She watched as he walked down the hall and entered the bathroom. Just then, his phone vibrated on the coffee table and she glanced down, seeing an incoming text from JK.
The money is now in your account. Keep D in line and out of sight from the others until you hear from me.
She heard the toilet flush and moved quickly. By the time Steven walked back into the room, she was standing at the piano, looking through the music with a wide smile on her face. “I hope you don’t mind, but I couldn’t stay away from the music. This looks really good, Steven.”
“Thanks, that’s an honor coming from you.” He grabbed his phone and shoved it into his pocket before escorting her out to her vehicle.
She waved as she drove down the street, her fake smile now gone. Blowing out a shaky breath, she had no idea what was happening with the band, but Steven was lying to her if he was working with Jerry Kincaid to bail out Dunk. Whatever they’re planning with the band is going to impact all of us. She feared her days as a member of Amhrán M'anama were numbered.
By the time he got back from dropping Christina off at her apartment, it crossed Clay’s mind for about two seconds to go home. But his work ethic kicked in, and he wanted to check to see what the others were working on, so he drove straight to LSI. He knew Mace had told the others about Christina’s accident and wasn’t surprised when Horace and Marge both asked about her. Assuring them she was fine, he hoped his words would sink into his own head, still filled with the image of her in the parking lot, tearful and bleeding. Blowing out a deep breath, he headed down to the main compound room deep in the caverns.
Again, stepping into the vast area, he was met with a barrage of questions coming from all directions. Figuring it would be easier to explain all at once, he gave a quick synopsis of what had happened in the parking lot, assuring them she was not seriously injured. When he described how she jerked her legs inside her car just before Dunk’s truck hit, they all gasped.
Suddenly, as though the vision of her legs being crushed hit him, his own legs buckled and he plopped into a chair. “Christ,” he muttered. A hand landed on his shoulder and he twisted around to look up at Tate’s angry visage.
“I can’t fuckin’ believe that guy did that,” Tate barked.
Nodding, he said, “I know, I know. Right now, his ass is in jail, and while I’m sure he feels remorse, I don’t want him around her.”
He sighed, then looked at Mace. “I need to let you know that I gave some information to Christina. If it was the wrong thing to do, I’ll take the consequences, but I’m going to come clean right now.” He relayed what he had said to her that morning and received assurances from Mace and the others that he had not violated any LSI confidential information or compromised the investigation.
Swiping his hand over his face, he said, “I wanted to give her enough information to keep her safe but not do the wrong thing. How the hell did you all do this?”
Babs stepped up and plopped her fists on her hips, lifted an eyebrow, and held his gaze. “How did she handle it?”
Piqued, he defended, “She handled it great. She seemed to know instinctively that I was talking about Jerry Kincaid and even said he’d given her a bad feeling. I didn’t tell her anything else about him or the investigation, just that I wasn’t overly happy with his involvement with the band. She knows I have a job to do and that I want her safe at the same time.”
Babs laughed, her demeanor now eased. “I knew she’d be fine. She’s definitely one of us… worthy of a Keeper.”
He hadn’t thought of Christina in those terms, never before understanding what the others meant. But now, he knew Babs was right. Christina was smart, intuitive, and hadn’t fallen apart. Instead, she’d accepted that he had an investigation, wasn’t going to stand in his way, and understood that he had a desire to protect her. Giving his head a little shake, he looked over to the wide screen on the wall to see what the others were working on. There were several photographs of small two and four-person submersibles with information next to each of them. Standing, he walked over and asked, “What have you found out?”
Levi reported, “The FBI was glad for this line of inquiry to follow. They hadn’t considered submersibles as a way that the cartels might be moving drugs. Even a small two-person submersible would have plenty of room for one person and a significant load of drugs to transport. They would easily be able to make several hundred miles at a time, resurfacing to charge somewhere innocuous, and then be on their way again, out of sight, out of suspicion.”
“I suppose it’s too much to ask if Kincaid has had any recent purchases of million-dollar submersibles,” he joked.
The others chuckled and shook their heads. “If only it was that easy,” Levi said.
Cobb piped up, “But I’ve been looking at the money trail along with Sylvie. It’s a convoluted trail, but we’re finding evidence that Kincaid has been siphoning money from Congressman Bennett’s campaign funds. Not a lot, just a little. I’ve also managed to find two offshore accounts that are tied into him. One of them, surprisingly, is for a corporation he calls M'anama.”
“You’re fuckin’ kidding me?” Clay growled. “He’s using part of the band’s Celtic name as a company front?”
“Yep. The feds can’t get into what’s inside those offshore accounts, but I,” Cobb wiggled his fingers and added, “and Josh, have the magic touch.”
“And?”
“We’re still working on it, but we can see where almost half a million has gone in. My guess right now is those are the cartel’s payoffs.”
Walker added, “One of the things we’re wondering about is how the cartel got their claws into him.”
“Any ideas?”
Nodding, Walker continued, “If he was embezzling money from the congressman’s funds and someone found out, that would be leverage to blackmail him into working for them. And with the money behind the cartels, it’s easy to keep him in line.”
“How can we find out about a submersible?”
“About the best thing we can hope for right now is to keep an eye on the security cameras that we have inside the boathouse near Kincaid’s residence. Now that we know what we're looking for, we don’t have to waste our time on the outside. Let the FBI do that. We just have to look at the inside and see what pops up into one of the empty docks.”
Mace moved closer to the center of the room and said, “If I can have everyone’s attention.” Instantly, the chatter in the room quieted and everyone turned their gaze toward him. Mace grinned toward Rank. “You all have met Richard, Rank’s brother, and know that he’s been interested in becoming a Keeper. Rick and I have been in discussions, and he’s just received his honorable discharge from the Navy. He was stationed at Little Creek in Virginia Beach, spent the last week in North Carolina with their parents, and is moving in with Rank and Helena until he can find a place. I’ve offered him a position with LSI, and he wants to start immediately. So, immediately begins tomorrow.”
This was met with a rousing cheer and applause from everyone.
“Sylvie will have forms for him to fill out, he’ll have to get acclimated to how we do things, and one of the first jobs I was going to hand him was looking through the security feed, watching for a submersible coming into the boathouse near Kincaid’s place. Boring as fuck job, but I figure he’ll be glad to do it.”