's phone rang as he and Devon took seats on both couches. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen.
Caller Unknown
That wasn’t unusual. “Michaelson.”
“Boom-Boom. What’s going on?”
“Hey, Carter, what’s up?” Boomer was a little surprised to hear from the black-ops agent. It’d been over two months since he’d seen him at The Covenant, enjoying an evening of play. T. Carter had become close friends with the men of Trident after running into them on numerous missions over the years. Each of them owed him for being in the right place at the right time on several occasions. If it hadn’t been for him, one or more of the team could’ve been killed by a sniper at the Trident compound almost a year earlier. Boomer had no idea which one of the U.S. alphabet agencies the man actually worked for, but from experience and the stories he’d heard over the years, he was glad Carter was on their side. You could sum the man up in one word: deadly.
“Spoke to Ian and then Keon this morning, and they told me what you’ve been up to the past few days. I did some digging and found some intel for you.”
“Shit—you’re the best. Hang on. Polo and Dev are with me. Let me put you on speaker.” He punched the correct button and set the phone on the coffee table so they could all hear the information. “All right, go.”
The man’s deep voice rumbled from the speaker. “Rumor has it Sergei Volkov’s own people put a hit out on him. It was suspected he was making deals under the table and not telling those above him on the food chain. He was getting greedy, and it was pissing some people off. Again, rumor has it his second-in-command did the dirty deed and then replaced him. Name’s Viktor “The Bull” Dryagin, a mean mother-fucker. Not a guy you want to be messing with. Word is he immediately began looking for buried treasure.”
“‘Buried treasure’ . . . what the fuck does that mean?”
“Apparently, many years ago, an accountant of theirs was killed along with his family in a car accident . . . sound familiar?”
“Yeah,” Boomer replied cautiously. He didn’t like where this was going.
“Yeah, well, three days after this accountant was allegedly killed, a large sum of money disappeared from several accounts this guy had access to. Transferred off-shore and then to parts unknown.”
“Fuck!” he spat out. “How much money are we talking about here, Carter?”
“Fifteen mil.”
“What? Holy shit!” Boomer shoved his hands into his hair and almost pulled a few chunks out in frustration and disbelief. “Aw, fuck me. Ivan stole fifteen million dollars from the Russian mafia. Was he fucking crazy?”
“My guess . . . it was his form of revenge, Boom.”
Marco nodded in agreement while Devon spoke. “Sounds like it. From what I understand, Ivan was a simple family man. Looks like he exacted his revenge where he could hurt them the most—in the purse strings.”
Boomer stared at the ceiling, still trying to wrap his head around this new development. “I don’t get it. From what Kat told us, they both worked and lived middle-class lives. Nothing to indicate that kind of money. So, what the hell did he do with it?”
“That’s the big question. Carter, any ideas?” Devon asked.
“Sorry, Devil Dog. All I know is Volkov had been looking for the money for years, even though the higher-ups wrote it off as a loss a long time ago. If I get wind of anything else, I’ll give you a buzz.”
“Thanks, man.”
The call disconnected, and after going over a few more things with his teammates, Boomer headed upstairs to the bedroom he was sharing with Kat. He wasn’t sure if he should hit her with this news tonight or wait until morning. He had to tell her soon because there were questions he needed answers to.
Opening the door, he froze at the sight before him. Damn, she was so fucking beautiful that she took his breath away.
Kat was sitting on the queen-sized bed, wearing nothing but a soft, green towel. Her bare arms and legs glistened with newly applied lotion, and the tropical scent of coconuts hung in the air. It must be from Doc Sawyer’s guest stash because it differed from what Kat had used earlier at the bed and breakfast. She brushed her towel-dried hair, struggling to get a few knots out.
Boomer shut the door and strode purposely toward her, holding out his hand. “Let me do it for you.”
Surprise popped into her eyes, but she handed over the brush, then turned so her back was to him. Sitting behind her, he took a section of her long locks and glided the bristles through them. When he hit a snag, he made sure he wasn’t hurting her as he began to work the light brown strands free. Wordlessly, he continued, section by section, until the brush flowed easily with each pass.
“There. All done.”
