Stolen

by Allison Brennan

“Let’s assume for a minute that LeGrand and Skye took the money and hid it from the FBI. How could they do that?”

  “According to the file, the money went missing from the accounts, but on paper all the money was there.”

  “The money they received from the PMI fraud,” Lucy clarified.

  “Right. Wait—” Dorothy flipped through some papers. Lucy smiled. She had brought work home with her as well. Lucy really liked this woman. “Block killed himself at the beginning of the investigation, and it was his suicide that prompted the Avery brothers to talk. They pled, said that Block was a figurehead and was distraught over being accused of the fraud. He must have confronted them and couldn’t live with the dark cloud. So in guilt the Averys admitted to the fraud, but said the money should have been in the account. The FBI said the money had never been deposited in the account—no deposit history, though the internal accounting records indicate the money was there.”

  “This is why I’ll never go into White-Collar.”

  Dorothy laughed. “I have a little knowledge of a lot of areas, but the FBI hired me originally because I had been an accountant. There’s really only two logical possibilities. Either the Averys never deposited the money, but falsified internal records so their colleagues wouldn’t find out, or they deposited the money, but someone else took it and covered their trail by erasing the deposit history.”

  “Is that possible?”

  Dorothy thought for a moment. “Yes—very difficult, but with computers and multiple sets of books it can be done, at least well enough to fool us for a while. You know—if the case went to trial, they would have more analysts looking at the data. But because the Averys pled out, there might not have been as much scrutiny.”

  “But it is possible. It would have to be an inside job.”

  “Kurt LeGrand.”

  “And Skye Jansen. But why didn’t they take the money and run?”

  “Because they couldn’t get to it,” Dorothy said, excited.

  “You know why?”

  “Possibly. I need to make some calls first thing in the morning, but all evidence is with the U.S. Attorney’s Office pending resolution.”

  “Then what happens?”

  “The FBI retains the evidence if there’s a chance that additional victims will come forward. The FBI has several evidence storage facilities. If it’s a current case, the evidence is logged in the relevant office. If it’s a closed case, it’s stored in a warehouse.”

  This was it. Lucy felt it in her gut. “Can you find out where the evidence is?”

  “Not until eight a.m., but I will.” Dorothy paused. “What do you think this has to do with the pharmaceutical company? There’s no connection that I can see.”

  “Exactly. No connection. This isn’t about Colton Thayer and the senator. This is about Skye Jansen and Kurt LeGrand. Sean’s in danger. I have to call Noah right now.”

  “Explain, and I’ll call Rick.”

  “At RCK, Sean’s job wasn’t to hack into computers from the safety of his desk. Companies hired him to break into facilities to expose their security flaws. He can break into virtually anyplace with enough time and planning. Ever since we found the connection to Avery and Block, I’ve been thinking, why now? It’s been two years. What if there’s something in the evidence locker that they need in order to get the money? You said they pled out, but that takes time. I’ll bet it was recent, within the last few months, and the evidence was moved into FBI custody. I might be wrong, but I don’t think I am.”

  “I’ll call Rick, you talk to Noah.”

  “Thank you, Dorothy.”

  Lucy breathed only marginally easier. She tried Noah, but he wasn’t answering his cell phone. She called Sean. His phone went directly to voice mail. She frowned and tried his backup phone.

  She heard it ring in his office. She opened the desk drawer and found several phones and a small computer. He’d come here last night after visiting her.

  She started going through Sean’s desk looking for any information about this case. In the back of his top drawer he had an envelope marked: Martin Holdings.

  Had he put that here last night? Earlier? Was this the proof of what Robert Martin had done ten years ago to scam all those pensioners?

  The envelope was sealed, but she didn’t care. She opened it. Inside was a disk. She popped it into Sean’s computer. It was password protected.

  Of course it was.

  She knew his primary security password, but she also knew that he rotated passwords regularly. This wasn’t something she could just guess. She tried his main password—he gave it to her every week when he changed it.

  Strike one.

  Lucy had one idea and hoped it worked. She called the RCK webmaster, Jaye Morgan.

  “Jaye, it’s Lucy. I need your help. Can you access Sean’s computer remotely?”

  “Not unless he gives me permissions.”

  “Can I give you permissions?”

  “Do you have his password?”

  “I’m on his computer now.”

  Jaye walked Lucy through how to grant permissions. “Make sure you tell Sean that this was your idea,” Jaye said. “He gets freaked if anyone touches his computer. You’d think I was going through his underwear drawer or something.”

  “I’ll take full responsibility.”

  “Okay, I’m in,” Jaye said. “What do you need?”

  “To access the password-protected disk. I tried Sean’s primary password and it didn’t work. I only have four more tries.”

  “You do know that Sean is one of the best.”

  “I do.”

  “Fortunately, so am I. I need some information about the disk; then I think I can decrypt it.” Jaye walked Lucy through how to get the information. In five minutes, she’d opened the disk on Sean’s computer.

  “You’re brilliant.”

  “Thank you. What is this? These are account numbers. Wire transfers. Shit, that’s a lot of money.”

  “It’s old data.” As Lucy said it, she recognized one of the numbers. “I know why Kurt LeGrand set all this up. He knew Sean had shut down Martin Holdings.” Sean was in far more danger than Lucy thought. It was one thing to need Sean to break into the FBI evidence locker; it was quite another to want him for revenge.

  “You know your brother is on his way to New York.”

  “Patrick? I thought he was on a job in L.A.”

  “Jack.”

  “Why is Jack going to New York?”

  “Oh. Shit.”

  “Jaye, what are you not telling me?”

  “Duke was abducted this morning from Sean’s apartment. I assumed you knew.”

  Noah and Rick had both kept her in the dark. Why hadn’t they told her? Did Sean know?

  Jaye continued nervously, “Um, it’s a major security problem for us because, um, Duke is working on a defense contract and, um, well—”

  “It’s okay, Jaye. It’s not your fault.” Lucy hung up and dialed Noah again. Again he didn’t answer. Desperate, she dialed Rick Stockton’s number. He didn’t answer. Dammit!

  She typed up everything she knew and sent the message to Noah and Rick:

  Twelve years ago Kurt LeGrand quit his job with the Boston Accountancy Group and started working for Obsidian Trust. Obsidian was a shell company funded exclusively by Martin Holdings. Martin Holdings was run by Robert Martin, who allegedly killed himself after Sean hacked into his accounts and returned the money he stole to the retirees. I think that LeGrand was part of Martin Holdings and either knew then that Sean had been responsible or learned about Sean through Skye Jansen.

  Four years ago, Kurt LeGrand began working for Avery & Block. At one point, Avery & Block hired Jansen Tech, Skye Jansen’s consulting firm, to work on their networks. I don’t have the time line of the mortgage fraud scheme, but it appears that it had been going on longer than LeGrand’s employment. I speculate that LeGrand figured it out and he and Skye siphoned off the money from the Averys.

  Acc
ording to the plea agreement, the Avery brothers said that Chester Block, the principal who allegedly committed suicide, didn’t know about their scam. They also stated the money should have been in their accounts. It makes more sense that LeGrand took the money and hid it because either he feared being caught or something went wrong and he couldn’t access the funds before the FBI started their investigation. He became a whistle-blower, but Dorothy thinks that there was an FBI investigation open prior to LeGrand turning state’s evidence. She is also contacting you about the evidence from the investigation and where its physically stored—I think they haven’t gone after the money because of the investigation and working out the plea agreement with the Averys. Now that it’s over, they want their money.

  Sean is in great danger. They need him to break into wherever they hid the money, probably because it’s a system Sean is familiar with. But it’s more than money. I think LeGrand wants revenge for what Sean did with Martin Holdings.

  None of you are answering your phones; just let me know that you got this message and that you know where Sean is and that he’s safe. Make sure he knows that Skye is as much a threat as LeGrand.

  Lucy sent the message and tried Jack, but his phone went straight to voice mail. If he was trying to get to New York fast, he’d probably hopped on a military transport. He’d been career Army before he became a mercenary, and he had many friends in the armed forces. Not to mention that all the principals of RCK, except Sean, had been in Special Forces.

  She didn’t leave Jack a message. No one was responding to her e-mail. What if something had gone horribly wrong? She hated being here, in D.C., when Sean was in trouble four hours away.

  And Duke—why hadn’t they told her that Duke had been abducted? Did they think she’d do something reckless?

  Maybe she would have. He was Sean’s brother. Did Sean know? Was he looking for Duke? Did LeGrand need both Sean and Duke to retrieve the money he stole?

  “Be careful, Sean,” she whispered.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  By the time Noah got back to FBI headquarters, it was after two in the morning. Last he heard, Colton was in surgery and the doctors gave him a 20 percent chance of survival. He’d lost a lot of blood and been unresponsive in the ambulance.

  The office was unusually active for two in the morning. Rick Stockton was arguing with ASAC Torres when Noah and Suzanne walked in.

  “Madeaux, my office, now,” Torres said.

  “I take responsibility for Agent Madeaux disobeying protocol,” Noah said.

  “Armstrong,” Rick said in warning.

  “Sir,” Noah said, “my apologies to you, but Sean was my responsibility and he’s now missing.”

  “He very well could have been playing you all,” Torres said. “I have an agent dead in his apartment, the same agent who claimed he tried to kill her the other day, and he may have been responsible for killing one of his partners—”

  “Sean didn’t kill Hunter Nash or Deanna Brighton,” Noah said.

  “You can’t know that,” Torres said. “And I did not authorize you to interrogate or detain one of my agents.”

  Rick said, “I explained to ASAC Torres about our undercover operation, but he’s justifiably upset and concerned about a dead federal agent, and another agent who blatantly disregarded orders.”

  “And I’m concerned about a missing undercover private investigator and his critically shot team leader.” Noah rubbed his face. “I need to interview Carol Hattori.”

  “She’s in Holding,” Torres said. “What is going on with Agent Gannon?”

  Noah motioned for them to step inside Torres’s office. Quietly he said, “He’s been leaking information about investigations to Senator Paxton.”

  “Why?”

  “Paxton had been tracking prisoner movements, and he wanted to know when certain prisoners were being moved to within federal facilities. Gannon said he gave him information, but didn’t know why he asked. That he was a senator and he liked his policies and believed his help was research for more funding to keep sex offenders in prison. Then, when Paxton started asking for more information, Gannon was already in too deep to say no. Paxton used him like he uses everyone else.”

  “And what does that have to do with Agent Brighton?”

  “When Senator Paxton learned that Sean had started working again for Colton Thayer, he used Gannon to first determine that there was an undercover operation, then to get Sean arrested and off the team. Paxton and Sean have a history. Gannon fueled Agent Brighton’s personal obsession with Rogan. I don’t know how yet, but at some point Evan Weller became her informant. He must have given her some good information, because she believed him when he called her twenty minutes before she was shot to death.”

  “What?”

  “The last call Deanna Brighton received was from Evan Weller, twenty minutes before she showed up at Sean’s apartment,” Suzanne said. “We think he gave her the address and set her up.”

  “That’s a master criminal,” Torres said sarcastically.

  Noah’s temper was thin. “Not all criminals are stupid.”

  Rick intervened. “Noah, take five; I’ll have Carol Hattori brought up for an interview. I’ll be observing. Don’t make me pull you.”

  Noah left and went to the men’s room. He splashed cold water on his face.

  Rick followed him. First Rick checked the stalls to make sure they were alone. “Jack Kincaid is on his way. We have a major security problem with Duke and Sean being off the grid.”

  Noah must have missed something. “What are you talking about?”

  “Duke is in the middle of a major Defense Department contract to secure their overseas servers, and before Sean quit RCK he had been tasked with hacking into the Defense Department to find the holes.”

  “Did he?”

  “Yes. And Duke was in the process of fixing the breaches, but the patch isn’t complete.”

  “You don’t think that’s why they were kidnapped—”

  “No. Did you get Lucy’s message? She sent it just before you walked in.”

  “What message? I’ve been in the middle of a crisis—” Noah took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

  “Lucy doesn’t know Sean is missing. She thinks he’s in danger because Kurt LeGrand worked with Robert Martin on the pension scam ten years ago and he knows Sean took the money. It’s revenge.

  “But if LeGrand is working with Skye Jansen,” Rick continued, “she could very well know what Sean and Duke do for RCK, and if he thinks he can leverage them with either our government or another government—”

  “He will.” Noah got it. “And that’s why Jack is coming here? He’s coming to protect RCK assets.”

  “I don’t know Jack personally, but I know him by reputation. His specialty is foreign hostage rescue, and he has high-level security clearance. He lands at McGuire soon, then will hop a chopper to Fort Hamilton. I expect him at oh-four-hundred.”

  Noah pulled out his phone and read Lucy’s e-mail. “If she’s right—what are the chances that LeGrand killed both Robert Martin and Chester Block? She wrote that they were alleged suicides. She’s thinking LeGrand is more dangerous than a typical white-collar thief. I have to tell her about Sean—”

  “No,” Rick said.

  “Why?”

  “Because Lucy has a fatal flaw. If she knows Sean is missing, she’ll come here. Her career will be over.”

  “I don’t think she cares.”

  “There’s a reason FBI agents aren’t involved in personal cases. She won’t be able to think clearly. I want her safe, in D.C.”

  “She’d be safer at Quantico.”

  “She’s at Sean’s place. My analyst Dorothy is keeping an eye on her. She’s going to drive her back to Quantico tomorrow morning.”

  Noah tapped his phone. “This is the most valuable information we’ve gotten so far. Lucy works best under pressure.” But he conceded that she would only put herself in danger if she came to New York. �
�If LeGrand is really out for revenge, targeting Lucy would hurt Sean more than anything else.”

  “Exactly. She needs to stay put.”

  * * *

  Noah found Suzanne in the hall outside the interview room where Carol Hattori waited for them. Noah needed to get as much information out of her before she called her attorney.

  Suzanne was pale and guzzling a bottle of water. She handed one to Noah.

  “I’m sorry about Torres,” Noah said. “Rick will smooth things over, but OPR may get involved.”

  She waved her hand in dismissal. “I’ve faced OPR before. I’m a big girl, I didn’t have to follow your lead. I’m more worried about my boss than I am about Torres. Maybe the NYPD is hiring—they seem to like me a lot this week.”

  Noah hoped the situation didn’t deteriorate to the point where Suzanne would feel like she had to leave the FBI.

  “If the situation gets bad here, you can always transfer to headquarters.”

  “I’ll be fine, Armstrong. Don’t worry.” She nodded to the door. “Did we let her sweat long enough?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  Noah and Suzanne stepped into the interview room. Carol Hattori looked up expectantly, her eyes bloodshot, her tan face unnaturally pale. She was all cried out.

  “Is he out of surgery? No one will tell me anything.”

  “I spoke with the hospital ten minutes ago,” Suzanne said. “Colton is still in surgery. But he’s holding on.”

  Fresh tears slipped out. Noah said, “Ms. Hattori, we need you to focus.”

  “I-I’ll try.”

  Suzanne glanced at Noah and frowned. She sat down and said, “Carol, if you can please hold it together, for Colton. We want to find out who did this.”

  “I told you. Skye shot him. I don’t know why.”

  “Yes, but you know more than you think you do. We want you to walk through what you heard, okay?”

  “Colton said never talk to any cops without a lawyer.”

  “Do you want a lawyer?” Suzanne said.

  Noah wanted to toss her from the interview room.