“The money in most of your accounts could be transferred within minutes during normal business hours. The money tied up in bonds would take a few days. But none of it is going anywhere at midnight, and these guys”—Gil pointed to the screen—“know that. I doubt they expect to hear from you until you’ve contacted the FBI or the Secret Service, although most people start with their local sheriff’s office or police department.”
“So they aren’t trying to hide it?”
“No. I doubt this is their first rodeo. Ten million is a steep ransom for a business the size of Hedera. The bad actors who perpetrate crimes like this want to get paid. They typically set ransoms that hurt but don’t cripple a business.”
“Because if the ransom destroys the business, why bother payingit? But if the ransom hurts but allows you to get back to work, it makes paying seem like the reasonable alternative.”
“Exactly.”
“Savvy criminals.”
“Sometimes. Yes.”
“Nonviolent.”
“We see it as a violent crime to the business. But yes, they often see themselves as nonviolent.”
Zane’s phone rang, and everyone turned to where Zane paced in a small circle in the middle of her office. He didn’t seem to be capable of being still. “Thacker.” As he listened, his steps slowed, then stopped. He gave the okay sign to Gil. “You’ve got him?”
A collective sigh of relief was the only response from the room as everyone focused on Zane.
“No injuries. Not even awake?” Zane listened a few more minutes. “Great. Any sign of—?” Ivy assumed Zane had been planning to ask about Preston but had been cut off. “Best news ever. Yeah.” A pause. “Here? Ivy’s system has been attacked by ransomware, and they’re demanding ten million dollars in exchange for the encryption key, but Dr. Campbell has that well in hand.” Another pause. “But Morris, you aren’t going to believe what they did.”
PRESTONREPLAYEDthe video message on his phone.
Then he threw the phone against the wall of the hotel. It bounced off and landed on the floor. Unbroken. He couldn’t even manage to break a phone when he tried.
Nothing had gone right.
He’d gone after Patricia Collins with one goal in mind. Take the money and run.
He was playing her, but then he fell in love with her. He didn’tmean to. Didn’t want to. But she wasn’t like anyone he’d ever known, and he couldn’t help it. By the time he discovered the truth, that the money was in Ivy’s name and she had full control, he was already so far gone for Patricia that he convinced himself the money didn’t matter.
But it ate at him. That money had ruined his life. Destroyed his career. He worked as a janitor for a large industrial complex now. A place where, fifteen years ago, he would have had an office with a computer and his hard hat perched on a cabinet that held his engineering textbooks, plus four weeks of vacation and enough money to enjoy a nice one.
Wade Collins had hardly left Patty destitute. They had more than enough to live on, but even living off a dead man’s money didn’t satisfy him. There had to be a way to get the money and keep Patty in the dark. He spent two years considering his options, mentally trying out various scenarios, before he landed on the perfect solution.
Ransomware.
Take Ivy’s systems hostage, force her to pay the ransom to get them back, then invest the money. Wait another year or two and have a long-lost cousin die and leave him a windfall. Not too much, but enough. Patty would be thrilled, and she would never connect his windfall to the money that had been stolen from Ivy.
The plan was perfect. But Ivy still managed to mess everything up. First, she had some hotshot computer-geek friend who created an impenetrable system. And Ivy had already trained her employees in computer security to the point that every time they sent malware, it was deleted. They’d tried for weeks before he’d resorted to plan B.
He’d had to. Without Ivy paying the ransom money, he had no way to pay the malware developers, and they were getting impatient.So he’d come up with a new plan. One guaranteed to get him what he wanted. And once it was his, he would leave the country and live out his days in ease. Patty loved him, and she’d always wanted to travel. She’d be willing to go with him. He could make it work.
The fundraiser and tour of Hedera had been the perfect opportunity to get the intel he’d needed. He’d considered talking Patricia into going to see Ivy and doing the legwork himself but ultimately decided to keep his hands squeaky clean. There would be no fingerprints, no DNA, no trail back to him.
He’d given that kid the money, told him to have a great time. And the kid had come through. He’d used his phone to record every accessible inch of the Hedera property and most of the employees and had even managed to get a tiny glimpse of Ivy’s office. He’d planted the listening devices as requested, not that he knew they were listening devices, but they’d done exactly what Preston had needed them to do. That part of the plan had gone off as planned. The kid didn’t live in Raleigh. He lived in Tennessee but had been visiting family for the weekend. Even if they got the kid on security footage, he’d be hard to locate.
A few days later, Preston heard Ivy and her assistant talking about the painting and the scheduled downtime, and he knew that was when he would strike.
Abott had been helpful, the schmuck. So in love with Ivy. So clueless that she didn’t want him and never would. So focused on her that he didn’t notice he’d gotten sloppy drunk off a couple of beers, thanks to the drug Preston had slipped into his drink. He probably had no memory of the night. It hadn’t been hard to get him to talk about Ivy. Abott shared all kinds of information that Preston used to try to guess her passwords. The only thing that paid off was the tidbit that the date of Wade’s accident wasimportant to Ivy. After he’d learned all he could about Ivy, they swapped war stories and details about their buddies. Abott told Preston about Teague, who had a serious gambling problem and needed cash. A man who could be convinced to look the other way if it kept him alive. From there, it hadn’t been too difficult to find the people Preston needed to flesh out his plan.
But that’s when everything went wrong.
He never dreamed that the night he made his play to get the money would be the night the Secret Service waltzed through Ivy’s door. He’d been behind the eight ball for a week.
It was over.
