there first,” Riley explained. “And the firm he hired doesn’t know anything we
don’t.”
So if Khalil hadn’t been guilty, and the act hadn’t been
random, where did that leave them? Screwed. Everything inside Coop tightened.
Knowing that the asshole behind Alea’s torment was still free to plot against
her again would feed his nightmares. Random, they could deal with. It sucked,
but the Lennox brothers had taken vengeance out on the men who had actually
grabbed Alea from her university. He, Dane, and Lan found comfort in that. Even
Khalil as the mastermind made him feel better. That fucker was dead, and Coop
knew that he and his buddies would watch over her and make sure nothing ever
happened to her again.
But neither of the above wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“So you believe that Khalil was in the dark, too.” Tal’s
fingers splayed across the table as he leaned forward and cursed in Arabic.
Riley continued. “We’ve made a careful study of the flow of
money of the abductors and the brothel where your cousin was held. It’s all a
bit of a nightmare. The brothel was owned by a man who had close ties to the
Delgado Cartel. The money filtered through there, but when the Lennox brothers
took down that cartel and killed the Delgados, it splintered into three
different groups. Getting any kind of financials on a criminal organization is
difficult. Scraping figures together on one in disarray is nearly impossible.”
“So you’re saying you’ve reached a dead end?” Coop was
already planning a trip to Colombia in his head. He would cut through all that
red tape and just kill a bunch of fuckers until one told him what he needed to
know.
“No. I’m saying I’m a genius and the world should really bow
at my feet,” Riley quipped with an arrogant smile.
Law made a vomiting sound. “He likes to build it all up so
he looks good. All he did was play around with his computer.”
“Luddite. I can cause more trouble with a few keystrokes
than you can with all the guns in your arsenal. Now, I don’t have it all
figured out, but I do have a very interesting pattern of deposits and
withdrawals. If you look on page sixteen, I’ve documented what I’ve got.” Pages
shuffled, and Riley went on. “I’ve managed to discern that the brothel’s
business transactions were handled by the owner’s wife. It’s all routine and in
cash until two weeks after Alea’s kidnapping. A wire transfer of twenty-five
thousand hit a bank account the cartel used strictly for the brothels. Now, we
all know they were selling women, but the same account then wires five thousand
every ten days until two days before Alea was rescued.”
Dane shook his head. “Like…someone was paying for her
upkeep?”
“If that’s the case, they definitely overpaid. According to
Cole, she was kept in horrible conditions,” Tal muttered.
“I think someone was paying them simply to keep her alive,
Tal,” Coop said darkly.
This twisted plot was far worse than he’d imagined. Someone
out there had paid to keep Alea tied up and drug addicted. Someone had wanted
her held captive. But why?
“Where did that money come from?” he demanded of Riley.
The PI paused. “Directly from a Cayman account, which was
closed shortly after Alea was rescued. I’m still looking for the records that
indicate where and how the account was funded, but as you can imagine, the
banking laws in the Caymans are beyond liberal.”
“So what you’re saying is that we might never know.” Dane
scrubbed a hand over his hair. He’d let it grow after he’d left the Navy. Coop
kept his in a military cut because it was easy, but that hair of Dane’s seemed
one way he distanced himself from his past.
Riley squared his big shoulders like he was ready for
battle. Though he came across a bit like a geek, he was obviously in good shape
and possessed a little badass. “I will
don’t.”
So if Khalil hadn’t been guilty, and the act hadn’t been
random, where did that leave them? Screwed. Everything inside Coop tightened.
Knowing that the asshole behind Alea’s torment was still free to plot against
her again would feed his nightmares. Random, they could deal with. It sucked,
but the Lennox brothers had taken vengeance out on the men who had actually
grabbed Alea from her university. He, Dane, and Lan found comfort in that. Even
Khalil as the mastermind made him feel better. That fucker was dead, and Coop
knew that he and his buddies would watch over her and make sure nothing ever
happened to her again.
But neither of the above wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“So you believe that Khalil was in the dark, too.” Tal’s
fingers splayed across the table as he leaned forward and cursed in Arabic.
Riley continued. “We’ve made a careful study of the flow of
money of the abductors and the brothel where your cousin was held. It’s all a
bit of a nightmare. The brothel was owned by a man who had close ties to the
Delgado Cartel. The money filtered through there, but when the Lennox brothers
took down that cartel and killed the Delgados, it splintered into three
different groups. Getting any kind of financials on a criminal organization is
difficult. Scraping figures together on one in disarray is nearly impossible.”
“So you’re saying you’ve reached a dead end?” Coop was
already planning a trip to Colombia in his head. He would cut through all that
red tape and just kill a bunch of fuckers until one told him what he needed to
know.
“No. I’m saying I’m a genius and the world should really bow
at my feet,” Riley quipped with an arrogant smile.
Law made a vomiting sound. “He likes to build it all up so
he looks good. All he did was play around with his computer.”
“Luddite. I can cause more trouble with a few keystrokes
than you can with all the guns in your arsenal. Now, I don’t have it all
figured out, but I do have a very interesting pattern of deposits and
withdrawals. If you look on page sixteen, I’ve documented what I’ve got.” Pages
shuffled, and Riley went on. “I’ve managed to discern that the brothel’s
business transactions were handled by the owner’s wife. It’s all routine and in
cash until two weeks after Alea’s kidnapping. A wire transfer of twenty-five
thousand hit a bank account the cartel used strictly for the brothels. Now, we
all know they were selling women, but the same account then wires five thousand
every ten days until two days before Alea was rescued.”
Dane shook his head. “Like…someone was paying for her
upkeep?”
“If that’s the case, they definitely overpaid. According to
Cole, she was kept in horrible conditions,” Tal muttered.
“I think someone was paying them simply to keep her alive,
Tal,” Coop said darkly.
This twisted plot was far worse than he’d imagined. Someone
out there had paid to keep Alea tied up and drug addicted. Someone had wanted
her held captive. But why?
“Where did that money come from?” he demanded of Riley.
The PI paused. “Directly from a Cayman account, which was
closed shortly after Alea was rescued. I’m still looking for the records that
indicate where and how the account was funded, but as you can imagine, the
banking laws in the Caymans are beyond liberal.”
“So what you’re saying is that we might never know.” Dane
scrubbed a hand over his hair. He’d let it grow after he’d left the Navy. Coop
kept his in a military cut because it was easy, but that hair of Dane’s seemed
one way he distanced himself from his past.
Riley squared his big shoulders like he was ready for
battle. Though he came across a bit like a geek, he was obviously in good shape
and possessed a little badass. “I will
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