Page 13 of Vienna Bliss

“Are you mad that you’re not a suspect?”

“No.” Maybe.

Alena grinned. “You are. You’re mad that you’re not a suspect because it means Interpol thinks you have shitty taste in art.”

“Finish the story.”

“Is that an order?”

Unbidden, his gaze dropped to the collar around her neck. A collar he had yet to remove. And she hadn’t asked him to.

“A request,” he said softly.

“The next logical step would be to track the shipment. First, look at all the hand carry shipments going from Georgia or Turkey, really anywhere on the eastern edge of the Black Sea, to Romania and Bulgaria, which were, according to their manifests, art or artifacts.”

“Like the very first shipment,” Alexander said. “The one the customs agent took a photo of.”

“Exactly. Second, find out if there were any other shipments authorized by Absolon directly.”

“Like the one you stole.”

“Not stole.”

“Like the one you retrieved.”

“Exactly.”

“And the best way to do that would be to have the complete record of every single thing my company has shipped in the last year or so.”

“Mmm hmm. And you can see why Interpol wouldn’t go directly to Wagner Global with this request.”

“We would never have released those kinds of records. And if I knew Absolon was doing something like that…”

“You might fire him, which would alert both him, and the people he was working with or for, that they were exposed.”

Alexander snarled a few choice phrases in German and thunked his head back against the tree. Everything she’d said was right. If it had been some low-level employee, or even someone higher up, but based in a different country, the ramifications wouldn’t have been the same. Absolon was employed by his family, by him not by Wagner Global, but that wouldn’t have mattered in the court of public opinion. Would anyone really believe he had no idea what was going on, or would they assume he knew? Absolon could claim he was acting on Alexander’s orders. It wouldn’t have destroyed his business, at least not right away, as they were simply too big, and too necessary. But would the various governments he worked with renew their contract with him if he were suspected of something so heinous as funding terrorism?

“I’ll guess your next question.” Alena went back to laying on her side, cheek propped on her hand. “How did I get from Interpol’s Paris office to here?” She gestured to the blanket.

He was tired of playing the fool, and based on their conversations yesterday, he thought he could piece together the answers. “Interpol’s hands were tied. They couldn’t get the information they needed from my company.”

“They actually had a few hackers make attempts, but they didn’t get everything they needed.”

“That seems highly illegal,” Alexander said mildly. “But, given the circumstances, understandable.”

Alena watched him with that little smile playing around her lips. But this time it didn’t make her seem remote. It was as if she were just waiting for him to join her so they could share in the joke.

“Somehow, you found out that one of our off-site backups is in my residence.”

“That’s the piece of information the hackers got.”

“I see. Based on that you… I believe you mentioned bribes?”

“Six figures worth of bribes actually.”

“You bribed individuals until you knew about my home security and my schedule?”

“Yes. I had several plans, including waiting for you to host a large event or gathering, and securing an invitation. That wouldn’t have been ideal due to the heightened security that would have been present, but using a fancy gala as cover for theft is a time-honored tradition.”