Page 33 of Waiting for Him
The tears in her eyes were killing him. “We think your dad stole money from the accounts he was in charge of for the Russians a few days after the accident. Did he give you any indication he’d come into a large sum of money over the years?”
* * *
“Oh. My. God. No . . . no . . . no!” Anger boiled within Kat as she shook her head. How could her father have done this to her? It had to be why those men were after her. “We had a joint account at the bank. The only money there was what the marshals had given us to start over with, and our paychecks were directly deposited. As far as I know, it was the only account he had. How much . . . how much money did he take?”
When Benny didn’t answer her immediately, she looked at Marco and Devon. “How. Much?”
“Fifteen million dollars,” Devon told her quietly.
Whatever color had returned to her face drained again. She jumped from her seat and began to pace the kitchen, her hands raised in disbelief. “Fifteen . . . fifteen million. Holy shit! Holy! Fucking! Shit! Daddy, what the fuck did you do? Fifteen million dollars! Where . . . where . . .”
Devon interrupted her rant with his soothing voice. “That’s what we have to figure out, Kat. From what our contact told us, Sergei Volkov was killed by his own people. A man named Viktor Dryagin has taken over, and we think he’s the one who wants to find you and the money.”
“But I don’t know where it is!”
Benny stood and embraced her. His strong arms and body heat instantly calmed her. “They don’t know that, Kat. But your dad left us clues which will hopefully tell us where the money is.”
“And if we don’t find it, what then?” she cried into his shoulder.
“One step at a time, baby. We’ll find a way out of this. One step at a time.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Viktor? It’s Ruslan.”
“Vhat you have for me?”
“Ve traced rental to business in Tampa. Trident Security. Former military. Place vell-guarded. Paranoid group.”
“Blyat! Any sign of girl?”
“Nyet.”
“Keep looking. I vant that money. Kill anyone who gets in vay.”
“Horosho.”
Viktor the Bull hung up the phone and tossed it on his desk. He was this close to getting the money the fucking accountant had stolen from Sergei years ago. The higher-ups had written it off long ago, despite it being a lot of money, because they had plenty to burn. But thanks to a talented computer geek, fifteen million dollars was finally within Viktor’s reach. When he’d gotten the okay to off Volkov, he’d renewed his efforts to find Ivan Maier. With a bit of money thrown in the right direction twelve years ago, they’d learned the accountant and his daughter had survived the “accident.” Unfortunately, the trail went cold after a few sightings. Now, with the latest facial recognition program, he was on the hunt again. And this time, he would succeed.
* * *
The two rental vehicles pulled up to the forgotten piece of land. It, along with surrounding properties, had been abandoned long ago. A few dilapidated barns and houses, built over seven decades ago, dotted the area. Brody had hacked into the local government computers and gotten the coordinates of Ivan Maier’s childhood home or what was left of it. Irina had been right. All that remained from the old house was the foundation, charred pieces of wood, and a brick chimney. The area's weeds and a few animals had made their home in the ruins.
All four of them exited the vehicles and stared in dismay at the sight before them. A breeze blew Kat’s hair in several directions, and she quickly put it up into a ponytail with a band she pulled from her pocket. “So, now what? What are we looking for?”
Boomer held out his hand to her. “Watch your step. There’s lots of old debris around, and you can’t see it well with these damn weeds.”
As Boomer led her closer to the foundation, Marco jumped down into what had been the basement. It looked like the area was a hangout for juveniles with nothing better to do. Empty beer bottles, soda cans, garbage, and the occasional used condom littered the area. Devon circled the area around the foundation and inspected the chimney before joining his teammate in the hole. Instead of jumping, he pushed aside a useless metal door and took a set of cement stairs that once led to the backyard.
From the former front steps, Boomer and Kat scanned the area below. “Anything?”
“Aside from all this crap, Boom, I’m not seeing anything out of place,” Marco told him while kicking some rubbish out of the way. “It’s either long gone or well hidden. Did Kat’s aunt say anything about an underground shelter or a well on the property?”
Kat pulled out her cell phone. “No, she didn’t, but I can call her.”
Boomer nodded his agreement. “It’s a possibility, but there were other pictures from this property in the album. He picked the ones in front of the house for a reason.”
They spent the next twenty minutes searching above and below ground, and Kat made several calls to her aunt whenever they had questions. Frustrated but unwilling to give up, Boomer jumped into the basement.
