She shot him a sly grin.“You’re picking up his habits.”She was perceptive as hell, an analyst first, specializing in human behavior before she’d become an agent.She must have also read his hesitance to say anything about it or Cam in front of Aidan, because she mimed sealing her lips and launched into her findings.
“We have an answer on Kristic,” she said.“He’s definitely the one behind it.”
“Freeze all of his finances and travel,” Aidan ordered.“He may think he’s leaving Monday but not if he’s officially under suspicion.”
“Already made the requests,” Lauren said.“But it’s the weekend.It might not trickle down to some agencies until Monday.”
“Fuck,” Aidan cursed.
“And if there’s anyone at the bank I just tapped who’s friendly with Kristic, they’ll tip him off.”
“Where is he?”Aidan said.“I’m assuming not in the hospital.”
“Checked himself out against medical advice,” she confirmed.
“When we came in, you said it was Kristic for sure,” Nic said.“What else do you have on him?”
Lauren spoke as she rotated one of her laptops toward them.“Going on what you said last night, or rather this morning, I found the deposits to Rebecca Monroe.”She struck a few keys, highlighting deposits.“Account numbers match.”
“And this one’s Kristic’s?”Nic said, pointing at the sender account number.
More keystrokes and more account records populated the screen.“One of his shell companies, emphasis onhis.”
“Meaning?”Aidan said.
“Kristic set this company up personally.He signed all the paperwork, and it’s three affiliates deep behind one of his US-registered companies.It’s also not tied to any accounts he shared with his wife.She didn’t have access.”
“She probably didn’t even know about it,” Nic reasoned.“Do we know why?”
Lauren spun one of the other laptops around, browser windows open.On one, the museum’s page with details on tonight’s exhibit opening and the artifacts on display.The other, a Wiki page on the Kosovar Romani displaced in Serbia during the Balkan War.“He was trying to steal her heritage.”
“I thought the artifacts were Serbian, same as Kristic,” Nic said.
“No,” Aidan said.“They’re Romani.”He grabbed the folder off the floor, yanked out the will, and riffled through its pages, finger eventually jabbing at one in particular.“They go back to her people after her death, a heritage museum in Kosovo.”
He shoved the page under Nic’s nose, and now some of the Serbian-Not-Serbian made sense.“They were never going to him,” Nic said.“How much are they worth?”
“Exactly the right question, Attorney Price.”Lauren pulled up another screen.“The last assessment from the insurance forms they updated before traveling.”
The number on-screen boggled Nic’s mind.“He can’t just take them either,” Nic said.“It has to look like a robbery, unconnected to him.”
“Which they could do under the cover of the gala opening tonight.”Aidan was up and already moving toward the exit.“Briefing in thirty.”
Nic shot out of his seat and grabbed him by the arm.In the excitement over Kristic, they’d lost focus on one critical element, the most important person to him.“Cam?—”
“Is undercover for the FBI,” Aidan said, not missing a beat.“He’s one of the best agents I’ve worked with, and I trust him completely.More importantly, he’s family.I won’t leave him behind.”
Words Nic’s SEAL brain could understand even if his insides still tossed and turned with worry.
Eighteen
Cam had barely stepped out of the bathroom when fingernails dug into his arm, Abby yanking him out into the hallway.
“What the hell is going on?”she hissed.Every bit of control and obedience she’d fronted for Becca was gone.Eyes wide, her breath came in short bursts and her grip on his arm, while strong, still trembled.
He had to make a decision.Keep up the ruse that he’d gone rogue or put it all out there, let Abby in on the bluff, and hope he’d done enough to earn Abby’s trust.To convince her he was her best shot, not Becca.Weighing in favor of trust was her sincerity and remorse in the elevator.Cam didn’t think she could fake that, and there’d only be more of that in Becca’s column.
He made his decision.Backing her against the wall, he stepped close and whispered low.“I’m trying to keep us alive.”
